My TraveLs

Emily & Jacky in Hong Kong

2005-01-13T13:32:00.000+11:00

I tend to go back to Hong Kong every 2 years or so to catch up with family and friends. I have an extremely large family with mum having 6 siblings and dad 7, add in their wives, children and cousins visiting family can take many days.

I have left alot of photos out and because it's a second home to me I tend to take less pictures. Here is a few that I would like to share.

We spent Christmas Eve with some of Dads family, it was a great night with plenty of eating, games and presents!

left to Right: My cousin David and his wife Aster, cards games, presents Kris Kringle style

Group photo!

The next day was about paying respect to my Grandparents (dad’s side) whom had passed away. I guess it’s not usually something that you would take a picture of, but I was very close to my grandmother and I needed to have something I could refer to when times get tough.

Most of Jacky's family are now living in Canada, with the exception of his Grandfather. Despite being in his 80's he still rides a bike, grows his own vegetables and looks after 2 dogs. He loves Hong Kong, has lived there all his life and refuses to move to Australia or Canada.

There pictures below were taken when we attempted to go look at the Christmas lights display. There was just too many people! Even the lines to catch the bus or MTR home was very long. When we finally got on the bus we took a pciture of all the people still waiting.

My Aunty gave me a diamond Chanel set! I had to remain very composed.

Wendy asked me if I had bought any shoes, so I thought that I would take a picture of a few pairs that I bought. There's about another 4 pairs missing from this picture but I had already packed it away. When you buy new shoes you must buy a new bag to keep the shoe company...it's only fair.

Jacky bought me a diamond ring, 18k white gold with 0.63 karat worth of diamonds...pretty..

Emily & Jacky in Tokyo

2004-12-22T20:12:00.000+11:00

Fatigue, Stress, Mental and Physical exhaustion. Like work, the trip had become another 'to do' item and I felt like I was drowning in my multitude of tasks. Everyone seemed more excited for me than I did and I couldn't explain why, I wasn't to realise how high strung I was until a few days later. A few of the girls dropped me off to the airport which was a really nice suprise (thank you so much!)

The flight to Japan was pretty rough, the seats felt tighter than usual and the plane was very noisy. I had hoped to catch up on some sleep during the 10 hour flight but tossed and turned all night.

Tokyo
We arrived at 6:00am local time and caught the bullet train to the city, the train smelt like urine, but that aside the 1 hour trip gave us a peek to what we were about to experience. We deliberately paid more to stay at a better location and a nicer hotel only to realise that the transport system is so efficient here it wouldn't really have mattered. Upon our arrival we were pleasantly surprised, Jacky had booked a 4.5 star place – reminding me of how different this all was to our trip 2 years ago.

Left to right: Our Hotel Keizo Plaza, Our hotel suite, Shinjuku the area where we stayed

Japanese people are so polite and 'cute' that we didn't quite know how to respond to them. The bell boy literally tackled us to carry our bags for us, and was extremely excited that we spoke English. For the next few days Jacky and I explored various parts of this fascinating city and for the first time in 8 months I allowed myself to wind down.

Here is our Summary of Japan:

Shinjuku
Overwhelming
Neon lights
Never ending shopping malls
Japanese Noodle Bars
when you can't speak or read Japanese the pictures and coupons are a life saver!

Prices
Not expensive at all, very comparable to Sydney.

Shibuya
people watching – i really can't explain the Japanese's fascination with dressing up as maids and Goths.

Fashion
Whilst the different styles are quite evident and unique, it can definitely be said that Japanese women make a lot of effort to look nice ( putting my jeans and jogger look to shame). It would also seem that Japanese women do not feel the cold as they are able to wear the shortest of short skirts in 10 degree weather.

The height issue
I had always assumed that Japanese people were on the short side. This is not the case at all! Jacky is 185am and I am 170cm and we were surrounded by many people our height.

Porn
Yes the Japanese have a lot of it.

Technology
a way of life. Just look at their toilets with their bum cleaning mechanisms- very very interesting experience.

Shoes
for the first time in 12 years of searching I found tall boots that were catered to slimmer legs. They would zip up with ease and look normal, however having size 7-8 feet would make shoe shopping impossible. In one store I took off my shoe to show the owner the size of my foot- the shop owner laughed out loud and let me know that I would not be able to find shoes in his shop...devastating.

The Internet
$2.20 AUD and hour – bargain

Sushi Bars
$1.20 AUD a plate

The Japanese and their obsession with Cabbage
(The finely chopped variety)
cabbage with rice
cabbage in burgers
cabbage in kebabs
and when the menu says 'salad' they mean cabbage.

Left to right: A Japanese Temple, Outside the Palace, Rainbow Bridge with Tokyo Tower in the background

Deana in Paris

2004-11-06T21:17:00.000+11:00

From: Deana

Sent: Thu 06/11/2004 10:07

Bonjour, Bonjour!!,

Just on my way back to the apartment from my morning jog along the river Seine, Paris.

Let me just start by saying that this keyboard is really difficult to type with because all the letters are in different spots and some of the symbols are just in really weird spots. So I hope that you appreciate reading this email in the luxury of your home or work PC.

I think the last time I wrote I was in London on the way to London’s oldest square called Covent garden. Which is a sqaure filled with shops and markets, in the which we ofcourse shopped in, and where buskers congregate, so we also watched the street entertainment. A true covent experience as per Dave!

On the friday Laura and I departed from London city and headed into the countryside where a good family friend from Sydney is currenty residing. Anthony M drove us around the medieval Leamington Spa, aka shakespear’s territory. Mondee and his friend accompanied us on our visit to the Warwick castle. As soon as I entered the iron gates of Warwick I was arrested at the site of the enormous castle hidden behind the stone walls. The castle is now owned by the madam Tussauds group which are famous for there reinvention of real life peope by the use of wax. In the castle many of the rooms were refurbished with old furniture and filled with recreations of some of the famous and infamous people made of wax and dressed in costume to give tourists a glimpse of how life must have been centuries ago. Just extraordinary! We strolled through a victorian rose garden and imagined how the ladies must have strolled with their gowns. Then climbed the towers to reach high enough to enjoy the incredible views of the country. We then danced the night away at a club called “sugar”. We had an awesome time in Leamington, Mondee you rock.

On Saturday we went shopping at Portobello road in Notting Hill. The street is just so charamastic with it’s tall coloured terrace house which had shopfronts below. The street was blocked off and then filled a thousand market stores which just drew in people ike magnets. We were lost in there for hours but it could of been days. It was just great. At night the markets cleared and we strolled to find a cosy restaurant for dinner. In search for our restaruant we visited the bookshop and garden where “Notting Hill” with Huge Grant was filmed. But the bookshop was actually a butcher which was turned into a bookshop like the one around the corner from the butcher which was actually the bookshop in the film. Did I confuse you? Good that was the point.

That night we set fireworks off with the friends we were staying with cause they are legal in London. Fireworks are aways awesome to watch and even though a few fingers got burnt, they weren't mine, so it was all good.

Now with a minor hiccup, being that our seats were not reserved on the eurostar we made some last minute phonecalls and arrived safely in Paris on Sunday. I was a little daunted at first cause everything was in French and we can’t speak french but we somehow got to our apartment. Pure talent! It was also an ordeal to buy grocceries. The supermarket was huge with lots of everything; like a whole refridgerated isle was dedicated purely to crème caramel, Anthony D you would be in heaven. We could not read the signs of what was what and where was what and could not ask anyone either, so out came the trusty french dictionary to put to end 15 minutes of searching for eggs, ie, “ouefs”. It’s just a too funny.

Yesterday we did a river tour of the river Seine and saw the major monuments incuding Miss Eiffel Tower of Paris along the river front. The bridges, trees and architecture are just so gorgeous! People say Paris is the city of love and I LOVE Paris!!!!!!!!!!!! This city of lights has stolen my heart.

We have also visited the Lourve which is within walking distance of where we are staying.The Lourve is a famous museum which has aquired the largest collection of art thanks to Napoleons conquests.

Here is housed the very famous Da Vinci’s Mona Lisa. You know the portrait of a lady that kind of looks like a man that smiles for no reason! Well Mona Lisa’s status is one of the most famous piece of art in the word and although she has been stolen from the gallery twice before and the last time was in 1911, Parisians wept the streets and wrote newspaper articles begging the theives to return the painting, it was apparently found two years later in a Florence hotel room. So I’m not sure that what I saw behind glass was the original, but I’d like to think so. The countryside behind her is lowered on the left side, which makes the left side look larger and historically the left is assigned to females and the right assigned to males. So there, Da Vinci was a fan of feminine principles as he made the female side of Mono Lisa more majestic! Some woud simplify this to say Da Vinci was a fag but you’ ll be interested to know that the Mona Lisa and her mysterious smile is Da Vinci’s way of expressing his belief that a human soul could not be enlighted unless it had both male and female elements. There is actually a lot of symbology in the artwork and am very glad that I saw it. Now there is some useless information for you! Better than most forwarded emails!

I miss you all, but having lots of fun. Anthony, Adam & David I miss you terribly, feels like we have been separated for months; cant wait to thrash you all in pool.

All my precious girls I miss and love you.

Many kisses Yours Dee

Deana in London

2004-10-30T09:41:00.000+10:00

From: Deana

Sent: Thu 28/10/2004 6:56

Beautiful people,

So I'm in London currently sipping on my english breakfast tea as Iwrite.

Laura and I had a very long flight over and a 9 hour over stop over inSingapore made it even more tiring. But in Singapore we ventured out toRaffles, which is an old colonial bar, very well known for it'sSingapore sling cocktail. The cocktail went straight to our heads as wehad been up since 4am so sleeping on the plane was a little easier forme. After a few hours sleep i still had time to watch 4 movies.Fortunately singapore airlines has tv screens behind each chair so youcan select movies at your own leisure.

Our first destination was London and we stayed in a suburb called'Bayswater' which is a lot like Paddington at home. Although it shouldhave only taken 10 mins to arrive to our destination the journey wasmuch longer. It took us almost an hour to get to our hotel lagging oursuitcases in an out of 5 trains lines cause the city circle was undermaintenance. We hear that this a typical london occurrence with the oldtube system but we just laughed and found it worthwhile as we got tolearn all the different train lines.

Once out of the station it was not as cold as expected, to me just feelslike winter at home, lucky I left the termal underwear at home. Once wearrived to our hotel it was too early to check in so we wandered throughthe area only to stumble across Kensington gardens where Princess Dianalived when separated from Prince Charles and this palace and gardenshave become a memorial in her memory. Just amazing.

Laura and I been very busy getting acquainted with the magnificenthistorical architecture of familar landmarks such as the Big Ben,Westminster Abbey, Buckingham Palace and Saint Paul's Cathedral. Wewatched the changing of the guards at Buckingham palace and climbed tothe very top of Saint Paul's dome. All very amazing experiences.So i don't bore you with small details of eveything we did I'll justsummarise to say that the history, the majestic architecture and theluscious green parks which are pocketed all over the centre of london isa splendour to see. Wandering through the streets is a unique experiencewhere I took giddy delight in its icons such as old fashioned redtelephone boxes, black boxed shaped cabs with diesel engines andunderground signage almost on every street. Every second corner has apub in which Laura and I have become very accustomed to. We drinkenglish breakfast tea of the morning and have a pub dinner every night.

And the fashion here is classy, the great coats, scarfs, gloves, fashionstockings and great boots. I also love the fact that you can get awaywith quirky hairdos, vibrant stockings and kinky gerlinky shoes. Definately a place for me.

Yesterday we went to Harrod's - the most amazing shopping experienceever. Only a couple days prior we visted the national gallery, intrafalgar square, admiring artworks of Leonardo Da Vinci, Michaelangelo,Renoir and Van Gogh. While the likes of Harrods diplayed the art ofDior, Jimmy Choo, Gucci and Fendi - the experience was equally asbreathtaking...!!! Thought of all my girls while I was as Harrods. Missyou all...many kisses.

I must be off, we going to Covent garden markets today.We have moved out of the hotel to a friends place and since we have netaccess I will write again soon, so watch this space.

Until then miss you all, think of you all.

Lots of hugsDee Dee

Sam & Viv in Vienna

2004-07-08T22:36:00.000+10:00

From: Samantha
Sent: Thursday, 8 July 2004 6:29 PM
To: Emily
Subject: heya

hey there everybody*

i,ve just arrived in Vienna after a long flight from malaysia...so jet lagged but cannot check into hostel room for another few hours...so buggered and what makes it worse is that the keys on this pad here are all missed around so please excuse any typos.

viv and i are black from the island in malay....we,ve been up to some funny shit like the following..
0 we,ve managed to clog up every toilet pretty much so far...me with the runs from the food and viv with her over indulgence with the toilet paper* can,t work out the excvlamation mark sorry..
the funny thing was i once actually managed to make the toilet overflow which was very disgusting but shit happens ay?
we,ve also snuck into a few resorts on the island coz we were tight arses who stayed in a room across the road for about 10 dollars a night...then we,d go and use all their facilities in the day...by the end we felt like the holiday inn,s very own vip guests....every body knew us.
i did get kicked out of two though coz i didn,t have the right coloured towel and when asked what room i was staying in i said i forgot...but that it roo 4 something or other....oh well...atleast i got to dip in their pools...

we,ve also manged to get freebies quite frequently from the blokes there....you know how it is...a lil cheeky banter and a smile never hurt anybody..but the funny thing is that we got it froma country where everything is doubled or trebled and we managed to get it absolutely free...didn,t even need to sell our bodys in exchange...freee beer, free water, free horse rides,...free photos..etc.
when we walk past they yell out...pssst..pssst...hey beauty, hey lady, hey sweetie,...have a look...have a look :)

oh and one night we met the australian army at the resort place and spent a night drinking with them...funny lads....

everyone so far has thought viv is indian and thatim half chinese....shut up ez...sum ting wong?

gonna fall asleep now...so dizzy and have to go.

spending way too much money on food and grog...

oh and one last thing...this man that we were satying with drove us to the airport and i swear he was like a walking confuscious man...he said that when you have a problem jus dial 1800-JESUS its a toll free number...i guess u kinda had to be theere...getting delirious now so im gonna jet...
till next time ppl be good...and u all know what to do if u can,t be good...either b careful or just b good at it

luv u all and can,t wait to hear from u....viv and i kinda get starved of conversation after a while if u know what i mean :)

Sam

Jill & Caroline in Thailand

2003-03-24T11:59:00.000+11:00

From: Jill
To: Emily
Subject: Hello from Bangkok
Date: Mon, 24 Mar 2003 23:27:18 +1100

Hello from Bangkok everyone.

How’s it going??? Were going goodish, heaps tired from the last 2 weeks of drinking and 4 hours sleep every night in Italy but it was heaps fun. It’s really hot and sticky here, about 35 degrees and its raining a fair bit too. Tomorrow were flying to Krabi, which is on the south coast of Thailand and then we catch a boat or ferry to Phi Phi island, I'm excited cos I plan to lie on the beach and do absolutely nothing.

The last 7 weeks have been so much fun but also very tiring, you don’t realise how much work traveling and living out of a suitcase is but it’s been well worth it. Thailand is pretty cool, everything is so cheap, you can get a whole meal with entree and dessert and drinks for 2 people for about 12 bucks at a restaurant. Shopping is also pretty cheap here too, I already bought a bag in Italy to fit my stuff in and now I have to buy another one, ill be coming home with a thousand thousand bags man!!! anyway better go, dinner and shopping time, tonight were going to the night markets where there are girlie bars right next to it hehe, gel says I should watch out for the LADYMEN!!!!

Take care and see you all soon,

Luv Jilly xoxo

Jill & Caroline in Barcelona

2003-02-26T12:17:00.000+11:00

From: Jill Yosar
To: Emily
Subject: Hello from Barcelona

Date: Wed, 26 Feb 2003 07:54:52 +1100

Hi Hi everyone, how’s it going???

We’re sitting at a huge internet cafe in Barcelona right now. We got here on Monday and are staying on a street called La Ramblas which I think is the busiest street in Barcelona. It’s heaps long and goes down to the beach, there heaps of hostels and hotels, restaurants and places that sell tacky and cheap souvenirs but the atmosphere is really good cos there’s heaps of people there all day and night.

The only downside is that there are so many tourists here and lots of dodgy people that look like they want to steal your bags. But we're having fun anyway. We stayed at this dodgo hostel last night, it was gross, we had shared bathrooms and there was no hot water ahhhhh. So we moved across the street to a hotel which is so much better and only 2 euro more than the crappy hostel. Everything is pretty expensive here cos the Aussie dollar is crap, so everything here is double the price for us.

Today we didn’t do a whole lot, we moved hotels and then walked around the city shopping cos it’s been pouring and it’s too hard to sightsee in the rain. We've had really good weather for the trip so far, its been sunny everywhere we’ve been and its been so good to go skiing and up into the alps when its sunny cos you see so much more and its a lot warmer.

Thanks everyone for replying to my emails and sorry for not writing personal emails but its quite expensive and we never have enough time to write them. Everyone in Zurich was dressed heaps grungy/boho/stylish 2nd hand clothes etc etc.

I've never seen so many facial piercing and people with dreads in my whole life and its weird cos Switzerland is such a conservative country. There a real mix of people in Spain, everyone has cool shoes :D:D and I'm so hanging to buy new shoes but I cant find any cool shoe shops. I really need new shoes cos my sneakers got soaked in the rain today. Anyway hope everyone is well, talk to u all soon :)

Love Jilly xoxo

Amazing Thailand

2003-02-23T20:19:00.000+11:00

We hadn’t planned to go Thailand on this world trip sine we thought that we wouldn’t be able to afford it. But after 3 months of cold and snow we were desperate for some sun! The price was right, off we went - 5 days 4 nights Bangkok & Pattaya meals, accommodation and entry to many theme parks all included for the price of $500 aud per person. Our tour group was made of young people in their mid twenties, within a short period of time we were able to fit right in with the crowd.

The trip was great! The islands were beautiful and everything was cheap! We went jet skiing, paragliding, walked under water and went on a submarine ride. At the Sriracha zoo I bottle fed a tiger cub and took photos with Monkeys. We were pampered with full body massages and treated like royalty.

On one particular night we went to a cabaret show and met really gorgeous men who had bigger boobs than me!

We had such a good time that we are going back again this year.

Jill & Caroline in Paris

2003-02-07T12:09:00.000+11:00

From: Jill
To: Emily
Subject: BOO
Date: Fri, 07 Feb 2003 06:36:36 +1100

Hello all, hows it going??

I’m writing from cold cold Paris. The weather actually isn’t too bad, it’s bearable but you need to rug up before you go outside. Singapore on the other hand was really hot and sticky. The first night there we went to this Chinese New Year festival thing, the next day we went shopping on orchard road and then went to little India and Chinatown. We got to Paris on Tues morning after a 13 hour flight. We had to catch the train to the hostel and we got lost trying to find it; we ended up having to walk about a k in the rain and snow with our packs to get to the hostel and then 86 steps to get to our room (which hadn’t been cleaned from the previous people), so u can imagine, we weren’t in the best of moods.

The next day (after like 15 hours sleep :D:D:D) we went up the Eiffel tower. The view from up there is sooo mad but its sooo cold, you feel like your ears and other extremities are going to snap off. We also went to the champs elysee, where all the shops are. Today we went to the lourve, which is a huge art gallery and museum; we saw the Mona Lisa and Venus de milo and other cool art things. We also went to the Notre dame cathedral and that was pretty cool. Tomorrow we fly to Switzerland, where we will go yodeling down the mountain hehehe

Hope everyone is well, what’s the weather like at home??? Write back, id like to hear some news from home!!!

Lots of love, Jilly :D

From: Emily <> wrote:

Man reading your email gives me shivers just lets me relive my holiday...it’s so sad for me cos mines coming to an end. Any way its so cool... I was reading the things your wrote bout Paris and it was like ‘hey we were just there too!!' ...it is hard lugging luggage around, but its times like these that give you memories that you never forget...do you find that while you're experiencing these things you have so much to write, but when it gets down to typing the email you can’t express all the feelings and emotions you've felt into words? Anyway my net time is up; make sure you say hi to Caroline! take carestay safe and eat well!

love Emz

From: Caroline
To: EmiLy
Date: Sun, 09 Feb 2003 06:57:21 +1100
Subject: Re: Re: BOO

Hi Em,

I know exactly what u mean about not being able to describe everything to people at home u really just have to be there. in Switzerland now which for me of course is awesome as I get to catch up with everyone- especially my grandma- who is stuffing food into our mouths every five minutes and it’s so good neither of us can resist.

Well we figure that we should just eat everything cos well probably starve in London with the prices! I also feel like I’m at home here cos I know the country quite well.Paris was great but the hostel was dodgo!!!where are you now? back to reality soon. we’ve just started but feel like it’s already going so quickly.as Jill must have told u carrying our bags is an interesting experience and were happy to be staying in the same place for a few weeks!!! ok haven’t emailed anyone yet so better get to it.enjoy the end of ur trip email soon

love Caroline

Hong Kong & China

2003-01-18T20:19:00.000+11:00

To be put up.

Paris - the city of Love

2003-01-13T19:57:00.000+11:00

Caught the Eurostar from London to Paris today. It’s a high speed train system that links the two countries; overall the ride was fairly comfortable. The plane would have been a lot cheaper but we wanted to experience everything. For the first night we booked a hotel close to Garde Du Norde station and celebrated our first night in Paris with a steak dinner at a cute little restaurant where no one spoke English.

We were up nice and early the next morning ready to find our second Hotel in the Suburb of St Paul’s. France has a fantastic subway system and Jacky mastered the maps very quickly. After we recovered from carrying our luggage we went out in search of food. This proved to be a rather difficult task since everything was in French. It was wrong to assume that we would be ok communicating in English. Not being able to speak their language definitely made us feel very helpless at times.

In the following days we made a big effort to see all that we could. We did a lot of shopping at La Defense – France lives up to its title as the fashion capital in every way. We visited Notre Dame, and made our way down Champs –Elysees making sure that we popped into the Louis Vuitton shop while we were there. The Louve looked magnificent; we didn't have enough money to go in to see the Mona Lisa so we just ran around the outside of the building and peeked in the windows.

We spent a whole day at Disney Land Paris and became kids again. I took a picture with Winnie the Pooh and visited Cinderella’s castle. We went on many rides and some very embarrassing photos were taken right as the rollercoaster dropped. Jacky made sure that he bought all the pictures.

The greatest moment in Paris was when we went to the Eiffel Tower – it took my breath away! The view at the top is exhilarating; it must have been one of the most beautiful sights that I have ever seen. I was extremely caught up in the moment and realised that I was this one little person in a massive world. Suddenly all the negativity, stress and worries that ate at me disappeared and I was able to let many things go. Standing there at the top of the Eiffel Tower over looking Paris was a life changing moment for me – one that I can’t really explain; I have never looked back and often try to re-capture the moment whenever I feel overwhelmed or lost.

We spent our last day in Paris catching up with family friends and were treated to a very fancy French restaurant with the finest French cuisine. It was really sad to leave such a beautiful country and I felt so lucky to have had this experience.

London - Star Trek Exhibition

2003-01-12T05:02:00.000+11:00

For those who know Jacky he is a major Star Trek fan – and just our luck a Star Trek exhibition was on while we were there. So there we were off to Hyde Park to join all the other geeks…I mean fans.

Jacky found it really interesting with flight stimulators and the recreation of actual props and sets from various movies and episodes. I on the other hand was determined to find other ways to amuse myself – I tried to embarrass Jacky by walking up to people and telling them to “beam me up Scottie” giving them the ‘live long a prosper’ hand signals.

Beam me up Scottie

London

2003-01-08T23:21:00.000+11:00

After spending the morning in Central Park we caught a free ride on the subway to JFK airport. Our bags were extremely heavy and the stairs were really tough, we were tired and our arms got really sore. The journey to the airport took over 1 and a half hour.

At check in we had requested a window or an isle seat, however when we went to find our seats we had been put in the middle row with passengers on either side of us. The flight to London was extremely rough and there was a lot of turbulence. We felt really sick and just wanted the flight to end. We reached London very early in the morning and were picked up by Jacky’s family friends.

At first London just looked like Sydney, they even drive on the same side, but once you hit the city and you see all the great buildings and architecture you just think – wow!

London is extremely expensive! We were really fortunate that all our accommodation and breakfast was paid for (Jacky’s dad’s friend). We stayed at the Holiday Inn in which rooms start from £99 a night, this would have cost us $2079 just in accommodation if we had to pay ourselves. I can’t express how grateful we are.

In the following days we went to Buckingham Palace and Westminster Abbey. We took pictures at Trafalgar Square, Green Park, Hard Rock café, and shopped all down Piccadilly Circus. We spent a whole day at Harrods and were astounded by the magnificent food hall. We went to the Shrine that was dedicated to Princess Diana and saw the massive diamond engagement ring that was given to her.

We survived on sandwiches (as you do) and were often shouted dinner. London is COLD! It averaged 6 degrees while we were there, which was a lot warmer than Canada how ever the cold seems to chill you to the bone. It also began snowing which was rather rare for that time of the year.

New York

2003-01-06T00:22:00.000+11:00

Stepping out to New York was extremely exciting. We caught a cab from the airport to the Hotel and caught a glimpse of what there was to see. I think I was most excited when we went past Central Park, it was exactly like sex in the city!!

The weather was beautiful , New York definitly lived up to expectations. The day we arrived was New Year's Eve, after a short nap we headed down to secure a great location for the countdown. We ended up in a great sport right in Times Sq. in front of where the ball drops. The following 8 hour wait was quite gruelling, it was cold and we were tired. We scored heaps of free stuff, whistles, bells, streamers, balloons, beanie, glow sticks and mints. As the time drew near, the place got packed! We saw Avril Lavigne perform and when the actual countdown started, the atmosphere was electric.

At 12am, the ball dropped and confetti was shot into the air, fireworks went off and everyone was kissing and singing. I was so emotional I burst out crying. For the rest of the trip we visited many tourist sites and explored Manhattan. We saw the Empire State Building, MTV Studio, Macy's (the largest department store in the world), Maddison Square Garden, Manhattan Mall and saw a 4 level Toys 'r' Us that had a Ferris Wheel inside. New York has a very efficient Transport system with a $4 US Metro ticket getting you everywhere you need to go. Canal Street (chinatown) has heaps of cheap and good restaurants, Jacky and I had many enjoyable dinners there.

Another touching experience was when we went to ground zero and saw the tributes and actual sites. It left an overwhelming feeling of sadness and makes you question how anyone could do such a thing.

We finished off our trip by visiting the Statute of Liberty and Ellis Island, the ferry was very cold and the statute had been closed since Sept 11th but we're so glad we went!

Next Stop London...

Ground Zero NewYearsEve -Times Square

Canada, Ottawa & Niagara Falls

2002-12-31T22:10:00.000+11:00

Hi All,

Wow it's been a while since I last wrote and so much has happened I don't know where to start. By now Sarah and Meli would be off on their tropical cruise and Caroline and Jill would be commencing their world trip, I’m so excited for them all.

I think that in my last email I began mentioning Canada. Canada was particularly special for Jacky because he was visiting his relatives. We had terrific fun and his cousins especially the younger boys became very attached to us.

We took two family road trips where the 9 of us packed ourselves into a 7 seater car and drove up to Ottawa (Canada’s capital) and Niagara Falls. One word to describe both places is freezing!! You pack on so many clothes you feel like a marshmallow.

Niagara Falls is huge and separated into two sides, the sprays of water was so powerful that it came down like rain and drenched us all, this provided us with many great laughs and great photos. The 'city' part of Niagara Falls looks and feels very much like Cavill Ave in Surfers Paradise with it wax museums, Ripley’s, haunted houses and casinos. Canada proved very special to us, during our stay it hadn't really snowed and we were slightly disappointed. However it started snowing on the night of Christmas Eve and we ran out into the snow. We woke up the next morning with our surroundings all white and we celebrated our first white Christmas together.

Our month in Canada eventually came to an end, we were extremely sad to leave. Jacky's cousins left us with hand made presents and cards. The girls were even teary making him promise hat he would come back again. Next stop New York......

Niagara Falls

Vegas and LA

2002-12-07T07:34:00.000+11:00

Hello All!

Been dying to write this email to you guys, but haven’t had the chance to sit down long enough. It's been a whirlwind of a couple of weeks for me, where do I start...
The flight from Australia to Vegas via LA was extremely tiring (14hr flight), after working at Ansett for close to 3 years I had vowed never to eat aero plane food, but my hunger got the better of me. On the plane there was some troublemaker sitting behind us, I think he drank too much alcohol and started threatening the airhostess and engaged in a verbal argument with the people next to us. Eventually they were moved to another seat, which meant Jacky and I had the row to ourselves and we could stretch out.

Stepping out on LA soil was very strange, I think the first thing to hit us was realizing that everyone drove on the left hand side…it was extremely odd. The second thing was that there were black people (African Americans) everywhere…just like the movies…it was way cool! And they way they spoke just cracked us up, I just kept thinking Sarah boy do you need to get your butt over here! ehheehe.

The flight to Vegas was short and sweet, from the air the city looks extremely well organized. In the airport itself there’s a whole shuttle system that takes us to our luggage…its like nothing we’ve seen before. Jacky and I stayed at the hotel ‘Aladdin’ which is a 5 star hotel,it cost us an arm and leg but was well worth it. The hotel was massive and very busy, it took us one hour to line up and get checked in. Jill the girl who checked us in, thought that Jacky and I were honeymooners and upgraded our hotel room. There’s 5 possible types of suites we were meant to stay in the cheapest ones instead we ended in one of the best rooms of the hotel (the 2nd most expensive) it was sooooooooo nice!!

Vegas is beautiful! The photos can’t justify what you see real life…the casinos, the lights, the shops…it’s wonderful!! The downside of it all is the US exchange rate…the US dollar is double ours so even simple things like food and water are extremely expensive. Vegas has the only store in the world dedicated to m&ms there was so much I wanted to buy…but got to stick to the budget so I just left with an m&ms dispenser. We also went to Madam Tussaud’s (felt great to be idiots for a day) and watched Harry Potter at the cinema. The bars and clubs here are mad! And the chics at Cyote Ugly are drop dead gorgeous!

We left Vegas and headed for LA on the greyhound bus (we were sad to go), traffic was really bad due to the thanksgiving holiday period. Our 6hr bus ride turned into 8 but I was so fatigued that I slept most of the way so I found it rather enjoyable. I found LA rather scary…you have the really posh places like Beverly hills but ordinary people just live in very ‘ghetto’ like places it gets scary at night, there also seems to be heaps of crime. We stayed at the Kawda hotel… it was very basic felt like our trip to schoolies all over again! Ehhe.LA is very spread out so Jacky and I would walk 1km and then back everday to Chinatown to get something to eat.
While in LA we visited Chinatown, little Tokyo, little mexico, Mann’s Chinese theatre, the Hollywood walk of fame, Kodak theatre (where the Oscars are held), and some big shopping centers. We went with a tour to visit celebrity houses which included: Aron spelling, Courtney cox, Nicholas cage, Catherine zeta jones, Johnny depp and Hugh heffeners playboy mansion itself! The houses were absolutely amazing and the envy of everyone. We also went to visit some famous Californian beaches, which was really relaxing. One beach had this cheesecake shop with at least 20 different types to choose from, Belinda you would have loved it!

LA is a place with no centralised area, to get around its really quite essential that you have a car or you will rely on cabs, since their public transport system is virtually non existent. The shopping is quite ordinary (expensive) and a lot of areas are heaps scary. I prolly wont visit here again.

America is also VERY big on tipping, you’re expected to tip everywhere you go…you give at least 2 bucks which equal $4 aust every time you eat, take a tour, have a door opened, or ask the info counter a question…it will send you broke I tell ya!
Right now I’m in Canada staying with Jacky's uncle, aunty and five cousins… it’s great here his family is really friendly and very easy to get along with! I love Canada it' s just like Sydney only much colder…I’ve yet to start doing all the tourist stuff but I think I’ve written enough for now. So I’ll write again soon …and hope you guys are having an excellent holiday!!
Love Emily

P.S - individual shouts *Hey girls- how was little Jays b’day?? Did you take pics? And how was Dec 4th? What was sarah up to? *Sophia – how was your formal? Have a good time? Make sure u scan me ur pics! *Sammie – where abouts in the world are you now? When will you be in London again? *caroline and jill – hope you guys have a safe trip..send me your itinerary maybe we can meet up in Europe! *marcus- I heard the bush fires are bad…is your house ok? *Babor/Barbara – jacky says to email him or call him so he can see whats happened to the computers. *Rowena sorry to miss you xmas party … * Kat and ivi – weren’t you suppose to invite me to dinner b4 I went hmm…?

Vegas

Singapore, HK & China

2001-02-09T06:42:00.000+11:00

Hi Everyone,

I'm back in sydney now after a 7 week holiday, but asia is so hetic i think that i need a holiday from my holiday. thanks for all your emails and stuff, and i'm sorry that i couldnt get back to most of you guys but its was just really hard getting hold of a computer.

I spent the first week of my holidays in singapore, we stayed at this really nice hotel with the maddest swimming pool. Singapore is really humid leaving u feeling sticky and very uncomfortable most of the time, besides that it is generally a nice place. The best was probably the night safari where you travel around in this safari car thingy at around 9pm to see the animal's nite life.

I also got to take a picture with a oranatang, though the smell wasnt all that great :P~~ the biggest problem now is working out which is the monkey and which is me in the picture. I didnt end up buying anything in singapore, the price of things were almost the same as Australia's and i didnt want to carry it all around.

After a very tiring week in singapore we left for Hong Kong, my home away from home! the flight was 8 hrs but having your own tv screen made the flight go by a lot quicker. Hong Kong was great! I got to see dad and all my relos again. The shopping was EXCELLENT!! if only I could carry everything back!!

I was very fortunate this time because heaps of my friends from Australia went back to HK too and they taught me where to shop and stuff. I met up with wendy while in hk and she fully went mad buying everything in site ehheeehe. The best thing was that I got to see my grandmother, she's very old and fragile but very yound at heart. She lives at the hospital because her lungs have basically collasped and she relies on a machine to breathe.

I visted her almost everyday and those times were very memorable. I also went to china for about 2 weeks cos my relos all have holiday houses there or they run businesses there. My uncle lives at this resort type place where he runs a steakhouse, I could order anything I wanted unlimted...and free!! food on demand, what more could I want? ehhehe :P there was also a swimming pool but i didnt swim cos it was winter i spent my time playing tennis or ping pong with sophia but even that got really boring cos sophia cant play for shit.

Shopping is good but gets very annoying cos you have to bargin for EVERYTHING you always expect to pay half of the price they set cos if you dont then your'e getting ripped off e.g. a pair of shoes is 120 expect to pay 60. but sumtimes if you go too low they fully skitz at you and end up being really pissed off hehehe it fully stresses me out!

I guess these were the better things about China but its also a very dangerous place, you have to be careful of your bags cos theft is very common. There has also been instances where buses
have been stopped and the passengers robbed. But luckily i didn’t encounter any of that. the worse thing that happened while I was there was this dude got killed, I was coming out of a restaurant at night when a guy riding a bike got hit by a mini van from behind, he was thrown metres and his head got cracked and everything.

When the police finally came they didn’t even attempt to save him they just sealed off the rd and took pictures. He was probably ead but they didn't even cover him up he was just left on the rd where everyone could come have a gawk. It was a VERY disturbing experience. The rds in china are very dangerous a two lane rd turns into 6 and people drive everywhere the place is just too crowded. I’m so scared that I cant cross the rd by myself I always need someone to hold my arm cos I’m absolutely terrified!!

I also had a really bad experience with my hairdresser there, I thought I’d be brave and do something different to my hair for a change so I thought I’d dye my hair red.....however something went terribly wrong and my hair ended up turning blonde!!! I was soooooooo shocked I was going to cry! But I wasn’t about to let them touch my hair again!! no way! So for the rest of my trip in China I had blonde hair I looked like a freak!! and my dad wouldn’t stop cracking jokes about my hair...drove me nuts!! As soon as I got back to HK I bought one of those do it yourself hair dyes and dyed it back to black with bits of red.

Anyway i cant think of anything else to write hmm.....
so i'll send out my individual hellos ehhehe

ivi & Kat: hey guys thanks for your email, you guys back from Queensland? it was good wasn’t it?? heheh I loved it at surfers I want to go back there again Sometime soon where did you stay? Anyway write back or call me to tell me all about it.

Sam: you're sooo lucky!! man I wish I got to go America! Why didn’t u take me along? Hows the shopping and stuff?

Lex: so hows Russia? Remember you have to bring me back some snow, I don’t think I could stand the cold. So now that you've been back which do u call 'home' VN, Russia or Australia?

Betty & Lisa: what did you guys do all holiday? Keep me
updated :P

Love Em