don't waste the happy (Beijing version)

Had morning of work followed by an afternoon of sightseeing around the Temple of Heaven. Alone. And you will see once again that I have mastered the art of the solo traveller self portrait.

In keeping with R's mantra I am trying not to waste the happy. Things are fairly locked down here but I am going to make the most of time if I cannot get in places.

Today was my first day riding the subway. Word on the street is that the bus is too crowded and slow but the subway is crowded and fast. All entrances were easily marked as well as the stops. Literally, it was easier to figure out where I was going than using the London underground. Not kidding.

My usual mode of transportation here has been taxi or on foot. I am staying in hotel district so foreigners are common. Apparently foreigners do not normally take the subway. I got a lot of stares.

After 2 hours of walking around the Temple of Heaven and enjoying the greenery (I swear the air was cleaner in there) I headed for a foot massage. For 135 RMB (just under $20 CAD) I received a shoulder, neck and head massage followed by a blissful foot and calve massage in a very serene spa like setting. I am going again. Soon.

Now going to try and get a bit more work done. Tomorrow and Thursday I am at the Village and have meetings Friday before my 4pm flight to Cambodia.

work and play

My meal ticket into the Village was busy with work obligations outside of the Village so today I chose to catch up on some work and see a few 'sights'.

Morning spent swearing at my computer until successfully downloaded my email. Then I was promptly kicked off email so I did some replying and tried to reconnect. After 4 unsuccessful attempts I left my room in search of coffee. Found Starbucks. Almost cried tears of joy. Vanilla latte wiped away all frustrations and I went back to my room and managed to send/receive once more. Success.

As today is Sunday in Vancouver I decided to treat myself to 2 hours of sightseeing. This meant I walked 20 minutes to Tienanmen square from my hotel and then spent 40 minutes walking around taking photos and then I walked back to the hotel and squeezed in 40 minutes of shopping. Very effective use of time but I was sweating profusely at the end and needed a shower. Now doing some more work and may head to an electronic market to haggle over pirated items this evening. Had an unsuccessful attempt at bargaining for a camera battery during my shopping trip and I think I need to watch someone else in action.

Below is a photo from the Village. That was yesterday and today the smog is much better and I almost saw the sun. Almost.

hurry up and wait

Isn't the view from my window beautiful? It isn't low fog. Have yet to see the blue sky but when it does show it is going to be amazing. They have decorated the city well; the venues are pieces of art, planted a ton of trees and greenery and there are banners galore. The Athlete's Village is spectacular. Apparently the apartment in it are all sold out or I would be thinking about purchasing. Seriously. They are the equivalent of $2000 per sq meter; much better deal than a downtown condo.

Things move at a slower pace here and yet I seem to have no free time to blog or send emails. It is like you are constantly sitting in wait in case something notable occurs to observe. Luckily it is worth it to wait. To use a rowing quote 'The trips has already been a success.'

Had first real Chinese meal last night and first bought of stomach trouble. The beers are megasized and so cheap; at a restaurant they are running at $2 and are 500ml. The whole meal with a large beer cost me the equivalent of $5. Bought a new SD memory card for my camera for $14. I love a deal!

For my friend Kohei, who is still struggling with potty training, I attach a photo of the Chinese solution to this.

Off to meet up with the London crew. Tonight is the 4 year countdown to their Games. The cycle never ends.

cup o'noodle for breakfast

Arrived after an 11 hour flight. No sleep, 2.5 movies (none of them very good) and little work done on my laptop due to cramped seating and small child in front of me with chair fully reclined. Had a chicken dinner, beef dinner and then was offered a cup o'noodles for breakfast. I don't think I've eaten once since highschool.

Long and slow lineups lead from customs through to a massive taxi cue. Ride in was pleasant but I cannot tell you what this city looks like as the smog was so thick you can't see for more than a block. Fell asleep at 7pm and woke up at 4:30am. Hair straightener works. Left contact lens case and other essentials on plane accidentally. Paid $5 for a bottle of water. Then accidentally used tap water to brush teeth. Am ticking time bomb for stomach problem.

Have just enjoyed a breakfast buffet of all out north american favorites as well as fried rice, spring rolls and dim sum. There was even sushi but I did not partake. Poor coffee and some apple juice washed it all down.

Off for day 1 of observation. Wearing dri-fit shirt and concerned light brown capris will easily show butt sweat. Awkward. It is blistering 33 with 97% humidity. It envelopes you like a hot towel when you walk outdoors.

Hope to post photos soon. Did I mention I have lost the cable to my camera?

maybe I should just leave it all on the curb

In packing frenzy for departure tomorrow. Would love to be down to one full suitcase and my travelling backpack empty. Has not happened. I am counting and recounting items for my trip. the challenge is that this is a 3 part trip.

Part I: Work week in hot and humid climate
Part II: Vacation in hot and humid climate
Part III: Mix of work and spectating at outdoor events in hot and humid climate

Did I mention there is supposed to be a thunderstorm hitting Asia while I am there?

My only success thus far has been my footwear. With size 12 feet I just don't have the luxury of packing more than the necessities; they just take up too much space. I have it down to one pair of work shoes that I am able to walk and stand comfortably in for many hours and are neutral color to go with everything. One pair of trail running shoes for the sightseeing portion of my trip and any workouts I am able to get in at the hotel gym during part I. And one pair of flip flops.

Other than that it is t-shirts, two nice work shirts, tank tops, capris and one pair of shorts. Apparently you can sweat through 4 cotton shirts in a day. I am so screwed.

My favorite part of every trip is dropping the baggage at the airport. My second favorite is dropping said baggage at the hotel. In my rowing years I somehow collected no luggage with wheels. I hauled duffel bags through airports until they left purple marks on my shoulder and holes in the bottom of the bag. It was all about having the largest amount of space for bringing all of your workout gear with you. Luggage with wheels was much smaller. It was for wimps.

Of course now everything I own has wheels on it. Even my laptop case. People at work are constantly asking if they can have the chicken instead of the fish as wheel myself up to my workstation each morning.

Back to packing. I have moved on to toiletries. Full-size contact solution or travel size? I am bringing 3 deodorants; the weather forecast would suggest I will be going through one a day.

Busy bee

Been too busy to post. Really.


I think it has taken me a week to recover from Stampede. It was that good. Friends, sunshine, beer, more beer and the rodeo. It doesn't get much better.


This was a family weekend. My last weekend before I head off to Asia. Spent quality time with Ritchy on the grind, had brother, sister-in-law and kids over for dinner, and then a family picnic at Spanish Banks today. Yes, there was an 'incident' at last night's dinner but I think everyone rolled with it and it was great to see Dave and Sachon go into action. Dave cleaned the rug and Sachon cleaned the kid. Kiyomi ran back and forth watching it all going on and asking questions and providing commentary. I hope this is not Kohei's legacy; I don't want him to be remembered as the kid that had the accident at my place.


My niece and nephew were amazing. Much discussion on how when/if I have my own kids I won't be as fascinated by them and how quickly they are learning new things and developing personalities. I hope not. But it is still really cool to be an aunt and I am enjoying every minute of it. Even if Kohei can't remember my name and I made him chant it to me a hundred times to drill it in to him.

I just booked a side trip to Angkor Wat on my Asia trip. I was supposed to spend two nights in Phnom Phenh, Cambodia on my way to meet up with my friends who are landing in Saigon. I have now worked in a trip to Angkor Wat. I land in Siem Reap at 10:20am and leave the next day at 5:20pm. Apparently it is just one of the places you have to visit. It is costing me about $300 more but due to two internal flights but when am I ever going to be in Cambodia again?

Off to do some packing. I leave in 4 days!

no jet lag from Sunday

Have had approximately 6 hours of sleep. Add in the grind (yeah! I didn't pass out this time), some walking with heavy objects, cleaning and laundry and I am about to hit my goal of going to bed at a decent time. All because I was woken up at 4:30am. Then I woke up at 6:50am to head to meet R for the grind. No weekend sleep in for me today. While this is a bit painful physically it will be worth it when I actually get to sleep before 10 tonight and wake up at 6am refreshed. Usually I am tossing until after midnight because I have essentially jet lagged myself by sleeping in until 9am after staying up until midnight. Not this Sunday.

Just 4 more sleeps until Stampede. Must come up with footwear solution for the weekend in Calgary. The wrong footwear can ruin the entire event. Last year one of my friends bought a pair of knockoff crocs at Safeway midday as her feet were in bad shape walking. Flip flops do not hold up well to a hundred people two-stepping on the dance floor. Cowgirl boots don't come in my size and aren't a great investment for me.

Must develop a strategy for this one.

only suckers pay retail

As the title of my blog states; I am into eBay. In fact, I would say in the past I was obsessed with eBay. Selling and buying. I don't discriminate. Before I buy any new item (other than clothes or groceries) I see what it sells for on eBay. This obsession works well with my rule about never buying anything for full price. Full price is for suckers. A sale is not 10% off. That doesn't even cover the tax. A good sale is 40% off or more. I think the term for it is 'clearance'. With this purchasing strategy I often don't buy the newest items as soon as they roll off the truck. I wait it out a bit. Let the other consumers test the item. Let the cost go down and the odds of an employee at some store buying/stealing the item and passing their discount (5 fingered or not) on to me increase. I hate garage sales. But eBay...eBay is the world's largest garage sale and I am in. So in.

To even out for the purchasing I have done my share of selling. Some of this selling brought me fame and others brought me mild fortune. The key is to strike while interest is high. Particularly in memorabilia or technology. The iphone for instance. Some geeky kid working at Best Buy in the states has made a fortune off of them. Same with those damn Wii things. Just line up and buy them. Especially around Christmas. Some desperate parent will pay well over the retail price to insure there are no tears on Christmas morning. You just have to capitalize on the low-supply of the item in a market with high-demand.

Over the last two weeks I have purchased a number of items on eBay. All at significantly reduced prices compared to retail.

Highlights include:

- Salon strength hairdryer (x 3 - one for home, one for the gym and one for my sister with the same crazy hair that take 25 minutes to dry with a regular hairdryer) Retail price was $150 and I got them for $50 each. This is where my weakness shows. I bought 3 and paid what I would have paid for one. Did I need 3? No. But I got so psyched about how great these hairdryers are that I went a little nuts. The government helped out with purchasing #2 and #3. Carbon tax rebate. In my own way I am helping the environment with these hairdryers as I have reduced drying time from 25 minutes to 8. Just go along with it. It is how I sleep at night.

- Polar Heart rate Monitor. Retail $99.99. Purchased on eBay for $49.99 Now that doesn't seem like that great of a deal but having done my research I know that Polar heart rate monitors don't go on sale for more than 15 to 20% off. Research is key here.

- Electric Bialleti Espresso Maker. Retail $109.99. Purchased on eBay for $21.99.

EBay is not for everyone. Even the savvy shopper can get burned if they don't know the street rules. Always read the fine print. Always look at the feedback. If a deal is too good to be true then it is true good to be true. How did I get a $150 hairdryer for $50? It is the older model. There is a newer one that is lighter. Do I care? No. Same with the heart rate monitor. And the espresso maker is no name brand. Again, I don't have to have to newest version or the name brand. I just want it to work and to have the satisfaction of knowing I saved 53% off the retail price.

foot rub for hump day

First of many mother daughter evenings. Totally committed to this new plan. While some (R!) bailed others (Mum, Chach et moi) had a great evening.

Started off with foot reflexology at Big Feet on Granville. For $33 someone works your feet over for 50 minutes. It is amazing. I want to be wheeled out of there so my paws can feel like clouds a little longer. The only downside is the location (Granville & 64th is the middle of nowhere!) and the fact that the women giving you the foot massage are screaming at each other in Mandarin the entire time. Kind of ruins the relaxing feel but at the same time makes the experience authentic. I'll be looking to get more reflexology in Beijing. I am thinking once a day. For $3 a session.

We then went next door to Big Feet to this awesome Indian restaurant. I stuffed myself on naan, basmati rice and chicken vindaloo. All amazing.

A nice hump day treat. Oh wait. Can I call it a hump day when it is the first work day of the week? I think so. It was a great way to end a day back to work after a 4 day weekend.

tarzan couldn't stand this heat

I love sunshine and hate heat. It was 29 degrees in my room this morning and the heat has sapped me of all good intentions. Yesterday I was going to get a long steady state workout in. Instead I biked for 33 minutes and then convinced myself I would do a lot of walking as exercise. After frenzied errand running I arrive to donate blood and I think 'I'll walk like 10k after I give blood. It will be cooler out after 6'. Instead I donate, feel kind of woozy and lightheaded, walk 2 blocks to the Safeway and feel like I am going to pass out. I buy some groceries and take the bus home as it involves no transfers. The no transfers means I am sitting on a baking hot bus for almost an hour. I stumble the two blocks home from the bus stop and practically pass out on the couch.

So in the end I didn't get much of a workout in but I am 610 grams lighter because I donated that pint. Maybe it will even out for the lack of a workout?

Have made nutritious breakfast and done a laborious fruit and vegetable chopping session to set myself up with fruit salad and coleslaw for a few days. And it is only 10am. Richard is taking us to do the Grind in the mid-day heat. How bad can that be? There is tree shade...I'm sure it can't be more than 25 degrees in there.

So to recap my 4 day weekend I have:
- Hiked around Anacortes WA
- Spent quality time with best friend from University
- Grouse Grinded
- Visited Old Navy in search of summer shorts
- Watched for the first 6 episodes of season 6 of 24
- Read the Saturday paper in the car in a 2 hour border line up
- Cleaned bathroom
- Watched many episodes of John & Kate + 8
- Tanned at Kits beach
- Chopped fruit and vegetables
- Made brunch for myself 3 times
- Purchased tickets to the rodeo at Stampede
- Donated blood
- Purchased internal flights for Vietnam trip

Today I might add more time at the beach, another Grouse Grind, and watching the Yaletown bike races.

To quote someone else "The weekend has already been a success."