new career :)

So it been almost 2 months since I started my new career as a mortgage broker in my beautiful city of  Vancouver, BC.

There been a lot of ups and down just trying to learn everything i possible can in the field and trying to get more networks.  It’s definitely hard but I’m also very excited and happy to have some sort of goals that is ahead of me.

Little things like getting my keys at the office, the fob to the elevator, my own office email, website, and business cards have felt like it was christmas.

There’s always something new coming in and something new to learn.  I know it is the new job feel but it’s those little bits of life that makes you feel so happy.  I love the team I’m working with they are all super helpful and I feel like I fit perfectly in this space.

I know the next year or two will be the hardest for me but I’m sure I’ll be good at being a mortgage broker.

Yeah.. wish me luck 😀

Tofu

Gorge Amphitheatre

Hello Hello!

I been rather busy with my new career as a mortgage broker. It is taking a lot more of my time then I would think but definitely fun and exciting.

I am not sure if I mention this I am also the President of my Toastmaster group for the year. Very excited and can’t wait to implement more ideas into the future meetings.

Anyway back to more traveling news! I went the Gorge Amphitheatre on 9th of Aug to watch Bruno Mars! He was amazing there and his opening act was from Nico & Vinz.  They are a band form Norwegian with Africa inspire beat.  If might have heard their songs on the radio “Am I Wrong“.

We camped at the Wild Horse campsite.  It was very well maintain.  They have free shuttle that takes you to and from the Gorge Amphitheatre on the night of the concert.  The shuttle were old school bus! hehe

My Beautiful Travel Buddy!

 

I have to say the Gorge was an amazing venue.  Since it is outdoor, it didn’t feel hot and the energy was amazing. Everyone was sitting on picnic blankets.  I would definitely go to the Gorge again to watch another concert! even with 6 hrs drive from Vancouver ><

It almost didnt make sense to have a theater in the middle of a dessert.  The view is just amazing.

Us waiting for the concert to start! everyone started standing! the atmosphere was great everyone was singing along.

 

The next day we went to a few scenic points. We were really just there for the concert haha

as we were driving back to seattle we pass by a field of windmill.  It actually looks really pretty. And i guess since the land isn’t use for anything else why not harvest energy.

That was pretty much my trip to the gorge.

 

Tofu

Kelowna Weekend Getaway

Jennifer Jiang

Happy 4th of July everyone!

The past weekend has been quite a busy one for me. One of my best friends got married on Saturday and I had the honour of being one of his groomsperson. It was a beautiful wedding and I couldn’t be happier for both him and his new bride. The day after the wedding my good friend Tammy (tofutamz.wordpress.com) and I took a short two day trip up to Kelowna, BC for the Canada Day long weekend. This is where the adventure begins…

Tammy and I started our trip on Sunday in the early morning, thankfully she was driving since I was feeling quite tired from the wedding the day before. We made a pit stop in Chilliwack to grab some breakfast and continued on our trip. Everything was going smoothly until I heard Tammy say, “uh oh”. Turns out we were almost out of…

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Ta Keo – Angkor, Siem Reap

So if you have been following my last blog… i wrote my exam last week and i think i did pretty good on it… no result yet… but will let you know soon.   Ta Keo is a unfinished temple.  They say lighting strike the temple and believe that it was bad omen and and the temple remain incomplete. I have to say this is an interesting temple since many of them have carving on them and this one have none.  You can see the basic structure of the building.  It really make you appreciate how much work have gone into it.  You can see they started digging a moat too but it is very shallow.  It looks like everyone just left and gave up after the lighting strike the temple.

Ta Keo

Ta Keo – Hidden in the forest

I went up the middle tower. You can see there is construction going on to keep the building standing up.

Steep Hike up

i think i was dying from the heat after walking all the way up…>< but the breeze and the view was well worth it!  Definitely not a hike for the weak.  When I got up there… there’s was a 70 year old auzzie and I was super impress he made it all the way up.

Top 😀 – B is so lucky to be in a bag and carried up

B got all dirty after this trip… he was gray!

Buddha statue on the top

That’s about it… i was sweating like crazy by the end of this… that’s all I remember.. haha

Anyway will post more later!

Tofu

Baphuon, Angkor Thom, Cambodia

Baphuon visit after Bayon

This is one of my favourite temple, maybe because of the water and how there’s a bridge that link to the temple.

Outside Baphuon

you can see pool of water on both side… there’s also a small pool close to the entrance where locals would go for a dip 🙂

Jump Jump at Baphuon

my guide & me

He’s did a great job bringing me to the temple.  His name is Kea.  He charged $25 a day and he help me hired a driver as well. I think it’s another $30 a day.  You can also hired a tuk tuk which is cheaper.  His email is kialong.ankgor125 at gmail dot com

it was great talking to him via email before my trip and he had everything planned for me.

under the bridge at Baphuon

in this temple you have to wear something that cover your shoulder and knee.  Nothing shorts.

Baphuon

 

Baphuon – Outer Rim

Baphuon – from the top

Baphuon – view of the top

Met Phil

met a new friend at the temple 🙂 ! He’s from Auzzie.  We met up later on the night and partied the night away at Pub street.  Lots of fun and cheap drinks.

alright… write more next time..

Have an exam on Thursday wish me luck

-tofu

Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding

Need a bit of a break talking about Cambodia … 😀 let’s talk about cute panda!! 😀

I was in China last year around November.  During the trip I went to Shanghai, Beijing, Chengdu, and a few other places…. Need to look through my album and journal to really know where I went.

Anyway back to the Panda Sanctuary.  The tickets were 58 rmb.  And it quite out of the way from the general area of the city.  Which also is a good thing for the panda.  Since city = pollution… sooo the panda definitely had nice environment to stay at.

Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding Entrance

Map of Panda Sanctuary

The area was big…. and they have shuttle for you to take to get you from one area to another… but the shuttle don’t come often… you might as well just walk…

We went in November … just in time to see baby panda 😀

Apparently they breed yearly and when panda are born.. they are a size of a palm… in the natural they will probably die.. since they don’t have any self defense and they eat a lot….

Baby Panda

Sleeping all day and have no control of their motion…They about 2 months old 😀

Mommy & Baby playing 🙂

Baby Panda Eating

They are soo fuzzy! I wanna hold them too!

The workers there bought them out after their nap 🙂

How did he get up there?

Red Panda

There was also red panda… which does come to close proximity to you.. they walk right up to you 😀

stealing bamboo leaf from panda… nom nom nom

 

nom nom nom nom

i think the panda and me looks some what a like 😀

I’ll definitely come back again and see them! 😀 hehe and maybe a little earlier next year… the facility say they have newborn every autumn 🙂

 

tofu

Central Angkor Thom – Bayon

Bayon visit 🙂

Bayon

my tour guide told me to stand still and i had no idea what he was doing… and the next thing i know i got a picture nose to nose w/ the budda 🙂

nose to nose

smiling Buddha 🙂

peeking out the window

 

This temple was like a bomb exploded in front of me… I feel like I was trying to absolve all the detail/information in this temple.  There was detail everywhere… and it’s so hard to concentrate on all the structures.

South Gate of Angkor Thom

After my visit to Phnom Bakheng, my guide and I walk by Baksei Chamkrong,  Prasat Bei and walk along the bridge of South Gate to take a few pictures of the river and the bridge. It was so peaceful there, there was dogs and cows just free walking all over the place.  My guide said they are treated as a lookout for the area.  No one will harm them and it’s normal for them to walk around.

Cows & Dogs

Baksei Chamkrong

Prasat Bei

There are pictures of the south gate area There at lot of remodeling of the statue… on the right side of the bridge it is statues of devils and demon.  On the left side of the bridge you see statues of gods and warriors.  They remade a lot of the head of the statue because many were stolen or sold in the black market.  Many of them got replace and with time will turn gray like the other statues.

Left side (god n warriors)

Right side (demon)

did i mention it was bloody hot? haha

4 face Buddha (gate door)

Other side of the gate

note that it is a one way traffic… but it’s more like who have the bigger balls on going…. haha… there isn’t any traffic control… so ppl kinda just go and see if the other person will yield.

three headed elephants next to the gate

view from the top of the gate

Buddha on top of the gate

that’s about it from south gate until next time

-tofu

Phnom Bakheng

Looking back at my pictures on my Cambodia trip

Angkor World Heritage tickets cost $20 for one day or $40 for a 3 days pass.  When using the 3 days pass you can enter the temples as many time as you want during the day and you have a week to use the pass.  So you can go in and out and have a break day and go back in but I had a short period of time there so…. I used mine in a roll.

The first day I spent it at Phnom Bakheng.  From my memory my guide said it’s one of highest point (and I believe he called it the mountain temple).  He said it was one of the best places to watch sunset but on that day it was rather cloudy… and we had a bit of rain coming down so we couldn’t see it.

as we were walking up the trail up to the temple we saw monkeys

This is me at the top of Phnom Bakheng.

There are wooden step put in to make it easier for tourist to go up and down.

They are restoring the temple and are trying to keep most of the original sandstone.  They mark each sandstone of which area they gather it from.  Some of them you see carving of goddesss and dancers

I believe we spend an hour and a half at this temple.

Tofu

 

 

 

 

JJ Family Spa

Recently I went to JJ Family Spa with a gf of mine.  It is located in Coquitlam, BC. a little far from general vancouver area i have to say

http://www.jjspa.ca/

It is my second Korean style spa.  This one have less specialty room compare to the one I went to in Seattle (Palace Spa).

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JJ Family Spa was really clean and tidy.  There is an optional bikini area in the woman only area while the one in Seattle you have to be nude.

The admission was only $10 + tax in JJ spa. (during their May special)

There was 3 specialty rooms – the salt room, the coal + infrared room, and the cool charcoal room.  Each room have their specialty property leaving your skin smooth and your muscle relax after you been there for 10 to 30 min.

They also have hot tub (hot + cold), steam and sauna room, a snack area, and massage chairs.

There is also lockers and shower area where you have to bring your own shampoo, conditioner, and body wash.

They provide us with a change of clothes and towels while we are using the facility.

The lady in the facility walked us around the spa and gave us a small tour of the facility since it was our first time there.  Everyone respect each other privacy at the spa and it was just a very relaxing environment.

 

My friend and I had a great time at the spa.  We spend around 3 hours there and just enjoy the relaxing atmosphere.

You can also book massages and traditional korea scrub service as well.

 

Even though it is a bit far we did both agree we would go back again since we both felt so relax afterwards.  Perfect place to be on a day off.

 

I’m not sponsor to review the spa but just wanted to blog about it 🙂

 

Tofu