Back to Thailand

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

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

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

Gili Trawangan

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

SWEET Singapore...

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

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

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

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

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)

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.