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about us & our blog:

Malia & Jess are coming home! Our five month adventure has taken us through Hong Kong, Thailand, Singapore, Bali, Australia, New Zealand, and Fiji. You can view our most recent blog posts here on the home page or view posts by city/location, author, posts with videos, etc. by using the categories listed at right. Feel free to check out our itinerary and our latest pictures by following the links as well. Thanks for coming along for the ride!

i’m sick!

January 21st, 2008


i’m sick!, originally uploaded by maliayosh.

health care in the U.S. is sooo expensive… it’s amazing how much you can get for so little here in thailand!

a couple of days ago i started getting sick – runny nose, cough, etc. and aung has been sick since we arrived last week. she finally gave in on sunday and went to the doctor downstairs – they’re pretty much all over the place here, either a doctor or a pharmacy, and you never need an appointment, just walk right in. she got an injection and some medications and she’s been feeling a lot better but the doctor told her to rest, drink water, etc.

yesterday i felt horrible! i took some medicine aung had over night and it made me sleepy, which was good. i ended up sleeping most of the day (about 19 hours total!) and got up around 5pm with the girls to go walk down to the mall to run some errands. i kept feeling really hot and cold, and by the time we got back near the apartment i decided it was time for me to go to the doctor too.
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Posted in bangkok (thailand), malia | 7 Comments »

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mourning the loss of a princess

January 20th, 2008

here in thailand one thing that is very dear to peoples’ hearts is the king and the royal family. you do not make jokes about the king, and it is even illegal to step on money (although i doubt it’s much enforced) because all currency bears pictures of the king. you see pictures of him everywhere – every store, every home, even in cabs, etc. they all really love him! here’s a picture of the king so you can see what we’re seeing all over the place!

the king’s elder sister, princess Galyani Vadhana (also in the picture above), passed away on January 2nd, and the country is in mourning now… everywhere you go you’ll see pictures of her and tributes to her. thai websites often start off with a page showing her image before you go into the site itself. i’ve seen books for sale that are full of pictures of her life and the things she has done.

when we visited the grand palace on sunday, there were hundreds of thai there to pay their respects because the princess’s body shall remain there for the public to view for 100 days of mourning. everyone dresses in black or white, and like all thai temples, you must be covered to show respect, so no bare shoulders and longer skirts or pants are required. jess and i dressed properly, but it was SOOOO hot! we saw people on their way to or from paying respects, but we were having a hard time finding our way around to the hall itself, so we didn’t go in this time, but we may try again later.

sorry it isn’t too clear but you can sort of see a little bit of what it’s like through this video of a cab ride through the area of the grand palace. the trees are all lit with beautiful christmas lights to honor the princess. aung said that normally they light them for the king’s birthday only, but this time they are mourning for the princess:

Posted in bangkok (thailand), malia, videos | 3 Comments »

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feel the burn!

January 19th, 2008

ok so as you guys can probably guess from all the pictures, we’ve been doing a lot of eating on this trip. don’t worry, we’re also doing a LOT of walking. we’ve even made a pact to take stairs instead of elevators and escalators whenever possible, and that’s pretty often since aung lives on the 8th floor of her condo and we’ll be staying with her a lot of the time we’re in thailand. and in hong kong, we had the famous yen wah steps right out the door from kirsten’s apartment – we did all 180 of them at least twice a day! (good thing we’ve got nightly thai foot massages to take care of our tired feet!)

every single day brings a new culinary adventure for us… i personally made it my goal to try the spiciest thai food that i can find since we’re in thailand (when in rome…right?) i LOVE it! you can find the best curries, satay sticks, stir fry, noodles, fresh fruit and more just about anywhere you go. there are more food stalls lining the streets in bangkok than there are ABC stores in waikiki! it’s crazy, but in a good way of course! =) i always eat the thai chilis with each meal until i can’t stand it anymore and my upper lip breaks a sweat. i’ve gotten to the point where i can handle quite a bit of heat and i can even taste the actual flavor of the pepper over the heat of the seeds. my goal is to be able to eat a whole one by the end of the trip. =)

jess has been pretty good about trying the spicy stuff too, but her culinary goal is a little different… she wants to try everything and i mean EVERYTHING. in fact, she searches out the weirdest stuff whenever we go out to eat… check out her latest culinary adventure below from our time in chonburi. if you liked the live fish video from hong kong, you’ll like this one too…

Posted in bangkok (thailand), malia, videos | 11 Comments »

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a slice of life in thailand

January 17th, 2008

this morning we awoke to the sounds of the birds outside our second story window above the hum of the a/c that kept us cool as we slept in aung’s family’s home in chonburi. i stretched my arms up over my head and reflected on the events of the last 24 hours….

we checked out of our fancy little hotel in the sukumvit area of bangkok around noon, after enjoying our last steaming hot showers and the hotel’s complimentary breakfast buffet. we really loved having our two night’s at the hotel as a transition to bangkok, but we were definitely ready to see what lay outside the city limits.
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Posted in chonburi (thailand), malia | 6 Comments »

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grandma

January 16th, 2008

my grandmother passed away last night… she was 98 years old and she lived a very full life, and passed peacefully surrounded by my family and some of her friends… even though i’m far away now, i feel an even stronger connection with her than before because there is such a strong buddhist presence in asia… my father asked that instead of coming home for the service, that i light incense for her at a buddhist temple. just this morning i was telling jess how the spirit houses we passed made me think of her because she would take out offerings to the little shrine in our yard every morning… i’ll miss her, but i know that she is finally getting the rest that she’s needed, and she’s able to be with my grandpa again… she hasn’t been well since around christmas, and the week before i left for this trip i was able to sit down with her to tell her i loved her and to tell her goodbye, and i think she was able to hear and understand me, even if she couldn’t show it.

sorry for the somber moment… more upbeat entries to come soon because thailand is amazing, and jess and i are having a great time exploring bangkok, eating street food, getting thai massages, passing elephants on the street, and staying in a beautiful hotel for $35US a night… but for now, my thoughts are with my grandma.

Posted in bangkok (thailand), malia | 9 Comments »

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hong kong’s FRESHEST seafood

January 13th, 2008

last night we went out to the temple street night market on kowloon. we had a fun time wandering the streets, getting our palms and faces read, watching chinese opera on the street, and bargaining with street vendors for deals on random goods in the market. we stopped at a hot pot restaurant for dinner and ordered the “pork bone and seafood combo”… the plate of seafood sure was fresh, when it arrived at our table the fish and shrimp were still twitching! jess was brave enough to put them into the boiling water… click on the video above to see what happens next. =)

Posted in hong kong, malia, videos | 14 Comments »

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by popular demand….

January 12th, 2008

here’s a little video of kirstin and brad’s little puppy, lani. she’s sooooo adorable!

Posted in hong kong, malia, videos | No Comments »

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that’s one BIG buddha!

January 12th, 2008


big buddha, originally uploaded by maliayosh.

yesterday we visited the tian tan buddha statue on lantau, which was one of the highlights of our trip so far!

we started out the morning by taking the MTR train out to tung chung station and catching the ngong ping cable cars up to the ngong ping village. apparently, soon after the opening of the cable car ride, they were shut down because one of them fell off! armed with this knowledge, we were a little bit leery of the death defying ride ahead… but having lived to tell about it now, i can say that the cable car ride up to the top was definitely worth, otherwise you have to catch a bus which would wind its way up the mountain. instead, we got to ride with a full view of the surrounding mountains, ocean, even hong kong disneyland. although i wouldn’t recommend it if you’re afraid of heights!

we were told that this was the world’s largest outdoor buddha statue, but seriously nothing prepared me for the size of this thing – it’s HUGE! hong kong is so full of hustle and bustle, but being out so high up on the mountain with the buddha built up perched atop a long flight of steps… it was so serene and i know it’s cliche, but it was truly breathtaking. we instantly felt calm and spent lots of time appreciating the views, exploring the monastery grounds, and reflecting on our highlights of the trip thus far.

for all the pictures, make sure to check out our flickr page by following the link on the right hand side of our blog. =)

Posted in hong kong, malia | 3 Comments »

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delayed!

January 9th, 2008

So here we sit in the airport at Taipei… it has been quite a long day so far, and there’s a light at the end of the tunnel flickering just out of reach! But hey, we’ve got free internet and 3 hours to kill, so this is what happens…

waiting for our (last!) flight

We started off the morning bright and early at Honolulu International airport at 6am and boarded the first of our three connecting flights that will eventually take us to Hong Kong. Thanks to Hazel, Jess’s mom, and Grant for the airport transportation and for the moral support! It was also great to see everyone last night for one last bbq, I was starting to get teary-eyed whenever I’d give that “one last hug” and all of your cards, emails, and phone calls have given Jess and I lots of excuses to get sappy about the people we will be missing back home in the next few months. =) We love you!!
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Posted in malia, taipei airport | 8 Comments »

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bon voyage!

January 6th, 2008


we’ll miss these lovely ladies, originally uploaded by maliayosh.

pictures are up from our bon voyage party at first friday… check out the “our pictures” page or click here to view them.

Posted in malia, pre-departure | No Comments »

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