Hoi An was fabulous, and we had a lovely time strolling the streets, enjoying yummy cuisine, and even had a date with the tailors to have wool coats made!! It was a cute little town, still intact throughout all the turmoil over the years, and though it was bloody hot, we had a blast. After Hoi An, we headed up to Hue, where we lounged for a few days, and viewed the amazing citadel in the center of the city, the purple forbidden palace, and more! So freakin hot though,.... we are getting a bit tired of this eternal summer we have been experiencing.
We arrived in Hanoi after a grueling 14hr bus ride,and have basically had a blast. We went to see the traditional water puppets and had our view blocked by some kids with huge foot long lenses and no concept of being polite, saw "the proposal" in the theatres and laughed about the visa/immigration/marriage problems that so reminded us of our issues, ate at Bobby Chinn's Restaurant, a fabulous place owned and run by an old friend of the family, and had a fabulous chat with him while we were there. We took a boat trip around Halong Bay and I came down with food poisoning for the second time in 2 weeks and saw more of the boats bathroom than the limestone cliffs in the bay. Such is my luck.
We have loved bia hoi junction, a crossing with a bunch of little shops with freshly brewed beer, at 3,000 dong per glass. Yes, that's 6 beers for a buck. Not too shabby! Never thought I would find a place even cheaper than Chico for a night out.
We are laying low today to make sure my tummy is decent, and planning on heading to the Moscow Circus tonight. Off to China in the morning!!!
Also- we have officially decided to work for SNWMF '10, so we will be temporarily relocating to Northern California when we return from our travels.
Wednesday, August 26, 2009
Monday, August 17, 2009
Love you looooooong time
Hello!
We are still loving it here in Vietnam, the people are great, the food is awesome and the beer is cheap!! We have moved on from Saigon now, but 1st some piccies, unfortunatly our memory card has been corrupted and we have lost some of our photos from the last week or so..... hence the lack in quantity :(
Here are the pics of the kids from NFO:
Next, our pics from Saigon, an awesome, crazy busy city with more scooters than an Asda car park near you! We finished our days here at the War Remnants Museum and the Independence Palace. Both interesting places with a lot of history to tell..... even if most of it is quite depressing and somber. Also extremely anti-US!
We left Saigon on a horrid bus to head for the highlands. It took us a while but, despite breaking down just 5km short, we did make it in time to check into our very nice hotel and grab another great meal before bed.
The hotel was renowned for its brekky and they did not disappoint..... bacon, eggs, bread, fruit and marmite!! Even avocados for Jenny too! So, full to the brim, we set out to explore this wonderfully weathered town - finally it was both sunny and cool and there was no need to bring a sweat-bucket with you for your day out! We headed straight for just about the only attraction here, other than the faux Eiffel Tower cell-phone antenna, "The Crazy House" - a guest house that is basically a giant, adult jungle-gym! Fun times. We spent our afternoon doing not much else other than hanging out dreading the bus ride the following day.
From here a long-ass bus took us to Nha Trang, a beach town with lots of promise. We had been recommended a Angel Dive here (Thx Alec & Kate) so got right on it and booked in for 3 dives the next day. And for $47 each including rental and lunch, how could we not?! Without any further a-do we got out of the sun for a beer and a treat - sushi!! And it was good!
Despite the early wake up we were excited to dive and on our way before 730am. With just a short(ish) boat trip we were in the water in no time and enjoying a very nice and different dive on a rock pinnacle. And another change from the last time we dove, we could see our hand in front of our face! The next 2 dives were also very nice, with good visabiliy and lots of coral and marine life. So much so that when we returned we booked in for more diving today!! Last night I decided to treat Jen and we went out to Le Petit Bistro, where we dined fabulously on steak tartare (for me), pasta for Jen and an amazing cheese plate for dessert (mmmmm, cheeeeeese). It was still only 25 bucks! But it was only half way through that I had a 2nd thought about the fact that I was eating raw beef in Vietnam.... no repercussions yet....
As mentioned, we went out on the boat again today and had 2 very satisfying dives, even if one was a little cold despite the full wet suit.
Unfortunately we must leave here tomorrow (no doubt on another shitty bus - we pre-booked them all from Saigon with the same company, cheap, but it shows) and head further north to Hoi An. Thanks to the Vietnamese border folks it looks like we will have to skip Laos as I have no room in my current passport for the visa & we have no time to back-track So we will go straight from Hanoi into China with a brand-spanking new one!
More soon....
We are still loving it here in Vietnam, the people are great, the food is awesome and the beer is cheap!! We have moved on from Saigon now, but 1st some piccies, unfortunatly our memory card has been corrupted and we have lost some of our photos from the last week or so..... hence the lack in quantity :(
Here are the pics of the kids from NFO:
Next, our pics from Saigon, an awesome, crazy busy city with more scooters than an Asda car park near you! We finished our days here at the War Remnants Museum and the Independence Palace. Both interesting places with a lot of history to tell..... even if most of it is quite depressing and somber. Also extremely anti-US!
We left Saigon on a horrid bus to head for the highlands. It took us a while but, despite breaking down just 5km short, we did make it in time to check into our very nice hotel and grab another great meal before bed.
The hotel was renowned for its brekky and they did not disappoint..... bacon, eggs, bread, fruit and marmite!! Even avocados for Jenny too! So, full to the brim, we set out to explore this wonderfully weathered town - finally it was both sunny and cool and there was no need to bring a sweat-bucket with you for your day out! We headed straight for just about the only attraction here, other than the faux Eiffel Tower cell-phone antenna, "The Crazy House" - a guest house that is basically a giant, adult jungle-gym! Fun times. We spent our afternoon doing not much else other than hanging out dreading the bus ride the following day.
From here a long-ass bus took us to Nha Trang, a beach town with lots of promise. We had been recommended a Angel Dive here (Thx Alec & Kate) so got right on it and booked in for 3 dives the next day. And for $47 each including rental and lunch, how could we not?! Without any further a-do we got out of the sun for a beer and a treat - sushi!! And it was good!
Despite the early wake up we were excited to dive and on our way before 730am. With just a short(ish) boat trip we were in the water in no time and enjoying a very nice and different dive on a rock pinnacle. And another change from the last time we dove, we could see our hand in front of our face! The next 2 dives were also very nice, with good visabiliy and lots of coral and marine life. So much so that when we returned we booked in for more diving today!! Last night I decided to treat Jen and we went out to Le Petit Bistro, where we dined fabulously on steak tartare (for me), pasta for Jen and an amazing cheese plate for dessert (mmmmm, cheeeeeese). It was still only 25 bucks! But it was only half way through that I had a 2nd thought about the fact that I was eating raw beef in Vietnam.... no repercussions yet....
As mentioned, we went out on the boat again today and had 2 very satisfying dives, even if one was a little cold despite the full wet suit.
Unfortunately we must leave here tomorrow (no doubt on another shitty bus - we pre-booked them all from Saigon with the same company, cheap, but it shows) and head further north to Hoi An. Thanks to the Vietnamese border folks it looks like we will have to skip Laos as I have no room in my current passport for the visa & we have no time to back-track So we will go straight from Hanoi into China with a brand-spanking new one!
More soon....
Tuesday, August 11, 2009
New Futures
We headed to Takeo and grabbed a tuktuk to the orphanages guest house. No one was around so we kinda just hung out with no real clue what to do! Around dinnertime everyone surfaced and we got the gist of how things were run. The next morning we has lovely egg sanwiches and then headed over to the New Futures orphanage. Upon arrival we were inundated with 52 kids shaking our hands, hugging us, and asking our names. So incredibly friendly and happy! We got a bit of a tour of the facilities, and then it was play time. We spent the next few days playing hardcore vollyball and football with kids who were about 4ft tall, and chatting about our lives. The kids are so incredibly amazing and driven, all want to learn English so they can get good jobs. The orphanage takes great care of them, they all attend school and take English lessons, everyone helps cook and clean, and the kids all look after each other. Ages 6-19, the kids look remarkably younger than their western counterparts, but can eat at least twice as much rice as the hungriest westerner in one sitting. They want cuddles and to hold hands, are interested in politics, and all have such a positive outlook on life. It was so heartwarming and incredible for us to experience this part of Cambodian culture, and it was absolutely one of the highlights of our entire trip thus far. We handed our camera over to the kids and they froliked around and took pictures of the orphanage in their eyes. Just amazing. We plan on staying involved with the orphanage in the future, and are in the process of setting up penpals in NJ at my mom's elementary school, and will also be setting up some sort of non-profit booth or something at SNWMF10. If you are interested in getting involved, have the lucky opportunity to be in the area and want to visit, or just want to make a donation, get in contact with us and we will help sort you out. $20 will feed the kids 3 meals a day for 2 days- a 100lb bag of rice. Oli's mate Andy is currently making a new website for the organization and we will post the link when it is completed.
With heavy hearts, and after postponing our departure for 2 days, we took a bus back to Phnom Penh and then to HCMC, Vietnam. Riding on the bus from 8am to 4pm, we arrived and grabbed a room at Madam Cucs in the backpacker district, $13/night for ac, fridge, hot water, and cable tv. Also includes breakfast and dinner! Not bad. We settled in that evening excited to explore a new country in the month ahead.
The next morning we headed over to the British Embassy to sort out a new passport for Oli since his old one has been filled. It was pretty time consuming, but on the upside, during the embassys lunch break, we headed over to the zoo to say whats up to the animals. We were walking along, and saw a deformed bunny hopping around in a cage that was entirely too large for it. Then we noticed a huge lion napping in the background. THEY HAD POPPED THE LIVE BUNNY INTO THE CAGE FOR THE LION'S LUNCH! We were horrified. Well, I was. Oli was excited to see the outcome. The lion was lazy and didn't really stir, so eventually we headed on without witnessing the carnage.
After finishing the passport process, most of the museums were closing within the hour, so we headed back to the hotel to chill. We had been laying low for the past 4 nights as I had gotten some sort of violent allergy/food poisoning to some delicious fish and chips whilst in Takeo and was still not feeling tip top.
This morning we headed over to the Co Chi tunnels, in which the Viet Cong has hidden out during the war. The whole thing was a bit less authentic than we wanted it to be, but it was kinda cool anyhow. We did end up climbing through the tiny tunnels, on our knees, which was pretty interesting. The tour took a long time, and we ended up grabbing some Indian food when we arrived back in the city. Yum!
We will be in HCMC for a few more days to check out the museums, then heading to Dalat in the north. Pix from the orphanage up soon!
With heavy hearts, and after postponing our departure for 2 days, we took a bus back to Phnom Penh and then to HCMC, Vietnam. Riding on the bus from 8am to 4pm, we arrived and grabbed a room at Madam Cucs in the backpacker district, $13/night for ac, fridge, hot water, and cable tv. Also includes breakfast and dinner! Not bad. We settled in that evening excited to explore a new country in the month ahead.
The next morning we headed over to the British Embassy to sort out a new passport for Oli since his old one has been filled. It was pretty time consuming, but on the upside, during the embassys lunch break, we headed over to the zoo to say whats up to the animals. We were walking along, and saw a deformed bunny hopping around in a cage that was entirely too large for it. Then we noticed a huge lion napping in the background. THEY HAD POPPED THE LIVE BUNNY INTO THE CAGE FOR THE LION'S LUNCH! We were horrified. Well, I was. Oli was excited to see the outcome. The lion was lazy and didn't really stir, so eventually we headed on without witnessing the carnage.
After finishing the passport process, most of the museums were closing within the hour, so we headed back to the hotel to chill. We had been laying low for the past 4 nights as I had gotten some sort of violent allergy/food poisoning to some delicious fish and chips whilst in Takeo and was still not feeling tip top.
This morning we headed over to the Co Chi tunnels, in which the Viet Cong has hidden out during the war. The whole thing was a bit less authentic than we wanted it to be, but it was kinda cool anyhow. We did end up climbing through the tiny tunnels, on our knees, which was pretty interesting. The tour took a long time, and we ended up grabbing some Indian food when we arrived back in the city. Yum!
We will be in HCMC for a few more days to check out the museums, then heading to Dalat in the north. Pix from the orphanage up soon!
Tuesday, August 4, 2009
Happy birthday to me!
We wrapped things up at our little hut on the hill and grabbed a saengthaew to Lonely Beach, where we waited at the Treehouse restaurant for another truck to cart us to the other side of the island to Long Beach. After a few hours crammed into the back of the truck like sardines, 10 other farang and the two of us arrived at the new Treehouse resort. So cool! For $5 a night, we had a stilted hut with a balcony overlooking the ocean in the only isolated part of Koh Chang left. We spent the next 4 days, including my 25th birthday, reading classic novels, eating thai food, drinking beers, and swinging on treeswings. It was lovely, and a perfect way to relax and get back into the backpacker vibe after living in the lap of luxury with the fam!
Once we had recovered from an overdose of serenity, we hopped on the ferry and headed to Trat, where we took a minivan to the Cambodian border. We were screwed out of less money than expected for the visa, but were still bribed to pay 30% more than it should have cost. That border crossing is notorious for screwing over tourists!
Because we arrived in the afternoon, there were no more buses leaving for Phnom Penh, so we had to spend the night in the shady border town of Koh Krong. To get there, we had to hop on the back of a motorcycle for 15km. Both of us, one motorcycle, 2 backpacks, and one driver. It made for an interesting journey and surprisingly we were not injured! We bunked up at the Apex hotel, and enjoyed having hot water, cable tv, and ac/ It was a good thing that we got a nice room too, because there was a torrential downpour for most of the afternoon! In the evening we ventured over to Bob's Bar for magical chicken parm and english sausages with mash and veg. MMMMmmm.
In the morning we hopped on a VIP AC bus to Phnom Penh, napping and reading until our arrival at 2pm. We found a hotel right by the river, with the same amenities as the night before but lacking a window. We threw our bags down and took a moto to the UK Embassy where we were informed that Oli needed a new passport and could not just get pages added in, as his was almost full. Awesome. We decided to take care of it in Vietnam, then headed over to the backpacker slum for some awesome sandwiches and to be comforted in the fact that we went for nicer accommodation than usual- the $2 rooms in this neck of the woods were not anything you would put your worst enemy in! We headed back to our hotel, watched tv and napped, then headed over to Happy Herb's pizza for some yummy pizza minus the happy herbs, and then retired for the night.
The next morning we rose early, took a moto to the Vietnam embassy to drop off our visa applications, then wandered over to the Russian Market to peruse the stalls and knock off clothing. We then walked up to the S-21 genocide museum. Over 17,000 men, women and children were imprisoned there during the Khmer Rouge reign. The history of Pol Pot and the atrocities that his underlings caused it horrendous, and worth a much closer look than I could describe. The genocide museum is in the former high school that was occupied in 1975 by the "revolution"and became a prison for intellectuals, nonconformists, "enemies" of the revolution, and anyone in their families. Cruel torture and barbaric living conditions were prevalent for 4 years, and the prison was a sort of holding place before the victims were moved over to the killing fields. The museum contained the original jail-like structures, the torture beds, and photos of many of the former inmates. Almost every single person who was jailed there was put to death.
After S-21, we had a quick lunch before hopping in a tuktuk to the killing fields. About 15km south of Phnom Penh, the fields once contained a sort of holding cell where the prisoners were kept blindfolded and handcuffed before they were led one by one to the edge of hundreds of mass graves, bashed over the head with one of many cruel weapons, then had their throats slashed and their bodies thrown in on top of hundreds of other lost souls. The small children were taken care of in a different way- taken by the feet and slammed into a tree until dead. The idea was that all children, regardless of age, must be taken care of to ensure no revenge or retaliation attempts once grown.
Pol Pot had a grand communist plan to form the nation into a self sufficient agricultural based country, with a huge export of rice as their only priority. He wanted to exterminate all city people and focus on the villagers, enforcing almost slavelike labor and abolishing hospitals, schools, money, and personal property. Though the reign of the Khmer Rouge lasted only 4 years, until Vietnam envaded and took over, they killed hundreds of thousands of people, and every single person living here not over the age of 30 was affected in some way during that cruel time.
After the killing fields, we had a somber drive back to the Vietnam Embassy to pick up our visas, then met up with Oli's old roomie Andy for a few drinks and dinner. Andy was on his way out of town after volunteering for an orphanage down south, and as he told us about it we realized that we really wanted to go help. He gave us all the information, and we formulated a plan to do a bit of time down south and enter by the southern border to Vietnam in a week or so.
This morning we woke up and visited the Royal Palace and Silver Pagoda, then headed to a real genuine supermarket and drooled over all the cheeses and other imports. We had lunch at fatboy subs- YUM, and now are killing time in an internet cafe until our 2pm bus to Takeo. Love to all, we will update again soon! :)
Once we had recovered from an overdose of serenity, we hopped on the ferry and headed to Trat, where we took a minivan to the Cambodian border. We were screwed out of less money than expected for the visa, but were still bribed to pay 30% more than it should have cost. That border crossing is notorious for screwing over tourists!
Because we arrived in the afternoon, there were no more buses leaving for Phnom Penh, so we had to spend the night in the shady border town of Koh Krong. To get there, we had to hop on the back of a motorcycle for 15km. Both of us, one motorcycle, 2 backpacks, and one driver. It made for an interesting journey and surprisingly we were not injured! We bunked up at the Apex hotel, and enjoyed having hot water, cable tv, and ac/ It was a good thing that we got a nice room too, because there was a torrential downpour for most of the afternoon! In the evening we ventured over to Bob's Bar for magical chicken parm and english sausages with mash and veg. MMMMmmm.
In the morning we hopped on a VIP AC bus to Phnom Penh, napping and reading until our arrival at 2pm. We found a hotel right by the river, with the same amenities as the night before but lacking a window. We threw our bags down and took a moto to the UK Embassy where we were informed that Oli needed a new passport and could not just get pages added in, as his was almost full. Awesome. We decided to take care of it in Vietnam, then headed over to the backpacker slum for some awesome sandwiches and to be comforted in the fact that we went for nicer accommodation than usual- the $2 rooms in this neck of the woods were not anything you would put your worst enemy in! We headed back to our hotel, watched tv and napped, then headed over to Happy Herb's pizza for some yummy pizza minus the happy herbs, and then retired for the night.
The next morning we rose early, took a moto to the Vietnam embassy to drop off our visa applications, then wandered over to the Russian Market to peruse the stalls and knock off clothing. We then walked up to the S-21 genocide museum. Over 17,000 men, women and children were imprisoned there during the Khmer Rouge reign. The history of Pol Pot and the atrocities that his underlings caused it horrendous, and worth a much closer look than I could describe. The genocide museum is in the former high school that was occupied in 1975 by the "revolution"and became a prison for intellectuals, nonconformists, "enemies" of the revolution, and anyone in their families. Cruel torture and barbaric living conditions were prevalent for 4 years, and the prison was a sort of holding place before the victims were moved over to the killing fields. The museum contained the original jail-like structures, the torture beds, and photos of many of the former inmates. Almost every single person who was jailed there was put to death.
After S-21, we had a quick lunch before hopping in a tuktuk to the killing fields. About 15km south of Phnom Penh, the fields once contained a sort of holding cell where the prisoners were kept blindfolded and handcuffed before they were led one by one to the edge of hundreds of mass graves, bashed over the head with one of many cruel weapons, then had their throats slashed and their bodies thrown in on top of hundreds of other lost souls. The small children were taken care of in a different way- taken by the feet and slammed into a tree until dead. The idea was that all children, regardless of age, must be taken care of to ensure no revenge or retaliation attempts once grown.
Pol Pot had a grand communist plan to form the nation into a self sufficient agricultural based country, with a huge export of rice as their only priority. He wanted to exterminate all city people and focus on the villagers, enforcing almost slavelike labor and abolishing hospitals, schools, money, and personal property. Though the reign of the Khmer Rouge lasted only 4 years, until Vietnam envaded and took over, they killed hundreds of thousands of people, and every single person living here not over the age of 30 was affected in some way during that cruel time.
After the killing fields, we had a somber drive back to the Vietnam Embassy to pick up our visas, then met up with Oli's old roomie Andy for a few drinks and dinner. Andy was on his way out of town after volunteering for an orphanage down south, and as he told us about it we realized that we really wanted to go help. He gave us all the information, and we formulated a plan to do a bit of time down south and enter by the southern border to Vietnam in a week or so.
This morning we woke up and visited the Royal Palace and Silver Pagoda, then headed to a real genuine supermarket and drooled over all the cheeses and other imports. We had lunch at fatboy subs- YUM, and now are killing time in an internet cafe until our 2pm bus to Takeo. Love to all, we will update again soon! :)
Sunday, July 26, 2009
Just the two of us...
For our last foray with the family we headed to "James Bond Island", where they filmed "Man with the Golden Gun", which was very touristy but great to see the amazing landscape amongst the hundreds of islands in The Gulf. We also got to learn how rubber was made, go on a sea kayaking trip that invlolved weird walking fish, and we went to a monkey temple where we got to feed (& pet!) the monkeys.
We hung out in Bangkok for a coupla days after the fam left, munching on 30baht pad thai and wishing for a bit more solitude than the city can deliver. We avoided the heat by going to the movies, HP6, and also finally made it to the Grand Palace and got to see the Emerald Buddha. Success!
Three days ago we hopped in a tourist van and scooted on down through Trat and then hopped on a big passenger ferry to arrive in Koh Chang. Our ultimate destination was Koh Mak, but as it is low season, things don't always go as planned. We took a sawngthaew down to Bang Bao, the fishing village on the southern tip of the island, and found that the inter island ferries are suspended during the monsoon season, so we ran on over to BB Divers to get the lay of the land before we found a hut to rest our souls. We head that the diving was still good, albeit a bit murky, so we signed up to dive on Sunday, and headed on off the pier, down a muddy little trail, and up a cliff to Cliff Cottages, where we rented a simple little hut for 4 nights. Back down the cliff for some crazy Korean BBQ- amazing. We bought some beers and went back to our place to enjoy the sea breeze and the oceans below. That same sea breeze began to roar, and I ran into the hut while Oli watched the rain come down. the rain and wind became a bit ridiculous and after coaxing Oli into the room, we both had to push against the door to keep the pelting rain from coming in- fierce! The lock didn't work, the floor was flooding, and the entire hut seemed to be lifting from the ground. I, needless to say, was not satisfied with our accommodation. The storm eventually subsided and we were not blown away. The view in the morning was unreal- from the porch we could see the ocean for miles.... a walk around to the other side of the cliff gave views of a gorgeous rocky inlet, and a little more walking gave us an unparalleled aerial view of the village. Not too shabby for 225/baht a night.
The day was spent napping in the hammock, writing in our journals, reading, and staring at the ocean.
On Sunday, we went diving off the coast of Koh Rang. The visibility was horrific, though there was tons of wildlife. It was so bad that we could barely see in front of us, so we had to crowd together so that we didn't lose the dive master. The pictures leave a bit to be desired. We did see a massive jellyfish, a fancy pants harlequin shrimp, schools of every fish imaginable, a nudibranch, and a humongous puffer fish. On the second dive we released two baby sharks given to the shop by local fishermen. They were so tiny and scared to be back in open water- it was so so sweet.
Back to the hut for a bit before dinner, then dined at a stilted restaurant over the ocean. On the way back my feet made some bad choices and somehow I found myself admiring the stars when I should have been walking across a bridge. Quick thinking helped me discover that the boards leading to that bridge were not so stable, and Oli was shrieking at me to get up- i was halfway off the embankment and dangling over the river. I hopped back up, ice cream cone still intact, and hobbled back to our hut to clean up the blood that was subsequently pouring out of my leg.
Today is another day for r&r. Gotta figure out what to do next!!!
Love and kisses.
We hung out in Bangkok for a coupla days after the fam left, munching on 30baht pad thai and wishing for a bit more solitude than the city can deliver. We avoided the heat by going to the movies, HP6, and also finally made it to the Grand Palace and got to see the Emerald Buddha. Success!
Three days ago we hopped in a tourist van and scooted on down through Trat and then hopped on a big passenger ferry to arrive in Koh Chang. Our ultimate destination was Koh Mak, but as it is low season, things don't always go as planned. We took a sawngthaew down to Bang Bao, the fishing village on the southern tip of the island, and found that the inter island ferries are suspended during the monsoon season, so we ran on over to BB Divers to get the lay of the land before we found a hut to rest our souls. We head that the diving was still good, albeit a bit murky, so we signed up to dive on Sunday, and headed on off the pier, down a muddy little trail, and up a cliff to Cliff Cottages, where we rented a simple little hut for 4 nights. Back down the cliff for some crazy Korean BBQ- amazing. We bought some beers and went back to our place to enjoy the sea breeze and the oceans below. That same sea breeze began to roar, and I ran into the hut while Oli watched the rain come down. the rain and wind became a bit ridiculous and after coaxing Oli into the room, we both had to push against the door to keep the pelting rain from coming in- fierce! The lock didn't work, the floor was flooding, and the entire hut seemed to be lifting from the ground. I, needless to say, was not satisfied with our accommodation. The storm eventually subsided and we were not blown away. The view in the morning was unreal- from the porch we could see the ocean for miles.... a walk around to the other side of the cliff gave views of a gorgeous rocky inlet, and a little more walking gave us an unparalleled aerial view of the village. Not too shabby for 225/baht a night.
The day was spent napping in the hammock, writing in our journals, reading, and staring at the ocean.
On Sunday, we went diving off the coast of Koh Rang. The visibility was horrific, though there was tons of wildlife. It was so bad that we could barely see in front of us, so we had to crowd together so that we didn't lose the dive master. The pictures leave a bit to be desired. We did see a massive jellyfish, a fancy pants harlequin shrimp, schools of every fish imaginable, a nudibranch, and a humongous puffer fish. On the second dive we released two baby sharks given to the shop by local fishermen. They were so tiny and scared to be back in open water- it was so so sweet.
Back to the hut for a bit before dinner, then dined at a stilted restaurant over the ocean. On the way back my feet made some bad choices and somehow I found myself admiring the stars when I should have been walking across a bridge. Quick thinking helped me discover that the boards leading to that bridge were not so stable, and Oli was shrieking at me to get up- i was halfway off the embankment and dangling over the river. I hopped back up, ice cream cone still intact, and hobbled back to our hut to clean up the blood that was subsequently pouring out of my leg.
Today is another day for r&r. Gotta figure out what to do next!!!
Love and kisses.
Thursday, July 23, 2009
Sad in BKK :(
We are back in Bangkok and dealing with the loss of the Miller's leaving :( so right now we are just posting some more (& maybe duplicates) of the underwater pictures.
We will update more thoroughly soon.
Peace.
We will update more thoroughly soon.
Peace.
Saturday, July 18, 2009
Phuket or Bust!
Before we continue with our escapades in SE Asia with the Millers here are the photos from SNWMF '09 from Brian's wideangle:
Disclaimer: Sorry but there are so many photos in this blog that we haven't had the time to caption and rotate.... hopefully soon though!
We were all delighted when the millers finally arrived in Bangkok after a grueling trip over from NJ. We celebrated with cocktails in the beautiful evening warmth before retiring to bed to recuperate for the site-seeing ahead of us. We slept in a little and enjoyed a delightful riverside breakfast at the hotel in beautiful sunshine before setting off to the sights. We started off with a ferry ride up the river to visit the Temple of Wat Pho and the Grand Palace.
Wat Pho was amazing, so intricately decorated and adorned with hundreds of Buddha images and amazing carvings. It was the perfect place to start the Miller's vacation. After exploring the grounds a little we decided that it was time to see the main attraction, the Reclining Buddha that is 46m (140 ft) long and 15m (45 ft) high. It was enormous! After we had marveled at the Buddha we decided to make our way around the grounds to see the Grand Palace. As we strolled along the street a very nice guy came up to us and started chatting. As we had learnt previously there was a long religious holiday that weekend and apparently, because of this, the Grand Palace was closed for the weekend and therefore we could not go in. So the guy helped us out by showing us some other good places to go on our map and we all hopped in a couple of tuk-tuks to head off. We arrived at the 1st of the temples that was the supposedly the earliest temple in Bangkok and we sat down in front of the idol and took in the surroundings. It was very peaceful. That was until our tuk-tuk driver started talking about taking us to a gem market that was "for this week only" 300% off. This is where we started to get a little suspicious..... we explained that we didn't want to go shopping and that we wanted to go straight to the next temple, leading the driver to get very upset, shout at us, swear at us and even lunge at us!! We were needless to say soon on our way on foot to find a taxi!
After our harrowing experience we decided to mellow out a little and took the taxi to Jim Thompson's house. He was a pioneer in the Thai silk trade and a great collector of art. After disappearing in the jungle one day, never to be heard of again, his house was opened as a museum. The tour was great, very relaxing and with some very interesting stories to go along with it. When we had finished here the skies were starting to darken and the clouds close in for the daily dose of rain so we hopped on the skytrain just in time to get us to the ferry stop before the heavens opened. We took the hotel ferry the short distance back to the hotel for a few cocktails before heading to dinner across the river. The meal was fantastic Thai food and we even had the chance to experience authentic Thai dancing before retiring for the night.
We started the next day off with another great breakfast before heading to the Blue Elephant cooking school for our day's lesson. Our teacher David took us to the market before we began the class and we got see, hear and taste the experience! When we returned from the market we sat down in the classroom for our lesson. David showed us how to make the recipe and then we went into the practical room to do it ourselves. We had a great time making yellow curry, spicy beef salad, banana leaf baked fish and other delights. After the class we sat down in the restaurant below and ate the food that we had prepared.... it was all delicious! We had another great meal that evening out by the river on the terrace.
The following day was our last full day in the city before heading to Cambodia for the Temples of Angkor. We went again to the Grand Palace and made it in this time, however, The Emerald Buddha Temple was closed (legitimately!), so we decided to skip it before and come back in the morning. So we went for a wander around one of the market area in Bangkok by the palace and then up to Ko San road so that the family could get a feel for the backpackers area. Here we shopped, ducked into air-conditioned bars for a cold beer and ate Pad Thai from street vendors. When we returned to the hotel I picked up the suits that I had had tailored for me and we went out for a lovely dinner in the main business district. After which, the ladies went home and Michael and I went of to meet Alasdair to watch some Thai kick-boxing. Only when we arrived at the stadium we found that it was $45 a ticket to stand!! So we decided to go for a few drinks instead. We bar hopped and saw the sights that Bangkok's nightlife has to offer, which included a very brief stop at one of the "lady-boy" bars!!
Here are both our's and The Miller's photos from BKK:
After our breakfast we all decided that it would be best to relax for the few hours before our flight rather than rush around doing anything. So we hung out and explored the magnificent hotel that we had been staying in before heading to the airport for our trip to Phnom Penh. Upon arrival in Cambodia we were picked up by Pat at the airport where we found out it was a 5-6hr drive to Siem-Reap and the hotel!! We napped and watched the countryside go by and arrived to another great hotel and a delicious meal. We rested ready for Temple hopping in the morning.
We were picked up at 10 and we headed out to Angkor Wat, the most famous of the temples here. Just as we started up the steps our camera batteries ran out and the spares were in the van! Thankfully Michael had his camera and we could still capture the sheer amazingness of this wonderful place. It really was unbelievable to see such huge complexes that were built so long ago and so intricately. Every wall has elaborate carving on it that tells a story from either the Hindu or Buddhist belief systems. The whole experience was out of this world.
After Angkor Wat we traveled to Ta Phrom, a temple complex that is pretty much as it was found. The jungle sprouts out of the ruins and the ruins sprout from the jungle. Truly awesome. This temple is famous for the "Tomb Raider Tree", from one of the movies, a huge network of vines and trunk emerging from the rocks. This was again a wondrous place.
The next stop was beautiful pyramid temple that Michael and I climbed up. The view was amazing. We also visited anther smaller temple in the jungle before heading on to the last stop of the day. The Boulevard of the Elephants and Bayon, the next complex to be built after Angkor Wat. This place has faces all over the building and we were just getting into it when the heavens opened and we decided that it was time to leave! We had had a great day so far and we were ready for more tomorrow, when we knew that we would be riding elephants into the park to see Bayon again! We went out for a fabulous meal at Madame Butterfly's where we had authentic Cambodian fare and a wonderful time before heading off to bed to prepare for another day of temple trekking.
Here are our pics for the 1st day minus Angkor Wat:
The next day started earlier and we were on the road by 8 0'clock for our 1st stop....... the elephants!! Karle & Jessy got onto theirs and then Jen, Michael and myself followed. It was a great experience, if not a little bumpy, and we arrived at the other entrance to Bayon for another go at it! This time around we were far more successful and didn't get the rain coming in..... yet! This complex was again amazing and we had a wonderful time exploring the parts that we couldn't get to the previous day. When we had finished we headed out of the main area of the Angkor Temples to visit one that is further out of town but very special as it is made from red sandstone.
The ride was short out there and the temple was worth it, very intricate and very different from the other that we had seen. It was much smaller and didn't take us very long to go around, but that left plenty of time for Michael to shop!! It was hilarious to see the hoards of children all trying to get him to buy their scarves and in many cases succeeding! The next stop was another pyramid style temple, although this one was made from brick. It was truly unique to the others and was believed to have had 4 crematoriums on the top. This is when we got hit by the rain!! We ran back to the car and headed off in the direction of the hotel to call it a day and relax before another hellish day of traveling in the morning.
Here our 2nd day pics and the Millers from our stay in Cambodia:
Edit: Here are Jessy's pics from the sandstone temple:
And so the day began, 6hrs in a van, 2 delayed flights, and lots of airport food later we had another 1hr ride in the most luxurious van ever to arrive at the Kata Thani Hotel, Phuket at 1am. A cocktail or 2 later we were asleep and looking forward to the days ahead, relaxing and diving here. The following day, after a little confusion as a message was not passed along by the front desk, we got ourselves booked on a dive trips for the next 2 days and Jessy starting her certification that afternoon.
Since then Jen and I have done 5 great dives and Michael and Jessy 4. They were all spectacular too!! Karle came on the boat with us yesterday to snorkel and we all had a great day in the water. We have extended our stay here until Tuesday where we fly to Bangkok so that the Miller's can leave :( and we carry on to Koh Chang.
Here are the pics so far from Phuket:
Enjoy!!
Disclaimer: Sorry but there are so many photos in this blog that we haven't had the time to caption and rotate.... hopefully soon though!
We were all delighted when the millers finally arrived in Bangkok after a grueling trip over from NJ. We celebrated with cocktails in the beautiful evening warmth before retiring to bed to recuperate for the site-seeing ahead of us. We slept in a little and enjoyed a delightful riverside breakfast at the hotel in beautiful sunshine before setting off to the sights. We started off with a ferry ride up the river to visit the Temple of Wat Pho and the Grand Palace.
Wat Pho was amazing, so intricately decorated and adorned with hundreds of Buddha images and amazing carvings. It was the perfect place to start the Miller's vacation. After exploring the grounds a little we decided that it was time to see the main attraction, the Reclining Buddha that is 46m (140 ft) long and 15m (45 ft) high. It was enormous! After we had marveled at the Buddha we decided to make our way around the grounds to see the Grand Palace. As we strolled along the street a very nice guy came up to us and started chatting. As we had learnt previously there was a long religious holiday that weekend and apparently, because of this, the Grand Palace was closed for the weekend and therefore we could not go in. So the guy helped us out by showing us some other good places to go on our map and we all hopped in a couple of tuk-tuks to head off. We arrived at the 1st of the temples that was the supposedly the earliest temple in Bangkok and we sat down in front of the idol and took in the surroundings. It was very peaceful. That was until our tuk-tuk driver started talking about taking us to a gem market that was "for this week only" 300% off. This is where we started to get a little suspicious..... we explained that we didn't want to go shopping and that we wanted to go straight to the next temple, leading the driver to get very upset, shout at us, swear at us and even lunge at us!! We were needless to say soon on our way on foot to find a taxi!
After our harrowing experience we decided to mellow out a little and took the taxi to Jim Thompson's house. He was a pioneer in the Thai silk trade and a great collector of art. After disappearing in the jungle one day, never to be heard of again, his house was opened as a museum. The tour was great, very relaxing and with some very interesting stories to go along with it. When we had finished here the skies were starting to darken and the clouds close in for the daily dose of rain so we hopped on the skytrain just in time to get us to the ferry stop before the heavens opened. We took the hotel ferry the short distance back to the hotel for a few cocktails before heading to dinner across the river. The meal was fantastic Thai food and we even had the chance to experience authentic Thai dancing before retiring for the night.
We started the next day off with another great breakfast before heading to the Blue Elephant cooking school for our day's lesson. Our teacher David took us to the market before we began the class and we got see, hear and taste the experience! When we returned from the market we sat down in the classroom for our lesson. David showed us how to make the recipe and then we went into the practical room to do it ourselves. We had a great time making yellow curry, spicy beef salad, banana leaf baked fish and other delights. After the class we sat down in the restaurant below and ate the food that we had prepared.... it was all delicious! We had another great meal that evening out by the river on the terrace.
The following day was our last full day in the city before heading to Cambodia for the Temples of Angkor. We went again to the Grand Palace and made it in this time, however, The Emerald Buddha Temple was closed (legitimately!), so we decided to skip it before and come back in the morning. So we went for a wander around one of the market area in Bangkok by the palace and then up to Ko San road so that the family could get a feel for the backpackers area. Here we shopped, ducked into air-conditioned bars for a cold beer and ate Pad Thai from street vendors. When we returned to the hotel I picked up the suits that I had had tailored for me and we went out for a lovely dinner in the main business district. After which, the ladies went home and Michael and I went of to meet Alasdair to watch some Thai kick-boxing. Only when we arrived at the stadium we found that it was $45 a ticket to stand!! So we decided to go for a few drinks instead. We bar hopped and saw the sights that Bangkok's nightlife has to offer, which included a very brief stop at one of the "lady-boy" bars!!
Here are both our's and The Miller's photos from BKK:
After our breakfast we all decided that it would be best to relax for the few hours before our flight rather than rush around doing anything. So we hung out and explored the magnificent hotel that we had been staying in before heading to the airport for our trip to Phnom Penh. Upon arrival in Cambodia we were picked up by Pat at the airport where we found out it was a 5-6hr drive to Siem-Reap and the hotel!! We napped and watched the countryside go by and arrived to another great hotel and a delicious meal. We rested ready for Temple hopping in the morning.
We were picked up at 10 and we headed out to Angkor Wat, the most famous of the temples here. Just as we started up the steps our camera batteries ran out and the spares were in the van! Thankfully Michael had his camera and we could still capture the sheer amazingness of this wonderful place. It really was unbelievable to see such huge complexes that were built so long ago and so intricately. Every wall has elaborate carving on it that tells a story from either the Hindu or Buddhist belief systems. The whole experience was out of this world.
After Angkor Wat we traveled to Ta Phrom, a temple complex that is pretty much as it was found. The jungle sprouts out of the ruins and the ruins sprout from the jungle. Truly awesome. This temple is famous for the "Tomb Raider Tree", from one of the movies, a huge network of vines and trunk emerging from the rocks. This was again a wondrous place.
The next stop was beautiful pyramid temple that Michael and I climbed up. The view was amazing. We also visited anther smaller temple in the jungle before heading on to the last stop of the day. The Boulevard of the Elephants and Bayon, the next complex to be built after Angkor Wat. This place has faces all over the building and we were just getting into it when the heavens opened and we decided that it was time to leave! We had had a great day so far and we were ready for more tomorrow, when we knew that we would be riding elephants into the park to see Bayon again! We went out for a fabulous meal at Madame Butterfly's where we had authentic Cambodian fare and a wonderful time before heading off to bed to prepare for another day of temple trekking.
Here are our pics for the 1st day minus Angkor Wat:
The next day started earlier and we were on the road by 8 0'clock for our 1st stop....... the elephants!! Karle & Jessy got onto theirs and then Jen, Michael and myself followed. It was a great experience, if not a little bumpy, and we arrived at the other entrance to Bayon for another go at it! This time around we were far more successful and didn't get the rain coming in..... yet! This complex was again amazing and we had a wonderful time exploring the parts that we couldn't get to the previous day. When we had finished we headed out of the main area of the Angkor Temples to visit one that is further out of town but very special as it is made from red sandstone.
The ride was short out there and the temple was worth it, very intricate and very different from the other that we had seen. It was much smaller and didn't take us very long to go around, but that left plenty of time for Michael to shop!! It was hilarious to see the hoards of children all trying to get him to buy their scarves and in many cases succeeding! The next stop was another pyramid style temple, although this one was made from brick. It was truly unique to the others and was believed to have had 4 crematoriums on the top. This is when we got hit by the rain!! We ran back to the car and headed off in the direction of the hotel to call it a day and relax before another hellish day of traveling in the morning.
Here our 2nd day pics and the Millers from our stay in Cambodia:
Edit: Here are Jessy's pics from the sandstone temple:
And so the day began, 6hrs in a van, 2 delayed flights, and lots of airport food later we had another 1hr ride in the most luxurious van ever to arrive at the Kata Thani Hotel, Phuket at 1am. A cocktail or 2 later we were asleep and looking forward to the days ahead, relaxing and diving here. The following day, after a little confusion as a message was not passed along by the front desk, we got ourselves booked on a dive trips for the next 2 days and Jessy starting her certification that afternoon.
Since then Jen and I have done 5 great dives and Michael and Jessy 4. They were all spectacular too!! Karle came on the boat with us yesterday to snorkel and we all had a great day in the water. We have extended our stay here until Tuesday where we fly to Bangkok so that the Miller's can leave :( and we carry on to Koh Chang.
Here are the pics so far from Phuket:
Enjoy!!
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