Mmmm.....Beach Time in Koh Tao

It has been so amazing to be back on the beach again! We are in Koh Tao, Thailand, which is a small little island to the east of mainland peninsular Thailand. The weather has been perfect (fairly hot, but a nice mix of sun and clouds so we haven't been frying ourselves every day), and we had an amazing time getting our diving certifications the first four days that we were here. Today it was nice to just relax and walk around the island a bit....allowing the hangover to resolve without being out on a boat!

The top picture is of our bungalow - Krista and I have been quite cozy! Who can complain at $6/night??? No air-con this time, but the fan and mosquito net have been working out quite well. The hammock on the porch has also been put to good use!

The next 2 pics are from the deck of our guesthouse restaurant - we face west and the sunsets have been just beautiful........not to mention the crystal-clear water and !

Finally, a pic of Krista and I on our last day of diving. We had a great group - 4 of us total - Dorthe from Denmark and Ross from LA - plus our instructor, Rick (who is from Hawaii but has been living here for the last 4 yrs). Our little group has been hanging out since we got here and we're having a blast. We had early, relaxing dinners and not much partying during our diving course b/c of early mornings and lots of choppy boat rides (not too good with a hangover belly), but we all went out last night and had a blast eating, drinking, and dancing on the beach at a little waterfront bar just down the way. We have met a ton of people who came here to dive and just never left........I can't lie and say that hasn't crossed my mind as well. Just have to figure out how to disappear and get out of all of those student loans.........any suggestions are welcome!!!

So, tomorrow we leave for a day of travelling to the Cameron Highlands in Malaysia for some trekking in the high jungle. Then, off to Bali and the Gili islands to while away the last 2 weeks on the beaches with more diving, some surfing, and lots of relaxing - and one of the famed SE Asia full moon parties along the way. I can't believe we are already 1/2 way - it has been great so far and I hope the time starts to slow down!

Wish you could all be here!

One night in Bangkok

so Bangkok was quick and crazy. It involved a really nasty...I mean nasty hotel, which we only could take for 4 hours before getting our money back and splurging for about $25 USD at another hotel. The next day we said goodbye to Rochelle as she started her long journey home and we went downtown to do some walking around. The picture of the dude with muscles was showing off for Lauren when she was taking a pic of a funny outdoor gym in the park. Apparently working out is a big deal at the park, there's yoga, jazzersize and a few runners (including crazy Lauren).

Climbing

This was our 1 day of climbing near Chiang Mai. It was a blast. All the routes very well maintained. I'm on the left and Lauren on the right. Rochelle's so damn fast we couldn't even catch a picture of her climbing...ok, we actually used her camera for pics of her which is now safely at home in Longview, WA...HI ROCHELLE!!!

Cooking class

We all took a cooking class while in Chiang Mai which was so fun. We went to the market to pick out our ingredients and our instructor taught us about all the different herbs and spices. We each made a curry and also rad naah (for Alex), chicken cashew stir fry and mango with coconut sticky rice which was Lauren's favorite. Our instructer was so adorable. We talked a lot after dinner and decided she should come to the states and do cooking classes. Although, she may have thought we were alcoholics when she said bring your own drinks, so we brought a 1/5th of rum and Pepsi.

Trekking in Northern Thailand

Some shots from our trek: The first is where we stayed the night in the "long neck" village.
The next is on some of the hiking - crazy jungle. I tried not to look around too much to see what was lurking in the shrubbage - the noises were scary enough! Not to mention what we heard sleeping in the village that night - I don't know WHAT could make noises like that!

Then we went elephant riding. Really not as exciting as we thought - the guides were a little mean to the cute beasts - this was a very touristy part of the trekking tour. But still many good pics and a bit of an adventure!

Finally, we went to this waterfall with a natural waterslide. Here is a shot of Rochelle getting ready to take the plunge. It was nice after a hot day of hiking and elephant-riding to cool off in the water. Once again, I did not look to hard at the surroundings - I don't really want to know any of the slithery things that were imagining me for dinner!

Days and Nights in Chiang Mai

Here are some shots from the cute and strange city of Chiang Mai, Thailand. The "old city" is still surrounded by a moat, which is where our guesthouse is. Beyond the moat are the huge markets and many bars.....we'll get to that.....

The first pic is one of the many beautiful temples - that really doesn't even scratch the surface.

The next pic was funny - we were just walking from one market to the next the other night and happened upon this cute little elephant out for his evening walk - huh???

Finally, we were able to partake in some Thai boxing - a little boring at first, but then they got quite aggressive and really beat the $@!& out of each other. Surrounding the boxing ring there is bar after bar after bar - like a strip mall, only bars - each blaring quite different music, but each with one common theme: the Thai ladyboys. These are young Thai men that dress and sometimes surgically become women, and prey on Caucasian men - needless to say, the people watching was just as entertaining as the boxing, until the nausea of seeing these old white men leave with young Thai men-women set in - anyway, use your imagination.....

Good times in Thailand!

Finally clean

We all just got back from 2 day/ 1 night tour through the jungle around Chiang Mai which was some good/some not. It was kind of a tourist trap but we got to do a lot of hiking through beautiful forests and villages which may have been remote once upon a time but are now visited daily by gawking white people. We stayed at the famous "long neck" tribe which I'm sure most of you remember from National Geographic. We slept on the nastiest looking mildewy comforters in a hut and I did some girlie screaming over another palm sized spider. I got about 2 hours of sleep. Today we rode some overworked slave elephants and looked at a caged monkey all of which were slightly depressing, went rafting and swam in a waterfall. All of this for about $30 each and for the grand finale Lauren got sick on the way home and puked in the shower...ta-daaaa. I think we all need a drink and some curry.
The next couple of days were going to take a cooking lesson and do some rock climbing, both of which I am pretty excited for.
Oh, and the reason we have no photo's today is my camera LCD is slightly broken, Lauren fell in the stream with her camera (which was NOT funny...hehehe) and we can't figure out Rochelle's camera and USB thingie.

Here are some shots from our time on Cat Ba Island, Vietnam and in Ha Long Bay...

The first is the view from our 6th floor hotel room (yeah, smart one in 95 degree heat and 150% humidity with 50 lbs on our backs!!!).

The next is the ginormous spider we found off the beaten path on our hike in the national park on Cat Ba.

Finally, a shot of Ha Long Bay on our climbing/kayaking/swimming day.

Good times, lots of heat, and really fun people!

That concluded the first week - we just arrived in Chiang Mai, Thailand this morning after a 24-hr trip that sequentially went: bus -> boat -> bus -> bus (from Cat Ba to Hanoi) -> taxi -> plane (from Hanoi to Bangkok) -> bus -> taxi -> overnight bus -> taxi to our new "home" for a day or two in Chiang Mai. Whew! Better internet here - will try to keep better updates and send more pics!

We have been unable to download pics, so we are a little behind.....but here are some from "China Beach", 1/2 way b/w Hanoi and Saigon on the coast. We rented motorbikes one day and rode down to Hoi An to pick up our custom-made suits.....fancy!!!

Cat Ba Island

So we are alive...we are on Cat Ba island which is just south of Ha Long bay in Vietnam. Very hot here- and apparently the begining of the dry season even though in Da Nang, 1/2 way down Vietnam, the monsoons are coming. We got here by 2 bus rides, a boat then another bus ride and it was well worth it even if the guy on the boat made us sit in the back outside the cabin. We originally thought we would go to Ha Long Bay and do one of the very popular and touristy boat rides, but decided on our own would be much more exciting. We are staying in Cat Ba town at a hotel with a nice view for $10 a night split between the 3 of us, which has been the cost of most hotels. We hiked today in the forest and saw 2 spiders as big as my hand- which thoroughly frightened me and even Lauren...hehehe. We layed on the beach and all got a massage from some male which was a little odd, but he was very good. He could pop any joint in your body- and he did them all- with the flick of his hand. When he went for my neck I got a little freaked out, but my head is still on and I am not a paraplegic yet.
Lauren is pretty sure she accomplished her dream of getting a tape worm...I'm soo jealous. We've affectionately named him Wilmer and he had his first swim in the ocean today and lullabies nightly.
Tomorrow we're going out to Ha Long Bay. Rochelle will be climbing and Lauren and I will be snrkeling and kayaking. There's a HUGE climbing scene here. Yesterday they filmed some pro's free soloing the crags above the ocean which sound pretty fun. I want to go but am worried about money. So Alex- we will have to come back and make a trip out of it. Some locals are publishing a guide book for the area soon.
And yes mom I've been keeping track of all the good places so we can go sometime- although you're going to have to learn how to climb or surf.
We'll post pics soon but the internet here is slowwwww. We'll be in Chaing Mai on the 19th.

As you can see, our timing is a bit out of order....but this was a cute pic from our first day in HCMC and our first real meal at the market. We were very excited about the food on this trip, and we have yet to be let down!

Saigon's dangerous powerlines and crosswalks- only cross sober.

Rainy day in Da Nang on China Beach. We're staying at a simple little place 1 block from the beach. The owner is a sweet older vietnamese man who speaks english fairly well. He likes to tell everything as a story. Today we were in the cafe and a man went by on his bike with a dog in a small chicken cage on the back. He said the dog was going to the market. Then he went into this long explaination about how the dogs can sense that this man is evil and how they will follow him and bark all day. We haven't seen dog on the menu anywhere, just frog, cuddlefish, eel and supposedly we have cock ball to look forward to in Ha Noi. So far our food choices have been really good though.

Here's the stairwell we had to climb with all our packs at the hotel.

We Made It!!!

After a brief 20+ hr trip, we made it in one piece to Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC) around midnight - thankfully Rochelle was waiting at the airport so she could haggle with the taxis and get us to our "home" for the first night - which actually included a shower, potty, breakfast, and a/c! posh, for what we were expecting! we are off today to explore the city a little and do some shopping, and will be leaving on an overnight train to China Beach to relax for a couple of days near the water before heading north again.
Oh yeah - I think I have this time difference thing figured out: if we subtract 2 hrs from our time and switch am to pm, we have pacific time....eg. 1030 am in HCMC = 830pm in Oregon (and minus one day - we are ahead here).

Here's a lovely picture of the three of us from Rochelle's bachelorette party. Rochelle will be joining us for the first 2 weeks and Lauren and I will be there for a total of 6 weeks ( Sept. 9th through Oct. 21st). Itinerary is mostly sketchy and unknown but for those of you who want to know the plan here's a rough layout:
Saigon, Vietnam: 1-3 days
Da Nang, Vietnam: 1-3 days
Ha Long bay, Vietnam: 4-5 days
Chaing Mai, Thailand: 4-5 days
Bankok, Thailand: 2-4 days
Ko Tao, Thailand: 4-6 days
Krabi/Ko Phi Phi: 2-4 days
Taman Negara, Malaysia: 4-5 days
Danau Toba, Sumatra: 3-4 days
Bali and Gili Islands, Indonesia: 5-10 days
Back to Saigon to fly out.
**Disclaimer: this itinerary may change minimally or very drastically, but we will update blog every 1-3 days on where we are.

The Creation

We've created our blog so that all can see the (edited) version of what we're doing on our SE Asia excursion, and so mommy and daddy know we're safe and sound! Enjoy!