Part Tres (3) of this engagement series will likely be outlining our wedding plans. What are they? No idea yet. Vastttttly complicated is the US immigration system. We first need to settle Viv’s status situation before making any party arrangements. Though most likely, no ceremony, just a simple “legal” marriage in the US, b/c well, it HAS to be in the US. Parties (receptions, but I don’t like cheesy formalities, so I prefer parties), will likely be held in Vancouver, Hong Kong, and Beijing. Plan subject to change, and I’ll update as soon as I know! 
Now, on to the story of Cancun Mexico…
We arrived after 2 smooth flights, and non existent delays. That was some smooth flying I gotta say. Northwest Airlines delivered! Walking out of Cancun airport, there are piles of people offering to taxi you. I had prearranged transport, so we were shuttled directly to our resort.
Damn.. this was one sweet resort. Nicest hotel I’ve ever seen, short of the Wynn Hotel in Macau (where you really felt like royalty, but they were gonna make a crap load off of you through your gambling losses, so I guess that’s justified). The beach was just ‘ok’ though. The beach in the Cancun hotel zone, or further south in Riviera Maya were much nicer. But the pool (4 of them) were gigantic. I mean the pools surrounded all the buildings, and you literally can’t see pool 4 from pool 2, pool 3 from pool 1 etc
First pic here is the view out outside our window.
Room: The room was 800+ sf.. this wasn’t some exec suite. it was the normal room. They had bigger ones. 
It had massive balcony with a bed on it to lounge on. Who would use that? with pools just below, u’d lounge by the pool! there were also beds all around the pools to lounge in, not just chairs..
It had a hot tub built in to the room… with a nice view too..
Full marble bathroom, dual sink, separate toilet room, separate dual showers (yup two showers side by side. one is natural water from above, one was a moveable shower head.
the room was unusually large. we didn’t use half of it, just spread our crap all over it..
Food: There were 8 restaurants in the resort. Mexican, Mediterranean, French, Asian, Italian, a Lobster house, a Steak house, and a Spanish Tapas place.
Our favorite was… Sea Bass. Didn’t matter which restaurant. Their sea bass was just down right ass kicking. Served in French sauce, italian sauce, didn’t matter.. holy smokes.. we ate so much sea bass. 
Lobster – ahm.. it’s ok.. not the 5 lb lobsters we had in Bali. They were smallers.. maybe 1 lb or so each? just ok.. after 3 lobsters u get sick of it. Afterall, it’s not that it’s so GREAT tasting.. it’s just some what rare.
Drink: 11 bars in total. Drinking starts at breakfast if you wanted. For us, it was usually at lunch. Tough life, getting off the foam floaties so you can order a drink at the swim up bar… and then having to get back ON the foam floatie… They had daily special concoctions, which all seemed to taste pretty good.
Days inside the resort: Laze around. Eat. Drink umbrella drinks. Eat. Float on the pool on some foamie things. Drink. Eat. That pretty much sums up the ‘lazing around’ days. We had 2 of those days. Viv had a third, while I went diving
Outside the resort (3 days):
Chichen Itza – Good friends of mine (Nels/Joy) went here a while back… told me about how interesting it was, and how much I’m missing out on a world wonder. Finally!! It was hot though. 80-90% humidity. My cameras were constantly damp! I don’t think I saw anyone who was dry actually. The site itself was quite well maintained. I enjoyed the guide, he was a funny dude! One thing I would’ve liked was more time at the site. I didn’t wanna rent a car, but all the tours were too short. Ah well, no much you can do.
Tulum – 3 hour bus ride. Ouch. But well worth it. We skipped the tour on this one b/c I didn’t want to be herded anymore. Fascinating ruins, surrounded by palm trees, and lined by a gorgeous coastline, turquoise water and fine white sandy beaches. Viv went in to catch some waves. I didn’t want my camera stolen, so I didn’t bother to go in. Probably not a bad idea, seeing I don’t like salt water too much, and there were enough large waves to wash away children..
Diving Cozumel - Diving in Cancun woulda been half the price. save 3 hours of transport time. Was it then worth it to go dive in Cozumel? HELL YAH. I never dove in Cancun, but talked to lots of people who dove both places, and they said it’s not even in the same league. Don’t bother with Cancun, b/c you’ll be disappointed. Good thing I didn’t I guess. Cozumel, the second largest reef system in the world, certainly lived up to its reputation. The coral formations were magnificently well preserved. Saw several turtles, rays, even a lobster. Too bad, no sharks.. 
It reminded me of my first dives in the Great Barrier Reef, aboard the live-aboard ship, with my friends Nelson and Albert. I think it’s far nicer than the dives in Jamaica, Maldives, Bali, etc. Probably only surpassed by the Red Sea in Dahab, Egypt., where it was like National Geographics live. Pictures were taken with a underwater camera, and not yet developed.
Shopping – Did none. what??!?! did NONE with Vivian? yup. too hot. too boring… I can walk to a mall from work, why shop in there. Viv bought tiny souvenirs from the gift shop, good enough.
Spa – we were gonna do a session. But, back in Seattle, we know a massage therapist couple who gives us pretty steeply discounted massages, and right inside our home too! So we figure we’d skip this.
Interesting Fact: Almost managed to get 3 more days in Cancun. In fact I found out I can use my starwood points for Le Meridien Cancun, and Westin Cancun! Class 3 and 4 respectively.
Vivian lost her I-20 form the night before we were to come home. Without it, she can’t enter the US. She would need it replaced, fedex’d to Mexico, and rearrange another flight, probably on Wednesday. We left the paper in the computer room while we were checking in our flight. One of the bar tenders found it, or some guests found it and gave it to the bar tender. After much panic from Viv, they found it. Great! or not so great, b/c we would’ve otherwise stayed for 3 more days, though at a great cost, since we’d have to get new flights.
Oh we did get a tour of their garbage treatment facility. Viv suggested that we go through about 80,000 lbs of garbage bags one by one ( in an attempt to find the paper). Ahm, I said no, and 10 mins later they found the paper.. Good thing huh The room that held the garbage was also gigantic though.. The building looked large enough to be a city’s waste treatment plant.
That’s it for Mexico!
We walked around Stanley Park, down town Vancouver, ate some sweet Japanese food, and went back out to catch a gorgeous sunset.
