Getting old

After yesterday's long walk around Stanley Park, my knees are very sore, and my right-hand shin is hurting. It is apparently a result of being old - according to both Paul and Sonia. However in Sonia's more lucid moments she does concede that it's more likely just that I am very unfit.

This morning Sonia was suffering from jetlag, and slept late after being awake from 2am until 6am. I might point out that this disturbed my sleep - unreasonable expectations on Sonia's part that I would actually be interested in her insomnia at 2 in the morning!

Just been looking through some of the photos we've taken over the past few days (as usual, not many). The one here is a dedication plaque on a bench in Stanley Park. As we walked around we looked at them and wondered who the people were. Some were touching, some were boring, and this one? Well.......




And here's a raccoon that we came across - or did he come across us? We were walking in opposite directions along the path. When he finally realised that we were coming his way, he stopped dead with one paw in the air - as you see in the photo. Maybe he was entranced by the sight of two kiwis?

On a totally unrelated matter - just got a text message from Paul saying that he's accepted a job - three months contract.

A road less travelled

You would hope that this afternoon's route is one "less travelled". We met Paul at 1100 Melville St, and had coffee at one of the (good) local places. Strangely enough there was a Kiwi behind the counter. Then we walked to Granville Market to look around, going via the ferry and meeting Reuben. After a bit of looking at the market (the fresh bread, cheeses and meat looked very appealing), we decided it was time for lunch and so Paul walked us for miles to his favourite place - which also has good coffee (he found Elysian on CoffeeGeek.com). They had wireless internet access, so we caught up on bits and pieces.

This afternoon we decided to go to Stanley Park, so walked back across Burrard Bridge, then along the waterfront to the park. Around the Lost Lagoon, and over to the North-eastern side of the park. Then back around near the Vancouver Yacht Club, and back up Cambie Street. We have stopped at a Starbucks close to the hotel to recover. My feet are aching - not used to so much walking. When you think that most of my days are spent tied to a desk. For some reason, Sonia is still ok, albeit her shoes are looking a bit tatty and the soles are splitting off.

Off for dinner tonight with Roz, Reuben, and Paul. For those of you who know him, Paul has lost weight - a lot!

The first leg

Well I write this from an airplane somewhere between Singapore and Seoul. We have about 1.5 hours left to fly, the weather (?) is slightly bumpy, and I've watched two movies so far. The first was MIssion Impossible 3 - in my (humble) opinion, it was not as good as the first two. The second was Ice Age 2: Meltdown - again, not as good as the first one, but still good for a few chuckles along the way.

Starting to feel tired, athough it's only 2:30pm. And we have another 10 hours in the air once we depart from Seoul. It's starting to feel real, and I keep reminding Sonia that we are on holiday. I wonder if it's getting irritating yet? Like a school report card, "must try harder" ;-).

Dinner last night was at Bobby's rib place in Chijmes in Singapore. The second time we've eaten there together and my third. Introduced to the place by Mark S (now in Korea) - thanks Mark. A massive rack of pork ribs (yeah for pork!) called the "Steel City Rack" for me, and a Surf n' Turf (smaller rack plus two mammoth prawns - more like small crays) for Sonia. Pork ribs taste amazing after so long eating beef bacon and turkey ham.

Looking on the Tripadvisor website from the Singapore airline lounge to see what we should do in Vancouver. We will probably spend an afternoon in Stanley park, getting a little exercise. Then Granville Island as well. I looked at the reviews for Gastown, but they were generally along the lines of "too dangerous to get there, and once you're there the buildings look nice but not worth the trip". We may spend a day catching the train to Whistler (summer time so no snow) to have a look around. The train leaves Vancouver at 8:30am, and takes four hours - travels a max of 25 mph (less than 50kph). The bummer will be having to get up in time to get to the train by 8:30 in the morning - and when we are on holiday no less! Will also spend some time with Sonia's brother Paul. I suspect the three days will be filled up.

We do need to do washing - a lack of clean underwear will begin to threaten our social acceptability. The packs seem to be working ok, although the straps on mine have become a worry for putting it on the plane. We bought a cover and have entrusted it to the plane using that even though it's a bit on the big side. See how it's fared when we get off in Vancouver...

Starting with a bang

At the airport now - safely checked in (although the bags almost ended up going to Vancouver without us). It is starting to feel real. We now need to get to Singapore (a matter of walking downstairs [out of Starbucks], around the corner and onto the plane).

The pack that I bought has turned into a little bit of a hassle - there are lots of straps which will catch in the conveyor belts, so we tried to get a cover. But the cover is too big, so we'll need to look for another in Singapore. The guy at the shop decided to sell a cover regardless of which pack it was designed for. Something to watch out when shopping in KL - the shop staff are not always worthy of your trust.

It's the strangest thing

Sitting in Bangsar Coffee Bean (our final visit) before driving out to the airport. We have no home. Our belongings are confined to three bags and a daypack. One bag is being stored until I arrive back in KL to move to Hong Kong. Two packs are in the boot of the car. The daypack is beside me right now - and that's it.

Another sign of change - the keyring has been depleted over the past few days. First we give back the access card for the office, then the carpark card, then the keys for the apartment. Right now it has keys for the padlocks securing the pac ks, and the carkey (shortly to be returned to the rental company).

Sonia has decided that a small handbag is not sufficient to hold the stuff that she wants to carry around the world - so she is planning to head off shopping for a daypack in Singapore this afternoon.

Looking at the title for this blog, maybe I should change it to reflect the vagrant nature of the existence that we've entered into? Looking through a thesaurus, words pop up like peripatetic, peregrination, vagrant, wandering, etc. A bit deep for a Sunday morning.

The start of a new chapter

Today is the start of a new chapter. Specifically the end of employment with Prudential Services, and the start of a 5 week holiday where we plan to visit the sites and catch up with friends dotted around the world. I intend this blog will be the record of our adventures, starting tomorrow. Hopefully I can do better in keeping this updated (compared to the other blog, which will I will continue to update at a less frenetic pace). Watch this space.