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!!