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The Dateline Really Messes with my Head

Dec 4, 2012   //   by David   //   Blog  //  Comments Off on The Dateline Really Messes with my Head

The international dateline really messes with my head. I left Hong Kong on Sunday 2nd December at 10:30am and after 14 hours of flying arrived in Vancouver on Sunday 2nd December at 10:30am. How is that? Confusing.

trying to blend in in Hong Kong

Dec 1, 2012   //   by Eva   //   Blog, Hong Kong, Photo of the Day  //  1 Comment

Swastika

Nov 29, 2012   //   by Eva   //   Bali, Blog  //  1 Comment

Here’s a picture of Swastika, a young man who was our tour guide and assistant in many ways in Bali. After introducing himself as Swastika he is invariably asked the meaning of his name. Here’s what he says: in Balinese Hinduism the swastika is a representation of social peace and harmony. The four legs represent the  social castes each of which is dependent on the others to create a functional society. The castes are Priest/Leader, Warrior, Merchant, Farmer/Fisherman. If any of these castes is missing the social order runs aground.

There are other meanings given the swastika in Hindu belief all of them with positive connotation. It’s strange for us to see the symbol associated with peace.

It was also strange and somewhat amusing to call someone Swastika in conversation.

 

 

 

Big Buddha in the fog (Lantau island)

Nov 28, 2012   //   by Eva   //   Blog, Hong Kong  //  2 Comments

from Ubud to Hong Kong

Nov 27, 2012   //   by Eva   //   Blog  //  1 Comment

Yesterday we were here:

and today we woke up to this view:

 

Photo of the day

Nov 26, 2012   //   by Eva   //   Photo of the Day  //  Comments Off on Photo of the day

Avia in one of the beautifully ornamented doors in Jemeluk Bay, Bali

Cooking lesson in Bali

Nov 25, 2012   //   by Eva   //   Bali, Blog  //  Comments Off on Cooking lesson in Bali

 

Getting stung for Ralph Lazar

Nov 25, 2012   //   by David   //   Bali, Blog  //  4 Comments

Jemeluk Bay, Amed, Bali, Thursday 22nd Nov.

In December 2011 Ralph Lazar showed up with his new GoPro camera for action and underwater shots. He boasted of its outstanding characteristics, its flexibility, its clarity, action video, in water out water photos, fish eye lens. He jumped into the pool to demonstrate and quickly edited a movie of it all to excite us.

Suitably excited I bought one for Eva for her birthday and she brought in on our trip as we have spent much of the past two months in or under the water.

On Wednesday early evening I went snorkeling. That’s when the fish are feeding, including the sharks.

From October to December Mackeral visit the eastern shores of Bali. Among the things I saw was a large school of mackeral swimming up and down with their mouths wide open. So wide open that their gills flared. They were there because their food was there. A thick cloud of tiny crimson jelly fish.

I didn’t stay in the water long, the jelly fish stung.

But I was determined the next day to video the scene for Eva and Ralph. Yannay thought it a good idea, and shirtless he joined me. We checked that we had enough memory and then searched for the mackeral for half an hour. We found the jellyfish, or more correctly they found us, but we stayed in the water for the sake of the video. We saw damselfish eating off the coral, butterfly fish eating, some parrot fish eating. We got chased by a trigger fish. And then we saw a mass of balck damsel fish eating and above them, the bright silver reflection of the mackeral. I turned on the video. The jellyfish continued to sting. Little stings like a red ant biting. Or a light bee sting. Sting, sting. We stayed in the water and swam after the fish. They came towards us. We videoed it. They swam away. We videoed it. Up and down. An amazing sight. Hundreds of mackeral feeding on thousands of jellyfish. Yannay and I surfaced. We agreed to stay in to video some more.

For o=another hour we followed the fish. By the time the stinging became too great we swam for shore and plunged into the pool. I immediately gave Eva the GoPro to download the video so that she, Dani and Avia could see what we saw.

After three minutes the Go Pro had run out of battery.

 

Photo of the day

Nov 23, 2012   //   by Eva   //   Photo of the Day  //  Comments Off on Photo of the day

 

Saw fish. Sydney Aquarium. October 28th 2012

My first massage lesson

Nov 21, 2012   //   by Yannay   //   Bali, Blog, Videos, Yannay  //  5 Comments

My first massage lesson took place in Ubud, Bali on November 16, 2012. I got taught in a spa called Sang Spa by a woman named Juni for almost six hours straight. The lesson started at 10am and ended at 4:30 with a half an hour break at 1 after learning for 3 hours straight.

When I arrived at the spa at 10, I had no idea what to expect. I didn’t know what kind of massage I’d learn and I didn’t know how they’d teach me. I thought they’d first teach me theory (what muscle is where and stuff) but they said to go into a room and in that room was a person lying on a massage table with a sarong on them. Then the lesson started. Juni started demonstrating how to do the massage and at the beginning it was very awkward for me and I didn’t think I’d enjoy it because the massage included the gudius maximus (scientific word for bottom). After about 15-30 minutes of the lesson I got used to the giving the massage and enjoyed it a lot. Not even ants covering my food could destroy the fun.

After the six hours were over, I sat at the front of the spa waiting for my dad to pick me up and when he came he videoed them giving me my certificate. I am now certified to provide Balinese massage.  It was a lot of fun but I don’t know how I’m going to remember how to do the massage because I don’t know who to do it on.

Video 1: watch the first 2:50 mins.

Video 2:

 

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