I'll be home for Christmas...

So if you know me well...you know I LOVE Christmas. I clearly probably got that from my Mom and her love for Christmas and decorating!! I've been listening to Christmas music at home a little but not nearly as much as normal at work (Julia and Lauren and I would blast Christmas in our cubes in DC - ohh the good ol' days!).  But when I hear the song "I'll be home for Christmas"...it has a different meaning to me now and gets me thinking. It was never a question as if I'd be home for Christmas before. Even the year I had to work the day after and wake up at 3am to drive back to DC it still wasn't a question. I always made it home for Christmas of course. But this year was a little questionable back in June when I left for Indonesia. Would my work let me off?? If not is it worth traveling so far for a short time? Will the plane tickets be too expensive? Will I decide to stay in Asia and travel?

Now it's Dec 6th and it's only 9 days away until I leave to go home for Christmas!! I feel so blessed that I will be able to go home and spend time with my family and friends. I couldn't be happier.  I'm so lucky to have such a wonderful family whom I can't wait to see! I feel so thankful for all our traditions at the holidays and so thankful for where I'm from.  Being so far away has made me realize how much I love my hometown and how amazing it is.  And more importantly the people who live in it.  All my immediate family lives in Botetourt/Roanoke except me which makes it even harder to be so far away. But luckily my Mom and Aunt are very tech savvy and keep me updated on ALL of them daily through BBM, email, Facebook and Skype :)

So I plan on continuing to play my new Michael Buble Christmas album on repeat (thanks Aloysuis!) and enjoying my tropical Christmas until next Friday when my flight leaves! Can't wait to see everyone!!

Second stop in Thailand - Koh Samui & Koh Tao!

After Bangkok we flew on the cutest little plane (painted with fish just like the sea) to Koh Samui, one of the many islands in Thailand.  Koh Samui is located in the gulf so not near the famous Koh Phi Phi everyone may have heard of (in the movie the beach).  It's only about an hour or less flight from Bangkok.  

For the first part of our trip we stayed in Bo Phut right beside Fisherman's Village. It was such a cute area on the island I would certainly recommend it! Fisherman's Village is a tiny street lined with restaurants right on the beach and tons of shops and street vendors. Oh and of course I can't forget the amazing banana pancakes they made on the street in the push carts. Yummmm! 

Our first hotel on the islands - so pretty at night!

Notice something in the background?! hehe


 Bugs for dessert anyone?! yuckyy!

One of the first days, we each rented our own scooters (yes I've graduated and decided to drive my own ...hint - it's WAY better!) I did good but certainly still feel major anxiety come on when there are huge trucks or traffic around me! We drove around as much as the island as possible in one day and got to see many different beaches and stopped along the way to sight see.

Notice the gas station on my right side! 

Big Buddha on Koh Samui

We got to make a wish before sending the lantern away on the beach :)

On the way to Koh Tao! He's pretty handsome :)

After staying on the island a couple days we took the boat to Koh Tao which is about 2 hours away from Koh Samui.  First the boat stops in Koh Phangan which is where they hold the famous "Full Moon Party" but sadly there wasn't a full moon during our stay so we decided to skip the island and go on to Koh Tao.  This island was much smaller than Koh Samui and wasn't nearly as developed. The beaches were also nicer. Loved our little hut on the beach :)

The beach in front of our place

If only this was my daily view from my room in Jakarta!

Our first night out on Koh Tao we went to some bars on the beach and these 3 guys were our entertainment with their fire! It was so crazy. Here he is twirling the fire and a guy is letting him light his cigarette! No thank you! 

Koh Nang Yuan was an island directly beside Koh Tao that I LOVED! It was gorgeous. We rented a boat and a little man to drive us around the island for snorkling and a trip to Koh Nang Yuan for the day. Probably cost 40 bucks total - so worth it! And I just love the little wooden long tail boats!

Never have seen these before! You get close and they close up - the tiny blue ones are closed.

Getting back on the boat!

We left Koh Tao and went back to Koh Samui before leaving the islands and heading back home. We decided to stay in a different area called Chaweng this time. It's pretty much "party central" on the island.  Everything you can imagine on one long street. Ladyboy shows, restuarants, shops, and Thai massage places that stay open until like 1am! Yes we got a massage that late one night - why not?! :)

This was our last hotel called the Library in Chaweng. It had a red pool - kinda different than the typical blue ones!

So that was our Thailand island experience and we loved every minute of it! 

<3 Thailand

Wild and Wonderful Bangkok

I'm so behind on these blog posts but will try harder to be better! Since the last post Alo and I have traveled to Thailand, twice to Bali, AND one of my best friends gave birth to her little girl Berkley Katherine! Lots to write about so I must catch up! :)

Due to Eid Al-Fitr, the holiday at the end of Ramadan, Alo and I got a week off work because all offices close - even the banks! We planned a trip to Thailand including Bangkok, Koh Samui and Koh Tao.  In case you don't already know, Ramadan is the Islamic month of fasting and they fast from sun up to sun down every day for 30 days. They can't even have water, mints, nothing!

We left Friday after work and headed to Bangkok. It's only about a 3.5 hr flight from here but we had to connect in Kulua Lumpur, Malaysia due to the holiday and our last minute booking habits.  We stayed in Patpong - which is one of the red light districts - so to say the least it was quite entertaining! ha. It was also a popular area for many of the famous "ladyboys". If you don't know what a ladyboy is I think you can figure it out - pretty self explanatory. But wow it's amazing how they truly do look like women! Watch out boys - you wouldn't want to have one too many cocktails and end up with a ladyboy!

We went to a famous "ladyboy" show called Calypso. It was a packed house!

We visited temple after temple and it was HOT in Bangkok - so it made for quite a long day! The Grand Palace was the first stop and it was just gorgeous. The Grand Palace served as the official residence of the Kings of Thailand from the 18th century onward.  When King Rama V came along, he no longer wanted to use the palace as his residence so from his time and on the Kings no longer reside in the Palace. It is however still very much in use. Many royal rituals and  ceremonies still take place by the King every year. And it stays quite busy and filled with tourist like Alo and I :)

Check out Alo's pants :) Fashionista! The true story is that you can't wear shorts in the temple so Alo had to buy or rent pants. Makes for some funny photos!

Wat Pho was another temple we visited. Not nearly as beautiful as The Grand Palace but what makes it very famous is the reclining buddha inside.  This is not just a large statue lying down - it is enormous!

One of my favorite things we did was take a long tail wooden boat along the Chao Phraya River and waterways through Bangkok.  We saw a floating market and bought a beautiful elephant which Alo later dropped on the ground and broke into pieces! (thank goodness for superglue!!) We passed by many temples on the ride and got to see many local houses that lined the river. We also fed the catfish in the river and they were huge and aggressive. See how many there are in the picture?!

And of course my favorite part of Bangkok was the FOOD! I love Thai food so there was no doubt I would like the food but it was even better than expected. Even street food. I don't eat the street food in Indonesia becaues it all looks funky and dirty but in Thailand it was great. And didn't even give me a stomach ache! Pad Thai on the street would cost a $1! There were tons of backpackers in Thailand and there is no doubt as to why. It can be very cheap if you want it to be.

One interesting restaurant we went to was called "Cabbages and Condoms". Alo was quite skeptical about going but so glad we did. It was actually right next to Alo's coworkers apartment so we all had lunch before we flew out to the islands.  The concept behind the restaurant is to promote better understanding and acceptance of family planning and to generate income to support various development activities of the Population and Community Development Association in Thailand.  The idea behind the name is that condoms should be as readily available as cabbages (meaning vegetables but it doesn't sound as catchy). The decorations in the restaurant were very creative - it's not everyday I see Santa made out of condoms!

We also went to a local fruit and flower market (forget the area). Alo was practicing his photography skills here and they turned out pretty good! Many of the fruits are also in Indonesia so it wasn't too much of a surprise although we did try one new one: Rambutan. Doesn't it look wild?! It's actually native to Indonesia and the Philippines but I never see them here.

And lastly we rode around in Tuk-tuks! This is just like a taxi in Bangkok but cheaper and sometimes quicker since it can weave in and out of traffic. They are pretty funny - and very loud! Alo did have the bright idea of getting us a tuk-tuk on the way home from Calypso when it was pouring rain...maybe not the best idea :)

One last thing about Bangkok...the bugs for sale on the street! Literally they would sell fried bugs in the push carts on the street and outside the bars. And business was booming! Yuck! It grosses me out just thinking about it. Needless to say we never tried the bugs.

And that's the end of our Bangkok adventures for now! I would recommend it to anyone planning to visit Thailand!

Hot-N-Ready Lava!

I'm so behind on my posts but I don't want to skip any awesome places we've seen so I'm back tracking!

A couple weeks ago Alo, Fran, Clementine and I all went on a road trip out of Jakarta to see an active volcano. Krakatoa is in the Sunda straight between the islands of Java and Sumatra.  The volcano exploded in 1883 killing approximately 40,000 people and the explosion was considered the loudest sound ever heard in modern history. Reports say that it was heard over 3,000 miles away - this would be like DC to Cali! So crazy to imagine.

I was a bit nervous to go visit the volcano knowing its history and that it is still active. But of course Alo convinced me to join as usual and I'm very glad he did.  It was a great experience.  We took a small boat with a couple from Spain who spoke no English but luckily Clem speaks every language under the sun. The boat ride took about an hour and a half to get out to the volcano.

These little fishermans' houses were all over the water close to the main island. I'm going to make an educated guess and say they probably don't have a Toto installed in there!

We saw multiple eruptions from the boat as well as when we were actually on the volcano.  No hot magma was flying but you would see the huge cloud of smoke coming out of the top! Our guide did show us fresh magma from an explosion days before. He said usually they happen really early in the morning around 4 or 5am.  Hiking around the volcano was HOT. The sun was beating down on us and the ash felt like fire under our shoes. Needless to say, just after a bit on the volocano I was ready for our snorkeling trip to begin!

We walked along the black sand beach which was neat because it was my first one. I've seen one in Bali but never actually had my toes deep in the sand!  I wouldn't have thought I would have liked it because I love soft white sand but that gorgeous blue water and black sand was a beautiful site to see.

The snorkling was the best I've done out here so far.  Poor Alo was feeling sea sick at the time but I made sure to take lots of pictures so he could see how awesome the fish and coral were :) I felt like a true underwater photographer this day because I think the pictures are the best ones I've ever taken.  Seeing places like this just makes me want to rush out and get our diving certification because I can't imagine how stunning the sites deep down under are.  We have researched classes and dive trips but you have to committ a couple weeks and weekends and we just haven't had a chance yet. I want to do a "test" dive first to make sure I like it before I pay to be certified.  I think it sounds so fun and great but once you are deep in the sea I hear sometimes peoples opinions change. So I'll keep you posted on the diving in the future!

As we ate lunch on the island this big guy decided to join us. I'm actually not sure what exactly it was called but he was huge, fast and had a big scary slithering tongue. I don't mind lizards but yikes! 

Australians love Indonesia because it's close by and really cheap. Since Alo makes friends everywhere he goes he decided to chat with this Australian who was so DRUNK we could hardly make sense of anything he was saying. He said he was there to surf and he was waiting on the waves. The funniest part is that the beach has NO waves and is completely still except for the waves from the boats and jetski's :) Wonder how many weeks until he realizes there are no waves? ha

We stayed in a cute little villa and Alo made an awesome dinner for us all in the outdoor kitchen.  It was a great relaxing weekend and I would recommend the trip!