HOME!

Well, sad to say the journey is over, and I have returned home!

I said goodbye to the boys in Malaysia, then headed back to Thailand for 2 days. When I arrived I ran into Rachel in the middle of the street in Bangkok, so we spent the last day together eating our favorite Thai foods, and shopping for last minute gifts.

The plane ride was about 20 hours, but not too bad. I got stopped for special questioning at customs (must have looked like a terrorist) but they finally let me through!

It is great to be home, even if my life is about to be a lot more boring! Thank you to all of you who actually read this for 8 months!

Until my next adventure....
-Tami

p.s. put up the last round of photos from Bali, Singapore and Kuala Lumpur:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2019913&id=83901952&l=6007260d5a

cess pools and pictures

KL is a cess pool...not much else to say about it...but since the sicty sucks, I had time to put up photos from Vietnam!

enjoy them here:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2019780&id=83901952&l=00c0c46d05

Tomorrow I head back to Thailand...then Home on Friday!

The rest of Bali, Singapore and KL

Hello from Malaysia!

Sorry I haven't updated...but to be honest the rest of Bali, nothing interesting happened. I really just layed on the beach and ate mass amounts of ice cream. It was wonderful!

We arrived in Singapore on the 6th (after being heat scanned for swine flu). Singapore was a BEAUTIFUL city. Everyone lives in these giant high rise buildings full of apartments. The city has 4 million people, but doesn't feel like it because it is so compact, and the transportation systems are used by everyone. There are tons of parks and gardens all over the city. The people really take pride in their home! That beaing said, there are some STRANGE rules! You cannot eat or drink on public transport ($500 fine), You can't smoke ($1000 fine), you can't chew gum (I am not kidding...they dont sell it anywhere and if you are caught chewing...$500), and if you leave a toilet unflushed there goes another $500. The city also has cameras EVERYWHERE. You are always under surveilance...so you can never jaywalk, chew gum...etc. It is a bit "big brother"-esque, but overall I think it actually made the city more pleasant (in a friendly/oppressive underlying way?).

We stayed wilth Glenn, a guy we met through Couch Surfing (http://www.couchsurfing.com/), a website where people offer to host travelers and give them a place to stay / show them around. Glenn was an awesome host! He even gave up his bedroom for us! He has lived in Singapore his whole life. He picked us up from the airport, showed us around the city, even payed for all of our food and bus/subway passes, and wouldn't let us pay him back. He really took care of us, and made our trip a million times easier and better. He was such an interesting guy...used to be a body builder, has travelled all over the world, and is moving to Shanghai in a month. It was great to see the city with a local, and we took him out for drinks and got him a present to thank him for his hospitality!

When in Singapore, we saw everything we wanted to...we really packed it in since we only had about 3 days total. We went to the night safari (which is a zoo open only at night and contains one of the only patches of living rainforest left on the island). We went to several parks, several museums (which are all free after 6 pm), saw forts and the battle box, saw the financial district and the Quays (which were beautiful bridges over the river lit up at night). We saw the singapore flyer (the largest ferris wheel in the world, very similar the the London eye). We took the monorail over to Sentosa island, where we rode the luge (you take a chairlift up the the top of a hill then ride a go cart/bobsled down the hill). We went to the Changi prison and China town, and basically rode the buses and subway over every inch of the city.

I don't usually like big cities but I loved Singapore. It was very multi-cultural...people were friendly...it was clean...easy to navigate. Overall a great experience.

Today we arrived in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia after our flight being delayed (partially because of Matt...they found a shell casing he had brought back from Vietnam and questioned him severely in the Singapore airport, and partially because a couple on their honeymoon were found with fuzzy handcuffs in their carry on...no joke...the couple actually got detained longer and missed the flight). KL is gross and big and dirty...most of the hostels look roach and bed bug ridden (ours looks the least bug-infested...yay?) Can't say I love the place so far...but I am trying to get out to the rainforest that you can hike through for a day trip. Tonight we are just relaxing (Scott is pretty sick with either a flu or Dengue fever...hope its not the latter, and Matt just found out that they had to put down his dog)...so everyone isn't exactly chipper...but we're making the most of it. Matt and I just had some indian food out of a suspiciously dirty bin...we will see how that goes in a couple hours.

I will be flying back to Thailand in 4 days...have 2 days there to pick up my stuff, and get some last minute gifts (I am trying to smuggle home a "7 year old egg", and some cobra wine...we will see how that turns out), then, I fly home on the 15th! Hopefully I will update one last time before I head home, but if not...I will update when I get home safely (hopefully not quarantined with this swine flu thing), and will put up the remainder of my photos (be prepared for hundreds!) I am looking forward to going home but will miss Asia and traveling and most of all Scott and Matt!!

See you soon! And if anyone wants anything cool from Asia...speak now! xoxo
-Tami

Bali

Hello from Bali!

Bali is AMAZING. I really love it here. Beautiful beaches, perfect water, green rice paddies, cocnut laden palm trees, perfect blue sky!

We crossed over the equator, so now we are in the Southern Hemisphere (though I don't know if the toilet flushes the opposite direction). It is VERY hot here since we are so close to the equator. We are staying in Kuta/Legian beach area.

Yesterday we went white water rafting down a large river in the center of the island. It was level 4 rapids, and was pretty action packed the whole 2 1/2 hour trip! The rafting culminated with going over a 5 meter waterfall. It was really scary, but awesome! I absolutely loved it! Other than that, we have been laying on the beach, swimming, surfing, and eating really yummy food! The Balinese people are so friendly and fun. I would really like to teach here someday!

We are thinking about heading to the Gilli islands next, but may stay in this area...then onto Singapore, then Kuala Lumpur...and finally in 2 weeks I will be home! It's been almost 8 months since I left for Asia!

I am taking lots of pictures and having a great time! Miss you all!

In Saigon!

Hello everyone! I am in Saigon now, or Ho Chi Minh City I guess! Vietnam has been a whirlwind, but it has been great.

My last update, I believe was in Hanoi. SInce then, we have gone all the way down the country and done so much. After Hanoi, we went to Cat Ba island, which was beautiful! The whole bay was limestone cliffs and emerald green water. We went out on a junk for a day trip around Halong Bay, which was incredible.

After Cat Ba, we went to Hue on an overnight bus....let me tell you this was probably the worst time of my entire life! This bus was ridiculous! First of all, there are rows of beds (if you can even call them that) along the whole bus. I had a top bunk. These things are built for people about 4 feet tall and 80 pounds. You couldn't straighten your legs all the way. To make it worse, they BLASTED vietnamese music on full volume all night, and the driver swerved and honked every 30 seconds. I am not exaggerating. He was horrid! To top it off, the bus gets pulle dover and they find a bunch of stolen phones. So we are stopped for 4 hours while they search all the bags. Needless to say, we arrived in Hue about 7 hours late. I think I wanted to die by then.

Hue was amazing, which made up for the ride there! We went on a tour of the DMZ where among the things we saw were the beginning of HO Chi Minh trail, Khe San military base, and the Vinh Moc tunnels. It was really incredible to see all of this stuff!

After Hue, we took an all day train down to Nha Trang. This is supposed to be the most scenic railway in the world...and it did not let us down! It took about 13 hours to get there but it was worth it. Nha Trang is probably my favorite part of Vietnam. It was gorgeous, the people were so friendly, and the weather was nice. We went to the beach all day, then went to the mineral hot springs. We had a mud bath in these mud pits, then layed in hot mineral water, and swam in mineral waterfalls. The water was very hot, but after your skin felt so good. It was really fun to splash around in the mud, and swim in the pools. The whole process was very unique including high pressure jets to wash all the mud off.

Yesterday we flew from Nhat Trang to HCMC (instead of taking another hellatious bus ride) and now we are here for 2 days. We are going to the CuChi tunnels tomorrow...then its off to Bali (which I am SUPER excited for!)

ALl in all its been a great trip and the boys and I are having so much fun!

I have managed to get up pictures from the south of Thailand, but they are poorly labeled and out of order....but it will have to do for now:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2018994&id=83901952&l=0054f5a0e7

I will update again in Bali!! Miss you all!

Can't believe I will be home in 3 weeks!

Greetings from Vietnam!!

When I last updated, we were in Koh Tao celebrating "Songkram". Songkran was a blast! The whole day was essentailly a giant waterfight on the whole island! Nowhere was safe, and EVERYONE was soaked by the end of the day! It was a blast and we bought supersoakers to fight back! You would even get doused sitting in a restaurant eating lunch! We walked to a big beach and water-fought all day!

After songkran, we left koh tao and started traveling for 2 days straight. Unfortunately I got a horrid sinus infection...which didn't make it much better. We took a 3 hour boat, then a bus, then an overnight train to Bangkok. From there we took another bus, then waited at the airport, then flew in to Vietnam. I was a bit sad to leave Thailand...after being there for about 7 months. I will be back for a couple days before I fly home.

We arrived in Hanoi yesterday. I can't say this is my favorite place in the world. It is a HUGE city. There are way too many people, and crossing the street takes about 30 minutes...nobody stops for you and there are millions of cars and motorcycles at all times. It is really scary, dirty, and smoggy. The people are not friendly like the Thais. It's pretty much a concrete jungle packed with people to the point where you feel like you can't breathe. I don't know if I was just experiencing culture shock, or if I really dislike this place, but I semi-freaked out walking down the street.

Despite this, we have done a lot. We went to Ho Chi Minh's masoleum and saw his preserved body (creepy but cool). We went to the army museum. We walked around the lake, and we saw a vietnamese water puppet show (which was way cooler than it sounds). We also ate pho (noodle soup) and bun (noodles with salad and grilled meat all mixed together with a yummy sauce)...both of which were quite yummy! Everything is really cheap here (the money is called "Dong" (hehe) and 2 million is about $115. The boys went to the "Hanoi Hilton", but I refrained. Overall it's been ok, even though I am not a big city girl.

Today we are heading to Halong Bay and Cat Ba island. Then on to Hue, and Danag (to see the DMZ), then onto Nha Trang, and finally HCM city (Saigon). I am happy to be getting out of the city and hopefully will like vietnam a lot more than I do.

If you can believe it (I can't) I will be home in about a month! Seems like this time just flew by! I am very excited for the rest of my travels, but will be happy to return to civilization and experience the inevitable "reverse culture shock". I will update again soon when I do more in Vietnam!

Island hopping continues!!

I think I last updated from Krabi....since then, the adventure has continued!!

Scott and I met up with Rachel, and saw her rock climb in Ton Sai. The weather continued to be crap...monsooning every night...btu we managed to make the most of it!
After Krabi, we headed up the andaman coast to Ko Lak...a diving mecca. It continued to pour, but Matt dove on the Similan islands, and Scott and I managed to geta few hours of sun in.

After Krabi...we headed back to the Gulf of Thailand where we went to Koh Samui. The island was pretty nice, and we stayed in Bo Phun beach for 2 nights. We then headed to the next island, Koh Pagnan. We met up with Rachel again, and also Courtney, and her boyfriend Chris. We stayed on a gorgeous beach called Thong Nai Pan...and there was plenty of sun for once! Our bungalows had a pool and were surrounded by plumeria and orchids! The night of the 9th, we went to the full moon party. If you haven't heard of it, it is supposed to be one of the biggest parties in the world (google it...well, not you mom because it will probably scare you). It was right on the beach, and had body painting, fire limbo...and general craziness. To add to that, it rained the ENTIRE TIME! The 6 of us had a blast, and made it back safely! We said goodbye to Rachel, and Courtney for good :( on the 11th.

We are on Koh Tao now...the last of the islands we are visiting int he gulf. It is GORGEOUS! It has been sunny the whole time (yay). I went scuba diving today and saw a barracuda, and a sea snake!! I did 2 dives, and my dive instructor looked like Paul Walker (yum).

Tomorrow is songkran (a HUGE Thai holiday). Essentially the whole day everyone throws water at each other or gets giant super soakers, and there is a day long water fight! I am so excited!

After Koh Tao, our trip of Thailand is over. All in all the south has been great! Heading to Vietnam on the 15th!! I am trying to put up pictres now...we will see what happens!