Pragmatic Nomadic

I'm on a boat!

2012-02-20T11:37:00.000-08:00

Funny how things never shake out as you expect them to. Crewing on Furthur for the past month has been an absolute blast and not at all like anticipated. Adjusting to the "work load" was probably the biggest surprise in that there basically wasn't much of one. I knew crewing on a powerboat, versus a sailboat, would mean less work but I didn't realize just how little. My main responsibility was keeping the captain happily fed. Not so difficult for someone who loves to cook and feed people...

Despite the jokes (so, what's your uniform?) and many peoples' leeriness of potential creepiness in this whole situation, everything turned out fine. I'd be lying if I denied the obvious fact that the captain likes to have girls around and that he likes to brag a bit about that. Whatever, boys will be boys. But overall Brian was easy to get along with and a ton of fun to listen to. This guy has stories about everything! We listened to him chat about everything under the sun- riding into bars on horses, participating in political campaigns, swimming with sharks, being married (x3), being an alcoholic (formerly) and a debatably crazy hippy, etc etc etc. The stories were never-ending and endlessly entertaining. He is one of those kinds of people who believes that anything done in moderation is a cop-out. And he lives by those lines- he's 60 and cruising around the world for Pete's sake! I guess the strangest thing about being on board was dealing with his affinity for the local culture (i.e. girly bars) but hey, to each their own I guess. I learned so much from Brian and I will be forever grateful for all the good times, lessons taught and experiences shared.

Now folks have been asking for this a good bit so here we go... The daily routine while on board went as such: wake up to Brian's coffee grinder around 7:30, have tea over a morning chat, read on top the boat for a bit, give Brian his breakfast (cereal mostly but some days we got fancy with eggs or pancakes). Then we'd either cruise to the next anchoring spot or start out on the day's activities. Diving, snorkeling, swimming, hanging out on little beaches, kayaking through lagoons, caves, mangrove forests, etc, all were regular activities on Furthur. After playing awhile we'd come in for lunch when I'd make Brian a sandwich and throw something together for myself (having fresh veggies, cheese and hummus at my disposal was like Heaven!) Around this time of the day is when Brian would have his nap or write on his blog. We joked that we'd have to put him down for his nap like a baby... not too far from the truth :) I'd layout, read, swim, do whatever until he'd be up and ready for a chitchat. Then we'd do another activity or take a dinghy ride to explore around the area we were anchored in. (A dinghy is the small, inflatable, outboard motorboat that every big boat has to have in order to get to shore, boat around and go on shorts trips.) Then one of my favorite parts of the day would come round; poo-poo platter time. I was unfamiliar with this lovely phrase but very fond of the idea: a plate of nibbles awhile before dinner. My master poo-poo platters included meats, cheeses, veggies, crackers, hummus, chips and salsa, fruit, etc. with smoothies and maybe a beer or glass of wine (for crew, never Brian!)... needless to say I don't think I lost any weight while crewing but I definitely enjoyed myself/ ate like a king. We'd then read, watch the sunset, I'd normally tidy up the boat and start planning dinner.

I cooked pretty much every night on the boat because I missed cooking so much but sometimes we went to shore to have dinner and check out the local scene. I fixed everything from Thai stir-frys to pan-roasted chicken breasts to homemade pizza to pasta salad. And even a chocolate almond pie! Luckily Brian was easy to please and never led on if he secretly hated my cooking :) Dinner time, as it is at home, is always one of my favorite parts of the day. What made it even better on Furthur was Brian's daily tradition of holding hands before eating and having everyone say what they were grateful for that day. It was a very sweet and reflective way to end the day (and we had a lot to be thankful for!) After chatting often for a long time and cleaning up the kitchen we would settle in for a movie (1 of the umpteen million on his hard drive) and then call it a night. It's actually kinda embarrassing writing this all out... it was as ridiculous and enjoyable as it sounds...

Before everyone starts cursing my name, let me come to my own defense. There was 1 week when we pulled the boat out of the water for some much-needed cleaning when we did a lot of work. Mainly the hull (bottom of the boat) needed to be repainted and scrapped clean of all the barnacles (so sooo gratifying) and scrubbed down in every corner. That meant days filled with cleaning the bathrooms, moping the floors, rubbing down the entire boat with Murphy's soap to make it shiny, waxing all the chrome on the boat, cleaning out all the clutter, doing inventory of the food (after lots of crew and no organization things were pretty interesting), getting seat cushions fixed, etc! Don't feel too sorry for me though, we did spend the latter part of each day at the marina's swimming pool :)

So maybe I haven't learned to navigate the sea by the stars but I did have a wonderful time. What's wrong with some good ole enjoyment for enjoyment's sake every once in awhile, hm? I feel very lucky to have been introduced to this incredible sub-culture of boating and the amazing people and places that come with it. I think next time I would like to try crewing on a sailboat, even just to learn the differences, but it something that I most definitely would like to do again some day.

Below are a bunch of photos, some of Brian's, other crew member's and mine, from my time on the boat:

one of the first days on board, cruising to some beautiful islands

compulsory jump off the top of the boat,

taken in Maya Bay where the movie, The Beach, was filmed

Captain Brian hard at work

one of the many incredible sunsets we enjoyed at the end of the day

the disappearing beach between 2 islands that faded away with high tide

kayaking through some big ole rocks

kayaking out of a cave

kayaking through a cave into a massive lagoon

kayaking up to beautiful, secluded beaches...

told you we did lots of kayaking!

rock climbing- not so scary when you can jump

into the water once you don't want to go any higher

under the sea with some fishies

Brian at his best, scuba diving

peace to the world, above and below the water's surface

dinghy ride through mangrove forests

one of the million fishing boats that light up the horizon at night

adorable and very functional village on stilts in the middle of nowhere

our new Iranian friends we met on the island where the

James Bond movie, Man with the Golden Gun, was filmed

Furthur out of the water and in the boat yard

while we did some serious fixing and cleaning up

see! told yall we did lots of work!

and welcome to Phuket, hop in line for your one of a kind massage

best way to celebrate my 24th!

birthday dive with the lovely Marina,

other crew member from Germany

lovely little family fishing boat

the close to another day in paradise

lucky lady I am to have experienced beautiful places like this!

Thanks SO much again to the wonderful Brian Calvert for letting me come crew on Furthur- it is an experience I'll surely never forget! And you never know, maybe I'll be back sometime soon :)

byebye, Bali

2012-02-14T04:08:00.000-08:00

Once I recovered from the temporary depression after my family returned to the States, I set out to enjoy my last week in Bali. I went to the beautiful and relatively remote Balangan beach for a few days to celebrate New Years with my fun and crazy Englishtown friends. It's always difficult to leave a place and its people behind but I very much enjoyed my time in Bali and know that its time to go. I've been ready for the next adventure I have coming up...

As soon as I realized the Englishtown teaching gig was not what I wanted to do long term I knew exactly what I wanted to do after leaving Bali and before I found my next job. I wanted to work on a boat. And that's exactly what I will do. You could say that I like to consider myself a skills-oriented person and for some time now I've been wanting to acquire some new skills. Some nautical skills, that is. I may not have many skills but I'd like to add knot-tying, sea navigation, driving a dinghy, words like stateroom, starboard!, 7 knots ahead, and ahoy! to my vocabulary and list of capabilities.

How does one with absolutely no boating experience do this, you ask? It's called findacrew.net. A friend told me about it awhile back and I've been a member for over a year. People like me, inexperienced but eager and willing to learn!, can get work exchanges on boats cruising all around the world. My list of competencies included things such as: cook, photographer, nanny, hostess, good conversationalist, etc. nothing certifiable, impressive or really even marketable. But low and behold, I have been contacted by boats the world over looking for crew. Mind you, I had to weed out the ones who checked the "looking for romantic relationships" box and find those that seemed to be a good fit. And I've found him!

Furthur, the Selene Trawler I'll come home for the next month

The captain of the boat Furthur, Brian Calvert and I have been emailing back and forth for a time now and I've been invited to join his crew starting in early January. I'll be on board for a month and see how it goes from there. He has been cruising around the world starting in Seattle for over 2 years now and seems to have a good time wherever he goes. He has had over 30 people from findacrew on his boat who all give him rave reviews and highly recommend working with him. His emails are funny, enthusiastic and he's a 60 year old non-drinker, safety nut. I think I'll be in good hands :)

The plan is to meet the boat in Chalong Bay, Phuket, Thailand and cruise-scuba dive-enjoy our way around the many beautiful southern islands of the western coast of Thailand. Twist my arm.

Here's to hoping that this isn't too good to be true and that I have sea legs...

The Pickrens do Bali!

2012-02-14T03:01:00.000-08:00

I cut a deal with my beloved family when I decided to leave, more or less indefinitely, for Asia. The deal was that wherever I was over Christmas, they'd come visit. And the poor souls had to deliver and come see me in Bali. When I say I was excited about them coming I don't mean your usual, everyday excited. I'm talking about the kind of excited that makes you miss sleep, unable to talk about anything else and tricks you into getting dates wrong so that your brain believes they're arriving 2 days before they actually are... Without a doubt the worst part of being away from home is being away from my parents and my sisters. I've missed them terribly so this reunion meant quite a lot to all of us.

After surviving the hellish ordeal of flying stand-by, the evils of Air Asia (and lost luggage), and the #1 boat company on my shit list (Oceanstar), we were all finally reunited together on Gili Meno. We enjoyed the next few days hanging out on the beautiful beach, reading, snorkeling, and catching up. From Gili Meno we headed back to Bali and settled into a cute bungalow in Ubud. We went to markets, explored the town, shopped, went on a wonderful bike tour (highly recommended but with a word of caution- only do the "uphill addition" at the end if you are really up for it. we learned our lesson:)), saw a traditional Balinese dance performance, and ate like kings. I apologize for the quick recap of the trip but to be honest, what we did doesn't really matter. Of course I hope my family enjoyed the trip I planned out for them and I hope they love Bali as much as I do. But as cheesy as it sounds they could have come to visit me in a box and I would've been happy.

Below is a random sample of some pictures of their trip. They were only here a short while before heading back before New Years to their respective lives in the US. It went by so fast and I wish they were still here!

mom and dad getting serious on a traditional long boat, Gili Meno

dad with his girls in front of our bamboo bungalow on Gili Meno

Merry Christmas!

hardcore. long boat ride back to Gili Trawangan

bike tour through the rice paddy fields outside Ubud

we love bikes! especially mom :)

one of the beautiful fields we walked through

to learn how the farmers harvest rice

dinner after a traditional Balinese dance show

sistas

If you're not the corny type than I suggest you stop reading at this point and move along. We're not all saps, I understand. But what needs to be said has to be said: I love my family. Absolutley adore them. It actually hurts sometimes when I think about how much I love them. While I know I'll never fully fathom how lucky I am, I think I've always known how blessed I am to have the parents and sisters that I do. Even with the accidental arguements, political differences and that fact that I'll most likely always be 11 in their eyes, they are everything to me. Being gone helps to give me a nice perspective on exactly how fortuante I am to have them in my life. I do not know what I would do or who I would be without my folks' and sisters' love and support. I'm so grateful for them taking the time off from their busy lives (coordinating 5 individual schedules is not easy!) and flying around the world so that we could be together. I hope they know how much I love, admire and appreciate them. While its difficult to not be at home with them, I take them with me everywhere I go and look forward to the next time we'll all be together again. To the Pickrens, from far and wide, I LOVE YOU!

down on the farm

2012-01-08T03:00:00.000-08:00

A few days ago at my weekly farming day with IDEP, the marketing coordinator came out and got some great photos that I thought I'd share... This also was the day I met another Georgian volunteering with IDEP. What a small world?! It was so nice to talk to someone from home! He and his wife have been traveling the world since doing the Peace Corps together. They have recently started an international nonprofit that's doing wonderful things, check it out: The GROW Initiative

when not teaching...

2012-01-08T02:59:00.000-08:00

Now that I'm a working lady, there are some pretty wonderful things that I have to look forward to outside of work. Truth be told, these are the things that are keeping me happy and engaged here in Bali. I know I am very fortunate to be calling Bali my temporary home and to have found these lovely little pockets...

1. The farm

Here we have the organic farm where I volunteer at every week. I like to volunteer, I like to play in the dirt, I like farms, I like NGOs so when I found IDEP volunteering for them was a no-brainer. This local NGO is doing excellent work in everything from disaster relief to permaculture design courses for Balinese farmers. And every Friday they have an open Garden Day when anyone can come help out on the farm. I've been able to help with loads of fun stuff like composting, soil bed preparation, planting veggie seeds, etc. On these Garden Days, IDEP has a wonderful policy that everyone in the office comes out to work on the farm so I've had the pleasure of becoming friends with some remarkable people doing amazing work for their island. Below is the 1st Garden Day I worked when we laid out the design for the herb garden and readied the soil for planting in a few weeks.

2. The yoga

I was introduced to this amazing yoga studio, The Power of Now Oasis, by 2 new and wonderful friends I met through couchsurfing (more on that in a minute). This place is situated right off the beach so when you're doing yoga you can see the ocean in front of you and literally feel the ocean breeze. Pretty nice spot for yoga, I say. The building itself is beautiful as the entire structure consists of a 2 story, open walled bamboo hut. The grassy patch of land around it is peppered with hammocks and lotus flowers trees. This place is idyllic to say the least. The yoga classes are lead by local instructors and attended by locals, old lady expats and young yogis alike. I'd sleep here if I could convince the owner but I do well with the few mornings a week that I start my day here and then head to work.

3. The Balinese culture

At any give moment, on any given day there is a Balinese ceremony going on. This culture knows how to celebrate- full moons, weddings, 3 month olds' birthdays, funerals, you name it. Dressed in their finest traditional garb, the family, the massive extended family and anyone that might know the family come to help celebrate whatever the occasion. It is highly likely that one such parade/ procession as this will cross your path when you're out and about on a seemingly uneventful day. These ceremonies normally involve visiting the local temple and giving elaborately constructed offerings of fruit and the like to the specific Hindu god of the occasion. Then a big ceremonial procession, either behind something like an extremely done-up bride and groom or an extremely well decorated coffin, will make the rounds from the house to the local temple. The participating crowd plays music as some have drums, symbols, xylophones around their necks and the others dance while moving along. It's an absolutely lovely thing to see.

4.The beauty that is Bali

It's never-ending. It just doesn't stop. You think you've found your favorite beach spot, temple or scenic drive and you instantly fall in love with another 5 minutes later. There are the beautiful and empty black sand beaches of towns like Lovina in the North that carry into the best snorkeling spots on the East coast like Tulamben and Amed. Then you wind down South towards the wider, white sand beaches of Sanur and Kuta that attract surfers from all over the world. Next is the Bukit Peninsula that's home to massive cliffs towering over deserted beaches and supporting ancient temples like Uluwatu. And where beaches like Panang Panang have a lagoon-like feel with its little pools of water separated by boulders and little caves. Once you start heading up the West coast you get into serious surf country that eventually leads to the national park area that protects miles of jungle and the various animals that dwell inside. Then of course there's the beautiful interior that makes you realize instantly that all possibilities of describing the terraced rice fields are futile. There just are no words and its simply too green to describe. And don't forget the looming active volcano, Agung, that sits just over 3,000 meters tall at once protecting and threatening the small island. Seriously, the natural beauty here just never stops.

5. The friends

I have met some fantastic people so far... the other teachers at Englishtown who know about everything that's going on and are always up for a beer, a dinner or a chat (normally centered around making fun of our jobs and students). My farm friends who love playing in the dirt even more than I do so we automatically get along. And then there is the wonderful network that is couchsurfing. For those of yall who are not familiar with couchsurfing it is an international network of like-minded, travel-crazy, people and culture-loving individuals who open up their homes to travelers. You sleep on the couch, in their extra bedroom but above all the point is cultural exchange and to gain an insider/ local's perspective to the place you are visiting. I've recently starting using it much more and could sing its praises for days. I lucked out beyond belief when I incidentally started my stay in Bali with a lovely French-Indonesian couple who might possibly be the most welcoming human beings on the planet. Not only have they opened up their home to me but they have been extremely supportive friends while I've been figuring out what to do about the teaching situation. The moment I knew I wasn't going to stay at the teaching job they told me I was welcome to stay for as long as I needed. At one point when I feared I was overstaying my welcome and told them I was going to stay at friend's they asked me what the problem was and if something was wrong, for why else would I leave? How nice! Besides the couple who adopted me, I have met some fantastic people here that are all part of the couchsurfing community. 2 of which have become very good friends that I truly truly hope will be in my life far into the future. Please meet the lovely Leslie (that's her with me on the farm) who I spent hours talking and scheming up plans for our lives with. And Joseph who I don't know what I would have done without him here in Bali. We spent hours talking about everything under the sun- international work and NGO banter to sourpatch kids and talking trees :)

welcome to Englishtown everyone!

2012-01-08T02:58:00.000-08:00

Almost immediately after Vasae left in mid-August to go back to the States I started looking around for English teaching jobs in Asia. After lots of considering, applying, interviewing and hoping, I got a job with Englishtown in Bali, Indonesia. I worked it out to continue traveling for awhile and then try it out for the month of November before signing any sort of binding contract.

Like I mentioned before, because its an online school where you basically teach to students through skype, I was a bit apprehensive. My teaching style relies very heavily on personal interaction and connection with the students and playing around... Those are all rather difficult when you are not actually with your students. But I wanted to be optimistic and wanted to give it a try. Also, I was able to be a substitute teacher for the after school English classes next door with Englishtown's partner school, English First. A new challenge (and living in Bali!) right??

After light training I was thrown into my class and started with my new work schedule. It took awhile to get the swing of things. I'm not a very technical person/ I'm technologically challenged so the fact that my job revolves around computers is pretty funny. It's multitasking galore at Etown. First and foremost you have to make sure your students can see the slides (just like a power-point presentation), that they can hear you, and that they know how to use their microphone to speak back to you. Sometimes tricky when hello is difficult. Then you conduct class to a group of 2-10 Chinese, Russian, Brazilian, Mexican, Indian, German, Japanese, French, you name it!, students of about the same level. That's gets tricky as well because the students chose their own level :) Throughout class you lead the discussion as all the classes are conversation based while trying your best to type out corrections to individually evaluate each student. Again, this can be tricky when you have 8 Chinese students screaming into their microphone as you get only every other word. The connection normally is good but when it's not and you have beginner students, good luck.

Here is my little set up: cubicle with the class presentation loaded on the computer screen, notepad and pen ready to take notes on each student, headset plugged in and hopefully working, water- I get thirsty, and me laughing at myself, which is an essential component to this job and my life in general.

Class topics are varied in subject material and teach-ability... most motivate pretty interesting discussions and debates. One of my favorite topics was "All about America" when the 1st slide of the class asked: "What are the first 3 things that come to mind when someone says the USA?" The answers that followed were awesome. For example: fast food, fat people, guns, cars, blue jeans, McDonald's, McDonald's, and McDonald's, smart people, etc. My favorite was a nice lady from China that was convinced, and I mean convinced, that we all shoot at each other in the US. One such statement of hers was: "in America everyone has gun and everyone shoot gun. Police know not do nothing and all people verrry scary." I don't even know where to start- amazing.

Other topics include "Cafe Culture" because every beginner student needs to understand the ambiance a Starbucks' latte creates. "Crazy Things" where my students admitted the craziest things they've ever done. My out-of-control Chinese students confessed to doing ridiculous things like staying up all night to read the latest Harry Potter book. Then there was "Law Enforcement" class when my Brazilian students talked about selling drugs and drunk driving while the horrified Taiwanese students embarrassingly admitted to running traffic lights and jaywalking. One of the most riveting topics was "Getting a Job" where we talked about power point presentations, job interviews and our strengths and weaknesses. Excellent subject material for students who are at the appropriate level. Torture for the beginner students who have no idea what is going on:

me: "What is the man doing in picture #1,class? What is he doing?"

Pingtang: "TEACHER, TEACHER, TEACHER ANNA!!! HE IS READ. TEACHER, HE IS READ BOOK! OH NO HMMM, NO TEACHER, MISTAKE. I MISTAKE. HE IS STUDY, YES YES, HE STUDY. HE STUDY, TEACHER. RIGHT?? HE STUDY. TEACHER ANNA? YES?

After gently breaking it to Pingtang that the man in picture #1 was working, we carried on :)

One of my favorite things about teaching at Etown had to be the students' names. Just as they can pick their own level, they can pick their own screen-name. While some names made sense and were sweet, others were so wonderfully random that I'll never know how they picked these words as names. I have to give it to the Chinese for coming up with the most creative names. You know its going to be a great class when your class list includes: Robot, Rainbow Lee, Count Dracula Wang, Kitten Lee (a man), Peter Xou (a girl), and my personal favorite, Crocodile.

While I have genuinely enjoyed teaching at Englishtown, I know that it is not the job for me. After working for 5 weeks (the allotted "trial period") I decided to not sign a year long contract and begin looking for the next job, adventure, country, etc. I have nothing bad to say about the school or its methods. Its an amazing system that allows people all over the world to effectively learn English at their own pace and at their own convenience. But, not surprisingly, online teaching wasn't a good fit for me. Many teachers see their job at Etown as a means to an end to living in Bali but that's not the arrangement I'm looking for.

I'll certainly miss the teachers, the students and of course Bali. Even though it wasn't for me I have to say that some of the discussions I participated in in class were wonderful. I can't think of many situations where its possible to immediately delve into cultural issues with an involved audience from all over the world.

Stay tuned to see what I have cookin' for the next adventure :)

from Folkston to Taipei...

2012-01-08T02:53:00.001-08:00

Who would've thought? A mini Pickren family reunion in Taipei, Taiwan... in Asia rather than the Okefenokee Swamp??

When my crazy self started thinking up this entire journey to Asia my dad, after suffering another near heart attack due to my travel aspirations, immediately contacted his cousin Dan who has lived in Taiwan for the last 20 or so years. After informing my dad that I would most likely not die upon entering Asia, Dan was kind enough to extend an invitation for me to come visit. As a trip to Taiwan was never in the original plan with Vasae and I, I hoped that I'd be able to make it over before settling down into a teaching job in Indonesia. I've been looking and applying since Singapore and I think I found a great job! I'm a bit apprehensive being that its an online gig but I'll also teach real classes to kids after school as well... so we'll see how that goes come November. But for now, we're in Taiwan!

The last time Dan and I saw one another I was most likely up to his hip and wearing an outfit my mom picked out for me. Dan has more or less called Taiwan home ever since he ended up staying after a backpacking trip back in his thirties. Hm, that person kinda sounds familiar... Now being kin I knew that Dan and I would of course get along great but I was thrilled upon learning that we have loads in common. We had a blast chatting about our wonderful, albeit crazy, Southern family back at home. Also being the Southern gentleman that Dan is he spoiled me rotten over the trip. I would have gained 91 pounds if it wasn't for all the outdoor activities we did :)

My trip basically consisted of excellent food adventures, wonderful sight seeing trips, loads of amazing outdoor activities, day trips and one over night trip with Dan, his trusted vehicle and friend, Paul, and most importantly, countless conversations with Dan about everything under the sun- from family to plants to politics to music. I thoroughly enjoyed every single moment.

Right before leaving Bali, a huge and wonderful coincidence revealed that my roommate and beloved friend from my TEFL certification course back in Prague was moving to Taipei the same day I was arriving. How crazy?! Not only was I able to visit and run around with Dan, but also I got to catch up and hang out with Katy when Dan was busy working. She and I basically talked each others faces off while simultaneously eating everything in sight at the night markets :) It was wonderful to see her and I'm so grateful that we randomly crossed paths again, and in Taipei of all places!

I could devote an entire blog, not just a measly post, to my trip to Taiwan. It was extremely pleasant having a likeminded tour guide in charge and full of ideas :) Dan made my visit action packed with a range of activities and sights to see. I have to start out by saying that Dan is active, and I mean active. He works extremely hard and plays at about the same level. At times it took a lot for me to keep up with him- hiking up a mountain, biking up a steep hill, zipping around town, a walk here, a tai chi lesson there, etc. He wouldn't have you believe it but he is an active and involved fellow, indeed.

Apart from all the shenanigans and tours about, I had a really nice time laying low at Dan's homey apartment. He lives in a nice residential neighborhood where the most consistent noises are kids playing in the school yard below his apartment and banter from the market around the corner. One of my favorite things from the trip was simply doing some of Dan's daily things with him. Breakfast around the corner, afternoon vegetable and fruit juice from the market, bike ride in the park along the river... But my absolute favorite part about doing these things with Dan was the reaction he evokes in these daily outings. I kid you and exaggerate not when I say that everyones' faces light up when Dan walks into their shop. Whether it was the lady who has cut his hair for years, the juice lady, the fruit stand man, the family at the duck restaurant whose kids treat him like an uncle, the couple at the ice-sweets store, the kids in the school yard who wait for him every night to play badminton or ball... everyone in his neighborhood adores him. This goes far beyond admiration for the token white guy in Asia, these neighbors and friends of his truly treasure him. What was best was hearing Dan rattle off in Chinese and then turn to me to jokingly translate into English with his undeniable Southern twang and a welllllp and yall thrown in there. A wonderful marriage of two cultures wrapped up in one man :)

I should give a word of thanks to some of Dan's wonderful friends who helped make my trip as memorable as it was. Particularly to his friend Stefanie for the bike rides, night out and amazing experience with an accupressure doctor, Gloria for showing me around the markets, Thomas for the loan of his son's bike, Jerry for the thai chi lesson, and Paul for the good times and guiding on our over night trip. Like I said I could type for days about the trip but this is already long overdue and nobody wants to sit and read that much. So now I'll let the pictures do the talking...

meet Dan, my guitar pickin' 2nd cousin :)

visit to the Long Shan Temple

one of the many night markets with Katy

adorable riverside cafe I stopped at on my day-long bike trips

marveling at one of the remarkable and 2,000 year old "sacred trees" at

Lalasan Park a few hours outside Taipei

Dan walking along the fall forest

city amongst the hills

rolling hills and mountains on beautifully clear day!

Dan and I in the middle of a swinging bridge
on one of our beautiful hikes in Taroko National Park

drive inside the massive gorges of Taroko National Park,

some reach as tall as 3,000 meters!

Tai Chi lessons at the riverside park with one of Dan's good buddies, Jerri

visit to the hot-springs just a short metro ride from the center of Taipei!

amazing traditional dance performance

incredible (and windy!) walk around Yeliu Geographical Park
on the Northeastern coast of Taiwan

visit to the beautiful and impressive Ju Ming Sculpture Garden and Museum

going away dinner with Dan's wonderful tour-guide friend, Paul and his lovely wife

After 2 wonderful weeks I felt like I had gone on a vacation from my trip. It was a treat to be in someone else's trusted hands, have some nice, chilly weather and visit with family you love and admire as much as I do Dan. I'm so grateful to him for letting me come stay with him and for showing me the awesome country of Taiwan! Here's to hoping for many more reunions in the future, whether in Asia or in the States :)

reflexes

2011-12-03T00:39:00.000-08:00

I'm sure I've experienced an earthquake before. But all I can remember are the drills in elementary school when you get to miss class and giggle with friends while sitting in the basement with a book over your head. My fourth grade teacher Mrs. Hahn would be disappointed in my recent inability to react to the earthquake off the coast of Bali. I was visiting a turtle conservation hatchery, hanging out with this cute little guy, when schoolkids on a field-trip all started screaming and running out from the covered awning. (Clearly they've practiced more recently than I have). Confused and apparently incapable of catching on, I sat tight with my turtle friend. I carefully placed him back in his tub and asked what was going on as I casually walked out from the shaking roof above my head. Nice reflexes.

The guy who was taking me around the hatchery was trying his best to explain the situation. At no fault of his own he confused the word earth for war. Don't ask me how but he did. So making a scary face, moving his hands in a shaky motion he just kept repeating: "war, war, warrrr"... I thought I was going crazy. Indonesia in a war? But with who? And does that mean that was a bomb? Finally (a wee bit delayed) I realized that it was an earthquake and he was trying to describe that rather than tell me we were under attack. Right, got it.

Thanks to everyone who sent worried emails asking about my well being. Apart from minor casualties around the island everything went back to normal rather quickly. Besides realizing, in yet another light, that I'm an idiot, all is well :)

catherine and ben arrive in indonesia!

2011-12-03T00:28:00.000-08:00

There are times when things just seem to good to be true. And this is one of them... I'm in an amazing part of the world and I get to see someone I love and care for immensely. In Indonesia! I just can't get over how wonderful it is that the travel plans of my lovely cousin and her main man accidentally came together with mine. (Not to say that I didn't work some serious Jeti mind-tricks to convince them to get over here) They were nice enough to let me tag along for a solid part of their trip- they were too sweet to never make me feel like the ultimate 3rd-wheeler I was :)

they're here!

We spent our time first in Kuta where we met up- Catherine and Ben surfing, I making trips to the immigration office in the town over to renew my visa. Then we were off to the Gilis... I told yall I'd go back! For the super-active, busy-body selves that they are, I was very happy when both Ben and Catherine sank into the island no-schedule-schedule pretty easily. As we have discussed, I now know I am good at this, but was thrilled to have them on board as well.

traditional long-boat ride to the Gilis

Each morning on Gili Meno was spent with a morning chat session between Catherine and I. While Ben meditated and did his thing Catherine and I probed into every topic under the sun. Most centered around our strong wanderlust spirits, the need for a constantly stimulating environment, speculating where in the hell our lives will end up, and our amazing (and crazy) family. Even though I've always known we were similiar, it was a comforting realization and blessing to discover exactly how much we really do have in common and how easily she and I can relate. I feel lucky beyond measure to call her family and friend :)

lotus temple in the center of Ubud

After a few days of beach going Catherine and Ben both had the itch to get to Ubud, a place they both had been looking forward to very much. And with good reason. Ubud is an incredible place. While it may not be what it once was, who can really argue against a culturally and artistically rich town surrounded by lush rice paddy fields and temples? Not us! so we headed straight there from the Gilis. I was actually suppossed to be on my way to Sanur but in a hitch-hiking misunderstanding (weird, how could that happen?) it just ended up being easier for me to go with them. I didn't need to have my arm twisted and if anything on this trip I've learned to be flexible and go with the flow.

After just a night in Ubud I let them finally have some time together and headed back to the coast to Sanur. Catherine and Ben spent the rest of their trip in and around Ubud enjoying all the fantastic activities it has to offer- great food, yoga, spas, walks along rice fields, more temples than you could ever imagine... you can hear about their trip on Catherine's amazing blog: http://desphotosetmots.blogspot.com/ She an absolutely remarkable photographer and writer so I suggest you check it out.

It was tough to say goodbye but the astonishing fact that we were lucky enough to share some time together in Indonesia made it easier. I'll hang out in Sanur for a few days until I leave for Taiwan (more on that later) for about 2 weeks. They'll head back to their lives in beautiful Jackson Hole, Wyoming to continue adventuring and doing the good things that good people like them do.

sumbawa

2011-12-02T23:48:00.000-08:00

One more island further East in Indonesia, Sumbawa is known as a serious surfers island. Why am I going then? Good question. Better answer: to lay on the beach.

After hitchhiking my way across this island and finally getting to a beach, I landed in the mining town of Maluk. I should have done my homework a bit better. I arrived at night (normally something I avoid at all costs) and could not find anywhere to stay that wasn't asking for a ridiculous amount of money. After asking around I finally found a lively little place that was nice enough so I settled in for the night. I immediately changed rooms after the first had more cockroaches than I could handle and the secind had a faucet that actually delivered running water. It gets better. Turns out this lively little place cranks up around 11pm when I swear there was a competition between the neighboring bars to see who could play their karaoke music the loudest. It's alright, I have earplugs. I fell asleep for about one golden hour only to awake to sounds that earplugs unfortunately cannot drown out. I'll spare you the details but I realized, real quick, that I had basically checked myself into a brothel. Awesome. Needless to say I didn't get too much sleep and checked out as fast as I could the next morning, after taking the equivalent of about 9 showers. I guess that's what I get for being a cheap ass.

Luckily the next spot, Sekongkang is home to these beautiful beaches (and wonderfully safe, clean and cheap bungalows). I met some great people that were wonderful company on this nearly deserted part of the island. Here got in some serious practice at becoming a good beach goer.

After a few days of practice and checking out the other parts/ beaches of the island I became impressed with my new found ability. It's amazing how enjoyable doing nothing is. As ridiculous as this may sound, I have a point. Those of you who know me best know that I'm not so good at not being busy. My mind is constantly spinning with thoughts of what I need to do, should be doing, could be planning, etc... Being still is a lesson I will consistently have to relearn. These beaches showed me that I am a quickly progressing student :)

To my defense, a large part of why I am lazying around all day is because I'm killing time (in the best way possible, I agree) until my wonderful cousin, Catherine, and her lovely boyfriend, Ben come to Bali. I have been so flipping excited about them getting here I can hardly stand it! They have been making plans to go travel for awhile now and the universe smiled on us when we realized our travel dates coincided. I feel lucky beyond belief to be able to share this amazing experience and country with them. Just a few more days and I meet them back in Kuta, Lombok!

lombok

2011-12-02T23:39:00.000-08:00

Ever since I set foot in Indonesia I have heard constant whispers about a magical place called the Gili Islands, 3 islands located off the northern coast of Lombok ( island east of Bali). People rave about these tiny islands and all they have to offer- brought in by wooden long boats to beautiful beaches, no motorized transport, white sand, crystal clear water, amazing diving and snorkeling... I was beginning to think this place might be too good to be true. But to my surprise and delight, the Gilis turned out to be everything they're talked up to be!

We first stayed on Gili Trawangan, "the party island." Now how to describe this place? Imagine loads of travelers (the majority of which are messed up on Lord knows what) crammed onto a beautiful, tiny island. It might sound terrible, and kinda is depending on your mood, but it's beautiful enough to withstand the obnoxious people. Despite getting asked questions like: "So, you like came here for the beach and shrooms, too?? Ya bra, Gili T is the shit. Riggggght?" from a 67 year old Australian man who was still drunk at 9 in the morning, we had a blast :) Much like Vasae, Robert and Bene are the kind of company that always ensure a good time no matter where they are. We enjoyed our days hanging out on the beach (fantastic people watching), ending each day at the sunset bar before going out for dinner and some Bintang beer. Pretty good schedule if you ask me. We decided to shake things up and take the boat to Gili Meno, the next island over known for being more chilled out, to go snorkeling for the day. Immediately upon reaching the island we made plans to move. Gili Meno is bonkers beautiful.. Same amazing setting (it's a long stones throw from Gili Trawangan) but without the crowds and a better, more laid back vibe. Hello, paradise! I have found you again.

In a wonderful accident-turned-miracle we were able to rent a house, an entire house!, for the same cheap price as a bungalow. We were all a bit silly about the extra space, the private little walk out to the beach, the secluded spot... if that house had had a kitchen I think I would've stayed forever. The same basic schedule ensued- days spent at the beach, snorkeling, lazing around and simply enjoying the island. Life is good.

Here we are one day after playing around a bit on the beach. The night before one of the local staff emerged from the water with an octopus latched onto his shoulder. "Look what I caught for dinner?!" he bragged as he walked past our bale and over to the grill. Well, we had delicious and, needless to say, fresh octopus that night for dinner. This place is a dream. Robert and Bene were joking around that I was their best catch of the day :)

For some strange reason we decided to move on and leave Gili Meno (I will be back, just you wait and see) and headed to Kuta, Lombok. Not to be confused with Kuta, Bali - Kuta, Lombok is a much smaller, much more laid back, surfers paradise. It was high-time my surfing skills were revealed to the world.

Naturally I was nervous about finally unleashing my skills so the first few days we enjoyed the amazing beaches of Kuta. As you can see below these beaches are much different than the ones at the Gilis but absolutely stunning in their own right.

We found a surfing instructor, headed to Gerupuk, took a long boat out to the waves and before we knew it were mastering the waves with the best of 'em... Yeah right. I got my shit rocked. While I did get up on the 2nd wave (not so bad, huh?!) I did fear drowning each time I got to the end of the wave and/or fell off the board. I'm sure to the super-cool, super-experienced surfers out there the waves were tiny but to Benedikt and I they were huge. Despite our nonmastery we had a blast. Surfing is SO fun! I now understand why generally all surfers are smokin' hot- because they beat their bodies by paddling for hours on end. Not this girl; I couldn't lift my fork for the next 2 days.

Sadly, it's time for Robert and Benedikt to go back to Germany and I will miss them terribly. They have become 2 wonderful friends that I know I will see again. Next stop, Germany? We shall see :) In the meantime I'm going to rebuild my shattered dreams of being a pro-surfer and try my luck at being a really good beach goer. Wish me luck.

motorbiking in bali

2011-10-13T21:56:00.000-07:00

Meet ze Germans! Here are my 2 new buddies, Robert and Benedikt. We first met in Singapore (Benedikt is the lucky man who dates my buddy, Erin) and we happened to meet up again in Bali. These 2 took me under their wings and allowed me to tag along with them for a bit... it was wonderful having Robert take the lead as he studied abroad in Bali a few years ago and knows the ropes well and having Bene as a constant source of entertainment :) Here we are in the back of a truck, hitch-hiking on the island of Lombok.

Before heading to Lombok we rented motorbikes on Bali and headed north to get away from the crowds and see some other places in Bali. First stop was Ubud, a town I could easily stay in forever. Filled with temples, museums, art galleries, rice paddy fields galore... this place is beautiful. We made a stop at the famous Monkey Forest where monkeys run around all over the place. Luckily there are these monkey whisperer guys who keep them relatively in-line. This guy was more interested in his banana than in say, trying to steal something off one of the tourists, which they are known for doing. Somehow though, these guys aren't as scary after having had my run-in with the massive orangutans back in Sumatra.

From Ubud we drove on what felt like an endless road of rice paddy fields to end the day in Tirta Gangga. We woke up to go visit the Water Palace and realized we had accidentally chosen a homestay that overlooks the palace, what luck! After enjoying our breakfast overlooking the palace, we hopped around on the little stone paths that go through the different pools surrounded by gardens and amazing flowers... such a beautiful place to visit :)

Next we headed straight for the coast where we planned to go snorkeling in Tulamben, a town known for its famous dive-site where the US Liberty boat sank just off the coast. The drive there was absolutely gorgeous as we winded up and down mountains that opened up to this valley- mountains, farms, palm trees, ocean off in the distance- what more could you ask for in am amazing view?! Once we snaked down this road we reached Tulamben and the snorkeling really was awesome. The boat is super close to the shore so its easy to reach and you can even swim through some of the parts of the sunken ship. I chickened out but the boys had fun while I looked on and swam with the pretty fishies :)

We ended the day in the quiet fishing town of Lovina where we enjoyed a delicious fish dinner and beers on the beach... I know, another picture of a sunset... I can't help it.

The next morning we headed to the waterfalls of Gitgit. On the way to the waterfalls we came across this guy, struggling alone with a huge mattress trying to make his way through the jungle. As we watched him bump into a palm tree, Robert and Benedikt decided to lend a hand. They got more than they bargained for as they had to carry this thing up a steep path quite a ways to this guys' home. His family was very appreciate and were kind enough to invite us to sty for coffee. We enjoyed the visit and the wonderful coffee that's grown right there on their family farm.

The last bit of our motorbike trip was down through the mountains where a few lakes and beautiful lookouts are hidden. Before getting back to the more citied areas we passed through some sweet strawberry fields where we devoured some yummy little strawberries and continued on our way.

The trip was a wonderful success and I somehow, again, managed to not kill myself by way of motorbike... Now it's off to Lombok (by way of ferry) in the morning!

bali!

2011-10-13T05:00:00.000-07:00

Another place I have been looking forward to for a very long time... welcome to Bali, yall!

Luckily I was forewarned about how crowded it is in certain places in Bali, like this beach here in Kuta. While the beach is beautiful and the locals friendly, I'd be a millionaire if every sunburnt, drunk Aussie in a Bintang man-tank was worth a penny. No offense, it's just a fact.

I'm planning on looking like this guy in a few days... while I've never really tried surfing (does Folly Beach in Charleston actually count??) I am hoping that all these years I simply haven't known that I was a pro-surfer in hiding. We'll see how that goes. Until I actually get out there and try it, I'll just take pretty pictures of surfers at sunset...

future, here we come

2011-10-13T04:54:00.000-07:00

and this is one of the many reasons why I LOVE Asia...

matching stripped socks, loafers, popped collars, and ipads. only in Singapore :)

hey hey singapore city

2011-10-13T04:53:00.000-07:00

Welcome to Singapore! The land of impressively tall buildings, massive ships from all over the world, more shopping malls than you'd ever want to imagine and some serious air conditioning...

I came to Singapore to meet up with my beloved friend, Alison, from UGA and her lovely friend, Katie, who are at the end of their month long trip in SE Asia. It makes my day when I get to see Alison at home so you can only imagine my excitement due to the fact that we get to hang out in Singapore! She's one of my favorite human beings on this planet so it was wonderful getting to catch up with her and get a little piece of home. Naturally we spent most of our time talking, sharing stories from each others' trips, eating a lot, drinking wine (oh how I have missed it), and giving each other hugs.

When not sitting by the pool catching up we managed to do our best to see some of Singapore. We visited the famous Singapore Zoo, the beautiful botanical gardens where we had a lovely picnic, little India, and a few of the bazillion shopping malls that offer up some of the best people watching in Asia.

We were also lucky enough to meet 2 German friends while in Singapore. Another dear friend from UGA, Erin, let us know that her boyfriend and friend would also be traveling in Singapore at the same time so we all planned to meet up. What we thought would be an innocent little meet-up turned into a ridiculous night of drinking on a bridge, meeting some awesome locals and riding around in a tiny, vintage Bug. Don't ask me how it happened, it just did. That's kinda how things work with these German guys, more to come on them later...

salamat datang sumatra! it's indonesia!

2011-10-13T04:50:00.000-07:00

After a long awaited arrival, I've finally made it to Indonesia! The more I heard about Indonesia, the more excited I became to get to this massive, diverse and beautiful country. After spending a few weeks exploring Sumatra I can definitely say I love this country and cannot wait to see the other islands. For a quick rundown of Sumatra I'll mainly let my pictures do the talking but the exploration went as such:

Getting my bearings in the hill town of Bukittinggi, mountain biking and enjoying small town culture in Lake Meninjau, swimming in the lovely Lake Toba, amazing diving and lazy beach days on the stunning Pulau Weh, visitng mosques, eating too much good food and joining in the end of Ramadan celebration, Idul Fitri, in Medan and almost getting attacked in the jungles of Bukit Lawang by Mina, an enormous female orangutan famous for having attacked over 70 guides...

incredibly chatty and friendly school girls I met at the park in Bukittinggi who were more than happy to practice their English and giggle over their love for Justin Beiber

one of the many adorable wooden houses sprinkled around Lake Meninjau, all adorned with more flowers than you could imagine

lovely bike ride with rice paddy fields, hidden houses and perfect views of the lake

my favorite swim spot on Lake Toba

remarkable view of the bay from my beach bungalow on Pulau Weh

largest mosque in Medan

Idul Fitri street parade celebrating the end of Ramadan (Muslim practice of fasting from sunrise to sunset for a whole month)

Mina and her little baby that's so ugly he's cute. This is just before she headed down the trail after us... luckily the lure of bananas got her off our path long enough for us to pass and get out of her territory :)

t-time in malacca

2011-10-13T04:45:00.000-07:00

After Vasae's departure (and a mini what-am-I-going-to-do-without-her? breakdown) I decided to head to the lovely town of Malacca, Malaysia to settle for a bit. Hoping to spend some time being still, I have big plans for long walks, market visits, catching up on all things internet and starting to apply to teaching positions.

from the jungle to the city

2011-10-13T04:40:00.000-07:00

Somehow we managed to tear ourselves off the beach and check out some more of what Malaysia has to offer. We took a ride on the jungle railway that literally cuts through the middle of the jungle and spits you out at the base of Taman Negara, a national park well known for jungle treks and animal spottings. We hiked in and stayed in a hide overnight where you sleep in a hut raised off the ground and positioned above a watering hole so you can see and hear animals at night. We were lucky enough to see a few tapirs but it was almost more interesting to hear these guys... They created this crazy and surprisingly loud slurping noise while they drank. And they're thirsty little suckers so it was pretty funny going to bed with them sipping away down below.

From the jungle we headed to the big ole city of Kuala Lumpur. It's always a big shock to my system when I get to a big city in Asia- bright lights, efficiency, technology, advertisements galore... we showed up dirty and stinky from the jungle and had to adjust to being back in city life. We're excited to enjoy the joys of convenience and all-day of electricity.

famous sky-high Petronas Towers in KL

Knowing that KL would be a bit more expensive and difficult to tap into the local scene, we planned to couch surf... What proceeded to happen was so ridiculous and fantastic, it's still hard to believe. We met our host, a sweet girl only a few years older than us, at the end of her workday still in our smelly-jungle state. We knew ahead of time that she lived with her parents and asked again, just to be sure, that they didn't mind having couch surfers in their home. She assured us that they didn't mind and we would just need to answer their questions about ourselves so they could get to know us a bit. No problem, completely understandable. Soon enough we had arrived at their apartment... Vasae and I shared a secret look of confusion as we were entering the lobby of huge a sky-scraper. Still unsure as to what was going on, we wised up in the elevator as our host hit the button to the top apartment. The doors opened to the pent house suite, a gorgeous apartment overlooking the city equipped with beautiful rooms, live-in maids and a private rooftop pool. Um, excuse me? Our host then explained that she doesn't include any of these details on her couch surfing profile for fear of attracting the wrong kind of surfers. We understood and couldn't believe our luck. We get to stay here, for free? We felt like little impostures but it was incredible to stay in such a wonderful place. Our host and her parents showed us an amazing time- took us to the local market, shared their family dinner table with us each night, and all in all were a joy to be around :) Here's a glimpse of what is was like at the rooftop pool. I honestly feel like my life is a joke at times...

It's hard to believe that mid August is already here and that it's time for Vasae to go home. I'm in denial and contemplating kidnapping her so she won't leave me. She flies out tomorrow to return to adventures awaiting her in the US and while I'm very excited for what she has coming up, I selfishly wish she could stay in Asia with me. I'm so extremely lucky to have had her with me this whole time, traveling will certainly not be the same without her!

paradise found

2011-10-03T22:17:00.000-07:00

After a long haul from Thailand, we made it to Malaysia! With big plans filled with beaches and diving we headed straight to the Perhentian Islands. And Lordy, they did not disappoint. These 2 tiny islands are probably the closet to paradise I have ever been. Beautiful, quiet bays with crystal clear, calm water and amazing beaches literally to ourselves... our visit to the Perhentian Islands was definitely a success.

Our favorite beach spot appropriately named Romantic Beach. Just further evidence proving that Vasae and I are actually on a honeymoon :)

We started each of the 3 days on the island with an amazing dive... we didn't realize that diving could get any better than in Koh Tao but man oh man, it can. The water was perfectly clear and there were so many different kinds of remarkble fish that we were in awe each dive. And good thing we look the part, eh?

Easily one of my favorite shots from the trip :)

After diving, relaxing and reading on the beach, we watched the sunset and headed to the other, more lively, side of the island to grab dinner and immediately return to the nerdy solitude of our room... it's amazing that this has been my recent daily schedule. It's awesome.

And another day in paradise comes to an end :)

koh tao... scuba scuba

2011-09-22T21:55:00.000-07:00

We posted up in Koh Tao for about a week in order to get Open Water Diver certified and it was a blast! While the island is packed full of tourists, dive shops and too many bars to count... we enjoyed our time there immensely. Each day we woke up, went to the dive shop for class, went on a dive or two and then spent the rest of the day enjoying the beach and hanging out with our fellow divers at night... terrible lives we have :)

Learning to dive has been quite the adventure... I've been introduced to a whole new world filled with technical terms, strange equipment, amazing settings and pretty fantastic people. Our instructor was a German version of Arnold Schwarzenegger who made us giggle every time he said "vater." Going through the underwater tests like taking your mask off, switching to your buddy's secondary air source, navigating if lost, emergency surfacing, etc. was all kinda scary at the start but nothing too difficult. Once we got comfortable it was like an introduction into a different universe. Being able to breath, explore, and swim freely underwater is an out of this world experience where colorful corals, amazing schools of fish, sharks, stindrays, huge turtles, etc. all await you. It's wonderful! Can't wait until we get to Malaysia and get to go on another dive.

Each day ended with one of these beautiful sunsets...

If anyone out there can pull off the wetsuit look and not look like a complete goof, as we clearly did, my hat goes off to you.

Another lovely sunset with the fishing boats docked in their places for the day

way down south

2011-08-19T00:15:00.000-07:00

After a marathon of traveling I made it Don Khon, the land of 4,000 Islands in the southern most part of Laos. And boy oh boy, was it worth it! Brought in by a dugout, wooden, long boat, I arrived in my bungalow after weaving through a labyrinth of tiny islets, passing by sleepy riverside towns where no cars (except for motorbikes) are allowed and the pace of life is intoxicatingly slow. I loved it here immediately.

A small island, Don Khon is what I've been hoping for in Laos, and in Asia in general. Untouched by tourism so that its still unspoiled but keyed in enough that it has all your basic needs... Don Khon is a true gem. Once on the island there's a small strip of restaurants and guest houses that's quickly lost to the locals' farms. I found a nice little spot on the northern side of the island where I have a little bungalow floating on top the river with a hammock out on the front deck overlooking its neighboring and more popular island, Don Det.

I arrived here in the morning and as soon as I could I got my hands on a bike to start exploring the island... After getting lost in rice paddy fields and getting found watching fisherman do they're thing on the river, I think I found one of my favorite spots of the trip so far. Lucky lady I am. While I could stay here a long time I have to leave and head back to Bangkok where Vasae and I will be reunited to head to the islands in the Gulf of Thailand, yay!

Welcome to Laos, yall!

2011-08-07T08:51:00.000-07:00

After a LONG day of buses- first 4 hours from Halong Bay to Hanoi then 20 hours from Hanoi to Vientiane- we've arrived in Laos! Known for being the most laid back and least touristy country in SE Asia, we have been excited to see what Laos has to offer...

First stop is the capital, Vientiane, a riverside town that has as many bakeries as it does temples and the pace is markedly slower than the other major cities we've come across so far in Asia. An old french colony, Vientiane definitely shows its french influence with baguettes for sale on the corners alongside the typical noodle-soup dishes.

Here we are below at Pha That Luang, the most important national monument in Laos and the World Peace Gong...

After Vientiane we headed to Luang Prabang, a town 10 hours north of the capitol known for its monk-filled streets, waterfalls, night market and cafe-culture kind of atmosphere. It's somewhere I have been looking forward to for a long time and it truly is a lovely place to be.

Vasae heads back to Chiang Mai in northern Thailand to finish some dental work (surprisingly cheap and professional in Thailand- who woulda thought?) and I'm heading down to southern Laos solo. We'll meet back up in Bangkok from where we'll head to the islands down south!

Hue, Hanoi, Halong Bay

2011-08-07T08:49:00.000-07:00

Don't have to much time to update so I'll let the pictures do most the talking...

Hue

While most of our time in Hue was geared toward selling the bike, we still had time to see the main sights. And we managed to seel the bike for what we bought it for, yahoo! Above is a shot of the huge flag pole at the front of the Citadel, one of the main sites to see in Hue. Below is a shot of Vasae wondering around inside.

We spent our second day in Hue visiting Ta Doc's tomb right outside the city. The whole site is overgrown with trees and is surrounded by gardens so it was a very nice retreat from the crowded city...

And this is arguably some the best food we had while in Vietnam. We stumbled upon this place when headed out to the tombs and found ourselves returning again and again :) The little old lady who ran the place giggled every time we showed up.

Hanoi

Hanoi consisted of running around the market town, finding a place to get a painting reproduction for Vasae, figuring out which Halong Bay tour to take and wondering around this garden temple in the middle of the crowded city.

Halong Bay

Doing a tour of Halong Bay was one of our highlights of Vietnam so we were thrilled when it was finally time to go! We had heard about some people being terribly ripped off so we hoped for the best when we did our research and finally settled on a hostel to book through...

The tour certainly did not disappoint as we had an absolute blast! Our next 2 days and 3 nights were spent sailing around on a boat with an extremely nice crew, lovely fellow travelers, checking out caves, kayaking and swimming around.

We spent our last day and night on this private island, Monkey Beach, where we had our own little beach-side bungalows. I kayaked around the island with a buddy while Vasae took it easy and read... such poor souls we are :)

Besides the fact that it was rainy and overcast basically the whole time, the trip was wonderful and no terrible rip-offs to boot! The bay had an interesting feel to it with all the mist- sometimes it was hard to tell if the limestone islands coming out of the water were overlapping shadows or real...

motorbiking diaries

2011-08-07T08:43:00.000-07:00

Our week of motorbiking through Vietnam is arguably one of the most amazing things I have ever done. The road, if at times you could even call it that, was a minefield of potholes, people, cows, puddles, trucks, puppies, buses, children, you name it all hangin' out in the way. While I know I started out a terrible driver, I can now say with confidence that I am quite the motorbike driver... We started out with the intention of both of us driving. That didn't really work out when Vasae hopped into the driver's seat on about the 2nd day and was more miserable and terrified than I've ever seen her. We figure that wasn't the point so I'd be the driver for the trip. While I do have to say I wasn't any less terrified (responsible for you and your best friend's lives when you have NO idea what you're doing... piece of cake) I have said before that I am more comfortable with pretending like I know what I'm doing. And while it was one of the coolest things I've ever done, it is undoubtedly one of the most stressful things I've ever put myself through. I don't think I've ever prayed for 7 days straight. Well now I have as every day I asked God to please not let me kill us. Shoulders, arms, hands locked in a death-grip on the handlebars, I still feel relieved when I say we arrived safely to our end destination.

Now I'd like to pretend we are as cool and looked as cool as Gael Garcia Bernal from the wonderful film, Motorcycle Diaries... but we aren't and we didn't. We weren't traveling on an old Russian model, we weren't starting the basis of a revolution from remote villages, and I certainly don't have his sexy beard or accent. And while some women might pull off the whole motorbiking thing with ease and as some sort of sexy, lady rider... we did not. We looked more like Harry and Lloyd from Dumb and Dumber. Our bike was a fake Chinese Honda with a ghetto rack attached to the back (that promptly broke less than 24 hours into the trip), a broken speedometer, gas gauge, odometer and an attitude when around hills that rivals the bitchiest girls I know. But we loved him dearly, our little Ham Tam. We reckoned that if a person he would be named Ham, your typical middle-aged, slightly overweight quitter.

Day 1: Saigon to Mui Ne, 256 km

We headed out of Saigon with our terrible maps only really knowing that we needed to head East. After a quick look at my compass and asking about a million people, we were on our way. This is one of the many things you pass when on the road in Vietnam, in Asia in general really. It is a perfect snapshot: Asia in a nutshell. Why wouldn't you drive with 900 goldfish on the back of your motorbike?? We somehow survived the highway from hell out of Ho Chi Minh City that was under construction and made of gravel, the new #1 thing on my shit list. We then drove through wonderful fields of dragon fruit before reaching the coast. This fruit has become Vasae's favorite thing so we were in Heaven. We stopped at one to see if we could buy a few for the road... the family forced as many dragon fruits on us as we could hold and refused to let us pay, so sweet :)

We made it to the lovely beach town, Mui Ne just as the rack broke off the back, our back tire completely busted and my ass had lost all hopes of ever regaining feeling. A quick stop at the mechanic (who ripped us off and made me cry) we settled into our cozy beach side bungalow. We enjoyed a nice candlelight dinner while a serious rainstorm passed over and cut out the entire towns electricity. Day 1, survived.

Day 2: Mui Ne to Dalat, 181 km and the start of climbing the Central Highlands

Once we were able to ditch some weight (we consolidated a few things in 1 bag and sent the other one ahead to Hanoi so as to not bust another tire, hoping we'd actually see the bag again) we had breakfast at the market and were on our way. A beautiful drive along the coast, we passed by the Red and White sand dunes as we slowly made our way from the coast inland to the highlands... Here's when Ham Tam started to show his moodier side- hills weren't his favorite. Good thing we were driving through the Central Highlands. Not happy in any gear or at any slight incline we inched our way to Dalat in the rain... it poured almost the whole time :)

Dalat is a great little town in the mountains that randomly has as more tandem bicycles than it does cars. We chatted with some fellow travelers, ate our body weight in these fried bread pastry things and called it a day.

Here's our 13 year old mechanic who easily fixed our bike. Don't worry, the chain fell off. And that would explain the extreme difficulty we had getting up the mountains the day before. Forward on!

Day 3: Dalat to Lak Lake, 294 km

Pit-stop at Elephant Waterfalls before we chose to nix the highway route for the back roads option. Stupid yes, but definitely worth it as we drove past lovely little towns and farms. The road was something to be reckoned with, especially as it started to rain again...

But it cleared up right as we reached the top of another mountain and started down into this valley that had farms and fields for days. It was absolutely beautiful and one of my favorite stretches of the trip.

We reached Lak lake just in time for this stunning sunset. Vasae and I both took about a million pictures each as we sat on the dock and shared a beer watching the sun go down. The fishermen were coming in for the day as the colors somehow kept changing from orange to peach to red to purple... it was incredible, a lovely scene to get to witness.

Day 4: Lak Lake to Kon Tum, 227 km

One of our longest days on the road, this leg of the trip consisted of another highway from hell that was home to buses and trucks that fly past you at alarmingly fast speeds. I held my breath each time one of them came hurling past us, practically forcing us off the road. In Vietnam lanes don't really exist- if you want to pass someone or avoid the slower traffic on the right side of the lane you simply plow through, smack dab in the middle of both lanes. One of the only rules is that if you're a smaller vehicle, give way. We hauled ass as we had lots of ground to cover but we passed through endless coffee fields that were a lovely break from the terrifying traffic. After driving down a beautiful valley road, we reached Kon Tum right before sunset, had a nice dinner by the river and went to bed completely pooped.

Day 5: Kon Tum to Hoi An, 273 km

Our last major leg of the trip, I was just holding my breath waiting for something to go wrong. It didn't, don't worry :) This day was the day we saw the side of Vietnam you see in the movies from home. The Vietnam Forest Gump taught us to picture as dense jungle, endless mountains and difficult to navigate. By this point I had a pretty solid handling of the bike so the mountain passes were a blast to drive on. A well-traveled part of the Ho Chi Minh Trail, the road was well paved (finally!) and winded up and down mountains the majority of the day. While I was still holding my breath for me to kill us, we had fun twisting, turning, leaning our way down the Central Highlands. Once out of the jungle we drove through a few lovely farming towns that had a lively energy you could feel from the rice paddy fields. Worried we wouldn't make it there before nightfall (driving at night was NOT an option as far as I was concerned), we hauled some more ass to get to the dreaded Highway 1 for the last hour of the trip to reach Hoi An. Not surprisingly there was an incredible sunset we couldn't not stop for so we did have to drive a bit in the dark... we managed fine and made it to the beach town of Hoi An.

While I scrubbed the dirt off my face and legs, Vasae surprised me with a celebratory bottle of wine and cookies. The longest, most difficult parts of the trip over with and I hadn't killed us! Reason to celebrate indeed :)

Day 6: rest day in Hoi An

We actually stayed put for one day and relished in our immobility. Hoi An is a town known for its tailoring so we headed to the shops with hopes of getting some nice clothes made for cheap. Vasae came out winning with a lovely blue blazer and a sexy red dress that both look wonderful on her. Not surprisingly, I wanted everything, couldn't decide on anything and was to cheap to buy a thing... someday I'll learn how to make decisions on clothes, someday. We spent the rest of the day strolling around the old town, eating ice cream and taking it easy. After an extremely unfortunate incident at the market where Vasae was basically robbed (she was given change for a 100 dong bill when she had paid with a 500 dong bill- not okay) we stopped shopping for the day. We've been very lucky in that we haven't had many terrible encounters with getting blatantly but cleverly ripped off and this was just one of those times we couldn't do anything about it. It's only a matter of time sometimes.

Day 7: Hoi An to Hue, 130 km

Last leg of the trip! With only a little ways to go we spent the first part of the day at the beach before heading up the coast to Hue, our final destination! This was the day I was convinced I was going to kill us. Nothing had gone wrong yet- sure we had busted a tire, slipped in some mud, almost gotten in too many accidents to count, but we hadn't even gotten burned from the exhaust pipe yet... I was terrified that it was all just too easy.

After getting lost a bit (for really the 1st time the whole trip!) we found the right road up the coast and it was a beautiful drive. Twisting and turning along the coastline was a fun way to spend the last day (despite the fact I wasn't breathing). For a bit we headed inland to pass over 2 final little mountains. Ham Tam huffed and puffed per usual but he made it. Just when we cleared the 2nd mountain and got going on another terrifying highway, it started to rain. Then the wind storm kicked in. Just a few more obstacles to test how much stress my body and mind could take before this motorbiking trip was over :) With a white-knuckle grip on the handlebars, I prayed for Hue to get to us faster and faster. Luckily the storm passed quickly and we continued with the coast on our right and rice paddy fields on the left.

Then we ran out of gas. (Remember, our gas gauge was broken. Well, it worked part of the time but not this time.) We putted to a stop right outside a house where it so happened that 7 or so old men were hanging out. We played a game of charades until we were understood- one old man hopped up, grabbed Vasae and our gas bottle (yes, we were prepared for this and had one) and they left on his motorbike to return with petrol. And hopefully my best friend, unharmed. I was left with a table of men staring. It wasn't 2 seconds later that 11 beers magically appeared and glasses were being flown in front of me. "No, no, I drive" I said as I mimicked driving and no to the drinking so they'd understand. They all got a big laugh out of that. One thing we had learned quickly in Vietnam was that if a Vietnamese man wasn't drinking, he was napping. So the idea of not drinking just because you had to drive a little did not translate. I did my best to nurse the glass in front of me as they filled it to the brim every time I touched it. When Vasae and her old man returned from the station, I can only imagine how ridiculous I looked... at a roadside table with 6 old men laughing and carrying on about who knows what while I just sat there smiling and nodding. Vasae didn't have the excuse of driving so they got her good and drunk before we were able to peel ourselves out of their hands. After many thank-yous and bye-byes we were back on the road to Hue. We reached the town and managed to find our hostel after many bad directions and scary intersections. WE SURVIVED! We celebrated our safe arrival as we could hardly believe it ourselves :)

Permanent loss of my feeling in our asses, sun burnt thighs, hands and faces, backs knotted with stones and blood pressures certainly raised, we made it. We managed to safely motorbike our way from the south to the north of Vietnam without injury. And how? We still do not know. All I have to say is I'm glad we did it and I hope my kids aren't as crazy as I am :) Sorry, Mom and Dad.

things you tell your parents after you've done them...

2011-08-07T06:44:00.000-07:00

Apologies for the absence in updates, this one had to wait until it was over with for me to tell yall about it...

As I've gotten older and been able to explore different parts of the world on my own I have learned that there are certain things you do that your parents simply don't need to know about. These are things that might make them question your judgment, might make them worry and might even make them a bit angry with you. My tactic on dealing with these sorts of things involves kinda, sorta omitting part of the truth for as little time as possible and then coming clean as soon as I'd be done with it and safe. While it is a rare occurrence, it's worked for a few things I've done in the past where my mom has later thanked me for not telling her beforehand. Things like bungee-jumping (times 1 and 2), paragliding, shark cage-diving, etc... these are the things you tell your parents after you've done them. And folks, we have a new one for the list: motorbiking through Vietnam.

You know you're up to something fun when even while you're doing it you know you're crazy. It won't take years of retrospect and maturing to look back and wonder what the hell we were thinking. We asked that question as we did it and are thrilled to be able to say we did, especially now that its over :) We read about other travelers biking from south to north of Vietnam and figured we could sort it out on the way and be just fine... Here's to being the age where I guess the right combination of curiosity, courage, and stupidity will amount to making such decisions :)

It started in Saigon where we set out to buy a motorbike. Now for 2 girls who admittedly don't know anything about motorbikes, we knew we were in for a challenge. We pretended to care about certain things as we asked people about the oil, the battery, the breaks, not understanding a damn word of the response. But we were asking questions so if there was a problem we'd find it out quick.... right? What we did know how to do was to make sure we got a good price and that as much free stuff was thrown in as possible. Speedometers broken? No problem, we get free ponchos then. Odometers broken? No problem, give us free maps. And we went so far as to demand a rack be put on the back for our bags, ropes to be included AND to get the bike with a full tank of gas. We're nobody's fool.

We finally found a bike and took it for a test drive. That's right a test drive in Ho Chi Minh City, the perfect place to learn how to drive a manual (yep, not an automatic!) motorbike while whizzing through people, cars and food carts that pay no mind to traffic laws or adhere to any sort of order. I managed to not kill us so we took that as go-ahead for the rest of the trip. We planned an aggressive itinerary of biking through the central highlands and then up the coast in a little over a week- Saigon to Hue... And here we go!

Elephant Trekking!

2011-07-12T18:12:00.001-07:00

Riding an elephant is something I've wanted to do all my life and I'm so fortunte that I was able to! We've heard and read about lots of terrible places which treat the elephants poorly and aren't exactly conservation minded so we shopped around carefully when trying to find a place to ride some ellies. We found a wonderful group in Sen Monorom who only allows the elephants to work around 4 hours a day. The elephants are actually owned by a local indigenous group that allows tourists to ride the elephants once they've been recaptured from the jungle. The mahouts, the men who work with the elephants, allowed us to ride the right way- not in the little basket tied to the elephants backs but on the necks where we could control and steer (or at least try) the elephants ourselves. It was wonderful!

We spent 2.5 hours riding the lovely elephants into the jungle where we stopped for lunch at a great little spot with a swimming hole and waterfall. After lunch we got to swim with the elephants and bathe them! It was a dream come true! Afterwards we climbed back on the elephants to ride out of the jungle and be done for the day. I have to admit that my butt has not hurt that bad in a long time. Or maybe ever. Each step the elephants shoulder blades, which are rather large and rather bony as you can imagine, dig into your buttocks. We took a break and rode in the baskets but I couldn't take not being on the actual elephant so I hopped back on the neck after a quick break. Vasae opted for the basket the rest of the way- she really didnt have too much of a choice in the matter as her mahouts baby boy was in her lap, passed out the entire time. It was hilarious- Vasae riding an elephant in the jungle with her Cambodian baby... amazing.

Phnom Penh

2011-07-12T18:12:00.000-07:00

We've made it to the massive capitol of Cambodia, Phnom Penh, for a bit before we head to the mountains... We didn't plan on spending too much time in Phnom Penh but while here we visited 2 must-see sites: the killing fields and the S-21 prison... it was a long and difficult day going back through such horrifying history but its 100% necessary in understanding Cambodian culture and people.

skulls of some of the hundreds burried in mass graves at the killing fields

Even though I've studied and read plenty about the genocide that occurred by the hand of the Khmer Rouge in the 1970s, its one of those topics that's never easy to learn more about. While at the killing fields I found myself struggling with similar questions as I did when I studied the Khmer Rouge in my human rights classes at UGA. If I believe that human beings are innately good (which I do) and that we all have the potential for immense greatness, than the reverse of that must follow true as well. Thus, you could argue, in that line of thinking that means I have to also believe that we all are capable of immense evil and harm. But no matter how you look at the atrocious human rights violations and just the general indecencies committed by one human being on another during Pol Pot's regime, its hard to imagine, justify or understand how someone could be capable of such things. Without a doubt sobering places, the killing fields and S-21 prison are both unforgettable reminders of the polarizing and often unbelievable possibilities of human kind.

prison holding cell in S-21, famous torture center where anyone from farmers to intellectuals were sent without explanation to be "reeducated" by the khmer rouge

Angkor Wat

2011-07-12T09:13:00.000-07:00

We spent 3 incredibly busy and wonderful days exploring the temples of Angkor Wat. It was pretty fun visiting the crumbling buildings and trying to imagine what life was like in these ancient temples back in the days of the Khmer Empire. The first day we hired a tuk-tuk driver to take us to the temples located farther out of the city. We passed through adorable little neighborhoods, farms, countryside and played around a temple near a waterfall. We also visited a landmine museum where we learned all about this man and his NGO working to clear the millions of landmines left in the country after the Vietnam War. The second day we spent a somewhat anti-climatic sunrise at one of the main temples (picture below) and spent the rest of the day running around seeing as many temples as we could squeeze in the day. And the last day we traded in our individual bikes for a tandem bike. It was awesome. I'm pretty sure every single person we rode past had a laugh and we certainly didn't stop giggling all day.

Sunrise at Angkor Wat

Tree overtaking Temple Ta Som (one of my favorites!)

Tandem temple biking :)

hello ms. lady, welcome to cambodia

2011-07-12T08:59:00.000-07:00

Hello lady, take a look. Hello lady, come inside. Hello lady, where you from? Lady, lady, LADY! Lord have mercy, the number of times we hear that in the day is out of control. The word lady has taken on a whole new meaning to me now and I don't think I ever want to be called lady again. Now that that's off my chest...

Cambodia! We heard and read over and over again that the border crossing from Thailand to Cambodia is a nightmare so we were prepared for terrible touts, fake immigration officers, illegitimate visas, fake bus stations... any scam out there, we were mentally prepared for it. And nothing happened! It was a breeze. We kept waiting for something terrible to happen but nothing ever did. We went from bus to bus to shared taxi (from Bangkok to Siem Reap) without really any problems at all- guess we lucked out :)

Once in Siem Reap we headed out for dinner and to check out the night market... upon which we almost immediately ran back into the guesthouse. We managed to stumble upon a tourist street called "Bar Street" that we somehow hadn't heard about. Man oh man, what a scene it was. Vasae and I's natural reaction was to flee but we stuck it out to see what all the fuss was about. We clearly don't get it... This street is lined with bars named things like Wats Up?! (a spin off the word for temple, wat) and a night club named TEMPLE and each place has Justin Beiber or Katy Perry blasting. Every place was overrun with tourists either drinking or getting "fish massages" where little fish eat the dead skin off your feet while you hang out. Gross. (We'll try it at some point I'm sure but it will not be while I'm at a bar). We sought refuge in a bakery and called it a night. I love how we are both 23 year olds going on 87 :)

Tomorrow we'll start to explore Angkor Wat and all its famous temples. We've heard you can stay here for a month and be entertained by all the temples so we know we have a lot to see in 2 1/2 days. Should be great!

Here's an amazing glimpse into what every place- be it a restaurant, bus stop, drink shop, etc.- has mounted on the walls... glamour shots of the family members. I haven't figured out where this tradition comes from but I like it.

monk meditation class

2011-06-30T08:40:00.000-07:00

When biking around visiting temples in Chiang Mai (yes, again!) we were lucky enough to come into one Wat that had a class going on... look at all those little monks!

Tomorrow its off to Bangkok and then home for a week! Due to the wonderful mother I have (and her extremely beneficial job at Delta) I'm able to fly home for my beloved cousin, Maggie's, wedding. As the first one of our cousins to get married I wouldn't miss this for the world :) Vasae's hanging back to take a Thai massage course and then we're meeting back up in Bangkok to head to Cambodia. Can't wait for the wedding and to see my family!

motorbiking in the mountains

2011-06-30T08:32:00.000-07:00

We decided to trade in our beloved bikes and try our luck at motorbiking... surprisingly and despite Vasae's best effort, we came out alive :) We started the adventure in Pai, an amazing little hippie town north of Chiang Mai that's by a beautiful river, has incredible clouds, mountain views and a nice laid-back atmosphere. The town itself tries a bit too hard to maintain its reputation as a "hippie town" but once you get outside the touristy areas and just after looking around at the scenery for about a second makes this very easy to overlook. From Pai we rented motorbikes and drove a few hours through the mountains to another small town called Mae Ha Song.

Above is our lovely little cabin we stayed in by the river.

Here is one of the river spots we visited around Mae Ha Song. We hid under a tree for a bit while the monsoon rains came pouring down.

Just to make sure no one/ my parents gets worried, I'll say this before I tell the following story: no one was hurt in the slightest. Since neither of us had ever driven a motorbike before we definitely took it slow in the beginning. And because I'm more comfortable with pretending like I now what I'm doing, I did the majority of the driving as Vasae just wasn't as comfortable behind the wheel yet. After getting carpel tunnel syndrome in my right wrist from driving for hours up and down winding mountain roads and playing at a waterfall, Vasae warmed up to the idea of driving. We stopped at a stop sign on the road coming from the waterfall that linked up with the main road back to town in order to switch. I hopped on the back, answered a few of her questions and held on tight. Vasae had one of two choices: turn left to go in the wrong direction away from town or turn right towards town and our guest house. She chose neither. Not quite used to the handling, Vasae simply didn't turn at all and ran us straight into the ravine off the road ahead of us. Luckily it was no serious drop at all and we were just at a stop so we were traveling at a speed of about 2 miles per hour. But she wasn't done yet... I guess she wasn't content with our landing because almost immediately after running into the ravine and kind of landing she revved the gas and buried us farther into the bushes. At this point I hopped off and almost lost it dying of laughter. Vasae is an extremely capable and intelligent human being so her doing this and her reaction to it all was pretty priceless. Needless to say, we climbed our way out and headed back, safely!, to town. Per her request, I drove :) This picture above is her 2nd and much more successful go-round with driving. Now she's a pro!

Here's a shot from one of the seemingly endless rice patty fields we drove by. So pretty! I'll get my hands dirty in one of these fields at some point...

temples and bikes, bikes and temples

2011-06-30T02:56:00.000-07:00

Who would've thought that biking and visiting temples would go so well with one another? Well they certainly do and that is what we've been doing through Thailand thus far. We've seen 2 lovely cities, both former capitals of Thailand back in their heyday, and oodles of temples by way of bike... for those of you who know me best automatically understand that I am thrilled by this :)

The photo above is from the huge historical park in Sukhothai where temples are scattered all about the lovely green park. Below is a shot from biking in Ayutthaya which almost had us killed but I believe captures the pure joy on our faces from the days events.

Thailand, wonderful Thailand

2011-06-30T02:41:00.000-07:00

Thailand was a large part of my motivation for coming to Asia and for starting to dream up this crazy trip in the first place. Ever since I came back from South America a few years ago Thailand has been calling my name and I am so happy that I am finally heeding the call!

As luck has it, Thailand not only has itself to offer but also is home to one of my dearest friends from UGA, Ms. Lauren Peanut Wilson. Lauren and I roomed together freshman year and have been best buddies ever since. After somehow surviving all our shenanigans and having the time of our lives, we managed to graduate and go our separate ways. Who would've thought that the next time we'd see each other would be in Thailand a year after graduating? How great! She and her older brother have graciously offered their apartment as our home base in Bangkok and it has been wonderful being here. And here we are below, ready to go out for a night on the town :)

Little did Peanut know, she was receiving 2 weary, worn out and practically war-torn travelers when she offered for us to stay with her in Bangkok... Vasae and I arrived pooped out and in need of a slow down after India. Lauren provided a luxurious retreat (AC, access to a laptop, a real shower!, a sofa) and we took a much needed break once we got to Bangkok. And what a world away Thailand is from India! I don't think I could blink and/or react when we first arrived. I was without a doubt overwhelmed and taken back by the ginormous metropolis that is Bangkok. A fully functioning city equipped with a metro, actual taxi cabs, modern advertisements, seven-elevens, people who wait in lines, things that run on time, fixed prices... where were we?! This was not the Asia we were acquainted with.

After adjusting and resting a bit we headed out to see some of the city. Besides discovering that Thai food is out-of-control delicious, we went to the Royal Palace and saw a few huge and rather elaborate temples. The shot below is of a garden area in the Royal Palace.

Now back to the important stuff... food. There are these little street stalls (like this one below) everywhere in Bangkok and they all serve up incredibly simple, incredibly scrumptious food. One of our favorites so far is chicken, grilled and fried, over white rice with cilantro and lime, yum.

From here we're heading up the country by train to check out Thailand's countryside, a couple historic towns with tons of temples and the mountains in the north.

Bundi- Khajuro- Varanasi- Bodhgaya- Kolkata

2011-06-18T10:41:00.000-07:00

This post (like the rest of them) won't do these places justice but I just want to give a little update on our last whirlwind of a week in India. We basically slept on a train every night and saw a new town each day... it was tiring but well worth it!

Here's a picture from the palace's garden in Bundi, a tiny town packed full of blue houses and mangoes. This is one sight that isn't too well looked after so you can walk around freely (minus the "guard" following you, trying to convince you to buy another ticket in addition to the one you bought at the entrance) and into any part of the building- areas that will surely be restricted when someone gets wise to its degradation. But this is the lovely ladies garden from way back when.

After traveling by train, then bus, then another bus, we stopped for an afternoon in Khajuro, a world Unesco heritage sight and the location of the famous Kamasutra temples. They were definitely interesting and well worth visitng but nothing like you'd expect. More entertaining was the "light show" at night that we are glad we didn't pay the extra 250 rupees for... we're convinced someone's kid was holding a flashlight with colored cellophane over the light to illuminate the temples :)

Varanasi! It has been on my life to-do list to visit this holy city and take a boat ride on the Ganges River for years so I was thrilled when we got there. Many people had warned us about how intense Varanasi is so we were expecting something awful when we got there but we luckily never came across it. Now that I write this I realize this might sound awful but it really isn't; its fascinating and its just India. People from all over India come to Varanasi as its one of the holiest cities in the world due to its proximity to the Ganges river. Buddhists believe that if you die and are cleansed in the waters of the Ganges, the cycle of birth and death is broken so many people come here to bathe in the ghats and die in order to be cremated by the river. A very unfortunate reality is that while the river is respected in theory, it is not respected in practice. Along the 7 km stretch of river in Varanasi there are about 30 sewage pipes running into it. That amounts to some seriously polluted water. Its an amazing scene to see people bathing, washing their clothes and hair, going for a swim, etc. with rotting trash floating next to them. Also amazing and very intense were the burning ghats. Families perform funeral ceremonies on the river where the bodies of their loved ones are cleansed in the river and then burned next to it. No words or description will ever explain this scene, it truly is one of those things you just have to see for yourself.

A lovely and peaceful town, Bodhgaya is home to the place where Buddha sat under the bodhi tree until he reached enlightenment. We've been super excited to visit this town and hoped it would yield more than our visit to Lumbini, Nepal where Buddha was born. The town is absolultey lovely, small and walkable, flowers everywhere and as many Buddist monastaries as houses. We visited the Japanese monastery where we watched in on a meditation class (taught in Thai) and the Thailand monastery that had some of the craziest wall murals- sharks, rainbows, drowning people all included... The Bodhi tree and surrounding parks were wonderfully and expectedly peaceful.

And here is just a picture of an adorable little trouble maker we met along the way, too cute :)

Kolkata, our last Indian city, was a hot blur of too much food and lots of walking around. Once we reached the city we immediately caught on to how different it is from the rest of India. Nowhere is the disparity of income so obvious as it is in Kolkata. The extremes of poverty and wealth are casually juxtaposed with people sleeping on the streets outside of houses with Mercedes. That being said, we were surprised as to how clean, metropolitan and well developed it was compared to the rest of India. But then again we had been spending most of our time in small towns in the desert. We saw some wonderful sights and ate entirely too much food- a truly great send off from India and onto Thailand!

mode of transportation

2011-06-10T06:35:00.000-07:00

Just a quick note on the amazing modes of transportation there are in India...

The roads are crazy enough with bicycles, cows, camels, monkeys, horses, dogs, people, trash, etc. ALL over them at ALL times but add to it the fact that you bee-bop around in these amazing rickshaws and you get a pretty fun situation. They're little motorcycles made into taxis that can jet you anywhere around town. You might fall out, you might get bumped by another car or stopped by a cow peeing, you might have someone come through the open side and sit right next to you or try to sell you something, you just never know. Vasae and I rarely treat ourselves to a ride because we normally walk or take public transportation everywhere but whenever we do its always an adventure. I think we were on one the other day that maxed out with 11 other people in the rickshaw (they comfortably fit 3), it was great :)

And then there are the trains. We LOVE the trains. Our main mode of transportation these guys can take you everywhere, are generally fast and are reasonably priced by distance. We use the sleeper class/cabin which is a step up from second class where people fight to pile in and stand like sardines. We braved it once and survived but are very happy that we can afford the small upgrade to sleeper. The sleeper class consists of 3 rows of beds which all fold up so you can sit when not sleeping. Usually there are fans that work (yes that's right, no AC) but the windows are big and open so they're great for wind and watching the passing scenery unfold outside. Often people debate over seats and you normally wake up with sand in your hair and teeth but its cool :) We've seen some other backpackers on the trains but we're mainly riding along with the locals, just how we like it. It only gets weird when you look up from your book or wake up from sleeping and have about 9 sets of eyes directly on you... I told you we get stared at a lot and at times trains could be comparable to a viewing tank. Indians have no qualms with starring right atcha even once you notice, its pretty funny. This picture above is of a slightly less crowded train when Vasae was snoozing (the girl falls asleep on any and all modes of transportation) along with this woman and her lovely hairdo.

Udaipur... james bond fans unite

2011-06-10T06:29:00.000-07:00

Little did I know that when I was in India I would be hanging out in the same places as none other than Mr. James Bond... We just went through a lovely lakeside town called Udaipur and for you Bond fans out there this is where Octopussy was filmed. And they certainly don't let you forget it while you're there- almost every place plays it at night :)

Udaipur is beautiful and definitely another favorite for India. We didn't have much time there but we saw a lot and loved every minute of it. We checked out the amazing city palace (pictured above at night), walked around the markets (incredible textiles), got mahindi (henna) done in a tiny beauty parlor where no tourist has gone before, and enjoyed the wonderful company of the owner of our guest house. We think we manged to find the nicest Indian in the country! Johar was extremely nice, accommodating, fun, helpful, etc. throughout our stay- we loved our time in Udaipur because of him. He took us around on his motorbike (so fun), took us to dinner, taught us how to cook curry (without swindling us), drove us up to a lookout at 5am to see sunrise over the lake, answered the 3 million questions we had about India and sincerely conversed with us- it was very much what we were looking for and it was wonderful. We wish we could have spent more time in Udaipur but now is when we're really kicking it into gear for the last week or so in India... And here we go!

Jodhpur- the blue city

2011-06-10T06:25:00.000-07:00

And blue it is. Traditionally only Brahmins (highest of the 4 castes in India) could paint their houses blue as a symbol of status but somewhere along the line everyone started doing it so the city is a wonderful sea of blue and white houses. Jodhpur is my favorite place in India so far. The city has a great energy to it, has an extremely impressive desert fort (they're all about those here in Rajasthan) and is basically one huge market, so naturally I love it here. We spent our time here taking a fantastic audio tour of the fort, tasting lots of the typical Rajasthani sweets and wandering around, taking pictures of the endless markets streets and tiny alleyways.

As we've successfully been eating our way through India we've also been trying to take every opportunity available to learn how to cook Indian food. Our favorite dishes overall are malai kofta and any kind of vegetable paneer. Naturally, these are the fatty dishes and I think are mainly used for celebratory occasions. But we eat them everyday :) We of course are also devouring all the curries, roti and tali we can get our hands on. Being the food wimp that I am I was a bit worried about the food here but I have absolutely loved all of it. Indian food is so flipping satisfying and flavorful its ridiculous. We think it has to be all the wonderful spices but we're hoping to know how to at least attempt to make these dishes back at home... we'll see about that.

We got a great chance to learn how to cook vegetable curry at our little family guesthouse in Jodhpur. The very interesting mother and daughter-in-law combo that run the place offered for us to watch them cook their dinner and eat at the guesthouse too; we excitedly agreed. We had a lovely time getting to know these women, hanging out in the outrageously hot but good-smelling kitchen, chatting about family, children and their backgrounds... little did we know we were getting swindled the whole time. When it came time to pay the next morning they slapped us with a bill from dinner that basically charged us 4 times the normal amount. My feelings were hurt... weren't we friends? I thought we had bonded past the point of your typical interaction where they try to stealthily take advantage of you. Sike! Vasae and I have dealt with the pain from our old lady robbery but it really can be tough on you when it seems like the motivation for every encounter in India is only because someone wants something from you. We really hope to meet some Indians we genuinely connect with and with whom we can chat without any strings attached. Alas, the woes of a talker in a foreign land.

camel safari!

2011-06-05T17:27:00.000-07:00

Going on camel safari in the Thar desert was definitely a trip highlight for both Vasae and I and it was a blast! Experiencing the desert, riding camels, sleeping in sand dunes, seeing the sunrises and sunsets... it all rose to our expectations. Ever since we started dreaming up this crazy journey, we've been talking about our plan for the camel safari. We both intended on buying girly, sparkly head scarves and basically pretending to be Indian princesses for the duration of the safari. We considered full on costumes, makeup, gold jewels and the like but our limited budget and better senses lead us to keep things simple.

And while you may be considered absolutely nuts for wanting and choosing to go to the desert in Rajasthan (northwestern region of India) in summertime, we went ahead and braved the heat. On our longest day on the camels we basically parked it under a tree in some shade for hours in order to try and beat the heat. That's really all you can do, is nothing. It gets so hot in India that the only options for activity center around sitting, napping, chatting, and maybe drinking tea. That's really what Indians do- its kind of amazing to see how they can and do nap EVERYWHERE. And now I don't blame them because I understand your body simply cannot handle anything else.

Organizing the camel safari was a terrible ordeal. We were hassled, bamboozled and lied to from the second we arrived in Jaisalmer (literally it started before we got off the train and even into the station) Its such a big money-maker in the tourism industry that people pretty much attack you to try and convince you to go with their company. Luckily we did our homework beforehand and knew how much we should be charged a day... only tough part was finding someone to do it. After a long, exhaustive search we found the right tour group and price. And also very lucky we had 2 new friends to come along for the ride. We picked up one wonderful Irish girl and a great guy from the Philippines to complete our group of 4 for the trip.

sunset on camel safari

The trip itself was hilarious. I had no idea just how huge and ridiculously tall camels are. It took awhile to get used to riding them but they make it entertaining as they make some of the strangest sounds I have ever heard in my life. They're nice animals, pretty laid back but kind of bitchy, they just don't like to do anything they don't want to do. Our camels were all pretty well behaved... Rocket had a temper and had to be tied up so he wouldn't run off, Michael Jackson made noises and expressions that made us laugh every time, Vasae's camel, Robert was pretty low key but apparently is known for running away (luckily that didn't happen). And my camel, Raja (yes, that's right. mine was named after Jasmine's tiger from Aladin/ I was officially a princess) was extremely laid back and slow. So all in all it was smooth sailing.

Most interestingly, our "guides" for the majority of the time were two fifteen year olds (they could have been twelve, we don't know). We couldn't believe it at first when these kids showed up and started running the show. They assured us that the real, "big guide" was coming but he managed to only appear during meal times- he would just surface from out of the middle of nowhere/ the desert, cook the meal, chat a bit, adjust something on a camel and disappear back into the desert. Luckily we visited their village so we knew he wasn't wandering the desert in between meal times. The teen team did a great job guiding us/ they let us do whatever we wanted so we have no complaints on the matter :)

After the safari we had time to enjoy the tiny town of Jaisalmer and the ancient desert fort that's built there. Now we're onto another overnight train to the next town, Jodhpur!

Amritsar- The Golden Temple

2011-06-05T03:29:00.000-07:00

After about a 20 hour train ride, we've arrived in Amritsar. It's a city north of New Delhi that's famous for it's Golden Temple. It's hotter than Hades here but it's beautiful. There are tons of people here (about 10,000 pass through a day!) who come as pilgrims to give offerings at the temple in the middle of the complex. We're staying at the temple where they offer free food and sleeping accommodations/ a spot on the floor in the sleeping hall for the pilgrims and visitors. Its awesome :) We were surprised to be redirected to the tourists sleeping hall where we were advised to sleep separately (some dodgy things have happened in the past) but were glad because they had lockers to keep our bags safe and more room to sleep on the floor. The food hall is amazing- it serves thousands of people breakfast, lunch and dinner everyday. It's definitely a great example of a successful social program in India. And the food was great! We spent the day visting the other temples and museums inside the complex, walking around the Golden Temple and sweating.

Being our first stop in India it has been very interesting to experience everyone's reaction to us. We are stared and gawked at by everyone- you'd think we were aliens. I'm curious to see if this keeps up and is just an Indian thing but its pretty wild. Also, everyone takes pictures of us. All the time. Either someone will come up and ask and we'll awkwardly pose in the pictures with them or they follow us around with their camera or cell phones taking pictures of us. We had one family follow us for 15 minutes, taking pictures of us just walking, drinking water, doing nothing. How strange!

Update: We were recently told that all these pictures we have had taken of us by strangers normally go into their family albums. They put them alongside their pictures of the trip and talk about their friends from the US they met at the Golden Temple or wherever... So its in the works for Vasae and I to be in about a million new Indian family photo albums... awesome.

an indian introduction

2011-06-05T03:25:00.000-07:00

INDIA. Oh, the thoughts, images and feelings that emerge in my mind just when I hear the word! A country that while known for taking no mercy on its citizens or visitors, is revered and adored by so many who are fortunate enough to experience what she has to offer. With what everyone says/warns about India I was of course a bit nervous about my first encounters in this intense, crazy, unforgivably hot country and goodness gracious, was I right to be so :) I've heard for years that everyone who travels to India forms a love-hate relationship with the country. And Vasae and I were lucky enough to get started with the hate part of the love affair first :)

Once we got off our bus in the border town, we headed to the Nepalese Tourism office to get our departure stamps and bid adieu to Nepal. In all the hustle and bustle, we accidentally missed the office and casually moseyed across the border and into India. At the immigration office we were quickly redirected back to Nepal to first leave one country before entering the next. In the Nepalese office we were greeted by your typical old Nepalese man- a tiny, wrinkled, white-toothed splendor of a human being who told us we weren't allowed to leave Nepal and that we had stay and enjoy it forever. Then he gave Vasae a book of Psalms as a parting gift. Once back in the Indian immigration office, the energy immediately changed. We were evaluated by a panel of old Indian men (who we learned very quickly are not like old Nepalese men) that basically tried to first deny me and then Vasae entry into India. My guy tried to make up some kind of problem with my visa- a problem that was easily and immediately overturned once I presented him with plane tickets and paperwork to disprove his point (phew!) Then he and another surly fellow tried to find fault with the extra pages I had added to my passport before leaving the US. Finally he stamped the damn thing and gave me my passport back. Vasae was not so lucky...

Long, ridiculous story short, the evil old fart who checked Vasae's passport made up some law that her multiple entry visa was no longer a multiple entry visa. He insisted that the only option was to return to Kathmandu, go to the embassy to maybe get the problem sorted out and come back to try again. After talking/ Vasae kinda yelling for awhile to get around this jerk's made-up law we decided to take a new course and get serious. About 1,000 Nepalese rupees ($15ish) serious. We finally asked what it was going to take to just stamp the passport and let us into India. He made up some "what it would cost" fee and told us that would do. It was way much more than either of us had so we then we resorted to begging and pleading. It was quite the performance :) I don't think I've ever begged so much in my life- I had the waterworks ready but luckily he folded (after literally taking every coin we had on us and asking if we had any American money). He put the money in his shirt (literally pocketed it) and sent us on our way.

Annnd welcome to India! We're hopeful that India will start showing the love any minute now :)

Having such little time in such a large country, we decided we would only try to conquer the Northern parts of India the best we can. Our general plan is a whistle-stop tour where we anticipate sleeping on many overnight trains as we have lots of ground to cover. For any of you folks you are nerdy like me and absolutely love maps, here is the basic itinerary for you to check out if you so please: Gorakphur, Amritsar, Delhi, Jaipur, Jaisalmer, Jodhpur, Udaipur, Bundi, Khajahuro, Varanasi, Bodhgaya, and Kolkata from where we fly to Bangkok... and here we go!

oh the places you go and the people you meet

2011-06-05T03:20:00.000-07:00

I feel obligated to tell at least one story about other trekkers because we've encountered so many interesting characters while on the trail. The majority of people on the circuit were from or Germany or France (serious hikers) and we also came across large groups of Japanese, Czech, Israeli folks and hardly any Americans, just a handful really. But once we got onto the sanctuary trek we met many more Koreans and Americans. So throughout all our encounters, many of which have been very interesting, I think this might be one of the best...

After the sunrise hike to Poon Hill in Ghorepani, we were sitting back in our lodge, relishing in the delight that is Annapurna, reading through the breakfast menu and in walked, no no in barged this older Korean man. He was panting/ breathing/ spitting at an audible level and dripping sweat as he passed by our table and threw his hiking poles down on the floor. Followed by his poor guide, the man barked at him "Everest! One Everest, now!" Clearly knowing the drill, the guide ordered the beer (please note it is now 6:30 AM!) and 4 mugs with a big bottle of Everest immediately appeared. He dramatically plopped his body onto the chair and let out a huge sigh of relief, a celebration of his return from the hike we supposed. Not to be critical but the hike was barely an hour and not too strenuous- you would've thought this man had climbed Everest, not drank the beer named after it. He then cracked open the beer and while filling the other glasses he managed to spill beer all over the table. Within 1.5 seconds he had finished his beer so he then started on the others. His unlucky friends had taken too long and were paying the price for it. He sat there and proceeded to finish the other 3 beers in a matter of minutes. He actually didn't really breathe whilst doing so. He shouted for another beer and then turned his attention towards the menu. Not soon after he yelled towards the kitchen "We first, we eat first!" while pointing at his chest and looking at Vasae and I's table. Even though we had already ordered we were more than happy to allow the hungry beast to go first.

After shouting a few more things at the kitchen and his guide, he soon pipped down a bit but only to drink his second beer. Just before the food arrived his buddies finally came to join him at his table. Unaware they had missed out on the previous 2 beers, they ordered another and hunkered down to enjoy their meal. While Vasae and I ate our porridge and Gurung bread (delicious Tibetan bread) these folks devoured everything from egg sandwiches to bowls of soup to omelettes, roasted potatoes, fried rice, etc. it was truly an early morning feast. Vasae went to go take a nap while I wrote in my journal by the fire for awhile. The lovely Korean man joined me- he sat with his feet up, enjoying the nice fire and then ordered a piece of apple pie. Even though I was trying not to look at him while he man-handled his pie (so he wouldn't see the blatant disgust on my face) at one point we awkwardly made eye contact- eyes locked, he burped and went about eating his pie.

His group then headed out before us while we napped and took it easy but we soon caught up to them about an hour into our hike. We knew it was them when we rounded the corner and saw our buddy smashing boiled eggs and potatoes in his mouth. We didn't run into them again but still giggle every time we think about that man... what a gem :)

Annapurna Sanctuary

2011-06-05T03:07:00.000-07:00

After making it over the Throung La pass we hiked down a yak trail which had us descend 2,000 meters in a matter of hours. It was extremely steep and the wind was intense- it felt like we were in a wind storm for most of the hike! The trail continues from a town called Jomson on a road and since we wanted to buy some time (and didn't fancy the idea of hiking along side cars) our group took a bumpy jeep ride from Jomsom to Tatopani.

We took the day in beautiful and tropical Tatopani to relax, do some much needed laundry, play in the river and eat entirely too much for our celebratory end-of-the-circuit lunch. At the end of the day we went to the hot springs which we had looked forward to for days but it turned out to be more like a cement, communal bathing area. It was pretty hilarious to be there while tons of Nepalese folks came by to either bathe or take pictures, many of which we were awkwardly hanging out in the background of.

From there we said goodbye to our group and headed out again our own. After a very long day of hills and adorable tiny towns we reached the next stop, Ghorepani. On top a beautiful hill overlooking valleys and other mountains, Ghorepani is home to Poon Hill, an even higher point that in known for its wonderful sunrise views of the surrounding Annapurna Mountain range. We stayed in a great trekker's lodge that even had a fire place so it was a nice treat to be toasty and warm. We headed out early the next morning and watched the sunrise around the mountains and it was remarkable- definitely once of the best sunrises I've ever seen! Once back in our lodge we had an interesting encounter with a fellow "trekker" over breakfast. That story comes next...

After Ghorepani we continued on the trail turning up towards the main mountain range. At our next lodge in Siprong, a tiny farming village on the mountainside nestled next to the river, some Nepalese man assured us that the following day was an "easy path, no problem for you, very flat." Flat my ass. We practically scaled 3 mountains that day. The entire day was filled with down the mountain, up the mountain paths and stairs... a beautiful hike and day but goodness gracious, not flat. We genuinely believe the Nepalese concept of the word flat must be different than ours- maybe that going down one mountain and then up the next means they cancel each other out and are then deemed flat?? We don't know but Lordy, I have a new found appreciation for the word flat, our concept of the word that is.

Soon enough we found ourselves at Machhapuchhre Base Camp (MBC) where we spent the night and hiked up to Annapurna Base Camp (ABC) early the next morning. They call ABC the "center of the rice bowl" because you are literally smack dab in the middle of the mountain range. It's incredible. We lucked out 100% and had great visibility and low winds the entire time we were up there, a rarity for sure. We were able to see all the mountains around us, hike up to a stone temple with prayers flags and enjoy the amazing view for awhile. On the hike down, the clouds rolled in and the mountains that were just towering above us quickly disappeared as though they had never shown themselves. Pretty unreal to watch. Words can't do it justice and neither can pictures but at least they give yall an idea...

Annapurna Circuit

2011-06-05T02:46:00.000-07:00

Where on Earth do I begin? We spent 17 AMAZING days trekking and we enjoyed every minute of it! The mountains, the views, the people, the culture, the trekkers, etc. that we met along the way were some of the most beautiful and interesting that I have ever come across. We started in the town of Besisahar, ended in Nayapul and for the sake of simplicity I'm going to break this up between the circuit and the sanctuary treks.

We passed through absolutely amazing landscapes throughout the entire trip. Vasae and I both were constantly surprised as to how drastically and quickly the scenery changed as we hiked along. We went through endless terraced farms carved out of the mountain sides that yielded more shades of green than imaginable, through harsh and jagged mountain tops lightly covered with snow, immense river valleys populated with as many yaks as Nepalese people, a desert-like terrain which felt like walking through a tornado of dust while descending 2,000 meters, plains of blossoming buckwheat (my absolute favorite), apple fields and flowers and even came across monkeys towards the end when the climate turned tropical as we entered forests that immediately felt sacred and unexplored... needless to say, it was incredible. Trekking in the Annapurna Region is something that I have been dreaming about for years and I'm so happy that we are lucky enough to have done it!

Now a word about altitude sickness... blisters, bruises, soreness, being out of shape and such, these are the things I expected when planning on hiking for 20 days but not altitude sickness. Well, I had myself a big ole piece of humble pie served graciously by altitude. At fist I denied and ignored the symptoms- lightheadedness and shortness of breath. It's been awhile since I've had it handed to me by something I couldn't "beat" through a stubborn amount of will power and persistence but after a certain point it became clear that I was experiencing all the classic symptoms of altitude sickness. It probably didn't help that Vasae and I charged through some of the days and didn't really take enough time to acclimatize- lesson learned for sure. While I gradually got my butt kicked by the altitude, on the day we woke up to summit the Thorung La Pass (5400 meters!) Vasae woke up vomiting- 100% sign of altitude sickness. We finally wised up and stayed put for a day.

And as things always do, they worked out for the best as a group of fellow trekkers that we befriended caught up to us and we were all able to hang out for the day and hike the pass together the next day. Our little trekking family consisted of a lovely couple from Hawaii that taught us about everything from the basics of acupuncture to working with autistic children to exemplifying a truly beautiful and growing relationship- they got engaged on the pass :) And 2 guys- an Aussie and a Brit who are both fantastically funny, introspective, and inspiring individuals full of wonderful stories and life experiences. Vasae and I felt extremely lucky to have had such incredible company while on the trail and plan to keep in touch with our new friends long into the future.

The Annapurna circuit will now go down as one of the best experiences in my life and I highly recommend it to anyone who has has ever thought about it even for a second. Now onto the sanctuary...

Namesti Nepal!

2011-05-21T01:46:00.000-07:00

Quick update... Nepal has electricity/ energy issues (sells its electricity to India for a higher price) so there's only power sometimes in the morning and after 10 at night. I flew into Kathmandu, met up with Vasae in Bodnath, bussed to Thamel (Kathmandu) went to a Monkey Temple, and now am in Pokhara about to start our 3 week trek on the Annapurna Circuit. This is definitely a huge highlight of the trip! 21 days of trekking, tea houses for sleeping, altitudes of 18,00 feet for climbing, Himalayas for beholding... heck. yes. I'll be out of pocket while on the trail but will give an update as soon as possible... wish us good luck!

Asian Adventure

2011-05-21T01:43:00.000-07:00

Who: Me and Vasae. We met in 2009 while studying abroad in Buenos Aires, Argentina for a semester. We were randomly placed as roommates and have been best buddies ever since. There's absolutely no way to describe Vasae- she's quite literally the ying to my yang and I'm beyond fortunate to call her a close friend. In attempts to explain her I normally tell people that I save all her emails in a special folder in my inbox titled: "vasae/ my soul's progression." She's an amazing friend, a savvy traveler, a wonderful poet/ genius and a soul sista for life :)

What: a backpacking trip. I hope to thoughtfully, openly, and inquisitively experience as much as possible along the way.

Where: Nepal, India, Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam, Laos, Malaysia, Indonesia

When: Start in Nepal in April and end in Indonesia in August. Vasae will go back to the states and I hope to find a job teaching English in one of the countries we visit that has a possible and community-based need for a teacher... we'll see about that when the time comes!

Why: How could this ever really be answered? But to attempt, I'll paraphrase Phil Cousineau: "Integral to the art of travel is... to break away for however long it takes to once again truly see the world around us. It's the art of re-imagining how we walk, talk, listen, see, hear, write, and draw as we ready for the journey of our soul's deep desire."

Nashledanou Prague

2011-05-21T01:39:00.000-07:00

After these past 5 wonderful weeks, its time to say goodbye to this lovely city. Due to my mistake and a series of random and complicated events my Indian visa was very much delayed and therefor so was my trip... Vasae, my travel buddy, took it like a champ and handled the terrible surprise of being alone in India beautifully. She flew over to Nepal ahead of schedule and that's where I'll meet her on Saturday.

Prague has been an amazing city to live in for a stint and I surely will miss it. Seeing the castle everyday, Letna park, my wonderful friends from the TEFL course, the unspeakable amount of beer and cheese and the general feel of Prague will all be difficult things to part with. While it will be sad to leave- and say goodbye to my new buddies from TEFL- I cannot describe how excited I am for my Asian adventure to start!

Here are some favorite photos from the ole iphone...

The German Opera, hm.

2011-04-21T07:13:00.000-07:00

While my folks were in town they were nice enough to take my friend, Lauren and I out to the opera. People say that’s one of the things you have to do while here in Prague, so naturally we followed in suit. Just to preface everything I’m about to say, we had a lovely time and I would recommend that anyone go to an opera at the National Theatre in Prague. That being said, do not go to a German one. Being the opera extraordinaires that we all are we were not prepared for the bizarre, slightly awkward show that ensued. There’s no way to describe it but all I’ll say is when the “villain” came out in saffron cape with a metal like cup/chest piece that looked like something he borrowed from Michael Jackson in the 80s we knew we had had enough. I thought poor Terry was gonna leave his little penalty box of a seat behind us.

We already knew we werent the most cultured of folks... I guess this just proves it :)

Terry and Libba do Prague!

2011-04-21T06:56:00.000-07:00

Dad and Mom Pickren were nice enough to come visit me this past weekend and it was wonderful to have them here! Apparently I wore them out but we all know that Libba is the energetic one, crackin’ the whip on sightseeing :) Their visit went by entirely too quickly. It feels like they came and went within a day. I’m lucky to have parents that

1.) want to visit me- by that I mean they follow Alley, Jessie and I around wherever in the world we go. And we like it that way :)

2.) that they can visit- shout out to Libba and Delta, whoop whoop!

3.) that we genuinely enjoy each others company and I have a blast whenever they’re around. (For once, no sarcastic undertone hinted)

I only wish the sisters could have made it as well. Love yall and thanks again for visiting! Next visit… ASIA! Get excited, Dad :)

the life of a soon-to-be teacher

2011-04-21T06:54:00.000-07:00

Apologies for the long absence… we seriously hit the ground running our first day and we haven’t slowed down a bit since. My day generally goes like this: At school at 9 to look up any grammar questions, find supplemental exercises for my lessons, practice my white board plan for the lesson, and ask any last minute questions. Then we have class from 10-1:30 where either Dan or Terry, teach us one grammar lesson and then a lesson on a specific teaching topic (i.e. how to use video, teaching kids, using phonetics to help your students, preparing students for exams, etc.) Then we have lunch and either you go work on your lesson plan for the next day or go teach with your team of 3. Each person is responsible for a 45 minute lesson that all together makes up 1 cohesive lesson of reading, writing, listening and speaking for the students. I lucked out immensely and have 2 wonderful people in my group. Elaine is a lovely lady from Ireland who does a fantastic job in the classroom as well as in the pub. Joep (pronounced Yoop) is a goofy guy from Holland who loves nothing more than a good board plan that is beautifully color coordinated. I have absolutely loved getting to know them both and I’m lucky to be able to teach with them twice a week :)

After teaching you evaluate your fellow teammates and then wait to receive feedback from 1 of the teachers (either Dan, Terry or 2 girls who work for TEFL) who at the time feel like they are the ultimate judges of your ability to be a teacher and a respectable human being. They always give wonderfully constructive feedback and the way they manage to soften the blows with seemingly sincere positive comments is something I will forever appreciate. Then you get home around 7, with your assignment for the next class, which is the day after next. I have mainly taught every Tuesday and Thursday and have taught every level- elementary, pre-intermediate, intermediate, and upper intermediate… all interesting, some much more successful than others. Upper intermediate was the least intimidating and the first, then came the stone cold Czheskies of intermediate and I managed both my highest high and then my lowest low with elementary, and next week I’m onto pre-intermediate.

On top of that we have our one-to-one lessons with a Czech student. (This is a different story all together. My student is Jarka, a mid 60s retiree with a lazy eye. Amazing). We meet 3 different times for 1 hour each and have to hand in a 10 page paper at the end of the course that covers our student’s needs assessment, strengths, weaknesses, what we worked on and how, and their general ability/ level of everything from grammar to pronunciation to range of lexis. Annnd we have a grammar presentation each week that we give in front of our fellow classmates- which is even more terrifying for me than the actual lessons with Czech students. Oh, and we have a grammar test the last week of the class that we all attempted in the beginning of the course. I kid you not when I say that not a single person could finish half a page and I answered “past participle” too many times to count because that’s one of the only “grammar terms” I could remember from high school Spanish class.

So needless to say, things have been a bit hectic :) While I’d be lying if I didn’t say that I’m immensely overwhelmed, stressed out, sleep deprived and emotionally pooped out, I’d also be lying if I didn’t say that I’m having the time of my life. It’s been an indescribable challenge every step of the way and I don’t think I will ever be able to put into words how much I have learned; about myself and grammar, equally :) I feel unjustifiably lucky to be in this position again- where I know I’m in the right place, taking lessons from passionate people, and learning how to become, hopefully!, a good teacher.

grammar, grammar everywhere

2011-04-21T06:51:00.000-07:00

English is a silly language. I make this claim with the humble understanding that I do not have a solid grasp on the language in its entirety but nonetheless it’s silly. Even though I know that native speakers are not taught their native tongue, they acquire it; it is unbelievable how much I did not know about the language I speak everyday.

For example, folks… Can anyone tell me what the difference between 1^st, 2^nd and 3^rd conditional is? Or maybe when and why we use module verbs like will, must, might, shall, could, and can and their respective levels of probability? How about explaining present perfect simple when we describe a completed event that started at an indefinite time in the past but could possibly continue in the future? Oh, or try this one: why does English have 2 tenses: past and present but 3 times: past, present and future. Silly, huh?

I can’t believe this is happening to me but I’m becoming a grammar nerd. While this stuff can be mind-numbingly well, mind-numbing, I have really enjoyed learning why the heck we say what we say. And there is no way in the world I could describe to yall just how amazing my instructors are. Everyday they teach us grammar that not only helps us grasp the actual grammar we need to know and then be able to teach, but also HOW to teach it. The exact methods they use will be the ones we adopt as our own to teach our future students. Dan and Terry (other lead instructor) are constantly changing their styles, techniques, approaches, everything so that we can see all the different ways we can effectively teach grammar. And it’s fun. I know, I told you I’m becoming a grammar nerd :)

If you understand these particular nuances of grammar and the English language as a whole, hats off to ya and I apologize for any offense my tiny brain has inflicted on you. For the rest of us folks, we should be happy we can communicate at all...

And so it begins

2011-04-21T06:48:00.000-07:00

On my first day of the TEFL course I anxiously awaited the introduction of my instructor along with my fellow students. While I didn’t know it at the time, the scene had already been carefully set…

The audience was seated, the programs had been handed out and finally the curtain was drawn. From stage left entered an enthusiastic and cheery fellow- a teacher, a Czhesky, another student? We did not know. As he took center stage, he began: “Dobry den!” “Dobry den!” “Jak se jmenujete?” “Jmenuji se Pavel. Jak se jmenujete?” and so on and so forth. His impressive performance consisted of a series of simple facial expressions, relatively odd gestures, and animated role-play. Dan, who we later learned to be our trusted instructor, proceeded to go through the traditional Czech greeting and teach it to our entire class of both native and non-native English speakers. He’s British, doesn’t know how to speak Czech and he didn’t use a single word of English. And I’m supposed to learn how to do this?!

Oh now, don’t worry. I’m sure they’ll give us ample time to adjust, adapt, prepare… NOPE! I start tomorrow :) Day 2 and I’ll be teaching my first English lesson to a class of Czech students. The poor souls.

greetings from Prague

2011-04-21T06:35:00.000-07:00

A nice, chubby, Czech fellow, sign with my name on it in hand, picked me up from the airport (arranged by my apartment owner) early yesterday morning. After a nice 45 minute car ride all I managed to get out of him basically consisted of forced one word answers and perhaps one hint of a giggle when I didn't know where the airport was in relation to the city center. He was nice but let's hope there are some Czechs a bit more chatty than this one.

I write to you now from my new dwelling place, Hotel Pivovar. Not a hotel, nor a hostel, nor an apartment, it's an impressive mix of all 3 I suppose. While minimalistic, it has everything you need (as long as you don't count the bed which looks like it's meant for a 7 year old.) I live with 2 other girls also enrolled in the TEFL certification course- Katy from Seattle and Catharine from Pittsburgh- they are super sweet and have been great to get to know thus far!

After settling in a bit yesterday those of us who are in town out of the 24(!) enrolled, met up and went out for our first night in Prague town.. To spare yall the whole long story this is how it went... we got on the metro, without a clue as to where we were going, and pretty much jumped off the metro when someone in the group clapped and said let's go! Mob mentality took over as we all mindlessly followed and were then on our way. To where you ask? Again, we had no idea. Clearly not in the right spot as there was not a bar in sight, we finally stumbled upon a bar. And goodness gracious, the splendor that awaited us inside. At first it appeared to be what you would expect a typical Prague-like pub to be- stone walls, tall bar stools, huge glasses of beer everywhere, Czechs a plenty... and then we went downstairs. It was a vacated dungeon of a restaurant/dance floor that was medieval at heart but was decorated like there had been a quinceanera or a Hispanic holiday celebration. (I guess this is where they toss the random foreigners who manage to stumble in.) The dance floor included a cage, again medieval, that you could hop in if you felt so inclined while dancing. And lastly, there was a huge metal spider statue crouching over a spot light in the middle of the room. Appropriate? Necessary? Weird? Some might say no. Nevertheless, hilarious.

We all hunkered down in the booth and enjoyed our dinner. Ordering was a feat as none of us speak a bit of Czech. I have the essentials so far- thank you and beer :) Everyone ordered the traditional goulash and I went for the cheaper, less adventurous option (big surprise, huh?) and basically was served a brick of fried cheese. I guess that's what you get for ordering off the kids menu... don't get me wrong, I ate and enjoyed it but next time I'll venture out a bit.

With an unhealthy amount of cheese in my belly and another pint-sized mug o' beer on the way, I was really excited about what happened next. As if someone had sounded an alarm, it seemed that every 38 to 45 year old in the pub came down to the dance floor to have themselves a bit of a dance. It was amazing. It was like watching a middle school dance but with awkward, drunk adults who apparently made the collective decision to wear tennis shoes, acid wash jeans with tucked in t-shirts and fanny packs. Awesome.

After people-watching for a considerable amount of time we headed to the right area of town this go-round and found some more bars. We managed to find one that played oldies... and I knew I'd like it here :) We had a blast dancing and joking around with each other. We're clearly all excited with the anticipation of getting to become good friends and with the course starting on Monday.

I'll shed just one story from the bar as it is too strange to not... On a boogie-break I went to the bathroom and on the way back, I lost my buddy in the crowd. Nothing to panic about, I just squeezed my way through the wall of people, trying to locate the group. In the process I was lucky enough to catch the attention of 2 Czech men. While I slid past them, trying my best to be invisible, 1 guy stopped me and said hello (imagine a Russian-type accent). I gave a polite hello and kept walking by. "Vait, Vait" (they cannot pronounce w's here)... He then proceeded to lightly put his hand on the side of my stomach, stand back, give me a visual assessment and say: "Good vife. Yes, you make good vife." as he nodded. Hmmm, what? I obviously kept walking and eventually found my buddies but couldn't help but wonder what the hell that meant. Was it my matronly demeanor or my child-bearing hips that got him? I guess I vill never know...

welcome one, welcome all!

2011-04-14T07:51:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone,

Thanks for visitng my blog. Whether you're a family member checking in or a friend wondering where on Earth I am, I hope you enjoy it. I appreciate you taking the time to read about my traveling shenanigans.

Now even though I love the idea and convenience of blogging and updating yall on my whereabouts with this thing... I think it's pretty funny I even have one. So please bare with me as I figure it out and attempt to describe my experiences along the road. And for those of you who know me best, you know I am terrible at all things electronic, technological or timely. I'm attempting to break the mold I have set for myself and will update much more often than I have in the past. This I promise. (Stop calling my bluff, Woody)

While I constantly feel like words are failing me, as I fail them, I will do my best to fight through my inability to articulate myself as I take you along with me for the ride. To avoid even attempting to rewrite or sufficiently explain one of my inspirations for going on this adventure, I'll take from one of the late greats and my personal favorites, Thoreau. He once said,

"We do not commonly live our life out and full, we do not fill all our pores with blood; we do not inspire and expire fully and entirely enough... We live but a fraction of our life. Why do we not let on the flood, raise the gates, and set all our wheels in motion?"

Well asked, Thoreau. So here I am, doing what I personally believe is living life out and full, for me. Armed with the amazing support and wisdom from my family and friends, I'm propelled forward in motion. Now let's see what happens.