Arrived in Cairns safe and sound!

PICTURE: Cairns swimming Lagoon on the esplanade
Hello,
Well we have found the sun and warmer weather. This is what we were looking for. We arrived in Cairns after a plane delay of 2hours on tuesday moring at 1:00am. We stayed at the Serpent hostel just for the night, since they had a late check in. We than moved into a new place called Global Palace. It is really nice, it is very roomy which is nice since our last place was a little crowded. The Kitchen here hardly has anyone in it and the tv room is almost always empty. We will be staying here till July 10th and then we are moving into a shares accomodation apartment not to far away. It consists of 5 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, living room with tv and a deck. The nice thing is that there will never be more than 7 people living in there at a time. The hostel we are in now is costing about $392 per week and the shared accomodation will only be $250 per week so much cheaper, but you have to stay atleast a month. Were ok with that we are both ready to have a little home away from home, we have been on 9 planes since we left calgary and could do without a little flying for awhile.
We both have decided to maybe get jobs here since we will be here for atleast another month. We have not decided quite what we want to do yet but something fun and easy, not too much work, seeing as we are still on a holiday! Over all things are good, the only thing that kinda sucks about Cairns is that you are not aloud to swim in the ocean due to Jelly fish and salt water crocodiles ehhhh.... They have a man made swimming lagoon right on the beach but, it is not quite the same. Well all is well, we love you all and miss you tons and hope to chat soon! :)
Love Jen and Glenn

On to Cairns, AUSTRALIA! :)

PICTURE: Karla and Jen, a familiar face abroad!
Well we are on the move again, a little farther up north to Cairns. We have been in Brisbane this week and have really enjoyed the hostel we have stayed in. The people are nice and there is even an on site pub with 7 dollar jugs. We have been able to cook for ourselves everyday so that has saved us some money. The hostels though are really good for cheap food, they have a barbeque every night if you dont want to cook for yourself with 3 dollar burgers. Yesterday we went and saw the movie Oceans 13th. We really enjoyed it and were surprised how good it was for a threequel.
Well monday night we fly out of Brisbane to Cairns and we are probably going to settle in there for a month or so. We are staying at a place called World Palace, a place that was recommended to us by my cousin Alexis. We have both got phones and a bank account now so that is all dealt with. We have also been in contact with Karla Wilkinson as she is in Cairns and we plan to meet up with her while we are there. But all in all things are well, we are definitly enjoying ourselves. Anyways we miss you all and will talk to you soon.
p.s. Aunt Janice the travel alarm clock has come in really handy as there has been no clocks anywhere we have been since LA. Thanks again
p.p.s Mom We have been using your towels that you got us and they are amazing, who could have thought something so small could work so well. Thanks Love you
Love Jen and GlennP

Arrived in Brisbane, AUSTRALIA! :)

PICTURE: Jen and Glenn above the Brisbane river.
Hi,
Well after alot of thought and planning we are finally in Australia. Yeahhhhh! We arrived in Brisbane at 6:00am yesterday morning(wednesday 20th)very tired from the overnight plane ride in which sleep never happened. We caught a cab to the hostel Brisbane City Backpackers. We have rented a privete room with a double bed for 60 dollars per night. It is about 20 dollars per night more expensive to get a private room but neither of us is adventurous enough or feels like a bunk in a room of 8 other messy travellers! It has a kitchen and showers so we are able to cook for ourselves again, which suprisingly enough is a real nice change from eating at restaurants all the time. It is clean and in a good location so it is a good place to start for our first time in a Hostel.
We opened a bank account yesterday at the australian commonwealth bank, but we dont get our cards till a week friday. We bought Glenn a cell phone in Singapore so we both have phones now and are going to get sim cards for them today. We have found that it will be cheapest for us to just use our phones locally and use calling cards to call home, since they are cheaper.
We are booked in the hostel till Sunday and then i think we are going to head north to Cairns. We have friend from highschool Karla Wilkinson that is going to be there so we thought it would be really nice to see her. Well we are safe and sound in Brisbane, we love you all and miss you and will keep you updated as our journey continues.
Love Jen and Glenn

To Australia we go!:)

PICTURE: Jen & Glenn In the mouth of the Merlion on Sentosa island, Singapore
Hey,
Well off to another destination we go! We have finished our stint in Singapore and are off to Australia. We have enjoyed Singapore, it is alot like Vancouver. Overcast, but so beautiful when its beautiful. Most people are of chinese decent but most all people speak english, its there second language. It is an island surrounded by ocean but not white sand beaches, alot more like vancouver.
The first day we went on a tour to there (vancouver island) Sentosa. We took a cable car over to the island and went to the aquarium. Then we went to there monumental Merlion and went to the view point at the top, 40m high. We then went to the beach side to a new show that they are presenting, called Songs of the sea. It is a laser light show with ocean water, and music. It was very cool to watch.
The next day we went to the Singapore zoo, it is one of the top 3 zoos in the world. We ate breakfast at the zoo and were able to get up close and personal with an orangutang and her baby. It was cool, they have a new open concept where the animals are not in cages but they have built habitats for them with only a mote(like around a castle) in between us and them. It allowed us to get really good pictures since there was no bars inbetween. Today we are going to go shopping for awhile and then our flight leaves from singapore at 9pm and we arrive in Brisbane at 6:40am. We have booked a hostel for 4 days and we will go from there. We love you all very much and hope to talk to you soon.
Lots of love Jen and Glenn

Goodbye Thailand, Hello Singapore!!

PICTURES: Jen and Glenn in Grand Palace Bangkok, Thailand
Hello All!
Well we survived Bangkok, Tuk Tuks and all. On Thursday we flew from Phuket to Bangkok. We got a taxi to our hotel, The Royal hotel which was very central in china town and only a 5 minute walk to the grand palace and many other central tourist outlets. The hotel was very old but clean. After settling in we took a walk and met an old man that set us up with a tuk tuk that took us too the big budhha, first temple and another look out point that you walked up 400 stairs. The tuk tuk took us on a tour and then back to hotel. We went to a couple of his stores so he could get free gas voutures. All in all we saw all the sights for 20baht and it was are own personal tour. We had to go in a tuk tuk just to see what all the fuss is about. It wasn't so bad for us because we didn't really have any plans set, and we knew what to expect, but if you had somewhere to go it would be annoying.
The next day we toured the Grand Palace, it was beautiful but too hot, 36 degrees and we had to where shoes and pants. We then went to MBK mall and did some shopping. It was fun but we are glad we went at the end of the trip, it made it less overwhelming. If we went there first we would have probably wanted to go home. We are now in Singapore, it is much more like home. English is very well known, but we realize how cheap Thailand was now. Funny though in Singapore, it is illegal to sell gum! Strange hey? But you are still aloud to chew it. We are safe and sound and miss you all. We will post some pictures when we get a chance.
Lots of love, Jen and Glenn

A day at the Khai Islands!

PICTURE: The love birds at KHAI NOK,Island
Hi,
Well today we took another trip to visit 3 more islands. They were the Khai Islands, Khai Nui, Khai Nok and Khai Nai. All of the islands were small enough that you could walk around it no problem, the biggest one was probably the size of a football field. They were beautiful, the snorekeling was amazing, much better than the last trip, so good that we did it all day and our backs can prove it with the burn. We even applied SPF 30 atleast 3 times and we are still both nicely toasted. We have done really well though considering that this is the first burn we have gotten in our month away. This time we took a speed boat to the islands, it is a lot smaller and faster. The last boat held about 150 people and took 1.5 hours to get to the islands and this time there was only 20 of us and it took 30 minutes. Much better! There were tons of fish of all different colors and shapes, we even saw one that looked like a mouse. The tour guides would give us bananas and bread and you can put it in the water and the fish just swarm you, it was pretty cool. We also met a guy from Perth, Australia and he was able to give us some tips on getting our scuba diving liscence and other adventures in Australia. All in all it was an amazing day, but we are both tired and our bodys are a little hot! We love you and miss you, Love Jen and Glenn

Our Thailand tour is almost at an end!

PICTURE:Back from the beach, Getting ready for a night on the town!
Hi,
Well it has been a month since we left and it has flown by. We are almost finished in Thailand and are on to a new adventure. We fly on thursday the 14th to Bangkok and will spend a couple of days there, we plan on seeing a couple of temples and do a little bit of shopping. Then on saturday the 16th we fly to Singapore. We will be spending 4 days there seeing the sights and then we fly to Australia. We land in Brisbane and are just trying to decide where we will go from there. We think we might head up to the great barrier reef and spend a month in hostels touring around there and then into Alice springs and ayers rock. It seems that it will be much cheaper for us to rent a room in an apartment then trying to do hostels so we are going to lay down some roots for a couple of months in various places. Over all, things here have been great but i think we are both ready to move on to something new. We met a really nice couple from South Africa last night that is moving to Atlanta and they were able to give us some good travelling tips. All in all we are loving life, it doesn't get much better than spending a month sitting by a pool or the ocean. It will be hard to get back to the real world! Well thats all for now, we love you and miss you all and will chat with you soon! Love Jen and Glenn

A day at PHI PHI islands!

PICTURE: Glenn and i at PHI PHI DON ISLAND
Hello all,
Well where to start. Today we did a day trip from Patong to Phi Phi islands. It was beautiful. Phi Phi ley has a bay called Maya Bay and that is where the movie the beach was filmed (the one with Leonardo Dicaprio). The beaches were amazing and we stopped at a beach called Long beach for lunch on Phi Phi don island. The boat we were on was quite, shall we say broken in, the bathrooms were the most disgusting i have ever seen in my whole life. There were numerous creatures travelling about that Glenn had to save me from, but none the less the people were once again very friendly and the beaches were as beautiful as any postcard which made it all worth it. Well things are still great, we are having an amazing time, we are starving though so we are off to eat dinner (possibly pizza!) Miss you all tons and we will chat soon.
Love Jen and Glenn

First night in Patong beach PHUKET

PICTURE: This is a picture of a main night club street in Patong, PHUKET
Hey,
Just wanted to say hi after our first night in PHUKET. Things here are a little crazier than KO SAMUI but none the less some of the best people watching i think you can get. The night life here is alot crazier than where we have been. There is probably atleast 3 hookers per corner and they close down some of the streets from traffic so people just wander down the middle of the streets. The best way to describe it is a cheap trashy VEGAS! The beaches here are quite busy and have way bigger waves then KO SAMUI. When we were in Chewang, our hotel was right on the beach so you had a little section for each hotel but here we have to go to the public beach. We spent time at our pool yesterday and that was good. Glenn liked it especially since i was the only girl there with a top on! Glenns oakley sunglasses broke so we bargained him some new ones with a case last night, the starting asking price was 650baht for the sunglasses. After 10 min we got him down to 200baht and glenn then got cheeky and asked for a free case. We met half way at 250baht with a case, which is about 7 dollars canadian. What a deal!!! I think the bargaining is Glenns favorite part, he will buy something he doesn't even want just so he can bargain. But things are good and we will keep you updated. Love you all and miss you tons.
Love Jen and Glenn

Arrived in Patong, PHUKET

Hey all,
We can finally view our blog! It must just have been because we were on KO SAMUI. Now we can finally post some pictures!!! And view all of your comments so comment away!!! We have added pictures to all of the previous posts, so check them out down below. Well we thought Chewang beach in KO SAMUI was developed but PHUKET's Patong beach even more so. Maybe even a little too much, but it is our first day hear and we are open minded. We found a internet shop that we can view our blog, in the airconditioning and it is still only 1baht per minute. We are staying in more of a hotel style resort called the "Patong Pearl Resotel" Seems clean and nice enough and it is the same price as the other places we have stayed. The only downside is our last 2 places were right on the beach but this place we have to walk a couple blocks to the beach but there are not many on the beach here pretty much all of them are off the beach. And we will have to try the chinese food to see how good it really is! The weather has been good, a little bit of rain today but it does not last long. But things are good and im sure we will have even more adventures in this crazy town!! We love you all and miss you tons and will chat soon!:)

A week of Pampering:)

PICTURE: Chewang beach at Seascape resort in KO SAMUI
Hello, everyone! Just wanted to say hi. We had a good week, this week we pampered ourselves. Tuesday we went for massages, Wednesday facials and today we had manicures, pedicures and foot scrubs. The spa treatments here are sooo... cheap. We had all of the above for only $50 dollars total for both of us in 3 days. Pretty good hey! Today it was really overcast so we decided to take a day from the beach and we went to a movie,(big surprise even when were not at home!) We saw pirates of the carribean 3. Glenn was missing his popcorn and needed a fill. The movie theatre was nice very similar to home, except that the theatre seats are set up in price ranges and you have a designated seat. You pay either 120, 140 or 300 baht depending on where you sit. Then after the previews it announces "please stand and pay respects to our king!" So you stand and sing the anthem before the movie starts. Not quite what we were expecting but none the less another experience. Things have been really good it has been fun and we are enjoying every day. But hello to all and thanks for all your emails it is nice to hear about what is going on with everyone at home. We will chat with you later. Lots of love Jen and Glenn

Enjoying KO SAMUI

PICTURE: Our pool at Seascape beach resort in KO SAMUI
Hey all,
well we are still in KO SAMUI on Chewang beach and have decided to stay here till saturday June 2nd and then we will be moving on to the Phuket/Krabi area. Our place here is in a perfect location to the beach so thats why we have decided to stay. We went to a restaurant across the street and met a couple of australians that own the place and they gave us some good ideas for web sites that we can search jobs on so we dont have to pick fruit while in australia. We have yet to meet any canadians, all either australian or european, tons of european. Alot of the restaurants here are owned by people from england and they commute back and forth. We went shopping the other night and were able to pick up a couple of things. Most of the stores carry the same stuff so you can play them against each other and get the cheapest price.
We are still having trouble viewing our blog. While we are still able to post things but we are unable to read comments that people have written so if you have anything you want to talk about please email us for now and we will let you know when we can properly view the comments on the blog. We will still be posting so make sure you still take a look.
love you lots and we will chat soon.
Jen and Glenn

Enjoying the Beach Life!

PICTURE: The CLIFF restaurant view in Lamai beach, KO SAMUI
Hey Everyone,
We have decided to stay till monday for sure maybe even a few days longer here in Chewang. The people are super friendly and there is lots to do. There is an airconditioned shop at the end of our street with computers so we can come quite often without melting from the heat. We seem to be having a little bit of trouble viewing our blog but it will let us post things so we will continue posting and you can still comment but we may not be able to read the comments often so if you would like feel free to email. The beaches here are beautiful and our bungalow is clean and even has a fridge and tv, (luxuries we did not have at the previous place.) The bugs are not bad during the day but seem to venture out after the sun sets so we try to stay somewhere indoors when it gets dark. The mosquitos are HUGE! The food has been fine we may not be as ethiopian as we had first imagined. You can get a 4 pack of beer at 7/11 for 110 bahts which is about 3 dollars and its not bad either. My grandpa would be in heaven! We are going to go on a day trip to and island where the movie the beach was filmed so that should be fun. We plan on venturing to the market tomorrow morning too for some hot deals. Glenn is looking forward to some serious bargaining. The weirdest thing that happened so far that made us miss home was having to get are laundry done. They do not do it in a shop it gets sent to someones house and you get it back the next day. The thought of my undies hanging in someones backyard creaps me out a little, but none the less things are well and we miss you all. We will chat soon. Well you all sleep we are off to a day at the beach.
Love Jen and Glenn

Moved on to a different part of KO SAMUI

PICTURE: The Cliff restaurant view from the patio Lamai beach, KO SAMUI
Hello all,
We are settled at last, it took a few days but we have finally found paradise. We began in Lamai and stayed at the spa resort, it was clean and had a nice pool but the beaches were not as good we hoped. The people here are really nice and speak english quite well so we have been ok. The food has been good we have found some stuff we like. We have now moved on from Lamai and are now in Cheweng which is a lot more westernized with 7-11 on every corner. The beaches here are beautiful and as good as cuba or cancun if not better. The island is full of europeans, i think this is a very popular vacation spot for them. Today we had corn on the cobb right on the beach from one of the many vendors wandering around. Our bungalow here is quite clean and a short distance from the beach. The computers here are quite slow so we have not been able to post pictures but if we find a place where we can we will very soon. If not, then we will as soon as we get to Australia. We will probably stay on this island for another week and then move on to Phuket. We miss you all tons and will chat with you very soon.
luv Jen and Glenn

Arrived in Thailand safe and sound

PICTURE: The bugs life ride in Disney land, Los Angeles California
Hello everyone we are now safely in thailand. It is a little bit of a culture shock but it beats working none the less. We spent 4 days in Los Angelos at disneyland and universal studios and that was lots of fun. We then boarded a plane to tokyo and 10.5hrs later arrived, we ended up getting a hotel for the night cause after spending 3 hrs trying to sleep in the airport we knew we would not last another 10 hrs till our flight left. We arrived in bangkok last night and flew right over to the island of ko samui and got a beach hut in a place called the spa resort which happens to be a fasting resort where people come for a week and clean out there colons. Lovely just what we were picturing! So we are here one more night and we will be moving on tomorrow to a new hotel. At this point a month seems like a very long time to be here but i think it will just take a couple of days getting used too. We miss you all tons and will chat soon.
P.S. the computers are a little slow but we will take tons of pictures and as soon as we figure out how to put them on the computer we will.

The night before we ride off into the sunset.....

hello to all, we leave tomorrow morning at 7:50am aaaaahhhhh....... I think even when you are as organized as the two of us you still feel like you are forgetting something, the sooner we leave the less time we have to second guess things. Glenn is triple checking things as usual, (damn accountants!) but i think we are finally ready to go. We are off to LA for the next four days and may not be able to update the blog but we will as soon as we get to Thailand! Thank you everyone for all your love, support and advice we will be safe. Keep in touch and make sure you all pray for us to have good weather, actually who are we kidding we will be in the sun and you probably the snow:) yeah snow!! in calgary even in the summer. Love you all and we shall chat soon.

Gearing up to go!

Well we have been talking about this trip for a long time and it really felt like it was never going to get here, but here we are with only 9 days to go. It is starting to get very exciting but i think we will both need a pinch when we get there just to make sure that it is real.:)