Alyssa and I bought some bikes during the weekend. All I can say is that we should have done it much sooner. Life just got a lot more awesome :)
*Summer Vacation Part III (Cambodia) will be posted soon...I've just been too busy to finish it. Stay tuned!
Monday, August 26, 2013
Saturday, August 24, 2013
Summer Vacation 2013 Part II (Thailand)
One thing I must say about our stay in Patong...the street food was amazing. We stayed at a hotel about 100 yards down the street from a night market. During the day it was a parking lot for motorcycles, scooters, bikes, etc. At night, they set up food stalls and the parking lot comes to life. I had one of the best mushroom soups I've had in my life, as well as an assortment of skewered meats, fresh spring rolls, and crickets (yep...). Alyssa and I were both completely full after spending only $5...that's $2.50 each for a full meal.
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| The bug table at the Patong night market |
From Patong, we took a boat to Koh Phi Phi (Phi Phi Island). It's a series of 4 islands about 30 km south east of Phuket Island. One of the islands is where some of the movie "The Beach" was filmed, but we didn't actually go there. This place was paradise. There were sheer limestone cliffs that stretched out from the ocean to form a beautiful bay where we spent most of our time just chillin' on the beach, enjoying fresh fruit smoothies and the beautiful warm water. It rained for some of our stay, but it was so warm it didn't really matter. This particular island was completely ravaged during the 2004 tsunami. It's sad to think about the loss and damage this place experienced in the aftermath. There is still evidence of the damage on and around the beaches, but the place was beautiful nonetheless.
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| Koh Phi Phi |
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| They don't mess around... |
After a few days on the island, we continued our journey east to the town of Krabi. Krabi was kind of a sleepy town with great beach AND jungle access. We rode elephants in the jungle about two hours after showing up at our hostel. The elephant company had a reputation for taking really good care of their animals which was really nice. It was such a cool experience. I never realized how huge and strong elephants really are. I'd never seen one up close before either. I'm not going to lie...I was a little nervous at first.
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| The first elephant I ever touched. |
The next day we took a local "bus" to Ao Nang. Their "buses" are actually just covered pickup trucks with bench seats down either side of the truck bed and a makeshift rack on the back for people to stand on if there isn't room in the truck bed. There also doesn't seem to be a limit on the number of people they are willing to pack into the truck, so overall it was a pretty dangerous ride to Ao Nang...but that's part of the fun right? We spent a short time in the ocean at Ao Nang before it started raining on us. So we decided to grab some food, wander around a touristy market for a bit, and then head home on the bus again. On our way back, the bus was completely empty, but Jake and I decided to stand on the sketchy bumper on the back of the truck to get some pictures on the way home. The drive from Ao Nang to Krabi was about thirty minutes, winding through limestone cliffs and lush jungle...it looked like Jurassic Park.
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| It started raining on us pretty soon after we got in the water :( It was really warm though, so it wasn't a huge problem. |
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| Ao Nang beach |
On August 9th, we flew from Krabi to Bangkok. We stayed near the infamous Khao San Road, which is the "backpacker" area of Bangkok. This place had a Patongesque sketchiness to it (not quite as bad as Patong, but almost). We took it easy our first night in Bangkok so that we could wake up early the next morning at go see various Wats and markets around town.
We went to Wat Arun, and Wat Pho via river boat which was pretty exciting and ridiculously cheap. Then we went to an international food festival for dinner that night and were disappointed when we ordered burritos based on what they looked like in the pictures...we should have known better. That is one thing to consider when visiting Asia...never, ever, under any circumstances think you will receive the food from the picture...no matter what. We expected our first real taste of Mexican-style burritos (pretty impossible in Korea because cilantro is nonexistent, but it's quite common in South East Asia). We ended up with this weird soggy sandwich wrap smothered in mayonnaise, ketchup, and mustard...ugh :(
After dinner, we rested for a little while before heading out to Khao San Road for some beverages :) This is where we found scorpions. The entire trip, I had been talking about how I really wanted to try one...but as soon as I saw one, I totally freaked out and decided to wait until I had a few drinks in me. The scorpions are HUGE so Alyssa, Jake, and I decided to share one. The rest of the night is kind of hazy...I think there was something in the scorpion ;) We went to bed at some point...
The following morning we woke up and decided to take the Skytrain to the north end of town to visit one of the largest weekend markets in Asia. The market was a dizzying maze winding through acres and acres of land with no recognizable landmarks...it was a bit overwhelming. After picking up some souvenirs for family and friends, we took the Skytrain back to our hostel so Alyssa and I could pack and do a bit of research for the following morning. It was our last night with Stacey and Jake before their departure back to the states, and our journey to the Thailand/Cambodia border town of Aranyaprathet. We just hung out for the evening, enjoyed a few cold beers in the common room of our hostel, and went to bed early.
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| Alyssa took some super dorky map pictures of me while we were on the river boat in Bangkok. |
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| Wat Pho (Bangkok) |
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| Wat Arun (Bangkok) |
Tuesday, August 20, 2013
Summer Vacation 2013 Part I (Malaysia)
Alyssa and I got back from vacation last night. Like our adventures in Japan and the Philippines last winter, this was an eye-opening and amazing experience that I will never forget.
We took a four hour train-ride to Seoul on the evening of July 29th. We stayed in a hostel overnight so we could get to Incheon Airport by 7:30 AM for our flight to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia's capital and largest city. We slept for about four hours, woke up at around 5:30AM, and began our journey to KL. The flight was relatively short (6 hours) but I made sure to sleep as much as I could on the flight so we could hit the ground running. After we claimed our baggage, we hopped on a shuttle bus for about an hour to "The Golden Triangle" in the center of KL. Our friends Jake and Stacey had been there for a few days already so they greeted us at the bus stop and brought us to the hostel. Once we dropped our bags off, the fun started.
KL is a melting pot of Indian, Chinese, and Malay cultures that mix together to make this place very unique. Hinduism and Islam are the two major religions in Malaysia, both of which I knew nothing about. I really didn't know what to expect when we arrived in KL, but I was pleasantly surprised. We passed by a Hindu temple on our walk to the hostel. The smell of incense and sounds of chanting radiated from this place constantly while people stopped for a quick prayer to the shrines of Shiva, Vishnu, and Brahma. It was like clockwork: 5:30 AM and sunset were they main prayer times. At these times, the temple was completely full of people praying, singing, eating, and burning incense or candles.
Our first stop after dropping our backpacks off at the hostel was food street...I'm not sure if this is the official name, but this is was we called it, because there was a lot of...food :) Our first Malaysian snack was satay skewers. They served mutton, chicken, and beef skewers cooked over coals, served with a delicious peanut sauce and sliced cucumber. I'd had this before in the states, but it tasted so much better in KL. It was really cool to watch the cook fan the flames (literally...with a hand fan) and work through the commotion on "food street". For me, the hardest part about travelling is knowing where to go eat. Thanks to Jake and Stacey, the research was done for us! They brought us to some really delicious places and it made the whole "where should we eat" question a lot easier to answer. At another point during our stay, we went to another place just a few stalls down for some curry noodle soup. It was an amazing bowl of spicy, coconutty, slightly peanutty broth poured over very thin egg noodles and lotus stems...and some other random unidentified edibles. If you're ever in Kuala Lumpur, find "food street"...trust me.
The next day we woke up early to make our way to the Batu Caves. It's a series of caves in some limestone cliffs north of KL. Little did I know, one of my lifelong dreams was about to come true...there were wild monkeys EVERYWHERE! I'd seen them in zoos and on TV, but I'd always wanted to see one in the wild. They were scattered all over the 250ish stairs we had to climb to enter the first cave. Inside the caves were Hindu shrines scattered all over the place. Up another smaller set of stairs, there was another cave with a main shrine and more monkeys! I actually fed one...and it hissed at me.
After the Batu Caves we continued on to do some more of the touristy things to do in KL, including a visit to the Petronas Twin Towers, and some shopping for counterfeit goods at Jalan Petaling Street in Chinatown. Alyssa and I aren't very good at haggling, but Stacey taught us the ropes and we got some good practice in before moving on to Thailand and Cambodia.
After Stacey and Jake left KL, Alyssa and I spent our last two days exploring a bit more. We took a hop-on hop-of tour of the city to see "Little India" (the Indian part of town), The National Mosque, KL Tower, various parks, etc. We ended up stranded when the buses stopped running and accidentally stumbled upon a really cool local street food market about an hour walk from our hostel. We stopped, and ate, and continued walking. We passed though local neighborhoods and alleys...it was really cool to see the local lifestyle and although we were tired after it all, it was completely worth it.
One thing I brought back with me from our trip was my appreciation for mosque architecture. Cathedrals, churches, and temples are beautiful too, but I'd never actually seen a mosque, and the ones we saw in KL were spectacular.
The majority of Malaysians are Muslims and our visit was during the last week of Ramadan, which added a certain level of cultural insight to our experience. We spent about two hours sitting in front of the Masjid Jamek mosque waiting for the sun to set, watching the Muslims gather together, the women wearing their Hijabs (some are very beautiful, decorated with small gems and intricate stitching), waiting to break their fasts during Ramadan...I think I took about 150 pictures of the same mosque, but it just looked more and more beautiful as it got darker outside.
Overall, Kuala Lumpur was a great cultural experience and I'm so glad we chose to visit. Our original plan was to go to Hong Kong and Macau, but we decided to go somewhere else because flights to Hong Kong were too expensive. I wouldn't change a thing.
Next stop, Phuket!!!
We took a four hour train-ride to Seoul on the evening of July 29th. We stayed in a hostel overnight so we could get to Incheon Airport by 7:30 AM for our flight to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia's capital and largest city. We slept for about four hours, woke up at around 5:30AM, and began our journey to KL. The flight was relatively short (6 hours) but I made sure to sleep as much as I could on the flight so we could hit the ground running. After we claimed our baggage, we hopped on a shuttle bus for about an hour to "The Golden Triangle" in the center of KL. Our friends Jake and Stacey had been there for a few days already so they greeted us at the bus stop and brought us to the hostel. Once we dropped our bags off, the fun started.
KL is a melting pot of Indian, Chinese, and Malay cultures that mix together to make this place very unique. Hinduism and Islam are the two major religions in Malaysia, both of which I knew nothing about. I really didn't know what to expect when we arrived in KL, but I was pleasantly surprised. We passed by a Hindu temple on our walk to the hostel. The smell of incense and sounds of chanting radiated from this place constantly while people stopped for a quick prayer to the shrines of Shiva, Vishnu, and Brahma. It was like clockwork: 5:30 AM and sunset were they main prayer times. At these times, the temple was completely full of people praying, singing, eating, and burning incense or candles.
Our first stop after dropping our backpacks off at the hostel was food street...I'm not sure if this is the official name, but this is was we called it, because there was a lot of...food :) Our first Malaysian snack was satay skewers. They served mutton, chicken, and beef skewers cooked over coals, served with a delicious peanut sauce and sliced cucumber. I'd had this before in the states, but it tasted so much better in KL. It was really cool to watch the cook fan the flames (literally...with a hand fan) and work through the commotion on "food street". For me, the hardest part about travelling is knowing where to go eat. Thanks to Jake and Stacey, the research was done for us! They brought us to some really delicious places and it made the whole "where should we eat" question a lot easier to answer. At another point during our stay, we went to another place just a few stalls down for some curry noodle soup. It was an amazing bowl of spicy, coconutty, slightly peanutty broth poured over very thin egg noodles and lotus stems...and some other random unidentified edibles. If you're ever in Kuala Lumpur, find "food street"...trust me.
The next day we woke up early to make our way to the Batu Caves. It's a series of caves in some limestone cliffs north of KL. Little did I know, one of my lifelong dreams was about to come true...there were wild monkeys EVERYWHERE! I'd seen them in zoos and on TV, but I'd always wanted to see one in the wild. They were scattered all over the 250ish stairs we had to climb to enter the first cave. Inside the caves were Hindu shrines scattered all over the place. Up another smaller set of stairs, there was another cave with a main shrine and more monkeys! I actually fed one...and it hissed at me.
After the Batu Caves we continued on to do some more of the touristy things to do in KL, including a visit to the Petronas Twin Towers, and some shopping for counterfeit goods at Jalan Petaling Street in Chinatown. Alyssa and I aren't very good at haggling, but Stacey taught us the ropes and we got some good practice in before moving on to Thailand and Cambodia.
After Stacey and Jake left KL, Alyssa and I spent our last two days exploring a bit more. We took a hop-on hop-of tour of the city to see "Little India" (the Indian part of town), The National Mosque, KL Tower, various parks, etc. We ended up stranded when the buses stopped running and accidentally stumbled upon a really cool local street food market about an hour walk from our hostel. We stopped, and ate, and continued walking. We passed though local neighborhoods and alleys...it was really cool to see the local lifestyle and although we were tired after it all, it was completely worth it.
One thing I brought back with me from our trip was my appreciation for mosque architecture. Cathedrals, churches, and temples are beautiful too, but I'd never actually seen a mosque, and the ones we saw in KL were spectacular.
The majority of Malaysians are Muslims and our visit was during the last week of Ramadan, which added a certain level of cultural insight to our experience. We spent about two hours sitting in front of the Masjid Jamek mosque waiting for the sun to set, watching the Muslims gather together, the women wearing their Hijabs (some are very beautiful, decorated with small gems and intricate stitching), waiting to break their fasts during Ramadan...I think I took about 150 pictures of the same mosque, but it just looked more and more beautiful as it got darker outside.
Overall, Kuala Lumpur was a great cultural experience and I'm so glad we chose to visit. Our original plan was to go to Hong Kong and Macau, but we decided to go somewhere else because flights to Hong Kong were too expensive. I wouldn't change a thing.
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| Satay on "Food Street" |
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| No making out on the subway please...thanks. |
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| The Batu Caves |
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| My dream come true. |
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| The Petronas Towers |
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| Masjid Jamek Mosque |
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| Where am I supposed to park my submarine? |
Next stop, Phuket!!!
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