On leaving - Sarah

This trip has gone by way too fast. I still cannot believe some of the places we have visited! In these three weeks Samantha and I have done so much and I can't believe it's all coming to an end. We have had the best time while here and I am leaving with a plethora of funny stories and memories to take with me. Here is my top ten list of things I will miss:
1. travelling
2. having great adventures with Samantha
3. 100 plus (an amazing sports drink which I cannot believe I haven't ever mentioned in this blog...I'm addicted)
4. tea tarik (aka teh tarik)
5. watermelon juice
6. cheap prices!
7. food: dim son, chili chicken, and lots of fresh fruit (that does not include durian of course!)
8. beaches...gorgeous beaches!
9. being TALL! That's right..you heard me..tall!! Everybody here is super short!!
10. Tiger and Bintang Beer

On leaving - Samantha

Well... first let me say I am NOT happy about leaving tomorrow morning. It's not just the horrible long flight ahead that's leaving at a really early time but it is way more than that. I have loved every moment of this trip and cannot believe it is really over. I am sure I will be in a funk when I get back just because every place we have been has been so beautiful, different and exciting. Here are some of the things I have grown accustomed to and will really miss:

1. My dad
2. being a tourist
3. not working or doing school work
4. when the exchange rate is awesome and you get so much for the dollar and things are really really cheap
5. teh terik
6. 100 plus
7. so many choices of ethnic food
8. roti canai (my breakfast of choice in Sibu)
9. fresh watermelon or dragon fruit juice
10. seeing monkeys on a regular basis

Last day in KL

We spent our last day in Kuala Lumpur sleeping in, doing some laundry and then heading to KLCC, the shopping center below the twin towers. We ate lunch, which we were both happy to find was very good (we haven't had the best luck finding out own lunch places). Around 3 we met up with my dad and headed out on the subway to Chinatown/Peddling street to do some shopping, grab the same dinner we had on our first night and be brave and try the much heard about durian. Dinner was absolutely amazing! Sarah had been craving the chili chicken since we had it and we thought it would be quite nice to end the trip the way we began. Durian on the other hand was in NO WAY nice. In fact, it is probably the most disgusting thing I have ever eaten. We had heard that it smelled really bad but tasted good, this is not true - it smells like decaying animal and I cannot even describe the way it tastes. It reminded me of old beef that had been pureed and then served at room temperature, but this still does not do it justice. Sarah described it as mushed bananas and honey, but much worse. My dad might have summed it up best when he said "I would rather change 3 baby diapers with my teeth than ever eat that again." My fingers smelled so horribly that when walking away I actually gagged, needless to say - none of us will ever be eating that or recommending it to anybody we like.

Bali

Bali was amazing! Samantha and I both agreed that we are going back. The trip did not start off on a good note. The flight was delayed and then the going through immigration took almost an hour and the bathroom was abominable. Once we finally got to our hotel everything was okay! We had a good italian dinner and slept in the best hotel beds we've felt so far! The rooms were fantastic...the bathroom was just as big as our room, which was a HUGE change from Singapore! We also got to take a look at our motorbikes! We went into town to grab dinner and then went to a swinger's bar. It wasn't really a swinger's bar, but by the time we went there the only other patrons there was a huge group of free-loving australians. We took bets on who would be asked to dance first, and my bet was on Samantha, but it was Mr. Piper...who was asked by a braless, short-haired older drunken lady. They had a live band and the whole place was dancing. We had a really great time and decided that we had to go back.
The next morning we took our first spin on the bikes. It was a bumpy ride. We decided that we wanted to see the beach that was just down the road from the hotel. We managed to get to the beach in one piece...the only one who came close to dying was Mr. Piper when he tried to park the bike and it fell over. We were told that the beach was a surfer's paradise but we had to see it for ourselves. The waves were huge!! The sand was partially made up of volcanic rock so it was a light gray color and really course. We then decided to go to a more peaceful beach. Did I mention that it was more european too?? Other than the barely clad bodies the view was amazing. The sand was white and the ocean was so blue. The part we were at was used for seaweed farming so there were many varieties of seaweed being tended to in the waters. It looked very cool from the beach. We stayed there all day...literally. We sun-bathed, read, and ventured out into the sea all day. We went to see the sunset at a very swanky beachside bar called Ku De Ta. It was one of the coolest bars we've ever been too. After a few drinks we had a traditional balinese meal and watched traditional balinese dancers. We then hit up the swingers bar, but the swingers were not there to entertain us, which made it less fun.
The next day we went to Ubud and visited arts places and temples. The temples were very impressive and different. We also went to the monkey palace and, among other things, saw a water monitor lizard. After we walked along the streets of Ubud visiting different stores and stalls. When went back to the hotel to relax and then went to scope out the restaurant that we planned to watch the USA vs England match at. The food was good but we decided it would not do. After a nap at our hotel, we went back out around 2 to watch the game. We all know how that ended up...
The next morning we woke up early and had lunch on the beach. We then went shopping throughout the town and caught our flight home. Bali was very beautiful and relaxing. It's definitely a place we will visit again!

Singapore

So Mr. Piper's computer really hates me. Again, right before we left for Bali, I wrote up the Singapore entry and just as I was going to post it the internet went out. Samantha and I will post our blog on Bali tomorrow and add pictures. As for now, here is our old post for Singapore:

We just got back from our two day Singapore trip and it's already time to leave again for Bali! Singapore was a very different from our other side trips we have taken so far. This was our first trip as backpackers! Our hotel was located in Chinatown, which was very Chinese. I know that's probably what you would expect of Chinatown, but this was way more Chinese than any other Chinatown we've been to so far. It was really cool because they have really kept hold of their heritage! Unfortunately for us, our trip to Singapore was a very rainy one. Our first stop was to the Chinese Heritage Centre. We definitely would recommend this museum to anyone who visits Singapore. It is a smaller museum but the exhibits were well done and there were a lot of personal stories of immigration from China to Singapore that were very interesting. Also, we found out the history of the building our hotel was located in...it used to be a brothel! We weren't allowed in to the first temple we stopped by because we were not dressed appropriately (shorts and tank tops). The second temple we took shelter in was Sri Mariamman. It was a historical temple that had vividly painted statues and a grand courtyard, which we could not really go into because it was under construction. Then we ran to the Buddha Tooth Relic Temple and Museum. Once inside, we were immediately prompted to a bin of sarongs and shawls. The ground floor was the temple. It was very ornate and housed 100 medium sized statues of buddha! The decor was red and gold and very elaborate! On the second floor there was the museum. The first part contained old pictures and statues of buddha from all over the world. The back part of the museum contained all of buddha's relics. These included buddha's teeth, blood, liver, nose, etc. This part of the museum is regarded as very sacred for all Buddhists. On the third floor there was another temple that had an enclosed area that contained the  sacred buddha tooth. Since we weren't allowed in the enclosed area, they had a shot of the sacred tooth relic on a tv. We then climbed up to the rooftop to see the orchid garden, which was very beautiful. In the middle of the garden was a pagoda that contained a spinning prayer column. After the museum we grabbed lunch and headed towards our brothel hotel to check in and ditch our backpacks. Samantha and I decided that we definitely are NOT cut out for backpacking. Our hotel room was....quaint. It was a small room for a bed..and that was about it! Our bathroom was a shower that also contained our toilet and sink. Oh and our friends the brothel bugs! However, we were only staying in Singapore for one night, so the room suited our needs. And was entertaining!

The rest of the afternoon we headed towards the historic district. Singapore is so small that you literally can walk everywhere! In the historic district we stopped by the Armenian Church which was the first permanent Christian church in Singapore. We then continued on our church tour to CHIJMES which stands for the Convent of the Holy Infant Jesus. It was an old church surrounded by the convent building that creates a nice courtyard in the middle. The convent opened up into an orphanage at one point of time as well. Now, the convent portion is filled with shops and restaurants. We then stopped at St. Andrew's. It was a huge Anglican Church that is still having regular services. The architecture is what makes it such a site to see. We then crossed the street to the Cathedral of the Good Shepherd. The building was undergoing renovation at the time, so we didn't take many pictures. We ended our church tour by having  Singapore Sling at the Raffles Hotel's infamous Long Bar. The bar was really cool and still has the huge leaf-like fans on the ceiling and the grand wood spiral staircase. The drink was a little too sweet for our taste and was super expensive..30 Singapore dollars! After our shared cocktail, we roamed around the old hotel for awhile. It had some very pretty courtyards scattered throughout the interior of the hotel. We then headed home to rest up and get ready for our night out at Clarke Quay (pronounced Clarke Key..get it right). Clarke Key was a restaurant/bar area located on the Singapore River. It was really big and modern. We ate dinner at an Indian Halal restaurant, where I lost my appetite for chicken and Samantha was mistaken for Megan Fox. The food was actually really tasty, I just am picky about my chicken! Afterwards, Samantha and I grabbed some drinks at a bar called the Crazy Elephant. We ended our night with a bicycle driven tuk-tuk ride back to our brothel...where we discovered that the mattress was indeed covered in plastic in case we were bed-wetters. Very comfortable!

The next day we wandered through some of the Chinese shopping malls and then headed towards the historic district when it started to downpour. We took shelter in the tube station which was connected to an underground shopping mall. We meandered around for a bit and then resurfaced to find that the rain had let up and headed towards the Singapore Flyer, their huge observation ferris wheel. Although it was a rainy, overcast day, the views were amazing! On clear days you are supposed to be able to see all the way to Malaysia! After the Flyer we headed towards the Singapore National History Museum. If you really do the museum it would take three days!! The museum was located in an old historical colonial building that had a big glass addition to the back. The tour was completely audio guided, which was actually very nice. You got to chose exactly what you wanted to hear! Also, once inside the exhibit you get to choose from two different paths to take through history: the events path and the personal path. Since we had already heard so many personal stories at the Chinese Heritage Center, we chose the events path. It took Samantha and I two hours to get through but we could have stayed all day! After the museum we headed to the airport to go back to KL.

Overall we had a great time in Singapore and were glad that we ended up staying for two days instead of the originally planned one day. We never would have fit everything in, especially with the weather being  so rainy! In a couple hours we are heading out to Bali. We are looking forward to another beach vacation! We will most likely not have internet access in Bali, so you won't hear from us till Monday..which is on of our last days in KL! 

Batu Caves

Today, after catching up on our sleep Samantha and I visited that famous Batu Caves. The caves located at the top of a small mountain. To get there you have to climb straight up over 200 steps! To the side of the steps is a huge gold statue of some Hindu god (Samantha and I had a hard time reading up on what all the statues were because there wasn't plaques or brochures anywhere at the caves, so I apologize for the vagueness). There were tons of monkeys on our climb up. One monkey stole a tourists water bottle! After catching our breath at the top of the stairs we entered the caves. They were huge!!! Inside there were multiple small shrines to the Hindu deities. And tons of pigeons and monkeys! Then we climbed another 30 or so stairs to another cave with more monkeys and shrines. The monkeys were really cute! The shrines were kind of disappointing because of all the grandeur of the other cool shrines we have seen on this trip. The walk down the stairs was much easier than the walk up! At the bottom of the stairs was another set of caves. To enter those caves, we walked over a pretty pond, teeming with koi fish. There were also a couple pretty waterfalls adorned with huge pink metal flowers. On the other side of the pond, there was a stage that had a traditional Hindu dance performance going on. We sat and watched the end of the performance and then went to see the other caves. On the way there, there were birdcages, a snake pen, and couple monkey cages. The first cave just had shrines, the second cave had shrines and a reptile exhibit. The reptile exhibit was very sketchy. These dangerous snakes were held in rickety cages. Some of the cages didn't have anything in them..which kind of made us think that the old inhabitant had escaped. It was very creepy. Overall, the caves were impressive and it was a very interesting place!

Bangkok

We flew into Bangkok late on Thursday evening. After checking in we hit the streets to find some dinner.  We soon found out that there weren't very many restaurants around our hotel and that thai people eat dinner very early. However, we lucked out big time on an open air seafood restaurant. We were worried about the food because we were one of two groups eating at the restaurant. The food ended up being amazing. The cook came out to ask us how we liked the food and we ended up talking for awhile. She was so sweet! She gave us advice on what to do, what wasn't worth it, and even lent us her tour books. She also gave each of us a key chain that had famous thai items on them. Samantha got a Hindu goddess, I got a river boat, and Mr. Piper got a tuk-tuk.

The next day, we woke up early and headed out to see the temples. We realized that our hotel wasn't in the prime location; in fact, the temples were on the complete opposite side of the city! We took the skytrain over to that area of town. We thought we had the right exit, but apparently we were far from it! So, instead of hopping back on the skytrain, we took a river boat tour through the canals that ended up in the area with all of the famous temples. On the boat ride we got to see a lot of the city when we were on the main river, and then we turned into the canals and got to see the residential side of Bangkok. The canal houses provide a very different way of living than what we are used to! It was interesting to see their lifestyle! We also passed a few riverside temples along the way. After the boat ride, we ended up running into a tourist police who planned out our tour of the temples for us, arranged a tuk-tuk driver for the whole tour, and gave us some great shopping advice. We went to the Buddha Museum first. It had a temple and then a small sanctuary for the remains of buddhists. The remains were kept in small urns and miniature houses placed along the side of a pond. Before our next temple, we stopped at an Chinese Export Mall that is normally not open to the public, but due to the poor economy we could visit. It was also their last day of tax free sales, luckily for us! Samantha and I both bought nice rings for a great price! We then went to a temple located on a hill. We had to climb quiet aways up to see it! However, once at the top, there was a fantastic view of the city. Our last stop with our tuk-tuk driver was the Grand Palace and National Museum. At these temples, you had to be appropriately dress. I was wearing a tank top and shorts so I had to put on a button up mens shirt and a sarong. Samantha had a t-shirt on so she only had to put on a sarong. Mr. Piper had to put on pants since he was wearing shorts. We looked fabulous...not! It was really hot out and the outfits just made it worse. However, the temples were breathtaking. They were very ornate. Every inch was covered in adornment. There were colorful mirror mosaics, gold leafing, carvings, and intricate murals. After that we grabbed a quick lunch and strolled down amulet street. This area was full of sidewalk peddlers hawking amulets that are said to have certain powers. They are taken very seriously and are a very big deal for the thai people. We then found another tuk-tuk driver to take us to the temple that is famous for their large reclining buddha. At the temple, we had a tour guide take us around. He was crazy. Literally. He was super energetic and very flexible. He insisted on taking tons of pictures of us and when he would take them he would do various yoga poses. He was also very loud, hard to understand, and had awful teeth. We were so worn out that he had more energy than the three of us! All we were interested in seeing was the reclining buddha statue..not the rest of the temple, but he took us through it all anyway...every last inch. The reclining buddha was absolutely massive and very impressive. It was really cool. After, Mr Dong (the tour guide), we just wanted to go home, but our sketchy tuk-tuk driver told us that if we went to this one place he would get free gas. We told him no, but he was really insistent on doing it and it didn't seem like he was going to take no for an answer. He ended up taking us to a tailor. We walked in, took one look, and walked out. He didn't seem very happy that we didn't fall for his trick, but he took us home. That night we researched an authentic mom-and-pop thai restaurant. On the taxi ride there it started to rain. The street it was located on was blocked off with construction so our taxi driver had to drop us off a few storefronts away. As we got out of the taxi, the rain really picked up. We ran to the nearest hotel for shelter to wait out the rain. The hotel was disgusting and much to Samantha's dismay, full of mosquitos. Just to top it off, the power went out. The hotel's back up generator kicked in and the lights came back on. The rain eased up and we decided it was time to go eat. However, our restaurant had no lights. So we went to the hotel across the street and ate at their modern-thai restaurant. The food ended up being amazing, so in the end it all worked out.

On Saturday we decided we were templed out so we hit up Thailand's famous outdoor market that sold everything from clothes to pets to housewares to art. It was huge. And crowded. And hot. And smelly. It was really interesting and we did have a good time. Samantha and I were looking for some cheap clothes when Mr. Piper decided that he had picked the wrong shirt to wear (a black polo...as if he had no idea how hot it was the day before...) and needed to buy a new one on the spot. He wasn't being picky...he just wanted a white or beige linen or silk button up shirt. So the mission started. We could have had the shirt made by the time he finally settled on a used pink-red, long-sleeved, not linen or silk shirt. At first, Sam and I were trying to help him, but after several hours of getting shot down we gave up. Finally, when we were about to leave and enjoying our second dragonfruit and pineapple juice smoothie of the day, he found it. We made our way to the skytrain station and decided to call it a day. We went back to the hotel, cleaned up, and headed out to get thai massages. It was our first time getting massages and all in all it was a good experience. For dinner, we wanted to give our mom-and-pop thai restaurant that we could eat at the night before, a second chance. It just wasn't meant to be. We ended up eating next door at an Indian restaurant.

Sunday morning we packed our bags and headed out for the morning. We went to the Jim Thompson Museum which consisted of his historical house full of rare antiques and an art museum. His story was so interesting! For those who don't know, he was an american who came to Thailand and reestablished the silk industry. On the side he collected broken antiques, which in Thailand is considered to be extremely unlucky. He ended up disappearing in Malaysia when he was 61. There are many conspiracy theories as to what exactly happened to him. We then went to a the four-headed buddha shrine. At the shrine we got to see authentic thai dancers. This shrine is known for being very lucky. People rub their money on it and pray for winning lottery tickets here. After grabbing lunch, we headed to the airport.

Bangkok was a very interesting town and we definitely needed more than three full days there!

Touring KL

Here is the post that I wrote up before Samantha and I left for Bangkok. I did not go through and edit it out, so just remember I literally wrote it up the morning before we flew out to Bangkok! Enjoy!

During these past few days since we got back from Sibu, Samantha and I have toured KL. We started by doing a hop on-hop off bus tour of KL. Our first stop was to meet Mr. Piper and one of his coworkers for lunch. We went to get sushi from one of those restaurants that has the sushi moving by on a conveyor belt. If you see one you like, you take it off! It was really cool and the sushi was amazing. I even tried jelly fish...which didn't taste bad but the texture was a bit chewy for my taste. After lunch, Samantha and I went to the Aquarium in KL's convention center. It was the best aquarium I have ever been too! They brag the longest underwater tunnel through a tank measuring at 90 meters! It even had a moving sidewalk to ride through the tunnel on! The glass of the tunnel was so thick that all off the marine life on the other side was actually 30% larger than they appeared (keep that in mind when viewing our pictures!) That was hard to believe because some of the sharks and sting rays were so big! We then hopped back on our tour bus and rode around the city. We didn't make any other stops that day because it started to storm pretty hard and all the stops we wanted to make were outdoors. That night we tried traditional Malaysian food, which Samantha and I were not fans of. We then went to a couple tourist bars to see what night life was like in KL. We then went to the rooftop bar of a fancy hotel that had an amazing view of the Petronas twin towers. At midnight the tower lights turn off, so we stayed just long enough to see the light show. 

The next day, Samantha and I woke up early and Mr. Piper dropped us off on his way to work at the twin towers so we could get tickets to ride up to their crossbridge. Unfortunately, there was a huge line, so we couldn't get tickets until 6:30 PM. We continued our tour of KL by walking to Menara Kuala Lumpur, KL's watch tower. It is 421 meters tall and is located on top of a hill, so it has a breathtaking view of the whole area. We rode to the top and took plenty of pictures! At the base of the tower, there was a zip line ride called the flyingfox, which I declared we were going to do the moment I saw it! The hill that the tower is located on is a nature preserve, so we thought that the zip line would go through there. It didn't, but we still really enjoyed ourselves. It was both of our first times doing a zip line and we had a blast! After the tower we walked back to the bottom of the twin towers to grab lunch in the mall. We then went to the Bird Park, which is the world's largest free-flight walk-in aviary. The whole place is enclosed in a huge net! When we first walked in a peacock with all of his feathers up greeted us. There were many other really cool birds there including many types of eagles, hawks, parrots, hornbills, flamingos, and flightless birds. Later that day, Samantha and I went back to the twin towers to ride up to the crossbridge. It was really neat, but we definitely should have done the KL tower after because the views from the crossbridge were nowhere near as impressive. We then met up with Mr. Piper  and headed to Little India to meet his coworker for dinner. We ate in street-side restaurant and the food was amazing! 

Today we are going to Mr. Piper's office for lunch and then are heading out to Bangkok! I think there will be internet there, so we will try to update ya'll when we can!

Quick Update

So the morning before we left for Bangkok, I wrote up a very nice blog and Mr. Piper's internet went out just as I was about to post it. I just want to let everyone know, there is a big blog coming on all of the tourist things Sam and I did in KL before we left for Bangkok. We arrived safely in Bangkok yesterday and toured all today. Everything here is safe and it seems like things are back to normal. The only thing that denoted any upset was the remains of a bombed building that we saw while on the tube today. We will blog about Bangkok once we return to KL. Otherwise, we are loving Thailand and are getting sad that our trip is close to coming to an end!

Pulau Sibu, Johor, Malaysia

The day we flew back from Cambodia, we were picked up from the airport, driven to my dad's office and then got on the road to drive to Tanjong Leman Jetty, which is about a 4 hour drive. I was the navigator, which anybody who knows me knows would not be my strong point, but we made it and got on the 6 pm boat ride to the island.

Sibu has absolutely the prettiest beaches I have ever seen and very clear water, my pictures do not even begin show how pretty it is. Anyway, the boat took us to Sea Gypsy Village Resort, which is made up of about 20 little wooden cabins on stilts, a large bar/dining area and a place to rent diving, snorkeling and other equipment. The resort was pretty basic and you had to sleep under mosquito nets, but it was a perfect simple, relaxing and beautiful beach get away - and they had awesome food!

We went snorkeling twice and we got to see lots of coral and some fish, but unfortunately we didn't see any small reef sharks or sea turtles, but my dad and I managed to get quite good sunburns.

We are now back in KL. Last night we ate dim sum, which is like fancy wontons served in small steamer baskets. They were freshly made and tasted sooo good, I know I'm going to be craving them all of the time. We then walked around a little bit and went to another mall, which was by far the coolest mall I have ever seen. It's really hard to describe, I think I will need to go back and take pictures, but every wall, floor and restaurant was decorated differently and so beautifully. We stopped at one bar that was made of different colored glass bottles and glass lanterns, I had a lychee martini, which was amazing.

Today we are going to go on a tour bus of KL and then thursday we head to Bangkok.

Cambodia

We'll start this blog off with an apology for not blogging sooner. The hotel we stayed at in Cambodia did have computers, however, they were kept in the open air hotel lobby…the warm sticky climate of siam reap did not agree with the keyboards and all the keys stuck. It was a pain to type even short emails to our parents and boyfriends.

We woke up at five in the morning to leave for Cambodia. Our flight over was short and uneventful. The airport in Cambodia was very small…just one terminal and one baggage claim. We made our way through immigration and we noticed a common theme. An airport worker at each airport we have passed through has played jokes on me and never Samantha. We finally realized why its always me--I have the American passport (Samantha's is British!) I have had a TSA worker tell me my shoes are untied when I am not even wearing shoes…I have had a customs agent ask "Sarah, what is your name?" and other similar jokes. 

Outside the airport our ride was waiting for us holding a sign with both of our names on it. He dropped us off at our hotel, the Central Boutique Angkor Hotel. The hotel was very nice. After grabbing a quick breakfast, we started our tour of all the temple ruins in the area. These temples were built during the 9th century and on. We visited Angkor Thom, Buyon, Takeo, Prasat Kravan, Terrace of the Elephants, Leper King Terrace, Ta Prohm (which is the temple from Lara Croft Tomb Raider!), and a few other temples. We ended the day by going to a market located next to their infamous Pub Street. The market sold many different items varying from shoes to spices. We ended the day with dinner at the hotel and went to bed early.

The main mode of transportation in Cambodia is motorbikes. For tourists, instead of taxis there are tuk-tuks which are motorbike driven carts. As for traffic laws, there didn't seem to be any. The roads were a very busy free-for-all. Our hotel had tuk-tuk drivers in their parking lot and we just selected one and stuck with him for the whole trip. Our driver's name was Mr. Prem and he took great care of us. He kept a cooler on the tuk-tuk which was always full with ice cold water bottles. He also helped us navigate our way through the maze of temples in the area. Prem actually ended up being the same tuk-tuk driver Mr. Piper had when he visited a year ago!

The second day we went to see the major temple, Angkor Wat. All the travel books and advice we had gotten said to see this temple after all the others because of its size and grandeur. After the Angkor Wat, Samantha and I went on an elephant ride! We rode through the gates of Angkor Thom to the Buyon Temple, about a fifteen minute ride. To get on the elephant, they had a platform built around a tree that you climbed up on and over on to the elephant. The ride was incredibly bumpy and uncomfortable, but we had a great time. People waved and took pictures of us as we rode by. Our elephant driver told us that our elephant was 45 years old! We went back to the hotel for lunch and then headed back out to see more temples. On our way out, we saw our first Cambodian gas station….which consisted of an old stand of recycled bottles filled with gas…I think we have a picture of it in our slide show. We then visited East Mebon, Neak Pean, and Ta Som. We ended our day by going to Pub Street to have a few beers and try the local cuisine. The food was amazing!! It was served in dishes made out of palm leaves!

On our third day we decided to make the long trek out to the River of a Thousand Lingas and Kbal Spean. It was about an hour tuk-tuk ride into the countryside of Siam Reap. The path was a sandy, rocky, steep uphill climb. This was not the type of path we were expecting…Samantha was wearing flip flops! We also had no idea how far it was…1200 meters! On the way up there were some view points that had amazing views of the neighboring mountains. Once at the river we were slightly disappointed because there was a small river with a couple carvings..but then a tour guide took us through mountainside and pointed out a few more carvings before we reached a small waterfall surround by millions of butterflies. It was breathtaking! Our journey back down was almost more difficult because we were exhausted!  Luckily we had a long tuk-tuk ride to re-energize before we went to go see another temple. We then went back to the hotel for lunch and then went to the floating villages. Our boat drivers were around our age and only one spoke very broken english. The weather started out nice but started to take a turn for the worse. The river was very shallow and our boat kept getting stuck. We finally made it out to a platform that contained a gift shop and a small zoo. By zoo, I mean that they had an alligator pit, a snake pit, and a snakefish pit. Once on the platform, it started storming and our boat driver that could speak english mistakenly said it was going to "tornado". That's when I lost it. I started taking pictures of the storm so that everybody could see how I died. Samantha was trying to calm me down but all I could think about was the rickety platform breaking and the alligators getting loose and eating us all in revenge for being kept in a nasty cage. After the rainstorm settled we got back on the boat, donated some coloring books and pencils to the orphanage school, and headed back to shore. Once we got back to land, we were immediately accosted by beggars that had plates with our faces on them. Samantha and I were absolutely embarassed by the pictures of our sweaty faces on the plates and Prem was standing by laughing at the whole ordeal. 

Cambodia's temples were full of peddlers. Once your tuk-tuk stopped kids would surround you trying to sell you bracelets, tourist books, scarves, and other goods. It was really annoying. They would not leave you alone until you went inside the temples…which usually was a long walk. They even had a set script:

"lady! where you from?"

us-"america"

"capital washington d.c.!"

us-"very good!"

"you buy bracelet! 5 for one dolla"

us-"no thank you"

"fine! lady! ten for one dolla"

us-"sorry! no thank you!"

This happened at every single stop we made. It was exhausting! 

Overall, Samantha and I absolutely loved Cambodia. Our hotel was perfect, the temples were absolutely amazing, and the food was delicious. We both agree that we would love to go back!

Melaka

Today we drove down to a port town of Malaysia called Melaka. We got a little lost on our way there which turned out to be a good thing because we got to see a more rural part of Malaysia. In Melaka, we visited their maritime museum. They had a full sized replica of an old Portuguese boat from the 1500s. There were exhibits inside the boat explaining the history of Melaka. At one point Samantha and Chris went to look at one exhibit while I was dragging behind. Two young asian girls came up to me and asked for me to take a picture of them...or so I thought. Turns out that they wanted a picture of me! They took turns doing different poses with me. It was really weird. I kind of felt like a freak! Samantha and Chris found this really funny though. After the boat, Samantha had her first run in with a true Malaysian toilet..aka a hole in the ground. She came out of the bathroom with a disgusted look and said she could hold it until we found a more civilized restroom. After the museum, we walked the streets of Malaka's chinatown which is called Jonker's Walk. The store fronts were very colorful and vendors were everywhere trying to sell their items. We stopped for lunch in chinatown and then proceeded to a very old historical Catholic Church, St. Paul's. The church was built in 1521 by the Portuguese. There were a million winding stairs to climb in order to get to St. Paul's but once you made it to the top, the view of the coast was amazing. It was a really hot day (around 98 degrees F) and we made sure to load up on some unusual drinks such as dragon fruit juice, watermelon juice, and coconut milk right out of the coconut. Tomorrow Samantha and I leave for Cambodia bright and early at 5:00 AM. There should be computers at our hotel, so hopefully we can keep ya'll updated!

Second day

Today was a very busy day. We started by swinging by my Dad's office and then heading just outside of the city to feed wild monkeys. Yesterday we purchased tiny bananas and the monkeys noticed these right away and headed towards us as soon as we got out of the car. These monkeys were a lot larger than I expected. I wanted to feed the cute little babies and females because the males were quite intimidating, but it wasn't up to me and I quickly ended up giving one large monkey 3 of our bananas, which didn't last very long. The highlight of this part of the day was when Sarah was waiting for a small monkey to grab a banana out of her hand and a MUCH larger monkey sneaked up to her and touched her leg (which my dad saw coming but decided not to mention), needless to say this made both of us jump, Sarah throw the banana and other people around us laugh.

After this we came back the the apartment, grabbed spicy noodles for lunch and decided to go on a walking tour of Chinatown. We walked from the apt. to the tube and got off several minutes later.  We walked through central market which has many small shops that sold a variety of items ranging from masks to flip flops. In central market was a place where you could get a pedicure from fish. We all decided that we wanted to give the fish a try and submerged our feet in the water. The fish immediately started nibbling away at our feet. It really tickled! They did a fantastic job of removing our callouses! We then left central market and walked around chinatown looking at  old buildings and a clock tower from the 1930's. We then tried teh tarik (tea with evaporated milk, which is amazing!), saw a pretty mosque and then headed to petaling street, which is very well known for its imitation merchandise. It was pretty humorous to listen to the heckling and interact with the sales people. It was insanely crowded and a lot bigger than I had expected.

Tomorrow we plan on leaving the apartment early and driving to the city-state of Melaka, which is a coastal town that was once owned by the Portuguese. It  used to be one of the greatest trading ports in Southeast Asia and is well known for its seafood.

Flight over and our first day

The flights over to KL took forever! Samantha and I both agree that it feels as if my mom dropped us off at the airport a week ago! The initial flight from Houston to LA was fine but Samantha and I were separated. I was sitting next to a mom and her baby...and the reading light did not work. Once we landed in LA we had a super long walk to their international terminal. The path included going outside and walking on the sidewalk with no signs to follow. The security line at that terminal was sooooo long. At one point on the long flight, Samantha opened the window and we could see the snow covered mountains of north China. The Hong Kong airport was really pretty and nice. It had a fantastic view of the coast and the mountains. Also, in their terminal they had a starbucks that was offering a new drink: a ginger black sesame frappacino. I think Samantha is going to be on the quest to try one this whole trip. On the final flight from Hong Kong to Kuala Lumpur, Samantha and I tried our first dragon fruit and were served chicken and rice for breakfast. Chris met us at the airport and took us to downtown KL. Samantha and I didn't know what to expect about downtown KL but we were both surprised by how big it was. We settled into Chris' apartment which is located in the heart of downtown KL. After that we hit the streets of KL and walked to the twin towers. At the bottom of the towers is a huge shopping mall, filled with all the american stores that you would expect in any american mall. We both have been quite surprised by how all of these american things are incorporated in KL. For example, their radio stations play all the latest US hits including Lady Gaga and Beyonce. All of the signs, advertisements, and instructions are in english. Later that day we went to an english bar called 'The Green Man' for a few beers. Then we went to Malaysia's version of chinatown for dinner. The street was lined with stalls and people shoving their menus at you in an attempt to get you to stop and eat their food. There were fish tanks full of frogs and snails. Also, there were some fruit vendors selling this really smelly fruit and midget bananas. We chose the vendor who had the most people eating there. We ordered dry chili chicken, chili crab, and a bok choy dish. The food was amazing! Definitely better than any chinese food we've had in the states! While we were eating other vendors would come up to us trying to sell their various items ranging from pirated DVDs to flashlights. After dinner, we went back to the apartment and immediately fell asleep...at 8:30! Today we are going to feed the midget bananas (which are actually really yummy) to the monkeys around the golf course right outside downtown KL and then come back downtown and walk around some more. We will keep you updated as much as possible! 

Time to go!

Today is the day! Our flight to LA leaves at 9PM and we will get there at 10:33PM. Then we have a layover until 1:40AM (that is not a typo-its really that late!) We then fly over to Hong Kong where we'll arrive at 7:15AM. We will then promptly board our last flight to Kuala Lumpur at 8:50. We will land around 12:30 PM. All together it is 22 hours of travel time. Wish us luck!!

Day before

Hello,

We are leaving tomorrow night. I can't believe we are actually going!!!