Now I can.

I also understand how important thick socks and beanies are.

Hands up those of you who have had ice-covered glasses and eyelashes.

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I'm sure you're all aware that I'm now living in Calgary with Travis, one of the boys that I met in Montreal. I'm working at a clothing store in Chinook Mall for the time being. I had Sunday off work, and it was one of the best days ever.

Slept in and didn't wake up to an alarm. I DID, however, wake up to a whole lot of snow falling from the sky. Three of us went out for brunch at a popular cafe in Hillshurst. There was a bit of a wait, so we stood outside in the snow drinking coffee for an hour. Had the best food ever - berry filled crepes with fresh fruit.
Travis and I went shopping downtown and got some great bargains. There was SO much snow that we couldn't even see the roads. The trees were covered. The cars were covered. It was all powdery and crunched under our feet when we walked.

We arrived home, and there was a note under our apartment door telling us to go to the drugstore over the road to collect some parcels. YAY! Christmas presents from home are now lying underneath our Christmas tree.

Travis and I then put on our pjs, wrapped ourselves up in blankets, and watched Pay it Forward on DVD while eating chocolate. The fairy lights were on, and we lit candles around the house.

It REALLY felt like Christmas.

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We have been having a blast. It’s going to be a bit of a task to write everything on here at once, so I think I’ll have to do it in a few updates. It’s hard to write this thing without making it sound boring and “we did this then we did that”, so hopefully my Thursday night brain will be awake enough to make it mildly entertaining.

After New York, Steph and I caught the infamous Greyhound Bus up to Niagara. We figured it was a good idea to catch an overnight bus, as we’d save on a nights accommodation, sleep the whole way, and get there feeling great. Naieve New Zealanders is all I can say. We were pretty squished. We had stops every hour or so at different stations. We were told we had to change buses, picked up all our baggage at about 2am, waited in the terminal, only to be told half an hour later that we were to get BACK on the bus we’d disembarked.

We arrived in Niagara at about 8am, and thinking we were smart to save money, we decided to walk to our hostel. Almost an hour later, carrying about 40kgs of luggage each, we made it. Would’ve been smarter to pay $4 each and catch a taxi rather than almost collapse after a night of no sleep and a huge unexpected hike! Hindsight is a wonderful thing.

We stayed in Niagara for four nights, and during that time we:
- Walked to the Niagara Falls about eight times
- Went on the Maid of the Mist and the Journey Behind the Falls
- Caught a taxi to the little township of Niagara-on-the-Lake which was so cute – like it belonged in a movie. It was immaculate, with little wineries and bakeries and icecream parlours. Both Steph and I managed to “taste” enough samples to fill us up enough to skip dinner. Good way to save money!
- Travelled over class 5 rapids in a jet boat. (There are 6 classes of rapids, with class 1 being the most tame, to class 6 being the most violent. Yes, we are brave!).
- Almost bought an old van to drive around Canada in, however the insurance didn’t work out and we ran out of time, so we flagged that idea.

The hostel we stayed in was clean (which is more than I can say for some of them!) and we met some really interesting people. The owner was quite overbearing, but meant well.

The falls themselves were, I have to say, disappointing. I KNOW you don’t want to hear that because they’re one of the Must See things in the world, but I really thought that they would be more impressive. The whole town was very touristy and tacky with casinos and bright flashing lights and ferris wheels. The falls were lit up at night with colourful lights. It was all far too commercialised.

The Maid of the Mist was the best thing we did. They give you huge ponchos to wear, and you are taken on a boat really close to the falls. The noise that they made was quite impressive, and because Steph and I were right at the front of the boat (yay for our Beijing training!) we got soaked.

It was great to have had some “down” time – to do laundry and rest and go for walks and cook some decent meals, but four days really was too much.

I was talking to a German guy that I met and told him that we’d been in Niagara for four days. He laughed, and said “one day is half day too many”. I couldn’t have said it better myself.

Next stop – Goderich!

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I’m sitting on the tiles (sound familiar??) next to the only power point I can find at Beijing Airport waiting for our flight to board to Dubai. We are going to be there for ten days. Ben was only guaranteed 5 days to spend with us, but for some reason he’s got the roster from heaven this month. He has the WHOLE ten days off that we’re there. AND! To top it off, he’s working on our flight from Dubai to New York so we get special treatment. He has a 52 HOUR LAYOVER in New York too, which means that Steph and I get two nights staying in the Sheraton in Times Square for free. The best bit though is that we have 12 days with Benj now, instead of the 5 we were banking on. Awesome!

Beijing. Was. Awesome. It was really cool seeing the family again too. The hockey boys didn’t do as well as they deserved to – coming 7th out of 12 – but they had a few games that just didn’t go their way. Suppose that’s how sport goes though.

The atmosphere at the games was awesome. My favourites would have to be the mens semifinal where the game between Germany and Holland was so close that it went down to a sudden death penalty shootout, and the womens final between China and Holland – they have the most passionate loudest supporters ever.

Taxi drivers in Beijing are MAD. They must all go to the same driving school, where they’re taught to pulse the accelerator. Onnn off. Onnnnn off. Almost get whiplash going along the motorway. They don’t change gear at the right time either. We’ve had both extremes – starting in third gear, and staying in second gear for faaaar too long. All drivers here just toot when they’re approaching other people, and dodge bikes/other cars/buses/trucks/pedestrians with pushchairs – you name it. It’s every man for himself here. The give way rule doesn’t apply. You just go when you want, and you push your way through.

We discovered that people in China move slowly, unless they’re on a hockey pitch or in a queue. There were 9 of us that travelled around together, and we mastered the art of forming our own Great Wall. This stopped people from pushing in front of us when we were getting on buses. Worked a treat. They push everywhere though. This morning I was in the queue at the supermarket, and an elderly woman gave me a shove with her elbow as she walked past. Don’t worry – I gave her one back. Used to playing these games now. ☺

Mum bought a Dunce Cap at the markets (more on the markets soon) which was given to the person who did the dumbest thing of the day. Abby started it off on day one. We got to the train station with the help of a local woman who could speak a little bit of English. We lined up and got our tickets, and then went through the electronic gates one by one. Abby’s turn. She swipes her card. The gate was open from the person before her, so didn’t open again, but it was open. She stood there. Looked at it. Looked up at us through on the other side. Looked at her ticket. Looked at the gate. It closed.
She tried her ticket again, but obviously was locked out. The girl who had shown us how to get to the train station then spoke to the person behind the counter, and Abby got let through a “special” gate.
I suppose I can’t talk though. I earnt the hat by thinking that the Lama Temple we were going to was a zoo. I was surprised when we turned up and were looking at Buddhas. Whoops.

The markets. They were insane. You walk through the door and get hounded. “Lady lady lady! Beautiful lady! You want scarf? You want shirt? Pyjamas? Bag? I have all! Gucci, Prada, Louis Vuitton. You want watch? Real diamonds! Best quality!”. You get good at bargaining with them though. We got some pretty good deals! Gotta be careful what you buy though. Some of the hockey team bought iphones. $100 each. Bargain! But they’re duds. Hahahahahahaha.

We did so much while we were here. Every day was busy. Every second day was filled with hockey, so we had half the time to spend doing other things. Went to the Beijing Zoo (which was very disappointing and sad – animals in concrete enclosures), Summer Palace (though it POURED with rain – not really “summer”!), lots of temples, Tiananmen Square, markets markets markets…

I was surprised with Beijing. For some reason I expected most people to speak/read/understand English. But I was wrong. We’re now pretty good at sign and body language! At times it’s been like living on another planet. Most people have been very friendly and helpful though.

The city itself is pretty cool. HUGE buildings, and lots of them are extraordinary. Rounded corners. Bits that stick out. SO much glass. The city is massive and just seems to goes on and on forever. Each building is separate though, with nice gardens. The city is much cleaner and greener than I had imagined.

I’m not sure what everyone was talking about regarding pollution. Noone noticed anything! Would have been great to see the city prior to the “cleanup” though to see what changes were made.

The weather was pretty good. It kind of followed a bit of a pattern – a few days of brilliant sunshine, a hazy humid day, and then a day of pouring rain. It’s great being over here where it’s hot and sunny – thinking of all you poor people in the cold wet Southern Hemisphere. ☺

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Trains are entertaining. We’re pretty impressed with the AMTRAK trains too. There is heaps of room, so we’re not all squished. The foot rests are really comfy, the seats recline so you can sleep… no complaints at all from that perspective. We do happen to be surrounded by oddbodz.

In front of us is the most retarded bunch of adults – I estimate they’re about 30 years old. They’re from Winnipeg and have been providing us with lots of entertainment.
• They keep trying to play Travel Games to pass the time. Their first Travel Game was to sing a song, but change the lyrics. For example: “Maaaary had a little lamb” became “I like to play with pots and pans”. Their second game was to try to talk to each other in different voices. Like, holding their noses. Third game was Paper, Scissors, Rock. So much fun!!!!!!!!! (note the sarcasm….)
• The man was sitting by the window, looked out, and said “CHOO CHOO!”
• The woman that’s with the bunch of retards looks JUST like Mel from Flight of the Conchords, however she’s not a fan of Bret and Jermaine, but a fan of Stephs. Creepy staring woman.

Next to us is an overweight Chinese woman who has eaten nothing for the whole train ride but boiled eggs. All of a sudden it starts to smell terrible, I look over, and there she is peeling another one.
Chinese woman decided she felt cold and needed a jumper. She asked the lady next to her if she could stand on her chair to reach the overhead locker. Up she goes. She had her hands rifling around in her bags, when BOOM! The seat broke. Yes, I laughed. And no, it wasn’t quietly.

To top things off, behind us is an ANGRY man.
Man: “Did you bring food? Snacks?”
Wife: “No I didn’t.”
Man: “SO YOU EXPECT ME TO STARVE? NOT HAVE ANY FOOD? F**K!”
He then went back to playing his very noisy shoot ‘em up game. It looks like he has enough internal food supply to last him for years, so I’m sure the 12 hour train journey wont kill him.

After our 12 hour train journey from Toronto to New York with a carriage full of monkeys, we have 15 hours to kill before our flight leaves. I’m thinking it’ll take us at least an hour to find our way to JFK and then we’ll take turns sleeping/watching the bags. Saves money on accommodation!

The first leg of our flight is 14 hours to Dubai. We then have 3 hours in Dubai before leaving on our 8 hour flight to Beijing. At least we’re with Emirates and will have a whole lot of movies to watch. Ben has checked online and apparently the flight isn’t full so we may even get more room than normal. Fingers crossed!

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The hostel I stayed at was in an awesome location and can’t be faulted at all. I made a new friend – Jessica who was from Calgary – on the first day I was there. We had dinner up at the CN Towers revolving restaurant (the CN Tower is SO like the Sky Tower) which was nice. Did some exploring with Jess the next morning through the streets of Toronto.

That night we got another girl staying in our room – Andi who was from Adelaide. We went out to the Hard Rock Café for dinner and had to walk for ages in the pouring rain.

Jess left the following morning, and so Andi and I went and got haircuts (WELL overdue!) then wandered around the waterfront. We went to a Major League Baseball game at night time which was by FAR the highlight of my time in Toronto. It was great going with her as she used to play for South Australia so could explain the finer details to me. We paid $9 each and had awesome seats right behind the home plate.

The Toronto Blue Jays beat the Oakland Allstars.
There were 2 home runs (which apparently is unusual).
There was a proposal on the big screen.
Brian Littrell of ex-Backstreet Boys fame was the celebrity pitcher. Yummmmmm

The funniest part was watching grown men scramble for the ball when it got hit into the stands. At one point there were about 20 adults crawling around trying to find the ball. One guy picked it up, and his mate was SO annoyed. He stormed off, and when he returned, sat with his back to his friend.

Canada has been cool, but I have to say that Montreal was by FAR the better city.

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Nick and Dan had three friends that were in Montreal for the week, so we did a lot of things with them. Went walking (no, charging!) up Mount Royale and had a look at the view of the city. Had lots of yummy meals. Met lots of cool people. This is what it's about!

I'm a bit dumb when it comes to using this site, but I'll try to suss out how to upload photos sometime soon.

I made it to Toronto yesterday morning, but am yet to catch up with Steph. I booked into a hostel as there wasn't enough room at Stephs friends house, and it just happens to be one of the best hostels ever! Went to the CN Tower yesterday with a girl in my hostel, which is the tallest tower in the world (although I think it has JUST been surpassed by a building in Dubai). It cost us $55 for a trip up to the viewing platforms and a three course dinner in their revolving restaurant. Yummmm. Not sure what we'll do tonight as it's POURING with rain and there are big claps of thunder. We had planned on seeing an outdoor movie, but it's not quite the weather for that!

Off to Beijing in a few days to meet up with the family and watch the NZ boys kick some butt at the Olympics. We've got a pretty hectic few days of travel to get there, but it should all be worth it in the end. Hurray!!

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We spent a few hours at the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), then I left Steph there and went to see Hairspray on Broadway by myself. Apparently Ricki Lake used to play Tracey Turnblad - maybe I missed my calling?

We got up bright and early the next morning to catch our AMTRAK trains. Steph went to Toronto to see her friend Shern, and I've come to Montreal to stay in the flat Nick is in.

WOW what a SLOW train ride! Who knew that trains could go sooooooooooooooooooo slowly???? Luckily there was heaps of room, and I sat next to a cool Canadian girl, so the 11 hour ride went quite quickly.

Dan and I went to see X-Files when I arrived, and spent all day yesterday exploring the city (Dan hasn't been here before either). Met up with some of the boys friends last night and went into the clubbing area. Got to sleep at five thirty this morning. This staying up all night business is SO not like me! Nana blankets are SO last month hehe.

Nick and I went for a walk this morning around a different part of Montreal. I had expectations of New York, but Montreal is somewhere I've never really thought about before. It's cool coming to a city that you have no idea about, and no preconceived ideas. I kind of thought that because it was Canada, it would be similar to America. Woah was I wrong! All the signs are in French, everyone speaks French, the streets are mainly brick, the buildings are VERY grand... Quite exciting! They are very trendy here and are big on fashion.

Dan was looking for glasses frames, and so yesterday we popped into an optometrist. It was SO funky. We walked up these stairs, and came across a guy and a girl sitting behind a bar. The guy gave us bottled water, and made us sit down in front of mirrors. He asked Dan what he was looking for and gave him a whole lot of different frames to try that would suit his face. It was called a Glasses Bar. How cool is that!

The house that Nick is staying in is awesome. One of the girls has a big room, and so she's put curtains up in the middle and a big queensized mattress on the floor for me. She's lovely, and it's so great to be able to have my clothes unpacked (and WASHED!) for a change.

One of the flatmates is slightly odd. He's from Saudi Arabia and has moved here to learn English (to a French speaking city - go figure). He is currently sitting in the lounge singing at the top of his lungs "I BEREEVE I CAN FRYYYYYY.... I BEREEVE I CAN TOUCH DA SKYYYYYY....." VERY off key. Quite amusing really.

Also, they must have different toilet habits in Saudi Arabia. (Gran you might not want to read this part!). He would go to the toilet, then put his USED paper in the rubbish bin next to the toilet. WHO DOES THAT??? Apparently Canadians are very passive-aggressive people, and so noone had said anything to him about it. When I arrived we were talking about it, and I said "someone should tell him! He probably doesn't know!". So, when Dan and I were at the movies, Nick did the business.
"Ah, Abraham, in Canada when we go to the toilet, we put the paper down the toilet too. Not in the garbage."
"HUH?"
"Ah, paper goes in, flush."
"HUH?"
"Come with me."

• shows Saudi how it works*

"OH!"

• Saudi emptied his used paper from the garbage into the toilet, flushed, then walked out looking proud*

More weird stories to come I'm sure.

Lee xo

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• Saw Xanadu and Avenue Q which are both off broadway musicals. Xanadu = meh, Avenue Q was fantastic.

• Clubbing both on Friday and Saturday nights. Didn’t get in till 5am Saturday morning, then 6am Sunday morning.

• Had meals in lots of cool restaurants. Dan has a knack of finding a restaurant in a guide that he really wants to go to, dragging us there, and then finding it doesn’t exist. Three times it’s happened! He did manage to redeem himself though, by finding the quaintest little Italian restaurant in Brooklyn. Followed by the seediest bar in the world. Ew.

• Had a very “interesting” hostel-mate named Minh. He had the ability to interject conversations with the most random comments ever. Example: Minh: “Are you students? Because you look very young. Like, freshmen.”
Lee: “Ummm, nope. We’ve all been working now for at least two years.”
Minh: “What do you do?”
Steph: “I used to work at a bank doing back office stuff.”
Minh: “I miss my childhood.”
END CONVERSATION.

• As we were walking between clubs on Friday night, we passed a guy on the footpath. He yelled out “OH MY GOD LOOK! It’s Ricki Lake!” and pointed at me. That has now been the joke of the trip.

• By far the funniest thing that has happened so far though was on Sunday morning. Steph and I left Ben at a club at about five am. We (I) found out how to get to the subway and make our way home, while Steph provided the entertainment. I dragged her up to our room, and went to have a shower. When I came back, there was a pile of sheets on the floor. I fumbled around and found my torch.
What was on the linen? VOMIT. Indian food, vodka, and cranberry juice vomit. ALL over the pillow and sheets.
That night was Minh’s last night. He left bright and early the next morning. After he left, we decided to swap bedding. The vomit bedding went on his bed, and the clean bedding was put on Stephanies. I was here when the cleaners came. The woman walked in the door and her eyes bugged out of her head.
Lee: “Lots of vomit hey.”
Cleaner: “Yes yes! Lots of sick! Oh no!”
Lee: points to Minh’s bed
Cleaner: shakes head in disgust

Ben goes home in the morning. Steph is off to Toronto on Thursday at 7:15am, and I am catching the train to Montreal to meet up with Nick and Dan at 8:20am on Thursday. We’ll catch the train back from Toronto together on the 7th, and leave New York on the 8th bound for the Olympics. Simon had better get his broken finger better in time!

Hope everyone is well! Send us emails!

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Went to Central Park and Times Square. Times Square = WOW. I was in HEAVEN. That place is overwhelming. So many people, so many lights and so much going on.

Steph and I bought new ipods at the Apple Store. That shop is so cool! Sam you’d be overwhelmed. All these really cool displays and tutorials. You don’t even have to line up at the counter to pay. They have portable credit card machines which they bring up to you. AND ipods are WAY cheaper here than in New Zealand.

Nick and Dan are here now too. We went to see the Bodies Exhibition which was incredible, but also kind of disturbing. Seeing preserved bodies cut open was a bit freaky.

Legally Blonde was on last night on Broadway that we went to see. We got over 75% off tickets, meaning we payed only $25 each. But our seats were way up in the balcony. Such a cool show! We’re definitely seeing more shows before we leave.

Today was the Empire State building. We queued to get in. Queued for escalator. Queued for security checks. Queued to buy tickets. Queued for photos. Queued for elevators to the 80th floor. Queued for stairs to climb to the 86th floor. Queued up to look at the view. Queued up to exit. Yeah, you get the picture.

We returned shoes today way down by Ground Zero that Steph bought the other day. I’m sure she’s a natural blonde. She found “The Coolest Shoes”. But, she bought the left one a different colour from the right one. Good work.

Cold Stone was really cool. It’s an icecream place, where you choose a type of icecream and then a whole lot of inclusions. YUM. Times Square at night is even busier and more exciting than during the day. It’s sensory overload at its best – lights, noise, people pushing and a whole lot of smells from hotdog vendors/drains…

Went to Abercrombie and Fitch for Ben to buy some cologne. Usually there’s a line outside to get in, but we were lucky today and could walk straight through. Who would have thought you’d have to LINE UP to go into a clothes store??

Out tonight – wonder what clubbing in New York will be like…

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We've been flat tack since we arrived at seven thirty the other morning. Internet access isn't that easy (we have to venture down to the hostel basement to get reception, and we're hardly ever here) but hopefully I'll get a chance to do a proper update tomorrow.

We're having a blast. Just got back from Legally Blonde on Broadway. SO COOL!

Hope everyone is well - heard there is a big storm about to hit Auckland. Time to batten down the hatches! We don't have that issue here - it's sunny and HOT. Although last night we were sitting outside at dinner when lightening started flashing frequently and then all of a sudden it got REALLY windy. Reminded us of Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz. We picked up our stuff, and ran home. Didn't make it in time before the torrential rain drenched us. This morning - beautiful sunshine.

I don't like this tipping business though - feels like you're throwing away your money. I'm sure we'll get used to it.

Anyway, must dash. It's almost 1am and we're getting up early to go to the Empire State Building before the queues (hopefully).

Lee

Oh, and taking LOTS of photos too, much to the others embarrassment. I'm a typical tourist (without the short beige shorts, bum bag, cap, pasty legs, and shoes & socks).

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Our flight to Tahiti was okay. I managed to put my foot in my mouth (not literally), within the first few minutes of boarding. Steph and I were in row 44 of 45 rows. We sat down, and I announced, quite loudly – “Jeez there’s HEAPS of room in these seatbelts. How embarrassing would it be to have to have an extender!”
Not five seconds later, the couple directly behind us nabbed the air hostess. “Excuse me, can we both have seatbelt extenders please?”
I spoke quietly the rest of the flight.

They had 8 movies showing on the 5 hour flight which just kept circulating. I started to watch Definitely, Maybe and fell asleep for the last half hour. No worries, I’ll catch the end next time it comes on. They stopped the movie half an hour before the end. So I still don’t know what girl he ends up with! Typical.

The 2 hour stopover in Tahiti was okay. The seats were comfy in the transit lounge, but there was NOTHING to do. It rivals Vanuatu for the most boring airport on the planet. We did manage to play half a game of scrabble.

The next flight was okay, but LONG. I slept for a few hours intermittently, but poor Steph couldn’t sleep. I woke up once due to the air hostess tripping and pouring a glass of water all over me. Super! We’re both pretty knackered, as its 7am NZ time and we’ve had very minimal sleep and lots and lots of doing nothing.

It’s quite warm here. We went for a walk to try to stop Deep Vein Thrombosis from setting in. Oh, and we paid $9US for chicken and lettuce wrapped up in a tortilla. Rip off. Won’t do that again. Steph was amazed at the nachos that people were hoeing into. The cheese is ORANGE. And, they were eating it at 1030 in the morning. Yummmmmm – fat and salt for brekky.

Oh, and Dad, we checked in for our New York flight all on our own. Plugged the number into the screen and chose our seats (yay for exit rows!). Steph did ask the lady if we had to include our carry on luggage in the number of pieces per person, and instead of answering nicely, she just yelled “ZERO! Zero. Zero.”

Our connecting flight to New York has been delayed, meaning we have had a 5 hour stopover instead of 4. Neither of us can wait to get there and have a lie down.

It seems that everyone here talks on their cellphones. Like, excessively. Even though people look the same here and speak the same language, the culture is already so obviously different. We’re thinking this travelling business might make us appreciate New Zealand and New Zealanders a bit more!

Right, back to people watching and listening in to loud American conversations. It’s a very interesting pastime!

UPDATE: We are still in LA at the airport, still without sleep, and the plane has been delayed from 1:20pm until 6:30pm. Should it not leave at six thirty, we have to make other arrangements. Possibly via Salt Lake City. Might be quite fun – ticking Utah off the list. Haha. This is crazy now – way too long without sleep. I was just telling Steph that Grandad “flyed” airplanes. The words coming out of our mouths at the moment are from some made up language. Poor Ben – we’ve been trying to get in contact but so far no luck. Oh well, all part of the adventure I suppose!

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Everyone keeps asking when and where we're going, so I thought I'd put our itinerary up on here for all to see.

21st July Depart Auckland 1325

In New York for 10 nights, then spending time in Montreal (Lee) and Toronto (Steph)

8th August Depart New York 1120

In Beijing for 18 nights

27th August Depart Beijing 2355

In Dubai for 9 nights

6th September Depart Dubai 0830

From New York, we're somehow making our way across the States/Canada and ending up in Vancouver to do some kind of random work. Any suggestions for how to travel lots of miles for not much money please let us know!

Till next time,
Lee & Steph

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