Elephants and marijuana...What a combo!

Today, Tanya and I went on an elephant trek about 20 minutes from Ao Nang. The elephants were so cute and it was a bit scary at first sitting on top of one. We were afraid we were too heavy for the poor thing. I think we went on our trek during it's lunch time because it kept eating all the palm trees and finally stop to eat some grass on the ground as well as take a really huge dump! Never saw anything like it...We were told an elephant poohs more than 200 lbs in a day...Puts us all to shame! After his lunch and our walk around the beautiful limestone cliffs and palms trees we stopped and fed the elephant some pineapple and began talking to a man that works there. We found out that the papaya field to our left was the setting for the marijuana fields in the movie, "The Beach". You all remember the part of the marijuana fields where some people get gunned down? Anyways, I guess the production company took out all the papaya trees and planted all the marijuana 3 months before the shoot. After the part was finished, they burned all the marijuana and replanted the trees. The man said that the whole town was very smiley and relaxed after the marijuana was burnt...I wonder why?! So, of course we had to go stand in the field and take pictures even though there was no marijuana left. The little restaurant place that we were sitting at had tons of pictures of them in the fields, children and all. They said they met Leonardo DiCaprio when he was there. That area was also used for 3 other movies. Swiss Family Robinson, Around the World in 80 Days, and a new one, Mystery Island. That just goes to tell you how beautiful the place is. Tomorrow, we are going to another place where "The Beach" was filmed. Famous Maya Bay...The actual beach from the movie.

A little part about the sunsets here. I have never seen anything like it before. The sun is so big and red...It's truly amazing to see. If your a sunset buff, you have to see the Thai sunsets!

Elephants and marijuana...What a combo!

Today, Tanya and I went on an elephant trek about 20 minutes from Ao Nang. The elephants were so cute and it was a bit scary at first sitting on top of one. We were afraid we were too heavy for the poor thing. I think we went on our trek during it's lunch time because it kept eating all the palm trees and finally stop to eat some grass on the ground as well as take a really huge dump! Never saw anything like it...We were told an elephant poohs more than 200 lbs in a day...Puts us all to shame! After his lunch and our walk around the beautiful limestone cliffs and palms trees we stopped and fed the elephant some pineapple and began talking to a man that works there. We found out that the papaya field to our left was the setting for the marijuana fields in the movie, "The Beach". You all remember the part of the marijuana fields where some people get gunned down? Anyways, I guess the production company took out all the papaya trees and planted all the marijuana 3 months before the shoot. After the part was finished, they burned all the marijuana and replanted the trees. The man said that the whole town was very smiley and relaxed after the marijuana was burnt...I wonder why?! So, of course we had to go stand in the field and take pictures even though there was no marijuana left. The little restaurant place that we were sitting at had tons of pictures of them in the fields, children and all. They said they met Leonardo DiCaprio when he was there. That area was also used for 3 other movies. Swiss Family Robinson, Around the World in 80 Days, and a new one, Mystery Island. That just goes to tell you how beautiful the place is. Tomorrow, we are going to another place where "The Beach" was filmed. Famous Maya Bay...The actual beach from the movie.

A little part about the sunsets here. I have never seen anything like it before. The sun is so big and red...It's truly amazing to see. If your a sunset buff, you have to see the Thai sunsets!

Change of plans

So, we got to the train station in Tanah Merah to take the Jungle Train down to the National Forest, Teman Negara. We walk up to the station 4 hours early only to get stared at, laughed at, pointed at, swore at, yelled at, and flicked off. So, after a few hours of that torture and finding out that it we would have to take the train all the way back to where we started to get into Thailand, we decided to f*ck it (excuse the language!) and go to Thailand instead. We got half our money back and hopped into a taxi to take us to the Thai-Malay border where it was craziness. After a really easy immigration check (scary!), we hopped on some motorbikes to the bus station only to find out that the last bus was full. So, we walked and found a hotel and we got a sweet room that we were oh so pleased with. We actually had air-con and a TV. We only had Thai TV, but it still was a TV. Oh...the luxuries of life. So, we got some much needed beer and sat in our airconditioned room all night. It was great! We took a really long and uncomfortable bus for 9 hours today to get to Krabi (Yes, it's pronounced, Craby). Then we took a "bus" (actually a covered truck with benches in the back) to Ao Nang, where we will reside until we feel like getting on another bus again...which will be a few days at least.

Krabi and Ao Nang are on the south-western part of Thailand near Phuket where the tsunami hit. Ao Nang wasn't hit very hard and I read in a flyer today that it was cleaned up the next day. Krabi is the gateway to the devasted Phi Phi Island. Phi Phi is on it's way to being cleaned up and reconstructed. They think in a year it will hopefully be back to semi-normal. They are still offering day trips to Phi Phi, which is where "The Beach" was filmed. People also can stay on the island, but it is not recommended at the moment. Tanya and I will most likely go for a day trip to spread our money around as much as possible. At least we will be helping them directly instead of going through an organization that doesn't guarantee how much money they will get.

There is so much more to see and hopefully I will be more awake tomorrow to experience it. I'm so exhausted after almost 2 days of travel. It's almost 8pm and I'm looking forward to bed. We have a nice room with a clean bed, so I'm very excited to sleep today. You never know what's roaming around on some of those beds I've slept in!

Perhentian Kecil...The small island

Tanya and I just got off the boat from Perhentian Kecil. It was a lovely and very expensive island. Prices over there go up at least a dollar for everything. The Internet was 5 Ringgits for 15 minutes. Here, on the mainland, I'm paying 5 Ringgits for an hour. Anyways, Kecil was very nice and relaxing. It didn't have much to do except lay in the sun, scuba dive or snorkel. All we managed to do was lay in the sun. There were big waves, so no swimming for Cindi...I'm a little afraid of the waves. When we were on the boat over we found out that 2 girls had to be rescued because the current sucked them out to sea. I think they are fine now. They were sent back to the mainland to go to the hospital.

We are waiting around to catch the jungle train to Teman Negara, the National Forest here. We are going to go jungle trekking for a few days. It will be nice to do something different than lay on the beach. I can't believe I am saying that, because laying on the beach is always a top priority of mine! I'm sure I will have more to write after the jungle. Tanya is hoping for no snake sightings. I'm becoming one with nature and even spiders! I don't want them crawling on me, but I don't jump up and run when I see one anymore. I'm also appreciating lizards that eat the mosquitoes. They love me over here. I have new bites everyday, but I rarely ever actually see a mosquito...Go figure! I'm also very used to the bathrooms (using a bucket to manually flush the toilet) and living out of a backpack. I also love the fact that I don't wear makeup and rarely look in the mirror before leaving my room. Life is simple and it's great not to have to think about things.

The one thing I dislike about traveling is that I'm always comparing the places I have been. I liked Tioman a lot better than I did the Perhentians. But, if I didn't go to Tioman before, then maybe I would have liked the Perhentians better. Who knows? Bali is still my number one, but that may change when I go to Thailand...

The long haul to Cherating

We finally made it out of Tioman Island with lots of kicking and screaming. We didn't want to leave, but we have so much more to see. We met a really cool man, named Shai, that was born and raised on the island and spent a lot of time with him talking about everything. His family owns some land where they have some chalets to sleep in and a restaurant. He owns a bar that is on the rocks right next to the beach. It was destroyed 2 times by the monsoons and he keeps rebuilding. He was in the process of rebuilding the bar when we were there. He told us all about the island and Malaysia. We had some good laughs with him.

One day, Tanya and I decided to rent a kayak and sail the ocean blue to a nearby secluded beach called, Monkey Bay. It was quite amusing to see us try to kayak, but once we got the hang of it, it was smooth sailing. The beach was gorgeous. Something you see on movies and forget to realize that these places actually exist. No one was there and the water was so clear and warm. It truely felt like a huge bath. I was disappointed when we didn't see any monkeys, but there were plenty in Salang to see.

We extended our stay a couple times and then almost one more day, but we decided to take the later ferry back to the mainland and catch a night bus to our next destination...Cherating. After waiting around for every mode of transportation possible, we got on a luxury bus that went all the way up the coast to Thailand. We told the bus driver we wanted to go to Cherating and then watched a movie and fell asleep. After a few hours, the bus stopped and we were told that this was Cherating. We get out and realize we have no idea where we are and it's 1:30am. We went to a little restaurant that was open and asked where the hotels were and they told us they are 5 km down the road! But, the nice people they are, they offered us a ride. We found a chalet and crashed out after our journey. We woke up today and went to find a better place to stay, since our place was a little creepy.

Cherating is a little beach village. We are spending our day just walking around and deciding what our next move will be. Fun, Fun!

Palau Tioman and the giant lizards

We made it to the island of Tioman on the Southeastern coast of Malaysia after 2 days. We took the bus to Mersing to get on the ferry, but missed the ferry by 15 minutes, so we had to stay the night there. I think they plan it that way. Anyways, we took off at 7:30 am for Tioman. The ferry was crazy, thank God I'm not sea sick. It was a speed ferry and I thought the bottom was going to crack open. It was like a roller coaster ride for an hour while we crossed the ocean. We got off at a beach called ABC and did not like it. The Lonely Planet guide recommends it, but I do not. It was too rocky. So, we got a water taxi and went to the next beach, called Salang. This place is much better. Crystal clear water of blue and green and white sand beaches. It's just what we needed after doing the city thing. We feel like we are living in a zoo. There are 4-6 foot Monitor Lizards roaming around. I thought they were crocodiles at first and got freaked out until a passerby told me they were only lizards. Oh...Only 5 foot lizards! But, they are harmless and just go about their business. Tanya was sitting outside our little bungalow and called me out from my nap. A huge lizard was just passing by our house...Thank God it's on stilts, I would hate to wake up next to one. I was walking a little down from our bungalow and ran into a family of monkeys. They were just collecting food. Where am I where monkeys and lizards roam freely??? haha!

Malaysia is much different from other places. They don't bother you to buy anything and they don't really care it you do or don't. It's a relief from Bali where you get attacked, but now they are too lazy to serve you, so it's the opposite extreme! It's mostly Muslim here, so we here the music they play during sunrise and sunset. It's somewhat relaxing to hear, even though I don't understand why they do it.

We've just been chilling on the beach and getting sunburned. My face was bright red last night, but now it's OK. Now, it's time to get back to the beach...

Meleka in Malaysia

We took the bus from Singapore across the causeway into Johor Baru in Malaysia. It was absolutely crazy at the bus station. People were everywhere trying to sell us tickets to go anywhere. We finally found our bus to Meleka after running around with our packs on like our heads were cut off. Meleka is on the west coast of the peninsula. It's nice here, but no beaches. Just a lot of historical stuff from the Dutch and Brits. Of course, there is a Chinatown. We walked that on our first night. We decided to take a bike tour in the countryside the next day and that was very cool, but hard work. We biked through palm plantations and rubber tree plantations. We saw the trees that make the cooking oils, I think it's called Palmolive? It was beautiful biking through the trees. Rubber trees are interesting. They slice the side of the tree and let all the rubber run down and collect it in a cup at the bottom. We made rubber bouncing balls to play with. We had tons of different fruit. We sucked on fresh cocoa beans which kinda taste like marshmallow. Our guides name is Alias, he says he can be anybody, but he was very knowledgeable about the different trees and fruit.

We are leaving Meleka in a couple hours and going to an island on the east coast. It's supposed to be gorgeous there...I guess we'll find out.

Busy in Singapore

We have made the most of our stay in Singapore. I have walked so much in the last two days I should be 30 pounds lighter. We met a girl from England named Alex and us 3 walked the entire city. We went to China Town, Little India and saw some temples, went to Raffles Hotel and had a Singapore Sling, saw the Fountain of Wealth and hopefully got lucky for money, Orchard Road to see the shopping, and then headed to the Singapore Zoo for the Night Safari. Busy, busy, busy! The Night Safari was really cool. It's the first of it's kind. We walked some paths and saw animals from Asia and Africa in their natural habits during hunting time. We walked through bat cages and flying squirrel cages. It was cool and scary walking through the paths inthe dark...All of a sudden a roar would echo and that was freaky. After walking we got on a tram that took us through the different regions and saw some other animals. After that was an Animals in the Night show that was pretty entertaining. It was a very long day and we were exhausted. Thank God I slept well in the busy hostel.

This morning Tanya had a minor health issue and we got to see the Raffles Hospital in Singapore. Don't worry, nothing serious, she's OK! It was very efficient and we got outta there in no time at all. Then we took off to an island on the southern tip called, Santosa. It's like an adult/child playground there. We took a cable care over the ocean to the island. It was very high, so don't go if you're afraid of heights. We went to the Underwater Adventure, which is like a domed aquarium with sharks and such swimming all around you. Then, we chilled on the beautiful beach and waited for the pink dolphin show. It was very cool to chill there for the day. After that, we went to Little India and got some delicious curry for dinner. We had to eat with our hands...very exciting!

Singapore is a very great and alive city. It's very clean and it's so easy to get around. You can walk most of the city and the MRT (subway) is very efficient. Most people here speak English. It's very strange that even in the hospital, every one speaks English...even to other Singaporeans!

We are hoping to head to Malaysia tomorrow. Not really sure what we are doing yet. We are taking the bus across the border and figuring it out from there. I'll keep you updated!

The magnificant rice fields in Bali 

Tanya and I at a volcano called Mt. Batur 

Monkeys! 

White Sands Beach in Padangbai, Bali 

Singapore Slingin it...

Just got to Singapore today. I'm very sad to leave Bali. It was an amazing island with so much to offer. After Ubud we went back to Padangbai for 4 more days. We just chilled at the beach during the day and hung out with the locals at the Reggae Bar at night. We met a group of guys that run the bar and they made our nights so fun. They would have a great time working and talking to the customers. They were always dancing and smiling, night after night. They didn't make too much money, but they were always happy and that's what matters to them. I hope I can live that way. They kept telling us that laughing makes you young, and I do believe it! We were really sad to leave that place, I fell in love with it. I want to go back very soon. I hope I don't say that about every place I visit or I'll never go home!

Singapore is a beautiful city. We got here in the afternoon and found a hostel from a friend we met in Bali. We took the subway and it was so clean and easy. Then we walked around for a bit and had some dinner with a girl we met at the hostel. Of course, Tanya and I can't go anywhere without drama. We sit down at a table outside and order some food. The electricity goes out and a woman comes out yelling, "fire, fire in the back!" Yeah, the fire brigade had to come and they had no electricity for about an hour. But on the good side, our spring rolls were ok! We just can't go anywhere without something crazy happening. What's gonna happen in Malaysia?!

We have to get used to it here, it's so expensive compared to Bali. I hate doing the currency rate in my head, my brain is on holiday...doesn't work with numbers! I gotta buy a little calculator for this stuff. We are planning on staying here until Sunday and then heading to the unknown, Malaysia. We had our trip sorta planned up until now. We have no idea where we want to go in Malaysia. We have to pick, East coast or West coast...I guess we'll find out soon.

The hostel we are staying at is nice. We have dorm rooms of about 20 people, but it has air conditioning. I am excited to sleep. I have been sleeping with the heat for 3 weeks and been dreaming of this moment. On that note, I'm going to bed. Hopefully no one snores! Tomorrow we are gonna do some walking and sightseeing. There's a lot to see in two days. Tell you about it later.

Earthquake!

I was in my first ever earthquake in Ubud! It was only a little one and we were told it's pretty common. We were just happy we weren't by the water. We are in the middle of the island and high up.

Tanya and I have just been relaxing. Went shopping yesterday and got reflexology on our feet. It was interesting, my arms went numb when they were doing certain things. We are going to look for a driver today to see some sights. Tomorrow we are heading back to Padangbai for beach relaxation. I can't wait to go back there. I love it there!

Dreaming in Dreamland...

I'm finally back to civilization...kinda. I went back to Kuta with 2 other people I met, Kirsty (England) and Greg (Aussie), on Satuday to pick Tanya up from the airport. We all went out a bit that night and Tanya and I woke up early to look around and shop. We went to Bingin Beach on the southern peninsula of Bali with Kirsty and Greg. We stayed in a fabulous, but basic homestay. Our room was on a cliff facing the ocean. It had a great sitting area to see the surroundings. Tanya and I decided to walk over to the nearby beach, Dreamland. Dreamland is better for swimming and more people are there. We didn't know we were walking during high tide and had the hardest time trying to dodge waves and rocks on the beach. We get to the last rock before the beach and see that it's pretty dangerous to pass. We go past anyways, little did we know that a huge wave was about to come and take us down. We almost died on our first day together. Thank God we did not hit our heads on the rock...someone was looking out for us. Thanks Grampas!

The next day, we wanted to be closer to the action of Dreamland, so we got our bags on and hiked to the beach, on the cliff...no water this time to take us down. We walked through countryside and cow pasteurs, it was interesting. We got a little room on another cliff with Kirsty and Greg. I know what it's like to rough it now. No electricity and walk through a small alley to find the bathroom, which faces both the ocean and some stairs so pervs can pull a Peeping Tom. My legs are killing me from walking up and down these steep stairs many times a day. Tanya had a Balinese dish that was mainly covered with ants. Yummy!!!! It was beautiful there, but now we are happy to be in a place that has running water and lights!

Our last night we went to the southern point called Ula Watu. It has a temple on the cliffs and monkeys roam freely. We had to wear sarongs to cover our legs to go in...we looked mighty sexy! A monkey jumped on my head trying to get my hair-tie while I waws sitting down. Tanya tried to pet one and she got slapped! I tried to give them food, but they are very aggresive and take everything. I got freaked out and didn't want to carry food anymore. We saw the Kecak Fire Dance during the sunset. It was amazing. These men get in trances and chant through a dramatic play and then withstand fire. A man was stuck in a ring of fire that burned my legs and I was further away. I don't know how he did it, and then he walked on all the hot debris! Craziness! we just chilled at night and and played games or did madlibs. I'm going to bed earlier than I ever had and it's great. I get up at 7 or 8am and I'm ready for the day! The only thing I worry about is sleeping with a creepy crawly!

We just got to Ubud which is in the middle of the island. It's known for arts and crafts. We are going to stay here for a few days and go back to Padangbai. I'm not going to be too happy when I leave Bali...I have fallen in love with it.