Hopewell Rocks

I think I should put some photos of something near to home on this thing.

I haven't been to the Hopewell Rocks in a long time, so it was good to see it again. It was a really clear day, we could see all the way to Dorchester Cape from there.

Also did some repelling at Cape Enrage. I'm not really that good with heights, but once I figured out what I was doing I was abseiling downthat cliff like a pro.

Lunenburg

It was good to see Lunenburg again. Went out for a sail on the Bluenose. I wish we had a little more wind but we had fun anyway.

Chester

While growing up I spent many summers visiting my great-aunt and uncle, Marion and Johnny. It was really cool to go back and see all these places again.

Vancouver

Sorry for taking so long to update this thing... just slackness, no excuse for it.

I'm going to be putting my photos on Picassa now since its nicer to view them and easier for me to upload them. I'll still put some description of whats going on here too. You can press play to look at photos below or just look at all of them at http://picasaweb.google.ca/bulmer

Hong Kong

Hong Kong is a pretty cool city. Maybe it was just the constant rain but it really reminded me of Bladerunner.

The public Transit was good for the most part, but what's up with the long walk from Hong Kong Station to Central Station?

Anyway its apparently one of the most crowded cities in the world, but it didn't bother me too much. I really liked the octopus card... the card you use for the trains can be used at canvenience stores and fast food joints. Really cut down on having to deal with change.

Mark Twain once said "buy land they aren't making any more of it". Well HK and Macau are exceptions to this as they are constantly expanding their islands by dumping fill into the ocean.

All in all HK is a pretty cool city. I just wish it didn't rain so much.

The city

New expansion

Te little demonic mascots of the Beijing olympics

Traffic

Busy street

Countdown to the Olympics

Macau

Viva Macau!

Visited the gambling capital of Asia... actually maybe the gambling capital of the world since there is more gambling revenue here than there is in Las Vegas.

Macau was a Portuguese colony leased to Portugal under an agreement similar to the lease of Hong Kong to Britain. So there is an interesting mix of Portuguese architecture with Chinese. The old cobblestone roads were cool too, but none of the roads were straight so I got lost many times. But I somehow managed to see all the major sights in the day and a half I was there.

And did I mention there were casinos? Many massive casinos in Macau, including the Venetian Macau, the largest Casino in the world. This casino cost over 2 billion dollars to build. Inside its modelled after Venice with canals and gondolas and singing gondoliers. All quite impressive in a tacky casino way.

There wasn't enough space in Macau to build anymore, so they filled in the ocean between two of the islands to combine them into a single island. They are still expanding it to form the Cotai Strip, modelled after the Las Vegas Strip.

Portuguese buildings on a cobblestone road.


The Lisboa Casino... a big giant tacky Lotus Flower.


The ruins of Sao Paulo Cathedral


The oldest lighthouse in Asia


Cannon at Mount fortress, taking aim at the Lisboa


The Venetian Macau


The Grand Entrance.

Indoor canals




Singing Gondoliers.


New constructiion in Cotai

Koh Lanta

Spent a bit of time in Koh Lanta... mostly just chilling out. The people there were great. They didn't want me to leave. "You're one of us. You have to stay here forever." Very dificult place to leave. Had some good parties, ate a massive amount of thai food and of course the infamous duriens.

Really miss this place and I hope to get back there soon.

Fire show!


Sunset

Chang the cat... when he first came to the bar he was trying to drink Chang beer... he really fit in with the rest of us.


Another fire show

Toffee's birthday

Ting Tong bar... don't worry everyone else here is crazy too.


the view from the bar.


my friends.

Koh Tao

Koh Tao is the island north of Koh Phangan. It is one of the best spots for scuba diving in Koh Tao.

Siamese Cat

Fisheys

These colourful things are pretty cool. When you touch them, they pull inside the coral.



The beach

The road.

Koh Phangan

Koh Phangan is an island in the south of Thailand which is famous for its parties. And the biggest of all these parties is the Full Moon Party, which happens once a month... coincidentally when there is a full moon.

I drank lots of vodka and red bull and lost most of my possessions. Ah well, I somehow still had just enough money for the taxi home the next morning.

Drink stalls that stretch from one end of the beach to the other. Australia represent!


Welcome to Thailand!

More Vodka and Redbull!

Bacolod

Went out to Boracay, which unfortunately wasn't in a very good condition while we were there.

After that went to Mambukal Resort, which had some really nice waterfalls. Then just hung out in Bacolod for a few days before heading back to Manila.

Boracay

Fireshow
The Plaza of Bacolod


cool sa=tatue of some dude riding a turtle

The cathedral

Waterfall at Mambukal


Behind the waterfall

Rainy day.

Puerto Galera

Puerto Galera has very beautiful beaches and some of the best scuba diving in the world. I had the flu while I was there, but got well enough to do a couple of dives. Didn't get to see a sea horse though, which is what puerto galera is famous for.

Unfortunately my camera was having some issues fogging up so some of the photos are blurry.

Had a great time there and will definitely have to go back soon.

White beach

Beach Party

Sunset

This guy was pretty aggressive

Massive Batfish. we were feeding them so they got up really close.




Nemo again...

The beach at our resort.