HAPPY NEW YEAR

Just wanted to wish everyone a HAPPY NEW YEAR! All the best in 2010 from us, Gio & Michelle!!!

SO ANGRY..... (updated...)

So it's 6:55pm on December 29th right now and at this moment I should be boarding a plane to BALI with my wife and friend for a fun filled week of sun, fun and ringing in the New year in Indonesia.

But I am at home, not on the plane. Why?

Turns out my Canadian Passport expires... IN SIX MONTHS... so they wont let me on the plane.

Yes, that's right, it is valid... for another 165 days or so but in Singapore, that means it's invalid. If it's less than six months to go on your passport, they won't let you fly.

Crazy.

So Michelle and Chad are off to Bali (against their wishes mind you, they wanted to stay but I wouldn't let them - no point in three vacations being ruined instead of one - the need of the many outweigh the need of the few or the one) to meet a bunch of our friends while I deal with the Canadian Consulate tomorrow morning.

Hopefully I will be there in 24-48 hours to ring in the new year with my wife and friends, otherwise this will be one lonely New Years Eve.

Will keep you posted.

DEC 30th UPDATE: So I went to the High Commission of Canada in Singapore this morning. According to the nice lady who helped me, a "Emergency Rush Passport" takes 4-5 Business Days (it takes under 24 hours if we were in Canada) and since I would have been back from my Bali trip before the 4-5 Business Days had come and gone, my Bali Vacation is not happening. No Vacation, No Refund, No Passport. Shitty end to the year for me and it will be a lonely start to the new one since virtually all my Sing friends are either in Taiwan or Bali or home for the holidays. Ah well, as they said in the BATMAN BEGINS... "why do we fall? So we might learn to pick ourselves up". The new passport has been applied for and paid for and hopefully will arrive in 15 business days or so. Live & Learn!

MERRY XMAS FROM SINGAPORE

Well, it's our first christmas away from home and it's safe to say, it's a unique experience. CHRISTMAS IN SINGAPORE is warm & muggy but still festive. Nothing closes but everywhere plays Christmas music while everyone wishes you "a Merry Christmas". Despite wearing shorts and flip flops, you can't help but feel just a little of that ol' Holiday Spirit.

For Christmas Eve, we went for a great potluck Dinner at Aamir & Denise's place. There were about 12 of us and the food was fantastic, Aamir made Turkey & Homemade Egg Nog, Michelle busted out her incredible Lime Shortbread Cookies and I introduced Singapore to my Maple-Dijon Ham (six Christmases in a row now) and we all passed out on the couch thanks to a massive food coma, it was a nice way to spend the evening. The next day, we opened presents (Michelle got perfume, I got Scotch Glasses & a Boba Fett Bobblehead), we ate Blueberry French Toast, skyped with the families and watched some Love Actually (Michelle's favorite Xmas Movie). We then got ready and headed for a giant Xmas Day Feast at Heather & Roman's. There were about 20 people there and the star of the show was Heather's fantastic Bacon-wrapped Turkey. After dinner I read "the Night Before Christmas" for the kids and then we were all visited by a barefoot, red wine drinking, Australian Santa Claus who handed out presents to everyone. It was surreal.

We miss our friends, we miss our family and we miss our dogs but Christmas in Singapore was a very cool experience and we are lucky to have made some great, new friends to help us ring in the holidays in our new hometown! Pics from the Holidays HERE!

Merry Christmas Everyone!!!

MT. FUJI AIN'T GOT NOTHING ON ME!

With only a few days notice from work, I was headed to SIGGRAPH ASIA 2009 in JAPAN and boy am I glad I went, Japan is awesome!

Siggraph is a technical conference and it's the first one I've ever been to, according to repeat attendees this was a small one but still cool. 3-D Technology seems to be all the rage and Motion Capture has taken a large leap forwards since my Mainframe days (remember kids, I was the mocap actor for Kingpin!) but a lot of the lectures were in Japanese without translation so that was a bust. On the plus side, I had coffee with THE creator of Pokemon, had a studio tour of Bandai-Nameco and hung out in the Audio Department with the Soul Calibur team. We attended one "event party" thrown by Polygon Pictures which made Bobby and I laugh. Why? Well as the two Canadians there, there was a point where we both had cans of beer, standing next to a river in the freezing cold and we thought, man, it's like partying back home. All in all, I wish the translation possibilities were better so I could have ingested more information but Siggraph was still a cool experience.

Japan on the other hand was even cooler. It was my first time in the land of the Rising Sun and despite the cold weather (0 degrees most days - a big change from 33 in Singapore), we tried to see as much of Tokyo and Yokohama (where Siggraph was) as possible. The subway system is a ridiculous maze of anarchy that somehow makes sense once you eventually figure it out, the streets are always busy, every restaurant seems packed all the time, the food good, the sights amazing and I can sum it all up in one word: EXPENSIVE!

Man is Japan expensive. just to step into a taxi is $8CDN, a subway ride costs between $2 & $6CDN and you have to subway everywhere. Most meals start at about $20CDN and that's without booze, which by the way, also start at about the same price. Unless you go local and that's what we tried to do most of the time. We tried to eat at little Yakitori stalls which serve Chicken, Pork, Veggies and organ meat on sticks grilled over a little BBQ. Very tasty and cheap (full meal of 6 sticks plus a beer for $17CDN). I guess you could eat at McDonalds if you wanted but you don't come to Japan for McDonalds BUT if you feel like a fast food burger, try a MOS Burger. Think of it as a Japanese McDonalds with uniquely Japanese fast food!

Despite the prices, it is still an awesome place to see with so much to do. All the sections of Tokyo are cool and different with crazy big stores, small underground bars, quaint little restaurants and blinking lights everywhere. From the busy intersections of Shibuya, to the quint hang-outs in Shimo-kitazawa, to the technical monstrosity of Akihabara, to the kooky shops of Harajuku. Tokyo truly is the basis for Los Angeles in Blade Runner. Sometimes I would get weird looks from the older Japanese people as to why I was in certain areas or whatnot but the younger generation of people were quite warm and welcoming. All in all an awesome experience and one I can't wait to have again but with Michelle along for the ride.

Here's a link to all the Japan PICS from last week!

CATCHING UP ON PIX

We just realized that it's been a long time since we've done a PHOTO UPDATE, so here are some links for you to enjoy:

• General pics from SEPTEMBER '09
• Some of our adventures from OCTOBER '09
• Remember, remember, it's time for NOVEMBER '09!
• BARB & BRETT have moved to Singapore!!!
• Who doesn't love HOT WINGS!!!
• A few more selfies from CORSIWORLD!
• FOOD! FOOD! Glorious food!

THE LAS DINNER & DANCE

We attended the official work Christmas Holiday party known as the D&D (Dinner & Dance) which was a great event held at the Indochine Waterfront at Boat Quay. The majority of staff and their partners dressed to the nines and a good time was had by all. Here's one of the "official photographer" pics from the event (doesn't Michelle look great?)... fantastic way to start this warm Holiday Season!!!

HELLO HO CHI MINH

I have to admit, I had no real knowledge of VIETNAM other than the things I've learned from television (China Beach) and movies (Apocalypse Now, Rambo: First Blood Part II and Chuck Norris Vs. Everything) so when Michelle first suggested going to there, I said "no". Honestly it wasn't very high on my list, I had no desire, even when it's only 2 hours away it still didn't excite me. I asked a few people at work about it and everyone spoke very highly about it but when Wayne mentioned that Ho Chi Minh City has one of the 10 best Hamburgers in the world located there, I started to get interested. We found an extremely good flight and hotel rate so finally I said, "what the hell" and with our friends BARB & BRETT, we chose to visit HO CHI MINH CITY.

First off, Ho Chi Minh is pure chaos, there's 10 million people there and 8 million scooters. Nobody seems to follow any type of road rules and somehow it works: people drive, people ride and people walk without following any sort of laws or structure and it all works. The ride to the Hotel from the Airport took over an hour (it was during Rush hour), for the record, the ride to the airport from the hotel on Sunday afternoon took 20 minutes.

We stayed in District 1 which was an awesome central location, we saw some of the classic sights like the Jade Pagoda, the Reunification Hall, the Rex Hotel, Ben Thanh Market and the eerie Cu Chi Tunnels, they were all cool! The Market was massive and filled with some of the most aggressive sales people I have ever come across. (You buy t-shirt!!!). The Tunnels were a bit spooky as was the cab ride there when the cabbie stated, "oh yeah, this area, VC and America fight everyday, many battles"... hmm, now its a farm and a coffee shop. The Rex Hotel was cool but what made it even better was the Vietnamese Flamenco Band that sung "Hotel California"... what a trip.

Like I said Ho Chi Minh is crazy, it's alive, vibrant, filled with dilapidated buildings and there is construction everywhere. The people are extremely friendly and the food is dynamite, we ate Pho twice and had two great Vietnamese dinners which were out of this world. As for the "world famous" Burger joint? We found it!

Black Cat Burger is somewhat of a legend on this side of the world. In 2006, CNN stated that it was "one of the ten best hamburgers in the world," pretty heavy praise. Some of my co-workers have eaten there and they all concur that it truly is a great Hamburger, so we ofcourse had to try it... three times. I can honestly say that it was a great Hamburger, I had one called the Blues Brother which came with Blue Cheese and Bacon and I loved it. Michelle had a BBQ Burger on Rye which was also excellent. The breakfasts were also tasty, as was the Soft-Shell Crab Spicy Sandwich but I must admit that the Fish Sandwich was a little bland. Overall, I loved it and I don't know if it was the "best" burger I have ever eaten but it definitely was one of the better ones.

So all in all, I am happy I went to Vietnam and got to visit a uniquely crazy city like Ho Chi Minh, next year we will check out Hanoi but for now, you can see the pics from our weekend HERE!

THAI ADVENTURES

THAILAND is a place that many of my friends have been to and rave about. Now that we are over on this side of the world, and Thailand is 2 hours away by plane, last week I was fortunate enough to head to over to go see what the fuss was all about. I left while Gio stayed home and worked. Feeling guilty? Well... maybe a little.... until I hit the beach and had a massage!! Guilt passed and the enjoyment began!!

I stayed the majority of my stay in a beach town called PATTAYA. Before heading out I researched the place just a little and while most of the guide books and websites said not to bother with this town as it was the "Vegas of Thailand" and not truly representative of this amazing country, I have a friend who lives there and the opportunity to enjoy the place like a local.

Granted Pattaya is a bit of a den of debauchery, from what I hear that exists all over Asia so I settled in to explore the crazy streets and nightlife. And crazy wild town it is!! I had a great time walking the streets in the early mornings, hanging on the beaches, enjoying the amazing Thai street soups, booting around on the back of the scooter, getting massages and drinking and dancing at all the little beer bars and nightclubs the town had to offer.

The bar scene is quite interesting. Basically the Beer Bars have ladies that work there who get a portion of each drink they sell and if you wish to hang out with them you can pay a bar fine and they will leave with you to hang out for the evening. If you are wanting more friendly interactions, that has to be negotiated with the lady herself. The Go Go bars are what you would expect, scantily to non-clad ladies dancing onstage or performing various tricks, these ladies could also be hired for the evening. These bars ranged from very low end to quite nice and elaborate, with the girls in amazing costumes and awesome shows, sometimes full on, large scale Drag Queen productions. Then of course there are the freelancers who do not work in the bars and are their own entrepreneurs! Almost everywhere were the infamous ladyboys decked out in the tiniest outfits I have ever seen and looking amazing! Once I got over the "scene" I am not sure which was more fun, watching the girls being wild and crazy or the men who thought they were "all that" enjoying the environment. We would often start our nights out at the beer bar nearest the apartment with our lovely bar lady friends who would come have drinks and chat about their adventures the night before. My friend said many times he had bar fined one of the girls he became friends with so that she could show him around town and get to go to things that usually local thai only go to. One of my favorite things was listening to the house bands doing cover tunes with the thai accents, sometimes it was so difficult to even identify which song they were singing you had to just go with the melody of the music and not the words.

Now, in my usual way of chatting with random strangers, on the plane over I was fortunate to met a guy who worked for a company that designs and constructs exhibits in zoos, and trains trainers, and completes animal transfers and designs the animal programs. He was a really nice guy and we hit it off right away. As it turned out he was working for a year at the open zoo just a half hour from Pattaya and invited me to come out and he would show me around. I was crazy with excitement. So saturday we rented a nice big motorcycle for the road trip and headed to the zoo. The Khao Kheow Open Zoo is in Chonburi and is internationally recognized for its animal management and operations. There are over 300 species at the zoo living in huge open air compounds appropriate to their species and living requirements. It is known as a wildlife bank as there are a number of endangered species there and the zoo is known for its success in breeding some of these animals. We watched the animal show which is basically an elaborate feeding session where the animals have been trained with whistle commands to enter the vegetated arena to collect food. Not terribly original however for this show there are no trainers onstage, there is no dialogue with the audience, and to collect their food the animals need to complete tasks that mimic their natural behaviors. Example: the lion enters stage left and sees his food stash he goes to get it but it is tied to side and mostly encased in a container(that resembles a carcass) so he needs to drag the "carcass"then work at getting it open, the tiger needs to climb up the "tree" and swim to catch the fish (fish pieces dropped into the shallow pool). One at a time the animals come in collect their food and cross the stage based on where the trainer whistles are coming from. Pretty cool. I also go to feed a baby elephant, a giraffe, a pigmy hippo, deer, and a camel, ride an adult elephant and snuggle with a young orangutan. At the end of the day I was filthy in dust and elephant slobber and could not stop grinning. If you have the opportunity do not hesitate and get yourself out to this zoo.

And the food!!! The food was amazing! Mostly we ate at the street side food stalls found everywhere that made the most amazing bowls of soup with chicken, spices, fresh thai basil and other greens. Man I wish I could find that in Singapore but alas, no. I have never had such good thai food in my life, which makes sense really.

So while Pattaya may not be in every travel book as the place to see it was alot of fun and I really enjoyed the sense of ease of the town and its convenient proximity to the beach. Besides by hanging with a local i think I was fortunate enough to have a glimpse into the heart of this town that I think the regular traveller does not get to see.

Monday we decided to go to BANGKOK for the night as I was leaving Tuesday from the Bangkok airport. Bangkok is a huge bustling city, awesome and BUSY! After the days on the beach this was a bit overwhelming. We got there early Monday and hit the streets directly after checking into our hotel. We took the skytrain to the docks and went for a long boat tour of the waterways where we bought overpriced beers and nick-nacks from the floating vendors. Afterward, while heading back to the train, we met a guy who worked for the train system who befriended us, took our map, circled a few places, found a tuk tuk driver and negotiated a 3 hour tour of the city including 2 stops at temples of note all for 50 dollars. The tuk tuk was really uncomfortable and we had to scruntch right down to even see anything outside of it but it was a great tour. Of course I have no photos as my camera battery died after my day at the zoo. Bangkok at night looks totally different than Bangkok by day. Daytime, it is business like with shops and stalls selling everything lining the streets, by night all the shops switch to sidewalk bars. We started the night of course checking the Red Light district but after Pattaya it was not as shocking as it could have been. Then off for dinner, and we found a great little tapas place in, what we realized after finishing dinner and enjoying the remaining sangria, was in the gay district. Awesome. then we went to find the bars and nightclubs. We hopped around a few of the little bars before finding a great hip hop bar for me to dance a while. Closed the places down and it was time for bed as we had an early check out and i had to catch a flight in a few hours. Before leaving though, on Tuesday morning I had to have one more Thai foot massage and a delicious bowl of street soup to make the trip complete.

Well one week and loads of adventures and awesome food I think I get it. I am hooked and I can't wait to take G there now that I have done a little recon. If you want to see some pics from the trip before the camera died check them out HERE!!!

ON MY MARK, UNLEASH HELL

I have indulged in true spiciness my friends, seriously, I saw, I tasted, I experienced hell.

Some backstory first. Here in Singapore, the home of the hottest CHICKEN WINGS are at a little ramshackle hut called the SINGAPORE FLYING CLUB located in the middle of nowhere next to the Military Airport. Legend dictates that they have the hottest hot wings around and people at work are always trying to outdo each other with spicier & spicier Hot Wings... boys will be boys I guess. Anyway, about two months ago, four Brits went to the SFC and got themselves on "the board" (the location for people who have entered the spice zone by eating between level 20-35 Wings) by eating some LEVEL 23 WINGS. The came to work in severe pain but boasting and proud, they were definitely the champs at our office.

Now, me being a spice lover, a proud Canadian and a trashtalker, I was not about to be undone, so I vowed to get a Canadian Team together and beat the Brits by taking on some Level 24 Wings. A Canadian co-worker Kent is also one of the most competitive people around so he was definitely onboard, we vowed to try and beat the Brits. So finally tonight, a group of us went to the SFC to get our "Wing On".

The thing about the SFC, is that before you take on the High Levels, you have to prove your worth by taking on some LEVEL 10 WINGS! "No problem" I thought, Level 10 will be a breeze, I'm a Corsi, a proud Canadian fueled by Italian Blood. Boy was I wrong.

Level 10 was a nightmare. The smell alone got my eyes watering. I took a bite and at first I thought "easy like Sunday morning" then a few seconds later, the burn started, a few seconds after that, my mouth caught fire and I entered Hades. I have never, ever tasted anything spicier in all my years and this was only a bloody level 10 Hot Wing. I started sweating from my cheeks, MY CHEEKS, my eyes were wet, my lips were glowing, I was physically shaking they were so bloody spicy. How Wayne, James, Nigel and Lee managed to eat LEVEL 23 I will never know as Level 10 almost knocked me out.

Kent & I (the Canadian Recon Team) managed to get two LEVEL 10 wings down each which is the required amount to take on a higher spice, but honestly I don't know if I can go higher. We both felt the pain and It's going to take a hell of a lot to get us to the next level.

Kudos to the Brits for tackling Level 23 and living to tell the tale.

Trust me friends, if any of you come out here and want to take the challenge, I will gladly bring you to the Singapore Flying Club and watch you burn to death as I enjoy my Level 3 Hot Wings. See pics from the night of fire HERE!!!

JURONG BIRD PARK

In 1971, at a cost of $3.5M, Singapore opened the JURONG BIRD PARK to the masses! The Jurong Bird Park is now a world-famous bird zoo wherein there are specimens of magnificent bird life from around the world, including a flock of one thousand and one flamingos. It is currently the world's largest bird park in terms of number of birds and second largest in terms of land area after Germany's Vogelpark Walsrode. There are over 8,000 birds of 600 species in the Jurong Bird Park. Of those, 29 are of endangered species. In 2006, the Jurong Bird Park completed its S$10-million makeover. With the upgrading, the park now boasts a new entrance plaza, an African wetlands exhibit, a park-owned and managed Bongo Burgers restaurant, a Ben & Jerry's ice cream parlour, a gift shop and a bird hospital.

This place is amazing, we walked around for hours with cameras at the ready just to soak in all the cool birds that are there. Like the Singapore Zoo, the Bird Park has an open and lush layout, many of the birds are free to fly while others are in large enclosures. It will definitely be on our "one to revisit" list but you can see all our snaps from the day HERE!!!

SAN FRAN + VAN CITY

So for the last 10 days, I've spent a whirlwind of time in both SAN FRANCISCO and VANCOUVER. In San Fran it was all work, visiting the mothership, working on budgets and meeting with tons of people. In Vancouver it was all family, friends and time with my two favorite beasts, LAVERNE & CARMINE! Despite the long travel, the short timeframe and the immense jetlag, the work portion went well and the personal long weekend was great. I wish I could have spent more time with everyone and seen the peeps I didn't have the chance to see but it will have to wait until next time. Pics from the trip can be seen HERE!!!

TOTALLY RANDOM

Here's a Painting of Christopher Walken building Optimus Prime by Brandon Bird... and who says there is nothing good on the Internet!!!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

Well, it was our first HALLOWEEN in Singapore and I gotta say, it was pretty cool. It's amazing how many people actually got into it and dressed up in costume, not only at the staff party but in the city in general. The work party was at a club called Arena and it was pretty fun, virtually everyone was dressed up, there was a costume contest (we got an honorable mention for our team costume of OKTOBERFEST) where the winner was a TAXI TRANSFORMER, second place went to MAD HATTER and third to SCARECROW. All in all, a great time and we took some pics which you can view HERE!

SINGAPORE STORM

Here's a crazy thunder & lightning storm that started around 5:00pm on Halloween night and at time of posting (7:15pm) is still going strong, that "static" sound you hear under all the thunder is the torrential downpour:

RECUPERATION

Well, with the parents gone, we thought life would get back to normal, not so, we got incredibly sick. My dad was extremely sick his last full day here, we thought it was immense food poisoning but no one else in the house was ill even though we all shared dishes at dinner. He got better for his last day in Singapore and we thought the ordeal was in the past. My folks left around 4:00pm and we left the airport to meet our friends AAMIR & DENISE for a bite and beer in Holland Village. A few hours and a few laughs later, we were at home when Michelle started feeling off, soon she was feeling ill and before you know it, she's full blown sick (if you know what I mean). Within moments, I start feeling it too and in under an hour I've taken up permanent residence in one of the bathrooms, Michelle was in the other one. It was the roughest night for either of us in a long time.

Needless to say, I didn't go to work the next day but we were surprised to find that Aamir & Denise were okay... hmm, maybe this wasn't food poisoning, maybe we caught what dad had. We found out later that my stepmom got hit with the sickness as well, while on the flight to Australia. Turns out it was a wicked stomach flu that my dad had somehow caught and passed onto us.

Anyway, we're all good now, back to normal and living da vida loca. It's too bad, the last day of my parents trip had to be a rough one but their overall time here was awesome! I'm glad we're all feeling better now as well!

IT'S OUT...

When I first joined the team here in Singapore, they were wrapping up their next DS game, the aptly titled STAR WARS: THE CLONE WARS: REPUBLIC HEROES and it's out and ready to play! Give it a whirl and enjoy some Star Wars goodness! REPUBLIC HEROES is also available on Wii, PS3 and X360 but our team worked on the DS version. Proud of my guys!!!

THE PARENTS VS. SINGAPORE

So, Mario... Gina... let's talk about Singapore:

WHAT WAS YOUR FAVORITE THING ABOUT SINGAPORE?

• MARIO - More than anything, I like the cosmopolitan flavor here, and the easy going nature here is great, you just feel comfortable. Also, the modern architecture is amazing... obviously all the restaurants are fantastic. And I like all the green!

• GINA - Ofcourse the Quays (Clarke & Robertson), all those restaurants... the neatness of the place and how organized in general this city is.

WHAT WAS YOUR FAVORITE PART OF SINGAPORE?

• MARIO - Believe it or not, Arab Street, it's great!

• GINA - Definitely the Quays, I like the to be by the Canal.

WHAT DIDN'T YOU LIKE?

• MARIO - The heat... the humidity... the price of Alcohol!

• GINA - I think the HDB's are great but I didn't like that some of the public spaces were unclean and run down... so many of the HDB's and the facilities were too close together.

WHAT WAS YOUR FAVORITE FOOD HERE?

• MARIO - If it was one dish, it would be the Crab, Butter Crab & Black Pepper Crab... the Ton Katsu was quite the experience, I never thought I'd like that. The best food was in the simple places, like Gillman's Seafood and Mellben Seafood. I kinda liked the Gong Gong and Kung Pow Chicken in Bintan as well.

• GINA - The Black Pepper Crab was very, very nice... another thing was the Bah Kut Teh and the Thai Pineapple Rice, I'm going to make that at home... Crispy Fried Fish, I absolutely loved it.

NEXT TIME YOU COME TO SINGAPORE WHAT DO YOU WANNA DO?

• MARIO - Not much more than I did this time, just enjoy the city. We did just about everything, I don't think there's anything else to do.

• GINA - Spend more time at the Quays at night, more time around there, I like the music, the ambiance, I like to be up late.

WHAT DO YOU THINK OF THE PEOPLE YOU MET HERE?

• MARIO - What your friends? Your friends are great, each of them is number one. I like the camaraderie you all have. I'm very glad you have found some good people to be with.

• GINA - Everybody is very friendly and very respectful. I love the people and I appreciate them being very respectful, that's the way I grew up. I have a very good opinion of the people here, I didn't see anything wrong. I really like the respect they have for us older folks.

ANY ADVICE FOR TRAVELERS TO SINGAPORE?

• MARIO -Wear very comfortable shoes and be aware that it's quite humid and warm, don't drink too much alcohol because it's bad for your liver and your wallet.

• GINA - Okay, my advice would be to come to this city with an open mind to understand their culture and to respect their citizens whom I find admirable.

ANY FINAL THOUGHTS?

• MARIO - I think if you guys are gonna stay here for a few years, I'd like to come back!

• GINA - If I could, I would live here six months out of the year.

MICHELLE? GIO? ANY THOUGHT ON MARIO & GINA'S VISIT?

• MICHELLE - My favorite part of having them here was that we could take them anywhere and they would fit right in. They would go everywhere, meet everyone, try everything, it was great.

• GIO - Wish I could have seen more of them but a little bit of time is better than nothing. Having them here, meeting our friends and seeing our life here was just awesome!

Thanks so much for coming folks, we loved having you here and hope your time here was memorable. Come back anytime...

PICS OF THEIR VISIT HERE!

BINTAN

While my folks are here visiting, Michelle and I thought it would be cool to go away for the weekend with them and show them a little more of SE Asia other than Singapore. With so many options available, we decided to do something local and we spent this past weekend on the Indonesian Resort Island of BINTAN!

Only a 55 minute ferry ride from Singapore, Bintan is a quick getaway destination for many Singaporeans due to its ease and comfort. There are many resorts there from the immensely swank to the ultra low-rent, we stayed in the three star "middle of the road" resort called Mayang Sari. We got some cabins on the beach, checked it and had some lunch. We then hired a driver to take us on a four-hour tour of the island so show my folks some of the local Indonesian "flava", we then came back, got cleaned up and headed to the Katong (Floating Seafood Restaurant") for an awesome dinner. The next day, we had breakfast, went for two hour massages, came back to the hotel to chill on the beach before heading back to the ferry for the return trip to Singapore.

My parents loved it, we loved it and I am sure we will be going back to Bintan for another relaxing weekend. Check out our pics from the 36 hour funfest HERE!!!

THEY'RE HERE!

Mario & Gina are in Singapore and loving it. Pics to follow soon!

BUSY SEPTEMBER

Here's a look at the hectic month of September:

• We toured Singapore's CHINATOWN!

• We celebrated our fourth Wedding ANNIVERSARY!

• We took part in a cool COOKING CLASS in Clarke Quay!

• Some pics from my BIRTHDAY!

• At the end of the month we spent a magical weekend in BALI!

• And here's the rest of our September PICS!

BALI THE BEAUTIFUL

We finally took our first trip from Singapore and it was a doozy. Michelle and I were lucky enough to spend 72 hours on the Indonesian island of BALI.

We arrived late Thursday evening to the Ramayana Resort & Spa located in the southern town of Kuta. Our friend Greg described Kuta best as "The Ft. Lauderdale of Bali" which is quite the apt description, there is wall-to-wall traffic and people everywhere (tourists and locals who are selling to the tourists) but it was great... very different from Singapore. Once we got to the hotel, we noticed that the chaos outside was not noticeable inside, we were in the "eye of the hurricane", it was serene, it was relaxing and it was beautiful. We loved it instantly. After a fantastic dinner of Rendang Pedang (Hot Beef Curry) and Nasi Goreng (Indonesian Fried Rice) we retired for the evening, excited for the coming adventures of the next two days.

We woke up late and took part in Ramayana's awesome breakfasts, then sat poolside for a few hours to get some sun. After that, we indulged in an amazing his & her massage that lasted for 2.5 hours (that included a foot bath, foot massage, full body massage and facial) for a measly $50 each... are you bloody well kidding me? Awesome way to kick off the vacation! After that, it was time to explore some of the island. We recruited the services of Wayan to tour us around the island for the next two days and he started by taking over to Nesa Dua, one of Bali's beaches which was a cool site since you could see Bali's two volcanoes across the water. Next we drove up to Uluwatu, an ancient temple on the southernmost tip of the island which is famous for it's views and it's thieving monkeys! The views are spectacular, the temple is on a 200 foot cliff that overlooks the Indian Ocean and since it was late in the day, we were getting to witness an amazing sunset. The monkeys were hilarious and they truly were thieves, lifting sunglasses, food and whatever else they could get their hands on and I'm not talking about a couple of monkeys here, I'm talking dozens & dozens of monkeys.

We also witnessed a traditional Kecek Fire Dance as the sun set at the temple, what made this unique was that the entire piece was sung by 40 Balinese men rather than having music for the performers, it was a uniquely cool show. We finished the evening with a delicious fresh seafood dinner on the beach and I'm not talking about a restaurant beside the beach, I'm talking about our table and chairs were in the sand next to the big waves of Jimbaran Bay. The beach was lined with tables and chairs, it was a touch touristy but still a cool experience and the food was fantastic (especially the chili butter grilled corn cobs).

Day 2 started even earlier as we took off before 9 for a full day of touring. We started in the town of Batubalan to watch a traditional Barong & Kris Dance. We then drove through Celuk & Mas to see some of the Painting and Wood Sculpture work that are done in those towns, we bought some pieces as well. We then drove up to Kintamani which is across the valley from Batur Mountain one of the island's volcanoes. Very cool scene to see all the lava devastation from past eruptions (yes, it's still active but "sleeping" as the locals say). Next, we drove down the road to a Plantation where we actually tried Kopi Luak, the infamous "Cat Poo Coffee", this plantation grows coffee beans, cocoa beans, vanilla, cinnamon, coconuts, chilis and bananas and they also house a few Palm Civet Cats, the creatures responsible for the poopy coffee. How does it taste? Strong, slightly bitter and there's a lot of sediment. I preferred the local "Ginseng Coffee" since a creature didn't crap it out for me to drink, but that's just me.

After a good cup of Joe, we visited Tampaksiring, home of the amazing Holy Spring Water Temple which is still in use today. Men and Women come from all over Bali to bathe in its blessed waters and pray throughout the day. Our guide told us that only the high priest is privileged enough to step foot in the actual "walled off natural cold spring" and that's only for religious ceremonies. We then drove through the rice terraces of Tegallalang as we made our way to Ubud (the somewhat "art" capital of Bali). There we toured the town, walked through the public market and checked out the palace, we will definitely be going back there for sure. A long drive back to Kuta, a drink at the bar and a dinner at the restaurant capped off our long day.

Day three was more relaxed, after breakfast and some pool time, we checked out of the room, left our bags at the hotel and explored the town of Kuta itself. It is a beach town and the beach itself is amazing, the sand, the surf, it was truly a sight to behold. We hung out there for a bit and came back a few hours later to watch the sun set. After that, a final meal before heading to the airport to catch our late flight home.

Our first weekend in Bali was amazing and I promise you, it won't be our last. We really fell in love with the place and I highly recommend you go and visit it when you get the chance but don't just take my word for it, check out our pictures from the weekend HERE!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY GIO!!!!!

Here we are in Singapore ready to celebrate Gio's thirty-ish birthday and I was remembering all the past birthdays we have shared. I have come to realize that he is one lucky guy with his globe trotting birthdays, which have also included Milan:

and Toronto...

and now Singapore!

AND tomorrow we are taking advantage of his first birthday in Asia to celebrate the right way, and heading off to Bali for the weekend!! We are really excited to begin the festivities tonight with our awesome S'Pore crew at Clarke Quay which will include food, bevies, live bands, a little whiskey and billiards.

Gio, I have had so many great years full of adventure, fun and love with you and am looking forward to many many more. You've come a long way Baby!!!

COMING IN OCTOBER...

MARIO & GINA CORSI ARE COMING TO SINGAPORE... SO EXCITED!!!!

THE RAMLY

As we continue our adventure in Singapore, we also continue our Foody Adventure and thanks to my work buddy Stuart, he introduced me to the mysterious RAMLY BURGER! Now what is a Ramly Burger you ask? Well, here's a wiki description:

The Ramly Burger, also known as the Burger Ramly, is a Malaysian burger created by Ramly Mokninpopular in Malaysia and Singapore. While the amount and type of ingredients vary greatly depending on location, a typical Ramly Burger consists of a beef or chicken patty,margarine, onions, an egg, cabbage, mayonnaise, Worcestershire sauce and Maggi Seasoning. This list is subjective, however, as Ramly Burgers are famous for being highly customizable. Despite its popularity among Singaporeans, the import of Ramly Burger into Singapore is prohibited (a strange fact as frozen Ramly Burger patties are approved for sale there), along with all other Malaysian beef products. However, several stalls have smuggled the burger, albeit illegally, into the country. In particular, Ramly Burger stalls are rampant in pasar malams (Night Markets), which are harder to track due to their itinerant nature.

Another cool fact is that the Ramly is only available for Ramadan and at night, once Ramadan is complete, the burgers disappear. As it says, the Ramly Burger is "Highly Customizable" as was this particular Ramly Burger that Stuart to me to enjoy at the PayaLebar Night Market. Here's a breakdown of this burger:

1) Fry a burger patty (it wasn't beef, it wasn't chicken, probably goat) in butter

2) Split the patty into two thinner pieces, add more spice and butter and grill the insides

3) Grill the bun

4) Crack an egg and form a small, thin crepe with the egg on the grill

5) Place split burger patty in the egg and add more spices and a slice of cheese

6) Add Chili Sauce, BBQ Sauce and Mayo

7) Fold the ends of the crepe around the meat to seal in all the juice, spice and condiments

8) Place Saucy Eggy Burger into bun, serve & enjoy.

So there you have it, the Ramly Burger. Something you don't see everyday in Canada and one of the unique things you don't have to try everyday here in Singapore. But I did try it and liked it but I don't need to eat another one!

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY CORSIWORLD!

Just a quick note that it is September 17th here in Singapore and that means it's our 4th wedding Anniversary, wow, 4 years of awesomeness has just flown by! I look forward to everyday with Michelle and look forward to 40 more anniversaries with her, I love you baby!

Here's a look at us (mainly selfies) here in Singapore! ENJOY!!!

MOONCAKES

It's MOONCAKES time here in Singapore and the town is chock full of them. What is a mooncake you ask? Well, here's a little background on them...

Mooncakes are Chinese pastries traditionally eaten during the Mid-Autumn Festival. The festival is for lunar worship and moon watching; moon cakes are regarded as an indispensable delicacy on this occasion. Mooncakes are offered between friends or on family gatherings while celebrating the festival, one of the three most important Chinese festivals. Typical mooncakes are round or rectangular pastries, measuring about 10 cm in diameter and 4-5 cm thick. A thick filling usually made from lotus seed paste is surrounded by a relatively thin (2-3 mm) crust and may contain yolks from salted duck eggs. Mooncakes are rich, heavy, and dense compared with most Western cakes and pastries. They are usually eaten in small wedges accompanied by Chinese tea.

Most mooncakes consist of a thin tender skin enveloping a sweet, dense filling. The mooncake may contain one or more whole salted egg yolks in its center to symbolize the full moon. Very rarely, mooncakes are also served steamed or fried. Traditional mooncakes have an imprint on top consisting of the Chinese characters for "longevity" or "harmony" as well as the name of the bakery and the filling in the moon cake. Imprints of the moon, the Chang'e woman on the moon, flowers, vines, or a rabbit (symbol of the moon) may surround the characters for additional decoration. Mooncakes are considered a delicacy; production is labor-intensive and few people make them at home. Most mooncakes are bought at Asian markets and bakeries. The price of mooncakes usually ranges from $10 to $50 (in US dollars) for a box of four although cheaper and more expensive mooncakes can also be found.

So most of the big hotels here carry Mooncakes and each of them offers a different variety of them. I went to the legendary Raffles Hotel to see their mooncakes and settled on a more modern "Champagne & Truffle Ganache Mooncake". I quite enjoyed it but Michelle was not a big fan. Anyways, it's cool to see the entire city getting into this Festival but I don't know how many of these things we will actually get, at least we tried them though.

Here's a look at 12 Moonkcakes you don't want to miss in 2009!