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.

Koh Phi Phi

Donovan writes: The Koh Phi Phi islands are about a two hour ferry ride off the west coast of Thailand. The movie "The Beach" was filmed here. This island was devistated by the tsunami. Although there wasn't an official count, it was estimated that over 2,500 tourists and residents died on the island. We only visited the large island. Here, reconstruction is still occuring, but most businesses have reopened.

One of the greatest features of the island is that no cars or motorbikes are allowed. It means the only thing you are dodging on the streets are local teenagers on bicycles. It makes for a much more relaxing stroll through the town. It was a little rainy, as we expected, but it made a good excuse to catch up on some sleep. The weather cleared up after the second day and we were able to get some sun and do some snorkling. There was a huge shallow coral reef only a 20-minute boat ride from our guesthouse. We also hiked up the hills to the highest point on the island. It provided a great view of both beaches. The photo hanging from a tree near the viewpoint showed what it looked like just after the tsunami. For good reason, no residents in the town were interested in talking about the event. The nightlife scene was pretty good on the island. The biggest bar on the island has a boxing ring, which provide a free drink for anyone willing to enter the ring. The Thai boxers were good, but watching drunk guys and girls try to fight was the highlight. 

Jess interrupts...Honestly, the main draw here was geared to tourists in search of a beautiful, but westernized island. That and buckets of alcohol (literally) and meeting other bucket drinkers who like to drunk box...then go watch fire twirling shows on the beach while dancing to trance and techno music. Only to wake up with a killer hangover at noon and missing good sun that is in short supply during the rainy season. We skipped the beach, but caught the rest. One night was enough. Though, we did notice our fellow bucket buddies heading out night after night. We figure they must be single...

We shortened our stay to 3-nights before heading on to Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia.

Diving in Koh Tao

Jess writes...Have you ever scuba dived? If not - come visit Koh Tao. Less than half the price of diving certification in the US and you get to learn in beauiful, clear waters full of amazing fish. You get off the ferry and are bombarded with diving companies more than willing to extract money from you. How do you decide? It's not easy, especially as they are standing their collecting tourists into their open pick up trucks. They give you a total of 8 mintues flat to make a decision. Needless to say, prices are all the same, accomodations are included, therefore, we are left with no determining factors and a confused look. We end up following up on a lead from another backpacker only to find the staff to be somewhat void of friendliness. We bum a ride from them to view their secondary location (knowing that the other place we were interested in was nextdoor to it). Jackpot. Nice people, good prices, beautiful resort - the offer of two free dives didn't hurt either.

We started our Open Water course at Coral Grand Divers that afternoon. Lucky for us, we end up in a group with just the two of us and a very cool German chick instructor. After minimal course work we head to our first lesson in the pool with an ocean view. Believe it or not, we passed the swimming test. Donovan took to it immediately. I, on the other hand, had some issues with breathing underwater. I have a tendency to be claustrophobic at times. I think it's something that has come with age though because I've never really had a problem until our honeymoon in Italy. We headed up a tower viewpoint in Venice, the small circular stone stairs we're packed with people, it was hot and I was freaking out. It took me a good 30 minutes at the top before I was able to embark back down into hell. That was the first episode, diving apparantely was the second. After some coercing and deep breaths, I was able to conquer my fears. It still takes a good several mintues every time I dive, but the sight and feeling of being part of the underwater world - even for only 40 minutes at a time - is an amazing feeling that I hope you are also able to experience.

The open water course included a pool session, a final exam and four open water dives - two one day, two the next day. My favorite was the gigantic eagle ray and the spanish dancers. We liked it so much that when they offered for us to take the Advanced Open Water course for a discounted price - we said, "why not?" As an open water diver you can only dive to 18 meters, as an advanced diver you can dive to 30 meters. Big difference.

There were five us in the advanced group together with our red-headed Canadian instructor - "Captain Ginger." Captain Ginger, British Police Officer Andy, Double Dutch and Donnie and Jess. The first trip included two dives to local sites and the next day we headed to a place called Sail Rock several hours away by boat. Three dives that day, a couple beers (and a couple buckets) later we crashed hard. Good times, good people, GREAT diving (25 meters visibility!).

In all, we spent 5 days, did 9 dives (Donovan did 11), saw a school of 15+ giant barracudas, met some crazy Dutch girls, a great couple from England and an ex-hippie Australian (Gus the Snail), drank several buckets of red bull vodka, danced on the beach, watched Holland kick ass over Italy 3-0 and soaked up the beautiful sun in Eastern Thailand. I could go back tomorrow.

However, it was time to say goodbye to our new friends and head to Krabi and Koh Phi Phi on the west coast. Our fingers are crossed that the rainy season will hold off for a couple days.

Bangkok

Jessica writes...As you can tell we've been MIA for a while. Truth - we fell straight into island time. It seems to suit us after all our constant traveling.

So Bangkok...
Normally, we tend to avoid big cities. But this was the exception. 2 nights in Bangkok easily turned into 4. Local transportation is super easy - tuk tuk, boat, sky tram, bus, taxi - whatever you fancy. We stayed several blocks from Kohsan Rd - Bangkok's famous strip of bars, overpriced drinks, young tourists getting absolutely hammered and prostitutes. We got several offers from tuk tuk drivers to go to a ping pong show (use your imagination), but declined and headed to see a good cover band. The scene was just a little too much for us so we didn't make it back for a repeat night of drinking. Instead we opted for some pizza and beer in the comfort of HBO. After days of traveling, we are started to miss cooking (well I do at least). Donovan on the other hand could eat absolutely anything with curry in it every meal for a year. I've instead opted for pad thai, which is cooked up on every other street stand by our current home. I'm not sure I could ever get sick of it - well maybe, but then I can move on to fried rice :)

Now for the kicker - those of you who know Donovan will appreciate this. He actually made the suggestion - on his own, without the help of any irish or begging - to go to the mall. And not just one mall, but TWO!!!! It's only taken me eight years, 10 months, 20 days, 12 hours and 8 minutes. Cathleen, you would be proud! (OK, the small detail that I'm being forced to mention is that one of the malls showcased several Italian Sports cars - but I'm still proud and will promise to remind him every once in a while of his lapse in concentration).

On a separate note, Thais (and many other visiting foreigners) are obsessed with shopping. How else could Bangkok support their 6+ malls, their weekend market that extends over 35 ACRES and their daily night bazaar that's open until past midnight. It's absolutely insane and even crowded most of the time. The food stands that exist among the shopping makes the experience quite different than your average American mall or boutique shopping court. The prices are right or at least you can bargain them down to a price that is right. My game plan consists of asking half and sometimes a third of the offering price - it usually works out and if not the next stand sells the exact same item so I just keep moving. (Note: at this point, Donovan is usually left to his whiskey at some random bar OR off for yet another thai massage). I'm thinking that maybe if Austin malls had several pubs/massage places/sports that many man would actually consider a day shopping trip or at the very least several hours)!

On Saturday we headed to the weekend market, Chatucak Market - the 35 ACRE shopping extravaganza that housed so many freaking stands that I got lost in the pet section for over an hour. After a 5 minute break watching the cock fighting, I found myself in the chicken and rooster section where they actually also hosted a food stand of BBQ chicken skewers right across the hall. I'm thinking that maybe this practice is a little bit bad for business, not to mention disgusting. I couldn't get out of there fast enough. As I stumbled around a corner because of almost running into a passing motorbike in the 4 foot aisle, I came face to face with a parrot that was twice as big as Fuji and just a little bit smaller than Scooter. It made the loudest squawk that I have ever heard, though if it could talk it might have been pretty cool. Actually, considering that there were over 20 of these 4 foot parrots, maybe not. So in all, my hour of wanderings got me trapped in a different world with good stories for Donovan - if I could ever find him again.

At Siam Paragon, yet another Bangkok mall we went to, had the most unbelievable movie theatre. Ticket price includes an escort to your modern and super comfortable lazy boy chair, fully equipped with blanket and pillow, as well as superior electric reclining abilities. Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (or something like that) never looked any better. Though, I did forget how majorly cheesy these movies were. Harrison Ford must have had to try hard to act that bad. Don't go. Unless of course, you have a soft spot for Indiana Jones flicks. Don't say I didn't warn you...

Four days in Bangkok was a blast! We both loved it. The streets aren't NY crazy busy and the people are very friendly. But it was time to move on.

Next stop...
flight to Surat Thani then
to a random dirty bus stop then
to another random even dirtier bus stop then
to a ferry dock then
to a boat to Koh Panghan then
to a half remodeled bungalow on the beach then
to another ferry to Koh Tao

signing off...click to see more photos...