London / Singapore / Perth - The end of our Adventures

Monday 11 February 2008
Today marks the start of my last week in London as a Londoner and despite looking forward to moving home, having a house 10 times larger than our apartment, having a car and not having to take the tube, and waking up to blue skies and river views instead of dull skies and council housing apartments, I am extremely sad to be saying goodbye to the city I called home for the last 4 years.

View we wake up to in London; View we wake up to in Perth

This evening, Richard kindly treated me to dinner at Les Trois Garcons, a French Restaurant in Shoreditch. The restaurant itself is unlike any other fine dining place I've been to; flaming torches at the entrance and the inside decorated in a Bohemian style. It was like stepping into an antiques market with stuffed animals wearing tiaras, mismatched chandeliers and a huge tiffany stopwatch. I guess with an interior like this, it is not surprising that the Moulin Rouge after party was held here and that it has been frequented by people in the fashion industry (Matthew Williamson, Alexander McQueen, Philip Treacy, Stella McCartney, Jade Jagger, and Donatella Versace). Richard and I both went for the Tasting Menu, which was lovely. It had well sized portions and thankfully included foie gras! Thanks for dinner Richard!

Tuesday 12 February 2008
I spent today packing frantically and after realising that I would not be able to fit everything in, ended up lugging stuff on the tube to deposit with Tammy and Jane until we come back for holidays in July.

Wednesday 13 February 2008
My last day in London...tears in my eyes as I locked up our apartment and headed to Heathrow. Jason met me at Heathrow. Thank goodness as my suitcase was overweight so he had to hold more stuff for me in London. Then we had dinner at a pub, it's a very English thing to do after all, before saying goodbye...

So that's it, 4 years in London, 190 cities, 39 countries (plus 2 Canadian, and 5 American States), 184 flights (2004: 18; 2005: 30; 2006: 49; 2007: 77; 2008: 10) and countless train journeys, concerts, musicals, and michelin star restaurants...I'm tired! But at least I can look back and know we made the most of our time in London, we definitely won't look back and regret our time there but we are glad to be starting our lives back in Perth.

London Calling...Over and Out!

The Hague / London - Meeting Jimmy Choo & Chinese New Year Celebrations

Monday 4 February 2008 and Tuesday 5 February 2008
For a bit of a change, I decided to fly to Amsterdam through Heathrow Airport instead of my normal flight to Rotterdam through City Airport. What a huge mistake that was! I had to wake up at 4AM to get to Heathrow on time and then deal with the security queues and delays incumbent with travelling through Heathrow. Then on arrival in Schipol, the walk from the gate and the immigration queues added to my delay. I could have taken a flight one hour later from London City and still made it to the Hague at the same time.

On Tuesday, my lovely project manager let me take an extended lunch break so that I could finally visit the Mauritshuis, a museum inside the mansion of Johan Maurits, governor-general of Dutch Brazil. The collection consists of masterpieces from the Dutch Golden Age, including paintings by Johannes Vermeer, Rembrandt van Rijn, Jan Steen, and Peter Paul Rubens. The Mauritshuis most famous painting is Johannes Vermeer's "Girl with a pearl earring", which is sometimes referred to as "the Mona Lisa of the North" or "the Dutch Mona Lisa" due to "both paintings' illusive quality and indecipherable expression of their sitters". The eyes of the "Girl with a pearl earring", similar to the Mona Lisa, also follow you around the room. The other highlights for me were Johannes Vermeer's "View on Delft" and Peter Paul Ruben's "The garden of Eden with the fall of man".

Wednesday 6 February 2008
This evening, Jason and Ammy organised Chinese New Year Reunion Dinner at Singapore Garden after a personal invitation from the owner, at his Awana restaurant last week. It was an entertaining evening, introducing some of our party to yee sang, the noise and colour of the lion dancing, and the most memorable part for me...meeting Jimmy Choo! Apparently I "jumped" off my seat and ran to Jimmy Choo when the owner said that he didn't think Jimmy Choo would mind if I asked to take a photo with him. When I met him, all I could say was "I'm from Penang too"...very sad. But I was buzzing from meeting him for days after! I don't think he would recognise me though if I went to his workshop to have a custom pair of shoes made. Here are some photos of the evening courtesy of Jason:

Friday 8 February 2008
Today was my last day at Shell so the Project Managers took the team out for lunch at Chez Gérard on Southbank. I have spent the last 18 months at Shell and the job has definitely had more ups then downs and I will definitely miss all the travelling. After work, a few of us headed to All Bar One for drinks then Rhobelle, Peter and I left to meet Boon, Yee Von, Cliff and Jason at Goldmine for dinner. Peter and I continued at a Bar on Queensway after dinner before calling it a night. I am now officially unemployed! Does anyone have a job for me in Perth?

Saturday 9 February 2008
Shopping in Knightsbridge this afternoon, followed by Jason's, Tammy's & Linus's Housewarming Party in West Hampstead. JT&L's new apartment is huge compared to their previous one, and has heaps of space in the Lounge Room to play Guitar Hero and Dance Dance Revolution (if it wasn't for the neighbours downstairs banging the top of their broomstick on the ceiling...so I'm told). Joo Cheong and Paula also came down from Cambridge and joined the festivities.

Sunday 10 February 2008
Jane and I met up at Spitalfields Market for a bit of shopping, I bought yet another winter hat which I am not sure what I will do with in Perth, but it was keeping me warm today! Then we headed to Cay Tre, a Vietnamese restaurant near Old Street. Jane made me leave my comfort zone of Phở and fresh spring rolls, and ordered some dishes I had never tried before, and I actually quite enjoyed them.

After lunch, we picked up some cupcakes from Hummingbird Bakery and then went back to Jane's and Ed's where Ed had cooked us a nice Sunday roast. It was a pleasant end to my last Sunday in London.

Antwerp - Diamonds ARE a Girl's best friend

What I was expecting to be a relatively quiet week in London 'packing up shop' ended up being quite busy. On Monday, Jason came over for dinner and a look at the new apartment. On Tuesday, I had dinner with Corinne and her ex-OFT work colleagues at Tayyabs (we all smelt of curry and barbequed meat afterwards). On Wednesday, Ammy had her birthday dinner at Awana. Then on Thursday, I had a work colleague’s leaving drinks at the Porterhouse Covent Garden, dinner with Alli and Aaron at Waterloo Brasserie and then dessert with Corinne and a few other friends around the corner from my apartment on Bethnal Green Road.

Saturday 2 February 2008
After some initial tube dramas, I made it to London City airport this morning and headed to Antwerp, Belgium. Antwerp refers to itself as the “diamond capital” of the world as it handles more than 80 per cent of the world's rough diamonds. After meeting Jane at our hotel, we headed to Applemansstraat, De Keyserlei and Vestingstraat for diamond shopping. We were told to keep away from the Central Station as the less reputable jewelers are situated there. In addition, most of these stores are owned by the Jewish and today was their Sabbath so their shops were closed in any event.

The main purpose of this trip was to buy my 30th Birthday present from Yang, a pair of diamond earrings. I had been procrastinating for 2 years to actually buy these because of the cost of two little carbon stones…

The experience was actually quite stressful, going in and out of jewellery shops asking for a pair of princess cut earrings and then comparing the price to the size, colour and clarity offered. Princess cut diamonds are a lot harder to source than brilliant cut (which are apparently more popular) and it didn’t help that I came on a weekend, as on weekdays it is easier to source diamonds, and as stud earrings are quite easy to set, they don’t really sell stud earrings already made.

However, I had success almost 4 hours later with matching princess cut diamonds in the size, colour and clarity I was willing to accept. Although, I did feel physically sick from handing over my credit card, entering my pin to authorise the transaction, and thinking of the much better uses I could have put our money to. So thanks a heap to Yang for my new earrings and to Jane for her level head and following me in and out of shops all afternoon!

With my new earrings on, we walked down to the Meir, Antwerp’s most famous shopping street. The architecture of most of the buildings on the Meir was amazing; very ornate Baroque facades in the Rococo style. We also went inside the Stadsfeestzaal Shopping Centre, located inside the restored City Festival Space. It had the coolest Champagne Bar, built on what was meant to look like a Martini glass.

At the end of the Meir, we reached Groensplaat and then Grotemarkt, the main square, which is similar to the Grotemarkt in Brussels. Unfortunately we didn’t have time to do a lot of shopping, which is a good thing given my most recent purchase, but it is worth mentioning that as a city the shopping here is great; I would compare it to Barcelona in terms of choice.

After wandering down some very interesting alleys and streets looking for restaurants, because there was so much choice, we finally settled at Paul Preud’ Homme. We shared the Château Briand that was overcooked, but the waiter kindly took it back and had the kitchen prepare a medium rare one as originally requested. The béarnaise sauce is apparently the best in Antwerp, which I can’t dispute as it was really really nice, especially served warm. Our evening also included entertainment from a drag queen in a sequined swimsuit lip-syncing “One day I'll fly away” from the Moulin Rouge sound track, and a violinist.

Following dinner, I introduced Jane to Belgian fruit beer at Kelly’s Irish Pub, which was very enjoyable as there was live music, and the guy performing played all the songs that we both enjoyed.

Sunday 3 February 2008
After breakfast at the hotel, we headed to Rubenshuis, Peter Paul Ruben’s original house and studio. Unlike other painters of his time, Rubens was actually quite wealthy, given his multifaceted talent as not only a great painter, but also as an architect and diplomat. As a result, his house and gardens are very impressive, and also display some of his paintings (including 'Adam and Eve in Paradise' and 'Annunciation'), paintings by his trainees and some of his original furniture.

From Rubenshuis we walked along the Meir, which was very quiet, but it gave us an opportunity to take photos with the "hand" sculpture. There are so many tacky tourist souvenirs with a "hand" because according to folklore, Antwerp got its name from a legend involving a giant whose hand was severed and thrown into the River Scheldt. Hence the name Antwerpen (from the Dutch words for hand and to throw).

We ended back at the Grotemarkt to admire the ornate Guild Houses, Brabo fountain, and the Town Hall during the day and then headed to the start of the original Port of Antwerp (the current Port of Antwerp is the third largest in Europe after Rotterdam and Hamburg). We walked around the Steen, a small medieval castle on the banks of the River Scheldt, that used to function as a city fortification, but now houses a naval museum. Then from here we walked up to Bonapartedok, named after Napoleon Bonaparte, which is currently undergoing a huge change in the form of office blocks, loft apartments, restaurants and galleries (another Canary Wharf?).

Town Hall; Grotemarkt; Steen

We were quite far away from the centre of town by this time so we walked to Carolus Borromeus Church and had a look inside just as a service was finishing. It was good timing actually as they don't usually open for the public on Sunday. The Carolus Borromeus Church was built by the Jesuits and in keeping with the Rubens influence in Antwerp, includes paintings by Ruben, and sculptural decorations and façade designed by Rubens.

We also visited the Gothic Our Lady's Cathedral, with a 12 metre tower that makes it the highest Church Tower in the Benelux (the economic union comprising the three neighboring monarchies, Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg). The Cathedral houses some of Ruben's famous paintings, the 'Descent from the Cross' and the 'Elevation of the Cross'.

The rest of the afternoon was spent eating and drinking, firstly lunch at a Cafe in the Old Town, then a waffle at the Take-a-way store for Désiré de Lille (Antwerp's most famous waffle shop), then coffee at De Foyer inside the large cupola above the Bourla Theatre.


By the time we had finished coffee, Jane needed to get back to the hotel and head to Brussels to catch the Eurostar to London. After saying goodbye to Jane at the train station, I headed to the Antwerp Zoo as I had not been to a zoo in ages, and apparently the buildings constructed to house the animals were worth the visit. It definitely was interesting; the giraffes and elephants were housed in an Egyptian Temple that was modeled after the 1854 'Egyptian Court' at the Crystal Palace in London, and other 19th Century Flemish Architecture.

After the zoo, I walked around the diamond district a bit more; this time all the Jewish stores were open and you could tell they were dodgy, as there were no price tags and when you look in the window, they wave signs saying '50% off' to entice you to come in. Given I had made my purchase for the weekend (or as Yang said "for the rest of my life"), I decided to have an early dinner, comprising waffles and ice-cream at the Désiré de Lille Tea House before catching my flight back to London.

Thanks Jane for sharing my last European weekend holiday with me!

The Hague / Cardiff / Dover - English Castles

Monday 21 January 2008 to Friday 25 January 2008
I had some pretty long work days in the Hague due to some huge deadlines. But I did get out on Thursday night with Peter, Sean and Gordon to a few bars in the Hague...although I "paid for it" at work on Friday!

Back in London on Friday evening, I met up with Richard and we had dinner at HK Diner, a cheap and nasty restaurant in Chinatown. Today was actually Yang's and my 5 year wedding anniversary, but given I was in London and he was in KL for a friend's wedding, there was no celebration!

Saturday 26 January 2008
This morning I caught an early train to Cardiff, the capital of Wales. During my time in the UK, I concentrated so much on visiting cities on the Continent I forgot how much the UK itself has to offer. As a result I had never been to Wales, even though it was so close.

On the itinerary today was:
- Shopping on St Mary Street and its many Victorian and Edwardian arcades, Queen Street, and St David's Shopping Centre
- Cardiff Castle, the home of the Marquis of Bute, descended from King Robert II of Scotland. The Bute family are responsible for turning Cardiff into a modern city by capitalising on the mining of coal on their lands and building the Cardiff Docks, the biggest and most prosperous coal port in the world in the 19th Century. The inside of the Castle and the Tower, designed by William Burges, is very elaborate with murals carved from wood, marble and imprinted into stained glass.

Pic 1: Cardiff Castle with Millenium Stadium in the background; Pic 2: The Keep.

- Castell Coch, a fairytale castle nestled on a hill in the small town of Tongwynlais. Like Cardiff Castle, it was also built for the Marquis of Bute and also designed by William Burges.




- Caerphilly Castle, is the second largest castle in Britain after Windsor, situated in Caerphilly, famous for its cheese. It is a concentric castle (a castle within a castle, with two or more concentric rings) and is surrounded by two lakes. It also has a leaning tower (on the left), a result of subsidence, rather than from attacks.


- National Museum Cardiff, which is like the National Gallery, Natural History Museum, and British Museum combined but on a smaller scale.





- Cardiff Bay with the Wales Millennium Centre, and the National Assembly for Wales or the Senedd

Being Australia Day, I also made an obligatory walk past the Walkabout on St Mary Street and thought about having a snakebite, but by that time I was running late for the train home...

Sunday 27 January 2008
This morning I headed to Jane's & Ed's and embarked with Jane, Thao and Will to Dover, a port town which faces France across the narrowest part of the English Channel. If you ignore the massive port industrialization on the right as you enter Dover, you get a pretty amazing view of the white cliffs of Dover and the Dover Castle perched on top of it.

Dover Castle is huge so we "had to stop" and have scones with strawberry jam and clotted cream for morning tea...yummy! This was followed by wandering around more of the Castle grounds before heading for a traditional Sunday Roast at a restaurant Jane & Ed discovered in Folkestone, a Royal holiday destination about 100 years ago, but now pretty much a retirement village. However, the Sunday Roast was great and we were all totally stuffed from a huge selection of salads, seafood, roast and desserts. After our late lunch, we headed back to London, although with a few short stops because Jane's car was overheating. Definitely a memorable day, thanks for organising and driving Jane!

Hamburg - The "joys" of work travel

Monday 14 January 2008 - Thursday 17 January 2008
I spent most of this week in Hamburg, which was pretty boring because I was by myself, but the hotel was amazing, the bathroom was bigger than the bedroom in my apartment and it had shower jets that massaged your back. I also got to use the hotel facilities...although, I didn't get to use the sauna, as I noticed when I was about to walk in that Europeans have a "no clothes" in sauna rule...a bit of a shock to my system!

I also ate at the one Michelin Star restaurant, Haerlin in the Fairmont hotel. It was a very enjoyable meal...I was a bit sad as well given that this may be my last Michelin Star restaurant in a long time, because there are no Michelin Star restaurants in Australia and I'm not sure my Australian bank account would be able to accommodate it either!

After a relatively successful visit to Hamburg, I headed to the airport on Thursday evening to find out that my British Airways flight had been canceled as a result of a Boeing 777 crash-landing at Heathrow. This meant that a runway had been closed so the plane due to fly to Hamburg and then return to London was unable to take-off from London and therefore the flight was canceled. This left me with a few choices: stay one night at a dodgy hotel paid for by British Airways and take the flight the next day (which was not guaranteed as the plane for that flight might not be able to leave Heathrow either) or catch an Easyjet flight that took off two hours later which arrives at Luton. Regardless of how much I hate Luton Airport, I thought it was better than the first option. So I got on the Easyjet flight, which was packed, and then made the excruciating journey back to London by bus, then train, then tube. I was meant to be back around 9pm, but it was after midnight before I finally walked through the apartment door. I guess you have to take the good with the bad parts of being a frequent traveler!

Friday 18 January 2008
This evening, I headed to the Queens Arms in Pimlico for Nick's and Meg's leaving do. N&M were flying to Nairobi to start their tour of East Africa, but were a bit anxious given the recent violence in Kenya as a result of the elections.

Saturday 19 January 2008
I spent today shopping for presents and unfortunately for Yang's bank account, another handbag caught my eye at Liberty, the Hera Clutch with Liberty's original peacock feather design.

This evening, I headed to the Fluid Bar in Farringdon for Ammy and PU's birthday bash. I got to meet a few new people, but I have a feeling that Melbournians are taking over London, after being surrounded by all Melbournians at the Leaving Drinks last night, and mostly Melbournians this evening. It was a good evening as we had most of the downstairs bar all to ourselves. Finally, the morning was complemented with a bratwurst at Kurz and Lang which was also popular with the people leaving Fabric Nightclub.

Sunday 20 January 2008
I joined Nicole, Dawn, Jane, Thao and Tammy for champagne afternoon tea at The Promenade in The Dorchester, which was awarded the Tea Guild's 2007 Top London Afternoon Tea place. Scones with clotted cream and strawberry jam...so fattening but just so good, I must have scoffed down at least 3!
After tea, I headed to Vibe Bar for drinks with Corrinne and Caroline. Then a quick exit and back to the apartment to change, pick up my suitcase and head to London City Airport to fly to the Hague.

London - Spice up your life!

Tuesday 8 January 2008
I am slightly embarrassed to be admitting this, but tonight I went to the Spice Girls' Reunion World Tour at the O2 Arena. But I have to say it was AMAZING! Firstly the venue is amazing, much better than Madison Square Gardens and definitely better than Earl's Court, and crowd control was very organised. Secondly, the concert was extremely entertaining, with the numerous costume changes (designed by Roberto Cavalli), props etc; they really put on a show...which was good as we know they can't sing that well! Thirdly, the crowd were people my age and older, so there were no screaming teenage girls...just 30+ women and gay men (Yang was glad he didn't have to come with me!). Finally, I'm so glad I watched it in London given they later canceled all their concerts in Australia.

Wednesday 9 January 2008
This evening, I engaged in more musical entertainment by watching Andrew Lloyd Webber's production of The Sound of Music at the London Palladium. The role of Maria Von Trapp was played by Connie Fisher, who won the BBC competition How do you solve a problem like Maria?, a reality TV show where the audience chooses the Maria, a bit like American Idol. I thought the production was okay, but I wasn't blown away...most probably because I watched the Julie Andrews version so many times and love it. As a result, I decided that I was most probably going to have the same reaction to watching Grease the Musical so I decided to save myself £65 by not going.

Friday 11 January 2008
I had a nice catch-up with Boon and Yee Von at Kiasu this evening, but I definitely ate too much!

Saturday 12 January 2008
As all the furniture for the apartment had finally arrived, I thought it was time to have some people over for a bit of a look. So this evening, Ammy, Alli, Aaron, Tammy, Linus, Felix, and Loreen gathered in our small apartment for a few drinks, cheese and then moved to Cafe Naz on Brick Lane (about 5 minutes walk away) for curry. Why is it that waiters / waitresses at Indian Restaurants can't provide service with a smile? The food was okay, but I think there are definitely better restaurants on Brick Lane. Ryan joined us at Cafe Naz and then after dinner, we (sans Ammy) headed back to the apartment for more drinks.

Sunday 13 January 2008
This morning, Jane and I wandered around Spitalfields Markets, which is conveniently located about 10 minutes walk away from my apartment. It was really good to visit the markets early as it wasn't as crowded. I also like Spitalfields because it is a mix between the Borough Markets and Camden Markets, as it sells both local food and clothes, hats etc. If you want anything vintage looking, Spitalfields is definitely the place to go. It is also undergoing significant renovation, so it is much cleaner than the Borough or Camden Markets...not what you would expect of the east side of London!

Then we headed to Song Que for lunch...it had been a while since I had some Phở. After lunch, I had to say a quick goodbye to Jane at Liverpool Street as she wanted to wander down Petticoat Lane (Sundays in Spitalfields is market central!) and I needed to head to Heathrow to fly to Hamburg for work.

I only got to Hamburg around dinner time and as I wasn't in much of an exploring mood, I just had dinner at the Hotel, in the Le Ciel restaurant, the hotel's roof-top restaurant which had views over the Alster Lake and Hamburg’s skyline. The food was actually really good for a hotel, I guess it helped that the menu was created by Michael Rostang, a renowned Two Michelin Star Parisian chef.

Whistler & Vancouver - A really white Christmas!

Monday 24 December 2007
This morning, Yang and I headed to the Perth Domestic Airport, had a few drinks at the Qantas Club Lounge, and then I said bye to Yang (for 8 weeks) and boarded the midnight horror to Sydney. On top of being cramped in economy, and awake at some ridiculous time in the morning, I had a horrible old man behind me who yelled and pushed my chair back to fully upright when I tried to sleep. I was so peeved as everyone has a right to push their seats back and it wasn't like he was trying to use his tray table or that he was a giant or anything; he still had inches of space between his knees and the seat in front. As the Chasers would say, "it's un-Australian".

On arrival in Sydney, extremely tired, I dozed in and out of sleep in the Qantas Club Lounge (screaming children kept waking me up...why are there so many children in Business Class Lounges nowadays?) before boarding my flight to Los Angeles. Thankfully, I bought a business class leg for this part of the trip, so I had heaps of legroom, a free seat next to me, and no cranky old man behind me.

From Los Angeles, I transited in the Business Class Lounge there...it was very dismal, and then headed to Vancouver, where I waited for my luggage until the conveyer belt stopped and had to resign myself to the fact that my luggage didn't make it...a great Christmas present don't you think!?

Then after a three-hour bus trip I arrived in Whistler, host of the 2010 Winter Olympic Games and my hotel for the next week, Whistler Village Inns and Suites. This evening, 18 of us had Christmas Eve dinner at Hy's Steakhouse.

Tuesday 25 December 2007 MERRY CHRISTMAS!
I woke up this morning, looked outside my room and it was snowing; and the trees and the village buildings were snow covered…a perfectly adequate white Christmas! An otherwise peaceful morning was then interrupted by the phone ringing, but it was good news! My luggage had made it from Los Angeles to Vancouver to Whistler…YAY…best Christmas present so far!

All geared up, Jason and co picked me up from the Village Inns and Suites and we headed to the Blackcomb lift to meet up with Robin and his friends. Having not skied since March this year, it was embarrassing, but I guess not surprising that I fell twice on the first slope of the day! I’m going to use the excuse that the slope was icy to make myself feel better. We headed to 7th Heaven area at 2,284 metres, which was the coldest I have ever felt; it must have been –17C. The wind chill was really bad as well and my face was just burning, even with a buff and goggles covering practically every inch of it.

Robin took us down a blue run (although blue in Canada isn’t equivalent to blue in Europe, more like a red), which was quite enjoyable until he made me go through moguls on my first day! I felt so bad for everyone who had to wait for me whilst I went backwards as the moguls were so tall that I didn’t have enough speed to go over them!

Slightly traumatised after my first morning of skiing, when I was given the option of lunch or a run down through trees and lots of powder, I immediately opted for lunch!

For dinner, we (Jason, Aaron, Peter and Michael) didn’t go for the traditional turkey and ham, but had Japanese at Sushi Village. Well, at least I was still celebrating with some family!



Wednesday 26 December 2007
Today was the start of the sales, so we spent the morning shopping around Whistler village. We all bought a few things, and the boys almost convinced me to buy a pair of bright orange ski pants as I look so boring in all black, however, Yang suggested I would look more like a roadside workman in that colour!

After shopping, we had a chilli dog at Zog’s before heading up the Whistler lifts to Roundhouse. The weather was so good today, blue skies and definitely not as cold as yesterday thank goodness.

This evening, Robin, Sara, Jason, Aaron, Peter, Michael and I got our carbohydrate fix for skiing tomorrow at the Old Spaghetti Factory, a cheap and nasty Canadian Italian chain that I also visited in Calgary.

Thursday 27 December 2007
I decided to be lazy today and spent the day shopping in Whistler Village, which I might add is the best shopping in any ski resort I’ve been to…well I guess it is North America, and they love having a lot of choice.

Tired of eating out, I joined the boys at their apartment for dinner. Jason cooked up a relatively gourmet meal with pan-fried salmon, mash and cheese spinach!

Friday 28 December 2007
I made my way up to Rendezvous on Blackcomb and had a lesson for most of the day. My instructor was a marketing student who was a ski instructor by day and then worked as a Hotel Receptionist at the Westin by night just to pay back her student loan. Although I pretty much learned the same drills as the instructor at Verbier, hopefully I’ve improved somewhat…but whether I will remember everything next time is a different matter.

I had dinner at the boys' apartment again tonight, this time Aaron cooked a somewhat bachelor meal of chilli from a can!

Saturday 29 December 2007
Back to skiing with the group today on Blackcomb, and I think the lessons definitely helped as I actually kept up with the group for once! After skiing, we had drinks at an Irish Pub…that’s one thing different from Europe…less of an après ski atmosphere. This was followed by dinner (spaghetti bolognaise) with additional guests, Robin and Sara, back at the boys' apartment.

Sunday 30 December 2007
It snowed really really heavily yesterday afternoon and evening, and I think all of Vancouver felt it too as when we joined the queues for the lifts this morning, they were huge, about a 40 minute wait instead of 5 minutes. As a result, yesterday’s ski group decided to have a rest day, but being my last day in Whistler, I decided to go up to Whistler by myself. Luckily, although the lifts were packed, Whistler has a singles queue for people by themselves, to make sure all lift seats are utilised. As a result, I must have skied more slopes today than any days this week, and I skied until the lifts closed.

One last dinner with the group, again at the boys' apartment, this time, lasagne from the freezer! As it was my last night in Whistler and also given I would be spending New Year’s Eve on the plane, I bought a bottle of Perrier Jouët, and we cracked it open for dessert.



Monday 31 December 2007
This morning, I took the 6am bus to Vancouver, the “City of Glass” for some sightseeing in Canada’s second largest city. First stop was the Capilano Suspension Bridge over the Capilano Canyon, which was a bit of a mission as I had to catch a bus to the Downtown Seabus Terminal, catch a Seabus (i.e. a ferry) to North Vancouver, and then take a bus to the Capilano Suspension Bridge. Although it was fun to walk over the world’s longest and highest Suspension Bridge (albeit pretty scary with the river below), some tree top bridges and along the Canyon’s cliff face I am not sure whether it was worth the title of “Vancouver’s first attraction” and the CA$22 entry fee. I guess the other highlight of this long journey was the sea-mountain-city views from the Seabus to and from North Vancouver were amazing.

Back in Downtown, I walked along the Coal Harbour Seawalk, past Canada Place, the floatplane terminal and really cool apartments overlooking Coal Harbour to Stanley Park. The key highlight of Stanley Park was the Vancouver Aquarium, which had beluga whales…they are so cool, so white, and so fat!

Rather tired, I had all you can eat Japanese at Robson Sushi on Robson Street, Vancouver’s main shopping and dining street. And since I was on Robson Street, I spent the rest of the afternoon shopping! As the shops closed, I headed to Chinatown, which I skirted through as it was dodgy dodgy dodgy (apparently it is a bit of a high crime area…which I read afterwards, silly me)! Luckily three blocks down and I hit Gastown, with clean cobblestone streets, old-fashioned lampposts and Victorian heritage buildings, and no dodgy people. Its main attraction is the Gastown Steam Clock, which belches steam and sound each quarter hour like a train whistle.

Then back to the airport and back to London...where I ushered the New Year in very much asleep on the plane.