a change in the weather

winter is here. our indian summer of low 30's temperatures and sunshine has come to an end. i have to say although i love hot weather, i find myself welcoming this change. p'raps it's a yearning for change or maybe after spending most of my years in the northern hemisphere, it's something more in built. i've been thinking a lot lately about snuggling under the covers, wearing warm sweaters and eating hearty soups. i guess you can take the canadian out of canada, but you can't take the canada out of the canadian.

christmas is coming. i know it may be a bit early to start talking about it yet but what can i say, i love it. trying to get some plans together for the folks here in taiwan. last year, we bought pre-cooked turkey's and booked out the basement @ the pig and whistle for the afternoon. it was fun but a lot of work collecting money and other things.

this year, the plan is to go to a christmas buffet @ one of the 5-star hotels here in taipei. no fuss, no muss. afterwards, have people around to ours for drinks and snacks. hopefully we can get some reservations.

also have a tenative plan for CNY. was talking with some friends on the weekend and in the interest of keeping things cheap, have decided to look into a holiday to laos. pricing out the flight as i write, but it's looking like it will be the way to go. laos is one of those asian countries you hear about that is super cheap. $3 american for a hotel, $10 for an entire days' worth of food plus the lovely weather of a southeast asian country...sign me up. literally, if you give them a $100 american they will give you a suitcase of money in return. the downside? it's rough going. to travel something like 150 km can take up to 12 hours to travel. they have little in the way of public transport, and little to no english. the roads are mostly dirt, and out of commission but man, still sound like an adventure to me.