Manuel Antonio National Park

So today I decided to go to visit the National Park. I heard there were monkeys, sloths birds etc. Ok I did see a few monkeys and a sloth but it was so far up the tree that I couldn't really see it. There were some gorgeous beaches there. It was definitely more beauitful than the public beach. The most interesting thing I saw that day was those purple crabs. There were so many of them. They are so colourful. It's really a scene to be seen.

Canopy Tour

So I woke up early again at 7 after staying out til 3am the previous night. I was going to do the zip line tour. Since I was drinking the previous night and I only had 4 hours of sleep. I felt like throwing up before we started doing the zip line. However once I started, i was fine. Actually it was lots of fun. I would definitely do that again.

After the tour, I had to check out of my gorgeous hotel and moved to a cheaper one because there were no single rooms. The new one had no hot water and there were cockroaches. Well it's about 20% cheaper. Since I had little sleep so I decided to just lie beside the pool to read a book. I read Nick Hornsby's "A Long Way Down". Actually it's a hilarious book. I highly recommend it. It's so outrageous. I wonder why it hasn't made into a movie yet.

Beach Bum

So today I just planned to be a beach bum all day. Just lie on the beach and do nothing. It was nice. I miss the sound of ocean ( not the noise of ripple of a lake ). It was quite relaxing. Something weird happened. While I was just lying on the beach, I noticed a lot of people walking towards the back of the beach. Being nosy I found out what's going on. There's a sloth lying on the beach. They usually hide up the tree. This one was hanging onto a piece of log on the beach. A man ( a local I think ) uncurl this sloth from the log and we the tourists kept snapping photo. It was pretty neat to see it up close. I actually touched the sloth. It felt like a cushion.

Off to Manuel Antonio

So I flew on this little plane that seated 12 to Manuel Antonio. It's pretty cool.

Manuel Antonio is a lot hotter than San Jose. And it was sunny! What a change! So off to my hotel. It's a very nice hotel. The pool was amazing. After I settled in and had a snack it started rainning. what a bummer. So I stayed in my hotel and took a nap. After the rain, I walked down to the beach, it was still kinda cloudy. The beach was mostly deserted. It's ok. I haven't laid around the beach for a long time.

At night I went to a bar that's close to my hotel. I met a Canadian who now lives in Costa Rica during winter. He owns a B&B in Stratford so he returns to Canada in the summer when people visit for the Stratford Festival. What a life. I wish I can do that one day.

5 in 1

Another day tour today. It's called the 5 in 1 tour. 5 attractions in the Central Valley in one tour. The tour picked me up at 7 am. First attraction was a coffee planation which is more like a gift shop. We stopped there for way too long. Then we had breakfast. While I was there, I was talking to this couple from Panama. The woman is from Russia and the guy said he was Chinese. I was shocked because he didn't look anything like Chinese. He said he's 3rd generation.

So we went to see a different volcano this time. This is Poas Volcano. We got lucky and got to see the crater for 20 seconds when the fog cleared. Then off to a reservation park with the waterfall. Then we took a river boat cruise which is quite relaxing. Then we drove back to San Jose. Then then there's a blackout in the city. A lof of traffic lights were down. The traffic was bad. As usual I was the last one to be dropped off. We were stuck in the city centre for more than an hour :(

So after I got back to my hotel, I called my friend Fran who used to live in Toronto. We went to this fancy restaurant where most people are tourists. I felt bad because he insisted on picking up the tab. We had wine so I know it must be expensive for him. Then we went out have a drink and went to a strip bar. Hmm the strippers there were such porker.

Arenal Volcano

So today I joined a day tour to see Arenal Volcano which is the only active volcano in Costa Rica. I was so excited about seeing an active volcano. I even bought a t-shirt that said Arenal Volcano. Most of the people on the tour speaks Spanish and only me and the other American didnt speak any Spanish. Although the tour guide tried hard to translate everything but most of the time I didn't know what was said. However I ended up not hanging out with the American couple but a couple and a hot girl from Mexico. Only the guy could speak English but we had a great time anyway. We spent the afternoon at the hot spring. It was neat. All the stress from work went away. Unfortunately it was too foggy that night so we ended up not able to see the volcano. So the 3.5 hrs drive all the way to the volcano and we didn't see anything :(

Leaving for Costa Rica

The flight for a bit delay ( it's Air Canada, of course ). I arrived at the Costa Rica airport. The first thing I noticed was there are signs everywhere in both English and Spanish saying that it's illegal in this country to have sex with a minor under 16. That's kinda odd.

It was hot and humid but it was cloudy. There was a mob scene outside the airport of taxi/bus drivers trying to get tourists to get on their buses. It's quite overwhelming. Luckily I have already booked a transfer to my hotel. Here I go. The photo is my room.

I settled in my hotel and grabbed a map then ventured out to the city centre. I went to the Gold Museum which is quite boring. I thought I should have gone to the National Museum instead then I can learn more about the history. I went to the Central Avenue. I could find all kind of American fastfood there. McDonalds, Burger King, Wendy's, Pizza Hut and Taco Bell was hugely popular. Of course I resisted the temptation to go there, I went to a local bakery place. There I learned that pollo ( pronounced as poyo ) is chicken. It started rainning so I bought an umbrella and headed back to my hotel. I went to a hotel restaurant and got a beef tenderloin for 12USD. It's pretty cheap and very nice too. Then I stayed at my hotel and watched Spanish soap opera for the rest of the night.

Year of the Pig

For those who don't know. February 18 is the first day of the Year of the Pig. I spent the weekend at my parents. In the morning we had congee and many different kinds of puddings. At night, it's our tradition to have vegetarian dishes. We went to a Chinese vegetarian restaurants at 5:30 and it was already packed. We had to wait 30 minutes to get a table. Only set dinner was available so as soon as we sat down, dishes were served. So odd.

Looking ahead in the new year, it's going to be a good year for Horseys like me. Careerwise is going to be very good. It's going to be a busy busy year. So far it's been true. Romance and money will be good too. The biggest area of concern will be health, especially when travelling abroad. Oh no I'm going to SE Asia at the end of the year :(

Vista Sucks

I just bought a new computer. The old one is just way too slow and there's no enough room to store all my porn haha. The problem is that the computer came with Vista Home Premium. A lot of programs just aren't compatible with Vista. I finally figured out a way to make Quickbooks 2007 to work. In the process of installing some old software, I somehow screwed up Vista or Vista screwed me up. When I turned on the computer, it won't go into Window and it kept going back to the blue screen. I had to return it to the shop and have them installed it again for me. It's finally working alright I think. I figured out how to set up a network. It's pretty functional right now except a few glitches. But I still don't know how to make my Civilization IV game to work on Vista. If anyone knows, let me know.

Housewarming Party

I was so stressed about my housewarming party. It's the first party I hosted since my 9 year old birthday party. You can imagine why I was so stressed. Unfortunately most people I invited couldn't make it. Only 6 people came to my party. It's small but cozy. People really enjoyed the food that I cooked. Even the tofu puff was a big hit. I would like to thank Julie, Suley for the plant even though I may have killed it. Adele and Sagi for helping me to decorate. Jonathan and Darrell for their companies. My next part is going to be the Moon Festival Party in the Fall. Stay Tuned.

New Years Eve

I went to Bryan and Ronnie's House Party on new years eve. It was great meeting some new people and they were great hosts. Ray was very funny. Unfortunately I wasn't feeling well and it was probably not a good idea to drink two beers and ran in the rain. I got home and felt sick almost immediately. But I threw up at 12:10 and passed out at 12:15. At least I survived midnight, last two years I didn't.

I'm so disappointed that I couldn't see the fireworks at Nathan Philips Square at my condo.

Moving Day

I'm finally moving today. It went well. Thanks to Adele, Sagi, Sandra, Jeff and Dylan who helped me move. You guys were so efficient. Only one piece of crappy Ikea furniture was broken. It's much worth the beer and pizza.

Moo Moo has a new barn

I have been very stressed lately coz I just became a homeowner. For those of you who have bought a home before, as you may know how stressful it can be. A friend of mine Nathaniel has compared it to child birth. I wonder how he knew what it felt like... I will post pics of new crib soon.

Halloween Party

I went to this great Halloween Party on Saturday. Everyone was dressed up and this entire house was fully decorated. There were corpses, body parts and blood everywhere. As you can see in the pic above, I was dressed as a gay cowboy. ( I wonder why no girls wanna talk to me??) I brought my friends Sagi and Sandra along ( to my right in the pics ). To my left is Jon, Adelicious's friend who dressed up as Ceasar. There were quite many guys who dressed identical as him but as Jesus. I never realized Jesus and Ceasar are the same person.... I have also included a pic of Adelicious before she got totally wasted. She dressed up as a salad ( Ceasar salad, got it? ) and she made the entire costume herself. I swore I didn't touch her tomatoes! It was such a great party. I can't wait for next year.

What the F@#K?

Chinese Lantern Festival at Ontario Place

I went to the Chinese Lantern Festival at Ontario Place. It's pretty cool. Unfortunately it started to rain when we were about to leave. Good thing we had our umbrellas. It's me and a cow in the photo. I think the flash of my camera was broken.

Hanlan's Point - Toronto Nude Beach

The view from the Island. Can you see the smog?

It's the hottest day ever in Toronto. It broke all previous record. It just happened that I had a day off today and I headed to the Hanlan's Point on Toronto Island. It's Toronto's only nude beach. It's my first time ever. Majority of people were nude. I was too shy and I kept my shorts on. I have the tan line to prove it! Guess where I set up camp? Right next to a lesbian couple. Even though I was surrounded by nude bodies ( mostly unattractive ) I didn't feel awkward at all. I wish I could feel at ease with nudity as them. Besides a guy on drug harrassing people, it's a very peaceful place. I haven't been to the Island for at least 5 years and forgot how beautiful it was. I would definitely go back to the Island, if not Hanlan's Point.

Flying back home

My flight is 9:15 but I had to get up at 4:30. I was in the shuttle bus with two older american couples from the South. Talking about stereotypes....

Wow such an adventure. Not every day was great but I did many things that I didn't think I would do. I can seriously say that I'm a different person now. Thanks to all the people I've met along the way. Thanks Alan for taking the time off to show me around in Glasgow. And thanks Adele for all the information she gave me before the trip ( I wish she had told me that they didnt' tip bartenders ).

I can't wait for my next big adventure.

Last Full Day in London

Ok time to do it again. Check out and check in. This hotel was much better than any other places I've stayed at this trip but it costs a lot more.

I went to Tower of London. I highly recommended people visiting London to go there. You have to join one of the guided tours. It's very entertaining and informative. I got to see the crown jewel. The view was quite amazing there too. You can easily spend 4-5 hours there.

It's Europride in London ( It's some version of gay pride I think ). After leaving the Tower of London, I went to SOHO where all the people gathered after the parade. It was jam packed. It's full of smell of alcohol, urine and puke. It was FANTASTIC. I was just walking around and enjoying the madness. I kinda got lost. I stumbled upon Chinatown. It's not on the map that I had and I just got lucky. It's nice to see my peeps. Everything in Chinatown in London cost a lot more than Toronto. I'm so lucky that I can enjoy cheap and great chinese food at home.

I went back to my hotel to rest up a bit and started packing. I took a nap and went back to SOHO and do more partying. It's still very busy at 10. I went to a pub and talked to some lads. They didn't seem very impressed that I liked Scotland more than England. When I was walking down the street, I saw a couple with Canada flag and i stopped them. They are from Alberta living in London. More and more people stopped and talked to us and it became a huge crowd. We caused quite a scene in the middle of the street.

1:30 and I decided to go back to my hotel and got my 3 hrs of sleep.

I saw the Queen Twice!

With more than 10 hours of sleep, I'm ready to hit the town again. I checked out and moved to another hotel. This one is nice but it costs 60 pounds. I went to Buckingham Palce to see Changing of the Guards. I think I was too far away to see anything special and I was kinda bored but then suddenly a motorcade drove out of the palace. It was the Queen! She was in a turquoise outfit. I felt a moment of peace and tranquility. Wasn't that weird?

Then I went to see British Parliament and Westminster Abbey. Unfortunately the Parliament was closed for visitors that day. I went to see the Abbey and there's a long line up. It was so packed that it's really shoulders to shoulders. It's nothing special but I got to see where Queen Mary ( the slut ) of Scotland was buried. Kinda full circle of my trip.

I also went to the Thames. I was planning to go up the London Eye but it was so expensive and I was low on cash so I decided against it. The riverside is cool. It's a more relaxed part of London where people chill.

I walked past Trafalgar Square where there's a Canada Day Celebration. ( It's June 30 but England is playing Portugal the next day in the World Cup so they moved it up ) It's the first time ever in London. Lucky me. I spent several hours there and I got to watch Ron Sexsmith for the 4th time in my life. There were many expats having a good old drunk time.

Then I went to SOHO and have a pint. It's Friday night with great weather. The Brits were drinking out in the streets. I met some very nice locals. Who thought Londoners could be so nice? Then I went clubbing with some of them in flip flops! First time ever! Then walked back to my hotel around 2:30.

The madness of London

With hardly two hours of sleep, it's time to take the train to go to London and find a place to stay.

I went to Bloomsbury area where I was staying in the next two nights and found a 40 pounds a night hotel on the main street. It's not really a hotel. The rooms don't come with its own bathrooms but I was so pissed tired that I didn't care. I checked in and dragged my sleepy exhausting ass to do some sightseeing because time is money!

I went to the British Museum. The building itself was amazing. It was so huge inside. There were different exhibits of different cultures. I went to the one of China, India, Korea, Egyptian and Greece/Roman. There were so many things to see. I think I saw more chinese artifacts here than in the museum in Beijing! It's kinda sad that the British took so many historical artifacts from the Greek and Egyptian. So many Greek statues have no heads. The heads are in Greece. I think the British should return the bodies to Greece so they can reunite.

I had a burger that costs 8.5 pounds! It doesn't even come with fries! It wasn't even good. It's time to go back to my hotel and get some zzz.

Horrible Oxford Hostel Experience

I went to a bunch of museums in Oxford. I got to go inside the different colleges of Oxford because it happened to be Open Day. Oxford was so small and I pretty much seen the whole thing in 6 hours. I was pretty disappointed.

It's my last night in Oxford and was heading to London the next day. I realized that I messed up my hotel booking in London. I wouldn't have a place to stay in London. I didn't even have a phone number to call the hotel I booked. I had problem with the payphones. And the people in the hostel were getting on my nerve.

At night I ended up venturing alone and stayed away from the people from the hostel. I ended up at this small pub. I ordered a pint and tried to talk to the local. Most people didn't seem too impressed that I was from Canada. The only guy willing to talk to me at the pub was actually from Scotland. I gotta say Scottish people were so friendly.

I went back to the hostel around 1. I was in the bottom bunk. The guy in the top bunk decided to bring a girl back. I couldn't believe it! They were doing it! I could hear everything! I was so scared that the bunk bed would collapse. Finally they finished their business and the girl left. Oh man this guy snored like nobody. I guess he really enjoyed himself. I didn't get any sleep at all.

York to Oxford

I finally did the history walking tour of York in the morning. It was 2 hrs ( oh my feet ) but it was quite interesting. There's so much history in Europe unlike North America. Also today I had the cheapest lunch in the entire trip of the UK. It's 1 Pound Sandwich and they tasted good! I ordered three and saved some of them on my train trip to Oxford.

The train trip to Oxford took longer than I expected by the time I got there and it was already dark. I checked into this hostel that Adele recommended. There were many Canadians. 8 of us. Some guys who stayed at the hostel were supposed to take all of us Canadians to a club. They got really drunk and seemed to forget that they were supposed to go clubbing. Well all of us Canadians went to bed very pissed.

Bye Bye Scotland, Hello England

It's time to leave Edinburgh and head to York. I arrived at York around 4 and checked into a hostel ( not the one that I was planning to stay at ) around 5. I went to see the York Minster. It's the biggest church in the UK and it was just alright. It's prettier outside.

Then I walked around the city wall. Let me tell you once you've been to the Great Wall of China, nothing similar will impress you anymore.

There's a guided history tour that's supposed to happen at 7:15. I was waiting and waiting but no one showed up. I ended up talking to this English woman from Surrey. She's definitely not shy at all. She was staying at a hostel and I thought we were staying at the same one. I walked all the way to her hostel and realized that we were at the opposite end of town. I walked back to my hostel. It must be another mile. Oh my feet.

I had some indian food which was very good and watched the soccer game on BBC with an american chick. The commentators were so crude. They really said what's on their mind. What happened to the English gentlemen?

Climbing hung over is a BAD idea

I started my day a bit later after the big party the night before. Today I was going to do the other end of the Royal Mile - the Palace of Holyrood and the Scottish Parliament. The Palace was kind of boring and just more history. I didn't know that Queen Mary was such a slut. The Scottish Parliament is this new funky building but it wasn't open to the public.

Time to go up Arthur's Seat. My feet have taken quite a beating from walking 2.5 miles on the first day and all the partying I've been doing. Climbing up is harder than I thought. But once I got to the top, it was simply amazing. I could see all of Edinburgh. Coming down is a lot harder than climbing up since it's harder to keep your balance especially you are hung over. So I took the flatter back side of the rock. It's a longer walk but I made it.

I did the vault tour. It just wasn't that scary at all when you were with 30 other people. I thought the guide was really scary. He had this very unnatural tan. Where did he get this tan? It's always cloudy in Scotland.

A bit more partying and some drunken karaoke at night.

First Full Day in Edinburgh

I woke up early in the morning since I had plenty of sleep the night before. I enjoyed the wonderful breakfast at the University of Edinburgh. Seriously it was very good. I made sure that I ate enough that I didn't need to eat until late afternoon since food was very expensive.

I took a bus to the city centre. I went to the Museum of Scotland and the Royal Museum of Scotland. Do you know that there are almost as many Scots in Canada as in Scotland?

Then I decided to walk around the city and took pictures of cows.

It's time for the castle. There were plenty to see and I learned a lot about the Scottish history. There was a wedding at the castle. There were even two asian women in the group!

I spent a lot more time at the castle than I expected and it's time to eat. I found this fish and chip place and I ordered a deep fried haggis. You know I gotta try it at least once. I was eating that in the park and some street kid asked if he could have some fries. I said yes and he put his dirty hand into my food and grabbed some fries and my HAGGIS! I was so mad. I threw out the rest of the food and went back to my dorm room pissed.

I took some rest and went clubbing. It was fun and met a lot of locals. Some nice people and some not so nice. Generally most of them are nice and they love Canadians! So many people offered to buy me beer. I went back to my dorm room around 3am.

Marathon in Edinburgh

I woke up quite early in Glasgow and checked out of my hotel. I did some shopping in the morning and it's time to head off the main attraction of the trip - Edinburgh!

It's just a little more than an hour bus ride and I'm at the bus station. So I got my map and I decided to walk to my accomodation instead of taking the bus even though I know it's a bit of walk. I thought 30 mins and I would be there. Little did I know how long would I need to walk. The problem was that I'm staying at Hollyrood Park Road. I mapquested it and didn't come up with anything so I tried Hollyrood Road. Of course they are two different locations. I ended up walking two and half miles with my luggage.

I finally arrived at my accomodation and I was soaked with sweat even though it was only 15C. I decided to take a shower and did some laundry and took a nap. I ended up sleeping till 10pm and I decided not to go back into the city to party. I went to bed early.

Sleepwalking in Glasgow

So I finally arrived in Glasgow at 7am local time and which was 1am Toronto time. I went to my hotel and all the rooms were full so I parked my luggage and walked around the city. Most of the stores weren't opened yet. I went to Gregg's as recommended by Jamie ( in his words which is like Tim Horton's ). I had a hot chocolate and a Scottish pie. ( i'm still wondering what's in the Scottish Pie coz they dont' taste like anything ). I called my friend Alan from Ayr whom Nathaniel introduced me to. Unfortunately it was too early and I woke him up. And the number I had was a mobile so after 20 seconds.. beep....I went back to my hotel at 10am and room still wasn't ready. I was told that it won't be ready until noon.

I went to the west end of the city as recommended by Jamie to see the University of Glasgow and the Museum of Transportation. They were pretty lame.

I finally got more change and called Alan again from a pay phone. This time another 20 secs. But this time he called me back at the pay phone so we set up to meet at 1. 11am, I was so tired so I tried to sleep in the park but it was so cold. It was only 12C and I had a cold. Finally I checked into my room at 12:30 and I tried to take a nap for about 10 mins.

I ended up being late meeting Alan. Alan is a great guy and his accent wasn't that strong but I was just too tired to understand every word he was saying. We went to this fusion restaurant in Princes' Square. The food was just so so. I guess that's asian food for white people. Scottish aren't really picky with their food anyway. I talked to this waitress and she was so excited to know that I spoke Chinese too. She insisted on me speaking with her in Cantonese and poor Alan had no idea what was going on. She told me that she's from Malaysia and she used to live just outside London. I told her that I didn't see many Chinese in Glasgow. She said there are many in Glasgow and there was none in where she used to live. ( There are 400,000 Chinese in the GTA and that's almost half the population of Glasgow ) Of course I didn't say that out loud. Alan walked me around the city and showed me where to shop. At 6pm finally it's time to say goodbye and I'm happy to go back to my hotel to get some zzz.

When I woke up it's already 9pm, and almost all the restaurants are closed. Being as cheap as I am, I tried to find the cheap 24-7 Pizzaria that Alan told me about but I couldn't find it. When I did end up having a nice Italian meal tho. Then I went to some clubs that Alan recommended They were really small. I had a few drinks and met a very nice lesbian couple.

The flight to Glasgow

June 21
I hardly got any sleep the night before my trip. I started packing at midnight! I still had to work on the day before I flew. I totally planned to sleep during the flight. Fortunately and unfortunately I was sitting next to a 19yo guy from Glasgow who is extremely friendly. His name is Jamie. He was so enthusiastic to show me where to go and what to see in Glasgow. I must say he was more enthusiastic than me. He was talking talking and talking during the entire flight. As the time flew by, I got more and more tired and I could hardly understood him with his accent anymore.

My Travelholic Friend - Mother of this blog - The Super Duper Adelicious

Well Adele - the lovely girl that she is - has helped me put together this little blog. I will try to write and post photos as often as I can. Everyone else seems to have one - and so why not me too? Thanks so much for your help Adele! I promise to make you proud!