The Olympics are Going to be Glorious

As we have already posted the US Olympic outfits are really special.  But I prefer the Canadian bobsledders look here.  I really hope this is official racing look.

Speaking of bobsledding the Jamacians are BACK.  You can help them get to Sochi here.

Germany also had something to say with their official outfits.  I think it's a big ole gay fuck you to Putin and the Russian bigots. 

Speaking of fuck yous. 

And finally the Norwegian curlers.  There are no words.

One last time around the horn

 Made it to Wonderland this summer.  Leviathan is epic!

 There's Justin wandering the park!

Mason found a new favourite place to hang.   

Let's go Blue Jays

 August long weekend at the Connor Cottage.  It wouldn't be complete without an all-night Euchre game.

Spent a week in Markdale with the Guy.  Loved our hike to Innis Falls

 And the Keady Farmer's Market.  I have never seen so many Mennonites.

Andy built the deck with his dad. Love a man who is good with his hands.

Second to last night in town with some of my favourite people at the Havelock Hotel.  I miss you already Crystal.  

Last night in T.O. Ash, Lo and I went to Blue Rodeo.  Wandered through the EX on our way home.  

Thanks for the great time ladies.  I'll "TRY" to keep it together without you.  

The Best of the 2012 Olympics.

This has got to be the absolute best thing in this years Olympics.  

Okay okay in all seriousness here are some of my favourite memories of the 2012 Olympics.

I shed for real tears when, the The US Women's Gymnasts, anchored by this pint-size power house, won team Gold.

 Gabby Douglas seriously rocks!  And she was so cute on Leno.

My next favourite moment of the Olympics, wasn't really a moment, but rather every moment this guys went for a jog.  In fact, Jamaica in my opinion was a serious winner this Olympics.  I bet if population size and GDP were factors in the Medal ranking by country Jamaica would be the all-around winner.  Anyone know of a ranking system that account for those factors?  Seriously though these guys, cool running'!

And what about Canada's golden lady Rosie MacLennan who won the Country's only Gold Medal this summer. She might have gotten the only gold but she wasn't the only great Canadian Olympian. 

Christine Sinclair is definitely the greatest woman playing soccer anywhere.

And of course there was this. 

Beyonce "inspired" by Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker

The "inspiration" for Countdown.

Hahahahahaha

I know I shouldn't laugh but this definitely amused. Schadenfreude.

Maybe it's just swelling?

God I love Bangkok!

Rioting sucks, but this is awesome

Cascade - San Francisco

Our favourite German Shitney is back with a track that obviously pulls at my heartstrings! Also random Broadway references WTF? Love it!

People in Norway are Nuts

"I'd rather be out here, being free"

Did you know TLC used to be the learning channel? O well, this is gonna be super entertaining.

NO. Absolutamente no!

http://www.sanfranciscobythebay.com/main.html

There cannot be something called San Francisco by the Bay, in Pickering. That is totally breaking the rules. Does San Francisco know about this?

Old Man Down

come come now people this is tennis.

God Republicans are so clever

How do they come up with this stuff?

G20

Holla

The heat is on in Saigon

From Phnom Penh we took a bus across the boarder to Saigon. The border crossing was pretty straight forward, particularly because the Vietnamese make you get your VISA in advance so there is very little hassle at the border itself. We were still traveling with Jaylene and Travis so the four of us got to share the bus ride experience. Well sort of, Jay and Travis are champions of Valium bus travel so the ride was definitely more enjoyable for them than it was for us. Saigon is only about 5 or 6 hours from PP so we had a day trip and got into Ho Chi Minh City by early afternoon. As usual we had to go through the usual headache of getting accomodation and settling in. By the time we were showered and ready to hit the town a storm was coming on so we hightailed it to the Rex Hotel to have a rooftop drink and celebrate our arrival in Vietnam.

This is a big deal for Justin and me because it is basically the last country we are traveling to before we go to Beijing to visit my parents, and then heading home. As of arriving in Vietnam we are entering the last hurrah of our whirlwind trip. It is pretty unfathomable. These past 6 months have been super exciting and they feel like they have flown by so fast. It is hard to believe that we will be home in a month.

Anyway, I digress, we arrived at the Rex at the exact right moment because within minutes of our being there the sky openned up and a huge storm hit Saigon. Monsoon level storm. We have been seeing quite a lot of rain the last couple of weeks. It has been good though because usually everyday is so hot and humid that we are practically begging for rain. We sat under the sunroof of the Rex rooftop patio and drank our outrageously priced drinks marvelling at the bustling and frantic city bellow us. ASnd the storm. While there someone had the brilliant idea (probably Justin) that this would be perfect movie weather and that Saigon probably had a movie theatre with English movies. So we asked the waiters for some advice and made a hasty depature to the nearest Galaxy theatre. The only thing playing at a convenient time was The Book of Eli so we went to see that. What a strange movie to be showing in a Communist country with Buddist roots and a healthy skeptisim of Christianity. But it was entertaining at least.

After the movie we went for dinner at the central market and then made our way home in a sort of semi-lost, round-a-bout kind of way. We didn't have a big night because we had plans to go to Southeast Asia's most famous waterpark at Dam Sen Lake, in the morning. And, let me tell you, the water park did not disappoint.

You may think it is lame to go to water park in Saigon, when we could have been out going to temples and war muesums etc etc. But actually we were practically the only foreigners there, so it was a cultural experience. I of course rate cultural experiences by how many other white people are there. The fewer the white people the more cultural it is. It was awesome to see all the locals with their families and huge picnics. And boy do they picnic right. I mean whole lobsters at the water park, now that is amazing. We had an absolute blast, and for the first half of the day there was practically nobody there so we didn't have to wait in any lines. But by about 2 we were spent and decided to head for home.

After a mild night out in Saigon, in which I failed to piss off no less than four gap yahs, by of course referring to them as gap yahs, and playing one absolutely dismal game of pool, we spent the next day searching for and being horrified by the War Remnants Museum. It is difficult to say which was worse the killing fields in Cambodia or the War Remnants Museum in Saigon. But knowing that America had a direct hand in the reality of both definitely didn't help matters. The War Remnants Museum, which was formerly and perhaps more aptly known as the American War Crimes Museum, is chilling. Many of the images of the war were familiar to me. But there were plenty of things there I hadn't seen before. I found the pictures of children born with birth defects from exposure to Agent Orange particularly sobering and in many cases difficult to look at.

We all left feeling pretty unsettled, and it took a while for us to recover from the days activities. But Since Justin and I had a bus to catch latter in the evening we tried to make the most of the rest of the day. The four of us went out for a nice dinner together and said our goodbyes. And Jay and Travis even gave us a parting gift. Valium! For the bus ride. And then we were off to Nha Trang. Just Justin and I, alone again to continue the last of our adventures....

Guatemala is workin on that whole hole to China thing.

With Agatha's help they may get there. Via this unbelievable sinkhole. Holy Shit. (Pun totally intended.)

"Excuse me, do you know how far we are from the tubing place?"

When the 17 year old Brit asked Justin the above question about how far we were from Vang Vieng it finally dawned on me exactly what we were getting ourselves into. I had heard rumours and seen the infamous "tubing videos" but like most things nothing really prepares you like experience. And what an experience it was. I can't remember all of it and most of it is NSFB (not safe for blogging,) but Vang Vieng definitely ranks up there on the fun-o-meter. We got into town in the late afternoon, and after getting ourselves set up at the guesthouse the boys from my trek recommended we went to explore. Vang Vieng the town is not very pretty. But the surroundings are gorgeous. Set in a lush river valley, surrounded by densely covered green cliffs, Laos is stunning. But VV itself seems to be in a prolonged state of haphazard development. Development which I would guess is going to be underway for at least the next ten years. In the meantime there are plenty of bars and restaurants endlessly playing Friends and making french fries to satiate even the drunkest Brit. Since apparently they "love Friends."

While wandering around we wandered across the bamboo bridge to the shanty town with the most important landmark in town - the Bucket Bar. It was early so nobody was there except some employees and some hardcore drinkers but one of the bartenders gave us all the important details about Vang Vieng - mainly when and where to get free buckets of whiskey. It turns out that if you time it right you never have to spend a penny on drinks in VV. And when you get your free bucket at the Bucket Bar, you can pour the liquor yourself. It seems they don't mind making stiff drinks because the mix is more expensive than the whiskey. So that pretty much sums up the whole VV experience except for the tubing, and the sandwiches, which was about the only things we did or ate for three days.

Tubing, which we only really did once was unbelievable. You show up at the top of the river with your tube and right away you get a free shot, or six. In fact most people don't even make it past the first three bars because they just ply you with free shots, rope swings, diving platforms and zip lines. Oh yea and one place has free french fries. But we did actually manage to release our hold on our shot glasses and tube down river. After our fist night in town Justin and I had met and made friends with Mike and Mark of Scotland and Wales respectively. And so we were tubing with them. Over the course of the day we managed to also pick up, Luke, Tom, Luke (Tubes,) Ciaran, Jaylene, Travis and a whole other whack of tubers. We stopped at the mud bar and played mud volleyball and had mud tug-of-war. We went to the massive slide, which I later found out is deadly. I did manage to make it down the slide OK, although Jaylene (not brown haired,) landed hard on her back and still has a bruise. I also successfully did the rope swing once. The second time was not so successful. But at least I wasn't seriously injured like some. We were all actually pretty good about avoiding the acrobatics while completely inebriated.

There isn't much after the slide bar, but actually that was the really beautiful part. No bars or loud drunks just you in your tube with all that scenery around. If only the river had been higher we would have really enjoyed it and not have been constantly scrapping the rocks and getting stuck. We decided to get out early because of the late hour and shallow water and take a tuk tuk back into town. The six of us became a bit of a posse, well except J and Travis because they hightailed it out of VV the next day. But the guys and Lize had quite a party over the next two days.

I got propositioned to have sex with a guy from each of the Celtic nations in one go. That's Ireland, England, Scotland and Wales, in case you were in doubt. It was quite difficult to turn that one down, but I managed. My inner slut hated me though. But don't feel too bad for me I managed to have plenty of fun in VV. Thankfully though Justin and I had discussed not getting stuck there and so after three days we were definitely ready to go. And so we bid adieu to the delicious street sandwiches, which we had be living on, and the Tiger Whiskey and made for the capital. From here we are heading down to Siem Reap in Cambodia early tomorrow. But we have enjoyed Vientiane and particularly loved the COPE exhibit about the USA's covert bombings in Laos which have left the country horrifically scarred, literally.

Ladyboys, Redshirts and Riot Police

Ok, so I realize I have not been good at posting the last two weeks. But in my defense the islands in Thailand's Gulf Coast charge an astronomical rate for Internet time and I am ashamed to admit it but these posts usually take a while. And we have been having way to much fun to sit inside at anInternet cafe for more than ten mnutes. But I didn't want you all to feel that you hadn't been getting your weekly Lyze fix. (Read I want to be sure you are all still jealous.) So here's the latest update:

We left India as I mentioned and flew straight to Bangkok. For the first few days we absolutely loved it. The transportation systems are great. We got to take water ferries, the sky train and even the city buses without any trouble, and for relatively little cost. We saw the Grand Palace, stunning, and went to eat at the food courts at MBK mall. We even went to see a movie. Which made Justin, and me, very happy.

The best part about the movie was the Thai National Anthem, which they play before each and every film, and sometimes just randomly in the mall. When ever the anthem is played everyone is expected to stand at attention and remain silent with their hands by their side. I was super excited about, since you know I love nationalism. And Justin told me after the movie that he had never seen me move so fast. He said he had no idea what was going on but the next thing he knew I had jumped out of my seat and had a shit eating grin on my face. While the anthem is playing they show amazing still shots of the King doing kingly stuff, like gettin' bowed to and cuttin' ribbons, inspecting infrastructure. You know the usual. I loved it. The Thai's really LOVE the King. I mean I thought Canadians liked the Queen, and Americans like Barrrrrrack, but they have got nothing on the Thai devotion to the King. Everyone, and I am not exaggerating, has framed portraits or pictures of the King in their shops and homes.

We also went down to Patpong, where they have a night market much like Canal street in NYC and is also where all the sex shows and clubs are. Justin and I went out dancing two nights while we were in town. And surprise surprise I was even brought up on stage to perform in the drag show. ( I have totally accepted that these things are always happening to me.) It was so much fun. We met some really great people in Bangkok as well. An there were so many beautiful ladyboys

But it was definitely not all fun and games. Bangkok is currently besieged by rural Thai protesters known as the red shirts. They have taken over the main shopping district near Siam Square. There are four separate malls in that neighborhood and all of them have been closed for weeks because of the protesters. They are also camped out in the Banglamphu area, near Khao San Rd at the democracy monument, quite close to where we were staying. And as the week progressed the situation began to deteriorate. Some much so that the PM actually called a state of emergency while we were in town. It seemed at first to have relatively little impact on our touring and partying but two days before we left the violence actually got quite intense.

One night, after Justin had been told earlier in the day to go back to his hotel by a shopkeeper, advice we of course heeded, we came dangerously close to being caught in the fray. We had laid low all day but in the evening it seemed to have quieted down so we went for a post dinner stroll, and turned a corner and found ourselves face to face with a violent stand off between protesters and police. I could hear gun shots and could see and feel the tear gas as we retreated back towards our hotel. But it being Bangkok it was almost not surprising to see people not 10 meters away from these horrific scenes of unrest drinking beer and gawking.

Unreal! Anyway we spent the next day and a half hanging out at rooftop pool of our hotel. O yea did I mention the rooftop pool? Well we had one. AnyIHadARooftopPool we were pretty ready to get going after all that excitement and we left last Sunday morning for Koh Phangan...

highlights of Bangkok
DJ Station, our gay club of choice
@Richard's our gay bar of choice - we were very gay
The Grand Palace - where Justin's outfit was too revealing and he had to rent long pants
city transport and general ease -as compared to India.
MBK Mall and Date Night starring Tina Fey and Steve Carell
pool

Lowlights of Bangkok
Not getting to see some of the sights we had hoped to due to the unrest
The unrest - needs no further explanation
The ladies who nearly stole our laundry

Part of our Heritage

When I escaped to Canada.

Shepard Fairey was arrested in Boston

Artist Shepard Fairey, who is responsible for this now famous image of President Obama was arrested in Boston over the weekend for two outstanding arrest warrants. The warrants were issued for charges related to public vandalism. Fairey has built his career, even pre-Obama poster, on works of public art or guerrilla graffiti. As Property spot devotees will remember I posted this about the Fairey show I saw in Boston last winter. And while he is not my favourite artist I do hope he stands up for the work he does and that charges against him will be dropped. Although his arrest will probably only add to his artistic panache.