Blog for Tunisia

Since I've moved I created a new blog - feel free to read it :)
http://fromctoshiningsea.blogspot.com/

First FULL Marathon

As I'm looking at the things I've blogged about in the past in order to figure out what important things I don't want to forget about our time in Asia, I realized how could I forget to write about the Singapore Marathon?!

So let me give you some history of why I signed up for the marathon in the first place. Did I think I'm built to run marathons? Nope! In fact I've always thought they can't be good for your body.  It all started because my co-worker mentioned she had signed up for the half marathon in Singapore December 4th, 2011 and was scared to death (Indonesians aren't big into running or working out in general).  I went home that night telling Alo that we should sign up as well - it sounded like a great race.  Alo and his co-worker Steve decided to do the full marathon and immediately signed themselves up at work the next day.  Well because my local check card was so odd, it would never let me make any online purchases so I needed Alo or Steve to sign me up. I kept asking Alo to sign me up for the HALF, of course reminding him day after day as he let it go in one ear and out the other. Well one day I hear at work that the HALF was closed for registration because it had hit its max limit of participants. I was slightly furious knowing most likely Alo had still not signed me up and I had probably missed the boat on this one.  Sure enough that was the case. In order to try to redeem himself he thought it would be a good idea to just sign me up for the FULL and I could just run with the HALF marathons on the big day and it would be fine.

Well that wasn't possible. If you have ever been to Sinapore you know it's super "rule" oriented and there was no way to just hop in with the half marathon group.  So I decided to attempt the FULL thinking it couldn't be that bad if I had a run/walk strategy. Well Alo was against my strategy of running/walking/running/walking even if you aren't tired. His idea was to run as far as possible and then walk if I had to. That might have been the worst idea! ha. Alo and I ran the entire first half of the marathon and then I literally hit a brick wall.  I remember thinking how will I ever make it to the finish? Did I mention it was scalding hot and the sunburn was already in full force? Sunscreen isn't even an option because you'd sweat it right off in a jiffy. 

Well after a long painful morning/afternoon, we made it! I have literally never done something as hard in my life. I have a whole new respect for FULL Marathon runners. Granted I still feel now more than ever that it just can't be good on anyones body to run/walk that much in one day (26.2 miles) but I do commend them for their amazing ability to accomplish it and at such fast speeds. 

I would really recommend running the HALF or the 10k options for the same race. It was the Standard Charter Marathon in Singapore and I think about 20,000 people participate in all the different race options.  I'm happy that we finished - that was my main goal! Checked that one off the bucket list and certainly don't plan on repeating it again :)

The highlight of this "Marathon Trip" was that everything was decorated for Christmas in Singapore and just gorgeous! They really go all out, especially on Orchard Road where all the shopping is located. All in all it was a wonderful weekend in Singapore and I'll certainly never forget it!

Fruiti Tutti

If you know me - you know I LOVE fruits.  Especially anything with bananas! Living in a tropical country is a perfect place for a fruit lover because they have so many fruits all year long :) And thank goodness Alo decided to "splurge" months ago and buy us a blender since non of our electronics from the US would work here so I can make constant smoothies!

I will have to say that before we moved here, my old landlord in DC constantly talked about the Mangos in Indonesia and how amazing they were supposed to be. I'll have to say they don't knock me over, but maybe I'm just not a Mango lover at heart. But they do have a couple different kinds here and they are offered on most dessert menus at restaurants.

The best part of all is that the grocery store KemChicks (which reminds me alot of a whole foods but in Indonesia) will cut any fruit and package it for you with no additional cost.  So I can pick up a large watermelon and take it to the counter and tell them i'd like to buy half of it chopped up.  How amazing is that? I guess if you are like me and HATE to cut up any fruits then you'd be just as excited. I've decided Whole Foods or Trader Joe's really needs to adopt this idea.  Granted I will say there are always at least 3 people behind the counter cutting up a storm so it does take some man power to have this kind of operation.  Anyways - brilliant idea in my opinion. Quick, healthy, cheap fruits cut up everyday for lunch - yes please!

Back to bananas - they have so many different types of Indonesian bananas but I can't keep up with the names.  They are huge, regular ones like in the states, medium ones, and tiny ones.  A popular street food dessert is Pisang Goreng. (pisang means banana, goreng means fried).  Indonesians love to fry up anything so it's no surprise that take a healthy yummy banana and fry it up in oil. So much of the street food is either fried noodles or a meat or vegetable fried up! (are you arteries hurting yet??).

Dragon fruit, Salak (Snake fruit), Starfruit and cocunuts are probably my favorite fruits from Indonesia. You can see what they all look like below:

Dragon fruit (there is also a kind that is the same but bright pink inside)

Salak (They call is Snake Fruit because of the scaley skin)

Belimbing or Carambola (Starfruit)

Here are some others I've tried :

Mangosteen- "Queen of all fruits" (good but the purple/red outter skin dyes your fingers and gets everywhere)

Rambutan (the name in Indonesian literally means "hairy" - hints the look and feel of the fruit)

Durian is my LEAST favorite fruit. Durian is the "King of Fruit" in Indonesia and is known for it's stinging scent, spiny skin and soft fruit. It has the fowlest smell ever (in my opinion!). I don't really know how to describe it other than gross. Indonesians just love it though, but you always know when someones eating it or it's around because it stinks up the whole area.

I almost forgot to mention the fruit juices. In almost any restuarant they offer all kinds of fresh fruit juices. My favorite is the watermelon juice or melon juice.  It's served cold and tastes like a million bucks. So simple - it's just watermelon put in the blender and served cold - trust me you want to try it!  They have so many drink choices from juices to smoothies to iced coffees, etc. This is always available in most restaurants since it's a Muslim country and most people don't drink alcohol so they offer lots of other options.

There are SO many more fruits but these are just a few. I'm not a fan of Indonesian food (haven't you wondered why i've never wrote about it? ha) but I do love their fruits!

Borobudur Temple

I am going to go back a couple months and catch up on many places/experiences in Indonesia that I always wanted to write about but never got to yet!

I went to Yogykarta over the Chinese New Year since I had a long weekend to see the Borobudur Temple as well as other places in the area.  I flew into Yogyakarta and met Alo there because he had been working there earlier in the week.  We just loved our weekend there. Everything is so green and lush and it's so peaceful compared to Jakarta.  

Borobudur is said to be the largest Buddhist Temple in the world. There were originally 504 Buddha statues on the temple.  It's always ranked as one of the top places to see in Indonesia so of course it's one destination I didn't want to miss visiting.  It was first built in the 9th century and abandoned in the 14th century when there was a significant decrease in Buddhists and Hindus in Java and a large conversion to Islam on Java.  It wasn't until 1814 that Borobudur was discovered again by Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles, the British ruler of Java who was advised of the monument by native Indonesians.  The monument has since been preserved through several restorations, the largest in 1975 and 1982 by the Indonesian government and UNESCO.  Borobudur is still used for pilgrimage and once a year Buddhists in Indonesia celebrate Vesak at the monument.  

Borobudur is about 40 minutes from the Hyatt in Yogykarta.  We stayed there and I would certainly recommend it. It's a little pricier for the area but was great and relaxing and they had good service.  When we arrived we quickly got our tickets and headed up to the temple.  It's up on a hill and you have to walk up tons of stairs to reach the top. It was also a beautiful HOT sunny day when we went so we were immediately sweating our buns off (nothing new in Indonesia!).  You can see the temple up high, its really tiny behind me in the picture below...

Like I mentioned earlier, we chose a holiday weekend to visit Borobudur. I'm going to go ahead an mention maybe it wasn't the best idea. As soon as we hiked up to the bottom part of the temple a couple Indonesians asked for me to take a photo with them. Others saw this and then it was all over - you would have thought we were Brad and Angelina! We were literally swarmed by everyone visiting the temple asking for photos and interviews. There was a group of Indonesian students studying English so they ALL wanted an interview and a photo from each of us! ha.  It was quite the day - but pretty funny! Some of the Paparazzi pictures below...

As we left the temple and were down at the bottom where tons of vendors are selling things we saw this little Indonesian man climbing these trees with just a rope wrapped around him and the tree to get Coconuts! And you thought your job was hard!

Holy huge tree! Yikes! 

We visited an area with tons of local crafts and art and I just LOVED it. I think it was called Kasongan. It's a long street filled with tons of tiny shops full of hand crafted local goods. Certain areas in Yogykarta also have tons of furniture stores which are fun to shop in.  Everything was much cheaper than things you can find in Jakarta. And the shipping to Jakarta was only about 15 dollars(it's a 2 hour flight away so i'd say that's a pretty good deal). We each bought our first pieces from Indonesia here - a small hand carved multi-colored cabinet and an old Indonesian boat made into a shelf. 

We went to the beach one day and rode through the countryside for hours to get there. It was a fun trip and always interesting to see the local neighborhoods but the trip took us almost all day to get there and back so if you have limited time I might not recommend it.  On the trip we had great views of Mount Merapi, the world's most active volcano that Alo hiked up back in September.  On the way back from the beach we stopped at a cliffside restaurant to get a snack and a Bintang(the local beer).

I loved our weekend in Yogykarta and wished we could have gone back! It's a great close getaway from Jakarta and flights are usually really cheap!

If nothing ever changed, there'd be no butterflies...

Well it was only a matter of time before something new came along - planning a trip to a new country, me convincing Alo we should buy one of the cute puppies they sell on the side of the road in Indonesia - or that we are moving...to Africa? Yup you guessed it - Alo found out recently he got a new position working on a different program in his company and we are moving to Tunisia! We are both really excited about it, yet sad to leave Indonesia.  It's been our home for the past year and we have had so many wonderful experiences together that we'll never forget.

I was apprehensive in the beginning to move to Indonesia.  I hated to leave my job in DC which I really enjoyed, my friends of course, and most of all my family.  I was nervous about living so far away and moving to a city I'd never visited nor heard very nice things about. Well if I've learned anything from this - it's JUST DO IT! You'll never know until you try.  Alo is also the most positive, go-with-the-flow, happy person I know so being across the world with him makes it much easier on any bad days!  I am so thankful we've had this opportunity together in Indonesia and look forward to our new chapter in Tunisia!

James Bond Island

On our last day in Thailand, we took a day trip to Phang Nga Bay in the Adaman Sea where the famous James Bond Island is located.  If you want a day trip with some kayaking around and stopping to see stalactites/stalagmites then this trip is for you. If you want a day of swimming and clear blue beaches then it's probably not the day trip for you but I really enjoyed it!

The entire trip gets its name from the James Bond movie filmed there (Man with the Golden Gun).  The actual island they call James Bond Island is tiny! I was expecting like a real island whereas its more of a limestone rock jetting out from the sea?

The kayaking was my favorite part! Some of the areas were so small we had to lay down. We had a guide on the back with us too!

Some of the small spaces we kayaked through...

See Alo and the guide??

There were guys on the wooden long tail boats just selling coconuts all day - ice cold coconuts - my favorite! yummm!

We had lunch at the place below but unfortunately I can't remember the name of it. It was basically a community built on the water and tons of shopping stalls and food/snacks for sale. We ate at a buffet and looked around for a bit and then headed to our last stop, the ice cream cave.

Can you imagine living here with small children?  So many cracks and crevices that lead straight down to the ocean!

Ice cream cave...why the name you ask? Because of the stalagmites formed by the dripping of the limeston in the cave - they think it looks like scoops of ice cream.

Kob kun ka is about the only thing I can ever remember in Thai :) Kob kun ka Thailand for another amazing trip - we hope to see you again someday!

Koh Phi Phi Islands

I'd say for sure the Koh Phi Phi islands in the Andaman sea are the most beautiful islands and beaches I've seen yet in Asia.  I will say they were an exact replica of the photos on calendars, websites, brochures, etc that I've seen in the past.  It's just what I always thought Thailand beaches were like - so it didn't let me down by any means!

There are about six islands total that make up Koh Phi Phi.  The islands are about an hour away from the marina in northern Phuket if you take a speedboat.  The most gorgeous one (but you can't stay on it) is Koh Phi Phi Ley.  The lagoon our boat took us in to swim was just stunning and I've never seen anything like it in my life.  The other islands we visited were Bamboo island and Koh Phi Phi Don (the main island where all the hotels are located).

Driving into the lagoon - this photo doesn't portray how gorgeous it really is - but you get the idea...

We first stopped at Bamboo island. It's a small island just with crystal clear water, beautiful white sand and nothing to do! (my kind of place!)  They did have a big wooden swing I loved - so when I get that private perfect island someday I'm certainly adding a big wooden swing to it! (one can dream right??)

Work it - work it! I snapped this while walking around the island - isn't this supposed to be the other way around?? Since when are men making the sexy poses on the beach instead of the women? HA!

We had lunch on Koh Phi Phi Don at a small restaurant on the beach. The island was really big so we hardly saw any of it.  The island is where all the hotels and villas are located and where tourists stay when they travel to Koh Phi Phi.

The last place we visited was Maya Bay on Koh Phi Phi Ley where the movie The Beach was filmed.  It actually wasn't as impressive as I imagined but maybe because of the large amount of tourist.  Regardless - Leonardo DiCaprio made it quite famous! 

Lots of tourists and lots of Speedos of course! 

It appears Alo is having an arm spasm in this one - or he is flexing!  haha

Just simply wonderful :)

Back to the Land of "Smiles"

Last Wednesday Alo and I took a half day off work and set off for our second trip to Thailand. This trip we decided to try out the southern islands on the west coast of Thailand. We visited Phuket, Koh Phi Phi and James Bond island and surrounding areas.  Phuket is Thailand's largest island (approximately the size of Singapore) so needless to say we didn't manage to see it all - but tried our best of course!

Air Asia has direct flights from Jakarta to Phuket so it's a quick 2.5-3 hour flight and you are there! We arrived, checked in at our hotel, and headed to Patong since we were feeling a little adventurous.  Patong lived up to everything I've heard about it - and other than just going to see it - I'd probably steer clear of that area unless you are in the market for some pretty Ladyboys and Ping pong shows. It's intensely crowded and full of foreigners - but certainly a sight to see.

You see all kinds of flashy things on the main streets of Patong

They said this little one is a baby monkey. He had on a little outfit but you can't see it. He was so cute!

Well hello there!

Tough guy!

I was so scared he would bite my lips!

My parents definitely need to put this game at their river place! We lost every time!

Alo and I spent one day on the trip just venturing around the northern part of the island on the scooter. Can never get away from at least one day on that scooter! ha.  We started from the Kamala beach area and went North to the less crowded areas of the island. The beach below was our favorite so we took a couple hours of the day to just relax on the beach and eat some yummy Thai food.

Would recommend this beach if you stay near Kamala. But be ready to hike down very steep stairs - and about 150 of them!

Laem Sing beach

Laem Sing again..

Just hanging out at the gas station. In case you are confused the gas is behind me in the glass bottles. And of course notice our sweet "hog" as Alo likes to call it.

These forests were just gorgeous. Unlike anything I've ever seen.  All the trees were planted perfectly in rows from no matter what angle you were looking at them (kinda hard to explain but really neat).

Loved our hotel - Cape Sienna - this was the rooftop bar before sunset.

More of the hotel at sunset...

Ate here our last night and LOVED it. Best Thai food from the whole trip - it's located at Kamala beach.

We had to do another Thai lantern on the beach  :) 

Phuket was great but my favorite was the Koh Phi Phi islands.  I would certainly recommend the trip though because there is a lot to see and tons of hotel/villa choices for very cheap prices! Trying to already convince Alo to let me plan our next trip to the Northern part of Thailand - Chang Mai! So many places to see and so far I loved all of them! Next posts - Koh Phi Phi and James Bond island!