Promising New Hobby.

I just came back from my first tennis lesson. Let's just say I'm no Maria Sharapova and I'm happy just being able to hit the ball, where it flies, well that's another thing altogether. My arm is aching already and I can't type properly. But I had fun! This new hobby is promising plus it's healthy and cheap too! Hey Hey! I might be onto something!

Samoa Part II

Sorry for the erm.. extended dinner break!

Samoa is made up of several islands and in order to get to the different islands, we had to take the ferry. It took us about an hour and a half to get from Upolo to Savaii. I almost passed out on the ferry trip. I wasn't used to the heat plus the ferry cabin soon turned into a floating furnace. I wasn't sure if I would die first from the heat or from suffocation. Stephen had to half drag me to one of the tiny windows.

In Savaii, we stayed in a beach fale. It's basically a raised platform with no walls, just thatched blinds surrounding the living quarters. It's right smack on the beach so you get fantastic views during the day but the nights were tramautising. There were roaches, and lizards and moths, and WORMS (god knows from where) and the only thing between us and them was a very flimsy mosquito net. Brrrr...! Let's just say it was an experience! :)

This is the beach that our fale was on. The beach is absolutely gorgeous and the waters are crystal clear. We had the whole beach to ourselves so we could frolick all we want!

Stephen doing his model pose...

I think I need another holiday already. Next trip, diving! YAY!

Let Sleeping Dogs Lie...

... yeah right! I love teasing the Coopster when he's asleep.

Here's Cooper happily snoozing away, probably dreaming of a land full of doggie snacks and bones and where everyone will take time out to rub him behind his ears.

I just can't help teasing him while he's snoring away...

It's hilarious to watch. I can tweak on his ear, cover his nose, pull on his tail, roll him over and he'll try his best to keep his eyes close and ignore me and pretend that I'm not there. I guess in his teeny doggie brain, he figures that if he keeps his eyes shut and wish hard enough, I'll give up and leave him be.

HA! Fat chance! It's way too entertaining!

Samoa - Pictures (Finally!)

Yes. I've finally gotten around to downloading the photos off my trusty Canon from our Samoa trip. Apart from the drama sage with our stolen credit card, the trip has been wonderful - amazing beaches, (mostly) friendly people and a much-needed break from the crappy Auckland weather.

It was a sweltering 30 degrees and very humid. Actually I think the weather in Samoa is very similar to weather in Singapore but we are so acclimatised to the temperatures in Auckland, we could barely cope with the heat in Samoa. I showered on an average of 2-3 times a day. (Die la! How to go back to Singapore like that?!)

This is us at the beach resort at Upolu.

And more...

(Breaking for dinner. Be right back! Stay tuned!)

Post-Samoa Drama.

As you all know, we took a much-needed vacation to Samoa last week. We really enjoyed ourselves although we didn't take as many photographs as we had liked to. I'll post them up soon. Anyway I'm digressing. How my trip went isn't the subject of this particular blog entry but rather the post-trip drama.

I brought my NZ credit card to Samoa, just in case we run out of cash. The card was placed in a card holder and then put into a messenger bag that S was carrying around most of the time. We only let that bag out of our sight for only a handful of times during the trip. One of times was when we were staying at the fales in Savaii. We left the bag in our fale to have our meals in the restaurant which was aabout 10 metres away.

Some thief actually went through our bag and stole our credit card! ARGH! He then proceeded to go on a shopping spree in Samoa using my credit card! SUCH A BLOODY, THIEVING NO-GOOD BUSTARD!!!

Good thing I have a really low credit limit on this NZ credit card so he didn't get to spend THAT much but still! I've been making an effort to spend less and save more and this lousy excuse of a person is going around buying the whole of Samoa at my expense. It infuriates me! They should reinstate ancient laws whereby the courts chop off the hands of people who are guilty for stealing. I'm all for it!

The card has been cancelled and we're currently disputing these fradulant credit card claims. The maddening thing about the whole episode is that the name on my card is obviously CHINESE and person who has gotten hold of it is definitely NOT Chinese so I have no idea how could the retailers have not know, name - no match, signature - no match but still they let the transactions through.

SIGH.