Goooooooood Bye Vietnam!

It was a whirlwind 14 day adventure through one of the most interesting parts of Asia yet. Bouncing over mountain passes we covered 1200 km in the first 6 days on motorcycle with our personal guide, Minh. He was, sadly, a bit of a twit – but an endearing twit. We witnessed the very best of what it means to be human as we were greeted with smiling faces and enthusiastic waves while riding past the locals in remote villages. We stopped several times just to play with the children and what a delight that was. We bought some indoor basketball sets in Hanoi and passed them out while teaching the kids the game (soccer after all IS the primary sport over here). They loved it and many of these kids didn’t even have a real ball to play with. We took many memorable photos and video clips. One of the most stunning portions of the ride was Heaven’s Gate on Vietnam’s highest pass. Earth and Wind combined to give us breath taking scenery. The wind howled endlessly and blew the clouds by us almost as fast as the eye could track them.
While the ride was a great time it was hard because Tara got sick…really sick. She peaked a temp at 102.5 and that’s the last thing you want when you are quite obviously, in the middle of no where. She spent several nights with a temperature and had an awful stomach bug. It could have been from the dorms we stayed in or it could have been the food we ate. The food quality in Vietnam leaves much to be desired… However, Tara spent the next week recovering and is feeling much better now!
Once we finished motorcycling we slowly worked our way south to Ho Chi Minh(aka Saigon). We took many buses, including our first sleeper bus. I speak for both of us when I say we much prefer the sleeper trains. They go a nice even speed whereas most bus drivers in this side of the world are on a mission to meet death without actually having to die. We also took a 26 hour sitting bus…ugh. Those damn buses would cramp a midget.
Ho Chi Minh was a place we enjoyed. They had great Italian food and we even (finally) found some Vietnamese food that was delicious.
After 4.5 months in Asia it’s time to say goodbye!! We’ll continue our Journey in Australia starting with Tasmania…that update will come soon!!!

Love,

Jonathan and Tara

Vietnam Photo Album

Beijing Album *fixed*

The 8th Wonder of the World, a Shanghai Thanksgiving, and freezing in Beijing!

The 8th Wonder of the World, a Shanghai Thanksgiving, and freezing in Beijing!

After the visit with the Pandas in Chengdu we flew to Xi’an, which is the third largest city in China with about nine million people! It is such a neat place. The entire city is walled in with ancient fortress walls. The reason for the venture to Xi’an was to explore the area of the Terra Cotta Warriors and Horses. It is a UNSECO world heritage site as well as being the 8th Wonder of the World, which was a pleasant surprise! It was absolutely amazing and we tried to capture it the best we could through the photos. There are three large pits that are available for viewing and a museum. We were only able to visit two of the pits and the museum because one of the pits was being renovated. The restoration effort for the Terra Cotta Warriors is huge! There is a continuous effort to reconstruct the warriors and horses and maintain the pits. The rest of the magic can be explained through the photos!

Xian Web Album

I can think of thousands of reasons why I am thankful that I am a member of Pi Beta Phi Women’s Fraternity, but on Thanksgiving I got to add a lot more reasons to that list! On Thanksgiving we flew to Shanghai, where my sorority sister Nicole and her mom, Vicki, met us at the airport! Nicole and her family are currently living in Shanghai while her dad is on a business assignment. Nicole happens to be living in Shanghai with her family right now and attending a local university and learning Mandarin! Nicole had seen that we were traveling through China and her and her family invited us to stay with them! It was wonderful! Our first day there the McCarty’s treated us to a wonderful lunch of REAL milkshakes and hamburgers! Including American sized portions! It really did feel like we were back at home eating someplace like 66Diner!
We got the VIP Ex-Pat tour of Shanghai. We went to the Jin Mao tower, the Bund and got to see the knockoff market that they typically go to. On Friday we went to a friend of the McCarty’s, Bob and Marilyn, for Thanksgiving dinner! There were a lot of American Ex-Pat families there to celebrate and we had all of the usual Thanksgiving dinner things; Turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing, Jell-O, rolls with butter, and pumpkin pie! Not only did we get that Thanksgiving dinner on Friday on Sunday we got to have another one! Remember how I said that Nicole was taking classes to learn Mandarin, well her family invited all of her classmates, who are from all over the world, to participate in a traditional Thanksgiving dinner. So on Sunday Vicki cooked three turkeys, made so much stuffing, lots and lots of mashed potatoes, four pumpkin pies and one apple pie, fruit salad, and lots of other things! We had a feast! It was really fun because we got to meet all of Nicole’s classmates and her teacher and we all got to bond through karaoke and Dance Dance Revolution!
Speaking of dancing, Jonathan, Nicole and I went out dancing one night at a club called Bon Bon! We also got to take Nicole on her first trip on the Shanghai subway, woohoo! Jonathan and I hadn’t been out dancing at all during our travels so it was nice to go out and have a friend to show us the good places to go! We had a blast! Apparently we were such good dancers that our pictures ended up in the Shanghai Daily, the local newspaper, on the picture pages of the “cool” places to go on a night out! Our pictures were on the page almost as many times as Paris Hiltons! How cool! I think that makes us semi-celebrities!
The day after Vicki and Nicole took us to Xitang, which is a local water town. It also happens to be the town where Tom Cruise filmed Mission Impossible III. Haven’t seen it?! Good neither have we, it’s just what we were told! We had such a great time in Xitang. We visited all the little museums and took tons of pictures of the wonderful architecture and got to see Nicole’s favorite spots in Xitang as well! We also ate lunch at a fabulous restaurant and had some really different Chinese food. We had some wonderful eggplant, a fried corn and a fried pumpkin dish that were so yummy! When you have been traveling in China for about three weeks and have been living off of rice noodles a change in diet is a very welcome thing!
Throughout the rest of the week we got to see more of Shanghai. They took us to the Yew Yuan Gardens and we got to do some shopping and exploring, the history museum to see the development of Shanghai over the last few decades. It was fascinating because its one of the fastest growing cities in the world! Shanghai is a must see in China!

Shanghai Web Album

We were sad to leave the comforts of home and friends but were excited for a new adventure! We took the overnight sleeper train into Beijing to finish out the last few days on our Chinese visa. It was about 12 hours, but this time we took a soft sleeper which was really nice. The train ride flew by and we woke up in Beijing! We began our first day by putting on all of the warm clothes we had because it was only about 40 degrees! The air was much cleaner than I had expected but nowhere near my expectations of clean. It is said that breathing the air in Beijing is the equivalent to smoking 50 to 70 cigarettes a day, GROSS! Also I was expecting the yellow haze everywhere, but the skies were blue and there was no visible yellow cloud!
The first morning we explored Tianmen Square and the Forbidden City, which was just down the street from our hostel. Of course when you are in Beijing you have to go the Great Wall! Jonathan was unable to see the Great Wall last time he was in Beijing so he was really antsy to see the Great Wall this trip. We made quite the adventure out of the Great Wall trip. We met another American couple, who was also traveling for a year, and we all went to the Great Wall together! In a country where you don’t speak their language and they don’t speak much of theirs and you want to take the local bus instead of doing a tour, sometimes it is a little complicated and takes much longer. After about five hours we got to the entry to the Great Wall, phew! It was cold, but it was so beautiful! There was snow on the ground and the air was clean and the skies were bright blue! We could not believe our luck, we could see for miles once we got on the wall. We climbed the Great Wall from Jingshaling to Simatai which is about a 10 km trek up and down steep parts of the wall that have not been restored. It is a thousand years old you expect it to look that way, and it did! It was just a perfect day! We celebrated our Great Wall victory that night with a meal at a restaurant called “Amuseful/Happy Customer Easy Meal!” I love China!
Our last two days in Beijing we went and explored the Summer Palace, which was beautiful, and again we lucked out because the skies were so blue. We took a trip back to Tianmen Square so that we could visit the mausoleum where Mao is preserved. We had tried to get in the first day but we couldn’t bring anything that could break glass in, which includes cameras or tea thermoses…. Anyways we got to see him. It was a surreal experience, but we were glad we went! That evening we raced to the airport shuttle station only to figure out we were running too low on time and would have to take a taxi. Our taxi driver raced us to the airport and we made it with only 23 minutes until the check in counter closed! China was a blast!

Beijing Web Album

All of our Love,
Tara and Jonathan!

PANDA ATTACK!!!

A brief but full post! We decided to head out to Longji to see the beautiful rice terraces. They have been carved over the course of 700 years into the side of the mountains where the Yao people keep them up and grow rice. After that we took a 26 hour train ride from Guilin to Chengdu. It was long but believe it or not, it wasn’t all that bad. We went hard sleeper class and I actually fit well. Chengdu was a fantastic city and is the 3rd largest city in China. However, it ranks behind Xi’an b/c of it’s non-central location. It is also not as modern as Xi’an. Our highlight in Chengdu was seeing the Giant Panda and the Red Panda! The pictures tell it all…well they tell most of it. The Pandas were very active and we got to see them wrestle each other. We watched them for almost 5 hours!!! They are crazy b/c they are so flexible, often look like people dressed up in bear costumes bangin on each other and they make ZERO noise! That’s right, no grunts, growls or anything. It was so funny. If I can figure out how to post/compress the video I will.

http://picasaweb.google.com/WorldRamblers/LongjiAndChengdu?authkey=euLiQyKxCfQ


Jonathan and Tara

We are finally in China!

We are currently in Yangshuo and are enjoying this part of China very much. The Chinese government has realized the value of Yangshuo and has decided that it should be clean. It is nothing like last year, there are many people picking up trash and it is spotless. There are also many many government officials. They walk into shops and make owners take down certain signs and anything that is unkempt warrants their prompt action to make the locals fix it. It is very nice and very different from last year. My how much things can change...We have explored several areas already and have even enjoyed talking politics with some of the locals. The overwhelming anti-bush sentiment is everywhere. Even on their television, there are broadcasts that are painfully one sided. I think we would find humor in it back home, if nothing else it would be offer some perplexing insight into what others are being told about the West. However, it is refreshing that the Chinese here do not have a problem differentiating people from governments. This is something that shows a very advanced way of thinking and is also very welcoming. Telling people we are from Canada or Australia b/c of an uncomfortable context gets old after awhile.

That being said I'd like to talk about our last days in Kuala Lampur. We had a simply wonderful experience with our new friend Arun. We met him in Singapore b/c he travels there each week for work. He invited us to meet up with him in KL sometime on the weekend. That's his home town and boy oh boy were we in for a treat! We gave him a call and he came and met us on the street where we were staying. He told me to wait by a bus stop that we both knew the whereabouts of. I did and it was so funny, he was in his car so he sent his son to fetch me. I've had many people come up to me as we've travelled so another one didn't really surprise me and I usually engage them in some sort of whimsical manner. In this case I had a small Indian boy approach me with his hands over his mouth and eyes as big as moon pies. He tried talking through his hands but I couldn't really understand him. I just put my hand on his head and rubbed his hair in a mess and smiled. He giggled and ran away a bit and then came back while I turned around to look for Arun. This time he said as best he could, "Arun Chandra is my Father." !!! I was so excited I laughed and put my hands on his shoulders and said "Wonderful! Let's go find him." So he took my hand and we made our way behind a bus to Arun's car where he and his daughter were waiting for us. We exchanged greetings and then headed to our hostel so we could pick up Tara. Once we had her we all piled in the car and headed off through the city. We got the extended tour and saw many parts that we would otherwise have missed. We visited the city centers, a Chinese temple, and best of all Arun gave us pointers on how to cheaply travel to and from the airport via express bus! Finally we got to visit Arun's home and meet his wonderful family! He is financially savvy and we shared many thoughts on the subject of true ownership vs working for the banks. At his home we sat down and had some of the best chai tea we'd ever tasted...a whole pitcher to be exact =p His wife also showed us how to make some traditional Indian foods. They are simple with full flavors! We throughly enjoyed ourselves. After that we went our separate ways for a few hours so Tara and I could pack our things and get ready for our departure the following morning. We met up again for supper and we had a wonderful feast! Arun knew the best local restaurant in the city. He told us that it was one of a kind and every weekend he and his family went there. The pictures say it all so check 'em out!

http://picasaweb.google.com/WorldRamblers/KualaLumpur?authkey=yrf-WjbUtlo

So off we headed to the Philippines...you remember our story from Manila right?! Well we finished off the Philippines in the great town of Coron. We stayed at a nice place called Sea Dive. The rooms were super cheap - 500 Philippine Pesos (44 pesos to the dollar) for the both of us and the food was delicious and cheap as well. I did some massive diving with three dive masters and once again pushed the limits of my diving with a series of 4 wreck dives. The most technical and by far the one that I had to have a lot of encouragement to do was the 40m penetration dive. That's right, we were down 40m before we entered the ship. Not only did we enter it, but we swam through THE ENTIRE length of its insides. Through the engine rooms, down hallways, into the mess hall, up into cargo holds, and finally onto the captains deck. The dive was so deep we had to do insane deco (decompression) stops on the way up. We only had 20 minutes of bottom time and it was all inside the ship (the dive was 46 mins total). The silt was super fine so buoyancy had to be perfect otherwise you kicked up a mess for the diver behind you. I experienced sublime when I looked out a port window in the kitchen. Being surrounded in total darkness with only a spot of ocean light coming through a surface that is 120 feet away causes a serious contemplation of ones current location. Even the subtle familiarity of the sea is shut out as no sounds make it past the hull. Everything is still, dark and very, very deep.

We left the Philippines in good spirits. We met several new people and made some great friends. One of the Dive Masters even helped me with some advice on taking better underwater photos! We headed off to Macau, which was good fun. It's basically the Chinese version of Las Vegas but, by our standards falls very very short =( We went into the casinos to watch and we can assure you that there is nothing reassuring about playing cards with a dealer who can't speak English. We concluded that this was strictly a place for Asian's to visit. However, once Singapore gets it's casinos up and running I think Macau is going to be in trouble. There are many many more people who speak English in Singapore and that could be quite a draw for Westerner's .
Macau Album:

http://picasaweb.google.com/WorldRamblers/Macau?authkey=147acY92KnM



After Macau we caught a ferry to Hong Kong and had a great time checking out the city. We actually witnessed a building catch on fire. We came down the stairs after checking out a hostel (more on that later) and were greeted by frantic Chinese men running towards us. Well, they were going for the fire reel that was just behind where we had stepped. We got out of the way and then wandered outside to see what was going on. There were two stories (outside only) burning on a building that was probably 100 stories high. I tell you, I have never seen so many people working against one another. This scene makes Corporate America look like a well oiled machine. One man pulling the hose off the reel, the next yanking it around a corner so hard the man pulling it from the reel almost loses his fingers. There were ladies yanking on the end of the hose causing a severe kink and finally, when all was said and done the hose was about 50ft too short >< We got the heck out of there and booked it down to another building!! There were no alarms or anything, just frantic people and a hungry fire. Which, about the hostels. Imagine a closet with a bed in it and you have the size about right. They don't have big rooms, everything is super small. Kinda like Fender's place in Futurama...minus the closet of course. The highlight of Hong Kong was our trip to Disneyland!!! In case you are wondering, yes, Minnie and Mickey Mouse speak Chinese and it was quite funny to hear all narration in Chinese and then hear the songs sung in English. I took lots of video and will be compiling it so you can get an idea of what we saw. The shows were well done and we throughly enjoyed them. Check out the Album
Hong Kong:
http://picasaweb.google.com/WorldRamblers/HongKong?authkey=CDLojRzEoOM


*WHEW* This is a long one! We are now happily situated in Yangshuo, China. We journeyed up from Hong Kong via train and Bus and will be here for several more days. Lot's of climbing, hiking, bike riding, caving and rafting to do! The countryside is a must see and this sleepy little town is slowly becoming a legend. We both highly recommend it as the places to stay are cheap (15 USD/night for a double) and very nice. It has lost none of it's beauty or charm.
Yangshuo:

http://picasaweb.google.com/WorldRamblers/YangshuoChina?authkey=9lC2YO4w7Vo


Well that sets us square and brings everything to date!

We hope everyone back home is having a lovely time. We've missed seeing the leaves change colors and hope everyone is enjoying their parts (and seasons) of the world...where ever that may be!

Jonathan and Tara

El Nido!

Ok so Jonathan and I are really trying to be better about updating the blog more frequently as well as being better about uploading our pictures. We are fortunate that the place we are staying has quicker internet than most places we have been too!
So we have really been enjoying ourselves in El Nido. It is a sleepy beach town in the middle of its rain season. The first day we were here we didn’t do much but lounge around and catch up on our sleep. Crazy travel days and only getting about four hours of sleep for a few days in a row were a little rough. The next day we were ready to get out and go island hopping or at least explore the town and would you believe that during the rainy season it rained all day?! Not just rained but poured ALL day! Yesterday we were able to explore much of the little town and some of the coast. We walked and explored for about three hours along the beach. It is stunningly beautiful here in El Nido! We actually have more picture of scenery this time than of Jonathan and I! Today we booked our flight from El Nido to Busuanga, which is another island. We are headed to a town called Coron. There is supposed to be amazing wreck diving and even snorkeling around the shipwrecks! We arranged our travels and were a little disappointed we had missed the time cut off for all of the island hopping tours but while we were visiting with these two guys that we met last night (one of them was from Texas!) this guy asked if we wanted to go island hopping with them! We gladly agreed since it was less expensive and the boat man just wanted to go out and enjoy the snorkeling himself! It was a really neat snorkeling trip! We went to three different places and saw tons of beautiful coral and fish! And our trip was only $20 US for the both of us! Well the electricity just came back on and we are heading out to our favorite beach side restaurant SeaSlug! We have to wait for the electricity otherwise Jonathan can’t have his beloved banana shakes! We have absolutely loved the food here in El Nido, good portion size, actual fresh vegetables and really inexpensive! Enjoy the photos! We will be keeping you updated!

http://picasaweb.google.com/WorldRamblers/PhilippinesElNidoIslandHopping?authkey=WsSNU7vM1Y8

Love,
Tara and Jonathan

Hmmm where to start?

I think in this case with the most recent events first…which would be a 7 hour bus ride that turned into a 12 hour bus ride via the public transportation system here in Puerto Princessa, Philippines. It’s cheap at only 7 bucks to ride to our destination in El Nido. Flights to the same spot cost upwards of $300. We could also have taken a 22 hour ferry boat ride for around $150. Or if we really wanted to, we could have rented a sling on a cargo ship for a whopping 36 hour journey @ just $25 per person. A no brainer – bus would be great, roll along the country side, stop at lots of places along the way and best of all…travel with the locals. We woke up at 4:00 a.m. to catch the 5:00 a.m bus. From our place to the “bus terminal” (read: dirt field) we had to take a tricycle. This is a deadly little machine in which a motorcycle with less than 300cc’s to its engine (about the same pulling power as 50 cats slung together) has been affixed (I use this word loosely) with a welded and custom made fiberglass frame, more fit in appearance for the Captain’s deck on a cruise ship or perhaps an air traffic control tower. They are also Philippino sized – think of this as the exact opposite of super sized. That’s right you only get one french fry. We load our bags, food, and 3 bodies into this machine and we’re off like a heard of turtles. Never mind the violent shaking of the front motorcycle wheel…this place is a beautiful mess.

The bus itself is more of an urban assault vehicle…well sort of. It’s cartoonish in appearance and looks as if Mini-Me, the dude from Space Balls and the cast of Super Troopers designed it to invade The Planet of the Apes. There are 10 inches of clearance from the axels to the ground and it has big old tires with dualies in the rear. People ride on the roof, the sides and anywhere you can sit inside. They even bring extra wooden stools so people can sit in the main walk way. It’s tight. The first 4 hours of the ride were great and we were treated to cool breezes, a sunrise and beautiful country side. The first obstacle was a giant mud pit created by the rain. Tara and I had no idea what was going on, the bus stopped and everybody looked concerned and after a few minutes started filing off the bus into massive amounts of thick red mud. We had to walk, this part of the road was not paved, was under construction and had become an impassable bog from earlier rains. They were going to take the bus up via the river and we would meet it about 1km up the road. Not a problem, we hot stepped through the mud with our little back packs and sure enough about 20mins later the bus came screaming and sliding up the river and back onto the road. Victory!...but short lived. After this we proceeded to get two flat tires within about 100m of each other. Three of the bus crew had to walk back to the town after the second flat. One carried the tube, the other the wheel and the third “new guy” had to mange the rim. It was a hilarious sight and they were laughing at the third guy who was practically throwing the rum just to get it to move. We were outside a loooooong time. I feel asleep in the “v” shaped drainage channel that ran along the dirt road which was surprisingly comfortable. Tara was sitting next to me and all along the road people were just hanging out. The guys rolled back riding on top of another truck, changed the tire and at that point I noticed something else…one of the rear tires was beyond bald, there was tube showing and I pointed it out to Tara. Sure enough, not 10mins later the tire blew out. I looked at Tara and chuckled. At least it was on the rear so we kept rollin’. What happened next was much more alarming. On one of the turns the steering wheel locked up and we went skidding off the road into the side of a mountain. WHAT THE @#$# We got off the bus and believe it or not Tara and I were totally mellow (she took some travel sickness pills and is just so fun on those things =p) but the locals were NOT happy. We were still 11km from our destination. One of the boys came up and told us that he hated this trip. I asked him if it was always like this and he said it wasn’t. They beat the crap out of the front tire with a breaker bar. It had slipped off something and lodged itself against the fender. They got it *fixed* and we finished a very long and rough journey. And there you have it, an epic bus ride full of jaw dropping action…did I mention that upon our departure we’ll be flying out? ^__^

Ok so the previous day…the Philippine’s are a very interesting place. I believe there are two ways to travel in places like this and I have experience with both. 1.) You take the mini fortress approach. You take a private car and hire your own armed guards or 2.) You fly invisible and under the radar. Both have their advantages and disadvantages. We however, flew low, very low. The guards are everywhere in the city of Manila where we spent 1 night. They own the fronts of stores, the insides of doors, the little spots next to vendors and atms and money changers. They bare heavy burdens: shotguns, pistols, machine guns, sub machine guns…there is no shortage of crowd control. The expressions on people’s faces are different here. They are hard and high strung. Too much action and not enough rest…or perhaps it is not enough peace I do not know for sure. Two days before we arrived there was a bombing in the city that killed and injured many people at one of the shopping malls. Our hotel was in the heart of the city next to the domestic airport. It was not welcoming and was more akin to a prison. Thick concrete walls, faux windows and poorly lit rooms made for an entrapping feeling. After check in, we walked discreetly around for a bit but attracted too much attention so headed back. We needed to eat and had some sealed beef that my Mom left us. We mixed in some 505 Green Chile Sauce and El Paso Taco Seasoning that we’d been saving. It was simple but holy cow it was a deliciously nice meal for my Birthday!! Yup hard to believe it but I’m 26 now J Green Chile is something that we’ve both been craving so it was quite the treat. Not long after, we were getting ready for bed when the power went out. It scared the bloody hell out of both of us. After lots of yelling in the hall it came on about 5 minutes later. Whoa. We went to bed after that but slept lightly. The next morning we were off to the islands.

Two nights ago we were in Puerto Princessa and decided it wasn’t what we wanted so yesterday we adventured up to El Nido. It is much safer in Palawan (the name of this whole island) than Manila and the people are friendly. We are once again without power for most of the day and have yet to find an internet place. The food on the island is amazing and by far the cheapest/best quality we’ve had. 2 bucks per person and you can eat a solid meal, for 5 dollars you’ll feast like a king. We’ll post shortly on the rest of Malaysia and Singapore.

We are trying something new so give us your feedack. Below is the link for the pictures associated with the blog!:
http://picasaweb.google.com/WorldRamblers/BusToElNido?authkey=6JcmVt4dAzs

We miss everyone! Keep adventuring on wherever you are and let us know how things are. We are learning so much about the world and each other and these next many weeks will be filled with travel as we journey to Macau, Hong Kong, China and Vietnam.

Jonathan and Tara

p.s Please let us know if you like the web album approach or the picture collage approach!

Singapore tour and the zoo!!!

We have been busy! I suppose that is the big difference between being in a city that’s designed like a theme park and being on a beautiful relaxing island! While Catherine was still here we enjoyed her company and made sure that we were back at the hotel when she was done doing her educational tours. We had a few more wonderful dinners, including an eat with your hand, absolutely wonderful Indian dinner! On the last day that she was in Singapore she had the afternoon off and we ventured out to Harbor Front which is one of the largest shipping ports in the world! We took a Harbor cruise on the Cheng Ho boat, named after a famous Chinese General. The tour was about 2 ½ hours through the harbor and we stopped off at a place called “Turtle Island” for a 30 minute stop. It was originally two reefs and was formed into a relatively good sized island. There were no large sea turtles, but sculptured marble turtles and plenty of areas with smaller tortoises. We enjoyed being able to relax, enjoy the scenery and enjoy one another’s company! It was such a nice treat to be able to meet up with her!

Obviously we had to move out of the Sheraton when Jonathan’s mom left so we had debated on where to go and finally decided on this place called “Betel Box.” We took a taxi and got there mid afternoon, which was quite possibly the worst time of day to arrive in a place that is only air conditioned in the evenings at the hottest time of year in Singapore! So we checked in and put our stuff upstairs in one of the big dorm rooms. We were a little put off by the place at first because it had said there were laundry facilities and that was something we desperately needed, as well as free internet. Turns out internet is only free for 30 minutes. Not to mention there were a few “characters” in our dorm… So we considered going to this neat little place we had come across in China Town when we were there the other day. We took the Metro over and booked a room there for the next night. I know, jumping all over Singapore just because of internet and laundry, but at the other place we would have access to a kitchen, which would help us save our money! Ok so the next day we took a one of a kind tour around Singapore via bike! It was so amazing but I am going to let Jonathan tell you all about it!

Ok so now we are at the Backpackers Inn in Chinatown! It is air conditioned all day and quiet. Also REALLY important we are doing our first loads of machine washed clothes since we left the states! Can you believe it?!?! I am way excited and am so glad that I can throw the clothes in a machine and not spend forever hand washing them and than finding a place for them to dry! Jonathan thinks it’s pretty funny that I am so excited about washing clothes, but it truly is a BIG deal! We went grocery shopping today! Now that you all know that we are really into our grocery shopping and markets, although here we hit up the grocery stores, which are all located in these huge malls. We even found the equivalent to a Whole Foods or Wild Oats, organic and healthier stuff.

One of the highlights of our stay thus far was a 35km bike ride around the island. Yes it’s true – we had no idea what we were getting into!!! We started the morning at around 10:30 a.m. and didn’t get back until 6:30 p.m. We were tired but it was AMAZING. The owner of Betel box Backpackers lead it and knew so much of Singapore’s history. From its founding days, to its problems with neighboring countries, to the many different factors that have contributed and driven it’s development. They are investing heavily in new water technologies at the moment…yup that means turning poop laden blue liquid into glacier clean hydration matter - whoa! We also had to take shelter because we got caught up in a wicked lightening storm. \ Singapore is one of the top places in the world for lightening strikes. In fact, one struck only about 300m away from us over a lake!! All this was cool – but getting a tour of their Red Light district was crazy. On any given night there are 1500-2000 girls on the street. When we were there (18:00) there were many girls already out. Some of the other backpackers were going to come back and ride in the back of Tony’s truck to see how many there were…we decided we were cool NOT doing that =p

We also went to the Singapore Zoo. It was spectacular. The walkthroughs allowed you to actually encounter the animals. Yes that means monkey’s jumping on you anywhere in the park, you could touch the ring tail lemurs, a herd of deer-mice walked right over our feet, giant red flying squirrels soared just above our heads and there were loads of other free roaming animals. There is a day zoo and a really cool night safari…all in all we spent 12hours there! Good thing we had lots of food and water. There were so many highlights…let’s start with Tara and I feeding a Manatee!! It’s true we had a great time watching them gobble boiled potatoes and carrots from our hands. Their skin was soft and they had whiskers that poked your hand every time you fed them! I must admit that I am trying to grow my hair long and one of the hobbit ponies at the entrance had the same color hair as I did…seriously I am now considering a hair cut. We watched Inuka (silent stalker in Eskimo speak), the 5m tall polar bear and his Mom Sheba feed on Watermelon and fish. They even throw a live fish in the water and we watched him hunt. You would think that a giant like that couldn’t sneak up on a fish…but ever so slowly and gracefully he did! Then there was the lion feeding…it was uneventful and the zoo people managed to hit a few lions in the face as they were throwing meat. Apparently, they had a big meal the day before so most shrugged off the blow but a few did eat. The zoo created a very intimate experience with the animals and the design let you be right next to them as you walked by! We were less than 10ft from white rhinos, tigers, hyena’s, giraffe’s and so much more. There was also a great seal show that involved penguins, seals, and sea cows! Seals are so fascinating, extremely intelligent and simply amazing in agility and speed in the water!

It’s Tara again! I get to talk about the Night Safari! Definitely the coolest part of our zoo experience, feeding the manatee was a close second! Ok so the Night Safari is the World’s first zoo that lets visitors visit animals and observe them in the nocturnal habitat. Pretty cool! The whole day I was wondering how the Night Safari worked and figured we would be walking around the same sections of the zoo, but just in the dark. WRONG! It was a whole separate zoo! Complete with a second set of animals, another pride of lions, herd of elephants, tigers, hyenas, giraffes, zebras, flying squirrels and the list goes on! So the best way to see the park is to take the tram that goes around the park around the main animal exhibits and than at the tram stops, get off and take a few of the walking trails. The walking trails take you through some of the exhibits (like the flying squirrels) or right in front of the exhibits. Ok so the funniest thing that happened during the Night Safari was at the tiger’s lair, ooohhh. Well the tiger spotted Jonathan (not that he was provoking it…) stalked back and forth a few times and then stalked towards the window (I thought he was going to attack the glass). He stops right in front of Jonathan and sprays his scent glands all over the glass in front of where he was standing. I started busting out laughing while Jonathan stood there speechless. My comment “So I guess all cats really are alike.” One of our friends here is an experienced San Diego zoo-goer and he swears that San Diego is the best in the World, but I am not sure, it was definitely the best zoo I have been to!

All of our love!

SINGAPORE!

HIIIIIIIIII! Well have you missed us?! Cause we sure have been missing all of you!

Malaysia update since the last blog… Jonathan continued to dive everyday and sometimes even twice a day. He was able to do a night dive which was during the middle of a rain storm, which eventually turned into a lightning storm. The lightning added some excitement because every time the lightning flashed it would illuminate the water for a few seconds. The light reflecting off of fish and coral and other deep sea life…. Of course I can only imagine what it was like, it sounds enchanting but I have yet to dive and time will only tell. I have spent my days reading on the beach and playing in the water!

Jonathan’s dive masters treated us to an amazing fish dinner our last night in the Perhentian Islands. Raeshe (Dive Master) had caught these fish himself and made arrangements with one of the best local restaurants to cook up these fish for us; two sweet lips, two red snappers, and a grouper. What a feast! Our friends, Kelvin and Soohee, also were with us at the feast and have been Jonathan’s dive buddies since we arrived on the island. They were actually our neighbors over on the other island and we decided to take their advice and move to the new island, which we enjoyed much more! Kelvin is from New Zealand and Soohee is from Korea, they are in transit moving from Korea back to New Zealand. They were fantastically fun and we all had a great time together! Soooo…

We are now in Singapore! We left the Perhentian Islands on the afternoon of the 29^th after a day of gray skies and looming thunderclouds…the start of monsoon season perhaps… We were excited to be heading off to someplace new, someplace exciting, and knowing that Catherine, Jonathan’s mom, would be waiting in Singapore! She is in Singapore for Educational tours and conferences to bring all the knowledge back to New Mexico! We decided to take the sleeper train down to Singapore, which was about 11 hours and super easy and relatively restful, well at least better than the bus! This meant that we had to take an hour taxi to a small town, Tanah Merah. Which seems easy enough to pronounce, but when you come from an area that has Spanish as a major language…it can definitely effect pronunciations and confuse the poor Malay taxi drivers, oops. Well we got there and I was starving. So Jonathan and I ran to get some food and in the middle of purchasing the food we realized that we still hadn’t bought our train tickets and we weren’t sure if we are going to enough money left…. So we head back to buy our tickets and it is 94 RM (Malay Ringgit), ughhhhh we only have 93 RM….Using his usual charm somehow Jonathan got the guy to lend us 1RM, so we got our tickets! Than onto the bus to spend our night on our little upper beds with all of our bags….Sleep Tight!

So it is important to say that in Singapore Jonathan’s mom is staying in the Sheraton and we are so fortunate that she is letting us stay with her! So we are living in the super deluxe, we definitely would not have stayed someplace this nice if it wasn’t for her being here! It came at a perfect time to meet up with her. Jonathan and I were both feeling a little homesick and it was really nice to have a little bit of home around! Our first day into Singapore we spent the day looking through the upscale shopping center near the hotel and coming back to the room to see if Catherine had arrived. Apparently we managed to miss her and didn’t get to meet up till later that evening. We discovered a wonderful little Gelato shop to satisfy Jonathan’s ice cream craving and also went to see “Balls of Fury” the new comedy about the Chinese and their Ping Pong, it was absolutely hilarious! Maybe funnier for us because we are out here in a predominantly Chinese city! Finally at about 9:00pm we met up with Catherine! What a small world!

Yesterday Jonathan and I ventured to the National Skin Centre in Singapore. I have had seriously wicked sores and irritations all over my body and have been quite miserable for about two months and was counting down the days till we were going to be in Singapore. They have an excellent reputation in Health Care. So turns out that I was having an eczema flare up. The doctor was great and gave me lots of new information as well as some prescriptions that have been highly successful already. I am a new person! I am curious if any of you reading the blog are eczema sufferers and what things you have found really work and what doesn't? Also does anyone know of a good hypoallergenic laundry soap? Help please!

The health care system here is so organized. Instead of having a triage room where you would normally talk to a nurse, upon registration you receive a receipt with a room number and patient number. You wait in front of that room until your patient number appears on the screen outside the door and you go inside and the doctor is already sitting there in the exam room! Not only are they super efficient but they also have nothing lost in translation, they have a central computer system and prescriptions are put into the computer and appear in the pharmacy. Prescriptions are filled by swiping your patient number/barcode through a reader and all of the services are on a continual tally. This means that you pay for the physician visit and prescriptions all at once! It was so easy for me and compared to my experiences at home, much better in comparison!

I guess I should say that Singapore is quite interesting. We were told that Singapore is a cross between Disneyland and East Germany. The government controls everything. Here there is no ownership for cars or houses, only rent. There is no gum chewing, no speeding, no jaywalking, no spitting, we have been told by a few that there are too many rules. As a result the city is very beautiful, clean and safe! All the reasons why I love this place, and oh yeah I don’t have to carry my own toilet paper!

Last night we went out for a wonderful Arabic dinner with Catherine and wandered around parts of the city. This morning we toured the Singapore Botanic Gardens, where there is a separate Orchid garden. It was beautiful! The Singapore Gardens have also been busy creating hybrid orchids, which resulted in more unique petal shapes, colors and they have even began creating orchids for fragrance! Jonathan and I enjoyed it so much and Jonathan took many pictures; however, there was much more to photograph so odds are good we will return sometime during our visit.

Remember our friends Kelvin and Soohee? Well they are in Singapore! They are actually only here till the end of today and than are flying home to New Zealand. We met up with them in Little India to have a delicious traditional Indian lunch and explore Little India! How cool! They have also said that they are excited for us to visit New Zealand, but the truth is I think we are more excited!

We are in Singapore for….well we aren’t really sure. The visa here is 90 days so we aren’t in a hurry to leave and we are enjoying everything that this city has to offer. We will make sure to update as we start to make more plans, and will continue to update on our adventures around Singapore!

All our love!

Tara and Jonathan

Also we have a few questions: Since we are in a big city is there any really great movies we should see while we are here?

If any of you have been to Singapore are there places here that you think we have to see while here? I just found out from my Grandma that there is a "Cavanaugh Bridge" which just happens to be my mom's maiden name and she had suggestions of what else to see here. We would love suggestions!

Lastly is there anything Jonathan and I can do to make the blog more readable? Is there things that you want to hear about that we aren't writing about? More photos perhaps? Let us know! We REALLY want the feedback!

Malaysia!!

After a long journey from Thailand we’ve settled into our new lives on a small set of islands in the South China Sea. We are on the Pulau Perhentian Islands located about 45mins via speedboat from the mainland (see the map). We stayed in a private lagoon for the past 6 days and recently moved to another small island for some change. It’s truly beautiful here. The water holds perfect clarity and dances through various blues and greens, rich and full in tone, as the sun shifts during the day. The beaches are also lovely. The sand is soft and a welcome delight to the bare foot – sticking just enough to make a light, white sandal that can only be cleaned by a swift dunk in the bucket. The climate is much different than Thailand, it is far less humid and the monsoons are just around the corner. This is important as if you do not leave before the monsoons start, you will be stuck here for about a month b/c no boat can cross the 10m swells that come during that time.
Mother Nature has offered many spectacles during our stay. We have felt wind currents so completely in control that all sound was subdued, left in silence, as the wind howled in irritation at the island’s hindrance to its ocean paths. Clouds have bellowed in the sky, dark, thunderous creatures, monstrous in their size and strength. They hover above, a maddened reflection of opposites to the tranquility and peace of the sea below. We have witnessed them collide, roaring and cracking in such vivid displays of power that one might imagine planets and stars are created in such ways. Sound has no meaningful way of describing the deafening boom that is not just heard but thoroughly felt after the lightening tears at the sky. Even the spirits of the sea are alive as we’ve seen numerous barracuda soaring briefly above the surface in hot pursuit of some little fish. On one of my dive trips, I watched one such chase involving three massive leaps before the little fish was either caught or the barracuda broke chase. The jungle, filled from earth to leaf with life, has a way of reminding us that it is indeed a beautiful and inspiring gift. It also reminds us that life has no meaning without death and that to accept one is to accept the other. We set off through the jungle and it was morbidly hot – a slight foretelling of what was to come. We came across a huge monitor lizard that had been mortally injured. We discussed thoroughly but simply cannot explain the injuries we saw and the lizards state. It was about 6ft long and weighed around 70-80lbs. We thought it dead until I examined it closer and saw that it was instead incapacitated with the jungle already infiltrating its body. Covered in ants and various other creatures that were taking its life as their own, its eyes blinked helplessly and watched us. It stirred, but was well beyond being able to move its body. I ended his misery and moved him off the trail and into the bush so he could return to the jungle. It was a hard thing to do and I was very glad Tara was with me. I realize that I am not a hunter of big things but a watcher and admirer.
Tara and I have gone snorkeling and have enjoyed playing in the water at sunset. It’s spectacularly perfect. I have been diving many times and have done my first shipwreck dive! It was quite the experience. Tomorrow we plan on doing some more snorkelling around the island and will explore one of the beaches that's just a hike away. Our food lasted a full span of meals for 7 days!! We were quite proud of that, and just today we visited the Fisherman’s market to restock for the rest of our stay.

We will also be leaving the island a bit sooner than planned b/c my Mom will be in Singapore for work. The world is so small! It’s an eleven hour bus ride from our current spot and we’ll be leaving on the morning of the 28th or 29th. After that who knows? We hope everybody is enjoying adventures of your own back home and we miss you all!
Jonathan and Tara

Last Days inThailand - FIXED!

Oh sure there are the stars beyond that glimmer in every hue
With skies that stretch out lazily in the deepest shades of blue
Who watch below the emerald seas as vast as the mind can soar
Where sitting gently the whitened clouds whisper ancient lore
From which they pour Thy silver rain down gently to the earth
Whose eager soils soaked in browns are nourished for new birth
And thus the golden ways of old repeat under the sun
And what has always ended will, as always, have just begun.

We are on our way out of Thailand and it is a complex amazement at how time will go, unheedingly, at whatever pace it wantonly desires. Time can so torrentially drag the heart into a lost feeling of finiteness that it’s no wonder the more we experience it the more we find it in distaste. It affects everything we can sense – sight, taste, smell, sound, touch. If you disagree – I invite you to buy a piece of fruit, make it your favorite for added effect. Place it in your bedroom where you can use each of your senses to examine it daily. What a beautiful piece of fruit! On the 20th day (perhaps *much* sooner if you’re in a tropical place like…oh I dunno Thailand?) if there is anything left other than a piece of semi-gelatinous-vomit-inducing-bio-matter you have either cheated and used your refrigerator or have found fruit grown from the spring in Tuck Everlasting. I’d say the former is infinitely more likely. But the latter provokes something beautiful and suggests we are not entirely bound to time’s rule. I think it suggests that things outside of our 5 senses are beyond the capacity to be governed by time!! The heart, the soul, the imagination ( and even if you believe the heart and soul are ephemeral, you must believe that the imagination is infinite) are our true un-doings of time. With them we can create and perceive a world where time is truly not in control. Time is not the ender of things but is rather the baron of initiation, a gentle reminder that in this wild, wild ride called life, things never truly end but instead are just constantly beginning!
…And so while our stay in Thailand has been wonderful and we’re a bit heavy hearted to move on, we know it’s time to go…um yeah that and our visa’s are expiring too =p. We did so many things!!! I’m guessing most of you will realize of which internet was not among them. We are sorry for being out of touch for so long!!! Our visa expiration was fast approaching and we had much planning to do on where to next venture. Plus, the one internet shop on our side that has power at night was closed for many days (up until we left) which made things that much harder. We are both doing well and are in good health. Both tsunami and plane crash have left us to our peace – thank you for all your concern! Back to the wrap up - our days were spent with lots of climbing, reading, cooking, and hanging out. I lead my first set of 5.10d’s which felt really good!! Tara took a lot of pics and I made a college out of them below. The ones where I am clipping draws I’m lead climbing. There are also a few top roping pics. I must say that I’ve never enjoyed cooking so much in my entire life! We cook one meal a day on our little burner and it is by far the best food I’ve eaten since my home cooked meals with my Mom or Tara’s family. Tara not only knows what’s goes well with what– but when we start eating the nurse part of her kicks in and our meals are often filled with a mini-biology lecture ^__^ I’ve come to agree with her that it is impossible to use too much garlic and onion for flavor! We are both feeling really strong. We’ve also been learning a lot about trigger points b/c Tara hurt her left wrist climbing. It’s a fascinating subject and I’ve had several of the massages done before but have never tried to learn about it. It’s based on the concept of referred pain and provides area maps to treat trigger points (a constriction in the muscle) depending on what area is bothering you. If any of you have upcoming surgeries for shoulder’s, wrists, knees or whatever else look into this first!
We finally decided that we’ll be heading down to Malaysia. There is clean water, good snorkeling and great climbing there. That’s it for now – we’ll post more soon!.

Jonathan and Tara

Last Days in Thailand

Oh sure there are the stars beyond that glimmer in every hue
With skies that stretch out lazily in the deepest shades of blue
Who watch below the emerald seas as vast as the mind can soar
Where sitting gently the whitened clouds whisper ancient lore
From which they pour Thy silver rain down gently to the earth
Whose eager soils soaked in browns are nourished for new birth
And thus the golden ways of old repeat under the sun
And what has always ended will, as always, have just begun.

We are on our way out of Thailand and it is a complex amazement at how time will go, unheedingly, at whatever pace it wantonly desires. Time can so torrentially drag the heart into a lost feeling of finiteness that it’s no wonder the more we experience it the more we find it in distaste. It affects everything we can sense – sight, taste, smell, sound, touch. If you disagree – I invite you to buy a piece of fruit, make it your favorite for added effect. Place it in your bedroom where you can use each of your senses to examine it daily. What a beautiful piece of fruit! On the 20th day (perhaps *much* sooner if you’re in a tropical place like…oh I dunno Thailand?) if there is anything left other than a piece of semi-gelatinous-vomit-inducing-bio-matter you have either cheated and used your refrigerator or have found fruit grown from the spring in Tuck Everlasting. I’d say the former is infinitely more likely. But the latter provokes something beautiful and suggests we are not entirely bound to time’s rule. I think it suggests that things outside of our 5 senses are beyond the capacity to be governed by time!! The heart, the soul, the imagination ( and even if you believe the heart and soul are ephemeral, you must believe that the imagination is infinite) are our true un-doings of time. With them we can create and perceive a world where time is truly not in control. Time is not the ender of things but is rather the baron of initiation, a gentle reminder that in this wild, wild ride called life, things never truly end but instead are just constantly beginning!
…And so while our stay in Thailand has been wonderful and we’re a bit heavy hearted to move on, we know it’s time to go…um yeah that and our visa’s are expiring too =p. We did so many things!!! I’m guessing most of you will realize of which internet was not among them. We are sorry for being out of touch for so long!!! Our visa expiration was fast approaching and we had much planning to do on where to next venture. Plus, the one internet shop on our side that has power at night was closed for many days (up until we left) which made things that much harder. We are both doing well and are in good health. Both tsunami and plane crash have left us to our peace – thank you for all your concern! Back to the wrap up - our days were spent with lots of climbing, reading, cooking, and hanging out. I lead my first set of 5.10d’s which felt really good!! Tara took a lot of pics and I made a college out of them below. The ones where I am clipping draws I’m lead climbing. There are also a few top roping pics. I must say that I’ve never enjoyed cooking so much in my entire life! We cook one meal a day on our little burner and it is by far the best food I’ve eaten since my home cooked meals with my Mom or Tara’s family. Tara not only knows what’s goes well with what– but when we start eating the nurse part of her kicks in and our meals are often filled with a mini-biology lecture ^__^ I’ve come to agree with her that it is impossible to use too much garlic and onion for flavor! We are both feeling really strong. We’ve also been learning a lot about trigger points b/c Tara hurt her left wrist climbing. It’s a fascinating subject and I’ve had several of the massages done before but have never tried to learn about it. It’s based on the concept of referred pain and provides area maps to treat trigger points (a constriction in the muscle) depending on what area is bothering you. If any of you have upcoming surgeries for shoulder’s, wrists, knees or whatever else look into this first!
We finally decided that we’ll be heading down to Malaysia. There is clean water, good snorkeling and great climbing there. That’s it for now – we’ll post more soon!.

Jonathan and Tara

Update is soon to come!

Jonathan and I are working on our summary blog of Thailand and will hopefully have it finished and posted later this week. We are headed to Malaysia this coming weekend! Sorry to keep everyone in suspense!
Tara and Jonathan

TARA'S FIRST CLIMB!!!

She made it up not one, but TWO climbs WHOO-HOO!! It was quite a feat and both myself and our new friends were really excited. Her first climb is chronicled in the collage above and you can see from start to finish how she progressed. It's a 25m climb and very tricky in some spots. It's called the Groove tube ladies and gentleman - and at the top your hard effort is rewarded with a sit in a little (natural) steeple with a view of the beach, cliffs, ocean and horizon...truly worthy of a painter's brush. By far the trickiest spot is the start. You have to overcome about a 5m bulge of rock (and an intimidating bulge too!). Spotters usually stand behind you b/c if you slip you'll deck (aka splat) due to the flex in the rope. After a few tries she made it up this and steadily made her way to the sky. From the start the meat of the climb begins...the tube. As you climb higher you become more enclosed in the rock, it's like a giant termite, drunk from too much seawater, burrowed through the wall in half tilt. The pictures can be deceiving but make no mistake, the last several meters bring on a small feeling of claustrophobia as you become enclosed by almost 270 degrees of rock! This creates a very intimate climb, you're tired and it is as though the wall is not a wall but some giant stagnant beast slowly devouring you with it's craggy arms...and then just at the right moment you pop out of the tube and there is one last ledge to negotiate before the top. If you look at the 2nd to last picture in the collage you can see her little head sticking over the ledge and she's waving to the camera...and yes if you look closely she was smiling (make sure to click the picture to bring up the larger image!). Would you guess she is afraid of heights?! I wouldn't! I was very proud and in that moment my smile was as big as hers. She did it. ^_^ Beginners luck some might say...perhaps a need to prove that she could indeed do it. Well, I think it was something different. I believe that she not only cherished the moment and realized what she accomplished (this was evident in her 10min sit at the top!) with a sense of pride, but she actually took to the rock. I saw it in her eyes, the way she settled at the bottom - exhausted, exhilarated and best of all eager to try again. She completed her second climb about an hour later when we hiked over to a spot called Melting Wall (called so, b/c it is only climbable only after the sun has gone over the ridgeline in late afternoon). That night we hardly chewed our food.

Jonathan and Tara

P.S. My scabies are almost completely gone. After a series of washes and creams that stung like the dickens I've found much relief. I expect to be completely clear in a day or two.

P.P.S Thank you to everyone who left suggestions for cooking. We just finished our second market day (which was not as good as the first since we opted for the afternoon market which is considerably smaller and with less selection) and are looking forward to trying them!

Good Night, sleep tight...

Yeah yeah…Don’t let the bed bugs bite…. Only this time they aren’t bed bugs, they are scabies, and Jonathan has them. They put my hard work and complaining about mosquito bites to shame. He has been very good natured about it only temporarily going insane as evening approaches and the histamines start to rise. I; however, would have lost my cool and remained insane all day long… We included some pictures of his bites (if they don’t look like scabies to you let us know!)

We have to tell you how cool our new friends are here! They have enlightened our way of Tonsai Beach living as well as explained and helped out in any way they can. Nathan and Angeline are from Canada/Australia and actually met on this beach. They spend at least 8 months of the year traveling and this happens to be their favorite spot. They are the ones that are letting us borrow a portable stove so that we have heat to cook our own food! They gave Jonathan some soap and ointment for his scabies (which we discovered are actually for fleas so we will be taking a boat tomorrow to visit a pharmacy), showed us where the really nice bungalows for cheap are (which is where we are now staying) and are full of helpful hints about stuff on this island and the way of life down here!

We are enjoying cooking our own meals! Jonathan has turned out to be quite the cook. Both of us have had to use our imagination and culinary skills to create meals, using only a small pot and pan and one burner. We have an incredible selection of fruits and vegetables that we bought at the market. We have had scrambled eggs with rice, stir fry, pastas etc. All absolutely delicious!

We got back to bouldering today and I am beginning a healthy obsession! Jonathan was able to get over the crux of his problem and I was able to move along a little farther in my route as well! Both of us are getting stronger and are really enjoying watching the other. Jonathan has been a great teacher! I have yet to climb using ropes but we are hoping that tomorrow or the next we will be able to go! Our new friends next door want to go with us!

We have a few requests from those people who enjoy cooking and have a collection of recipes…We need some ideas! We have pasta, rice, corn, carrots, potatoes, tomatoes, onions, garlic, cucumbers, watermelon, apples, bananas etc…

The only things we have to season with are curry powder, coconut milk, fish sauce, soy sauce, salt, chives, and basil. Any suggestions will help greatly!

Tara and Jonathan

By the way we look forward to our comments on our blog so please leave them! We love to hear from everyone back at home! Thanks to everyone who has left them on our past blogs and to Emily Cross who was the only one who responded to the last blog! We love Hello Kitty and love you too!

Our Market Days

Hey Tara do you think the food has gotten blah at the restaurants on our island >< ??

Well it started out tasting really yummy but as the days go by and the more food we eat I can’t help but notice that the both of us are dragging ass….

Yeah I agree, what the bleep do they keep putting on our food that’s makin’ us feel bad?! I swore the other day that my noodles were made out of shaved snail butts.

Snails have butts? I think you are obsessed with butts, first cats, now snails… In fact I think I do know. Even though MSG has been taken out of most of the food in the States, turns out that in the Asian countries they put MSG in EVERYTHING! Not only that but they sprinkle it on top of your food like some sort of garnish. It’s in every kitchen right next to the salt, flour etc, a huge container of MSG…

I must be hangin around your Dad too much…gah his butt fetish is dangerously close to rubbing off on me…at least his brother had the kindness to admonish me. Haha just kidding Eric ^_^ Ok back to the MSG, you CAN really taste it and thank goodness that we ran into some fellow travelers that not only directed us to a better place to stay on the island – but they also shared some secrets about cooking your own food on the island! They let us borrow a burner and we are filling a propane tank today. They also directed us to a local market that’s about 1 hour from the island. We have to take a boat, then we ride in the back of a truck and finally we walk around the town of Krabi!. We bought a weeks worth of groceries for the cost of a single meal on the island! What did you think of the markets?

Well as long as we stuck to our new found vegetarian diet and avoided the carnivorous aisles, we were golden. Enduring the smell of raw fish mixed with pig and chicken is rough. Actually we had a really great time and it was really nice to be able to plan out meals and get fresh fruits/veggies. The meals on the island have been really measly, even after our stomachs have shrunk, we end up going to bed hungry at night and Jon tends to eat tons of peanuts and ritz crackers right after dinner. Apparently, there is a restaurant mafia on the island that requires all restaurants to keep their prices within a certain range. They can get away with it because there are only little mini marts on the island (with much inflated prices) and you must take a boat into the next closest town to have any sort of supermarket. So we are sticking it to the man and making our own food for the rest of our stay!

Heck ya I’m so excited! ZOMG guess what else?! I love Swenson’s like a fat kid loves cake! Tara I can’t believe we used to have these stores in the States, I’ve never been to one. You went when you were younger right? They are SO good and by FAR the best ice cream treats I’ve ever had. So I guess all that’s left for our day is to get a few pots, some utensils, olive oil, bread/pastas and to pick up our propane tank, right? I’ll admit that we’re gonna have to take lots of breaks b/c right now we are both carrying a lot of weight.

Yup slow and steady. My Nana used to take us when we went to visit in Napa, CA of course she preferred the huge ice cream dish with over ten scoops. I’m sure you would/could eat it if you tried ;) So we’ve decided to stay on the island until the Sep 15^th and will be making market runs every week. However, that doesn’t mean that we have decided where we are going to go next…

P.S Happy 27^th(?) Anniversary to Eric and Linda!

P.P.S We have listened to requests and will be posting more pictures!

The only good mosquito...

…is a dead one. Indeed, if one could only have a personal electric discharge system that was (of course) battery powered perhaps I would feel something of a different sort. They would never be pesky in the first place. You see the whole purpose of the thing would be to generate a small magnetic proximity field around the wearer which, whenever it was intruded upon by something of similar size and mass as a mosquito, would create a discharge of 7 electron volts of electricity zapping the little booger and consequentially splitting the oxygen molecules in the general area into O3 or ozone. Walaa – two problems solved at once –more ozone for our global warming conundrum and killing a mosquito becomes as effortless as taking a breath of air. However, as this device has (to my knowledge) yet to be created and successfully mass produced we must further bear the never ending humiliation of looking part epileptic and part masochistic as we whack ourselves wherever a mosquito may land…be it arm, leg, face, neck etc. And of course, after a few days of this treatment the body’s senses have become superhuman and heighten to the point that mere dust particulate landing on our skin triggers the circle of violence and a vicious swing from which ever hand happens to be closest to ground zero commences. Then, as we carefully peel our palm away to exam our kill ( there is simply nothing more satisfying than seeing the freshly smashed corpse of your would be devourer) we are washed away in great defeat as there is merely the sting from slapping ourselves staring back at us. Was it a mosquito or a piece of dust? Who knows – but someday I hope there is a Budweiser commercial saluting you “Mr Mosquito Lightening Discharge Man.”

Ah well enough of that – needless to say Tara has taken one for the team as the mosquitoes have unanimously concluded she’s the one they ought to dine upon .-. I have resorted to going shirtless and not putting on bug spray but to no avail…the only place they find desirable on me is my ankles.

We are in beautiful Tonsai and it is the same but different from my last visit. So much of the beach is closed or run down!! Many of the places I visited with my friend (Saras) last year are totally demolished. Our first few days here we spent reading and hanging out by the beach. There were some amazing rain storms. We are staying in Bamboo Bungalow’s for about 150 Baht (a bit less than $5) per night and they are quite nice. We spent the last two days bouldering and Tara’s first ventures onto the rock have been great. She’s a natural! I did have an absolutely terrifying experience with a male monkey. The darn things jump all over the island and often, in the middle of the night you’ll lurch awake b/c it sounds like Godzilla is crashing through your roof. This was only a matter of acclimation before it didn’t really bother us…well acclimation and ear plugs. Anyways, the monkey’s own the island…right, check and not a big deal to be one with nature. HOWEVER, one morning this crazy male monkey worked its way onto the tree that’s about 12 inches from the railing on our little front porch. The ladies that ran the place were not happy at all and had been chasing them while banging pots and pans. His arrival was very sudden as Tara and I were sitting on the porch reading, writing etc. Alarmed, I had her get everything inside and I picked up a chair and banged it against the post to make noise. As soon as I did that the monkey snarled and growled at me revealing a set of teeth befitting of Kujo. Bloody hell. Tara was inside looking from the doorway and I was 3 feet from King Kong’s evil mini-me. @!#$. Well what would you do? I’ll tell you what I did – I started swinging the chair at that furry SOB as hard as I could. He growled and bared his fangs some more but after two thrusts he was about 8 feet away. WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED TO OO OO AA AA ME WANT BANANNA MONKEY?!@ At range, I switched weapons – and I must note was thoroughly pissed. I started launching every coconut I could find. When I ran out of those I used rocks. I hit it square on with an apple sized rock and it finally started to run away. Well hell, I chased it for a good 300 yards throwing all manner of things, the ladies from before had armed me with a slingshot (which was more likely to ricochet the rock in my face.) and when it was finally far enough away I broke the chase. I’m sure the evil monkey’s from Family Guy will have a whole new meaning.

We will stay here for another week or two and we’ll be sure to update. I’m hoping to start climbing with ropes in a few days. We’ve met all manner of people and Tara and I are working on a our own secret language which is a variation of Pig Latin I learned as a kid. It’s a nice trick to have and quit confusing to people who are sure we are from California.

Jonathan and Tara

THE ADVENTURE BEGINS!!!

As Jonathan burps out the title to our blog in my ear to get me to laugh or something....

Anyhow! We made it! Actually we made it a few days ago we arrived in Bangkok, Thailand at about 01:00 on August 16th. The flight was about 20 hours with a layover in Taipei, Taiwan. It included a lovely rain shower provided by Jonathan's Camelbak. Which had a bonus of clearing the seat next to me giving us the entire row to ourselves. Needless to say, if you have a camelbak, make sure the valve is set to off, so if you throw it up in the overhead storage compartment it doesn't pinch the bite valve and drip on your neighbor and every seat four rows back O.o;;
Bangkok has been great, between the intense heat and humidity and what Jonathan describes as the "cat butt smell" which is quite a good translation! No really it has been fun just a slightly difficult adjustment to the heat and way of life in Bangkok. We explored Wat Pho, which is the place where the reclining Buddha resides, as well as a variety of other Buddhas. It; however, does not smell like cat butt. It is clean and trash free.... Jonathan would like me to add that he does not like cats, except for his Grandma's cats... We found a lovely little park, which is part of the royal gardens complete with a wonderful reflexology garden. It has a series of small paths with different patterns and various sized stones cemented in the ground. You walk across the stones hoping that the pain isn't expressed in awkward facial expressions or seizing movements. Making the Thai people think that the foreigners are even more bizarre... We met a local man who moved to Thailand after retiring from the computer business in Silicon Valley about five years ago. He introduced us to the Thai bus system, fruit juice shakes such as apple with oreos,omelet with rice and showed us where to refill our water bottles. It was a great peak into the hidden inner workings of the city.
We have returned to the park and reflexology garden everyday since we have been here, reading our books for hours in the park. I just finished the book "Snow Flower and the Secret Fan," which was given to me by my Aunt Terry and was an absolutely amazing book and a must read for anyone who enjoys losing themselves in a book. We have also been coming to Bangkok University to use their Internet and enjoy the inexpensive college snacks. Today we took a Tuk-Tuk, which is the local transportation in Bangkok. It is extremely inexpensive and they will take you anywhere you want to go as long as you stop at certain tourist traps along the way. My Grandmother suggested that I not ride in these things due to their unsafe nature; however it was a great time and much better than walking in the blazing heat.
Tomorrow we fly to Krabi, than take a boat to Railay Beach where we will be for possibly a few weeks. I am excited to be able to jump in the water when it gets to warm and to be out of the big city!
Tara and Jonathan