Oh No PO

I spoke too soon - Last week, in all my ignorance, thought I had somehow escaped the evil oil produced by this evil, evil plant.  Declared I must not be allergic and laughed about how I, walked through bushes of poison oak for 19 miles in shorts and Keens, unscathed.  Then came Friday - At first I thought I had a spider bite.  Then it spread.  Bumps, and lines of pure itch all down my legs and on the tops of my feet.  They appeared by the dozens.  

By the weekend, the ooze had begun.  It's been a week now and the itch continues.  Calagel offers temporary relief, but now I can only hope for the continued scabbing and healing.  I did read on the internet that over 85% of the population is in fact allergic to poison oak.  Oops.  Guess I am in the majority.  For now its me, my Technu and Calagel.   

Insomnia

I've got alot on my mind.  When this happens, it's hard for me to get any shut-eye. 

The last few weeks have been so busy!  I've been away almost every weekend and I'm ready to be mellow and relax here in San Diego for awhile.  

Since my last post, I was surprised with a b-day surprise party even attended by dearest Ally and Kevin all the way from San Francisco!!  (thanks Brad).  I thought I was going out to celebrate Karen and Richard's PE at Zen 5 - Imagine my surprise when I walked in and saw them all sitting there!  The night was spent downing sushi and saki bombs and then dancing the night away at the Tavern.  I was a little under the weather the next day and thus, spent that Saturday 'recovering'.  That Sunday I spent the day surfing and even got a visit by a school of dolphins :)

The following weekend, we a small group of friends and I traveled to Joshua Tree National Park - complete with the playing of the Joshua Tree album several times (it doesn't get old)!!  We did a great hike to a beautiful oasis (like out of a movie).  I had no idea the desert could be so beautiful!

The next weekend I was off to San Francisco for the 30th birthday celebration of my dear friend Kevin.  Spent the day hiking with Erika and the boys up in Berkeley and then off to the b-day party in the Mission - It was a fantastic night and got to see lots of good SF friends.

From there it was off to my now-annual trek to the Wildflower triathlon.  Richard, Justin, Sarah and I drove up to Lake San Antonio and met up with Kevin, Marian, Paul and Ana - The weekend was lots of fun and somehow even managed to finish the race despite being way out of shape (sadly, time was an hour slower than last year)....

Then, finally, a weekend in town with my dearest Mummsie - It also happened to be the first weekend of San Diego's notorious May Gray.  :(  We had a great time though checking out the sleepy beach towns and relaxing.  

Next, it was off to Seattle for Nate's 1st communion.  Seattle happened to be having record temperatures that weekend - It was about 90 and crystal clear - absolutely beautiful!  Got me started back on the "I need to move to Seattle kick".  Had a great time visiting with the family and catching up with Seascape friend, Mark.  

And from there it was Memorial Weekend and time for our annual camping trip!  This year we (10 of us to be exact) had decided to do a backpacking trip to Caribou Lakes (by Mt. Shasta in the Trinity Alps) - However, learned that the trail was in-passable due to heavy melting snowfall.... Last minute decided to switch gears and head to Big Sur where we spent a few days in back country and became one with the poison oak - We did the Pine Valley trail to Los Padres Dam - a little shy of 19 miles.  Much of the trail was coated in poison oak - there was no way to avoid it and sadly quite a few of us (me excluded) succumbed to its evil oils...  The trip was beautiful nonetheless and we had a wonderful time together!

Then finally back to San Diego.  Last weekend was spent at the beach and in the ocean on my surf board.  It's nice to be back in town for awhile!   Tomorrow (now actually today) Ally cat arrives and we will be completing the Camp P. Mud Run!  Should be fun.  All right - finally feeling like maybe I can get some zzzz's - Hope everyone is doing well out there!

Back in the USSR - You don't know how lucky you are...

Actually, we are both safe and sound in our respective cities in California.  I can't believe that we've already been back over a month!  Where does the time go?

Finally getting settled into working again - what a drag!  But, have to say, am still feeling pretty lucky!  Yesterday, I celebrated my 29th birthday with a birthday scavenger hunt which led me to Foo Fighter tickets!!!  (I am a lucky girl!!!) And no San Diego birthday is complete without a sunset surf outing - It was a perfect ending to the day!  I think 29 will be a great year!

In other little tidbits....I picked up the book, "The Glass Palace" by Amitav Ghosh in the Kuala Lumpur airport for the long trip home.  I just finished it up last week and I was throughly impressed.  It is a great read and really gave good insight into the recent history (from the late 1800s on) of India, Burma & Malaya.  I highly recommend it.

Lastly - stay tuned - Another adventure is on the horizon for next weekend!  This one will be short and sweet.  Ally cat is heading down to So Cal and we'll spend next weekend amongst friends camping at Joshua Tree National Park.  Of course we will bring the guitar and play some U2 songs :)

That is it for now.  Hope everyone is doing well out there!

Our Last Night (sniffle sniffle)

It's our last night (sniffle sniffle). I am sad and not really ready to leave yet! Kuala Lumpur is a great city and has so much to offer and we only got just a small taste! Speaking of tastes, today was a great way to end the trip food wise. We had the best Indian food we have ever eaten here in Little India - Of course the restaurant name escapes me, but I will add later - It was a LP recommendation. Then tonight for dinner we had one last Thai meal with MyThai Jim Thompson restaurant which was also extremely delicious. I am happy to report that we got our spicy eggplant. yum.

Today was a full day - We got up quite early and walked to the Petronas Towers, once the tallest buildings in the world. We went on the free skybridge tour (you can only go half way up the towers). Very cool. Next we went back to the Pekewhatchamacallit bus station and lo and behold the missing bags had reappeared. Ally played hard ball and told the woman no way in hell we would pay because we had to pay to get back there. And what do you know, we didn't pay!

Next we headed to a cool tea shop called Purple Cane. From there the day was spent walking and shopping and eating and walking and shopping. I'm so full! We visited lots of part of KL and found them all pretty interesting. We both agree we need more time! Well, as I've heard in my family "People in hell want ice water". I have to say we have been pretty lucky and spoiled to get to do such a wonderful trip!

Anyways, I must go now as we have to pack... sigh... and the taxi will be here in a little over 6 hours. We'll update the site from the US with more pictures upon our triumphant return to the US!

For now - take care!

Snake Sighting, Lost Bags and Toilets in Malaysia

Random thoughts -

So we're back in Kuala Lumpur tonight and pretty wasted, and I don't mean drunk, but tired! We got back from the jungle today, and what do you know - it's a LONG trip. We had a great time in Teman Negara.

We concluded last night with a night jungle safari - This included two pickups filled with visitors (us included) driven by a few guys that work at the floating restaurant and pretty much everywhere else in Teman Negara. We rode in their pickups (some even rode on the roof - but don't worry, we were safe in the cab) and drove through some back roads in the jungle (not the actual park as this is not {and should not be} allowed). Apparently the jungle comes to life at night. En route to the jungle (on a paved road) we saw our first slithery friend - A very large python. I closed my eyes, took deep breaths and looked the other way. Shock was avoided.

We then headed into the jungle and saw some leopard cats. Ally and I were intrigued - were these in fact baby leopards, roaming the jungle at night without their mothers? How rare! What would everyone think when we spoke of our leopard sighting? The we got home and read that they are an entirely different animal and actually just a tad bit bigger than your average domestic house cat (i.e. Calvin-sized). Still cool though and if you ask us, we may just say we saw a leopard because it sounds cooler. For example: "Yeah, Ally and I went night trekking through the jungle and saw pythons and leopards." Sounds extreme, right? Anyways, moving on... We also saw a little warthog, some birds, bats and a little teenie snake (sighting number 2). I handled this one a bit better and didn't totally spaz out. I even opened my eyes for a second but could not release my death-grip on Ally's arm...

We got back from the night jungle trek and promptly crashed to the sounds of large bugs just outside the window of our little jungle chalet (a much nicer establishment than the previous night). This morning we awoke to roosters. Yes, it's true. Roosters live in the jungle too. We got up and grabbed breakfast at the floating restaurant on the river where had eaten lunch and dinner the day before. Very exciting. Then we boarded another boat for the journey back down river - I think the name is Kuala Trembling or some business like that..? (I'll update this later). The ride in the boat back is shorter as we weren't going against the current so it took only 2 hours or so. From there we boarded a bus back our favorite town of Jerantut and stopped for lunch and to board another bus. I fell asleep on the way back and am not sure how long it actually took...

Anyways, we got back to Kuala Lumpur and were dropped in Chinatown. From there we decided to go to Batu caves. This was really worth seeing. It is a Hindu temple of sorts in a huge cave in the mountain. And my favorite part, it's swarming with "ling". Ling were everywhere. Big, little, babies, you-name-it, ling paradise! It was my favorite part although I have to say the temple was cool too.

We left Badu Caves and grabbed a cab to take us to Pekeesomethingorrather bus station (don't ask me, Ally knows where it is...) because we had left our big packs there at a bag check station for our journey to Teman Negara (who needs a big pack in the jungle??). At this point, we arrive at the bag check eager to get our bags because we are 1) tired 2) smelly 3) wearing the same hiking socks for 3 days 4) wearing the same pants for longer (ewwww)!! We go up to counter to non-english speaker - We'll call him Mr. Malay. He also happens to be on his first day on the job at the bag counter. We bring our bag counter receipt and he hands over my big green pack and smiles. Where are the other 2 bags we checked?? I'll leave out the details but panic soon ensues as Ally actually enters the bag claim room to look for the missing bags - neither are there. I ask him if the bags are taken offsite and stored elsewhere. He shakes his head no. We are mad and upset at this point. Ally runs off to tell the cab driver to wait for us (he's still waiting in parking lot to take us to our hotel)...Mr. Malay goes over to a coke stand worker who grabs a bus driver who speaks english. We'll call him Mr. English-Speaking-Malay. He communicates to me that bags are actually taken elsewhere and there must be a mix-up. The woman who had helped us will be back tomorrow and we should come back then. Ally comes back and brings me fried bananas to calm nerves and then talks to ransom offsite manager on Mr. malay's cell phone. This all takes about 45 minutes.

We leave upset (and still dirty) and our taxi who is a very nice guy drops us at our hotel the lovely Red Palm guesthouse/hostel - which is very nice - like staying in someone's house :D We unloaded my lone green pack and headed next door to grab indian food at a place run by some nepalese (not sure how you spell that one...)... Anyways, had some yummy food - still not sure what we ordered. Now we are back at the house relaxing because we are tired!!! We are up early tomorrow to check out the Petronas Towers and then go re-harass the bag check place. Then we will explore some other parts of the City - mainly Chinatown, etc. Should be fun.

You're probably wondering about the last reference in my subject line. Toilets in Malaysia. Hmm... I think about wastewater more than the average person - I get paid to think about where it goes, how it gets there and how its treated... But, up until this point I hadn't though much about the toilet itself. I would venture to guess that most of you haven't either? I mean, you go anywhere and there's a toilet, right? Sometimes when you camp or backpack you have to dig or squat, but that's camping... Not here! Here, it's a different story. You go into a bathroom and you may see a toilet (if you're having a lucky day) but most of the time its SURPRISE - a little platform just slightly elevated from the ground with a little bed pan shaped hole in the ground. And there's a hose too. Hmm... Am I supposed to pee in that? I find these a little awkward to maneuver. Maybe people here are different, but how does one (ladies only) pee in a neat little stream into the little hole in the ground while squatting without a) falling into the area around which is always wet and somewhat disgusting b) spraying urine in several directions and most likely missing the little bed pan shaped hole and getting pee down your leg and/or all over your clothes c) getting the bottom edge of your pants saturated with a fine mix of urine and dirty water d) all without toilet paper??? I don't get it?!! Squatting is hard and I wonder how all these Malay ladies in their neat and tidy dresses get the job done. One thing is for certain, I will never take a toilet for granted again. Thank God, Allah, Buddha, random Hindu Gods, etc. for the flush toilet and the ingenious seat cover. I look forward to using you again someday! Oh and in case your are wondering - thanks to whomever advised me to bring our own supply of Charmin and plenty of hand sanitizer - it has come in quite handy here!

All right - I think this is it from us for now. Please send good karma, prayers, thoughts, what-have-you, that are bags show up at Pekiwhatchamacallit station tomorrow.

Peace!

Internet in the Jungle?

We're in the oldest jungle in the world so the Malays say - Teman Negara. I have to admit it is quite fabulous. We are staying just across the river - somewhat rustic, and yet, there is internet? I wasn't going to update until we returned to KL, but knew my mom would worry so here I am. I'll blame it on her. Anyways, I'll make this short and give you the full scoop upon reaching our final destination (Kuala Lumpur) - sniffle sniffle - tomorrow. All good things must come to an end, and I know we have been quite lucky and blessed beyond all belief to be here!

So back to Teman Negara - yesterday, was somewhat of a wasted travel day. We ended up flying to KL and then taking a series of buses to Jerantut to spend the night. Our room last night cost us each $3.50. That is correct - I must tell you however that it was NO E&O. We went from the top-end to pretty skanky (please scuse my language) - We didn't really sleep last night - We'll add video of the place later... ha ha ha ha - It's good... And then got up bright and early this morning to get a van to this other town (name escapes me) where we caught a boat down the river to get to this park. The boat ride was a little under 3 hours and well worth it. It was fantastic - Jungle everywhere. I kept hearing "in the jungle, the mighty jungle the lion sleeps tonight" except there aren't lions here - there are tigers however (which are rarely if ever spotted). We got here and stuffed ourselves with more Malay food (soo good) and a chocolate banana icey thing - Yum! We then crossed the river in a boat taxi and entered the park.

From there we did a jungle trek and ended up at this elevated canopy walk. You walk on little planks through the trees - It was awesome - (pictures to come soon). We had a great time. We ended up on another trail but after running into a Singaporian boy scout leader aborted the hike after learning it traveled (for quite some time) to some high peak somewhere... (note to self: next time purchase 3 Ringett trail map)... Anyways, hiked around a bit more and then stopped for a Tiger beer (even though we didn't see one).

Now I am itching to get out of this hot little internet cafe and head back to our little jungle chalet. We'll probably do some kind of night jungle expedition with one of the tour groups or our hotel tonight and tomorrow morning it's off to Kuala Lumpur to soak in the sights before leaving on Friday!!

I would like to add, that I have never met more friendly people than here in Malaysia. The Malays have been so excited to teach us Malay words and tell us about Malaysia and practice their English - moreso than even the Thais and Vietnamese (also very very friendly). Last night at dinner at some roadside shack we got into conversation with a Malay man who wanted to date Condaleeza Rice (??). Apparently he was also a fan of George Bush - I guess it's no crime to be uninformed here :D We just smiled.

All right - Better run. We'll try to get more pics up from KL tomorrow or Thursday. Ciao Ciao!

Penang, hot like curry!

Selamat Petang! We find ourselves on the lovely island of Penang sitting in one of the finest hotels in SE Asia - The E&O. We were only going to stay one night, but opted for two when working through the rest of our plans. We are glad we did!

We arrived here in Penang after a 3 hour ferry ride from Langkawi. The trip was relatively uneventful, but I must comment that I fear that the very worst features of our American "culture" have reached the far east... Ally and I were sitting at a Malay fast food venue eating some noodles and rice and waiting for our ferry when we heard "Hit me baby one more time". I have to say I'm really disappointed that I am halfway around the world and can't escape that train wreck who calls herself a singer? We next heard a few songs from the Alvin and the Chipmunks Christmas album. No lie. Christmas songs, in March in a country that is predominantly Muslim, Buddhist or Hindu. Hmm....

Anyways, the ferry brought us to the town of Georgetown here on the island of Penang and we promptly grabbed a taxi to our hotel where we were given welcome drinks and cold towels because it is so hot and humid here. Our room is somewhat like a palace. I should say rooms bcause we have an entire suite that overlooks the sea all for the cost of a cheap Super 8 in the USA. Great, isn't it?

So last night, we got cleaned up and then decided to head out and check out Georgetown. We first stopped at an internet cafe to firm up a plane ticket to KL - more on that later. Upon leaving the internet cafe, we were greeted by torrential downpour and of course we had no umbrella (brilliant). We got soaked but finally got a taxi and headed back to the hotel where we ate dinner in the bar with really bad music...

Today we slept in and then had our delicious breakfast buffet here at the E&O - Anything you could ever want, including make your own sushi! It was crazy! From there we set out into Georgetown. We looked for the bus stop to no avail and then grabbed a taxi to the Kek Lok Si Temple - a very large and beautiful Buddhist temple on the hill overlooking Georgetown. It was pretty hot and humid but we had a great time climbing to the top and taking in the view. From there we found the bus and headed back to Georgetown to the Little India area where we went shopping and got a few beautiful tops. Then we were spent from the heat so we returned to the hotel and lounged by the pool with a mojito.

Tonight we headed back to Little India to a fantastic restaurant called Madras New Woodlands - It's a vegetarian Indian restaurant and we were not disappointed. I am full of lots of yummy Indian treats including real versions of all of my favorites (i.e. palak paneer). Ally and I were both inclined to remember (and thus to mention here) the delicious Indian dish that Cam and Erika made for us camping in Sequoia National Park last year (BTW - Happy Birthday (on Saturday) to Cameron!) Anyways, stuffed and happy we headed back to the hotel just in time to miss the incoming rainstorm.

Tomorrow morning we have opted to fly to Kuala Lumpur. We had originally thought of renting a car and driving to the Cameron Highlands and Teman Negara, but given our observation of driving (safer than Vietnam, but still very scary), we think it safer to stick to the sky. So instead, we will fly to Kuala Lumpur and take the bus to Teman Negara for some jungle trekking. We plan to stay away from civilization until Wednesday when we return to Kuala Lumpur so stay tuned after that. Bye for now!

Correction

Please note, for all of those that were confused:

"Ling" is not a small acrobatic Thai man, rather, "ling" is the Thai word for monkey.

We are sorry for the confusion.

Lovely Langkawai

We made it to Malaysia to the lovely island of Langkawi where we are staying at a lovely eco-friendly-hotel called Mutiara Burau Bay. This morning we woke up to "ling" the front porch of our bungalow. We went outside to watch them play - there were dozens - Ally and I got great footage of one little cutey doing somersaults! Langkawi is beautiful and we had fun today taking the scary trolley up the mountain - what a beautiful view. It's been raining though so we are back at the hotel again to relax!

The past 2 weeks have been fabulous. We had such a wonderful time sailing through Thailand. I'll do my best to recap and not bore you or make you too jealous :) (PS - Have included lots of cocktail and monkey pictures)...

2/18 - Our first day with the Seascape group. We met up at Ko Chiang in Phuket and boarded our new home, the Nyami Nami - a 55' catamaran with our other sailing cohorts: Diane & Ray (the skippers), Tim (Our very own Thai Chef), John & Mark (the Arkansas boys), both Steves (one CA and one NY version), both Maureens, Tony (the Aussie) and of course both of us. The other boat was the lovely sailboat, Stressbreaker, and included the rest of the group. The water was a bit lumpy and after our first lunch we all took turns napping. We motored off to Ko Phanak we we anchored and then took a kayak over to explore our first Thai "hong" (cave). This one was really cool - We had to take our "torches" (Brits refuse to call them flashlights because apparently they don't flash) because the hong become completely dark at one point - Ally and I fearlessly navigated our way through the hong and made it to through to an opening - a beautiful lagoon type area surrounded by cliffs. It was stunning and Ally was able to navigate the kayak in such a way that I was not decapitated! Yay! That night the Stressbreaker crew came aboard and we celebrated with Thai beer and cocktails.

2/19- Motored northeast a bit to a secluded little island that was like tropical paradise. We all swam ashore to a beautiful little beach that offered a more open hong. It was fantastically beautiful. We also went kayaking and explored about, swimming and enjoyed a few tasty cold Tigers (We heart Tiger beer). We next motored on to Krabi beach where we motored ashore and enjoyed a few local shops and then ate ashore that night.

2/20 - Motored ashore to Krabi and took a taxi van to "Tiger Cave" about 30 minutes away. Hiked up almost 1,300 very steep stairs to a spectacular view. Also had first Thai monkey siting - Could have sat and watched them for hours!! Next we headed back to the Nyami Nami and motored to Chicken Island (it looks like a chicken?!?). We went for a snorkel which was wondeful, saw many parrotfish, sgt. majors, tangs, and corals. Very beautiful! Spent the rest of the afternoon drinking Chang on the boat in awe of the surrounding beauty!

2/21 - Sailed to "Bamboo Island" where we dingyed ashore to snorkel - Snorkeling was fabulous - saw so many wonderful fish! Next sailed to Phi Phi Li which was made famous in the movie "The Beach". We didn't see Leo, but went for another long snorkel along where the movie was filmed. We took a little food scrap with us to "feed" the fish - Imagine the excitement when I heard Ally scream underwater?! She had been bitten by a parrotfish?! It was quite humerous and luckily the wound is already healed. We watched another beautiful sunset from the boat (see picture) and thought about how lucky we are! Life is good!!

2/22 - Happy Birthday Dad! WE got up early to watch the sunrise only to realize the mountains were blocking it. Duh. Anyways, we took a kayak shore to the famous "beach" and did some a.m. yoga. We hiked about the island a bit and saw some other famous spots from the movie. It was quite a pretty place! Next sailed over to Ko Lanta, another very beautiful spot with perfect white sand and a small little village. We dropped off some laundry and then got pedicures :) We then stopped at the "Why Not" bar right along the beach for a tropical cocktail before dinner. We grabbed dinner with the group - I can't remember the name - It was either the sun or the cocktails or both... But after dinner we headed back to the bar for a lively night complete with playing of the tambourine :)

2/23 - Woke up slightly under the weather (was it the sun?) - ha ha ha! We dingyed ashore to go to an elephant preserve! We rode (about 10 of us) in the back of a pickup (no seats) up some pretty big hills and then down again (did I mention the road was dirt with some pretty big ruts?).. But, we arrived safe and sound at the park where we fulfilled Ally's dream and rode some elephants through the jungle. I must admit I had pictured riding the great gentle beasts around in a circle like I did at the Toledo zoo many years ago with my Mom and Dad, but this was quite the contrary. We went through the jungle for a good 30 minutes - I was pretty scared as we were quite high up, but all was well. Oh! We also had an exciting "ling" siting - These were really cute ling that passed between the trees by their tails. After we got off the elephant we hiked back to a waterfall with the help of a Thai guide. It was a very pretty hike and we saw lots of butterflies and a dead snake (I refused to look - but apparently it was dead via a cobra - I tried not to think about this)...After the hike we were fed bananas like the ling and then re-boarded our elephants to return to the park entrance. We then re-boarded the pickup and headed back to the village where we picked up our laundry, grabbed some fried bananas from a street vendor and then reboarded the Nyami Nami. Next we sailed on to Ko Muk. Some people went ashore for massages and such (there were tiny stands along the beach), but I opted to relax on the boat and then took a quick bath in the Andaman Sea! We dingyed ashore for dinner and ate a great spot on the beach (no shoes required). What a great day!

2/24 - Got up early to go to the famous Marakot (Emerald) Cave - A beautiful hong that you swim through (in the dark) to arrive in the most beautiful opening secluded from the rest of the world. It was awesome! After some banana pancakes (thanks Tim!) we sailed to "Rock Noc" which was everyone's favorite spot on the trip! We first went for a swim and then Ally and I went for our first scuba dive! It was awesome! I saw so many cool fish and corals - Absolutely loved it! From there we enjoyed a cold brew on the Nyami Nami and then took the kayaks to a secluded beach where we played frisbee, relaxed and had fun with the rest of the crew. It was the perfect day! :D (to top it off, Tim made eggplant curry which I loved!!!)

2/25 - Sailed to the Butang Islands. specifically Lipe Island - It suddenly became stiffling hot with no air movement and very high humidity. Ally and I kayaked ashore (the water was so beautifully blue) We walked through the little village and stopped to get a great Thai massage. It was so nice! We had another dinner ashore and then grabbed drinks at the Reggae Bar on the beach where we listened to reggae on little mats on the beach and watched the stars.

2/26 - Woke up early in the morning to a giant storm - lightning, high winds -and lots of rain. The boat was rocking. Fell back asleep. Sailed to Adang Island, another in the Butang chain. This is a beautiful jungle paradise island. It was so beautiful, I can't do it justice in words. We relaxed on the boat, went swimming, snorkeling and Ally and I went scuba diving again. It was an awesome dive - Saw lots of cool fish and my first lionfish! Very cool! We watched the most beautiful sunset and then had a party with the other boat. The party evolved into a game of Cranium and then bridge during which time the mosquitoes decided they eat Off for breakfast. By the morning, Ally and I had hundreds of pesky bites. Grrr....

2/27 - More lumpy seas - motored on south to Langkawi, Malaysia. Stopped for a swim (another stiffling hot day) and then pulled into the marina around lunch time. Relaxed on the boat and then all went out for one last dinner together. What a wondeful trip together and met many wonderful people :D

Phew. I am tired of writing now and think I will go see if the rain has let up and go for a swim. Tomorrow we are off to Penang by ferry! Hope you are all well!!

Couples Massage...

Greetings from paradise! We are having such a wonderful time in Phuket. Ahh, life here is full of difficult choices - This morning we had to decide between various tropical fruits and pastries, breads, eggs, etc. for breakfast - Do we choose dragonfruit, or papaya, or have both? Or do we have eggs, or pancakes?

Then we had to choose between an aromatherapy swedish massage or a traditional thai massage at happy hour massage (we chose the swedish version with relaxing oils because we had the Thai version in Bangkok). It was a 2 for 1 Happy Hour special - It seems though, our good friends at the Sawasadee, thinking we were a couple staying in the honeymoon bungalow, gave us a couples massage. We laughed when we were taken into the same room with massage tables side by side - But, the massages were wonderful and we just ignored each other anyways until we were done and sipping tea. Yes, life is hard here indeed!

Then we had to decide pool or beach, so we did both. We first went to Kata beach and sunbathed and frolicked in the waves. We really can't believe we are here. The people are sooooo nice and accomodating. We then went swimming in this pool with fountains and jets everywhere surrounded by tropical plants and with a nice swim up bar and of course sipped exotic tropical drinks after such a rough day!

From there we went out for more Thai food on the beach and met up with the other Seascape people at the Ska bar here in Kata Beach. Everyone seems very nice so far, but of course the demons will be released after 2 weeks in such close quarters together...

Tomorrow we set sail and I have a feeling our internet use will decline for the next two weeks as we will be sailing to some pretty remote places. Please don't worry about us! We are (and will continue to be) very safe.

Ta Ta for now!

Cocktails and Monkeys

Sa Wat Dii from Paradise - We find ourselves tonight in perhaps one of the nicest places I have ever stayed... We are in Phuket at Kata Beach at the Sawasdee Village (aka paradise). We didn't see any monkeys - In fact the subject line comes from my mom who complained that my only pictures from Costa Rica were of cocktails and monkeys. I love both, especially monkeys, and hope to see my first Thai version soon.

We arrived from Bangkok this afternoon after a quick flight and long "van" ride, to cool, jasmine scented towels to refresh. After a very quick check-in cocktail, we headed to our room, which is more like a honeymoon bungalow - Too bad we're not lesbians, because this is one romantic spot! I won't get in to too many details, but will post more pictures of the place tomorrow. It is fabulous. We had another wonderful thai dinner here tonight and then headed to the "beach area" (which we never really found as we stopped for a beer at a cozy little bar called Mellow Bar). We then walked back to the hotel through a strip that reminds us of a Thai version of Rosarito... We then went for cocktails at our hotel which we sipped on the front porch of our honeymoon bungalow. How romantic! Mine was in a coconut and Ally's was in a pineapple.

Tomorrow after breakfast we are heading to happy hour massage (not shady like it sounds) and then to the beach and swim-up bar at the pool. Tomorrow night we meet the seascape folks (our sailing mates for the next 2 weeks) at a local bar.

Life is good. Off to some zzzzz's!

Food Heaven

I've died and gone to food heaven. I love this place!! Most of my friends will tell you, given any night if given the choice for dinner, 9 out of 10 times, I choose thai. AND I am not disappointed here - A good kick of spice is added to the authentic version. stomach is still holding quite well!!

I'm sitting here in this massage parlor next to our hotel/guest house where I just had a killer 1-hour long massage for $6. Pretty awesome.

On Thursday we left our wonderful hotel in vietnam for Bangkok, Thailand! After a brutal 2 hour wait to get through customs, we arrived in Asia's "City of Angels" :) We spent the rest of the afternoon and all of today exploring the city - from eating thai noodles, corn, chocolate banana crepes and who knows what else on the street, to buying bargaining with the street vendors in the market to being TOTALLY blown away by the Wats (temples). I didn't really know what to expect, but it wasn't this! Again, we got a little carried away with the pictures.... but who wouldn't?!? After taking the ferry down the river, we saw the Emerald Buddha in the Grand Palace, the Reclining Buddha in Wat Pho, and about a hundred other Buddhas of all sizes! Fortunately there was a nice man outside the temple to transport us to the open market in his tut-tut (aka scooter with a little carriage in the back), where we bought tons of useless stuff :)

Sorry this is short, but we are hungry and waiting to go grab more thai food and tiger beer!! tomorrow we are off to Phuket!!

happy valentines day from Bangkok!!!

Got to bangkok safe and sound yesterday! Celebrated V-day (everyone's favorite) eating yummy thai food!!

Crossing the Street in Ha Noi

This is what it is like to cross the street in Ha Noi - It's like a game of Frogger.... It does get worse even! Ally took this video tonight by the Old Quarter! It's time for bed now!

Adventures in Ha Noi

Today was a fun day - our last in Vietnam :-( But cheer up! Tomorrow is Valentine's Day (everyone's favorite holiday) and we are heading to Thailand!

I'm not going to write too much as I am fiddling with uploading pictures to snapfish - but we had some exciting adventures today including a crazy ricshaw (sp?) ride tonight... We also visited Ho Chi Minh's body today as well as the Temple of Literature. Very exciting! :D

Hope everyone is well and stay tuned!!!

Halong Bay = Dep (beautiful like Johnny)

Xin Chao from Ha Noi! Our Vietnamese is increasing by the day and so are our laughs from the locals! We are now safe and sound back in Ha Noi after a journey to Halong Bay in NE Vietnam. Words cannot describe how incredibly beautiful this place is. I would say if you only have the opportunity to leave the country once in your life, then you should travel to Halong Bay.

This was my "must see" in Vietnam and we engaged in heavy research to find the perfect tour - Tours to Halong Bay are much much cheaper than self made trips and Halong Bay MUST be experienced by boat. We ended up choosing the Santa Maria chinese junk operated by Columbus Travel. I don't think our experience could have been better.... They picked us up - a fabulous and sweet guide named Lan. We got into the van with Lan and our driver to find only 2 other people aboard for the trip. Lan explained that the boat/tour was booked (at 16 people) everyother day that week, except for Monday (our day). We were so thrilled to learn we would have the entire boat to ourselves (except for that 1 couple!!)!!

We drove in the van to Halong City (about 3 hours E of Ha Long) - The drive was as crazy as the drive from the airport - No traffic rules - Tons of motorbikes - no real lanes - a bit hectic... But we survived and boarded a water taxi to take us to the Santa Maria. We gorged on a gigantic 10-course meal lunch - All very good! Next we sailed (or motored rather) amongst the thousands of karst limestone islands that make up Halong Bay (or the lonely sleeping dragon as legend has it)... I can't tell you how beautiful it was.

Words do not do it justice! We visited "Amazing Cave", which was, well, Amazing! Then we relaxed on board and waited for another gazillion course dinner. We ate like kings and then had our own private party with cake and champagne and of course, games :-) We were all pretty tired and crashed pretty early - only to be wide awake at 4 am this morning... (still not over the time difference)....

This morning after breakfast, we took kayaks into areas not reachable by the boat (i.e. beautiful caves and hidden little pools surrounded by towering green mountains). So much fun!!!! After that it was back to the boat to clean up (eat again) and head back to Halong City. Another crazy drive back to Ha Noi and then we were back!!

We spend this evening exploring Ha Noi a bit, making a stop at the water puppet theatre - very interesting and then walking to get our first taste of pho - After some pho ga we then headed to try the local beer and were gouged at 25 cents a beer!! :-) We then saw some rats (which Ally really hates) - It was a bit dramatic - there was screaming, standing on chairs and a fight between dog and rat - I'm not sure if this is bad luck as this is the Chinese year of the rat? hmm... We decided not to test our luck and headed back to our hotel where we sit and write and write and write. That is about it!

Tomorrow is our last day in Vietnam already (shortened due to our delayed arrival).. Ironically, my stomach has fared much better here than in the San Francisco General Hospital. :-) We're both alive and kicking! From there its on to Bangkok!! Hope you are well - bye for now!

Year of the Rat - (by Ally, not a lover of the rat, even the cute ones that look like mice as depicted by the Chinese)
Although Halong bay was a fun adventure, I was TRAUMATIZED later this evening! We went out for a beer tonight to try some vietnamese beer at a place that is supposedly very authentic.... the beer was decent and only 25 cents... but I saw THREE HUGE rats! Huge is an understatement! They looked like cats! The dog eventually killed one of them which took about 5 minutes! We were the only customers in there, and I was literally shrieking and standing on my chair! When the dog brought the rat right next to our table, I was seconds away from shimmying up the column!!!!! Everyone else thought it was pretty amusing, but I HATE rats! And they were squealing! uuuugggghhhh.... SO GROSS! I RAN out of there (and spotted another rat on the way out!) and shuddered all the way home! I am sticking to the clean bars from now on! AHH! It's worth the extra quarter for a beer! ;)

Good Morning Vietnam! (it's actually good night)...

Via Kate:
Hello from Vietnam! We finally made it here after a little bit of a delay and are now safetly settled into our hotel in Hanoi.

Day 1 started off a little rocky... I arrived in San Francisco on Thursday night and all was well. By 10:00 that night I had become violently ill and was vomiting blood. (sorry for all the nasty details). I realized that I could not get on the 14 hour flight to Hong Kong and Ally ran up to the ticket counter and switched our flight to Friday at noon. They pulled our packs of the plane and Ally hauled all of our crap to the front because I could barely walk (and had to make several stops at all of the bathrooms in the international terminal).. We took a cab to her car and went in search of urgent care/hospitals. We didn't know where to go for several reasons - After both of our time living in SF, neither one of us had to really visit a hospital, and secondly, I had new insurance from my new job and had no insurance card yet...hmmm.... So next comes our first error.

We went to San Francisco General Hospital. It's really big and we knew were it was. We should have stopped there. Arrived at this place and I have to tell you its one of the dirtiest places I have ever been in. That didn't stop us though - My urge to vomit and die made us stay. They got us right in to the triage nurse who evaluated me and because I wasn't half dead from gunshot wounds, was placed in the waiting room amonst San Francisco's finest assortment of mentally ill bums. And there we sat. I kept wanting to leave but was thinking it would be any minute and they would take me. Did I mention that we were sitting upright in the most uncomfortable metal chairs ever??? I thought I might die and finally after almost 4 hours, we saw the triage nurse again. I think after 5 hours I was given a bed and then a nurse came and gave me the most painful IV ever. I laid there for another hour (ally was afraid to sit as it was so dirty in there) and finally a medical student came to evaluate me. Soon it became apparent that I was not going to be out in time to make our noon flight. Ally called the airlines. There were no more flights available until TUESDAY! However, there was one ticket on the midnight flight that night (Friday).... I convinced her to leave on the noon flight (which also had a night layover in Hong Kong) in the hopes that I would be well enough to fly that night... Reluctantly she left.

Ally's side of the story...
I left katie in her room with the medical student (still haven't seen the doctor!) at 7 to e-mail our hotel and let them know we weren't going to make it and get some much needed coffee. At 9:10 when I got back to the hospital, kate said that the doctors wanted to do a scan on her to make sure it wasn't appedicitis, but that she was probably okay, and just had a virus. It was pretty clear that we were not going to make the noon flight.... so I called the airlines to reschedule. It turned out that there was only 1 more seat on the midnight flight and if we both didn't get on that, we wouldn't be able to get to hanoi until tuesday afternoon! Since we are leaving thursday for thailand, we didn't like that option.... so in a last minute decision, we decided I should take the noon flight and spend the night in hong kong and kate would take the midnight flight and I would meet her in hong kong on sunday morning and we would fly to hanoi together sunday afternoon. At this point it was 9:50 and I was supposed to be at the airport at 10! I had to leave poor kate in her hospital gown and just gave her a big hug before RUNNING out of the hospital, praying that I would indeed see kate 24 hours later! I made it to the airport by 10:30 and fortunately flew through check in and security, making it to the gate with time to spare. At this point, I hadn't slept in 2 days, and the night before I left I had only slept about 3 and a half hours... but I didn't want to sleep too much on the plane since i was arriving in hong kong at 6 and needed to get up again at 5 to meet kate. I fortunately found a hotel (although I still have NO CLUE where it is) and bought the lonely planet "hong kong experience" book.

Meanwhile in San franciso...
I laid there quite a bit longer - Had tests run - I will spare you the details except that it was one of the worst and most humiliating days of my life. They finally released me Friday afternoon, not really telling me what was wrong, just that my appendix wasn't awry like they had suspected. Ahh sigh of relief. My friend Russell came to the rescue and picked me up dirty and very upset from this very nasty place. He took me to his and Katie K's place where I subsequently showered and crashed while he filled my prescription and did my laundry (you don't want to know....). He also fed me good stomach sick food such as crackers and 7Up. Thank goodness for wonderful friends. I woke up at 7ish still unsure that i could make the flight. I felt miserable - My stomach was off, I had NO energy and felt slightly feverish.... Not how you want to feel getting on a 14 hour flight to Asia. Russell and Katie helped me up and to pack my newly washed clothes (THANKS SO MUCH) and Marian came over to take me to the airport. She and Kevin helped me carry my bags in and waited with me in the airport while I sipped sprite to make sure I was OK (THANKS SO MUCH GUYS!!)... I was feeling a bit better and made my way to the gate.

Got on the midnight flight to Hong Kong and fell asleep within minutes even though I had a center seat. I slept for a good 10-11 hours and woke up feeling all right. Got off at Hong Kong and made my way to look for Ally...

Meanwhile in Hong Kong (Ally) After checking in, I got to check my e-mail.... but no e-mail from kate telling me if she was coming or not! I freaked out a little and e-mailed Russell, who fortunatley called in the middle of the night to let me know that kate was on her way! (yeah, my phone works in hong kong!)

I tried to catch the 6am shuttle, but couldn't get on until 6:30. When I got to the airport, I found out that kate's plane was 40minutes early, so she had been there for almost an hour by the time I showed up and the area outside of customs looked almost empty! I was starting to worry, when I saw a lone girl sitting by the plants.... and it was Kate! :) I was SO HAPPY to see her alive and THERE in hong kong!!!

Back to Kate:
Found Ally outside of customs and was so happy! We had all morning and early afternoon to explore Hong Kong so we hitched the train to downtown. What a different world! It is such a big crazy city. We wandered around and first went to Ally's favorite building, a structural marvel, the Bank of China tower. Sadly it was closed (sunday) so we couldn't travel to the top but saw it in person none-the-less. We walked to the oldest temple in Hong Kong (Man Mo temple) and almost died of incense poisoning but it was cool. Then we went to get dim sum. Ally was very excited about this - As my stomach was still a bit off, I ate very little and sipped lots of yummy jasmine tea. After a short and sweet visit it was time to head back to the airport.

We next hopped a flight to Hanoi aboard Vietnam Airlines. I have to tell you that all of the Asian airliners are kept in much better shape than any of the american airlines... The flight was short and sweet and we arrived to Hanoi to a little guy holding a sign with our name. We headed into Hanoi on one of the craziest drives of my life... This city is filled with 10 gazillion people on motorbikes. There are no lights or stop signs or anything - Everyone just drives wherever - It is crazy. Oh, and they all honk too. I've never seen anything like it. This place is different than anyplace I have ever seen. We got to our hotel and we had to e-mail families to let them know we are alive and I'm slowly recovering from nasty stomach ailment... We plan to relax and take it easy as we are tired and tomorrow heading to Halong Bay for an overnight trip on a Chinese junk!!! So that is it for now! We will write more upon our return on Tuesday night! And yes, Mom, I am drinking plenty of fluids, taking medicine and taking vitamins and will get lots of sleep and be very careful.

Ta Ta for now!!

Last Night of Health

Here is a picture that Allison sent the other day from her visit to San Diego.  It's from a little Irish Pub in the Gaslamp District of San Diego - I can't remember the name now, but it was fun.  It's the last night of health before the miserable flu came.  Don't look sick at all do I?  Allison and Richard somehow escaped the evil bug. 

Anyways, I have to run.  I have a list 3 pages long of little things to take care of before I depart.  I haven't gotten too far......

See you in Hanoi!!

Flu Shots are for Babies and Old People?

It's true.  Well, not really.  I also heard once that you should get a flu shot if you work in health care or in a school or something.  But, I used to work in a closet, with only Karen to keep me company and she sure didn't have the flu!

Anyways, I got the flu.  The miserable bug struck without warning after a fun visit with Ally (in town to visit new baby Brady).  After a fun day watching football, headed to bed early as to get up early the next morning to take Ally to the airport.  Awoke Monday morning with a pesky cough... Dropped Ally at the airport and went back to sleep.  Woke up still not feeling all that great.  Went to see 27 Dresses with Karen (highly recommended chick flick) - During the movie felt the "chills" set in.  Left movie and was certain I had caught something terrible.  After missing work on Tuesday and worsening symptoms (high fever and terrible cough - general misery) finally went to a doctor on Wednesday for lovely nasal swab.  "Too late for antiviral - you should have come in earlier".  (note to self:  next time have flu (last time was circa 1988-ish knock on wood) go in right away to get antiviral).  Yes.  It's true.  I got the flu.  I spent the ENTIRE week in misery between big brown couch and bed - Brad came over periodically to make me soup and Theraflu (I was too weak to do so myself), but generally, I spent the entire week in isolation.  I did go in to the office for a quick good-bye from my old job and to pack my desk up.  FINALLY, dropped the fever on Saturday night after spending all day sleeping. 

Am happy to report I'm on the mend.  Besides a pesky cough that remains and the fact that I am physically exhausted, I am almost back to normal.  It really was even worse than I made it sound.  I hate the flu.  Next year, flu shot for me.  At least it was last week and not this week so close to our departure.

Well, must be off to bed.  Toodaloo for now!

The Things They Carried...

I know some of my smart friends will get the pun intended here. I have to admit I stole this title from an e-mail I received before a back-packing trip last summer in Big Sur. I didn't get the pun then, but have since learned its meaning. Anyways, I found it appropriate given that our first destination is Vietnam.

So the itenerary for this adventure is finalized. We're leaving in less than three weeks!!
Here it goes:
February 7/8 - Fly to Hanoi, Vietnam
We'll spend the next week exploring northern Vietnam - Most notably Hanoi and Halong Bay (aboard a Chinese junk!!)
February 14/16 - Bangkok, Thailand!
February 16/18 - Phuket, Thailand
February 18 - 28 - Sailing through the Thai Islands :)
February 28 - March 7 - exploring northern Malaysia - Most notably Langkawi, Penang, Cameron Highlands, Teman Negara and Kuala Lumpur
March 7 - Back to the States!

Special visas are required to enter Vietnam. These visas must be purchased from the Vietnamese Embassy in Washington D.C. ahead of time. Although it seemed like it might be a long process, I was impressed when I got my visa back from the embassy in less than a week!

Anyways, I think we are both very excited to get away for awhile!
Stay tuned!

How it all began...

Just who are Kate & Ally? - Some cheezy characters from an 80's sitcom? Nope, that's not us.

We're a couple of goofy engineers who met in grad school at Stanford about 6 years back. Dang, has it been that long?

Why do we have this cheezy blog you ask? Well, it seems we're off on more adventures. Rather than eating up valuable time and Dong, Baht, etc. sending multiple e-mails out at each stop along the way, we have created this blog so that you can follow along with us (and so our Moms don't worry if we've been abducted by some Asian bandito). We promise to make it just like us - as cheezy as possible. Read at your own free will and laugh at us if you must.

And so the story begins then, back in 2002 in a seedy (all right, it's as "seedy" as it gets in posh yuppy land) Palo Alto bar called "The Nuthouse". Kate (AKA Katie, Katieliz, Kathryn [angry tone only]) often frequented the Nuthouse on Thursday nights with her fellow "fluid mechanics" buddies. Ally (AKA Allison, Jo-Mo) was a Master's student in the same department but in the Structural Engineering group. Both had a strong like of beer after a hard week of school on a Thursday night and soon the 2 groups of friends merged, hence Kate and Ally became friends.
The first adventure came upon the suggestion of a mutal friend at the end of their Master's Studies in 2003. A group of Stanford friends decided to drive a Winebago down to Rosarito, Mexico over Memorial Weekend. The weekend was, shall we say, memorable... (note Ally's strong affection for tequila in the accompanying picture)... There's not much more to say outside of this picture...

After a lovely year achieving their Master's Degrees, Ally headed towards the bright lights and big city of San Francisco, while Kate opted for the suburban drone-life of San Jose. Still adventures ensued..

It was decided that the Memorial Weekend trip should be somewhat of an annual tradition. Next up was Zion National Park in southwestern Utah. A group of 20 or so friends traveled to this beautiful land for a trek through the famous "Narrows". The hike included 16 miles through the Virgin River bed surrounded by the highest sandstone cliffs in the world. It was an incredible journey! *Special Thanks to Kate's favorite sister Amanda who recommended this hike to her after completing it with friends while living in Park City* This picture of the two was taken at the very beginning of the hike around 5 a.m.!

After a brief stint in the South Bay, Kate decided to join Ally and other friends in San Francisco and the two opted for adventures close to home such as Kate's former neighborhood - Haight Ashbury. Great fun was had at the Oak Street abode such as the Mexican Fiesta for Kate's birthday... It seems the tequila gods were smiling upon the two after a long night dancing the Mexican Hat Dance...

Craving greater adventure, the two then set out for Europe. Greece was the first destination, pending another suggestion from Kate's favorite sister Amanda. The two flew to Athens and then off to the east to sail through the Dodecanese Islands with Kate's college friend, Mark (aka. Marcus Aurelius, or Marky - arrr!). The trip to Greece was such an amazing adventure. The three lived upon a sail boat with 5 others (Long live the Angelina!) and experienced sailing the beautiful Mediterranean, swimming, cliff jumping and some amazing Greek food and beverage. The picture below is from the island of Leros - traveled by moped, which Kate refused to drive...This picture should illustrate the true nature of their gooberness...

From Greece, it was on to Italy, which the two traversed by train. Stops were made in Milan, Verona, Venezia, Firenze, Cinque Terre, and finally Roma. This adventure included daily gorging of pizza, pasta, liters of red wine, tiramisu and mandatory gelato (at least once per day). Ten pounds heavier, a bike tour was taken through the Chianti region of Italy outside of Firenze (see picture below with Firenze in the background - Bella!). Here fine Chianti wines were sampled. It was close to paradise!

Alas, it was bound to end and after a wonderful 3 and a half weeks it was time to return home. Ally and Kate returned to the US to beautiful San Francisco, happy, but excited for more adventure. A list was made - more destinations to reach together (if only more time and money).

Life settled back to "normal" (if there is such a thing) in San Francisco. Much fun was had around the beautiful City - Barrel Tasting in the Russian River, the annual Bay to Breakers run through San Francisco, bike rides over the Golden Gate Bridge and through Marin County and local hikes to Mt. Tam...

Then in 2006, Kate accepted a transfer to San Diego! The two vowed to continue on with their adventures even from different sides of the state! Over the summer of 2006, Kate moved to San Diego and Ally traveled to Costa Rica to do some volunteer work. Kate decided to take a quick "weekend getaway" to visit Ally for her birthday. The trip was spent in Manuel Antonio hiking through the jungles, monkey-watching, laying on the beach and sipping cocktails by the beautiful Central American sunset. It seemed life couldn't get any better!

Later on that year, the two re-convened in beautiful Monterey/Carmel with Kate's former roommate Russell for the Best Buddies Hearst Castle Challenge. This was a century ride (100 miles) by bike from Carmel to San Simeon along the beautiful California Coast on Route 1. It is perhaps one of the most beautiful places on this Earth. Both Kate and Ally raised money for the Best Buddies Foundation - an organization that helps mentally challenged individuals. It was such a fabulous adventure.

After successfully finishing this fete, a party was held at the Hearst Castle where the friends rocked out to Third Eye Blind and met celebrities such as California's First Lady (Maria) and Carl Lewis. The two friends felt pretty cool adorned in their new hats complements of a bike mechanic met earlier on the ride!

And why stop there? After the Best Buddies ride, a trip to Hawaii (Ally's homeland) was put in the works for Christmas! More adventures were had biking from Honolulu to the North Shore with the Jo-Mo family on Christmas Day! Below is a picture of Oldest Jo-Mo with her favorite little "sisters".

The new year came quickly and Memorial Day once again approached. Next it was off to Sequoia National Park in eastern California for some camping with friends! This picture was taken in the coldest waterfall ever!!

And then there were no more adventures... The rest of 2007 was quiet! Was this the end?? No. Never! And so the two are now planning the trip of a lifetime (again). This time they will head to Southeast Asia. Their jouneys will be recorded here so that you, too, may find your very own spirit of adventure (or at least get a good laugh in). So come back and visit again - Departure Date is February 7!