First Days of India.

Pictures to come. I promise.

After a cancelled flight and night in Communist China followed by a plane, two taxis, a quick sleep, another plane, another taxi, a rickshaw, three buses and another taxi, Emily and I are finally at Om Beach in Gokarn where we will stay for a few nights. It's been three-four days since I left Vancouver and I'm finally staying in one place for more than a night.

We decided Om Beach was the place for new years based on some advice Em got throughout her travels. Turns out a lot of people plan on staying on Om for new years. All the beach huts are full-up. But, because Indians love helping people and hate to turn people away, we'll be sleeping on a sandy patio under the stars with a couple other travellers. I fell asleep last night to lapping waves of the Arabian Sea and I woke up to a sunrise, a rooster's call, a few howling piedogs and the mooing of cows (who wear necklaces and do whatever the hell they want because they're holy). It was quiet lovely, really.

Emily is amazing in India. If I hadn't been with her I'm sure I'd still be finding my way out of the airport in Goa. She's really taken the chaos that is India. I think it will take a few more days before I'm comfortable with pushing people to get on buses and yelling at tuk tuk drivers who are trying to scam me.

What I am comfortable with is the food. My god it's delicious. Emily introduced me to the Lassi, a yogurt smoothy that she decided has kept her stomach in top condition these past few months. I had a banana one yesterday with ginger in it. Perfect for the 27 degree weather down here.

We'll be on Om Beach for the next few days then we're headed south for a jungle excursion.

Art, City, Outdoors

Vancouver is a city built around the outdoors. The Lower Mainland is literally surrounded by the ocean and mountains. On top of it we've got a ton of huge natural parks and bunch of man-made lakes. The best thing about living in a city built around the outdoors is getting to discover those beaches, mountains and forests.

This past weekend, Jeff and I were out for a walk in Kitsilano. We were at the very North end of MacDonald street wondering who lived in some of the massive houses around there when we saw a public stairwell between two lots. The steps led to the a small beach between Kits and Jericho. I'm not sure if it was high tide or low tide but it looked like you could walk between the two beaches.

It was a cool place to stumble upon. There was a great view of downtown and the North Shore Mountains as well as a ton of urban art. The best Kitsilano art I've seen. It was perfect mixed of Art, City and Outdoors.

Hot things in Harrison

There are two good things about visiting summer cities in the winter: no one's around and there are a ton of great deals. This past weekend I went to Harrison Hot Springs. Or more specifically, Harrison Hot Springs Resort.

I'd never been to the resort in Harrison, I'd only ever camped but since we were there for Jeff's Christmas Party and the boss put us up in the swanky hotel, I was more than happy to get a new view of the lake.




We pretty much rolled into town, took a few photos in the freezing-cold wind then spend the rest of the night in the resort. Other than, the guy kite surfing in the afternoon and the coworker who jumped in the lake at midnight, it seemed like everyone was staying out of the cold.



The selling feature of the resort is the hot spring water they pump into a number of different indoor and outdoor pools. Each pool is a different temperature and lucky us, no one was in the cooler (still bathwater temperature) pool after dinner. It was like we had our own huge bathtub to relax in.


Another selling feature of the resort, it's only an hour and a half away from Vancouver. In the summer, I think I'd still opt for camping and a dip in one of the nearby lakes. The resort was great but had the stay not been a gift from the boss, it would have been a little out of my price range.