Day 1_Hill Tribe Trek

Since the last 3 days have been so amazing, I have split it into 3 different entries. So much to tell!!!

Today we left the town of Pai with our guide, Mr. Noom, and his cousin Tat. We drove for about half an hour to where we started the hike. The hike today we were told was difficult, and it was! I don't know if we were just out of shape from laying on a beach, or if it was just really hard. Anyway, our guide entertained us along the way by showing us different plants and things in the jungle. He also broke into song a lot, mostly beatles and John Denver. It was entertaining.

We stopped at the top of a mountain for lunch. Mr. Noom's wife had made us fried rice in the morning and wrapped it in banana leaf. The picture is of adam eating it on the top of the mountain. Our guide also made us chopsticks out of bamboo. It was pretty neat.

We walked for about 3 more hours and arrived at the Karen village. This is the tribe that our guide is from. We got to meet his mother and father and we stayed in their home. The village was amazing. Everything was made from bamboo and there way of life is so different. They grow everything that they eat, and cook everything over a fire in the house. We had a chicken and potato curry for dinner and fried vegetables. Definately not going hungry! We got to sit and eat with his family too. Unfortunately we could not communicate with them but it still was interesting seeing how they lived.

Before dinner Mr. Noom showed adam how to make rope from a part of a tree, and I looked (and bought) at his mothers weaving. It was so beautiful how much time and effort they put into everything.

Since we had walked about 8 hours, we went to bed at about 7:50pm and I fell asleep immidiately!

Day 2 - Hill Tribe Trek

Today we got up around 7:00am to the sound of roosters and the smell of a fire burning in the other room. Mr. Noom made us some tea and a huge breakfast of omlette and 4 pieces of toast each! Could not eat it all but they definately are making sure we have enough! Today is a full moon which means no one works in the village. I watched Mr. Noom's mother light spirit candles and she did some prayers beside me.

We headed out around 9am and walked to a waterfall. The walk again was challenging but great. Along the way our guide was chopping down bamboo trees and gathering white worms that were in them. He said he was going to be eating them later.......which he did. Anyway, the waterfall was beautiful and here we had our lunch. That morning Mr. Noom had made pad Thai and wrapped it in banana leaf for us. It was outstanding. Also while we were sitting around he made us a spoon out of bamboo and made some cups. He and his cousin started a fire and made a "kettle" out of bamboo and made us some tea. He also noticed we looked tired so they went into the forrest and brought back a bunch of banana leafs and made us a bed to relax on. It was amazing.

After lunch we walked for about 4 hours to the next village. It was a challenging walk especially since our path was grown over. Mr. Noom had to cut the entire way! We arrived at our destination just before 6pm. This villiage was more of a partial village. There was only about 4 families left living there. The rest had moved to another village. There actually was only one man there. It also was more rugged as well and our "shower" was from a water hose. There was no toilet either. Mr. Noom made us rice and fried vegetables that was amazing. Shockingly someone had actually carried in coke and beer so we had that as well! Oh, and we watched them eat worms as well, and adam even tried them. I could not get over the fact that they were worms......We went to bed again just before 8pm. This night we all slept in the same room on the floor. Great day!

Day Three- Hill Tribe Trek

Today we were awoken at, oh, 2:30am by the roosters at this small village. They in turn also disturbed the pigs that were sleeping below us. Needless to say, we still got a lot of sleep since we were so tired from the day before.

Once we were up we were made tea and an amazing breakfast of omlette and toast. They again gave each of us 4 pieces. We set out around 8:30am and were going to 3 different villages today. The first part of the trek was difficult but then it was fairly easy on a well travelled trail. When we arrived at the Lahu village we immidiately noticed the diffence from the Karen. This village has used almost all the tree's surrounding it and it was very wide open. The houses were similar however slightly more modern as there was one satalitte. We left this village and went about 30 minutes to the next. We went to annother Karen village. Here we were greeted by school children that brought us a snack and water. We also go to see the women weaving. It was amazing to see how much work they do. The kids were also in school at the time and we could hear them being taught how to speak Thai. (all villages have their own language). We left this village and walked another 2 hours to the last village, the Lisu village. This was a very modern village actually and probably won't be involved with the treks much longer. There even was a restaurant that we ate at! After we boarded a local bus and headed back to Pai.

The entire experience has been so amaznig and surreal. We have learned so much and have seen so much. Our guide showed us how to make so many things along the way out of bamboo and leaves. We LOVED this adventure and it made us even more excited for Nepal!

Bangkok Weekend Market

Adam and I spent one day in Bangkok before we headed up to Bangkok. It was a Saturday so we ventured to the weekend market. On our way we did get hassled by one person trying to use the "classic" scam. He told us the market was closed and that he could take us to a temple that was only open that day. Thankfully, being the nerd I am, I read up on scams and we headed to the market anyway....which was open.

The market was crazy. SO overwhelming. We had no idea where to start or what to look for. There were so many people at the market and it was so crowded. Eventually we decided to stop deciding where to start, and just to start looking. It took us a while but we got into the swing of things and bought some new clothes for ourselves. Adam wanted to venture to the animal section, where you could buy so many animals. They had rats, mice, squirrels and even snakes. We spent a total of 6 hours here, and I don't think we saw it all!!!

Ko Phi Phi

Laura and I took a one day trip over to the Ko Phi Phi islands. These ares the islands where they filmed the movie the "Beach", with Leo!!! The seas were rough that day my friend! It was a 45 minutes boat ride out to the islands.The boat ride started out with a hugh cooler crushing Laura's foot as the boat rocked back and forth! She hobbled for a few days however she is fine. Got a nasty bruise though! Unfortunetely the waves were too high to go see Maya Bay which is the famous "beach", but we did get to go to some other bays that were brilliant. The scenery around Koa Phi Phi was incredible, it is like nothing i have ever seen. Hugh rocks jut out of the water, with sandy white beaches everywhere. We did some snorkeling and went to Monkey Bay, and yes, at monkey bay there were monkeys. Hands down this area is the most incredible scenery I (adam) have seen.

Ko Tao

Ko Tao is an island on the east coast of Thailand. We went there for
five days of sun and scuba diving!!! Well that was the plan, but unfortunately the weather didn't cooperate fully. We didn't have bad weather by any means, it only rained one day, but the conditions for scuba diving weren't the best. It was a little windy and overcast which reduced visibility and increased current. We first took a refresher course and then did 3 fun dives. Despite the bad visibility we did get to see some cool things. We scuba dived with SHARKS that were about the size of me (Adam), moray eels, and sting rays. The island of Ko Tao is really laid back, not that that touristy, and it is all about diving. We rented a scooter for the week and went from beach to beach when weren't scuba diving. It was awesome having our own mode of transportation. It is low season too so the road was not busy at all. We stayed in a remote spot on the island that was quite the hike to get to but our private bungalow with a view of the ocean was incredible.
Ok, Laura speaking now. I just wanted to mention that on Ko Tao we had our first encounter with a snake AND I did not freak out. I even whipped out the camera for a picture. (ok, so Adam got close and took the picture). I think it was just a water snake but really, I don't need to find out. I also wanted to mention that on the island of Ko Tao I believe Adam ingested about 2 pad thai's a day. The food has been incredible I must admit. Thankfully, as adam mentioned, our bungalow was a hike away so hopefully we worked it all off!

Photo album of Thailand

Malaysia and Thailand Misc.

Click on this photo to see more of our thailand adventures!

Ko Lanta

Well, we are now in Thailand! Our first stop was obviously an island. We decided to spend a few days relaxing on Ko Lanta. Travelling if you can believe it is rather tiring and we needed some time to stop planning our trip and to enjoy it. We learned quickly in thailand that this is low season which means everything is under construction however we can stay at places for super cheap! We stayed at a very fancy resort for about 40 dollars a night. It would be about 150 dollars in high season. It was under construction but it was not a big deal. The greatest part is that there was only 3 of us at the resort. Us and an australian girl. For most "party goers" this would be a downer but clearly you all know us and appreciate our need of early nights and peace and quiet. We spent

two days doing pretty much what adam is doing in the picture. It was fantastic. We also spent time chatting with the australian. We did get off our butts and rent a scooter for one day and toured around the island. This was SO much fun! Adam drove the entire time and did a fantastic job. I think if we owned a scooter he would not always want to be a passenger and sleep. Anyway, it was a blast and the scenery was amazing.

Penang - Georgetown

After the Perhentian Islands Adam and I ventured acrosse the country back to the east coast to go to Penang. It is an island just off the coast of Malaysia and Georgetown is the city on the island. It is the most historical city in Malaysia. I think it may be the oldest, but am not too sure. We stayed there two nights and toured around all the little areas of town. We honestly ate our way through the town trying every Roti Canai possible. This is an indian type of fried bread served with a lentil curry. Sounds gross.....tastes amazing. You can actually get many kinds of Roti. My personal favorite was Roti Milo. Milo is like hot chocolate. It was decadant and obviously you don't eat this kind with the curry. Adam and I devoured many rotis and not one cost more than 30 cents. Anyway, we did take a break in the roti tour to go see a temple. It was very impressive. We did some shopping as well at the stales leading to the temple. We each got t-shirts for about 3 dollars. Great city.

Perhentian Islands

Adam and I spent a few days last week at the Perhentian islands. They are said to be some of the most beautiful beaches in all of south east asia. The trip to the islands took almost a day but it was worth it. There are two islands, a big one that is more expensive, and a smaller less expensive island. We choose the smaller island however we soon realized we are of the age to be at the more expensive places. The island itself was beautiful however we were the oldest there. There is nothing on them besides beach huts and little restaurants. We spend one day on a snorkling trip that was great. We actually got in the water with over a dozen sharks!!!! Don't fret, they were only reef sharks and were very afraid of us and only about 1 metre big. We also saw lots of fish and turtles. We went to a small fishing village for lunch. The area was incredible.

Cameron Highlands

The last few days Adam and I have been staying in the Cameron Highlands in the center of Malaysia. We did a tour around the area yesterday and went to some local farms including an insect and butterfly farm. This was Adam's favourite as he got to hold a gheko and our tour guide actually made him hold a scorpion and put one on his chest. I was slightly freaked out and thankfully did not have to hold anything. There also was a bunch of caged snakes which I did look at from a distance.
Today we did a jungle hike (very uphill and muddy......no snakes though). Unfortunately the view from the top was covered in cloud. After we walked along a road through tea plantations. We went to one of the factories and had a quick tour. Very interesting. We definately have had our share of tea in the Highlands!

Kuala Lumpur Malaysia

Adam and I spent last weekend in Kuala Lumpur. We ended up staying in a 5 star hotel (sort of by accident) and it was awesome! We had a perfect view of the Petronas towers (the picture is the view from our window at night). We also had a huge room and got a complimentary huge buffet breakfast every morning. Definately not our style of hotel but it was amazing. All for less than $150. (two nights/3days). We spent the days walking around the city and also got to go up the the walkway at the towers that was the 41st floor. The markets in KL were great too. Definately a great city.

Pictures of Mount Kinabalu, borneo and KL

walk

Click on this photo to see more pictures of our climb of Kinabalu and Borneo.