Happy Halloween from +40 degrees

Blog followers,

Hello! Boo! Eek! Happy Halloween back home- we all remembered at about 6 PM that its Halloween here. We've decided to go buy chocolate at the 7/11 in our comfy pants and declare we're dressed as genies and hippies.

We've spent the past 4 days in the island of Ko Phangan. AKA- full moon party island (the 2nd largest party in the world). The island is stunning with white sand beaches, massive rocks along the beach, and turquoise water. During the day we have mainly sunbathed, shopped, and tryed to stay cool in the common area as we don't have air conditioning.

This portion of our travels have certainly been the most testing for me, as I caught some form of Thai flu bug yesterday late morning. It's been rather tough without a cool room and quiet nights (given the worst of it was while the beach party was happening) but as of right now I'm able to keep down dry toast and water!

I'll let the other 2 post about the full moon party- since I missed it- however all I gathered was about 10,000 people and a lot of neon colors.

To our excitement we're moving on to Krabi and Ko Phi Phi tomorrow for more beach laying- however we'll have air conditioning and sleep!

Hope you're all doing well. Until the next adventure...

Sarah

We love Chiang Mai!

Chiang Mai, I have fallen for you. I have fallen in love with your stunning mountains, vivid colours, and fresh fruit. I have also fallen into your water, crashed into your rocks, and am now lying here in pain after a whirlwind tour. But, it could not be more worth it. After taking advantage of the cheap oil massages and pedicures in the city of Chiang Mai, we headed for the jungle and mountains. We spent the past few days at the spicy villas in northern Thailand. It was an experience out of the movies; I felt like I was dreaming the entire time.
The villas are in the mountainous area of the country, nestled among banana trees and lush greens. On the first day we went bamboo rafting. Though stressful at first, once I worked out how to properly use the bamboo stick to push and steer I could enjoy the scenery. Young boys jumped from raft to raft, being sure to splash us along their way. When it was my turn to be captain I got us stuck on a rock and managed to fall over, surprise surprise. I also managed to flash our whole group, and a number of locals. It wouldn't be a true vacation without me being oblivious to friends trying to warn me. We also bathed at a waterfall, clinging on to rocks to avoid being pulled by the current while washing out the shampoo. A highlight of the day was stopping to pick a passion fruit right from the tree. In the evening we had a Thai cooking class. Well, mostly we stirred the pot while the leaders poured in the ingredients. It was great to experience some truly authentic Thai food and see how it is all made. We sat on a bamboo mat in a circle, lit by candles. Just as I was sighing happily and thinking about what a lovely experience it was, I heard a thud. I looked down, and the scariest looking bug I had ever seen was hanging out right next to my knee. This was my first run in with an elephant beetle, and it was terrifying. If you haven’t seen one, google it for a real treat.
The next day we went for a hike. We walked through a Karen village, with the raised bamboo huts, stray dogs everywhere, pigs tied up to houses, and mothers sitting outside with their babies. We stopped at another waterfall, this time stopping for lunch. We watched the leaders make us a meal cooked in bamboo in the fire. We peeled the bamboo off of the sticky rice cooked inside, and dipped it in the various sauces. In the evening we helped to cook again, and chatted with the others staying at the villas over banana shakes and mojitos, Throughout the day we were sure to fit in some quality hammock time.
The following morning we had to be up at 6 to go ride elephants. We each got to ride our own elephant, sometimes with a trainer with us, and sometimes it was just us and the elephant. We were lucky to get to ride them bareback. My elephant had a baby that followed it around the whole time. It was one of the cutest things I have ever seen and I still squeal when I think about it. We rode the elephants through the trees and down to the river where we got to bathe them. They are truly beautiful creatures. Turning around to see my friends smiling on top of the freckled, beautiful creatures was a truly special moment. We also had some important chats about how elephants are treated in the country and the business of it all.
Next, we were off to go tubing. We thought we had signed up for a relaxing ride downstream. After we were given helmets and life jackets, however, we realized we were in for a much more intense ride. We rode down small waterfalls and crashed into countless rocks. We were all pretty terrified, but it was certainly memorable.
During the three days we were with the owner of the villas, as he drove us form place to place and lead the activities. He kept us laughing and full of delicious food the whole time. As a former Buddhist monk, he gave us some interesting insight into the country. We will not forget our favorite spicy Thai man!
Now we are back in Chiang Mai, catching up on sleep and dealing with how sore we are from all of the activities. I am also nursing my first sunburn here. I’m surprised I made it this long without getting one!
Tomorrow we are taking a plane to the Thai Islands to experience our first Thai beaches.
I hope everyone has fun getting dressed up this weekend! We are sad to not be participating in Halloween festivities, though we can’t complain as the Full Moon Party is on the 30th.
I hope you are all eating lots of Halloween treats!
Much love,
Brig xo

Bangkok, eye patches, marathon runners...

Hello from Chiang Mai!
I have only been here six days but am amazed by how much I already have to share. My flights here went about as smoothly as one could hope for. There were no delays and my baggage was waiting for me upon arrival. I met Kathryn at the airport about half an hour later, and we took the shuttle to our hotel together. By miracle, Sarah also met us there a couple hours later, though her taxi driver tried to drop her off somewhere else along the way.
On our first day we took the sky train to the Vietnam embassy to get our visas. We also checked out the MBK, the biggest mall in Southeast Asia we have been told. With movie theatres, bowling alleys, and endless shops and stalls, it was both amazing and overwhelming, just like everything else in Bangkok. The next day we moved to Khao San Road, the backpackers alley. We were all very excited upon arrival as we saw the stalls full of goodies and the outdoor restaurants decorated with lanterns, ponds and statues. We lost track of time relaxing with a Chang beer and spring rolls, so we made it back to the Vietnam embassy to pick up the visas with 5 minutes to spare. This was the first of many times the three of us would run down the streets of Bangkok.
Our hostel, called Nap Park, was a great place to stay. They had a no shoe rule, giant mats in the communal area and a great design that made for a lovely atmosphere. In the evening we went out with a group from the hostel. A memorable stop of the evening was the reggae bar. The group of us left covered in neon face paint. Other highlights of our time in Bangkok include the incredible, seemingly endless weekend market, the vegetarian festival in Chinatown, and the Grand Palace. In Chinatown there was a street filled with the tastiest looking food I’ve ever seen. Whether it was freshly cooked noodles sizzling in a giant pan, the gem-like pomegranates or the wide array of desserts, the sight and smell was, as I said before, amazing and overwhelming. Some of my favourite food has been mango with sticky rice, the various sorts of fried rice, and of course pad thai. At first I found it hard to relax when eating and trust it wouldn’t make me sick, but everything we’ve had so far tastes so good and we are sure to pick places that are busy.
We took our first tuk tuk home from Chinatown. Though at first it was terrifying as we weaved through the traffic and held on for dear life on the sharp turns, it became exhilarating to be a part of the rush of the city. Unfortunately, something flew in my eye which left it rather irritated. Sarah crafted me an eye patch with gauze and a tensor bandage, very reminiscent of a wounded soldier. Now it is feeling all better. I will have to post the photo; I know you would all get a laugh from the look on me.
Our last night was quite the adventure. We went up to the sky bar, the same one that was used in The Hangover 2 movie. It was stunning. We each bought a cocktail, ate all of the free bar nuts, and took in the incredible city scape. Though we stood out against the elegantly dressed people around us, we were happy and relaxed. Fast forward an hour and a half, and it was an entirely different scene. We were in our comfiest clothes, sweaty and gross, once again running as fast as we could with our packs and bags. Turns out you can only print out the proof of the train tickets you buy immediately after you buy them. No logging on and printing them later. Oops! We got to the station, were yelled at by a very mean man, and then helped my many kind locals as we raced to catch our train. Sarah revealed her secret marathon runner skills as she threw off her pack and bolted towards an Internet cafe, fearlessly running through a construction site. After getting our code, we were taken to a travel agency where a very nice lady made phone calls and printed out our tickets. We thought our train was leaving in two minutes time. We made another mad dash back to the train, arriving panting and furiously thanking everyone. We were truly amazed that we had made it. And of course, the rush was for nothing as the train left over an hour late. In total the train was delayed by 5 hours, so it took us 21 hours to make it to Chiang Mai. Bangkok was a smelly and dirty, exciting and beautiful city that I loved exploring. Though there are still many things I would like to do in the city, we were exhausted by our few days there. It’s still early days, but so far so good! Now we are in Chiang Mai, and off to what looks like paradise tomorrow.
Sending much love,
Brig xo

Taiwan from Kathryn

Hello all!
Okay okay. I'm the worst blogger of them all. I get it. I'm sorry. But I mean really, no news is good news right? Honestly the reason I haven't been blogging is because I've been having too much darn fun!
Taiwan was absolutely amazing. Really. What a hidden gem. I was taken in (thankfully) by my uncle David, his fiancé Jarlin, and his daughters Claire and Sonja. David is a professor at the National University in Zhongli, so his house was right on campus which was so cool getting to see the students and buildings.
Over the course of my 10 days there I ate way too much delicious food (spicy beef noodle soup without the beef, so many cool fruits, but most importantly
David's stirfry. Yummmm), saw some incredible temples, went to the east coast to Fulong to see the ocean, sent off a lantern in the town famous for the Lantern festival Taiwan hosts each year, got a tattoo (sorry mom and dad!), spent way too much money at the night markets (hello new Birkenstocks!), saw an incredible waterfall, made it to the 90th floor of Taipei 101 where the fastest elevator in the world is used, and got massaged from hand to foot. Most importantly I learned all about a land and a culture I knew absolutely nothing about.
Taiwan is lucky enough that it hasn't gotten too many tourists pouring in and out of it the way most Asian countries do, which was really cool to see, but unfortunately (for me) no tourists means not a lot of people are able to speak English, and my pale skin that is shocking even to Westerners combined with the blue eyes and huge feet meant lots of staring. But everyone was so nice and so ready to try to speak the only English they knew (Hello!! How are you!!), while I was able to pick up a few phrases that I'm not even going to attempt to type out, but that meant thankyou and hello!
Luckily, I had Jarlin and David who were always ready to translate for me whenever I was trying to talk to anyone or buy something. I could not have asked for a better trip. I was able to see the beauty of Taiwan, but at the same time have a bed and room to myself where I could relax every night and family around me. It was definitely a home away from home, which after 3 weeks of different beds almost every night was heaven.
I am so thankful for Jarlin and David- without them I would have laid in bed for 10 days before getting my butt to Thailand to meet the girls. They were amazing tour guides and even better hosts.
After a tearful goodbye I headed off to Bangkok where I met up with the girls and I'm sure they already have or will be blogging about our time there, as they are much better than I am at this whole thing. I will say that Bangkok was amazing! Met a great group of people, visited some amazing spots (like the Lebua sky bar where the Hangover 2 was filmed) and maybe drank a little too much Thai whiskey.

Missing you all immensely and hoping you aren't all too freezing back home! Joanna, I imagine that you already have a fire burning- though that may not be a good idea if you're trying to write papers- if you get too frustrated DO NOT throw them in the fire. Throw Willy instead :)
Love to you all!
Kathryn.

Bangkok...quite the place

Good news- we're alive!!!

After many hours of travel the 3 of us managed to find each other at a very lovely hotel about half an hour outside of the city. I had to take a VERY scary cab ride at 1 AM, considering none of the taxi drivers speak a word of English. We were so happy to meet up.

Our first day we ventured to the larges mall in south east Asia. To give you an idea- one MASSIVE floor about the size of Southland was just for cameras. We ate amazing Thai food in the food court and went to a movie! The theaters have huge reclining chairs and they play the kings anthem at the beginning of all movies and everyone stands!

The fruit- especially the mango- is truly amazing. Possibly the best part.

We have been at Khao San Road for a day now- it's the most famous backpackers road in the world. Lots I Chang beer for a dollar and shopping runs for around 6$ for pants, shirts, ect. The hostel is pretty Asian authentic because you can't wear shoes and everything's white. Planning on going to see a weekend market and the reclining Buddha today- pretty excited.

Missing home, as usual, but we're realizing this journey has started to fly. Off to famous northern city Chaing Mai on Sunday night via night train.

Lots of love xoxo

Maggie Island and More

Hey team!

It's going great in Northern Aus! Powering through books while keeping cool is really the theme of most days. Yesterday I took the ferry out to Magnetic Island and chilled at the beach solo for the day/night, met some really great people. I even got to see a possum up close!

Tonight we went to a Greek festival, it was good fun. Lots of food and kind a felt like mosaic! I'm really getting sad about leaving Australia- mostly because I've really gotten to love this family and I'm really comfortable in the Aussie lifestyle. Looking forward to a bit of a culture shift though...goodbye to the many days of super relaxation.

Really missing some simple things about home lately...guess the middle is the toughest. Big huge hugs and kisses!

Sweating with lizards behind the wheel

Oh hey

Just updating you from Townsville. At 30 degrees and tropic humidity the Afro is in the works. The sweat never really goes away...I'm calling it a...glow.

Ingrid and I spent the day doing numerous exciting things.

Startinf with my aussie driving lesson! I've been getting made fun of since I got here since I always go to the wrong side of the car to get in. I found the driving less weird than I thought, infact the worst part was the round-abouts.

We then drove up "castle hill" and walked to the peak which has a beautiful look of the city. It's the exact same population as Regina! I really quite like it here- kinda the perfect size and you get oceans and mountains (let's say the Vancouver of Aus). We then got iced coffee and hung out at the beach. I also got to check out the bumpin casino which I was a good 30 years younger than everyone there and was in total beach attire.

The girls really can't understand why I'm startled by the 5 little lizards I've seen in the house...by my bedroom...since I've arrived. Tonight I was infact screaming because one fell off the ceiling when I walked passed! I swore those things stuck to everything!!!

I've really enjoyed getting to live with the family here. Lots of reading and LOTS of good food. Mostly Aussie grown fruit and every day I get shown new Aussie junk food. Lets hope there's lots of walking to be had in Asia!

Happily feeling less homesick as I've settled into a home. 4 weeks today since we've been gone.

Love forever & always.

PS- KATH WRITE ON HERE IM DYING TO KNOW WHAT YOURE DOING!

Happy Thanksgiving

Hello from afar

I've arrived in Townsville after a very long sleepless ride. Ingrid and her 2 girls have been so kind...cooking me a chicken dinner and potatoes and giving me my own room! Im very thankful for them!

Missing everyone a little extra today. I wish I could jump in a pile of leaves and finish the night off with pumpkin pie and normal coffee! Oh well...times flying I've already been gone a month tomorrow.

Dear Kathryn: post something! I wanna hear about Taiwan!

Ok well off to do nothing today! I'm hoping this a week of normal before heading off to Asia. Recharge my batteries a bit and let my foot totally heal. I've got wifi here so message me!

Xo S

Definitely blog worthy!

G'day g'day everybody

Frasier Island was definitely something to write home about. As soon as we arrived I knew I was about to enter into possibly the largest adventure of my life. Our tour guide Ian was the most ridiculous but greatest and hilarious man I've ever met. He taught us a ton about the island including that it's 100% covered in sand that's hundreds of km deep. Next, he explained that the 7 most deadly snakes and 24 species of deadly spiders were on the island (greeeeeat eh?) and that dingos were very dangerous on the island. From that briefing we started to drive...4X4's on deep loose sand was a VERY scary thing. There was twice that we came extremely close to tipping in our car (which was Kath and I and 5 Dutch folks). From then we saw a rainforest and many fresh water lakes (the ocean has too many sharks there to swim in). One of my favorite parts was seeing a ship wreck which was the leading ship that competed with the Titanic and twice it size and luxury.,, Ian explained that it was part of the reason the Titanic sank as it held the world record for 40 years as the fastest ship and the captain of the titanic was ordered to break that record so he took a shortcut (and we all know how that story ends!)

As scary as it was, it was also the most beautiful and fun place yet. We're both burnt to a crisp and came back looking like cave women (no showers or toilets at the camp). We slept in very dodgy tends which didn't even have a zip at the bottom (which was great since Ian told us that before we arrived he removed 2 deadly snakes from under tents) and sand literally got on every crack of us and our stuff. My mom would have been in heaven in that respect!

I unfortunately had the worst luck of the group. The first nigh I stepped on a twig in the sand which put a hole in my foot. Over the next 2 days my foot got progressively more sore until today when it was turning red and swollen and I couldn't put pressure on it at all. By the hostels instructions kath and I ventured to the Hervey Bay hospital and $300 later I've got antibiotics, cream, and a warning to keep an eye on the redness spreading. It already feels better since they gave me painkillers so wish me luck...backpacking with 1 foot doesn't work too well.

We have to say our good byes for 10 days tomorrow morning. Kath to Taiwan and I'm on a 17 hour bus ride up to Townsville.

Lots of love! Will be sure to sleep sounder than ever tonight!!

Frasier!

Hey er body...

As we head up the coast I'm increasingly realizing how much I'm going to miss Australia. We spent last night in Noosa, which was really just a rich version of Byron Bay so nothing special...in fairness it poured the entire time. We made a few friends at the gorgeous YHA which was like one massive beach cabin and took advantage of the very cheap cider.

Today we're in Hervey Bay, not exactly a special place either. However, it's really just a base for us to prepare for our adventure tomorrow! At 6 am we take a ferry to Frasier Island. We already have "chosen" a group of 7 who you spend 3 days with. Our group is awesome!! 4 guys and 1 girl from Holland, who are all older than us but seem really fun and cool. I'm convinced Holland may be the next travel destination. On the island we camp in trailers with our group and we bought camping food to share with 7 of us. We'll do a little hiking, sand tobogganing, and floating down a river! Should be fun.

Now off to an all you can eat pizza party. I had an Aussie last night explain to me what the boxed wine here is like..or goon as they call it...which should have us turned off but at $13 a box we can't really say no.

We'll be completely out of contact until late on the 5th for us. Then I'm off on a 17 hour bus ride to Townsville to visit a friend of Jans and Kath heads to Taiwan to her uncles.

Big hugs & kisses to you all!