The Next Adventure

Advanced Diver!!

2010-04-25T09:30:00.000-07:00

So a few days on Utila turned into two weeks!! Vita and I liked diving so much that we took a second advanced couse, which means that were are now certified to dive up to 100ft under water! I have 12 dives under my belt uncluding 3 or 4 deep dives (past 70ft). We made good friends with our dive instuctor and got into lots of trouble! Imagine the two of us under water doing flip, summer-saults, up-side-down mischeif etc... We love to observe the under water coral, fish etc. but our real love is the weightless experience and try to take advantage of that as much as we can. Thus with all of our dive masters we were refered to as ¨circus divers¨... I consider that a complement!!!

Carlee Ann surprised us a few days before were were going to meet up on the main land and we got to take her out on the boat and snorket with her. We went looking for whale sharks but didn´t see any that day, we did get to play with a beautiful dolphin family though. On our first day of Advanced diving Vita and I did get the oppurtunity to see a whale shark though! We were chaseing boils, where fish freak out above a whale shark and just flip around at the surface of the water. It is how we identify where the whale sharks are. We jumped in a few times on top of the boils but didn´t see anything, finally i jumped in a looked straight down with my snorkel mask. RIGHT BELOW ME was a huge whale shark!! I don´t know how deep it was but later my friends told me that he dove down and looked straight into his eye!! I freaked out, a little, and started swimming away becasue all I could think about was if this guy comes up even a little I´ll be riding him!! It was really amazing. Not to mention later that day while diving I got to swim with a turtle!!!

Ok so, to catch up to now- we are now on the main land near Lago Yojoa. Tomorrow we are taking a bunch of busses to cross the border into Nicaragua. From there we are going to seach around for another language school, maybe starting Monday. Then play around in Nicaragua till Anna comes in late May where we will have two weeks to travel to Costa Rica!! Sorry still no pictures but I´ll try to borrow my friends camera and put some of hers later!

Honduras

2010-04-11T12:39:00.000-07:00

Since Mexico and my two full days of sitting on my ass driving or boating out of the country I have passed through Belize and am now in Honduras. I was in Belize from last Sunday until Friday, when we took a boat into Honduras. Belize was a really funky place. The difference from Mexico hits you as soon as you cross the border. There is a lot of diversity in Belize, traditional Mayans, Garifuna peoples descended from slaves, pirate descendants, Spanish and British Colonizer's descendants and of course all the the people in between. Technically they speak English in Belize as it used to be British Honduras but really the people grow up speaking Creole which comes from English but is like listening to a completely different language. Examples of creole:
"Beta noh lita"- don't litter
"pik ney"- children
"lef"- leave
"wanna go so o so?" -want to go this way, or that way

Its like English in a blender! It was almost uncomfortable for me to hear a language that I knew but in a way I didn't know, like my brain couldn't process why it couldn't understand!! The culture can be described in one phrase, "everything is everything," which from what I understand means something like everything is just how it is, so.... I saw a lot of negative effects from that cultural mindset. There is so much poverty. Also there is an interesting part of their romantic culture. It seemed like they just trade lovers, one couple has a few kids and the whole time they cheat on each other and then they break up and then they repeat that cycle again and again- endlessly. I don't really say that as an outsider, these are words taken out of locals mouths. We were there with Jalima's family and really got sucked into the life there and experienced it as family would rather then as tourists. I was really kind of bothered with that mindset. It is so different than the experience I had in India where the mentality was "everything is possible," or "sab cuch malega." Rather than embracing the limits they embrace the potential of life. I guess here is where we realize the lessons in discovering the differences in cultures...

On a last note, like I said, I am in Honduras now. On a island called Utila. The reef is supposed to be some of the best in the world here and there is a big diving culture. On a whim Vita and I decided to get certified. We start today and will be done in four days. In the end we will have like 3 or 4 open water dives under our belts!! Anna should meet up with us in like six weeks, and I think Carlee Ann will meet up with us as well. All is wonderful and still very "sab cuch malega" with me!!

San Miguel Allende

2010-04-02T17:03:00.000-07:00

Well first of all I lost my camera so I won't be putting pictures up until I can use my friends camera. Sorry for those of you who are only into the picture brows. Second I have had chronic strep throat for about a week, just so you can all feel bad for me. Third, stop feeling bad for me because this past week has been great. My dad and I met up in Mexico city, spent the night in a bus station, to a 5 hour bus here and have been having a blast the whole time. I am really learning what it is like to discover your parent has a human being before they were your parent. We have met all his old friends, teachers, etc. and I can see why living here was such a momentus experience for him. I have been touched by those same people though I have only known them for a week. Tomorrow We are both taking a bus to the airport where I will fly to cancun (2 hours) then bus to a border town(6 hours) catch another bus to belize city (a few more hours) then take a chicken bus to Independence then a water taxi to the small town my friends are in...... i think that is like two days of traveling. Oh well such is the nature of this experience. After my camera was stolen I decided it happend for a reason and am going to do without a camera, but promise to borrow friends to post pictures when I can. Here is something that I started working on, in progress but an idea of my work:

"Upon leaving Mexico April 2, 2010"

I take Frida as my mother

-braid her into my hair

the Spainards as a bastard father

the arch nosed Aztecas as abuelo

the full skirted dark eyed Myans as abuela

bougie, high heel clacking

mujeres de La Ciudad de Mexico, as tias

sombrero wearing hombres,

with hard callused hands, as tios.

I take in these ancestors

till the breath ferments in my blood

I take them in, with their children

their sun bleached ruins

their murials woven of heros and villans

their savory taco stands

-the certain way the greese falls into the web of my fingers

-the relief as watermelon agua fresca chills me from the belly button up

and I wrap them up into a page

I present them to you

here, in the shape of a flower

may you wear in above your ear

so that the colors of these souls

are fragrent for all.

Breathe deeply

playa del carmen, tulum, valladolid

2010-03-23T17:57:00.000-07:00

so...
i have been scolded for not keeping up with my blog on this trip and although i am not inspired to write i have the time so here i go...
hightlights...
-vitas mom has been staying with us so she has been treating us to sweet hotels and adventures! we went on a private fishing trip in puerto morelos and caught a bunch of trigger fish. we also has some cool cervescas on the boat and then got to fry up the fish for dinner. guess what, i caught the first one!
-after that we went to tulum , which has myan ruins on the beautiful coast!
-then we took a bus to valladolid where where we stayed in another nice hotel and went to a beautiful cenote (look them up online) and chichinetsa(not sure of spelling) another great ruin site.
-today we went to a cool place that i can{t remember the name of but we got another private tour. This consisted of taking a private boat through a park and then going to the home of hundreds of flamingos, we got to see the red water that is filled with the little cril things they eat to make them pink . We floated in water so salty we were like blow up toys and then COVERED ourselves in mineral mud. Then we got to rinse of in the beautiful ocean, visit yet another freakin ruin site and see a tradition myan village.
It has been a privilage to participate in all of these things, most of which i would not have done without Bonnie. She and I go to cancun tomorrow what she will fly out and I will spend one more day on my favorite island Isla Mujeres before flying to Mexico city to meet my dad for ten days. I have AMAZING pictues to come and will post them soon
much love, em

More of mexico

2010-03-12T10:23:00.001-08:00

Goodbye Isla Mujeres

Me and my granola, Vita and her Ukulele life is never boreing!

Pelenque

That is is big leaf

Parque de Venta, Villahermosa

Her name is Abuela

Mexico has swollowed me up and I run on mexican time which means I have no idea what the date, day or time is- ever! That is my excuse for not having written is so long! Now it feels like there is too much to write down but I have had some of the most amazing adventures and I want to share them all.

I left off in a small jungle settlement outside of Pelenque. Our room there was a few plywood boards tacked together covered in screens, diveded into four rooms. We were the only girls surround by bg groups of Australian and French Canadians- you can imagine we all got to playing practical jokes on eachother as we could hear everything in everyone's room- the best part was that we practically never saw eathother's faces!

We took a day trip to Aqua Azul *look it up on line* it was absolutley breathtaking. Miles of limestone pools, clear water, stunning. Then a we spent a day inside the ruins of Pelanque. That was really something, we wandered through abandoned palaces, death chambers halls etc. and we allowed amazing access. Vita and I took an afternoon break and sat a top one of the hightest ruins and just sketched out the beauty below. Exploring the city and walking through the halls I could really imagine the way of life there those thousands of years ago.

Then we took a 14 hour bus ride to the coast and passed through Cancun to get to the small island, Isla Mujeres. For five days we really just chilled out and relaxed. I didn't even take my camera anywhere, just imagine the typical white sandy beaches... We made tons of friends staying at our hostel including travalers on the same type of trip as us and the typical travlaers who have been doing this type of thing for 5 years. We also had a great day with some boat captains from South Carolina. Shout out to Bobbie, Ford, Eddie, and Ron! They are awesome and fixed us fresh sashime that they caught that day! I hope you guys arn't disapointed by the blog... its kinds of boreing but you might just become famouse now...

You can imagine the life of lounging in hammoks all day, and partying all night gets a little exausing so we headed just a little south to Puerto Morelos to meet Vita's sister.

Here we stayed with Vita's family friend, Oma, and her friend Megan for three or four days. These women are absolutely hilarious. Free spirits and tons of fun we've been to beaches, centones and around town laughing the whole time trying to keep our eyes on the keys that are perpetually getting lost. Vita's mom met up with us yesterday and now we are in a nice hotel by the beach *thank you mom!*

That is about it. I'm flying to meet my dad in Mexico city and we are going to San Miguel de Allende on the 25th. My spanish is getting better, my writing is chugging a long, time means nothing to me and all is well. Until next time...

cross country

2010-03-05T13:12:00.000-08:00

In the last few days we traveled to Cueranavava (probably misspelled) which is the capitol of the state of Morela and stayed with a friends family for three days. The city was beautrful and in the same colonial style as the other big cities we had seen. From there we knew we wanted to head East and hit the more jungle area. So we took a three hour bus ride to Puebla, and then an 8hour busride to Villahermosa arriving at five in the morning. Villahermosa was not the beautiful city that its name promised to to be but we did get to go the Parque Venta and see some great (I mean amazing) giant pre Myan statues. I took a million pictures and will post them later. Despite the fresh coco milk drinks, and the delicouse fresh shrimp tacos I wasn´t feeling very satisfied with Mexico. I realize now that I just needed to get out of those big cities!!!! So we took an early bus this morning to Palenque, the town near the famouse Myan ruins. We are staying in a very secluded area outside the town located just before the gates in to the park. We have a tiny cabana with only half walls and the rest screens (hopefully enough to seal out mosquitos!!) and took a walking tour of the whole area through jungle paths. I realize suddenly that it is not mexico that I was not connecting with but the big cities. Vita and I being very good practicing our spanish and intend to be very creative while in this amazing space. Most of the other people are drop dead gorgeous Argentinians (a little intimidating) and cute Europeans. Tonight we are planning to go the one bar and hear music from South America. If I dont drink too much tonight I am going to wake up and do yoga... but we will see because to save money Vita and I bought our own bottle of Mezcal as well as bread, avocados, and a can of beans. We might just be drunk fattys who eat and drink enough for two days in one night.
Dad, I can´t wait to go to Palenque tomorrow. I heard so much about it growing up! I promis to take a lot of pictures and post them for you. Everyone else, I feel guilty posting a blog without pictures but you´ll have to wait in suspense...

Morelia

2010-02-28T13:43:00.000-08:00

my favorite plaza

,

me and my girls in morelia
view of patzcuero from our roof
lunch in the market
Our party!
Preparing dinner in our little kitchen before the party!

Our house!
The Study room...

We finished Spanish school last friday and are now in the town of Morelia, the capital of Michoacan. This city is so beautiful and has a very romantic European feel to it, plus the traditional churro, chips and Salsa Valentina twist to it!!
The last week of school was my favorite. We moved out of the expensive family house we were staying in and rented a small apartment for the week. We were just a 20min walk from school and lived up a small hill in something like a compound filled with artists! We had a fireplace and a small kitchen and twice had big dinners for our neighbors and friends from school. We went to the market everyday for fresh verduras and frutas and had 2 tacos for ten pasos for lunch. It was a great experience. I feel like I learned so much in school and need a little time to process it all (four hours a day for two weeks!) I am going to do my best to continue learning and practicing.
Tomorrow we are taking a bus to Cuernovaca where we will drop Carlee Ann off with her midwife for about 6 weeks. From there Vita and I are going to continue to explore Mexico and more.
As for now, in Morelia we are completly enamored. We are staying in the historic district and love walking through the beautiful plazas. I am writing and it feels wonderful! Enjoy the pictures and I love you all!

Mexio!!!

2010-02-18T15:14:00.000-08:00

our new wool socks to protect us from the unexpected rain and cold!!!

My school, CELEP

mmm... they taste even better than they look

Playing around with my new fancy camera on the peacocks in our yard.

A pagan festival that took place the day before Ash Wednesday.

Well, here I am again traveling. This time Mexico, and then Central and South America. We arrived Sunday night and are staying in a home with an older couple. We are in a small town and will be here for another week learing Spanish. I have three goals or intentions for this trip- first to work on a book project which is a combination of journal entries, poems, and drawings. The second is to practice yoga (maybe not everyday, but frequmente!) And third to learn Spanish!! Below is an excert from my journal-

16 Febrero, 2010

Patzuuer is a small pueblo centered around 3 small plazas. We live in an old colonial style casa surrounding 2 courtyards divided by an unused formal dinning room. We stay in a room upstairs at the end of a long balcony. There are at least 5 other empty room but of course we prefer to stay together. So far on this journey everthing feels strangely familiar. Living out of a backpack has lost all novelty, the plave busride and 2 taxies to get here lacked any sense of impatience to arrive. To remind myself that I am traveling, that I am excited , that i am tasteing an exitic land I repeat Micheocan to myself. That word is strangely romantic to me, somehow it encompasses the sound of the language here, the taste of enchilada suezas, and the two peacocks roaming just below us in the courtyard. I miss nothing from home.

Over the past few days we have made a simple life. Rising for desayuno at 9, escuela at 10, home by three for comida. In the afternoons we study espanol, expolore the cobble streets and (try to) practice yoga. It is a good begining to establish and meet intentions for teh rest of this trip. Still Im waiting for a moment, a recognition, an escape into uncontrolable excitement.

Out of India, sad face

2009-09-04T00:16:00.000-07:00

Its been a long time since my last post, right now I am on a little island in Thailand and India feels like a lifetime away. Leaving was really hard and that is why Mo and I are treating ourselves to some beach paradise in hopes making ourselves feel better about leaving. After Varanasi we went to Bodhgaya where the Bodhi tree is and got adopted by a family. We set up a system so that we are paying for two boys to go to school there. We also celebrated a traditional festival with them, one where the wives honored the husbands. We honored the gods with fruit and songs and danced with the women as they sang traditional songs. After we left there we headed to Rishikesh, in the north where the Ganges seeps out of the mountains. We spent the rest of our time there, doing yoga and hanging out with holy Saddhu people and fellow travelers. In sum India was the most rich experience I have ever had. Life was so raw there, it really opened me up as a person and exposed me to a deeper level of humanity. Imagine a fairytale world, where magic is possible and is used for good and evil. Where one's senses are so hightend that sights, smells, sounds etc. are more vivid and sometimes overwhelming. India has a vibe, a pool of energy that is concentrated and unlike anywhere else in the world. If one can tap into it than the world opened up is the world of "Everything is possible," as is constantly said by the people there. You can see why it was hard to leave...
We flew out of India and are now on a small island, KO Chang, it is beautiful but raining. Damn monsoon. Anyway trying to prepare myself for home, looking forward to it but still sad about ending my travels. Can't wait to see you all, much much love to all!!!

Picture catch up

2009-09-03T23:44:00.000-07:00

The golden temple, above: eating at the golden temple

giant shiva at ganga
My favorite Baba's
The Gangas River at Rishikesh
Haridwar
Yum, leaf plate, my favorite
Celebrating Punja for a festival with our Family
Our Family in their little food stall
The Bodhi Tree
Bodhgaya

More on Varanasi

2009-08-20T19:49:00.000-07:00

WELL,
as always we are trying to buy our train ticket out of a city within 24hours of when we want to leave. This means that we are not sure if we are leaving or what class we will be in, but like every other time something unexpected will happen and we will get to say "it was meant to be!" To be honest if we don't get to leave tonight I won't be upset. Varanasi is a city that I can only take in little bit at a time. We leave for our shopping for the day or whatever and then I need time to decompress afterward, sitting high on our rooftop or quietly in our room. The day before yesterday as I was trying to get back to the room I got really, I mean really, lost in the ally maze that is the old city of Varanasi. I walked passed houses that have been there for hundreds of years and have the same way of doing things as back then. Yesterday while waiting for my friend who was inside a temple another guy we met and I had some beggar kids come up to us. This is not special and happens all the time, everyday, but because we were kind of stuck where we were about ten-15 of them eventually came up and started to play with us. We played with them for at least 30min. Of course they asked for a rupee, but in all that time they only asked twice. They were having so much fun with me just clapping hands and practicing their English counting that we all forgot about everything else. It was really interesting, and once again this is totally common, after we started talking to just a few who were under 10 one of them called to some of their friends something like bring over the babies. Well some 4/5 year olds brought over 3 babies, under 2 years old one was no more than 5 months old. This is one of their strategies i guess. Every beggar girl or woman has a baby under two that they have with them. Every single one. Well anyway this story isn't about that. Right away the kids could tell that we were not going to give them money, but we were going to give them time. my friend kind of held all the babies while i played games with the older ones. I had to make sure every one got a turn clapping and counting because there were two girls who kind of ran the show and pushed the littler ones around and wanted all the attention. After a while a man came up, and we think for many reasons he was kind of like their boss man just like in Slumdog Millionaire. We just ignored him and kept on playing.
Its so easy, when you see all of these various horrible things, to want to blame someone. It has to be one particular person's fault. Like the boss man for the kids. But in reality he is the only one feeding them or giving them any sort of anything. Another interesting experience happened just last night, we were in a tuk tuk with a young driver and a police man stopped him and just smacked him. A few min. later the kid had to give him a 50rupee bribe. There were a lot of things going on at the time but when it comes down to it my friends and I think this: First our new friend was sitting in the front seat next to the driver so the police man easily saw that westerns were in the tuk tuk. Of course we gave the guy an extra 50 later to pay for the bribe. I think the police man new we would pay the kid back. Now police men barley make enough money for shelter and food for their family's. Everything else they have to pay for with bribe money. So maybe that police man needed 50 for something so out of all the drivers he chose ours, maybe, knowing that in the end the kid wouldn't really have to pay for it. That still means the cop was an asshole and the police force is majorly corrupted here, BUT it also shows a bit of humanity in all of it. The kid was just 19 years old and didn't know his way around. Who knows how long he had been driving- a week? a month?
Anyway you can kind of imagine how a person could feel overwhelmed here, externally as well as internally. I am constantly thinking and processing what happens around me. Ever since I got here, to this city in particular, I feel that all of my sense are heightened. I smell more of the world, I see more color. And my heart is just trying to keep up with it all, trying to be a real part of it while still reserving some of myself. If I don't hold just a little of myself back, well, I can put it this way:For a selfish reason I wouldn't let myself hold the 5 month old yesterday. I just knew that if I held that baby it would be too much for me. I don't know what would have happened, maybe I would have cried or maybe I would be coming home with a little baby but I knew that holding that particular emaciated calcium deprived baby would kill me inside. I had a great time with the kids and I know they will remember it just like I always will, but that one baby would have somehow opened me up too much...
Like I said, still processing, still taking it all in, always wondering what will happen next.

India

2009-08-18T19:53:00.000-07:00

Men doing laundry and bathing the Ganges: Below-Just outside of the old city in Varanasi, this kid was just washing his shoe!:

Just an ally off the main street:

Above- this guys job is to take the cow poo and dry it out and then sell it for fuel for cook stoves as all lumber goes toward cremation.

Below- Varanasi:

Ganges:

It's the Taj:

Kids at Taj:

At the Taj- sooo wet!:

Waiting to get into Taj:

View from farm with the kids who lived on the farm:

The farmer's clay house:

The Baby Taj:

The baby that was thrown at me on my walk to the waterfall...

The Family we met on the train to Agra:

Each day India reveals a new part of itself to me. I am constantly surrounded by new overwhelming things that both amaze me as well as horrify me. The last time I wrote I was in the Northern Part of Dharamasla, on top of the mountains in a heavily Buddhist/Tibetan area. From there we took a public bus to Amristar, the capitol of the Punjab State as well as the home of the Golden Temple. The Golden Temple is a Sikh temple on a 500 year old holy site. After arriving in the evening we got accommodations just across the street and then entered the sacred sight. All of the ground is marble and the real golden Temple sits in the middle of a small lake. We had dinner with all of the other Pilgrims before meditating with them as we waited for the temple to undergo the ritual of being washed with milk between 12 and 2:15 am. All are welcome to the temple and served equally. Outside of the kitchens hundreds of people work together to peel the vegetables for the food that is served for free, 24hours a day. Inside, all sit down on the cement floor together and are served slop bucket style. The food was so delicious! Afterward we had a several hour long talk with a baptised Sikh about his religion as well as life. Then at 2:30 in the morning we we let into the golden temple!. To enter there is just one bridge across the lake, representing life. The is just one way in, birth and death. I would love to talk more about this but I don't want the blog to be too long, I will just leave it at being one of the most amazing experiences of my entire trip.

So then we went on our way to Agra, to see the Taj. On the train ride there (sleeper class, no AC) we met a nice family who kind of adopted us. They gave hena to Monique and their kids hung out with us for almost the entire night. Agra was everything that we expected, dirty and busy with many people trying to make an extra few hundred rupees. The first day we took a tour of the city and saw the Fort, as well as visited a small farm where we got to talk to the family who had been living there for generations. Well we didn't actually get to talk to them because they didn't speak English but we got to see their "house" and learn how they lived. PS did you know that India has been so effected by Global Warming/ lack of monsoon that harvest is two months late this year and veggis and rice have gone up in price by more than double? The next day we went to the Taj. It was stunning (an entire palace of white marble and inlay) but we just stayed a an hour or so as it was raining and very touristy. From there another train ride (overnight, of course) to Varanasi.

And here is where I need to take a breath. Varanasi is so... over the top for all the senses including the spirit. The first night we stayed just 50ft from the ghat where they burn the bodies. We sat on our roof and overlooked a family singing their loved one into heaven while they burned the body and threw it into the Ganges. The old city, where we are staying right along the river, is said to be the oldest inhabited city in the world. It is made up of hundreds of small alleys/ streets lined with shops, houses, temples, cows, trash piles, shit piles, bathing children, sleeping beggars, salesmen, more shit, and bugs/insects. Yesterday we walked all along the ghats to see them all. This morning we woke up at four am and took a boat ride all along the ghats (the different piers along the river) to see the people bathing, etc. We did see one whole dead body but it was covered in the traditional bright fabric and then floated on some bamboo. It looked like a child and I assume that the family did not have enough money to burn the body. Now we are staying in a hotel just a little ways deeper into the maze of streets but it has a high rooftop restaurant where we can look out onto the entire old city.

At first when I got here I kind of took the whole thing for granted, seeing it just as an ideal- the "varanasi" that we all read about and see on TV. But after being here for a few nights and spending more time in the city and especially after this mornings boat ride the reality of it has really sunk in. I cannot believe people live like this. I mean that in a way of just common sense. There is poop everywhere!!! People and animal. As well as dead animals. This place is covered with all the generations of trash since the beginning of this cities time. Also people who have lived here their entire lives often go crazy, thinking things like they are Shiva reincarnated...

But, besides all that I love India. It is amazing and more than I expected. I'm glad that I finally found a place to upload pictures, I'll try to put a lot. Much love to all and thank you for your emails!

More of the same amazing place!

2009-08-09T06:13:00.000-07:00

I am just now sitting in the small cafe of our guesthouse, I am drinking lemon ginger and honey tea, outside it is still wet because of the heavy rains earlier. It is monsoon season here and in the north it rains for a few hours every afternoon. Today we hiked to some beautiful waterfalls and lots of people asked me to take pictures with their babies. One man just handed me his beautiful baby before I really knew what was going on. I was actually really glad because the babies are beautiful here and i have been dyeing to hold one!!! well after that about one hundred Indian men all wanted "just one snap miss..." which got to be a little overwhelming, but it was totally cool and i just told them when i had enough(which was literally 100 pictues later, including the "secret" ones they thought they were taking) it is really different to be the exotic one, definitely something i have never experienced growing up in cali. we have met some great Indian Muslim friends and we are going over to their house for the second night to have dinner. they are so respectful, kind, and hospitable that it puts our culture to shame!! its funny because they are both young and very prosperous buisines men but they live in a one room studio. its just the Indian way. we sit on their floor to hang out or eat dinner or whatever. i think we have got a really rare look into the indian lifestyle. i think tomorrow we are walking to a Tibetan children's refugee camp and going to volunteer with the kids for a while. we don't want to leave but we have so much more to see.............!!!!!!!!!!! that is the only worry i have in my life right now so i'm not complaining.

Dharamsala and Mcleod Ganj

2009-08-08T05:01:00.001-07:00

I don't even know where to begin. Now I know why people say there is no place in the world like India. In the 5 countries that I visited before coming here nothing came close to my journey here. I'll just have to pick up where I left off, in Delhi...
leaving Delhi was a big relief. We spent a lot of time in the different bazaars and got to see the Red Fort, of which pictures I will put up later. I left my friend to go home a little early and had a little bi of a bad experience with a bicycle rickshaw driver. He kind of followed me after I got out of his rickshaw(as he did not know where I wanted to go) and so I went into a shop. He came in and argued with the owners of the shop who told me that he wanted 20 rupees. I told them what happened and then just gave the driver 10 Rp to go away. Although it was an overwhelming experience it was really good because it made me realize how India works. For every beggar or hassaler there are two respectful and helpful people right by to help you out.
The next morning Mo and I headed to the train station planning to go to Agra to see the Taj Mahal. Well we quickly found out that train tickets needed to be booked at least 4 hours in advance and that going to Agra would not be possible. So we pulled out our map and decided to go to another of our top destinations, Dharamsala. We had to wait until the 9:30pm train and then got off the next morning at 7:30am only to catch a 3 hour bus to our destination. Talk about the "real Indian experience."
Well Dharamsala is in the far north west and it is the current residence of His Holiness, the Dali Lama. We are in the small village of Mcleod Gani staying just a few hundred meters from the temple. We are actually in the Himalayas!! It is so beautiful here and the people are sooo giving and kind. We have made many friends, Hindu, Muslim, Buddhist etc. and love to have chai with them and are invited to a home cooked dinner tonight! There are more tourist here as there is a big yoga center here as well as the Dali Lama (whose house I went to today!). The vibe here is just so relaxed and although it rains a lot I like I am high up in the heavens.
So change of subject I am trying to extend my trip. Monique is returning to the states on Sept 10 after returning to Thailand and I realized that the only thing I have to go back to is my job (at a bar, whoo hoo...) so why not try and stay a little longer??? More details on that to come later. The important thing to know is that I am safe, happy, having the best time of my life and having once in a lifetime experiences!!!

India

2009-08-04T21:39:00.001-07:00

Right now I am sitting in a small internet cafe next to our hostel, the Peace Hostel. We are staying in a small Refugee area for Tibetans. I am wearing a traditional Indian style Tunic suit and wearing bangles!!! Yesterday we went to our first market to shop for our outfits. I got two tunic things and one pair of pants. It was so amazing to shop right along side Indian women. Its really different from shopping at home. Because there are only 2 or 3 styles each outfit is really ornate and everything has to match perfectly! you know me I don't match so its a little hard but I'm trying.

Yes we have seen all the things that people told me to look out for, begging children, people sleeping in the street along side cows, I almost got run over by a bus. Literally. But also it is just a city like anywhere else and people live here and I do not have that fear that I was expecting. Everyone is so nice. Yesterday I slipped on the stairs to the subway and two people helped me up and one man asked very sincerly "are you hurt mam." I was so touched. In the states no one would have blinked.

We have one more day in delhi and then we are going to the Taj Mahal. Not going to spend more than the day in Agra as it is not a great place, instead we are spending the night in a nearby town called the "city of eternal love." Driving was probably the craziest part of my short time here. I thought that the driving the the middle of the road in SE Asia was dangerous but here is 10X worse. When I get pictues I can't wait to show you my Indian oufits but for now just know (Mom) that I am safe and happy and don't want to ever come home!!!

Love you all so much, EM

Last SE Asia Photos

2009-08-02T20:44:00.000-07:00

Tigers!!

Giant Laying down Buddah

Last Day In SE Asia

2009-08-02T04:47:00.000-07:00

Well the last few days in Bangkok have been fun. We are in a very busy part of the city and so there is always a motorbike or tuktuk honking as us or other tourists stumbling down the streets but it is Bangkok and what else can you ecpect. We were sad to leave Ayutthya becasue we had made some great friends there but I had to get back here to finalize my Visa stuff of India. Jamie left a few hours ago for the airport and will be home in 24 hours or so. Mo and I fly out tomorrow afternoon so we are hoping to take tonight easy and prepare to the big adventue to India. We don't really know what to expet, although we have heard a lot of horror stories about how overwhelming it will be. After two months in South East Asia I know that it will be overwhelming but I am also not to worried. Its not such a shock going from squat toilets without flush or toilet paper to squat toilets over holes in the ground... or is it? Just doing some last min shopping today although my backpack is getting pretty heavy. Tonight I'm throwing out alot of the clothes that I won't be able to wear there (almost everything I own) to make room for all the new great things I will buy there. Well off to an afternoon nap, much love and the next time you will hear from me might be from India!!!!

Back to Thailand

2009-07-30T02:24:00.001-07:00

Laos Pictures:

This whole meal from the market cost me 15,000 kip. Thats like two dollars!

View from the boat

We spent two days on this thing!! Not so comfortable

I arrived in Bangkok on Monday and got all of my visa stuff for India sorted out. It was kind of a grueling journey though as I got on a bus in Laos at 1pm and then two buses later arrived in Bangkok at 5am the next morning. That same day I met up with Monique, a friend from work who decided last min to join my India trip. That same afternoon we got on a local train headed to the town of Ayutha(something like that). After we got our seats we waited for the train to take off. After a few moments we heard the engines, then the first part of of train started to sail away! Our car and the cars behind us were not connected right for some reason and we were left behind. Not long after that we were reattached but it was the funniest thing I have ever seen. Everyone's faces were so confused!
So beside that we are enjoying our last night here. Tomorrow we head back to Bangkok. I pick up my visa and we do some last min shopping before Jamie leaves on Sunday. I am really sad that she is leaving but also excited about the next part of my trip, India! It is nice that I will be traveling with someone for at least part of the time and we have talked with lots of other travelers about what we should expect when we get there. Other than that it is really nice to be back in Thailand. The people are so nice here and I feel more familiar with the people and culture than I have been these past few weeks in new countries.
Going for dinner in the market now...
yum...

Sabadee from Laos

2009-07-24T01:43:00.000-07:00

So far Laos has been nothing but charming. Rolling hills filled with jungle life, beautiful, nice people, great food.
The river trip itself was not too bad. The first day we made friends and made a little party boat. That night we stayed in a village in the middle of nowhere where all the electricity turned off at 10pm. The next day on the boat (another 7 hours) had lost its charm but went by quickly with a good book. After arriving in Lauong Prabong (that's not quite the right spelling but whatever...) we found a great guest house for 20,000 kip each (that is about 2.50$) and took HOT SHOWERS!! The second day we were back on the Me Kong river but just for about an hour, we were taken to some caves that had been transformed into a type of worship temple by the locals at least a thousand years ago. After that we headed to some water falls and chilled off for the rest of the day. When we got back to our room we realized that the room next to us had some sort of water leak and a puddle of water had formed in from of our room. We were used to stuff like that happening and for the rest of our stay there hopped over the puddle in and out of our door.
The city had been inhabited by French Colonials however long ago so still had signs of their influence. Baguettes were everywhere as well as banana flambe. Although very unexpected in Laos it was a nice treat.
This morning (Friday ) we hopped on another 6 hours bus ride to Vang Vien where we will go tubing down the Mekong. The ride here was so beautiful. We passed through rolling hills and were it seemed that every time I feel asleep I was woken up by our horn honking at a cow, chicken, buffalo thing, goat, or small child to get out of the way. We passed through some very small villages and got a peek at rural life.
Sunday will be a big day as I have to get to the border crossing at Vientien and then take a night train to Bangkok. Monday morning I have to submit my visa application for India and wont get it till Friday but that is OK because Jamie and I (and another friend who is meeting us from home) are going to spend the time in a small town outside Bangkok. And then the following Monday I fly to India. I can't believe how fast this trip is going. But at the same time I feel it has been years since I left. I'll upload pictures once I can find a goddamn computer that can...

Shit Happens

2009-07-17T22:59:00.000-07:00

Yesterday after loading those few pictures online I lost all of my photos from this trip. Oh well...

So we kind of changed our plans and are not doing both Nam and Laos, instead we thought we could really explore Laos and so are flying to Chiang Mai (Thailand) tomorrow and then busing to Laos from there. Such is life.
Kuala Lumpur is still really interesting, it is a big city but still very third world. Our hostel served us a free dinner last night that I think was Indian food and it was delicious!! Apparently a lot of Australians come here just to buy knock off clothes. I think its kind of funny but they all take it really seriously. I might do a little shopping myself but am not interested in carrying 6 pairs of knock off jeans and a Louis Vutton purse for the rest of my trip (as somebody staying at our hostel is!)
Jamie's wound from the boating incident is getting better(the four inch gash-like cut in her forearm) and besides that and the stress of changing plans so last min. we are doing well. I miss the beaches that we had grown so accustomed to but am really excited for the rural life in Laos. The people are supposed to be really nice there AND, our favorite, it is cheap. I'm definitely done with the big cities for a while. Well I'll keep you all posted and hope everything is well at home!

Singapore Pictures

2009-07-16T21:15:00.000-07:00

Gili Trawangan

2009-07-16T21:06:00.000-07:00

Gili was like an old fashioned villiage with dirt streets set along side a beautiful ocean.

SWEET Singapore...

2009-07-16T08:19:00.000-07:00

As soon as we were on our way to the airport Jamie and I started to feel a little better. Once again we hadn't had much sleep because our favorite radio station on the loudspeaker had been playing late into the night and started up again at 3AM. As soon as we got to the teeny tiny airport (with only one international gate) we were bumped up to first class seats!! We started to remember what it was like to be happy! So we got on our small plane with smiles on our faces and a fresh breathe of hope in our hearts. Although we arrived in Singapore late at night, maybe around ten, we had made a reservation with a hostel so we hopped in a cab and were there in ten min. On the way the cab driver was SO nice and explained little details about Singapore, like the taxi surcharges chewing gum being illegal and funny stuff like that. By this time we were just so thankful for his hospitality and the fact that hailing him had not involved 15people harassing us that a little surcharge didn't matter.
Our Hostel was very big and kind of like a giant dorm with a shared bathroom but nothing could take the smiles off of our faces. We walked around a little bit (Singapore is one of the safest places in the world) and talked about how exciting it was to be in a big city again. Singapore is a very developed country and we had not realized what it would feel like to step into one of those after 5 weeks of third world living. The tall skyscrapers and charm made me feel like I was home in San Francisco. Singapore was really interesting because of the diverse cultures, there is a lot of Chinese, Indian, Indonesian and Malay heritage that all combined to create the small country. We went to a Malay heritage center and did some shopping and then to the botanical gardens. For dinner (as we mostly only have one meal a day, between 2 and 4pm and have come to call it dinner) we had the most delicious Indian buffet right in the middle of Little India. As it was a buffet you can imagine how much we ate trying to stuff ourselves.
This morning we actually splurged and went to a movie (Harry Potter) and then caught a bus to Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia. We are here now and just had a bite to eat in Chinatown. It is another big city but different from Singapore. Right away the familiar calls from taxi drivers, or vendors, or whoever else trying to make a buck made us miss our brief refuge Singapore. Apparently in Singapore it is illegal to harass people to take a taxi or buy stuff or whatever. It is nothing compared to our experience in Indonesia though and we are back to our normal routine of a smile on our faces and lots of "no thank yous." I plan on putting pictures up tomorrow so good night for now and talk to you all soon!

I can't wait to leave this place

2009-07-13T01:25:00.000-07:00

Today Jamie and I bought $300 tickets to Singapore, for tomorrow. I don't want to say that I hate Indonesia, but I will never come back here. The past two weeks have been full of us trying really hard to like where we have been and ignore all the bull, but we finally had enough. We are in the town of Singiggi, in western Lombok. All day long we get followed by the same people asking us to buy their ugly stuff, then they curse us if we don't buy it. Every single person in this town has called us Spagetti hair(Jamie,) or Noodle Hair, (me). Then they read my tattoo and ask us where we are from, Canada by the way. Then they ask us to buy the same ugly bracelet or some temporary tattoo. Then they try to trick us or overcharge us astronomically for more dumb shit. Yea, I'm a little tired and cranky. It is not even that beautiful.
Other than that, hum... someone has my credit card number and is charging stuff on it. My card was then declined today as I tried to buy my $300 ticket. Does that mean my bank has stopped anyone from using it, or just me? Oh, also the past week we have had the pleasure of waking up to prayers played over a loud speaker from the Mosque. 5 times a day, sometimes for hours at a time they wake us up at three in the morning and don't stop till midnight. And there are roosters everywhere and they don't just crow in the morning, by the way.
We have been meeting some great other travalers and had a great night out dancing last night. And Singapore has the best food in the world, and we all know how much I love to eat!! Thats the latest, all let you know when things get better...

The Gilis Islands

2009-07-10T01:39:00.000-07:00

So...
One morning we woke up at 5:30. Iulia was leaving the group that day and so we were all super sad. Jamie and I got on a shuttle for about an hour to a port where we waited another hour to get on a huge ferry. We got on the ferry around ten and were on it until one or two. They had the squatting toilets, and Celine Dion Playing over the loudspeaker. Thank god were were in the room where they also played the her music videos...so much fun. Well after we got off that ferry we got onto another minibus for about an hour. Then we got dropped off on some beach and and hoped on a mini ferry(like the longtail boats I talked about earlier) and headed to The biggest Gilis Island. These Islands are South East of Bali and in a different Provence. The name is too long for me to remember but its like being in a different state kind of. It just hit high season here so basically prices went up %300. The village is very small, like 800 people or less and they all have a scam going on where they keep the prices of everything the same so tourists have to pay. That is all kinds of really lame. But it is very small and isolated so I guess it is worth it. The beaches are once again breathtaking. Today we went on another snorkel tour and the water was even more clear than last time. We met some people from the SF area and are going to hang out with them later. Yesterday Jamie and I walked around the entire island in under three hours. It was so pretty. I don't have any pictures because it would take too long to upload and Internet in 400rupee a min. That is 40 cents a min.
Oh I just realized I forgot to talk about the rest of Bali. We were in the southern beach town of Kuta. Apparently it is an easy destination for Australians, as well as spring break for student. I could very well have been in Australia for all the 16-23 year old. It made for an interesting scene.
I think we are leaving for Lombok tomorrow or the next day(that is the big island/mainland East of us) and try and get a ticket from there to Singapore. We have a flight scheduled from Malaysia to Viet Nam on the 19th but still haven't figured out how to get to Malaysia.
Ok well that is a pretty good preview for now. We are getting ready to go on a little walk so that we can see the sunset.
Miss you all!

Finally Pictures

2009-07-03T20:40:00.000-07:00

some computers are dumb and don't let me upload pictues, so finally for real here are some more!oh yea, still working on the rotate thing. sorry...

Promised Pictures

2009-07-02T07:57:00.000-07:00

Today we rented bikes and rode to a monkey sanctuary/temple. There were hundreds of monkeys and we fed them bananas. Then we rode to the house of Antonio Blanco the artist. We walked through the museum of his remaining work and played with the parots in his HUGE garden. Shopped in the market for a while and then rode home.(ps my legs are sore, its been a while since I rode my beautiful bike in SF) We went to a traditional Balinese fire dance show. It was one of my best days! Tomorrow we leave to Kuta, a beach town farther south. I'll miss you Ubud.

Travel Talk (Ubud, southern Bali)

2009-07-01T03:14:00.000-07:00

WEll... the last few days have felt like a lifetime. So one morning we woke up in Railay and packed all of our stuff into our tiny backpacks. Then we walked across a long stretch of muddy land(where the tide had gone out overnight) to catch our ferry. You guessed it, it was one of those tiny longboats. After wadding through water up to our thighs we managed to keep our stuff dry and were taken to Krabi town, from there a minivan to Phuket town. We spent an afternoon there killing time till we caught another minivan to the airport. Only a 45 min flight to Bangkok, then 6 hours overnight in the airport till we caught our flight to Bali. It was freezing and we were stuck on cold metal chairs as everything was closed overnight. 4 hour flight to Bali, hour drive to Ubud, and finally we are here. Enough complaining though. After the delirium passed I was able to realize that, totto, we are not in Thailand anymore. We are in the East of the Center of Ubud and I have never been in a more charming place. It is custom here that if you build a house you must built according to tradition. That means that there is an arch like entrance, and gardens immediately within. I have never seen so many plumeria trees, at our hostel they place them on the stairs in straight lines as you walk up. Looking out from our terrace I see a garden directly below and then next to that a rice paddy field. It is hard, hard to say "its beautiful, its beautiful..." it is hard to describe but i guess that is where pictures will come in (none today, sorry).
The other things that are hard that I haven't talked about are- everything. It just hit me a few days ago. Everything has been so stunning and peaceful, my travel companions have been so great that I haven't had a moment to realize that everything is so different. This is not my home I am just a visitor, a tourist. I've never felt unwelcome or uncomfortable but I have noticed a weight in my chest a few days ago and I think it is just the lack of roots, of knowledge of the reason for why houses here are built a certain way or whatever... No matter how hard a traveler tries they will always be just that, a visitor.
This is not a sad or unexpected realization, simply one that is an important part of my trip. Traveling has been so exhilarating and it will continue to be so for the rest of my journey but it is different from my home, from my friends and family, all of itmakes me feel a stronger connection to them. My roots grow deeper in the home that I know as I reach to explore what I do not know.
Besides that, today was great. We walked around and shopped all day, I finally found fabric for my mom and then Iulia got a tattoo. As she was inside I hung outside with the locals and after them not quite not knowing what to think of me we actually got along great and laughed a lot. Balinese people are really funny and like to laugh a lot. Most times people do not know where California is but if they do they always know Arnold (our dear Governor). We joked about that and Obama (I told them he was my best friend).
Its only been three weeks and it already feels like a lifetime, but I think that just now I am starting to be able to see where I am as something beyond a tourist. I am looking for something in the people of these strange places, and I am looking for something in myself.
Pictures coming, they will be great, I promise.

Au Nong and Railay (In Krabi provence)

2009-06-25T22:34:00.001-07:00

We spent a few days in Au Nong which is a small beach on the coast off the main land. We did our usual thing and spent the day on the beach and got a massage.Jamie got attacked by a jellyfish/monster but survived because of her mermaid skills! We went out one night to a kind of local bar and listened to a great reagee band and watched more fire shows. The next day we got on a longboat which is basically a small wooden boat with a motor attached to it and headed to Railay (the pictures above are Railay, below Au Nong). We got dropped off and had to hop in the water with our huge backpacks in front of the fanciest resort I've ever seen. I mean its front door was 20 ft from the shore line. We were really overwhelmed because we didn't know anything about where we were or where to find a place to stay in our price range. So we trecked through the resorts to the East side where things were a little more affordable. The beach is beautiful and the small village is in the middle of cliffs and caves. There are no streets or cars just little alleys that take you between resorts and restaurants and real huts that the people live in. The water comes up high during the day right up to the door of all the little shops and then falls at night like a football field away. Locals set up soccer games. Its hard to explain but i'll take pictures and show you all. Enjoy, EM

Beach Time

2009-06-24T01:01:00.000-07:00

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These First few pictures are of the sunsets on Ko Phi Phi(the most beautiful place in the world) We spent the last 5 days there and were devastated to leave. One day we went on a snorkeling day trip. We got on a little ferry (we being us three girls and about 8 other people from Israel.) First we drove to a little bay where wild monkeys climbed through the trees, they were so small and cute! We fed them little pieces of fruit right from our hands. Did I mention the the sand was white, the water crystal clear and the sky bright blue? Then we went on a series of stops and hoped out of our boat to snorkel. We stopped for lunch on bamboo island, another beach with white sand and warm clear water. We got mermaid names, mine being Topaz Glimmer on an Alabaster Sea Beach. (We all had Beach as our last name, as we are mermaid sisters) Iulia became Emerald shell Maya Beach and Jamie Indigo White Sand Beach. Fab, right. Then we we to Maya Bay, where the movie The Beach was filmed... amazing! Finally we watched the sun set onto the water as we spent out last few moments on the open sea.
Yesterday we decided it was time to leave the most beautiful expensive place on earth and caught a ferry to the beaches on the main land in the Krabi region. Right now I am on AuNong beach and we are enjoying a day of milk massages and shopping.
Ok so apparently this computer wont upload my pictures but I have a bunch so I'll finish this page later!

2009-06-20T23:29:00.000-07:00

Woke up this morning and we were on the beach by ten am. Layed out, tried to tan and read. Taking a break from the scorching afternoon sun before we go back out and rent Kaiaks (side note to my fellow tiny pirates, nothing compares to Lago de Atitlan!). Everything is more expensive here because we are on an Island but we are still only paying 200bat each a night for a little cottage room, extravagent meals are only around 200-400 bat each, and I bought the most beautiful sarong for 250 yesterday. By the way about 30 bat=1$. My budget alots me about 1000bat a day. Because this is actually the low season for Thailand everything is cheaper for us and less crowded which works out to our favor on all ends. Most of the other travalers are European, there are of course lots of Irish people here.

Last night we found a restaurant on the shore that overlooked the most beautiful pink sunset that reflected on the water. We are going back tonight and I'm taking pictures for all to see.

PS Its fathers day today (which is tomorrow for you guys) so cheers to all the fathers!

Ko Phi Phi

2009-06-20T00:06:00.000-07:00

Well I'm paying 2 bat for every 2 min of internet here so I better make this quick. I'm on one of the most beautiful islands in the world, Ko Phi Phi. The sands are clean and the water is blue and warm. Yesterday we came from Phuket to here and spent the day on the beach reading drinking beer and trying to convince ourselves that this was real and not a dream. I walked out into the water and is didn't past my waist until almost a 1/4 mile! There are lots of restaurants and bars that are on the sand and last night they set up chairs and stages so that we could watch the most amaxing fire show. Guys got up and were flipping and spinning with their first sticks and I even got up to jump rope with a fire that was on fire... pretty sweet! So until pictures you should all check out google to try and imagine this most beautiful of beaches. Miss and love you all... EM

Wat Suan Dok, and Wat something something...

2009-06-17T19:58:00.000-07:00

Visited two temples while we were in Chiang Mai. I got to see where Blythe worked at Wat Suan Dok while she was here. Pretty amazing.
The first are of Wat something something. Monks were walking around as they have their schools right along side the temples. The temples are very open and don't really have walls. Here a new temple stood in front of an old temple that was built in the 1300's.

Wat Suan Dok was also very beautiful. The monks here were vary talkative and wanted to practice their English. They were all students at the nearby University. It was the most beautiful day when we visited this temple, the clouds were so big and puffy. The day before it had rained a lot, so we were thankful for the dry weather. Inside the temples there are lots of statues of Buddah, or monks that are now dead. They are covered with gold and I heard that it is traditions to get some sort of gold foil and layer it onto the statues when you pray to them.
PS It makes me so mad because I can't rotate my verticle images so they all come out horizontal. Hope you guys don't get a neck ake.

Just out of the jungle

2009-06-15T20:40:00.000-07:00

So three days ago we woke up in our clean and comfy room, we packed tank tops shorts, sun screen, bug spray, and a tooth brush and waited to be picked up for our three day long trek... little did we know what we had really gotten ourselves into. Here is a before picture: The first day eleven people climbed into the truck bed of a little toyota and drove for about an hour or two up the windey roads of northern Thailand. Midway through the drive it started to rain, thank god for the canopy covering the truck bed. We first arrived at an elephant sanctuary. Our group paired up and climbed onto the backs of elephants with a small Thai man sitting on the elephant's head as our driver. Right way we entered a remote jungle trail at a steady pace as the elephants moved forward in a train. Iulia's elephant got super pissed and wound up not following the trail, he started growling and following his own path. Jamie and I were frightened for her but thankful that our elopement didn't feel like going on her own adventure with us on her back. Two of the elephants had babies and they followed the group making their way up and down the muddy trail. In all we rode for about an hour. We went though a small village and a small river. It was much more amazing then expected.

After a quick lunch of fried rice we piled back into the truck and drove to our drop off point. Our guide (a very small Thai man with long flowing hair who liked to sing songs to us) told us we would be hiking about two hours to a waterfall where we would take a break before continuing to our village. About ten min. into our walk it started to pour. Luckily I had bought a bright yellow poncho for 25 baht on our drive up. We continued on in the pouring rain. The ground was a thick red clay that became very slippery,under my poncho in the heat/ rain sweat dripped down my back. It was great.In this first part of our trek we walked on what seemed like a real trail, all too quickly we started to follow a steeper trail that narrowed as we moved forward. The cidedas sounded like chainsaws as we moved deeper into the jungle, soon we were following a river and then we were ducking under fallen bamboo. Finally at the waterfall we all shed our soaked clothes and jumped into the refreshing water. Our group of eleven consisted of us three girls, two girls my age from England(imagine right out of "the office" England's version) a couple from Spain in their late 30's, a fun Kiwi girl, a couple from the Check Republic, and my favorite a crazy Serbian gypsy lady who lives in Germany, and is almost 60. Somehow we ended up calling her Mama, not necessarily an endearment. When we got started again we headed straight uphill to a Karen village. Our guide, Neo, led us through the many raised bamboo huts to own own. This consisted of a front porch-like thing with a big wooden table and then a row of cubicle-like "rooms" for us to sleep.See the picture of the roof, way cool: The outhouse was about 25 feet away and included an uphill jump, downhill jump and lots of muddy walking to reach. By this time we were all wet and tired, to say the least of the hole trip we never got dry. Dinner was prepared and then we all went to bed as there were not lights to see or do anything. We slept on "mats" under mosquito nets, and to be honest it was the most uncomfortable night of my life. The next day Iulia and I woke up to see the sunrise and do Yoga. We were served a breakfast of one boiled egg and four slices of white bread each. yum. The next few hours of hiking were almost all uphill but at least it didn't rain. After we left the village were were surrounded but nothing but jungle and rice paddies. We stopped for lunch with a nice family who cooked us noodles and tried to sell us their crafts. I had already bought a beautiful hand woven scarf from an older woman at the last village so didn't get anything. We hiked to two more waterfalls and took a bath in one. The villagers set up houses by the waterfalls so that when tourist come they can sell them water or goods. Their houses are made out of lumber or bamboo and consist of one room. Off to the side of the room they make some sort of charcoal fire where they do their cooking. All of the houses are raised several feet off of the ground. Some of then have little huts off to the side where I imagine family members sleep. Everyone was very gracious and seemed unbothered by us passing through. Our second house was a little bigger and more centrally located, instead of a bananna leaf roof it was wooden. Again dinner was served by candle light and we went to bed early. By this time "Mama," was running around asking villagers to cut down bamboo and cook it for us, and hunting up star fruit and papya for us to eat(though she coudn't ever find any ripe...yum) The days treking had been hard but the waterfalls amazing. The third day was maybe the hardest because we knew we were so close to a shower. We hiked straight uphill, then straight, then straight downhill. It was probably the hottest day but we ended up on a tall mountain overlooking the green hills. After another waterfall swim we bamboo rafted down a river for an hour or so before being picked up and driven home to Chiang Mai. And that my friends, was the jungle.

Chiang Mai

2009-06-11T02:40:00.000-07:00

Arrived in Chang Mai this afternoon. This first picture is of the "day market's" busy streets. We shopped around this afternoon and did our favorite activity: sampling food from the MANY vendors.
Later we took a tuk-tuk (a small motorcycle engine and frot wheel attached to a cart like thing= giant motorized tricycle/ acts as a cheep taxi) around the city. He took us to a silk factory where we got to see silk worms in their various phases as well as the traditionnal silk looms. I think he took us there with hopes of a kick-back if we bought anything, which we did not, but it was nice to see none the less.

I'm very exausted because of jet lag. I couldn't sleep last night and have been awake since two am. Jamie's been here less than 12 hours and we got a thai massage (thats right another one!) and I'm in kind of in a coma right now. After our internet time we are going to plan our 3 day jungle trek...
oh the life.

PS: WHY is nobody emailing me? Although I have only been gone three days your time I live in the futrue here and it is Thurday and I havn't been sleeping and that means almost an eternity since I have received an email from anyone!

Day one, Thai massage- yes please!

2009-06-10T16:51:00.000-07:00

Just a few moments to write before our shuttle takes us to the Bangkok airport to fly into Chaing Mai, the northern region of Thailand. Yesterday I had an amazing day in Bangkok that included wandering the streets eating from the carts of street venders. Coconut pudding, pad thai, fuzzy fruit, pineapples, a thing that looked like a pancake with raisons and shredded carrots, and my favorite cesar salad flavored sweet pea crisps! Iulia and I got Thai massages for under ten dollars each and let me tell you I'll be getting A LOT more of those. We meet Jamie at the airport before we fly off to Chang Mai, we will all be together and and continue on exploring this most beautiful land!
Pictures comeing soon, I promise!

Airports suck

2009-06-09T10:50:00.000-07:00

Arrive at SFO around 10AM. Depart at 12:10.
Arrive in Tokyo at 3:30 their time (thats 11 hours of flying folks!!)
Three hour layover and two glasses of wine with Iulia later...
(although our flights were at similar times we weren't on the same flights but that didn't stop us from meeting up on our layovers!)
Back on a plane at 18:00 and arrive in Bangkok at 11:00pm their time thats another six hours on a plane, a day lost for me, and by the way about 9am California time...

But we are here in Bangkok, paid a whopping city fee of fifteen dollars for our room and although its almost one here its humid and HOT!!!
Drinking a Singha Beer
hoping I can fall asleep soon
tomorrow we are meeting contacts from SF who have since opened a bar here...

everything is wonderful

Preparation

2009-06-05T14:44:00.000-07:00

As the days count down to my departure date I realize more fully the weight that this adventure will hold for the rest of my life. I can only hope that I can open my mind, body, and soul to the world in order to better experience what it has to offer.

A quick itinerary:
Thailand-Indonesia-Malaysia- Vietnam-Laos-Thailand-India-New York- HOME!

Packing is the hard part- how do I pack 3 months worth of supplies into a small backpack?
The most important items? My blank journal, pencils and charcoals to write and draw, clean underwear. and sunscreen!

A quick thank you to my family and friends who will be reading this and have supported me throughout my life... I miss you all and can't wait to see you!

Tikal

2008-08-10T12:59:00.000-07:00

One of our final great adventures was to venture to the ancient Myan ruins. We caught a shuttle at three in the morning so that we could arrive in the jungle to watch the sunrise over the city. The jungle waking up is a magical thing to witness, as the mist burns away under the sunrises golden fires the howler monkeys call out as the roosters of the jungle to awaken all the other creatures! On our three-hour tour through the city we got to see these animals as well as climb the ancient temples!

this is one of the howler monkeys

2008-08-10T12:46:00.000-07:00

No words can describe my three days in Semuc Champey. Seven limestone pools spill into each other with crystal clear, azul water. This little heaven is nestled in the beginnings of the Guatemalan jungle. Giant beetles sing throughout the jungle in harmony with exotic birds and monkeys. One of the days there we went on a cave tour, this if possible was the best adventure of my trip. Armored only with a swimsuit and a handmade candle we were led, unrestricted, to the heart of the caves. We had to swim, crawl, fall, and climb throughout the caves avoiding jagged rocks hidden below the murky water. Although we could not take cameras with us the images from this adventure will stay with me forever!
PS if these pictures don't show up on the blog site just click on them and they should enlarge, I think they are just too large for the site.

2008-08-10T12:32:00.000-07:00

After a day long bus ride on one of the famed chicken buses the ladies and I arrive in Coban, one of the larger cites in the Northern part of Guatemala. Our goal is to spend the night here and leave early the next morning for the famed pools of Semuc Champey. Our newly discovered traval picnic? One large can of refried black beans, chips/tostados, and if we are lucky the option of avacado, cheese, or salsa. The best place for these pic-nics? On the corners of the bus stops where the locals can view us and either laugh at us or show a shy hand and ask for one. By far my favorite meal of the trip! Our mode of transport on the 3 hour ride on unpaved roads into the remote Semuc Champey? A small pick up truck dressed up with four seats bolted into the bed of the truck and a cavas canopy to shield us from rain or shine. So much fun and slighly dangerous this trip turned into a small safari through the Guatemalan hillsides.

One Last Day by Lago de Atitlan

2008-08-09T11:44:00.000-07:00

Before heading North we spent one last day on the lake visiting San Marcos and Panajachel...

chichi

2008-08-08T10:24:00.000-07:00

Lured by rumors of a grand market just north of our favorite city by the lake the girls and I headed north to Chichicastananga with the intensions of weighing down our backpacks and lightening our purses...all went well on that front but after a long day of bargaining in the dusty, mazelike allies of the market we were tired and missed Lago de Atitlan. After capturing the most beautiful sunset we headed to bed and made plans to return to Panajachel and the surrounding cities on the lake for one more day of fun before heading East to the jungle!

2008-07-26T09:37:00.000-07:00

A quick trip to the mayan caves led us to the most beautiful peak in the world!

2008-07-25T11:59:00.000-07:00

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We begin this blog on the last day of our week long spanish school. Neastled in the highlands of Guatemala, Lago de Atitlan is possibly the most beautiful place I have ever been. For five days we have studied spanish five hours a day, each with our own teacher and in our own corner of a beautiful garden. This week has been strangly calm coming from our 12 hour flight to Central America and the 3 days of adventure in the touresty town of Antigua.

A BRIEF RECAP OF MY ADVENTURES:

Arrival in Antiguia-

Though the town is beautiful (paved with cobble and painted in bright colors) the eyes of the locals were impatient. I dare say that just as many tourest walked the streets as locals.

Created during the colonial times of Guatemala there are still beautiful ruins that remain along with elegant old churches, the particular one we visited opened up to a beautiful courtyard with great lookout points of the surrounding volanos and hillsides.

Panajachel:

This town is full of local Guatemalans mixed in with Hippies from all over the world. These people live off of selling jewlery to tourests and add an interesting mix of culture.

This is a picture of me and my teacher... I had never thought of myself as a giant before coming here.

Our favorite pass time here is to rent a Kayak and venture onto the lake with a few cervesas!

Climbing Volcan Pacaya:
Wake up at 6AM, catch the bus loaded with American tourests, one and a half hours on the bus of hell up into the green mountains covered with coffee bean crops, join the tour at the front the to aviod the Americans and armed guard carrying the automatic weapon, hike two hours up the dirt trail through the mystical jungle and increasing downpour of rain, at the end of the dirt trail climb the sharp jagged hardened lava rocks for twenty min. until you reach the pools of active lava ozzing out of the heart of the volcano. Breathe.