Christmas with the WGP

It's that time of year again and this holiday, we got a REAL, LIVE Christmas tree!!!! Mur and I hiked up to the power lines behind the warehouse and searched out the lucky tree that would become the one and only WGP xmas trees. Actually, Mur was having so much fun that he started calling up all our friends, asking if they needed him to cut down a tree for them. We all joined in the decorating of the tree: Kevin brought some sweet ornaments from Hong Kong. Plastic pieces of meat like a chicken thigh, bacon and shrimp - they would make your mouth water if you saw them!

The saturday before Xmas, we hosted a yet another pot luck dinner party where everyone pulled out their "Sunday best": note Crystal and Jay's Christmas sweaters in the picture. As always, C & J were late and we took to making $2 bets on what time they would arrive. $1 went to the winner and the other $1 went to charity.

Mur and I ended up going to the city to see my family for Christmas which was a day filled with eating, presents, eating, toboganning, eating and then more eating! Once again, another Christmas filled with good times!

Night Biking in December

Okay, okay, so it might be minus 20 outside and there's no snow but that doesn't maen there we're not having good times. So because there's been no snow, we decided to pull out our bikes for one last ride and go for a night bike to Cheakamus Lake Believe it or not, it wasn't too hard to find other people crazy enough as me to drag out of their cozy houses and pedal in the freezing cold and dark.

Along our travels, there was actually more snow than we predicted and we ended up pushing our bikes through the snow. Most of the trail was still rideable (but you also have to factor in the thick fog and the huge mud puddles). BUT a good time was had by all and there were huge grins on our faces by the end.

Tis The Season of Dinner Parties

'Tis the Season of Dinner Parties

It's that time of year again! I think that this blog should count as about ten since we've been hosting/attending so many dinner parties and we've been having so much fun at them that we forget to take pics. Here's a pic from a recent party. Kerry and Pete brought their new dog, "Ty" and Jay's brother, Dave, and his girlfriend were in town at the time too. We had a yummy potluck dinner and then played a card game called "Werewolf". When you get back, if you're lucky, we'll teach it to you.

Good Times in Florida

So Mur and I went to visit his parents who just bought a poshe condo on a key in Florida. Sun and sand...so good. Obviously, I don't really have to say anything else because you know partying with the Hunt family is always a good time, but I will continue. Lots of good food and drinking everyday. Each day we'd cruise over in the convertible mustang to go check out the white sand beach and clear blue skies on the beach. At point we would end up swimming in the hot tub/pool, going for bike rides around the local masions and apres. Mur parents rented us a pontoon bloat where we drove down the intercoastal and we saw dolphins! That's the first time I ever seen then in the wild. And the sunsets were unreal. All the birds would come out at sunset and dive bomb the water - super cool to watch. So, as I saw this, I thought of you and "cheersed" us for all the good times we've been having. Well, that would sum up our "super, busy, stressful, non-fun" week in Florida.

Too much good times for one blog post

Good-timers. I have been having so much good times that I have not been able to update this blog. It is criminal to cram my last week of fun into this one blog post, but I will make an attempt:

1. Partying in Kathmandu. The Thamel area of this town is built for tourists: good hotels, restaurants, bars. This is where all the backpackers go to hang out and socialize. I did this for several days. It was hard to leave.

2. Mountain-biking in Nepal. Awesome. Just a 3-hour climb from Kathmandu yields a 710m descent through a national park. More info: Along the way, I got lost, and had to bike through the National Park for a couple hours in the dark :) For normal people, this is a problem. But, thanks to my time in Whistler, I have lots of night-riding experience (both sober and otherwise). I cruised out of the forest in the darkness without any problems except coming across to pairs of eyes in the darkness (belonging to large, unidentified animals) that scared the shit out of me before running into the bush.




My ride. A mere 3 inches of travel on the front. No rear suspension. No disc brakes. No clips. It weighed 800 pounds. (what's this?? After one summer of biking in Whistler, and now I'm a bike snob?? haha). But, renting it was some of the best money I spent on my trip so far :)

3. Elephant-back safari through the jungle in search of one-horned rhinos and the elusive Bengal Tiger (an animal deserving of capitalization). Man, what a way to travel. As we lumbered around we spotted some rhinos, but no tigers (not surprising)







An elephant carries people through a river. Watch out for the crocs!

4. Swimming with the elephants. What fun to play around with these animals in the water! They have a built in water-gun: they can shoot water with there trunks. If you want to play and feel like you are 8 again, this is it








On second I'm on the elephant, next time i'm off

5. Full-day walk through the jungle. Here we saw all sorts of wildlife. Walking through the tall grass is creepy because you have no idea what is 5 feet away. We stumbled across a rhino. Let me tell you, it is a lot more exciting to see these animals on the same level (as opposed to the safety of an elephants back). It fake-charged us. We jumped, took our warning, and left. Also, we saw a croc and tried to sneak up on it to get a closer look. All the while I'm thinking this is not a good idea. Luckily, I think, it heard us coming and took off into the river with a splash!








Mr. Rhino, sir, we were just leaving...

6. Witnessing the 2008 World Elephant Polo Championships. I'm serious. I have the t-shirt to prove it. Here is a quick video of a goal








Can you spot the ball amongst all that elephant

7. Riding the roof of a bus in Nepal. What freedom. Reminds me of the first time I rode a motorcycle down the highway after being in the protective bubble of a car years. A quick video

8. Seeing the Taj Mahal with my own eyes. Beautiful. And I rarely use that word for anything built by man, reserving it for the great natural beauty of the planet. But, it is appropriate here. I went just today and I don't have pics with me, but just trust me on this one

Quick administrative note:

I admit that I am having difficulty keep this blog up-to-date. As it turns out, having a good time is pretty much my whole life, if you see what I mean (and has been for a long time now). I have no reason to do anything else. In a way, it is my full-time job. But its even more than that. It's all I do. It's the goal of my existence right now. [I joke a lot on this blog, but this time I am actually serious here :) ] Thus, it is difficult to update this blog with all the good times I am having, largely because there is so much of it, and because I'm always out having a good time (oohh, the irony). So, keeping track of my good times is an overwhelming task. However, you will have my finest effort :)

You kids keep your elbows high going into the corner. Cheers from the Taj Mahal
-Shawn

Trekking in the Himalayas

Good timers. I am in Nepal. I just came down from a 16-day trek in the Himalayas. Unbelievable. The trek I did is the Annapurna Circuit. It's starts at 760m and climbs over Thorung La Pass at 5416m. Distance was 300km. I don't think I need to say any more, so I will let my unworthy pics do the talking:

For my mountain biking friends. This must be the world's greatest rock ride. 1700m of glory







The views near the village of Marpha






A lone porter with a heavy load trekking to the village of Jomsom






Terraced rice fields at the beginning the trek, near Bahundanda








Prayer wheels and prayer flags. Village of Ngrawal






How I am expected to choose a few pics from the dozens that I have is beyond me, but these are the chosen ones for now.

later skaters

Diwali in India

[I typed up this post about 3 weeks ago, but I realized I never published it! whoops. Doing so now...]

For Hindus, Diwali (The Festival of lights) is the biggest and most important festival of the year. I got to spend it India. As is the norm, we spent the night lighting off fireworks. Since there are no regulations in India, you can light off whatever you want. I'm pretty sure a lot of this stuff wouldn't fly in North America. Anyway, here is a taste:

The Atomic Bombs:

The first time we lit one of these off the force of the blast knocked over my camera. The second time our friend lit of a bunch in a row. I don't know how he is not deaf.

Here are 5,000 (!) crackers tied together.

In this video you can see that I'm retreating. I'm actually running for cover but still trying to keep the video rolling (the risks I take for my cinematography...)

Awesome.

Anyway, tomorrow I go to the great Himalayas, home of the world's greatest mountains. I'm doing a 3 week trek. Talk to you later...

Keep it real in Kerala

Good timers. Short story for you. I was in Kerala (India's God country) and hired a boat for an overnight tour into the state's famous backwaters. Back there people live on tiny strips of land on the water. There are no cars because there are no roads. Their highways are made of H20. My boat had a chef that made phenomenal South Indian meals while we toured around the backwaters (sort of like the backcountry) checking out the scene and stayed overnight. Here are few pics for your amusement:

Backwaters from the bow

My ride

Public transportation, backwater-style

Me punting. Check out the split-fingered grip of the lower hand. That is an advanced technique

Authentic South Indian meal

After a few more days in India, I will go to Nepal and the Himalayas, the greatest mountain range on the planet.

It's good to be King

Hello, my friends, from the beautiful beaches of Goa, India. Just wanted to make a quick post about the good times in Goa. I generally spend my days on the beach under the hot Goan sun. Yesterday I rented a motorcycle and toured the Indian country-side, cruising from village to village, past kids playing barefoot, on small roads I shared with cows. The biggest stress in my life is trying to decide where to explore next. I work on this in the warm, balmy evenings as I drink chai and watch the sun set on the Arabian Sea.


Now that's a good time.


Anyway, in India I have come to really enjoy Kingfisher beer. It is downright tasty. Glancing at the bottle I happened to notice the slogan for the beer. And what did it read? "The King of Good Times". No, shit! I couldn't believe my eyes. Could it have been more appropriate for me to be drinking this beer?? I think not.


Check you kids later
-Shawn "The King of Good Times" Martelock


My ride. 150ccs. In India this is badass

The Goan coastline




You know I am





Kingfisher, Arabian Sea, and I





PS: This Kingfisher beer definitely has my favourite slogan. A close second is that of Kilimanjaro Beer (a favourite of mine in Tanzania): "As refreshing as the people who drink it"

Ompah

Kim, Gambier looks like good fun. Wish I was there. But, I will see your cabin good times with some of my own.

My folks have this cottage in Ompah, Ontario, at the end of Martelock Road. Truth be told, my grandparents moved up there a years ago, so it is now their home. This is quite likely my favourite place on earth. This is where I learned to catch fish, clean fish, sail (Hobie Cats!), waterski (recreationally), kneeboard, ice fish, and drive all kinds of toys like snowmobiles, boast, and jetskis. Murray and our friends have had a big (30+ people) parties here.

Anyway, I got to spend 4 days here last week. A blast, as always. I waterskied, fished (caught dinner... the big bass is 2.25 pounds, not bad), ate my grandmothers cooking (When dinner is ready, my grandmother actually has a supper bell that she rings, and we come running up from the water), generally took it easy.

Good times. Bam :)

Good Times at Gambier Island

Shawny, I'm really sorry that you missed out on this weekend, because lots of good times were had!

With a crew of 10, we took a water taxi to my cabin at Gambier Island and caught up on some much needed chillaxing. We brought up tonnes of booze and good food, but as you can see, we also tried to supplement this by catching out own fish and crabs. Unfortunately, none were big enough to eat so we relied on our own culinary skills. Our days were spent soaking up the sun, partaking in bocce ball tournaments, fishing, playing monopoly by candlelight, picking fresh fruit from the orchards and eating more food than our stomachs could handle. GOOD TIMES!