ZZZzzzzzZZZz..... sooo jetlagged!
Too tired to write right now, so in the mean time here are the links to pictures!
Safari Pics:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=262770&id=506547737&l=9936cebc09
Family Pictures:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=262794&id=506547737&l=a71a5d3a3e
&
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=262786&id=506547737&l=cd92dfdb43
Developed Tanzania Pics:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=262800&id=506547737&l=38a4250387
Days/Nights out Pics:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=262804&id=506547737&l=c18ffbc3b1
Showing posts with label Vacation. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Vacation. Show all posts
Friday, August 27, 2010
Saturday, August 14, 2010
Azam Ice Cream...
. . . . . . . my newest Addiction <3
Ranging from the equivalent of 50 Canadian Cents to 1 Canadian Dollar a bar, they're simply irresistible.
Saturday, July 31, 2010
23 Days and counting...
23 days in Tanzania and the weather has been absolutely perfect...
Every. Single. Day.
Wow...I can get used to this!
Every. Single. Day.
Wow...I can get used to this!
Sunday, July 25, 2010
A Day in Paradise!
What a perfect family and fun filled day! My aunt owns property on a small island off the Tanzanian coast called Kimbinjii. The property is on a beautiful piece of land, right off the Indian Ocean, and looks like Paradise. The trip to the property took approximately four hours, but it definitely didn’t feel like 4 hours. As our car travelled to our destination, we were all captivated by the sights, and sounds that surrounded us. The experiences of today will truly last a life time, and I feel so blessed to have been able be part of it. The trip consisted of my self, siblings, parents, paternal grandparents, and my cousin. We embarked on our journey at 7 am in the morning, to avoid rush hour traffic. We weaved our way across the city to the Indian Ocean coast. There, we took a ferry to the island of Kimbinjii.
The ferry trip itself was an experience! The ferry transported both people and vehicles. It pulls up to the coast, attaches itself with ramp, and when the horn blows, travelers prepare to board the ferry. The middle of the ferry was literally like a two lane road, and cars would just drive up the ramp into the ferry and park in two rows. To ensure a comfortable trip, my family decided to take two vehicles. The first vehicle consisted of Me, my mom, grandma, and cousin. The second consisted of my grand pa, father, brother and sister. On our way to the island, we caught the ferry just as it was preparing to leave. We quickly boarded leaving a small space just big enough to fit the vehicle behind us. As the second half of my family boarded, we realized they were parked dangerously close to the ramp, but I wasn’t fearful because I had assumed that when the ferry began its journey, the ramp would rise up and close all of us in. But it didn’t! The ferry just pulled away leaving about 3 feet between my family’s SUV and the ramp that lead to nothing but the ocean! Need less to say it was quite a scare! But with God’s grace and protection we were all able to make it to the island. Once the ferry arrived, the ramp on the other side connected onto the dock and the cars and people slowly crept off the ferry onto land.
After the ferry ride, we settled in for the drive ahead of us. As mentioned before, the sights and sounds of the trip gave us such a thrill, we almost didn’t want it to end. We stopped in various villages and market places to buy some food, beverages, and just mingle with the villagers. I will never be able to explain the village feel, but it is such an awesome experience to be welcomed into the homes of complete strangers and just be embraced with warmth and happiness. Nothing like sharing the road with chickens, and other life stock. Nothing like smelling the smell of food cooking on open fires, seeing women balancing humongous buckets of water on their heads, and men heading towards the fields with their machetes to complete their day of work. Nothing like it at all.
As we passed through the last of the villages, we passed through what I would describe as a sparse rainforest. Rain forest because, the trees and plants we passed were tropical plants, with tropical fruits hanging off them. Sparce because of the new development that has been occurring on the island, a lot of the trees and plants have been cut. During this portion of the trip we passed monkeys and deer (they looked like deer, probably wasn’t), and it was just captivating.
After driving through that, we finally arrived onto the property of my Aunt, and it was paradise; tropical plants and flowers, trees with coconuts, and the view and sounds of the beach just over the horizon. My aunt had built pathways that led to her little “cottage”, beach, and guest house. The pathways were lined with tropical plants, which housed many various tropical looking insects. We walked to the cottage, and it was a great structure. It was resembled the look of a hut. Made of brick and cement, it was round in shape, with a thatched grass roof. It consisted of two bedrooms, a kitchen, and a bathroom. While we didn’t even have cell phone reception where we were, we had running water and electricity (thanks to the solar panels on the roof), so it still consisted of the necesseties we were used to. There we had a quick breakfast, before heading to the beach. The trip to the beach was a bit challenging. After following the pathway for a while, there was a flight of stairs made of stone. The stairs were very steep, and were crumbling in some areas, so it required some hiking skills to maneuver safely around them. And of course my family had only flimsy flip flops on...something to remember NOT to do when we go back. Haha… To me it was quite unnerving as not only did I have to be careful and watch my balance, and footing, I also had to watch for snakes and scorpions, but thankfully while we saw both of the above, they were at a safe distance from us. Once we arrived at the bottom, we saw just how beautiful the beach was! Completely secluded, it contained no trace of civilization. Looking up at the staircase, and the pathways we left behind, we saw they were barely visible as they were on the other side of the cliff like surroundings. The white sands scattered with seaweeds, and seashells was captivating. There was even blowfish and other types of sea life that had washed ashore. My siblings and I literally spent hours swimming in the water, rushing to meet the rising high and pounding waves and gleefully laughing as the salt water tickled our skin. It was a great.
After swimming, we were called back up as lunch was ready, so we carefully climbed up and back to the hut where we were met with the mouthwatering smells of fried fish, roasted lamb, stew and ugali. It was delicious. When our meal was finished, my sister and I helped in the clean up while the men (minus my brother) enjoyed a glass of beer on the porch of the hut. When it came time to leave, I looked longingly at the hut and wished it was mine, and that I could have stayed longer. But I was thankful to have been granted this day, and hope to be back soon. It truly is such an amazing place, and possibly even my future honey moon spot. Seriously! Haha…
The trip back held sights and sounds just as thrilling, but this time rather than captivating, it seemed to be more mesmerizing, and the blurring sights slowly lulled me to sleep.
Wow… let me end this post here. This is getting too long. That was my attempt to explain the days experiences in a nutshell.. I am very exhausted right now, so Ill end it here and call it a day.
The ferry trip itself was an experience! The ferry transported both people and vehicles. It pulls up to the coast, attaches itself with ramp, and when the horn blows, travelers prepare to board the ferry. The middle of the ferry was literally like a two lane road, and cars would just drive up the ramp into the ferry and park in two rows. To ensure a comfortable trip, my family decided to take two vehicles. The first vehicle consisted of Me, my mom, grandma, and cousin. The second consisted of my grand pa, father, brother and sister. On our way to the island, we caught the ferry just as it was preparing to leave. We quickly boarded leaving a small space just big enough to fit the vehicle behind us. As the second half of my family boarded, we realized they were parked dangerously close to the ramp, but I wasn’t fearful because I had assumed that when the ferry began its journey, the ramp would rise up and close all of us in. But it didn’t! The ferry just pulled away leaving about 3 feet between my family’s SUV and the ramp that lead to nothing but the ocean! Need less to say it was quite a scare! But with God’s grace and protection we were all able to make it to the island. Once the ferry arrived, the ramp on the other side connected onto the dock and the cars and people slowly crept off the ferry onto land.
After the ferry ride, we settled in for the drive ahead of us. As mentioned before, the sights and sounds of the trip gave us such a thrill, we almost didn’t want it to end. We stopped in various villages and market places to buy some food, beverages, and just mingle with the villagers. I will never be able to explain the village feel, but it is such an awesome experience to be welcomed into the homes of complete strangers and just be embraced with warmth and happiness. Nothing like sharing the road with chickens, and other life stock. Nothing like smelling the smell of food cooking on open fires, seeing women balancing humongous buckets of water on their heads, and men heading towards the fields with their machetes to complete their day of work. Nothing like it at all.
As we passed through the last of the villages, we passed through what I would describe as a sparse rainforest. Rain forest because, the trees and plants we passed were tropical plants, with tropical fruits hanging off them. Sparce because of the new development that has been occurring on the island, a lot of the trees and plants have been cut. During this portion of the trip we passed monkeys and deer (they looked like deer, probably wasn’t), and it was just captivating.
After driving through that, we finally arrived onto the property of my Aunt, and it was paradise; tropical plants and flowers, trees with coconuts, and the view and sounds of the beach just over the horizon. My aunt had built pathways that led to her little “cottage”, beach, and guest house. The pathways were lined with tropical plants, which housed many various tropical looking insects. We walked to the cottage, and it was a great structure. It was resembled the look of a hut. Made of brick and cement, it was round in shape, with a thatched grass roof. It consisted of two bedrooms, a kitchen, and a bathroom. While we didn’t even have cell phone reception where we were, we had running water and electricity (thanks to the solar panels on the roof), so it still consisted of the necesseties we were used to. There we had a quick breakfast, before heading to the beach. The trip to the beach was a bit challenging. After following the pathway for a while, there was a flight of stairs made of stone. The stairs were very steep, and were crumbling in some areas, so it required some hiking skills to maneuver safely around them. And of course my family had only flimsy flip flops on...something to remember NOT to do when we go back. Haha… To me it was quite unnerving as not only did I have to be careful and watch my balance, and footing, I also had to watch for snakes and scorpions, but thankfully while we saw both of the above, they were at a safe distance from us. Once we arrived at the bottom, we saw just how beautiful the beach was! Completely secluded, it contained no trace of civilization. Looking up at the staircase, and the pathways we left behind, we saw they were barely visible as they were on the other side of the cliff like surroundings. The white sands scattered with seaweeds, and seashells was captivating. There was even blowfish and other types of sea life that had washed ashore. My siblings and I literally spent hours swimming in the water, rushing to meet the rising high and pounding waves and gleefully laughing as the salt water tickled our skin. It was a great.
After swimming, we were called back up as lunch was ready, so we carefully climbed up and back to the hut where we were met with the mouthwatering smells of fried fish, roasted lamb, stew and ugali. It was delicious. When our meal was finished, my sister and I helped in the clean up while the men (minus my brother) enjoyed a glass of beer on the porch of the hut. When it came time to leave, I looked longingly at the hut and wished it was mine, and that I could have stayed longer. But I was thankful to have been granted this day, and hope to be back soon. It truly is such an amazing place, and possibly even my future honey moon spot. Seriously! Haha…
The trip back held sights and sounds just as thrilling, but this time rather than captivating, it seemed to be more mesmerizing, and the blurring sights slowly lulled me to sleep.
Wow… let me end this post here. This is getting too long. That was my attempt to explain the days experiences in a nutshell.. I am very exhausted right now, so Ill end it here and call it a day.
Friday, July 9, 2010
Landed in TZ!!!
We’re here! After a long and somewhat stressful trip, we arrived in Tanzania yesterday afternoon. It feels great to be “home”, and I thank God that he answered our prayers, and we all arrived here safe and sound. At the commencement of our trip, I quickly became weary when our plane began to have mechanical issues DURING take off. Not before, not after (thank God!), but during. It was our first flight, and I remember sitting in the plane in Calgary, vaguely listening to the announcements, and everything seemed fine! As we prepared for takeoff, the plane gained momentum as it sped down the runway, but then… the whole thing just shuddered, all the lights flickered on and off, and we stopped. Everyone was like… um? What was that?!?! Since I am by no means a frequent flyer, I had no idea if that was normal, or not… everyone around us seemed calm, which somewhat helped my own demeanor. After this happened, an announcement came on, (all of a sudden the announcements had my FULL attention of course, lol ) and they explained to us that they were experiencing “minor mechanical difficulties”, and that they would get it fixed shortly. Until then, we were to remain on the plane and keep ourselves occupied. We had updates like this every 20 min, and with each update I remember growing uneasy, and thinking, “I don’t care how minor this problem is, I don’t even think I would feel comfortable taking off in this plane!” Sure enough after 2 hours of waiting, there was an announcement which informed us that there was a serious engine problem, and the plane would not have made the trip, so we were to disembark and further arrangements would be made for us. So we got off the plane at about 9pm, and waited around for further information. About 20 minutes after, an announcement came on to tell us that they had arranged another flight for us at 2:30am. So our initial thought was great, we’re still in Calgary, we can go home and nap 4 a bit before coming back, BUT… they wouldn’t let us leave the terminal, so even to go to Tim Horton’s down the hall wasn’t allowed. Needless to say, it was a bit frustrating, especially since a lot of us hadn’t eaten because we were expecting to eat right away on the plane. However, I would have rather been hungry than flying on a plane with serious engine problems, so I was quite content to sleep, and wait until the replacement plane was ready to go.
Once the plane arrived, it was an uneventful flight, food was good, movie selections were also good (from what I hear, I slept the whole way through), and we arrived safely in London to find out that due to the delay we had missed our connection flight, but were assured that everything had been taken care of, and our flight had been rescheduled. We ended up only having a 2 hr wait in London, before we were on our way again to Doha, Qutar. Let me just take this time to say, that Qatar airlines is wonderful compared to Air Canada. Seriously, Air Canada is an embarrassment compared to Qatar airlines. Anyways, so when we got to Doha, we literally only had 20 min to make our next connection to Tanzania. It felt like amazing race (for those who watch the show) running around the airport, trying to get through security in time to make the flight. We embarked and disembarked our plane in Doha outside, and man was it humid! The air was so thick, it was almost suffocating, and the heat was crazy… 35 Celsius and it was only 6am in the morning! Lol… definitely a big change compared to Canada weather. Once we were in the air, we ate, and I quickly fell asleep again… it was weird because I slept on every single flight, without the use of sleeping aids. From the advice of Sara, I had stocked up on melatonin to aid me in sleeping on the fights because I usually have difficulty falling asleep anywhere that’s not a bed, but this time around, I fell asleep quite easily. So when we arrived in Tanzania, while I still felt exhausted from the travels, I felt very well rested. We arrived here at around 1pm, and quickly dropped off our belongings at the condo before visiting our grandparents. Our arrival in Tanzania was a complete surprise, only my mom’s sister knew. We went to my paternal grandparents’ house first. When my grandma saw my dad, she just stood there, and burst into tears and loud exclamations. My aunt, who was at the house at the time heard this, and she also burst into tears as we all reunited. My grandpa who was taking a nap at the time woke up and honestly believed he was dreaming. Ha-ha.. I literally still giggle out loud when I picture the look on his face when he saw us all.
After, we headed over to my maternal grandparent’s house, and after we were let in the gate we saw my Grandpa sitting on the porch in his rocking chair, listening to his portable radio. I was the first one out, and he glanced over at me, and didn’t even bother to get up. Lol, he didn’t recognize me or my family who was behind me until he heard my mom’s voice. Lol, then my grandma who had heard the commotion from inside came out and joined in the reunions. It was great to see the grandparents again. Growing up, I often envied the relationships my friends had with their grandparents, and promised myself I would try to avoid the same separation with my kids. Seeing them again after so long was great, because it allowed the opportunity to build on the few memories I have with my grandparents. After we made the rounds to see our grandparent’s it had already grown late and we were so exhausted, so we headed home for the night, with plans to see everyone else the next day, and we’ve been here ever since. Its currently 4pm right now, and everyone is still sleeping. They are so jet lagged! Meanwhile I have been up since 6am, trying to keep myself busy with TV, internet, and finishing up my last online assignment. Sleeping through all those flights really helped, because I don’t feel jet lagged at all… maybe the time change and everything will eventually catch up with me… We shall see I guess!
Anyways, that’s my trip summary…! I tried to keep it as short as I could… I’ll continue to update my blog as my trip progresses. I’ve already taken tons of pics, and hope to upload them soon!
Once the plane arrived, it was an uneventful flight, food was good, movie selections were also good (from what I hear, I slept the whole way through), and we arrived safely in London to find out that due to the delay we had missed our connection flight, but were assured that everything had been taken care of, and our flight had been rescheduled. We ended up only having a 2 hr wait in London, before we were on our way again to Doha, Qutar. Let me just take this time to say, that Qatar airlines is wonderful compared to Air Canada. Seriously, Air Canada is an embarrassment compared to Qatar airlines. Anyways, so when we got to Doha, we literally only had 20 min to make our next connection to Tanzania. It felt like amazing race (for those who watch the show) running around the airport, trying to get through security in time to make the flight. We embarked and disembarked our plane in Doha outside, and man was it humid! The air was so thick, it was almost suffocating, and the heat was crazy… 35 Celsius and it was only 6am in the morning! Lol… definitely a big change compared to Canada weather. Once we were in the air, we ate, and I quickly fell asleep again… it was weird because I slept on every single flight, without the use of sleeping aids. From the advice of Sara, I had stocked up on melatonin to aid me in sleeping on the fights because I usually have difficulty falling asleep anywhere that’s not a bed, but this time around, I fell asleep quite easily. So when we arrived in Tanzania, while I still felt exhausted from the travels, I felt very well rested. We arrived here at around 1pm, and quickly dropped off our belongings at the condo before visiting our grandparents. Our arrival in Tanzania was a complete surprise, only my mom’s sister knew. We went to my paternal grandparents’ house first. When my grandma saw my dad, she just stood there, and burst into tears and loud exclamations. My aunt, who was at the house at the time heard this, and she also burst into tears as we all reunited. My grandpa who was taking a nap at the time woke up and honestly believed he was dreaming. Ha-ha.. I literally still giggle out loud when I picture the look on his face when he saw us all.
After, we headed over to my maternal grandparent’s house, and after we were let in the gate we saw my Grandpa sitting on the porch in his rocking chair, listening to his portable radio. I was the first one out, and he glanced over at me, and didn’t even bother to get up. Lol, he didn’t recognize me or my family who was behind me until he heard my mom’s voice. Lol, then my grandma who had heard the commotion from inside came out and joined in the reunions. It was great to see the grandparents again. Growing up, I often envied the relationships my friends had with their grandparents, and promised myself I would try to avoid the same separation with my kids. Seeing them again after so long was great, because it allowed the opportunity to build on the few memories I have with my grandparents. After we made the rounds to see our grandparent’s it had already grown late and we were so exhausted, so we headed home for the night, with plans to see everyone else the next day, and we’ve been here ever since. Its currently 4pm right now, and everyone is still sleeping. They are so jet lagged! Meanwhile I have been up since 6am, trying to keep myself busy with TV, internet, and finishing up my last online assignment. Sleeping through all those flights really helped, because I don’t feel jet lagged at all… maybe the time change and everything will eventually catch up with me… We shall see I guess!
Anyways, that’s my trip summary…! I tried to keep it as short as I could… I’ll continue to update my blog as my trip progresses. I’ve already taken tons of pics, and hope to upload them soon!
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