Perth

When most people hear that Perth was our first stop in Oz, we always get asked why? But we have to say that Perth is an awesome little town...laid back with lots of friendly folk.

- King's Park
- Art Gallery of WA
- Earth from Above Exhibit (www.earthfromabove.com.au) - check it out!
- Rottnest Island (full of cute quokkas)
- Swann Valley Wine tour (Garbin wine was our favorite and Water's Edge was a piece of crap)
- Subiaco (trendy suburb where Celina lived)
- Leederville

We met up with our second cousins Angie and Celeste and their families...their sons are cutie pies. We also met up with P's friends from Contiki and B's friends from Beijing.

Our host, Celina, was incredibly gracious and showed us all the sights in Perth. Thanks Celina!!

SE Asia Hotels

Thailand

Emb@ssy Guesthouse in Ko Samui - 7 cheap one room (400BHT or $12.50 per night with shared bathrooms). Lobby was trendy and modern with a full stocked bar. Cheap food and friendly reception. Internet was fast. Only minus was the huge cockroach in bathroom and the somewhat rotten egg stench. Overall, we were pretty happy with our stay.

Sanctuary in Koh Phangnan - 9
Cheap dorms at 120BHT ($4.50) with excellent food. Free nightly meditation classes. Yoga and pilates offered three times daily for 250BHT. Internet was slow and a bit pricey.

Parami Guesthouse in Chiang Mai - 8
Again, another excellent small guesthouse with cheap rooms (350BHT/room) with an ok clean bathroom. Reception was friendly and will go above and beyond with requests and questions. Tour prices were fair. Salon next door offers decent massages. Ask for Irene and Pom.

New Siam II in Bangkok - 7
Basic rooms and hotel near Khao San Road. Swimming pool is a plus. Food is decent. Offers internet and laundry service. We liked how the hotel was close to Khao San but lacked the noisy rowdiness of Khao San hotels.

Vietnam

(Name to be filled in), Hanoi - 3
In a narrow alley and recommended by Lonely Planet. Cost $15/night for a triple plus $2 for a/c. Room was prob one of the worst in SE Asia. Bathroom was a bit small and musty with a rusty sink. Amazed there was even hot water.

Phoenix Hotel,Hanoi
Good decent room with clean bathroom for $22/night for triple. Free internet and breakfast. We stayed on 5th floor and was a trek with our heavy backpacks.

Thanh Binh II Hotel, Hoi An - 8
Rooms were clean and nice and we paid $15/night for a triple. Hotel was sister hotel to xxxxxx which provided free internet and swimming pool. You can also add buffet bfast for $1.

Halong Bay through Kangaroo Cafe - 6
Not all that impressed with the one day Halong Bay tour. Staff wasn't very friendly and the $105 we paid was def not worth it. Boat ride was a bit cheesy as we were surrounded by 20 other junks in the bay. Rooms prob had more character than the hotels we've been staying at but not sure price was worth it. Most of the other tourists on the boat felt the same way.

Cambodia
L'Borann in Siem Reap - 7
The hotel was advertised as a splurge at $25/night/pp. Rooms were nice but not sure worth the splurge. Swimming pool looked nice. Bathroom included showers and traditional cambodian baths. Food was great and P's favorite summer rolls were found there.

Pacific Hotel, In Phenom Penh - 6
Basic rooms with not a whole lot of character. Free breakfast and cheap internet usage.

Singapore

P and I spent such pampered days in Singapore with excellent food and shopping. We stayed at Jerm's lovely home with his mom. We had delicious prawns and spaghetti with minced pork at her home. Jerm's mom also took us to a yakitori place with her relatives. The yakitori was better than St. Marks!!!
Thanks again jerms!!

We also met some second cousins for the first time. My grandma's sister's relatives live in Singapore. We were taken around Little India during Deepali (festival of lights), C-Town, and Sentosa. We tried out Malaysian food and Ding Tai Fung as well. Yum!!

We enjoyed the local's view of Singapore! Food and shopping!!

Beaches, beaches, and beaches

our last few days in thailand was spent on the beaches of ko samui and phuket. we decided to stay in the chaweng area of ko samui and chilled out on the beach and crashed a resort's swimming pool. we also checked out the ladyboy show. those ladyboys have hot bodies..made us jealous. it was a bit sad tho to see that most of the bars were surrounded by thai women entertaining white men for a fee.

we then took a car, ferry, bus and mini bus to phuket...the trip took alllll day. we also missed our initial bus pick up so instead of getting into phuket at 3PM, we got in at 10:30PM. ha ha oh well. anyways, we stayed at Phuket backpackers which was super clean although they initially lost our reservation. they sorted it out quite quickly tho.

next day was another rainy day but we headed out to patong anyways with some new buddies who were also staying at the backpackers hostel. drank a bunch of beers, had dinner and i passed out. ha ha. woke up with a hangover that lasted well into the following afternoon. p played kings until the wee hours of the morning!!

this morning, we took our flight from phuket to singapore, land of the merlion!

Rest and relaxation at the Sanctuary

After two back to back overnight trains from chiang mai to surat thani, a bus ride to the ferry, a ferry ride to ko pha-ngan, and then a long boat to hat tien, we finally arrived at the sanctuary. That was 43 hours of travel (we included our stop in bangkok where we watched body of lies. Leo is a hottie).

The sanctuary is a resort slash backpackers hangout where u can order yummy vegetarian cuisine and beer but also get some yoga and fasting programs at the same time. I LOVED it. P and I opted to stay in the 120BHT dorms ($3.50). The place is a "no cash" resort allowing you to pay at the end of your stay (u can rack up bills easier that way. Haha).

Food was delish and I loved the cashew pesto cheese wrap. Although menu was mostly vegetarian, u could get seafood if u wanted. Was just happy that the food tasted fresh simple and clean although on the pricier side vs. The rest of thailand. The menu was a great change from the oilier less than healthy cuisine from our travels. The cashew almond salad is great as well. Oooh, I had a tuna fish sandwich. This might sound wierd, but that tuna fish sandwich was just perfect...a simple meal. (I have to admit, I'm getting tired of restaurant type food and am craving simple things like pb*j and tuna.)

There were two daily yoga classes for 250BHT or 200BHT (if bought in advance) as well a free nightly meditation class. We tried the meditation the first night and it was an "active meditation.". The hour passed quicker than I thought but I still prefer to go to yoga instead.

I got a pedi and facial. My pedi actually ended up being free and actually a 450BHT credit to my overall bill. I wasn't about to complain about that. Massages I think were on the pricier side, but 200BHT/hr massages are easily done in had rin instead.

We spent about 3 days there resting and recuperating from our travels. I was able to catch up on my reading and finished A Thousand Splended Suns and started The Devil Wears Prada (silly reading to offset the heftier suns book). My reading has tapered off significantly since my travels and I've been craving some quiet time to read.

We didn't participate in any of the fasting or wellness programs but did meet a bunch of people who did. It actually sounds really interesting and I'd be keen on trying it the next time I'm there. Most seem to feel energized after fasting. There is a separate wellness center at the sanctuary for all the fasters to hang out since the smell of food at the bar/restaurant can't be all that fun.

I would say I'm the opposite of hippie (yuppie in fact), but I had a great time at the sanctuary and it's a good place to get some relaxation if u need a break from the full moon party craziness.

We are now in ko samui and will be heading to phuket after.

Xoxo!!

Saying goodbye to chiang mai...

We are again on an overnight train heading back into bangkok followed by another one to surat thani.. Our days in chiang mai were pretty full and we're a bit sad to leave chiang mai.

We rock climbed at crazy horse and even completed a level 6a!! I think p and I have found a new hobby and can't wait to see if we can find some rock climbing in new zealand. Our rock climbing guide, crazy, then took us to a reggae bar called root rock (I think) and we met a bunch of other climbers from the peak. One of them, nuy, is the guy in all the peak rock climbing brochures and has also won a bunch of competitions. We then went to a post 2am bar called spicy. Woke up this morning with a hangover, but of course p didn't. Haha

Tiger kingdom - we paid $30 to spend quality time with tigers. Yeah! I have now spent quality time with lions, cheetahs, and tigers. Misu would be proud! We saw 1 month old, 6 month old, and 11 month old tigers. Since we asked a lot of questions about the tigers, the guide let us stay in with the big tigers much longer. I think tigers are now my top fav cat (besides misu of course). Our photographer was a super hot thai guy...even hotter cuz he's crazy about tigers. Was fun just watching him mess around with the tigers like they were little kittens.

We spent a day with elephants and rode on them bareback. We learned a bunch of elephant commands although my elephant pat-bung didn't listen to me at all. A whole day was a bit much tho as my arse was in pain after.

We also took a thai cooking class and learned to make: pad thai, green curry sauce, cashew chicken. Tom yum soup. am planning to repeat the menu for everyone at home!!

In between all this, p and I also went to a yoga class and saw a temple wat phra singh in the main city square. We tried a bunch of street and canteen food which was similar to the home cooked chinese food we usually get in the us.

We would def rate chiang mai as one of our top visits almost up there with safari and zambia. Haha were already planning to come back in april!!

China Hotels and Hostels

After our month long journey around china, we came to the conclusion that we preferred hostels over hotels. Our hostels have been clean and fun while our hotels have been muggy and a bit on the drab side. Oh, u can bargain hotel prices down tho. We did have one exception ...the Snow Lion Resort in Yangshou was by far our favorite hotel. Staff was great also. The following are our ratings:



Beijing - stayed with Charles so of course a 10. Quite the homey experience. Thanks again charles.



Xi'an - Seven Sages Hotel - 7

Great staff. We had two doubles with a shared bathroom. Rooms were pretty basic.



Chengdu - Kai Bin Inn - 5

Wasn't as bad as Shanghai hotel but def lacked character. Rooms basic.

Sketchy ladies would call at night asking if alan wanted a "massage"



Hangzhou - Dong Po - 5

Again, a cheaper hotel in China. Basic rooms. P and E had a smelly room, but they switched to a better one. Nothing special except proximity to the lake.



Shanghai - 24K Hotel - 2 - ceiling stucco was falling due to rain. Rooms were a bit musty as well



Guilin - YHA backpackers - 7

Atmosphere was great and we met some nice backpackers who we also saw again in Yangshou. Room Lou and I shared had a shower that didn't seem to drain properly but A, P and E's room was fine. In fact the beds were large enough for me to fit in on the last night. A for some reason had a wooden mattress though.



Yangshou - Snow Lion Resort - 10

The resort is new and a little bit further from town center but it was worth it. We were one of three rooms filled given that we were off season and it was awesome. Breakfast was included and the meals were large enough for two. Free internet, bikes and a so-so pool table. It cost a little more ($12/night) but worth it. Ask for Helen Huang if u go as she will take great care of u!