July 4th, 2010

Wow it’s been an crazy and amazing 6 months and it’s coming to a close so fast!  Ok here’s a quick update on the last month of travels!

Indonesia

So Tara and I, along with our friend Mike, spent a month in Indo and most of it was spent laying on a beach!  We landed in Jakarta from Manila and spent 3 days checking out the city.  Jakarta is known for it’s night life so, of course, we had to check that out too…the bar didn’t close till 5 am and there’s a club that opens on Thursday night and closes Monday morning!  We went and watched Shrek 4 in 3D and it was the most amazing cinema!  The seats were huge, plush, red velor!  They were so amazing we went back and watched a movie the next day too for only $2!  After the movie we were in a cab heading home when we saw a Hard Rock Cafe and decided to pop in for a drink =)  They were holding some special function for the family of the guy who wrote their national anthem and we had to pay a ridiculous amount for a water or pop before we could go in…we stood there trying to decide if it was worth it…after about 10 minutes of us just standing there the guy finally just let us in for free =)  Pup dog eyes gets them every time!  So we headed up to the top bar and made friends with the bartender.  We closed the place down and then headed back to our guesthouse and met the bartender there and sat outside and talked with him.  He was a really nice guy and it was great to talk to a local about Indo.  A few days in Jakarta was all we could afford so we hoped on the night train and headed to Yogyakarta (pronounced Johg-jah-karta).  The train seats were benches that could be faced either way so we faced two towards each other and were on our way.  Mike and Tara slept on the seats and i rented a blanket and put it down and slept on the floor between the two seats…it was a good ride except that it was soooo hot!  So we finally arrived in Yogya and found a place and took a nap.  We spent a few days there and saw 2 big temples which had been partially destroyed by the earthquake in 2006.  They were in the process of trying to repair them.  From Yogya we went by mini van to Grunung Bromo which is an active volcano.  We got up at 3am and went by jeep to a viewpoint to watch the sunrise and then walked to the volcano.  By the time we got there there weren’t that many people there so we went to the top and walked around the crater!  It was awesome!  We walked back into town and then took a night bus to Denpasar on Bali.  We arrived early in the morning and caught a cab to Kuta which is the town of the 2005 bombings.  We found a place to stay and again took a nap (night travel doesn’t really count as sleep =) then headed down to the beach…where we spent the next 5 days working on our tans!  We did manage to take a surf lesson but that was about as much as we did =)  From there we headed to a small island off the coast of Lombok island called Gili ‘T’…never could remember the actual name =)  We spent 11 days of this island…it was so small it only took 2 hours to walk around…it had a big hill that we would go and watch the sunset on…but mostly we just chilled on the beach.  We did manage to go diving there and saw lots of turtles =)  We met up with some people that we’d originally met in Cambodia like 4 months ago so we hung out with them a lot =)  After 11 days we headed back to Bali and spent our last 3 days there.  Tara and I went and dove the Liberty Wreck and it was PHENOMINAL!  The water was clear and there were so many different species and corals to see!  We had to enter off the beach and this was the first time that we had done this…picture if you will the two of us in all our scuba gear with our dive master heading out into the ocean…we get about thigh deep and then suddenly a huge waves crashes down on me and I’m slammed into the ground…I stand up and instantly another wave takes me out!  Suddenly I feel two hands grab me and lift me to the surface.  I look over and Tara has two guys helping her up!  We were both laughing so hard!  It didn’t really hurt and she said I looked hilarious when the first wave took me out!  Everyone in the restaurant was laughing at us once they knew we were ok!  We managed to get out past the waves and had an awesome dive!  The entry for the second dive was much smoother!  2 days later we were in the Denpasar Airport flying to Singapore.  Of course we forgot about the airport tax and couldn’t really afford much to eat at the airport…but our flight was quick and painless =)

Singapore

What can I say about Singapore?  Well to start it’s awesome!  It’s the cleanest most beautiful city I’ve ever seen!  Gum is illegal there so you can imagine how hard that was for us!  I ate a lot of mints!  We had a hard time finding a place to stay the first night and ended up paying $36 Singapore which is about $30 CAD each for a room!! It’s a beautiful city but sooo expensive!  We ended up finding a hostel with dorm rooms for $18 SNG which is a bit better but still the most we’ve had to pay in Asia!  On Monday we went to Universal Studios Singapore and it was awesome!  We went on all the rides that were open and it actually wasn’t as expensive as theme parks in North America…when you go in they give you a $5 food voucher and a $5 retail voucher =)  We spent all day there and then went to the SkyFlyer which is a huge ferris wheel on the Harbour.  By the time we got there it was 9 pm so the city looked amazing all lit up!  It takes half an hour for one rotation!  At 4 am we woke to say goodbye to Mike who left to fly to Bangkok before heading back to Canada.  We spent one more day in Singapore walking around and watched Toy Story 3 in 3D =)  Then at 9:30 pm we took the most fanciest bus to Kuala Lumpur!  The seats were huge and had built in massagers!!  Oh Singapore you are amazing! 

Back in Malaysia

We had no troubles crossing the border into Malaysia and were given a 90 day visa of which we will only be using 9 days…We got to KL at 3 am…took a cab to the bus station and waited until 9:30 am to catch a bus to Kuala Besut.  8 uneventful hours later we arrived in Kuala Besut and bought a return boat ticket to the island of Pulau Perhentian Kecil on the north east coast of Malaysia.  Unfortunately, we needed to use an ATM because clearly we haven’t learned anything in the last 6 months…the boat was leaving so we had to spend the night in this random town.  Thankfully the guy who sold us the boat tickets said we could sleep in the office so we didn’t have to spend money on a room =)  He took us to a Muay Thai boxing match too!  At midnight we got back to the office and another girl was taking advantage of his generosity as well…so the 3 of us slept in the office and at 7:30 the next morning caught the boat to the island.  We’re on our 3rd day here and did a dive yesterday and a wreck dive today!  Those will be our last dives for awhile =(  Tomorrow we’re heading over the border and up to Bangkok where we will be spending our last few days in asia…soaking up the cheapness of Thailand! 

We’ve had some problems with our hard drives so we’re waiting till we’re back in Canada to have them looked at…fortunately Mike has all the photos from the Philippines, Indo and Singapore which we will get when we’re back in Canada as well…so if you are interested in seeing them I will post them as soon as I get them!  I might keep writing on here if I do anything interesting in Canada!  Well sorry that I wasn’t better at keeping up with this…I blame the beaches!  I miss everyone and will be seeing you soon! xxxx

Nam in a Nutshell

Ok everyone I apologize for the delay in writing what’s going on with my travels….it’s hard when you are with a lot of people and on a beach….being in an internet cafe is just not as appealing as getting a tan!  But here goes…ok so after Sapa we took a tour to Halong Bay.  We booked it through the hostel in Hanoi and they assured us that atleast 12 people go everyday…so we signed up…but just our luck when we rocked up at 8 am there were only 5 other people!  Of course!  But we still had a wicked time!  2 English girls, 2 English guys and a guy from Chile.  So we took a bus to Halong Bay and got on our Junk Boat (it’s just the name of the boats for some reason…but they are actually really nice) and set sail.  We anchored for a bit and we all jumped off the top deck and swam around.  Suddenly, one of the guys on the boat told us there was a jelly fish right near us…well i swear i have never seen anyone move so fast as the one british guy did to get out of the water!  Old women and children would have been trampled in his wake!  Which of course left Tara and I and the other British guy clinging on the the side of the boat!  Thankfully we only got minor cuts from the barnacles on the boat and no jelly fish stings!  We spent the first night on the boat and the second night on a private island where we played volleyball and went wakeboarding and held a 6 person dance party till 4 am!  So after 2 nights we were back in Hanoi saying goodbye to the boys and setting off straight away to Hue with the girls.  A horrible 16 hour bus ride got us where we wanted to be but we were not in the best of moods when we arrived.  We spent 2 days in Hue and biked around.  We ate dinner on the river and watched the bridge light up and change colour…a highlight of Hue for sure!  Next we were off to Nha Trang on a sleeper bus that was much better and actually allowed us to sleep!  Nha Trang was amazing…we stayed 2 days in a pimping hotel and worked on our tans at the beach.  We also found an amusement and waterpark where we spent the day ripping it down crazy asian waterslides and going on their ghetto rollercoaster!  There was no one in line for the rollercoaster but they told us there had to be 4 people before they would run it…so we stood there waiting for a bit and then they finally just let us go on…we sat at the very front and did 4 runs without even getting off!  Oh the simple things that make you so happy!  After Nha Trang we were off to Dalat which is famous for their wine and that’s about it…oh wait they do have a gondola that goes to no where that we went on and then got stuck on the other side because they close down for an hour and half for lunch!  Then we also went and saw The Crazy House which is a hotel, kind of, that is just really weird and inspired from Alice in Wonderland…1 day in Dalat was enough and then we were off to Saigon.  It was pretty cool that we celebrated our 4 month travel versary in Saigon…where 4 months earlier we had started our journey!  Saigon is amazing as usual and we went to the War Museum there which is still unbelievably sad…then we lifted our spirits with another waterpark.  Clearly in asian they do not have the same safety standards as in Canada…one slide we went down on a tube together and after going mach ten down the slide you stop by putting your feet out and slamming into a gym mat!!! So crazy!!! Most of the slides took off your bathing suit and people would stand at the end and watch you try and scrambled to get your suit righted before you stood up!  Pretty funny though!  So after 2 days in Saigon it was time to say goodbye to Vietnam and hello to the Philippines and to our new travel group!

3 Weeks in the Philippines (aka And Now I’m Broke =)

So we arrived into Manila at 4 am and our two friends Mike and James were supposed to pick us up at the airport…but in true Tara and Crystal style we only told them the time we were coming in at…not the Terminal…or the airline….or even the departure city…so we waited….and waited…and waited…and at 6 am just as we were about to give up and make a new plan we heard music to our ears as some yells ‘Tara! Crystal!’ and we look up…way up…to see Mike and James on the top level looking down at us…Apparently they had been to all 3 Terminals trying to find us!  Oops!  So we went to the house of a Filippino guy who works with James and Tara in Banff and slept for a good 7 hours.  Then we checked out the massive mall in Manila (surprisingly there are quite a few) before heading to the airport to meet Laska.  Thankfully, April had messaged me and informed me of Laska’s flight details so we went to the right Terminal which was much more ghetto then the terminal we flew into!  You weren’t allowed into the airport you just had to wait across the airport road in a mass of people and try and find the person you’re looking for…luckily I managed to get to the other side and found Laska right away.  Since we had a few hours before April got in we went to have a beer…but we arrived at election time in the Philippines and there was a liquor ban on!  So we drank water and listened to some very loud very bad karaoke!  When we arrived back at the airport April was already there waiting…oops!  I think I have yet to make it to an airport to pick her up on time!  So back to the house for some celebratory drinks on the roof top. 

A side note about the Philippines….

- everyone speaks really really good english

- getting around is very expensive because you have to fly and we are procrastinators

- the people are sooooo unbelievably nice…even when they are trying to sell you something

- it is definitely one of my most favourite countries I’ve ever been and 3 weeks is not long enough…I definitely will have to go back at some point

Ok back to the story….So James’ mom is from the Philippines and she came with James and his stepdad and they rented a car and a driver to drive around the island which Manila is on.  So the next morning James and Mike and Tara left with them and headed to a town a few hours north of Manila called Subic Bay.  A few hours later April, Laska and I managed to make it to a bus station and got on a bus to meet up with them.  When we rocked up to Subic Bay and found them we realized that there was no way we were going to be able to afford to stay there because it was a resort town!  So April’s book said that there was a town close that was cheaper.  So we said goodbye to James who was staying with his parents to visit family and took a cab there…when we got out of the cab the driver said ‘Here is my number…call me if you need to’…um ok thanks…we weren’t sure why he said that until we walked a bit and realized that we were in the sex tourism town of the Philippines!  A closer inspection of April’s book…and by closer I mean reading the next line after ‘Cheap accommodation’…clearly stated that it was indeed the sex tourism town!  Oops!  Oh also April informed us that she bought the book at a second hand shop so we looked at the copy right date…2004….so just a tad outdated!  Oops again!  So after looking around and having everyone ask how many hours we wanted the room for we found a decent but pricey place to spend the night before getting the heck out of there!  Our next mission was to get to the rice terraces in the north…So we took a bus to a town called Baguio and spent the night and discovered the biggest sandwich in the world!  Mike ordered a club and got a sandwich the size of briefcase!   Well maybe not that big but seriously big!  He couldn’t even eat a quarter of it!  After he asked the waitress why she would let him order that and she just laughed!  April got a grilled cheese which was just a half inch slab of cheese unmelted on bread an inch thick!  The next day we took a night bus to Banaue and arrived at 5 am slept for 2 hours and then hiked the rice terraces!  They were so amazing!  We hiked down them to a waterfall and then had to hike back up to the top…I thought April was going to die!  So what took us 3 days to get to took us a 9 hour bus ride to get back to Manila.  We all rode on top of a jeepney (old war jeeps that they’ve extended and made into taxis) for a few hours to the place to catch the bus.  Back in Manila we caught a flight to Puerta Princessa on the island called Palawan.  We spent 2 days there and then Mike, Tara and I took the worst minivan to El Nido at the very north of the island and April and Laska took a ride to a cave with a lake in it.  In El Nido we found a sweet place called the Alternative House which was right on the beach and built around trees!  The next day the three of us went and did 3 dives around El Nido and saw a huge cuttlefish (like a squid) that changed colour to camouflage to it’s surroundings… and a fairly big octopus that did the same thing but could make itself look like coral!  When we arrived back to shore April and Laska were already there…El Nido was amazing!  The water was crystal clear turquoise and we spent 5 days lounging around and perfecting our tans!  But of course we procrastinated booking flights off the island and when we went to book the night before Tara and I got on one flight…Laska had to book another flight but with the same airline…and by the time Mike and April booked they had to book with a different airline completely!  And we paid for our procrastination…literally….So the next morning we all went to the airport together and Laska, Tara and I set off at 10 am expecting to see April and Mike in Manila a few hours later…but fate had other plans.  Laska’s next flight got her to Caticlan at around 1pm…Mike and April were supposed to be next at 3:45…but when Tara and I arrived at 4:15 Laska was sitting alone waiting for us…At 5 James flight showed up and was also the last flight of the day but still no April and Mike…I went to find out what was going on at the airline office but no one could tell me anything…they seemed us as confused…they said it looked like they didn’t get on their flight from Puerta Princessa to Manila!  What!?  So we took the ferry over to Boracay and found a place to spend the night just the 4 of us and went and checked the internet…so here’s their story in a nutshell….

From Puerta Princessa their plane is delayed…and delayed….and delayed…they find out it’s broken and they’re flying in someone to fix it….finally at 9pm or so the flight is cancelled and they are given a sweet hotel room and food and told to come back to the airport for the flight tomorrow at 10am…next day the tiny airport is packed and the computers are down so everything is being hand written but Mike manages to get to the front and tell them they have a connecting flight so they are rushed through…flight is delayed again…finally make it to Manila…taxi to the other terminal…wait in line to get their tickets for their next flight…when they get up they are not allowed on that flight because they weren’t there 45 minutes before…so they are bumped to the next flight…get to the gate and both flights are delayed…when they finally board their plan they are told they can’t fly to Caticlan because of wind so they are flying to the next closest airport 2 hours away…at 9 pm they finally make it to Boracay and find us! 

So 2 days later we are all reunited again!  Mostly we just soaked up the sun in Boracay and ate amazing buffets for $5 all you can eat!  Mike, Tara and I did a ship wreck dive which was definitely one of the coolest dives I’ve ever done!  The visibility was sooo good you could see so far!  Went shopping and ate really good ice cream and did yoga and that was about the extent of it!  6 days there and we finally had to leave the Philippines.  Before  we could fly into the Philippines we had to have a flight out so at the airport in Saigon we booked flights from Cebu (the other major city) to Jakarta because my booked advised us to do that so you didn’t have to back track…unfortunately they don’t tell you you have to fly to Manila anyway…so our flight was from Cebu to Jakarta via Manila…when we were looking at flights from Boracay we would have had to fly from Caticlan to Manila to Cebu to Manila to Jakarta so we found cheap flights to Manila instead thinking that we could just miss the first bit of our flight…fyi you cannot do this!  When we arrived in Manila we were told as much and after fighting and trying to figure out what to do we had to fork over another $250 for our seats on the same flight we weren’t allowed on!!  And we had to be out that day cause our visas ran out!  So procrastination got us again!  At 9pm we boarded our expensive flight and had the most turbulent 4 hours but we arrived in Jakarta!Ok I think that’s enough for now!  I promise to tell you about Indonesia soon!  Hope your eyes are still open and not burning too bad!  Miss you all!  Tomorrow is our 5 month travel versay! I can’t believe it! xx 

Hi everyone….sorry I’ve been sooo bad at writing on here but I made it safely through Vietnam and the Philippines.  Met up with April and Laska and 2 other friends…and basically have just been perfecting the art of tanning! I leave for Indonesia on Friday and promise to sit down and update you all with stories and photos! xxxx

April 24th, 2010

Ok so The Gibbon Experience was amazing!  It also helped us keep our minds off the fact that we missed Easter dinner.  We left Hauy Xai (Hoo-eh Sigh) early on the 3rd after first watching a safety video about zip lining.  We were in a group with 4 Swedes (2 guys and 2 girls) and 2 South African girls.  We arrived at the starting village around 11 and started trekking through the jungle.  We got fitted with harnesses and it wasn’t long before we came upon our first zip line.  Man it was amazing!  Then we zipped and trekked through the jungle and arrived at our treehouse.  We stayed in Treehouse 5…there are 7 tree houses.  It was so cool and I felt like a kid again!  We had time to zip around so we dropped our bags and did just that =)  You could only access the treehouse via zip lines which was soooo cool.  Sleeping in the treehouse was so wicked as well and we woke up to the sound of the gibbons!  The next day we went on a 6am trek for an hour.  Then after breakfast we zipped and trekked to the waterfall and Treehouse 6.  We got to go on the longest zip line that they have which was 500 m and the highest zip line which was 250m above the ground!  I’m going to post photos and video that will explain better then I can.  It was my first time zip lining and it was sooooo awesome!  We got back on Easter Monday and ate pizza….not the same as turkey unfortunately. 

On Tuesday we took a slow boat from Hauy Xai to Luang Prabang and met soooo many people!  It was a 2 day boat and it was way better then taking a bus cause you could get up and walk around…the first day the boat was kinda small and the wooden benches we’re very comfortable but you could lie on the floor and get up and stretch.  Also we got dropped off at the boat at 8am and it didn’t leave until 10:30!  No one else showed up till around 9:30 so we spent the most time out of every one on the boat!  The second day the boat was way better…it was bigger…with bigger wooden benches…but also it had some van seats (we didn’t get there early enough to get those tho) and you could also sit out front.  We met some really cool people who we travelled with for a few weeks.  When we got to Luang Prabang we mostly chilled out.  We were a group of about 12 I think.  We spent 4 days in Luang Prabang…it is such an awesome town!  Jude Law and Sienna Miller were there as well…no big deal =)  I didn’t see them tho hahaha.  30 kms outside of LP there is the most amazing waterfall!!  We went there twice…it was so beautiful and felt like it was from a different planet!  We went to a bar called Utopia and one of the guys we were with got up and played guitar and sang at open mike and he was soo good..the manager asked him to come back and play the next night!  The manager was from Ilderton!  Crazy small world!  While we were in LP they were getting ready for the Laos New Year which is basically a big wet fest.  We rented bikes on day and road around and got drenched every few feet!  Some of them had big buckets and some had hoses!  That seems like cheating!  It was so refreshing tho cause it was sooo hot! 

When we were deciding to leave LP and head to Vang Vieng one of the girls we were with suggested that we take a tuk tuk and went on a mission to see if that was possible.  The tuk tuk we took is basically a pick up truck that has 2 benches in the back and a roof.  So on Sunday 9 of us piled into a tuk tuk and started the 5 hour drive to VV.  Now it’s normally about 5 hours in a bus or mini van…in a tuk tuk though it took us 9!  We were 9 tourists, 2 drives, 9 big backpacks, 9 small backpacks and 2 guitars.  The first hour was the worst because there was sooo much exhaust…we thought we were going to die!  The truck was having trouble making up the mountain and no one was sure if we’d make it…but we had no other choice…so we kept going and it went from horrible to awesome!  Once we were in the mountains the truck didn’t have to work so hard and the exhaust wasn’t killing us anymore.  We put one of the benches down so some people could stretch out on the floor and some could sit on the other bench…this worked out so good cause when you got uncomfortable in one position you just switched with someone.  The time passed so fast that when we got to VV no one wanted to get out!  We’re not sure if we’re the first to take a tuk tuk long distance but it’s definitely not common!  It was such a wicked experience =)  In VV we met up with our friend Mike from Banff…it was sooo good to see a familiar face!  We did some tubing…which is what Vang Vieng is popular for but we also went and saw some caves and went rock climbing!  The caves were wicked but rock climbing was amazing!  I have never rock climbed outside before and only indoors maybe twice when I was younger so it was a new experience.  We went with Mike and a Canadian guy, Jason, who owns the bar where Mike was working.  Jason lives in VV and rock climbs a lot…he had all the gear so we didn’t have to rent any which was sweet!  Mike and Jason just whipped right up the mountain and Tara and I took a lot longer!  Luckily, they were really patient and I made it to the top of 4 lines!  It was such an accomplishment and my arms were killing after and for the next few days!  We said goodbye to Mike (but we’re meeting up with him again in the Phillippines) and left VV and headed to Vientiane.  And again true to form we had to get rush visas for Vietnam because we procrastinated and then the embassy was closed for the Laos New Year.  So on Monday we got our rush Visas and that night we left on a bus to Hanoi. 

We cheaped out and got a local bus which wasn’t as bad as the one Ash and I took 3 years ago…but it still was just a plain bus…no toilet…the seats didn’t really recline and there were people smooshed into the aisle =)  So we were on the bus at 6pm…it idled for an hour and left around 7pm…we were stopped near the border for 4 hours (the bus was turned off which is good for the environment but bad for us because there was no air con and i think i sweated out about 5 lbs!)…we spent 2 hours at the border where we had to pay $10 each for overstaying our Laos visas by a day!…we arrive in Hanoi and 8pm…a total of 26 hours!  

But we made it to Vietnam.  We went and saw a Water Puppet show which is really cool.  On Thursday night we took the night train up to Sapa and yesterday and today we trekked through the rice paddies.  Last night we drank rice wine with the Homestay family and learned a lot of Vietnamese.  Sapa is soooo unbelieveably beautiful!  I will definitely come back here some time in my life!  It’s exactly what I imagined it to be!  Tonight we take the night train back to Hanoi and then we’re going on a Halong Bay Party Boat Tour! 

Well that’s everything in a nut shell…the internet here is sketchy so I’ll post again when I can.  And next time I’ll add photos and video too!

April 10th, 2010

Wow…ok so we made it out of Cambodia with only a minor delay but it wouldn’t be Cambodia if getting out was easy!  And in true Tara and Crystal style we procrastinated in getting our Visas for Laos because we heard conflicting information about being able to get a visa at the border…and of course we left it till the day before we were leaving…and of course we booked a bus to Laos before we had a visa…and of course we almost didn’t get a visa in time…and of course we paid almost $60 US to have it rushed….and of course we got to the border and found out we could have gotten it there for only $40…and of course we just laughed!  So we arrived in Laos and headed to the island of Don Det in the region called the 4000 Islands.  Oh I forgot one more main point…of course we got scammed in the final town we were in, in Cambodia, into buying a ticket for $35 from Don Det to Vientiane and into exchanging money in Cambodia for less then the actual exchange rate thanks to this man’s smooth talking…and of course we could have paid much much less if we hadn’t of listened to him…and of course we could have gotten a better exchange rate in Laos…and of course when he said we got 2 meals on the sleeper bus that we were on it actually meant a really gross drink and a small weird fruit filled bread cake thing….But we made it to Laos and that was all we cared about! 

So we got to the island and found a nice place right on the water with hammocks on a balcony that we shared with one other room.  It was such a relaxing, peaceful environment.  There were 3 American guys that were in the room next to ours and we made friends with them and the next day we all decided to go to the other island called Don Kong (i think) and go swimming in this spot they’d found in the waterfalls.  So we walk to the bridge connecting the two islands and when we get to the other side they try to charge us 20,000 Kip ($2.50) to cross this other very tiny bridge that actually only goes over a road…we were already on the island…so in try backpacker styles we didn’t pay but instead went back over the bridge to our island…walked down the river a ways and swam fully clothed across =) Haha showed them!  We then came to the waterfall and had to traverse across that too, to get to the spot the guys had found the previous day.  It was not the easiest and they all had fancy Tiva-like sandals and we had flip flops that we had to leave on the shore because they’re useless in water…and because it was a waterfall there were tons of jaggedy rocks that we had to clamber over…but we eventually made it and they gave us props for not turning back =)  We swam for a bit in one of the pools made but the waterfall but it was kinda unnerving because the current was so strong and you constantly had to make sure you were going to go over the edge!  We survived and made it back to our island without having to pay to cross the bridge.  The next day Tara and I rented bikes and biked around both islands….we debated trying to swim the bikes across the river to avoid the fee but figured that we could afford the $2.50 to save the hassel =) 

To get from Don Det to Vientiane is quite a process…one that we had paid extra for in advance.  We took a boat from the island to the mainland.  Then a mini van to Pakse (the nearest main town) which took about 3 hours.  So we arrived in Pakse around 2pm and had until 7pm before we were to catch our night bus.  The only thing to do in this town is get a massage…so we did…I actually got 2 hahaha no joke…we had a lot of time to kill!  Finally we killed enough time and got on our bus which was called a sleeper bus because it has beds…now the thing we didn’t realize was that it’s the same size as a normal bus and in true asian fashion they make you sleep in a tiny bed with someone else!  Luckily Tara and I still like each other cause that’s close sleeping quarters!  And luckily we are short because there is not a lot of length to these beds!  I slept on the outside…well sleep is not the word i would use I don’t think because there wasn’t much of a rail and it was very bumpy…so I spent most of the night trying not to fall out of the bed which was a top bunk of course.  Tara on the other hand was snuggled nicely between me and the window and she slept like a log!  We arrived in Vientiane around 6 am and got some breakfast (since we didn’t get the 2 ‘meals’ we were promised when we booked this in Cambodia) and then found a guesthouse that was fairly cheap to check into.  Then it was off to the Australian Embassy Clinic.  Ok here’s that story…so when we first arrived in Cambodia (I told you I’m a procrastinator) I got a bug bite on the side of my face that became all scabby and scaly and started spreading down the side of my face and onto my neck…I had seen a Cambodian ‘Doctor’ and he didn’t even look at it and gave me some cream to buy for it.  So I used the cream for a bit but it didn’t help so when we were in Siem Reap I went to a Pharmacy (which is the way to go in Asia because they seem to know a cure for everything!) and the woman looked at it and gave me an antifungal cream which seemed more like what I needed seeing as it was spreading.  So I used the cream but it still didn’t seem to be clearing up and worst of all it was spreading onto my ear!  So when we got to Laos I decided I’d better go see someone else.  I looked in the Lonely Planet and it basically said you better hope you don’t need to see a doctor in Laos because there aren’t any good ones….EXCEPT…if you are part of the Commonwealth you can go to the Australian Embassy Clinic in Vientiane!  Phew!  Thanks Canada for not being mean to the Queen!  So Tara and I went to the Clinic where I spoke to an Australian Dr and he said that it was most likely a mild staph infection and the cream that the woman had given me would have worked if it had had a steroid in it.  So he gave me a cream and some pills to take…and buy gave I mean he charged me a fortune of course!  But within 3 days it was pretty much gone! 

So we spent a day in Vientiane and then headed up to a little town in the north called Luang Nam Tha by taking an 8 hour bus to Luang Prabang and then a 10 hour night bus to Luang Nam Tha.  The bus from Vientiane to Luang Prabang luckily had a washroom which I spent a lot of time in thanks to all the winding roads and my weak stomach.  The bus from Luang Prabang to Luang Nam Tha did not however…but thankfully there was a pharmacy at the bus station so I got some motion sickness pills and slept the ride away.  When we got to Luang Nam Tha it was 4:30am an nothing…not one guesthouse was open…luckily though there was an ATM vestibule which we curled up in for a few hours.  I forgot to mention that in Vientiane we sent home most of our warmer clothes because it’s been around 35 degrees everyday.  So wasn’t it ironic when we rocked up to Luang Nam Tha and it was probably about 10 degrees!  And then of course it rained and was cold for the next week!  We decided to book a 2 day trek but had to wait a few days for other people to join so it would be cheaper.  The nice thing about Luang Nam Tha is that all the treks give 35% of what you pay to the village that you stay in.  And they all promote ‘green’ tourism.  The day before our trek we woke up and again it was raining so we decided to get a couple bottles of wine and watch movies.  After the wine was gone we figured we’d go and get one or two more and ended up meeting a couple from the states and sharing our wine with them.  We socialized with them for about 5 hours over some more wine, then went for dinner and to a Laos ‘dance club’…that was quite the experience.  We were in bed by 10pm and up at 7am for our trek.  Needless to say drinking that much wine before trekking is never a good idea and thankfully this was the easiest trek we’ve ever been on.  But of course it started pouring rain and we aren’t equipped with proper hiking shoes so when the dirt became mud we spent most of the time on our bums!  We were filthy by the time we showed up to our village…but the mud and rain were a perfect hangover cure…i guess you don’t think about feeling ill when you’re trying not to slip off the side of a mountain!  The trek was way too easy and not entirely worth the money but it was still a great time…mostly thanks to the rain which livened things up! 

The next day we headed to Huay Xai which is the town right on the border of Laos and Thailand because we wanted to book the Gibbon Experience!  We arrived on the 31st of March and couldn’t get into the experience till the 3rd of April.  Of course this town has nothing to do so we spent a lot of time wandering around and playing cards at our guesthouse…even our guesthouse dude was shocked that we were staying in town for more then one day!  On the 2nd we found out that there was a pool in town and decided to try and find it….we had vague directions and set off.  We walked for about 20 minutes then turned left at the gas station…then the next right…then we dead ended at a high school where a soccer match was being played.  We watched for a bit before the heat became too much…then decided to go back to town and give up on finding the pool.  I was so thirsty so I stopped at this little hut and bought a water…then I figured it wouldn’t hurt to ask the woman if she knew where the pool was…and by ask I mean use charades.  She nodded and motioned behind the hut to the primary school which was set back a bit…we thought ok, weird, maybe she didn’t really understand us but decided to check it out any way…and lo and behold there was a pool, two actually, with about 30 young kids splashing around!  Well we were so hot from the sun and walking all the way out there that we figured since we’d found it we might as well go for a swim!  So we jumped in fully clothed because we didn’t really feel that it was appropriate to be in bikinis around children.  I wouldn’t call what we did swimming though…it felt more like babysitting since we were then bombarded by kids and ended up just carrying the ones that couldn’t swim around the pool…also the pool tasted like gasoline so we didn’t stay in long =)  But it was quite a mini adventure! 

Ok unfortunately I’m going to have to finish there for now.  But I will post the rest about the Gibbon Experience in the next few days with the photos that accompany it.  I need to do it justice because it was amazing!  In the mean time look up Gibbon Monkeys and what they sound like cause it’s pretty cool!  Then you’ll understand!  Also sorry for the long windedness of this post and since I don’t have the time or patience to read it over you can laugh at all the spelling mistakes! xx

March 20th, 2010

Ok again I’ve been very bad at updating this but I must admit that we’ve been spending a lot of time lounging on the beaches of southern Cambodia which is fun for us but doesn’t give me much to write about.  But here’s a few sweet things we’ve done these last 3 weeks.

We arrived safe and sound in Cambodia and made our way down to Kampot, where we relaxed at a wonderful little villa called Bodhi Villa.  We spent a week down there chilling out with a ton of other Canadians and managed to wake up at 3:30 am to watch Canada defeat the States and win GOLD!! That was definitely a highlight especially amazing that we found a tv and a station to watch it on on the other side of the world!  We spent a few days on an island called Rabbit Island where all there was to do was lay on the beach and relax….traveling can be so hard =)  Down the road from Bodhi Villa there was an orphanage, so Tara and I bought a ball and went there with a Swiss guy to play with the kids for a few hours.  It’s an orphanage and a school so all the kids can speak english quite well so it was easy to communicate with them.  They do get a lot of backpackers visiting them and are definitely technology savvy.  They immediately took Tara’s camera and took off taking photos of themselves all around the orphanage.  They are actually quite good little photographers.  One girl gave me a tour and I was surprised to discover a computer lab with about 10-12 computers that the kids can use whenever.  They do school work on them and they have typing tests and games.  I don’t know why I didn’t expect to see that….well I do know why I guess I mean it’s an orphanage in an impoverished country so I never expected that.  The kids seem to be very well cared for and they were very happy the entire time we were there.  We stayed and played with them for a couple hours and then it was time for their dinner so we said goodbye and the three of us got onto the Swiss guys motorbike.  We’re waving to the kids and next thing we know he’s driven right into the entrance gate! hahahaha All the kids ran over to see if we were ok…of course I was laughing so hard!  We were fine and managed to make a more dignified exit after the first failed attempt =)  When I was in Cambodia almost 3 years ago there were so many street children trying to sell you things.  Now there are hardly any.  We were later told that the government kind of rounded them up and put them in orphanages where they can stay and get educated until they are 18 or 19.  After spending a week in Kampot we moved further south to Sihanoukville where we spent some time at a quite beach called Otres Beach with a Canadian guy, a Swedish guy and a Dutch girl.  The guys stayed at a guesthouse run by a Swedish guy and overrun by swedish backpackers.  One night the cooks made swedish meatballs and we all got to enjoy those with mashed potatoes! Soooooo good!!  Then we made our way to Bamboo Island for more relaxation…life’s so hard =)  After a week down there it was just a short 10 hour night bus to Siem Reap.  After arriving at 5:30am in Siem Reap we promptly found a guesthouse and went back to sleep.  Then our first order of business was going to the Children’s Hospital and donating blood.  The process was similar to that in Canada but more 3rd worldish, still it felt good to do something for the children here.  The hospital was one of two free children’s hospitals in the province and parents from all over bring their sick children and camp outside waiting to be seen by a doctor.  The next morning we watched the sunrise over Angkor Wat, which for those of you who don’t know, is the largest religious building in the world!  We got dropped back off in town and rented bikes which we rode back out to the temples and did the big circuit.  We biked about 38km on bikes that I was surprised made it that far!  Definitely sore bums the next day!  In total we did 3 days at the temples of Angkor and learned lots from our tuk tuk driver.  Siem Reap also saw us doing a lot of market shopping…our bags are definitely bursting with new things…it’s kind of like Ikea though…everything is so cheap but 10 things that are each $5 really adds up!  Then it was back to Phnom Penh where we had to pay extra to get a rush Laos visa because we’d heard mixed things about being able to get a visa at the border and of course we procrastinated till the very last minute!  Then we went to the Killing Fields and Tuol Sleng S21 Museum where we learned about the horrible genocide that occurred here in 1975-1979.  It’s unfortunate how many genocides like this have happened all over the world and are still happening in this day and age.

Now we are about an hour from the Laos border…of course crossing over couldn’t just go smoothly.  Firstly, when we dropped our passports off yesterday the man said he didn’t know if they’d be done before 5pm for us to pick up but that we could come back and see.  Luckily for us, they were done and we had our passports with Laos visas in them!  So this morning we woke up at 5:30am and hopped on a bus, ready to make the 10 hour trek to Laos.  At 3:30 this afternoon they made us get off the bus and told us the border would close before we could get there….so we are stuck in this small town for the night!  Nothing in Cambodia is ever easy!  But it could be worse.  So tomorrow morning we’ll finish the last couple hours and should arrive at the 4000 islands in Laos by lunch!  Well that’s Cambodia in a nutshell!  We’ll be in Laos for the next 3 weeks or so.  I’ll post pictures now if the internet will let me…otherwise I’ll have to wait till I find decent internet! 

February 20th - 28th

Sorry for the delay but here’s what I’ve been up to.  After saying goodbye to our friends we took a bus to a river resort outside of Sandakan and spent 3 days and 2 nights enjoying the sights and sounds of nature.  We took boat cruises at 6am and 4 pm everyday, and did treks at 10am and 8pm.  We got to see an orangutan in the wild which is rare, as well as a tone of other monkeys.  We saw a couple of snakes and wild boars and lots of crocodiles!  It was hard to get photos of the animals but it was amazing to watch the sun rise and set on the boat.  The rest of the time we enjoyed the buffet =) and relaxing.  After that we got the bus to drop us off at Mount Kinabalu National Park where we booked to climb the mountain.  So we arrived there on the 22nd in the late afternoon and went to the park hoping to be able to climb the mountain on the 23rd or 24th.  We had our flight from Borneo to Phnom Penh on the 26th at 7pm and we didn’t want to have to rush and worry.  Well they told us the first date we could climb was the 25th but that we could come in the morning of the 23rd and 24th and see if there were any cancellations.  So that’s exactly what we did.  On the 23rd we went but no one had canceled so we just hiked some of the other trails in the park.  On the 24th we went and there happened to be 2 spots for us!  Yippee!  So we rushed to get everything we needed because we had to be in a group with these 3 other guys because they had paid for 4 people but one had backed out.  So after getting all the money sorted we set off on the 6km up hill trek to the guesthouse where you stop for the night.  And, if I do say so myself, we rocked that mountain!  We only stopped once for lunch…for 7mins hahaha we were so hungry!  We started the trek at 10:10am and we got to the resting point at 1:50, so it took us just over 3.5 hours!  We passed so many people and when they got to the top they all asked if we had ran up!  We were known as the girls who ran up the mountain…and then as the girls who ate the entire buffet!  We beat the 3 guys we were with by over an hour!  So ya then it was time for a nap until dinner.  The food was amazing…buffet…mmmm. I think I appreciate buffets more now that I’m travelling…maybe a little too much!  Then we got to watch a beautiful sunset!  There were so many clouds it looked like the sky was on fire!  Then early to bed to wake at 2am for a small breakfast (which they call dinner), leaving for the summit at 3am.  Luckily this time two of the guys kept up with us because we had no water and only one light! hahaha still not the most prepared travellers!  It took us 2 hours to climb up to the summit and then we had to wait for an hour and a half for the sun to rise.  During the day it is sooo hot there but at night it was freezing!  So you can imagine how cold it was at 5am 4095m above sea level!  And of course we weren’t prepared so we rented jackets from the guesthouse and then wore all the clothes that we had brought in our small packs…we didn’t have mitts so we put socks on our hands…we also made the mistake of wearing all the clothes for the 2 hour hike and then sweating in them so that when we got to the top they were frozen and cold. And in the words of Survivoman ‘You sweat, you freeze, you die’…Anyways these 2 guys gave us some water and chocolate that they had.  So we survived.  And seeing the sunrise from the top of a mountain in Borneo is definitely one of the highlights of my life!  The colours were amazing and knowing how hard you worked to get there made it even better!  When the sun was finally up and we started our decent we got to see what we had missed in the dark climb up….it was breathtaking!  We were way above the clouds and the mountain itself was so picturesque! It took us an hour to get back down to the guesthouse for breakfast and then another 2.5 hours down to the base for lunch.  As we were leaving the park on the 25th it was pouring rain!  So thankfully we got to climb the day before and everything worked out perfect.  We caught our flight from Kota Kinabalu to Kuala Lumpur and then slept in the airport that night because we got in to KL at 9:30pm and didn’t fly out till 9:30am for Phnom Penh.  We found a nice bunch of benches and slept for 8 hours without any problems.

Now we are in Cambodia.  We went to a town in the south called Kampot to meet up with a friend for a night or two and ended up staying there for a week!  We woke up at 3:30am to watch Canada beat the US in hockey! woo hoo!!!  It was surprising that it was playing here.  We went to an island called Rabbit Island for a few days…the only thing to do there was relaxing and swim and tan so that’s exactly what we did!  When we got back to the Bodhi Villa (our guesthouse in Kampot) there were tons of people there…well actually there were tons of Canadians!  It’s probably the most Canadians I’ve met outside of Canada!  The villa was right on a river that we would swim across everyday.  I miss that.  We finally left yesterday and crammed 5 of us in a car and paid some guy to drive us an hour and a half to Sihanoukville which is where the beaches are.  So now we are staying at a beach outside of town where there aren’t so many people, or hagglers, or garbage….there is so much garbage everywhere in Cambodia…it’s very sad.  We are going to check out some of the islands around here and then leave for Siem Reap and Phnom Penh in a week.  I’ll try and be more consistent with writing on here but it’s hard to chose an internet cafe over the beach and sun!  Later gators! xx

February 12th-19th, 2010

So we just got back from roadtripping around the Malaysian Borneo state of Sabah with 2 Swedish guys names Johan and Fredrik and it was amazing! We rented the smallest possible car and I still don’t know how four big backpacks, four people and two guitars fit in it!  We started off driving North to the Tip of Borneo.  We stopped at the first beach we saw and went for a swim to cool off.  We were only about 5 minutes from the actual tip of Borneo when we saw 6 men playing beach volleyball so we pulled over and asked to play.  Of course they said yes so we played about 5 games with them and watched the sunset over the ocean…it was awesome!  The men were actually police/army men stationed there to prevent invasion from Phillippinos and pirates hahah!  Apparently it’s not that big of a threat anymore but they still stay stationed there.  Since we didn’t have anywhere to stay that night they said we could sleep on the beach.  So we started a fire and played the guitar.  One of the men brought us a couple cans of baked beans and some cookies since we didn’t have anything to eat!  We aren’t the most organized bunch!  So we ate cold beans from a can…we were too hungry to actually heat them up.  Because we were in the middle of nowhere the stars were soooooo bright!  We decided to go for a night swim and it was amazing cause there are little plankton (the same things that i talked about when we did our night dive) in the water that glow like fireflys when you move the water!  It was like being in Avatar (for those of you who have seen the movie)!  It was so unreal I can’t even describe it!  I felt like I was in outer space!  So we slept on the beach that night and the next morning actually made it to the Tip of Borneo where we took photos and of course had our photos taken with random asian tourists!  Then we headed off to the other side of Borneo to a town called Sandakan (about 6 hours) where we had a few drinks and sang kareokee to the worst possible english songs you can imagine! (like celine dion titanic theme!) hahahah  On February 14th (which was also the start of chinese new years) we went to the Orangutan (how do you spell that?) Sanctuary (1 of 4 in the world) where they rescue baby orangs and teach them how to survive in the wild before releasing them!  It was sweet!  Then we went and saw the weirdest monkeys i’ve ever seen called Proboscis monkeys!  They have funny long noses and big bellies that they use to attract the females…maybe that’ll be my new requirement!  hahaha  Next day we drove to Semporna which took a good chunk of the day and tired us out.  On the 16th we booked scuba diving for the 17th and then went to this resort that had high platforms that you could dive from so I got to show off my moves! hahaha It was sweet tho! There were 3 levels you could dive/jump from…around 1m, 4m and 6m.  We were the only white people there and everyone was in love with us especially in our bikinis!  We ate crabs for 4RM for 100g!  That’s just over a dollar!  So cheap and so delicious!  Then on the 17th we went diving in one of the most beautiful places in the world!  We wanted to dive at an island called Sipidan which is supposed to be one of the most amazing diving in the world but they were booked until the 21st so we went to a different island called Mantabuan.  We did 3 dives and got to scuba with turtles and sting rays!  Our second dive was at a place called Black Coral Forest which has soooo much coral and actually looked like a forest!  The coral was amazing!  It was sooooo much fun and we didn’t have any problems like our last dive so we got all our confidence back!  You have to take a break between dives so we went to this private white sand turquoise water beach and swam around!  It was the most beautiful place I’ve ever seen! That night we were exhausted so we stayed in and watched Conair (a great Nick Cage movie! hahahaha if that’s even possible!)  Yesterday we had to drive all day to get back to Kota Kinabalu (around 10 hours) not the longest stretch but with 4 people and 4 bags and 2 guitars in the smallest hatchback it was not too comfortable!  So we made it back and said goodbye to the guys who are off to Bali today.  Tonight Tara and I are going to the base of Mount Kinabalu and tomorrow morning we’ll be watching the sunrise from 4000m!  Sorry for taking so long to write but internet was sparse!  Also I have realized how many exclamation marks I use and I would apologize but I just want to get across the huge smile on my face everytime I write on here! Later Gators! xx