Sooooo....Apr 4th morn, started out early to the airport via the Airport Express. Could check in even at the train station itself. Don't know if KL Sentral is the same, but I'm impressed with the efficiency. Line was long-ish but Cathay is so efficient. I think I'm going to be sticking with them for a while yet.

Arrived Seoul after lunch and after Sands rented a cellphone (South Korea uses CDMA technology and both our phones were GSM AND non-3G). It costed her USD3 per day plus all outgoing calls. I have to admit it was reasonable but I could live without it. Still, if she wants one... Then took the Airport Bus (The Airport Bus is a regular bus service that stops at certain major locations within Seoul) to Anguk where our guesthouse was situated. The proprietor of Anguk Guesthouse, Mr Kim, was there to meet us.

Thought we would pay more to stay here as it was billed by Lonely Planet as a "traditional Korean-style" place. It's all made of pine (?) wood, the walls are papered to keep the heat in, there is the famed underfloor heating (more abt that later) and there is a stone-paved courtyard in the middle...so that part's "traditional" traditional I guess i.e. postcard friendly. Otherwise, it was more like traditional in the 1950's style...the interior esp really reminded me of grandma's house. However, we had an attached bathroom (a surprise cos when I called, he said we didn't -- blame it on the language dancearound) and our own computer with Internet connection! And the location was pretty central -- only abt 10 mins walk to the Anguk subway station. Taking the subway turned out to be pretty cheap too -- it costed abt 1000 won each time, which is roughly USD1.

The flight to Seoul took roughly 3 hrs and the bus ride from Incheon airport to Anguk another 1.5-ish hrs, so it was approaching evening by the time we had deposited our luggage. Insa-dong, an area known for antiques and picture-worthy traditional restaurants was abt a block away only. So headed there and browsed the shops, which sold mostly jade, ceramics, souvenirs. I'd anticipated needing to ask "How much?" and to bargain i.e. call something expensive, so had memorized the phrases "Eol-ma ye yo?" and "Bissai-yo!" respectively. BUT overlooked learning the counting system! In the end, resorted to speaking just in English, albeit slowly. Felt kinda guilty that we looked Korean, cos all the shop attendants greeted us and unlike Japan, tried to make conversation with us...and we didn't know what else to do except smile and look away. After a while, it started to feel like we were being rude, so took to saying "Not Korean" every time, with the sheepiest smile we could give.

Then it was time for dinner. Flipped through the LP guide and thought we'd try the traditional Korean banquet, which consists of abt 15 dishes. Picked the place that had a rating (as opposed to just a listing), and closest to where we were....but had a mighty surprise when we got there. Firstly, the main hall was the kitchen, which looked like it was part of a home. But there was a sign outside that clearly had the restaurant's name!! Still, we stayed our ground as the first person who greeted us (a grandmotherly sort) went to get someone who could presumably speak something other than Korean (after we indicated we clearly didn't know the language). Somehow or other we muddled through and she led us to a room....that looked like a living room -- with a TV, a coat rack (with someone's clothes on it) and even the usual sort of knick-knacks you would typically find in a home e.g. school medals, little dolls etc. We were seated on the floor at a low table. Then as it dawned upon us that they had no menu, we also realized that our hostess spoke barely any English.

Thus our second Korean adventuring nugget -- the first time I used my Japanese language lessons was at a Korean restaurant! Sands thought it extremely amusing that neither the hostess nor us were Japanese and we were most def NOT in Japan or any Japanese-y area...but had to resort to the language. I'd heard from my mom abt an acquaintance of hers who, speaking only Hokkien and English, could not speak to a Chinese hawker who only knew Cantonese and Mandarin...and having to speak Bahasa Malaysia instead. But in that situation, they were in Malaysia at the very least. And if you're wondering what the first nugget was: we had just exited the guesthouse and heading down a small road towards Insa-dong. Feeling heady abt being in Seoul, I wanted to take a pic of us both...so I stopped a young woman in her twenties, and asked her very slowly (with hand movements) if she could take a pic for us. It's true that I DID ask her in English, but I don't think Sands and I were prepared for the response. She looked at me, shook her head wordlessly and then promptly turned around and ran away! And I mean literally RAN.

Anyway, dinner was really banquet-ish: so much food we couldn't finish it all! Altho Sands said that maybe it was cos she was too busy drinking the lemon-sliced flavoured soju that she wasn't eating her share. :P Also if we were allowed to sit longer, we might've slowly finished the food...but at 9.30pm, we were told that the restaurant was closed with the implication that we should leave as soon as possible. Now...we could've possibly finished earlier if we didn't keep getting interrupted! For some reason, I guess the idea of two Korean-looking girls who spoke English was cause for wonder. Every 10 mins, the hostess would come in, and ask us how we were doing. If it wasn't that, then it would be the hostess AND some other guest (!!) who wanted to look (and speak English??) to us. All the conversations with them went roughly like this:

Us: Yes?
Them: Hello. (smile smile)
Us: Hi. (uncertainly smiling back)
Them: We can speak English.
Us: Oh ok.
Them: You're both very pretty (!!) (altho a nice ego stroke, since this was out of nowhere, we thought that maybe they had nothing else they felt comfortable saying in English)
Us: Thank you.

Them: Nice meeting you.
Us: Ok, bye, thank you. (for lack of words)

Nevertheless they were polite and courteous so we didn't feel like we were in any trouble. And it really wasn't cheap -- the Korean shop attendant in Insa-dong whom we talked to wasn't kidding when she said that it was a 4-5 star type of establishment. Sands and I figured that we probably just got put into the "unusual" room cos they'd run out of regular rooms -- I passed by one of the other rooms and while sparse, they definitely looked like guestrooms i.e. with effort made to display paintings and sculptures.

We walked back in the cold air (yes, Seoul is AS COLD AS Toronto) but feeling all warm and fuzzy from the soju.I couldn't help thinking to myself: with the narrow alleyways lined with wood-built houses and the walk home from dinner (and drink), this is probably what a Japanese salaryman walking home from a night out feels like -- but with much less alchohol in my bloodstream.

The good thing about flying Cathay is that the connection is in HK, which is pretty centrally located. Almost a year has passed since my last trip back home to Msia, and since I would be stopping in HK anyway, I was considering making a trip from HK to Tokyo since Vic had been posted there till the end of this year. Nothing like Tokyo from an everyday perspective right? However I was planning to utilize my Asiamiles points, and also to take advantage of the Easter holiday weekend -- which is also a holiday in HK. So all of HK wants to fly to Tokyo too -- so much so that the Asiamiles desk even closed the waiting list.

Nevertheless, a backup plan. I'd called Sands since she's now based in HK and she would have hols too, and she'd suggested Seoul, South Korea or Hanoi, Vietnam. It took some back-and-forth-ness, and dithering on both our parts but we finally decided on Seoul. Or maybe it was me, cos there was no way I could pass up a chance to possibly see the spring cherry blossoms, esp since I was going to be in the region at about the right time too.

So, set out from Toronto on the night of Apr 1, arriving HK on Apr 3. Following Sands' instructions, took the Airport Express (it has only 4 stops??) to HK Island. Sands picked me up from there and with her much-improved Cantonese skills, we hailed a cab to her apt on Ladder St in Central.

Spent the day exploring Central and HK Island while Sands went to work. One thing I have to say abt HK -- lots and lots of stairs! Started out with Ladder St and detoured to Cat St which had a lot of antiques for sale. Passed the Man Mo temple on the way to having beef noodles at a well-known stall on Gough St off Hollywood Rd. It was a relatively short wait as I'd narrowly missed the lunchtime crowd and I was just one person -- so I was sat at the nearest vacant seat, sharing the table with a trio of salarymen and two other individual diners.

From there, walked downhill towards the harbour through the Sheung Wan area before ending up at Western Market -- a grand colonial building that nonetheless wasn't very interesting looking inside. Still, stopped for a bowl of black sesame seed soup with tong yuen (glutinous balls filled with ground nuts) before heading back up to where I started via the Central-Mid-Levels escalator -- also the "World's Longest Escalator" as certified by the Guiness Book of Records. As with most records these days... it was actually a series of escalators -- and one of them (which I suspect might've been at the steepest point) was actually not working! Then I had to climb up the superlong flight of stairs on Ladder St that I had earlier walked down. -_- Later on I realized that I had gotten off one escalator too early -- but it was too late by then. Still it was rather interesting to see the restaurants and bars of SoHo (yes, it's really called that) as I was going up.

When Sands got back from work, headed out for dinner -- started out at Lan Kwai Fong where all expat nightlife seemed to be, but then couldn't find anything to our liking. So went to a small but classy restaurant (which I can't remember the name of) on Caine St close to where Sands lived. Dinner was pretty good -- it was a yummy "filet of beef" (Sands got the fish) and we followed that with creme brulee for me and molten chocolate cake for her. Briefed each other on the latest news, continuing till we got back to her place and she packed and we called it a night -- the flight to Seoul would depart the next morn at 9.40am.

The weekend after getting back from Miami, it was a celebration of SS, NM's and Sus' birthdays. They weren't all born on the same day or anything but still, all March babies. So someone had the bright idea of celebrating that by going out for dinner and to a club/lounge afterwards. There was a tense moment just before we all left the office on Friday when we realized that we didn't even have a card for them -- the organizer (if there was one -- I'm seriously suspecting a Stand Alone Complex here) didn't think of it. So down I rushed to Carlton Cards and picked a couple up and quickly circulated them..so quickly that one of the newbies actually signed it wrongly. -_- Thankfully, we managed to black out the mistake.

That aside, headed to Jack Astor's but it was packed with the after-5 crowd so switched to Joe Badali's...which was actually not bad. In fact, a little more sit-down than Jack's, which suited the occasion just fine. From there, went to Schmooze...2nd time around and on a Fri night, it still didn't get better. I'm not going there again if I were organizing...

Saturday, went over to JCh's to touch base after what seems forever. NML was cooking dinner and it was the first time we were going to taste something other than her delicious desserts. On the menu: grilled shrimp on saffron couscous, greek salad, beef stew with biscuit, panna cotta with raspberry coulis and the fifth (!) course -- muffins iced with choco-hazelnut spread. ;) We're getting better at portion control -- not too full but satisfied. Watched 'Blood Diamond' after.

Sunday went out with the Waterloo gang: Jits, MarcL, Xian, Nic, Nat, Bong, bro and me. Went to Zucca Trattoria -- 2nd time around and they'd pared down the menu. We decided to go with the prix fixe menu, starting with a garden salad. The duck ragu was not as good as I remembered it, but the dessert was rather nice to look at -- cake dosed with grappa and set afire.

5 days later on the Fri, Young P's farewell party. Had originally wanted to skip dinner in lieu of JCh's birthday dinner and join them for after only, but got an earful from Young P. To paraphrase, "If you're not dating this guy, then you have no excuse." Well...

In any case, a good dinner at Milestones cos FI, a new manager I worked with in 2006 had decided to give up the stress of his position for family reasons. In addition, KS was leaving to Paris and I was going to miss HER farewell since I would've been on vacation by then. So....it all worked out well since I got to say goodbye to 3 ppl (FI and KS wouldn't have wanted to go to after-dinner celebrations).

So from there, ended up at Easy again. What can we say....cheap drinks, decent music and an ok crowd (altho admittedly not so good that particular night). The funny thing was that NML had been keen on "going out partying" with me, so this was the only weekend that worked...so no pulling out of this part of the night either. Also decided to call Ines since it had been forever since we met up. So again, killing 3 birds with one stone. And clubs are more fun with more ppl anyway. I think Young P had a good time ... altho he bought me more drinks than I did for him. -_- Still...many "Porn Star" shots and bear hugs later, I can't deny I'm going to miss the guy.

Sat started off with dinner at Edo with MelT, Mirchan and JCh -- for his birthday. Wanted to get the omakase ("leave it to the chef") but turned out that JCh (who made the booking) didn't know that he had to specify it in advance. The regular menu was only ok -- decent but a little pricey for the smallish quantity and regular quality. After that, karaoke at BMB Karaoke in Koreatown! I'd already lost my voice from trying too hard to talk in the club the night before, and was planning on just lip-synching....but of course the atmosphere was just too much fun to stick to the rules.

Someone had the great idea of making T-shirts with the Dong Cheim inside joke on them, and altho I didn't want one, DLee ordered one anyway -- essentially I'd been bullied into it. -_- Still, it was a fun night with the singing of torch songs, corresponding dance moves, shaking of tambourines, throwing of fruit at each other (well really, just between Harold and JCh), attempts to dong chim and/or squash each oher (among the guys) and of course, alchohol. Thankfully DLee was pretty gone...I managed to get away with less than 5 sips of the stuff. Not good for throats after all. Also pitched in for the food processor we ended up getting him.

Sunday afternoon, met up with GP for brunch (hadn't seen nor talked to him for ages) and tried brunch at Meggie's. It was better than I expected (the food blogs made it out to be some sort of greasy spoon). It's true that the food is not very diet friendly but the atmosphere was awesome -- it had a great cottage-y feel to it and I thought immediately of Winhill. Later stopped by the doc to pick up meds for an eye infection that I thought was just starting up. Also asked him to look at the cough I'd started to develop...but he said that there was nothing congesting my chest and I didn't need anything.

He was wrong on the latter. My weakened state incl loss of voice, combined with airplane air I had to breathe for 18 hours plus, all culminated in a cough that started in the plane, got worse in HK and slowly recovered from in Seoul, South Korea.

But more abt that leg of my vacation later.

Recently went for the annual training session held by my firm. This was the third time around and surprise, surprise, the first time we got to go somewhere other than Cleveland. Which is good cos I was getting sick of the Sushi Rock and Spy Bar ritual anyway. We were debating between NYC and Atlanta and altho I hadn't been to the latter before, discussion brought us to the consensus that since we'd be spending most of the day in class anyway, we wouldn't be able to see many of the sights in Atlanta. And NYC definitely had better nightlife.

NYC it was then! Flew out on the Friday, Mar 12 with not just my batch of hires, but the ones a level below us as well. I think the entire group numbered around 20...and that was just from the Toronto office. Lodged at a serviced apartment that night before moving to the hotel in Times Square on Sunday...reason being that Times Square is where the training was going to be held.

Was glad that I'd done NYC sightseeing with Sandy and friend Reina in 2004, because this time around, the group was all about the parties and the NYC atmosphere. Friday night, dinner at the Italian restaurant neighbouring our apartment in the mid-town Lexington area, followed by a jaunt to the AER Club in the Warehouse district. Saturday, Japanese dinner, also close to the apartment before the Warehouse district again to the Club Duvet. This club was probably cloned after Bed (made famous by Sex and the City) and was pretty nice...only that it played house music for a good couple hours after we got there. Now, anyone worth their salt knows that in North America...its all about the hip-hop. No one would dance to the music till Jenn S walked up to the DJ and bluntly asked, "When are you going to play hip hop?" He agreed to, and in 2 mins the floor started filling up. Jenn's gutsy that way.

Sunday was a trip to Woodbury Premium Outlets, by far the best outlet mall I've been to. Trust MD to know about this one -- aside from the standards like GAP, Nike and Guess, it also had Versace, Camper, Prada, Kenneth Cole, Burberry (where MD blew her budget on an spring trenchcoat). Me? Just two pairs of sunglasses (one of them free), a Banana Republic tote bag, and an Esprit sweater. Later that night, dinner at Olive Garden and we called it an early night to prepare for the first day of training on Monday.

I thought that the training itself was pretty informative. Most of it consisted of Q&A and I got to hear what ppl from other regions do when it comes to managing teams/engagements. For breaks, we played 'Top 10' where each team brainstormed answers. Prizes were cheap but it was the non-cheesiest game I've played at a training session so far. I guess we're all growing up after all.

Mon night was a trip to see David Letterman live! I have much respect for AS post-trip...he really organized almost everything for us. The guest during our taping was Richard Gere who talked about his new movie and his new slow-food restaurant, and some guy who organizes the Discover Club's annual Exotic Food event. I would've preferred Jay Leno, but there was SOME amusement in watching David Letterman attempt to eat alligator meat and cow eyeballs. Got back to the hotel in time to have dinner on the firm. I had the seabass which I found a little overdone, but ppl who had the filet mignon pronounced it divine. The pre-dinner platter of raw oysters and shellfish, the yummy salad and the a dessert of rich and smooth creme brulee made up for the dissapointing main dish. Did I mention oysters already? :P

Post-dinner, went over to the drinking party at AS's room but called it an early night. Some went down to the hotel bar/lounge, and from the next morn's account of it, had a roaring good time, staying till the bar had almost emptied out. As an aside, my whole idea of what NY cheesecake is has been re-defined thanks to Lindy's just a block east of the Ed Sullivan Theater where the taping was held. Mmm cheesy yumminess.

Tue night was the last night of being at training, and keeping with tradition, we had to go all out. First was dinner at Dallas USA, a greasy spoon place I wouldn't have gone to if it weren't for Max and SK wanting to meet up with previous training session-mates who were based in NY. Still it was a good time cos MD, AD and I go to know the Vancouver ppl a bit better. Then we were sposed to go to a club called Marquee but decided it was too expensive -- ended up at Home instead just around the block which was really just fine too. It was really funny watching Young P and AS do the "lightbulb-screwing" (in Young P's words) dance move but poor NM and MD reached their party limit that night.

Wed we packed up and had a quick dinner at a Parisian bistro close to our hotel, then MD, NM, AD and I were on the plane to Miami! This leg of the trip was purely for leisure -- we figured that since we were in the US anyway, might as well take the rest of the week off for a respite from the chilly weather. Arrived at the serviced apt around midnight -- it was huge and we could've easily fit in another 6 ppl if we wanted to! However the price was still cheaper compared to the hotels in the South Beach area, which was where we were going to spend most of our time.

From Thu to Sun, visited the beach (just once, cos AD lost her less-than-48-hour-old sunglasses and that turned us off the sea) walked and shopped Lincoln Road Mall (a pedestrian mall) and the Art Deco district  and caught a movie ("I Think I Love my Wife") in between just relaxing and enjoying the sun. NY had been hit by a snowstorm Thu evening and I can't deny we felt lucky/smug that we'd escaped it by leaving earlier than the others (the juniors had class till Thu and had planned to take off on Fri).

The problem with not blogging for a long time is when I write abt what happened since the last time I did, a lot of the details on what made it interesting are lost....which is a pity. I have frequently wished that there would be some small gadget that I can just use to capture what I saw, heard, felt and knew at the time.... but I might end up not using it either. When I try to record that moment, somehow a bit of the subject matter is lost -- the sights just seem a little duller, the sounds a little less moving, the feelings a little less intense...and the knowledge, a little more rational.

That last one might actually come in handy though, in the case of someone like me who's so prone to speaking too quickly.

For now, I think a camera is for me, the gadget that captures the moment with minimal loss of the atmosphere.

So...what has happened since 2 weeks ago:

1) Japanese-themed dinner at JCh's on Sat w Mirchan and DLee...by far one of our healthiest dinners by his own admission. On the menu: tuna carpaccio salad, quail's egg with baby bok choy and braised pork belly, duo of hot and cold soba with mushrooms and pan-fried black cod, tau foo fah (soybean pudding) with sweet syrup. All made from scratch, save the tau foo fah itself. Followed that with some watching of 'Lost'.

2) Before heading to JCh's, decided to cook all the stuff in my fridge that was on the verge of going bad...and then some. And then cleaned the apartment...very dirty esp since starting this whole Kitchener assignment thing. Very pooped after it all.

3) On Fri, attended the first team planning event that I'd actively participated in.... although it helped that this particular one was focused only on the sub-division of the engagement I'm working on (the prev ones I've attended were always at the engagement level) and that our sub-team is pretty small. Then, went to see 'Wicked', playing at the Canon Theatre!

4) Thursday, townhall meeting for the industry I'm assigned to -- financial services institutions. Not very useful as it was organized by the financial auditors, who seem to have forgotten that they'd invited the specialty practices (of which my dept is part of) and so proceeded to give a presentation that seemed to only be focused on them. Heck, their "Welcome to the new hires!" portion totally ignored us! Plus, the atmosphere reeked of "I know you guys just got hired/promoted, but don't leave us! This is why you shouldn't leave us..." Sigh. it's common knowledge that the turnover rate is high...but the way they presented it... And I thought the campus recruitment video for the 2007 batch was cringeworthily cheesy.

5) Tues and Wed -- trying to recover from Boston while keeping it together at work. Frankly speaking, Tues was a pain -- we flew back in from Boston late Mon night, but I had to show up downtown to file my expenses and pick up the rental car...then drive straight from there to a meeting in Kitchener. After the meeting, I was desperately seeking rest, so called it a day and checked into the hotel. Worked after the nap and dinner instead.

6) 4-day trip to Boston! Stayed over at JCh's with Mirchan so we could take the Fri red-eye flight....and only realized it was one while calculating the exact time we had to wake up -- and realized it had to be 4.45am. O_o

(i) Day 1: Met LWA at Logan Airport just outside of downtown Boston, then picked up the rental car and headed towards Provincetown, stopping at Sandwich on the way. Cape Cod all day, battling the chill (I guess off-season really means off-season) -- thank goodness for modern heating! It does make one wonder how the Pilgrims survived when they first landed there. Stayed the night just outside Boston in a teeny town (probably just a business centre?) called Rockland -- it only warranted ONE roadsign....even Mashpee (doesn't the name scream 'rural'?) had more mentions.

(ii) Day 2: Drove into Boston to drop off the car and promptly felt thankful we decided not to drive the whole trip.... all those crazy one-way streets and flyovers! Getting to the drop-off took 1/3 of the entire car trip duration that morning. However, Jurys Hotel (formerly the Boston Police HQ) provided a warm welcome, we got to check in early and LWA and Mirchan extracted tourist info from the doorman who was from (surprise surprise) Montreal!

After a quick walk towards Tremont St, arrived at Aquitaine for brunch, then split up as JCh and Mirchan headed to Newbury St to check out the stores, and LWA and myself decided to walk towards the Isabella Gardner Museum. This museum was unique to me cos firstly, it was artwork across many types of media and eras, and secondly, Ms Gardner insisted on the lighting being kept the way it was before she died in the early 1900's, and thirdly, most of the art was NOT labeled as per her will as she wanted ppl to view the pieces and not be influenced by the name or history of the artist. I thought it was a refreshing, albeit unusual take on the appreciation of art. No photography allowed though, unfortunately.

On the way there, stopped briefly at Copley Square and also the Christian Science Church compound (seriously looking like an ancient Greek temple) and then the Mary Eddy Baker library to see the Mapparium, which is a big globe made of stained glass that shows the world and its boundaries as of the early 1930's. Again, no photography! :( Then, Newbury St and Back Bay, before meeting back up with JCh and Mirchan at the hotel. Dinner at Kingfish Hall in the Quincy Market area.

(iii) Day 3: Walked Beacon Hill and checked out the pub that inspired Cheers -- the Bull and Finch Pub. Quick stop for gelato and coffee, then lunch at a Todd English restaurant, Figs -- yummy pizza, but it would've been useful if they told us each one can serve 2 ppl! Following that, walked the Freedom Trail then to Quincy Market / Faneuil Hall for some shopping...then wound up at the North End for Mike's cannoli. Dinner at Penang restaurant -- one of the best Malaysian I've tasted in North America: the asam laksa was seriously authentic.

(iv) Harvard! It's a lovely campus to walk, and our tour guides (seniors at Harvard) made it entertaining with little anecdotes, plenty of energy and good voices. LWA had to leave earlier for her flight, but the 3 of us spent the rest of the day wandering the shops around Harvard Square, then ending up back in the North End for simple Italian. Satisfying... Then it was back to the airport and Toronto.
 
7) On the Mon and Tues prior to the trip, JE CAATs (Journal Entry Computer Assisted Audit Technique) training. 2 days worth of learning how to use the ACL program to clean and process mounds of electronic records into useful info. Dinner at Marche on the Exec Director's tab and bfast/lunch included...they do try to make us comfy in spite of tightening budgets company-wide. *mini <3 to the organizer*

I must be the only one who attended but am not in line to perform actual work on it. My current engagement manager noticed and asked if I would like to try to fit something in after the complete end of this engagement (in Feb) and before my next one starts... I know that I won't remember much of the training unless I actually try it out on a real life case...but will I survive? Or rather, will my social life survive? I left his question open-ended...for now.

8) Thanksgiving celebrations at JCh's. Since Melly wasn't able to make it to Boston, we had it a week early on the weekend of Oct 1: Turkey, stuffing and pear frangipane tart! Yes, it was yummy...

I think we're up to speed now. Phew. Going forward...another trip to KW, and alongside it...stronger resolve to blog more often, perhaps? ;)

Day 3, everyone grumbled abt the early start, but there wasn't much we could do. JCh, DLee, Ron, Jeff C, YLee and myself were going white-water rafting at New World Rafting, which was an hr's drive away while MeLT and Mirchan had an appointment with an instructor to try out rock climbing on the natural rock face. Boon was the only one who escaped, going back to bed after bfast with everyone else -- but then he had a major hangover that I didn't envy too much.

White-water rafting was very wet, a little scary, very tiring (altho offset by the fact that our raft had 3 girls and 7 guys in it) but all in all very fun!

Anyway, about $116 got me a two trips down the course (once before and once after lunch), lunch, dinner, equipment (paddle, lifejacket, helmet), a guide and 8 other fellow rafters. 6 being our lil gang, 2 being a couple from Ottawa (Allison, a doctor and Mike, a photographer) and 1 being a London-based Pole (Mira, a lifeguard). DLee being a law student, we thought we had the combination of rafters most prepared for something like white-water rafting. ;)

J.P. was our guide for the day -- he teaches English to troubled kids for most of the year and is a rafting and kayaking guide during the summer. French is still his first language tho and when we had to come up with a name for our group, a suggestion of "Hungry Hippos" became something that got us really weird stares from the other rafts instead ("Hungry Nipples? Well I've not heard that one before, but ok! Everyone, let's say "Hungry Nipples!""). He also kept us entertained with random songs snippets and lots of jokes about potatoes, grains of sand and football players saving dogs from burning buildings. 

Allison was a former camp counselor as well, so she contributed with a couple of good ones, one abt a fortune teller and another one involving spelling, "I" and "ness". The latter was esp funny and really cracked J.P. up -- he insisted on stopping two other rafts on separate occasions to tell it to them.

Let's not forget abt the rafting! The course comprised of 5 sets of rapids (all between Class 3 and 4) on the River Rouge, flanked by the greenest scenery that rose up from rocky grounds....and we did it twice! I fell out twice and jumped out once, and we even did a 'candle', where we all crowded in the back end of the raft to make the front end stand up almost in a 6 o'clock positions. Got squished among elbows and knees and paddles, but still worth the experience.

As for falling out, we all did our first time together! It was the first rapid and J.P. asked "Do you want it hardcore?" ... and then our raft flipped over, emptying us all. One minute we were paddling like crazy, the next we were gently but unavoidably falling off, the next it was dark and water was all around and everyone was bumping into each other as they tried to swim up, the next we were on the surface and swimming towards the raft....

The second time I fell out, less than half the boat fell out with me. Altho water was going over my head, I felt strangely calm -- Mira tho sounded panicky as she kept calling out to me and asking if I was ok. Later on I found out that I looked like I was drowning since I had my whole head submerged in water.

Jeff C wasn't so lucky....he got dragged under the raft and altho it was technically filled with air, that thing is tough. Result was a concussion, a broken nose and some loose teeth. It was a good thing that we had Allison on board! Altho later on she joked that we never asked her what kind -- she turned out to be both a family and a pallative care doctor, the latter being the one in charge of terminally ill patients.

Tired out by the end of it all, and glad to be heading home to dinner and another good soak in the hot tub! Dinner was pasta with sauteed mushrooms, grilled chicken in Montreal spice, grilled steak and veggies...followed by the movie Capote on DVD -- a good film but in a talky kinda way.

Next morn, managed to secure an addt'l hr till checkout, so used it towards a more leisurely bfast of leftovers, both from the two prev dinners and whatever was left in the fridge. Drove out just before noon, stopped by Saint-Sauveur for some factory outlet shopping but didn't see anything I liked.

Arrived back in TO, had quick Chinese dinner, dropped off home by MeLT and hit the sack before 11pm. For the rest of the week, was achey, bruise-y and very exhausted....but it was all worth it.

As Ron put it:

"I'm back at work, and I'm writing to report that I am SERIOUSLY not happy about it. :(

And, I want that house."

Good times, ppl.

Pics and vids available at JCh's! This is probably when the curious should sign up for a Multiply acct. :P 

Day 2 began a little lazily but literally to the tune of 'Beautiful Day' as DLee turned up the stereo with my U2 CD. After bfast of french toast and sausages, set out to the Village to check out the activities on offer at Mont-Tremblant.

Settled on the Acrobranch as our first activity. This is a set of 5 networks (called 'games') consisting of ziplines (flying fox lines) and wooden logs and planks suspended above ground amongst trees. Each of us had to put on a harness with 2 safety carabinders on it: we had to make sure they were always clipped to the red 'lifeline'. Also hooked onto our harness was a heavy metal 'pulley' that we had to clip onto the ziplines before we traveled on them. The idea is to get from one point to another either by walking tightropes or hopping from log to log or sliding across the ziplines.

The beginning was slow-ish cos we had to get the hang of the safety equipment...plus, it's a little unnerving being so high up you know! In my case it helped that the sight of the ground was obscured by the tree branches...

In addition, saw 3 deer! In full daylight, late afternoon, even with the (admittedly few) attendants on ground level...they came out and walked around even as we were shouting to each other from the treetops.

Later, the gang split up -- Mirchan, MeLT and myself were going horseback riding. After a 1/2 hr drive to the ranch, met our horses and guide, Jonathan and an experienced couple from Ottawa. The trail was along the River Rouge (Red River), then up a mountain.

It was a bumpy ride made worse by all the mud and sludge from the heavy rain (a few of the communities lost power) a couple of days before. Interesting to go up a mountain on horseback, but when the horses have to navigate mud puddles filled with rocks...it also becomes a little scary. MeLT's horse stumbled a few times and Mirchan's took its time....but my horse decided to go its own way.

I'd thought from the beginning that my horse, Sultan, looked a little bad-tempered...and this was when I was proven right. The horse ignored most of my efforts to rein it back, and decided to strike out on its own path while forgetting that I'm on it..and I'm not made of air. I was running into tree branches (thankfully none too big that I couldn't push away with both hands) and scraping my legs against tree trunks, and at one moment, it ran down a small tree and it sprung back up and almost hit me. :S

We were quite glad when we arrived at our destination: abt 2/3 of the way up the mountain and a 1-min hike to a huge rock -- we made our way there and were rewarded with a view of the valley below us, backed by another set of mountains. The experienced couple had brought beers, and we just chilled on that rock as we watched the sun set. It was compensation for the rocky ride.

After that we had to go back down the way we came up! We were a little unnerved, but Jonathan assured us that it would be quicker and easier this time cos the horses know they're going back. He was right...perhaps too right. My horse decided that it wanted to go home very badly, and cantered at every possible moment in spite of me reining it back. It even pulled ahead of Jonathan's horse until he came over and gave the rope a hard yank. "Show him who's boss", he said... guess sometimes you can't be nice even if you try.

Arriving back at the house, we found the boys cooking a yummy dinner of chicken curry, beef rendang and shredded cabbage with corn beef. DLee had also fired up the hot tub, perfect balm for sore muscles! Lots of beer, a bottle of absinthe (70% alchohol) and magic brownies... Put that all together and you get crazy times in the hot tub and at the dining table. Not to mention ppl puking then passing out, but that gave certain others the opportunity to paint JCh's nails red.

And we brought no nail polish remover. ;) 

Back from a long 4-day weekend, still recuperating, but it was definitely worth it.

It all started with DLee asking if anyone was interested in booking a lodge on Mont-Tremblant and going away for the Civic Day long weekend (Aug 5-7). My company gave us all the day off on Aug 4 (Fri), so why not?

I have to admit that I DID hesitate just slightly -- I've not really had a weekend to myself in a long time -- but I'm so glad I took up the offer, and later on, didn't let my back spur me into pulling out.

My weekend getaway started on Thurs night with MeLT picking me up and going over to DLee's place. The plan was to head out early Fri morn and he stayed a good 1/2 hr drive away from me.

"Early" turned out to be 10.30am after breakfast of homemade kon loh noodles courtesy of DLee's grandma, but eventually DLee, YLee, MeLT, Mirchan and myself were on the road in the family van. Got to the Rendevous (resort's name) check-in at around 6pm, then after a short stop to pick up groceries, got to the Le Panache (model type) lodge by 7.30-ish.

The lodge was really impressive..for around $700 a night, we were getting a 3-storied (incl basement level which opened out to a lower ground patio) semi-detached house with 4 bedrooms, 2 living rooms, 3.5 bathrooms, 3 TV sets (with DVD players), a hot tub, airconditioning, kitchen (equipped with dishwasher, wine cooler, huge fridge, gas stove and oven, BBQ utensils on top of the usual cutlery (pots/pans/ceramicware and silverware)), a stereo set, 2 fireplaces AND a wooden upper-level patio enclosed in bug netting with BBQ stove. It could comfortably sleep 8 ppl, and if we used the sofa space, 12 ppl would be no problem methinks. And if you want to bring sleeping bags...there'll still be lots of floor space left over.

Mirchan proceeded to take JCh's role and led the dinner preparations with us as her helpers. The end result was a very yummy sausage pasta with homemade cream sauce (I was very impressed since I always thought cream sauce was hard to make) and a tomato-based alternative.

The other carload of ppl (JCh, Boon, Ron, Jeff C) arrived at 1am and thus missed out on the cream sauce. :P While waiting for them, we watched 'The Matador', starring Pierce Brosnan and Greg Kinnear -- pretty good movie, will write up a review later.