Poo-get

That's how it's pronounced, in case you were wondering. We are in Phuket at the Southern Fried Rice Guesthouse. Yep. It is probably the nicest place we've stayed so far but also one of the cheapest! It is very relaxing here and so far we've just been to the beach to recover from our travel day... -long story short, we wanted to save money by finding our own taxi but ended up walking through a very non-tourist area very lost where no one speaks any English. We ended up finding two motorbike taxis (which is actually how all the locals get around) who took us to Kata beach where our guesthouse was, another miracle. My driver kept asking me which way to go and I literally had NO idea and was just guessing, go straight here, turn left here and then all of a sudden we saw the Southern Fried Rice guesthouse and I told him to stop. Luck? I think not. It's a really nice place run by a Norwegian man and some Thai ladies and there's a discount on food for guests and FREE INTERNET!!! So I'll probably be able to put up a few more pictures, yay! Maybe tonight.
Anyways, we are safely relaxing in Kata beach on Phuket Island until we fly to Vietnam which we think we have visas, we just need to find a place where we can get passport pictures... So that's the update. Happy July 1st! I just realized that I would be missing 4th of July with the family and I got really sad. I asked Kristina how we would celebrate the 4th and she said, Let's go to the Vietnam War Museum. How ironic, right? We'll see. Off to the orchid farms! Miss you all, love you all.

Everthing's more expensive in phi phi

That's why I haven't blogged. Internet is double the price of everywhere else we've been. We're still doing well. Yesterday we went rock climbing again, snorkeling, cliff jumping, fed monkeys, and saw the beach where the movie "The Beach" was filmed. We haven't seen the movie but they play it in all the bars at night so we could watch it if we wanted but we decided we'd rather go to the beach where it was filmed than spend time watching the movie. Right? Today we head to Phuket where we will stay until we fly out on Friday to Vietnam. We just discovered that you need a Visa for Vietnam so we're trying to rush our application so we can make our flight...
Hope you're all doing well. Love.

Oh man oh man.

It just keeps getting better!!! Ilove you all so much. Stephanie!! I am alive and loving it!!!! I wish you could be here too! someday you will HAVE to come out here. It's like hawaii but cheap!! And the food soooooooo delicious. I can't get enough.
Guess what everyone??!! I went rock climbing today!!! It was one of the coolest things I've ever done!! As if rock climbing isn't cool enough, I got to do it on the cliffs of Thailand (pics later...). I thought it would be better to tell you guys (mom) after we finished and were alive and non injured. We have raw fingers and crazy-sore arms but no injuries!! I wish you all could be here doing this with me! Seriously, Kristina and I keep looking at each other going "I love vacation" You just don't know how amazing it is. Everyday I look at where I am and I just can't believe it. Every scene is from a post card or a discovery channel special. DId you see the July National Geographic? Its about Cambodia!! how cool is that? You should all read it.
We have more definite plans for the rest of our trip. We bought tickets to fly from Phuket Thailand to Ho chi Min, Vietnam on the 3rd of July so we will be going to Ko Phi Phi tomorrow and then phuket after that for a few nights and then we fly to Vietnam. (So no worries about violence in South Thailand, we're not even going!) Kristina has a friend there who will hopefully show us around and then we will go through Cambodia and head back to Bangkok on the 12th of July and will stay there until we fly out on the 15th.
We are really excited about ko phi phi and phuket because supposedly its the most beautiful place in the world... I just can't believe it can get any better than this.
Ok, everyone, please go to Thailand some day. Thank you all for letting me come :)
Sorry about errors, this keyboard sucks and there is no spell check...
I feel like I'm forgetting so much but I will show you all the pictures and maybe you will understand. This is honestly on the top of my life-list of favorite things. I think I will look back at this trip the rest of my life and smile.

Happy Birthday Mom!!!! I LOVE YOU!!!!

Happy Birthday to you, happy birthday to you, happy birthday dear mother...(in harmony) Happy Birthday to You!!!
This is your present- PICTURES!! If you think your present was free, think again, it costs two baht a minute to use this computer and it took a long time to post these, so enjoy!! I hope you have a wonderful day (even though it's not your birthday yet in California, it is in Thailand)

For Jackie- a Thai bridal magazine. Don't they look lovely.

Our first real day in Bangkok we went to the weekend market. (think of Aloha stadium flea market but on steroids, and in Thailand) There was so much there we wanted to buy so we think we might stop there before we fly home to fill our bags with souvenirs.

At the Grand Palace in Bangkok. This was once the residence of the King. Also where the movie Anna and the King took place. Couldn't believe they built these buildings without electric tools.

On the grounds of Wat Pho (where the reclining Buddah is) I think I liked this temple better than the Grand Palace even though it was not kept up as well. It was not as touristy.

REALLY BIG BUDDAH!! It was something like 146 feet. The biggest reclined Buddah in the world. I don't know very much about Buddah but the different positions are in relation to enlightenment... Wish I knew more, I'll have to research a little when I get home.

After our 11 hour night bus ride to Surrat Thani, and before a one hour ferry ride to Ko Samui. Needless to say I didn't sleep a wink and Kristi slept like a baby... (I even took Nyquil)

At Ninja Crepes in Ko Samui. Very cheap and very good. We decided that the food at these local cheap places was as good as the really expensive beach restaurant.

Also on Chewang beach. I bought this hat to protect my poor sunburned scalp, the only place I ever get sunburned...

This was our night of luxury. We made reservations at a beach front restaurant and had dinner right by the ocean. We had creamy asparagus soup and pastry, stir-fried vegetables, chicken and tofu, a delicious fruity drink of some kind that had an umbrella in it, and an amazing dessert with gorgeous sliced mango and ice cream. You can't really see it but the water is right behind us and there was a lightening storm way off in the ocean that was flickering all night. It was so romantic.

On Ko Samui, Chewang beach. Our favorite place so far. Must have been those massages... Kristina bought a cold, sliced mango and an extremely friendly Thai boy offered to take our picture...

Our elephant ride. The men who guide the elephants are called the Kahren (sp?) people and they are originally from Tibet but migrated to Thailand over the last hundred years, they speak their own language and they are raised training elephants.

Part of our jungle tour was a ride to the water falls. There were local kids playing in the water and as always, they stared at us like we were aliens.

On Au Nang beach, the cliffs were amazing and the water was sooooo blue.

After Au Nang, we rode a mini-bus to Ko Lanta Island. If you're wondering what a mini-bus is. Think of an old old toyota van with pea green curtains on the windows and about 14 people squished in the space for about 7 riding on roads that haven't been fixed since the tsunami and A/C with asthma... for two hours. But we made it and now we're staying in a cute little family run bungalow place with a pool right by the ocean. We'll stay here at least one more night and then head back to Krabi, then to Ko phi phi, and finally to Phuket. And...guess what? We're not going to Malaysia! We decided that this trip is just too short to include so many places and we like spending more time in one place...so we're going to take our time in Thailand for another week or so and then hop on a flight to Vietnam and then spend the rest of the trip heading back to Bangkok through Cambodia. That's the plan and we feel pretty good about it. We were't particularly excited about anything in Malaysia anyways. Ok, that's the update. We are loving it here and just realized yesterday how fast it was going and wished we had a few more weeks. But don't worry, we'll still come home on the 15th. We miss you and love you!

Krabi

We are now in Krabi. Our jungle tour was amazing. You wouldn't believe it. It was honestly a for-real jungle!! We went on a canoe ride down the river and rode elephants (it poured on us during the elephant ride, it was as the sound of rushing waters, we could here it coming) Then we ate dinner at a nice resort and slept in little bungalows that were actually very nice (they had a blow dryer!!!) Then this morning we went on a jungle hike and saw ginormous spiders and beetles. Our tour guide was walking in front of us with a machete chopping branches like crocodile Dundee. So cool. We saw a very large tree, the last hardwood tree left in that jungle and we swung on a vine like Tarzan. I have also never been that sweaty in my life. It wasn't that hot but I'm pretty sure the humidity was about 400%. Our tour guides weren't even breaking a sweat...
Now we are in Krabi which is supposed to be a rock-climbers paradise so naturally Kristina wants to go. I'm hoping they have something an amateur can do. We are probably going to stay here two nights and then go to Ko Phi Phi and Phuket for about 2 nights each, and then maybe we will fly into Malaysia, not sure yet, we need to check prices.
We are doing well and neither of us has even had so much as a tummy ache. (knock on wood) And practically zero mosquito bites, yay! Hope everyone is doing well, I love you all!

2 things I forgot.

We probably don't have internet on our jungle tour, so don't get worried if I don't post for a few days. And mom, or someone-tell mom to check her email.

Goodbye Ko Samui

Tonight is our last night in Ko Samui. We have loved it here. Love love love. The food is great, the beaches are sunny, and we can't get lost because there is only one road... The guesthouse we are staying in is run by an adorable Italian man named Luigi and it has been so nice!! He comes and clean our room and there is a little restaurant where you can eat either Italian food fixed by him or Thai food fixed by his Thai helper/girlfriend (we think) He is soooooo friendly and we have loved it here at Embassy Guesthouse Restaurant and Bar. If you ever come to Ko Samui, you must come meet Luigi. His girlfriend even helped us with our next travel plans and ordered us a taxi at 5 in the a.m. That brings me to our next adventure. Tomorrow we take a taxi to the pier and a ferry to the mainland where we will be picked up by Siam Safari Tours for a 2 day jungle tour of Khau Sok National park. We will be in the serious jungle! Riding elephants and kayaking and sleeping in mosquito nets. We briefly got over our eco-conscious problems with deet and bought some bug spray today. Our fear of malaria and Dengue fever is stronger than our desire to protect the environment..
We are hoping this is not the last time we will be in a place where we can lay on the beach all day and buy cold, sliced fresh mangoes and bananas from a beach peddler and get massages for 7 dollars.
After our jungle tour we will be going to Krabi (pronounced grah-bee) where Kristina wants to do a little rock climbing which Krabi is famous for. Hopefully they have an amateur route for me... And then to Phuket and Ko Phi Phi, more beach paradises.
We talked to an American man last night that runs a little surf apparel shop on the main road and he said that the media and embassies of other countries always blow the Thai violence out of proportion and that we have nothing to worry about and travel in Southern Thailand is perfectly safe. We will talk to a few more people before we decide for sure.
We've met some extremely nice people (usually locals) and encountered some not-so-friendly people (usually tourists) but this truly is the land of smiles and I don't know if I ever want to leave.

We have made it.

Today is the ultimate. I thought yesterday was good but today is even better. Yesterday we basically sat on the beach and shopped. We bought knockoff sunglasses and Thai silk sarongs to lay on at the beach. It is so pretty here and the water is perfect. I keep telling Kristina I like this place soooo much better than Bangkok. The food is amazing. Yesterday we had fresh fruit and yogurt for breakfast and green curry and stir-fry vegetables for lunch. Our favorite places are the Will Wait Cafe and Ninja Crepes. The English signs are so funny like "The perfect blend of good and delicious". And "Come in, we will satisfy". Everyone is trying to sell you stuff and we say "No Thank you" about a billion times a day. In the evening we walk on the beach for a while and then go back to our hostel before it gets dark. Last night we bought green tea ice cream and people watched. The town we are in has only one main road with all the nice beach resorts on one side and shops and restaurants on the other. Yesterday we saw our first true down pore. We were just relaxing on the beach and I noticed some dark clouds and a few people were packing up and we thought maybe we better go. We started to walk toward a hotel restaurant along the beach and then I saw a local woman running for shelter so we ran too and just in time because Niagara Falls hit. They let us stand in the restaurant until it stopped which was only about 10 minutes. You can tell these people are prepared for it because they all have doors and things that they can close to block the rain and protect their shops. Then last night we rented Flight of the Concords and watched it on our TV (yes we have a TV in our room, and a refrigerator. NOt bad for 12 dollars a night, though our water DID stop running this morning...)
Today for breakfast we shared a tomato omelet and a pancake with banana and pineapple and condensed sweet milk. OMG. The topper was the massage though. We decided today would be the day for our massage and oh man. An hour of laying on a massage table 20 feet from the beach with the breeze blowing and a Thai man playing the guitar and singing. Not bad for 200 baht (about 7 dollars). I know. How much would that cost at Turtle Bay?
Sorry I haven't posted pics yet, I'm not really sure how because I can't download stuff on the computers, I may have to buy a disc or something. We are trying to decide what to do next but we think we might take a tour of a National Park that has monkeys and elephant rides and kayaking through the jungle and sleeping in mosquito nets! Then on to Phuket and Ko Phi Phi. We have heard about some more violence in Southern Thailand and we are not sure what to do about it. They say all train travel is dangerous. We may just have to skip Southern Thailand. Not a big deal. There is so much to tell but it costs $$. Just picture me on a perfect palm tree beach drinking a mango shake and reading a magazine because that's probably what I'm doing.

Koh Samui

Well, our bus did in fact come and it wasn't too bad except that I couldn't recline my seat and the roof kept dripping on Kristina...(It's monsoon season) The roads are notoriously bad here and the bus was really old and bumpy, so I didn't get a whole lot of sleep (Kristi slept like a baby, as always). They took us to this holding area until we got on the ferry that was basically in the jungle next to a river. It sorta felt like were prisoners of war. The ferry was about an hour and we passed about a hundred little islands on the way. Then we hopped in the back of a truck with other backpackers and they took us to our hostel on Chengwai beach. That is where we are for at least the next two nights- Embassy Guest House in Ko Samui.
Yesterday (in Bangkok) we visited The Grand Palace and Wat Pho. The Grand Palace was once the King's residence and it was amazing. We saw the emerald Buddah (which is actually jade) and the largest reclining Buddah in the world(at Wat Pho). The buildings were so beautiful. You have to see it to believe it. I'll put pics up soon. Then we found my favorite place so far...Siam Square, one of the best shopping centers in Bangkok. Jackpot. We saw so much we wanted to buy but don't have room for anything, sad. We will have to buy more luggage and fill it on the way home. Then we bought frozen yogurt at Red Mango (my fav) and bought some pizza to take on the bus with us to Koh Samui (we're still a little afraid of the traditional food, all the food markets smell the same way as the toilets...)
Ok, off to find lunch and the beach!
That's all for now.

Oh Thank heaven!

For 7/11. We would probably be starving without it. This has been a crazy trip so far and 90% of the time we are lost. We are learning the metro and skytrain system so it's getting better. We are also learning to say "no" to everyone that approaches us because they are always trying to get you to take their "tuk tuk." At first we thought everyone was helpful but it turns out they are just trying to sell you something.
Our first real day here (Sat) we spent half the day trying to get to our hostel and we got so lost and were so hot and tired that by the time we found it around 2:30 in the afternoon, we both fell asleep under the air conditioner and slept until 6:00 the next morning. So much for a nap... I guess we needed it.
We are still in Bangkok and yesterday (Sun) we went to the weekend market and over to the area with all the temples and the Grand Palace but unfortunately it was closed for a few hours for prayer or something so we ate lunch (our first experience with "street food"...scary, but good) and then took a river taxi to a shopping center. Tonight we are taking a night bus and ferry to an island called Ko Samui. We only booked two nights there but if we like it, we may stay longer. We've heard horror stories about these bus rides but we are keeping our fingers crossed that it won't be too bad...ha ha...
Mom, yes Kristina's phone does not get reception anywhere. We are not sure why. Sorry. And also, remember when I told you that my insurance card was in my wallet, I lied. I found it in my bag, here in Thailand, not in America. Sorry again. Also, I counted my malaria pills and there are only 30 total... So I guess I'll just have to tell the mosquitos not to bite me the last 5 days. I'm sure they'll listen.
Internet is not as cheap as I thought it would be so don't wait by your computers for updates, I will do as much as I can.
Overall we are happy and excited to move on. Yesterday (when we were lost, again) Kristina asked, "when can we just lay on the beach?"
Soon.
I love you all!

I am here.

And Mary is not on the other side the island. Just kidding everyone. The flights were extremely long but not too bad. Thailand is crazy and this keyboard is annoying. We are planning to stay in Bangkok to see the Grand Palace and temples until Monday and then go to Phuket. We are trying to be safe and so far we are not dead! Yay. The Hostel we are staying in only runs the AC at night but they must have noticed we were very tired because the man said that he would turn it on early if we wanted to take naps...
To be continued...

Sara Randall, MT

As in Sara Randall, Medical Technologist. It's official. I passed my test. Thanks to everyone who helped. Such a relief to be done.
Now what am I gonna do?

Go to Disneyland!!!
Just kidding,
I'm going to Southeast Asia. With a backpack. and my best friend.
I will try to update as often as I can.