hey hey! We're in koh phi phi right now. It's off the west coast of Thailand about a 2 hour boat ride from krabi. So amazing.
We got to krabi last week sometime, just drinking eating and living so cheaply and having a blast. Food, drink, good books, sun and warm waters... What else do ya need?have just been wondering why we don't live here. I've met a lot of teachers here, and after talking to them, I wonder how such an opportunity can exist, and why havn't I taken it. Ryan has also felt the calling, although his is to be a tuk tuk driver. Don't know if I've explained before but a tuk tuk is a scooter with a carriage attached for hauling people and stuff. A real perk to the job is you can hang a hammock up in it and sleep, if you feel like a nap. Seriously it's an untapped market to be an English speaking tuk tuk driver!
Well daydreaming aside we have a liitle under 2 weeks left.. Boo. Don't really know how I'm gonna be able to go grocery shopping and stuff without bartering! "2 dollars for a loaf of bread?! I give you 30cents, last price" and then when I walk away and they don't follow, I'll realize I'm home. So there's that, also speaking broken English with a mix of Thai and balinese, for the last two months, will be different too. Please feel free to correct my poor grammer when I get back.
We're on this island till Saturday, staying in a liitle straw lean-to, that has everything you need. From here we're going to Phuket. And then back to Bangkok to head home. I'll post a blog when I get to Bangkok to let y'all know the situation there. Sounds like it's melloed out. So do t worry(: love love!
Sunday, April 26, 2009
Thursday, April 16, 2009
Penang
We are back in malaysia now.flew into kuala lumpor yesterday, stayed the night at a hostel, and were on a bus headed for Penang by morning. Woweee! ( sorry no other word for it) Malaysia has been beautiful. I was pretty sick the last time we passed thru, so this time my eyes are open(: so green, lush thick jungle everwhere, huge mountan ranges, rocky cliffs, it's breath taking. The food has also been really awesome. .. Nothing to crazy to write about except carry on about how pretty it is... There are monkeys on the sides of alot of highways here, just chillin'. Alcohol isn't prominent here, pretty expensive too. There are also so many different cultures here living side by side. Entering kuala lumpor you drive past catholic churches, mosques, Hindu temples, and buddhists temples. No synagouges. Apparently if you are from isreal you are not allowed into the country. I'll leave it at that for now.well till next time! Later!
Wednesday, April 8, 2009
hibiscus in the hair, a snake smelling toes
After a while of being in Bali, we are ready to move on. It is pretty here, the people are very nice, but we both have concurred that thailand is our most favorite country so far. For being such a small island, Bali is really packed. The beaches are very westernized, and packed with hawkers. The Hawkers aren't as bad as in Cambodia, where the people selling anything from a massage to a banana, will sit down next to you, ask your name, and now according to them you are freinds, and you must buy...and if you're not going to buy, then hows about putting them through school?
No bali isn't as bad as cambodia in that sense, but even though it is cheap, everything costs. Just sitting in a chair on the beach, you can pay up to 10 dollars to use it. (we never have, but still). This month has been nice because we have a place to leave our bags, and stay in one place for awile, But we are ready for more adventure.
We leave next wednesday, to Kuala lumpur. We plan on spending a night there, and catch a bus or train to butterworth, and island hop over to Penang. Who know how long we'll stay, but after that its back to thailand, to explore the adaman (andaman?) coast. Where, apparently, limey cliffs riotously shoot from the sea, and where a traveller can find seclusion. We'll see.
We've been using this time to save money, as my card still has yet to arrive, my bank assures me its on its way, but if no card by tomorrow, I'm gonna have to think of western unioning us our own money...can you do that? Sounds plausible. So we've been occupying our time with chess, cards, reading(favorite book."stay alive my son" read it. Its awesome, a true account of this guy who survived the Khmer rouge) watching movies, and going to the beach.
Last night we we're on a quest to find a bar, within proximity to the beach, maybe with some music. we found one, but large Bintangs(local beer) were 2.50 a bottle! Not so expensive in the states, but just a walk down the strip to the circle K, we bought the same thing for 1.80. Thats just simple economics my friends. So we walked out to some abandoned lawn chairs, had some beers. the Moon was full, and it did in fact hit your eye like a big Pizza pie! Any hoo, at one point Ryan went up to go to the toilet, and he returned with two giant shots of Arack. Arack is the local hooch here, it varies in potency, and repulsivness. But it takes very little to catch a buzz, and there is virtually no hangover. So as we're sitting there sipping arack, Ryan leaps off his seat, screams not so much like a girls, but more like the panicked bleating of a Goat, knocks over his Arack, and I asked "what?"
He strung together some words, leading me to believe, that there was a snake under his chair, and it had licked his foot.
And in fact there was. and in its snake like fashion it returned to the sea. Because it was in fact a sea snake, as posinous, as they are good swimmers. Ryan was literally minutes away from being bitten. As we later found out, they only come up on the sand if they are really hungry, and can't find anything in the rocky pier.
Well thats about it for now, hope all is well with everyone!
Jill and Ryan
No bali isn't as bad as cambodia in that sense, but even though it is cheap, everything costs. Just sitting in a chair on the beach, you can pay up to 10 dollars to use it. (we never have, but still). This month has been nice because we have a place to leave our bags, and stay in one place for awile, But we are ready for more adventure.
We leave next wednesday, to Kuala lumpur. We plan on spending a night there, and catch a bus or train to butterworth, and island hop over to Penang. Who know how long we'll stay, but after that its back to thailand, to explore the adaman (andaman?) coast. Where, apparently, limey cliffs riotously shoot from the sea, and where a traveller can find seclusion. We'll see.
We've been using this time to save money, as my card still has yet to arrive, my bank assures me its on its way, but if no card by tomorrow, I'm gonna have to think of western unioning us our own money...can you do that? Sounds plausible. So we've been occupying our time with chess, cards, reading(favorite book."stay alive my son" read it. Its awesome, a true account of this guy who survived the Khmer rouge) watching movies, and going to the beach.
Last night we we're on a quest to find a bar, within proximity to the beach, maybe with some music. we found one, but large Bintangs(local beer) were 2.50 a bottle! Not so expensive in the states, but just a walk down the strip to the circle K, we bought the same thing for 1.80. Thats just simple economics my friends. So we walked out to some abandoned lawn chairs, had some beers. the Moon was full, and it did in fact hit your eye like a big Pizza pie! Any hoo, at one point Ryan went up to go to the toilet, and he returned with two giant shots of Arack. Arack is the local hooch here, it varies in potency, and repulsivness. But it takes very little to catch a buzz, and there is virtually no hangover. So as we're sitting there sipping arack, Ryan leaps off his seat, screams not so much like a girls, but more like the panicked bleating of a Goat, knocks over his Arack, and I asked "what?"
He strung together some words, leading me to believe, that there was a snake under his chair, and it had licked his foot.
And in fact there was. and in its snake like fashion it returned to the sea. Because it was in fact a sea snake, as posinous, as they are good swimmers. Ryan was literally minutes away from being bitten. As we later found out, they only come up on the sand if they are really hungry, and can't find anything in the rocky pier.
Well thats about it for now, hope all is well with everyone!
Jill and Ryan
Friday, April 3, 2009
Hey Hey!
LOng timey no bloggy. So where did I leave off. We rented a car from ryans friend its a funny little car, almost like being in a stronger golf cart.
We spent the balinese new year with Oka's family, apparently its 1931 here now.(: We went with his sister and brother in law to their temple, they had made and given us our own traditional hindu ceremonial wear. It was really interesting. They played music, and danced for about 4 hours straight. This one lady was in a trance, and they boogied all around her. The eye movements in their dancing is really amazing. Side to side, and wide eyed. At the end they brought out all this ornate puppetry, and offerings, put them on their heads, and took it to the next temple. Really cool stuff, and despite the occasional child laughing at how out of place ryan and I were, everyone was so nice, and wanted to make us feel as comfertable as possible. At one point they made us sit on the offering table, because they saw how fidgety we were getting sitting on the concrete, crosslegged for four hours. Still felt kind of strange sitting on the offering table. The language barrier can sometime be a funny thing, a lot of nodding, wide eyes, thumbs up kind of thing. A totally different expierience. The next day was a day of silence, where no one on the island of Bali is aloud to leave their home, turn on a light, drive a car...that kind of thing. Really creepily quiet out, except the occasional rooster.
after that, we wanted to get out of Denpasar for a couple days, and drove up to northern Bali, to a beach called Lovina. Stayed at this amazing seaside bungalow for 6 buckaroos a night. Hot showers included. Pretty awesome. SOOOO as some of you know already, while Ryan and I were going for a midnight swim that night, he asked me to marry him, and slipped a ring on my finger. Apparently I had been carrying around said ring the entire time. Guess he knew my backpack was the last place I would expect to see it. SO we're engaged! Yay! Probably a summer or so from now, so I'll keep ya posted. the rest of the time we spent there was awesome, black sand beaches, really cool music (although I think I've heard enough eagles covers to last a life time)
Bummer though, the last night in Lovina, we lost my Debit card, the card all of our money was on. Sans our travellers checks, we were screwed for getting out of Lovina. no gas, no money, but wait! I found some remaining Thai BHat, 350 of it. However, no one would exchange it, it was too little. Until we found this western union. where that came from, I have no idea, they exchanged it for 75,000 rupiah. 7 US Dollars. That was enough to get us back to Denpasar. Hooray! But when we got back to Oka's house we found the house locked up entirely. His neighbor informed us that he had to rush back to seattle. She got him on the phone for us, and we confirmed it was true. But his cousin would be back soon to let us in. Once he got back, we tried to call my bank to cancel, No worky. So went down the street to make the long distance call, 5 minutes and 6 dollars later, they cancled my card, and said it was on its way...two days. Soo that was two days ago, not here yet, but these things take time I suppose.
The past couple days we spent at Ryans freinds house Ron. He blows glass here, so ryan worked for him one day, and Ron for him the next. I spent the days with rons new wife. We talked, and ate, the coolest part was the talking though. She is a Muslim woman, and I remember thinking before the trip how I really want to get the Muslim woman perspective on the religion, as to me there seems to be little reward in it. She is an amazing person, and opened up my eyes alot to the muslim religion, and religion in general.
well thats it for now. Thanks for reading this far, guess alot has happened since the last post.
Take care!
We spent the balinese new year with Oka's family, apparently its 1931 here now.(: We went with his sister and brother in law to their temple, they had made and given us our own traditional hindu ceremonial wear. It was really interesting. They played music, and danced for about 4 hours straight. This one lady was in a trance, and they boogied all around her. The eye movements in their dancing is really amazing. Side to side, and wide eyed. At the end they brought out all this ornate puppetry, and offerings, put them on their heads, and took it to the next temple. Really cool stuff, and despite the occasional child laughing at how out of place ryan and I were, everyone was so nice, and wanted to make us feel as comfertable as possible. At one point they made us sit on the offering table, because they saw how fidgety we were getting sitting on the concrete, crosslegged for four hours. Still felt kind of strange sitting on the offering table. The language barrier can sometime be a funny thing, a lot of nodding, wide eyes, thumbs up kind of thing. A totally different expierience. The next day was a day of silence, where no one on the island of Bali is aloud to leave their home, turn on a light, drive a car...that kind of thing. Really creepily quiet out, except the occasional rooster.
after that, we wanted to get out of Denpasar for a couple days, and drove up to northern Bali, to a beach called Lovina. Stayed at this amazing seaside bungalow for 6 buckaroos a night. Hot showers included. Pretty awesome. SOOOO as some of you know already, while Ryan and I were going for a midnight swim that night, he asked me to marry him, and slipped a ring on my finger. Apparently I had been carrying around said ring the entire time. Guess he knew my backpack was the last place I would expect to see it. SO we're engaged! Yay! Probably a summer or so from now, so I'll keep ya posted. the rest of the time we spent there was awesome, black sand beaches, really cool music (although I think I've heard enough eagles covers to last a life time)
Bummer though, the last night in Lovina, we lost my Debit card, the card all of our money was on. Sans our travellers checks, we were screwed for getting out of Lovina. no gas, no money, but wait! I found some remaining Thai BHat, 350 of it. However, no one would exchange it, it was too little. Until we found this western union. where that came from, I have no idea, they exchanged it for 75,000 rupiah. 7 US Dollars. That was enough to get us back to Denpasar. Hooray! But when we got back to Oka's house we found the house locked up entirely. His neighbor informed us that he had to rush back to seattle. She got him on the phone for us, and we confirmed it was true. But his cousin would be back soon to let us in. Once he got back, we tried to call my bank to cancel, No worky. So went down the street to make the long distance call, 5 minutes and 6 dollars later, they cancled my card, and said it was on its way...two days. Soo that was two days ago, not here yet, but these things take time I suppose.
The past couple days we spent at Ryans freinds house Ron. He blows glass here, so ryan worked for him one day, and Ron for him the next. I spent the days with rons new wife. We talked, and ate, the coolest part was the talking though. She is a Muslim woman, and I remember thinking before the trip how I really want to get the Muslim woman perspective on the religion, as to me there seems to be little reward in it. She is an amazing person, and opened up my eyes alot to the muslim religion, and religion in general.
well thats it for now. Thanks for reading this far, guess alot has happened since the last post.
Take care!
Sunday, March 29, 2009
We're alive!!
Hey everyone,
Don't worry we are alive and in a place called Lovina Bali. Just enjoying the surroundings. I was sick with a fever for about a week, so I wasn't up for much blogging, but Ryan took good care of me, and I'm better now. (Hows dengue fever for a souvineir?)
Anyhoo, we rented a car from one of ryans friends who lives here, and have been tooling around the island. Got into a crazy little fender bender. This guy on a motorbike, rear ended us, he was going so fast head on into our bumper, I thought he'd be dead. But the dude was alright, just a little dirty. He smiled and we went on our way.
Meeting lots of interesting people, and seeing some amazing sights. I'll post more pictures soon!
Love love!
Don't worry we are alive and in a place called Lovina Bali. Just enjoying the surroundings. I was sick with a fever for about a week, so I wasn't up for much blogging, but Ryan took good care of me, and I'm better now. (Hows dengue fever for a souvineir?)
Anyhoo, we rented a car from one of ryans friends who lives here, and have been tooling around the island. Got into a crazy little fender bender. This guy on a motorbike, rear ended us, he was going so fast head on into our bumper, I thought he'd be dead. But the dude was alright, just a little dirty. He smiled and we went on our way.
Meeting lots of interesting people, and seeing some amazing sights. I'll post more pictures soon!
Love love!
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
Bali
After a long unrelenting Journey, we're finally in Bali. Only been here two days now and have already seen so much. When we got off the plane in Bali, we were met by two smiling faces holding a sign reading JIll, and in little letters Oka. It was My Friend Oka's cousin and freind coming to pick us up. They had oranges for us, and took us back to Oka's house. It was so nice to meet them and see oka, and be in a nice house, where you could just relax. After hanging out for a bit, we all walked over to Oka's aunts house,where they had this big meal waiting for us. Steamed pork in Banana leaf, noodles, rice, fried pork,steamed fruit...Really good food. We just hung out after that, all of laying on the porch with his whole family drinking beer, smoking, shooting the shit.
The next day was a big Hindu celebration, where families get together, go to their families temple, and hang out. We Ended hanging out with Oka's cousin Dawan, he took us to a rice paddy, to a place in a river with 200 year old carvings...and to a Cock fight. yes, a Cock fight. There we're about 300people people there, all malemight I add. So not only was I the only white person, but the only girls, Guess the girls don't like it much around here. Anyhoo, It was pretty interesting,They tie super sharp blades to one talon on the rooster, get em all riled up, and one usually kills the other withing 3 minutes. The cool thing is that the one that dies is plucked and butchered immediately, and they all eat the rooster during the ceremony later that night...so nothing goes to waste. Everyone is gambling, yelling, it was the craziest thing I had ever seen.
Kinda resting today. we're going to a Hindu ceremony tonite from 11pm to 5am, we're there are lots of local traditional performances. One of which, is actually a trance dance, where the men stab and pierce themselves with swords. Crazy, trippy, cool!?
Love you all!
The next day was a big Hindu celebration, where families get together, go to their families temple, and hang out. We Ended hanging out with Oka's cousin Dawan, he took us to a rice paddy, to a place in a river with 200 year old carvings...and to a Cock fight. yes, a Cock fight. There we're about 300people people there, all malemight I add. So not only was I the only white person, but the only girls, Guess the girls don't like it much around here. Anyhoo, It was pretty interesting,They tie super sharp blades to one talon on the rooster, get em all riled up, and one usually kills the other withing 3 minutes. The cool thing is that the one that dies is plucked and butchered immediately, and they all eat the rooster during the ceremony later that night...so nothing goes to waste. Everyone is gambling, yelling, it was the craziest thing I had ever seen.
Kinda resting today. we're going to a Hindu ceremony tonite from 11pm to 5am, we're there are lots of local traditional performances. One of which, is actually a trance dance, where the men stab and pierce themselves with swords. Crazy, trippy, cool!?
Love you all!
Saturday, March 14, 2009
Leaving on a bus/train..
This is our last night On koh Samui in Thailand. Tomorrow will be a day of travel. Catching a boat at 7:30am (2 hrs) to surat thani, then a bus (4hrs) to Hat yai. Then from there hopefully we can get on a train to Kuala lumpur, malaysia (10 hrs) But we may just stay in hat yai for the night. Who knows! just gottta get t o kuala lumpur by the 17th, where we catch our plane to Bali.
Hope all is well with everyone, gotta get back to my beer before it gets warm, and the mosquitos get there grubby little snouts in it.
Love Love!
Hope all is well with everyone, gotta get back to my beer before it gets warm, and the mosquitos get there grubby little snouts in it.
Love Love!
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