Hong Kong, you had me at hello!

Seriously, I am obsessed with this place.  I am definitely ready to pack up and move here!

A glimpse of our past few days;  We arrived late so we went out for dinner around 11 pm, unfortunately we are staying in a residential area so the best we could find was Pizza Hut.  The next day we spent the morning at The Stanley Market and the evening over on Kowloon.  From Kowloon we watched the famous Hong Kong Light Show.  The light show wasn't exactly a show stopper but a must see for any tourist.

The following day was filled with shopping and eating at local foodie finds.  I have to admit here that I am a diligent follower of Gwyneth Paltrow's blog, where I found a few local joints that I have been eager to test out for myself.  Number one on my list was a Dim Sum joint in the Happy Valley area (yes, there is a happy valley even here in Hong Kong).  We went to the restaurant recommended and were delighted with the cuisine.  After dinner we went to the Happy Valley Race Track,  I was in heaven!  I have been secretly following my fav horse 'Business as Usual' for about a month so I was ecstatic to find out he was racing on Wednesday (I saw a show about the horse on National Geographic).  I put all of my money on him to win... wa wa he took 3rd.  Even though I didn't win it was a fun night out.

 Matt has been ranting to me endlessly about economics and world politics, while all I want to talk about is food, fashion, and real estate.  I suppose this means we need to get back to 'regular' life.

Because we are staying in the residential area near Victoria Peak I wanted to check out the beautiful hotels in Hong Kong.  We visited the Peninsula and had lunch at the Mandarin Oriental.  I was underwhelmed with the food... but happy to find a local Indian restaurant tonight in our neighborhood.



My mom is recovering from surgery and I hope she is recouping well.  I am sad to be away for Easter, but I am confident we will enjoy a great Eastern Easter.  I can't wait for the royal wedding, seriously counting down the days!  

Songkran, Muay Thai and...SCUBA!

We cashed in some Marriott Rewards Points to stay in a resort in Surin Beach, lets just say I always feel at home at Marriott.  It brings me back to the good old college days of late shifts and studying in the concierge lounge.  Anyway, we have been doing all the typical 'tourist' things in Phuket.  We ventured into Patong for a day, it wasn't my cup of tea, a little rough and packed with Euro trash.  I will give a brief summary of our activities here:

Songkran, Thai New Year.  It's basically a giant all day/night water fight, face painting and traditional Thai dancing.  It broke the Guinness Book of World Records this year for the 'Worlds Largest Water Fight', and we gladly joined in on the madness.  It was so fun to see the playful side of the Thai people, everyone was drenched, laughing and happy to celebrate.  We kicked off the celebrations on Songkran Eve, Matt had the idea of throwing water from our balcony onto the kids below.  They loved it and we continued our game with them for a few hours.  Our hotel held a big Songkran celebration, to no surprise Matt was the Belle of the Ball!  All the Thai girls wanted to dance with him, it was so cute!  It was a blast, I felt like a kid again.

Muay Thai, Thai boxing.  This sport is a BIG DEAL here.  Unlike American boxing, Thai boxers can kick, knee and throw down.  At first it was painful to watch but after a few fights I got used to the brutality.  The closest thing I can compare it to is an underground cock fight in San Felipe, Mexico, but I digress.  The boxing was entertaining for a few hours, honestly I spent most of the night studying the crowd.  It consisted of a rowdy bunch of Aussies, Scandinavians and a few dirty old men with YOUNG Thai girls, let's just say we were out of our element.

The day we were in Patong we enjoyed yummy Japanese food and also got 'fish pedicures'.

Scuba, that's right scuba.  Matt was able to get out to three dive sites yesterday while I enjoyed a peaceful day of "alone time" by the pool.  Matt said the visibility was great but that the condition of the coral was a little concerning, the tourism and development has had a negative impact here.  After hearing about his great time scuba diving I decided to give it a second chance.  My circumstances had to be very controlled this time, as in the Marriott pool, English speaking instructor and Matt by my side.  Surprise, I do like scuba!  I eased into it and was sad when my instructor said the lesson was over.  I will definitely get certified when I get home.

All in all our time here in Thailand has been amazing, tomorrow we are off to bustling Hong Kong.  Hope all is well with everyone at home.  

P.S. We are both home sick!

Sawatdee ka!

I have to start by apologizing to my mom for slacking on my blog duties, we have just been so busy basking in the sun!  Seriously the past week in Krabi has been great, we have been; island hopping, snorkeling, wind surfing, sea kayaking and killing it on the tennis court.  I finally found one sport I am actually better than Matt at...wind surfing!  Imagine a giraffe ice skating!  He is quite a spectacle out there.  To his credit he has been dominating the tennis court.  We will spend our last five days in Thailand in Surin Beach (Phuket area).  Oh ya, my mom just sent me an email about Jared's early morning shenanigans on channel 2, anyone else catch it?

Blow your socks off!

This is the term I have been using quite frequently lately.  All the while my loving husband never corrected me, instead he kept it to himself, laughing behind my back.  I guess I combined, "this would blow you away" and "knock your socks off."  Personally I like my term better and plan to continue to use it to spite Mateo.  Anyway, we thoroughly enjoyed our time in Railay beach, we actually never even left our resort.  Seriously, Railay will "blow your socks off!"

Now we are back in Ao Nang, we have been kayaking to some remote beaches and snorkeling.

Today we went elephant trekking, which was quite the experience.  My friend Suzanne recently traveled to Thailand and she showed me pics of her ridding an elephant and knew I had to try it.  From what I saw in her pictures I assumed we would be going on a nice leisurely ride, not so!  I have found that most "adventures, tours, and activities" in foreign countries come with little or no direction, plan, or communication, the elephant trekking was no exception.  So the 'elephant trekking adventure' began...  We climbed up to a treehouse, next thing I knew we were being tied onto the back of an elephant.  Elephants are often referred to as "gentle giants" so I wasn't too nervous.   About two steps into our trek I realized I was in for a few surprises.  It turns out not all elephants are gentle giants, Juan (our elephant) was not a happy camper!  He just kept stomping his big feet and making scary noises, meanwhile our elephant saddle was sliding off.  Well, we managed to survive, but I think I will be just fine if I NEVER ride another elephant ever again.  Tonight we are going in search of some good authentic street food.  

So long Cambodia... Great Expectations...

After being in Cambodia for a few days I received an alarming email from my mom.  Her email explained how worried she was that we were in the middle of nowhere in Cambodia, she also included several warnings from the US embassy advising against travel in Cambodia.  We had done a fair amount of research before we arrived so we were aware of the annoyances and dangers...  But there is just something about a mother's intuition that I couldn't deny, so we cut our time in Cambodia short by a few days.  We filled our last few days there with rides on the bamboo trains, playing hackie sack with locals,visiting more temples, and a trip to the 'killing fields'.  The trip to the'killing fields' was tough.  Our guide was an orphan as a result of the terrible time that the Kehmer Rough ruled.  He had such an interesting and alarmingly humble/understanding/pensive take on the sad history of the beautiful country.  The monument and the fields had a very dark, somber presence.  I won't post any of the pics, it seems disrespectful and morbid.  I left Cambodia with a lot of respect for the people.

On to more positive topics.  We went back to Bangkok for one night before going down south.  We went to an area in Bangkok that I would describe as "Vegasish." Lots of big shopping malls with designer stores, flashing lights, chain restaurants.  It was a quite a departure from the authentic part of the city we spent most of our time in, and it lacks much of the charm.  But, we did see a live taping of a Thai reality show, I think it is kinda like American Idol (called PopTeen!) (but hard to say because I haven't actually ever watch American Idol).  Anyway, it was an interesting evening filled with window shopping and yummy American food.

I know several people who say that southern Thailand is their favorite place on earth, I have also seen so many beautiful pictures of the area, so with this in mind I tried to manage my expectations before arriving.  So far, this place is as perfect and as stunning as everyone says. We are now in Railay Beach in southern Thailand.  I've never seen such dramatic landscape.  The area is also less developed than I had anticipated.  Well, hope all is well at home.  Happy Birthday Emmett, Grandma, and Blake!

Off the grid, seriously.

Matt heard about this cool city in Cambodia that foreigners rarely visit, it's supposed to be a hidden gem.  Apparently there is easy access to lots great attractions; bamboo trains, killing fields, and some beautiful Buddhist temples.   So... Matt drug me out of bed EARLY this morning to head to this city (I can't pronounce the name of this place let alone spell it).  After a gruelling four hour bus ride we arrived here...

I was getting a little nervous until we pulled into our resort...

This resort is killer, the accommodations are these great private bungalows.  Currently we are the only guests, so we have the entire place to ourselves!  The cost to say here is ridiculous, as in dirt cheap!  Matt's favorite part is that the resort has a few old school jeeps available for the guest to use, he's stoked to drive through the rice fields tomorrow.   We are off to see nearby sights, including the 'killing fields,' and I am also dying to eat copious amounts of traditional Khmer food.  Had some amok fish and egg noodle stir fry for dinner, awesome!

I HEART CAMBODIA

Everyone has limits and I hit mine today.  I was done with being a grungy/stinky/hippie, I was in desperate need to embrace all things girly and anti-backpacker.  I strapped on a pair of platforms, jewelry, clean clothes, makeup and went shopping.  I had hit the grunge wall...Matt was a good sport, and he definitely comes in handy when trying to barter (he is one stubborn and hard bargaining SOB).  I didn't come away with much, I'm not really in the market for tiger balm ointment or elephant printed silk pillows.  But, it was still a great and surprisingly cool experience and a nice change from visiting all the tourist sites and temples.

We had been planning to visit the a local orphanage tonight.  I had been mentally preparing myself all day. I knew it would be a very emotional experience, but I had no idea just how much it would impact me, we were there for a whole two minutes before my eyes swelled up with tears.  The kids put on a show for us, they did a few traditional Cambodian dances, and also played a few typical folk songs.  Many of the performers were young and talented, they danced and sang as professionals... Honestly, a great cause run by some very giving and professional people.  We got to play with the kids and congratulate them after the days performance.  I don't even think I can put into words how special the experience was.  It was extremely humbling to say the least.  This was one of the best experiences I have had traveling.  We are going to try to rearrange our travel schedule so we can come back to volunteer for a few days.   Here is the website for the orphanage if you'd like to donate or  check it out:  www.acodo.org

Thanks for following us on this crazy journey!

CAMBODIA

I'm not going to lie, yesterday was brutal.  Here is a recap: One hour taxi to bus station, five hour bus to Thai/Cambodia border (sitting right by the bathroom, sick!), got scammed by tuk-tuk driver, got scammed by border police, negotiated for an hour for a taxi, got scammed by taxi, two hour taxi ride in a 1990 Camery with six people and one baby, scammed again by tuk-tuk driver, finally arrived at our hotel in Siem Reap.  Sigh...All that work for $32...priceless!

We got to our hotel room and took a few minutes to relax after our day from Hell.  We finally ventured out into the city for dinner, mediocre mexican Cambodian style, you can probably sense the authenticity of these tacos and chimichangas.  Downtown Siem Reap is pretty charming, lots of cute little bistros and street shops.  There is a large French influence here, we are planning to explore the French Quarters tomorrow.

Today we toured several temples; Angkor Wat, The Bayon, Ta Prohm (where Tomb Raider was filmed).  We took an extensive tour of Angkor Wat, it was neat to learn about the religion, history, and architecture.  It took 1 million people 37 year to complete the structure.  It's amazing how much time and energy went into building the temples.  

The past 48 hours have been so stressful and exhausting, I'm hoping I can talk Matt into another massage tonight!  Oh ya, I used my first squat toilet, it wasn't pretty.