Ben & Jennys Blog on RealTravel

Bangkok journal: Banquet: Bangkok

Tue, 10 Jul 2007 05:08:35 GMT

And here we are, back in the 24 hour internet cafe, taking turns running to the 7-11 for snacks to keep us awake as we spend our last night in Asia not in a fancy hotel, not at a luxurious dinner, but with our luggage next to us on the floor of this internet cafe, updating the blog because we feel like we can't really go home till it's done, waiting till it's time to catch a taxi to the airport.

What more to say? We'll miss the street snacks, but we desperately long for pizza and bagels. We enjoy the freedom, but we look forward to having some structure. We love a good adventure, but ...

Bangkok journal: Bangkok, Part 3

Tue, 10 Jul 2007 04:59:27 GMT

Time is officially running short, so we're gonna have to start being a bit more organized. Here we have Bangkok for exactly 3 days, through the weekend, just long enough to do some serious shopping, see the weekend market and the red light district, and get to the beach just when the weekend crowd has left. Brilliant.

As a nice addition to our time here, we found a friend. Rhian, an employee at Eggcentric cafe in the Coromandel (see blog entry #27, Flaxmill Bay) and who we met up in Dunedin (see entry #35), happened to be in Bangkok with some time to kill. Unfortunately for her, some ...

Chiang Mai journal: Maybe there IS such a thing as too many temples

Tue, 10 Jul 2007 04:47:46 GMT

Ok, we take it back again. Chiang Mai was a little more of the built-up tourism infrastructure than we have been used to, and it kind of caught us off guard. I mean, when there are over 300 wats within a single town, how do you choose which ones to visit? We chose none.

The night bazaar was enormous as promised, but every few stalls was a repeat of the last several stalls: Designer imposter T-shirts, silk pillow cases, cotton dresses, MP3s & VCDs... repeat. All sprinkled with Hilltribe women carrying wooden frogs. We were not impressed.

It wasn't a failure, however- we ...

Chiang Rai journal: Sweet, Sweet Developed Nation

Tue, 10 Jul 2007 04:44:31 GMT

Did we complain before about the over-commercialization of Thailand? Did we say that the sealed roads made transportation dull and unexciting? Did we scoff that there was a 7-Eleven on every corner, taking away from the adventure of snacking (is it coconut or fish flavored? Who knows?!). We apologize. What we meant to say was: Thailand has infrastructure, and we think that's SUPER!

Chiang Rai was a dream come true for two worn-out travelers. We found a hotel with big clean rooms and a TV with occasional English movies. Nearby there was a big night bazaar where the stalls sold ...

Pak Beng journal: A Town's Secret

Tue, 10 Jul 2007 04:33:41 GMT

There's not much to say about a day-long slow boat trip up the Mekong. We sat, we read, we ate some snacks that we had packed. Occasionally we stood up and stretched our legs, then we sat down again. We saw other people on boats, and water buffalo, and children playing in the water. We saw people catching fish. We took some pictures. It was all pretty straight forward, and relatively pleasant.

Despite this we decided to break up the 2-day trip with a day in Pak Beng, a town used almost exclusively as a stopover on this boat route. When we got into town, it was bustling. ...

Phonsavan journal: A Long Day's Journey Into Jars

Tue, 10 Jul 2007 04:23:31 GMT

A lot of big jars (see pictures).

Ok, just kidding. But if we're gonna talk about the Plain of Jars, then we're gonna have to talk about how we got to the Plain of Jars. We decided it was a worthy venture, despite being several hours out of the way (back towards Vietnam). We trekked to the bus station, where we were told that the only available bus was the VIP bus (for an extra few kip, of course), but it was worth it b/c that meant aircon. We checked out the bus and saw that it had sealed windows, proving it's ability to keep aircon in and sweaty heat out. Fine, we thought, we'll ...

Hanoi journal: "Hanoi's Noisy Too (but we're used to it by now)" OR "Ho Chi Minh - Not the City, the Man"

Tue, 10 Jul 2007 04:16:15 GMT

Let's start with the best part of Hanoi up front: We saw Ho Chi Minh. Not a statue, not a memorial, but the man himself, in a mausoleum. We saw him, 38 years after his death, embalmed in a refrigerated glass case. Like sleeping beauty he was, and we lined up along with the hundreds (thousands?) of people who flock to see him every day just to catch a glimpse of him as we filed by as if on a conveyor belt. It was, to be sure, a memorable experience. Please, when I die, however much you like me, please do NOT embalm me and put me on display. Thank you in advance.

Other sites were ...

Luang Prabang journal: BeerLao T-Shirts Anyone?

Fri, 06 Jul 2007 00:25:30 GMT

This is a pretty popular place to visit on the backpacker route, but when we ran into another couple on our first day, finding shelter from a rainstorm with some beers in a restaurant by the river, they had told us that over the past several days in town they had spent the vast majority of their time lazing around, drinking beers in restaurants by the river. Just not much else to do, they said. And they were sort of right.

Which is not meant to make the place sound bad. We had a lovely time- we probably accomplished more in this city than anywhere else on the trip. And that's not ...

Vientiane journal: Lao is Cool

Fri, 06 Jul 2007 00:24:44 GMT

We made it to Vientiane, Laos safely, which is more of an accomplishment than it may sound like due to the broken bus we were in for 20 hours (not broken down, but literally cracked in two pieces). Okay we weren't really in it for 20 hours - between 4:30 - 8:30 in the morning we were waiting outside at the border crossing, somewhere between Vietnam and Laos, not knowing where our bus (with our bags) was because it drove off into Lao while we were stuck bribing corrupt officials to stamp our passports in Vietnam. Did we mention that the bus was FULL of onions, and that the little girl sitting ...

Bac Ha journal: Soc 101 Field Trip

Thu, 05 Jul 2007 23:57:11 GMT

Some overnight transportation to pack in more sights. This time we did trains, lovely and aircon, and made it into the mountains by early morning - in order to catch a bus even further into the mountains. We followed the (slightly) less beaten path, and went straight to Bac Ha village (instead of Sapa), where we would spend the night and wake up in time to see the famed Sunday market before all the tourists arrived from the next town over.

On our first day we enjoyed a walk through the sleepy village, and out to nearby Ban Pho village, where we ran into every other tourist in town ...

Hua Hin journal: Miami Beach, Thailand

Thu, 05 Jul 2007 15:01:06 GMT

All we wanted was a couple days of sun before heading back home, so we didn't really care where we went. Rhian had a few days to kill before her friend arrived. We heard Hua Hin was nice. A big weekend/summer spot for the citizens of Bangkok. We expected Fire Island, or maybe the Jersey shore. What we got was Miami Beach.

Huge condos and hotels made up the landscape, buildings taller than most we'd seen in nearly 10 months. The beach was a 10 minute walk from our hotel, past rows of bars that were always empty, except for the groups of Thai girls in matching pink mini skirts ...

Nakhon Ratchasima journal: The littlest big city I ever seen

Thu, 05 Jul 2007 14:53:46 GMT

Why did we choose to catch that overnight bus to Khorat? Because nobody told us to go here. Not the lady at the tourism office, not Lonely Planet, not even the Scottish guy at the vegetarian restaurant. So we packed our bags and went at it alone.

It is supposedly the 2nd biggest city in Thailand but no one goes here because it's in the Northeast (no appeal of beaches or mountains), and there aren't a whole lot of touristy things to do.

And so far we think it's amazing. We've just been hanging out, the shopping is way better than anywhere else - you don't have to bargain, and ...

Hue journal: Hue - a pun-ny town

Thu, 05 Jul 2007 14:04:20 GMT

Every morning we wake up and ask ourselves, "What do we want to do today?" Usually there's a long list of tourist sites to choose from, plus some meals at exotic and local eateries, and maybe a wander through an unexplored part of town. But really, how many Wats can you visit before you start to ask yourself, "Wat am I doing here?" (Did that last sentence sound too Carrie Bradshaw?)

In Hue there was one thing for tourists to do: we were to explore the ancient tombs. We were to sign up on a tour, and see them by boat, or by motorcycle, and we were to spend the entire day wandering in ...

Hoi An journal: Hoi An (No, it's not the capital, but it is the capital's anagram!)

Thu, 05 Jul 2007 14:00:39 GMT

First of all, we are sorry. We've been lazy with the blog. A lot has been going on, and we've been distracted. Please forgive us.

Hoi An was absolutely lovely. We'd heard about it months ago from a girl on a bus in Thailand who said this was THE place to get clothes tailor made. This message was repeated by almost every traveller we passed in the opposite direction since then. We expected to perhaps maybe think about buying some clothes. We did not expect to end up with the 10 items we now own. What unemployed people do you know who need 3-piece suits? How about extra sports ...

Onauku journal: Dog Oven and Septic Worms

Wed, 30 May 2007 02:28:22 GMT

It's not what you know, it's who you know. That's why it's sooooooo deliciously good to travel around a country littered with Ben's family. Arriving back in Blenheim we found Uncle Jock back from his stint in Indonesia, and Jock and Jill took us on a trip-- no, not up a hill, but to their bach in Umukuri Bay (lit. translation: Dog Oven, due to the culinary preferences of the original inhabitants) on Arapawa Island in the Marlborough Sounds. Now as some of you may not know, not all islands are connected by a comprehensive public transportation system, so we actually had to take Jock's boat to ...

West Coast journal: Go West (Life is Peaceful There)

Wed, 30 May 2007 02:20:48 GMT

This is the checklist part of the trip. Everyone says that the west coast is a beautiful drive, and of course there are a ton of natural wonders to see along the route. But the funny thing about this area is that you don't really have a need to stay at any one place for more than about the 30 minutes it takes to hike from the road to the wonder, and back. So we were on the move, driving and stopping and taking pictures than back to driving again. On the plus side, we felt super efficient. In this manner, we were able to...

Visit Glenorchy, and travel a little further past to an area ...

Melbourne journal: Oz

Wed, 16 May 2007 11:41:16 GMT

Yes, we admit it, we added this entry simply to add another country to our list. But I do think it should count, because we did get stamps in our passports, and we paid for a visa, and we even left the airport. We have officially been to Australia. Even if it was only for six hours.

But they were a mighty busy six hours. We arrived early in the morning, thanks go a painfully early departure from Wellington and a 2 hour time difference. We hopped the bus right into the city where we met up with Ben's friend Paul, who was nice enough to roll out of bed and show us around town for the ...

Nha Trang journal: Insert corny beach and rain joke here

Sun, 13 May 2007 04:17:33 GMT

When we were in Mui Ne, everyone we met said "we were just in Nha Trang and Mui Ne is soooooo much better," so we came here with low expectations. But it's funny, because we expected to compare two beach towns, which was not actually the case. Nha Trang is big, city-like, with way more than one street, a lot of buildings, a fair amount of traffic and smog. This is no comparison. Mui Ne is a slow-paced beach resort paradise, while Nha Trang is a fast moving bustling beach metropolis.

This place has the tourist thing figured out. In fact, from the moment we stepped off the bus and saw ...

Da Lat journal: It rains a lot in Da Lat

Sun, 13 May 2007 03:00:51 GMT

We know you love reading our blog, and we do love writing it (what could be more fun than talking about yourself?). But sometimes, we must admit, it is hard to take time out from our traveling and sit in an internet cafe. Many times we would rather be out, enjoying the sights. But not this time.

Why? Because it's raining, that's why. Just like it did yesterday, and just like it will tomorrow. At about 3:30 pm it'll start, and then it'll get harder, and then it will continue to get harder until it reaches a level of downpour that you did not think possible. This is when it's nice ...

Mui Ne journal: Castles Made of Sand

Sun, 13 May 2007 02:58:46 GMT

Ok, this time we're serious. This is the best beach, ever. Don't attempt to understand the persistant popularity of Southern Thailand, or the draw of Bali.... Look no further than Mui Ne, this place has it all. From the first look, it is gorgeous. All the colors you expect to see in a tropical paradise are here, the blue sky, green water, white sand, and fuschia flowers. And this may sound cynical, but from experience we know it's an important distinction to make: there aren't touters all over the beach offering to sell you sunglasses or wax your legs. Sure, there are people selling ...

Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon) journal: It's Mr. Minh, but my friends call me Ho.

Sat, 12 May 2007 08:59:13 GMT

Good Morning! (Sorry, sooooo cheesy).

Alright, picture the intersection of 42nd street and Broadway, at rush hour. Now double the widths of the streets, and in place of each car, put 18 motorcycles. Then remove all traffic lights, and while your at it get rid of the general concept of traffic laws which guide people to stay on the right side of the road. Imagine each bike honking their horn approximately once every 10 seconds, and at no one in particular. Now attempt to cross this intersection, preferably with all your belongings. Got it? Welcome to Ho Chi Minh City.

Still ...

Wellington journal: Fare-Well-ington, NZ

Thu, 03 May 2007 09:13:05 GMT

Wellington, again. This time we planned to stay a while longer, enjoy the city that Ben lived in, and see friends and family at our leisure. But we spent a few extra days in Blenheim so that didn't quite work out. Frantically arriving on an early morning ferry, we rushed to the Vietnamese Embassy to apply for visas.

After getting that process in motion, we could comfortably enjoy ourselves. We visited Scots College, the all-boys school where Ben learned how to wear a blazer with matching tie, and became confident in his inability to communicate with girls. We caught up ...

Queenstown journal: No, we did not go bungee-jumping

Thu, 03 May 2007 08:56:11 GMT

On our way to the last city in our Lee adventure, we stopped at the Strath Taieri A&P show where we enjoyed a picnic lunch and some wholesome competition. While the horse races were alright, we particularly enjoyed seeing the prize winning piles of wool, the blue ribbon guinea pig, and the shed full of artwork by 3rd graders. We arrived in Queenstown exhausted, and so had two dinners, one of which was in a building that Ben's cousin Nick had built! When we met Nick the next day, we learned that he builds lots of things, including several other buildings in the city and his own jet ...

Dunedin journal: Eatin' in Dunedin

Thu, 03 May 2007 08:43:41 GMT

Question: Where do you go when an entire country shuts down for 3 days? Answer: A University town! Because a university town never closes. It just charges an additional 15%. Actually, first you stop off at the tourist sights that are on the way there, like the seal colony at Shag point, and the "world famous" Moereki boulders, which are kind of like giant Easter eggs (made out of rock) and which came highly recommended to us by the FedEx courier at the Cookie Time factory. Then you check into your hotel room, which you are lucky to have because the rest of the hotel (and ...

Dalefield journal: Pear Tree Cottage

Mon, 23 Apr 2007 06:50:09 GMT

When Lee left she took the sunshine with her, leaving us with a cold rainy day. We trudged sadly to our next (and probably last) WWOOF hosts of the country, Terry and Erina of the Pear Tree Cottage ( http://www.peartree.co .nz ), a B&B located halfway between Queenstown and Arrowtown. They welcomed us into their lovely little house, warmed by an excellent fire, and then set us up in our cozy caravan/bedroom outside. When we asked what time we should be ready to do some gardening in the morning, they told us that it depended on the weather. The next morning, it turned out to be snowing. This ...

Christchurch journal: Sisters by birth, Mouseheads by choice

Mon, 23 Apr 2007 06:37:57 GMT

OH BOY OH BOY OH BOY, my sister is coming, Lee is coming, and we're gonna see her. I know it hurts to prolong the excitement, but we had to spend three days getting down to Christchurch to see her, so you're gonna have to hear about what we did. We went to Murchison, where we attempted to see New Zealand's longest swing bridge, but some jerk there was protecting the door and was gonna make us pay to see it. So we drove on and found our own *free* swing bridge, and we walked back and forth along it enough to feel that we had more than surpassed the really long one. Then we stayed at a DOC ...

Auckland journal: I Like J.A.F.A.s

Sat, 21 Apr 2007 03:22:47 GMT

"Now why would you go to Auckland? All they have are big buildings and a lot of Asian people." But, for two people who have recently lived in New York and only left to travel around Asia, this is not a terribly difficult question to answer. We like big buildings and we also tend to like Asian people. Which is good, because what they say is actually true- and it came just in the nick of time. We've been driving on 'highways' for the past two months that are often only single lane, and often unsealed, and we have been farming and probably wearing the same shirt for the past two weeks. Then all ...

Totaranui journal: Wwoofing isn't always perfect

Sat, 21 Apr 2007 01:40:57 GMT

The stories in this blog entry are true. The names have been changed to protect the innocent.

Remember the good old days of Wwoofing? Where you spent your entire day toiling for someone else's profit, and during breaks and meals got to listen to stories of a broken marriage? Where you worked on an enormous orchard and were never once allowed to eat an apple? Where you slept in your own tent because the accommodation provided was so bug invested that you couldn't bear to be inside, even though it was getting quite cold outside? Well this wwoof host does!

This Wwoofing experience ...

Tongariro National Park journal: I love the smell of geothermal activity in the morning

Wed, 28 Mar 2007 03:40:36 GMT

Rotorua, Waikite, Wai-O-Tapu, Taupo, Tongariro

Now we realize what all those volcanoes in Auckland were about! If you didn't already know, NZ straddles two tectonic plates, which move against each other and make holes which allow lots of hot, smelly stuff to rise to the surface. Sometimes this means enormous, explosive volcanoes. Other times, it means geysers, bubbling mud pools, beautiful mineral-colored natural wonders, and relaxing mineral hot springs for swimming. In Rotorua, this also means an overpowering sulfur smell in the air.

There is nothing nicer than sitting in a hot ...

Blenheim journal: Southern Comfort

Wed, 28 Mar 2007 03:37:59 GMT

More familiar turf. More family. And it doesn't hurt if there are also home-cooked meals, plentiful baked goods, a spa tub under the stars, and a laundry machine. We got quite comfortable with Ben's aunt Jill and uncle Jock, so much so that we didn't feel pressure to do much (at least in terms of touristy stuff). We did get our fair share of touring the vineyards though - you can't throw a Marmite jar without hitting a grape vine around these parts - and enjoyed the sauvignon blanc. We also saw a big pile of salt. And we did our taxes. (Okay, we signed some forms - thanks mum and dad.)

M ...

Flaxmill Bay journal: An Eggsentric Slice of Heaven

Wed, 28 Feb 2007 03:10:20 GMT

WWOOFing keeps getting better and better. So far we've stayed with three hosts, and although they've all been completely different, we have fallen in love with each one for totally different reasons.

Right now we are wwoofing with these folks who run this amazing cafe/restaurant and art gallery (www.eggsentriccafe.co .nz ) in Flaxmill Bay in the Coromandel. It's funky, hip and artsy. It's laid back and the food is amazing. The people are awesome and it's in the middle of one of the most beautiful places ever being surrounded by both mountains and beaches. Plus the housing ...

East Cape journal: "Land ho!"

Tue, 27 Feb 2007 23:32:08 GMT

This is the part of our journey where we stay in a different town every single night for a week. Gisborne, Anaura Bay, Te Kaha, Whakatane, Maketu, Mount Maunganui. We live out of a tent and a car, and we spend a couple hours each day driving. The plan was to wander up the east coast, enjoying the beautiful beaches and lazing around. Unfortunately, it was raining and overcast throughout most of this week.

Without the beaches, this area did not have a whole lot to offer. The Pacific Coast Highway was not actually on the coast (it was near the coast, for whatever that's worth), ...

Otane journal: Wwoof, wwoof!

Mon, 26 Feb 2007 18:52:29 GMT

We got to Hastings with family, and then they went home and left us on our own. Ben and Jenny left to fend for ourselves... how would we cope?

Well, first we found a campsite and spent a couple nights sleeping in a tent. This is surprisingly hardcore for us, and we were terribly impressed with ourselves. Next, we began our WWOOFing adventure. WWOOF (World Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms, formerly known as Willing Workers On...) is an organization of organic farmers who give food and housing in exchange for volunteers to work on their property for a few hours a day. A ...

Wairoa journal: Lots of vitamin C

Mon, 26 Feb 2007 18:48:10 GMT

Here we meet our 2nd Wwoofing hosts at Lancaster Citrus in Wairoa. And we thought we ate a lot of citrus at the last spot with their lemon and grapefruit trees.... Here we have beautiful mandarins, tangelos, and valencia oranges, and not just a couple, but acres of trees, all in neat rows. A delicious place to work.

So aside from their orchard, they also ran a shop where they sold mixed produce alongside homemade jams, sauces, and honey. It was interesting to see how the small business functions, and we were glad to help out wherever we could. It didn't hurt that we had ...

Ashhurst journal: Brim full of Ashhurst

Sun, 04 Feb 2007 15:33:10 GMT

OK, Ashhurst was not our first stop. First we arrived at Wellington airport in the afteroon, hopped a bus and another bus to Palmerston North where we crashed at Uncle John and Heather's place. I say crash because after several late nights in Bangkok (culminating with a near all-nighter of packing our bags, and then sleeping through the alarm for our flight), and then 2+ days on airplanes and in airports, on top of a 6 hour time change, we couldn't help but sleep through most of our stay in Palmy. Aside from sleeping, we also got to enjoy a visit to John and Heather's tree farm to see the ...

Bangkok journal: Bangkok, Part 2

Wed, 10 Jan 2007 11:30:52 GMT

This time around we were sure we were gonna hit up the major sites we missed the last time. Turns out there are a LOT of sites, and we still did not have enough time to see that many. But we did get a bit more acquainted with the city, and saw a couple sites on the way, plus found a few cool places on our own that weren't even in the tourist books.

There are too many wats here to discuss them by name. We couldn't leave our room to use the bathroom without passing 3 or 4 wats. Same with 7-Elevens. You have no idea how popular these things are here, they're like Starbucks- one on ...

Sihanoukville journal: Even the locals enjoy beaches and coconut shakes

Wed, 10 Jan 2007 11:28:33 GMT

We only had 4 days to kill in Cambodia, and fittingly we went to the beach and took a total of 3 photos. Surprisingly, this was one of the best beaches we've found. The sand is white, fine, and soft, the water is crystal clear and a dream to swim in, the beer is cheap, and the major resorts haven't arrived yet. The vendors can be a little pushy, like following you, sitting next to you, and touching your legs demanding that you need to get their hair-removal treatment, but if you go far enough down the beach it is possible to avoid the vast majority of these people.

Unfortunately the ...

Angkor journal: Christmas in Cambodia

Wed, 10 Jan 2007 11:21:13 GMT

Hooray! Family!!!

Jenny's parents (Donna and Paul, or as they will be referred to from here on: Mom and Dad) realized that they were missing out on all the fun, and that a year was just WAY too long to go without their baby. So they hopped a flight to Cambodia to celebrate the new year. Lucky us! B/c Jenny fronts like she could go the whole year without seeing them, but she's glad she didn't have to. Also when the parents travel, they travel in style.

The short story of our time in Siem Reap is: we ate, and we saw temples. The longer story is told in our thousands of ...

Bangkok journal: Bangkok, Part 1

Wed, 10 Jan 2007 11:14:43 GMT

Disclaimer: This is not us visiting Bangkok! This is us just passing through. This is us trying to find presents for Jenny's parents and figure out the best way into Cambodia and get our bearings and eat as much pad thai as we can because it really does just flow through the streets for so super cheap!

We arrived in the pre-dawn hours and left like we came, before the sun rose and amidst crowds of hippies who were still out in the streets drinking and talking and eating cheap pad thai. For 3 days we hardly left Khoa San Road, the major backpacker haven which is lined with food and ...

Phnom Penh journal: Happy New Year (relatively speaking)

Wed, 10 Jan 2007 10:22:50 GMT

Well this was a big one. We have the coming of a new year. We have family, and and also loss of family. We have bombs in a nearby city, which for all you know we could have been in, because clearly we've been too busy to update our blog for weeks and who can really tell one place in Southeast Asia from any other, especially when we're gone for so long.

To clarify, Phnom Penh was pretty cool. We had a lot of time, and seemingly not a lot to do (even the tourist offices admit that there's really only a day's worth of sightseeing). We thought we'd finally have a chance to just relax ...

Ko Lanta journal: If we were Swedish, we'd be home now

Tue, 09 Jan 2007 09:38:07 GMT

Now this is why we travel- to find out how other people around the world live. Of all the different stories we expected to hear from people of different walks of life, I don't know if I ever could have guessed that there was a large community of Swedish people who emigrate to live in beach resorts on islands in southern Thailand for several months or even years at a time.

We met a family by chance on our way to the island who informed us that there are enough Swedish people on Ko Lanta to support 3 different private schools on the island. Crazy, no? This particular family was ...

Chaiya journal: Meditation, Monks, and Monkey-Minds

Tue, 09 Jan 2007 09:22:26 GMT

If you are a backpacker traveling through Southern Thailand in early December, there are 2 places you might be:

1) Koh Phangan, for the wild full moon party that takes over an entire island and lasts through the day and night, or

2) Suan Mokkh Monastery for a 10-day silent meditation retreat.

Guess which one we did.

Yes, for 10+ days we participated in meditation instruction, lectures on the Dhamma, and pre-sunrise yoga classes, all in complete and total silence. We woke up at 4:00 am, long before sun-up. We ate two meals a day. We sat on the floor (with a small ...

Ko Tao journal: Welcome to the Thai tourism machine

Tue, 09 Jan 2007 07:49:27 GMT

Ko Tao is freakin beautiful. Sure, we were weirded out by the foreign script on all the signs, and dealing with a new language, and being in an entire region which is run by tourism (Southern Thailand isn't known for much else), but there is no denying that it's pretty. And we did figure out how to get mangoes and sticky rice within minutes of arriving, so we can't complain.

We passed through Hat Yai and Surat Thani on our way to a night boat, which is a backpacker's dream because you wake up on the beach and didn't have to pay for a hotel. Well, these two backpackers were not ...

Ko Phi Phi Don journal: We're down with Koh Phi Phi (yeah you know me)

Tue, 09 Jan 2007 06:47:56 GMT

Our Lonely Planet book said that this was the prettiest place on Earth, so we had to stop by and check it out. It was in fact very pretty. We got to enjoy doing many of the things that people enjoy doing on pretty beaches, like laying out on the sand and swimming in the pristine ocean.

Interestingly, we did not do a lot of other things that other tourists were doing here. For example, we were not living in a fancy-schmancy resort, or celebrating a very expensive honey moon. We also were not spending our evenings in the main town, which at night transforms into a spring break party ...

Kuala Lumpur journal: A real city, finally

Sat, 25 Nov 2006 23:41:27 GMT

Now I'll go ahead and say straight out that a city ain't a city unless it's got skyscrapers. And KL succeeds in this, claiming that the Petronas towers were the tallest buildings in the world until a few years ago when Taipei ousted them. We are loving exploring the different neighborhoods- Chinatown, Little India, KLCC, tons of Mosques and museums, and so on. Also the eating is a relief from the weeks of fried noodles and rice. There is so much diversity of food here, we even found a Mexican restaurant where we celebrated Jenny's unbirthday.

We also saw monkeys, and nearly got ...

Penang journal: An International Thanksgiving

Fri, 24 Nov 2006 22:25:11 GMT

Why did we go to Pinang (Penang), a small island off the Northwest edge of Malaysia? Because just about 10 years ago, when she was in 8th grade and just learning about thrift shops, Jenny got a tank top that had an image of a hut, a palm tree, and a sun with the words "Welcome to Penang". She has worn it regularly throughout high school and college. Now all of a sudden she was wondering where it is, and decided as long as we were here, we should try to get a new one. Unfortunately, Penang has since changed their template for tourist souvenirs. Fortunately, we found a ton of other amazing ...

Cameron Highlands journal: Tea and Strawberries

Fri, 24 Nov 2006 22:20:38 GMT

Ah, the lovely Cameron Highlands, totally unlike any other part of Malaysia... in climate. Yes, we broke out our fleeces and hats, because we can no longer handle it when the weather drops below 65. Famed as a retreat from the overheated lowlands, this is home to lovely jungle treks, an enourmous tea estate, and a mountanous climate that can grow vegetables and strawberries.

So we did all that stuff. We went on a jungle trek, we ate our roti with strawberry jam, we toured a tea estate.

This blog entry will be continued (and photos will be added) when we get more time at a ...

Kota Bharu journal: Kuantan, Cherating, Terengganu, and Kota Bharu

Sun, 12 Nov 2006 06:03:50 GMT

Ok so to be fair these several days are kind of a blur, as we were moving so frequently and not finding much spectacular. We moved up the East coast of the Malaysian peninsula, stopping at 4 cities along the way, often for only 1 or 2 nights. This is how it went when we left the island:

We spent a day in transit and ended up in Kuantan for one night. This was a "big" city that buses actually run to, although it was nearly impossible to get there because it was the last Sunday of Hari Raya- think of traveling the Sunday after Thanksgiving. But we made it and found an alright city with ...

Tioman journal: Hope you brought a good book and some sunscreen

Sun, 12 Nov 2006 05:46:53 GMT

Fortunately, we brought several good books and lots of sunscreen. Which means we were all set for the beautiful Pulau Tioman, a resort island off the East coast which has been listed as one of the top 10 island destinations in the world. We planned to check it out for a few days, and ended up there for a week and a half. We stayed in 4 different villages around the island, slept in chalets which were never more than a minute walk from the beach, snorkled in the clearest water I have ever seen, and spent most of our time laying on the sand, soaking in the water, and attempting to make ...

Jerantut journal: A Jungle Adventure, Almost

Sun, 12 Nov 2006 05:39:59 GMT

Our big adventure into the jungle begins... with a tummy ache. Followed by an extremely high fever, muscle aches, and a visit to the 24 hour clinic. That's right, Jenny got sick.

We went through all the effort. We took a 10 hour jungle train to Jerantut, the nearest city to Taman Negara (lit: national park). From there we took a bus to a town where we could catch a 3 hour boat up the river to the entrance of the famed national park, the oldest rain forest in the world. We were thrilled to try the canopy walk, and to trek around for hours avoiding leaches and mosquitoes. ...

Melaka journal: A tourist city, with a twist

Wed, 18 Oct 2006 06:03:48 GMT

We knew we had to leave Singapore, but we weren't quite sure where to go. So we caught a bus to Melaka (or Malacca, depending on where you're from), because it just seemed convenient. Turns out Melaka is a pretty big city, and a big weekend destination for people from Singapore. Got that? It's a touristy place, where the tourists are not all white people. In fact, most of the vendors we expected to bother us and chase us down the street trying to sell us souvenirs ended up ignoring us completely. Maybe backpackers have a reputation of being cheap compared to Singapore-ans. In any case, ...

Singapore City journal: the bizarrely placed city state full of malls (ugh) and potable tap water (ahh!)

Wed, 18 Oct 2006 05:53:25 GMT

Well we made it out of the Philippines and feel like we are finally starting this trip now, for real, for about the 5th time. Now we are on our own. We are no longer just visiting a friend, which means no more personal tour guide who knows the language, or can tell us where to go or what to eat. It's up to us now, and it is terrifying.

It seems that Singapore was a good place to start. It is very clean, there is a ton to do, everyone speaks English, and there is as much water as we can drink. We stayed at an adorable hostel near Little India, which we explored every night. It turns ...

Almeria journal: Kyla's Island

Wed, 18 Oct 2006 05:46:13 GMT

We just arrived in Naval, which is the "big" city nearest to where Kyla lives. So far, it is wet. We are looking forward to spending a few days in the same place. So far we have been traveling around through North Luzon and have been moving to a new city (via 7 hour buses, mostly) every day or two.

The prediction is that this week will be half relaxing, but half even more stressful because of the social aspect. Kyla has spent the last year and a half becoming a respectable member of this community, and now it is our job to not mess that up during the next week. Things they may frown ...

Baguio journal: Nightlife, and the world's longest sausage

Wed, 18 Oct 2006 05:09:31 GMT

After a long stay in Sagada packed with rugged outdoor activities, we ventured down to the big city of the north, Baguio. It turned out to be a very interesting city full of arty college kids, a fascinating labyrinth of street markets, and as always a big, fat mall. We were able to eat yet another meal of pizza, and had our first Filipino McDonalds (we are not proud). We also found an adorable vegetarian restaurant, the owner of which nearly adopted us after a night of playing Cranium with him till our 1:30 am bus.

After an evening of wandering the night markets, seeing one reggae and ...

Sagada journal: The Outdoor Capital of the Philippines

Wed, 18 Oct 2006 05:07:13 GMT

Sagada is beautiful. Lots of wacky people here, like a French expat who bakes wholewheat bread and a thousand friendly locals who want to grab you and take you on impromptu tours. It is cold here (by Filipino standards), and it rains sometimes (especially during typhoon season), and thus is a lovely vacation spot for someone like Kyla who lives in the Visayas, where it is very, very hot.

In 4 days here, we went caving, hiking, mountain biking, more hiking, saw a giant waterfall, hanging coffins, stacked coffins, open coffins, local pottery, cows, pigs, chickens, and many bakeries, and ...

Manila journal: And the adventure begins!

Wed, 18 Oct 2006 05:03:34 GMT

Well we just flew into Manila, and boy are our arms tired! Manila was a whirlwind of things, from seeing Kyla for the first time in nearly 2 years, to eating pizza for every meal (no tropical fruits or exotic cuisine yet), to visiting the Mall of Asia (the largest mall in Asia- VERY overwhelming, but aircon so we're not complaining), to meeting a thousand Peace Corps volunteers, to starting our month long love affair with San Miguel beer (we're talking 50 cents a bottle!), to finding the only other jew in the country and going to an orthodox temple for Rosh Hashana. And that's only in the ...

New York journal: US Tour

Wed, 18 Oct 2006 05:00:19 GMT

For nearly a month we pranced around the United States, packing up our things, saying quick hellos and see-you-laters to friends and family and cats as we passed through, and eating a lot of good meals. We managed to visit: Albany, New York City, D.C., Dayton, Cincinnati, Tampa, West Palm, Orange County, Berkeley, and San Francisco. We thoroughly enjoyed our hot showers and clean restaurants, as we knew what was to come.

To all the people we stayed with or saw: thank you very much for having us! Any time you make it over to Southeast Asia in the next year, we invite you to sleep on ...