tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-64550909046291468852024-03-04T23:02:46.914-08:0050 Shades Of CrayBackpacking Adventures in Southeast AsiaAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16483461146368560535noreply@blogger.comBlogger44125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6455090904629146885.post-70322608682075292262013-04-25T04:28:00.001-07:002013-04-25T04:28:08.813-07:00A Phi Phi Island Wedding<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Beginning of February, 2013</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Phi Phi Island, Thailand</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">At the start of our trip we had the chance to pass through Phi Phi Island for a few short hours and were determined to go back before we left Thailand because it was the most beautiful place we'd ever seen. Luckily my friend Aimee from home decided to get married there at the end of January which gave us the perfect reason to go back!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Like usual, we didn't do much planning before heading to the island, so we weren't sure where the heck we were going to stay. We got a tip from someone on the ferry ride over that the cheapest/coolest place to go was the Viking Resort, and if we wanted to save $3 each we could walk there instead of paying for a long tail boat over, like most people did. He assured us it wouldn't take more than 15 minutes. Also like usual, that was a lie. About 45 minutes of hiking along the water on slippery rocks and up and down dirt hills through the jungle, WITH OUR BACKPACKS ON, we arrived at the Viking Resort. 2 very sweaty backpackers. </span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4vecPWZU7kyYkgAxpAzTtTh8svQFX1OBuBoBM8Y9niWI50-SQO7KNPWY-DO2gkC3MstBhHmInCGQrsGbTIITKCwusySjLvNHYAuzJLHG6ic3BL0OxuSJgm5V9K4GRMH_tS0A0asC8RvI/w438-h437-p-o-k/SAM_0322.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><img alt="Photo" border="0" class="tDMXke" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4vecPWZU7kyYkgAxpAzTtTh8svQFX1OBuBoBM8Y9niWI50-SQO7KNPWY-DO2gkC3MstBhHmInCGQrsGbTIITKCwusySjLvNHYAuzJLHG6ic3BL0OxuSJgm5V9K4GRMH_tS0A0asC8RvI/w438-h437-p-o-k/SAM_0322.JPG" style="height: 312px; margin-top: 0px; width: 313px;" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;">It always seems like a good idea at the beginning...</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">When we finally got to the resort we learned that they only had one room left. A bungalow with one small bed and a shared bathroom that was about a 10 minute walk away. Cool, we'll take it.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-bYbI27I0O8I/UVHq_QbnoGI/AAAAAAAAE88/vzJ_hUYQUvI/s437-p-o-k/SAM_0389.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><img alt="Photo" border="0" class="tDMXke" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-bYbI27I0O8I/UVHq_QbnoGI/AAAAAAAAE88/vzJ_hUYQUvI/s437-p-o-k/SAM_0389.JPG" style="height: 312px; margin-top: 0px; width: 312px;" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;">The front of our rustic bungalow</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;">View from the back</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Anyways, enough about our usual lodging and transportation mishaps. Let's talk about the important stuff. THE WEDDING! There´s no way I could do their amazing ceremony and reception justice by trying to recap the whole thing here, so I´m just going to share some of my favorite pictures from the night, of which I took about a million:</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>Favorite thing </b><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 16px;"><b>#1</b>: W</span>hile we were busy getting the bride ready for the ceremony a monkey came knocking on the door! I'm not joking. I'm pretty sure it was good luck.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><img alt="Photo" class="tDMXke" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCs-T2JKfcOVoBrLLSY9ehoeUE-Fvx0vc66QNc8FeYMaZ_IaNE0zjH5kMFlEjI6Ss_6JkTp9Fp3os4xoL1eAshv6vzouTSI_hBpUDvU7IxXKZtYTp2digzxTY1PG_VCfnV0xTse0J7H6E/s437-p-o-k/SAM_0413.JPG" style="height: 312px; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; margin-top: 0px; width: 312px;" /></span></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;">There was a knock at the door, so we went to check it out...</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-cMasDAzGjZc/UVHs0GtQWRI/AAAAAAAAE_4/FlFVt1tarps/w438-h437-p-o-k/SAM_0415.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><img alt="Photo" border="0" class="tDMXke" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-cMasDAzGjZc/UVHs0GtQWRI/AAAAAAAAE_4/FlFVt1tarps/w438-h437-p-o-k/SAM_0415.JPG" style="height: 312px; margin-top: 0px; width: 313px;" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Oh hello monkey! </span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>Favorite thing </b><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 16px;"><b>#2</b>: The bride arrived by tuktuk</span></span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-3ARtBh3LA9U/UVHtOU5vRDI/AAAAAAAAFAg/mxiLAJw9cF8/w438-h437-p-o-k/SAM_0425.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><img alt="Photo" border="0" class="tDMXke" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-3ARtBh3LA9U/UVHtOU5vRDI/AAAAAAAAFAg/mxiLAJw9cF8/w438-h437-p-o-k/SAM_0425.JPG" style="height: 312px; margin-top: 0px; width: 313px;" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Bigger than a normal tuk tuk, it was like their limo version!</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>Favorite things <span style="background-color: white; line-height: 16px;">#3 and </span></b><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 16px;"><b>#4 pictured here</b>: The AMAZINGLY gaudy hot pink and red asian-style wedding decor that the hotel staff put together....and the bride and groom drinking whiskey out of the "unity bucket" after their vows.</span></span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><img alt="Photo" class="tDMXke" src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-l5MLGpuz5Fk/UVHuCoSQGLI/AAAAAAAAFBw/DeRogSRcaq0/w438-h437-p-o-k/SAM_0436.JPG" style="height: 312px; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; margin-top: 0px; width: 313px;" /></span></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;">And favorite thing <span style="background-color: white; line-height: 16px; text-align: left;">#4.5: Their hilarious friend Andy did the greatest job officiating</span></span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>Favorite thing </b><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 16px;"><b>#5</b>: They are the cutest couple ever!</span></span><div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><img alt="Photo" class="tDMXke" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-ci4_09Oro7s/UVHwF7aVruI/AAAAAAAAFE4/UIrgo75b7nM/w438-h437-p-o-k/SAM_0469.JPG" style="height: 312px; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; margin-top: 0px; width: 313px;" /></span></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;">AND they´re extremely attractive</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>Favorite thing </b><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 16px;"><b>#6</b>: The bride, groom, and guests all sent off Thai lanterns together</span></span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-kO7k5m9-s5k/UVHyhe2jcHI/AAAAAAAAFIo/bSVGLRJeoBg/w438-h437-p-o-k/SAM_0507.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; display: inline !important; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><img alt="Photo" border="0" class="tDMXke" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-kO7k5m9-s5k/UVHyhe2jcHI/AAAAAAAAFIo/bSVGLRJeoBg/w438-h437-p-o-k/SAM_0507.JPG" style="height: 312px; margin-top: 0px; width: 313px;" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Love this</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-CnbaaDg1XQY/UVHyS3O5ruI/AAAAAAAAFIQ/gn0ZF35W8jU/s437-p-o-k/SAM_0502.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><img alt="Photo" border="0" class="tDMXke" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-CnbaaDg1XQY/UVHyS3O5ruI/AAAAAAAAFIQ/gn0ZF35W8jU/s437-p-o-k/SAM_0502.JPG" style="height: 312px; margin-top: 0px; width: 312px;" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;">My wedding date with our lantern</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>Favorite thing </b><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 16px;"><b>#7</b>: Still can´t believe I got to celebrate this girl´s wedding with her all the way across the world! So happy.</span></span></div>
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<a href="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-2A3SxEX2_Ms/UVHzyGTMlAI/AAAAAAAAFKg/RBqU-gQrAy8/w438-h437-p-o-k/SAM_0525.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><img alt="Photo" border="0" class="tDMXke" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-2A3SxEX2_Ms/UVHzyGTMlAI/AAAAAAAAFKg/RBqU-gQrAy8/w438-h437-p-o-k/SAM_0525.JPG" style="height: 312px; margin-top: 0px; width: 313px;" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>Favorite thing </b><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 16px;"><b>#8</b>: I had the hottest date in town! </span></span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><img alt="Photo" class="tDMXke" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2OI6R7uQxqnLbkR7tZotzqwa7jCShcjw3fpsAmQQb7vYmSjz_dWpB5z8i69hKwWkhKVnD3mdJgrn9zydwUDFYJOTPWrQEnxDv9kg0QwDHGs4RHym-dPX4pvtjoDMg03r3i5-bJTdIyk0/s437-p-o-k/SAM_0534.JPG" style="height: 312px; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; margin-top: 0px; width: 312px;" /></span></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">This lighting makes us look party animals even though we´re far from it</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />Thanks for letting us celebrate with you guys, Aimee and Mikey! I think your thai wedding guests said it best.."the bride was very beautiful and the groom was very handsome". :)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Love,</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Ashley</span><br />
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16483461146368560535noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6455090904629146885.post-64560746663057643952013-03-31T09:53:00.000-07:002013-03-31T09:53:48.631-07:00Rags to RichesSome of the best memories of the trip have been the transportation adventures in Asia.... it is definitely cray. The best/worst travel trip was on a slave boat from Koh Tao to Phuket. It involved an eight hour overnight ferry that looked like this:<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Super cozy, right?</td></tr>
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Those are Asian sized mattresses, somewhere between a twin and a full, lined up side by side down the length of an old retired fishing boat. If you aren't traveling in an even numbered group then you are sharing a mattress with a stranger. Not that it matters because there is zero space between the mattresses anyway. Once the boat is loaded they give you about 15 minutes to exchange bewildered looks with your fellow inmates and pop some $1 Thai valium. Then it's lights out and everyone lays down like sardines and pretends to sleep under the flickering prison-style light bulbs for the next eight hours.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-h9t_XC1bHCc/UVHcMv6UupI/AAAAAAAAEmY/EkIeReQAqMM/w374-h372-p-o-k/SAM_0116.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="Photo" border="0" class="tDMXke" src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-h9t_XC1bHCc/UVHcMv6UupI/AAAAAAAAEmY/EkIeReQAqMM/w374-h372-p-o-k/SAM_0116.JPG" style="height: 266px; margin-top: 0px; width: 267px;" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Don't we look so well rested?</td></tr>
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You can imagine how tired we were when we got off the boat but the journey was only half over at this point. We were crammed into tuk tuks and taken to a NASTY looking convenience store, inappropriately named Holiday, with dead cockroaches on the floor, ants crawling all over the walls and an unclean squat toilet with no soap or toilet paper which the owner had the audacity to charge us to use. After two hours at this place, we were ushered to two more convenience stores to spend our money before we finally got to board a bus to Phuket.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDTIF18a9lZ6eVS3RRcxAYXmMY42Y4QTXJuKn04jb9XNBDmjCR3Ejm9ukwQNf24BqCtblAso0QSGzsyqIsuPQA99V4h0MYThpuCnsRiZMUQ9GcSscEbEM6Bp1B7MDdjOC6PWtv8Y4vzAQ/w374-h372-p-o-k/SAM_0134.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="Photo" border="0" class="tDMXke" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDTIF18a9lZ6eVS3RRcxAYXmMY42Y4QTXJuKn04jb9XNBDmjCR3Ejm9ukwQNf24BqCtblAso0QSGzsyqIsuPQA99V4h0MYThpuCnsRiZMUQ9GcSscEbEM6Bp1B7MDdjOC6PWtv8Y4vzAQ/w374-h372-p-o-k/SAM_0134.JPG" style="height: 266px; margin-top: 0px; width: 267px;" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Is this journey ever going to be over so Ashley will stop taking pictures of us??</td></tr>
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The plus side of Thai transportation is that if your destination isn't too far off the normal route the driver will usually drop your off. So we were dropped off on the side of the highway and ran across to paradise- THE MARRIOTT!!<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-gZ2yNrsdD24/UVHdd5XnT2I/AAAAAAAAEoM/cCi_2ZT1XOY/w374-h372-p-o-k/SAM_0141.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="Photo" border="0" class="tDMXke" src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-gZ2yNrsdD24/UVHdd5XnT2I/AAAAAAAAEoM/cCi_2ZT1XOY/w374-h372-p-o-k/SAM_0141.JPG" style="height: 266px; margin-top: 0px; width: 267px;" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Getting ready to run across the highway.</td></tr>
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pKimb graciously used her Marriott points to book us a night in a $600, two bedroom suite at the Phuket Marriott and ohhh did we take advantage of every minute there. First off, they greeted us with leis and fresh watermelon juice. And they didn't even seem to care we were dressed in dirty rags with disheveled hair.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Finally feeling human again.</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Our honeymoon pic. We decided a three wives marriage might be pretty perfect.</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Can you guess which side is mine and which is Ashley's?</td></tr>
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Even though all we wanted to do was pass out for 24 hours, we couldn't waste any time sleeping. This place was FANCY and we didn't even have to sneak in. They have a baby elephant that plays by the pool! We spent most of the day playing with him, playing in the pool and taking veggie carving classes.</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img alt="Photo" class="tDMXke" src="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-mTRJPoynb_8/UR6Am-MDXWI/AAAAAAAABPs/K2fnQfuHA2E/w297-h395-p-o-k/J2560x1920-17.jpg" style="height: 282px; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; margin-top: 0px; width: 212px;" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Ash and pKimb shooting some hoops after stealing the ball from a little Chinese kid.</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">We were able to communicate with this elephant thanks to our <a href="http://50shadesofcray.blogspot.com/2013/01/sliding-down-elephants-face-that-wasnt.html" target="_blank">Mahout training</a>.</td></tr>
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Apparently the Marriott has a private beach because when we went to watch the sunset, there were only four other people on the entire beach. Heavenly.</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Ashley swimming under the sunset.</td></tr>
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pKimb, thank you, thank you, thank you!!!! The trip has not been the same since you left :( We love you and miss you in the weird way.</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Our third wife. </td></tr>
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-Kim</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16483461146368560535noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6455090904629146885.post-30875188972799209952013-03-28T01:38:00.000-07:002013-03-28T01:38:24.664-07:00The worst transportation experience of our trip- and a hilarious email exchange<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
After Koh Tao we decided to take an overnight ferry to Phuket. Let's just say I would have rather been biking and kayaking in Laos.</div>
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Here's the email Pkimb sent our friend Isaac about our horrific overnight ferry experience. </span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>From: Pkimb</b></span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit;">We just slept here...</span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Overnight Ferry Prison for Backpackers</td></tr>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3Hxc8iSJHWXxOei87wfId4WEG7hVt91DL16VYt4SGC5Nt_ngRBW4Oi5RTruM1if603ydVy5IS1xrEfkG0JWV0AecN7f6DHiOJZLR9uQ9d0e712nar2nkYAqI4h59tIc4pY2E1tr3dZ6Q/s1600/2013-03-02.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="color: black; font-family: inherit;"></span></a></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">And now we feel like this...</span></span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Am I really posting this picture??</td></tr>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjZ1QYvHZ9CEFgo4DJEEtvQlIMTsbyexckBPU5RjZNkijWiFcYbQt0r6UfIdvo-LHKMELq6jWD84G17U1nzThGSAPHRzfTMBnNtBsTOrvI-Ekx2r5Z3Xg5LF3g7sZ1tZ53rJrzGniMF1s/s1600/2013-03-02+(1).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="color: black; font-family: inherit;"></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /><b>From: Isaac</b><br /><span style="background-color: white;">Question: have you been sold into the sex trade, and that’s the cattle car they use to smuggle you across borders? Regardless, I’ve created a “Free Ashley & Kim² From the Thai Sex Trade” donation/charity on Facebook. You’re welcome.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white;"><br /></span><span style="background-color: white;"><b>From: Kim M</b></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white;">I think being sex slaves would be better. Let's put it this way...I slept 15 minutes on that boat and had a dream I was in a plane crash. Yes I said dream not nightmare...you be the judge.</span></span><br />
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Just had to share this. It was actually worse than the "after" picture shows, if that's possible.<br />
Love,<br />
Ashley</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16483461146368560535noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6455090904629146885.post-56274681311620137252013-03-26T07:40:00.001-07:002013-03-26T07:40:46.425-07:00Koh Tao Recap<br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Koh Tao, Thailand</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">After a few days living it up on Koh Chang, we headed to Koh Tao for some more island fun. As you know from Kim's post, <a href="http://50shadesofcray.blogspot.com/2013/01/tragedy-in-paradise.html" target="_blank">Tragedy in Paradise</a>, this is where I lost my iphone/3,000 unsaved pictures/only wifi device/heart&soul. I still have nightmares about it slipping out of my hand, over the railing, and into the water. It had been such a happy day! Out on our first ever fishing expedition, ready to catch some giant barracuda, happy happy happy.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">And then plonk. Into the ocean. ALL THE MEMORIES. Ok sorry I'm getting emo over here. Back to Koh Tao. Maybe I'll just bullet point it.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">1. It was insanely beautiful.</span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><img alt="Photo" class="tDMXke" src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-yD5CEiFRsew/UR530kz_VCI/AAAAAAAAA_8/OFoYrY1G4BE/w564-h423-p-o-k/J1440x1080-619.jpg" style="cursor: move; height: 302px; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; margin-top: 0px; width: 403px;" /></span></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13px; padding-top: 4px; text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">This picture doesn't even do it justice</span></td></tr>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />2. We happened to be there at the same time as the Full Moon Party was going on just an hour boat ride away on Koh Phangan. Sounds like an easy jaunt over there to partake in one of the biggest parties in the world, right? And YOLO, right?? I know, but there were some important details we had to consider. There was the fact that we had just arrived that morning after a horrific 9 hour overnight train ride from Bangkok and were worried we were too exhausted to party all night long that same night. Or the fact that not only would we have had to party all night long, we literally would have had to leave at 4pm on a boat to the Full Moon Party to only return back to our hotel/island at 10am the next morning, essentially forcing us to be awake and partying from about 7pm until 9am the next day, without anywhere to sleep or rest or hide from the craziness. Also, we were scared we might lose all our things, or lose each other, or get drugged, or have one of us get so drunk we'd have to leave them in a place called the "no rape zone" we heard about, or have one of those people who carry around big sn@kes and put them around your neck so you can pay them to pose for a picture approach me- and then I would have died, and so ultimately, it just didn't seem like a good idea. The next day we saw the people who did decide to take the boat over to the full moon party and we were SUPER happy we didn't go. </span></div>
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<a href="http://t2.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQY7mWf0mua68VvTfBE2zmLvkPEHWCfd18Dv6WPUylczLubl7kR" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><img border="0" class="rg_i" data-src="http://t2.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQY7mWf0mua68VvTfBE2zmLvkPEHWCfd18Dv6WPUylczLubl7kR" data-sz="f" name="Sj0uzIq-AEPvDM:" src="http://t2.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQY7mWf0mua68VvTfBE2zmLvkPEHWCfd18Dv6WPUylczLubl7kR" style="cursor: move; height: 171px; margin-top: 0px; width: 228px;" /></span></a></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Yes, I know. This probably would have been me if we had gone...</span></td></tr>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">3. Kim and Pkimb talked me into taking a hike in the million degree heat over to some place called Banana Beach where I was supposed to be able to swim out to some amazing old bar in the middle of the water and enjoy the sunset. When we got there a million hours later, super sweaty ready to swim we found out that there was no bar in the middle of the ocean to swim to, and the beach and water were COVERED in giant banana slugs (hence the name) so we didn't even get to swim really. There was at least a cool looking rickety old bar on the beach that we got to go to, which was fun until we thought we made a new Thai friend who actually turned out to be a drug dealer and stopped talking to us the second we told him we weren't interested in any opium. </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">4. Pkimb got her first Thai oil massage on our last day on the island, which was one of the best massage places we had been to, except for the fact that Pkimb, the first timer, got stuck on the bed closest to the front window/doors of the shop and, while Kim K and I were back behind our privacy curtains enjoying our massages, Pkimb had to strip down in the front of the massage parlor, without a curtain, rushing to get under the skimpy little sheet they give you. This was probably funnier to us than it was to Pkimb. :)</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">All of this takes us to our last day on Koh Tao. The day before the worst day/night of transportation of our entire trip. </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Love,</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Ashley</span></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16483461146368560535noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6455090904629146885.post-63684679035859095352013-03-26T07:21:00.001-07:002013-03-26T07:21:39.612-07:00Meet Pkimb<i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">This all happened about 2 months ago....we're a LITTLE behind... but this blog is our journal and we don't want to leave too much out, so let's just pretend it's still the end of January and we're still in Asia for a bit, k? K.</span></i><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>A quick backstory:</b> After spending time in Laos with our 13 new friends, Kim and I headed out on a flight to Bangkok to meet up with our lovely friend Kim M (we'll call her by her asian name, Pkimb, for the purpose of this blog) from home who was flying in to spend 10 days with us in Thailand. </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The good: We got to see Kim!! I mean- Pkimb.</span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><img alt="Photo" class="tDMXke" height="300" src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-VYRitwDbnb8/UR55NFCNuJI/AAAAAAAABCc/Blbh0IcaTrE/w302-h227-p-o-k/J1440x1080-697.jpg" style="height: 162px; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; margin-top: 0px; width: 216px;" width="400" /></span></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;">HI KIM WE MISS YOU!!!</span></td></tr>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The bad: Kim K came down with a very nasty case of something very nasty. </span></div>
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" 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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;">A tiny Asian version of Kim </span></td></tr>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I had been really sick with the same thing the day before so I can say with complete understanding- it was bad. When we arrived in Bangkok to meet Pkimb at the airport, it was pretty obvious Kim K wasn't going anywhere except the bathroom. The only problem with this was that the 3 of us we were supposed to be getting directly on a 7 hour bus/ferry ride to the island of Koh Chang. After a few seconds of trying to figure out what we should do, Kim K noticed a sign for an airport hotel and was like guys- you go ahead I'll meet you tomorrow- and ran off to go puke her brains out. </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Fast forward a day or so and the three of us are sitting pretty on a beach in Koh Chang together. It was so amazing having Pkimb with us. She's the most hilarious, easygoing, up-for-anything travel partner you could ask for and there are way too many stories that happened while we were traveling with her to share here, so I'll just pick a few of my favorites over the next couple of posts.</span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Pretending to fit in at the fanciest hotel on Koh Chang</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Enjoying all the hotel had to offer</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;">One of the most beautiful beaches I've ever seen</span></td></tr>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">To start- there was the time (or 7) we snuck into the fancy hotel in Koh Chang next to our budget (gecko-infested, cement bed, situated next to a night club) hostel. We spent the day swimming in their infinity pool, playing darts by the ocean, and buying rum and cokes like they were going out of style so that the waiter didn't kick us out. We then snuck back to the fancy hotel's beach area that night to enjoy the cocktails and the ocean view from their cozy beach chairs. About 20 minutes into our private cocktail hour, their security guard started walking around the beach with a flashlight looking for trespassers. (Us.) We didn't really have anywhere to hide and we didn't know what to do so we just got really quiet and sat perfectly still, which worked fine until he shone his flashlight in our faces. And then. He walked away. I know I'm not explaining how funny this was very well and it's probably one of those I guess you had to be there moments, but it really was hilarious and we could not stop laughing. We were sitting there, giant cocktails in hand, at the fanciest resort on the island and we were apparently invisible. After the security guard left we just kept laughing saying... if he's not looking for us...what IS he looking for? </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The next night we had a similar we-must-be-invisible experience when we decided we wanted one of the fruit shake vendor guys on the street to mix our favorite cocktail for us for the price of just a fruit shake ($1). All it took was buying our own bottle of vodka, bottle of baileys, and ordering a banana shake. As he started pouring all of the ingredients into the blender for the fruit shake, I leaned over and started pouring in our vodka and Baileys. <i>Don't mind me. Just adding a little something extra. Nothing to see here. </i> He literally did not look up, threw the lid on, and started mixing our shake. Have I mentioned how much I love Thailand??</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Love,</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Ashley</span><br />
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16483461146368560535noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6455090904629146885.post-45584791026864874642013-03-10T01:44:00.001-08:002013-03-10T01:44:55.179-08:0013 Reasons Not To Travel With 13 PeopleHannah and Neil messaged us before they got to Luang Prabang asking us to book a room for them and two other friends they had picked up on the way. We booked the rooms, made them a welcome sign, and headed down to the river to pick them up from their two day longboat journey.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_SSUVzEBbd-IF4n5viqx31m01Z-yYYZ2GCse_Ylc5UVqN3lL_Z4yY6uYfJnolglibOtjQ2QITsS2CBd3N_qd0ceGA1sIUaTOArgI5NtZIYXH7E-xomO_K7q1SgveEzc7XDu5I38tVNZQ/s1600/welcome.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_SSUVzEBbd-IF4n5viqx31m01Z-yYYZ2GCse_Ylc5UVqN3lL_Z4yY6uYfJnolglibOtjQ2QITsS2CBd3N_qd0ceGA1sIUaTOArgI5NtZIYXH7E-xomO_K7q1SgveEzc7XDu5I38tVNZQ/s1600/welcome.jpg" height="239" width="320" /></a></div>
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About 15 longboats were all pulling in at the same time and we weren't sure which one they were on until the loud party boat appeared. We heard a group of people singing "Na, na, na, na...GOODBYE" and knew without a doubt that Hannah and Neil were on that boat and had something to do with the singing. Turns out Hannah and Neil made a lot more than two friends since we spoke earlier that morning and the next thing we knew, we had a group of 13. </div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhf0e-XTvwca9P0BPxAx-WtSis8wbBUVQpTCkme0UZzKqZ7661yM-x8v58iCHQ1-knVI50jgZ7biq0eSqRLtj3yE_J8x-EBBFKQRy1DKeAQd1gs6R9jkszGAw4Wxk_rtbCzUhtkGMawryM/s1600/boats.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhf0e-XTvwca9P0BPxAx-WtSis8wbBUVQpTCkme0UZzKqZ7661yM-x8v58iCHQ1-knVI50jgZ7biq0eSqRLtj3yE_J8x-EBBFKQRy1DKeAQd1gs6R9jkszGAw4Wxk_rtbCzUhtkGMawryM/s1600/boats.jpg" height="239" width="320" /></a></div>
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And here are 13 reasons why you should not travel with 13 people.</div>
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<b>1. You can't get enough rooms for everyone in one guest house. </b> Everyone starts frantically running around town with their 15 kg backpacks on trying to find rooms near each other and inevitably, two guys will have to share a double bed. No judgement.</div>
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<b>2. Going anywhere takes forever.</b> Because everyone is split between four different guest houses, you have to pick a meeting place and hope that everyone shows up near the agreed upon time. There will always be hangovers and French people working against you (we love you, Chloe!) so you end up waiting quite awhile until everyone shows up.</div>
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<b>3. Everyone has different bargaining techniques. </b>This also makes getting anywhere a very time consuming process. Unless you want to get ripped off, you have to bargain for everything in SE Asia. It's a way a life, even the locals bargain. 13 people huddled around a tuk tuk driver, all trying to negotiate the best rate is quite amusing. I chose to step back and watch because my bargaining technique usually ends up in us paying more than the driver originally requested. Some people act offend, one girl going as far as to say "I'd rather be raped that pay that price" ($3/person). Some people act indifferent and walk away, knowing the tuk tuk driver will eventually follow them down the street and agree to a lower price. With all these different methods going on at the same time, you can imagine it takes awhile until everyone, including the driver, can agree on a fair price.</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFDODekhRLrCNUj20As0Fye6ehVrmnh9fr5iG2bsq5lGfgvezDr1l-cbpeP0impve3SooxdXjrF-CEbO1Hi7uGaA74zyj64nImDbY2UQvamihh5hUS5oZV8cKIzNFWBb5lDQjDX2zw2JQ/s1600/kuang+si.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFDODekhRLrCNUj20As0Fye6ehVrmnh9fr5iG2bsq5lGfgvezDr1l-cbpeP0impve3SooxdXjrF-CEbO1Hi7uGaA74zyj64nImDbY2UQvamihh5hUS5oZV8cKIzNFWBb5lDQjDX2zw2JQ/s1600/kuang+si.jpg" height="239" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Kuang Si waterfalls is the most beautiful place we went in Asia and my camera died when we got there. Do yourself a favor and google it.</td></tr>
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<b>4. 13 people can't technically fit in one tuk tuk. </b>But as we've mentioned before, "Safety Standards" doesn't translate into Lao so you just hang a few people off the back.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSHDE1oGYBVhX2rjOQtEjD2sdvNNimDHnbSWUEZJN2UeRp8sYQIdDudkUR5AH2RbFN1pfBJnNJaE99aMSDtIEl6VV_Fq0-DmlUocbf_lsG_nrvRQp5_OlQ-Y94FfsfDbNEEQCHlCTu_OQ/s1600/tuktuk.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSHDE1oGYBVhX2rjOQtEjD2sdvNNimDHnbSWUEZJN2UeRp8sYQIdDudkUR5AH2RbFN1pfBJnNJaE99aMSDtIEl6VV_Fq0-DmlUocbf_lsG_nrvRQp5_OlQ-Y94FfsfDbNEEQCHlCTu_OQ/s1600/tuktuk.jpg" height="239" width="320" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGyVVcnvFXnSh4B4JDUFGTI7RR1VCqRSgj5IGsuw873waibeIJhp0f8ELgozofbqI9Zqezq6g3Nxw_vHnBWI1vWO3R_EoxcnX4bhahFOKDovcRQPPUwSaCAC5A43Gka6cVQfEEg6fmsZY/s1600/hanging.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGyVVcnvFXnSh4B4JDUFGTI7RR1VCqRSgj5IGsuw873waibeIJhp0f8ELgozofbqI9Zqezq6g3Nxw_vHnBWI1vWO3R_EoxcnX4bhahFOKDovcRQPPUwSaCAC5A43Gka6cVQfEEg6fmsZY/s1600/hanging.jpg" height="320" width="240" /></a></div>
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<b>5. It's nearly impossible to find a table big enough for 13 people. </b>I quite enjoy sitting in people's laps now.<br />
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<b>6. Food takes forever to come out. </b>Half the group will be done eating and have paid before the other half gets their food. And someone's order always gets lost in the hustle and bustle. </div>
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<b>7. Much to Ashley's dismay, everyone talks about poo and their stomach troubles at dinner. </b>Ashley here- <span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: red;">Who talks about their deepest darkest poo secrets with their brand new group of friends... WHILE THEY ARE EATING? Everyone. Why though? Why do we have to know that you haven't had a normal poo since the day you arrived in Asia? We're in Asia too. WE KNOW. Keep it to yourself.</span></span><br />
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<b>8. Everyone has a travel horror story to tell.</b> At the end of Round Robin Horror Stories with 13 people, all you want to do is lock yourself in your hotel room and not eat or drink anything until you can hop on the first flight back home. Restaurants in India will purposefully poison your food because they get a cut of medication sales from the pharmacy around the corner?? In Cambodia they reuse plastic bottles and fill them with unsafe tap water and resell them?? People hide in the luggage compartment of the buses and steal your stuff?? This last one actually happened to Ashley and she had to cancel her credit card after she noticed a $300 purchase at Adidas and realized her card was missing.<br />
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<b>9. Jenga isn't as fun. </b>Ash and I are a little competitive when it comes to games. Everyone reading this has probably lost a few games of Cranium or Scattergories to us. The game of choice in SE Asia is Jenga. We mastered this game pretty fast, building towers so high that it would be structurally impossible to add any additional levels. We had to start playing No Hands Jenga where you use your nose, tongue or toes, because regular Jenga became too easy. Throw in 13 players and all the fun of Jenga is lost. There is always someone half invested who insists on playing. They start talking to their neighbor and don't pay attention which means you have to wait forever for it to be your turn. When you finally do catch their attention , they put zero effort into calmly and strategically removing pieces. They will either take out the base piece holding the whole tower up or remove a piece all willy nilly causing the tower to fall. So you only get one, maybe two turns before the tower falls even though it has potential to grow much taller. You can imagine how irksome this is for us.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicm7IljqWDVOMcVQn0RVO9gttsfMmxp76-RsoMQm12tc88i-FhmhYvFRRMgHXDYjX1PuZ1w60qC6HQH6-kwJmIskI9mess_2gbtJ9b5uKfN7FI1w_wXSHNxG9_YMqrwMarE9U8eoX6Cjc/s1600/jenga.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicm7IljqWDVOMcVQn0RVO9gttsfMmxp76-RsoMQm12tc88i-FhmhYvFRRMgHXDYjX1PuZ1w60qC6HQH6-kwJmIskI9mess_2gbtJ9b5uKfN7FI1w_wXSHNxG9_YMqrwMarE9U8eoX6Cjc/s1600/jenga.jpg" height="320" width="239" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">30 rows.</td></tr>
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<b>10. Someone always ruins a picture.</b><br />
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<b>11. There are lots of people that can post ugly pictures of you on Facebook. </b>Back when Facebook was in its prime, we had to send an email to our girlfriends, imploring them not to post ugly pictures of us on Facebook We are single girls trying to meet our husbands. Posting ugly pictures of us on the internet is not helping our cause. Unfortunately there is no way to police this with so many new friends taking pictures of you.</div>
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<b>12. When one person gets sick, everyone gets sick. </b>And it hit me 10 minutes before boarding a flight to Bangkok. I ran to the bathroom eight times on a two hour flight. Fortunately I had the foresight to take my airsick bag with me because I wasn't able to make it to a bathroom in time when we got off the plane.<br />
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<b>13. So many people to say goodbye to :( </b>Even though it can be annoying to travel with 13 people, it's definitely fun to make so many new friends. We've learned a lot of new games and dance moves, have done things we wouldn't have done had we been traveling alone, picked up useful travel tips and laughed a lot. Despite only spending a few days with people, it's always sad to have to say goodbye. </div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Steven dancing and jazz handing for a spork.</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Group hike to watch the sunset.</td></tr>
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-Kim<br />
<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16483461146368560535noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6455090904629146885.post-49963979540708696332013-02-15T14:28:00.002-08:002013-03-26T07:45:02.490-07:0050 Shades of Orange -OR- That Time I Fed Bananas to the Monks<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">January 18th, 2013</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Ashley here</span><br />
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One of the coolest things about Luang Prabang, Laos is being able to see all the monks walking around town. There's actually a sign up in the main market area that I saw that says something like-<i> 'You're probably really curious about our monks! People are always asking...where are they going and what are they doing all the time when they're walking around? The answer is- they're doing the same things as you! They're going to school or going to see their family or getting some exercise. They're normal people just like you!'</i> Uhhhh yeah, normal people except for the fact that every morning at 5am they walk through the streets in lines and collect their one and only meal of the day from old ladies and random people on the street who go out and feed them every morning. Totally normal. </span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">All pictures courtesy of the internet. Picture me squatting next to that girl with a few bunches of bananas on my lap.</span></td></tr>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">A tiny bit of background: There are at least 30 Buddhist temples (wats) in Luang Prabang and real-life-shaved-headed orange clad monks live in all of them (I think). Every time we would hear someone talking about the monks, it seemed like they were trying to one-up the last person we heard talking about them with their description of their orange robes. From poppy to pumpkin, turmeric to tangerine, marigold to saffron. It was like everyone was practicing for their next poetry slam. </span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">More like 50 shades of hungry. HOW DO THEY SURVIVE ON ONE MEAL A DAY???</span></td></tr>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Anyways I feel like this is going to get really long so let me at least try to cut to the point. We heard that you could get up at the crack of dawn and join the buddhists in feeding the monks, and Kim was kind of like ehhhh that sounds really cool and we should definitely do it, but I think I'd rather just watch. And I was kind of like 5 in the morning? That sounds horrific but I really want to feed some monks so fine ok let's do it. The next day at 5 in the pitch black morning we got up and started walking to the main street in town to figure out how I could take part in this cool tradition. I'd done some research the day before online and read that people usually fed the monks rice (oops left our rice cookers at home) or sometimes bananas, and so we went in search of a good deal on bananas at the local fruit and veggie street market. I got a few bunches of them and we headed out to the street to get situated and wait for the monks to come. </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Once we saw the old ladies sitting on their stools with their big bowls full of rice, I started getting nervous. I didn't have a stool, I didn't know what to expect, and it seemed like the internet had lied to me about the bananas, because no one else had any. I stood around with Kim for a bit trying to figure out where I should squat and what was going to happen, and then we saw the first line of monks start walking down the street and I just plonked myself down next to a row of old ladies, set my bananas on my lap, and tried to copy what the ladies on my left were doing. It was going fine for the first 9 or so monks, but then I realized I was running out of bananas and there were still about a million more monks coming down the line. At about monk number 16 I was out. Then I didn't know what to do. I just stared down at the ground and waited for this first line of monks to pass, then ran across the street to Kim who was standing watching, taking it all in like a normal person. </span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I felt like they were probably going..."rice, rice, rice, rice, rice, banana? rice, rice rice." Luckily they're monks so they didn't make fun of me.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">After my few minutes of getting to at least attempt to partake in this awesome tradition, I stood with Kim and we watched row after row of monks get their food for the day. Everyone involved was completely silent and the sun started to come up and it really was an amazing sight to see. </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Ashley</span></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16483461146368560535noreply@blogger.com41tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6455090904629146885.post-89227949848981116152013-02-08T00:46:00.000-08:002013-02-08T00:46:43.748-08:00If Anyone Tells Us This Was a Character Building Experience...January 17, 2013<br />
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Ashley is too angry to write this post but she has plenty to say so I will add her commentary in red, which accurately reflects her mood, as she reads over my shoulder. <span style="color: red;">Hi guys. Ashley here.</span><br />
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We decided to stay in Luang Prabang an extra 4 days so we could meet up with Hannah and Neil. We figured since we were staying longer we should do a tour before they got here. My bad habits must be rubbing off on Ashley because we signed up for a day long biking/kayaking tour without really thinking it through first. We woke up early to join the one other participant and our "guide" <span style="color: red;">-in the sense he told us what to do then took off at light speed without ever looking back to see if we were still behind him.</span> <span style="color: red;"> </span><br />
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Mistake #1. We assumed this would be a leisurely bike ride through town and some light kayaking since no one bothered to ask us our skill level. We also believed the agent when she said the roads would be flat. <span style="color: red;">Mistake #1. Not asking for our money back the second our guide (who BARELY spoke English) tried to get us on a bike built for Shaquille O'Neil. It was literally made for a giant person and he was pointing at it trying to get me to start riding it and I was like ummm sir, this bike is WAY TOO BIG. I can't even get my leg over the top. And he was just shaking his head trying to shove me onto the bike and I was like DO YOU MAYBE HAVE ONE FOR NORMAL SIZED HUMANS??? And he ended up having to borrow bikes from the rental place across the street because apparently he usually only gives bike tours to Sasquatch and The Rock.</span><br />
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Mistake #2. I am probably the only woman dumb enough to show up for a bike excursion without a sports bra. The fact that our bike had shock absorbers should have sent me running back to the hotel room to get one. <span style="color: red;">This wasn't a problem for me a) because I was wearing one and b) because I don't really need one. </span><br />
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The first 30 minutes were a pretty <span style="color: red;">scary</span> ride through town, dodging motorbikes and tuk tuks, up into the quiet suburbs with locals and dogs meandering the streets. Then the flat, paved road ended and turned into hills covered in big gravel that sounded like popcorn popping and slowed us down to about 1 MPH because we thought for sure our front wheels were going to go spinning out of control at any second. Our guide and Clive, the other <span style="color: red;">extremely annoying and awkward</span> gentleman on the tour, would bike ahead, stop and wait for us, then take off as soon as they saw us, repeating this the whole way. The only time they waited was when my chain came off and it was Clive, not our guide, who assisted. <br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The flattest, most scenic part of the journey.</td></tr>
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We managed to survive the Gravel Hill Of Death and turned onto a dirt road which we soon learned was under construction as huge bulldozers and tractors went speeding past us. This part of the journey would have been a lot more enjoyable if it was a true country road, quiet and surrounded by trees and hills. Instead we were surrounded by the jarring sound of jack hammers, the beeping of forklifts backing up and potentially pretty views that were clouded over with a dusty haze. <span style="color: red;"> GUYS YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND. It was like trying to go for a leisurely bike ride through a monster truck race track while all the trucks on there were trying to run you over and you barely had enough energy to keep pedaling up and down the rocky gravely hills, let alone to dodge tractors and semi trucks filled with rocks and dirt that blew in your eyes. </span><br />
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We kept going <span style="color: red;">and going and going and going </span>until we reached the turn off to meet up with the main road again. Sometime between the last tour and our tour, the construction team had dug a deep ravine separating our path from where we needed to go. So through the ravine it was. <span style="color: red;">Here's where I 100% almost lost it. Are you picturing this yet? After hours of riding up and down an awful dirt and gravel road dodging construction vehicles, thinking we must ALMOST be at this river ready to get in the kayaks, the road ends. And we're looking at a giant ravine filled with quicksand and nasty water. And our guide can't find a way around it so he decides we have to go through it. THIS WASN'T IN THE BROCHURE. </span><br />
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The guide and Clive made it through without many mishaps and then it was my turn. I slowly walked my bike down the steep hill to the muddy, cloudy, nasty looking river that had been created. I pushed my bike over to the other side and then hopped across the river only to sink mid-shin deep in mud. I quickly started to climb out but the mud was pulling me down like quicksand. With a loud slurp I managed to pull my foot out while my flip flop (Mistake #3) was sucked down into the muddy abyss. Determined not to lose a second pair of flip flops only 6 weeks into the trip I grabbed a rock and started digging. <span style="color: red;">And I grabbed my camera and started taking pictures since I was still on the other side of the ravine holding my bike trying to figure out how the hell I was going to get across without dying. This I have to admit was simultaneously the most insane part of the trip and the most hilarious for me because the three of them were over there sinking in quicksand, digging around trying to find Kim's other Croc (yes Laura, Croc!) and I was high and dry on the other side trying to capture the moment on my iPhone. </span><span style="color: blue;">RIP iPhone. :(</span><br />
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Meanwhile Ashley was still on the other side of the river in a state of shock. Our guide decided to be helpful for the first time and picked up the biggest rock his small frame could support and threw it in the river trying to make a path for Ashley to cross, which resulted in him splashing her with a ton of disgusting water. <span style="color: red;">(Here's where it immediately stopped being hilarious for me.) </span> Before she had time to react, he threw a second rock sending a second wave of nasty water all over her. <span style="color: red;">I almost threw the bike down and tackled him into the ravine because I was so furious but then I realized I would be even dirtier and oh god it was just so terrible, I'm angry thinking about it again.</span><br />
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By the time Ashley made it across I had given up on finding my shoe. The guide gave a half-hearted effort at digging and then he also gave up. Our situation had gone from bad to worse as I wasn't sure how I was going to continue with only 1 shoe.<span style="color: red;"> </span>And then the nearby backhoe started speeding down the hill, apparently tired of waiting for us. As we scrambled out of his way he dug up a huge pile of mud, threw it against the hill and there was my flip flop, tumbling out of the mess. <span style="color: red;">Ok wait, again, is everyone picturing this accurately? We're all standing around in the mud trying to find the shoe and trying not to sink into the quicksand, and out of nowhere the giant bulldozer thing with the scooper thing at the front starts coming at us and we start scrambling out of the way trying not to get run over, getting muddier and muddier with each step, and then it turns out he's actually trying to help. THE BULLDOZER SAVED THE DAY. And I had pictures of it! But now I don't. </span><br />
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Onward we went to the river. Our guide asked if we wanted helmets <span style="color: red;">FOR KAYAKING NOT FOR BIKE RIDING, thanks guy, </span>and the following conversation occurred.<br />
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Me: "Do we need helmets?"<br />
Guide: "Only if you capsize."<br />
Me: "Do you think we'll capsize?"<br />
Guide: "Only if there are rapids."<br />
Me: "Are there rapids?"<br />
Guide: "No." (handing me a broken helmet)<br />
Me: "Are you sure??"<br />
Guide: "Yes."<br />
Me: "There are no rapids at all?"<br />
Guide: "No. Only at the end."<br />
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We got in and practiced a little since this was my first time kayaking. The guide told me I should be good enough by the end that I'd survive the rapids. He then paddled past Ash, splashed her with water, <span style="color: red;">(that's when I screamed he should go eff himself)</span> then took off down the river. I slowly fishtailed my way after everyone, trying to rationalize how my crooked steering could somehow work to my benefit when I reached the rapids that may or may not exist.<br />
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We stopped for lunch and had a heart to heart where Ashley and I admitted to each other there was no way either of us wanted to hop back into a kayak for 3 hours and brave the potential rapids. And so we happily thanked our guide, wished him and Clive good luck and took a long boat back to town where we finally got to enjoy some peace and quiet and beautiful countryside. <span style="color: red;">But not before Kim cheerfully had lunch with Annoying Clive and Terrible Guide laughing and joking and making the best of things because like a married couple- when one of us is upset the other one ends up overcompensating in the other direction so we don't have a collective meltdown. Don't we make a great team? :)</span><br />
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Love,<br />
Kim and <span style="color: red;">Angry Ashley</span><br />
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16483461146368560535noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6455090904629146885.post-90169632389342975612013-01-31T19:52:00.001-08:002013-01-31T19:52:31.389-08:00How To: The Journey from Thailand to LaosJanuary 11-13, 2013<br />
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You have three options when traveling from Thailand to Laos.<br />
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1. You can fly. If you wait until the last second to try to buy tickets like us then you'll be forking out $400+ to fly from Chiang Mai to Luang Prabang. When trying to travel on $30 a day, this isn't really your best option.<br />
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2. You can take a 24 hour minivan ride to Vang Vieng. Despite the crazy minivan ride we took to Pai we almost chose this option. We had actually purchased tickets for this but our new friends convinced us to change and take option #3.<br />
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3. The slow boat option. To begin this journey you hop on a jam packed minivan and spend the next 7 hours on the windiest, craziest ride of your life. Your driver will be borderline mentally crazy and will speed up on the turns instead of slowing down. The first 3 hours will be a repeat of your drive to Pai, containing 762 consecutive curves. The second half of the journey probably doubles this figure.<br />
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At the halfway point, you will pull up to a remote 7-11 where a second van full of Korean tourists will disembark their van and try to steal your seats while you're inside buying Ovaltine cookies and cheetos for dinner. After a lot of head shaking, frowning and shuffling people around you will get back on the minivan and continue your journey. The best way to survive without having a panic attack is to pop some Dramamine, anti-anxiety pills, close your eyes and hope that the back and forth motion of swaying into your neighbor, then crashing into the window will put you in a semi coma.<br />
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At 3am you will arrive in a small border town where they have prearranged sleeping accommodations for you. Your bathroom will probably smell a little funky which you will gladly take in exchange for the hot water coming out of the shower. You will fall asleep to the sounds of the local pteredactoyl squawking, wondering why there is a pteredactoyl living at the border. Tomorrow you will find out it was a rat.<br />
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Four hours later you will be woken up and enjoy a free breakfast overlooking the Mekong, your road for the next two days. You'll smile in anticipation of cruising down the river past local villages and bonding with your fellow passengers.<br />
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Getting on the slow boat will be a 3 hour process. First there is the ubiquitous ride in the back of a pick up truck where you hold hands with the person sitting on the ledge across from you so you don't fall out. Then you will pass through Thai immigrations, take a boat across the river, go through Laos immigration, then you sit around for 2 hours.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcanUl6os_lYxMb7qBzA3SMFNd7Ud9EL4I0Y2BgqgzEwH1z6z_NytbcSGkXuSMYuyvQLaZeQtJY5ZWZcVhgnm6QowEIWksq2s6mQ07Mh_HaBuUIDk7h2hAC9ISr2aXBjGmIfAAyz1K2Z8/s1600/P1020364.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcanUl6os_lYxMb7qBzA3SMFNd7Ud9EL4I0Y2BgqgzEwH1z6z_NytbcSGkXuSMYuyvQLaZeQtJY5ZWZcVhgnm6QowEIWksq2s6mQ07Mh_HaBuUIDk7h2hAC9ISr2aXBjGmIfAAyz1K2Z8/s1600/P1020364.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Just riding in the back of a truck again.</td></tr>
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And then you will finally get to board your vessel; a beautiful, distressed long boat with huge open windows. You keep walking allllll the way to the back of the boat to the engine room, to your makeshift we-will-fit-as-many-people-on-this-boat-as-possible seat. Any hope of relaxation and talking to your neighbors will quickly fade as the engine roars to life. You might try to dance to the beat of the sputtering engine to keep yourself entertained but that's only fun for a few minutes. Your iPod full max will not be able to compete with the noise and the only way to communicate with your neighbors is with sign language. <br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">These are the first class seats. Pictures of our steerage seats are at the bottom of the ocean.</td></tr>
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So what is a girl to do? Fortunately safety standards are non-existent in Laos so the retired bus seats that you are sitting on aren't actually attached to the ground. Simply pick them up, turn them around so they're facing the window, and ride with your legs dangling outside the boat. This will help keep you cooler because the engine makes the back room quite toasty. It is also acceptable to start drinking Beer Lao at 10am so be sure to do that.<br />
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When you get tired of dangling your feet out the window and yelling at the person sitting 2 inches from you, make your way to the front and ask every person next to an empty seat if it's taken. Eventually you will find an empty one and you can spend the rest of the trip in cool peace and quiet. The next day, make sure to get to the boat 1 hour before it departs as there is no assigned seating on the second day.<br />
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Once you manage to get a decent seat on the boat, the 2 days pass much quicker than anticipated. The entire ride is extremely beautiful as you are surrounded by beachy shores and mountains on both sides of the river. The boat stops at small villages to pick up large bags of rice and other goods and all the local children come running out to wave at you. There are tons of cows grazing along the way, and actually, after dinner last night, I think they might have been water buffalo. And you get to drink lots of beer and eat lots of chips, the only food they sell on board. If you are lucky, there will be fun backpackers sitting next to you to play DIY boggle with. In all honesty, I think I would rather spend two days on a slow boat again then 24 hours on an airplane. Option #3 is definitely the way to go.<br />
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-KimAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16483461146368560535noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6455090904629146885.post-71801839726208285332013-01-30T07:00:00.000-08:002013-02-06T03:28:41.842-08:00I Scream, You Scream, We All Scream For Pai-ScreamJanuary 8, 2013<br />
<br />
Our friend E-Moe works for this awesome company called Light My Fire. A few days before Ashley left he asked us if we wanted to take a few items with us, maybe some sporks that we could give to strangers in exchange for other goods. If you know us at all then you know we jumped at the chance to have a silly reason to approach strangers. And so Eric showed up at the airport 1 minute before Ashley went through security and bestowed upon us 100 sporks, 1 lantern and....1 ice cream maker.<br />
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If you've ever backpacked then you know lugging around an ice cream maker the size of a soccer ball may not be one of the most practical things you could be doing. But Kyle, our photographer/sherpa was with us and did all the schlepping of our treasures. Then he left. And while we had taken full advantage of our lantern due to little/no electricity in our bungalows and given away several sporks, we'd yet to make ice cream and wondered why we were still carrying this contraption around. <br />
<br />
When we got to Pai and met our three new besites, we knew it was time to shake it till you make it. Armed with no recipe and no understanding of the Thai written language, we headed to the 7-11 in search of what we assumed would be the ingredients for ice cream.<br />
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We spent 5 minutes deciding which carton of milk, if even milk, might have the highest cream content. We picked up some salt to keep the ice cool, some coconut milk for flavor and since we couldn't find sugar, we decided to try sweetened condensed milk. All for only $2.50. We headed to our usual starting point, High 5, where the bartender gladly provided us with ice.<br />
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Our original recipe for coconut ice cream:<br />
<br />
1 kiddy sized milk w/straw<br />
1 small can sweetened condensed milk<br />
1 small carton coconut milk<br />
1 giant bag of salt (give the leftovers to your bartender)<br />
Lots of ice<br />
1 Light My Fire ice cream maker<br />
1 spork <br />
<br />
Pour all the milk into the inner canister. Add some coconut milk and sweetened condensed milk. Taste. Keep adding coco milk and sweetened condensed milk until everyone is happy with the flavor. Seal it up. Put ice in the outer compartment. Add some salt, seal it up, and start shaking.<br />
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You can play catch with it, dance with it, make a drinking game out if it, just keep it moving for 20 minutes. Strangers will approach you and offer to shake it in exchange for a bite later.<br />
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We were all unsure if our experiment was actually going to work but 20 minutes later when we opened the ball we had the most delicious coconut ice cream we've ever tasted. Something about our unique mix of ingredients caused the outer layer to freeze pretty hard but we had our sporks and were able to scoop it all out after a few minutes of thawing.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0TUpJ3QzdYoL1X17XoOZSnKp0nuACI0slckfii7CGz_207bWSWLVx2XcCWIjWUPOQYNv0QuYEpPnVKD006Www-Nihuhw4cxmdnuuf6pn-te1Rl69wJ7gKXGIo5ssfH0sxM2AAXPiQEEc/s1600/2013-01-20" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0TUpJ3QzdYoL1X17XoOZSnKp0nuACI0slckfii7CGz_207bWSWLVx2XcCWIjWUPOQYNv0QuYEpPnVKD006Www-Nihuhw4cxmdnuuf6pn-te1Rl69wJ7gKXGIo5ssfH0sxM2AAXPiQEEc/s1600/2013-01-20" height="320" width="236" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">We are reusing this picture because all the other ice cream pictures are at the bottom of the ocean. The red ball is the ice cream maker.</td></tr>
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<br />
Our first ice cream attempt was a huge success and we managed to make some new friends out of it. We are now on the look out for chocolate chips for our next batch.<br />
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Thanks for the presents, Eric!<br />
<br />
-Kim <br />
<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16483461146368560535noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6455090904629146885.post-36925519491169475752013-01-28T21:54:00.000-08:002013-01-28T21:54:40.151-08:00Tragedy In Paradise January 28th, 2013<br />
<br />
**This post is out of order**<br />
<br />
A few days ago we met up with our friend, Kim #2, to spend time on some Thai beaches. One of our stops was Ko Tao, a beautiful diving island on the east coast of Thailand. Since Ash and I can't dive we decided to go fishing instead. We were determined to catch, at the very least, a 4 ft barracuda so after 2 hours and only 1 of us catching a tiny fish, we jokingly asked our Thai captain (Kim #2 would like us to note he looked like an oompa loompa) if we could go to another fishing spot where the barracudas were. We are pretty sure he told us to go f*ck ourselves in Thai, told us in English he wasn't a magician and that we could find barracudas in an aquarium, then took us to the roughest part of the sea where they filmed the movie the Perfect Storm.<br />
<br />
And then.....Ashley dropped her phone (our main camera) into the ocean. You are probably as surprised as I am that she didn't throw herself overboard as well. In lieu of flowers please send donations to www.whitepeopleproblems.com. We thank you for your kind thoughts during this dark period.<br />
<br />
Kim and Ashley<br />
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P.S. Posts will be light on pics for awhile. Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16483461146368560535noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6455090904629146885.post-45693349045884961002013-01-24T09:27:00.000-08:002013-01-24T09:27:36.192-08:00On A Steel Horse I RideAshley and I have been toying with the idea of renting motorbikes for 8 years. When we were in Greece we went into 10 different shops and tried to rent one. They either said no as soon as they noticed we were girls or said no as soon as they found out we were American. We ended up crawling along the roads on a 4 wheeler instead. In retrospect this was probably a good thing.<br />
<br />
Despite the You Tube videos we've seen of the traffic in SE Asia, particularily Vietnam, and the many backpackers covered in bandages from accidents, we still really wanted to try riding motorbikes. So when we got to Pai and saw how little traffic there was, we decided to give it a try. Our hotel owner suggested we take classes first and since we figured our lives were worth the $3, we marched down the hill into town to sign up.<br />
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Our driving instructor, Alan, was awesome. He drove us to a back road and taught us how to stop, go, turn and start from a complete stop on a hill. After an hour he deemed us good drivers and sent us off to explore Pai.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Smartest $3 we ever spent.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhS-SeZFPcKchZJjli-j156Vh97VjAGG12ODN04lf3SueUcYF5b1LjawCLeJ51biD1cc7cIszCfJyyW9OwwdAhvwGdThKsMMSHD8PSPgqBAog-hbmEKDFGB5P0YBY-P1YMGS-7-WMTELYA/s1600/2013-01-21" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="239" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhS-SeZFPcKchZJjli-j156Vh97VjAGG12ODN04lf3SueUcYF5b1LjawCLeJ51biD1cc7cIszCfJyyW9OwwdAhvwGdThKsMMSHD8PSPgqBAog-hbmEKDFGB5P0YBY-P1YMGS-7-WMTELYA/s1600/2013-01-21" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Passing the turn signal test.</td></tr>
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There is nothing as wonderful as being on a motorbike with the wind in your face. The closest thing I can think of is being on a jet ski. Getting motorbikes opened up a whole new world of exploration as we could drive out into the mountainside without relying on a tour or tuk tuk.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMYEuv8dxR3ND9VtiQUj52ObjdMyTXBWMZlngFpdLWF8J7nAxZXvv8FeQIO4WMtVGjVlhhkJB2Xl0fbPhuHbGGvbO5FeWBFtCnufHAHjoG_fKvHPPQ3zONbNcycifLDW4WUEU4HrvUmeo/s1600/2013-01-21" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMYEuv8dxR3ND9VtiQUj52ObjdMyTXBWMZlngFpdLWF8J7nAxZXvv8FeQIO4WMtVGjVlhhkJB2Xl0fbPhuHbGGvbO5FeWBFtCnufHAHjoG_fKvHPPQ3zONbNcycifLDW4WUEU4HrvUmeo/s1600/2013-01-21" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">These helmets kept making me think of Strongbad and Trogdor.</td></tr>
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We drove to a waterfall, through hilly resorts, past fields of cows, to some hot springs, the Pai Canyon, a Chinese village and allllll over town. We even drove if we only had to go one block because we loved it so much. The only thing we didn't like was riding at night. We tried to take a night trip to the hot springs but after 10 minutes of swallowing bugs we decided to wait until the next day.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Just trying not to die tonight.</td></tr>
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After several days of riding we had become really comfortable on our bikes. We were at dinner with Neil, Hannah and William when we heard a loud crash and we all went running outside to see what had happened. Two Thai men had had a head on collision in the middle of an intersection because one of the men had been texting while driving. This is when Neil gave us the best advice we'd received yet. <b>Do not get too comfortable on a motorbike.</b> You may feel like a good driver but you always, always have to watch out for other people. So we spent the next few days riding around always on full alert but still having the times of our lives.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Steering three people on a motorbike is easy once you master it on an elephant.</td></tr>
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<br />
Kim<br />
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16483461146368560535noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6455090904629146885.post-75339398961421564022013-01-20T07:06:00.003-08:002013-01-20T07:06:27.578-08:00We may have picked up an accentJan 9th-ish 2013<br />
Ashley here<br />
<br />
Who do you hate more than those people who walk around talking with weird accents, and you're like oh where are you from? And they're like who me? Oh I'm from Cincinnati, love. And you're like....???<br />
<br />
That's us now. I mean if not us it's definitely me- I won't speak for Kim, but I will say that I've heard her mention how excited she is to go to Oz in a few months and that she'd fancy another beer a time or two.<br />
<br />
What happened was...we met these 3 awesome new British friends here in Pai on our second night, and have pretty much not left their sides for 5 days straight. It's a couple from England, Hannah and Neil, and a Scottish dude named William who I can understand most of the time, except for when he's talking to another Scottish person and then there's no way. He insists they're speaking english but I don't think so.<br />
<br />
After the first day we spent with them I was like oh how novel! They call a jacket a jumper! And a truck a lorry! Isn't that nice. And now while I'm riding down the road on my motorbike I catch myself literally thinking with an accent. I'm like maybe we should have a cheeky little snack at that restaurant before we head back. Or oh no! Mind that dog in the road! Etc etc etc. It's embarrassing even when I'm the only one hearing myself think.<br />
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Anyways, just felt the need to confess. Thanks for listening :) Cheerio mates! -Ash<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-cz5LhDqqSEQ/UPwFO3J4zlI/AAAAAAAACQQ/PGad0LriNKI/s1600/2013-01-20" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-cz5LhDqqSEQ/UPwFO3J4zlI/AAAAAAAACQQ/PGad0LriNKI/s1600/2013-01-20" height="320" width="236" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Kim and me with our 3 new besties having a barry night out! (Barry = awesome in Scottish)</td></tr>
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16483461146368560535noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6455090904629146885.post-74227028442057165262013-01-18T07:55:00.002-08:002013-01-19T01:12:05.515-08:00Riding the bus to Pai is like being on the teacups ride at Disneyland for 3 hours straight<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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January 6th, 2013<br />
Ashley here<br />
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After 6 days in Chiang Mai we decided to bus our way to a nearby mountain town called Pai that we'd heard good things about. Kim was especially eager to go there because it was supposed to be full of hippies and you know that girl likes to get her hippy on from time to time.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiD0LKUM1R6aOz5kK8-EHz6L1ZkfI6FkdbUfGFs2Ola-w_aMNycvHXvwRHFHA3zwKaG6OTmkkHJOUwaT6ZSHKyxl6ksXr2u0n9Lvvwce2rqIgvf3dq9YW4nTCekVMHuHfEMyz_1QEvUDTA/s1600/2013-01-18" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiD0LKUM1R6aOz5kK8-EHz6L1ZkfI6FkdbUfGFs2Ola-w_aMNycvHXvwRHFHA3zwKaG6OTmkkHJOUwaT6ZSHKyxl6ksXr2u0n9Lvvwce2rqIgvf3dq9YW4nTCekVMHuHfEMyz_1QEvUDTA/s1600/2013-01-18" height="239" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Here's a sneak peak of just how hippy the town turned out to be</td></tr>
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The one problem with deciding to go to Pai next was that we'd heard the bus ride there was pretty awful. We can now confirm these rumors are 100% true.<br />
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<b>Riding the bus to Pai is like being on the teacups ride at Disneyland for 3 hours straight</b>. You're crammed in there, all sweaty and annoyed, sliding back and forth between the window and the person next to you every time the bus goes around a corner, and unfortunately this road has exactly 762 corners. It's so bad that people have counted and they make t-shirts saying "I survived the ride to Pai". I honestly think I hit my head on either Kim or the window about 760 times...it was pretty terrible. Thank god we were warned before the ride about the road and were able to take some Dramamine before we left, otherwise we may have suffered the same fate as the girl who spent the entire ride puking into her Cheetos bag until it almost overflowed.<br />
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<just imagine a picture of a little Chinese girl neatly puking in a bag of Cheetos here><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg49lf8A9a9bSgmVuJzPN56M0AzJ6ic8j4VIVDAFGScg2UNA_AB38KrkOiqL6ynHy7HB3vb2qX9l4QqIupL4kw0BgUEMzA2ltrwUcVEFIqIH1Sy7ERGVxNX5zsAdcoeTVTZintbsaGYZ3w/s1600/P1020128.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg49lf8A9a9bSgmVuJzPN56M0AzJ6ic8j4VIVDAFGScg2UNA_AB38KrkOiqL6ynHy7HB3vb2qX9l4QqIupL4kw0BgUEMzA2ltrwUcVEFIqIH1Sy7ERGVxNX5zsAdcoeTVTZintbsaGYZ3w/s1600/P1020128.JPG" height="320" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">All smiles before the journey starts.</td></tr>
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To make matters worse- almost 3 hours into the trip our crazy driver still had not pulled over for a bathroom break and I was pretty sure I was going to pee my pants. He didn't speak English and I was in the very back of the bus so I wasn't sure how I was going to get him to pull over. Right as I was about to start yelling "TOILET" towards the front of the bus, the only Thai lady riding with us managed to convince the driver to pull over at a rest stop. Every girl on that bus literally dove out the door and we all ran towards the bathrooms. That's when I saw it. My first squatter toilet. Nothing I could do about. I couldn't hold it, I couldn't try to find a different place to go, I just had to roll with it. All I'll say is thank god I was wearing closed toe shoes. :/<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-5Ere0sfGrXE/UPlkGXePiEI/AAAAAAAACKI/Sysqhxx9VIc/s1600/2013-01-18" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-5Ere0sfGrXE/UPlkGXePiEI/AAAAAAAACKI/Sysqhxx9VIc/s1600/2013-01-18" height="320" width="239" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">At least they had a sink? Even if they didn't have soap. Or toilet paper. OR anything you might actually want.</td></tr>
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We finally got to town in mostly one piece and were then picked up by the owners of the hotel we were staying at....on a motorcycle with a side car. Kim got on the back of the bike and I sat in the side car with our backpacks. At this point any type of transportation was better than being on that bus to Pai.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWB78oqUT8c-MMUh5jzAZMjN4RxFByjSFviAuwx-xlhl8eCUXrzzKj39-XPzcPSk-QHq0DeJ_AcS__3KolOX2KKcFJd8X2c7e7o8nC-7IDwV6nu6Xtm6CSdLqDlvf4BOisNALLI_55HDM/s1600/2013-01-18" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWB78oqUT8c-MMUh5jzAZMjN4RxFByjSFviAuwx-xlhl8eCUXrzzKj39-XPzcPSk-QHq0DeJ_AcS__3KolOX2KKcFJd8X2c7e7o8nC-7IDwV6nu6Xtm6CSdLqDlvf4BOisNALLI_55HDM/s1600/2013-01-18" height="239" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Our VIP ride to our hotel in Pai. Note- This photo was taken from a side car.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwomYhyT2vt1pNRU08rbMsO64QsddMyxXhqcewiUZ4e4VekCiTFcfvpvexpzDpxqBndNrnSKI8XsrLHMvW6kKkBMjZUDGKQm_EpBrNtjPCzvVy5vPLSMvaNYziXDx_0xCn8Hi4l80SdKU/s1600/P1020130.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwomYhyT2vt1pNRU08rbMsO64QsddMyxXhqcewiUZ4e4VekCiTFcfvpvexpzDpxqBndNrnSKI8XsrLHMvW6kKkBMjZUDGKQm_EpBrNtjPCzvVy5vPLSMvaNYziXDx_0xCn8Hi4l80SdKU/s1600/P1020130.JPG" height="320" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">We fought over who got to ride in the sidecar and I won :)</td></tr>
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On a happy note, the city way exceeded our expectations!! It was definitely the cutest town we'd seen so far, with the markets, and mountains, and shops, and we were super excited to start exploring.<br />
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That first night we had an amazing dinner for $3, we got our first Thai oil massages which definitely wouldn't be our last, we tried squid jerky from a street vendor which definitely would be our last, we met some people from Colorado who also were obsessed with Macklemore's new CD and they let me play the whole Heist album on the bar's sound system, and we froze our booties off in our bungalow because we had no idea how cold it was going to be in this new city!<br />
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This mixed veg was like 5 cents!! Made me want to be a vegetarian for at least 10 minutes.</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-3iIB_v32SRE/UPlkvNAsSFI/AAAAAAAACLs/JbeyJPwCIMs/s1600/2013-01-18" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-3iIB_v32SRE/UPlkvNAsSFI/AAAAAAAACLs/JbeyJPwCIMs/s1600/2013-01-18" height="239" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This is the bar where they let me play Macklemore on their speakers and we had a dance party with our new friends.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-4ulwAEHDtqI/UPlkpELl3-I/AAAAAAAACLY/GAf4OSll21Y/s1600/2013-01-18" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-4ulwAEHDtqI/UPlkpELl3-I/AAAAAAAACLY/GAf4OSll21Y/s1600/2013-01-18" height="320" width="239" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Here's me dominating pool. Stop judging my tennis shoe/dress combo. I'm traveling ok! I can't explain it!</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Kim pretending to like dried squid</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Me pretending to like dried squid</td></tr>
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Lots more on the lovely city of Pai to come! :)Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16483461146368560535noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6455090904629146885.post-21708885009947862272013-01-15T23:46:00.000-08:002013-01-15T23:46:59.156-08:00Sawatdee, Kyle!! (That means goodbye)We sent Kyle off on a 40 hour journey back to Seattle where he had 1.5 days to recover before starting busy season. Hope that worked out well for you my friend.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-mRgKnX3pfm8/UPP0sMD_PhI/AAAAAAAAB9Y/MEFW9QngFrM/s1600/1680.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-mRgKnX3pfm8/UPP0sMD_PhI/AAAAAAAAB9Y/MEFW9QngFrM/s1600/1680.JPG" height="239" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The last of many delicious fruit smoothies at our 'Farewell to Kyle' dinner.</td></tr>
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Ashley told Kyle to join us just a month before we left and since he does everything she says, he agreed to purchase a high priced ticket to fly to paradise during Christmas/New Year's Eve. If that isn't love I don't know what is.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiuJ_E6I3Mikcug_bbYtiKzApjRfuJi_HU6cPimxFoZMmkJugyK3N9miXapwdosiQUc9a3qUnTGq9wZrwtM3pRaj7P9uepqFjcGUT1-qCde34hT9x5WNo1kcoiXTCYMfss3EqDzJE9s2EU/s1600/1676.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiuJ_E6I3Mikcug_bbYtiKzApjRfuJi_HU6cPimxFoZMmkJugyK3N9miXapwdosiQUc9a3qUnTGq9wZrwtM3pRaj7P9uepqFjcGUT1-qCde34hT9x5WNo1kcoiXTCYMfss3EqDzJE9s2EU/s1600/1676.JPG" height="320" width="239" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">His last day on the trip. Have you ever seen someone look like more of a tourist? His shirt says 'My city is filthy- Seattle'.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-X-6nGkk2dag/UPP1the1nTI/AAAAAAAAB-Q/7u7ta8tgd_Q/s1600/1687.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-X-6nGkk2dag/UPP1the1nTI/AAAAAAAAB-Q/7u7ta8tgd_Q/s1600/1687.JPG" height="320" width="239" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">About to send him off on his million hour journey home.</td></tr>
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The past two weeks were filled with many hilarious anecdotes, jokes, dance moves and monologues that had Ashley almost peeing her pants on many occasions. Despite your two week long eye infection, your bout of food poisoning, and that other time you puked, we hope you had as much fun as we did. :)<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-3xSKmgk05YA/UPZRrI73TnI/AAAAAAAACIg/buRMaEmCAZ8/s1600/2013-01-15" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-3xSKmgk05YA/UPZRrI73TnI/AAAAAAAACIg/buRMaEmCAZ8/s1600/2013-01-15" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Don't worry, Ashley stopped crying a few days after you left.</td></tr>
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We miss you Kyle!!<br />
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Love,<br />
Kim and Ashley <br />
<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16483461146368560535noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6455090904629146885.post-91890664720748579552013-01-15T06:19:00.001-08:002013-01-15T06:19:23.014-08:00Chiang Mai, Thailand<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Chiang Mai, Thailand - December 30th - January 5th<br />
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Ashley already touched a bit on Chiang Mai and we left over a week ago but we have to fill you in/record it for our own memory so here goes...<br />
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We loved Chiang Mai. It kind of feels like you aren't in Thailand because there seem to be almost as many tourists and expats as there are Thai people. But everyone is friendly and smiley so we were happy. Also, Chiang Mai is a lot cheaper than the southern islands. Considering we haven't maintained our budget at all, this was a good thing. Instead of going over budget by buying beach chairs, food and ridiculous clothes and musical instruments we didn't need, we went over budget by riding elephants and taking cooking classes. We spent our days and nights walking through the many street markets, getting a lot of massages and exploring the different areas of the city.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">We have a one hug a day policy. We believe a hug a day keeps homesickness away.</td></tr>
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The buses in town, songthaews, are actually red trucks with two long benches in back, no door
to stop you from falling out, and inconveniently placed windows you
can't see out of unless you are 4'10". Despite this, they are really fun
to ride in. Every single one advertises for the Tiger Kingdom, the
place where you can pose with drugged out tigers, and unfortunately, ads
for the Sn@ke Farm as well. Ash happened to turn her head to see a
huge cobra staring at her and her uneasiness for the rest of the ride
was palpable.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Metro system Chiang Mai style.</td></tr>
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We took one of these buses up to Wat Phrathat Doi Suthep, the most famous temple in town. This required walking up over 300 steps lined with people selling food, tiny Buddhas and bracelets. We sampled some of the most interesting food yet here- sketchy sausages on sticks and pickled mango with chili pepper. Can't say we were overly impressed with either item and the sausages may have caused some problems later in the day.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiL6fiaFqgHnu0M4FWQRK1e32JyGhh5BZajFf7VWnY0fhZUml0ISbrqDcDxUDemR-3oPZBnrghKMgwb8KSNwRZcCceNxqAWqp0NiYkAUTsTybxYipvmcECpTJcdeYEjO8nSl_dbfVS3Hk4/s1600/chiang+mai+130.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiL6fiaFqgHnu0M4FWQRK1e32JyGhh5BZajFf7VWnY0fhZUml0ISbrqDcDxUDemR-3oPZBnrghKMgwb8KSNwRZcCceNxqAWqp0NiYkAUTsTybxYipvmcECpTJcdeYEjO8nSl_dbfVS3Hk4/s1600/chiang+mai+130.jpg" height="320" width="229" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Exploring one of the hundreds of wats in town.</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Made it to the top!</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Covering up for the temple (but not hiding the cleavage).</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"> Wat Phrathat Doi Suthep</td></tr>
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One thing that became very apparent to us in Chiang Mai is how much Thai people love their King (and don't like his son). Firstly, his picture is everywhere around town. I'm pretty sure vandalizing one of these photos would get you into more trouble than being caught with marijuana. Secondly, we were at the very crowded night market, bargaining a fair price for a necklace Ashley wanted, when a song came over multiple sound speakers in the street and everyone instantly stopped moving and talking. It was like in a movie where someone stops time and walks around repositioning things. We almost took a bite of someone's satay standing next to us. The song may have just been the national anthem but we will pretend it was in relation to the King to prove our point. Lastly, we went to see a movie (for only $3!) and after all the previews, a video montage of the King started and everyone in the audience stood in silence while this aired.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Sneaking ice cream into the movie theater.</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">We are so classy.</td></tr>
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The only hiccup we had in Chiang Mai was our lodging. We decided to be social and stay in a hostel for this part of the trip. We found a super trendy looking hostel called SoHo and booked it on a whim. In a room meant for 7 we only had 1 other roommate, a Canadian who slept, no lie, for 1 hour a night. He'd sneak in at about 6 in the morning then leave at 7. And he'd been adhering to this schedule for 2 weeks. It was at this point I really appreciated being able to use my age as an excuse to go to bed early.<br />
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So all was going well in the lodging department until NYE. We came back to our hostel in the afternoon to discover an "Out of Service" note on the elevator. We were sleeping on the 7th floor. We accepted this inconvenience as a way to burn off the extra calories we'd be drinking later in the night. Then more "Out Of Service" signs started appearing. On the computers, on the washing machines, on the bathroom doors. And then.....the whole hostel lost power AND RUNNING WATER.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"> The fact they had at least 50 of these on hand (no power, no printing) led us to believe this wasn't the first time this has happened. </td></tr>
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We'd started drinking already so didn't think of how this would affect our future and took off to celebrate NYE. Cut to the next morning. Woke up with a hangover. Foot was covered in dirt from walking home barefoot. May have vomited in one of the "Out of Service" bathrooms in the middle of the night. All I wanted to do was wash my hands, my feet and brush my teeth. But there was no running water to be found anywhere. And so while Kyle and I slept off our hangovers, Ashley not only negotiated a refund for the previous night, she also found us the fanciest hotel in town (obviously at a super discounted rate), with a glorious swimming pool, that we promptly moved into for the rest of the trip.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">From no water to this.</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Full day recovery. We didn't eat a bite until 1700. </td></tr>
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-Kim<br />
<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16483461146368560535noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6455090904629146885.post-6404965392598375782013-01-14T05:19:00.003-08:002013-01-14T05:24:04.786-08:00Thai Cooking Class!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Chiang Mai, Thailand - Jan 4th<br />
Ashley here<br />
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One of the things we were most excited about doing in Thailand was taking a cooking class, and we found a great place to do it in Chiang Mai! <br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEil4TGaYaRLRKFJ3tbdPwxUAMOAx1yRjH2j-RWXGJ8a2Jm_itAumncJnZluJCZYdel5EnNCbpomfycHFkIxMKtd7sHx7tBW7EdcspdB5k5mICtwyzYIMOtu9rfn_kE0DbNCtW1vsQUCKnQ/s1600/1743.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEil4TGaYaRLRKFJ3tbdPwxUAMOAx1yRjH2j-RWXGJ8a2Jm_itAumncJnZluJCZYdel5EnNCbpomfycHFkIxMKtd7sHx7tBW7EdcspdB5k5mICtwyzYIMOtu9rfn_kE0DbNCtW1vsQUCKnQ/s1600/1743.JPG" width="239" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I think it was called Thai Cookery</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNWkLkJEUXH1G4YzVFMDwtuQ2mipiPcKswhTe_Hmvym6DQS608aIdw70XykAkToVjeAmfTq1kHUYMwCvsAQIQ_uyt4HNOPJIOEJjVtRkNWswQ3cjOgxDXi-lusP770M6k3hNvTOZeI9Tk/s1600/1739.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNWkLkJEUXH1G4YzVFMDwtuQ2mipiPcKswhTe_Hmvym6DQS608aIdw70XykAkToVjeAmfTq1kHUYMwCvsAQIQ_uyt4HNOPJIOEJjVtRkNWswQ3cjOgxDXi-lusP770M6k3hNvTOZeI9Tk/s1600/1739.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">So excited to start cooking!</td></tr>
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For $30 each we were able to pick 6 dishes to learn to cook, got to stuff our faces, and got to walk around a local market with a really cute basket where we picked out our ingredients. It was awesome!<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Shopping in a local market with a basket. Dreams really do come true!</td></tr>
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The only lame part was that we had to spend the entire day hanging out with an eclectic group of semi-annoying fellow travelers. All of these day long excursion situations are super hit or miss. For example- the elephant thing was extra awesome because we were in a group with a bunch of really fun people who made me cry laughing the entire time, and cooking class was only a regular amount of awesome because we were in a group with some too cool for school Americans (some of the only Americans we've seen actually!) and one of those really annoying people who is constantly adding in extra facts when you're not even talking to them... 'Oh yeah! This is Thai basil-you probably haven't seen it before. Did you know the Thais and the Vietnamese went to war over a dispute involving ginger?' Blah, blah, blah. It was really annoying! But aside from our classmates the cooking school was really great. The teachers were awesome and everything was super clean and the food all ended up tasting delicious! And this wouldn't be social media if we didn't post tons of pictures of it, right?<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">My "green" curry (no spice)</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Kim's green curry- super spicy!</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-HeaWxK3P6_0/UPQBEDVUVPI/AAAAAAAACHU/0N-V8ltOB3k/s1600/1752.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-HeaWxK3P6_0/UPQBEDVUVPI/AAAAAAAACHU/0N-V8ltOB3k/s1600/1752.JPG" width="212" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Sauteing baby bananas for dessert</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-syzwZ5teorc/UPP8LvknVII/AAAAAAAACDI/euE3qPPBi-M/s1600/1726.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-syzwZ5teorc/UPP8LvknVII/AAAAAAAACDI/euE3qPPBi-M/s1600/1726.JPG" width="239" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Add caption</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Chicken fried rice- even easier to make than the soup!</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-oLawf8HqZnw/UPP8yuWB_sI/AAAAAAAACDg/5KrLVFX6S20/s1600/1729.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-oLawf8HqZnw/UPP8yuWB_sI/AAAAAAAACDg/5KrLVFX6S20/s1600/1729.JPG" width="239" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Making chili paste from scratch</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-LtaZ1UxOXw0/UPP8bRaxsJI/AAAAAAAACDQ/dYd2S4VHktQ/s1600/1727.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="239" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-LtaZ1UxOXw0/UPP8bRaxsJI/AAAAAAAACDQ/dYd2S4VHktQ/s1600/1727.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Kim enjoying the fruits of her labor</td></tr>
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The most important thing we learned is that Thai food is super easy to cook. I know!! I was shocked too!! Now put down that take out menu (or popcorn and wine you were about to have for dinner) and chef yourself up a delicious Thai meal instead. Below I'm including the recipe for my favorite thing I learned to make. It's that coconut chicken soup you can get at any Thai food place, but I swear it's even more delicious when you make it yourself, and I think it took maybe 10 minutes to make? Oooh maybe I can be the next Rachel Ray! Ten Minute Thai Meals. Yumm-eeee!<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-cxqL-VGSdTE/UPP_SKPwhXI/AAAAAAAACFw/EBWkf6FC1CQ/s1600/1721.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="239" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-cxqL-VGSdTE/UPP_SKPwhXI/AAAAAAAACFw/EBWkf6FC1CQ/s1600/1721.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Some of the ingredients</td></tr>
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<b>Chicken and Coconut Milk Soup (Tom Yum Gai)</b><br />
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Ingredients:<br />
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2 1/2 cups coconut milk (you can do half coconut cream and half water to make this)<br />
1/2 cup of coconut cream<br />
4 slices of galangal (thai ginger- but regular ginger works too!)<br />
A few lemon or lime leaves<br />
A handful of oyster mushrooms<br />
A couple green onions diced up<br />
A quarter of a white onion diced up<br />
1/2 a small tomato<br />
2 Tbs of lemon or lime juice<br />
1-3 tiny red chilies depending on how spicy you want it<br />
1 and 1/2 Tbs of fish sauce<br />
Fresh cilantro to garnish<br />
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Directions:<br />
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1. Put coconut milk in the wok and add the chopped ginger. green onions, regular onions and tomatoes<br />
2. Add the chicken and cook until tender<br />
3. Add the mushrooms then the think coconut cream, lemon leaves, and chilies. Cook for another 4-5 mins<br />
4. Take off heat and add the lemon or lime juice and fish sauce<br />
5. Be impressed with how quickly and easily you just made that awesome soup! And if it doesn't taste good blame me and look up a better recipe online :)<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-8keG9v9_Zn0/UPP_aH4oImI/AAAAAAAACGI/7d6sh7JURNY/s1600/1724.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="239" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-8keG9v9_Zn0/UPP_aH4oImI/AAAAAAAACGI/7d6sh7JURNY/s1600/1724.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Yumm-eeeee</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16483461146368560535noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6455090904629146885.post-37070908028209352562013-01-06T08:15:00.000-08:002013-01-06T08:15:22.213-08:00Sliding Down an Elephant's Face? That Wasn't In the BrochureWE RODE ELEPHANTS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDSOdzpf1iMRqd0-Nx5glieye_LqB0HUhagQHSVMM_Zpwsr0ZaFJkVfr_ajjS97Mr70ZXfxylEeWEPDgGPFAO0MhsYdQwG_3f2MNrTpES85GROj_kobw3fEcmYF1EgJqKk0PZq8LUH0XE/s1600/chiang+mai+570.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDSOdzpf1iMRqd0-Nx5glieye_LqB0HUhagQHSVMM_Zpwsr0ZaFJkVfr_ajjS97Mr70ZXfxylEeWEPDgGPFAO0MhsYdQwG_3f2MNrTpES85GROj_kobw3fEcmYF1EgJqKk0PZq8LUH0XE/s1600/chiang+mai+570.jpg" height="297" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This elephant was scratching itself on a nail on that post</td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVawSXgInimEPnZqcGaZIudr8mjGr1omb_tmuA7TmAkbsAAhQ_PxWHvkqAamXwRd2DkQCx12hUC_FX87B3w4hqqPNmil3B3ZfdlFj55pqGwvA4i6TeuJB6cJ-hCsHVyn3ijQ3Z3rHHj-k/s1600/chiang+mai+609.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVawSXgInimEPnZqcGaZIudr8mjGr1omb_tmuA7TmAkbsAAhQ_PxWHvkqAamXwRd2DkQCx12hUC_FX87B3w4hqqPNmil3B3ZfdlFj55pqGwvA4i6TeuJB6cJ-hCsHVyn3ijQ3Z3rHHj-k/s1600/chiang+mai+609.jpg" height="320" width="239" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This elephant was dancing</td></tr>
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And it was so scary. It was cool... and awesome... but mostly scary. We got picked up at our hotel in the morning and rode about an hour or so in the back of a truck out to the elephant camp for our 1/2 day elephant extravaganza. When we got there they handed us our new denim on denim gear to put on so we could get dirty. Dirty as in- swim and bathe in elephant poo. Denim is pretty rugged but not enough to make bathing in poo water with elephants ok, but I mean, it's what we signed up for so oh well I guess. What doesn't give you e coli makes you stronger right?<br />
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-gaMaDMNj7Qk/UOmI7-kXNII/AAAAAAAABb0/jxiwjM4hRNo/s1600/chiang+mai+424.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-gaMaDMNj7Qk/UOmI7-kXNII/AAAAAAAABb0/jxiwjM4hRNo/s1600/chiang+mai+424.jpg" height="320" width="239" /></a></div>
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-5x493siioeM/UOmJBhW6d6I/AAAAAAAABdA/8UeBxa8EhoY/s1600/chiang+mai+433.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-5x493siioeM/UOmJBhW6d6I/AAAAAAAABdA/8UeBxa8EhoY/s1600/chiang+mai+433.jpg" height="320" width="238" /></a><br />
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Back to the awesome stuff though. After we were wearing 100% denim, they gave us a sheet of paper with 10 commands in Thai that we were supposed to commit to memory before we started riding the elephants. The words included things like head down, go, stop, reverse, lift your leg, come and our favorite- yaya, which means no more fruit. I'm sure you agree that these prepared us more for a night in a Thai bedroom than on a Thai elephant. Unfortunately I was so rattled by the fact that I was trying to mount a giant elephant by standing on his leg and hanging off his ear, that I couldn't really remember anything at all.<br />
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We each got to practice climbing up- or rather, being hoisted by a small Thai man- onto the elephant and making it turn in a slow circle a couple of times before we took them on a longer ride through a river. <b>We also got to practicing dismounting the elephant, by sliding down it's face. Elephants are tall.</b> <br />
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Since everyone else travels in couples, and there were 3 of us that came together, they had Kim, Kyle, and me all squeeze onto one elephant for this longer ride. I was in the front with the stick shouting whatever commands in Thai I could remember, Kyle was in the middle on the hump trying to supersede my commands by yelling in a louder more authoritative voice, and Kim was in the back, with nothing to hold on to, trying desperately not to fall off. HAHAHAA I'm just picturing this again now. It's a lot funnier in retrospect. <br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvuxJRFnLChns2dL6d4freA3Bi-sw0Kc484qcpOstoL_hupxL5SwggB7NBQG76PZB42HG43fcGV77ERIS_20C5gOqlMzuZaiOUYV1piv9qWh2lyMNqpcvaJbZ_A1eaSOofveBR17fzdCw/s1600/chiang+mai+581.jpg" height="240" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="320" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Three deep on an elephant</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQS9nlR49cld6UcCqi1JH8JCnQh1yjMvUwyr2QCF8gbF0EHBmd8-7gztvF4-OOFRL8eKTAfcm20-AXlXPN9HQu989DaThfmUn6bzOBtcPZochqaA57sckH5eothITw5orhpS8JOM9FW7Q/s1600/chiang+mai+578.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQS9nlR49cld6UcCqi1JH8JCnQh1yjMvUwyr2QCF8gbF0EHBmd8-7gztvF4-OOFRL8eKTAfcm20-AXlXPN9HQu989DaThfmUn6bzOBtcPZochqaA57sckH5eothITw5orhpS8JOM9FW7Q/s1600/chiang+mai+578.jpg" height="320" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Acting like an elephant on an elephant</td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-k-6Spbarhq4/UOmbVj3zM0I/AAAAAAAAB4c/dTPoT93G_6U/s1600/chiang+mai+629.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-k-6Spbarhq4/UOmbVj3zM0I/AAAAAAAAB4c/dTPoT93G_6U/s1600/chiang+mai+629.jpg" height="316" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Holding on for dear life</td></tr>
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By the time I thought my wrists were going to break and shaky thighs could hold on no longer, the ride ended in a river full of poo. At least we were wearing denim? We walked the elephants into the water and they lowered us down so we could slide off into the river and help bathe them. This was a mix of fun and nastiness, but I guess mostly fun. There was an adorable baby elephant splashing around with us which definitely helped. <br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-r_umnY6TUHQ/UOmbUv6lkvI/AAAAAAAAB4Q/_4dOCHNEk8k/s1600/chiang+mai+630.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-r_umnY6TUHQ/UOmbUv6lkvI/AAAAAAAAB4Q/_4dOCHNEk8k/s1600/chiang+mai+630.jpg" height="320" width="318" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Washing her right behind the ears</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-jW1tg6TzOOo/UOmbMlJA21I/AAAAAAAAB28/6ZEM02yExSM/s1600/chiang+mai+619.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-jW1tg6TzOOo/UOmbMlJA21I/AAAAAAAAB28/6ZEM02yExSM/s1600/chiang+mai+619.jpg" height="238" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Well, now there's poo in our hair</td></tr>
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The trip ended with our half day group eating a delicious thai lunch while we watched the other full day group shovel manure by the elephants- and this was when we were SUPER happy we opted for the half day adventure. We then hopped into the back of the truck bed and headed back to our hotel where we fought over who got to shower first. <br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-CjqsKKJmbMQ/UOma-iFRJnI/AAAAAAAAB0Q/eP44ZuMZ96M/s1600/chiang+mai+597.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-CjqsKKJmbMQ/UOma-iFRJnI/AAAAAAAAB0Q/eP44ZuMZ96M/s1600/chiang+mai+597.jpg" height="320" width="239" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Homemade Thai lunch!</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-6OpgRtsm4NQ/UOmbBsLaHxI/AAAAAAAAB0w/PuySyKIMLgw/s1600/chiang+mai+601.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-6OpgRtsm4NQ/UOmbBsLaHxI/AAAAAAAAB0w/PuySyKIMLgw/s1600/chiang+mai+601.jpg" height="239" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">So happy to not be shoveling manure</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1zde7LaeQhVlor_C8AKCVjhZB4iJjmx5V4GhyphenhyphenHa11IlKGWK_724owgTOK9KXmgFlJMkF1g-1cQrICEyGOC-oGU234tuoN834ojri4MnBuaWMAN6XkbMsxK-A601IyEIIozfqIitJkYGM/s1600/chiang+mai+611.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1zde7LaeQhVlor_C8AKCVjhZB4iJjmx5V4GhyphenhyphenHa11IlKGWK_724owgTOK9KXmgFlJMkF1g-1cQrICEyGOC-oGU234tuoN834ojri4MnBuaWMAN6XkbMsxK-A601IyEIIozfqIitJkYGM/s1600/chiang+mai+611.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">ELEPHANTS!</td></tr>
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Love,<br />
Ashley<br />
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16483461146368560535noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6455090904629146885.post-1930070285101719782013-01-06T07:48:00.002-08:002013-01-06T07:48:54.428-08:00New Year's Eve, Chiang Mai<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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To all the naysayers we met earlier in the trip who told us Chiang Mai was not a fun place to spend New Year's Eve, you were so wrong. <br />
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It was the first time any of us got tipsy (interpret that as you will) since being in Asia. We kicked off the evening with a dance party and photo shoot in our hostel room and then hit the town in the cleanest backpacking clothes we had. <br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-p-lwYTEz6bw/UOmTa_fAluI/AAAAAAAABzo/wBGP9F8rW9U/s1600/2013-01-06" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-p-lwYTEz6bw/UOmTa_fAluI/AAAAAAAABzo/wBGP9F8rW9U/s1600/2013-01-06" height="320" width="301" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">We were really excited to ring in the New Year!</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYe1h0_tolzV031LbMhip2JPUiVe8Z8ujJyIAG8DXX6pVHJmcNqy5EtnIElhMrFgTFilxP5_rSxBRAco98soQCGi2CtRvHzc3ycXGT2wnWMBpW3alNXaQhQRc1IpmRIkQItjlhA8CPirI/s1600/chiang+mai+164.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYe1h0_tolzV031LbMhip2JPUiVe8Z8ujJyIAG8DXX6pVHJmcNqy5EtnIElhMrFgTFilxP5_rSxBRAco98soQCGi2CtRvHzc3ycXGT2wnWMBpW3alNXaQhQRc1IpmRIkQItjlhA8CPirI/s1600/chiang+mai+164.jpg" height="239" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This top bunk will be hard to get into later in the night</td></tr>
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We also took some festive silver sporks with us to spread cheer to
strangers we met throughout the night. Said strangers did not seem
excited to be given a spork (even after I told them you could run over
it with a tractor!) and I have made it my personal mission to show
everyone how useful sporks can be.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-ACuppDF5aaE/UOmGRq8K7MI/AAAAAAAAA-s/iE1kKzF3kSk/s1600/chiang+mai+192.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-ACuppDF5aaE/UOmGRq8K7MI/AAAAAAAAA-s/iE1kKzF3kSk/s1600/chiang+mai+192.jpg" height="320" width="239" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A spork can also be used as a hair pick.</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Sporkz 4 Life</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Had to give our masseuse from earlier in the day a spork!</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">His Happy New Year hat is much cooler than mine.</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Ashley traded this man a spork for an extra shot of bourbon.</td></tr>
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Thousands of lanterns carrying New Year's wishes were being sent off into the sky....it looked like you had zoomed in on floating stars. People were spilling out of the bars lining the streets which made it difficult to get a drink. We stopped at the first place we found empty seats only to realize why the bar was empty: the stools were bike seats 4 feet off the ground. Quite uncomfortable no matter how much you've had to drink. We did manage to pick up a French friend though.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">When you wish upon a lantern....</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Bike seats: don't like them on a bike, don't like them as a stool.</td></tr>
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We ended up at Zoe's corner, a little plaza with bars full of expats and fellow travelers. We rang in the New Year with fireworks, more lanterns and some Gangnam Style. The rest of the night we spent dancing to Nirvana and No Doubt at a bar playing the 90's Greatest Hits. Aside from losing a flip flop and walking home half barefoot, it was one of the best New Year's Eves ever.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Happy New Year!!</td></tr>
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-KimAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16483461146368560535noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6455090904629146885.post-6286419024715546452013-01-04T06:09:00.000-08:002013-01-04T06:09:27.489-08:00The Unintended CleanseTMI<br />
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-KyleAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16483461146368560535noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6455090904629146885.post-51651727501648978642013-01-04T06:08:00.002-08:002013-01-04T06:08:58.207-08:00From Phuket with LovePhuket, Thailand: Dec 26th to Dec 30th<br />
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We loved it here! Being in Phuket was like having the best summer day in Seattle over and over again. Just normal and relaxing and perfect. And thanks to some tips from friends back home we made a great choice right off the bat by deciding to book our hotel in Karon beach instead of the uber-touristy/ping pong showy Patong beach area. <br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Karon Beach</td></tr>
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We walked a million miles a day up and down the beach and through the awesome little town. We drank $1 fruit shakes and fresh coconut water like it was our job. We swam and body-boarded (new favorite activity) in the salty crystal clear water. And we tanned on the packed yet perfect beaches on our $3 beach chairs that they refused to barter with us on- that were totally worth it. <br />
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We got Thai massages. We got TONS of sleep, and watched lots of movies--have you seen that movie frmo about 5 years ago with Paul Rudd and Michelle Pfeiffer, "I Will Never Be Your Woman"? Well if you haven't you should. If it's on one of the 3 English channels in Thailand it's got to be on Netflix. Go watch it now please, it's hilarious. It's all three of our new favorite movie (sorry to call you out Kyle).<br />
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We enjoyed the heavenly air conditioning in our cheap guest house. We snuck into a fancy hotel pool down the street!<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Sneaking into the fancy hotel pool! We are rebels I tell you.</td></tr>
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We ate lots of delicious Thai food and surprisingly, some delicious Russian food as well, because as it turns out Phuket is pretty much "little Russia". I'd say 80% of the tourists were either Russian or Polish. Thanks to Anna I was able to tell them I love them and say 'good' in Russian. Specibo, Annichika!<br />
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On our last night on the island we took a tuk tuk to the crazy Patong beach area so we could see what it was all about. Just like we had heard, it was pretty insane. It felt a bit like being in Time Square to me, with all the billboards and McDonald's and people trying to sell you things. Fun for a night but definitely not for our whole stay. We ended up having dinner and a giant tower of beer at a little restaurant in some alley where we played cards (Kings) and laughed so hard *someone* might have peed their pants. Then we headed back to the main road to explore, got caught in a giant rain storm- watched every single person run for cover- and in true Seattle fashion- danced through the streets in the rain instead. <br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Main street in Patong</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Tower of Chang beer</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A lively game of Kings</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Dancing in the rain</td></tr>
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We've learned you can't always trust other peoples' advice, but just in case you trust us, our advice to you is when you go to Phuket, stay in Karon Beach. :) You're welcome.<br />
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-From Ashley with Love<br />
<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16483461146368560535noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6455090904629146885.post-22327341350480619932013-01-03T07:01:00.003-08:002013-01-04T03:44:41.045-08:00Not Enough Time on Phi Phi Island<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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When you picture the most quintessential beautiful Thai island, you're picturing Phi Phi. <br />
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We left Koh Jum the morning after Christmas to head to our next destination, Phuket. We had originally wanted to spend a few nights on Phi Phi, but when we went to book it (the day before we were leaving), absolutely everything was already reserved. Great planning on our part! We instead decided to head straight to Phuket, but were lucky enough to be able to have a 3 hour layover type thing (transferring from a small boat to a ferry) in Phi Phi which was just long enough for us to realize we absolutely have to go back. Nothing too exciting to report since we were only there for a minute, but we had some great cheap food, bought a few things from the market on the main street in town, and most importantly, got our first real Thai massages! </div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">These ladies twist you into positions you NEVER knew were possible. But not in a creepy way.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Hello/Goodbye paradise<br />
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Love,<br />
Ashley</div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16483461146368560535noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6455090904629146885.post-47902201986768895862012-12-30T19:13:00.002-08:002013-01-01T08:13:46.849-08:00All I Want For Christmas Is ElectricityJust kidding, we were living the dream Swiss Family Robinson style and I loved it!<br />
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Christmas 2012 was very surreal. Every year I take a moment of silence for people celebrating Christmas in the Southern states because I just cannot fathom how 80 degrees and sunny feels festive and Christmasy in any way. I have now lived it first hand and my opinion hasn't changed. Despite the crazy pop-Asian Christmas shows and twinkling lights everywhere, it felt like any normal day.<br />
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Just because it didn't feel like the holidays didn't mean we weren't going to force it. First we foraged for the best Christmas tree we could find and trimmed its brown, ant infested branches with beer caps, leaves and tied up pieces of Wipe On DEET sheets.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Vertical Christmas tree made possible by lots of dental floss securing it to the post.</td></tr>
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Next we followed our crossdressing waiter to a Christmas Eve party down the beach. It wasn't very 'umpin but we succeeded in procuring free Santa hats for everyone, got a few dances in and made our new friends sing Christmas carols all the way back up the beach.<br />
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The best part of Christmas was meeting two Polish girls, Goja and Ewalina, at our bungalow. I spend every Christmas Eve at my Babcia and Dziadzia's house celebrating Wigilia. Part of the celebration is that before dinner, everyone gathers in the living room, we say a prayer and then we break oplatek. Oplatek is essentially edible cardboard with a pretty design carved on top. Everyone gets a sheet of oplatek and you go around the room giving every single person a hug, telling them "Merry Christmas, Peace be with you." Then you each break off a piece of the other's oplatek and eat it. You have to be careful around children in the group as they will try to take the majority of your oplatek before you have a chance to get to all the people in the room. <br />
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So when Goja and Ewalina told me they had oplatek I almost started crying from happiness. We gathered all our new friends together and broke oplatek. What I didn't realize is that traditionally people give personalized well wishes, not just a simple "Merry Christmas". My family must skip this step because there are so many of us, it would take 2 hours before we could eat.<br />
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Trying to come up with personal well wishes for people you've only known for 1 day can be a bit of a challenge so you frantically try to remember what they've told you about themselves then make a lot of assumptions. Let's see....you've quit your job to go traveling indefinitely...sounds familiar. "My wish for you is that you have safe travels with not very many mosquitoes or cockroaches and that when you return home you find a fullfilling job and meet the man of your dreams." Or to the lesbian couple trying to get pregnant via the sperm bank: "May you find potent sperm from someone with a high IQ that will produce a baby that resembles your beautiful wife." There is no way you can walk away from breaking oplatek without a huge smile on your face.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Breaking oplatek in matching pants</td></tr>
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Christmas morning we opened $1, will probably break in two days, night market bought gifts under our tree. We also gave some Light My Fire sporks (best spork EVER) to our new friends.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Goja & Ewalina doing their best "American smiles"</td></tr>
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We finished the day with a scary hike through the jungle, in the dark, with only 1 working headlamp and then feasted on an all-you-can-eat, Thai style Christmas buffet.<br />
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Merry belated Christmas to all our friends and family!!<br />
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Love,<br />
Kim<br />
<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16483461146368560535noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6455090904629146885.post-49662232566811231012012-12-30T19:09:00.000-08:002012-12-30T19:09:56.049-08:00Head to Toe in a BungalowKoh Jum, Thailand. December 21st-26th. 4 nights, 1 bed, 3 people, 1 mosquito net, 7 cockroaches, one love. (see Reggae reference below). <br />
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Koh Jum is SO BEAUTIFUL. It's a remote island just a couple hours boat ride from Krabi with about 6 different bungalow resorts lining the empty beaches, a tiny adorable town just a 20 minute jungle walk from the resort with the most friendly locals in the world, and an off the beaten path feel. <br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Giddy after jumping off the ferry onto a long tail boat that would take us to the island</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Kim & Kyle walking to the beach to enjoy sunset with a Chang<br /></td></tr>
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It was almost everything we hoped it would be in terms of relaxation and beauty, but we just could never get 100% comfortable there. I'd say for me it started with a conversation I overheard on our first trip to town to get water. We trekked through the jungle behind the bungalows until we popped out into a little town with a small school, 5 convenience type shops selling the same things, and a few homestyle (as in out of someone's actual home) restaurants. As we walked up to one of the shops there were some travelers hanging out having a beer and I overheard one guy say to the other "so mate, were you ever able to get that sn@ke out of your daughter's room??"!!!!!!!!!!! WHY OH WHY DID I HAVE TO HEAR THIS? I wanted to run away and cry but I was scared that anywhere I ran I'd trip on a $nake or something- plus I realized I was on a tiny island and there was nowhere to escape to. I guess this is that part when traveling makes you stronger? <div>
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After the sn@ke-conversation-incident I was permanently a bit on edge, but Kim and Kyle aren't scared of them, so they were doing just fine. It wasn't until we got back to our room and Kyle opened his backpack to find 7 cockroaches scurry out that he was pretty rattled too. Kim held strong until she had a bug fly in her eye, a giant flying creature land in her hair, and got a slew of mosquito bites within a 15 minute time span that night. On top of the critter-stress we were all under, the icing on the cake was realizing that the three of us were going to have to sleep head to toe in our two person bungalow. </div>
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We three thrifty individuals thought we could save a few bucks by getting just one bungalow and adding an "extra bed", but since the extra bed turned out to be a blanket on the wood-planked-cockroach-ridden floor, we realized none of us were trying to sleep there. That left us one option- and it was a very uncomfortable sweaty awkward option. The three of us, for four nights, crammed under the mosquito net in one bed. Did I mention how hot and muggy it was?? Ok just making sure you get the picture. </div>
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Our Christmas in paradise wasn't exactly what we anticipated, but we made the best of it and ended up having an awesome time (when we weren't applying bug repellent or trying to sleep). In true summer camp fashion we made some great friends and learned some new games. And also like summer camp- it all culminated in a Reggae Night Party where we danced our faces off with all our new friends until the wee hours of the morning. One Love!</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Awesome Reggae band complete with matching mustaches</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Let the dance party begin!</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The most eclectic group of people all celebrating together </td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Time for bed!</td></tr>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16483461146368560535noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6455090904629146885.post-599624109166952122012-12-30T09:50:00.001-08:002012-12-30T17:39:06.523-08:00Alert! This post is out of sequence!Hi! Just a quick post that is totally out of order because we still have lots of things to post about the past week or so that we haven't done yet- like how we were on a remote island in bungalows with lots of mosquitos and without electricity for 4 days over Christmas. And how we spent the next 4 days in Phuket in paradise despite so many people telling us not to go there (pro tip #47 you can't always trust what other travelers tell you because it turns out you might like different things than them!) Anyways, I digress. What I'm saying is that I just wanted to write a quick heyooo to say OMG we are obsessed with Chiang Mai. And after this post you have to pretend it never happened and I'll pretend we're still on the remote island so I can write all about how I did nothing for four days and survived to talk about it.<br />
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So, Chiang Mai. We just flew in here from Phuket early this afternoon and had the very best day ever! It is this beautiful sort of jungly city in the north of Thailand and the weather is perfect, the people are so nice, the food is delicious and even better- everything is half the price that it was everywhere else we've been! As my dad likes to say- its not how much you spend, it's how much you save :) and knowing that massages were 300 Bhat ($10) an hour everywhere else, and are 120 Bhat ($4) an hour here... Well I'm going to have to spend a lot of time saving money. <br />
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We were lucky enough to arrive on a Sunday which is the day they have the most giant night market in the world, and we spent about 4 hours wandering through it tonight delighting over all the trinkets and useless crafts we could buy for under a dollar. We got more hammer pants, more jewelry, a new backpack, more clothes, and tasted lots of delicious (and mostly too spicy for me) street food. After about 13,000 steps on the Fitbit we treated ourselves to a 30 minute foot massage that cost literally $2. Then Kyle did not have a McFlurry and we did not decide to hit the hay early instead of grabbing drinks because we wanted to be ready to party tomorrow night for New Years Eve. That totally did not happen. And I'm not in a bunk bed laboriously writing this on my iPhone. :)<br />
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<b>And the most important thing we need to add to this super "quick" post... HAPPY BIRTHDAY ANNICHIKA!!! WE LOVE YOU!!</b><br />
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Night!<br />
-Ashley <br />
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