the end is near

Here's what i've been cruising around in for the last month

what a sweet ride.  i loved it.  i'm back in Auckland now at the end of my journey, well almost.  On Friday i'm headed up to the bay of islands for a quick two day trip, then its off to Fiji for a week.  I can't believe i'll be back in the US in 12 days.  so strange.

on another note, HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my wonderful cous Sarah Michelle

Last day on earth?

So i heard on the news a few days ago that May 21st, the world was going to end.  A little crazy seeing as i'm over 10,000 miles away from home.  I of course think this is pretty silly, but in the back of my mind I kind of think..."hm is this true"?  Anyhoo, on a lighter note, new zealand is still going fabulously.  A few days ago I did a wine tour with a friend from my travel bus to the Marlborough region.  Its world famous for their sauvignon blanc.  Its what Helen and I drink all the time in the summer, so I had to go on a tour, it was just as great as it is on my roof, Heren!

I'm in Wellington right now which is supposed to be the San Francisco of New Zealand.  I wouldnt go that far, nothing can quite compare to my wonderful SF :), but it is a very nice city on a bay.  I hope to be able to come back to NZ sometime in the next few years.  I know its pretty easy to get a working visa, so I wouldnt be opposed to coming and working here for a few months and seeing it all again in the summer time.  I've had a lot of activities planned that have been cancelled because of the weather, so being able to do those again would be awesome.  One of the things I was supposed to do was to swim with dolphins, and was quite devestated when that got cancelled.  I'm headed to the very north part of NZ in a few days and am going to try that one again.

The end of the trip is coming very soon, i'll be back on us soil in less than three weeks.  I was going to do a road trip with Sara from SF to Indy, but she's now signed up for summer school so i'm taking volunteers for anyone that wants to join in on a road trip across the states at the end of June....anyone, anyone?  STACEY???

Missing you all and hope you're having a great start to the summer season.  NZ is nice and cold so i'm excited to come home to some warmer weather!!

Fantastic New Zealand!

New Zealand is absolutely spectacular!  It's one of the most beautiful places i've ever seen.  It has mountains and waterfalls and volcanoes and lakes everywhere.  The bus tour i'm doing has been pretty good.  It's been a great way to meet people and a good way to see the country.  I am currently in a town called Queenstown that is in a valley surrounded by mountains.  It's beautiful.  A few days ago I climbed a Glacier in Franz Josef National Park, maybe one of the coolest experiences I've had.  The next few weeks i'll be finishing up the south island of NZ and then making my way to Fiji.  I just booked my seven night package for there and i'm really excited about it.  Its been really chilly in NZ so it will be great to get back to warm weather before I head home. 

such a short blog, but my internet time is running out!

Who knew this could be such hard work?

Australia is really starting to wear me out. The expense of everything and the moving constantly to different places is gettig hard. It was work in Asia of course, but when there were tuk tuks everywhere wanting to drive you places for cheap it was easier. Oh well, on a positive note...I loved Sydney!

I met James and Nicole at their hostel which turned out to be fantastic. It had free wifi and breakfast and my dorm room was nice and quiet! We did some exploring and saw the harbor bridge, opera house, and bondi beach. We had an amazing sunny day so we got a much needed beach day. We also did a tour of the blue mountains which are called that because of the haze that the eucalyptus trees gives them. It's what I picture the grand canyon looking like thousands of years later. It's very beautiful. J&N left for Melbourne and I spent another nice day in manly- a town a ferry ride away.

Then off to Melbourne! I didn't plan that so well because I had about 5 days I'm Sydney and 10 in Melbourne, should have split it up better. I like Melbourne, it's more artsy here and a little more grunge than Sydney. Tonight I'm headed to Adelaide for two days then I'm off on a three day tour of the great ocean road. Then to new Zealand I go!!

I'm missing home more lately. Sad I'm not getting to see any of pregnant Sarah and have been thinking about being back more and more. I miss everyone and look forward to seeing you all again soon!

The land of OZ

Wow, I didnt realize it had been so long since I posted.  Its been almost three weeks!  A lot has happened since then.  The Gili's were amazing, so beautiful and small.  There are no cars there so it's just bicycles and horse and carriage which was really cool.  It takes two hours to walk around the biggest island, where I was which is Gili Trawangan.  I rented a bike one day and walked around the island another day and had some nice beach days in between.  No swimming which sucked because it was so hot there.  After the Gili's I came back to Bali and spent two miserable nights in Kuta.  That town is crazy.  Its so crowded and everyone is just trying to sell you something, like most places in Asia, it just seems way worse there.  Because of all the tourism, the beach is pretty dirty and trash just washes up which is so sad.  I paid way more than i should have to stay in a pretty crappy room.  Lets just say i was ready to get out of there. 

I flew to Perth in Western Australia next and really liked the city.  Its about the size of Indianapolis, and its clean and right on the water.  I stayed there for two nights and then headed to a small town about 20 minutes away called Freemantle.  I loved it there, it is quaint and has really nice beaches.  I stayed there for two more nights and then pack to Perth to fly out of the airport to Brisbane. 

I met Nicole and James in Brisbane and we explored the city on the first day.  We were all three exhausted so we crashed early.  The second day was amazing!  We went to the Koala sanctuary where we fed Kangaroos, petted Koalas and even got to hold one.  We loved it there, we were planning to head on the bus to Byron Bay that night but as most of you know, my backpack was stolen from the luggage room at the hotel.  So of course we stayed the night to try to sort that out.  It's really too bad because I really liked Brisbane as a city and now my main memory of that will be the stolen backpack.  I know i'll look back on this and it won't be a big deal, but right now it feels really hard. 

Next we took the bus down to Byron Bay which is a cute little beach town about three hours south of Brisbane.  I really liked the town, except its been raining on the east coast so there's not as much to do when its raining.  We got one good beach day though!  Now i'm in a small town called Port Macquarie and tonight i'm headed off to Sydney to meet back up with Nic and James.  I'm excited to see Sydney.  Should be fun!  Its nice to be in a country that speaks english and you can easily get around, but the cost of Australia is outrageous.  Cooking on your own and staying in dorms is necessary to not spend a rediculous amount of money. 

off to sydney now!  talk to you all soon 

OBAMA!

I've been in Indonesia for aout 11 days now and let me tell you, out of all the places i've been, i've never seen people more excited that i'm from america.  They love Obama!  He went to school in Java- one of the biggest islands and where the capital of indonesia is when he was a boy. 
Bali was pretty good, a lot more crowded than I expected.  We only spent two days in Legion which is close to the airport.  The traffic is crazy but it is a shoppers delight.  Many people who own shops in other countries must come to Bali because most places offer wholesale pricing.  The whole time I was there I thought about Stacey and how we needed to open a clothing/jewelry/art store at home and come to Bali to buy our goods!  Next we went to Ubud, supposedly much less crowded but I wasn't so sure about that.  so many cars and motorbikes, and everyone wants to give you a ride somewhere.  no one walks in these countries!  overall I feel like i didnt get to see much in Bali.  We spent most of our time hanging out with my dad's friend Sue, which was great, but I wish we would have done more exploring of the island.  Being with Sue was good because she knows everyone and where most everything is.  She also got me good deals when shopping because she owns her own shop in Indy and comes to Bali once a year to get all the goods.  She also introduced us to some great local people.  My favorite being her silversmith, Made.  Pronounced Mod-A.  He took us on a day trip to the north of Ubud and speaks great english so it was great to ask him many things about the Balinese culture.  He is the sweetest guy!  Sue kept wanting to hook me up with Made's 28 year old brother, who is apparently very cute!!  I never got the chance to meet him though.

My dad flew home and I came to Lombok, the island next to Bali.  I have made many Indonesian friends already.  everyone is so friendly and just wants to talk to you.  The beach is beautiful and the sand is almost a blackish gray, so cool.  the friends ive made have taken me to some good restaurants and one bar to watch live music.  one thing i noticed though is, they expect me to pay.  they ordered beers at the bar and then when the bill came they left me with it.  and at dinner, they dont offer to pay for what they ordered.  i understand that they see me as an american with a lot more money than them, but come on.  im unemployed here and they were the ones that wanted to go to the bar in the first place!  im going to have to cut down on hanging out with them if it requires me buying them dinner everyday.  I'm not sure what my next move is.  Im going to the Gili islands in a few days, just not sure what day.  I keep wanting to explore this island, but then get lazy during the day and just want to explore the town instead.  i borrowed a bicycle from a friend so i rode that around a bit today. 

as far as the leg goes, it got infected.  i just went to a clinic here and the doctor had to cut open the infected areas and clean it out, pretty painful.  i'm now on an antibiotic and an anti-inflamitory.  That also means no getting in the water which is so hard since its hot and i'm on the beach.  hopefully only another week of that. 

hope this long post makes up for the many days without it.  the usb i had to upload pictures is broken so sorry i can't put anything up.  i promise to make up for it when i'm home. 

i'll be internetless when i get to the gili's so sorry if i dont respond to emails, etc.  Miss you all

Emma

On to the next one, on to the next one....to Bali we go

Today is our last full day in Luang Prabang.  Its hot and humid here but its a cute little town so we've been exploring despite the heat.  Its a very obviously old French town.  so much french architecture and food.  The slow boat was good.  The first day we got to the boat and got a seat.  we thought everyone was on, the boat was about 75% full and then they loaded about 50 more people on.  The boat was Crammed.  There were people sitting in the aisles, on plastic chairs, and maybe even their luggage.  It was the only boat going out of Thailand that day so I'm assuming they just wanted to get as many people as possible.  It was not the best.  The slow boat is supposed to be a slow ride down the Mekong river just seeing the sights and relaxing.  It was not that.  there were about 30 drunk English 18-20 year olds on our boat singing and being obnoxious.  I was not impressed.  To say it put a damper on my experience is an understatement.  The next day I was expecting much of the same, but to our luck they had two smaller boats.  Most of the kids got on one boat and we almost RAN to the other boat.  It was so much better of a trip.  The boat was quiet and we got the experience we wanted.  We even saw elephants!!

We arrived in Luang Prabang and got a hotel and have just been exploring town ever since.  We rented bicicyles and road around yesterday and today we climbed up to a temple on the top of a mountain.  I am glad we stayed here for a few days, but will be ready to leave tomorrow.  There's not much to see here so its time to move on. We will have some big days of travel.  Flying to Vientienne, the capital of Laos tomorrow to catch the night train to Bangkok.  We will explore BKK on Sunday and then we fly to Bali monday.  Hopefully Bali is good, its rainy season and the weather is predicted as rain every day.  I hope thats not the reality b/c i would love to get a day or two of beach time before we head inland.

That's it for now.  Happy almost birthday to Helen and Brendo!!

Back to where it all began

Siem Reap was great.  The town was a lot bigger and more happening than I expected.  I kind of just thought it would have Angkor Wat and thats about it, but it had a night market, tons of restaurants and a huge amount of fancy hotels.  I got sick two different times in the five days we were there, so not a ton of luck with the food.  The temples were fantastic.  Definitely everything they are talked up to be.  I will post some more pictures soon of my adventures in Cambodia.

But for now, I'm back in Chiang Mai!  I love this city even more than I remember.  I got here yesterday morning and I've already done some of my favorite things from last time I was here.  Its so nice to be somewhere and know your way around a bit.  My dad gets here in a few hours and I'm excited to show him around.  We will stay for a few nights and then head to Laos.  I'll be sad to leave Thailand, but excited for Laos as well. 

not much to write for now.  check back on facebook for my photos

Cambodia, the land of a thousand motorbikes

I know its been a while since I wrote.  Everywhere in Cambodia has free wi-fi, but not a ton of internet shops with computers. 

First stop was Phnom Penh.  I was there for 2 days and saw the grand palace, silver pagoda, and the killing fields.  It's not really a place you want to be out alone at night so I mostly stayed in my guesthouse those two nights.  The city is so busy, there are more motorbikes than anything else.  I had my first experience riding one and its a little scary at first, but really fun.  The Cambodians have been riding them for their whole lives so they know what they are doing. 

Next I took the bus down to Sihanoukville (beach town in the south) and met up with Kelly who I met in Thailand.  I was lucky enough that Rob and Elie were still there so I got to see them for a night as well.  The beach is pretty intense.  Hundreds of kids and women trying to sell you everything....massages, jewelry, food, and then their are a ton of beggers as well.  It's really sad b/c here if you are caught stealing, they cut off your hands, so there are a ton of men that come begging with no hands.  It's hard to turn a blind eye, but there's not much else to do.  We stayed there for 6 nights.  There was an English couple that Kelly met in Vietnam that met up with us there as well.  I really like them and the three of us have come back to Phnom Penh for two days.  It's so much different being here with them b/c i can explore the night life! 

We are headed to Siem Reap tomorrow to spend a few days seeing Angkor Wat which is a massive temple built in the 12th century for a king.  It's supposed to be AMAZING so i'm really excited..  after that we are taking the oh so fun night bus to Bangkok so I can head back to Chiang Mai to meet my dad and James and Nicole can do the islands in Thailand.  I'm excited b/c they are headed to Australia, New Zealand, and Fiji in March-April and I might try to meet up with them and Anna at some point after Bali. 

I haven't been able to upload any pictures here, the internet is too slow.  Should be able to when I'm back in Thailand next week.

Miss you all!!

And then there was one

I left the girls this morning.  they are headed to Kuala Lumpur tomorrow morning to catch their respective flights to Chicago and Melbourne.  it was sad saying good-bye.  we've spent a month sleeping in the same room (minus the last week in penang when we had the entire Kordesch house to ourselves).  its going to take a while to get used to communicating with others again.  we are functioning with similar brain cells at this point in our journey.  i'm in georgetown right now waiting the 10 long hours until my overnight train leaves for KL.  we didnt quite realize that because of the chinese new year, everyone would be trying to head back to KL for work tomorrow, so getting a bus down there was impossible today.  I came into town hoping to find something and got a 3rd class (sitting-up) seat on a 8 hour train ride to KL tonight.  not thrilled... 

I'm headed to Cambodia tomorrow afternoon to go to Phnom Penh to explore for a day or two and then I'm meeting Kelly, one of the friends we made in Phangan to head to Sihanoukville.  its supposed to be beautiful there, and a lot like Thailand before it became a tourist spot.  Its also supposed to be really cheap!  I'm excited to be somewhere with a little more excitement, Penang was pretty low-key and I think I read 3 books in the week we were there.  Penang is a really nice place, surprisingly a lot of westerners go there for their vacations (kind of similar to Florida), there are tons of resorts and retiree's.  We found a great food court that had a mix of Malay, Indian, and Chinese food for really cheap.  We ate dinner there almost every night. 

So in about three weeks my dad is joining me on the trip.  We are going to go to Chiang Mai and then do the slow boat through Laos, go to Angkor Wat and then down to Bali.  I'm not sure what I have planned after that.  I'm trying to convince Lindsay Beigle to come join me over here.  I would definitely do Thailand all over again, or maybe try somewhere else. 

Malaysia....a whole new world, literally

what a culture shock it was for us coming to Malaysia.  We were in heaven in our secret spot in Thailand....no cars, barely any motorbikes and an awesome hippy climbing community to hang out with.  Malaysia is a lot more developed than we were expectig with high rises, shopping malls and tons of traffic.  I definitely freaked out our first morning here and sat and cried at the computer.  I missed Thailand and had a mild panic attack.  Everything is fine now.  We have settled into Nicky's parents house, which is awesome!  We have laundry and after spending an entire month sharing a room, we are excited to have so much space.  Its pretty quiet in the part of Penang the house is in (Batu Ferenghi) which is much better than the craziness of Georgetown.  There is a small market at night on the main road and we went and got some cheap dvd's and are hoping to just have some dvd and wine nights coming up!  Nick's aunt and uncle invited us over for dinner for Chinese New Year.  We are so excited to have a traditional home-cooked meal! 

after Penang, i'm not sure of my plan.  Stace is going home and Anna and I might go up to Vietnam and try to meet up with JoAnna (their friend from Chiang Mai) or i'll go to the beaches in Cambodia, to KL and Singapore, or back through Thailand.  Just have to decide what i want to do most.  I have time to decide.

Let me just say, after coming to malaysia with all the excitement, i'm a little worried what going home will be like...not sure i can come back to reality quite yet.

miss you all at home and a BIG HAPPY BIRTHDAY to Val and Davey on the 4th and 5th and to CLAI on the 9th!

xoxo

I've gone and fallen in love

So its official, i am in love with Thailand.  The rest of Ko Phangan was great.  we met a bunch of people at our hotel- two americans and two brits.  We ended up hanging out with them for the rest of our time on ko phangan and have now continued traveling with the two american guys and the british guy.  Elie, Rob, and Lloyd.  They are really fun and its nice to have a change of pace. They are definitely high energy so it's been keeping me going.  So after Ko Phangan we headed down to Krabi on a bus.  Stayed a night there and then down to Ao Nang (the beach town in Krabi).  Elie has a friend he traveled in Panama with that is staying in another little beach area off of Krabi and really close to Railay beach so we came over here yesterday.  Its maybe the most beautiful place I've ever seen.  Its a rock climbing mecca so there are a ton of really chill people here.  Everyone is really nice and I think each of us has decided to stay here longer than we originally planned.  It's been really hot so i've gotten pretty sunburnt.  I've finally gotten away to upload some pictures so i'll leave some for you!

we're kind of out in the middle of nowhere so my blogging might be less frequent.  hope everyone is surviving the cold

Koh Phangan

we got to Koh Phangan yesterday and its beautiful!  The past few days we've done a lot of moving around.  The first hotel we were staying in Koh Tao was in a great location, but the room smelled pretty bad.  There were tiles missing in the bathroom so every time we would shower the water would just go under the tiles and the room smelled really moldy and gross.  It was so hot there that we had to leave the windows open and there were no screens so i got a ton of mosquito bites, one being on my eye so i had a swollen eye for 2 days.  So we decided we needed to get out of that hotel so we switched to the other part of the island, Tanote Bay which was really nice.  there was nothing around (stores, markets, etc), but the beach was big and it was nice and quiet.  The picture above is from our beach in Tanote bay. 

For the next few days we are planning on exploring Koh Phangan.  We have a kayak we can use at our hotel so i think we are just going to kayak around the island.  We have about a week here so hopefully we can find plenty to do!

After this, we are headed to the western side of Thailand to Koh Phi Phi.  We will then head down to Malaysia because Stacey and i really wanted to be there for Chinese New Year!

Thats about it for now.  sorry for the lack of pictures, i haven't found anywhere to get a cord for my camera so i can't upload pictures.

Paradise Found

I will type more soon, I'm headed to the beach now.  we left Koh Tao this morning and took a one and a half hour boat ride to Koh Phangan.  Our bungalo is literally on top of the ocean.  we have steps down into the water....

playing catch-up

so the last few days have been a bit crazy. Sunday we woke up really early and got on a flight to Bangkok.  We hauled all our stuff to the train station and stored it there for the day and then went to explore the city.  I'm sorry for those of you who have been to Bangkok and love it, we weren't such big fans.  It was so dirty, crowded and just way too overwhelming.  I'm glad we did it though because i can't look back and regret not going.  I think we were just too spoiled in Chiang Mai.  We tried to go to the Grand Palace- where the King used to live, and it was closing just as we got there, another dissapointment.  So we took a water taxi back to the train station (the best part of bankgkok, i thought) and waited for our night train to take us to the islands.  We then took a 7:30 train down to a town called Chumphon where we arrived at 5am.  Then we waited for a bus to take us to a ferry and we road this 3 hour catamaran boat to get to Koh Tao.  So we have been exhausted.  The first few hours in Koh Tao were pretty dissapointing.  There isnt much of a Thai community outside of tourism on this island so its more expensive and not as friendly.  We finally went to the southern part of the island which isnt as crowded and found a hotel.  we are much happier being down here out of all the tourists and divers and craziness.

bad news, i left the cord that hooks my camera to the computer at home.  so i can't upload any pictures unless i find somewhere to buy a cord. 

hope everything at home is going well, send me updates from your end!

Chiang Mai, one of my new favorite cities

Things in Chiang Mai are great.  Today is our last day here, then we are headed to Bangkok.  I've seen so many things while here, its been great having the girls here because they know their way around so well.  The first day, Anna took me on a small walking tour while Stacey was at work then we all met up for dinner.  Wednesday Stacey and I went up to Doi Suthep, which is a huge temple on top of a mountain right out of town.  It was pretty amazing.  you can see the whole city from up there and the temple is really beautiful.  Then we walked around Chiang Mai university and met Anna for Burmese food.  It was really good, but thats been the only thing so far that has made me sick.  It wasn't a big deal and I'm fine now.  Wednesday night we went to Saturday night market which is a huge.  There are booths set up up and down the street and there are tons of great things for sale.  The three of us got some goodies! 

Thursday was spent walking around again, we went to a restaurant that is a partner to the volunteer organization that Stacey and Anna were a part of.  We went to see a few local temples in town and then saw a really cool Terra Cotta garden.  We saw the Chiang Mai park as well.  We went to dinner close by, then went and had drinks at a restaurant close to our hotel.  We have a dog that lives at our hotel that loves us!  She followed us to the restaurant and stayed with us the whole time we were there (everywhere is open because of the weather).  Then she followed us all the way down the road until we got a taxi, then she ran home!  She's such a good dog, we are sad to leave her.  We went and had drinks on the river, then went to their favorite bar here called Zoe in Yellow.  They have tons of different parts, a reggae, hip hop, and just a beach bar. 

Today is going to be pretty layed back.  just sitting by the pool and packing up.  I have an early flight to Bangkok and probably wont be able to post for a while.  We are spending the day in Bangkok then headed down to Koh Tao for five days.

 Hope everything is going well at home!

Safe and Sound in Chiang Mai

I'm here!  after a fairly easy flight to hong kong, I took a flight to bangkok which was a little rocky.  once i was in bangkok i had a 6 hour layover, plus my flight was delayed an hour.  So i got into Chiang Mai around 8pm.  Anna and Stacey were waiting for me there and we headed back to the guest house.  I showered and Stacey and I got dinner at a great Thai place then we went to this Jazz bar that they go to every tuesday night.  Its an open mic set-up on tuesdays and they have local people just come play on stage.  it was a cool feel and there were tons of Americans there.  There's actually tons of white people everywhere, australians and europeans mostly.  Its pretty easy to get around because there is english on all the signs and most people can speak a little bit.  I just got my cell phone activated as well so hopefully i can start being in touch.  We all slept almost 12 hours last night which was amazing since I only slept maybe 5 on my flight over here.  Today Stacey had to work so Anna has just been showing me around the city.  Its not too big and there's a moat surrounding the entire city, so its pretty easy to get around.  Tonight we are going to a night bazaar which is just booths set up with food and shopping.  We are planning on staying here until Sunday then heading south towards Bangkok!

hope to update soon