Queenstown

A beautiful city at the edge of a lake surrounded by mountains.  Famous for skiing, mountain biking, and any other adventure sports...sound familiar?  No wonder we feel so at home here!  The weather is crisp but sunny, being now into the southern hemisphere's fall.  Leaves have just started to change color and there is a dusting of snow on the mountains.  The lake is clear and cold but the strip of rocky shore-line beach is full of people soaking up the last of the summer sun, kind of like home.
So far we have been recovering from our long journey and trying to wrap our heads around the endless possibilities...backpacking (in Kiwi its called tramping), mountain biking, bungy jumping, sky diving, jet boats, river surfing, paragliding...all in our budget of course :)

New Zealand

Ahh the fresh air, the infrastructure, the drinkable tap water, the organization, the traffic laws, the quiet, the views, the mountains!
We aren't going to lie... it was quiet a relief to finally be out of the crazy, overpopulated, chaotic world that is Asia, and be back in the western world with its cleanliness and order.
After 55 hours of airports and air travel we were sick and tired but our flight over New Zealand was amazing.  From our window we could see Auckland and Egmont Volcano, the vast farmland and the mountains of the south island.  Then we flew low into Queenstown down the valley flanked by the Remarkables Mountains on one side and lake Wakatipu at the far end.  At the airport we were not hassled by taxis or hotel scouts just easy, unbiased advice from the information desk...what a breath of fresh air!

Farewell Asia

The things we love about Asia

• Soda in a bag and gasoline in a soda bottle (or a Johnny Walker black label bottle if its premium)
• re-use of anything; old tire as a garbage can, bumper, flower pot, Styrofoam bowls as a net bouy, old posters as an awning or roofing
• bamboo can be made into or used for anything
• anything you could want to eat on a stick; fruit, meat (and any innards you would like as well), rice (I know..how?), soda (frozen), ice -cream (or sandwiched between white bread), eggs (even in the shell.. not sure about that one...), egg rolls, sea food...even their houses are on sticks!
• the whole family, mom, dad, two kids, a baby, and maybe a family pet as well on one motor bike...who needs a mini van!
• alters everywhere...so many shrines with such simple offerings; a soda bottle, a stick of gum, a cigarette, rice, flowers, candy bars, incense... all for good luck, to keep the evil spirits away, to remember your ancestors, to pleases the gods...and the stray dogs :)
• Traffic! (well maybe we don't love this one!)

Bali

These offerings are everywhere, in front of stores, on scooters,  at the entrance to temples, on a rock, by a stream, on the beach...offerings to the appease the spirits 

A short flight from Malaysia to Bali over the equator, through the rain clouds, and into the monsoon...

We stayed in Kuta for the first night because it was close to the airport and we thought we could take a surf lesson at Kuta beach if the rain ever stopped...it didn't so we slogged through the puddles forming on the street by our hotel for the post office (those same Thai post cards still didn't get mailed), then bought a ticket for Ubud, a town in the foot hills that we deemed more suitable to rainy weather, having rice terraces, palm plantations, and jungle.

Here in Ubud we celebrated Nyepi, the Balinese/Hindu New Year.  It is a day of silence and self reflection, where the balance between good and evil in ones life can be restored.  This means that any activity that would interfere with meditation and self reflection is prohibited; no fire or light (electricity too), no working, no traveling (including walking), fasting and no self revelry.  What this meant for us is no leaving the hotel and closing the blinds at night, we had to eat at our hotel and stock up the day before on food and drink...


Bhuta Yajna Ritual 

Hanuman, Hindu Monkey diety

The night before is the Bhuta Yajna Ritual where the towns youth constructs large monsters or daemons called ogoh-ogoh that are paraded round the center of town to ward of real daemons that might want to take up residence.  Some of the 'ogoh-ogoh' are pure fabrications, while some are Hindu deities or represent characters from traditional Balinese folk-tales.  Some of the tales are acted out during the parade, all set to loud music from drums, cymbals, gongs, and chanting.

Nyepi

Our 'silent day' was spent editing photos, posting this blog, swimming in the pool, and mostly reading...not to bad a day because our hotel is so lovely! 

Poetry Hill

11th century tombs carved from the bedrock  




Bali Sunset

Malaysia and Kuala Lumpur

Petronas towers

Central Market

After quite an ordeal with our high speed ferry boat and too many passengers to keep it afloat, we left Ko Lipe and with minutes to spare caught our bus to Kuala Lumpur...Just like that we left Thailand for the big city.
We stayed in China town, a part of the city where every knock-off you could want is for sale along with plenty of noodle shops and mini-marts.  We arrived at 5am checked into a hotel and went back to bed, on awakening again we decided to do some sight seeing, we visited the Petronas towers, the tallest twin towers in the world, the central market, and the post office (we had to mail postcards from Thailand...).  We flew out the next morning for Bali.

The Andaman Islands

We reluctantly left the comforts of Noi's house and Phuket to catch a flight out of Mylasia on the 20th.  We opted for boat travel because the area has stunning islands and we were down right sick of the Thai tourist bus travel and all the headaches that accompany it.  We took a ferry named the Fjord Prinsessen (a Norwegain boat no doubt) to the famous Ko Phi Phi where we snapped some photos of the resort filled beach and headed on our way south to the less touristy Trang Islands, more specifically Ko Muk.

View from our Bungalow

Ko Muk means pearl in Thai, and it is quite lovely...white sandy beach, turquoise water, soaring limestone cliffs, only four resorts...ours a cheap bungalow on the beach.  It was so quiet and peaceful...it seamed the little hermit crabs had control of the beach, wandering in all directions in a variety of amazing shells, leaving beautiful 'art' of their tracks in the sand.  The next morning we kayaked around the south side of the island, snorkeled a bit and were off again on the Fjord Prinsessen to Ko Lipe and the Turatoa National Marine Park.

The beaches of Ko Lipe are the photos you see of Thailand's paradise islands...crystal clear water, bleached white sand, and a long tail boat...Ko Lipe is also a typical Thai 'paradise' complete with mini marts, loads of resorts, and bars...lots of them.  They say Ko Lipe is just now being discovered...We say it was found and maybe should be forgotten.

The marine park was stunning.  Never have we seen such clear water with such beautiful coral of all shapes and sizes.  The fish were so curious surrounding us when we weren't looking and then scattering when we turned around.  There were amazing little sea creatures too, anemones, urchins, shells, starfish...and such amazing colors!

  

Noi's House

Charlie Noi Ben
Rika and Rosie

After Ben's uncle left for work we moved in with Noi and the girls for a few days.  Noi was a great hostess teaching me (Amanda) how to cook Thai food and Ben how to drive 'Thai style' and on the left side of the road.  The girls loved pestering Ben and playing 'I spy' with us in the truck while we toured the island.  Noi took us to the beach, the market, to see the sunset, temples, stores, took us on errands, and each day Ben drove to school to pick up the girls.  When Noi wasn't directing us Rika or Rosie would guide us on our errands, surprisingly knowing all the directions for being 8 and 6 respectively.  They also constantly reprimanded their mother for her improper use of left and right (in English).
It was great to be with family and be in a home, running errands, cooking, shopping...what a nice change from 'tourist' travel!

Ao Phang Nga

Towering limestone cliffs jutting out of the sea covering the horizon in all directions...that is Ao Phang Nga....the most famous among them, the James Bond island, featured in 'The Man with a Golden Gun' and now a major tourist stop though most tourists don't remember or care about the movie, its just package tour and 'here we go'....

James Bond Island

We took a 'family trip' with the Thai girls (Noi, her two girls and a friend) in the back of Charlie's pick-up while the westerners sat in the air-con cab for a two hour drive north, off the island and into the limestone cliffs of the Phang Nga province.  We hired a long tail boat to explore the many islands and caves.  We stopped by James Bond island for a photo and found a beautiful white sandy beach tucked between two large cliffs and a tourist trap in the middle...selling crap...that's right tourist crap...oh and tons of tourist boats!  We then stopped at a cave, also a well know tourist destination, where you could hire kayaks (complete with mandatory guide) to go through the cave.  The girls, Rika and Rosie, were so excited about the kayak and the coconut they would get to drink while on said kayak, that Ben and I decided we better not spoil their fun by not taking the kayak tour with the other hundreds of smiling Chinese tourists in small kayaks crowding the cave entrance.

Noi, Rosie, and Rika

Our guide was funny, pointing out all the karsk formations that reminded him of specific body parts...and insisted that I (Amanda) continuously turn around so Ben could take pictures.  We paddled through the cave and then into a lagoon that was quite impressive because so many kayaks full of Asians could actually fit in side it with still more able to enter!  After the kayaking was over and the coconut drank, the girls promptly decided that it was no fun because they had 'seen it all before', and we got back on the boat and headed back to town.

Phuket

Phuket and Ben's uncle Charlie

Our view of Hat Kata from the deck

We arrived in Phuket on the 8th to Ben's uncle Charlie and daughter Rika awaiting us at the bus station.  So nice to have smiling, friendly, familiar faces to greet us rather than being hammered with questions about taxis, tuk tuks, and hotels!  His uncle put us up in a hotel over looking Kata beach, where we can hear the waves while sitting in bed, we have our own private deck where we can watch the snorkelers and beach goers, and the pool overlooks the bay and the ocean beyond.  Best accomodation we have had!  We had a great Italian dinner with the whole family, Noi Charlie's wife, Rika 8, and Rosie 6.  Noi then took us out to Patong...the hopping night life town on the island, to meet some friends visiting from England.  We drank beer and watched 'lady boys' pole dance till the wee hours of morning.

The next day after a leisurely morning at the hotel, Charlie took us to see 'The Big Buddha', a project that is still under construction after 7 years.  We then had a delicious dinner at Charlie and Noi's house, where Noi cooked us homemade Italian food (I know what your thinking...Italian?!)  Noi, while being Thai, is a fabulous cook and their neighbor is Italian and taught her among other things the art of ravioli making (from scratch) lasagna, and bruschetta, all on the menu for the night.

Ao Nang and Railay Beach

After two long days of buses and a night train and more buses we made it to the south of Thailand to a beach town called Ao Nang.  It is quite the Asian beach town; lots of sunburns, swim suit/tee shirt shops, a fair number of business suit shops, souvenirs galore, massage parlors on every street corner, tour agencies abound...and oh ya a beach.  This town is the town you have to start from to see the famous lime stone islands of the south.

Today we caught a long-tail boat...a quintessential Asian boat complete with diesel engine and and deafening noise...to Railay beach, famous for limestone cliffs and rock climbers.  We rented a kayak and explored the limestone islands and caves, found our own secluded white sand beach, and swam with the schools of tinny silver fish that leaped out of the water when our kayak crossed their path.  While we were kayaking the tide dropped so low that we had to drag our kayak back to shore in a few inches of water!
We made it back to Ao Nang for sunset, most impressive due to the threatening storm clouds, and took over 60 photos! (don't worry we deleted some!)

We are up to date!

So we have finally finished editing all our photos and posting about all we have seen thus far.  From here on out our posting dates should correspond with the actual time we were there.  We have added a lot in the last few days so you will have to go back quite a few posts in the blog archive (right hand side of the web page) ...Tham Lod was the last chronologically of the 'new' posts Found under 'February' the rest are under 'March'.  Also check out our Web Album.  Each post corresponds to an album with the same name (the place name).  We also have a map (right hand side of web page) that shows where we have been thus far! Enjoy!

P.S. in case you haven't noticed Amanda is writing the blogs and Ben is editing photos and writing their captions.

Koh Chang

So here we are in beach paradise...Thai style.  Which means lots of souvenir shops, lots of sun burned tourists and lots of resorts!  We stayed at Hat Ta Nam, once known as lonely beach, a beach with cheap bungalows and hoppin' night life...after a few days of pumping base all through the night we moved to a quieter more tranquil beach called Hat Klong Kloi and relaxed, swam and mostly updated photos and the blog!

Our Beach, Hat Klong Kloi

We checked out Khlong Phlu waterfall for a swim in some fresh water...along with hordes of other tourists!



I think we have decided that the sound of the waves and the blue waters are beautiful but we want the mountains!  Give us snow, clear water, and clear sky!

Krong Koh Kong

Once a large port town on an even larger delta, Koh Kong is now a rundown yet charming old dusty town.  It is the gate way to the Cardamom Mountains and the Koh Kong Conservation Corridor.  These two protected areas are home to some of SE Asia's largest virgin forests and mangroves, and a wide variety of endangered species.

Koh Kong Island

Lagoon

We stayed here for 4 days, and probably our most memorable day was at Koh Kong Island.  This island is like a postcard...white sand beach, crystal clear turquoise water, a fresh water lagoon, coconut palms swaying in the breeze...and empty.  Unfortunately there are plans to build an airport, golf course, and a resort on the island in the near future but the hope is that the areas 'ecotourism' possibilities will keep development more nature oriented than say Bokor Hill NP.

Mangroves

We also took a 'trek' into the Cardamom Mountains to a waterfall for some swimming.  We had two locals guiding us, maneuvering our boat through narrow mangrove channels barley deep enough to wade in...and chopping down coconuts for us to enjoy by the falls.  On our ride back down the river from the hike we were caught in a down pour that lasted about 20min and soaked us all, the force of the rain was amazing!

Cardamom Mountains

The downpour!

Kampot

February 20, Amanda's birthday, and an overnight bus ride that was only 5 hours long instead of 7 (a problem when you plan to sleep) and both of us having broken seats, lead to a long day before we finally reached Kampot.  I had ribs, fires and lemon meringue pie for dinner...it made up for it!
Kampot was touted as a 'sleepy little river town' with Cambodia's best colonial French architecture.  We however thought otherwise, large industrial and rundown... that's what we would have put in the guide book...

Bokor Hill Station

Gate to the 'Ghost town"

The main attraction in town, is an old French resort and town in what is now a National Wildlife Reserve.  We took an organized tour to see the 'ghost town' as it was advertised, with a 'trek' through the jungle, a waterfall, and a sunset river cruise...all for $10 and it included lunch.  Well it turns out that a Chinese company bought the park and were in the process of rebuilding some of the old French buildings as well as building some large Casinos of their own.  All this meant that our jungle 'trek' was through a construction site, the 'ghost town' was either being renovated and was off limits or the  re-inhabited by the workers, and he water fall was dry because its the dry season...all things they failed to mention!  The lunch was good and so was the river cruise...and hay it was only $10!

Dry Waterfall 

Sunset cruise

Battambong

We took a tour of the area by tuk tuk, with a driver named 'Ya Ya'.  He took us to see the 'killing caves' as they are so blatantly named.  This region of Cambodia was part of the Khmer Rouge strong hold and during their actual reign the fields around this region were used as slave camps where the Khmer Rouge forced thousands of 'city folk' to the fields in forced labor, if they resisted they were bludgeoned and then thrown into the killing cave...
A shrine of human bones is now found at the base of the cave commemorating the deceased, along with a statue of a Buddha.  At the top of the limestone outcrop that houses the cave is a Wat and two 'large guns' that the Khmer Rouge used after they were ousted from Phnom Penh by the Viet Nameses

We then went on a drive through 'wine country'...one vinyard to be exact and then on to Prasat Banan, a temple built in the 11th century and thought to be the inspiration for Angkor Wat (though 1/8 the size)

Ben liked the small doors...
We also found a blue headed lizard and quiet a few monkeys

The last stop was the 'Golden Gate Bridge' of Cambodia...it was blue...also 1/8th the size

The slow boat to Battambang

Not our boat...this boat was bound for Phnom Penh

We left Siem Reap on a slow boat to Battambang (Fe 18th), a small town on the other side of Tonle Sap Lake.  During high season the boat trip is an easy 5 hours but we were approaching dry season and it took us over 9 to reach the town!  The views were stunning but the ride was a bit too long...

Tonle Sap lake is the largest fresh water lake in SE Asia and is quiet remarkable because, not only does it supply Cambodia with most of its fish and fresh water, it also reverses flow twice a year, once during the dry season it flows into the Mekong river and during the monsoon season the river flows into it swelling the lake to nearly twice the size.

We passed many floating villages along the river with smiling children eager to wave at the passing boat.