The next morning we found ourselves docked at the island of St. Maartin (also spelled as Saint Martin).
This is all the people looking over at the island:
We took a 2 and a half hour scenic tour. Unfortunately, the bus had tinted windows so I couldn’t really take photos during the tour. Our guide took us through the entire island pointing out how on the island there was two of everything. This is because there were two sides of the island, a French and a Dutch. Luckily, there were some scenic tour stops.
As my previous post mentioned, I went to my uncle’s cottage last weekend. It was 3-4 hours up north, and a boat ride across the lake. I was surrounded by nature and 3G was sparse.
I previously wrote a post, Could You Give Up the Internet for $50 million? where I admitted that I could not give it up. However this weekend unplugged for a day I learned that I was able to (at least for a day). I also realized that there were benefits to it. It was stress-relieving. I didn’t need to constantly check my e-mail, think of what to tweet or give a damn about what my friends were posting on Facebook. I didn’t even have the urge to instagram photos of our BBQ’d food.
Instead I taught Teddy how to swim, went hiking and took some breath taking photos of my surroundings. The only time I did use my 3G was to download Sky Map, an app that names all the constellations in the night sky.
Though I will probably not quit social media or the internet, sometimes I wonder how much of the real world we’re missing as we sit in front of blinking screens.
I found Fusia Dog one day when I was wandering downtown. We decided to try it. Located in the Entertainment district, this mini joint puts an asian fusion twist on the hot dog.
I ordered the Fusia Dog which had kimchi, daikon carrot salad and coriander wrapped in a paratha. For a hot dog, it was very light and refreshing. There was a wasabi mayo that had quite the kick. For some reason I thought the hot dogs would be over $10, but it was only $6.95. I finished it in less than 5 minutes.
Nash ordered the Boston Dog. It had more American toppings with baked beans, cheese, crispy bacon and fried onions. I stole a bite and it was delicious and surprisingly not too heavy.
It was another concert night and since we finished our hot dogs way too fast, we decided to hit up another local coffee joint. We ended up at Manic Coffee at College and Bathurst. I ordered a mocha.
It’s amazing, how many coffee joints there are in Toronto that aren’t chains. I think I’m going to make an effort to support more little places. Not only are they cheaper than Starbucks, but can be more delicious too!
Tiana Feng 