Signing Off From Southeast Asia =(

Back in Bangkok. Leaving for the airport in 8hours exactly, SO sad about this. We just wanted to make this a quick one to wrap it all up. We've been up to a lot (mostly shopping) in Bangkok and maybe we'll update when we get home but in case we dont...

Been the best trip ever. We will miss it here so much and we're not sure if we can be normal, functioning citizens again but I suppose we'll have to try. Can't wait to see everyone and catch up.

Also, might post a whole bunch of pictures from home. PLus, Natalie will be using this for Europe in the summer and Steph might also from wherever it is she ends up.

Off to have our last buckets on Khao San Road....see you on the other side

xo

On last Hurrah (Vietnam Pt 2)

Continued...See below post first, technical difficulties confuse things

After a final day of relaxation we decided to hit the elusive beach in Hoi An (which involved a 5km very scenic bike ride through this farming area (Below)). This beach was very different from the ones we had been used to. It was completely secluded and the water stretched on forever, and it was beautiful.
Later that night, we boarded a 14 hour over night train (the first of this trip, first ever actually) for Hanoi.The train was smelly and our cabin had a loud snoring Vietnamese man in it, and the food was DISGUSTING, but overall it was better than the bus, a lot better. We arrived in hanoi at 430 am and took the morning off (obviously). We woke later to go to the Prisoners of War museum (though we're kind of done with war museums in general) and the temple of literacy (which was nice because it is chinese style, dedicated to confucious, and we hear he's a cool guy when he wants to be). We also booked our boat cruise/trip thingy to Halong Bay for the next day. Pretty much everyone here does one and though we only had time for the one night trip, we wanted to give it a shot.

As part of this trip we visited some caves (which really, if you ask us, are incredibly tacky excuses for deciding rocks look like all animals, dragons, turtles, etc. along with a waterfall that was "50% natural and 50% man made", we're guessing the water pump is the fifty percent man made, liars). We then went to a charming little floating fishing village where everyone lived pretty far apart on separate barges (don't know how they kept dogs there but they did), and took a smaller boat through two caves and around to see the school.We met some great people as part of our last hurrah of travelling and spent the night in darkness or the boats' terrace.The boat was "basic" but it was our home for the night and with all homes, we came to love it. Of course this was largely due to discovering our cabin was free of rats, cockroaches and otherwise scary creatures. It was also Halong Bay, so you don't need much to enjoy the scenery.

The second day was essentially just tanning, some swimming, and lots of reading. Overall it was a great last tour of our travels.

Now, we await our evening flight to Bangkok for two days of shopping, sight seeing, and *hopefully* a little bit of a reunion with whoever happens to be around. As long as we keep far away from those young'uns just beginning their trip...

Vietnam Part One (we'll make the next title more creative)

As promised!!! So, we last left off in Saigon. If we have time, we will update the last post with more pictures too as this computer seems to be working okay so check that after! Anyway, we left HCM City for Nha Trang on the overnight bus which took about 10hours but it was well worth it. The beach was just beautiful with a very Miami feel to it. The water was a bit too rough for swimming though but we know when to not complain. Nha Trang was also very fun at night. We found several cool places and wherever you look there were people just like us (big change from Southern Laos). For some reason we only have this picture from our nights out but we feel its pretty characteristic of how our Nha Trang evenings progressed.
After a few too many nights out in Nha Trang we once again boarded a night bus and headed 11hours to Hoi An. We were sooo excited about this place because its where you get all your tailor made clothes done. At first it was so exciting, you get to look in catalogues and magazines and pick out what you like then after you go through each item and pick out fabric that you want it made in and discuss details. It soon became a nightmare. So much we wanted, so much confusion, difficult decisions, too high prices, people everywhere in the tiny store, baahhh just a lot of stress for shopping! As can be seen below, Steph starting to lose it.

We emerged much poorer and with a new suitcase filled with clothes and shoes (thats right, they do shoes too!). We stayed awhile in Hoi An because you are constantly going in for fittings then adjustments are made then you have another fitting then more adjustments ahhhh and of course we didnt do it all at one store so we were baisically running around town all day every day. But again, we know not to complain!

Hoi An was really pretty although a bit quiet but a nice change from Nha Trang. We ate extremly well (personally i think Vietnam has the best food by far) and had nice relaxing nights drinking wine and eating deserts yuuumm. Okay having some technical difficulties so we have to start a new post but just in case we dont include it later, heres a picture of Halong Bay (we'll get too that in a bit...)

IT LIVES!!!!!!!!!! (as do we)

I'm not sure exactly what Vietnam has against our blog but since we left Saigon we have been under the impression that our website was down and dead for good. Turns out you all could see the posts and thought we were just being lazy while all we could get was error page after error page....yeesh, technology.

So we no longer carry our USB cords with us since we thought this site was a lost cause thus no pictures right now which is a shame because we have so many to update (especially since last post we meant to post about a million more). Promise to update HUGELY on April 2nd so get excited!

Briefly - loved Siagon; stayed in Nha Trang (beach town, much like Southbeach) for many nights: partied till the sun came up, tanned until the sun went down; travelled 11hours to Hoi An: picked out clothes, got fitted, refitted, picked out shoes, got fitted, refitted, ate ate ate, tried to meet up with Cam (complete failure, so sad); finally, travelled 14hours on sleeper train to Hanoi which is where we are now.

Tomorrow we leave for Halong Bay for two days and one night. We will be sleeping on a big boat tomorrow night. It was on Amazing Race last season so I am way overly excited. But apparently its crap weather lately so we will see......

Okay promise, when we are back from Halong, we will post a glorious post! Till then....

Temples, Genocides, War.....and a Waterpark!

Well, we are sadly on the last leg of our journey (or race as we like to say). We have survived Cambodia which was not nearly as difficult as we thought. I will be posting pictures from siem reap and angkor wat. But we have also been through Phnom Penh and Sihanoukville (the Cambodian Beaches). We are now in Ho Chi Minh (Saigon), Vietnam (along with the one and only miss angelina jolie...they weren't at the water park though, which we thought was a sure thing to do witha new adopted child, oh well).

This is Angkor Wat...obviously the main attraction at angkor. This was on our first day there, though we made it back for sunset the second day. Armed with our own chauffeur forthe day (which we subsequently lost, but there was no shortge of them willing to drive us), we started at the largest religious building in the world. The pictures will not do this place justice. Nat and I just felt glad that we had the chance to see it.

This picture was a must have. Its really just that the orange and red of the monks robes standout really well on the grey temple background.

Bayon Temple (my personal favourite) had around 216 faces made out of stone, EVERYWHERE.

Angkor Thom was another amazing one. With most of the temples, the jungle had been cleared away to make them easier for the busloads of tourists to walk through, for this one, the trees had been left in place and they literally had roots over the temples. I have no idea how to explain how that works...but it does. This was also a setting where Ms. Jolie taped some of tomb raider...she has been somewhat constant throughout this trip.

After Two days of temples (highlighted above) we took some time off on Bar St. This was one night when we met a couple who were living in Singapore, but originally from canada one of them gave Curly her camera. he took maybe 50 pictures and was very amused with it. As was his sister thsekids actually work the strip of bars. we bought them some food the night before but there's really not much you can do. other than play with them a bit.

After a day off from sightseeing, we traveled to Phnom Penh (Capital of Cambodia). Here we took in some of the History that as it turns out doesnt make all that much sense (as could be imagined duirng genocides). There were the killing fields, which is where people were killed and buried in mass graves (now commemorated by a monument) and the Tong Sleung Genocide museum which was a school before the khmer rouge (i think), turned it into a prison and torture building. So, needless to say, not the best day, but necessary all the same.

From phnom penh we went to Sihanoukville, Cambodia (the beaches in the south) to rest for a few days, and figured St. patty's might be good to spend on the beach. turns out it was successfully the worst St Pattys day ever. I won't get into details, it was just nothing to what we're used to.

From Sihanoukville, we crossed the border into Vietnam. Now in Saigon we have been to a waterpark, which was quitefun and pretty self-explanatory, except you don't have to carry your tubes to the top of the slide. there is a conveyor belt to take them for you....genious. They also had a black hole type slide (wonderland reminiscent) that made scary noises as you went down.

After a night of celebration (of Nat's acceptance to NYU) we visited the war museum and got a dose of ...well war. Tonight we will be leaving for Nha Trang (more beaches!!!) and then Hoi An (tailor made clothes !!!) and then...

Love you,miss you. Love the comments!!! (but keep em comin!)

p.s. Meant to have more pics, they won't load....

Southern Laos: An Education on Bad Transportation and Really Old Fossils

Yes we have been bad again! But this time, it wasn't our fault! Anyway lets just get right down to it -

We arrived in Vientiane, Laos (capital city) where we said goodbye to Arie and Alex and where Steph, Jacco, Kathy and I had one last night together. So, in celebration, we went bowling. I wish I could upload the pictures now as they are pretty humourous but Cambodia (where we are now) really will not allow for that at all. The next day Jacco left us and Kathy, Steph and I decided to work our way down the South of Laos. Bad idea. Although we have a huge, massive amount of love for Laos, Southern Laos did not leave us all that happy. First of all, there was the transportation. Looooong hours on non air conditioned buses where not only is every seat taken but there are also stools in the middle of the aisles where another person sits. Oh yes and there are also people standing at the front of the bus. This inevitabley leads to flat tires, tons of body heat, and general misery. Also, we discovered that Southern Laos is the hottest place in the entire world. So inside the bus is probably around 40degrees C and if that bus stops for a single second (like say for a flat) allowing for no more wind thru the windows, you kind of are halfway between wanting to die and feeling like you might die pretty soon. But DONT WORRY! After one particularily peculiar 20hour journey (overnight so much less hot) that included on our bus a rooster, a man in the middle of the aisle smoking 4 cigerettes an hour and a leaky ceiling, we arrived in Si Phan Don - the 4000 Islands - at the very most Southern tip of Laos.

While journerying down through the South we stopped in Th Khaek (quite boring) and Savannakhet. There we went to the Dinosaur Museum which turned out to be just one room with bones in it. But it was our lucky day because the owner came in to talk to us and he was very cool, we learnt lots about dinosaurs and even got to hold 110million year old bones! Including a T-Rex tooth! You should have seen us, we were like elementry school children, so giddy about it all! Its a good thing we enjoyed it because besides trekking, its really the only thing to do in Savannakhet! Speaking of, Kathy and I (steph had a sore throat so stayed home) went on a one day trek where we met quite possibly the coolest locals and got to eat things in the forest like leaves that tasted like lemons or this really sticky fruit that monkeys really like. Kathy and I also spent a night at a local disco where we were the only white people for miles which lead to everybody staring at us the entire time we were there. BUt they played really good music and we hadn't had a night out in so long so we got over the staring and had a fabulous time!

After finally reaching the 4000 Islands, the three of us rented bikes and rode to a waterfall that is the most volume of water waterfall in all of Asia. It was a beautiful bike ride and very fun altho a little painful as the roads were very rocky and unpaved! The next day we left Kathy and crossed the boarder into Cambodia and that is where we are now! First we made a stop in Kratie where we got to see rare fresh water Dolphins. They were very weird looking but it was a very relaxing activity - floating in the Mekong while the sun set, observing dolphins jumping around you - after so many days of traveling. Especially because crossing the boarder was no piece of cake either (non air conditioned extended mini van where we sat in the sun in the back of the van for a few hours, soooo hot).

Now we are in Siem Reap, Cambodia. So far we love Cambodia the most out of all the places we have been which is wonderful because we were always sort of expecting Cambodia to be a challenege for us (based on others accounts) but its been nothing but pleasant and enjoyable. We spent two entire days visiting Angkor. We thought we'd just be seeing Angkor Wat but turns out Angkor is like an ancient city of temples and it streteches at least 30km! You have to hire a tuk tuk driver for the day who takes you all around and only hired cars and motorbikes are allowed to drive in the area. But we really need pictures to coincide with our Angkor stories so maybe in Phnom Penn we will have better internet access and thus a proper post about Angkor Wat and the temples of Angkor. They are just too beautiful, intricate, ancient and crazy too describe without pictures!

Off to Phonm Penn tomorrow, it will be hard to leave Siem Reap, we really do love it here.

Also, what is with the lack of comments? Andy, I think Marnie enjoys your comments more than the actual blog so get on it. And sam i know u are our most faithful reader, show us some love. Miss you guys...but wow, we are going to be home soon.....

Moving To Laos, Becoming Professional Tubers

Once getting our act together after arriving in Vang Vieng, we booked a day trip to go kayaking and also some local caves (caves are a big thing here). we quickly realized tours here involve a lotof waiting. our guide was the only fat laos man we have seen and he was at least entertaining by eating bright blue bugs off the trees. we saw three caves in total. pretty generic, but fun because we needed flashlights to see and they were really big. The third cavewas by far the highlght of the day as we got to get on tubes and float through it. at the end there was a pool that we swam in "for youth and luck". we still had to keep our lights on when swimmng though because it was so dark.

After the caves we visited a village outside ofvangvieng and our guide described the type of living ofthe particular tribe members of the village. it was a nice change from "you have fifteen minutes to shop" type villages of most tours.

we also went kayaking along the Nam song river where there are bars lining the sides and where the cities main attraction, tubing, takes place. we quickly learned that our kayaking skills need some work so needless to say, there won't be full days of kayaking in our future but it was still a goodtime. we got a preview for our tubing day by stoppping at one bar. i (steph) did my first swing, in preparation for future river times.

The next day, with the news that Arie and Alex would be coming to Vang Vieng sooner than we anticipated, we decided to wait until the day after to go tubing. So with a free day, the brit boys who have joined us again decided they wanted to explore some caves nearby. The Lonely Planet said it was a 7km walk and I was feeling a little in need of some exercising so I (Natalie) went along. 7km didnt sound bad at the time. Steph, being the smart girl she is, opted to spend the day with Jacco and the many resteraunts around town playing non-stop Friends episodes. So off we went in the stifiling hot Laos day. The first cave was close by and only up a few bajilion stairs (first sign of a tough day ahead) but the view was worth it.

The first cave was really big and long but had stairs and railings and lights all along it so it didnt really feel authentic at all. We then had a swim in a little lagoon before heading off for our 7km walk to the next cave. Someone really should have told me how long that amount of walking takes. By the time we reached the lagoon and cave our feet were aching and we were covered in dust and dirt. And by the time we got outof the lagoon (NEEDED to cool down), we barely had any time left to explore the cave (which was a 200m rock climb, pretty rough after allthat walking). But the cave was beautiful and extremly big. I've never seen anything quite like it. Hard to see in pictures but i could have stayed there for quite awhile just enjoying it. Thankfully, we got a tractor ride home and made it back just before the sun went down.

The next day, our group was ready, overly excited, in celebration mode (alexs birthday) and most importantly, finally all together! Arie her boyfriend Alex, Arie's friend from childhood Kathy, Jacco, Steph, me and Anthony and Fred (the british boys we left in Koh Tao but who missed us too much to stay away for too long, obviously) had a nice big breakfast and then headed to rent our tubes and dry bags for the day. The wavers we signed stipulated that the tubes needed to be returned by 6pm and no one thought twice about this, afterall who tubes until it gets dark? Well turns out we do. but more bout that later. We got on our tubes and floated down the river for approxiomately one minute before stopping at the first riverside bar. Actually it was mostly a bamboo raised platform with a woman selling Beer Lao.

clockwise from left Kathy, Arie, Steph, Fred, Jacco, Alex, Anthony

After our first beer of the day and free shot of Lao Lao (we were celebrating a birthday so we had to do it but it still tasted like the worst thing that has ever been created) and getting aquainted with the zip lign, we were off again. Although once again we made it about a minute in the water then got out again to sample the beer at the next bar as well as their rope swing.

As you can imagine, the day pretty much progressed like this. Tube a bit, get stuck in the rapids (dry season water sports not so efficient), paddle with flip flops, stop at bars and drink and swing and eat. Before we knew it, it was suddenly very late. And we had a 30min ride to our final destination. We knew we were in trouble when we noticed the moon was already out. Somehow though we made it and just as it was getting way too dark outside we boarded a tuk tuk and ended our amazing, fabulous, wonderful day of tubing fun.

Now the boys have left us again, Jacco starts heading towards Cambodia tomorrow, Kathy, Arie and Alex are departing too and Steph and I will be back on our own again with no set plans in mind. After being in a group for almost a month now, we're not sure we remember how to travel by ourselves anymore! But oh well, lots to see and do so we must be on our way.

Same Same, but Different

We have finally made it out of Thailand and it was a very difficult farewell. Afterall, it had been so good to us. And there was a few loose ends to cover up before we could leave. Luckily Chiang mai is the perfect place for that. After recovering from our trek with an oil massage (1 hour for 8 dollars) we enjoyed some thai boxing at the arena. We missed the canadian guy that got knocked out but apprently put up a good fight, and made it in time to witness a norweigian knock out the thai, very dramatic.

Before leaving we needed to learn more about the culture, especially our favourite part, eating!!! at a cooking class with a cute little thai women named wendy, we each got to chose three dishes and then we cooked them. Then we ate them!That night we celebrated our second-last night in thailand AND Birthday week (Natalie and arie's, eventhough it was a month late) in Chiang Mai at a "roof top" bar that had cockroaches in the bathroom (i only found out at the end of the night, i was just happy the bathroom toilet flushed).
Making new friends of every species, as always:

The next day we visited the "must see" temple onthe chang mai mountain which was really nice. We got blessed by monks for good luck and it was chinese new year so there were a lot of people there.





After one more night of night-market shopping we left for the town Chang Khong, which really only makes money from tourists staying there before crossing the border to Laos. after getting to Laos and discovering what it feels like to be millionaires, we boarded our new home. The ENGINE room of a long boat. yes, there was too little space for the eight of us to sit on the spacious and very uncomfortable looking wooden benches lining the walls so we made the engine room our "university apartment" for the day. After settling into our fate we soon found it quite comfortable. everyone had space to lie down, walk around, play cards and drink "beerlao". We even managed to ignore the people coming to the back to take pictures of us like we were refugees and talking about reporting the boat to the tourist board. A very funny concept if you think about it. After a night of no engine noise but very rude company in the town of pak beng (cockroaches and no electricity after 10, oh, and a guy knocking on your door at 730 am asking for more money) we decided we liked our engine room better. I even got comfortable anough with the engine to sleep right next to it with only temporary hearing problems when we returned to it the next day.


Once in Luang Prabang we understood (finally) what the Lonely plant kept saying about Laos being relaxed and easy. Luang Prabang (our first stop) was like a monk town. we began to notice that everything revolved around them. The dress was more conservative, the mornings were earlier, and everything quieted by 10 pm, then stopped at midnight (the monks need their sleep). During the first day we simply wandered the town. Arie and Alex decided they would leave the next day so at night we went to Lao lao garden and met up with people from our engine room. The main discovery of this night was that lao lao (lao whisky) tastes like crap and subsequently all other lao alcohol tastes like lao lao. Beerlao is good though, at least they got one thing right.


The next day we went on a day tour to some villages with really nice jewelery and scarves, then to caves tat are now temples on the banks of the mekong. Finally we went to really nice waterfalls. they loooked almost like fake waterfalls in pools at resorts. Natalie worked up the courage to jump off one of the waterfalls while i discovered my lack of interest in jumping from high place into water...i was still proud of her though and played photographer.





After returning to town we taught english by dropping into what seemed like an after school program. the kids were really sweet. besides paying more attention to the toys most of the time, they were quite quick learners. I even had some time helping two 15 and 16 year olds to read.

The following day we took a private minivan through the very windy roads of the lao countryside down to Vang vieng. It was quite a good trip, especially passing through the villages and by people on the highway. One thing particularly interesting (put lightly) was the guys with guns, in civilian clothes, patrolling every so often on the side of the highway, to which our driver would toss a pack of cigarettes out the window. The only thing we could think of is that the men were protecting the stretch of highway and our driver was showing his appreciation. Apparently there are a lot of shootings there. I didnt ask any more questions, thought it best not to.

Now in Vang Vieng with our two amatuer (sp?) photographers jacco and jason, we are planning tubing and caving, maybe some kayaking and hoping to meet back up with Arie and Alex and possibly others in the coming days. We will keep you all posted with more stories!!!

xo

Oh My Buddha!

We have returned from the bush! Although we are definitly a lot less pretty than when ew first went in. The bug bites on us are disgusting - not just musquitos but gross blood sucksing flies that levae ur skin swollen and red, and ants that give u bumpy bites that hurt! Not to mention all the scratches and bruises all over us. But we did have us a lot of fun.

Our first morning the group of us (Steph and I, Arie and Alex, Jacko, and two new people Kym and Jason) got driven about an hour away. First off we got to ride elephants which we have been excited about since way before we left Canada!!! Elmer, our elephant, was much like us in that he couldnt do much without eating in between. It took us a very long time to go not a very far distance cuz he kept on eating and eating and eating. It was so much fun though.

We then hiked for awhile until we got to our first waterfall of the trek where we went swimming and cooled off. After a few hours of hiking in the jungle, we always ended up at a waterfall for cooling whcih was alllwaaayyss nice and very appriciated! We hiked for a bit longer after then played a game of football (soccer) on a dusty soccer pitch that was very slippery!!!

The first night we all slept on mattresses in a little bamboo longhouse-like room (very "THe Beach") after eating yummy green curry, playing a round of Kings and hanging out by the fire. The village was beautiful and a great place to stay although the showers were the coldest thing that exists in the world (and we have gotten used to cold showers!).

The next day was rough. Around 6 hours of hiking altogether with the last 30mins being absolutly brutal and almost killing us. WE finally got to our place for the night which was right on a waterfall which doubled as our shower. Unforntunatly we only had bamboo floor to sleep on that night and also this village seemed to be the coldest place in Thailand. None of us really slept at all, it was the coldest night of my life (and I have been camping in -40 degree weather!).

The final day our muscles were shot and going downhill was extremly painful! A faily of dogs followed us the whole way, they were so adorable and entertaining. Finally, we got to our rafting site where we piled onto bamboo rafts and went down the river where chaos ensued. There were many times when we thought for sure we were going to die. A lot of raft jumping and torturing each other in the freezing cold water. And we almost lost yet another pair of flip flops!!! But in the end we emerged alive, still with shoes, and very very very very very wet. *no pics cuz we didnt have our bags*

Last night we relished in being back to normality. Went out for a large dinner then Jacko, Steph and I finally had messages while Arie got herself a pedicure. It was fffaaabulous. And only 8$! Still hurting, we might have to go back tonight! After messages we headed to a Thai boxing match! Very cool, weird and kinda funny at times.

Now we are trying to figure out our next steph. Going to Laos either tomorrow or the next day. Its going to be very hard to say goodbye to Thailand =(

**picture uploading is not co-operating today so thats why the lack of pics**

From MTL to BKK

Well, well. After about a trillion emails, a handful of very expensive long distance phone calls, and mooonntthsss of missing her dearly we finally reunited with ARIE! Really, it feels like we have been seeing her all this time and that it hasnt been almost a year and a half since we last said goodbye at Korova all those months ago.

We all met on Khoa San Road where the group of us (Steph and I, the Koh Tao /Canadian-Sweedish pair, Arie, her boyfriend Alex and their friend) found a bar along the street and got ourselves caught up. Maybe it was the three of us being together again but it really felt a lot like St.Laurent and oh say the Vol patio. Actually I kinda feel like Khoa San Road is almost exactly like St.Laurent except dirtier, with pushy people trying to sell you things, drinks that come in bucket form rather than two-for-one, and with an earlier closing time (who woulda known khoa san shuts down so early?).

After a good few hours we headed out to finish off our previous nights plans. The tuk tuk ride to our next location of course turned into a tuk tuk race with lots of picture taking of one another and escalating rude gestures.

The next day the 7 of us took off to Chang Mai and 12 hours on a bus later we have arrived. Tomorrow we leave for our 3 day trek through the Northern Thailand jungle! So excited! Unfortunatly this means we won't be able to contact anyone much for a few days but we promise lots of pics to come after the trek. ANd if everything goes as planned, they should be the best pictures as of yet!

Miss you all!

P.S. Chang Mai is cold!

Tales of Flip Flop Theft

SORRY!!!! We've been horrible, and we know it. But i think we are going to have to blame this delay in posting on Koh pha ngan and its ability to suck out any functional human activity from all of its visitors. We did survive the full moon party! And what a party it was!!! However, its probably best described with pictures and unfortunatly they are being held hostage from us until our friend Kevin (our first American of the trip!) can post them for us. So deets of our amazing full moon night to come....

On the whole, Koh Pha Gnan can best be described by two concepts: insane partying and flip flop theft. We enjoyed the island with fred and anthony - one of who we met in singapore - and together we did a lot of lounging on Sunrise beach (where the full moon party took place) which had very wavy water finally, and enjoyed many a video and dinner resteraunt on the nights we took off from partying. We even managed to find a place that played sex and the city and served falafal - perfection! we stayed there for a good two hours...

just a little pic of the fun had on the island. please note that fred is also taking a picture of this and that neither of them was able to sip the undisclosed beverage for several tries as we were all laughing too hard. gooood times.

our home.

Seven pairs of flip flops and countless loss of brain cells later we packed up and took the team to Koh tao. or so we tried...on our first attempt at leaving the island we accidently missed the last ferry and so we rented a jeep for the day and drove around the island. its a very hilly and beautiful island with gorgeous views from the back of a jeep, not a day wasted at all. At one point we even came across 5 elephants at the side of the road, much like you see cows at home!!!

eventually the next day we made it to koh tao and fred signed up for his open water course as the rest of us are cool and experienced and certified scuba divers! thanks to him signing up we got to take advantage of cheaper accpmidation they provide....thank god as everywhere else on the island was booked up with the overflow of people continuing their travels from koh pha gnan and the party (as its the neighboring island). so once again we got to enjoy the splendidness that is koh tao except this time we always had a word of the day the boys would teach us as they say we dont speak proper english (our favourite was "pastings" tho we are still deciphering the true american english translation). the word could never be premeditated, it just had to come up in conversation. so this time around, we learned on koh tao and had a real cultural experience! or so we can pretend. we also filled our days with countless rounds of very intensely competitive cards. it got a little ugly sometimes.

sadly, after 11 days together, we said goodbye to the team. it was sad to go our seperate ways but Steph and i had to head up to bangkok to sort out vietnam visas and meet ARIE!!!! last night we went out with a friend from koh tao that we met one of our very first nights of traveling and his um girlfriend i guess...either way we went out for dinner on Khao San Road and then were heading by tuk tuk to a further location (we wont get specific but lets just say it involves a banana, a cigerette, and the writing of a letter) when suddenly a motor bike pulled up beside us as we were speeding down the street and grabbed the purse of the sweedish girl right off of her!!1 it was the quickest thing i have ever seen. Unfortunatly it was the second time its happened to her so she was more composed than either steph or i would have been if it had been us. sooo instead of cappiong the night off with a wild adventure and a good time, we ended up at the police station till 2am. ah well, we're meeting in 30mins to try to give the night a go again. anndddddd we will be seeing arie for the first time since november 2005............so gotta run!!! sorry for being so bad with the postings and we'll keep trying to be better!!!

to leave u, heres a sideways pic of mbk the best mall in the world that steph and i are probably going to live in forever here in bangkok. if u need us, look there.

xo

We love Singapore, but Singapore doesn't love us back

We have finally found some time on the internet AND a computer that uploads our pictures! So here we go....I guess first we should update you on our itnerary for the past week or so. Koh Phi Phi was super nice but too rich for our taste. We did find The Apache Bar though as you will see below. We left after two nights because of the high prices and too many rich Euro tourists. We headed to Koh Lanta which is a pretty island very much like Koh Tao in some ways but SO boring! We did find some Thai bartenders to play some intense games of Connect Four with though....yeah that was the highlight of our nights in Koh Lanta. Because we had to get new visas we had to decide which country to go to and for how long. We could have just done a visa run which takes you on a bus to the closest border (Malaysia) and then back in the same day or we could have gone to Kuala Lumpur but instead we got the sudden urge to go to SINGAPORE! Although we love this city - its beautiful, clean, modern, and a lot like home - it is SO expensive (we will NEVER complain about anywhere in Thailand again) and didnt leave us many options for eating, drinking, or entertainment. We did get to see the Night Safari though (baisically going to the zoo at night) where we met two other travellers and found ourselves a conspiracy about a missing rhino.....and then day tripped to Santosa island with them the next day. Here are pictures of our journey.....

Ta Da: Our first ladyboy show EVER!! this is still from ko phi phi, but we thought it was definately blog worthy. a cabaret show completely consisting of lady boys!!! Ko phi phi didn't have much going for it other than this bar and their nightly shows. The next night wasa fire show where we watched 10-12 year old kids, fling flaming sticks around synched to music. Note to parents: why didn't you ever get me started in fire twirling, there are limitless possibilities for employment here.

This is a picture of Natalie's gorgeous leg after ONE NIGHT of not using bug spray. We now have full belief that bug spray in fact does work. there were a total of 81 bug bites (just on her legs), and counting.... we'll keep you updated, don't worry.

Fact: Singapore was the first country in Asia to gain McDonald's delivery. As a result of hearing about this phenomenon, we immediately (i mean before our bags made it to the hotel room) ordered an obscene amount of fast food. This is us with the delivery man, they have a uniform and everything!!! In case your curious, the fries were a little off but the cheeseburgers were still good.

Singapore's widely reveered Merlion. In fact it's just a wierd looking statue facing no direction in particular that you can pay upwards of ten dollars to get to the top of. we stayed at the bottom. Sentosa island (the location of this beautiful creature) was dissapointing on the whole. the cable car ride over there was meh...like an elevator ride, but sideways, and not as cool. the highlight of the day was a fountain which was cool enough to stick our feet in for a substantial amount of time. great 30 minutes of the day. some other chinese tourists took our example and got right in there with us. See below.

This picture is depicting our extreme distaste for such bullshit tourist attractions being hyped up. #1: the southern most point of continental asia, is located on an ISLAND off of another ISLAND. #2: you can't even see water from the viewpoint, its all big ocean liners and crap blocking the view. #3 we had to start lowering our expectations of what Singapore terms "view points" any ways. most often they were just glorified benches with trees surrounding them.

The animal show on sentosa island was definately ripped off from the night safari, however flash scares the animals of the night (possibly causing at one point a rhino attack resulting int he rhinos death...if we're not mistaken the rhino is now burried in the "animal cemetary", but how would you bury a giraffe? would you need to fold it in half? who knows...) anyways the point is that we got to get up close and personal with the animals after...nat chose the snake, i got the husky!!! his namke was striker, i loved him.

After a long day of mostly dissapointing sentosa island stuff...we got over to another hostel in Little India and met up to play a completely non-sober game of Kings. When you're playing with a bunch of british people the "everyone needs to speak with an accent at all times" rule get a little shady. the pirate accent was the alltime best though. It was an english guy trying to be an american pirate, ayy matie!

Today we leave to go back home - Thailand. We are making our way to Koh Pha Ngan on the gulf coast to go to the Full Moon Party on the 2nd. We have convinced the two fellows in the back of this picture that its not to be missed and so now we will have a group to party with there which makes us feel a bit safer since our previous plan involved tying ourselves together with a leash so as to avoid losing each other in the crowd.

Updates of our full mooning to come, get excited!