The land of Oz!

After about 3 months of living in undeveloped countries, our arrival into Cairns, Australia was like a breath of fresh air....until we remembered South East Asia was really over. Once we arrived we were picked up by one of our friendly hostel workers, Roxy from Castaway Backpackers, which was a nice perk after spending the night in Darwin airport. How quickly we realized we were back in a developed country when Roxy asked for $50 for a one night stay in a double room, shared facilities. What?! We just paid $20 for our own private bungalow in the Gili islands - yes those days are long gone now.
Cairns itself was a great little town and we spent 2 comfortable nights at Castaways. We had expected the town to be much bigger but found that it was very quaint and quite walkable. The town thrives off the tourism industry from the Great Barrier Reef, which supposedly brings in over 60 billion dollars a year! That's easy to see after seeing the prices they charged for trips out the reef. Since we were only there really to snorkel the Great Barrier Reef, we decided we would book a 2 day/1 night boat trip out the the reef costing us a whopping $300 each - you can imagine what a blow this was after living off of next to nothing in asia, but oh well, the reef is a once in a lifetime experience, right? Well, as you have previously read, the story earned its very own blog post. If you missed it, make sure you check it out!

Once out of Cairns, we decided to head up north to Port Douglass & Cape Tribulation. We had heard great things about the northern east coast of Australia so we dedicated a couple days there. We spent 2 nights in Port Douglass and spent the majority of the first day in and around the small town, checking out the local shops, St. Mary's Church and eating some fish & chips. It was a very beautiful, peaceful beach town and could easily see how people can spend weeks there. Unfortunatly, the weather wasn't beach perfect, so we headed about 14 km north to Mossman Gorge, a rainforest river valley.

Mossman Gorge

Not really knowing what a mossman was or heeding the advice from Roxy to take mosquito repellent, we comenced our trek through the mossman. The first stop was by the river where some tourists were braving the ice-cold river water. We should have known then by seeing the number of mosquito bites on the people in and around the water to go get mosquito repellent, but continued through the treck around the rainforest. The treck turned into a full on run as the mosquitos were attacking the minute you stood still. By the end of the 30 minute walk/run, Rayann must have had 20 bites on each of her legs. After that, the bug spray never left our side the remainder of the trip!

Shaun posing with the rainforest trees

The following day we made our way up to Daintree National Rainforest & Cape Tribulation. Our first stop was at the Discovery Center, where we had a chance to learn some really interesting facts about the rainforest plants and animals. This was a great introduction to common plants & animals found in the rainforest. We spent the remainder of teh day driving through the rainforest stopping at most walks, bearing the rain, and trecking through the paths of the rainforest. Unfortunately the rain never let up the entire day but that didn't stop us from exploring and walking - we did bring raincoats after all! Our drive up Cape Tribulation came to a hault when we came upon a tree down over the road. It was probably a good thing as our small Getz would not have been able to handle the dirt roads the remainder of the ride up north. Despite the rain, we had an incredible day in the rainforest.

So then it was off to Brisbane. I feel like we say this at almost every stop, but Brisbane is a city where we could see ourselves living for a couple of years. Clean, quiet, comfortable and easy to get around, Brisbane felt like home as soon as we arrived. We booked a hostel called Minto which was located just outside the city and is one of the best hostels of the trip. It was a completely redone huge colonial with a big front porch looking out over the skyline of Brisbane. We felt as if we were sleeping over a friends house complete with the dinasaur sheets and multi-coloured comforter. Walking around we saw all the different nooks and crannies of the city from the converted red-light district to the up and coming parts. Our favorite stop though was in the Botanical Gardens after a walk along the riverfront.

Brisbane Skyline

Day 2 was raining... again...not to fret though we found a great indoor activity. A brewery tour of the Australian famous XXXX "fourex" brewery was a blast. The whole facility tour was set up like a Disneyland theme ride complete with a revolving stage bringing us back to the beginnings of the brewery and commercials from the 70's and 80's. Needless to say there were numerous mullets in the 80's commercials!


Our most exciting activity took place on the third day. This was when we began our first relocation of a campervan from Brisbane to Byron Bay. Basically the way it works is that the campervan places out here need to get their vans from one location back to the other. So, what they do is give you the van for $5/day with a gas allowance and unlimited kilometers just as long as you get the van to the next destination by a certain date. We figured we were heading to Byron Bay anyway so why not give it a try. IT WAS AWESOME!!!! The campervan was a Britz company van complete with a sink, stove, table, and a fold out double bed. We had 3 days to get the camper down to Byron Bay, so we slowly made our way down stopping at the beautiful beachside town of Coolangata with breathtaking views of the ocean and Surfers Paradise in the background. We eventually made it down to Byron Bay which was no less stunning. The whole Gold Coast is truely a surfers paradise. At almost every turn there is a new bay with a perfect break filled with hudreds of surfers. Byron Bay had a great little beach with a cool downtown area filled with cafes and restaraunts. Unfortunately we were there a few weeks too early as they were getting ready for the Byron Bay Blues Festival which had an epic linup. No worries though we had a great time there regardless.

Byron Bay

So, we liked our first cmapervan so much we decided to relocate another one from Brisbane down to Sydney! What we did was rented a car in Byron Bay, drove back to Brisbane, picked up the second camper, split up and drove both the camper and the car to Byron to drop the rental car off before heading to Sydney. Crazy, I know, but well worth it as our next relocation vehicle was a Mercedes Sprinter campervan that had everything from a shower and toilet to a flat screen tv!! This was our home for the next 3 days. We did everything from sleeping and eating in it, to watching old reruns of Charlies Angels on satelite tv. After speniding a cloudy return afternoon in Byron we decided that we needed some time away form the ocean so we decided that our next stop should be Hunter Valley. This is thier equivelent of California's Napa Valley except the awesome fact that they do not charge for tastings. A much better way for customers to sample all the wines that they have to offer :) Not only do they give the tastings for free but they also give you generous fills of the glass. At numerous wineries we had to ask them to stop filling our glasses because we were getting too tipsey. A funny sidenote is that Rayann actually recognized a few of the wineries that we stopped at from when she came out to Sydney while working on a project for Accenture..... Deja Vu! After a great day of wine tasting we parked the camper, cracked open a bottle of Cabernet Sovinough, ate some cheese and crackers and cooked up a couple of steaks on the grill that we got from the local butcher. Not a bad evening at all!

Sydney Skyline

Yet another great Austalian city= Sydney. It has a very similar vibe to that of Brisbane, with it's Botanical Gardens and it's proximaty to water. Except it is much larger and you can definitely tell you are in a big city. However it is just as clean and has just as much character. Of course a visit to Sydney is not complete without a photo op in front of the Opera House and the Sydney Harbor Bridge. We sampled the local brews, walked through the Botanical Garden right at dark where we were joined by thousands of flying fruit bats, and visited local wombats that came down form the trees to hunt around at night. The day was topped off by sampling Harry's Cafe's world famous meat pies topped with whipped potatoes, mashed peas and gravy!

Because we were both sick of driving we decided to join a 1 day charter to the Blue Mountains the following day. We wanted to take a break, but did not want to miss out on this major attraction. After only a couple of hours we realized that guided tours are not our cup of tea, having to abide by a rigid timeline and other peoples speeds. Regardless we did get to see the spectacular Blue Mountains and the surrounding forests and aboriginal sights. The icing on the cake was definitely our last stop where we got to stop off and see 3-4 wild kangaroos feeding by a river bed. What is amazing about Australia is how different the animals truely are here. Because the continent broke away form the other land masses so early, it took a much different evolutionary path than the rest of the world. The locals are very proud of the fact that they are host to 6 of the 8 deadliest snakes on the planet, along with a varity of reptiles and spiders to boot.

Before leaving Australia we had one more day to burn before catching a flight to New Zealand. So, of course we headed over to the Sydney fish market. We got one of the best, and surprisingly cheapest feasts all trip. It consisted of the freshest sashimi we have ever eaten, cut from the fish right in front of us, a dozen local oysters, and a fried platter for 2 filled with fish, squid, scallops and french fries (or chips as they are called out here). We got on the plane nice and full after that amazing seafood feast!

Enjoy the photos! Link to Australia photos: https://picasaweb.google.com/rayann.torres/Australia#

Perfect Storm...Deadliest Catch...Shaun & Rayann Visit the Reef!!

This story is no joke. We are still shaken by what took place out there, and I think Rayann may never set foot in a boat again. It is a real account of what happened when we visited the Great Barrier Reef on a 2 day/ 1 night sailing trip. Janice & Julia (mom's), I would advise that you don't read this blog post!
I will start out by saying that our captain did an amazing job of getting us back to port safely. He stood at the wheel for 4 1/2 hours in grueling 20 foot seas to get the boat back into the harbor in one piece. OK, now for the cast and crew:

Captain, Radar (30 yrs old)........1st Mate & Dive Instructor, Russel (28yrs old).....Hostess, Leena (26yrs old).......Rayann & I.....3 Couples from various countries, one of which lived in Colorado but grew up in MA and NJ!.........2 guys form Germany......1 strange guy from NZ.
To say the least this was a very young and inexperienced crew. The boat had just been commissioned and had only been out on the reef for about 4 months. Not exactly comforting when you are facing an angry ocean.

Now for the exciting part. So we board our vessel, which is a really nice 35 foot sailboat fully restored and are introduced to the crew and everyone else on board. It was raining and wasn't the ideal weather to begin a 2day/1night sailing trip to the Great Barrier Reef but we didn't really have a choice as the weather was forcasted to get worse later in the week. As Radar is giving his safety instructions, he asks if anyone has any bananas. Aaaaand of course one of the couples had 2 bananas, which they were immediately told to eat so they were no longer on board. For those of you that aren't familiar, there is a fishing superstition/folk lore amongst sea-goers that bananas bring bad luck to those boats that have them on board. Now I can truly say that I believe in this superstition full heartedily. Once the bananas were eaten, the captain took the peels and discarded them in the 5 foot rubber dingy on the back of the boat as not to litter into the ocean. Remember where he has put the peels as this comes back later in the story!

The ride out to the reef was very rough, or what we thought was rough up to this point of our journey. The waves were probably 5-10 feet with intermittent rains & high winds. It really wasn't too bad as the boat was encased by plastic that kept most of the bad weather out. It also gave Russel a chance to explain some facts about the reef along with the different corals & fish we were going to see. Unfortunately, Rayann's motion sickness was in full effect and spent a good chunk of the ride hunched over grasping her barf bag. The good news though, was that she wasn't alone, as about half of the people on board got sick. Not exactly as the brochure described it.

So we finally get out to our first stop and moored off of some really fantastic snorkeling spots. There were about 4 or 5 good sized reefs that we could swim above and around. The amazing thing was that surrounding the reefs are huge drops down to the ocean floor hundreds of feet. We had the chance to see tons of varieties of fish ad vibrant corals at this first stop even though the seas were rough. A good thing about the reef is that once near it, it acts as a barrier against the ocean making it much calmer that the ride out. After lunch, we moved to another site about 500 yards away to explore a huge U-shaped reef formation. This was by far the highlight of the trip. Again, tons of fish and coral. We even got to see a school of squid, giant clams that were as big as a trunk of a car, lobsters and even some clownfish hanging out in the anemone.

While we were all snorkeling, Radar had gone over to the other sailboat that was anchored near our boat to see where they were planning to spend the night as the weather was declining. There were 2 options; one was to go to the nearest island and anchor near it to use as protection, or move back to the first snorkeling site and ride out the night there. Radar, along with the other boat, chose the latter. We ate a great meal on the boat and went to bed fairly early, as most people were pretty tired from about 4 hours of snorkeling combined with a rough boat ride out to the site.

Day 2 we awoke to a VERY rough seas, even though we were protected by the reef. We all had a pow wow with the crew and decided it was best to cut the trip short and head back to Cairns. The weather was bad and was forcasted

Now that the raft was secured we could head out. The major problem now was that with the seas so rough and visibility extremely low Radar could not spot the hundreds of "reef bombs" scattered all around our snorkeling site. "Reef bombs" are areas of small reef formations about 10-15 feet in circumference that shoot up from the ocean floor acting as 'bombs' that can easily rip a hole in the side of a boat. Not even two minutes after we pulled up anchor our boat slams right on top of a 'bomb'! To avoid a catastrophe, Radar had to crank the wheel around and spin us off of the hidden reef as not to grind through the piercing coral. Thankfully it was only a small reef and we managed our way off quickly without puncturing a hole in the hull of the boat. It was right about this time that everyone's mood went from joking to serious. People were beginning to realize that the situation was not good and was only going to get worse! About half of the people on board moved to the inside of the cabin to get out of the weather as the crew had to open all of the plastic windows to increase visibility. By this time Rayann had already moved to her bed so that she did not get more motion sick.

As soon as we left the protection of the reef all hell broke loose, and we saw what we were in for for the next four and a half hours of our lives. Huge white capped waves 15-25 feet high crashing over the bow of the boat, 40-50km/hr gale force winds and pouring rain!! It was the most terrifying experiences of our lives. Straight out of the movies. Our 35 foot sailboat was at the mercy of the ocean getting knocked in every direction. Waves were constantly crashing over the boat throwing tons of sea water in our faces along with the unrelenting rain. Everyone on the boat was holding on to whatever they could to avoid being thrown off into the ocean. Radar was doing all he could to keep the boat heading either into or with the crashing waves so that our boat would not tip over. On a few occasions we all thought the boat was going to capsize as it got loose and knocked from side to side. Just a little more in either direction and we would have certainly tipped over. At one point a rouge wave 25 feet high came right up on us and our boat climbed up one side and down the other. Almost everyone on the boat had gotten sick, and were all extremely terrified.

Radar stood at that wheel and fought the wind, rain and waves for 4 1/2 hours! Even though he was young and inexperienced he did an unbelievable job of navigating us back to Cairns Harbor. Did I forget to mention that our GPS navigation system broke 1/4 of the way back? We were all on the look out for landmarks and islands to guide us back to the mainland.

Needless to say this was not the Great Barrier Reef experience we were expecting, but certainly one that we will never forget. One thing is for sure though: I will never bring bananas on board a boat ever again!!!

Lombok and the Gili Islands, Indonesia

After our visit to Bali, our next stop was the island of Lombok. We hopped the 4-hr ferry ride form Padang Bai followed by the hour long shuttle to Sengigi. Sengigi was pretty much a let down the minute we arrived. The beaches were gray and not very clean, in comparison to Padang Bai. We also arrived without hotel, as usual, and spent the better portion of the early afternoon looking for a guesthouse. It seemed that everything in Sengigi was really overpriced for mediocre accommodation. But alas, we found something and decided it was not going to ruin our time there. That night we went to one of the many restaurants lined down the main road. Since there weren't many tourists in Sengigi it felt like we were being hawked at every few minutes. We couldn't walk one step before someone was trying to sell something to us. We also inquired about the hike to the infamous Mt. Rinjani, an active volcano that lies on the northern tip of the island. To our dismay, guided climbs to Mt. Rinjani were closed and did not re-open until April 1st. We both spent the evening debating whether we extend our trip (yet again) in order to be able to do the first hike up the mountain of the season. Begrudgingly, we decided to skip the hike and move on with our travels as planned. It will have to wait until next time... :)

The following day, we decided to spend the day at our guesthouse in front of the beach, away from the hawkers. We each got some massages from the local lombok woman, mainly because "No" was not an option. Although the forced massage was not so bad, we eagerly awaited the next day for our departure to the fabulous Gili Islands!

The Gili Islands are a true paradise where one could spend months. None of the islands have cars or motorbikes on them so there is no noise pollution. The only modes of transportation are walking, bicycling or horse drawn carriages! To access the islands you have to take small longtail boats from the small port on Lombok about 30 minutes to the 3 islands: Gili Air, Gili Trawangan & Gili Meno. The first island that we stayed at was Gili Trawangan which is crowned the 'party island'. This may be the case in the busy season, but what we found was a laid back beach paradise. White sand beaches lapped by clear blue/green waters all surrounded by coral reefs. From our bungalow we could walk down the only road on the island to a bunch of cool beach side cafes, restaurants and of course bars. There was even a movie theatre directly on the beach!

Our next few days were filled with snorkeling, bbq fish dinners on the beach and exploring the island. The first day we hiked to the top of Viewpoint Hill where we were rewarded with spectacular views of the three islands, Lombok and the surrounding seas. On our way back we found a secluded beach where we collected various sea shells and swam in the bay. The following day we rented bikes and biked around, finding a deserted bar/restaurant on the west side that was a perfect spot to watch the sun set. We grabbed a couple of beers and rode over to watch the sun set over Mt. Rinjani and the ocean.

Seashells collected on beach

Next, we moved over to Gili Air, known as a mix of the party Gili Trawangan and mellow Gili Meno. Where this small island lacks in number of cafes and bungalows it makes up for in it's charm. Small enough to walk around in an hour and a half, it is a great place to relax and unwind.....as if we needed that. The best place to stay is the new bungalow complex of Segar Villages. The bungalows are run by a super nice family of cousins and uncles who turned one of their uncle's farmland into an awesome bungalow complex. As we checked in and were relaxing on our front porch we were greeted by about 10 monitor lizards splashing around in the marsh in front. What really made this place special though was the open air bathroom, complete with the shower head coming directly out of a group of rocks. The bathroom even had a little fish pond in it with a bunch of fish swimming around! The dinners we had were unbelievable as well. One night we had some fresh authentic homemade pasta from the bungalow complex next door followed the next night by a seafood feast consisting of fresh tuna skewers served with rice, vegetables, salads and fruit. Not to mention the 2 for 1 drink specials.

The snorkeling has been some of the best of the trip.....much better than in Thailand. The colors are amazing and there is an abundance of marine life. Chartering a longtail boat for the day, we got to experience all three of the islands exploring many different reef formations as well as a ship wreck. Gilli Islands we will be back!!!

Link to Pictures: https://picasaweb.google.com/rayann.torres/LombokGiliIslands#

- Shaun and Rayann

Infiniti pool, Surfing, Yoga, and BBQ Fish....BALI!!!

Bali was like a double edge sword depending on which town we stayed in. On one hand there were beautiful beaches, mountains and scenery. And on the other hand there were crowded streets and too many touts selling anything and everything under the sun. It is a little unfortunate because the people there are just trying to make a living, but it got tiresome being hounded endlessly on the street.

One of the towns that reflects the first statement is Kuta. We ended up heading a bit further north to Seminyak which had some nice shops and cafes, but lacked in the beach and character department. After just one day we ended up booking two nights at Blue Point Bay Villas on the southern tip of Bali. One of the reasons we booked this particular hotel is because Shaun had insisted on staying at a hotel with an infinity pool before leaving Southeast Asia. This place delivered! The infinity pool was two hundred feet up on a cliff overlooking the ocean. We spent most of our time either in the pool or the surrounding deck. From here we could look down at the surfers catching waves or watch the sun set behind the clouds while drinking a beer and listening to Bob Marley on loop.

The second reason we chose this place was because it was close to Jimbaran Beach which is renowned for its seafood feasts directly on the beach. The one thing that we didn't realize was that Jimbaran Beach was too far to walk. So we ended up renting a motorbike for $4/day. This was all well and good until we had to drive in the rain and Shaun had a very minor accident by 'nudging' another motorbike in front of him. After this run in we drove to all the surrounding beaches including Panang Panang and Dreamland Beach before eating lunch on "small" Jimbaran. Note to others visiting Bali - the seafood on "small" Jimbaran is MUCH cheaper and just the same as that sold on Jimbaran Beach. The feast we had was UNBELIEVABLE! It included jumbo prawns served with 6 different homemade sauces, spicy greens, a bucket of white rice and fruit for desert. It was so good we made a pact that we had to return before leaving Bali.

Our next destination, and perhaps one of our favorites of the entire trip was the small mountain village of Ubud. We booked a hotel in advance which was located slightly outside of town up on the ridge overlooking the rice terraces. It was a very nice setting however it lacked some in the hygiene department. When we returned home from dinner the first night we had some unexpected visitors in our room that left a little surprise on the floor next to Rayanns bag. This was a little too much for us to handle. A quick side note should be that after spending 2 months in very budget accommodation we were now willing to pay a few extra dollars to not have to deal with this sort of thing.

So the next day we did some bungalow searching and found a little place called Samas Cottages. It was conveniently located right in the middle of the town and was nice and clean. We called it home for three nights, and could have easily stayed another three. We walked around town for a while on the day we moved into Samas and ended up buying a couple of tickets to a cultural fire show put on by the locals. As we were buying the tickets from a nice street vendor the sky opened up and it began to pour on us. Thankfully the ticket vendor had an umbrella handy and offered it to us while we went and got lunch up the street. We decided on the first warung (cheap food restaurant) we saw up a side alley. It ended up being some of the best and cheapest food we got in Ubud. The Nasi Goreng (fried rice), mie goreng (fried noodles) and lumpia (egg rolls) were all very good.

After drying off and changing into dry clothes we headed over to the fire show which had to be moved inside because of all the rain. This did not affect the outcome at all, as about a hundred local performers put on an unforgettable show. One of the highlights had to have been that all of them would sing and hum each making a different sound for the entire show. But when all of their different sounds came together it was like listening to a concert. I still find myself humming their songs to myself.

Now that we had a motorbike for the next few days we decided to visit the outlying volcanoes located on the island. We bit off a little more that we could chew as our first volcano was very tricky to find and not very well marked. We ended up driving nearly to the top of the volcano only to come to a dead end. About half way up we were flagged down by this old priest who was sitting by a prayer area. He started giving us incense and flowers and having us pray before throwing some water in our faces. This was all fun before he told us that we couldn't leave until we paid him a 'donation' of $10. He was not happy with the $5 donation we provided. Greedy old man!! Another highlight, or lowlight I guess you could say was on our way down when the brakes on the bike went out! The road was extremely steep and we weren't going to chance riding down without brakes. Sooo, we got off and began walking the 200 pound bike down the mountain. Not fun. But after about 10 minutes of being dragged down the street holding onto the bike the brakes decided to start working again. Cautiously we got back on and slowly made our way back to town. The trip was not in vain though as we did climb to the top of the temple that we located at the end of the road and got some awesome views of the volcano and great country scenery.

View of the rice fields



View of the volcanos behind us

 It was to bed early for the both of us, which has been our moto the entire trip. We had to be ready for our 'relax day' which began early in the morning with Yoga class at 7am. The yoga studio that we went to was set back off the road in a quiet garden setting. Apparently it was one of the more popular ones in town as our class was full with around 15 people. The yoga that we chose to do was a name that neither of us can remember, but was supposedly one of their beginner types. Shaun did not think so as there were some pretty intense poses throughout the morning, challenging even the advanced yoga goers in the room. Once we completed our yoga session we went back to Sama Cottages for a quick rest before heading up the street to our second activity of the day: a spa afternoon. The spa we chose was located directly on the river so when we got our massages the sound of the running river put us right to sleep. After the 2-hour long massage/yogurt therapy/flower bath we lounged around the facilities which included steam rooms, saunas and hot/cold pools. We hopped between all of the pools for about 2 hours before we were completely water logged and called it quits.

Massage chairs

We headed off to the small port town of Padang Bai, mainly because it was the primary port for ferry's leaving for Lombok. Surprisingly, we ended up really enjoying the beaches & hospitality that the small 2-street town had to offer. On the day we arrived, we decided to head to one of the 2 beaches in the area - blue lagoon. It was only a 15 minute walk from town and the beach boasted some of the best snorkelling on the island! We spent the afternoon swimming, exploring and sun bathing until our hands and feet were pruned from the water. The following day we headed to the "white sand beach", but not after we took a walk to the black sand beach first. Unfortunatly, the black sand beach was one we could enjoy from afar, because the mid-day sun made it too hot to stand/walk on the beach. The white sand beach however, was walkable and swimable. Here we posted for the day under a tree while we body surfed the majority of the afternoon. Since Thailand barely had any waves on it's beaches, we were ecstatic to be doding the waves in the water.

White sand beach, Padang Bai

That evening we took the recommendation by the locals and ate a small warung by the side of the street called "Margaritas". Here we tasted some of the best seafood and local Balinese dishes yet. Margarita herself was one of the nicest Balinese women we have met yet. She explained how she had only been open for a year and was trying to make some money so that her daughter could go become a veternarian. After leaving Padang Bai, we agreed that we could easily do another couple nights there the next time we return!
Link to pictures:  https://picasaweb.google.com/rayann.torres/Bali#

We also posted some additional pics in the Northern Thailand album and posted the album from Bukit Luwang. Enjoy!
https://picasaweb.google.com/rayann.torres/NorthernThailand#
https://picasaweb.google.com/rayann.torres/BukitLuwang#

Needless to say, it was extremely tough to say goodbye to Ubud :(

White sand beaches in southern Thailand....finally!

After travelling for 2 months via bus, train, and motorbike, we arrived in Phuket, Thailand by air - our first flight of many for the remainder of our journey. Although we hadn't planned on staying in Phuket, we decided to spend a night in Kata beach, south of the island. The beach was everything you would expect of Phuket - beautiful white sand beach, luke warm turquoise water, and long tail boats lining the beach. Unfortunately, it was also lined with beach chairs for as far as you could see and packed with people. So, we quickly decided 1 day was enough...

The next day we left for Koh Yai, a small island close to Phang Na, which is the area where the karsts are located, most famously known for James Bond Island. This place was beautiful - quiet, peaceful, and although beaches not as white & blue as Phuket, the surrounding nature won us over. We stayed at a small bungalow on the beach with a giant porch and to this day, we haven't experienced a better porch than that and wish we could have spent more time sitting overlooking the water.

Lounging on the porch:

We rented a 2-person kayak and decided to take a day trip out to the nearby karsts. We headed off to the farthest karst, which had a small cave we could kayak through to a beach, thinking the trip would only take us about an hr and a half. Well, 30 minutes into the trip, our kayak was not anywhere near to the karst, so we changed direction and headed to a closer one. After a good hr of kayaking, we were exhausted and finally made it to land. We washed up on a small beach to cool off from the mid day sun. It felt like we were the only people on this island, so we took some time, had a snack and recharged before heading to the next. The next karst we found was something out of a postcard! Although not isolated as the other, since there were a few long tail boat visitors, this beach was spectacular.

Finding some shade under a tree:

We spent our whole afternoon there until we were forced to head back to shore, afraid that we would not make back before dark. The kayak back was long and difficult, but the views of the sunset over Koh Yai were unforgettable (check out the pics). We made it back to shore just before dark! Unfortunately we had to head out the next day to Koh Lanta, but next time will definitely spend more than 2 days on Koh Yai.

Sunset kayaking:

Our next island hop was Koh Lanta. We stayed in the south part of the island for the first few nights at Bamboo Bay beach. We hadn't heard much about Koh Lanta and where to stay, but we sure did luck out with Bamboo Bay. This is the southernmost beach of Koh Lanta and access via dirt road does not make it easy to get to. However, once we arrived, we were in paradise. There were only 3 small resorts on the beach and endless white sand to walk on. We spent our first day enjoying the sun and sunset over the water. Our next day was the day we finally rented a motorbike! We wanted to cruise up to some of the northern beaches on the island and there is no better way than by motorbike. We stopped off at Long Beach, another beautiful beach, and posted up at Friendly' Bar, where we quickly became friends with the waiter, Big, enjoyed some food, drinks, and soaked the afternoon away. We ended the day catching the sunset from a bar alongside the road at a viewpoint. Our last few days in Koh Lanta, we spent relaxing on the beach and snorkeling, because there isn't much else to do there and why not!?

Finally deciding to move on from Lanta, we boarded the ferry to Koh Mook. This was where we were doing our "vacation from our vacation". We booked four nights at a gorgeous resort on Koh Mook, Sivalai Resort. The resort was spectacular and was located on the western point of the island, definitely the prettiest beach on the island. The pictures speak for themselves, but you can imagine how we spent our days. We walked along the beach every day, snapping pictures of any sea life we encountered, mostly crabs and some scary looking spiky starfish. Shaun was brave enough to pick them up off the ground.

We made sure to visit the well known Emerald Cave, a small cave located on the side of the island that you have to swim through to reach a beach inside. We rented some kayaks & snorkel gear and made our way around the island to check out the local coral and fish. Our 4 days at Koh Mook went by too fast and we even discussed extending our visas to be able to spend more time on the islands. There are far too many islands to visit but we will have to save that for our next visit to Thailand!

Have finally been able to load pictures so please take a look!
https://picasaweb.google.com/rayann.torres/ThaiIslands#

Siem Reap, Cambodia & The Angor Wat

Words can't even begin to describe the awe-inspiring temples at Angkor Wat.  The enormity of the buildings combined with the detail found on all of the walls, doors and facades are indescribable.  So, I won't even try.  The pictures speak for themselves, if we can ever download them.  What I will add is how we attempted to explore all of the major sites.  Not to be forgotten is the town that we based our trek out of in Cambodia- Siem Reap.  Given the recent history of the Cambodian people who had endured the Pol Pot Regime in which nearly 20% of the population was killed (1.6 million) it is amazing how unbroken their spirits are.  The town is a great little town with cafes, restaurants and shops scattered around everywhere.  We found a nice little guesthouse called Golden Temple Villas which proved to be a great place to book our tuk-tuks and guide for the Angkor Wat tours. 


Day one was an introduction to the temples as we explored some outer ruins called the Rulos Group and Bantay Serei.  The tuk-tuk was ours for the day which was a good thing because it was about 90 degrees and humid, so there was no way we would have been able to walk from temple to temple.  It was hard enough to climb up and down and around the huge structures. 

Day two we decided to hire a guide so that we could gain a better understanding of the history and details of the area.  We began early in the morning with the famous Sunrise at Angkor Wat followed by the Temples at Ta Prohm. 

Ta Prohm is straight out of Indiana Jones with trees growing right up through the temples.  Actually the cover of Tomb Raider the movie with Angelina Jolie was shot at this location.  All of the buildings have roots and limbs climbing in and around the stones.  Interestingly enough, this was left uncut on purpose by the people who restored the temples to show how it looked when they came across the area. 

The next day we were feeling adventurous, and our legs were not completely dead so we rented bikes and did a big loop around the perimeter to see the rest of the temples.  We must have biked about 30 kilometers, but got to see some really cool things at our own pace.  It was definitely worth the sore butts and tired legs.

Enjoy the pictures!!  https://picasaweb.google.com/rayann.torres/Cambodia?authkey=Gv1sRgCKWhsqTsrcn03AE#

Orangutangs, Thomas Leaf & Long Tail Tekaks

The below blog is a little out of order as we have done Cambodia and the Thai Islands prior to Bukit, Indonesia, but we thought we'd share before we lose all our recollection of the experience.  Enjoy!  Pictures are now posted at: https://picasaweb.google.com/rayann.torres/BukitLuwang#

All monkeys, and all living in Bukit Lawang National Park in Northern Sumantra!  Took a flight from Krabi International Airport thru Kuala Lumpur to Medan, Sumantra which is located in the northern part of Sumantra to meet up with Rayann's sister Michelle and her boyfriend Breck for some serious trekking and wildlife watching.  The jungle in northern Sumantra is unbelievable with lush mountainsides filled with huge ferns, green mosses, and spiral trees.  We stayed at a small guesthouse in the northern part of the river valley called Green Hill Bungalows, which did not disappoint.  Each couple had our own bungalow built right into the cliffs of the valley with decorative stone work and landscaping everywhere.  Breck and Michelle lucked out on the first night and got a bungalow with an outdoor shower lit by the moon!  The bungalows are fairly new due to the fact that a flash flood in 2004 completely demolished the entire village killing 300 people (a village of 3000 people).  But they are rebuilding feverishly and it seems like they are getting back to somewhat normal. 

Day one included tubing down the river on tubes (aka huge tractor tires).  A great way to see the river valley and pass by all the people in the village doing their daily chores while the kids play around in the river.  Some of the rapids were pretty big due to the almost nightly rains in this time of the year.  Rayann had a little scare when her tube flipped over and got sucked back under the rip current for a few seconds........did not look like Michael Phelps, but did a good job of pulling herself out of the rapids and to the safety of her tube!!  We did this all afternoon until we were water logged, reaching the end and scrambling back up to the starting point to go down again.  After we cleaned ourselves up we had dinner at the guesthouse.  The power would go out intermittently, so we ate most of our meal by candle light and the occasional lightning that would light up the whole valley.  It rained (to put it lightly) the entire night which added to the "jungle atmosphere" and only enhanced our experience.

Day two we set out for our 2 day jungle trek into the National Park.  First stop was the Orangutan Rehabilitation Center, where  two workers sat on a platform and fed the semi-wild orangutans.  They  would swing down from the trees above to pick up their snack which included  bananas, of course, and coconut milk.  The Orangutans would take the cup from the workers, drink the milk and hand the cup right back to the workers.  Pretty amazing and smart animals!  Our two guides were Peeah (pronounced pee-i) and Indra, the assistant guide.  They were ok; they knew the area and did a decent job of showing us some different types of trees and flowers etc, but could have done a better job of looking excited about what they were doing.  The hiking was extremely difficult.....probably the toughest we have done yet. Climbing up and down steep, wet tracks grabbing on to roots, rocks, trees or whatever we could to keep from sliding down the entire mountain.  To add to the difficulty, we had to be on the lookout for leeches which were everywhere, and not easy to spot.  Unless you are Michelle, aka Curt Shilling (see picture below once we insert) where not one but two leeches attached themselves to the same spot on her sock making it a big bloody spot.  Sorry Michelle. 

Is that Curt!?

The wildlife was really good as well.  We saw Orangutans, Thomas Leaf monkeys (also known as Funky Monkeys because of the stripes on their heads giving the appearance of a mo-hawk), and  Long and Short Tailed Mekaks.  The campsite was straight out of Jurassic Park. 



Hanging at the campsite

We were waiting for a dinosaur to come tearing out of the jungle.  It was located right on a bend in the river surrounded by 100 foot jungle walls.  Our shower consisted of soaping up in the river, followed by dinner sitting indian style with our guides under the tent.  And when I say tent I mean bamboo poles tied together with a tarp slung over the top.......pretty minimal.  We slept on mats directly on the jungle floor.  At any second a monitor lizard, snake or any other creepy, crawly thing could crawl right into bed with us.  Thankfully none did!  Before we went to bed though, PI entertained us with some mind games and card tricks that for the most part Breck was the only one to figure out.  Luckily it only rained for half of the night so we were able to get a decent nights sleep, but again added to the experience and made it that much more fun. 

We woke up early the next day and headed upstream to a waterfall that you could sit under and get a massage on your neck and back.

Group Picture!

After this we had lunch at the campsite and then set off in our makeshift raft which was just four tubes tied together with one guide in the front and one in back steering us around the rocks.  To make it more interesting, the rapids were almost at their peak because of all the nightly rainfall!!  It was very safe and all of us made it down without any problems. We finished up in Bukit Lawang that night with another riverside dinner and some competitive games of Uno with Breck and Michelle.  The next morning we were woken up by the troop of Mekak monkeys making a racket, swinging from tree to tree chasing each other stopping occasionally to peer over our balcony's to see if there was any loose food they could steal.

Here they are outside our balcony

All in all it was a great stop in Bukit Lawang, and made even better by the fact that we got to experience it with Michelle and Breck!!