Happy Holidays

Christmas was nicely quiet.  The day was filled with phone calls to family (mostly free thanks to the joy of internet based calls) and playing in the snow.  We did attempt to make a snowman for the holidays but the snow is so dry here that it just doesn't stick together very well.  You need that good Australian wet snow for really good snowmen, or snowball fights for that matter.  It was Jason's first white Christmas and even he agreed that it just feels more like Christmas when all that Christmas imagery is all around you.  We also kept to the Christmas tradition of eating too much. Mmmm fudge.  New Years Eve we headed into town to join the rest of the locals on the bridge for the best view of the fireworks.   Unlike Sydney you only need to arrive 1 minute early to get the best position, not 12 hours early.  The fireworks were amazingly good and it was fun standing in the snow cuddling up against the cold.  On the way down we had spotted two deer (with antlers) digging up snow to get to some yummy grass... we assumed they would be gone by the time we walked back scared away by the fireworks, but surprisingly they were in exactly the same position and didn't seem at all concerned.   Very different to normal but lots of fun!

The fall

It was the fifth day of skiing, we were just getting into it and excited about improving.  We only had a short day of skiing as Kristina and Vicky needed to get into town in time to buy their greyhound tickets to Lake Louise.  There was a jump just to the right of one of the easiest runs that we'd seen both skiers and boarders getting some nice air.  We'd already attempted this jump a few times, but approaching from the green run and thinking about it too late so not so much as 1cm of air had been achieved.  We had time for one more run and decided to give this jump a proper go... so we prepared ourselves at the top of the blue run that approaches the jump.  Jason went first and appeared to have a fair bit of speed so I was really surprised when his skis still didn't leave the ground.  I was determined to get at least 10cm of air so I went from a little higher and a little faster than Jason had gone... over the jump and what the hell!!  I had 2 meters of air!!!!  (I later found out Jason had chickened and slowed down at the last moment)  I nearly landed the jump getting both skis under me, but was leaning too far forward and did a spectacular roll.  In the middle I felt my ski dig into the snow and my knee twist and force it out, the bindings didn't give.  OW!  A visit to the doctor later revealed torn ligaments (to both the MCL and ACL)... so no skiing for awhile, or walking, or twisting, or sleeping.   All I'm really hoping is that this is not going to be a lifetime injury.... only time will tell.

4 countries in 18 hours

Admittedly it was a long 18 hours, but we took off from Sydney just before 7pm Sunday and landed in Vancouver just after 11am Monday.  We had booked the cheapest ticket we could find that didn’t involves going through America (due to their annoying visa requirements), so we flew to Singapore (8 hours) where we spent the night (10 hours), then flew to South Korea (7 hours) where after queuing in line to get a transit card, get our bags scanned and get back on the plane (40 minutes) we flew to Vancouver (10 hours).  As I said it was a long 18 hours.  Strangely enough it wasn’t that bad.  We discovered the oasis lounge in Singapore (free!) where they have $8000 massage chairs for you to use (free!).   After three massages and a few hours of sleep we felt quite refreshed, we also explored the butterfly garden which was lots of fun.  The second good part of the flight was that the Korea-Canada leg was basically empty and nearly everyone had an entire row to themselves!! So we were able to lie down and sleep nearly the whole flight, blissful.

Quick update

It’s been quite awhile since we’ve written anything for the blog, so this is just a quick post to catch up on what’s happened in the meantime.  After the Mekong Delta we spent a relaxed week in Kuala Lumpur catching up on sleep and exploring the city and the surroundings.  Then we flew home for my parents 60^th birthday party, and what an even it was!! There were 80 guests, a band, presents for everyone and fun had by all.  Conveniently the trip home also meant we were able to go to Jason’s family reunion and my ten year school reunion (now I feel old).  It was great to have a chance to catch up with everyone and remind ourselves why Sydney is really where we want to live.

Crocodile fishing 5000dong

With just a couple of days left we decided to head out into the Mekong Delta. Primarily to visit the floating markets. Meandering through the waterways was enjoyable, but stopping for lunch on an island led to unexpected events. Walking around we saw a sign "crocodile fishing 5000Dong" beside an enclosure of crocodiles. So, naturally we said let's go! Grabbing a bamboo pole with a bit of meat tied to the end with string we started teasing crocodiles. This was a good lesson in why not to swim with crocodiles. Some of the others who were there held their meat low over the water and when it was grabbed they often managed to keep some of it back. I was trying to make the crocodiles jump, and boy can they jump high! The one that finally got the meat had it's entire body out of the water to it's back legs (and Jason snapped the photo to prove it!).