Parks and Festivals

Music, food, kids, colors, art, beer, wine, family, friends, beaches, parks, streets, bikes, strollers, blankets, coolers - - all out under clear blue skies and perfect sunshine. Summer in Seattle is filled with festival after festival. Everyone is active. There are people everywhere taking it all in and enjoying the short-lived, but beautiful weather. Much different than the blistering 105 degree Austin heat.

It's the ultimate park and festival weather. Since we've been here - which is nearing 3 weeks - we've been to Bite of Seattle, Ballard Seafood Festival, WaMu Summer Concert Series (at the Woodland Park Zoo), the Wallingford Children's Parade and to see autocross racing in Bremerton. We could definitely get used to this.

So far, we're enjoying what Seattle has to offer. However, we still get that feeling like we're still on vacation. It hasn't completely set in that this is really home now. It will. I'm sure. But until then, we're just taking it one day at a time.

Last night we went to see Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings and Marc Broussard at the Woodland Park Zoo. The show was AWESOME!! Definitely, though, a contrast to music in Austin. In Austin you see a show and you usually know who you are going to listen to. Here, most people just go out because it's summer and there isn't much of it so why not go sit in the sun, eat some good food and enjoy your friends. The differences...the crowd - as I'm sure is also venue related - was very family oriented. There are kids everywhere. No smoking, no drinking in the main area - well not legally. In Washington they have a law where all drinking has to occur within a fenced off area. Weird, but OK. Limiting trash, yeah, I get that. But it's also fun to sit in your own seat and drink a beer while watching a good show. Not that we didn't. What are flasks made for anyway. They also had major announcement before the show -- don't block your neighbors view, come tell someone if you can't see, keep your conversations to a minimum so those around you aren't disturbed. In all, the differences were really pretty good. I could actually lay on the blanket and see the stage at the same time. The only real drawback (besides the beer and wine tent deal) is that it's not conducive to shaking it to the music as you might be the only one standing in your area. A few drinks later and we made our way to the front to find other like-minded music fans. As a side note though, it seems that Seattleites do know their music and do appreciate hearing the real thing. The crowd was pretty hyped up and most people were standing at the end.

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New place

Thought you might want to see the place we're going to rent. It's AWESOME. 3-levels, 2/2, balconies off the living room and master, garage for all Donovan's toys. Can you picture sitting up there at sunset with a glass of red wine, good company and an amazing view? If so, COME VISIT!

Move in date is most likely August 1st. I'll post some of the inside then. Especially important to note is that we are around the corner from a bar. There is a shuffleboard which should tell you all that its a cool place because any place with a shuffleboard is cool in my book.

The Red Elvises

If you haven't seen them. Check them out. I'm sure they play in Austin as their drummer was, still is or used to be from Austin. He was on the VH-1 video we saw on them, but he wasn't on stage when we saw them at the Tractor Tavern last week. They put on a great show and we're hilarious. Check out the video.


In the middle of the show all they took a break. When they came back on stage, they were followed by belly dancers. Not your typical belly dancers, see picture for verification. Loved the guitar though!!!

never ending hills

Jess writes: Riding bikes in Seattle is NOT the same as riding bikes in Austin. Not that I thought it would be, but man these hills never seem to end...ever. I keep telling myself "OK just over the hill," then I can catch my breath and my legs might just stop burning. Not that I need a long break, but you know just 30 sec

of non-burning would be graciously welcome. To make matters worse, they have all these roundabouts. I could easily just ride in circles until I catch my breath. Jason is the one who gave me the idea - since that is what he does when he's waiting for me to catch up. Jason is our current roommate who was generous enough to let us stay in his empty room, which - go figure - is on a very big hill.

Jason, who, by the way, has legs of pure muscle and nothing else, rides almost everywhere. We've been riding down to Green Lake to swim every other day. I have to say, I'm seriously getting better. Now I don't risk being left behind to find my own way b/c you all know that my sense of direction has never existed. Honestly, it really is good exercise. I bike to swim or I bike to go run. Who knows, maybe a triathlon is in my future! :)

Scoutin the other SEA

Right now we are exactly halfway between the equator and the North Pole. Random that they put a highway sign up that says this, but how nice of them to let us know. After all, it is a pretty interesting fact and one that seemed worth enough to share with you. However, in other words, we are 350 miles from our new home – Seattle, WA.

We spent last night with family in Boise. Donovan’s aunt and uncle have a nice little set up near Wilder, ID – a suburb of Boise. They built their house from the ground up. The detail is impeccable. We hope to get back for ski season!

Next stop is Jason’s house in Wallingford – just north of downtown Seattle. As luck and generosity would have it he has an extra room, as his roommate just moved out. Then the search starts for a new home. Donovan starts work next Monday. Two days training in CA, then back to Seattle. Depending on where he’s working – we’ll figure out what side of town to live on. Traffic is a bitch so we’re biding our time.

In all the drive to Seattle will have taken us 2,200 + miles, 3 + days and too many hours to count. The drive wasn’t as bad as we thought. Boring at times, but what better way to finish our blog.

Leaving our families behind wasn’t easy, but we’re excited for our new adventure.

Stay tuned…

KL – Round 2

To get to and from the Perhentian Islands isn’t the easiest trip. After taking a small boat jam packed with people and luggage for 45 minutes to Kuala Besut, then a taxi to Kota Bahru, we then boarded a flight to KL. While trains and buses are also available, flights aren’t very expensive and we didn’t have much time as we stayed several extra days in paradise.

I know that some people say taking shells from the beaches is disrupting nature, etc. So, try not to be mad, but I took one. It wasn’t from the sea or anything – I found it on the beach. There were two halves to it and I left one there. I might have taken two, but Donovan wouldn’t let me. Plus it felt kind of greedy. Even taking one was a risk because I didn’t know if it would make it all the way back to Austin with us. And then it would really be like taking something from the sea and never being able to admire its beauty. So sad. But it didn’t work out that way. The wonderful security check point lady in Malaysia let me through (because it wasn’t coral and you can’t take coral back for sure – it was just a shell – a really really big shell). We got through security in KL, Singapore and LA with no issues. Well, except for the fact that my neck was a little jacked up because it weighed so much and Donovan didn’t want to bring it back so of course I had to carry it. Which is fine. It was totally worth it. Now when you put your keys in our shell when you come in the door, you too can appreciate a little piece of Malaysia.

Back to KL. We stowed our luggage at the airport and caught a taxi for a 20 min ride to the recently built Formula 1 race track in Sepang, Malaysia. We were there just in time for the GT Car Racing Series. Donovan was in heaven. Well, almost. Hello, Muslim run. NO BEER! A tough reality considering the Bud-drinking down-home Nascar fans in America. The race track was pristine though – surprise surprise. No rowdy beer drinking fans. The race was FAST. Fun to watch. We left early (only partially due to the lack of beer). We found our hotel at long last, grabbed some fast food and crashed hard.

The next morning, we narrowly made it to another random hotel to catch a luxury bus to Singapore. We rode in style for $30 a person on the 5 hour journey across the border to Singapore. Train service does exist, but it is surprisingly much slower. Plane tickets were much more. We decided a reclining leather seat with pillow and blanket, as well as power outlets for each seat was definitely an acceptable alternative. If only they had this kind of service from Austin to Mexico!

Upon arriving in Singapore, we taxied back to Iggy’s house and hung out with his parents for several hours. They are great! A wealth of knowledge and so interesting to talk to. Iggy’s dad took us (and their huge husky, Hunter) for a walk in the neighborhood. Real estate here is continuing to sky rocket. Houses are being bought for over 3 mil and knocked down or remodeled. Sounds like they are just biding their time and watching the market to see what kind of deal they can get. Real estate all over the city is in short supply and hard to come by. We also wandered over to a nearby nature reserve where you can pick various fruit – jack fruit, durian, leiches, etc. How great that it’s so close! Though the monkeys tend to hoard it before it’s ripe so you don’t always get your fill.

The next morning we hopped a plane for a long journey back to Austin. Time to try and get over the 12 hour jet lag.

The Perhentian Islands

Jess writes: Off the northeast coast of Malaysia lay some of the most beautiful beaches we have ever seen. The Perhentian Islands consist of Pulau Perhentian Kecil and Pulau Perhentian Besar. Pulau means island in Malay. Besar is the bigger of the two and is a little more touristy and family oriented (which means the hotels are a little more expensive). Kecil is extremely small; only a 10-minute hike from one side to the other. We researched all the accommodations before arriving, as many of them don’t have Air Con (only the Americans call it AC and they look at you funny when you say it so we conformed). The island is divided into two main areas separated by a jungle with one path connecting the two. The sunrise side is larger and has several combo hotel/dive shop/internet room/restaurants. We stayed on the sunset side of the island in a beautiful bungalow on a hilltop overlooking a cliff.
On one side is the pier and a somewhat busy beach front with various restaurants and guesthouses. Longtail boats come in and out all day long taking tourists out snorkeling or on tours or they might be just going out to fish. Tourism is obviously the only livelihood the islanders have. Catching fish, selling fish, cooking fish, snorkeling, scuba diving, a few small shops selling necessities (such as suntan lotion and Frisbees), 8-10 restaurants and about 20 guesthouses. We’re talking small. The place we stayed was called Shari-La. It’s currently being remodeled. Upon completion we probably couldn’t afford to stay there – at least not for long. It’s going to be an amazing place. The restaurant is located over the cliffs and decks are being built so guests can have a perfect view of the sunset. The bungalows are spacious and clean with nice hardwoods, but can be closed off so at night it’s completely pitch black. We loved it! One side the hotel has stairs down to “Romantic Beach.” We saw maybe 8 people there all three days we went. The beach was deserted accept for the locals who come fish off the cliffs every night. We watched as they caught the fish, gutted them and built a fire to eat their dinner. Simple life.

Every night we walked down to the beach on the other side of our hotel, watched the sunset from the cliff, then went to dinner at “Mama’s Café.” The staff here is friendly and fun and the food was SO good. Every evening when it gets dark around 7:30 or 8 p.m. they light up the BBQ on the beach front. You sit at tables stuck in the sand and can dine on any type of perfectly grilled fish, along with a side of rice, baked potato, coleslaw and fruit. Seriously, I had 3 lobster tails with garlic butter – 5 nights in a row. FOR less than $6! I want to go back! Donovan tried everything else (I tried his, but the lobster was just unbeatable). They had King Fish, Barracuda – which if you’ve never tried is a close second to lobster, Spanish Macrel, Prawn (Shrimp in America), Squid, White Snapper and Red Snapper. Heaven. They would even go and get us beers – which is really nice since they are in short order on the island and they have to go down to another shop to get them. We met two English girls and told them about Mama’s. They caught on fast and we ended up eating with them 2 of the 5 nights. Good times.

Here’s the deal with alcohol. Bring your own whiskey! Luckily we did. Being a Muslim country, booze is hard to come by. They don’t approve of it in many places and it’s not allowed in others. Muslim run business in Kecil aren’t able to get liquor licenses, however their Chinese counterparts are. Here’s how we learned. One night we went to a pseudo full moon party on the other side of the island. We sat in the sand at small tables drinking beer and our whiskey stash when the bar all of the sudden stopped selling, cleared off all evidence of drinking. No one said anything. We learned that the “moral police” showed up to investigate the goingson of this peaceful remote island. Apparently, there are two different kinds of police and the moral police come around quite a bit more than the police you are I are aware of. Shortly after they left, the party picked back up and alcohol was served again. However, beer ran out and they had to send a boat to the mainland to get more. The only type of hard liquor they had was vodka and the only mixer was ice. Ouch. Lots of drunk people that night. I sprained my ankle in the jungle on the way home. That was the last of the late night jungle treks for me. We stayed on the other side of the island the rest of the time.

Besides Laos, which Donovan and I thought was our favorite county we visited, the Perhentian Islands are a place we could have stayed for several weeks. Life is simple and easy – not to mention cheap. And the diving was unbelievable!!! We saw a 6 foot black tip reef shark – I didn’t want to leave until we did. There were stingrays, GIANT puffer fish, scorpion fish, a very large turtle – another thing I couldn’t leave without seeing, and on and on. We dove a ship wreck, which was also pretty interesting. When you looked inside you could see bamboo sharks hiding – wow! They sell these cases for your digital camera and you can bring it underwater with you. Pricy, but we’ll have to think about investing in one after this. It’s just too hard to describe how amazing it is down there.

What else? Six days in paradise. Not a bad ending to an unforgettable vacation.

KL – Round 1

Jess writes: We set off on a ferry to Phuket, choosing to spend the 2-hour ride on the bow of the boat in the sun and wind. A perfect perch for Donovan to see what he thought was a dead body floating by. I didn’t see it so no confirmation from me, but if it was – it must have been a full moon party blunder. We talked with some of the locals who said that at every full moon party several people die. The party is in several feet of water and drunk tourists tend to pass out and drown. However, the Thai news doesn’t ever publicize anything. Scary. Anyway, we didn’t make it to one of these drugged trash can punch parties (literally), but I’m sure it would have been fun.

After disembarking and finding our luggage amidst the large pile on the back of the boat, we found a mini bus to take us to the airport. A short flight later and through immigration, we landed in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. As a side note – not all of the countries we visited require you to pay for a tourist visa. However, there are rules on how long you can stay and how many times you can go in and out of the country. In every country it is possible to get a visa upon arrival, however with some it’s easier to get the visa prior to entering the country (namely, Vietnam. The rest we bought upon entry). There are numerous travel agencies that will help you get them in every country. For instance in Cambodia, you can get a visa for Vietnam and it only takes 24 hours. It makes traveling much easier.

So KL…we got there mid-afternoon and took a shuttle into the city to look for a place to stay. Because it was a Saturday night, hotel rooms weren’t the easiest to find. We went to three places before settling on a not-so-great hotel. It wasn’t until we could hear the cell phone of the person next door to us that we realized how absolutely thin the walls were. And their phone was on vibrate!!!! We left the next day to find another hotel that was a few steps up, but the same price.

Overall, we didn’t particularly like KL. The city itself is pretty dirty – I can’t imagine what some Singaporean travels would say! Not only that, but there seemed to be far too many obstacles on the sidewalks and streets. You really had to watch where you were going. There were large holes without any warnings on them. They are about 3 times the sized of your average manhole, about 5 feet deep and unmarked. There were concrete blocks where something obviously stood at one time, but the leftover remnant of it is about a ½ foot square and can appear in any part of the sidewalk. The streets are obviously neglected, considering the city’s growth rate and desire to attract tourism, this is a little disheartening. OK, well maybe I am a little biased about it, but for good reason. You would think they would put up a sign when they fill a hole with new concrete. At least maybe an orange cone or something. I walked right into it. What I should have done is drawn a star around my foot print in the fresh concrete, as I realized after the fact that we were standing directly in front of the Kuala Lumpur Hard Rock Café!

The highlight of our trip to KL was definitely getting to hang with my cousin Drew. He’s working in Air Force Intelligence and is currently stationed in Okinawa, Japan. He just happened to be working in KL for the month of June, so we had an opportunity to grab some beers in Malaysia of all places - a beautifully random coincidence. Drew, of course, had to work most of the time, but we luckily managed to see him two nights in a row. We met up on Saturday night for dinner and drinks and then again on Sunday night. Next stop – Japan.

In all we spent 3 days here. Malaysia, and KL in particular, is different than the other counties we visited. It is a predominantly Muslim country, as opposed to the large Buddhist influence we previously experienced. Malaysia also has a lot of oil money which is apparent in their rapidly growing infrastructure. The government is trying to grow their capital city, KL, into the countries’ commerce center. Although most likely due to the fast growth, they are obviously still lacking some aspects. Namely, the previously stated dirty streets and lack of ability to walk around the city.