Cambodia: Part Two

After Phnom Penh we headed south to a town called Kampot where we spent the night and headed further south to Kep, a beautiful coastal town. We found a quaint little resort called the N4 Guesthouse that had a wonderful pool that we ended up spending four days (combined in). After being on the move so much and only staying in hotels for one or two nights at a time we were craving some down time where we didn't have to pack our bags every night. While the hotel itself wasn't the nicest and the room we had just had a fan (we cheaped out), the pool made up for it! We literally spent hours in the pool acting like kids only taking breaks to get out of the sun or go to town for food. 

Before I go any further, I have to tell you about the crab. Mmmmmm the crab! Kep is FAMOUS for their fresh crab that they go and get straight from the ocean in the little traps that they've brought closer to shore. It is some of the best crab that I have ever had and what made it even more delectable, was the Kampot green peppercorns that accompanied it. Kampot (the town we stayed in the first night) harvest salt and pepper and it tastes like no other. The peppercorns are still on the sprig and I can't even begin to tell you how delicious it was. I'm not even a huge fan of pepper but I was popping those sprigs in my mouth until it was on fire...Jordan couldn't get enough either. We needed up eating grab four nights in a row because we knew we would never have anything close to it again.  At lunch time we would walk down to the ocean and walk around the little food market they had to decide on which ginormous fresh BBQ fish we would devour. We literally would only buy one fish to share for both of us because it was so massive...but tasted sooo good! Cambodia certainly does seafood well! 

On a random note, Cambodia is covered in sand and dirt! I mean everything is stained red from the sand. We took a tuk tuk from Kampot to Kep which took about 45 minutes (mainly because of the mass amounts of potholes). By the time we arrived we were literally chewing on red sand. My black tank top was now brown and we were just covered head to toe. At times I felt like I was in the desert because there was so much sand. However, it's all apart of the experience and so we had a good laugh and washed it off as soon as we could! 

After a couple of days in Kep we decided to take a longboat across to Rabbit Island-a little island that has roughly 40 beach bungalows. They only have electricity from 6-11pm and nothing to do except swim and relax-it was perfect. We had to wait a couple of hours to 'check in' to our bungalow as the boat dropped us off at 9 am and the other guests don't checkout until 11:30 am. However we stored our bags with the guys at reception and hit the beach right away. It was smoking hot out so the ocean water was very welcome. We spent the day just relaxing, reading and swimming. 

Later that afternoon we also decided to try out a Khmer massage and my god was it good. They stretched and pulled you every which way but at the same time it was the most relaxing massage we've ever had. It was right on the beach as well and was so so amazing. After our relaxing massage we decided to go for a hike around the island (don't ask me why we didn't do this in reverse order). After about an hour and a half of hiking around the island we discovered that there was no way we were going to make it back to our bungalow by the time the sun set so we decided to turn back and go the way we came...we weren't happy campers-we wanted to go all the way around! We also, just before we turned around, came within a few hundred metres of a very territorial dog and because the whole monkey situation was still fresh in my head, we were both a little skiddish and decided to turn around.  

That night we had some more of that delicious Kampot green pepper crab and laid out on our hammock on our bungalow balcony...it was heaven! The only downfall was that because the power goes off at 11 there was no fan...and holy crap did we ever need one. It was incredibly hot and sticky. Even though there were slats in the sides of the bungalow to let air in, because of the much needed mossie net we had draped over the bed, no air got through. Surprisingly we still got a couple hours of sleep and were woken up by the sound of rolling waves and roosters cocadoodling their little hearts out (quite the combination eh?). 

That am we headed back to our trusty N4 Guesthouse and spent the afternoon in the pool. The following day we got picked up by the oldest, most rickety bus that took us the 4 hours to Phnom Penh and then transferred to another bus for the 8 hour bus to Siem Reap. We get on this bus and are thinking okay, this is going to be great-there's a washroom, seats look comfortable, it's a little hot but that okay. As we are walking to our seats I realize that we are at the very very back in the seats that are on top of the steaming engine and that do not recline (in fact I think they may have been pushed forward a little). I am livid because we asked to get seats towards the middle but its a no go-the bus is jammed. The only good thing is that there was an extra (broken) seat next to the two we were in so we could spread out a bit. The downside was that because we were on the engine, we were sweating...the ac was non-existent and so literally I was dumping water on myself trying to cool down. To say the least, we were not looking forward to the next 8 hours. To top it all off, we picked up a random on the side of the road (they do this ALL the time) and where did he sit? In the seat right next to us and so here are the three of us squished into these seats sweating our butts off. Oh did we mention that our seats were also right next to the bathroom? It was a wonderful ride.

Once we arrived in Siem Reap we could not get off it quick enough. We had booked a room at Tanei Guesthouse but had quite the time trying to get a tuk tuk to take us there. The bus dropped us off in the sketchiest part of town with only 6 tuk tuk's for all 50 passengers. I knew that the hotel was only 2 Km's and so when they asked for something like $15 I said no way in hell. This one guy on a motorcycle said he would take us but we had two giant bags plus our little backpacks and so I said no thanks, we want a tuk tuk. He started yelling at us saying  "its the same thing-tuk tuk, motorcycle, it's the same"! At this point Jordan and I just looked at each other thinking what is this guys problem. I looked at him and said that's fine but don't yell at me. Well, I don't think he has ever been talked back to by anyone let alone a woman and so he started screaming "what, you crazy lady? You crazyyyy! Get on my motorcycle!!!" As you can guess, there was NO way we were getting on it so we started walking and eventually a nice man picked us up (after only walking a few feet) and only charged us $4. It was an experience for sure...and looking back, maybe not the smartest idea to have told the guy to stop yelling at me (seeing as we were essentially down a dark alley with sketchy guys) but...as those who know me, know I don't stand for people speaking derogatorily. 

Our hotel was really nice and came equipped with a pool. The next am I had an "interview" via Skype for a job at Hawk Ridge...which I got (thanks to a lot of help from Karen, Jordan's mom...thanks again!). After we skyped my parents and filled them in on our adventure. We spent the afternoon walking around the town but didn't last much over three hours as it was SMOKING hot- it was so uncomfortable that we were trying to find every bit if shade we could get. That night we ventured out (with much cooler temperatures) and had a great dinner and walked around the night markets, bartering for some souvenirs! We also decided to get 15 minute foot massages on the side of the street (it's a huge business here) for only $1.00! It was amazing and Jordan, a first timer, enjoyed it (although he doesn't want to admit it to anyone but me). 

The next day was spent hanging around the town and the pool. That evening we headed to Angkor Wat to see the sunset. We were dropped off at the point where "apparently" was the best spot to see it. Once we got to the top of this little mountain we were met with a massive line of people itching to get up the temple where we were suppose to view the sunset. I was shocked and the sheer amount of people was absolutely ridiculous. The worst part was that we weren't looking at anything but flat fields....we had thought we would be looking at some remnants or something rather but nope...nothing. I was able to snap a few shots of the sun setting with the temple in the backdrop but other then that, we decided to hurry down the hill before we were joined by the hundreds of others. That night we returned (to another spot) for a foot, back and neck massage -30 minutes for $2...what a bargain eh? 

The next morning, bright and early around 4 am we woke up and, with our hired tuk tuk driver Mr. Vy, headed to Angkor Wat for the sunrise (something we had hoped would be a much more serene experience. It was packed. There must have been a couple thousand people there all huddled in one small area trying to get the best spot for snapping pictures. It was an incredible site to see and although warned of the masses of people ahead of time, we had to see it to believe it. While waiting for the sun to come we were asked numerous times by people running the nearby shops if we wanted coffee or breakfast. We politely declined but in my head I thought, how would they ever find us again in all these people? 

Unfortunately it was quite overcast that morning so the sunrise wasn't what we had hoped for. We decided to get a head start on the crowds and explore Angkor Wat, the largest (I believe) and most famous temple. It was incredible to see how old it was and how intricate the carvings were. The sheer size of it was immense and was quite beautiful. We headed to the back of Angkor Wat and realized that we were amount the first to see it...and see it without anyone else around- it was quite the contrast from the front which had thousands of people around! After exploring Ankor Wat for a couple of hours and realizing that the sun was starting to get hot, we decided to move on. We spent the next three hours exploring other temples including Angkor Thom and Ta Prohm (where Lara Croft was filmed). Only a few hours had gone by and the heat had become extreme. We decided that after spending around 5 hours exploring, we had seen enough. It was a great experience and very surreal to see something so majestic and beautiful. 

After spending 4 days in Siem Reap, we decided to move on to a town called Battambang. After downloading The Lonely Planet Travellers Guide- Southeast Asia on a Shoestring Budget on the iPad while in Cambodia, we learned about Battambang. There wasn't necessarily anything big that drew us to this town but we just knew we weren't ready to leave Cambodia yet! We took a four hour bus ride (2 different buses of course) and arrived in the town that afternoon. We checked into our hotel and had arranged with the tuk tuk driver (his name was Dollar) who picked us up from the bus stop to show us in and around the town the following day. 

That next day we were greeted by a young Cambodian fellow who introduced himself as Scorpio. He told us the he was a friend of Dollars and unfortunately Dollar wasn't able to take us on the tour today so if it was okay, he would be doing the tour with us. We didn't have an issue with that because he spoke English very well and was super friendly. Our first major stop was the Bamboo  Railway, an old track that only runs for 7kms in each section (these days) for tourist. It used to be used for hauling equipment and crops from one town to the next. Essentially, each "cart" consists of a thin bamboo platform that sits on two dumbell-looking wheels (one at the front and one at the back). The cart is propelled forwards with a lawnmower with a belt around it and the back wheel. He uses a stick to pull the belt so the cart propels forwards, speeding along the tracks at 40 km/h. Its shaky and loud as hell, but was an absolute blast! Along the way we would have to disembark while the guy driving the cart would dissemble it and let carts going in the other direction go the other way. This whole process of dissembling it, letting the other cart go by and finally putting it all back together took no longer then a minute.

Once at the end of the track we got off and were swarmed by small children and women begging us to come to their shop and buy something. This little boy, who learned to speak English from the tourist who visited the town, ended up successfully selling us a big bottle of water and a Cambodian Bamboo Train tank top for me. We payed much more then we would have had it been in the city but we payed what it was worth to us. We would have felt bad trying to barter with these kids as they we making us bracelets, rings and answering all of our questions. When asked why they weren't in school, they said that they couldn't afford to pay for the supplies for school (ie, pencils, notebooks, etc,). Whether this was the truth or not, we decided that we had done the right thing in pay alittle bit more for what we bought. We returned on the bamboo train and hopped back on the tuk tuk to a temple. To get to the temple you had to climb around 400 stairs (that at parts were almost vertical). Young children, trying to make a few Riel, would fan you as you walked up the stairs. The view was nothing spectacular but the temple itself was a much much much smaller version of Angkor Wat (essentially it had the five pinnacles). 

Our next stop was lunch. We offered to pay for Scorpio's meal (our driver) but he whispered to us that the owner would probably give him a free meal because he brings customers here and he is friends with them. When we were told this, we were shocked. It is very unusual, we have found, for locals to not try and rip you off. They try and get an extra dollar here and there but this was not the case with Scorpio at all. He was very honest. After lunch we laid around in the hammocks for a little bit and offered Scorpio a cookie that we had bought from a bakery. He was so excited because he said that this was his first cookie ever! Our jaws dropped to the floor. I started asking him questions about his life and his work. He explained to us that he actually rents his tuk tuk on a daily basis because he cannot afford to buy his own. A used tuk tuk and motorbike, he said, would cost him around $1000 CDN. He also told us that the he is the last person on the hotels list to call when they need a driver. As a result, he said he only gets a couple of jobs in a week, at the maximum. After spending the day with Scorpio and listening to his stories and how he tries to provide for his foster family and young niece, we decided that we would give him some money to help him on his way to saving for a tuk tuk. His reaction to the money was mind-blowing. We both started tearing up and Scorpio probably thanked us 100 times saying that he thought he was in a dream. It was something that I will never forget. We asked if he would like to come to dinner with us and he agreed. Jordan told him he could get whatever he wanted on the menu but he ended up ordering a $2 plate of noodles (again shows you what kind of a man he was). He ate maybe half of it and then asked us if it was okay if he brought the rest home with him because he had never tasted noodles so good and wanted his little niece to try the rest. Both Jordan and I were absolutely blown away by Scorpio and were so happy and blessed to have met him. 

Before we left we started talking to Scorpio about ways that he could build his tuk tuk business. I told him that a few of the tuk tuk drivers that we've had in the past had little comment books that their customers would write in giving them positive reviews. We told him that this really convinced us to go on tours with these drivers because we knew that customers in the last really enjoyed their experiences. He said yes, that was a great idea but that he would just have to try and get some paper and pens. Before I left for Australia nearly 16 months ago, my best fried Marilou had given me a journal to use to write whatever in. We used it for everything from scoring card games to grocery lists and apartment hunting. I brought it with me on our trip around Asia and new at the point that I wanted to give it to Scorpio. He needed it more than I did and I was so happy that we were able to start him off with some positive comments/reviews. We were even able to set him up with a customer for the next day as there was a Canadian sitting next to us and had overheard our conversation about that day. Scorpio was so so incredibly happy that he had two jobs in a row! It was an incredible experience to have met Scorpio and I thank our lucky stars that we were in a position to have helped him, even just a little.

Cambodia: Part One

After we landed in HCMC, and spent the night, we hopped on "The Mekong Express Bus"-greatest bus we've ever been on- to Phnom Penn, Cambodia . It had great leg room, a foot rest (the best!), reclining seats that actually reclined, complimentary water and pastries, a toilet (much needed on a 7 hour journey) and even wifi (basically only worked enough to check emails but still)! Anyone heading to SEA, we would highly recommend The Mekong Express (to, from and within Cambodia). We arrived in Phnom Penh after a fairly easy border crossing and bus ride, we checked into a hostel type hotel equipped with a little pool (much needed with the extreme heat). We found out just before we arrived that the King of Cambodia had died three months prior but that this week was when they would parade his body up and down the capital's streets and later cremate him near the river for everyone to watch. Little did we know that this meant everything would be closed during those days and getting a tuk tuk or any other kind of transportation would be extremely difficult. Luckily, we arrived two days before the start of the parade and we able to go and see some of the sites. 

For those of you that are unaware (or need a little refresher), Cambodia experienced a genocide from 1974-1979 in which a quarter of their population, just over two million men, women and children were brutally murdered by a Cambodian political group called the Khmer Rouge (also referred to as the Pol Pot regime...Pol Pot was the leader). Being that Phnom Penh was and still is the capital, many of the murders occurred in and around this city. We were able to visit the Killing Fields, one of 300 in the country, where Cambodians were sent (much like the concentration camps) to their deaths. This particular killing field we went to was one of the largest with burial sites still visible to interested visitors. Once at the fields we were given a pair of headphones and a recorder that would describe in detail what we were looking at by a Cambodian who once was at this site. It was absolutely heart wrenching to listen to and to see exactly the spot where thousands were murdered and buried. There were numerous "mass graves" which essentially were  just small pits that over four hundred men were buried. Other graves, with just as many people, were for women and children only. I can't even begin to describe to you the emotions running through everyone that were at this field. On site there was also a large tower/building that was a couple of storey's high that had 17 levels in it filled with over 8000 skulls of those that were murdered on site. You could even see bullet holes in the skulls...absolutely the scariest and saddest thing to see. 

Despite the horrible history that Cambodia has been through, the people are surprisingly happy and thankful. They, so far, have been the nicest people that we have encountered on our travels and it is just so amazing to witness their positivity despite what they have been through. It was shocking to realize that this occurred only 30 years ago. 

After the Killing Fields, we went to a nearby high school that was turned into a prison for both men and women. Cambodians were thrown in jail (many of them murdered here as well) for reasons such as they had soft hands or that they were "intellectuals". Anyone who did not follow the rules of the Khmer Rouge were instantly tortured. The "prison" consisted of old school rooms being divided into roughly 30 cells (only big enough to stand up and lay down). To be able to walk through these rooms and enter the cells was something I will never forget. Just picturing in my mind what would happen in these cells was enough to make me feel sick. The history of this country is incredible and it is shocking to know that something like this could happen at anytime to any country. Outside of the buildings sat an old man who at one point was a prisoner and now selling books detailing his story. His entire family had been brutally murdered, including his children, and he was thrown in jail and tortured. He was only saved because at some point one of the soldiers had found out that he was good at fixing typewriters. Despite this mans horrific life, he was so positive and wrote in his book that he actually was not angry with any of the soldiers who had treated him so poorly and who had murdered his family. He had forgiven them as he said they were only doing as they were told  (from their leader, Cambodian, Pol Pot). It is disgusting that someone would want to start a genocide against their own people. As I later read in a history of Cambodia, the Pol Pot regime gained followers around the time when the US was invading Vietnam. Because many Vietnamese had fled to Cambodia, the US was bombing Cambodia and a result killing many people. Pol Pot had told the Cambodians to stand up and fight and from that, the genocide apparently started. 

Needless to say that day was a very somber and painful one but we are so glad that we were able to experience a part of their horrible history and learn more about Cambodia in general. 

After our day in the Killing Fields and the prison we were able to share in a day that will go down in Cambodian history-the day that the Kings' body would be paraded around the city. Everyone was dressed in white tops and black pants, in mourning for the king (even though it had been 3 months since he had passed). The streets were filled with thousands and thousands of mourners waiting to see the kings body (in a casket) paraded down the street. It was amazing to see the amount of people flooding the streets showing their respects and their absolute love for their beloved king. Despite the fact that everything was closed (including many streets), we were happy we were able to experience this important day in Cambodian history. 

I'm going to split this blog into two as well, as it is quite lengthy. More of an upbeat blog about the rest of our Cambodia travels will be up shortly! 

Vietnam: Part Two

The next am we headed off to Hoi An on a big tourist jammed bus. We have been trying to avoid these on all costs but it was only a 45 minute ride and was a third of the cost of taking a private car or taxi. We immediately loved Hoi An and found it to be very similar to our favourite town in Bali-Ubud. It was quite touristy but being the only non-vietnamese for over a week and therefore quite the spectical, we welcomed other foreigners. The town is in  between the ocean and a big river and is quite beautiful! At night the restaurants and stores light up along the river and there are hundreds of lanterns everywhere-prettiest town at night that we had been to! Such a quaint and cute feeling about this town-we knew we were going to enjoy this! Hoi An is also known for their hundreds of tailoring shops where you can design and make clothes for extremely affordable prices! We didn't initially think we were going to take advantage of this offer but decided that we couldn't pass it up! Soooo, we ended up having numerous custom made items that we shipped home: two winter coats (pea-coats), two linen pants for me, a suit for Jordan and a dress for me! We stocked up! :) The tailors made these items incredibly fast with the coats being made in roughly 10 hours and my dress being made in 4 (from concept to delivery). 

We also rented a couple of bikes and toured around the town, biking out to the beach and around the enormous rice paddies. The afternoon was spent wandering around all the shops and fruit markets and also taking a little scoot up the river in a rickety old boat paddled by a very old but happy Vietnamese woman! It was a great experience and we were able to get some  great shots of the town from the river. The next day we rented a motorbike (best way to travel!) and headed to My Son (produced me-sun)- a collection of temples and ruins. Quite interesting and very very old. The bike ride there and back was around 1.5 hours and we had a blast! On the way to My Son we noticed that a man had fallen off his bike on a pathway between rice paddies. He was lying on his back with his head down the hill. We stopped the bike and ran over to help him. At first I thought maybe he had had a heart attack but once we got there, I realized right away that the guy was just wasted! He had done a backwards somersault into the rice paddy and was completely covered in mud. He couldn't stand up by himself so Jordan grabbed his hand and literally hauled him up the hill. We think he was just the local drunk because a couple of people poked their  heads down the lane way but didn't do anything. We decided to just let him stumble his way back to his place while leaving the bike where it was. Needless to say we had quite the laugh after and were just happy the guy was ok!

After spending our last night in Hoi An we took a minibus to the Danang Airport and flew to northern Vietnam to a place called Hanoi. After our flight and checking into our hotel we decided to do some bargain hunting for a boat cruise through Halong Bay which is roughly a five hour bus ride from Hanoi. After going to tens of shops/hotels and trying to get the best deal possible, we settled on a three day/two night cruise on the Dragon Cruise boat for roughly $125 each. This was the most expensive side trip we had done but after lots of research and recommendations to not skimp out (what you pay for is what you get), we left around 7 am the next morning. We were on our boat just after 1pm  and enjoying a delicious seafood lunch while cruising through Halong Bay. Our room was surprisingly beautiful (we were not used to having the actual product look just like it did in the pictures!!). We had a queen size bed with a beautiful view out onto the bay with tens of little islands surrounding-absolutely stunning. There were roughly 18 of us on the boat but we had sat at the table seating six and ended up making some friends with young Australian honeymooners and another couple for England and Wales. The Aussies were around the age of my sister and her husband and we got on so well. They reminded us so much of Sar and Rob that I actually got a little bit homesick (and homesick for Australia too!!). 

After lunch we hopped into the small passenger boat that we had been hauling with us and headed over to Ti-Top island to climb the mountain to see the beautiful view of Halong Bay. The hike was chalkas- filled with so so many tourists but the view at the top, and the pictures we got, were so worth it. After Ti-Top we headed to a cave (either Amazing cave or Spectacular cave...I forget the name). Wowza. This cave was MASSIVE! It was also filled to the brim with tourists...I mean lineups to get through this thing. The amount of people actually ruined the experience for me but nevertheless, it was still an amazing cave to see. After the cave we headed to a little spot where you could kayak if you wanted to around this little island (while dodging all of the passenger boats). We and a few others (including the Aussies) decided to skip it as the next day was a full day of kayaking and it was also freezing cold!). Instead, a woman in a fishing boat was selling cold drinks and so we all ended up buying a couple of beers each. The cruise that we were on was charging absurd prices for drinks so we decided to take advantage. We also had bought a $2 bottle of vodka before we left (which surprisingly was very good....it had been a while since I had vodka-bad past experiences if ya know what I mean)! Anywho, after a delicious seafood buffet the six of us headed to the roof and started dipping into the drinks that we had bought onshore. We bought mixer (sprite) from the boat but decided to keep our own alcohol hush hush. Not too soon after we bought the sprite we started noticing some employees popping their heads over the stairs peeping to see if we had brought our own alcohol. Apparently there was a sign that said if you bring your own alcohol they charge you $10 for each bottle but they never informed us about it personally and didn't say anything when they were sneaking around trying to spy on us so we continued. It was nice to let loose and have some fun with some new friends and swap travel stories.

The next day we hopped onto another smaller day-tripping boat that we used as a base for kayaking. It was very overcast, rainy and freezing but we decided that regardless of the crappy weather we were still going to take advantage of the events planned. We spent the morning kayaking and then due to poor organization on the boats part, had to wait nearly 2.5 hours while another group went out and did the same tour. We were soaked and cold waiting on the boat. If you wanted a hot beverage to warm you up, it would have cost a couple of dollars and we just weren't having it. If they were going to make us wait in the freezing cold for 2.5 hours (and not even let us go back on the kayaks to get our blood moving), they should have at least offered us hot drinks.  Needless to say the whole group was quite...pissed...but there was nothing that we could do about it. We enjoyed an ok seafood lunch (most of it fried) and headed to a pearl farm.   The pearl farm, as suspected, was a tourist trap and we were there for nearly 2 hours. We were bored and cold and just wanted to head back to our cruise boat to have hot showers and change clothes. Eventually we were back in our room and thawing out while waiting for dinner. Dinner was another seafood buffet and dessert consisted of small hunks of watermelon. We ended up heading to our rooms and crashing around 8:30 after an exhausting and cold day. 

The next morning we were booted out of our rooms by 8:30 and had to wait 3 hours out in the dining room until we got back to shore (we were a bit peeved with that because we had anticipated some morning activities...three days of activities turned into only 1.5 of activities)...not the happiest campers. When we arrived back on shore we headed to a big hall where we were to be served our final meal as a group. The food was okay but just as we were finishing up one of the Aussies spotted a giant rat running across the floor....giant. We decided we had had it and left ASAP. Oh, and before we left I decided to use the restrooms which turned out to be just a row of toilets with no doors (just blinders)...so in order to go you had to walk past all these women. I managed to grab the only 'normal' closed door toilet but it was still very very awkward. Needless to say, we were happy to get the hell outta there! After a four hour bus ride back to Hanoi we crashed in our hotel and decided to book a flight to HCMC for the next night. 

Vietnam was quite the experience and we were able to gain an understanding of the culture that Lukie was born in to. It is certainly different to Canadian culture but we were really happy that we got to experience it. Just before I finish up, I wanted to mention that the orphanage in Ba Ria that Luke was at for the first few months of his life, he had some wonderful nannies that took care of him and the other babies. Four years ago we were sent an email with some pictures attached showing us the beautiful baby boy that would soon be apart of our family. In one of the pictures were two of the nannies that took care of Luke. Since that day we have had the picture of Lukie and his nannies up in his room and show it to him constantly. He knows that those were the ladies that took care of him when he was a baby! 

When we arrived at the orphanage I had no hopes that I would be able to meet the nannies but to my surprise one of them was still there! I knew the language barrier would be tough so I had downloaded tonnes of pictures of Luke both when he was at the orphanage and now so that I could try and explain that he was adopted here four years ago and this is what he looks like now. I showed the picture to one of the first nannies that greeted us and right away her eyes lit up and she kept saying Thinh, Thinh, Thinh! This was Luke's vietnamese name (that is now part of his middle name). She had recognized him and herself in the picture and it was the sweetest thing I'd ever seen. Tears came to my eyes and I just so happy that I was able to meet one of these nannies that we had seen in the picture hanging in Lukie's room everyday. Before we left the orphanage we made sure to get a picture with her and give her a big hug! We told Luke later, via Skype, that we had met the lady that had looked after him when he was a baby (the same lady that he sees in the picture) and a big smile came across his face. 

It will be years before he is able to fully understand the country and culture that he was born into but when that time comes, I'm very thankful that I will be able to help him come to grasps with it. Being at the orphanage made me so thankful that we have Lukie in our lives and I can't imagine what life would be like without him. Like I always tell Lukie (and he finishes the sentence)..."Kikki...loves you so so much"!

Vietnam: Part One

We had been looking forward to coming to Vietnam for a very long time. We flew from Bali to Singapore, Singapore to Vietnam after a combined travel time of roughly 11 hours (door to door). We had to get our visa's on arrival (which was a bit of a pita) but, we were on our way to our hotel in District 1 in no time. Right away, the number of motorcycles was astronomical. For every car/taxi there were 100's of motorcycles. Jordan and I both agree that we've had the perfect transition into this completely different culture. We started with Singapore which is an Asian country but where 92% of the population speaks English (ie. very Westernized). However, you have your Asian food markets, the implementation of scooters, etc. then we went to Bali where there were more crazy scooter drivers and even less that spoke English. This brings us now to Vietnam where it is the 92% that don't speak a word of English (except please look at my shop or you want to buy?). So we definitely did it right-not a huge culture shock for us! 

Our first three days were spent in Ho Chi Minh City (formerly Saigon) in District 1- the backpackers district and also home to the famous Ben Thanh Market. Lots of hustle and bustle but we loved it! The market was a fantastic spot to buy endless amounts fruit and souvenirs such as purses, clothing, tea sets, jewellery, etc etc. We wandered around this market for hours-great cheap food too! We stayed in two different hotels that costs us roughly $15 a night. This was something we could get used to! Initially we had thought Bali was going to be along the same prices but they were much more expensive then Vietnamese prices ($40/night versus anywhere from $10-25...in our budget!). For $10 you can get a decent sized room, clean, breakfast usually included and...most of the time....hot water! We also went to the Reunification Palace where the president used to live before North Vietnam invaded South Vietnam. Everything was left as is (apparently) including the tanks in the front yard the knocked down the gate. Very interesting! 

As I mentioned in my last blog, our first few days in Vietnam were mostly dedicated to going to the International SOS clinic to get checked out for the whole rabies situation. The rest our time was spent just endlessly wandering around the city, checking the sites and trying different fruit! We decided to head down to Vung Tau (a smaller city on the ocean that was a 2 hour bus ride away from HCMC). Vung Tau is located only 25km or so away from Ba Ria- the town where Lukie was born. Since we left home in December and knew that we were travelling after, it was always in the plan to visit this city and spend a week or so volunteering at the orphanage where Luke spent roughly 5 months of his life as a baby. So we ended up staying the night in Vung Tau and renting a motorcycle for the week to drive to/around/ and from Ba Ria. The motorcycle cost is 700, 000 Vietnamese Dong (VND)-roughly $35 Canadian. Cheap cheap! A full tank of gas costs roughly $5 and gets you probably around 100 km-not too shabby! So off we went to Ba Ria with both of us on this bike with both of our backpacks (one on Jordan's back and one in between my legs)...probably one of the most fun and entertaining drives we have ever done! We arrived and checked in at the hotel (the only hotel in the city) we would be staying at for one week and headed straight to the orphanage. 

We arrived at the orphanage and right away we realized it was going to be tricky to navigate communicating with them because none of the staff spoke a lick of English. The older kids came up to us right away and asked where we were from and do we know Gangham Style (while imitating the dance)..so they knew a bit if English haha, but not much! I told them we were from Canada and they looked at us like we made the country up. I said do you know Justin Bieber (embarrassingly I sang the chorus to Baby) and they all got super excited "oh yes, Justin Bieber-we like Justin Bieber). I told them that JB was from Canada and then they understood. Over our travels so far we have learned that EVERYONE knows the Biebs...most can't speak any English but they can sing (in extremely broken English) the chorus to at least one Bieber song! We spent a few hours with the kids and then it was nap time. The entire orphanage sleeps from roughly 11-2 in the afternoon (unless the older kids are in school which goes from either 7:30-11 or 12:30-4). We didn't figure this out until a couple of days in but then realized this was the time for us to go back to our hotel, have some lunch and relax and head back for 2pm. With the help of a lady named Loan who was the translator between the orphanage and TDH (the adoption agency my parents used), she was able to convey to the director that we wanted to stay for the week and help do whatever they needed us to. This was still very much lost in translation with the other nannies and so it wasn't until about 3 days in that they started realizing we weren't going away and that we actually wanted to help in other ways then just playing with the children.

Jordan came down with a serious fever and stomach ache and was in bed for 2 straight days and so I continued making the trip on motorcycle to the orphanage twice a day. I started helping look after the 6 babies-ranging in age from 6 months to 2.5 years. There were 4 boys and 2 girls. One of the little girls (who was also the oldest) was unable to talk because she either didn't have a voice box or it just didn't work (we were unable to decipher exactly due to the language barrier). The little girl had a tube in her throat which helped her to breathe and was mostly restricted to the crib where she would lay flat on her back. Right away I asked if I could hold her and they nodded yes. I picked her up and instantly she just had the hugest smile on her face. After that, anytime you would smile, she would give you one back that was 20x bigger. She was such a beautiful and smiley girl despite the fact that she has a very tough life. It brought tears to my eyes just holding her in my arms! 

There was one baby who was the youngest at six months old and was such a cutie. The nannies never said anything but I think he may have been blind as whenever I held him he was never able to follow me with his eyes at all. They were both very glazed and were shut or very small most of the time. The little boy also had the flattest head I have ever seen. We had seen it previously before with Lukie (as the babies and toddlers have flat heads because of constantly lying down in their metal cribs) but this babies head was incredibly flat and coned to the left. It was so heartbreaking to see. Jordan and I were constantly taking turns holding him as we wanted to keep him out of his crib and entertained as much as possible (even though in the long run it makes very little difference). He was a very sweet boy by rarely cracked any smiles. I would give him loud kisses on his cheek and neck and he would give the tiniest, tiniest smile but that was it.

The other kids however were such happy toddlers! They ranged from 1-2 years and they would run and crawl around the room constantly! The babies all slept and ate in the same room that consisted of 7 metal rocking cribs, 1 large wooden crib for the little girl who couldn't speak and two large metal beds for the nannies (but that were mostly used as climbing devises for the kiddies)! There was also one metal table with a few supplies including a rice cooker and some clothes all shoved to the centre of the table as the babies would step up on the bar and try and swat down anything and everything! It was actually absolutely hilarious seeing four toddlers all standing tiptoes on this small metal bar with there heads peering over the top of the counter! We were able to feed the babies and bathe them (only twice though) which proved to be much different then how we would do it at home (from what I've seen and experienced). The young kids were fed while they laid flat on their backs with the baby also being fed his bottle while still in his crib with blankets propped up to hold the bottle in place. This blew my mind because what would happen if the nannies are off in a different room and this little baby starts choking but he is lying flat on his back?? It blew my mind and needless to say, after that either Jordan or I held him every time it was feeding time! The kids also received the quickest and roughest "baths" which consisted of the kids on all fours on the floor with buckets of water dumped on them or the little baby and the little girl just lying on their tummies on the floor. The kids were all dried off with the same towel and were bathed, powdered and dressed in under two minutes each. Definitely a different way of doing things. Regardless of all of this though, the babies are very loved by the nannies and overall are very cheery kids. It was an emotionally, mentally and physically draining week but we loved it and would do it all over again in an instant! 

The town of Ba Ria, where the orphanage was located, had a population of absolutely zero foreigners. We were the only non-vietnamese people and certainly received our fair share of looks, points and laughs. It was the weirdest experience and it seemed liked everywhere we went, we were a constant spectical, especially among the kids. It was an experience for sure but we are very glad we were able to spend some time with the kids and help out a bit.

We left Ba Ria with one bag on the back and one in between my legs and headed back to Vung Tau to drop off the bike and catch the hydrofoil to HCMC. We had done this trip a couple of times as I had to go get a rabies shot earlier in the week and another trip because I had forgotten the iPad charger-we thought it would go as smoothly as our previous trips. Wrongo. About 15 minutes in to the drive I hear this snap and the engine starts revving and the bike stops moving forwards. Both Jordan and I were thinking, you've got to be kidding me! We drove this bike for a week straight and just as we are 20 minutes away it decides to break down on us?! Luckily, after crossing four lanes and a concrete barrier with the bike and our bags, we reached a tiny mechanic shop. I made the hand single for dead and pointed to the bike and the woman laughed and nodded. The belt had snapped and apparently this happens often as they had plenty in stock. They fixed the bike and we were on the road within 30 minutes. We had to laugh about the situation- it could have been worse! So we hopped back on the bike and head down the road. I'm thinking in my head, man we got so lucky that we weren't on one of the many bare stretches of road...there was a mechanic shop right there! Literally as I'm thinking this, BOOM! The damn thing snapped again!! This time we just couldn't believe it. We watched them put it on and didn't see any issues with it. What bad luck for it to happen twice to us within a 5 minute stretch on our very last day. Thankfully, the breakdown happened within a few hundred metres of another 'shop'. This time around though the mechanic didn't seem to know what he was doing. After two and a half hours and the guy going and getting a friend to help, we were back on the road and FINALLY, and in one piece, made it to our destination. We dropped off the bike so fast and hopped in a taxi before anything else could happen. 

Once we got to the boat that would take us to to HCMC, we were told there was only standing room left...we decided that we would take it anyways-we had had it with waiting around! We waiting until everyone boarded and then were let on. To our delight and surprise they took us to the very front cabin in the two front seats with a panoramic view! Looks like our luck was changing! We got to HcMC after an hour and a half boat ride and checked into our hotel near the train station. Our original plan was to sleep in the hotel over night and catch the 1:15pm train the next afternoon so we could meet up with Loan (the Vietnamese lady who helped with Lukie's adoption process) to give her back the phone we had borrowed from her and say thank you. However, we were informed that the 1:15 was sold out and that the 6am and 11 am only had soft seats or hard beds. After reading my dads blog and being advised to splurge the extra dollars for a soft bed, we decided that we would take the 11:15 pm train that night. We headed back to our hotel, had showers, Skype Jordan's mom and then checked out around 10pm- the hotel staff seemed very confused! Haha 

We boarded the train and after asking a few people to switched beds/rooms, Jordan and I were in the same cabin occupying the two top bunks. All soft sleepers have four beds (two sets of bunks) and so we assumed four people would be sleeping there. Wrongo. Six people ended up in the cabin with one of the men keeping the light on the entire night. Regardless of the fact that I drugged myself with Gravol to avoid any motion sickness and to try and get some sleep- I got zero. As there was nowhere else to sit in the train we spent the entire morning in our bunks until about 1pm when I just could'nt lay down anymore. We arrived in Danang after a 15 hour train ride and eager to get off! We met a super nice young American couple (who I had switched bunks with so they could be in the same room) and ended up exchanging tips as they had already been to Thailand, Cambodia and Laos and they were off to Australia and NZ. We then got to our hotel and explored around a bit.

Part Two of our Vietnam adventures coming soon (thought I'd break it up for you, it's a long one)!

Bali, Indonesia

Bali

I'll start off by saying that this blog, like many, is long overdue. I have been extremely slack in writing and therefore this blog was written over a a combination of about 4 attempts. Therefore, in parts, I am writing in the present tense while in others I'm writing in the past. I apologize for this and hopefully it doesn't confuse you too much (as I am far too lazy to re-write it). Anyways, here it is...our entire 2+ weeks in Bali...I promise our next blog re Vietnam will be up shortly!

 We have been looking forward to going to Bali since the day we decided that we wanted to stop over. We booked a one way ticket and decided to try and figure out later how long we wanted to stay. I ended up booking flights out of Bali to Singapore in the Changi Airport (Singapore Airport) on January 8th, which means we had two and a half weeks here! Bali, for those of you that don't know, is located only a 3.5 hour flight from Perth (the very north of Australia) and a 2.5 hour flight south west of Singapore. So we did back track a little to get to Bali but so far it has been well worth it! 

We arrived around 9:30pm at that airport and right away you could feel the heat! Trying to get our visas and go through customs was interesting as there were numerous men who would come up and say "if you give me $25 US dollars you can skip the line".'Jordan had no idea what the guy was trying to say but I have been to Cuba numerous times and realized right away he was trying to make a quick buck and said no thank you. One no thank you wasn't enough and as we later found out once we got to Sanur, that's how the rest of the trip was going to go. While it can be slightly irritating to be followed and constantly asked to buy something, you can't fault the Balinese as they are just trying to make a living-it's the culture! 

Trying to get a cab out of the airport was hectic to say the least. The second you left the building you were hounded by at least 50 men all asking to drive you. It reminded me a lot of Costa Rica-this time I was thankful it wasn't just myself and so when. I said no and Jordan followed up with a no... they didn't hassle AS much. We decided to head into the convenience store to ask the ladies at the counter what company we should use and how much we should pay. There were lots of shady looking drivers and I didn't want to hop in a car with some unregistered taxi. The ladies nicely told us to go with Blue Bird Taxi and not to pay more than $5-$7 dollars for the 35 min cab ride. We ended up getting into a cab with the driver speaking little to no English. He turned the meter on and off we went. Right away we realized this was not Canadian or Australian driving. They were insane! There was barely any lanes and our driver acted as though he was driving a motorcycle and would just swerve in between cars and bikes. It was an interesting and sometimes an "oh-shit-handle" kind of ride but we managed to get there and pay only $7! 

We checked into our beautiful hotel (we weren't entirely sure how nice it would be as it only was costing us $40 a night). Turns out it was quite nice. Although it was 1130 pm, we were sticky as and decided to make use of the inviting pool! We slept like babies that night...with ac too! 

The next am we were excited to get up and do....nothing! After a hectic five days in Singapore, we just wanted a day or two to chill out and not go too far. We spent almost the entire day in the pool and enjoyed a Bintang (Bali beer) or three. The next am we were right back in the pool and had made friends with two Retired English couples. The one couple comes to Bali for 3 months every year while the other couple lived in Jawa (pronounced Java) for 5 years where she was a teacher. They would come to Bali for a couple for weeks each year. These lovely people turned out to be great assets and ending up giving us all sorts of ideas as to where to go on our stay in Bali and how much we should pay for everything. Their rule of thumb was to start bartering at 1/3 of the price and usually not pay more than half of what they are asking. Jan and Graham, one of the couples, also told us about the Gili Islands- a group of three islands just off the coast of Lombok (another larger island next to the island of Bali). They said there was great snorkelling and diving off of this island and that it would be great to spend a couple of days there. We took their advice and booked three nights on the island after booking a hotel and arranging a driver and fast boat to take us there. We had booked in at our hotel, Ari Putri, until the 26th but decided to stay another night so we could Skype our families on their xmas day. So our gili trip was set to start on the 27th of December. 

We spent the rest of the afternoon wandering around the town and checking out the beach which was just across the road. The ocean was incredibly warm...almost hot. I think one of the couples said it was 30 degrees...ridiculously warm and didn't really cool you off at all. We ate lunch at a place on the beach called Jack Fish (the owner called it this because he likes Jack Sparrow from Pirates of the Caribbean and fish is apparently Jack's favourite food)! And holy crap, this was the best fish I or Jordan have ever had....absolutely delicious. I had a whole (skin, eyes and tail...although I just ate the meat haha) snapper, cooked on the grill and Jordan had a fillet of Mahi Mahi.

That afternoon we headed straight back to the pool and couldn't get in fast enough. Bali is soooooo hot! As we were swimming around Jordan made a comment about how green my hair looked. I brushed it off as a joke but then he was like "no babe, really your hair is so green!". I realized then that he wasn't kidding around...and holy shit was it ever green! Grinch green. Really really green. I, of course, started freaking out a little and started researching ASAP what the hell I should do. Being in the middle of no where, there wasn't much in the way of hair product that I could buy so I looked at home remedies..baking soda, vinegar and ketchup were some that were mentioned. I asked around for baking soda but nobody had any. We then headed to the grocery store and bought a big bottle of ketchup. After 3 ketchup shampoos consisting of an enormous amount of ketchup doused on my head under a shower cap for 20 minutes at a time, the green came out....THANK GOD! Turns out my hair went green because of the reaction of chlorine and cooper minerals in the pool. Note to those who have a pool and do not want their hair to go green....check your chlorine and cooper levels!! 

Christmas in Bali, or rather not at home, was an interesting one. Both Jordan and I have never been in the heat for Christmas so it was hard to wrap your head around. While we were, and still are, absolutely loving Bali, it was weird not being home for Christmas and surrounded by family. We were able to Skype both of our families on their Christmas Day (we are 14 hours ahead here) and it was nice to be able to be apart of their day, even just a little bit! We spent our Christmas Eve getting wonderful hour and a half long Balinese massages (mine included a body scrub and flower bath) for only $20 for both of us! It is a Cameron van Amelsvoort tradition that we eat seafood on Xmas eve so I was determined to have seafood! Luckily, the Balinese love seafood so there was plenty to choose from. Jordan had chicken satay (damn good satay too) and I had crab and rice. The crab is a full miniature crab and so the meat was much different from what I am used to but it was still good! 

The next am, Christmas morning for us, we enjoyed a nice breakfast (included in our room rate) on the porch and decided to Skype my family on their Christmas Eve! It was weird not being there but at the same time I knew that if I had gone home for the holidays, I would have wanted to fly back here right away (and obviously because we are broke as, that would never have happened)!

Our next adventure in Bali was the Gili Islands (actually part of Lombak, not Bali). We took the most frightening car ride of our lives to the port and took a 2 hour boat ride over to Gili Trawagan, the biggest of the three Gili Islands. Right away it was a completely different feel. The average age was around 24 I'd say and there were so many people. There are no cars at all, just horse drawn 'carriages' and bikes. Our 'hotel' wasn't far from the harbour so we set off on foot. The hotel was more of a guesthouse with four bungalow style bedrooms. You had to walk down this shady little alley way to get there and because it had just down poured, a lot of mud. This guesthouse was not one that I would recommended. While we are trying to rough it on this trip, this room was just not going to cut it. We had booked for three but ended up getting out after only one and booked another cabin for $30 a night (fairly cheap in Bali). The cabin was quite cute and had a giant king sized bed with a huge mosquito net around it (there were tonnes of mosquitoes)! The outdoor bathroom was open to the elements and so it made using the loo a bit challenging when it rained (everyday, all night). The water was what they call half and half (half fresh and half salt water). We seem to think it was more like 90/10 freshwater because it was salty as hell! It's very expensive for hotels to bring fresh water over from the mainland and so essentially it's just the $100+ a night ones that get free range of it. But, for $30 a night, you can't complain right? 

While Gili Trawangan was more of a party island,we still really enjoyed it and the beautiful sunsets it had to offer! We were also able to do a dive around this old shipwreck. Since Jordan isn't certified, he had to do an hour course in the pool first and then could only dive down to 12 metres. We wanted to do a dive together and so I was restricted to the 12 metres as well, but you could still see everything! We saw tonnes of beautiful fish and even a couple of freaky looking moray eels. 

After three days on the island, we had arranged for a driver, Frankie, to pick us up and drive us to Ubud, in the centre of the island. Frankie took us to a lovely Oceanside restaurant (which wasn't expensive at all!) and then took us to see the Justice Palace and the Elephant Caves. While both beautiful, we only spent maybe 30-45 minutes in each just looking at the scenery. He dropped us off at our gorgeous hotel in Ubud where we stayed for 5 nights. Ubud, as some of you may know, is were part of the movie "Eat, Pray, Love" was filmed and let me tell you, it is a gorgeous little town! The town itself is actually made up of 15 smaller communities that all have their own talents, ie painting, wood carving etc. it is located in the rainforest and amongst numerous rice paddies. 

Ubud was both of our favourite parts of our trip in Bali...that is until THE monkey bite. On our last day in Ubud, before Frankie was going to pick us up again, we headed to the famous Monkey Forest where there are hundreds of free roaming monkeys. This place is packed with both tourists and monkeys and it is not uncommon for monkeys to come up to you and take a look around. We had been warned before going to make sure we weren't wearing any sort of earrings, sunglasses, had phones, cameras etc...essentially anything that the monkeys can come and steal. We also heard that if a monkey comes up to you, don't panic, just let him come up and take a look around. If you have anything in your pockets, including bananas, just let them take it! So well warned and very cautious, we set off into the monkey forest. Maybe 10 minutes in to our adventure, we had steered pretty clear of the monkeys getting only within a few feet of them. This girl was feeding these two little monkeys bananas and so I had walked up and was just watching (still 3 feet away). The girl left and because I didn't have any bananas (I'm assuming) the little monkey barked at me. I started walking away and then saw this big monkey coming closer. He looked a bit aggressive so (remembering to not panic and run away according to the board before we entered) I stayed put. All of the sudden, this damn ape is leaping at my thigh and is holding on for dear life. I am scared out of my mind (and feeling the pain) at this point and start walking away...fast. This stupid monkey decides he is going to start stalking me and starts chasing after me. I'm trying to hide behind anything I can find, including Jordan and finally after some dodging, we manage to sneak away. At this point I am pretty much just in shock but Jordan is trying to get me to show him my leg. I'm still in shock I think and just kept walking...quickly. Finally, we stop and take a look and as it turns out, the monkey latched on really good and ended up breaking the skin and drawing blood. My first thought was holy shit. My second thought was holy shit. My third thought was holy god this hurts. We went straight to a clinic because I knew there was a chance of rabies, especially since blood was drawn. We went to this 'clinic' which consisted of a doctors office the size of a small walk in closet. It was attached to a spa and one of the spa girls actually had to call the doctor to get her to come to the office. After waiting 10 or so minutes, the doc arrived, saw my bite and told me to go wash it with soap and water for 10 minutes in the spa washroom. That was an experience in itself...dirty dirty dirty. But I kept on washing  it for 10 minutes and then had to wait almost an hour for the doctor to return from getting the rabies vaccine. She told me that because rabies is so high in Bali, they do two shots at once instead of just one. This, I later found out from my mom and Jordan's mom, was incorrect. Two shots at once does nothing. The correct dosage is actually one shot on day 0, day 3, day 7, day 14 and day 28. So skip forward to Vietnam, I headed straight to the International SOS clinic where my mom and Gerry took Lukie when he was sick with pneumonia. 

After giving the doc the paperwork that showed what the bali doc gave me, she had a little freak out. She had no idea what to do as I was given two shots instead of one and was missing the all important immunoglobulin. I'm still not completely sure what the immunoglobulin does but, the doctor told me that it is vital in the protection against rabies and can only be administered within 7 days of being bitten-I had gone to see her on the 6th (the day after we landed in Vietnam). Thankfully, I was there just in the nic of time. She kept saying we will have to discuss the price of the immunoglobulin and I was thinking in my head, okay it's probably a couple hundred dollars. Wrong-o. The money spent on this shot could have fed a small country. But luckily, my travellers insurance will hopefully cover it all once I get home. I was also thinking that this immunoglobulin was only going to be one shot. Wrong-o again. I was the lucky recipient of 13 shots around my wound, and one in the butt. I'm not that huge of a wimp when it comes to needles (nobody likes them!) but usually I'm pretty good with them. These needles however went straight into my thigh muscle and holy mother did it ever hurt. The first six or so weren't so bad but then they started killing and I actually cried out in pain. Jordan told me later that the male nurse that was administering the shots actually dropped the needle while it was in my thigh! The one in the buttocks didn't hurt at all compared to the thigh...but that's because this girls got a badonkadonk! Hehe

After the immunoglobulin shots, I had to get my second (but really third) rabies shot. This was a piece of cake! I was to stay in the clinic for 45 minutes so they could make sure I didn't have an adverse reaction to either shot and then was free to go. I had to keep the wound dry for 2 days with a big bandage on it to keep from getting an infection either through the wound itself or the 13 puncture holes in my leg. Fast forward a week to today when I received my third rabies shot-one more to go and I'm home free! Moral of the story kids-stay away from monkeys! Even now I find myself getting very anxious when I'm around even dogs (and I am usually NEVER scared around dogs). The whole situation just shook me up a little I guess but I'm hoping that once I'm out of countries that have high rates of rabid animals, I won't be overly anxious around animals anymore! 

Back to Bali, on our third day in Ubud, we decided to do a cooking class. I decided that i wanted to do a cooking class in every country that we were going to, starting with Bali. So we booked a class in which started off with a tour of the local market. We were able to try all sorts of new (to us) fruit such as jackfruit, lychee  (which Jordan had never had), and snake fruit. Since that day, we have eaten so much delicious tropical fruit and I think we are spoiling ourselves for when we come back home and this fruit is non existent if not extremely pricey. The cooking class was absolutely fabulous and I would highly recommended it to anyone! We were able to cook 7 different dishes and were sent home with typed copies of all recipes including substitute ingredients (that we may not be able to get at home!). The cooking class was probably both of our favourite part about our time in Ubud.  

After spending 5 days in Ubud we took off to Mount Batur with our driver, that we hired earlier. Little did we know that the town where Mount Batur is, is what one would call a dump. There was NOTHING in this town and we got so many looks from the locals ('they've got to be off their rockers to be here on their own'). We spent the night in a terrible hotel (setup by our driver-note to self...arrange own accommodation). We are 99% sure that the sheets weren't clean and that there were bed bugs...I had so many nasty bites in the am. However, we were in this town to do the sunset hike up the 2000m high mountain. We woke up at 3:15am and started the hike at 4 am. This was probably the most challenging hike we've ever done. First reason being that it was pitch black and Jordan and I had to share a flashlight. Second reason being that it was nearly vertical in spots...and sharing one flashlight while climbing in a single file, did I mention that yet? After climbing for almost two hours, we were so looking forward to the sunrise once we reached the top! However, what the tour guides left out (until we reached the summit), is that during the rainy season you cannot see the sunrise. They kept saying oh so sorry, we can never tell what the weather is going to be like. Then I asked, how often is it cloudy like this? He replied, it's like this for 2-3 months (during the rainy season). Jordan and I just looked at each other and rolled our eyes. Of course. Oh well, it's own own stupidity for not realizing it would be overcast I guess! We did get a few breaks in the clouds to see the view and I was immediately thankful that we could not see on the way up because I probably would have turned around it was so steep! After a 2 hour decent and very shaky knees, we returned to our hotel for showers and breakfast and set off to our next destination. 

We had discussed that no matter what, we were going to arrange our own accommodation and so we asked our driver to take us to the coast to a place called Soka.  We stayed at this fairly nice hotel which had the best view, looking right out onto the ocean! The next morning we drove to Tanah Lot which is in the western coast of Bali and is a little miniature island that is dedicated to a temple. 92% of the Balinese are Hindus and are extremely religious. Their temples are very sacred to them, and they give daily offerings wherever they are. The island temple was very beautiful but was littered with hundreds of tourists, majority being the Balinese themselves. We then got dropped off at a hotel that I had booked online in the same town we stayed at when we first arrived, Sanur. As soon as we got to the hotel we both just had this yearning to instead go back to our old hotel, The Ari Putri. We wanted something familiar I think and also our friends that we met (the two retired couples haha) were still there-we had been exchanging emails. Go ahead, laugh but we are old souls and enjoy the company of experienced travellers more so then young, rowdy, pups. Yes, I know...we are 90 year olds! Anyways, we decided to try and get a room at the Ari Putri and luckily they had a few left. We immediately went and met our friends as the pool and told them all about our travels (they had given us all the recommendations). I showed them my bite and it was like my parents or grandparents we worried about me. It was the sweetest thing. They asked all about it and wanted to make sure I was getting the correct treatment. One retired couple talked to another and to another and finally random old retirees were coming up to me and asking if I was okay and wanted to hear what happened. It was the sweetest thing!

 We had one final day in Bali and had decided that after 2 weeks we had worked up enough courage to hop on a 'motorcycle' aka scooter and try to manage our way through the craziness of all the traffic. The drivers, whether in a car, truck or scooter are insane and do not follow road rules at all. They weave in and out of the 'lanes' and the bikes even drive up on the sidewalks! But, we decided we could handle it and rented a bike for $8 for the day. We quickly got the hang of it and fit right in (except for all the looks and laughs we got from passer-bys)!! We drove to Nusa Dua, the upper class resort area and to Uluwatu, a giant set of cliffs. However, once we got to uluwatu, they warned us right away of the monkeys and immediately we both decided it wasn't a good idea. I had already gotten bite and we both weren't willing to risk it. We spent the day just riding around the southern coast and had so much fun! 

This little tidbit is not known to Jordan's mom but, I figure she'll eventually find out so here it goes...We were 2 minutes away from the hotel and got pulled over by cops running a ride check. They were only pulling over people on bikes. I had been driving and when asked for my licence I realized that stupidly I didn't have it on me-we only had Jordan's. They also asked for my international drivers licence...I don't have one. They took us down this side street and started writing out a ticket. I was not a happy camper at all because I kept saying I have my licence, it's just down the street...I can go and get it. They of course would have none of it and continued writing out the ticket for not having my licence on me. I had thought that the ticket was for $240 (so I really wasn't happy) but then realized it was only $24 US and that he was not going to issue a ticket for not having an international drivers licence..so we payed it on the spot (which I'm 100% sure just went right into his personal pocket) and went on our way!  It was an experience for sure!

The next am we headed to the airport around 6 am and took off to Singapore for a four hour layover and then a hour and fifty minute flight to Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon). 

Singapore

Singapore

To say I have been slacking in the blogging department would be an understatement. Since we arrived in Singapore and later Bali, I got swept up in everything around me and decided to leave the blogging for another day. That one day got pushed to two and three and finally almost a week. We have been in Bali for two days now and so I figure its time I try and log what we have done in the last week. Before I start, I just want to thank everyone for their comments on the blog and on Facebook! I love hearing what you all have to say and really makes writing this blog more fun knowing that people are actually reading it! Also, on another note, unfortunately I am unable to add pictures to the blog. For some reason the blogger site will not allow me to use pictures from my iPad. So any pictures that we do take (on the iPad) will be uploaded to Facebook as previously done. I know that pictures make a blog all that much more interesting but hopefully you can match the pictures on Facebook to the post on my blog!

So to begin, when we arrived in Singapore after a 10 hour flight plus two hours on the Tarmac at the beginning in Auckland, we had to take the MTR (train) to our "Green Kiwi Hostel".  The MTR is extremely cheap to get around and only cost us roughly $2 each to get to our hostel. After picking up our luggage (it's so nice to travel so lightly in comparison with what we came to Australia with!), we arrived at our hostel around 8pm which was 2 am Auckland time. We were tired but also were so excited to be in Singapore that we checked in and then immediately went for some dinner and Tiger beer at the local food stalls. This is where all the locals eat and holy crap was it busy! I would say there were 20+ stalls in this "food market" and we settled on a rice, chicken and veggie dinner for $2.50 plus $5 for a large tiger (two pints). After dinner we headed back across the street to our room which slept 10 people. Initially I was not too fond of sleeping with 8 others in the room but it was actually a really nice hostel and the beds and comforter were extra comfy so it was a great sleep. One of the chicks in our room however decided she was cold (even though the ac was set to 24 degrees and it was 32 degrees outside at 10 pm at night). So she turned the ac to 26 and needless to say, it was stinking hot!!  That next night I made sure the ac was set at a more comfortable 23 degrees (still quite warm obviously but much better!). That morning we woke up at 6 am (a little jet lagged) and decided to enjoy the sunrise on the rooftop patio. Even at 6 am it was already 28-29 degrees and so we were already sweating like mad. Breakfast opened at 730 and was included in our room rate of $40 a night for both of us. Breakfast consisted of gourmet coffee, two pieces of toast and fruit (oranges, watermelon and dragonfruit)... Delicious!

We had a shower and set off to tour the city at around 9 am (everything was still closed!). We thought we set off in the direction of Little India but instead we ended up heading in the complete opposite direction towards Marina Bay Sands (the building that looks like a ship is on the top and has the infamous infinity pool). So we decided to check out the hotel and holy cow was it ever insane. It was situated right on top of an insane mall equipped with a boat moat and a skating rank along with every expensive brand name store you can think of. We walked by a display case of jewelry where they had a diamond for $500, 000 and a vase for $800, 000!!! Clearly you needed money to stay at this hotel. We ended up paying $40 to take the 12 second elevator up 57 floors to the observation deck which over looks Singapore and also a view of the infinity pool (only guests can use and enter the pool area). 

After Marina Bay Sands we walked to Chinatown in the blistering heat where we roamed the stalls and ended up eating at another food court that was filled with locals (and lots of Singaporean business men/woman). I was surprised to not see more foreigners like ourselves but it seemed that the majority stuck to westernized food...boring! I ended up with a noodle soup which was delicious and Jordan ate breaded chicken and rice. Surpassingly the soup didn't make me all that much more hot because I was already the hottest I have ever been (at that point...wait until Bali!). 

 

After wondering around Chinatown for a couple of hours, we decided to start making our way back home. It was just after four when we got home and we were exhausted and so sticky!! It was a great long day and all we wanted to do was relax a little! :) That night we headed back to the market where both Jordan and I got more noodle soup..mine with shrimp and dumplings and Jordan's with beef. Of course we washed that all down with some more Tiger beer. The old woman who had served us beer the night before remembered us and brought us our beer right away. It was nice to be recognized but then I realized we were in fact the only white people in the joint on both nights! 

The next morning we woke up and had our usual breakfast on the rooftop and were out again headed to the city by 930 am. Our first stop was little India where we walked for what seemed like hours. We went to a mall where we picked up some shampoo and before we knew it, it was lunch. We ended up eating in an Indian restaurant (surprise surprise) and both ordered curry and naan bread. We noticed that the Indians around us were all eating with their hands (literally scooping the sauce onto their rice and shovelling it into their mouth). Was that ever an experience to witness...I had no idea they did that! While it wasn't entirely appetizing to watch, it is their culture and it was great to experience (in a weird way haha). 

After Little India, we headed to Singapore's technology hub-Sim Lim Tower and Market. The market is a 7 floor tower filled with stores ALL selling technology (computers, electrical gadgets, printers, iPads/pods/phones, cameras, etc.). Literally everything you can think of was in this mall...ridiculous! We went in wanting to look for a SD card for our camera so that we don't run out of room for pictures. We ended up bargaining a price of $27 bucks for 32 GB...after going into 10 plus stores. Not too shabby!

Now that we had made a purchase and gotten a rather good deal we decided to hop on the train and head to Orchard road. Regarded as one of the greatest shopping centres in Singapore if not SEA. It's insane the number of stores in a 2 mile stretch and the number of duplicate if not triples of each store. Most of the stores were too rich for our taste, or rather or budget, such as Louis Vuitton or Prada so we settled for a bench and chilled out until we decided to head home. On the way home we found a Wendy's and had some frosty's and walked home in the rain. 

That night we went to the Singapore night zoo, on the way there i kept looking over at the bus driver and was wondering if he just had really squinty eyes or if he was falling asleep...turns out he was taking a freaking nap! I started talking to jordan more loudly in hopes that it would keep the driver asleep. He would wake up and doze off for a second or two but still kept on the road thank god! I We watched an animal show and did a tour around the zoo on a "train" -basically a massive golf cart. The guide on the tour put on a fake accent to try and set the mood. It ruined the mood completely. There were lots of cool animals though...tigers, lions,elephants etc. 

The next day we walked around Singapore a bit more and headed to the airport in the afternoon to make our way to Bali! 

This has been a rather large blog so next post will be all about Bali! We hope everyone had a great Christmas!

Xx