the stories that I'm telling.

Author: Heather

  • Birthday Cake!

    Birthday Cake!

    For the past week, we’ve been in the Philippines, where our internet access has been woefully limited. That said, it’s well worth the isolation, because we’re actually in paradise right now. Google “El Nido, Palawan” and then start planning your own trip. It’s outrageously beautiful here. So, we’ll have many, many photos to share once we’re back in a city, but for now a quick post about my birthday cake.

    Those of you who really truly love me know that my birthday was last Saturday, August 2nd. This year on my birthday, I received something truly unique – a birthday cake, a continent away!

    My bff Rebecca writes an awesome food blog over at itsanourishingthing.com and for my birthday she baked me a cake and blogged about it! And not just any cake, but a carrot cake cheesecake. When she asked what my favourite type of cake was, I couldn’t decide whether I preferred carrot cake or mascarpone cheesecake, so she found a way to combine the two. Check out the photos below, and check out her blog as well. It’s a one stop shop for tasty yet healthy recipes that will have you rushing for the kitchen.

     

  • Vaccinations in Bangkok

    Vaccinations in Bangkok

    Anyone who’s ever gone through the travel vaccine process in North America knows that it costs a fortune, and that some vaccines are more pertinent than others. So, when it came for me to get all vaccinated up, I opted to press pause. Knowing I’d be starting my travel adventures in Bangkok, we did some research, and decided to get most vaccines done at a hospital there instead, and that’s we did just that this week. Before leaving Toronto, I opted only to get my Hepatitis A shot

    An awesome blog post that we found led us to get our vaccines at the Queen Saovabha Memorial Institute in central Bangkok. It was only a 20 minute walk from our hotel near the Chong Nonsi BTS. Bonus: the hospital also had a snake farm! Not only did we get vaccinated – we also saw some pretty crazy snakes.

    The whole vaccination process took about an hour, and cost $60 for the two of us. Total cost included:

    – 1 Typhoid Vaccine (would’ve cost roughly $50 in Toronto)

    – 2 Japanese Encephalitis Vaccines (would’ve cost roughly $800 in Toronto)

    – 2 Rabies Vaccines (would’ve cost roughly $360 in Toronto)

    Kevin and I both agreed that the nurses who did the injections were the best injectors we’ve ever encountered. So from my experience, vaccines in Bangkok mean less cost and less pain.

    The Queen Saovabha Memorial Institute, in addition to being an old and beautiful building, also does venom research, which is why they have a super cool snake farm in the hospital courtyard. Who knew hospital visits could be so fun?

     

    At the back of the farm there were two cages filled with white bunnies for the snakes to feed on. A weird moment of “wow, nature is so cute/gross.”