Planes, Trains and Chicken Buses

"Where are you headed?" Craig and I were on ferry to the south island of New Zealand with road map spread out in front of us. Looking up we saw a tall, nice looking (in a rugged sort of way), kiwi guy smiling at us.

"That's just what we are trying to figure out," I said as I explained our tentative plan. The stranger approved of our plan and then pointed to a spot on the map in the northern part of the island that read "Golden Bay."

"Make sure should save some time to visit this part of the island. My name is Bruce and I work for Golden Bay Glass. Look me up when you are in the area and you can camp on my yard."

And so two weeks later, a little tipsy from wine tasting all day, we found ourselves right outside Golden Bay and decided to give Bruce a call. Thankfully, he remembered us and came to meet us on main street and led us to his little cottage in a gorgeous setting right accross the street from the bay. Bruce was a great host. He took us to see some natural springs and the three of us stayed up late drinking beer and chatting. He gave us his spare bedroom and even though he left early for work he set out some muesli and soy milk for our breakfast And so we had made another friend on our travels..

That is Kiwi hospitality for you. We had several similar experiences during our five weeks in New Zealand. We stayed with some amazing people and they all have been truly hospitable and have made our stay much more enjoyable. Plus, we've made some great new friends!

In Taupo we stayed in Myrene and Ian's downstairs guest suite. They are the parent's of our friend Glen who we met in San Francisco. They made us feel right at home and served us some yummy meals (and a b-day cake for me)! In Wellington we stayed with the Livesay's. Harry is the boyfriend of my friend Sophie who was my flatmate almost ten years ago when I studied in Manchester, England. The Livesay's live in a great old Victorian house on the hills of Wellington (Wellington reminded us of San Francisco). In Te Anua we crashed with Leith and Darryl. They are friends of our friends Ben and Sara. and finally, we made two new friends on the Heaphy, Sally and Leon, and spent a fun night with them (Craig's B-day) at Leon's house in Mt. Manganui... They made a delicious bar-b-q dinner! We would like to say a big thank you to all of these folks!! Hopefully some of them can visit San Francisco so we can return the favor.

Upon arriving in Auckland we decided to rent a car. We had thought about buying and selling, which is common among backpackers, but we decided we weren't there long enough to justify the hassle. We also thought about renting a camper van, which would have been fun, but luckily were able to borrow some camping equipment from our friends Ben and Sarah (Kiwis we met in Thailand). We loved having our own set of wheels... We were able to get off the beaten path and have some freedom.

We spent 2 weeks in the north island and 3 weeks in the south. While we enjoyed both islands, the south is definitely more stunningly beatiful mostly because of the southern alps. We arrived at our first destination in the south island, Kaikora, in the dark... and when we woke up this was the view from our backpackers....

Here is another image from a walk we did in Kaikora.

The brilliantly colored lake Tekapo:

Other than the spectacular scenery and making some great new friends, the other highlights of our five weeks in New Zealand include tramping and sky diving.

The highlight of tramping was definitely the Kepler, a 60k New Zealand great wallk. We were lucky to be doing it in the off-season.. when the huts weren't completely packed. The first day we 'tramped' for 6 hours uphill through a mossy, fern-filled forest to the Luxmore hut, which is on the top of the mountains and has good views of the Te Anau lake and snow-capped mountain ranges. The huts are huge. They sleep up to about 50 people, but since we are in the off season there were only 8 of us.

That night a huge storm rolled in and when we woke up at 8 it was very windy and raining like mad and we couldn't see anything. We were dissappointed because the whole second day is all alpine hiking on the ridges of the kepler mts.. with amazing views of the fiordlands. Also, we didn't have the right gear to be tramping in the rain. We decided that we might just have to stay another night at the first hut and wait out the weather, but as soon as we surrendered to it.. it started getting better. By noon it was clear. So we ate our lunch of salami and cheese and set off at 1 p.m. Lucky for us daylight savings time started the day before, so it didn't get dark until 8:30. The day was 6 hours up and down on the alpine sections with the most amazing views we have ever seen.. of dramatic snow -capped peaks and lakes and waterfalls down below us. Some colorful and "cheeky" alpline parrots, called Keas even hung out with us for a while.

After about 4.5 hours we started descending into the trees and then we walked down for an hour an a half through the most enchanting forest.... straight out of Lord of the Rings... Green was everywhere in every color. Moss lined the forest floor and the tree trunks and light green lichen was hanging from the branches.

And the silver beech trees looked truly silver because of the sun shining on the wet leaves. There were streams and waterfalls everywhere.

It was a great day, but my knees really started to hurt from all the downhill, so it was a relief to get to the second hut.

The last day was almost 7 hours... and thankfully pretty flat.. through the gorgeous forest and a valley. To celebrate we had an amazing dinner and good NZ beer at a place called the Red Cliff (where the Lord of the Rings cast ate everynight while filming there) and crashed out for 12 hours!!!

We tramped almost every day while in the south island. The other walks that stand out were a day on the Franz Joseph glacier, some day hikes in Abel Tasman National park and an overnighter to the Heaphy Hut way up on the northern west coast, where we met Sally and Leon and a group of women 65+ who were just completing the 4 day/70-some km walk!!! These women were great... like a group of teenagers. They shared a bunk room and giggled in there for an hour before falling asleep.

(waking up to a view near Fox Glacier): pronounced- 'Glay-seer'

Abel Tasman Nat'l Park:

Being in NZ, the "extreme" capital of the world.. we had do at least one crazy thing......... so, we still can't believe that we jumped out of a plane at
12,000 ft!! We didn't have to do anything .. not jump, not pull the
parachute cord, not even land.. because we were attached to a tandem
master... but it was crazy scary. I went first and my guy had us
waiting at the edge of the open window of the plane for what seemed
like forever while he waited for the right time to jump! I was
terrified. And the freefall was 45 secs and quite scary. After I got
my breath I just wanted the shoot to open... once it did we had an
awesome 5 minute descent... it was gorgeous because we were over the
lake and there were snow-capped peaks in the distance. I asked my
guide if he knew which was one Craig because there were about four
different shutes coming down above us. He said, "the yellow one." I
took a look and it appeared as thought Craig's shute was spinning out
of control!!! But it was just his guide doing some tricks. Craig
actually had to tell him to stop spinning because he thought he was
going to be sick. I had quite a smooth landing.. all I had to do was
lift my legs up and then put them onto the grass once I was told and
we were on the ground.. thank God! Craig and his guide sort of
skidded in on their butts. It was an amazing experience!

Wow! We did just too much to write about it all, so here are some more photos...

The Milford Sound and surrounds:

At the Montieth's brewery in Greymouth (our favorite Kiwi beer!)

wine tasting near Nelson:

the rugged west coast:

Wow! that took awhile.. hope you enjoy the photos.

So.... now we are back where we started the trip -- in Bangkok at the Suk 11-- for the 5th time! We've already had Thai massages and green curry for both dinner and lunch today.. gotta love Thailand. We take the night train down south tonight and will hit Ko Tao and Ko Phan Ngan, where we place to relax, get some sun and do Yoga... and mentally preparing for our "re-entry."

Don't think we'll be crashing on anyone's floor here. But that's ok because accomdation costs less than $10... and the Thai's are just as friendly as the Kiwi's.

There are literally millions of sheep everywhere. In fact, the population of New Zealand is 4 million and there are 40 million sheep! The scenery is magnificent. The highlights of our time here have been sky diving in Taupo, completing a 60 km great walk called the Kepler as well as several other "tramps," meeting heaps of hospitable and down to earth Kiwis, and just taking in the amazing natural beauty of this place.... while doing lots of driving... on the left side of the road!! We will do a longer entry soon, but just wanted to share some photos and let everyone know that we are alive and well. We leave New Zealand on the 22nd.. and head back to Thailand for two weeks. Then we fly back to San Francisco on November 8. We will be there for 5 days before heading back east for Craig's sister's wedding and the holidays. Our plan is to be back in San Francisco permanently in January. Any New Year's plans in the works?

We can't wait to see everyone!

Love,
Jess and Craig

As we went about our travels almost every time we told a fellow backpacker we were headed to Bali they said, "make sure you go to the Gili Islands off of Lombok." And so after our lovely week in Ubud, we set off to Gili Trawagan, the biggest of the three Gili's located off the northeast coast of Indonesia's Lombok. The journey took all day -- we had a two-hour drive to Padangbai, Bali where we caught a 5-hour ferry ride to Lombok, then we had an hour bus ride and finally took a rocky hour-long boat ride to the island. Our bus driver in Lombok warned us... and I quote, "Do not trust ANYONE at Bangsal." (the access port for hopping ferries to the islands).

That was quite an interesting experiece..... when we got off the bus in Bangsal several locals descended on us and tried to carry our bags (which of course they would want payment for) so we had a bit of tug-of-war to get our bags back. Then they told us that we had to go into a room and sit down at a table to wait for the boat and while they checked our tickets. It was quite a confusing situation. We didn't know who to trust and we didn't want to handover our tickets to anyone. Once we were in the room, I looked around and saw groups of one or two tourists sitting at a table with 2-3 locals (thugs) who were trying to sell them something. They told us we couldn't get return boat tickets on the island, or sunscreen or moisquito spray, etc.... Their sales techniques were quite shady and very aggressive I realized that these guys had nothing to do with the boats we were taking.... so we grabbed our stuff and headed off to the boats. We had survived the "Bangsal Mafia" as we later learned they are called here. I'm mentioning this, because after 5 months of traveling all over Asia, this was probably the most uncomfortable situation we have encountured. These men were thugs! Mom, you will be proud to know that we didn't let our guard down!

Anyway.. we thankfully left the thugs behind and landed in Gili Trawagan... a lovely island! There are no cars and no stray dogs! We caught a horse cart with our new friends Maja and Thomas (a Danish couple we met on the boat ride) to look for accomodation. We headed to the north of the island, which is a bit off the beaten path and has the best snorkeling....and got two cheap and basic rooms at Nusa Tiga.. which ended up be a wonderful choice! The Dutch couple running the resort where very hospitable, we had free banana pancakes and coffee for breakfast every morning and the snorkeling really was amazing. We even saw a turtle one day... and Thomas saw a shark.. although the rest of us missed it.

Another great thing about the island was that there were some amazing and cheap seafood restaurants downtown (if you can call it that), so we ate very well. We even got sushi one night.. for the first time in 5 months and it was delicious!

We ended up staying at Nusa Tiga for a full week and so did Maja and Thomas. And the four of us has a great time together. Thomas is like an encyclodpedia of music (especially electronic) and he and Craig spent hours talking about djs and music.. So..... for a week we didn't do much but lay on the beach, snorkel, watch the sunset, do some Yoga on the beach, walk to the strip for dinner and hang out with Maja and Thomas.. it was very relaxing! Craig and I did do a nice discovery scuba dive one day -- Craig's first!

At the end of the week (we wished we could have stayed two), the four of us took a 25-minute flight back to Kuta. We had a great day where we rented motorbikes and drove to Ulu Watu to watch the surfers and the sunset and then had an amazing seafood dinner at Jimbaran Bay, a gorgeous setting. (if anyone goes to Bali -- you must go here for dinner). Craig and I got the best lobster ever!!!!!!!!

The next day we sadly said good-bye to Maja and Thomas and caught our flight to Auckland. It was bittersweet to be leaving Asia after 5-months, but we decided that we were ready to get out of the third world and back to the first (yay! clean water, clean toilets, no bargaining). Further, we knew that there was no way we would encounter a situation in New Zealand in which we couldn't trust anyone.. and that was a refreshing thought! The great thing about travelling like this is you always know there's something new waiting around the corner~

Here are some more photos from Bali:

PS--- good photos from NZ on the way!! Happy October....

We finally made our way to the much anticipated Island of Bali. I had been looking forward to this since before leaving--- so it was exciting to finally get there. The place is very beautiful (of course) and immediately you see the difference that makes Bali unique -- the artistic culture.

Everything--- buildings, fences, steps, etc. are skillfully built and ornate in detailing. Also there's a sense that everyone in the society can do this, they all seem to know how to build, create art, sing and dance!!!

We arrived in the evening and pre-booked a hotel before arriving in the Legion area just near the airport (near Kuta beach where the bombing occured). After waking up and walking around in the morning we decided that there were too many tourists and too many touts, so we headed straight to Ubud. In the middle of the country, Ubud is considered the "cultural" center of Bali and is only a couple hours away from Kuta beach and the airport. It's full of artists, galleries, cafes, and shops.

We had the opportunity to stay at a house in Ubud located a few kilometeres to the north of the town center. The house is owned by a friend of our friend Louis in San Francisco and is located right in the middle of spectacular terraced rice paddy fields.....and there was a picturesque walking path through the fields that we took each day into town. We happened to be the only guests while staying there which was nice-- it was sooo quiet. An added bonus was a 'yoga' space for Jess located on 3rd floor of one of the main house, with glass surrounding all for walls providing incredible views!!

We did one day trip out of Ubud to see a famous temple on a lake (see first photo) and some botanical gardens.

A big highlight of Ubud is the sacred monkey forest... where you can see hundreds on monkeys.. well doing what they do.. monkeying around!!

One day trip we did out of Ubud was a sunrise hike to Mt. Batur--- a volcanic mountain near the coast. The day began with a 3am wakeup call and we arrived at the mountain base about 4am. We climbed the mountain in the dark for about 1 1/2 hours and at the top there was coffee and breakfast waiting for us while we viewed the sunrise. It was unbelievably beautiful and we're glad me made the decision to do it......the photos begin to explain the beauty! The only slight downer was that our guide spoke very little "broken" english and kept repeating himself... actually we think that he was either drunk, high or a little slow. By about 9 it started to get quite hot on the mountain (the sun was extremely strong), so we wanted to get down fairly quickly, but he kept stopping to explain the sames things to us over and over again... in his painfully slow broken English. We had to tell him several times that we wanted to keep moving. At one point Craig had to say very sternly, "listen! You have told us that already and we have told you several times that we want to hurry down to the bottom, so can we please get going!" He apologized and we hurried down for a bit.. but then he started to stop and repeat things again after about 10 minutes.. After a while this became very funny to us and all we could do was laugh...We finally got down... and our driver was wondering what happened because all the other groups got down an hour ahead of us. There is a Mt. Batur guide assoc. that makes sure you use one of their guides (job security). It's all local farmers and villagers and from the sounds of other guides....some are better than others!

The view from the top is to the east and you see a lake in front of you, small mountain range beyond that, the ocean seperating Bali and Lombok, and then finally Mt. Rinjani in the distance. Unreal!

No. We didn't secretly attend Burningman this year. This photo is from a huge festival in Sri Lanka.... read on to hear about it!

Sorry we have been behind on the updates! We are in Kuta, Bali right now and are heading to New Zealand tonight!!!! After this entry, we'll do one on Bali and Indonesia and then we'll be caught up....

To continue from our last entry.....

After our relaxing stay at Galapita, we headed to Ella in the hill country. The landscape was gorgeous and filled with peaks and tea plantations and we were reminded of our time in the Cameron Highlands in Malaysia. The climate in Ella was much cooler and that was a relief. We only had one day if Ella, but we did an amazing day hike through the tea plantations to the top of a mini-peak.

From Ella we took the train to Kandy (the most scenic train ride in Sri Lanka) where a huge two-week Buddhist festival called Perahera had just started.

The significance of this event in the beginning was to invoke blessings of the gods to give the farmers rain to cultivate their crops. This ritual is performed by carrying the sacred tooth relic of the Budda through the city streets which is done with great ceremony.

(I stole this part from a Website) The tooth relic was brought to Ceylon (Sri Lanka) in the year 310 AD and the first perehera was performed in Anuradhapura the first capital where the sacred relic was housed. Even as the capitals were shifted for security reasons due to invasions, the tooth relic went with it too and was much revered and always in the custody of the king. Finally finding a permanent resting place in the hill capital of the last Sinhalese kindom Kandy, It lies in the “Dalada Maligawa” (Place of the Tooth Relic) which was built by king Wimaladharma suriya in the 16th century. This three-storey building erected solely for the purpose of housing. The Sacred Relic still stands and is the most visited and important temple of Sri Lanka.

SO.... now the ritual of the Perahera continues in Kandy with more and more people attending each year to watch hundreds of majestic, lighted elephants and performers in elaborate costumes dancing, playing instruments and twirling fire as they parade the streets of Kandy every night for two weeks! This is by far the largest Buddhist festival in Sri Lanka.. and was one of the most amazing cultural experiences of the trip so far.

Criag and I were lucky because Sewalanka arranged for us to stay with a very nice family who lived right near the start of the the parade. The father of the household was very well-connected and secured seats for us- front a center. We attended Perahera two nights in a row.. Our pictures will give you an idea of how elaborate this event is:

The festival starts in the evening.. so we had a free day and decided to do a day trip to the ancient city of Sigyria and to the buddhist caves of Dumbulla.

From Kandy we went back to Colombo for a few days and then hopped a flight back to Bangkok -- for the fourth time. The Suk 11 really is our home away from home at this point.

Oh and on the drive back to Colombo from Kandy we stopped at an elephant orphanage where we got to see hundreds of elephants up close and personal.... and taking baths. V. cool.

During our week on Sri Lanka's east coast we slept in a mud hut, a fishermens' hut, at a locals' surf camp and in a tree house. Vasanta, a Sewalanka employee based out of Aragum Bay and Panama, served as our tour- and spiritual guide for this portion of our journey....

Aragum Bay is one of the most popular surf spots in all of Sri Lanka, with several great breaks for beginners to advanced surfers. Unfortunately, Aragum Bay was completely levelled by the Tsunami. We were shocked as we drove into the town. We had already been to Ko Phi Phi in Thailand and Unawatuna, so we thought we had seen pretty bad damage.. but nothing prepared us for devastation in Aragum Bay. The trees were ripped out by the wave, so the coast was barren -- filled pretty much only with temporary housing -- and crows. There were hundreds of big black crows perched and flying above us, which made for quite an eerie scene. People are starting to rebuild, but it is slow going because area hasn't seem much relief money -- certainly not nearly as much as Unawatuna has. That being said, the beach was still pretty nice and the water was a gorgeous aquamarine.

We were in this area so Craig could look at some of Sewalanka's land and help them design a few buildings and traditional mud huts for enterprise development projects. So, we spent our first day driving around the local village Panama and surrounding areas with Vasanta in a three-wheeler, visiting the land and several peoples' houses.... and of course having yummy, sugary tea at every stop.

We were at the border of a national park so we saw tons of wildlife -- peacocks, large sea birds, a fox, elephants, deer and monkeys. We also stopped to pray and chant at several temples (it was a Friday, a sacred day for Hindus). From my Yoga training I actually knew some of the prayers Vasanta was chanting... so I was able to join in with him.....I think he was pretty surprised.

After having rice and curry for dinner at one of the temples with its caretakers, Wasanta informed us that he had arranged for us to stay in a hut on the beach with the local fishermen. Craig and I were taken by surprise because all of our stuff was at the guest house we had checked into earlier that day.. and we didn't even have our tootbrushes or our coveted silk sleep sheets!!!! But, like the spontaneous travelers we are... we went with it. We drank some special tea to help us sleep.. and we had a pretty good night sleep. We only woke up to brush away the bugs that were crawling on us. I was the only woman.. but no one seemed to mind. At sunrise we woke up with the fisherman and watched them take their boats out to sea.

The next night we stayed in a traditional mud hut with a farming family in the middle of their field.

They spoke no English at all, but were very nice and we managed to communicate with sign language and with Vasanta translating. That evening Craig and Vasanta went to a ceremony to celebrate the start of a 15-day religious festival. Women weren't allowed.... so I stayed behind with the family and helped the mother cook a delicious rice and curry for dinner.

(Just a note here: In Sri Lanka "Curry" isn't what we think of in the U.S. Curry actually is any of a great variety of distinctively spiced dishes, best-known in Indian cuisine that you eat with rice. Therefore, the "curry" I refer to can be a variety of dishes from green beans, pumpkin, lentils, chickpeas, eggplant, etc...)
Craig and I slept in the "loft" area of the hut while the rest of the family slept on the bottom floor. For the second day in a row, we woke up to watch the sun rise and it was amazing!

On our last night in Aragum Bay, we stayed at a surf spot called "Peanut Farm," with a bunch of locals who are trying to rebuild some huts on the farm which were destroyed by the Tsunami. This night we just slept on bamboo mats on the sand under the stars.... but we had our sleep sheets. The next morning Craig and I tried our hands at surfing... Craig did very well and got up several times.

But.... our adventure with Vasanta wasn't over yet!!! Craig and I were headed to the hill country so had to head inland a bit to catch a bus, so we decided to break up the journey with stay at a resort in Yala National Park called Galapita, where Vasanta knew the caretaker. This is where the tree house comes in. Craig has a huge interest in tree houses...I'm sure that we will have one on our property some day. So, this was a really a treat for both of us. Every space in Galapita is indoor/outdoor and is completely integrated with the landscape. Their goal is to have as much openess to the outdoors as possible. This includes the sleeping areas, the bathrooms, the dining areas... and the tree houses. The first night we stayed in a open bedroom right on the bank of a river.....and we had views of the river from 3 sides... we also had a really cool mosquito net.

Then the second night we slept in the tree house.

During the day I hung out with the birds high up in the tree (including some large, bright green parrots) and read my book and relaxed..... It was pretty windy that evening, so the tree was creaking and swaying quite a bit... but we slept pretty well anyway.

After two days of relaxing, reading and feeling like we were "one" with nature... we headed up to a town called Ella in the hill country............more on that in the next entry ;)

The first project I was involved with was located in town called Talpe-- very near the beach town Unawatuna which we called 'home base'. (nice place to base out of!) The program for the project was to design a "Retreat/Mtg. space" for Sewalanka on a plot of land that was donated to the organization. There is an existing bldg. on the site that is being 'adaptively' reused, and was in very good condition compared to other structures affected by the tsunami.
The site is incredible as it borders the ocean-- definitely the best site I've had the opportunity to work with.

Space requirements for the project were two bedrooms, a bathroom, and two meeting areas with an open courtyard area. I was excited to be doing some design work and meeting with Harsha (chairman of Sewalanka) was fun~ He had a clear sense of what was wanted, yet gave me complete design freedom --An experience that is sometimes tough to find back in the states.

After doing a couple schematic design sketches he picked one to go with-- and we were off to the races! I spent the next two weeks at the job site managing the construction -- everything from staking out the bldg. outlines, helping figure out how much material to get, to keeping a couple steps ahead of the crew with drawings explaining how things would come together.

I should take some time here to say that most who know me know that I'm completely an advocate for the design/build process. I feel that the designer should be integrated into the construction process to make sure the concept is followed thru--- and all questions/changes in the project are handled seamlessly. (in theory!) So this was exactly that scenario. I had a table with paper, a scale, and a calculater set up in the (e) building-- and questions I answered in the form of drawings. Alot of the construction crew spoke little to no english! And me speaking little to no singhalese!! Needless to say more importance was put on my drawings-- simple and clear-- and everything worked out great.

The materials used were coconut tree columns (very hardy wood), concrete block foundation, wood siding, and thatched roofing. All materials were readily available and are the same building blocks for the temporary housing being built. Sewalanka is responsible for completeing 25% of the post tsunami temporary housing in Sri Lanka.

After getting the column layout, the foundation started, and the roof plan sorted out I felt comfortable leaving the site. We broke from the South and toured other parts of Sri Lanka. (the east coast, Ella, and Kandy)

Some final thoughts-- the people were a pleasure to work with on project. They made sure I had everything I needed-- were very gracious and smiled a lot. It seemed as if there never was a negative moment on the job-- no arguments, everything really went sooo smoothly....something I definitely noticed~

The other 2 projects I worked on were schematic design ideas for an Eco-Tourism project on the East Coast on the Panama Lagoon, and and NGO Retreat place on a lake site in Katalua. Both projects have not been started yet.

Something else that I realized is that I really do love what I've choosen as a career. This work in Sri Lanka was a breath of fresh air because my design drawings (by hand) were taken literally into built form...... no middle man such as the bldg. dept. or cranking out CD's on the computer. This was taking a pure design idea and building it!

We can't believe that the trip is now more than halfway over! Sri Lanka is amazing!! We leave in a few days, but we are so glad we made the decision to come here. We had a completely different experience because we were volunteering and interacting with locals on a daily basis. We've made some great friends. Also, the culture here is completely different than the other countries we have visited... people have told us that Sri Lanka is a mellow India.

Our first day in Sri Lanka we explored a bit of Colombo with our friend Anne from San Francisco who had been here volunteering with Sewalanka for several weeks. It was really great to a familiar face from back home and to be sightseeing with someone who was so familiar with the country and the culture. The next day we headed down to a town called Mirissa the Galle District in Southern Sri Lanka, where we would have a few days of R&R and quality time with Anne before she left to go back to SF and we started our volunteer projects. We stayed at a really nice place up on a hill with amazing views of the sea and ate some really nice seafood meals.

This is a photo of me, Anne, and two new friends -- Sewalanka employees, Amanda and Steve, who also happen to be American...

After three relaxing days we moved on to Unawatanu where we would be volunteering for Sewalanka, the second largest Sri Lankan NGO. Who mission is to "enhance the capacity of rural communities to democratically identify and address their own development needs and to provide services that contribute to economically viable, socially just and ecologically sustainable development of Sri Lanka."

Unawatuna is a gorgeous beach town that used to be very touristy

....but it is low season and tourism dramatically dropped since the Tsunami. There were only a few areas of the coast here that didn't get hit. We stayed with a family who just built a guest house up on a hill. The woman spoke English pretty well and was very sweet. She made us dinner and served us tea in the morning. It felt like we are staying with a family more than a guest house. We were the only white people in this little village, so we got a lot of attention. The guest house itself was new and nice, but the bathroom situation was a bit rough. The toilet was just a hole in the ground with no door and the shower was open air. I had to shower with my sarong on. Needless to say, for the first time of the trip we REALLY felt like we were off the tourist tract: Staying with a family, eating meals in peoples' homes and small tea shops where we are the only foreigners, and working with the locals on on volunteer projects...

Oh.. this was cool.. before Anne left we also observed an old man do an astrology reading for her. Based on her the exact time and location of her birth he was able to tell her some incredible things about herself and her family. He was right on with everything he said. It was amazing. He knew how many brothers and sisters she had, in what order they were born and the personalities of each. He also knew many other things about her. Craig and are trying to have this done as well... We are also going to find out an auspicious date that should be our wedding day (even though since it is very conservative here we have been saying that we are married just to make things easier). Sri Lankans do everything based on auspicious days. In fact, Craig desiged a building for Sewlanka and is now managing the construction. They had him start the building process by putting in the first column (coconut beam).. and it had to be done at exactly 11:42 a.m. Every time a new building is started there is a ceremony that lasts all night with monks and chanting.

For my first project I worked in Sewalanka's office from about 8:30 to 5:30 for 3
days straight writing a grant proposal for US AID. The project will provide grants, equipment and training to help nearly 400 women in the community restore livelihoods that were stopped by the Tsunami. I hope the money comes through!!! What is sad is that we found that 65% of the 400 women have not yet been able to restart their small businesses since the Tsunami. They did things like clothes making, batik, handicrafts, tea shops, fruit stalls, massage etc.. Everything was destroyed by the wave. Houses, shops, materials, sewing machines, money, paperwork... everything. Also, now the gov't is enforcing this law that people cannot rebuild if they are 100 meters or closer to the ocean.... this is a completely arbitrary number and is causing a lot of problems. There are thousands of people who are living in temporary housing and just have nowhere to go. And as I mentioned before, thousands more are still living in tents -- 7 months later!!!

After completing the proposal, I started teaching English to a group of 25 women (and a few kids) who wanted to improve their interactions with tourists. At first I was very overwhelmed and nervous.. but it ended up being great fun. The women were so appreciative, nice and eager to learn. They would stand up when I walked in to the room and stand up when they answered a question. After my last class a few of them came to find me at our guest house and gave me a necklace and a wooden statue to thank me for teaching them.. it was really sweet.

Some other observations and cool things about our time in Sri Lanka.... Overall, the people here are very friendly, generous, spiritual and have gorgeous smiles. The country is beautiful and colorful and is filled with many, many temples. We've been blessed by a monk, we've been eating with our hands and have realized that the food tastes so much better that way... and we've been drinking TONS of tea. Several cups a day. In fact, everytime you go to someone's house they offer you a cup of tea and you must accept... and they put about 5 teaspoons of sugar in a small mug.. even if you say "no sugar." Also, when they feed you they keep filling your plate with more and more rice and curry even if you say you've had enough and it is rude if you don't clean your plate. I'm going on a diet when I leave Sri Lanka!! Another weird thing is it seems as through there is pretty strong class system here and since we are white and American we are immediately placed in the upper class.. which makes us uncomfortable. For example, when we eat in people's homes, they don't eat with us. They serve us first and then eat after us. Our friend Anne was in many a situation where she had to eat by herself while the family served her. Even if you ask them to join you they won't.. it is just not part of their culture.

I should also mention that fter my first English class which was in a temple, the monks asked me to teach them as well.. So, Craig and I held some classes for 5 monks. The head monk was extremely friendly and on our last day in Unawatuna took us to visit some other temples in the area.

After almost two weeks in Unawatuna we pulled ourselves away to visit some other parts of the country.... we'll talk more about that in our next entry.

Cheers!

Here are some more photos from Halong Bay and Hanoi, Vietnam.....

Crossing the street in Vietnam is like the videogame "Frogger." Well, at first you stand at curb and wait for a break in traffic which never comes. Then you eventually realize that you just have to go for it. So, you step into the street and walk straight accross trying not to panic or look at the hundreds of motorbikes coming towards you. You think they will run you over, but you have to have faith that they will avoid you and they do... as long as you don't make any sudden movements.

Our 10 days in Vietnam were in part stressful, emotional, awe-inspiring, frustrating and interesting. Craig and I both agreed that while Vietnam isn't among our favorite Asain countries we are glad we experienced it.

I think one of the reasons it was a bit stressfull was that for the first time in our travels, we were very rushed. Having spent a month in Laos and needing to get to Sri Lanka by mid-July, we only had about two weeks there. The other reason we were a bit stressed is that people are constantly trying to sell you things.. fruit, water, jewelry, massage, cds, books, pedicures, cyclo rides, moto rides, dinner, etc.. and they do not take no for an answer. The worst was when we were on the beach and just wanted to relax and dozens of women and kids would not leave you alone. Even after you said no for the 15th time, they would sit in the sand and stare at you. Then if you do buy something off of someone, everyone else thinks you should buy from them as well. It bothered us so much that on our last beach day we payed $10 each to lay by the pool and use the private beach at a 5 star hotel. It was well worth it.

I began to realize that all the "no-ing" we were doing was having a negative effect on our moods. I would have much rather been saying "yes" 100 times per day, but them we'd be broke and have lots of stuff we didn't need. On our second day I had my first major breakdown of the trip... after a day of looking into people's desperate faces and having to say no to almost all of them all day long.. I just broke down... I think most of it was that of the things we saw in Cambodia (all the children begging and the evidence of the Khmer Rouge) were finally hitting me. I began to realize that so many people in this world have no where to go and no one to turn to. At least is America we have homeless shelters, Food Banks, HeadStart, soup kitchens and food stamps... but in Cambodia the poverty seemed like it is an impossible problem to solve. That country really has a long way to go.....

Ok.. back to Vietnam. We began our experience in Saigon. Our good friend from SF, Tom, is living and working there now... we stayed 5 days and hung out with him every night. It was really great to see a familiar face and such a good friend after 3 months of traveling and Tom was a great host (thanks, Tom)!!

these are photos of us celebrating the 4th of July in Saigon by eating Nachos, ribs and a burger and fries!

While in Saigon we went to the War Remnants museum and learned about all of the atrocities and war crimes committed by the U.S. during the American war. Not such and positive experience for an American.. but we realized that a lot of it was propaganda and was probably not completely true...but it was good to see the other side of the story. We also went to the Cu Chi tunnels... hundreds of km of an intricate and impressive tunnel system used by the Viet Kong... very interesting and we saw how America really had no chance in that war.

In Saigon we bought an open tour bus ticket to Hoi An and we set off for Mui Ne.... at relaxing beach only 3 hours from the city. We took a day trip witha group of brits to some surreal, dali-esque sand dunes. Craig sled down the dunes and was covered in sand.. it was a fun day. We also visited a fishing village and watched 100 women shucking clams and scallops.

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From Mui Ne we went to Nhatrang, a very touristy (both foreigners and Vietnamese) beach town that I nicknamed the "Wildwood of Vietnam." Those of you eastcoasters will know what I mean. It actually wasn't that bad.. we did have some fun nights there. We went out dancing with two friends we met in Mue Ne and dj architect got to spin some beats at the guava bar.

We took an overnight bus to Hoi An... which is a quaint town known for clothesmaking. Our time in Hoi An was spent in fittings and at the beach... as both Craig and I went a little crazy getting clothes made.. so watch out -- we'll be stylin' upon our return!!

From Hoi An we took a flight to Hanoi. We stayed in old quarter which is composed of tiny streets and alleyways filled with shops, noodle stands, cafes,
etc.. plus hundreds of motorbikes speeding by and honking. We also saw a whole-roasted dog for sale on the street... Craig refused to take a photo. We REALLY felt like we were in Asia here.

A true highlight of Vietnam was a one night/two day boat trip in Halong Bay, whihc is a UNESCO world heritage site. It was absolutely gorgeous and relaxing. We had a great group of about 14 people on our boat.. mostly English folks about our age. We ate great food, kayaked, swam in the water, drank beer and chatted. I will include our amazing photos from Halong Bay in another entry.

From Vietnam it was back to Bangkok and then on to Sri Lanka.. where we are now.. and where crossing the street is still a bit scary, but quite as bad as Vietnam... and we've had plenty of practice.

Our time visiting Angkor Wat was amazing, but dealing with the poverty and all the people with missing limbs in Siem Reap was hard. Nearly three Cambodians a day are killed or maimed by landmines here. And often it is a child who is playing or collecting firewood or a farmer. We visited a landmine museum run by a man who planted the mines for the Khmer Rouge as a child soldier, then as an adult became a landmine disabler for the UN.

Now he has a museum and orphanage for kids injured in the explosions (who have been abandoned by their families). We made a donation to the museum
and also gave blood in the children's hospital. They have a serious shortage. Don't worry it was very professional and sterile. Our friend Maggie who is a PA in the US went the day before and gave it the thumbs up.

From Siem Reap we took the bus to Phnom Penh, Cambodia....not such an uplifting place. There is more widespread poverty here than we have ever seen. There are little children and disabled people begging all over the
streets.... it is hot, dusty and their is trash everywhere!! We made
a rule when we were in Siem Reap to only give food to kids and only give money to people who are disabled. There is no social security here and we hear that the disabled are often shunned by their families, so these people have no other choice than to beg. We went to the genocide museum
which was a school that the Khmer Rouge converted into a prison and
torture chamber. Afterwards we went to the Killing Fields about 8 km
outside of PP where they found 10,000 bodies in shallow graves after
the Vietnamese liberated Cambodia from the Khmer Rouge. Horrible,
horrible things have happened in this country. The Khmer Rouge regime (1970-75) is remembered mainly for the deaths of an estimated 1.7 million people, through execution, starvation and forced labor. It is hard to believe that this happened only 20 years ago. All of this is an important part of Cambodia's history, so I'm glad we learned about... but it was difficult to see.

A few good things about our time in Phnom Phen.... our friend Tom used to live there, so he hooked us up with a local tuk-tuk driver (Sony) who is the the most genuine and honest local we have met on the trip so far. He was waiting for us ar the bus stop with a sign with our names on it.. which was great because when we walked off the bus it was chaos and 20 drivers were literally grabbing our arms and trying to get our business. Sony was our official driver for our time in PP. He looked out for us and was a safe driver.
Also, We had an opportunity to meet and have some great discussions with a bunch of very interesting ex-pats who were also friends of Tom's. We had fun drinking beers and talking with them.

After about two days in PP.. we set off in a bus to Vietnam.

Hello everyone! Just wanted to give you a current update since we are way behind on the blog... Hopefully you were able to read Craig's posting on Angkor Wat. Sorry if you weren't able to make a comment. It seems as thought comments are only allowed 10 days from the date of the blog and he had started that one a while ago and then finished it recently.. anyway.. we'll try to figure that out from now on.

Since Angkor Wat we've been to Phnom Pehn and then spent a quick two weeks in Vietnam (we saw the spinning hippie for those of you who know him!).

We are in Sri Lanka now visiting our friend Anne who is working with an NGO called Sewalanka. We are staying in the Galle area which was devasted by the tsunami. The descruction is incredible and 6 months later thousands of people are still living in tents! We will stay here and volunteer for a week or so and then travel around a bit. Craig is doing some architecture/design work and I'll be working with a woman's group that sells tailored clothing to tourists. I will probably be helping them with their English skills and giving them sales advice. I'm also looking for a place to practice and or maybe teach some Yoga.

Our email access here will be spotty, but we will try to do a Vietnam entry soon.

You should be able to make comments on this one.

Take care!

Jess and Craig

I'm going to give a brief snyopsis of our 3-day tour of the temples of Angkor (built between the 9th and 13th centuries). This was something Jess and I were both were really looking forward to seeing. The pass is $40 each for 3 day admittance. (where the money goes is another story, not really to the people) Forgive me in advance for too much arch. jargin!

I have to say the ability of an ancient people to create these temples is amazing. One realizes that the power of faith in a religion can really do things like move mountains (or create them in stone). There are hundreds of wats that vary in size and cover a huge amount of area. The main temple is Angkor Wat, the world's largest religous bldg. built to honor Vinshnu. The suggested time to explore this temple is 3 hours. Keep in mind there is infinite detailed carvings and decoration in each temple and each architectural element or ornamental item has religous meaning behind it. For instance, telling the story of the ancient battle, Ramanaya, using bas reliefs.

The bas reliefs in stone (see photos) look as if they had taken years to complete just a small portion--- there are literally hundreds of meters of reliefs on walls within Angkor wat. The approach to Angkor Wat is really cool-- you cross a bridge that is about 30 ft wide and sits above a vast moat. (1.5 km square). While you walk towards the temple, ahead you view large towers in the center that are composed along a horizontal band of wall, creating a powerful elevation of vertical and horizontal elements.

We woke up before 5 am twice to see the sunrise at the main temple (Angkor Wat). One of these days was spectacular w/ an almost clear sky....the other day was pretty overcast. Likewise we witnessed two sunsets. One at a place called 'Elephant' hill and another at Angor Wat. This was an amazing experience as we were sitting on the moat wall talking to two monks as the sky was on fire and was reflecting into the water. Actually, at one point the sky was the exact same orange color as the monks' robes.

One of our other favorite spots is the very popular Ta Prohm, which is being swallowed by huge ancient trees. We went back there twice as it was spiritual to wander around through the mazelike temples and see tree roots growing over, under, and around stone walls. We even saw the old Cambodian man pictured on the cover of the lonely planet -Cambodia book!!

Another temple is named Bayon, and has enormous sculptures of faces staring at you. Again the interesting thing is seeing these forms from a distance as objects-- and upon closer inspection....the incredible detail.

We saw many many more monuments, gates, and temples. Some more impressive than others--- but all have this sense of lasting forever! (which they have). Lastly, being an architect myself I was reminded of the importance of 'art' in architecture and inspiried by the meaning behind the forms and detail on a macro and micro scale. Deep stuff!

Enjoy the photos~

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A bucket of dead fish on ice, five little children, 10 men, five women, four other Farangs (white tourists), two wrinkled old ladies with blackened teeth, and six gnarley-looking chicken and one duck with their legs tightly bound...alive and twitching of course -- this is who accompanied us on our cramped three-hour sangtaew (open-air bus w/benches) ride from Don Det to Pakse. One hour into the journey the birds decided to relieve themselves on the floor and we had to lift our feet and bags to avoid it. Visions of Bird Flu were invading mymind when one of the chickens decided to have a hissy fit and touched my foot with its wet feathers. Having been taken by surprise, I reacted as any normal person (or prissy American) would - I screamed, "Ahhh. It touched me!" I think I almost gave one of the old ladies a heart attack and everyone else laughed especially the kids.

Craig washed my foot off with our water bottle, but I was thoroughly grossed out. Actually, by this time I had already been grossed out by the presence of the poultry and from watching the old ladies with black teeth and gums shove betelnuts, betelbark, betel leaves with lime paste and some sort of tobacco in their mouths all at the same time (I think all of these things are some sort of hallucinogenic). I kept telling myself not to stare, but I couldn't help myself.

This ride was not such a great ending or at all indicative of our three wonderful days in Laos' 4,000 Islands (Si Phan Dom).

At the very southern tip of Laos just before the Cambodian border, the Mekong river fans out forming thousands of islands and channels. We stayed on the backpacker island of Don Det in a nice bungalow with a deck and two hammocks overlooking the river.

One day we rented bikes and explored Don Det and its neighboring island, Don Khon. Both are quiet and beautiful and filled with swaying palm trees, bright green rice paddy fields and bamboo bungalows. There are no cars on either island. Most people get around by bicycle, althought there are a few motorbikes.

That evening before dinner we we layed in our hammocks with a beer lao and watched the the sky turn shades of pink, orange, purple and red as the sun set over the Mekong and thought, "Could life get any better than this?"

The next morning we set out at 6:30 a.m. with a young Israeli couple to try to catch a glimpse of the rare Irawaddy dolphins. I think only 20 or so of these freshwater mammals still remain in the area. And unless net fisherman stop killing them, the species will shortly die off. Apparently, the fisherman don't want to ruin thier "expensive" nets by cutting them to release caught dolphins.

We heard the best time to see the Irawaddy was between 6 and 9 in the morning and even then we'd only have a 50% chance. But after walking for over an hour with no coffee (gasp!) or breakfast, we decided we had earned our glimpse. And we were right! 20 minutes after setting off in our boat we saw a dolphin come up for air, followed by a few others. There looked to be about 10 of them and we watched them swim around us for about 30 minutes. They looked pretty much like regular dolphins, but with a boxier face... but it was special to see them and peaceful to watch them rolling along in the river...

So, for the rest of the ride back to Pakse, I just kept trying to keep my eyes off of the chickens and the old women and picture the Irawaddy dolphins swimming at sunset in the Mekong.

Thought we'd get these photos downloaded-- the entry will come soon~
enjoy!

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We did our slow boat ride north from Luang Prabang to Nong Khiaw on the Nam Ou river and it was gorgeous (we heard one of the most scenic trips). It took about 6 hours and we were glad our butts only had to spend one day on a cramped, wooden boat.

Along the way we saw many villagers fishing and even more children swimming and playing. Each time we passed a group of kids they all yelled "sabaa-dii (hello)" in unison and did back flips to show off.

The views in Nong Khiaw (NK) were of dramatic limestone peaks, topped with fog and covered with emerald green foliage. Both sides of the river are developed and we stayed on the East side, which I think was the nicer of the two, in a very basic and musty room at a place called sunset. It did have a nice loungy area overlooking the river and we were able to eat all our meals there. The food was not great, but pretty good. A Canadian couple, Jess and Sean, who we met briefly in Luang Prabang were also staying there and we ended up hanging out with them for about 4 days. They taught us to play cribbage...and we had lots of fun with that.

In our only full day in NK we wet off to explore a cave and waterfall. The cave served as a hideout for villagers during the war. Outside the cave there were two bomb craters with a sign indicating that they were caused by USA bombs. It is here that I should mention (I'm paraphrasing from the guide book) that b/w 1964 and 1973 the US conducted one of the largest sustained aerial bombardments in history, flying 580,344 missions over Laos and dropping two million tons of bombs, costing US $2.2 million a day! Around 30% of the bombs dropped failed to detonate, leaving the country with unexploded ordnance (UXO)... which has resulted in accidents and prevented even small-scall agricultural development in affected areas. Scary stuff!

After a day in Nong Khiaw we took a very crowded slow boat ride one hour north to Mung Ngoi Neua (MNN). We were squashed like sardines with other backpackers and local villagers. There were even people sitting on the rickety roof, which made me quite nervous. But the ride was pretty short and the scenery was gorgeous. Only accessible by boat, MNN was by far the most remote place we had been on the trip so far and even more idyllic than Nong Khiaw. In the past several years more and more backpackers have been coming here, so tourism is the largest industry. We had a bungalow right on the river and with views of limestone peaks reaching high into the sky. Green was everywhere. MNN is a beatiful village in its own right. Filled with palm trees, landscaped with flowers and dotted with bamboo huts. About 850 people live here and there are 20 guest houses.

We hired a local teenager to take us on his boat and lead us on a trek to a waterfall. We walked through a village and rice paddy fields and then up a stream....and there were leeches!!!! I only had one on me and our guide pulled
it off before it attached itself to my foot (thank God)! Anyway, it made for an exciting hike back as we tried to avoid the gross creatures. We also did a one day fishing trip (with nets). The best part about it was the boat trip up the river with more amazing scenery and we got to eat the fish for both lunch and dinner (the river was much cleaner than the Mekong). We also visited a village and we saw women making silk string and weaving some beatiful textiles.. we bought one that will be a nice wall hanging.

After about three wonderful days, we headed back to Luang Prabang to continue our journey south.

Photos will come soon! [here they are]

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Babies everywhere! From humans to chicks and ducklings to piglets and water buffalo calves to kittens and puppies -- babies have been a reacurring theme in Laos. Along with deliciously strong coffee with sweet milk, French baguettes, Laos Laos (whiskey) and I must not forget to mention the delicious beer Laos. By far the best beer in SE Asia, Beer Laos is delicious and cheap (less than a dollar for a big bottle).

Life in Laos revolves around its rivers - the large and muddy-colored, yet magical Mekong which winds its way south from China - along with several other impressive rivers that flow through the country and empty into the Mekong. The majority of men fish (and not surprisingly fish and sticky rice are the main staples of the Laos diet). And because we are here during school break, children are found playing in the water all day long. Every morning and afternoon women walk down to the river in their sarongs with their laundry and a bucket filled with soap and a tooth brush to bathe and scrub their clothes. Unfortunately, we've seen a lot of trash being dumped in the river and as Craig found out by following the path of the toilet pipes, human waste often goes into the water as well.

Craig and I have find it hard to understand why people would bathe, play and fish in water in which they also dump trash and human waste... But Laos is a poor country. There is no infastructure and thus no waste management and in a lot of places we've been, no electricity. Needless to say we haven't been for a swim in the Mekong... and we've haven't been eating too much fish.

The Lonely Planet says that Laos remote, rugged geography coupled with 20 years of communism and a sparse, ethinically diverse population has made development a slow process. Plus, the country was hit hard by the Asian economic crisis of the late 90s. Capitalism is slowly happening, so there is an "urban elite" living in the cities, but the vast majority of the peopulation are subsistence villagers living along the rivers and high up in the hills.

We found Laos to be a beautiful, green and laid back country. There is not much hustle and bustle. People move around slowly and nap in hammocks in the afernoons. Things do liven up in the evening when men, drunk off Laos Loas, have their sing-a-longs. Actually, they love to sing here and we've seen children, women and adults just break out in spontaneous song. In fact, their language is also quite sing-songy and soothing and the people are gentle and laugh easily...especially at us Farangs.

Craig and I are leaving Laos tomorrow for Siem Reap, Cambodia and we sure will miss this country, its people and its beauty and of course... its beer!

We were hot, thirsty, hungry and cranky and in Vientiane, Laos, which is a dusty city with not much character. We had just spent a sweaty and confusing 2 hours trying to extend our visas and mail three packages of souveniers back to the U.S. for $70 (about 3 times the price of the contents).....

So, we decided to forget about our budget and eat a nice meal. And what a great decision it was! After a beer Laos, a real salad with leafy green lettuce and a delicious pizza in a breezy, modern French cafe, we suddenly felt 100% better. And it only cost us $10. Sometimes it is well worth it to treat yourself -- this is a lesson we learned early on in our travels -- whether it be a really nice meal, an expensive glass of wine, or a room with air-conditioning. At the end of the day you will still be paying less than half of what the same thing would cost back home.

We lucked out big time and got a ride to Vientiane last night with the owner of our guest house in Vang Vieng. He works in Vientiane (which is the capital of Laos) Monday-Friday and was heading back here anyway. He only charged us $3 a piece, which was only a little more than the public bus we were going to take. Plus, the trip was a lot quicker and we got to ride in his nice truck with air-conditioning. He was a very sweet man and chatted with us the whole trip about Laos and his family. (Note: we'd highly recommend his guest house, the Vang Vieng Orchid, to other travellers. We had a spacious room with a balcony that overlooked the river and mountains in the distance. And when we checked out, they told us not to worry about paying for the seven Laos coffees and many waters we had consumed there!)

In Vientiane we are staying in another very nice and clean guest house on the Mekong river called Joe's. It is one of the cleanest places we've stayed so far, so we don't mind spending $8 on the room.

Tonight we take a 10-hour overnight V.I.P. bus to Pakse in Southern Laos. From there we will go to Wat Phu, which is supposedly one of the most impressive sites in Laos. We have heard that Wat Phu rivals Angkor Wat (even though its much smaller) and was built 200 years before it. After Wat Phu we plan to head to the Bolaven Plateau, Si Phan Don (4,000 Islands) and then back to Pakse by the 24th when we'll catch a flight to Siem Reap, Cambodia.

This is one of our first real-time blog postings in a while. We are slowly trying to get caught up. We still have to write about our first two wonderful weeks in Laos -- Luang Prabang, Nong Khiaw and Mung Ngoi Neau.

We aren't sure what Internet access will be like the next week or so... so don't worry if you don't hear from us (Mom!).

Hope everyone is well... Catch ya later!

(Craig here) The minibus ride to pai was about 3 hours, but on a very windy road. We've since had a similar ride in Laos-- and I think travelling around this part of the world is just like this, hairpin turn after hairpin turn!
When we finally got to Pai, we were very impressed with the surrounding scenery and the small town atmosphere. We'd heard great things about this place-- and it was looking like it was true.
On a recommendation of a fellow bootsnall memeber-- (& sanfranciscan! Madhu) we chose to stay at a place called the 'Sunhut'........ I should add that on the minibus ride jess and I met a wonderful Kiwi couple named Ben & Sarah.

Sometimes you just click with certain folks-- and we definitely did with them. We roughly spent the next 5 or 6 days hanging out with them- lots of good conversation, drinking, and laughing!

Jess mostly talked to them the way up because we were sitting in seperate rows. They too were interested in checking out the 'sunhut' and upon us seeing the layout.....the decision was a 'no brainer'! The guesthouse is a series of very nicely constructed bungalows around a central "outdoor kitchen" with a coy pond that wraps around it. Also, there is a platform area-- kinda like a gazebo with a roof over it where hammocks are and an extensive bookshelf and board games! Turned out that we had so much fun talking and hanging out with our new kiwi friends that there wasn't much reading or card playing going on! I should add here that one of the best things about traveling like this is the amount of information you can gain by just talking to other folks from around the globe~ We didn't even know that NZ currently has a woman as the prime minister!

Ok, more on Pai....... There are 2 public pools in town where you can swim, which is great b/c it still is very hot when the sun is out. The main attractions in and around pai are the Elephant camp, white water rafting (when the water levels are high) and trekking. The four of us signed up for a two day, one night trek through the surrounding hills. we chose what we thought was the best outfit out of the 3 or 4 we talked to that day.

The Trek-
We started off the next day around 9am or so..... you always rush to make sure you get to things on time and end up hanging around a good half our or 45min. till you actually leave--- Thai time i guess!
we each were given a pack to carry that was fairly small and had a plastic liner inside to keep everything dry from the rain. also, we were given bottles of water and i had many rambutans (tropical fruit) stuffed into one pocket of my bag.
we were all in a group with 4 others who were doing a 3 day- 2 night trek.
the group included 2 from the uk, 1 from canada, and 1 from amsterdam. sooo mostly western tourists. the trek started off on a sandy like trail down a slight incline-- tricky for good footing. one of the girls in the group really was wearing the wrong footwear and was constantly slipping-- eventually hurting her knee! (a previous injury) on top of that, our guide was not looking too well--- we found out quickly that he had drank too much Lao Lao (home made wiskey) the night before--- and hence, was hungover. These 2 factors quickly took our trek from the original route we were supposed to take-- to the "easier" route wich was less scenic. soo, the 1st day was not quite what we were expecting. we stopped in 1 hilltribe village for lunch and would stay in another one later that evening. The hilltribe villages were not exactly what we expected either- no real indigenous outfits, instead modern clothing and music playing (yes, elect. via solar panels!) still farming and traditional means of life existed, but with modern stuff implemented as well. Plus, it was disappointing to see garbage strewn all over the village (especially at the first one).
Jess and i brought a few boxes of pens (thanks to Ashe and Maciej) with us on the trip to give away to children-- and we visited the local schoolhouse and delivered them to the teacher. they were very excited to receive this gift!

we finished off the 2nd leg of the 1st day (after lunch) and entered the 2nd hilltribe village around dusk. we stayed in a large shed-like structure with wooden platforms about 2 ft. off the ground for beds (with sleeping pads).
there was a large picnic table and freestanding outhouse nearby as well.
what made the day was the outstanding sunset (see photos!) and the fun times we had after eating dinner and drinking beer changs with the whole group.

after a rough night sleeping-- mostly b/c off the local livestock sounds starting at 4am-- roosters! we had an excellent breakfast.... of scrambled eggs, toast and coffee (instant). we were suprised at how good it turned out!
we had a brief tour of the village and spoke with the chief-- through our guide who was the translator..... about various aspects of hilltribe life. The funny thing was that the old man was chewing beetlenut-- a common thing to do among the hilltribes. it's basically like having a big "chew" in your mouth and needing to spit all the time-- which he did on his own hut floor!

we then left the village for day 2 of our trek-- at this point the girl with the hurt knee was taxied out on a scooter.... and the rest of the group besides us and the kiwis went another route. we had a new guide who didn't speak any english but knew the route we needed to go to get to the truck. this day was equally challenging in that it was mostly down hill with a sandy trail to walk on. we stopped for lunch in a bamboo forest which was really surreal. after a quick lunch of fried rice wrapped in a banana leaf-- we had about 2 hours left......
this was the best leg of the trip as it started raining lightly and we continued through the bamboo forest to meet up with a creek. we followed the creek through farming fields and eventually ended up back at the road and the truck was waiting for us with cups of ice and Coca Cola! i have to say, it's never tasted better to us...... ha ha.... i should say that it was pretty hot both days and we were sweating a ton-- drinking lots of water though.

The trek was a fun experience overall-- i think we were expecting a bit more out of it...... it felt great to get back to the sunhut, take much needed showers, and relax.

The next day we were on a mission to get Thai massages to work out the kinks from the trek. i think we got the best massage yet--- 1 1/2 hours each-- with hot herbs used at the end. The herbs are basically wrapped in a large cloth and heated up-- and dabbed all over your body at the end of the massage.
Later that night we were to meet up with the everyone from the trek at a local bar. it would turn out to be a fun night of drinking beers, Lao Lao, and playing Jenga with the trek guide and his buddy! i forgot how much fun jenga is especially when having a few drinks. oh! i should mention that we also met another couple-- him from TX and her from the uk, who were in Ben and sarah's cooking class back down in chang Mai. They actually had met at Burningman-- so we had alot to talk them about.

The next day we woke to the sound of some demo work going on 2 bungalows down from us. They have decided to modify things at the 'Sunhut'-- so it turned out that the timing was good to be leaving. We caught the same type minibus back down to Chang Mai-- where we would have one more night till our Sun. evening flight to Luang Prabang, Laos!

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We took another cheap flight from Singapore to Bangkok (Bkk) via Tiger Airways and it was great to be going back somewhere for the 2nd time. We knew our way around Bkk and the Suk 11 is now our "go to" guesthouse.

We would only be in Bkk for a few days before heading north and after hearing good things about Jim Thompson's house, we decided to take the tour. He was a very interesting person-- an American architect who joined the army during WWII and was stationed in Thailand. He fell in love with the culture and decided to stay and cultivate the Thai silk industry. His home in Bkk consists of 6 small teak wood homes that were delivered and assembled from vaious parts of Thailand. Each home is filled with beatiful antiques from China, Burma, Ayuthaya (the old capital of Siam), and other parts of Thailand. Another interesting factoid about Jim Thompson was that he went missing while on a hike by himself in the Cameron Highlands in Malaysia (sound familiar?) and no trace of him has ever been found......

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After many more good meals in Bangkok, and a haircut for me (buzz) we booked the night train to Chang Mai.

(Jess here) When we arrived in Chang Mai, a bit stiff and bleary eyed, we set off to find the little home guest house, recommended to us by Doug. It was a great little place with nice owners and we were only one of two guests. The hot season was April and May and the monsoon season started in June, so we are traveling in the low, low season and we really started to realize this in Chang Mai. We had heard that many people didn't like Chang Mai because of too many tourists.. but it didn't seem too bad to us. Also, the rain hasn't been a factor. It rains often in the afternoon... but not all day... And the rain seems to make everything cleaner, greener and fresh.. so we don't mind it at all. Chang Mai is a mini version of Bangkok. We liked it, but expected it to be a little less busy and trafficky than it was...

We took a full-day cooking course which was great!!! It started with a tour of the local market where we learned about the different types of rice, the vegetables and the herbs used in Thai cooking. After the market, we made and proceeded to EAT all the popular Thai dishes: Tom Yum soup, Green Curry, red curry, papaya salad, pad thai, and more things I can't remember now. Then we made sticky rice and fried bananas for desert. Everything was delicious... but we got so full and towards the end I started to feel a little bit ill.

It was the day before Buddha's birthday and every year some 100,000 Thais make the 12 km pilgrimage up a mountain to the highest and most sacred temple in Chang Mai, Doi Suthep. They start around 6 p.m. in the evening, spend the night at the temple and leave the next day after the monks bless them at seven a.m. We had met a fellow San Franciscan and burner named Damien at a Yoga class the day before and he invited us to join him on this trek... after some thought.... we decided to do it.

I started to feel a bit more ill after we started walking.. and not to get into too much detail.. I had a bit of a dodgy stomach (I think it was from the street food we had eaten the night before and not the cooking class food because Craig was fine). So, I decided that I just shouldn't eat or drink anything besides water. Needless to say, I didn't have as much energy as I usually have and after only 2 km I needed a break. I thought about turning back... but I really wanted to make it to the top and the hundreds of people of all ages trudging up the hill.. the very old and the very young, monks, adults and teenagers inspired me to continue. So I continued.... and it was difficult. I kept having to take breaks every 2 km... normally, I would have been racing up the hill. At one point it started to rain... luckily I had my poncho. And by the time we were 4 km to the top I realized that I had a fever and could barely put one foot in front of the other. Finally, it stopped raining and thank God for Damien who entertained us with a 30-minute poem that he knew from memory. It was quite amazing! I struggled, but I made it. And the suffering was worth it. There was a festival at the base of the temple with beautiful lanterns, loads of people, food, music, etc... And when we ascended the stairs to the temple the scene was amazingly spiritual. Hundreds of people with flowers and incense were slowly circling 3 times, smoke was billowing up all around us and monks were chanting. We went inside the biggest building to make our offering of a lotus flower and were blessed by a monk with water. The people who weren't walking around, praying or meditating were sleeping-- and there were many and they were everywhere -- on the ground outside the buildings, on the steps leading to the temples, inside the temples. After a half-hour exploring and enjoying the nighttime view of Chang Mai, we decided not to sleep there and take a taxi home. I had never been so tired in my life... I could barely sit up on the ride home and bed never felt so wonderful. Needless to say, I spent the next day in bed and couldn't eat anything. Craig took great care of me and bought me a close second to ginger ale (lime soda)... I finally decided I should take Cipro and got better in a day (thank God for antibiotics!!).

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From Chang Mai we took a mini-bus ride to Pai........Craig has promised to that entry soon :)

For an update we are now back in Luang Prabang heading to Vang Vieng tomorrow... slowly making our way to Cambodia. We are enjoying Laos so much that we will extend our visa and stay here almost a month.

p.s. let us know if you can view the large format "pop-up" images. If not, we'll try to compress them

It's been a while since our last entry..... Right now we are in Luang Prabang, Laos. And we didn't take the slow boat here as originally planned. We heard some bad stories about this 2-day trip down the Mekong - - including hard, wooden seats the size of one butt cheek, no leg room, boats so packed that there is no space to move around, rats in the town you stop for the night and the the worst of which was from a women in Bangkok whose slow boat sank. The passengers had to swim to the bank of the river and spent the night shivering with their wet backpacks. As soon as we heard that story I said to Craig, "Right. We are flying." So, we did from Chang Mai to Luang Prabang. The flight was 45 minutes and cost us about $70 each. However, we will be taking a boat trip on the river at some point and we recently met some people who did the slow boat and said it was brilliant. So, I guess you never know. And we did save 3 days...

This entry will be about our time in Singapore.... but we still will have lots to cover because from then until now we've been back to Bangkok, to Chang Mai and to a wonderful place called Pai. But, those stories will have to wait for a few days...

We got to Singapore via a 7-hour train ride from Kuala Lumpur.

Fortunately, I was reading an EXCELLENT book - "The Power of One" by Bryce Courtenay (I highly recommend this book to everyone!!) - so the time went by quite fast. My Dad's company has an office and Singapore and one of his co-worker's, Michelle, generously offered Craig and I the guestroom in the apartment she shares with her husband, Greg. We felt lucky because Singapore is quite expensive. Michelle and Greg were the most gracious hosts and the four of us had lots of fun together!

At Michelle and Greg's we had our own room and bathroom in their beatifully decorated, air conditioned and spacious apartment. I have to tell you after a month of budget backpacking we were in heaven.... we slept like babies, washed all our clothes and actually felt clean for the first time of the trip! Their apt complex also had a very nice pool, a small gym and a room that we used as a Yoga studio. We felt like we were living in the lap of luxury. Plus, we ate some wonderful meals at their house including salmon and we had delicious wine, which we had been missing and played some games of pool. They invited us back... so we will try to spend a few days with them in Aug. before going to Bali.

Singapore is an extremely modern, clean and thoroughly air-conditioned city.... perhaps the most modern place we have ever been. We didn't see too much of the city because we enjoyed sleeping in and lounging by the pool. However, Michelle accompanied us on a river boat tour, which was a great way to get a feel for Singapore. After the boat tour we had some beers and appetizers along the river while the city grew dark and more beatiful as lights came on all around us. We ended the night at a very cool non-touristy bar called Fez.. where Michelle and Greg are regulars and we had a good time chatting with all the "ex-pats." The next morning we were a bit hungover, so we decided to just hang out by the pool all day... it was great!! On our last day in Singapore, Craig and I went to Chinatown for lunch and then walked to the infamous long bar at the Raffles hotel and split a "Singapore Sling," which was pretty good.. but the highlight was definitely the free peanuts they served.

Other backpackers keep asking us if we liked Singapore. And we did... but I think that we had a unique situation in that we had a place to stay with Michelle and Greg and saw the city from their perspective. Had we been there on our own...with our meager backpacker budget.... I'm not sure that we would have enjoyed it so much.

Hello from the expert snorkelers!

Sorry it has been so long since our last entry. Our week in Malaysia was very busy and now we are in Singapore taking a mini-break from the backpacker lifestyle. We are staying with a friend and co-worker of my dad's and her husband and are having THE BEST time (but more on that in our next entry).

From Ko Lanta we spent an uneventful night in Phuket Town (although we did have mango with sticky rice for the first time and it was divine) and then caught a flight to Kuala Lumpur (KL), Malaysia. It was pouring rain the first afternoon we arrived, so we stayed inside and only had a day to explore the city. Not really enough time, but we managed to squeeze in a lot....

KL is an oppressively hot city, but also surprisingly modern, so aircon was easily found. We stayed in a pretty good backpacker's hostel in the Golden Triangle called the Green Hut. KL was our first introduction to the mix of people who make up Malyasia. Basically, there are three main groups living here - - the Malays, who are mostly Muslim; Chinese, who are followers of Taoism and Buddhism; and Indians, who are Hindu and Muslim. According to our guide book, Islam is the state religion of the country, but freedom of religion is guaranteed. The allows for an interesting system. Apparently there are different laws for the different religions. There are Muslim police who will arrest a Malay for drinking alcolhol -- or the weirdest law to Craig and I -- force Muslim teenagers of the opposite sex to marry if they are caught alone together. Imagine that?! It is also important for me to note here that Malaysia is a peaceful country and the people live harmoniously.

As a result of the different cultures present in Malaysia, we had our choice of a variety of cuisines (obvioulsy Indian, Chinese or Malay). We ate a very cheap and good lunch in China Town at one of the "hawker stalls" (I had fried noodles with pork and craig had fish ball soup...sounds gross I know..) and we had a great Indian meal in the Bangsar district of the city (thank's to Eric's friend who recommended the place). I had a vegetarian banana leaf dinner, with the leaf as a plate and little piles of yummy vegetables, dal and rice to mix together. To wash it down we had the best Masala tea ever... milky, fragrant, sweet and spicy all at the same time. Oh and you are supposed to eat with your hands here, but I'm not there yet. Bangsar is a "posh" area of the city and after dinner we met up with a a new friend we met on our ferry to Phi Phi... Jim, who works for the UN in KL. We had a nice time hanging out with Jim and during drinks at some swanky bars, he shared his knowledge and insight on the country (thanks, Jim).

Another highligt of KL (especially to Craig) were the Petronas Towers, the world's tallest towers located in the heart of the city. At night they are lit up beautifully and look like Muslim spaceships.

From KL we took a 5 hour bus ride to the Cameron Highlands, which were literally a breath of fresh air. The weather here is cool and damp, as the area is about 4,000 feet above sea level (i think). The scenery is gorgeous -- rolling hills blanketed with green tea trees, and we are surrounded by both fog and the jungle. There are loads of trekking trails through the jungle. On our first full day we did a few short hikes to some waterfalls, but Craig wasn't feeling well, so we didn't go too far. The next day he was feeling much better, so we took a half-day tour to the highest mountain in the area did a short guided hike where we learned about all the jungle plants you could survive on and those you can use to poison your enemies. Then we went to the BOH tea factory to learn about the "tea making process." Very interesting indeed. The tour ended at a town 5 km north of where we were staying, so after a quick bite we decided to trek through the jungle to get back to our guest house. Our guides assured us that the trail was well-marked. Yeah right! It was a very cool 2-hour trek.... once we found our way. We totally lost the trail after about 30 minutes into it and I found myself trying hard to remember which plants we could eat and which would kill us and had visions of us having to spend the night in the jungle. But, we found the trail after a little bit and while we were lost we saw some owls... so it was worth it :) (Don't worry.... we would have turned back the way we came).

After a few days cooling off in the Cameron Highlands, we journeyed to the Perhentian Islands via mini-bus and speedboat. We almost missed the last speedboat because our mini-bus driver stopped several times for cigarette breaks and to chat with another driver who was following us. The first time he stopped was about 20 minutes after we had just taken a 1-hour lunch break. All of us were a bit concerned about catching the last ferry and asked him why we were stopped. He simlpy said, "I'm tired" and got out of the van so we wouldn't bother him during his much-needed rest.

The Perhentians were paradise and were truly the clearest water we both have ever seen. Most backpackers stay on Long Beach on Kecil (the small island). We had heard that it is hard to find accomodation on Long beach, so we decided to check out a fairly isolated resort called D' Lagoon on another beach. D'Lagoon is run by a friendly family, had great food and 3 private beaches. Two of the beaches were about 10 minutes walking distance through the jungle and the times that Craig and I went there, we had them to ourselves.. well besides a 4 foot lizard (I am not kidding!). From D'Lagoon we took a boat trip to "swim with turtles." We only found one green turtle, but we swam with it for 45-minutes and it was awesome! We also swam with baby sharks another day. The reef right off the beach at D'Lagoon was brilliant. We saw the most colorful coral and fish and some of the biggest fish of our trip so far. After 3 days on the island it was hard to tear ourselves away, but we were scheduled to arrive in Singapore by Friday. So we took the speed boat back to Kota Bharu, where we spent the night before making our way to Singapore. On the speedboat we met a really nice English couple (Jeanine and Ben) and ended up sharing a room with them. It was pouring that evening, but the four of us braved the rain and went to the night market for delicious Malay-style food. Jeanine and Ben are just completing an 8-month trip around the world and were full of great stories and advice.

As I mentioned we are now in Singapore and tomorrow morning we are headed to Bangkok to spend a few days and then will go to Chang Mai. We are anxious to get back to Thailand's smiling faces, yummy food and $4 massages!

Hope everyone is well! We've had some requests for more photos.. so here you go, Abby. :)

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From Rai Leh we boated to the famous islands of Ko Phi Phi, made up of Phi Phi Lei and Phi Phi Don. Phi Phi Lei is where the movie "The Beach" was filmed-- and is an incredible outcropping of shear rock that reaches straight out of the ocean. I've never really seen anything like it. From miles away on the boat the shapes are really amazing.

Since it is low season for tourists, we were on the same boat as people taking a day-long snorkeling trip. A bonus for us because we got to stop at Bamboo Island on the way and snorkel for 45 minutes. The reef was prettier that at Ko Tao and the fish were bigger and more brilliant.

Ko Phi Phi was hit hard by the Tsunami and after signing up for a dodgy room by a sketchy local on the pier... (more later on that) Jess and I walked around the island a bit to check it out. The walk was sombering. There was still alot of debris and rubble everywhere -- blatant reminders of the wave destruction. But alot has been and is being re-built and folks are trying to get back on their feet. A lot of young tourists are volunteering. You can see them during the day in their swim suits and flip flops moving trash or doing some kind of labor work. Then, you see them again at night.... partying all night long.

Jess and I hired a taxi boat driver (nice guy named Ood) to take us on a 2 hour tour of Phi Phi Lei and it was incredible. We saw numerous coves, and huge sea caves. We also did some snorkeling in Malay Bay where 'The Beach' was filmed. We weren't the only ones there as there were many Japanese tourists that hired speed boats to take them around.

(Jess here) We weren't sure what to expect of Ko Phi Phi. The Lonely Planet says the islands' beauty would invoke tears and that budget accomodation was non-existent, but we knew that the islands were hit HARD by the tsunami and as a result prices had dropped. We heard that what Phi Phi needs most is tourists to go there to spend money.

As the boat approached the dock, I was struck by the beauty of both the islands. However, my pleasant mood quickly changes as we were accosted by 20 Thai men trying to sell us accomodation. One man showed us nice photos of bungalows for 400 Baht and the promise of a pool and a free American breakfast. That was more than we wanted to pay, but figured that pre-tsunami this resort was twice that amount. He asked us to pre-pay at the dock - this should have made us suspicious, but the same happened it Krabi and the place was nice. When we arrived at the resort I was hopefull. There was a nice pool and the beach looked great...However, we did not have a bungalow as promised, but rather a motel-style box room with only one small window and a gross bathroom. We had been scammed! But thought again how the tsunami had just ruined this island only 4 months ago, so we didn't say anthing. Plus, we had already paid for one night (so we could get a free ride to the resort) which we vowed never to do again before seeing the place.

As Craig mentioned, we walked around the island and while the beaches and water were gorgeous there was debris and rubble almost everywhere inland... but at the same time buildings were being re-built and we heard that more and more businesses are re-opening their doors everyday.

We stopped in an Internet cafe and spoke with a nice woman. She said that when the tsunami hit (around 10 a.m.) she had been working at another shop closer to the beach, but had seen the wave coming, so she ran and was saved. She said that most of the locals who died were the people who worked late in bars in clubs so they were still asleep.

One common thing we've been hearing in both Phi Phi and Ko Lanta is that people haven't seen any relief money from the government. For example, the island of Phi Phi still doesn't have a bulldozer. I'm not sure if Thailand accepted international aid, but Craig and I are wondering where all the donated money is going......especially because we donated to the International Red Cross ourselves.

After a day and half on Phi Phi we felt like we really needed to check out Ko Lanta. (We heard some things from other travelers). So, we took a boat to Ko Lanta and met a really friendly guy named Tong on the boat selling his family resort on the island. We got a good vibe from him and decided to go with it and Ko Lanta Family Resort turned out to be great! We had an awesome bungalow with a flush toilet (for a change) and yummy food. Ko Lanta was extremely quiet. But we really enjoyed ourselves there. We spent our days swimming, eating good Thai food, sunbathing and reading. We met a really nice couple from Canada (Hi Shanna and Ryan!) and hung out with them in the evenings and rented motor bikes with them on our last day to explore the island.

After three days of pure relaxation we took a ferry to Phuket town from where we caught a quick flight to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Now, we are in Cameron Highlands on our way to the Perhentian Islands..... don't want to be along from the beach for too long ;)

We'll try to do another posting on Malaysia in the next few days.

Happy Mother's Day!

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Those of you who know me well know that when it comes to the water, I am a fish. So, while I loved Ko Tao and Ko Pah-Ngan (KPN), I was a bit diassapointed in the water levels at both Islands. The tides were even lower at KPN and further the ocean floor was filled with coral, just waiting to cut up our feet. So.....after a week with unswimmable oceans, Rai Leh Beach - in addition to having stunningly beautiful limestone cliffs reaching straight out of the emerald green water and white, powdery sand - has a fairly deep ocean in high tide with not too many dangerous rocks. Yipee! I was finally able to swim like a fish and to top it alll off our resort had a pool! However, with a beach this gorgeous, It would have been a sin to spend too much time there.

After an 8 hour journey from KPN (4 hours by ferry to Surat Thani and 3 hours by bus with Brittany Spear' blasting for the ENTIRE time -- Oops! They played it again!!!!) - We landed in Krabi on the Andaman Coast. A man approached us at the bus stop with pics of a nice guest house for 300 Baht and an offer for a free taxi ride. We went with him and were pleasantly surprised by the nice guest room, but not by the roach the size of a small rodent in our bathroom. After Craig heroically (insert sarcasm) disposed of the roach and taking a cold shower to wash off the travel grime, we headed down to the night market by the pier. Dozens of vendors were dishing up tradtional Thai fare. We split a delicious pad thai (cheapest yet at $.25), a banana shake and a large Singha.

We've been eating loads of fruit in the form of shakes, juices, fruit salads, fried bananas, banana pancakes (the standard backpacker b-fast throughout Thailand (bananas, watermellon, pineapple and coconut are in season and are juicy, sweet and so much better here). And while on the subject of food, we had our best meal of the trip at Rai Lei at a place called Coco -- grilled tuna and barracuda with 4 tasty thai sauces for dipping plus corn, baked potato and cabbage salad. All that for only $2.50 each. This meal was so good that we went back the second night and had our second favorite meal... this time we had shark and barracuda!

After spending the night in Krabi we took a 30 min. ride in a wooden longtail boat powered by a large and loud car engine to East Rai Leh. The beatiful beach I previously mentioned is in West Rai Leh, but the West side is too pricey for cheap backpackers like ourselves. So, we got a spacious fan room for only 250 baht in East Rai Leh (the beach here is filled with Mangrove trees and unsuitable for swimming) and followed the other backpackers along the 15 minute path the paradise.

After two days in Rai Leh, we decided to take the ferry to the Tsunami ravaged Ko Phi Phi. We wanted to spend our tourist $$ in a place that was so badly hit. We will write more about our experience there in the next entry. After two days at Phi Phi (pronounced pee pee), we took another boat to Ko Lanta, which was also hit by the big wave and is where we are right now.... more details on Ko Lanta are to come as well.

One more note.... with huge limestone cliffs, Rai Leh is a rockclimbers mecca. We thought about going on a beginners climb, but the extreme heat is making us feel very lazy... and at almost $40, it would be way over our daily budget. Craig got another Thai massage instead for about $4 and I practiced Yoga at sunset on the beach (I love doing that!).

We booked a flight from Phuket to Kuala Lumpur, Malayasia for May 4 and will try to do another Thailand posting before we leave.

Sorry about the format of previous blogs.. the size of the photos messed things up.. but we are learning as we go. We will post our photos of Rai Leh asap... Love to everyone!

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The day of the full moon party we rented a jeep with our new friends Gonzalo, Maria and Kate. We took off from Haad Gruad about 11am and drove north around the coast basically until the road ended. Hats off to Maria for skillfully driving (she would later be the designated driver to Haad Rin for the party).
We discovered the best beach seen yet-- Coconut Beach Resort. The roads to it were very steep and rocky, so the jeep was a good idea.

I should add here that Jess and I rented a 125cc scooter a few days before--- it took a bit to get comfortable with the different shifting (no clutch) and driving on sandy gravel roads...... but it was a blast and worked out great. The highlight of that day was driving home at sunset over rolling paved roads (not common) just south of Haad Yao--- beautiful!

On our way back to Haad Gruad from Coconut beach, we stopped at Thong Sala (the port town) to shop and buy some drinks at the 7-Eleven (they're everywhere) for a little pre-Full Moon party action. To save $ on taxi services, we decided to take the Jeep (Maria driving). With all scooter and jeep rentals, you get the vehicle for 24 hours. We headed out around 9:30-ish......

The basic history on the full moon parties is this: Supposedly it started about 1987 or 1988 (no one's sure) but it was someone's birthday party. The party went so well that the same group of folks came back the next month to do it again, and it just snowballed into what it is today.

Curiousity as to what kind of scene this was gonna be filled all our minds. To be honest, there's not a whole lot of positive comments floating around about the Full Moon party (for obvious reasons-- young partiers taking things too far, the shear numbers of people, and nothing but psy-trance music).

However, we ended up having a blast! It was a perfect evening, clear and bright with the moonlight. And of corse, everyone's in a great mood. Upon arriving on the beach, accessed by a main road filled with shops and restaurants (defintiely the most developed place on the island) we spilled out onto the beach- Had Rin East (sunrise beach).

Incredible Fire twirlers (Thai), Day glo artists (painting artwork on your body), and about 10 different booming sound systems along the beach with risers for people to dance on was what filled your senses. Oh, and lots of food vendors.

We walked down to one end checking everything out and then to the other end to complete "the rounds". To be honest, I didn't really think the music was all that great. I was prepared for some mind blowing stuff I guess. American hip-hop, Psy Trance, and Drum & Bass were the basic genres. Upon determining the best music - a place called "Vinyl" (djs from Amsterdam and the UK) we danced for a few hours till we needed a break. We also enjoyed dancing to the drum and bass deejays for a while. There was a definite time when we felt like leaving (around 2 a.m.) having drank enough and noticing the crowd starting to get pretty sloppy and annoying. Lots of people stay till sunrise.

We all had a great time~ it was a good thing to experience for sure...... and I think the timing on our departure had alot to do with it. The ride home was definitely "rough" after drinking! Jess and I had intentions to go back for the "after" party which was the next day starting at 11am--- (we heard great things about it) but that definitely wasn't happening.

I didn't bring my camera to the party, but below are some shots from Koh Pha-Ngan. We also posted some shots on the previous blog..so check them out as well.

We are at Rai Leh beach right now on the Adaman Coast and it is breathtakingly beautiful! Jess will post the next blog as soon as possible.

Cheers!

Not to rub it in, but we've already forgotten. It doesn't matter here anyway. We are on Kho Pha-Ngan awaiting the full moon party that is tomorrow night. We rented a scooter today and have been exploring this beautiful palm-filled island. We just saw a huge elephant with ivory tusks having a snack of grass on the side of the road.
Just one of many amazing and unusual things to see here. But...before getting ahead of myself, I'll talk about Ko Tao first.

The train was scheduled to leave in 5 minutes and the cheerful Thai man took Craig's arm and led him off the car and onto the platform...leaving me sitting there worried we would take off without him. Two minutes later they got back on the train with fresh, cold Singhas in hand. You see, we wanted some beer and asked this man where he got his. The man went with Craig to show him where to buy it and to ensure that he would pay the same price as the locals (38 baht/less than $1). The Thai people have impressed us with their friendliness and smiles. I guess that's why they call it the land of a thousand smiles (or something like that).

While not having much Thai culture, Ko Tao was beautiful and relaxing. We took an overnight train (second class, aircon, sleeper car) from Bankgok to Chumpon and then caught a ferry to Ko Tao. The train ride was 7 hours and we slept like babies. On the Island we stayed at Blue Wind, a layed back bungalow resort with a good restaurant and bakery (banana/chocolate cake... yummy) and run by a sweet Thai family. There is an outdoor Yoga studio behind the resort and we took our first class of the trip on our second day in Ko Tao. Boy.. did it feel great. Although... we did have bats flying through the studio during the practice. The class, at 300 Baht each ($7.50), was the same amount we were paying for our little beach bungalow only 100 yards from the beach. So, it was a little over our price range and the next day we did our own class at sunset right on the beach. On our third day we took a full day snorkeling trip. We saw thousands of fish of every color. However, the reef around the island has been damaged so it wasn't that magnificent. Craig and I agreed the trip was worth it because we got to see entire island, as the boat circled it and we got to swim in deep water! It is low tide during the day and even high tide isn't that high... so you can't really swim from the beaches.... you just sort of lay in the turquoise water... good enough!! hmmm.. not much else to say about Ko Tao... the island was filled with tourists.. many brits and other europeans in their 20s.. and at night the beach turns into a down tempo lounge. After dinner we hung out on cushion on the sand and drank beer amongst tiki torches, british accents and progressive house music spun by young dutch deejays.

On the fourth day we hopped the ferry to Kho Pha-Ngan. We've been here 2 days now and like it much better than Ko Tao. There is more culture here and we've found a great resort with an even cheaper bungalow (150 baht/$3.50)!!!
Getting off the ferry was quite overwhelming. There were dozens of locals yelling and grabbing our arms saying... at the same time, "miss, where you stay?" "You come with me and stay at my beautful bungalow." While others yelled, "Where you go? You need taxi?" ONe woman caught Craig's attention and showed him photos of cute, rustic bungalows on a beach and we decided on the fly to go with her. We didn't really know where we were going and were a bit nervous about the accomodations... But Had Gruad resort (on NW corner of the Island) is a wonderfully secluded place and has become a haven for us. The women who work there are hilarious and more than hospitable (free banana fritters for desert). We've already made some good friends. One couple, Maria and Gonzalo, have just been to Malaysia and are giving us great advice. She is from Nottingham and he's Chilean. They also made us feel very welcome at the resort and have been showing us the short cuts to the adjacent beaches. Tomorrow we will rent a jeep with them and another british girl, Kate, for the day to explore the island and drive to the Full Moon Party at Hat Rin on the southeast of the Island... We'll tell you about the party in the next entry. So, stay tuned!

(Craig) After a 13hr 40 min. flight to Taipei, very smooth I might add, we spent a short and refreshing 8 hrs in a modern hotel room at the Taipei airport. The room cost us $90 -- WAY over our budget, but we were glad to have it because the entire airport shuts down at midnight and they would have kicked us out. The next day we flew a short 3 hours to Bangkok and arrived at 11:30 am. The process of getting our bags, going through customs, and catching the airport shuttle to our hostel was alot easier than we thought it would be...... I guess we had the worst case scenario in our minds. We are staying at the Suk 11, which is an oasis in the hot, crowded, smoggy, busy city of Bangkok.

It is 95 degrees, but suprisingly we're dealing well with it. A lot has to do with staying cool because we are almost constantly wet. It is Songkhran (Thailand's New Year and water festival). For the past few days a huge water fight has been going on all over the city. And no one is exempt from the soaking or doing the soaking... We've even been splashed with water by some monks! Oh and in addition to the water they smear a whitle paste on both of your cheeks. We were so exhausted after our first day of walking around the city trying to dodge water and paste and eventually giving up that we didn't even have dinner and forgot to photograph ourselves covered in paste before taking showers (sorry!). I consider this a good "break in" to Asia for the both of us. Yesterday we visited 2 wats (temples) and got a much needed thai massage from a massage shcool at Wat Po. (kind of painful at times)-- the massage is based on opening up the energy channels in the body. But, we felt like jello afterwards.
The temples are pretty incredible-- there are hundreds of them in Bangkok.
We had our first tuk tuk ride-- it's like a crazy go-cart ride.

(Jess here) Pad Thai, green chicken curry, sweet and sour soup with shrimp, papaya salad and Singha beer to wash it all down -- the food here has been fragrant, delicious and cheap and last night....very spicy! The waiters were laughing at us as we were sweating in our seats.

On our way back to Suk 11 we saw a local riding a huge elephant. This was a ploy to get us to buy some sort of food to feed the elephant from the rider's friend. I felt very sorry for this poor elephant....

Tonight we leave on a night train to Chumphon and then catch the ferry to the Island of Ko Tao -- beaches here we come! We plan to stay and few days and then head to Ko Pha-Ngan. We met a nice guy at breakfast this morning who gave us a lot of insight and suggestions. As a result, we might stay south and check out the beaches on the southwest coast of Thailand and then Malyasia and Singapore and then to the Laos/Cambodia/Vietnam, etc.. loop in the beginning of the rainy season when it will cool off a bit.

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Craig and Jess met five years ago in San Francisco, started dating a year later and are now engaged and preparing for the trip of a lifetime. On April 12 we leave San Francisco for Bangkok, the starting point for our 6-month trip to Southeast Asia, Sri Lanka (where we will volunteer), Australia and New Zealand.

We have talked about doing a trip like this ever since we met and decided that we needed to stop talking about it and actually do it. So, last June we did something drastic. We moved out of our spacious one bedroom into a very small and much cheaper (400 sq.foot) studio. For the last 10 months our living situation has been very close quarters, but it worked! We haven't killed each other, we have enough money saved for the trip...and we even got engaged in December.

Jess quit her job as the communications manager at the San Francisco Food Bank on April 1 (a bittersweet decision). Craig, an architect, has been freelancing since January and wrapped up all of his projects. Now, in this last week, we are making the final arrangements – setting up this travel blog, purchasing our travel insurance, saying goodbye to friends and family, packing up our apartment and packing our backpacks. We can't wait to get on the plane!

We are looking forward to giving up the comforts of our life in San Francisco, letting go of attachment to most of our possessions, really challenging ourselves, meeting new people, experiencing different cultures and gaining a broader perspective on the world.