Bugs Abroad

Lazy Laos

2010-07-15T04:10:00.000-07:00

After an extremely lazy stint in Southern Laos, we write from Ubon Ratchitani, a large city in NE Thailand. We've been in some remote places, hence the lack of blogging, but are catching up now. Unfortunately, all the photos on this post and from now on will be from Colin's camera, as Amanda's was stolen in Pakse, which wasn't our favorite of places. We will be home soon, and are looking forward to seeing everyone. We'll be making our way to the South of Thailand to get some beach time in before having to go back to the real world. Till then. . .

Rice sausage. And 7 Eleven. We must be back in Thailand!
Yet another waterfall in the Bolevan for your viewing pleasure.
This sunset was particularly relaxing after driving for 150km in the Bolaven. The area that we stayed in was very remote and beautiful, with jungle covered hills all around the rice fields in the valleys.
Amanda zipping down a dirt road on the Bolaven. We rented a motorbike for three days from Pakse, the provincal capital, and drove about 350km around the highlands here. This is where the majority of Laos' coffee comes from, which is in turn where most of the coffee in SE Asia originates.
Amanda fashioned an umbrella out of a leaf to hide from the spray of a waterfall on the Bolaven Plateau. There were many waterfalls in this area, but this one was particularly breathtaking, with a huge drop into a churning pool below. We climbed down to the water's edge and scrambled through a cave there, where we could see a perfectly circular rainbow.
A local girl leads a water buffalo from his wallowing grounds in the Mekong. The point that they are heading from is supposedly a favorite haunt of Irriwaddy Dolphins, which are extremely endangered. We tried our luck at getting a peak, but instead spent about 40 minutes gazing at Cambodia in the distance.
Li Phi falls on Don Khon in 4,000 Islands. This massive waterfall was lined with fishing weirs at every rapid that the locals use to gather up tons of fish. This waterfall and many others around Si Phan Don were also an important historical factor in the region. The French couldn't get their ships past them to get at the many resources in Laos. To get around this, the French did build a short railway line in Don Khon (the only tracks they ever laid in Laos), which is now defunct.
Fabled Si Phan Don, or 4,000 islands, set in the widest stretch of the Mekong which spans 14KM at this point. The community here is still reliant on fishing, although tourism is booming and has been prevelant for many years. Rickety bungalows line the river front for bargian prices (we paid $1.90/night) although many of them aren't that stable. Ours was lofted about 25 feet over the water and shook when you walked around.
Temple gaurdian at Wat Phu Champasak. The site was a pre-Angkorian temple dedicated to Shivalinga worship. The site was chosen because it was at the base of a mountain shaped like a shivalinga (aka "Penis Mountain") which is the headwater of a sacred stream. The temple itself housed a shivalinga that was constantly bathed in the sacred water. Now, like most Hindu temples, it houses a large Buddha.
Ruins at Wat Phu Champasak. Note the naga and frangipani tree overtaking a wall, a classic SE Asian archealogical site. The site was less reconstructed than many other sites we've seen, which left more to the imagination and excited Colin.
Our Mekong river ferry on the way to Champasak. It was actually three boats held together by a bamboo platform that fit about 8 cars, several ladies selling noodles and of course hungry passengers.
Tad Lo waterfall, the second waterfall up the stream from our bungalow. There was a great water hole for swimming near here where the locals jumped in the current, almost getting swept away but always catching themselves before the next tier.
A particularly majestic water buffalo in a perfect water buffalo stance. There were usually cows grazing here, but one day there were only water buffalo to be seen on the banks of the river. Observing things like this occupied our time in Tad Lo. That and reading, napping, playing "Kineto" with some French people and going for walks. We also became friends with Mama Pap and her family, who ran a restaurant in the small village and cooked very large portions of food.
The view from our bamboo bungalow's balcony in Tad Lo, Laos. From here we could see the waterfall, the cows graze, the water buffalow wallow, women washing clothes and men fishing. It was perfect, we stayed over a week.

Karst Fest: Halong Bay and the North

2010-07-15T03:28:00.000-07:00

Outside of Ninh Binh, Vietnam we found "Halong Bay in the rice paddies." We explored the area by motorbike and ended up on some back roads that kept on going forever. We stopped off at a small village (maybe 10 houses) for an ice cream and what looked like a home-brewed fruit spritzer from a nice lady that probably rarely sees white (devils) people.
Cat Ba National Park, Halong Bay. Our guide was a freaking monkey, he would run up the steep and slippery trail, wait for everyone to pass and then run ahead again. He climbed this rickety tower which was only supposed to hold 5 people at a time (which we saw after all 15 of us came down) and posed for photos. The park is beautiful and the climb steep, but the views amazing at the top. It looked like Jurassic Park, minus the dinosaurs of course. We spent the night on the island for the second night of our Halong Bay tour.

Colin, kayak steerer and power paddaler, stops for a photo in the early morning.
Kayaks lined up at a stop over in Halong Bay. We were told that there weren't enough for everyone on the boat to go at the same time (which was obviously not the case), so we went early in the morning for a little cruise around the karsts.
Amazing Halong Bay, Vietnam's redeeming beauty, with thousands of karst formations jutting out of the sea. We took a three day tour through the bay, cruising the karst and visiting a cave on the first day, then swimming in the bath-like waters and sleeping on the boat in the evening. The following morning we woke up early for kayaking, more cruising, and headed to Cat Ba Island, one of the largest in the bay. We almost didn't make the trip out here because of the hords of tourists, but it was one of the best places we saw in Vietnam.
Just some of the tourist boats that were lined up outside of the cave waiting for their passengers to be hustled through. We slept on one of these in the bay during our first night out.
A cave that we visited during our trip to Halong Bay. There were were at least 700 people in this cave at any given time, but it was really huge and even with all the other tourists was the best cave that we have seen on the trip. They also had these cool lights illuminating the stalagtites that added to the eerie and striking view.
Taken at the Temple of Literature which was the first University in Vietnam in Hanoi. On the backs of the turtles are lists of all the people that earned PhDs in a given year. The King proctored the exams himself, showing how important education has always been in Vietnam. Within the grounds there was a temple to Confucious, whose teachings were the basis of an old school Vietnamese education.
Amanda strikes a pose in the shade of an entrance gate to a Nguyen Dynasty King's country retreat which is now his burial monument. This particular building housed his many concubines. We rode here from Hue in the stifiling heat on bicycles and passed an open art gallery that was part of the festivities while we were there.

Vietnam's Skinny Waist

2010-06-08T23:23:00.000-07:00

In a few hours we will be off to Hanoi on a night bus. Instead of sweating our shirts wet and scrambling through the crowds of people that are in Hue at the moment, we decided to update our blog for your viewing pleasure. Enjoy!

Motorbikes zooming over the bridge in Hue city towards the festivities.

We were soooo lucky to stumble upon The Hue Festival when we arrived in Hue. Too bad the communication on what was going on was non-existent, so we didn't actually see anything special aside from the hords of people and motorbikes out for our blood. This photo is Amanda standing in front of the old Citadel. Hue was once the Imperial Capitol. Note Uncle Ho in the background, who is pretty much big brother. He is everywhere.

Included in our over-priced city tour ticket was a cultural performance hosted at the craft center in Hoi An. The traditional dancing was the best part since we lost at the "bingo" game, which was a tradional folk game where two singers would draw wooden sticks with words that they would make up songs about. If you had the stick with the word they sang, then you won (a lantern in this case).

China Beach, in Danang. Sound familiar? This was the nicest stretch we found motorbiking from Hoi An to Danang. Most of it was scrub dunes with lots of construction. We wondered what it looked like in the 60's and 70's.

Colin with fat Buddha at yet another temple in the Marble Mountains. Other SE Asian Buddhas are very serious and graceful, but in Vietnam with the Chinese influence you get happy, fat, lucky Buddha who brings you money money money! Much like Santa Claus.

A large pagoda on the side of Marble Mountain. We didn't know what it was built or used for, but it was very striking. We met a woman from the US on our climb who was a seafood quality inspector for the US government that was extremely friendly, something we are not used to with the stand-offish locals and arrogant Europeans.

Some intricate details on a temple on Marble Mountian, near Danang. All the ornamentation is made out of broken pottery, like an old school collage.

Eggs, eggs and more eggs. Take your pick at the Hoi An market. The ones on the bottom left are quail eggs, delicious. You can also get fertilized duck egg, a very popular snack for the locals. It looks like you're eating a fetus, we have yet to try it.

The Japanese Bridge, built in the 1500's. Hoi An had strong trading ties with the Japanese and Chinese which was displayed in the architecture. There was a small temple in the center of the bridge and was gaurded on either side by dogs and monkeys (it was started in the year of the dog and finished in the year of the monkey).

Taken from the small peninsula across the river in Hoi An (also where we got some clothes tailored) this photo shows some of the crumbling historical buildings of this once major trading port. There were about 300 tailor shops in town, distracting Amanda and making Colin bored.

Cham ruins on a hill outside of Nha Trang. The Chams were once part of the Angkorian Empire from Cambodia. This ruin was pretty well reconstructed and had three praangs which once held shiva-lingas (Hindu phallic symbols).

Taking a moment to cool off after riding our bikes along the coast in Nha Trang. A small harbor with mountains surrounding the bay.

A paraglider whiping through the wind on Nha Trang Beach. The island across the way was a Vietnamese style adventure park/resort with a cable car connecting it to the mainland. The city ran right up to the beach and was crowded with locals in the evening when the locals would go for a swim fully clothed (the electricity here has been on and off because of the drought and many people look for a different way to cool off). During the heat of the day the beach is pretty much deserted, except for trash.

'Nam: From Bustling Cities to Cool Highlands

2010-05-29T23:38:00.000-07:00

Sinh Chao! from Vietnam. We are writing you from Dalat, in the central highlands where we have stayed for the cool breeze, steaming soy milk and the beautiful countryside. We have seen the south of Vietnam pretty well, starting off in the Mekong Delta and staying in Can Tho and Vinh Long. We then made our way to bustling Saigon, an extremely modern and friendly city where we met some nice locals and soaked up the culture. On to beach bumming, we spent two busy days in Mui Ne, touring the long stretch of beach on two wheels and searching for the famous sand dunes. The cloudy and windy beach reminded us of home with waves crashing into the sand, churning up the shells. Which brings us to where we are now. Tomorrow we will loop back to the coast to the city of Nha Trang. For now, we leave you with photos of Vietnam so far, heavy on the food for our biggest fan (you know who you are).

Our favorite after-dinner treat found near the market of Dalat. This woman sells three types of soy milks: cocoa, green bean and regular. You can get a steaming cup of soy milk with any of these delicious pastries for about $.50. We have made friends with the young boy on the left and tell him that we will "see him tomorrow" everynight. Our loyalty has kept us in Dalat for about 4 days now, tonight we will have to say goodbye for good (so sad!).

A well deserved bowl of stew after our 5 hour hike which ended in cool rain showers and clouds. We're not sure what its called, but it came with fresh shredded lettuce, mung beans and basil to add and was pretty tasty.

Colin on the peak. At 6,600ft it was a little chilly, a fact compounded by the ominous rain clouds that lurk in the background. The views from up here were still amazing and well worth the sometimes grueling climb through the jungle to get here.

A view of the trail through the pines on Lang Bian Mountain. We took a couple of detours from the "trail" (it was a paved road with jeeps zooming past for most of the way) to wander through the woods.

A view from the base of Lang Bian Mountain outside of Dalat. We rented a motorbike and rode out here, where we hiked to the peak (the tallest peak that is).

Colin stops for a treat in Dalat. This one is flattened rice with sesame seeds covered with a quail egg and spring onions and grilled to perfection.

Amanda poses for a photo, Asian style in the "Crazy House" in Dalat. It is a hotel that was built by an artistic local woman who studied in Russia. Each room has a different theme and small and curcuitious passageways connect them.

The city of Dalat in the cool central highlands of Vietnam. It was a treat to sleep with a blanket and wear long sleeves in the cool evenings! Finally we can eat pho without sweating into our bowl. We have found a little piece of the northwest here with a mountain to climb, wine to drink, and tandem bicycles to rent. This photo is of the bustling city center, where in the foreground a construction worker pounds some cement.

On our last day in Mui Ne we found the Sahara, or at least something looking like it. There were many kids at the base of the dunes offering to rent little sleds to bomb down them. We, being lame-os, opted out and just appreciated the views of the sand and sea beyond.

Amanda enjoying the cool breeze atop one of the many famous sand dunes around Mui Ne. We rode some rented bikes in search of the Sahara-like dunes we had heard about, but found only these. Impressive none the less.

A line of fishing boats on the beach in Mui Ne. Many boats here in Vietnam have eyes painted on the fronts of them. We don't really know why, but possibly to guide them safely home. Mui Ne beach stretches for 20km and has many sea walls instead of sand to protect the land from the powerful waves of the South China Sea.

On our last day in Saigon we visited a Fine Arts Museum housed in an old French colonial building. This statue was called "Villagers, learn to hate your enemy". There were many propaganistic paintings of valiant Viet Minh soldiers fighting the aggressors, much like in the War Remanants Museum that we saw the day before. It has been interesting to learn more about the Vietnam War (called the American War here) through the eyes of the Vietnamese people.

The city streets of Saigon were clogged with hundreds of motorbikes. Zebra stripes aren't a safe haven, ever.

One of the many large governmental buildings in Saigon. Saigon is a suprisingly clean and modern city, comprable to Kuala Lumpur. We spent three days here, museum hopping, urban hiking and visiting the zoo. We also drank our fare share of bia hoi and met some friendly locals in the process.

After the market we took the boat around a small island to see the production of tapioca based noodles. Then we crept through some mangroves. The boat captian took a break to make us some flowers out of palm fronds and teach Amanda how to do it too. Colin stepped up and rowed the boat for a while.

A market seller at a floating market surveying the area. The pajamas that she is wearing are ubiquitious in Vietnam, they look amazingly comfortable in the heat. The market had many large boats full of fresh fruits and veggies, as well as smaller ones hawking soup and coffee. It was quite a sight just to see a bustling market floating by as our guide stood in the back of the boat rowing us along.

Sunrise over the Mekong as we wake bright and early for a tour of one of the largest floating markets in the delta. From the description in our guide book we expected the delta to be covered with rice paddies and small towns. What we saw was one nearly continuous city from the border with Cambodia to Saigon. This tour on the Mekong was the one exception.

Bia hoi, quite possibly the cheapest beer in the world. Bia hoi, literally meaning fresh beer, is brewed for immediate consumption and can pack a punch at 5% alcohol for a minimal $.40 a liter. Not too shabby and pretty ngon (Vietnamese for delicious).

Colin oddly nearly gets bit by a penguin while discarding some trash in the Mekong Delta, Can Tho. A lot of the trash cans in Vietnam are shaped like animals, a touch of cute city planning we haven't seen for a while (trash cans alone being the city planning, penguin shaped ones being cute).

Our first bowl of steaming hot pho bo. We have searched near and far, eating pho every day to find the perfect bowl. This first one still takes the cake as the best (in Can Tho, Mekong Delta area).

Crossing over (by foot) from Cambodia to Vietnam we see paved roads and our first taste of triumphant Communist architecture. The border post leaving Cambodia was a wooden shack, the one for Vietnam a large, modern looking building. Lurking in that building was our first Vietnamese con-man, taking us to "catch a bus" where he tried to charge us $30 for a two hour ride which we knew only cost $2. We blew him off and found our way back into town, obviously.

Southern Cambodia: Beach Bumming, Eco-Touring, and Chilling Peace Corps Style

2010-05-20T02:15:00.000-07:00

After Phnom Penh we headed southwest to Chi Phat, a small village with a new eco-tourism program aimed to protect the surrounding wilderness. We continued on to some serious beach time in Sihanoukville and on to Kampot where we met Nathan and Jen. We followed them home to Kampong Trach, where they generously housed us and we cooked epic dinners, relaxed, and got to know their market ladies. We spent the holiday weekend on Rabbit Island and Kep, another relaxing retreat where we didn't feel like tourists. Our lazy southern schlep was a vacation from a vacation, we got to sweep the floors and do dishes like normal people, and best of all spend some time with friends from home. We also discovered baby powder for freshies, that Khmer curry is eaten with bread and the wrath of the oncoming monsoon season.

Colin and Jen giddily awaiting the rainstorm on the roof of Nathan and Jen's house. Their house, on the second story is a pretty sweet set up with a balcony attached to their room and lots of open space. Once the rain comes, it sounds like you're inside a steel drum since the roof is corrugated metal. It makes for a pretty exciting time, especially when you're making Massaman curry from scratch and screaming directions over the noise.

Amanda cycling around Kampong Trach's famous Phnom (hill/mountain) which has several caves and a pagoda. Kampong Trach is where Jen and Nathan live and teach English in the Peace Corps. We spent over a week with them in their village and visiting Rabbit Island and Kep. The surrounding countryside in their province is the most beautiful we saw in Cambodia.

Colin had a baby! And then we chopped it up. We asked for a fresh jackfruit which we saw growing at our guesthouse and were given three, but were only able to take back one. Unfortunatly, it needs 2 days to ripen after being cut from the tree, whoops.

The view from Tree Top Guesthouse in Kep, Cambodia. Bokor Hill is in the background with the ocean in the middle. We stumbled upon this guesthouse when Nathan and Jen's go-to was booked. It was a beautiful place with comfortable huts set in a durian farm (it wasn't smelly, only Colin was).

Can you name this tree? We can't, but it's beautiful and lines the streets of Kep, Cambodia.

Our last afternoon on Rabbit Island, we hide in the shade under the Cambodian flag waiting for our boat.

Being true Seattelites in the tropics, we spend a morning hiking around the island to explore. This photo was taken by a seaweed farm on the western side of the island. We're not sure what they use it for, but they had a lot of it.

Chilling on the beach with Nathan and Jen, viewing mainland Cambodia from afar. We spent two nights on Rabbit Island and each night went out for some amazing night swimming where we could see phosfouressence, glowing like an orb around us.

Two bugs on a boat to Rabbit Island, although one is looking a bit like a babushka.

French colonial shop houses line the streets of Kampot, Cambodia. Kampot is a pretty small river-side town with beautiful views of Bokor Hill in the background. We met Nathan and Jen here for a night out to fajita's at an expat joint.

A spectacular rainbow sunset viewed from our happy hour spot on Otres Beach. They had $.50 draft beer with the most ingenious way of cooling it, ask Colin for more details.

The best way to eat on the beach is from the roaming seafood ladies hawking "lobster" aka languistines and BBQ'd squid. Pretty, pretty, pretty......pretty good!

Two boat shaped bungalows on Otres Beach, Sihanoukville, Cambodia. We spent a few days on this beach, swimming, relaxing and doing a lot of nothing.

Amanda on an afternoon stroll through Chi Phat and the surrounding villages. There were some beautiful, brightly colored houses dotted throughout the forest. As villagers were becoming accustomed to tourists they would shout "hello" from under their stilted houses.

Kayaking upriver in the heat of the afternoon around Chi Phat and towards the foothills of the Cardmom Mountains. The town of Chi Phat is set up as an eco-tourism cooperative to combat illegal logging and poaching in the forest, inviting tourists to explore the natural environment with local guides, bringing money to the community.

Attempting to view sunset from a "mountain" (small hill) in Chi Phat, we find a Frenchman cycling through the countryside. The menacing clouds seen in the background would unleash a horrible monsoon in about 5 minutes. We tried to hide, but there was no way out and we found ourselves wading through knee deep shit water in 30 minutes. Amanda fretted about the future of her camera's life as Colin dragged two bikes through the deluge.

A waterfall we biked to in Chi Phat. Further down the river we swam with some water buffalo in a large water hole, not exactly hygenic.

This boat wouldn't have passed emmissions, but it floated us along with a ton of supplies 2 hours up river to Chi Phat. The boat captian and his friend invited us to drink a beer with them which lead to drinking our ginseng infused rice whiskey and communicating nonverbally for the rest of the trip. Throughout the trip Colin learned one Khmer word, pleung, which means rain, a word that would come in handy soon. Cambodian men love to invite Colin to drink with them, and sometimes they will let Amanda drink too, but not always.

Under the bridge waiting for the cargo boat to take us to Chi Phat, we lent our camera to a group of kids that took about 1 billion photos. This is one of them.

Boats lined up in Anduong Tuek, Cambodia. We stopped at this village (amazingly enough as our bus driver cruised past it even though we told him 3 times thatwe wanted to stop there) to explore the Koh Kong Nature Corridor, a protected area that streches from mangrove coast to the Cardomom Mts. in the north. We stayed in this sleepy village for one night with a third roommate, a rat.

Angkor WHAT!?

2010-04-30T03:56:00.000-07:00

Photos from Siem Reap ($.50 beer capitol of the world), the amazing temples of Angkor and our journey to Phnom Penh where we met up with Nathan and Jen (yes, we know you are jealous).

Amanda sitting in the ubiquitous plastic chair, waiting for some fresh pressed sugar cane juice. We are trying not to get addicted, but sugar cane on a hot day is pretty damn nice. Luckily we will have state sponsored health care when we get back, since we're pretty sure we are going to get diabetes.
Toul Sleng Genocide Museum, also known as S-21. This building was once a high school but was turned into an interrogation center when the Khmer Rouge took over in 1975. An estimated 20,000 people were tortured and killed here, many brought to the infamous Killing Fields 14KM outside of the city. It was chilling to walk the halls which are full of mug shots of the prisoners staring back at you.
And this is where we stayed, note the house on the end halfway under water. We paid a pretty good price considering the fact that we had a free swimming pool in the corner.
Arriving in the big city, Phnom Penh, we take a tuk tuk to lakeside to stay for the night.

An apsara dances gaily even though she lost her face. These female deities lined basically every wall of many of the temples we saw. Those Khmers sure love to dance.
Colin still sweats balls in a tank top as the faces of Bayon temple stare down at him. Bayon is one of the coolest Angkorian temples with as many faces as there were provinces in the whole kingdom that resemble the emperor at the time. Big Brother is watching!Look familiar? Think Angelina Jolie in hot pants. This famous tree is pretty impressive and is featured in SE Asia blogs as well as blockbusters.
The "crocodile tree" clings to the temple wall like it's a fresh wildabeast. Nom nom crunch nom.
On the altar of the Leper King there are many reliefs, so many that there are even reliefs behind more of them! This site was once thought to be dedicated to one of the two Khmer kings who had leprosy, but is now thought to be the remnants of the royal crematorium.
The trees don't only take over the temples, but also sweaty tourists trying to hide from the sun.
The trees overtook Ta Prohm's temples and now are necessary to hold up the crumbling stones. They haven't reconstructed so you can get a view of what the temples looked like before conservation. Temples like Angkor Wat were taken apart and put back together stone by stone to rebuild the grandeur of the past.
Climbing the steepest steps to the top of an unfinished temple due to the king's untimely death during its construction. Those Khmers have the tiniest feet! There were good views of the surrounding temples from the top and a sleeping guard next to a Buddhist shrine.
A smaller Buddhist sanctuary dedicated to one of the most famous king's mother built in the 12th century. Many children at the entrance of the temple offered us postcards and other souvenirs, all of whom could name every capitol of every state in the US.
A bas relief depicting a scene from the beloved Ramayana epic. An evil giant warrior fights off a member of Hanuman's monkey army. You can ask one of us to tell you the full story over many beers if you want more details, we'll be experts on Hindu classics by the end of this trip.
One of the subsidiary praangs of Angkor Wat. Monks find shade from the blazing sun.
"We're too excited to sleep!!!" Amanda sports her new krama plopped on her head ala Cambodia.
Angkor Wat viewed from across the moat at sunrise. We biked there just in time to catch our first glimpse as the sun was rising out of the clouds. In the center of the photo are the iconic five praangs (towers meant to symbolize mythical Mt. Meru, the center of the Hindu universe). When we first saw the moat we thought it was a river but then found out it is the largest moat in the world, pretty impressive especially since it was built by hand 1,000 years ago.
A common treat on the streets of SE Asia. It looks like pancake batter, sometimes sweet and other times savory, this one came with a chili sauce and green onions. You can pick up 5 for about a quarter, not bad.
Who knew there were crocodiles in Siem Reap? Amanda wrangled one on the sleepy riverside, a hard thing to do without getting your dress dirty. We spent a couple afternoons here reading as it was the only cool retreat during the hottest hours of the day.

Fleaing from Laos, Isan, and our first taste of Cambodia

2010-04-20T23:58:00.000-07:00

Finally in Cambodia we are writing to you from a stifling hot internet cafe (not really cafe though, more like cubicle) in Battambang. Outside there is a Khmer wedding going on in the street and music is blaring through the doors. We've only been here for two and a half days but have seen and done a lot. This morning we took a Cambodian style cooking course and sampled some great dishes (try fish Amok) and also took a tour around the local market. We watched the women kill the fresh snakehead fish that was used for our curry. Yesterday we took a tour around the area from a local college student and saw temples, countryside and the "bamboo train"(see below). Amanda was also filmed for a local TV show as "tourist walking through the temple". The people here speak an amazingly good amount of English and the kids are all smiles and "Hello's!" We are excited to explore more into the country and are heading to Siem Reap and the much anticipated, fabled, extremely expensive Angkor Wat next! As they say, stay tuned...

Some Khmer style pagodas on top of a hill near Battambang that also houses caves which the Khmer Rouge used as mass graves in the 1970's inelegantly named the Killing Caves. There were still some bones displayed in a cage, a chilling reminder of the recent past of Cambodia.

We took a tuk tuk ride yesterday from Battambang with the Dutch girl on the left. The sight she really wanted to see was the "bamboo train," which is the platform that we are seated on. It was probably the dumbest tourist thing we have done to date. It takes you 13Km through barren rice fields along some old and decrepid train tracks. Of course we went in the heat of the day and almost died of heatstroke (not really Mom).

Money money money! Crossing into a new country can feel like you won the lottery, or you're at least a very good crook. In Cambodia you get Greenbacks out of the ATM, which you then have to convert to riels in a market, and with the exchange rate, you sure get a lot of them.

They're not going to let some sort of Bedhouin into Cambodia. After three busses and waiting in the midday heat for a reasonably priced sangtheuw, we were unwilling to pay up for a motorcycle taxi the remaining 4KM (or was it 2, maybe 5) to the Cambodian border, so we walked. Enroute we came across a few street parties. Young men offered us rice whiskey, old women entered the street to dance with us, and a quiet young lady gave us two bottles of delicious, although boiling hot, Leo beers. It was an epic farewell to Thailand and a stirring introduction to Cambodia.

We hear that your inner hippie comes out in SE Asia, but we don't have any idea what people are talking about. Lazing about on the sand on Ko Chang.

Who is that old man? Colin turns 25 on Ko Chang. Notice the fantabulously crafted layer cake in the foreground, hazelnut torte, watch out! Amanda slaved over balancing the bon bons on top of the oreos with a bean-filled moon pie in the middle, delectable.

Long Beach, Ko Chang, Thailand. Watching the sunset from the balcony of our bungalow. We needed some beach time after so much time in the heat of the interior, and spent four days relaxing on this beach, a pretty easy thing to do.

A local Thai man walking up to soak us in Trat, Thailand. Traffic was pretty much at a stand still as everyone is out in their trucks or on the street with drums filled with ice water. We wandered around the streets all day acting like children, soaking people with squirt guns and dancing at road side parties. Everyone was so happy and even the police were participating in the fun. The only time you can soak old ladies and cops and get a smile and thank you in return.

SONGKRAAAAAAAN! The coolest holiday in the world celebrated in Thailand and Laos for New Years. We didn't quite believe the scale until we wandered out to the main street and saw hordes of trucks and people with buckets and squirt guns. They also rub talcum powder on your face for freshies, or perhaps a fresh start to the year. This photo was after a pretty mild smathering although some groups of boys would rub it all over your face and in your eyes. Nothing that a good drench wouldn't cure.

Amanda awestuck by the Khmer's architectural style. This was built in the 10th century and remains in pretty darn good shape (says Colin the archeologist).

A huge tree covering a Khmer ruin in Phimai, Thailand. If you think this tree is big you'll be blown away by the Banyan tree park we visited in Phimai, with branches covering over an acre of land. We stayed here for two days and with the beginning of Songkran caught a Lady Boy show as well as some Thai dancing and singing in the main square. Also really good Pad Thai. Phimai style maybe the best we've had.

Sunrise on Phu Kradeang. There were many pine trees on the top that were a novelty for Thais and reminded us of home.

The most photographed spot on top of Phu Kradeang, we hiked 20KM that day in through the interior and then along the ridge with some Belgians and a Brit.

It was a steep climb in the mid-day heat to the top of the mountain (1,200 meters in 5.5KM). We leap frogged with a group of monks that were also struggling up the hill. You could hire a porter to carry your things up for you, but of course we didn't. The porters were crazy though, carry ten bags, beer, water, eggs, you name it suspended on a piece of bamboo. When we got to the top it started pouring rain (what, in the dry season?) and shared our tamarinds with the monks.

Back in Thailand we moved quickly through Isan (NE Thailand) stopping for a night in Nong Khaew, Loei (not be confused with Roi Et which we were very close to being put on bus to due to horrendous Thai pronunciation), and Khon Kean, a university town. We then made our way to Phu Kradeang National Park, a table top mountain filled with wild elephants, tigers and bears (oh my!). We took some complicated transportation to get there and ended up hitching the rest of the way with this nice Thai family which was excited to get a photo with us. Along with the ride they gave us a large bag of tamarind you can see in Amanda's lap.

Easter dinner in Vientiane at a fine French restaurant with WINE! Oh glorious wine, sweet nectar of the gods. If Amanda looks sleepy it's not the wine, but the bed bugs that haunted us for three nights in the city. We literally fled the country to Thailand to escape the scourge. We spent a full day exterminating our backpacks and washing all of our clothes which was actually probably a good thing to do after so long. We became people obsessed, but we are totally over it now...wait, is that an itch? (Shira we will have to compare notes).

Buddha Park outside of Vientiane. It was a brainchild of a Buddhist monk/Hindu guru in the early 20th century. He blended the two religions and had quite a following. This park represents his cosmology in sculptural form which was really amazing to see and hard to understand. The large reclining Buddha behind the creater god Brahma is a very famous sight in Laos.

Sweat drenched Colin at the top of what looked like a small hill behind our bungalow, but was really a steep climb to the beautiful sunset views at the top. There was also a labrynthine cave halfway up that housed some communists (those commies are always hiding in caves here). We spent a few days in Vang Vieng wandering amongst the karst and through the rice fields meeting farmers and dodging dogs. It was a great place to explore.

TUBIN'! Laos' backpacker right of passage. You get a truck inner tube like so and a ride to the first of many riverside bars. You plop your tube in and are immediatly thrown a line and fished out of the water by proprieters of the bar. They give you free shots and cheap whiskey and have dangerously high rope swings into the rocky water. It's great fun, and we are still alive Mom & Dad! (Amanda didn't do the rope swing...but someone else did).

Vang Vieng, once a small river village in Vientiane province surrounded by karst formations, but now a town overrun with white devils drinking the day away tubing and watching Friends at several bars around town. We stayed a bit away from the madness, across the river in a small bungalow that faced the karst cliffs. The owner was a sweet lady that also sold pancakes and sandwiches to hungry tourists trying to soak up the morning's hangover. Needless to say, after our day of tubing we needed them too.

Novice monks collecting alms in the early morning in Luang Prabang. We rose at 5:30 to see them and waited about an hour before we saw a small horde of tourists down the road flashing their cameras at the monks. We hung out on a corner by the market, trying not to be obtrusive but also wanting to observe the tradition. People sit along the sidewalk offering handfulls of sticky rice to the monks as they pass swiftly by. It's quite a sight for us Westerners, but an everyday occurance for SE Asian Buddhists.

One of the many tiers of the waterfall. At another swimming hole there was a rope swing which Colin swang on (do we sound twangy?). There were many tourists which isn't a suprise because every tuk tuk in town offers to drive you, and if you say no they offer you weed.

Amanda clamoring through the falls and undergrowth to get to the "super secret waterfall" that a very excited unnamed source told us about in Thailand. We can't put the photo of the waterfall up here, it's stamped confidential, but let it be known that you would die of jealousy if you saw it.

In a tuk tuk on our way to some very famous falls near Luang Prabang (so famous we forgot the name). There are many tiers and even a sun bear rehab center at the foot of the falls. The cool air was a heavenly retreat from the hot hot HOT heat, dust and smoke that settles over the city.

Dusty and Dry Northern Laos

2010-03-25T23:04:00.001-07:00

We are finally in Laos, a country we have heard so many great things about and a place we've been anticipating for a long while. Laos is pretty different from the other countries we've visited so far, being that it is one of the least developed in the world. Travel is long and exhausting and we've had many break downs, pit stops and unforeseen adventures along the road. So far in the north, the largest town we've been to is Luang Prabang, which is home to only 25,000 people (according to Lonely Planet). Even here, it's still easy to go across the river and feel like you're in the middle of nowhere, surrounded by small thatched houses, subsistence farmers, chickens, and dirt roads. Many farmers practice slash and burn farming and since it is the peak of the dry season the air is hazy at best. It's almost hard to see across the rivers at times. Although it isn't as green as we like, the landscape is beautiful and peppered with friendly people everywhere you go. Colin can't eat enough sticky rice here and the sausages are pretty good too. The one thing we haven't tried yet is bush meat, which we were offered on the side of the road, freshly killed and hanging from the hands of small children. We think one was a tanuki (it's an Asian badger). Below are some photos from Laos so far. . .A traditional loom in a craft village near Luang Prabang. Luang Prabang is the biggest city we have seen in Laos thus far, but by going a few kilometers outside of town you are back in the scenic, dusty, and rural countryside again.
On our bus ride down to Luang Prabang we had another brake down. This time the van was totally shot. We finally ended up hopping into the car towing our van after hours of waiting, and a perfectly timed visit by an ice cream man from a nearby town to lift our spirits.
On our hike out from Muang Noi through the countryside and fields we passed caves, many rice fields, pastures, mud-bathing buffalo and kind villagers going about their business.
Idyllic Muang Noi Neua with no roads, cars or motorbikes, electricity only four hours a day and set amongst more karst along the Nam Ou river. We spent three days here relaxing, hiking to caves and other small baan (villages) and swimming in the river. One of the most beautiful, rural places we've been and just flat out amazing. This photo is of the one main street in town with the rest of them being mere footpaths.
We took a river boat up the Nam Ou from Nong Kiew to Muang Noi Neua. The scenery was amazing and the river banks were scattered with some of the cutest kids causing mischief and running around naked. We made several stops to pick up and drop off villagers and one so a woman could go buy two live piglets that were stuffed in a basket and added to the cargo.
A view of the karst behind our bungalow on the river in Nong Kiew. This night it poured down rain and had thunder showers and in the morning the whole area was shrouded in mist.

Amanda on the bridge connecting the two parts of Nong Kiew, which we must have crossed a billion during our two days here. The views of the Nam Ou river surrounded by karst was amazing. There were also caves near by where the Phatet Lao hid out from the CIA during the Secret War bombings during the '60s and '70s.On our way to Nong Kiew south of Luang Nam Tha we had a few problems with the transport. First our bus had to stop and replace a blown tube (an interesting spectacle to watch, they put the tire back on with a sledge hammer) and then our sawngthuew broke down on the side of the road in the dark. Colin and a couple Brits pushed it up the hill we were on and after a vehicle swap we made it!
A man in a mixed Thai Dam, Lolo, and Phu Noi town by the side of the highway pouring us some Lao Lao (Lao moonshine) after our long bike ride. Not so delicious, but when in Laos...and it sure gets you drunk. An Akha village we saw on a cycling trip. As we got closer to the area where Akha people live, many of the women in the fields cutting sugar cane indescreetly offered us opium, which we politely refused, mom.Sneaking a peek under China's skirt we went on another cycling adventure up to the Chinese border through several diverse hilltribe villages. We stopped for directions in a Yao village. This woman ran up to us smiling and had us sit down, where we were swarmed by a lot of people wanting to sell their wares. Being suckers for old women peddling pretty much anything, we bought a really nice Yao hat with embroidery, poms, and bells, that will forever remind us of her.

A good example of a Thai Lu temple in Muang Sing, a small town under 10km from the Chinese border. They are distinguished by their hand embroidered prayer flags hanging from the ceilings and red timbered columns with silver decorative motifs. The Thai Lu are one of many smaller cultures that we got the chance to visit and learn about in Northern Laos.
When we were back in Luang Nam Tha and looking for a cultural museum, we ran into a large empty performance hall. The locals told us that there would be some sort of performance that night at 6, so we bought tickets not knowing what we were getting into. Turns out it was a local show with folk dancing, singing, and these two amazing contortionists. The woman in the photo is holding herself up by her teeth! We were the only whities at the whole show, which was packed with the rest of the townsfolk, so it was sort of cool to see what people there did for fun.
Chaleusek, a Khamu village. We biked 20KM to reach this village, told there was a homestay program all set up and to just show up. We did, and got some confused looks but helpful villagers that led us to the homestay house. We basically walked through the town watching the villagers go about their nightly routine of crushing and winnowing rice, feeding their animals (they had water buffalo, pigs, chickens, ducks, and goats running practically wild through the town), bathing in the river, and preparing dinner. The host family was very nice and cooked us a traditional Khamu dinner and breakfast, but spoke almost no English. It was a very interesting and rewarding experience, although a little bit awkward.
Dry, dusty and arid, these rice paddies are much of what you see in the dry season in Laos.
There are many reasons why travel through Laos is painstakingly slow. The roads are one, breakdowns another, but in this case it is a cow crossing. We rented bikes in Luang Nam Tha to reach Chaleusek, a small Khamu village. We rode through several other small villages, called Baan in Lao, on the way there. Aside from provincial capitals, the average Laos village is small, made of thatched bamboo houses and consists of a few dirt footpaths connecting the village with the fields. In a nutshell, this is rural SE Asia.

Our first day in Luang Nam Tha, Laos, we had some Vietnamese coffee (fitting, right?). Luang Nam Tha is in the Northwest of Laos and offers many trekking and hill tribe visits to the surrounding areas. Usually lush, the North is very dry and hazy right now due to a drought, slash and burn agriculture (seriously everywhere!) and the peak of the dry season.
Oh how perfect, our own little bug ferry just for us. Amanda flits right across the Mekong to enter Laos from Chaing Khong (she actually buzzed her wings to hover over the ferry).
Votive candles burn in front of a Buddhist shrine on top of a hill in front of Chaing Sean. We rented bicycles to reach the hill but were unable to make it up the last slope due to the crappy rental bikes. There were a bunch of monks camping out along the road along our ascent.

Chaing Sean is in the Golden Triangle area, once a hotbed for opium production. We spent a couple days here where we gazed across the Mekong at Laos, explored several ruins of a once large independent Kingdom and ate tons of noodle soup.Just a little taste to get you all jealous and anxious to invite us over to cook some deliciousness for you when we get home. We took this cooking course in Chaing Mai and it was taught by the daughter of a former King's chef. It was a great course and we took home 70 recipes as well!
Colin seriously contemplating his cashew chicken dish at our cooking course. It's all about timing.

The River Kwai, Pai, and trekking in Chiang Mai

2010-03-04T05:54:00.000-08:00

Both of us were pretty exhausted by the end of the trip, relaxing on one of the bamboo rafts that we pushed down the river with long bamboo poles.
Rafting down the river on the final day. The life-jackets and helmets were a little excessive, considering the river was so low that we could barely fit the raft between the river rocks. We livened things up by racing the boat ahead of us and getting in a pretty massive water fight.
The children of the village came out to sing us, as well as the other 10 tour groups, some songs. We were hoping to get to learn a little bit about the culture of the people, but the only real interactions that we had were with some women trying to sell handicrafts and massages. When we went on a walk through the very small town we did see people preparing a huge pig for slaughter, which is not a sight we see everyday.
The spectacular view of sunset from the Lahu village where we spent the first night. Our bamboo hut was perched on the top of a mountain where we could see the mountains stretching off in every direction.
Our trekking companions NW of Chiang Mai. We did a three day trek up into the mountains. It included riding elephants (yay!), visiting some hill tribe villages, and rafting. We also got to meet a bunch of cool Europeans our parents age. We stayed up late around the fire and played drinking games with them the first night. Jonas, the guy in the colorful hat, could never figure out the rules, which is always good for a laugh.
Amanda's dreams come true as she finally gets to ride an elephant. It's harder to stay balanced on their heads than the mahuts (the Thai elephant trainers) make it look. It was a hot day and the elephants would periodically blow water and or snot out of their trunks all over us. The Swedish guy we were with got some in his mouth.
One night after a few beers we decided to float a banana leaf that we had gotten with some take away food that looked like a boat. We ceremoniously lighted a candle and stuck it in the middle of the boat. We went down to the riverbank and Colin shoved it off, getting a bit muddy in the process and almost loosing his flip flop. Amanda was pretty frightened when she saw the Monster of the Black Lagoon follow her back to the bungalow.
bAmanda tries to hide from the blazing sun by Pai Canyon outside of town. It's the wintertime here now, so all of the deciduous trees have dropped their leaves and the landscape looked like a cowboy on a skinny horse should have trotted past us as we walked around.
Amanda on a hike we did one day when we rented a motorbike. We hopped from rock to rock across a small river about one billion times and eventually had to give up before we reached the waterfall that was supposedly up there. We did find some really big leaves though.
The guesthouse we stayed in at Pai, a "hippie" village to the NE of Chiang Mai. Now there are a bunch of tourists dressed up in their finest flowing duds drinking shots of wheatgrass. We got to our bungalow by crossing a rickety bamboo bridge from town.
One of the hundreds of Buddha statues at Sukothai, this one with gold-leaf on his fingernails. The Golden Age of Thai sculpture occurred during the Sukothai Period, so we got to see many beautiful statues of the Buddha.
Three Khmer style Praangs in Sukothai, another former capital of the Thai Kingdom. They were originally built by the Hindu Kmers for Bhrama, Shiva, and Vishnu, but like everything else in Thailand, are now filled with Buddhas. We rented bikes and rode around the archeological park in the heat of the day like usual.
When we were in Lopburi we stumbled upon a big festival celebrating the times of King Narai (1600s). There was tons of good food, music, parades, and lights strung up on the old palace and in the trees. People were dressed up in period appropriate attire and we also saw some of the finest examples of puffy pants to date.
In Lopburi, another town with ruins...and tons of monkeys! Loads of tourists come here mainly so the monkeys can jump on their heads. We of course wisely use our hard earned knowledge from being in Asia for six months and stay away from the filthy buggers and just imitate them.
All around SE Asia people wrap spiritually significant trees with ribbons. There were a lot of them at Erawan.
One of the seven tiers of Erawan Falls near Kanchanaburi. We spent the day hiking to them all and swimming at the topmost one, which is supposed to look like a three-headed elephant. We couldn't quite see it... At one of them there was a huge rock that the water had carved a slide into. We saw an old European man sliding down it, so of course we had to try it out too.
The infamous Bridge over the River Kwai in Kanchanaburi, West of Bangkok. If you do't know the story, the Japanese forced British and Australian POWs (as well as many many more Burmese, Malay, and South Indian forced laborers) to build this railway in order to get supplies to their troops. Many of them died from starvation and disease in the process. It's still in use today as a railway bridge, so when you're walking across it you have to jump onto these platforms spaced every 10 meters to get out of the way if a train comes by.
Chinese New Year, Bangkok. Chinese New Year and Valentines Day happened to fall on the same day this year. We chose to celebrate Chinese New Year thinking that there should be a pretty big blow out in Bangkok. The main street in China Town was closed to cars and the streets were flooded with people and vendors. We wandered around the street waiting for something to happen as there were rumors of a parade. Around 3 the streets sectioned off and the road cleared and we waited in the front row for hours, and hours, and hours. By 7PM we were sandwiched between people shoving and pushing, now in the back row and were finally pushed out of the crowd and onto the street. We called it a day and headed back to Ed's place for a romantic dinner of noodle soup and 7-Eleven beer drank out of a tin cup.

BKK (We're back again) & Ayuthya

2010-02-23T22:25:00.000-08:00

The old Thai Kingdom is now in ruins but remains an important part of Thai history.

We spent one night in this ancient city, eating delicious Thai food (which we have missed so much) and getting away from Bangkok. More Buddha statues than you can ever imagine, most of which are incomplete.

The tree grew around this Buddha head and is now an important pilgrimage site for Thai Buddhists. If you want to pose for a photo you have to kneel down so your head is not higher than Buddha's.

Three chedi's in Ayutyha, capitol of the Thai Kingdom before Bangkok.

Colin, in nerd heaven on his bike riding around an ancient city. If only there were a big beer in his front basket...

Riding the train north to Ayuthya, Colin falls asleep reading the Lonely Planet (which is the worst guide book in the world and has gotten us lost more times than we can say)

Back in Bangkok, Ed takes us out for a night on the town, which includes two fifths, an all Thai club and general debauchery. (not to mention Colin get's a mysterious massage in the bathroom....don't worry, it's normal in Thailand)

Indo-Islands, Bali, Lombok and the Gili's

2010-02-23T21:31:00.000-08:00

Morning ritual of offerings at the main market in Ubud. Balinese Hinduism was pervasive throughout the island. The sweet smells of incense and handmade floral offerings are on every corner (and in the middle of every doorway).

The water palace south of Gunung Batur. We drove about 20 km out of our way to reach the temple, getting lost, pulled over by some cops (we talked our way out of a ticket for not having and international license) given an offering "for good luck" by a woman on the street and finally found our way. Flash floods came thundering down as we were about to leave and we drove back to Ubud soaking wet through flooded streets up to our shins.

Colin get's dressed in a sarong and sash to enter the temple.

The striking terraced rice paddies are all over Bali as farming, even on the hills is very important. Landscapes like these are breathtaking even though you see them all over.

A Balinese dancer that moves intensely with her eyes as well as her body. This preformance was a "Barong and Keris" dance that told a part of the Mahabarata story, a Hindu religious text that's important in Indonesia.

The Barang slowly and comically enters the stage. He's a benevolant mythical creature associated with Vishnu that scares away demons. He's also pretty cute, in a funny, snake like furry body way.

A bicycle ride through the rice fields in Ubud.

Some kids in our bungalow on Gili Trawangan. Pretty normal really.

The beach on Gili Trawangan outside of our bungalow. You can see Gili Air across the straight. The current was too strong to swim and we were advised not to try. This particular spot had some of the best coral reefs on the island and we spent many days swimming with the fishes (Amanda saw a swordfish, twice, but no turtles).

Lounging on the Gili's where we spent one week in a bungalow outside of the cluttered town. There weren't any motorized vehichles but instead bicycles and horse drawn carts. We circumnavigated the island twice, once on foot by moonlight and once by bicycle.

Some traditional sailboats on the beach of Sengiggi, mainland Lombok where we spent two days. They kind of look like giant water bugs but seem to sail pretty well.

The sun sets as we arrive in Lembar, Lombok, a horrible port town with nasty touts in the transport industry. We did count our lucky stars though to have taken so many Indonesian ferrys and made it to land dry.

The lotus flower pond at the water palace. Lotus flowers are a pretty big deal in SE Asian Buddhism.

In Tirta Gangga at the foot of Mt. Agung in Bali we visit the water palace, a beautifully landscaped retreat which we could view from our guesthouse. The tiny town (about 3 hotels and 7 places to eat) was dark once the sun went down due to loss of electricity, we spent the night eating by candlelight and chatting with a older local guy that made bamboo flutes.

A motorbike journey through the mountains brings us to a beautiful waterfall down a long strip of vendor stalls and gaurded by beautiful Balinese temples. Many Balinese temples have statues that are dressed in sarongs and have umbrellas to shade them.

The sun sets over the black sand beaches of Lovina, in northern Bali. We finally make it there from Mt. Bromo after an hour walk down the mountain, an hour crammed bus to town, a five hour bus to the ferry, an hour ferry ride and upon arrival to Bali, no more busses! We end up sleeping in one of the nicer bus stations we've seen on the trip till 3AM and then hop on a 2 hour bus that drops us in Lovina, exhausted, but excited to see our first stretch of beach in Indonesia!

Java, population 135 million

2010-02-12T22:19:00.000-08:00

Colin attempting to see the sunrise from Bromo through clouds of volcanic sulfur and ash. The choking smell of sulfur killed all hopes of being able to eat eggs for breakfast.
The temperatures get down to 4 degrees C in the mornings up on Bromo, hence Colin being bundled in a coat and jacket. The locals wrap batik sarongs around themselves like capes.
Mt. Bromo (the small one spewing out sulphur on the left) and another cinder cone viewed from the ledge of the caldera. Without a flashlight we almost got lost in the ash fields in the foreground as we hiked in the dark.
A Hindu pura in the caldera surrounding Mt. Bromo in East Java. We woke up at 4 in the morning to catch sunrise from the top of Bromo.
For Amanda's birthday we saw the Ramayana Ballet at Prambanan Temple. The show was great with traditional costumes and dance aesthetics. The dancer on the right could be amazingly expressive with his toes.
The old woman on her 25th birthday. We fetched the cake from the other side of Yogya on a motor bike. It's an acquired skill to weave through Javanese traffic; your horn is more necessary than turn signals. The cake looks better than it tasted; it was no hazelnut torte.
A full gamelan orchestra accompanying a Wayang Kulit (buffalo hide shadow puppet show) of the Ramayana story. Which is like Javanese Romeo and Juliet with more ogres.
On the top level of Borobudor, stupas house images of Buddha.
Buddha's view from the temple (one of the few intact Buddha's left in the temple, many are sans head).
Colin in front of Borobudor, once covered by the jungle in this remote area. It was rebuilt stone by stone by archeologists after being rediscovered by Raffles.
Borobudor Temple, built in the 9th century outside of Yogoyakarta. Over 1,000 reliefs of Buddha's life line the walls of the structure. Pilgrims circumambulate each level three times and learn the story of Buddha's life.
Amanda posing with a giant head, one of the many pieces of public art in Yogya.
Taking a becak to the Royal Palace in Yogyakarta. There are probably a thousand becak drivers in the city, all anxious for work. It was raining a lot while we were there so we took them often. We spent a week in Yogya enjoying the local art, cultural performances, batik markets and bustling "small" city life. (Comparatively, Yogya is a small Javanese city with 800,000 people).
A rambutan breakfast in Bogor, it's like lychee for Whos. Indonesia has some great fruit and it is all really cheap.Amanda gazing up at a huge tree in the Botanical Gardens.
The view from the balcony of our guesthouse in Bogor which is an hour train ride from Jakarta. Bogor is home to a 40 hectare Botanical Garden founded by Sir Stamford Raffles, who is kind of a big deal in SE Asia. The town is generally rainy which made us feel at home sloshing through the muddy market streets.
Botanical Gardens, Bogor where we were swarmed with several families of Indonesian's wanting to take photos with us. People were running across the lawn to get their photo taken and we we're saying "cheese" for about 20 minutes.
Amanda getting interviewed by a local school girl. Students practice their English by coming up to tourists on the street, saying "excuse me misssster?" asking to speak with you. We have been swarmed several times by groups of curious Indonesia's wanting to take photos and talk to you.
Colin sitting on a cannonball in the old Dutch quarter of Kuta. The canals around this
Three wheeled rickshaw in Indonesia's giant metropolis, Jakarta.

South Sumatra on a bumpy bus

2010-02-07T22:46:00.000-08:00

Crazed and dazed on our 39 hour bus ride from Bukittingi to Jakarta. There are several of these photos at different stages of the ride. This one was crossing into Java after 36 hours. Three more to go to arrive at midnight, take a three wheeled motor-car to the tourist ghetto and sleep with the mosquitos (ahhhh).
The view from our bungalow on the lake. Serene and still in the morning, but try to paddle in a dugout canoe and your in the water. We also swam out to some fish farms to see them growing in different stages.
Colin struggling to open another Bintang on New Years. How many have you had again?
Bringing in the New Year with a chord of wood blazed on fire by the lakeside. The Indonesians went to sleep so Colin and our new Canadian friend set it ablaze. The flames were 20 feet high (beat that Big Dan)!
Meningkabu rice farmer with his water buffalo. From far away it looks like a rhino but it acts more like a pig wallowing in the mud.
Little Indonesian girls posing for a photo as we cruise the lake via motorbike. So cute, but they didn't fit in our bags. We were invited for fresh coconut by some guys working by the lake. We spoke some broken Bahasa, they some broken English and we were on our way.
Watch out, woman driver! Amanda learns to drive the motorbike without crashing.
Clouds cover the volcanic crater lake. Maninjau was heavily damaged by the recent earthquake in September with many landslides. By the time we were there relief was widespread and things were being rebuilt.
A walk through the rice paddies to find a spot on the lake to rest our heads.
Our cage-like bus careening down the 44 hairpin turns to Danau Maninjau. Like most bus drivers, he was racing the other buses on a road not wide enough for two cars to pass and blindly passing on curves, all in good fun of course! This ride was better than our 17 hour night bus to Bukittingi where we sat in the freezing air con with the bathroom stinking up the whole bus, speeding across potholes and thick fog. At 3AM we came upon a fresh landslide, the drivers moved rocks out of the road as fresh ones crashed down but we made it through with no dents.
This pretty much sums up Bukittingi, the market clogged with motorbikes, the Dutch clock tower in the background and the Meningkabu roof to the left. Meningkabu people live in West Sumatra and are matrilineal which makes for some tough market hawking ladies! One woman, Azza sold us some jackfruit and then invited us back to her house for some tea. We sat on the floor and she taught us some Bahasa Indonesia which we only slightly retained. Many Indonesian people are curious about Westerners, or as we like to say "whities", (especially in Sumatra) and invite you to stay with them.
Colin crossing the creaaaaaky bridge through the canyon. We had to dodge the local guides and the dogs to do this trek on our own, but we made it!
Kota Gede, pretty rice paddy views, gaudy silverwork and the worst fried noddles ever (think dry Top Ramen, no broth, but with the spice packet for that extra sodium kick).
Siyanak Canyon just outside the city center of Bukittingi. We hiked through the canyon, across a very scetchy bridge and to Kota Gede, a small village renowned for their silversmiths.
A really cool bird which I forgot the name, but it seemed like all we're labeled "Ayam" which means chicken. So, a really colorful chicken with a tiger striped head.
Colin almost got eaten by a giant fish. What else is new.
Amanda's new friend at the Bukittingi zoo. The tropical birds were amazing here but the other animals we're quite depressing. You can't feed a camel on bananas alone, who knew? Pens littered with trash and fur missing, oh my. The zoo was attached to "Fort De Kock," left by the Dutch. Oh those Dutch, they would.
Bukittingi, in West Sumatra. A market town with stalls for miles where you can buy just about everything (except for a heating element which we we're searching for all over the place). We spent three nights in this town puttering around the zoo, city and hiking through the canyon.

Alive and Well in Indonesia

2010-02-07T22:38:00.000-08:00

Okay, so it seems like Indonesia has swallowed us whole, but as we spend our last day in this vast archipelago we have decided to finally take a minute to post to our blog. It has been a whirlwind of long travel days, scenic panoramas, talkative and friendly Indonesians (photo mister?), lying and money grubbing Indonesians, rice paddy walks, beach strolls and soaking up the blazing sun and striking culture. Overland from North Sumatra to Lombok we've had 39 hour bus rides, epic haggling matches with bemo drivers, slept in bus stations, invited goats into our bungalow, waited out thunderstorms with cold Bintang, gotten sick, shopped, driven motorbikes through the countryside and ankle deep flooded streets, seen some good performances and eaten pounds and pounds (or are they kilos?) of nasi. We'll spare you the details over the last few months and instead post some photos since those are more exciting anyway. :)

2009-12-26T03:19:00.000-08:00

Christmas morning, Santa even visited us in Indonesia and filled our stockings with treats!

Amanda grinding Sambal on a river stone.

The view from the balcony of our traditional Batak house we stayed in for Christmas and Christmas Eve.

Sun shining on the rice paddies make for a beautiful landscape
A moonscape view from the hot springs.

Colin and a friend from Jakarta contemplating the hot hot springs. Do we jump in or not?

Wind blowing through our hair as we admire the beautiful landscape.

Sitting lake side at sunset

Batak houses line the shore of Lake Toba in Tuk Tuk (the main tourist area on the island)

A shitty 6 hour bus ride to Parapat, the jumping off point for Samosir on Lake Toba. We sat on the floor by the toilet on the bus and inhaled second hand smoke, but made it!

Grand Mosque, Medan. The kids use the grounds as a soccer field.

Easter chicks, I wonder if they taste like jelly beans. Just another offering at the local market, Bukit Lawang.

Amanda in front of our tree house bungalow at the Garden Inn. It set us back about $7 a night.

Ajis, our other jungle guide leading us through the rapids in our jungle taxi. He ran into the jungle and dressed himself up to keep us entertained, talk about hard working!

Jungle Eddie talking about the honey bears and the jungle fauna. Have you heard of him, cuz he's a pretty big deal.

Jungle lady with jungle hat in the jungle.

Jungle boy with jungle knife in the jungle.

Cheesy waterfall photo, but who can resist?!

What's up cuz? Two apes in the jungle.

OOOO OOOO OOO OOORANG-UTAN!!!!!!!!! Momma orang-utan hanging out in the trees.
Three days to the Indonesian consulate, Check. $100, Check. 60 day visa, Check. We're going to Indonesia BABY!

A thousand Buddha's pagoda at the Kek Lok Si Temple, the largest in Malaysia

North Sumatra, Where the Wild Things Are

2009-12-26T02:27:00.000-08:00

We arrived in Indonesia on a small twin prop plane to the city of Medan, Indonesia's third largest and a dirty, busy, and overall insane introduction to the archipelago. After waltzing through customs (there was no one there) we found ourselves immediately harrased by several different "taxi" drivers looking for our business. Like a bat out of hell we got to the other side of the city to the bus station and realized we needed cash before our next destination. We escaped some touts and upon asking for more information and getting swarmed again by people Zohan, our Chinese saviour, arrived on his motorbike, got us on a becak (motorbike with side car), and shuttled us to the closest ATM. Back at the bus station money in hand we were ready for our first Indonesian night in Bukit Lawang, famous for it's orang-utan rehabilitation center. Getting there on a rickety bus clouded with clove scented cigarette smoke and dipping through potholes larger than the road, we made it in 5 hot hours. That's 65km on a Sumatran highway. Selamat Datang!

Having made a "friend" on the bus, we were led by the nose into town and heard our first of many sales pitches for jungle treks. We nestled into the Garden Inn, which was almost like a tree house overlooking the river and jungle beyond. Over a dinner of Gado-Gado (vegetables and egg smothered in peanut sauce) and Indonesian soup we were welcomed to the jungle through guitar strums and sing-alongs. It was a breath of fresh air and an amazing village to spend our first night.

Our friend, who ended up being quite the parasite, eventually won over our business and we booked a two day jungle trek. The trek was amazing, first being led through a rubber plantation and then into Taman Nasional Gunung Leuser, Indonesia's biggest national park which is home to the Sumatran orang-utan. Seeking out these wild beasts our guides very instinctively led us to their nests. Our first encounter was with Meena, the most aggresive orang-utan in the jungle who chased us down the path and was hungry for our lunch. The guides distracted her with fruit as we watched from the bushes. The second orang-utan pair we saw (mother and baby) was very friendly and playfully swung from tree to tree and allowed us to get very close and take several (hundered?) photos. It was truly amazing to watch them in their natural habitat as curious of us as we were of them.

Marching on up and down the cliffs of the jungle we came to our 5 star jungle hotel, which was a make-shift camp done up with plastic bags and tarps. We had a delicious dinner (with our own cook!) swam in an amazing waterfall and played jungle games (really old maid, but who's going to tell the guide it's not the "orang-utan game"?). The next morning we hiked up to another peak that looked over the expanse of jungle and into Aceh, Sumatra's northern most province. Back down to the river we stopped for lunch and tubed back to the village down the rapid waves. It was a great trip!

We stayed one more night in our tree house and headed back to Medan for an overnight and on to Lake Toba our next destination. After experiencing Medan already we had a better time managing the city and had a nice evening admiring the Grand Mosque across the street from our hotel. We even managed to avoid falling into the gaping holes on the sidewalk straight to the sewer! The following morning we treated ourselves to some foot reflexology and went on our way.

Lake Toba, a stunning crater lake with a Singapore sized island in the middle, is the home of the Batak people, with their unique architecture, music, dance, religious traditions and history. Batak houses cover the landscape with their sweeping gables reminiscent of ships docked on the shore. A trip across the island by motorbike exposed the farms, rice paddies and unique burial graves scattered all along the hills. Our motorbike trip ended at the natural hot springs where Colin dipped himself in and out and Amanda begrudgingly put in her big toe. It was hot hot hot!

We've been doing some good ol' fashioned relaxing here, gearing up for Christmas by purusing the markets and sparse convenience stands for candy. We treated ourselves to a 4 course cooking class on Christmas Eve where we learned to make Gado-Gado, Chicken Rendang, Sambal Fish and Fried Bananas. For Christmas we made stockings by hand and stuffed them with treats (cookies, fruit and liquor). Our Christmas dinner was a fresh fish from the lake, marinated, covered with sambal, wrapped in banana leaves and slowly grilled. We missed our family and friends of course but spent Christmas in a beautiful place with great people, so all in all we feel very thankful. We hope that this holiday season finds you all healthy and happy too!

Photos from the Highlands

2009-12-09T00:11:00.001-08:00

The house with miles of jungle backing it.
Watching sunrise on the morning of our departure from the farm. A breathtaking view.
The river after 30 minutes of heavy rain. It completely washed out a road and damaged a bridge that leads to some other dilapidated empty houses the guys would gather supplies from.
Feeding the crazy roosters, watch your back!
All these birds would say is "GOBBLE GOBBLE GOBBLE!!!!"
A feast is prepared for Thanksgiving dinner.
Feeding the hungry goats that managed to escape their pen frequently and will literally eat anything.
Weeding and collecting animal food. Killing two birds with one stone (the farm motto)
Fishing for dinner, Ladia complete with wet suit and snorkelling gear.
Soon to be our room, but we never really moved in.
View from the house with the kilang in the foreground. The farm was in a cloud forest.
Ready to kick it into gear and climb up to the farm.
Freezing cold at 6,666 feet felt like home
Top of the Boh Tea Estate in Cameron Highlands.
The trail to Robinson Falls, straight out of Alice in Wonderland.
On top of this mountain in the Cameron Highlands we ate a lunch of Nasi Lemak, rice, a spoonful of curry, peanuts and fermented fish wrapped in a banana leaf.
Well manicured tea plants spread over miles of rolling hills. This photo doesn't really do it justice.

Animal Farm

2009-12-08T23:32:00.000-08:00

We're finally back from our isolation on the Permaculture farm in Perak, so here is what we have been up to...

After KL we headed straight up into the Cameron Highlands on a bus driven by a madman. Chugging up the mountain on a busted bus we reached Tanah Rata at 5,000' white knuckled and actually cold! It was our first taste of fall and a welcome change from the sweltering heat that we have gotten used to here near the equator. This area was once a British hill station where they grew lots of tea and veggies, and there are still tons of farms. There is also an extensive network of fairly well kept trails for hiking, which communist rebels once used to smuggle supplies.

We spent a while up here chilling out and taking advantage of the cool temperatures to lead ourselves on some formidable hikes. The highest we climbed was Gunung Brinchang, where we were completely covered by a cloud blocking our views at 6,666'. The moss covered forest on the way there made up for it, however. We also visited the Boh Tea Estate, where we saw miles and miles of beautiful green tea plants covering rolling hills. This was by far some of the most spectacular scenery we have seen in Malaysia.

Next it was off the the very small town of Lenggong in the mountains of Perak to meet up with Ladia and Hana, the Czech owners of a Permaculture farm nestled in 40 acres of wild jungle. Our first sight of Ladia was of him zipping up to us at the bus station wearing green tie-dyed jeans on the most beat up motor bike in town. After telling us a little about the farm, he pointed to a cell tower straight up a hill behind town about 6km away and told us that we would be driving another equally beat bike up it. Yeehaw!

After a bumpy ride through tall grass on a rutted road we reached the place where we would spend the next month. The farm consists of one building that is the home to Ladia, Hana, and a Homestay and another building, formerly a Tea Factory (Kilang in Bahasa Melayu), that is home to the farm animals and Shiela, a German woman living on the farm. We were shown around the factory and told that in three days time we would be living there too, in a room that was full of rubbish, mold and various feces. This was to be our first project.

While fixing up the new rooms for volunteers in the Kilang we learned the basics of the farm. The first night was a major flash flood that drowned out the sound of the generator, which usually fills your ears and keeps you up at night. The next morning we learned how to fix the water input after bouldering up the river so we could have running water again. We met the animals: chickens, turkeys, ducks, goats, quail and 1 rabbit (Mr. Bunny) and learned how to feed them all. Eventually we learned how to deal with thier aggresive behaviour, for example, if a rooster runs at you and pecks at your head, just hit him with your feed bucket, etc.

Life on the farm is difficult to describe as everyday was different with new tasks, crazy bugs and things gone awry (who's going to clean out the septic tank this time?). We learned a bit about local plants and how to use them to cook with and as medicine (food poisoning in the dark with a squat toilet sucks btw). We fished in the pond (literally in the pond, swimming with the fish) for dinner. We killed scorpions, scrubbed bat shit off walls and burnt of countless leeches. Colin also got to spend most mornings running the path down to Lenggong on a motor bike to get fresh coconut scraps for the animals. After a couple of spills and a few mechanical problems he's ready to zip around just about anywhere. Never a dull moment.

We also spent Thanksgiving on the farm, which was an experience we'll both never forget. Instead of a Turkey this year we slaughtered and prepared a rooster for dinner. Plucking the feathers off of it's warm body was an experience that all meat eaters should have, it really makes you think about what you're eating. We dug up sweet potatoes, prepared stuffing, mashed potatoes and green beans and even made a pumpkin pie! Although we both missed our familes back home, it was nice to share our tradition of Thanksgiving with new friends in the middle of the jungle.

Off the farm and on the road again we are writing again from Georgetown. We will spend a week here filling our bellies and then it's off to Sumatra on the 14th. Enjoy the photos and send us a line, we miss you all very much.

Photos from SW Malaysia & Singapore

2009-12-08T23:10:00.000-08:00

The Petronas Towers, KL. We visited the skybridge on floor 41 after hours of waiting in line and a "short" promotional video.
The National Mosque in Kuala Lumpur
Our attempt at Halloween costumes. The people of Melaka didn't really get it, but we managed to scare some kids.
A Chinese parade that snaked it's way through Melaka's preserved streets.
The historic center of Melaka where the Dutch built this church and city hall.
The Durian aka the Esplanade (or the other way around).
They are strict in Singapore, watch out.
Modern Geisha's in the Singapore Art Gallery a blend of traditional and modern life.
Colin tries to become a piece of public art in Singapore.
Amanda's starting to love onions...well, not really. Little India, Singapore.
An amazing view into the vast jungle of Taman Negara
A twisted vine trying to find the sunlight in the thick jungle.
40m above the jungle floor we walked the canopy
After a long hike we stayed in Bumbun Yong, an animal hide. We saw a lightning bug, woot!
BATS!!! Hanging tough with thousands of winged mammals in Telingga Cave, Taman Negara.

Primeval Jungle and Mega Cities

2009-11-03T23:11:00.000-08:00

Today marks our two month mark in SE Asia!

More adventures since we last left you in sleepy bay side Cherating. We headed straight from our rest there to Jerantut in the mountainous jungle clad interior of Malaysia, where we prepared for our trip into Taman Negara. It is the largest National Park in Malaysia and protects a rainforest that has been around for 130 million years. To put this in temporal perspective, it is about the time that the first mammals evolved. Australopithecus afarensis, Lucy, first showed up on the scene about 125 million years later! (Sorry for the dorky Anthropological digression, but what else can I use my degree for if not to bore my friends and family).

Once we had dropped our travel gear at a hostel and loaded up on cheap raw food and water for the park, we boarded a rickety bus driven by an insane driver before dawn. We rapidly bumped and swerved our way to Kuala Tahan, a teensy town across the river from the actual park and set out into the jungle.

Our first night was to be spent in a bambun (animal hide) about four miles in the thick of things. We fought off leeches, grudgingly feeding some, the mud, and humid heat to our hide. It overlooked a clearing that was supposed to be a haunt of some of the animals of the area. Before it got dark we decided to hike up to a cave near by and check it out. Turns out that it was dark (of course) slippery, and full to the brim with bats! After wallowing through bat shit for a half hour we headed back for dinner.

That night we stayed up a little waiting for animals. We didn't see any besides some lightning bugs and the ant army collecting crumbs. The rest of the night was spent awake laying on a hard plank bed listening to the LOUD jungle, which was interesting in its way. We managed to not see the apparently huge spider (with 8 eyes and 16 pinchers EEK!) that we heard about from the guest book in the bambun and headed back to semi-civilization tired, very dirty, and feeling like real adventurers.

We day hiked the next day, stopping by a canopy walk suspended 40m above the ground and a hill where we got long distance views of the jungle, which stretched as far and further than we could see. We also ran into some Orang Asli (indigenous Malaysians) walking through the jungle barefoot. Not being overly talkative, they just gave us a wide-eyed stare and continued silently on.

The next day we switched gears entirely and took a long train ride to Johor Baru at the very southern tip of the Malaysian Peninsula. It is the jumping off point for Singapore. We stayed there at a home stay with an extremely friendly Chinese Malaysian and his cute little son, who loved to open and slam doors more than anything (getting his head caught along the way). We flew through Singapore in one day, squeaking through immigration and busing down to the historic city center. The town is really very modern with a lot of green space, in some ways more so than any western city we have seen. We saw a really cool art museum, the performing arts venue, which locals call the Big Durian, and wandered through a huge park in the middle of the city. We returned to JB late at night thoroughly exhausted.

Next was off to Melaka, a UNESCO world heritage city with lots of colonial architecture from the Portugese, Dutch, and British, as well as the usual Malay, Chinese, and Southern Indian. We found a great guest house and stayed for a few days wandering around and eating. On Halloween we bought some masks from the market and dressed up to go to the night market. Malaysians didn't quite get why a Chinese Opera Actress and Doraemon the cat-like robot were wandering their town, but didn't seem to mind and smiled when being greeted with "Happy Halloween." We also saw some not-so-spooky live music at the cafe associated with our hostel.

Next it was off to Kuala Lumpur, where we are right now. We found another exceptional place to stay and from here have been wandering around, viewing city parks and doing a little shopping. Yesterday we went to see the Petronas Towers, the tallest twin-towers in the world. Next stop the highlands and then to a permaculture farm where we will spend some time (undefined) volunteering. The farm is in the highlands of northern Malaysia, 100km north of Ipoh. The Czech couple that started the farm are working on getting the farm up and running in it's first year of operation. We'll be able to work on various projects that suit our particular skills, Colin will be shoveling mulch and Amanda will be slaughtering turkeys for dinner. More to come on that, till then. . .

Random Photos from Colin's Camera

2009-10-21T06:18:00.000-07:00

Photo from today in Cherating, taking a river kayak through the majestic mangrove cathedral.
Chinatown, Kuala Terrenganu. We were looking for food and booze but instead we found this.
The view from Penang hill (top right is the longest bridge in Malaysia)
Colin looking majestic in a sea kayak and scarf.
The moon gate, the entrance to the Penang Hill hike.
Lounging on the beach, something we like to do a lot.
All of Krabi looked like this. Colin didn't climb this cliff.
Muslim Amanda. (80% of Malaysians are Muslim)
Are we starting to look alike? Now that I see this photo I think maybe.
Hiking in Penang's national park to a very secluded beach (except for the people that took this photo of course)
Stalagtites hanging from a cave on our longtail boat tour in the Andaman Sea.
Underwater coral reminds Colin of Elise's paintings
Monkey sighting number 1 in Petchuburi, making faces. We see monkeys all over now.

East Coast Malaysia

2009-10-21T05:36:00.001-07:00

Exploring Palau Penang further we climbed Penang Hill, the tallest peak on the island at 820 meters. We sweatily climbed up and shared coffee with energetic old Chinese men at the rest stops along the way. It was a nice climb and offered beautiful views of the cities below. We continued on to the Northwest Coast of the island and a national park and spent two days hiking around to different beaches, a metronomic lake (both sea and fresh water), and through the lush jungle.

Continuing on we took a long bus that wound through the jungle interior of the country to the east side of Malaysia to Kota Baru. There we prepared our trip to the Perhentian Islands, two islands that run off generators and only have running electricity at night. We spent four days there enjoying the beach and lazing about. Island life, as usual. We hiked around the southern tip of the island one day and rented a kayak another. Amanda finished her purse made out of batik fabric purchased in Thailand. In line with Amanda's philosophy on the bigger the better for accessories, it may be the largest bag ever constructed. From the islands we continued back to mainland Malaysia along with it's normal prices and culture (not just whities everywhere you look) and stopped in Kaula Terrenganu and Marang.

Kaula Terrenganu, apparently a cultural hot spot was a bit commercialized with it's oil money. We took a ferry over the river to a town that was supposed to be famous for traditional boat making. Instead we found fish sausage hot out of the boiling vat. Colin ate most of two, while Amanda puked in a bag.

Marang, the jumping off point for an island we weren't interested in, found us wandering the streets looking for affordable housing in the heat of the day. A town with nothing to do, we finally found a spot on top of a hill. It was the first squat toilet we had in a place, and the most we ever paid for a room as well. Sometimes you never know what you're going to get. We were about to set out for the Sunday market but fell asleep instead, a long awaited nap after all that searching. We started setting out as a storm came upon the town, we were soon in a thick cloud but we grabbed our raincoats (turns out Colin's doesn't work) and decided to set off. We were soon soaked and the storm went right over our heads. We walked the stalls, collected a bunch of different food and ate well. Upon returning to our bungalow it was dark and the light switches didn't work, further inspection found that the fan was blown from the wall and a fuze had blown out of the box. Our iPod charger was burnt up and as we turned to find out what was going on, the owner was quickly coming up to us with apologies. Lightning had struck our bungalow! The pavement in front of our steps was shattered and had blown the electricity in half of the huts. We moved to another, thankful that we weren't there, sitting on our porch when it happened. Talk about excitement!

We are now in Cherating, a very small village with a river running through it and a beach that reminds us of the Northwest (although it does have palm trees and is hot as balls). Things are quiet here and we have a nice place to stay and fresh laundry. Next we will head into Taman Negara, the largest national park in Malaysia with a jungle 130 million years old. Until then. . .

Malaysian Grub

2009-10-10T03:23:00.000-07:00

We are in Malaysia now, Georgetown to be exact, and our bellies have not let us leave Penang Island (where Georgetown is of course). The city of Georgetown was colonized by the East India Trading Co. and attracted several different cultures to the island. It is a thriving melting pot of Malay, Chinese and Indian people (and several other sub-cultures). It has been recently named a World Heritage Site for it's colorful history and architecture. Walking down the street you will see a mosque, an Indian Temple, a Chinese clan house and a church all around the corner from another. It's rich culture also brings an amazing selection of delicious foods which we just can't get enough of.

After being teased by expensive Indian food in resort towns in Thailand we were finally able to indulge in curries, samosas, tandoori chicken and simple roti canai (roti served with curry for dipping). We have had several snacks consisting of roti canai and blackcurrant lassis for a grand total of $1.60. Food is amazingly cheap here, so there are a lot of second dinners and snacks.

The Chinese food is equally as good, some of the dishes we like are curry mee (a coconut broth soup with noodles, prawn, tofu, mussels and beansprouts garnished with mint) and Chee Choeng Fun (wide noodles stuffed with prawn and pork served in an oily dipping sauce with peanut sauce on top). Another delicious snack, Char Kuih Kar, is noodle chunks fried with garlic, chili paste and bean sprouts served in a banana leaf cone wrapped in newspaper. Stands up and down most streets serve up specialties from fresh squeezed juices to fried noodles and banana wrapped surprise (always a surprise to see what's in the banana leaf).

And of course there is dessert! Strange, but delicious, Cendol consists of pea flour noodles served in coconut juice, shaved ice and brown sugar with red beans. And sweeter ABC Special, shaved ice, fresh fruit, kidney beans, corn, ice cream, lychee pieces, and strange black noodle something-or-other. It sounds weird, but it's good. Malaysia so far has been a treat.

Island Photos

2009-10-03T21:45:00.001-07:00

Amanda enjoying squid (one of many) at a BBQ buffet restaurant where you grill your own meat and make soup in the mote of the grill.

Colin and our adventure seeking Austrian friend on Hat Ton Sai.

Hat Ton Sai, Krabi, where all the hardcore rock climbers hang out.

Colin playing spiderman in Railay Beach, Krabi. Look at those calves!

Rainy yet beautiful Ao Nang, Krabi in the midst of a three day monsoon.

Famous James Bond Island, one of the many karst formations in the Andaman Sea.

After our propeller flew off, we were ferried into this amazing Muslim fishing village all on stilts over the open Adaman sea.

Our longtail boat trip for Phang Na through mangrove forests and caves with the elder Mr. Kean at the helm.

Just a sample of the bizzare statues at the Heaven and Hell cave, which also doubles as a Buddhist altar.

One of our Gibbon friends in Rehab. We visited to the Gibbon Rehabilitation Center on Phuket where they reintroduce Gibbons that have been kept in captivity to the rainforest there. We also hiked to a beautiful waterfall there.

Colin relaxing in the hammock of our beachside bungalow in the small fishing village of Chalaklum, Ko Phangan.

A trek up and over one of the highest peaks to secluded Bottle Beach rewarded us with beautiful views of the island.

A sweaty hike to our next destination, we opted out of the expensive taxi ride to Mae Haad, Ko Phangan. Thai people seriously think it's crazy to walk anywhere, but we're from the NW baby!

Poolside chairs in front of the beach, pretty swank, but we paid a bargain 200baht (6 bucks) to stay in one of the dingy bungalows, Ko Phangan.

One of the many beautiful sunsets we viewed during happy hour on the beach, Ko Tao.

A longtail boat in Black Diamond Bay, Ko Tao.

A madman on a motorbike about to take us on the worst dirt roads imaginable.

A typical Thai market with dried seafood by the kilo.

Easy Life, Easy Stay

2009-10-02T04:03:00.000-07:00

Soooo, it has been a while since we were dropped out of the sky into Bangkok. We have mainly been hopping from island to island in Southern Thailand enjoying the sun when we can and dodging the rain when necessary. We started out with a train trip down the coast through the towns of Petchaburi, where we saw our first monkeys and Amanda made faces with one, and Hua Hin, where we had our first taste of the beach at the King's favorite resort town. From there we attempted a stay in the Khao Sok national park, which ended with a samlaw driver yelling and driving away and us on the side of the road hitchhiking back into town. Not discouraged in any way, well at least only slightly, we decided to shoot straight down to Chumpon for a night ferry to the islands.

Our first stop was Ko Tao, which means Turtle Island in Thai and is supposed to look like a turtle perched on top of a huge bed of coral. We moved from bay to bay there, staying in different bungalows on the beach, snorkeling, kayaking, and driving a motor bike around the deeply rutted dirt roads of the island. At some points Amanda had to get off of the bike and walk when the going got a little too rough or the hill too steep for two people on our little bike. In the end we coughed up 1,000 baht for a small scratch, Thai people know their hustle.

Next we zipped over to Ko Phangan to the SE and a much larger island. We chose to forgo the SW coast where the majority of young backpackery types go, drawn by the Full Moon parties that occur once monthly (they are so popular that now they also have Black Moon parties and Half Moon parties, pretty much any phase gets some sort of celebration). We went the the NW coast which is a lot less developed and spent our days climbing from one bay to the next, snorkeling, and lazing about on the beach. One day we decided to hike overland to Bottle Beach, which ended up being a grueling push over one of the higher peaks on the island in the heat of the day. We made it across for beautiful views and a longtail boat ride back to our bungalow.

After spending 6 days in Ko Phangan we finally said goodbye and took a night ferry to the mainland. Nicely tanned, we continued on to Phuket on a bus to reach Phuket town on the west coast of the peninsula. Fuzzy sweaters in full effect we finally rested our heads at On On Hotel, the Bangkok flophouse where they filmed part of "The Beach." The rooms looked earily the same, and we spent our night passing joints back and forth with our neighbors (kidding). We spent two days in Phuket Town which had interesting Sino-Portugese architechture and a killer night market. We found Chang beer for 40 baht, cheaper than conveniece stores! We continued to spend one night in Patong, where we found 4,000 American Navy sailors in port. We hadn't run into more than two Americans up to this point, and then bam! all over the place. It was rainy, but the vendors were out in full force.

On to Phang Na, a small town between Phuket and Krabi we stopped for one night and did a boat trip in the Andaman sea to see Mangroves, caves and famous James Bond Island. We took a longtail boat that lost it's propeler mid-trip, but were rescued and ferried into a Muslim fishing village. The village was incredible, a whole town clinging to one cliff on stilts sticking straight out of the sea. It was beautiful. The day we arrived we were told of the Heaven and Hell cave which we went to check out. It was weird, there were crazy statues all over the place of torture and monsters and you entered the cave through a dragon bridge (inside the mouth, out the butt). We can't describe the creepiness, you'll just have to see the photos.

Arriving in Krabi we spent one night in Krabi Town and ate some delicious fried mussels. Yum! Street food is really where it's at, restaurants don't stand a chance to tittilate your taste buds. On to Ao Nang, a beach in Krabi we found a great room where we have spent the last 5 nights. The owner was a hustler, she gave us the hard sell on the room, but warmed up to us by the time we left. She even gave us a bag of cocunut cream peanuts for bus snacks. Anyway, it was our first hot shower since Bangkok. Colin went climbing in Railay Beach, I watched and hid from the rain. Afterwards we tramped around Hat Ton Sai, a smaller beach with less development and a stunning view. The whole area is made up of karst cliffs reaching up into the sky, it is so beautiful. Yesterday we took a speed boat trip to the Phi Phi islands. It was a little frightening sitting in the front of the boat bobbing up and down on the open sea waves, but we made it. We did a lot of snorkeling and saw some beautiful sights. Our tour guide, like many women here, was a man, of course.

And that bring us to little Trang, Thailand. Our last stop before we cross into Malaysia. That's it for now kiddies. We will try to blog more, and of course add some photos.

Bangkok, City of Angels

2009-09-07T20:33:00.000-07:00

Our first night in Bangkok we found ourselves being led down Khao San Road (backpackers haven) by a little Thai person, and by little person I mean about 3 feet tall. It was Friday night, we arrived around noon to Ed's house, got a nap in and had our first Thai meal on the street (noodle soup, fried chicken and a fruit shake). We then continued on to the other side of the city (Bangkok is freaking huge, high rises sprawled as far as the eye can see) to Khao San Road, a large nightlife area. That's where we met our little friend along with several other ladies trying to hawk hats, gum and wooden frogs. Because of our jet lag, several buckets of booze and our inability for our body to tell what time it really was, we stayed out all night. Saturday we slept.

Sunday we did the tourist dance and saw tons of sights in the old part of town called Ko Ratanakosin. We saw the Grand Palace and Wat Phra Kaew which is home to the Emerald Buddha with a super speedy tour guide who knew the actual name of Bangkok; it's 15 long and difficult words. The Emerald Buddha stands only 60cm tall and has three different outfits for the wet, dry and hot seasons. It's a pretty cute factoid and Amanda's favorite part.

After some street food (delicious!) we went to Wat Pho which houses the second largest Buddha in the world and has really beautiful Mother of Pearl inlay on his feet. It also has 394 other guilded statues of Buddha! While we were there tons of monks were getting ready for a festival in the many wats and some traditional Thai music playing in the background, so we felt surrounded by culture Finally we crossed the Chao Praya, the river going through Bangkok to see Wat Arun. There we climbed up steep stairs to overlook the city.

Monday we set out for the Indonesian Embassy, the Golden Mount and Chinatown. We were caught in a pretty nasty rain storm and met some interesting tuk tuk drivers in a house converted restaurant. We wandered, got lost and got lost some more. After choking on fumes and avoiding scams to buy nice suits we decided to call it a day.

Tomorrow we will leave Bangkok to set off for Phetchaburi and Hau Hin. Sawadtee!

Here it is

2009-08-24T23:24:00.000-07:00

So, as you all know, we will be leaving on our SE Asian adventure on September 3rd. After enormous amounts of peer pressue, we thought it would be best to start a little blog instead of writing lengthy and infrequent emails. Anyway, here it is. We'll mainly just post our pictures and basic info about how things are going. We hope that you all enjoy our adventures as much as we do.

Cheers,
Colin and Amanda