Diving

The last two weekends I was down in Kenting completing my PADI Open Water Course for scuba diving.  It took three days and now I am officially certified to dive.  The first day we were in the pool so it wasn't that exciting but by the third day we were out in the ocean having a look around and I did not want to get out of the water! Probably sounds familiar to those who could never get me out of the water when I was younger ;)

We had great weather both weekends and the ocean isnt very cold here.  Im looking forward to the next diving adventure!

This was the first time I've really used my camera underwater, I had it in a waterproof bag so it took awhile to get the hang of taking clear pictures.

Then I didn't write for six months

I recovered fully from my injury and then got super busy and six months disappeared in what felt like overnight.  Blogging has definitely made me more aware of time, in a positive way.  So, I came home for a visit, which was possibly the best two weeks spent all summer, and now I'm back in Asia for about a year.  Today is our last day in our old apartment.  One roommate is leaving and I'm ready to live in a new part of the city.  Deidre and I put a lot of effort into finding a new place and it totally paid off!  Our new place is smaller, but we've got a pool, reading room, and yoga room in the building :)

The summer flew by, but luckily the weather doesn't really get cool here until December.  I'm not working such a busy schedule in the fall which has given me a much needed break and I've got a lot to look forward to in the next few months!  I'm still taking Chinese classes, which I'm really enjoying and being able to communication easily is making life here much more convenient.  Next week, I'm transitioning to oil painting (from drawing) in my art class.  In the past I've only experimented with acrylics and watercolors and Im looking forward to learning a new medium.  In November I'm doing the PADI Open Water Course (finally!) which Im psyched about because I've been wanting to scuba dive for years and haven't had the money/gotten around to taking the course.

Recently, I decided to get rid of my facebook account.  I've wanted to for awhile, but I always thought it was an important tool to keep in touch with people - especially because I'm living abroad.  I realized, that 95% of the time I spend on facebook is not actually spent keeping in touch with close friends, and that Skype is a much more meaningful way to stay in contact.  So, for awhile at least I wont be using facebook.  Skype is a free program that lets you call or video chat with other users.  It's the primary way I stay in touch with my parents and it works great.  Check it out, and if you want to set up a skype date send me an e-mail!

Unfortunate Accidents

Another eventful few weeks in the Far East ... At the end of our Wednesday night soccer practice I managed to trip and fall while running backwards to receive a pass which resulted in a broken wrist :(

I was not happy, and attempted to keep playing because I didn't think it was broken but realized I couldn't even run it hurt so much.  I've been pretty lucky and have never broken a bone before so of course I had the completely irrational "it will never happen to me" mentality about getting injured.  After a 3am trip to the emergency room followed by three more days in the hospital I was on my way to recovery with six pins stabilizing my wrist and a robot arm looking contraption.  Hospitals in Taiwan are an interesting experience, one I would have preferred not to have.  All the doctors speak English (their medical classes are in English) but a lot of them aren't comfortable actually communicating with a foreigner.  In addition, Taiwanese pretty much blindly trust the hospital staff and don't ask questions.  When I came out of surgery and the anesthesia wore off I completely freaked out.  They had told me they were going to use pins, but had referred to the operation as "external fixation" which I assumed was a cast.  But when I woke up this is what I saw!

In the end, it's much better than a cast.  There is no risk of the bones healing abnormally or my wrist joint collapsing which can happen with a cast.  They expect I wont have any problems with my wrist in the future, which is a good thing because I dont plan on giving up glassblowing ;)

The doctor just gave me the okay to start running and training for soccer and I was pretty glad to hear that.  This weekend I am going on a visa run to the Philippines, so I'll have a little time to relax before getting back into everything.  I was hoping to get certified to dive on this trip but that will have to wait since my arm can't get wet.

Things have been going well at Melody (the publishing company).  I really like working there and it's been nice to have a break from teaching.  Working in a quiet office feels like a vacation compared to teaching at my preschool.  I've decided that I'm going to take a break from teaching after my injury until I find a school that will give me full time hours and my ARC. At Melody, I've been doing a lot of voice over, recording in English, and here I am at work.

Are you viewing this post as an imported note on Facebook?  Click on "View Original Post" to see more pictures on my blog.

The Escapades continue

I had my second art class this past weekend, and I am so glad to be getting back into drawing and painting.  On the downside, I've been thinking about how much I miss glassblowing and how excited I am to see the Chihuly exhibit that's coming to the MFA in Boston. Luckily (or unluckily) the last day of the exhibit is the day after I come home so you know where I'll be that day!  I'm a little concerned that it will be really crowded with people trying to see the exhibition last minute but we'll see what happens - its still about 5 months away.

Soccer (which I will now be referring to as football after being harassed by the team) has been going great, I realized the other night that I have not done a soccer drill since I played in college and I have really lost my touch since then.  The training is good though, because I haven't had the chance to play competitively in a long time and hopefully it will come back to me sooner rather than later. I've been running to the nearby beach at night in an attempt to get back into shape a little faster and it has become one of my favorite places to chill out  after a long day.

We had a long weekend because Tuesday was tomb sweeping day.  There was a large music festival going on in Kenting, the southern most city in Taiwan so we drove down there Friday night when Adriana got off work.  We ended up camping because all of the hotels were full but I was happy about that because I am not a fan of wasting money on a hotel when camping is dirt cheap! We met some of our friends who went down earlier from the university and had a good group.  The weekend was lots of fun, they had electronic DJs playing music on the beach all night and we had a great time.  I dont think I've had such little sleep since college. J

Now, its back to the work week but I am looking forward to my upcoming weekend in the Philippines later this month!!

Baisha Bay

A weekend in Malaysia

I recently had to do a "visa run".  Which means leave the country and come back to automatically extend my visa for another 60 days.  At first, I saw this as a big inconvenience, but now I realize this is actually a blessing in disguise.  Who wouldn't want a unexpected weekend at the beach?!  This is the first time I've had to do this, because last time I already had plans to go home for Christmas.  I had been putting off booking my flight because I didn't really know where I wanted to go and wasn't excited about paying for airfare.  I ended up in Kota Kinabalu (the cheapest place Air Asia flies from Taipei).

Malaysia has the best sunsets I've seen anywhere in the world

My long weekend turned out better than expected. I found a cheap place to stay (about $10/night) and started reading about KK so I could figure out the best way to spend my 3 days there.  It turns out there is a collection of islands just off the coast that make up a national park.  You can catch a ferry in the morning to the island of your choice and swim, snorkel, and hike during the day.  I wish I had more time to get to some of the places outside of the city, but I can always go back sometime in the future.

Relaxing on the beach I discovered... no tourists here!

Things have not slowed down at all since Chinese New Year.  My roommate pirated a copy of the Rosetta Stone so we've both been trying to do it every day.  Initially I had hoped to learn Chinese, but I have lost motivation a bit because it's so difficult.  I'm still doing a weekly language exchange, but I'm probably learning more about Taiwanese culture from my language partner than actually learning the language.  I have been using the Rosetta Stone to keep up with my Spanish however!

One of my friends here owns an art gallery and this weekend I started a drawing and painting class there.  I've taken some art courses at home, but they tend to be expensive and I've decided to take advantage of as many classes as I can while I'm here because they're much cheaper.  In the winter I took a French class at the association where my roommate teaches, and I'm thinking of enrolling in one of their summer courses as well.

I also started playing soccer this past weekend with a group of expats in a league, finally!  I was on the fence about bringing my soccer stuff to Taiwan and I'm really glad I did.  I've been playing on and off when I've been home but I really miss playing competitively on a team.  The day after the first practice just sitting down was a challenge but I haven't forgotten how quickly sore muscles recover.  They practice twice a week and I would need to be selected to play in the league, but regardless of whether I end up playing in the official games or not I'm happy just to be kicking a ball around again!

Formosa Road Trip

One of our campsites, a baseball field

The past few weeks have definitely been the busiest since I've come to Asia!  Melanie arrived right before Chinese New Year and we went on an east coast road trip that involved one scooter with the two of us and all our camping gear!  The weather was perfect (it never rained!) and we were lucky to find free places to camp each night.  We started out crossing over the mountains and heading north on highway 11 up to Hualien.  Midweek we arrived at Taroko National Park and set up camp there for two nights.  On the way back, we took highway 9 south and crossed back over to the west coast to Kaohsiung.

Taking pictures in a random field of flowers on the side of the road

The week was awesome, and I was really glad I had the chance to see the east coast - it was beautiful!  I have so many pictures and I'll be posting them soon.  After we got back from our road trip, we had a few days in Kaohsiung before we left for Green Island (Lu Dao).  It's the smaller of the two islands located off the east coast near Taitung.  Sophie (my roommate)  also had a friend visiting from France so a small group of us set off for the weekend.  We drove to Taitung and took a ferry from there.  In the past few years my travels have included many boats of varying degrees of comfort.  The ferry to Green Island was hands down the absolute worst.  It's nickname is the barf barge and for good reason.  Now, before we took the ferry everyone told me it was bad, even the writer of LP Taiwan said it was terrible.  But, of course my response was "Ive taken ferries, boats, and canoes all over the world!  It cant be that bad!"  Well, it was!  There were trash cans in every aisle and big packages of plastic bags hanging from each seat.  I only made it through the first 40 minutes of the one hour ride.  I even attempted taking motion sickness medication before we left, but all it did was make me feel drugged, and it clearly didn't help so I wont be taking that again.

Us on the scooter in Taroko National Park

Nonetheless, Green Island was very nice, and we had a good time.  They have one of the few saltwater hot springs in the world and the facilities were great.  There were numerous pools of varying temperatures and you could also walk down to the ocean and go in directly where the source of the hot spring was. There was even a boiling spring where you could cook your food!

During the rest of Melanie's time here I was part tour guide and part tourist again which was fun.  I've realized that there are still a lot of things I haven't done in Taiwan and hope to spend more time seeing new parts of my city and the country before I leave.  It's so easy to get stuck in your day to day routine!

I was lucky to have a friend from home here in Taiwan to celebrate my birthday.  A group of us got dinner at Brickyard and then hung out there for the rest of the night.  I had an awesome time!  I hadn't been to Brickyard for awhile and they have fantastic food.  My family sent cards and presents so even though I wasn't at home with everyone to celebrate I knew everyone was wishing me a happy birthday.  Thanks to everyone who made it special!

Super Fun! Starring Yours Truly

We are fostering two very photogenic cats :)

This weekend I filmed an educational series with Melody Publishing (the company that owns my preschool).  It was a good experience, but it was really hard!  Twelve hours of filming is not easy on the feet haha.  Actors definitely have their work cut our for them, and I am most certainly not cut our for the field (I was terrible at memorizing my lines).  But all and all it was fun, and I got paid to do it :) I'll be bringing a copy of the DVDs home with me so you'll all get a chance to have a good laugh.

Lulu and Momo

I'm still working at a preschool and an after-school program, but my afternoon school has changed. The place I used to teach at, Shane Schools was really terrible.  I won't bore you with all the details ... but being a foreign worker can be problematic and difficult sometimes and some schools just make it worse.  The biggest problem I had with working for Shane was that the management was awful and they were completely disorganized.  But, I like my new school a lot, and it's closer to my house!

Our new roommate Adriana also moved in this week.  Now there are three of us girls living in the apartment but I think things will go smoothly because we all get along really well.  Sophie and I each have a friend coming to visit at the same time so January will be a busy (and crowded) month.

I've also just started reading a book a friend sent me, Ishmael by Daniel Quinn.  It's an amazing book and I haven't been able to put it down.  You can find it on Amazon here.  Highly recommended!!

South Korea

One of my 2011 resolutions is to blog more often so why not get the ball rolling?  I'm at Incheon International Airport in South Korea waiting for my connection to Taipei.  This is by far the nicest airport I've ever been to and I've probably visited 100+ airports in my travels.  No surprise that it is consecutively rated the top airport in the world by Airports Council International!

So, what makes the difference when you're traveling?

Here's a few things I noticed about Incheon during my layover ...

• The chairs don't have armrests.  Such a small detail but having the option to stretch out and sleep comfortably during a long layover is essential!
• Free Wifi and free electric outlet adaptors
• Free city tours for transit passengers, leaving during the day and at night
• Korean Cultural Experience Centers: mini museums in various locations where you can check out Korean art, practice calligraphy, listen to traditional music, and other cool stuff.
• Airport construction:  I didn't leave the departures area,  but it's obvious that a lot of planning went into the innovative design of the airport. In addition to ample seating, tables, and outlets near each gate; the moving walkway (which was very busy) was separated from these areas by the line of stores and restaurants.  This layout created a quite corridor behind the shops where the gate seating was so that you don't even notice you're in one of the busiest transport hubs in the world.

I hope to get a chance to come back to South Korea to visit my roommate from Roger Williams who is also teaching English in Asia for a year.  The plane is about to take off and it  looks like there will be breakfast on my 1 hour flight to Taiwan :)  Glad to know I'll be flying the same airline on my way home this summer!

Home for the Holidays

I ♥ snow

It was a busy week in Boston.  I ended up getting seven days out of my vacation (instead of six) because my flight to JFK was cancelled at the last minute.  Simple version of the story, JetBlue has some serious organizational problems but at least I got to complain about them on the 10 o'clock news :)

I decided to take the Amtrak Acela train to NYC instead of trying to get on an overbooked flight at the airport so Im officially on my way back to Taiwan. It's pretty convenient if you can get on one of the cheaper trains and they have free internet for the whole ride.  I finished watching The Stoning of Soraya M. which was a great movie, but disturbing when you think about all the women for whom this is their reality.

The week was short but I got to see lots of friends and family. The blizzard didn't stop our holiday dinner at The Independent either!  We've kept up the tradition for over 10 years now.  It seems like it's gotten even warmer in Taiwan so Im looking forward to some nice weather when I return.  I'll probably be exhausted by the time I arrive on Friday but I'll have a few hours to recover before our new year's eve party :)

The Independent, Somerville

Weekend Adventures

I have been completely neglecting my blog. The good thing is that I'm having too much fun to spend any more time on the computer than I have to.  -_-   I've started working at a preschool in Dalaio (in addition to my after school classes) which is about 45 minutes away from my house on the MRT.  I dont really mind taking the train everyday because it gives me a lot of time to read.  I've finished some great books in the past few weeks and here are my reviews:

Little Bee,  Chris Cleave - A novel about a Nigerian refugee seeking asylum in England.  I couldn't put this book down!

Dead Aid, Dambisa Moyo - A very interesting book about the economic situation in Africa and the negative effects of foreign aid. Highly recommended for anyone interested in international economics or who has or is thinking of donating money or traveling to Africa.

Blessed Unrest, Paul Hawkin - A collection of information about the "largest social justice movement in history", an inspirational story worth reading - especially if you work in the field of social services.

The Memory Keeper's Daughter, Kim Edwards - Not a happy go lucky novel, but I really liked it.

Bel Canto, Ann Patchet - I really enjoyed this novel.  The writing style is unique and you definately get drawn into the characters lives and feelings.

Happy reading!  J


I'll be home for Christmas in just a few days and I'm really looking forward to seeing everyone.  Hopefully I will have time to post some more pictures of Taiwan.  I have taken a few weekend road trips with my friend from Canada, Adriana and another one of our Taiwanese friends.  We've been to Tainan, Ja-yi, Taichung, Sun Moon Lake, and Alishan Mountain.  It's been lots of fun!  Melanie will be coming to visit for a month so there will be lots more trips coming up!  I'm tutoring a lot now but luckilly I have Saturday nights - Monday afternoons off :)

Sun Moon Lake

Taiwan and Hong Kong

It has been way to long since I've updated the blog!  Things have been quite busy since I arrived in Taiwan but now I have been here for a little over one month.  My flight on the way here was awful ... the first segment was delayed which resulted in having to rebook the rest of my flights and in the end it took three days to get here from Boston :/

But, since I've arrived everything has been great.  Sophie and I found an apartment quickly and were able to move in just a few days later.  We get along really well and I am grateful for no roommate drama!  I've started working at Shane School in the evenings but unfortunately until December I only have 8 hours per week of classes.  I've also been tutoring, which I really enjoy.  Next week I will be interviewing at preschools to pick up some extra hours in the mornings.

Hong Kong Park

Last weekend I went to Hong Kong to sort out my visa (my original one was almost expired) and I ended up staying for three days because I also had to have extra pages added to my passport.  Note to fellow travelers - this service is no longer free!  Apparently they started charging $82 this June which is really annoying.  HK was really cool, it sort of reminded me of New York - except much more diverse, if you can believe that's possible.  During the course of my stay I heard at least 15 different languages being spoken just in my building alone!

HK also looks like a city from the future.  There are layers upon layers of bridges for cars and as a pedestrian you almost never walk on the ground level.  There are raised pedestrian walkways and bridges connecting all of the buildings.  The architecture is very unique and futuristic as well, and the funny thing is that they also have parks everywhere, so sometimes you don't even feel like you are in a city. HK was a fantastic place to visit - probably one of the most interesting cities in Asia that I have been to.

Under the Tuscan Sun

When we left Rome we rented a car to drive through Tuscany to our apartment in Loro Ciuffenna.  It was a charming town with the typical small, winding, Italian streets.  We stayed there for a week and took day trips to Florence, Siena, Arezzo, Cortona, Castelina and the Chianti area.  Between the steep hills, our standard car and the occasionally inaccurate maps I think we did pretty good navigating our way around Tuscany.

I was very excited to visit Florence again, and it was the first time I had been back since studying there in college.  Firenze has always been one of my favorite cities because it is not too large and very easy to walk around. Kindof like Boston! :)  I took my parents to the sandwich shop that used to know my roommates and I by name because we ate there so often and the panini were just as delicious as I remembered.

Here I am on the Ponte Vecchio, down the street from where I used to live.

We have eaten at some incredible restaurants while we’ve been here.  I had been expecting the food to be more expensive (it costs about $1.30 dollar to buy 1 Euro) but most of out dinners have averaged between 50EU and 80EU for the three of us.  At home, I dislike eating out mainly because I am quite picky when it comes to where I will eat.  I prefer restaurants that cook with local products; which is nearly impossible to find at home and I don’t like spending $30 for an entrée, which eliminates most of the choices.  There has not been one dish I have eaten here that was subpar and I have also mostly been eating vegetarian dishes!  *With some exceptions, more on this later.  The food has been fantastic, and most of the menus actually indicated the few items that are not locally sourced versus an American meal, which is usually entirely comprised of food flown in all over the world.  I have to say you can really taste the difference; the food here tastes fresh as if it had just been picked from someone’s garden (it probably was). 

I waited an extra 15 minutes for this chocolate souffle because it was home made and it was well worth it :D

Hopefully the local food movement will take off in the Boston area sometime soon.  Until then I will have to stick with The Independent (my current favorite restaurant – located in Union Square).  Some of you may wonder, why eat vegetarian in Italy of all places?!  I’m not completely abstaining from meat, but I am trying to reduce my consumption as much as possible in an effort to start eating a healthier diet.  I recently finished reading In Defense of Food by Michal Pollen, which I highly recommend; and it has really impacted my outlook on food.

Tomorrow is our last day in Italy.  It has been a great vacation, but I am already thinking of all the things I have to do in the next 5 days to prepare for Taiwan.  When I arrive in Kaohsiung next weekend I will be very busy searching for an apartment, working out the details with my job, and buying a bike to get around.

I am really grateful that I had the opportunity to return to Italy (it’s my third time here).  I can still confidently say this is my favorite country, and every time I visit I find more reasons why.  My top two right now are the food and the people.  But I think those are probably the reasons why I like every country I visit J who would want to visit someplace with bad food and unfriendly people?  Oh, wait that’s America! Haha jk ... well sortof ;)

Did you know you can click on any images in the blog to see a larger version?

When in Rome ...

Sitting by the Trevi Fountain

Our apartment in Rome was in a great location; we were right down the street from the Trevi Fountain!  I visited Rome on a high school trip but I didn’t really remember too many details so I was happy to go back.  Four days was enough for me though.  Rome is probably one of my least favorite cities in Italy just because it is so crowded with tourists.

It was nice to be staying so close to the Trevi fountain because we were able to enjoy it without tourists the morning we were up early for our tour of the Vatican museum.  I had never done a guided tour inside a museum before and it was very fascinating but I’m not sure if I would have preferred just wandering around the Vatican by myself.

Our guide was great and provided a lot of interesting information about the highlights of the museum but by being in a large group you don’t get a chance to really observe the individual pieces of art and go at your own pace.  The reason we booked the tour in the first place was to avoid having to wait in the mile long line to get into the museum, which was definitely worth it.

In front of the Colosseum with my parents

Italia Reunion

On my last day in Asia I flew from Kuala Lumpur to Taipei and then continued onto LA and then Denver for Christa and Sean’s wedding.  Total travel time:  24 hours. Four of us flew in to Denver and did a mini road trip down to Durango with Taylor on Friday.  We made a quick detour to the Great Sand Dunes National Park in Mosca, which was really fun.  We took a whole bunch of Abu Dhabi pictures!

Christa and Sean’s wedding was beautiful.  They had the ceremony and reception at an old Italian style villa on a farm in the countryside.  The food was fantastic (Italian of course) and they had perfect weather.  I am so grateful that I have stayed in touch with my roommates from Italy.  Sometimes I don't know what I would do without them!  We have all managed to stay very close even when we arent able to talk for long periods of time.  It has also been nice to be able to adjust to being back in the states without going straight home.  I have a few more days in Colorado where I’ll be staying with my friend Colleen that I met while volunteering in South America.  Im looking forward to being in Boston next weekend!

Check out more pictures of the wedding by clicking here.

Is that a road?

After leaving the islands on Don Det, I continued onto the city of Pakse with another American that I had met on the island.  We had decided to rent motorcycles and do a loop of the Bolavan Plateau (southeastern Laos) and check out some of the national parks and waterfalls in the area.  We weren’t really sure what to expect because many roads are unpaved, and it was the height of the wet season so it was possible we would encounter impassable roads.  We picked up a map and a phrasebook from the hotel we rented our bikes from and set out for a weeklong bike trip.

Our first stop was at a bike repair shop to get my odometer fixed (essential for navigation because road signs are few and far between).  Luckily bike repairs are very inexpensive and easily accomplished, usually in less than ten minutes.   Throughout the week we had various repairs including my chain requiring tightening, my foot pedal falling off and two flat tires on Pat’s bike.

The first night we arrived in Paksong, which is well known for its central location in the coffee growing region of Laos.  The coffee in Laos is world-renowned; one of the varieties grown there is Arabica, which is considered the champagne of coffee.

There are dozens of waterfalls in the Bolavan Plateu and whenever we saw a sign for one we tried to find it.  We were pretty successfully and managed to find each one we looked for and even managed to find some elephants along the way.   I'll be posting an album soon!

The first few nights we were mostly staying in cities and towns, so we didn't have any problem finding cheap guesthouses.  As we entered more remote territory (heading towards the Vietnam border to the east) there were only villages and dirt roads.  The best night was definitely the one we spend with a Lao family in their home.  We had been driving for hours and the first village was asked either didn't have a place for us to sleep or didn't want us to stay there.  But when we arrived at this village, they ran to get the one person who spoke a little English and we worked out the sleeping arrangements.  It was pretty basic, we slept on bamboo mats in their open air home and bathed outside before dinner with the rest of the villagers.  At this point I had been eating sticky rice 3x per day everyday, but I never got sick of it!  Now that Im home I actually miss eating sticky rice.  Ill be back in Asia soon, so Im sure Ill be eating plenty of it :)

Laos

Alina from Russia & I

I'm currently in Pakse, a city in the southern part of Laos.  I crossed the Cambodia - Laos border about a week ago and have been hanging out on the "Four Thousand Islands" since.  There really are thousands of islands in this part of the Mekong, but only the larger ones are inhabited.  I met some German travelers and a Russian girl on the bus out of Ban Lung (in Cambodia) and we spent most of our time on the island of Don Det.  It has been a relaxing week.  So far, I love Laos - it is probably my favorite country is Asia so far, although I really enjoyed Cambodia as well.  The thing that really sets Lao apart from the other countries I've visited is that there is no one harassing you to stay at their guesthouse, take their tour, or go in their tuk tuk.  It was such a relief to get off the boat on Don Det and have no one trying to convince you where to go!  The islands are very relaxed, and it was the perfect first stop in Laos.  Lonely Planet writes that it "feels so laid back that you could imagine the islands drifting downriver into Cambodia with barely anyone rolling out of their hammock."  Paradise!

In Ban Lung I did a three day, two night trek with two British girls and it was definitely an adventure.  Our guide didn't like trekking (or the jungle) and the ranger didn't speak English.  Most of the communication between us and our guide was "walk faster" or 'kill the leeches!".  Nevertheless, the girls and I got along great and made the best of the situation (I did not get any leeches).  We would have been better off doing the (more expensive) official National Park trekking package.  I also rented a bicycle one day and went to a beautiful lake that was created after a meteor struck.

Now I'm heading to the Bolaven plateau for a week long motorcycle road trip.  I'm really excited, and I originally thought I would not have enough time to see this part of Laos.  I'll be on a Honda Wave 100cc with another American that I met in Don Det.  Although my camera is broken, I have been lucky enough to copy friends' photos in each place I've been so far.  I'll be posting most of them when I get home.  I can't believe I'll be back in the states in about 10 days! I'm looking forward to spending Labor Day weekend in Boston :)

Cambodia

Kathryn and I are currently in Phnom Penn, Cambodia.  Kathryn leaves today to fly to Bangkok for a day before she heads home, and I am leaving in the morning for the northeastern part of the country via bus.  On our way to Cambodia from Thailand we didn't stay in Bangkok for more than 10 minutes because I wasnt feeling great and we didnt feel like carrying our backpacks around the crowded city for a day.  So, from KPP we took a ferry to Krabi, a shuttle to the bus station, then an overnight bus to Bangkok.  From there we took another bus to the border and then went onto Siem Reap, total travel time: 30 hours.

Me, at Banteay Kdei (one of the temples outside the Angkor Wat complex)

We spent five nights in Siem Reap, and were lucky to find an awesome guesthouse there.  We stayed at the Prince Mekong Villas, owned by a great Swiss guy named Eric.  It included free breakfast, laundry, and bicycles which we took advantage of.  We decided to do the three day pass for Ankor Wat and biked around the ruins there.  I think cycling is the best way to see the majority of the temples, it get's expensive to take tuk tuks (moto taxis) and the temples are too spread out to walk (we were biking between 40-50km per day).  There is a great map of the temples here.  We also rented motorcycles in Ko Lanta and Phnom Penn which was great because it gives you the freedom to go where you want and you dont have to rely on the bus - as long as you dont mind driving on the dirt roads :)

Cute picture of Kathryn and I at Ta Prohm, too bad the photographer didn't get the whole temple : /

We also visited a silk farm and factory just outside the city which was very interesting.  I shared a room with a silk artist at the Emerson Winter Market and already knew a little bit about the process but it was cool to see each step of the process and finally the finished products.

We've been in Phnom Penn for two nights, and have been enjoying a few days relaxing before hitting the road agian.  We are staying at the Top Banana Guesthouse and they have great food!

Sunset on the way back into Phnom Penn on our moto

Island Hopping

Kathryn and I have been travelling for about one week now, and we are having a great time!  We flew from Taipei to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia last Sunday.  Our flight wasn't bad, and I didnt run into any problems leaving Taiwan, although I did have to pay a fine for overstaying my 30 day visa.  We decided that we were tired of the big cities and so we didn't stay in KL.  Instead we took the train to Butterworth (in Malaysia) were we continued onto the island of Pinang by ferry.  It was a long journey, we were travelling for about 24 hours (Taipei-Pinang) but it was definitely worth it!

Waiting for the ferry in Malaysia

The island was beautiful, and there were not many tourists there.  We stayed in a nice little hotel that cost about $3.50 a night each. :)  We also had a somewhat scary encounter with the monkeys in the national park.  It was our last day and we decided it would be fun to do some hiking in the jungle there.  We had a great day until we got to the last trail of the day heading towards monkey beach.  I've had a lot of experience with monkeys in South America and up until this point considered them pretty harmless although they can be quite mischievous.  Kathryn didn't get a chance to hike monkey mountain while she was visiting us in Kaohsiung so she was anxious to see some wildlife as well.

We were walking down the trail when we heard the tell tale sound of monkeys in the trees and saw one right above us.  Before we could even think of getting out our cameras it came right down to the ground (very unusual for wild monkeys) and sat on a rock about 2 feet away starting at us.  I was a little confused (and concerned) by it's behavior but was completely shocked when it jumped onto my backpack and literally started hissing at me and showing it's teeth!  We both pretty much freaked out at this point and I started screaming at the money (in an attempt to scare it) while Kathryn looked around (unsuccessfully) for a stick or some other object to scare it away.  I dropped my backpack (camera, money, and everything else inside) while the monkey actually tried to drag it away into the jungle!  Luckily my bag was too heavy for the monkey to run off with it but anytime I approached the either the monkey or the bag it hissed at me like it was going to attack us.

Kathryn managed to find a granola bar in her bag and hoping to distract the monkey I took it, which didnt really work because it practically grabbed the bar out of my hand before I got a chance to throw it far enough away.  Even with the food in hand it continued to defend its place in between me and the backpack.  Finally it retreated into a tree above my bag to eat the bar and I managed to grab my backpack and we literally ran as fast as we could all the way back down the trail to the entrance of the park.  To say the least, we are avoiding all trails or attractions involving monkeys for the rest of our trip.

Our trip has been pleasantly uneventful since then, and we crossed the border to Thailand on Wednesday.  We made our way to the coast where we took a ferry from Trang to Ko Lanta where we are currently staying.  Right now we are on the Andaman Coast, which is the western coast of Thailand.  Ko Lanta has a more relaxed reputation compared to some of the more developed islands.  It is one of the largest islands and we practically have the whole place to ourselves because it is low season here and many tourists avoid the islands because of the occasional rain.  The weather hasnt been bad, except for the occasional shower and we are enjoying the discounted prices due to the lack of tourists.  Our beachfront bungalow is costing us $4 per night each (and we are staying at one of the more expensive resorts on the island).

The boats between islands aren't running regularly, but we ran into a couple on their honeymoon at the dock who is heading to Ko Phi Phi tomorrow so we are going to try to negotiate with one of the longboat drivers to take the four of us there.  If there aren't any boats we will have to go to Krabi (on the mainland) and then take a ferry from there to Ko Phi Phi.  The beaches on Ko Phi Phi are often referred to as the most beautiful beaches in the world so we are really excited! We have a Thai cooking class at our hotel in a little bit, and I cant wait to learn how to make Thai food at home :)

Pictures from Taiwan

We are leaving for Malaysia today but I wanted to post a link to my pictures from Taiwan before we left. Unfortunately, I was not able to finish editing the captions, but I hope to update them while traveling :)

I had a great last day in Kaohsiung, Kathryn and I spent the day at the beach and then a friend of ours had a birthday party so I got to see pretty much everyone I knew before I left.  Now we are off to the airport in Taipei!

Enjoy!

http://picasaweb.google.com/CaitlinHorigan/Taiwan

One of my morning classes.

Kathryn Comes to Visit

Kathryn is arriving today and I'm really excited!  We'll be traveling together for about a month and then I will have two more weeks to travel alone.  Im actually sad to be leaving Taiwan.  I have really enjoyed my time here teaching and living in the city.  This weekend should be really fun, we bought tickets to a pool party on Saturday at one of the hotels in Kaohsiung so we will all be celebrating the 4th of July!

I have been interviewing at schools here for next year and also sending out applications in the Boston area so it has been a very busy week.  Today was the last day of the semester for the after school programs and their summer program begins next week.  Summer camp here is basically like summer school for them, but at least our classrooms have air conditioning!  I took some pictures of my students today: