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so we've been laying around most of today, waiting for our night ferry.

oh i didn't mention? we're going back to the beach.

we skipped the monastery, so we're taking a night ferry over to ko tao. allow me to explain. there are three islands in a row, respectively-- ko samui, ko phan nyuan, and ko tao. ko samui is closest to the shoreline, about a 2 hour ferry ride out. ko tao will be a 6 hour ride out. the further out you get, the less populated the islands become. ko samui had 40,000 people.

ko tao will have 5,000.

though it's currently literally the best spot in the world to get dive certified, i doubt alex and i are going to go for that. as of now, the plan is to relax, read, soak up the sun and perhaps snorkel. we've budgeted out the rest of thailand so we don't overspend again, but we'll probably be in ko tao for a few days.

i'll be sure to post more pictures to make you all jealous.

..

so, for those northeasterners who are reading this (like, no one), i have a small world story for you.

on our arrival to surat thani, where we have been for the last three days as this was a layover stop before the monastery, we met up with someone who went to burma with alex. his name is weeks. interestingly enough, he works at the south pole as an engineer and is taking the year off to travel around the world. however, he's from philadelphia. we began talking, and i told him i was from york. he asks me,

"i know the odds are slim, york isn't this small, but do you happen to know by chance a teacher by the name... um, leni? len...?"

"lensi? i knew a lensi. phil lensi i think his name was, but that was a long time ago. and he wasn't a teacher. he was a student teacher for half a marking period. he went to york college." but i kind of laughed and shrugged it off.

he replied, "well, maybe that's what it was. maybe he went to york college. i dont really remember. its just how i remember york. he was from new jersey, but we always called him by his last name and i can't really remember his first. he was my brother's roommmate in college."

new jersey, hm? that makes sense. york college's heaviest recruiting area.

"yeah, but i doubt it's him. lensi was my student teacher in eighth grade. he had to stop teaching though. never finished at our school. did some things they frown upon as a student teacher. but i'm not sure about the rest of his college career."

he laughed. "sounds like him. cool guy. he wouldn't have been your history teacher, was he?"

my mouth dropped.


we did a facebook check and weeks emailed his old roommate. it has been confirmed. he knows phil lensi. yeah thats right. car-driving, test-answer-giving, bad-mouthing, backyard-football-playing awesome mr. lensi. this was within about ten minutes of meeting.

small world.

..






Y rae. racho. d.

just when you thought you could get a break...

due to a change of events, alex and i will not be heading to the monastery. many of you have probably read her blog at this point, but for those of you who are not keeping up with her as well, she and eric broke up. it has drastically changed her mindset of this trip and i'm not sure what she will decide to do. many ideas have been tossed around, including the thought of her leaving early.

i do not plan on coming home until i've see the temples of angkor.

however that must happen.

i would prefer not to come home early, as there are many parts of the trip that i have been looking forward to for different reasons. as i've said, each piece needs to be respected within itself-- beach for beach, rainforest for rainforest, and city for city. therefore, i don't want to simply see the temples and change my flight back and come home. plus i've already paid for a few other things over here and didn't expect to spend $150 on vietnam to not see it, while i'll need to spend another $300 to get back to singapore and leave the trip early.

i'll keep everyone posted. right now i just want alex to take this day by day. i'll adjust myself accordingly as i see fit.

"i like seeing them laugh at me. i feel like a true tourist"

it wasn't until about 7:40 a.m. that alex and i woke up. realizing how late it was, as this is the latest start we've had yet, we jumped out of bed, grabbed our no-longer-stinky laundry, and checked out of the hostel. lucky for us, they agreed to keep our luggage for the day while we wasted time until we had to be back on the mainland. dragging those bags around all day would have been awful. we began at the coffee shop (of course), but, to our luck, their internet wasn't working. we tried for thirty minutes to fix it.

after the initial shock of not being able to connect to the outside world wore off, we left to continue on with our day.

..

goal: find a deserted beach.

..

we hopped on the moto outside of the coffee shop and headed to the southern end of the island. after about fifteen minutes, we took two sidestops: the first was to see a waterfall. we trekked down a steep hill in our flipflops, because, well, it was a good idea, until we arrived at the bottom of the hill to find a trickle of water cascading down a few rocks. my best math skills from the gre:

thai waterfall is not equal to american waterfall.

..

after we hiked back up the hill, we continued up the mountain to a lookout point.






the view was beautiful, but we stopped long enough only to take pictures. we coasted back down the mountain in search of our little slice of heaven.

..

we picked a road that seemed to be parallel to the beach and followed it a few more kilometers (oh god, they've got me!) until we lost track of the water. eventually, we took a dirt road past some abandoned homes that were for sale. this part beats out trekking in flip flops as the second stupidest thing we've done so far--

it looked like the thai mafia could be headquartered here.

instead, it led us to a private resort. same same. but at this point, the sun was coming out and we wanted some beach space, especially after yesterday's rain. we decided to head back to the hostel and lay on lamai. on the way back, i spotted another dirt road, so we thought we'd take it to see where it led. when we finally parked the moto, we watched as the waves crashed on the sandy white beach only five yards in front of us.



and no one else was around.

..

we immediately took off our clothes (we still had on bathing suits!) and dove right into the water. the view was phenominal: the water was just as crystal clear as it had been further up the beach, and the sun was shining. we were officially in paradise. we had spotted some large rocks only a few yards away that were perfect for sunbathing. like schoolgirls, we half-jogged over to them with our bag to stake claim and catch some sun. we made the climb to the top of the rocks, ready to tan.



just in time to see the people on the other side. lying outside of their resort.



it was nice while it lasted.

..

when it was time to go, we packed up and stopped at the coffee shop to check on the internet again. still down. then we went across the street to our hostel, grabbed our bags, and began contemplating the most difficult part of the day.

we stayed in lamai, point a. it is south of chaweng, point b. across the island from both places is the pier for the ferry, point c. however, to go from our hostel to drop off the moto in chewang, get a taxi to our bags, and then over to the pier would have been ridiculously expensive and time consuming. we had no choice but to take our bags on the bike with us.

did you see the picture in the last post? and how much room was on the bike?

we were definately the spectacle. not one person walked by us while we were trying to figure out the bag situation without laughing. first i tried wearing my bag on the front-- but i couldn't turn the bike. kind of a problem. in the midst of figuring this out, it completely toppled over. i got off of it in time, but it crashed to the ground. oops. then i put on my helmet.

shit. this is such a bad idea.

we tried again. this time, instead of wearing it in front, i put the bag between my legs where my feet would sit. with my knees to the side and my feet hanging off the platform at the bottom, alex sat on the back of the bike-- wearing her bookbag on her front and her dufflebag on her back. she asked me:

"can you move the bike?"
"yes?"
"can you turn the bike?"
"um. yes."
"just go, just get going!"

swerving the handlebars back and forth, we set out.

what a site.

..

twenty five minutes later and four shades redder, we turned the bike in. sorry about all of those speed bumps, alex. i'm glad you didn't fall.

..

the views from the ferry were gorgeous.



we eventually arrived in surat thani, met up with alex's friend weeks who is going to the monestary with us, and went to dinner.

i finally experienced thai "chili." aka, thai spice.

the dish i got at dinner was "sweet shrimp." one thing we've learned here is that just because it's on the menu doens't mean the restaurant has it. in fact, cut the menu in half. that's generally what's available. and whatever it is you want isn't going to be on the menu. that's pretty much guaranteed.

she told me it would be "chili" (hot). i said, "sweet?"

"yes, sweet and chili."

dammit, wrong again.

proudly, i ate five out of seven shrimp. i barely got through half of my rice. and when i tried to order french fries, the only thing on the menu that could cool down my mouth, they said "sorry, we no french fried."

of course not.

..

i ended the night with chocolate ice cream instead.

thailand runs on its own time schedule. by that i mean that ten minutes is generally forty-five and an hour and a half is sometimes closer to two and a half.

this is fact. it's called thai time.

that's why they're buddhists here. they need buddha patience for thai time.

at least i do anyway.

..

in front of me, there are two geckos playing tag. they sound like birds chirping.

..

ok. take a ten day vacation guys. it's been a long week of reading. go ahead and process that before my cynicism on the monestary.

i'll be sure to keep a day-by-day journal so you don't miss a beat of my oh-so-tactful american reaction to lord-knows-whatever-it-is they tell me to do.

wish me luck. love you all.






Y rae. racho. d.

"this is, by far, the dumbest thing we've done yet."

good morning, clear water. how are you?

..

well, i came to a very important philosphical realization today. so far, each day, i've been keeping track of roughly how much money i spent so that a) my identity doesn't get stolen by asians, and b) i know what i've spent so i know how much i'll have when i get back. i've been spending, almost every day, much more than i had anticipated by the day, and wanted to "make up for it" along the way. but i'm realizing that i've saved up a fair amount for this trip, and it's not going to hurt to spend it. all, if need be.

since then, i've felt much freer. and i've started to relax a bit.

and just in time for the beach...

..

so what did i do with this newfound freedom today? alex and i woke up around seven a.m. again today-- i know, everyone from home is wondering why the hell i've spent the last ten years of my life in bed til one p.m. (or two, or three, or if i have a hangover, four to sixish. sorry mom, i love you) . its really nice actually, i feel like i accomplish things when i'm up this early.

but don't get used to it. etters, pa doesn't quite have the to-do list that ko samui does.

or the rest of asia, for that matter.

alex by the fountain near the coffee shop.

..

after dropping off our lovely smelling bag of laundry for the poor thai woman next to our hostel, we set out on foot. we weren't sure how we wanted to get around the island-- we have the option of walking, which, after a while, would really suck. though the island isn't big at all, four miles to the busier beach, chaweng, can get old, fast. though we're literally beachfront at our hostel (we might as well be sleeping in sand), we were told that chaweng was the nicest part of the island, so we wanted to see the action first-hand.

after our morning coffee(s, for alex), we began walking. after about a mile and a half, we decided to search for a better means of transportation that didn't involve our efforts. so we overpaid a motorbike taxi. he dropped us off the in middle of chaweng.

it seemed like a good idea at the time.

..

after another two miles of walking the beachlines, we were exhausted. as it turns out, though the entire beach is public, we cannot take the chairs that line the waters because they are all reserved for the guests of the corresponding hotel. mind you, no hotels here are beachfront.

they are all just beach. might as well be in the ocean.

we had been staring at the crystal green waters for well over four hours at this point and were ready to dive in, but neither of us had towels to save room in our bags. so we ventured back out into the street to find a taxi that could take us to the "public beach." unfortunately, as murphy's law would have it (appropriately enough), we're still out of english-speaking areas, so we scoured our sights for the white man.

alex found one.

he was sitting in a motorbike rental area. he had the best price to rent the bikes and we figured it would be the best way to travel around the island. we could keep the bike for twenty-four hours and pay virtually the same amount as we paid the taxi driver in the morning.

"have you ever driven a motorbike before?" he asked us in his english accent.

crickets.

..

he took us to the side of the building and showed us how to start the bike. alex gave the test run a go first, with flying colors. i stood and watched.

"now put her on the back," he told us. "it's really quite different."

he was right. neither of us could keep our balance at all. we swayed and i watched as the handle bars jiggled back and fourth and alex tried to keep us afloat. england looked at us, our eyes wide and worried.

"i'll give it a shot," and i hopped on like i knew what i was doing or something.

i really did no better than alex, and then we gave it a go with the two of us on the bike. after i came back down the lane with an "oh shit" look on my face, he looked at us again.

"you seem a bit more confident. you two will be fine. trust me, there are many people i won't let rent these things. we don't need the 150 baht that badly."

150 baht= 5 usd. that's right. for twenty-four hours of our lives on the line.

we grabbed some helmets as we let the door hit our asses.

..

with the key in the ignition, i sat on the motorbike holding the handlebars, ready to pull out of the parking lot. there was a hill in front of me which looked awfully big, and the turn was going to be a hard ninety degrees.

i looked back. "are you sure we don't need a license or anything for this?"

he laughed.

"alex, you realize that this is, by far, absolutely the dumbest thing we've done on this trip so far."
"yeah. just don't kill me and we'll be okay."

i'll take good care of her momma murphy. i think.
..

we pulled into the parking lot of ark bar in one piece. i think i forgot to breathe while we were on that bike.

..

after lunch at the bar, we laid back down on the beach for some sun, but to our dismay, it wasn't out. it looked like it was going to storm, and, knowing it would take about ten minutes to get back, we decided to pack up and try to beat the rain. literally, just as we got on the bike and pulled out of the parking lot, it started to pour. i quickly stopped the bike in an open gravel lot next to the one we had just been parked in for the most ackward parkjob known to motorbikes.

by this i mean by the time we got back to the gravel lot, someone had picked up our bike and moved it to a more practical spot.

i'm sure that person was only thinking one thing: stupid tourists.

..

just as we got back on the bike to head home, we got no further than half a mile down the street before we had to pull over again for another downpour. conveniently enough, we were outside of murphy's irish pub.

what better way for murphy's law to strike? and i was still with alex. murphy.

..

we ordered two bailey's and coffee drinks. any more of them and i wouldn't have been able to drive. the motorbike.

is this baileys?!

..

once we got back to the hostel and parked the honda, we set out for the best part of the day: be jealous. thai massage.

we scoured the beach for the best deal we could find-- 200 baht for 1 hour. at the hostel right next to ours. do the math if you remember from earlier.

as we waited our turn, i jumped in the lamai beach waters, which were in fact much clearer than those of the more-popular chaweng beach. once we were called, we decided to spoil ourselves by paying a whopping hundred baht more for hour-long full-body oil massages.

for ten usd.

that's all i need to say. i'll end this story here.

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at dinner, alex and i each ordered drinks: a banana dacquiri and pina colada. note to self: thais do not, i repeat, do not skimp on the liquor. yum.

i'll have a bit of colada with my pina rum, please.

..

i want to drive the moto again.

Y rae. racho. d.

please dont hate me. love you all.

these are the views from the restaurant of our bungalow hostel at eight o'clock this morning.

we kinda like it.

dont worry, we haven't forgotten you. and we still love you.

we'll be sure to tell the ninety degree weather you all said hi.

Y rae. racho. d.

i'm a united statesian, arrogantly enough.

our journey today began at 5 am. and didn't end until 9 pm. be glad you all are not here, i was in such a bitchy mood.

although the coconut-milk pineapple and shrimp curry pretty much took all of that away.

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two minutes into thailand, or should i say, one hundred feet into thailand, i noticed a difference. first, not one cat. second, three dogs.

they know what's up here in thailand.

not much longer after that, i spotted three monks in... uniform? their cloths were a bright mustard yellow... yeah, kind of resembling my toga from jenny's party this summer. like, a lot.

i knew i should have brought that freakin sheet.


..


lucky for us, alex and i got the last two seats in a bus full of thais on the way to ko samui. we got off the bus on the way to surat thani at the "lunch" stop. neither of us wanted food yet even though we had yet to eat more than granola that day. We knew we weren't going to eat til late that night, but still, we've officially lost all contact with the english language at this point, and even if we were hungry enough, we have no idea what anything is.

they eat weird stuff here. i'm not trying to buy cuddlefish in a bag at the minimart. there's just something not right about that.

plus, anything that doesn't settle in our stomachs would make for a painful next two hours of popping pills and hoping we don't puke in the car. because lord knows our driver wouldn't understand the words "pull over, i'm gonna vom!" as i somehow doubt that's part of english 101.

and, if it is, odds are pretty good that hes never even taken english 101.

so, instead, we grabbed two drinks-- an orange probably-tropicana for alex and a strawberry fanta for myself. we stond outside of the minimart and found ourselves slowly, gradually moving to face each other, closer and closer. she looks around a bit, as do i, and makes an estranged look.

alex mumbles, "i... feel... um, a little... liiiiiike..."

i finish her sentence for her:

"like you're white? like you're white. i know. i feel white. i feel very freakin white. i feel the burn, i feel their eyes like the sunrays are burning on me, like i'm white. is that what you're trying to say? because they don't know english, you can just say it. they dont know what we're saying. white. white. we're white. white, white, white."

after a second, she looks around again, and in a quiet voice, sings:

"one of these things just doesn't belong here..."

..

you're right alex. now that you mention it, my fanta does taste a little like cough syrup. i enjoyed it at first. that was all i had. now i dont even have that. thank you. thank you very much.

crap.

..

i love the by-now age-old understanding that all americans are arrogant assholes. today, alex and i proved the hollish / french / spanish / argentinians to be much more arrogant than us. on the ferry ride to ko samui, these four nationalities only had english in common. we had the undesirable pleasure of sitting much too close to them to overhear their topics of conversation. it made me appreciate the education i've received over the last 23 years of my life, and made me come to understand the saying that ignorance really must be bliss.

"i dont understand. everyone in the western hemisphere says they are american when you ask them where they are from. it's very typical. but why do americans say they are american? that's such an american thing to do. they should say they are from the united states. if they say they are american, they could be from anywhere in north or south america."

good god.

..

some pictures from the boat today. we didn't arrive on the island until around eight-thirty so it was too dark for pictures. you can be more jealous tomorrow.

views via the ferry.

Y rae. racho. d.

lions and tigers and malaria, oh my!

we woke up this morning at 5am again to our five-times-a-day-too-much call to prayer. right in our ears. thanks muslim friend. hey alex, you ready to go hiking before the sun comes up?

not quite.

we woke up officially around eight o'clock, checked out of our expensive hostel, into our inexpensive hostel, and went to breakfast. we had kope, of course, and too much food. from there, we crossed the river to begin hiking. not too soon into the hike, we met up with ben and julie, two recent graduates who are teaching english for a year just outside of beijing. happy to meet up with fresh faces, we hiked the canopy walk with them.

for those of you who don't know what a canopy walk is, it's where they build a bridge or bridges from one treetop to another. it is generally a board or boards with a net on the side so you don't fall and die because you're lord-knows-how-many-feet-in-the-air, as-tall-as-the-trees high.

please dont let me drop my camera.

this particular walk was the longest in the world, with six bridges. it made for a beautiful view, but to our luck, we saw next to no wildlife on our hiking adventure.

except the snake i almost stepped on in the trees. and the pheasant.

when we got back to the resort area after the hike, we were up close and very-- perhaps too-- personal with this bird. it was obviously confused, considering it did nothing but make a purring sound and literally run in circles around us. we were so fascinated and thought maybe it was trying to befriend us, until it pecked ben.

..

after that hike, we had a light lunch and went to a watering hole where everyone dipped in for a swim except me. anyone who knows me well enough would have known that i didn't get in before i mentioned it. and you all now know, without me telling you, that no, the water was not clear.

obviously.

..

though we did do two hikes, they were very short, much shorter than we had expected. however, some of the hikes on the trip would have been six hours out and back, and we didn't want to exhaust ourselves or get lost either. at first i thought maybe we had wasted our day, but we somehow managed to pass the time. we met back up with ben and julie for an indian dinner, then sat around and chatted our american chat.

you learn to appreciate familiarity once its gone.

..

after a ridiculous amount of contemplation as how how we were going to get from point a to b, or point taman negara to point ko samui, we decided to take a tourist bus up to penang in the western side of malaysia. this was very different from our original plan, but considering the route we had mapped out in our heads didn't exist, we had to opt for something a bit more... real.

so why did we opt for this new plan? well, considering malaysia is islamic and thailand is buddhist, there is a good deal of political unrest in many parts of the border towns on both sides. the idea is to spend as little time there as possible, because though westerners have little thret except to be robbed by raging motorcyclists as they drive past, they can be bystanders in the way of the unrest. we spent more money than we wanted to, but we're much safer this way.

so, rundown of what happened today and what will happen tomorrow: we parted the beautiful rainforest a bit before nine am.

arrived in penang a bit after seven.

we'll leave penang at five am tomorrow morning.

and we'll arrive in ko samui around three in the afternoon.

good lord. three and a half hours to virginia? that's officially cake.

..


so pretty.

Y rae. racho. d.

& the real trip begins

it's monday night here, the twenty-fifth, and alex and i are in an internet cafe in taman negara-- go figure, who knew they'd have the internet in the middle of the rainforest? i'm going to post my observations from my journal from yesterday's train ride.;


it's 4:45 am and alex and i are on the train along with one other man. we are going to jarentut, a town three hours from taman negara, where we are headed. taman negara is the largest national park in malaysia. we are going there to hike and sightsee, as it is nothing but rainforest. in here live elephants, tigers, bears, and leopards, but those are animals we probably won't even come within ten miles of. last night i only got about three hours of sleep because of how early we got up, so i'm going to pass out for a bit.

it's 8 am, and we have about five more hours on the train. i woke up about thirty minutes ago. alex is offending the entire train right now by clipping her nails (with my bright green insect nail clipper! yesss). just a little bit ago an elderly woman with a basket speaking maylay asked us if we wanted to buy any food from her, but we have no ringgets, so we couldn't. just having left singapore, we have yet to change over our money. the man behind us heard her, spoke to her, bought some fruit and gave it to us. at first we were skeptical, but after watching him eat it, we tried it too. it's still a mystery fruit to us, but it was good and refreshing. to have not accepted the gift would have been extremely offensive.

we are, by now, the complete minority on the train. it has filled slowly over the last three hours, and we get many looks from locals. no one speaks english. the traintracks are lined with palm trees, and at this hour in the morning, the sun comes in the train and out from behind the clouds. we hope it's going to be a clear day, but the weather here can be so unpredictable.

the villages come and go, and they're beautiful, with monochromatic rainbows for roofs and rust that adds character and waterstains on the wooden doors that build unique designs. i can see the backyard trees through the missing boards in some of the houses and i'm sure the people who live there appreciate the moving air. the children here are amazing, with wide eyes when they see alex and i.

outside, i see dense trees with thick, tropical leaves. the colors are textbook kelly and lime greens, sometimes with fruit growing that i dont even recognize. i see some paths, dirty trails that are only shoulder width apart for one person to walk through. i can barely see between branches.

but sometimes there are large fields with nothing but ash and brush.

this is the statistic they talk about, because about fifteen minutes after staring out the window, i see an open area with tree trunks that have been turned into logs. they're lying in piles, with smoke coming from machinery i dont recognize.

this old train feels like a wooden roller coaster without the fun ups and downs. alex is now talking to a local, but she doesn't understand him and he hardly understands her. but he wants to learn english and he wants us to teach him. he turns to me and says "oh-key?" and alex tells me to say yes, so i do. he comes back five minutes later with kope (see below) from the car before us and i take it gratiously. ive been up for only an hour. i need some coffee.

..

alex and i napped a little bit around eleven on that same train ride. i woke up to a loud black man speaking maylay to a woman who wanted no parts of it. at this point, i'm taking advantage of the fact that no one speaks our language, so i say something to alex about wanting to get off the train. the next thing i know, the loud malaysian man asks me, loudly of course, "why? it's a beautiful day, and the ride ain't so bad!"

shit. i gotta watch what i say now?

as it turned out, he taught english in the northern part of the country. lucky for us, he was a drunk muslim, and we got to deal with him.

just in case you didn't know, it's strictly against muslim religion to drink. and the country's laws.

in his drunken stupor, he so kindly serenaded alex and i with songs from the beatles, celine dion, michael jackson, pink floyd, and greece.

"i had four beers. they were eight percent alcohol each. i'm thirty-two percent drunk!!"

..

this morning alex and i didn't need an alarm. instead we were woken up so politely by the call to prayer over the intercom in the building next to our hostel.

we woke up around eight to make reservations for the next day before catching some breakfast. for a stuffed banana pancake, coffee (kope), and an onion omelette i spent 3 usd.

i love cheap.

..

tomorrow we'll leave here for a two-day journey to ko samui in thailand.

..

i'll make the hike post later with pictures.
ps. kope = coffee. brewed with sugar water. and finished off with sweetened condensed milk. it's heavenly.






Y rae. racho. d.

royalty? might as well be.

this is too easy.

i woke up this morning at 7:30, and, as the last three days have been, i couldn't go back to sleep. alex was up when i went to the couch, and i posted the blog. chris and kat woke up and we had a wonderful breakfast: toad in a hole, bacon, baked beans, coffee and bloody marys. we topped off the morning with a four-hour trip to the pool, basking in the sun.

after our rough tan, we all came upstairs, worked out our itinerary for tomorrow's trip, and went to muslimtown for some shopping. alex and i meant to get a few things for monktown, but things just weren't as cheap here as we'd like-- we'll get better deals in malaysia and thailand.


the four of us met up with alex's cousin for dinner and we went to the hawker center in chinatown.


a. chinatown is crazier than china.
b. i'm not kidding.


alex's cousin, lora, who spent a semester in beijing, even attested to this. the streets were soo crowded we could hardly move. we arrived at the hawker center and agreed on dinner: a hawker center is basically a huge food court with each stall specializing in different dishes. by huge food court i mean over 100 stalls. our choice? rice (duh). chicken. pork. duck. and stingray. to answer your question, it was fantastic.


we left the hawker center and attempted to go to clark quay for drinks, but ran into a minor problem-- a parade. for what? the chinese new year.


by the way: the chinese new year isn't for three more weeks.


they're just as crazy about it here as you've always heard. there are signs all over singapore for the new year and decorations in tons of stores. that's my kind of new year: three weeks long. at least it's my year: the year of the tiger. go on china, party up. :)




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it's 9.30 at night now. we just finished some ice cream and cookies, but alex and i have to be up by 3.30 in the morning to make sure we hit the train by 4.30 to make it up to taman negara. next stop: dead center rainforest. glad i've been taking my malaria pills.














Y rae. racho. d.

lazy day

alex and i started our day with very few plans. as some of you heard, literally, i signed up for a skype account and touched base with some people. it has been easy here in singapore so far, with internet in the mornings so i can post every day, but, sorry, it's probably going to end here tomorrow. though i found out last night that a friend's brother lives in kuala lumpur, we're still skipping it and heading up to kuala terengganu and into taman negara. i'll post the adventures of alex and rachel again later today but that will probably be the last post until my monday evening, your monday morning. ish. i think.

and no, mom, i won't have access to a phone either. sorry. lovies.

after the rain cleared up at a whopping 1pm, we went downstairs to lay by the pool. and by the pool i mean the mini paradise that i stare at from the apartment window all day. check it out.

pool on steroids from my loungechair.

pool on steroids from the apartment window.
good morning, singapore. you spoil me.

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around five we meandered our way back up to the apartment, rinsed ourselves off and headed out to the art museum to meet up with alex's cousin. the art museum is actually in an old boy's school building, but it's absolutely gorgeous. the school is a mix of art from the locals and from a bit more historically famous artists in the region-- we've got no pollocks or kandinskys here, but holy crap lauren, there's some ridiculously similar stuff.






the first exhibit when you walk in was genius. it was by a girl who graduated last year. the artistic part of it / the medium (jargon based on my readers) was glass blowing. there were probably twenty to twenty-five perfume bottles on stands with wooden labels in front of each of them-- anything from emotions to objects, such as "wind gusts," "desire," "childhood," and "government."

this girl bottled the smell of each of these ideas.

let me explain. government was perfume of a rotten egg. wind gusts smelled light and refreshing. desire resembled coco chanel's no. 5. there was war, death, happiness, ocean, and many others. the bottles were beautiful and the colors of the scent inside the bottles reflected the psychology of the scent. the concept was that art triggers memory, but you don't have to visually see art or the memory-- it can be done through other senses, such as smell. the piece was visually gorgeous as well, as she blew each perfume bottle herself. she also created each scent herself.

i think she could land a job with the yankee candle company if she wanted. as far as i know, they haven't figured out how to bottle the government yet.

ok now that i'm done writing my reflection paper on this piece for nan's class, i'll continue.

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the first gallery we walked into was modern art. it was the only modern art pieces the museum had. i spent more time in the first floor's single gallery than i did in the ten galleries on the second floor. at first glance, i was so excited, seeing the pieces on the wall i thought i was going to look at some well-known abstract expressionists.






perhaps an early hans hofmann, this piece looks like it studies plasticity with a bit of pollock's drip painting idea at the bottom. nope, neither. it was by a regionalist, but a gorgeous piece.






kandinsky? without a question i thought, but no. just another "famous" regionialist i don't even know, but he worked around the same time as kandinsky did. this just shows that artists around the world really were doing similar ideas. i wonder if these artists would consider themselves part of the AbEx movement or not?

k. i'm doing being nerdy.

..

after the art museum, we headed over to the asian civilization museum. insert tons of frustration to the maps of singapore here again, and eventually we got there. we only had about forty-five minutes so we did some quick scanning. i have almost no pictures from here as most of this stuff dated back thousands of years and the lighting was horrible. it was eight-fifteen when we got there, so i don't really have any building pictures either. we got to see some interesting jewelry and textiles from the area though.

after that, we headed back to the apartment for homemade pizza. delicious.

but not before taking beautiful pictures of boat quay at night.

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inappropriate dinner conversation a:
we got to talking about tibet, the ninety-nine year lease on hong kong and the opium wars (of course) and chris mentioned the terrorist scare in singapore. wait, calm down. it's nothing, especially compared to the terrorist threts in the US. i feel way safer here than i do in the US, and there are no threts right now. but singapore did once belong to malaysia, and because it is such a small country, they are still worried about being taken over. so, with terrorism comes terrorists. we think we have racist and terrorist jokes?

the kids here play a game called "what color is the turban." if they're walking along the street, or hanging out and they see a sikh wearing a turban, they call out "what color is the turban!" and they all frantically look around to see who can call out the right color fastest.

how awful, but i'm sorry, i laughed.

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by the end of dinner, i was practically falling asleep. we didn't even do a whole lot today, but i'm probably still a bit jet lagged. we've got a lot of shopping and pool lounging scheduled tomorrow, and i'm not sure if i'll make it through.

who am i kidding?






Y rae. racho. d.

day one: crash by eight pm

after seeing streets filled with stores such as seven-eleven, chilis, applebees, and starbucks literally halfway around the world, one can really understand how much of an influence america has on the rest of the world. it's almost like being at home... well, until i get on the bus and i'm the minority that is being stared at.

you can all feel very cocky right now and be completely justified.

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it rains almost every day in singapore.

crazy rain, right?

..

alex and i began our day with the botanical gardens. we set out pretty early and i hadn't napped after the flight, so i knew our day would probably end up getting cut short. we grabbed our bags, cameras, hopped on the bus, and got ready for tons of pictures.

[ps, let's look at the irony in this: here we are, two american girls in the ultimate hub of an asian city with our huge slr cameras around our necks taking touristy pictures, pointing, and speaking a non-native language... something seems a little backwards here.]

we then ate some lunch and made our way to the peranakan museum. well rachel, what's peranakan, and why is there a museum about it? very good question, everyone!

peranakan: chinese (man, mostly) + malaysian (woman, mostly) = peranakan!

singapore is mostly "chinese" (according to my english-speaking chinese kid on the airplane) because of a war from god knows how long ago (i didn't catch that part, i was trying to sleep while he educated me). i guess they're not exactly chinese here, but peranakan instead. the museum is dedicated to educating people about and preserving their heritage and customs. it's relatively new, only about two years old, and set in a beautiful building.

on our way there, alex and i got a taste of why exactly we're cutting kuala lumpur out of our trip. news flash if you didn't know: we're ditching our plane tickets and going right from singapore to kuala terengganu down to taman negara (the rainforest for hiking and sightseeing). it's because malaysia is primarily muslim (hence the museum... peranakan = chinese + muslim). we had to walk through little india, which is no big deal, but we were in the process of getting lost.


[sidenote: apparently, in singapore, it's not necessary to, or it doesn't make sense to... or it's amusing to the cartographers... to not put every street on the map. so we'd get out of the subway looking for somewhere, try to locate the streets on the map, but they're definitely not drawn right because orchard lane is actually four streets down, not right beside the subway like the map says ("did we get off on the wrong stop againnn?!")

also, one street can have numerous names and change names at any given place.]

a few workers were enjoying watching us be confused, plus they didn't speak much english, but they eventually pointed us in the right direction: right down muslim lane. it was so awkward because singapore is a very western city, so she and i were wearing skirts (though past our knees, not to the ground) and tank tops. we were dressed much more appropriately than we had to be, but the muslim men we passed were either taken aback by our presence or fascinated with our immensely different looks. they did not try to talk to us or approach us, but it was extremely uncomfortable. maybe, julia, the equivalent of walking through queens or chinatown in nyc with sundresses on. we're so smart.

we took our time in the museum.

a few things we learned about their culture:
1. their marriage celebration lasts 12 days (way too long).
2. women are nothing but babymakers (ew, called nonyas.... nonyabusiness, jface! but no seriously, called nonyas).
3. they have really pretty dishes. see below.

exhibit a.

pretty dishes [the chinese would have nice china]

everything is sooooo ornate. this dragon is one example of a carving on furniture. it was bad lighting so i couldn't show you much else, but it was crazy.

..

singapore = one city. plus sixty-three tiny islands


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Y rae. racho. d.

singapore: thirty-six hours later

so, here it is, thirty-six hours later and i'm finally in singapore with internet, a chair, and, thank god, english. it's 8:30 am here, 7:30 at night for you. i'm not quite sure how, but i'm running on energy that falls somewhere between 5 hours of sleep, adrenaline, and the dragonfruit from the local market downstairs (which, by the way, is delicious and not a made-up flavor of rum like i thought).

..

i guess i can start at 7am on the 19th when i woke up. it's only been a 36 hour day, or as chris, my host, said "oh, so you haven't started or ended your day yet?" sounds about right. for all i know, it's actually june, because it sure feels that way outside.

brandi got me on the right train in philadelphia, and i arrived in jfk international airport around 12:45. i had been thinking that three hours might cut it close to get on my plane in time: but less than 10 minutes later, i had gotten my tickets, gone through security, and ordered a nine dollar bud light that was much less than necessary. i occupied the entire two hours and fifty minutes on the phone til i had to board.

in my four separate out-of-the-country trips, i've never had to deal with the language barrier. english was previlent in south africa, england and the netherlands, and i spoke enough french to get by in paris. i was never even really worried about the languages, despite the thousand times people asked me before i left, "do you speak any of those languages?" i just always said that my guide book had a few key phrases for each language, but it's not exactly like i can whip out lonely planet, open its magical pages where fairy dust sprinkles across the room and let it talk for me. i'm not sure what any of the pronunciations are supposed to be. and i'm not sure why i wasn't more concerned.

well i got a nice wake-up call on the plane.

as soon as i boarded, i looked at the nice stewardess and asked:
--"excuse me, where are the bathrooms?"
--"the wha?"
--"the bathroom?"
--"baa...badroom?"

badroom? lady, i'm not trying to put myself in timeout.

--"restroom?"
--blank stare and headshake.
--"uh, bathroom, restroom.... baaaathhhrooooom"

because, of course, saying it slower and drawing out the vowels would make it a different, more understandable word.

--her blank stare is now being shared with other nearby chinese guy. aaand i feel like an arrogant american asshole.

at this point i'm trying to think of a universal hand gesture for peeing but i can't think of anything mildly appropriate.

--"toilet?!"
--"ah, toilet. that way."
note to self: "toilet."

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fun fact: chicken is a bad choice. pork, much better.

..

there were no tvs on the back of the seats on the flight, so everyone had to watch the same thing the whole time. when we arrived in beijing, i had about five hours to kill, so, naturally, i sniffed out a bar and drank a beer while passing time. the beijing airport was massive and gorgeous, but dead. i was so tired at this point i thought i might fall asleep and miss my flight. i had hardly slept on the thirteen hour flight from new york to beijing, and all i wanted to do at this point was curl up and conk out. i managed to catch a few hours on the way to singapore.

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fun fact two: the chinese do not like lines. they mob.

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when i stepped off the plane at 6:30 in the morning, it was eighty degrees out. it took almost no time to get through customs and grab my stuff, where alex met me after baggage. we hopped on their "metro," the ktm, grabbed fruit from the stand outside of the complex, and came up to the apartment. i thought maybe we'd nap a bit before heading out, but we've got an entire day planned in this city full of palm-tree lined streets, colorful buildings and gorgeous skyscrapers.

wish us luck. :)

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Y rae. racho. d.

general overview

i'm not going to put up the entire itinerary, but for anyone who isn't sure where alex and i will be going, this is for you.

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we'll begin in singapore. from there we'll take the train to malaysia, beginning in kuala lumpur, which is the capital of the country. we have a flight on january 26th that will take us to kuala terengganu, a stepping stone on our way to taman negara, the center of a national rainforest park.

we'll then move north into thailand, for our stop in ko samui-- one of their best beaches. we're going to need a few days to relax here before our stop in chaiya, aka monk city, for 11 days. we'll be staying in a monestary for 10 days, taking a vow of silence. our days will be filled with meditation, tea, and wooden pillows. it's going to be difficult, but both alex and i are up for the challenge. (click here for more information: http://http//www.suanmokkh-idh.org/idh-schedule.html). after this, we'll take a 12-hour train ride to bangkok, which is actually where we'll be for the chinese new year (february 14th).

from there we'll take a bus to cambodia. we'll be in siem reap for a few days, where the temples of ankor are a major attraction. we'll hang out with some elephants and then continue our trip to phnom phen, the capital. here we'll see the genocide museum & some of the killing fields from the khmer rouge (fun history lesson for you, lauren, i'll take plenty of pictures with you in mind).

next, we'll make our way to ho chi minh city in vietnam and spend some time exploring the mekong delta's towns and beaches. on february 26th, we fly down to indonesia, where we'll spend a night in jakarta on the island of java, the country's capital. the next day we'll meet up with jocean, our host for the farm in cicurug. we'll spend about a week with him on his farm, doing odd jobs and checking out the rural areas. we then take a ferry over to sumatra to do some diving and/or snorkeling for a few days.

march 9th we'll make our way back up to singapore.

march 10th we arrive in the us at 1:30pm.





Y rae. racho. d.