Belgium Malionis… You are NOT the father!

When we adopted our second dog, Eleanor, we thought she was a Belgium Malionis.  But, this was based on nothing more then Busan Abandoned Pet Sanctuary’s (BAPS) best guess.  To be 100% honest, I had never even heard of a Malionis before they told us that it was what they thought she was.  BAPS rescues dogs from a city kill pound, and the pound get zero information on the dogs they take in.  So on their guess I started doing research on Malionis’s to see if she would be a good fit for our family.

Eleanor as a puppy at BAPS

 

What I learned about the breed impressed me a lot, and Eleanor seemed to fit all the listed characteristics, super smart with endless energy.  So for the first few months we had her I was sure she was a Malionis, until we noticed that her black mask that Malionis’s are famous for started to fade.

Miso and Elea

Then we started playing the guessing game, if not a Malionis, then what?  She was so driven during all types of training I was still sure she was a Shepard of some kind.  But the fact that we live in Korea meant that the native breed of Jindo kept getting suggested as well (although I was sure she wasn’t).  After a while, curiosity got the best of us and we ordered a DNA kit to find out once and for all.  We also ordered a test for Miso, our first dog, who we thought was some kind of Chihuahua mix.

The results are in, and Belgium Malionis… you are not the father.

I knew it wasn’t mine!

So who is???  Eleanor is a German Shepard mixed with a Akita/Malamute.  We where not very surprised, in fact Shepard/Akita was one of my guesses.  I only reason I was unsure before the test was because they are both large dogs and Eleanor is more medium sized.  But, the DNA test predicts that Eleanor will be 48-75 pounds and as of right now she is only 38 pounds.  Maybe she still has some growing to do, she is just over old 1 year old, but she hasn’t grown that much in the 7 months we’ve had her so I guess we will wait and see.

This was all very interesting to Sam and I, but most people probably could care less. So lets move on to Miso’s DNA results, because they where both surprising and entertaining.

Our pre-test guesses included Chihuahua/Beagle and Chihuahua/Min Pin, but the only thing we where sure about was that she was part Chihuahua. Well it turns out our little 7kg Chihuahua Mix has almost no Chihuahua in her at all!  She is a Jindo-Shih tzu-American Cocker Spaniel mix.  Odd combo right?  Well it gets better.

I woke up for this?

The DNA test shows the whole family tree up to the great grand parents.  Miso’s grandparents on one side where a Jindo and a Shih Tzu, and every time I think about how that happened I laugh out loud.  If you are unfamiliar with Jindo’s, do a quick google search and you will see why this is so funny.  The other side of the family was a purebred American Cocker Spaniel and a dog so mixed the DNA test couldn’t tell what it was.  I guess she proves that opposites attract.

Jindo 45-55 cm 15-23 kg

Shih tzu 20-28 cm 4-7 kg

If anyone wants to know more about Busan Abandoned Pet Sanctuary you can click on the link to visit their website.  They are doing truly great work helping the unlucky dogs of South Korea and could always use some help in the from a donation or if you happen to be in the Busan area you could volunteer on Sundays.

As for the test, we used Wisdom Panel 2.5 and are very happy with the service.  The main reason we used them was because, from the little research we did, they seemed to have the largest dog DNA database.  It was also completed very fast and I would recommend them to anyone looking for a DNA test.

Well, see you later…

 

Pete and Sam’s excellent S.E. Asia adventures!

my year of noodles

Pete and I spent most of 2013 traveling around Asia.  I didn’t get a chance to tell many people about all of our adventures because we were only back in Canada for a short time.  So I have decided to make a break down on what we did, where we went and how much we spent to give some people an idea. So here it goes!

Our main goal behind coming to Korea was to travel. Having already seen a lot of Europe while living in France, we moved on to the next continent, Asia.  Pete and I took every Chance we had while working in Korea to travel, but seeing as though our time off was extremely limited we started planning a large backpacking trip for the end of our contacts. My obsessive nature to plan consumed all of my breaks between classes and drove me to do more…

View original post 1,409 more words

True North, strong and unemployed

Couldn’t have said it better myself.

my year of noodles

So we have been back in Canada for about two months now, and I have to say…. it’s not all it’s cracked up to be.  Having lived abroad for the past 2 and a half years, Pete and I really got to experience all these amazing and wonderful cultures around the world. And when people asked us “where are you from?” with such pride we would respond “Canada!” and know it was the best country in the world.  We would tell people about how clean and wonderful and amazing Canada was, and we believed it… until we came back.

Being born and raised in Canada we grew to love and respect our home country.  But as we grew older and more world traveled we came to realize that the Country we loved doesn’t quite love us back.  It is like a bad relationship where you keep telling yourself “it’ll get…

View original post 475 more words

The strangest hoilday I’ve ever expienced: Nyepi

Nyepi is the Balinese new years day, and is a “day of silence” to allow one to self reflect. That does sound to strange, doesn’t it? That’s what I thought when I first read about it. I thought it would be very similar to Tet (lunar new year) in Vietnam, were all the locals stay home and most of the stores and restaurants are closed but tourist are free to go about their business. I had no idea how serious the Balinese took their holiday.

The holiday starts on the New Years Eve of the Balinese calendar, this year it was the beginning of March. People parade around huge statutes of demons called ogoh-ogohs.  The parades stop at all the major intersection where rituals are preformed to scare away all the evil spirits. They stop at the intersections because that is where they believe evil spirits like to hang out. The rituals consist of a large group of people dancing and making as much noise as possible. After all the rituals are finished its lights out for everyone, and they mean everyone.

On the actual day of Nyepi you are not allowed to do anything at all. No working, no traveling, no TV, no Internet, nothing.  Some Balinese don’t even eat or talk. Besides self reflection, the complete silence is thought to confuse any demons that hadn’t already left the island from the rituals the night before. The Balinese believe that the complete silence tricks the demons into thinking everyone has left the island of Bali and therefore leave themselves.  By having all the demons desert the island, this ensures the people of Bali will have a prosperous upcoming year.

Everyone on the island of Bali must abide by the rules of Nyepi in order to unsure the demons leave. This means that even the thousands of tourists on Bali must have a day of silence.  Sam and I had flown in two days before New Years Eve not knowing the seriousness of this holiday, although it would explain the ridiculously cheap airplane tickets we got.  We relaxed on the beach for a day and then thought we’d rent a scooter during Nyepi to make  No one is allowed to leave the hotel, the cable is shut off, the windows are blacked out and they knock on your door if you have too many lights on.  The only people you see walking about are the Nyepi police who ensure no one is on the streets. It felt like we were in prison, a prison that we had to pay for.

All in all it was day wasted for us, so double check your dates if you are thinking of visiting Bali in march. Well, see you later.

Swimming with sea turtles

So this may not seem like a big deal to you, but we’ve been trying to find turtles since the first day of this trip over 3 months ago.  In fact, the main reason for our trip to Ko Tao was to find some. We were under the impression that since Ko Tao means “trutle island”  that the waters around it would be filled with turtles.  It turns out that the island got its name because it looks like a turtle, not because they live there.

We meet a couple in Boracay that told us that they saw a bunch of turtles during their trip to the Gili islands a few years before. The Gili islands are a group of 3 tiny islands between Bali and Lombok. These islands are so small that you can walk around them in about and hour and kayak between all three. Our first few days in Bali were spent in the Kuta area, crammed with more Australians and drunk people (wait…I think those two are the same) than Phuket.  It didn’t take us very long to hop on a boat to these fabled islands to try and find some sea turtles.

When we arrived at Gili Trawangan we were pleased to see their were no motorized vehicles allowed on the island. A few donkey carts were waiting for to pick up the passengers who, for some reason, thought having a rolling suitcase was a good idea when traveling to islands with sand roads.  Sam and I talked t0 a lot of people with a lot of different opinions as to which island was the best to stay on.  So instead of taking their word for it we decided we were going to stay on all of them!

Luckily for us the change in plans as paid off. We’ve seen a few turtles everyday we gone out snorkeling. They are amazing t0 watch, when they swim it looks like they are flying, and the way they chomp on coral makes me very careful that they don’t get to close to my fingers. Also luckily for us the turtles are not shy around people, allowing Sam to take over 400 photos of them (not joking).  Hope you enjoy some the the best pictures…Well, see you later.

Sunrise at Angkor Wat

Yesterday we woke up at 5 am, tossed on our clothes and went for a 10 k bike ride.  Why, you ask? Well, it wasn’t for fitness, it was to catch the sunrise at Angkor Wat, and it was well worth it.

I’m planing on doing a full post about our time in Siem Reap and Angkor, but for now I’ll leave you with a few of the over 200 pictures we took during the sunrise.  Enjoy, and see you later.

Amazing Laos

This post is well over due since its been about 3 weeks since we left Laos.  I went into Laos not really knowing what to expect, really just going to add it to my list of countries.  I left having fallen in love with the county and counting the day until I can return.

We spent almost two weeks, and since we had such little time we only did the northern area of Laos.  We started in Vientane then up to Vang Vieng and ended in Luang Prabang.

Funny story about this Monument below.  It was built with cement that the USA give to Laos in order to build a new airport, causing some to give it the nick name “the vertical runway”.

Vientiane is the current capital of Laos and it made a very good first impression on us.  After  a month in Thailand, and dealing with hawkers always trying to get you to buy something, or rip you off in some way, our guards were fully up.  We soon learned this was not so necessary in Laos, in fact I think we might have offended a few people in the beginning with our untrusting ways.  Not only were the people very friendly and laid back, but the city was much cleaner than Thailand, which was a little surprising considering Laos is much poorer of a county.  Mix that together with what the french gave them during their colonial day (mostly buildings and the technique for baking good bread) and you are left with a very nice place to visit.

The next place we visited was Vang Vieng, which is a small town on a river, famous for inner tubing.  In fact a little to famous for the locals liking.  Last year about 25 people died on the river due to to much beer and bad decisions (mostly  Australian, which is to no surprise to anyone who has traveled in SE Asia).  This led the local powers in charge to close down all the river side bars and to close the larger nightclubs near the river.

This didn’t matter to us at all, the inner tubing down the river was still super fun and relaxing.  We just brought our own beer from the town and kept it cold in the river, saving us thousands of KIP (a few dollars).

We also spent a day Kayaking down the river, which was a lot of fun.  You get to see more of the river by kayaking, but Sam and I both enjoyed the tubing more.  It was just so peaceful, and relaxing.

After a few relaxing day in Vang Vieng, we headed to our last city in Laos, Luang Prabang.  Getting there was the longest 7 hours of my life.  The road we took snaked though the mountains, up and down, side to side.  And although the scenery was beautiful, the bad roads and the motions of the van had everyone feeling green.

Luang Prabang is an ancient capital city of Laos, filled with a very interesting mix of Buddhist temples and French architecture.  The city is so interesting that most of the downtown area is listed as a UNESCO site.

Besides sight seeing in Luang Prabang, we also rented a motorbike one day and took a 30 km drive though the mountains to get to one of the coolest waterfalls I’ve ever seen.

Swimming in the falls was amazing, despite the cold water.  There was also an Asian Black Bear sanctuary within the park which was great to see.  Asian Black Bears are farmed all over Asia (including Korea) for their bile, which is used in Chinese medicine.  These Bears are basically tortured their whole life, and it’s been proven the the bile has no positive health benefits.  In fact it may be dangerous for people to use.  This is an issue that was first bought to my attention while living in Korea, and it was great to see that at least a few bears have been saved from poaching and bile farms and now get to live a happy life.

Anyways, back to the main topic.  After Luang Prabang our time in Laos was over.  We had a great time, I can’t wait to go back someday, and I recommend anyone traveling South East Asia to make a stop in Laos…Well, see you later.

Halong Bay

Halong Bay is one of the most popular places to visit in Vietnam.  Not surprising since it’s so beautiful it’s listed as both a UNESCO world heritage site and one of the new 7 wonders of nature.

Located on the northern coast of Vietnam about 3 hour drive from Hanoi and made up of almost 2000 islands we decided that instead of trying to do it on our own we would book a 3 day cruise.

Package tours are not really our favourite way to travel, (in fact we avoid them at all costs) but even though it was the most expensive  thing we have done so far, it was well worth every penny.  We picked a tour company (Indochina junk) that offered cruises away from the popular day trip destinations (there can over 100 boats on the bay at any time), which was great, we never saw more then 2 other boats and it made it feel as though we had the bay to ourselves.

The cruise itself was more fun than i initially thought it would be.  We got to go kayaking, swimming and we visited a floating village.  One of the days we even ventured to an island owned by Indochina junk where we played soccer in the sand and enjoyed a romantic dinner in a cave. We also met a few really nice people on the boat and our tour guide, Tony, was great.

I’ll stop boring you with my words now, since even if I was a skilled writer I wouldn’t be able to do justice to the beauty of Halong bay, and let you enjoy the pictures…Well, see you later.

Ancient cities of Thailand: Ayutthaya and Sukhothai

So after taking in the beaches in the south and the city life in Bangkok we headed north to take in some history.  Ayutthaya and Sukhothai are ancient city states that helped to build the modern county of Thailand, and are both listed as UNESCO world heritage sites.

We started in Ayuttaya which is just an hour or so north of Bangkok.  The city is on and “island” formed by the crossing of three rivers, and all over the island are huge, old temple ruins.  The size and amount of temples in one area was truly amazing.

Next, it was off to Sukhothai, which was very similar to Ayuttaya.  The main differences being that the ruins in Ayuttaya are bigger, but the modern city has popped up all around the different sites.  Where as in Sukhothai the new city is 10 km down the road, and they have turned the ancient city into a park.

I enjoyed visiting them both, although the history is better preserved in Sukhothai, I liked Ayuttaya better.  Mainly because I thought the temples there where bigger and more detailed…Well, see you later.

Panoramic Photos of Thailand’s beaches

So we just spent our first full day in Bangkok, and I must say it’s not nearly as bad as I thought it would be after seeing “hangover 2”.  That being said I find myself already missing the beautiful beaches of southern Thailand.  So though I would do a quick post to show a few of the pics I took over the last 2 weeks.

“The Beach” – Koh Phi Phi Leh

Koh Phi Phi Don at sunset

Long beach- Koh Phi Phi Don

Koh NangYaun

And this is Bangkok, taken early today.  I still like this photo but doesn’t have me wanting to jump on a plane to go there like the others do…Well, see you later.