BALI, INDONESIA

Christmas is Bali

So, we rented a villa and this is it http://www.jendeladibali.com/ It was exactly as advertised. The compound consisted of several little houses: two sleeping houses, a yoga/tv house, dining house etc. We had a staff of four people cooking and cleaning for us.

Yes, those were all pictures of our villa... and the pictures don't even do it justice.

Christmas morning we got up at 2am and climbed to the top of Bali's active volcano. When we got there I was sorry to find out that is was only steam and not lava that was still pouring out of the top. Looking back, though, it's probably for the best because I can't run worth crap and lava is not something you saunter away from.

View from the top - Happy Christmas!

Monkey!

Skyping with Mom, Dad, and the fur babies Christmas morning in Canada.

Panorama Christmas morning, Bali.

Elephant Temple, Ubud, Bali.

Terraced rice fields

Hindu temple

terraced rice fields

Bali is fantastic. It's beautiful. The food is incredible. I felt safe the entire time. Shopping is excellent. Accommodations were out of this world.  And the beauty of it all, once you get here Bali is inexpensive!

Merry Christmas, everyone! 

Sri Lanka

In the previous post I admitted to being incredibly neglectful of the blog. This post is going to jammed full of gratuitous vacation photos to get everyone up to speed on the awesomeness of living so centrally in Dubai.

Dubai is a 3 hour flight to Sri Lanka.

South West Sri Lanka (near Galle) 2014

The Portuguese fort in Galle 

Elephant Orphanage 

At the tea factory.

Tea tasting. 

Tea picking

Better late than never?

Alright, so I've been extremely neglectful of the blog. I've been busy. Dubai is a crazy place. I should probably start from where I left off...

December 2013 - I went back to Canada for Christmas. I was foolishly sick for the duration of the vacation and I vowed never to do that again. Two weeks is not enough time for a real visit and yet just enough time to really mess up your sleep schedule. Turns out I'm delicate like a flower.

Since then, things have been great.  The food in Dubai is incredible. We've been eating a lot.

Seafire, Atlantis the Palm - Middle distance

Sarcasm and sushi

Zaroob!

On top of eating extremely well, I've also been riding bikes a lot. Here are a few shots from the last few months:

Sophie and I on the Al Qudra Cycle Track

Oryx crossing the track at Al Qudra

Spinney's 92 Starting Line

Representing in the Cycle Canada gear at Spinney's 92

Spinney's 92 December 2014

Spinney's 92 2013 we did 84km in 3 hours 10 minutes.
Spinney's 92 2014 we did 92km in 3 hours 10 minutes.

Then of course, it wouldn't be Dubai without the copious holidays and fancy dress parties!

Traditional dress for National Day.

National Day at school! I'm wearing an abaya (black dress) and shayla (scarf). The colourful abayas have another name that I always get wrong.

St. Andrew's Scottish Ball 2014

Halloween 2013

So I brought my bruising kit face paint and I put together a proper zombie for the Bridge Tower Halloween Party. I'll be damned if I wasn't the ONLY PERSON IN COSTUME.  Hilariously, in a clash of cultures, the front desk security ran to me and asked if  I had fallen off my bicycle. I tried explaining that it was grease paint and I did this on purpose... he shook his head and asked me again if I was injured.

Halloween 2014 I went with something far more approachable (and cute)...

Halloween 2014 - I'm the Paper Bag Princess but aside from one other girl in the bar (who gave me a high five and demanded a picture), no one else recognized the brilliance of my costume. I got a lot of questioning looks that eventually morphed into (misplaced) recognition: Burger King!
Turns out Robert Munsch is only a big deal in Canada.

Secret Santa 2014

Pink Ball 2014 - taking this picture was like herding cats.

For the sake of organization, I'll include vacation pictures in a different post.  Stay tuned for Sri Lanka and Bali!!