Sweet Bali Hai

Thailand is the mustard colored country, Indonesia is the Brown 
and Bali is one of the tiny islands toward the middle.

                Hello everyone! Terribly sorry for the slight delay in my vacation blog. I know I said I would post every day while on vacation but... I was on vacation! So it was much more tempting to put it off and explore. 


So, where were we? Oh yeah, Day 4. Winding down our time in Koh Phi Phi [pronounced P.P.]  and heading further down south to Phuket [Pronounced Poo-ket] Thailand's biggest island. We took a two hour ferry ride, and one very long overpriced taxi ride and we finally arrived in Phuket International Airport at around 9pm.

Thank You for flying Air Asia. 

 Our flight left for Bali, Indonesia early in the morning so rather than waste money on a hotel for a couple of hours we decided we would set up camp in the airport terminal. Especially since we had to watch college football and we were going to be up all night anyways. Well the boys at least... Jen and I had our own Gator -Vs- Noles Battle in our sleep.

On to day 5, we arrived in Bali, Indonesia.  First impressions: Clean air, Hot weather, darker Asians, beautiful flowers and many hidden fees. Just to go to Bali you have to basically pay a cover fee of 25 USD, however the Thai Baht price was about 30$. 

The exciting but frustrating thing to me about arriving in a new country is learning the way their money works. If there is one thing I can't stand is getting ripped off, but you are pretty much guaranteed to when leaving the Airport. People tend to take full advantage of the fact that you are a tourist and probably wont know how much a taxi should cost to get to your destination. We booked a beautiful hotel for the first night and ventured off to find a taxi. We read online  that there are metered taxies all over the island. Of course when we get to the airport there aren't any in site.  After a about 4 different taxies we were finally able to get a reasonable price. Luckily, the Balinese speak really good English (compared to Thailand) and made things a lot easier. 

We spent the rest of the day getting a bite to eat and checking out the closest beach. First order of business dip my toes into the Indian Ocean. I then laid out my towel on the sand, and drifted off to sleep ...only to be awoken by a large parade of Balinese dressed completely in white, walking towards the ocean. We were a bit confused but watched intently. We later learned that this is a Hindu ceremony they preformed two times a year!  It is meant to ward off the evil spirits, and keep the good ones. They light incense and bring offerings to the ocean, and pray to the gods. 

We sat and watched from the back and it was quite funny, really.. the women were on one side and the men were playing the music. Most were quite present while others were playing on their  blackberries and gossiping with each other. After about a half hour, they continued their parade through the city.  It was actually really cool, and we were so lucky to catch it! 

At this point we were running on empty, and decided it was time to go back to the hotel and crash! It sure did feel good sleeping on a comfortable bed! 

Until next time...

Cheers!

Photo Credit: Jen Cowan and Jon Watt

My Favorite Things

Living in Thailand has been quite the experience! On a daily basis I see so many new and interesting things that really nothing surprises me anymore.  For example, Last night on our way home from dinner a huge rat ran by us and went underneath the sidewalk, 5 minutes prior to that a family of ducks were eating garbage out of the dumpsters, and prior to that, a little boy was sitting in a field playing with his pet rooster.

Aside from the many different animals I see every day, there are many things I have grown to appreciate about Thailand. I’ve decided to compile a list of my favorite things so far.

Rain drops on roses, and whiskers on kittens…[Sorry could not avoid that one!]

1. First things first, would have to be the people. Everyone can be so kind and friendly, with out fully understanding the language we seem to get around quite easily. As long as you don’t walk around like you own the place and greet everyone properly, the Thai people will do their best to work with you.

2.  In most restaurants when you order a beer, it comes with a Koozie, (or as they call it a Beer Condom). Genius, I wish bars in the states would catch on to this ingenious idea, then I wouldn’t have to bring one with me everywhere I go!

3. This one kinda goes with number 2, under Restaurant etiquette, it isn't rude to bring your own liquor places, and just pay for a glass of ice or mixer!

4. Your body aches, and you want a massage. Here you don’t have to spend a days pay for one, nor do you even have to make an appointment, just walk in. Tell the lady what you want and for how long… 5 American dollars and 1 hour later, you walk out relaxed and refreshed. The availability of massage parlors is endless, with at least 4-5 on one block!  So if there is a wait, one is never very far. I am averaging about 1 every Week in a half. :)

5. Mosquito’s are everywhere, and a constant battle. Putting on Bug Spray has actually become part of my daily routine; Brush my hair, wash my face, put on deodorant, and spray down from head to toe with bug spray.  They actually have re-invented the fly swatter, and it has quickly become my favorite past time. It is a tennis racquet but instead of normal strings, it is electrically charged! Like a fly swatter bug zapper, its gets so hot that the bugs actually spontaneously combust!

6. Friendly taxi drivers who like to learn English, as a trade for new Thai words. 

7. All Asian babies... I may take one home with me. 

8. The relaxed attitudes and lack of rules. 

9. All the pens here are Fine Point, I would search high and low for them in "The States"

And number 10. [Submitted by Nick] - " The lack of Douchbags"

Well that’s it for now, I shall be traveling to Northern Thailand for the next week or so, to visit Chiang Mai and do a quick Visa run to Laos! We are taking a 14 hour train ride and should arrive some time tomorrow. We are traveling with our two wonderful friends Michelle & Cassandra Many stories and pictures to come! 

See you soon! 

   Cheers!