Plane Time Wrap Up!

I'm on the plane ride back to London and I just watched the most depressing movie ever. My entertainment system seems to be messed up so does whatever it wants. I finally got the movie section up and a random movie just began. The intro sequence looked interesting so I thought I'd see a bit more. It was a Korean movie about a woman who takes care of her whole family including her senile mother and no one ever does anything for her. Then she gets sick and spends the rest of the movie dying! Gahh!! And she is all proud and so doesn't tell her awful kids so they kept treating her like crap and the husband is no help because he is too grief stricken to help her so it's still just her taking care of grandma as she runs away crazy with dimensia. And by the way she has an alcoholic brother who only takes money from her and hits his wife and gambles. Needless to say I have been bawling for the past 2 hours much to the horror of the quiet Asian man sitting next to me. I even had one or two of those trying to stifle a sob and then you accidentally snort moments. Spoiler, she dies at the end... I've broken out my computer and put on some cheery music to try and change my mood. I figured it was also time for some reflection. I spent the last week split between 2 islands on the east side of Thailand's south coast. I was a bit nervous traveling by myself, but I had literally gone 10 minutes on the ferry to the island before I was chatting to a group of travelers from Canada. They were a fun group, fresh with the excitement that the first week of a trip brings. We split ways at the pier but said we'd try to meet up later on. I had no plan for accommodation, but I had an idea of where I wanted to go. I checked the prices for taxis from a few different drivers and was surprised that the price was exactly the same no matter who I asked and there didn't seem to be any chance of haggling. This was something I had never encountered on this trip. A nonnegotiable price? Were there tuk tuk unions set up on Koh Tao and my guide book had failed to mention it? I was about to give up and pay the 200 Baht when a driver offered a free ride (I'm listening) if I stayed at the resort he works for. 'Can I see it before I commit to staying?' Long pause. 'Yes, it's ok.' I hopped into the back of a pick up truck with a few other travelers and we were off, simple as that. Once at the hotel I looked at the room, a very nice resort with a pool, air conditioning and a room with 2 sizable beds. Had I had another person with me it might have been a good deal, but as I was alone, 800 Baht per night was a bit out of my price range. I himmed and hahed around the room, checking out the bathroom and the pillows, I finally asked 'none with an ocean view?' 'No' 'Oh.... I really had my heart set on it... Well it's very nice but let me check at one other place and then I'll be back. Thank you so much!' And I was gone! I walked around the corner and checked into a dormitory. 2 cheats in 2 days?? I was so pleased with myself. I went directly to the beach trying to get the lay of the land. The island is small... so after about 20 minutes I had the place covered. Now what? There was a sign for kayak rentals so I bought an hour and took to the sea. The water was so clear I could see the ocean floor even after paddling out 100 meters or so. While afloat I decided that if one is to travel alone they need activities. So, I went to shore and went about signing up for various tours around the island. I found an all day snorkeling trip for the next day and a yoga class for that night. The yoga class was fantastic, it made me really sad my yoga retreat had been cancelled. The instructor had all these sandbags that she would come around and place on you as you stretched in order to get you deeper into the pose. At the end, as we were lying on our backs focusing on our breathing she came around and put lavender scented pillows on our eyes and massaged our necks and scalps. I could have kissed her. When I went back to my hostel I made a friends with a guy from Canada and we decided to go to the lady boy cabaret show. We went for drinks at the bar downstairs in our hostel first, where we made quick friends with the staff. Apparently connect four is a popular bar game here, and the locals are experts. I have not played since the age of 10, however, so after a few drink betting rounds I was getting pretty tipsy. But we couldn't stay! Lady boys wait for no man! So lady boys are considered a third category of gender in Thailand and they are well loved and accepted part of the culture (as far as I could see). The show was basically like any drag show you've ever seen, featuring hits from Gaga, Cher and an end medley of ABBA. My Canadian friend was pulled up on stage at the end and put in sequins and a blonde wig. We stumbled home afterwards to find the guys in the bar still playing connect four. We declined any more rounds and made our way off to bed.

The next day it was time for my snorkel adventure. I was picked up at my hostel by a motorbike taxi and taken to the pier. The guide told me that we were a small group today, only 3 of us. I looked at my 2 companions, an older Russian couple who spoke little English. The woman was not even wearing a swim suit saying that she would just hang out on the boat and the man looked sullen, or perhaps he just looked Russian, it's hard to say. Great, I thought. I had been excited to meet some people, it was a 7 hour tour after all. Other people started showing up, however, and I realized (much to my relief) that there were many guides sharing the same boat, and that they all had about 3 travelers with them. We stopped at 5 different spots around the island. I saw beautiful coral, tons of colorful fish, 3 sharks and a school of fish so large that from far away I thought it was a giant rock in the water and was stopped dead in my tracks when I realized it was all fish. The school was amazing because you could swim through the middle of them and they would flee in all directions creating a ring around you as far as you could see. The sharks were not so large (about 1 to 1.5 meters) and I was told they weren't dangerous. I told my guide I wanted to see one and he led me around for ages pointing in different directions to me under the water. I followed and then there it was! A shark about 40 meters away! I was so proud I was facing a fear and was this close to one in the ocean. Then 2 more sharks showed up, and my brave new attitude started to sour. I wouldn't say that I panicked... but I suggested to my guide that we had been out long enough and that it was probably time to head back. I suggested this by swimming away in the direction of the boat.  The tours last stop was at a small private island right off the coast of the main island. It had a white sandbar from which you could swim to what they call the Japanese Garden. It was a beautiful stretch of coral in every direction with clear clear water and tons of little fish. The day was perfect, I wore a t-shirt for most of it to prevent my back from burning, but unfortunately neglected the upper part of the back of my legs - so I have a pretty funny looking burn on my butt. Oh well, for 7 hours on a boat, I think I did pretty well. I also met a couple on board from Portland and they asked what I was doing the next day, I told them I was leaving for a different island and they said 'oh, us too!' so we decided to meet on the morning ferry and try to find a guesthouse together. When I got back from my all day adventure I was worn out. I showered and tried to take a nap, but although my body was tired, it had neglected to tell my brain which was wide awake. I decided to go for a walk and after only a few minutes ran into the group of Canadians I met on the ferry on the first day. They said they were headed to dinner so I tagged along. We sat on the beach in giant bean bag chairs as the sun went down over the water. After, I went out and got a few drinks with some girls I met from England and then it was home to my hostel/bar where the staff were singing Thai karaoke. I watched them rock out and after every song they would explain to me (over the microphone, even though I was a few feet away) what the song meant and if there were any love songs they were inevitably dedicated to me. I was actually getting quite sad to be leaving Koh Tao, 2 days was nearly not enough and the island was so small it had been so easy to make friends and then run into them over and over again. But, it was time for the next adventure.

I woke up the next morning and was again driven via motorbike to the pier. There I saw the couple from Portland already waiting, sitting next to their bags looking very tired. We all perked up once on the boat, however, because the in boat entertainment was the Sean Connery/ Nicholas Cage masterpiece The Rock. I almost wanted to stay longer to see the end of it. While on the boat we were approached by a woman who ran a hostel saying she'd give us a good price for a beach bungalow and a free ride from the pier if we booked with her right then and there. We felt a bit pressured because we had had no time to look around or compare prices but in the end we decided to do it. I was pretty excited, the room cost 50 Baht less than what I was paying at the dorm and I would have my own room right on the beach. Got there and it was pretty sad little hut, just enough room to stand up in and hotter than all hell with a small fan. Evan and Rachel didn't seem too happy with the accomodation so we paid for the ride from the taxi and went to a bungalow down the beach a bit with AC and with a porch directly in front of the ocean. If the tide got high we could have poked our legs through the railings and dipped our feet. Our first day we basically hung around the beach and when we felt more up to it went to the main beach front where we thought we could get some free BBQ. Our guide book was right, there was free BBQ! The book also failed to mention that it ended at 4pm. We showed up and were going to have to pay full price so we continued to walk until we found a place that was more reasonably priced. The next day we went on a day trip adventure to so and so National park. It's an island chain that's preserved so you can not stay there, unless you arrange specifically and then you can only camp. It took about 2 hours to get there and instead of docking at a pier, we were let off the side of the boat into kayaks which we all took to explore the side caves that surround one of the islands. The day was great, we spent it kayaking, swimming and hiking to caves on 2 of the main islands in the park. We were given lunch on the boat and around 4:30 we headed for home. We met two German guys on our boat and invited them over for a few beers on our porch. We had some dinner at a restaurant one bungalow down on the beach and then went out to explore some of the local night life. We wandered into a bar that seemed to be full of mostly locals and soon realized they were all prostitutes. Whoops... A few middle aged men came in to 'have a drink' and after we finished one round we decided to head out. The owners seemed happy to be rid of us and I think the feeling was mutual. Next we went to a bar with a live band playing, with a Thai girl in a D.A.R.E. t-shirt singing covers of Western rock songs. We were all getting pretty tired by this point and started to walk home along the beach. We saw a woman selling balloon lanterns. I bought one, and the lady lit a piece of toast fastened in the center of it on fire. Once enough gas had built up inside I let it go into the moonlight. The lantern is supposed to bring good luck, so here's hoping, in any case it was beautiful to watch as it raised further and further into the air and then eventually burned up in the distance. Next day we rented motorbikes, went to the waterfall, i loved the bike so took it around the island some more and found a quiet beach on the north side of the island there was no one there so i took a dip in the nude. Felt great, but it was getting late and I had no desire to ride home in the dark. Went to the next beach over and got an oil massage and then a fancy dinner. then a tuk tuk home so I could pack for my final trip towards London. Still on it, I can't believe it, but I am only 40 minutes away from landing, so the trip has almost officially come to a close.

I think the thing that surprised me most about this trip was how home sick I got during parts of it. I have never been a person who gets home sick, at least not easily. It's interesting leaving home and the comforts of your every day life. I've always known I had good things, but it may have taken me half the way around the world to realize how good I do have it and how much I love it. This trip has been one series of jaw dropping sites after another. To try and pick one event or one moment that was the best would be impossible. Each country has given me a new eye opening wonder that are all hard to explain. It's like if ou have ever walked through the Louvre (or any other giant, great museum) and by the end of the day felt desensitized to the masterpieces all around you. I feel like if I had spent any more time in SE Asia I would not have appreciated it anymore. Ending the trip with time chilling on the beach was perfect, especially after the taxing experience of seeing the Angkor Wat temples.  My favorite part might have been performing in the village in Bali and feeling the energy of those performers and the crowd. The whole process of getting into the makeup and dress and being welcomed by a village and made to feel like family. I will definitely remember this trip and the people I met on it for the rest of my life.

Birthday at the Pal-alice

It's my birthday!! Happy to me! We woke up this morning at 4:30 am so we could watch the sunrise over Angkor Wat. It was a bit cloudy but really nice to be in the temple with few other people when it was really cool with no sun. We walked around a little and then headed back to the hotel for an hours nap and some breakfast. Then we rented bikes!! Ainhoa has not rode a bike since she was 10 years old so she was a bit nervous to say the least, but I convinced her she wouldn't have forgotten and she shakily took some practice laps before we headed out onto the main road. She rode well, but like a grandma. I virtually didn't pedal the whole way trying to coast to go slow enough for her to keep up. I kept shouting back encouraging words and telling her speeding up wouldn't hurt, but she stayed at her snail pace the whole way there. We started at Angkor Wat, picking up where we had left off that morning. We stayed in the temple for over 3 hours going through all of its halls and courtyards. We had a wonderful guide book that told you the stories of every inscription so we spent a long time walking around spotting stories from the Ramayana and Mahabarata as well as some Cambodian creation myths about how the gods got their immortality. Then we went to lunch where the women next to us got ambushed by about 20 kids and then she proceeded to buy one thing from each of them. When we left her she had a coconut in front of her with many bracelets and postcards and she was haggling over the price of some magnets. God only know how long she stayed there. We hoped on our bikes and went out of Victory gate to that other temple and then one more Ta Keo, not worthy then biked to Ta Prohm the one in ruins. We were kicked out of this temple because it was getting late and the sun would soon be down. As we were leaving it started to rain and then we biked in the rain for a good hour at least. We went sooooo far many miles! I had a great time, We sang and just embraced the fact that we were getting soaked. God bless Ainhoa for her first time on a bike in years being so adventurous with it and not hating me forever! We got home and showered and then went out for dinner and a drink. We wanted to celebrate my birthday but were so tired from our day we literally had one beer and then turned to each other and said 'bed?'. We talked to our waiter for a while who spoke better Spanish than English so said Ainhoa, Lost my camera! next day more temples

Went to Phnom Penh saw the memorial at the killing fields went to a night market I got a ring, i lost the ring the next day... of course went back to bed next day had a whole exploration plan but decided to sleep a bit longer instead and it was a good idea i went out into the city around 10ish and accomplished everything I had wanted to do in under 3 hours. I saw the Palace, National Museum, their big Wat and walked along the river for a while. It really only took me those few hours to be completely sick of Phnom Penh so i headed back to my hotel and drank a coke in the lobby and watched looney tunes with the kids until it was time to go to the airport. I don't necessarily blame Phnom Penh for my disinterest in it. I think I was just sick of traffic, dirtiness and so many people. Luckily I was off to the islands! Now, when I started my trip My bag was exactly the regulation size that Air Asia would accept to carry on board. In the past month, however, I may have done some shopping... In fact I have accumulated some pretty odd shaped souvenirs so when I turned up at the airport I figured it would take a miracle for me to not have to pay the checked bag fee. I went to an empty bag scale and put my bag on. A disgusting 13 kilos... I had to get it down to 7. I opened it up and began to take out clothing until the bag reached the precise weight I wanted and then I proceeded to the bathroom. I put on 2 bras, underwear, 2 bathing suits, 2 pairs of pants, 2 pairs of shorts, 6 shirts, over all this a baggy legged jumpsuit, and on top of all that my Bali temple shirt, I then wore my sarong as a decorative scarf - I was a vision. I nonchalantly pushed my cart up to the actual check in desk, trying not to sweat too much in the Cambodian heat under all my clothing. It was going well... 'Anything to check?' 'No,' I replied 'I think it should be alright.' She eyed my misshapen bag filled now with a giant puppet and bulky wall hangings I had bought from the temples. 'Would you please put it up on the counter?' 'Why of course!' The scale took a while to determine the exact weight and then landed exactly on 7 kilos. 'How much am I allowed, again?' '7 kilos' 'Wow, what d'ya know?! Lucky, huh?' I was grinning from ear to ear. I only saved about 20 dollars, but the satisfaction of getting past people trying to nickel and dime you is one of life's finer pleasures in my opinion. Once safely past security I went to the bathroom and came out 8 kilos lighter. Off to some island paradise!

Angkor Wat by tuk tuk

Started at 8am with Tony we visited the Angkor Thom structure which has inside of it many different temples and various terraces. The biggest of these being Bayon. This temple is covered with faces that they think are a combination of the king and a depiction of god. The king blended his features with that of the Buddha to show how he himself was a descendent from the gods. Immense, Ainhoa crying about it all.blah blah, then we went to some other ones and then had lunch at ZTony's sisters restaurant. I had some fish and rice and it was very good. Then we experienced our first taste of Cambodian rain. We only have one umbrella between us so most of our time was spent huddling together as Ainhoa shot photos of everything she saw. Went to a few more, one I liked best was the jungle looking one, it rained but it was still nice because it was warm and the stones were releasing a nice heat as the rain cooled them. Tony asked if I would marry him while at lunch and said he'd like Cambodian babies, said I could stay with his mom and we could all be very happy. We ended at Thamonomon where Ainhoa fell in love with some apsaras and so took a very long time, I went and waited for her in the tuk tuk as it was raining slightly still. Tony and I talked about how he felt about Cambodia now versus the Cambodia he grew up in. People here seem very excited about the future of the country. The man who greeted us at the border told us many Cambodians have to go to Thailand or Vietnam or China to get work, but not for long he said. In a few years they will all come back and have jobs here he kept saying. Tony said he liked his government now, that it was much better. He told me about his childhood, how his father died when he was 13 and he was pretty much homeless after that, living with friends. He's 31 now and his father dies in 1993. I didn't want to go into how he died, but from everything I have learned that was a pretty bloody year so it's very possible he was killed. Tony started to tear a bit when telling me this, he looked away and we saw two lady boys coming up towards the temple. He started to laugh and pointed saying 'gay'. He asked if we wanted to go to a discotheque but we said no we were getting up early tomorrow so maybe another time. We had dinner at the hotel and it was super good! Curry of course... what else?

Cambodia!

Woke up early and got breakfast at our spot then waited in front of our hotel for the minibus driver to pick us up. We waited for him for a good 45 minutes and then the van appeared and 5 of us in total scrambled in with all of our junk. Within the first hour and a half Ainhoa had to pee very badly. She asked the driver if we could stop at a gas station to which he said no, no stops. This went on for over a half hour. Ainhoa was walking back in forth in the bus jumping up and down in circles trying to control herself and the bus driver still wouldn't stop. At this point another girl had to go as well so they both attacked the driver. The girl, from Ukraine just started whimpering please as Ainhoa yelled I will pee on your seat! The driver would not relent, he had a strict schedule to keep to apparently. Ainhoa was literally about to jump out at an intersection and run to some near by bushes when the driver yelled back 10 minutes. We finally pulled up to a gas station and Ainhoa and the other girl went at a mad sprint towards the toilets. Not before the driver told us 5 minutes, you no eat. No one listened to him, we all bought snacks and ate them as the driver filled up the tank. In another 2 hours we stopped near the border of Thailand and Cambodia for lunch. A man at the restaurant who we were made to believe was with the bus company came over and helped uss unload and order and then fill out our visa papers for Cambodia. Then he said so I will go get visa for you, only 1000 Baht (about 35 USD). No, no, we said we get our visa at the border ourselves and for only 20 USD. He tried to convince us that the border would take too long, more than 2 hours he warned and he threatened that the bus would not wait for that long of a period and would leave us there. We stood firm though and told him we'd take our chances and that as we had paid all the way through the bus would wait! He seemed disgruntled and skulked off to another booth in the restaurant. We drove only 5 or 10 minutes to the border and were met by a guide from the Cambodian side of the border who would take us from there. This man was completely different. You ready he asked? I'll lead you to the border and you will go through and get your visa yourself and I will be waiting for yu on the other side. He took a glance at our papers. The one given us from the bus company in Thailand he tore up. You won't need this, this is part of their scam to get you to get visas through them. Glad you didn't. He explained to us how everything would work and what we needed to do. He walked along the no mans land with us giving us information about Cambodia and the people. He was overall very helpful and seemed genuinely like a good person. We made it through the border in about 20 minutes, mainly because you have to walk through from one office to the next as you go through a number of windows to make sure you don't have diseases and have all your papers. We ended up on another minibus with only 5 people again. We made one pit stop where a pushy Cambodian woman opened the sliding door to the van and said in her high pitched heavy accent. 'Your driver no speak English, time to get out. You use the bathroom you have to buy something, so first we go toilet then we all buy cool drinks, you follow me!' We all groggily went into her shop where everyone used the toilets and then were overpriced for cokes. It's a brilliant plan, we were not used to the currency at all and this was to be our only stop until Siem Reap. Her first offer for a coke translated to about 3 USD at which point Ainhoa and I laughed at her. We eventually got it for about a dollar, still a bit much, but whatever we did go bathroom now it was time we buy cold drinks. The ride through Cambodia wasn't too long and we were shortly dropped off in a small looking town. There were tuk tuk drivers there waiting and we took one for 2 dollars to our hotel that we had booked online. He asked us if we had a plan for tomorrow and we said the temples and he offered to take us around the next day. We didn't know exactly if that's how these things were done but we decided to say yes. His name was Tony and he knew the owner of our hotel, they grew up next door to each other in a small village right outside of Siem Reap. We put all our stuff down in our new room and set out into the town we went to Pub Street which is the center of the Old French Quarter, their central downtown area. There is a lively night market and stalls of food, clothes and other trinkets all along the river. We had a traditional Khmer dinner where they bring a small BBQ to your table and then pour in broth and vegetables as your meat cooks on the top of it. It was delicious and we were just thinking how lovely Cambodia was when a kid came up trying to sell us postcards and some books. We said no but the kid would not leave. He was very good at what he did and we eventually broke and said we'd buy some postcards, but then he didn't have change for our money so he then waited for us to be done with our food so we could get change for him. He sat with us for at least a half hour. He did an excellent job of looking sad and giving us some serious Western guilt.

Pamper Day

We woke up late and headed straight for breakfast/lunch at our favorite outdoor stall. We split some curry and Tom Yum soup with some shakes of course. After lunch it was time for Ainhoas last Thai massage... sad day. This massage was the best thing that has ever happened to me. It was so good, she had magic hands I swear. After the hour I was so happy I was uncontrollably laughing and crying tears of joy. Nothing after that massage will ever be the same. I wanted to take the massues home with me. Then I got a haircut and a manicure and pedicure.  and we bought yet more stuff, the things we had been eyeing all week but had continulously walked by until our last day. I bought  a bag and a few presents for people back home. We walked around for a bit and found another area close to Khaosan which had a similar vibe but much more relaxed. This seemed like the family friendly version. The restaurants were all busy, most of them with live music. Twinkle lights and lanterns everywhere Somehow it was meal time again and so we ate at an outdoor stall. Went home and packed for our journey to Cambodia the next morning.

Ayutahha

Ayuttaha!! woke up pad thai breakfast took a tuk tuk to the train station. Hoped on a train heading north, thought we had missed the early train but there were no lines so we whizzed straight through. The 10 minute tuk tuk to the train station cost us 40 Baht each, the 1 1/2 hour train ride cost us 15 Baht each... go figure. It was a train for locals mainly, so Ainhoa and I felt like the only tourists, an excellent feeling. Vendors walked up and down the aisles screaming prices a third of what they were on the tourist train we took in Kanchanaburi! I slept most of the way so missed a lot of the scenery but it was probably a good idea in the end, we had a lot of walking ahead of us.  When we got to the station us and the other tourists unloaded, most of whom immediately got into tuk tuks. Ainhoa and I, however, opted to walk. "it lies in a bend in the Chao Phraya River, where it meets the Pa Sek and Lopburi rivers - to completely surround their capital with water, early residents dug a curving canal along the northers perimeter, linking the Chao Phraya to the Lopburi.  Ayuttaha was built at the converging of two rivers, and in order to fortify the city, waterways were dug to connect the rivers, making Ayuttaha an island. "Ayuttaha was named by King Ramatibodi after a mythical kingdon of the gods portrayed in the pages of the Ramayana. The city was completed in 1350 and was a powerhouse of Southeast Asia." It was the center of trade, the arts and technology until 1688 when it went into internal conflict and then was completely destroyed by the Burmese in 1767. So this was to be a historical adventure!! We visited Wat Mahathat first which is the one with the Buddha head in the overgrown tree, then walked across the street to Wat Ratchaburana which had the giant structure in the middle which we climbed up and then it felt as if someone had poured water on my head b/c my body could not take the heat. We walked along the edge of the Phraram Park and then stopped for lunch at a local market. Not before seeing elephants! Also Ainhoa can not ride a bicycle so we walked everywhere... we were super hungry but could not find a cheap restaurant just tons of shops selling sweets. They looked amazing, but not what we wanted to eat as our main meal for the day... The stalls were all exactly the same as well. You'd think with so much competition for one type of dessert they would diversify so people like Ainhoa and I can find real food. Lunch was yummy but over priced. It's amazing how when you get used to a currency howyou can suddenly be outraged by paying more than the average. You haggle and haggle over 10 Baht and then realize that it's only about 25 cents. I guess every penny counts. Just funny how it is still cheaper than anything else I could ever buy in London or America. Long story short we felt slightly cheated so Ainhoa stole water off the table...! We left and went to Wihan Phra Mongkhon Bophit which was a modern looking Wat with a giant Buddha in it (go figure). The modern look isbecause it is a reconstruction of the original structure which was destroyed by a fire in the 2nd fall of Ayutthaya. It was raining but in Asian style were still made to take our shoes off. We walked through the rain to the temple, not sure how much more clean bare feet from the rain aer than shoes. But whatever, not my place to say. There were people doing the shaking number game. You have sticks with numbers written on them in a can and you are supposed to ask the Buddha a question then pray then shake your can and whichever stick falls out first, the number on that stick will give you answers to your problem. Ainhoa and I did this, however, unable to interpret the numbers we received the whole thing was a bit pointless for us. Next we went to Wat Phra Si Sanphet.  This wat is part of the grand palace compound and was used first as a residential palace but then turned into the royal chapel and all 'novice inhabitants' were kicked out. The temple complex is centered around 3 large chedis. They were beautiful. Chedis are used to hold the remains of a body that has been cremated, so the bones and ashes. These particular structures were extraordinarily large and in their day were painted with bright colors. Now even though the paint has faded and much of the carvings have been weathered, they were still impressive. Perhaps it was the light from the time of day or the wonderful overgrown feel of the trees, but this was my favorite temple of the day. It was very peaceful there and the shade from the trees allowed us to cool down a bit. We didn't want to catch the last train back because we knew it would be over crowded so took a tuk tuk to the train station. Once there, we realized train schedules are a bit of a joke here. The times posted on the walls were nothing like when the trains actually came. We bought a ticket for the next train which was going to be in 2 hours. We decided not to waste the time but instead head to one more temple just outside the old city walls. We crossed the river into what looks like the modern city of Ayutthaya and walked for a lot longer than we expected. None of the tourist maps we had were to scale... none of them! The temple that looked around the corner took us 35 minutes to get to. Once there, the temple was technically closed, but the gate was left open and there were plenty of people wandering around so we walked in. This complex was centered around a huge square pyramid structure. We climbed to the top and were able to see views of all of Ayuttaha. The sun was close to setting so it was pretty beautiful, we couldn't stick around for sunset though, and anyways there were too many clouds to have made it spectacular so we started on our long walk back to the station. We made it in plenty of time to stop at 7/11 and get a slurpy! The track for the train was crowded and most people were sitting on the actual rails waiting for the train to come. We had fallen into exactly what we were trying to avoid, every tourist was now heading back to Bangkok as were all the locals who obviously traveled for work every day. We had to stand for most of the journey back home. Also the fan in our section was not exactly working so we stood like sardines as the train vendors still tried to walk between us still screaming with their giant baskets. They would pass and push you from the aisle on to the families sitting. Once home, guess what we did? Did you guess massage? because then you'd be right. We got a foot massage and then sat in a bar watching Arsenal getting the butts handed to them by Manchester United much to the joy/dismay of the mostly English audience.

Bangkok Ballers

Thursday: went to the waterfalls (Erawan) drove back in the bus with the group and were all dropped off near Khaosan Road. We checked into our new hotel and decided to go out exploring. We went to the flower market on the edge of Chinatown near the river near Memorial Bridge. it was awesome! Walked around a bit more and found a different night market looked at great Asian craziness gifts. Sat to eat at a cart, it began to pour. Caught a taxi home. Decided to go out, went to the roof top bar because there was a guy singing and playing the guitar. Good atmosphere, everyone sang along. Made friends with people from Jakarta and a Thai woman and her German husband. She kept ordering buckets of drinks, so we all got pretty drunk, we went to a different club when the roof top bar closed. Danced until that club closed and then crashed literally next door at our new hotel!

Friday: Woke up a bit late, skyped with mom and sisters, went home Ainhoa was still in bed. The plan was to go explore Chinatown, so we set out walked for a long time. It was cloudy but not raining so perfect walking about weather. Saw the National Theatre so checked out what was playing. A show called Khon, actually a style of dance, the name is not so original. Usually about 800 Baht, we asked for a student discount and got it for 200 Baht. Nice! Walked/shopped/ate for the rest of the day. Another great soup cart! best coconut drink I've had in my life. Endless streets of small market stalls. Amulet traders. saw the show which was interesting... walked back it began to rain, I got kind of grumpy walking in the rain, but we eventually made it. Met up with our Indonesian friends and went to a beer garden close by. Toni sang all night and was really good. met the guys from the Netherlands, woman from Belgium and Woman from Thailand. trend of thai women with white men but not the other way around, what's up with that?

Saturday: woke up, got ready and went to the BK Lounge to meet up with Pad. She showed up and we walked like 5 blocks with her to where she had parked her car. Drove across the entire city to Pad's favorite restaurant. Not fancy, but extremely tasty!!! What she called a court menu. Apparently cooks who worked at the Palace would learn certain dishes not usually made outside of the Palace, but then would open up their own restaurants and take the recipes with them. It was the best food I've had on this trip. Hands down. I could marry the spicy coconut seafood soup. Another type of soup with egg yolks that had been boiled in pig's intestines for some reason. great dish of beef and Thai basil deep fried so the basil was like a crunchy chip. Some chicken skewers with sticky rice and a sweet sauce and then raw shrimp with garlic and chilies and cabbage on the side. Sprinkled it with lime like ceviche. When they turned pink, we devoured! For dessert Pad ordered 3 small treats of syrup and different fruits/jellies over ice. Very refreshing after a spicy meal and for the heat outside. Afterwards, she dropped us at the skytrain b/c she was going to a wedding!! We took the train to a huge outdoor market called JJ's Market. Like a flea mark with hundreds of little stalls in and outside, winding pathways through it all. Went into a consumerism comma and had the urge to get everything! Got one or two gifts, but then a dress and skirt for myself. That's all I would let myself get, I could have spent so much more there, it's not even funny. Then went to Siam Square, once again by skytrain. got off and walked straight into a lip synce dance performance. Harajuki style girls in front of us knew all the songs, so it must have been popular music just being danced to. We have no idea why... why not I guess. Walked around the malls in a daze, completely shopped out. Walked around a little bit but didn't make it too far before we decided our feet were too tired to continue. Took a tuk tuk home and walked straight to a Thai massage place. Great massage, then home to drop off stuff and grab computer to figure out how to get to Ayuttaha tomorrow and to skype cameron/ family. Now to try and sleep through the noise and heat of our ridiculous room!!

Touring in Thailand

Thailand!!! It's been a pretty weird last 2 days... I spent only one day in Bangkok before leaving the city for Kanchanaburi, a small town to the north west of Bangkok. Bangkok seems pretty cool from the very little of it I have seen. The huge city is broken up into 7 main districts; Old City, Thonburi, Chinatown, Pratunam, Downtown, Sukhumvit, and Silom. So far we have barely made it through Old City! We arrived at our hotel on Monday at about 9 o'clock at night so basically just got dinner and walked through Khaosan road, spending our time looking at all the clothes and various souvenir shops. Khaosan road is a backpackers paradise - cheap accommodation, street food amongst bars selling drinks by the bucket, thai massages on the street and the most concentrated collection of young travelers you will find anywhere else in the city. We stayed for 2 nights at a hotel 2 blocks from Khaosan road, giving us the atmosphere without the noise until 5am. An added bonus, a street cafe outside our hotel serving amazing dragon fruit smoothies and food all night long. Perfection achieved. On Tuesday we slept in until about 10am and got out of the hotel with a plan to see the Grand Palace. We were walking along the side of the road when a woman stopped us to tell us how beautiful our white skin was (only in Asia...) and then kindly asked where we were headed. To the palace we told her!
went to standing Buddha temple, promptly taken to the travel agent, succesfully left one only to be brought to another which we left unsuccessfully from... then onto Wat Benchamabophit (beautiful gold buddhas with 3 monk statues in front of them, then to the grand palace and temple of the emerald buddha. Tuk tuk drivers name was what sounded like Boy but somehow 2 syllables. Then went to a great street market for some food, ate overlooking the river. Tried to get to Wat Saket, a temple on a hill overlooking the city for sunset but b/c traffic is so bad in Bangkok around 5pm no tuk tuk driver would take us for under 80 Bath which we thought sounded too pricey for something only a few blocks away. We set out but shortly realized we wouldn't make it on foot before it closed so headed towards home and a shower instead. We thought that once we had showered we would be more invigorated and ready to face some night life. Walking back to the hotel, however, we saw a massage school giving full body Thai massages for 180 Bath (about 6 USD) and decided we could spend an hour being pampered. It was awesome!!! a series of stretching positions while being given a vigorous massage then they walk on your legs and put their knees on your back. good thing Thai women are so skinny, I couldn't help but think if this were popular in the West, you'd have to be very careful not to get someone overweight to walk on you. the whole thing could go very wrong very easily. But as the woman who massaged me was about 4 foot 11 inches and weighed probably 90ish pounds, it was very relaxing. We shopped for a bit then dinner at our favorite street cafe where we planned the rest of our time in Thailand and did some research in our book about what sites we really wanted to hit.

Woke up early, around 6:30am so we could have time to get breakfast before being picked up by the service. Got in a big white van that might as well have had tourist written on it in huge block letters. We picked up a few other tourists and then were off. After about 1 1/2 hour drive reached the WWII war cemetery. Then went to the bridge over the river Kwai. from there we hopped on a train that rode for an hour and a half through the jungle side. along the railroad built by the allied POW forces. We went passed Hellfire pass, supposedly the most grueling part of the RR to build, I was told 12, 399 men were killed in the process of building the railway. We were met by our tourist mobile and taken to our floating river hotel where we had lunch. Lunch was super quick and we were rushed into our next activity which was advertised as bamboo river rafting but was more like water drifting. I had imagined white water rapids, or something of the like but we were pulled up the river and then let go and allowed to drift down it until we were caught by the boat and taken back to the hotel. We were then driven to the Sai Yok National Park to see a beautiful waterfall. The water was cool and was a great relief from the heat. We spent about an hour in the water. Then we were driven to the elephant reserve where we jumped on an elephant for a 20 minute ride. Then back to our floating paradise. Ainhoa and I were brave and took a dip in the river even though there was a sign saying no swimming as the current is extremely strong. We didn't really swim, we hung on to a hook off the side of a raft and let the water pull us about for a few minutes before struggling to get back onto the safety of the bamboo raft. We watched the sunset as we ate dinner (really nice larb, sounds awful but a nice traditional chicken dish). As there was nowhere to go but to hang out at the hotel we talked with other tourists for a few hours and made some good friends. Then time for bed!

On My Way Out

Like any savvy traveler, I arrived for my flight 2 hours ahead of time. Like any traveler who has ever been to the Denpasar airport in Bali, I now know how pointless this is.  I have heard horror stories of the harsh rules of AirAsia, how I will be overcharged for all my luggage and fees will be tacked on at the end. My check in went a little something like this, walk to a machine, tell machine my booking number, walk through security with all liquids and pointy objects safely packed away. The only surprising part came when we got to the 'passport check', over which there was a sign which read 'Departure Fee'. They barely glanced at my passport to see if the name was the same as on the boarding pass, when I was asked for 40,000 Rupiah. My Balinese instincts told me to haggle with him, but his 'I don't give a damn' pout made me decide against it. This is not a big amount, despite all the zeros, but it now means that my perfectly calculated budget now gives me no room for lunch. I had taken out just enough money to get to the airport and have a meal with no left over currency! I had been so proud...To withdraw more of this currency, or to wait until Thailand? My stomach will decide for me in a few hours, I'm sure. There are 2 wings to the terminal we are in, one overcrowded with no air conditioning, and one empty of people with the AC at a comfortable breezy level. Ainhoa and I are sitting in the latter, and I keep trying to figure out why others are not doing the same, the sheep. There is a woman constantly making announcements, and as in every airport there is a ding ding ding intro to her speech. This noise is of course just frequent enough that you want to stab yourself and start to develop an unhealthy level of hatred for a woman you have never met before. A minute ago she made an announcement for what I heard to be a Ryan Air flight to Jakarta and thought how funny, I had no idea Ryan Air ran here. Then I realized it was a Lion Air flight announcement and had a small chuckle to myself. Only an hour and a half to go.

I'm very sad to be leaving Bali. There is still so much that I haven't seen and I feel like I was just getting to know my way around. It's an interesting thing to only brush the surface of a new culture. I have learned so much, and yet all that learning has only uncovered to me how much more there is to know. This past weekend I have spent not in traveler mode, but with the members of my new Balinese family. I made no long trips or huge adventures, but took it easy at Sedana and Senih's house. The warmth of this family is reason enough for me to want to come back to Bali. When you travel, it is so easy to become overwhelmed with the differences between your normal way of life and the way you are doing things now, so to be able to spend time in a family setting was perhaps the best way to say goodbye to Bali - and hello to the next leg of my journey. On Friday night I experienced the full embrace of a small village and it was like nothing else I have ever seen before. We went to Abiansemal, Sut's village, where our makeup and hair was done by Sut's neighbors. We were then
performance and then talk about final dance class and then that's it really

Show Time!

A week has gone by already?!! Tonight is the BIG night! For the past 2 weeks we have been rehearsing for a collaboration show with Balinese students from ISI (Indonesian Art Institute), and we are finally ready! Well, ready is a relative term... For the past 3 evenings we've had rehearsal from 7pm until about 10:30pm plus an hour long drive home (where I inevitably fall asleep in the car, thankfully I am not the driver) so it's been tiring but every moment is fun. We have to drive so far because we are preforming in a small village and local boys from the village are doing our music. The boys look to be from 7 to 12 years old and they all play the gamelan/drums as if they were professionals. We danced for the first time to the music 2 nights ago and said we were sorry we couldn't follow the music (it's very different than the drum we had been rehearsing with) but were told "it's alright, they know it, they'll follow you." Hah! If you've ever seen an American boy playing a video game where he has the entire thing memorized and can do all the hard moves without looking, then you can picture these boys playing their instruments. They stare off, talk with each other, laugh and joke around, all while doing something that took every inch of my attention and patience the week before. Amazing. I'm excited because tonight we will also have traditional costumes and makeup so we have to go very early to put it all on. Members of the village are coming to help us get ready, and I imagine it to be much like the scene from Mulan where they wash and scrub her and paint her face. Our rehearsal last night was in a different village than the performance tonight but it was outdoors. As word got out that we were rehearsing, slowly the entire village was there to watch the rehearsal. When I and the other 3 girls came out to do the legong, the crowd thought it was so funny and laughed and clapped and gave us thumbs up. They got such a kick out of us trying to do their traditional dances, I don't think it matters how good we are at it, they will probably enjoy it regardless (which is very good for us).

Funeral Crashers

Today, another thing came off the life list. Crashing a funeral? Check. Ok, so this wasn't exactly on my life list, and I wasn't exactly crashing it, but still I attended the ceremony of someone I have never met before. I am very sad to report that Anak Agung Niang Rai, the mother of the King of Ubud, is dead. But she was obviously well loved! Funerals, or cremations I should say, are not supposed to be a sad event in Bali, rather a celebration that the soul has passed from this life and will soon be born again into their next carnation. This is the most money ever spent on a cremation costing about 2 billion Rupiah, which is around $200,000. She actually died in May, and they have been preparing and building offerings for this event ever since. The largest structures built were a massive bull (Lembu) and tower (Bade) resembling a meru. Apparently, the bigger the tower, the closer you are to god... this one was 25 meters. Let me tell you, she and god were pretty close... they're practically neighbors. Power lines in the city had to be cut so that they could transfer the tower and bull from the location where they were built to the cremation site. Measuring and heavy duty planning does not seem to be a Balinese strong suit, but luckily their go with the flow attitude cancels this out. No one seemed to be bothered that there was no longer any electricity, generators slowly came to shops and people carried on business as usual.

The streets were crowded but there was still breathing room when we arrived. We checked out the bull and tower, listened to the clanging sounds of the gamelan, avoided the persistent vendors trying to sell us sarongs, fans, hats and other paraphernalia. This went on for a good 2 hours when suddenly a man with a megaphone warned us that we should all find a safe place because the procession was about to begin. He then went into a long speech about if you didn't understand English you should turn to the person next to you and ask them what to do and to follow the crowd. I laughed at the irony of this speech as we were carried down the street with the rest of the crowd. The first trucks to pass us brought men with water hoses, who soaked the street and some of the audience. Then came women with incense and fire on their heads (in bowls) and a few marching gamelan bands. Now, having been in marching band, the idea of a marching gamelan band makes me smile. Imagine, if you ca, just the pit of a band marching. All the heavy drums and bells put on wheels. You actually need twice the number of people, one to play the instrument, the other to push the instrument and person playing it. Needless to say, this was not such a fast procession. But all this was nothing to the bull coming down the street. Imagine a bull as large as a house laid on a series of bamboo shoots with about 90 men carrying the dead weight with no aid from wheels. They started strong, by the time they got to where I was, it was pretty slow going. The men on the left and right had a hard time coordinating when to pick up the bull to run so the bull would rock dangerously from side to side. The grandson of Niang Rai was strapped to the top of the bull and was screaming for his life as he swayed from one building top to the other. At any point did they think to take him off the bull? No, they persisted and after about an hour got the bull and tower down the road to the cemetery. Now the tower was a whole other problem. The ceremony dictates that at every intersection the tower has to be rotated 3 times. So the men carrying this structure not only had to make it down the street but had to run in circles as they did it. It was a long process of lifting and sprinting while screaming at the top of their lungs then a 5 minute period of rest before the next lifting could be arranged. When they finally made it to the cemetery the crowd went mad. Men had collapsed, the man on the bull broke down into tears from the stress of the event and two men who had evidentially been at the top of the tower were carried down unconscious. It was traumatic to say the least, and the work was not over yet. Now the bull had to be raised up onto the pyre where it would be burned. Once again, the Balinese precision came into play when they realized the bull was too big to fit around a corner. Out of nowhere men came with chainsaws and began to hack through the bamboo shoots. Here they implemented logs. I felt like I was at Troy when the horse was being dragged into the city. Everyone was cheering and trying to help as logs were thrust under the bull so it could be pulled forward like it was on a conveyor belt. It was hot and the sarong vendors were relentless. I caved and bought a hat, which ended up being my saving grace because after 7 hours in the sun I would have been charred to a crisp.

It was about 4 when they finally got the bull, covered entirely in velvet, onto it's pedestal. They cut the top off of the bulls back and began to bring things down from the tower. Offerings, umbrellas, beautiful fabrics and incense, and last but not least a huge coffin. I couldn't help but think there was no way that 80 year old Asian woman was that large. She was probably 5 foot at best, yet the coffin made her look like a giant. The pulled the body out (remember it's been at least 3 months now that she's been dead) wrapped in cloth and laid it down in the bull. Then the offerings came in on top of her. Prayers were said over the body by what looked like 10 priests and family members. And then I am sorry to report, I had to leave. I didn't after nearly 8 hours get to see the thing burn... I had to go to a rehearsal for our project so the final cathartic moment was stolen from me. It was a bit sad yes, but the whole day had been filled with so much that I didn't really mind at that point. It was an amazing thing to witness. The magnitude of the event. The number of people who came to see it. All the steps that they had to go through in order to do the ceremony properly. Truly like nothing I have ever seen before, or may ever see again. Everyone who took part had volunteered and it was really moving to see the men exert themselves like that. The traditions of this country are like no place else I have ever been. I talked for a while with a girl from Jakarta on the island Java and she said she had never seen anything like this. What a great day to witness. I really wish I could have seen it burn...

Further Adventures

Monday started with one of those classes that makes me want to give up everything and devote myself to Balinese mask work. Professor Dibia is in his late 60s early 70s but is one of the most entrancing performers I have ever seen. He performed a dance in the topeng old man mask and I swear he did next to nothing, but I couldn't keep my eyes off him. His dance was intoxicating, you could not look away. We learned a warrior dance he had choreographed in 1979 named Wirayuda. He made the dance in order to preserve a sacred dance that was not allowed to be taught out side of a ritual setting. Dibia was afraid the dance would be lost forever, so, he used similar steps, rearranged the order and taught his dance as a secular performance in order to preserve the moves. This was a male dance and in my opinion much easier than the female dances. You have to be big and strong as opposed to twisting your body into impossible curves, much easier on the hips. Still, after a couple hours of dance we all looked as if we had jumped in a swimming pool... sooo easy... not. In true Balinese fashion, when we were finished there were treats, sticky rice with coconut and a type of bean. We all ate happily as we talked to Dibia about how his culture has changed during his lifetime. His father was a dancer and his father before him. Dibia's grandson (who they believe is the reincarnation of Dibia's father) is also a talented dancer, but he fears the art is dying and becoming too commercialized. As someone who has lost the religion of their grandparents, it is easy for me to relate to the younger Balinese generation, and yet it is always hard to see the sadness when someone of an older generation talks about the loss of faith he sees now. He said he was worried corruption has become the new culture, and having walked around Kuta only 2 days before, it was hard to disagree with him.

We met Sedana on our way out of Dibia's house and we requested he take us to a place to buy masks or puppets. He led us down a dirt road filled with pot holes that could never be located on any GPS and then suddenly we were at a shop. The quality of the puppets and masks ranged from broken to ornate. I bought a puppet within my price range, a bit on the shabbier side, but hey, I'm not performing any religious ceremonies with it. Most of us got something and we walked away pleased with our purchases. Then, something sadly predictable happened, on the way home we got a flat tire. I haven't talked much about our car 'Kari', but let me say some of the best stories of the trip are coming from her. On our first night, the car wouldn't start so we had to push start it. Stopping traffic in the middle of a busy street in Kuta... Things have fallen off of her, the window will only go down if you hit the car door in a certain place and don't try going over 80 unless you want the whole car to shake. So a flat tire happened in the middle of a busy street (they are all busy streets) but luckily we were able to make it to the side safely. We all got out and had an oh shit moment as we looked at our shredded tire. It was obvious the thing had been patched before and it was now beyond any kind of reparation. Thankfully when we looked in the trunk there was a spare and all the necessary tools in order to change the thing. There were 5 of us in the car at the time and with a little input from everyone about proper techniques we changed the thing in less than 15 minutes. We are basically ready for the Indie 500!

Wednesday was the Balinese Independence Day, so we had the entire day off and decided to spend it at the beach. We loaded into the car and drove off for a beach on the north east side of the island. After about an hour and a half, however, we found ourselves near an equally beautiful beach so just decided to stop there. The beach was called White Sand Beach in Candidasa and we had read about it in our guide book and heard great things about it from friends. We had a tough time finding it though! We kept asking for directions in our best Balinese. Us asking for directions goes a little like this: "Om Swasti Astu! [insert place we are trying to go] Durus? Bagus! Bagus! Suk Sumuh! Suk Sumuh! Santi Santi Santi!!" Translated this means: Good Afternoon! [place we are trying to go] Straight? Good! Good! Thank You! Thank you! Good Bye!" Our Balinese is very advanced. Now I say straight because basically any local you ask will just tell you to keep going down the road you are already going down. That or they will give you wrong directions for their own enjoyment. On this particular day we tried our best to ask for the beach to a family sitting outside their shop. But for some reason, our very presence was terrifying. We pulled up said hello and they immediately stood up and began to shuffle back into the shop. We yelled the name of the beach at them thinking perhaps they hadn't heard us. The mother picked up her young child and went into the back room out of sight of us. We repeated the name of the beach to her older daughter, who just smiled shyly and hid behind the counter of the shop. We didn't know what we had done exactly to offend them but it was bad... We eventually found the beach and it was a series of beach chairs and tourists. So much for our beach hide away. It was nice though, not over crowded and as long as you ordered some lunch or juice you could lay on a chair under an umbrella for free, not bad at all! I rented some snorkeling gear and went to explore the locals under the sea. They send their regards. I saw a school of fish and some nice coral and other brightly colored friends (obviously I am well on my way towards becoming a marine biologist). It was really nice but the currents were strong so it was tiring work. I surrendered to the power on the beach chair, took a nap, ate some rice vege concoction and hung around till it was time to go at 4:30pm. We left slightly early because we wanted to get to a temple that the book said was in a cave, and the cave entrance had been carved to look like an elephants mouth. It kind of sounded like someplace Indiana Jones might be, so I was thrilled. When we showed up it was already near sunset so we had to rush through the whole complex. It was beautiful. The temple in the cave looked extremely old and goes back to the 1500's I do believe. As soon as you entered it, the air got thicker and hotter and when you breathed in it tasted like moss. It was smaller inside than I thought it would be, but still a nice place to see. And if you walk around the site there is a path leading down into a jungle with a few more small temples. I was walking through the jungle paradise when a toothless man saw me and beckoned me towards a temple. He was asking if I wanted to pray with him and I felt so honored that he had singled me out, it probably had something to do with my open aura. He performed a weird slightly rushed ceremony where I drank water and poured it on my head and we bowed... and then he lifted a box on the table and pointed to some money. Ahh, of course... my aura said I have money, not that I am a pure and open soul. I actually had nothing on me though and sign languaged this to him much the same way you sign to a dog that you have no more food. He looked at me in the same disappointed way as a dog who believes you are no longer any good to him and he more or less shoved me out of the temple door saying swasti astu. There was another temple on the site that we wanted to visit that was actually a Buddhist temple (it would have been the first I've ever seen) but unfortunately it was getting dark and it was a walk away. We attempted to get their fast but were stopped in our tracks when the path went through a cave that we could not see the end of and, of yeah, there were bats in it. We decided to call it a day, we were late to rehearsal anyways.

A Weekend of Good Decisions

This weekend I spent almost solely with Ankita. The rest of the Karimun crew went to a spiritual healer while Ankita and I went to party in Kuta. Is it a moment I was proud of? Picking a party over a healer? Yes. Turns out the healer was a scam artist (who saw that one coming?) and they ended up spending the day wading through trash, as Balinese men tried to convince them they could now stop oncoming cars with the power of their minds. Ankita and I had a lovely time for near to free. We went on the beach and then out to a nightclub where we got free drinks. It may not have been so spiritual, but I felt one with myself and my wallet at the end of it. Also a win, I got to try out 'the face'. Now the face is something to be used only in a desperate situation. If you are out dancing, having a good time and a guy comes to talk to you and won't leave you alone even after many attempts to ditch him, you have to give him 'the face'. Now I heard about this from another blog and have only been joking about it with friends but Saturday it came into action. A very intoxicated guy from Java cornered me and proceeded to ask me the only two phrases he knew in English for at least ten minutes. "What's your name?" and "Where you from?" are alright questions at first, but when they have now been asked 20 times each and freedom is nowhere in sight, it was time to put the face to the test. I crossed my eyes and squinched up my nose, I put my head back to create a double chin effect as I opened my mouth and stuck out my tongue a bit. Now I had practiced in the mirror a few times, so I was ready. I suggest if anyone else decides to use this technique, they should also give it a few trial runs. And once in position, I committed! He started to laugh at first, then stuck out his tongue as if we were both in on this joke together, then he started to say "What? Why? Pony? Why?" (Pony is how all Indonesians pronounce my name FYI) I almost gave up half way through, but I persevered and what do you know, he turned to his friend to ask for a cigarette and never turned back. Victory was mine! The night was a total success.

On Sunday Ankita and I were again together but this time we went to Jimbaran for sea food. Now Ankita does not eat sea food, so this was an adventure mainly for me, but when we got there and she saw how fresh it was, even she had to try some. It was amazing! She got Baracuda and spent a long time asking the man to make it look as little like a fish as possible. Mine came out with everything but the eyeballs and hers came out covered in chili and garlic dressing looking like it could have been any type of meat. We both enjoyed thoroughly. It was the most money I've spent on a meal here in Bali, but we decided that a splurge was necessary every once in a while. We watched the sunset together on our beach chairs, drinking bintangs and eating peanuts. Had we held hands and smiled at each other it could have been a commercial for viagra or herpes medication, that's the level of romance we're talking about. It was an almost perfect picture, except for the drunk Russian tourists sitting right in front of me. They had been drinking Bintangs since before we arrived and carried on even after we left. The drunker they got the louder they got, one woman in particular, and we had to continuously move our beach chairs further and further from them to escape their blond shrieks. Nothing was going to keep us down though, the light was beautiful and the beach scenery unmatched. And we were no where as bothered by them as the couple sitting to their left. This couple looked to be having a perfect evening too, but somehow they seemed concerned about everything going on. The sun wasn't just right so they would look at each other and grimace before calling a waiter and trying to sign to him about how they'd like the position of the sun changed. When the Balinese man looked at them confused, their concerned faces grew darker and heavier. Nothing seemed to make this couple happy. They began to take photos of each other, one trying to capture the sunset while the other stared moodily off at it. The picture would be taken and then the result judged with another series of grimaces about how the camera wasn't good enough or the pose wasn't exactly right. They were hysterical to me, and I'm pretty sure they noticed me staring at them, much to their concerned discomfort. There are 3 different locations for seafood in Jimbaran, an expensive, medium and cheap. We went to the middle section first, thinking we would be posh. After looking at about 2 restaurant menus we were reminded all too quickly of our dwindling budgets and headed back to the car for the cheap section at the Southern most part of the beach. It was a good choice too. The food was exactly the same (the menu we ordered from was a carbon copy of the other restaurants, except with the name and prices covered and changed) we were excited about our decision.

After sunset we packed up our beach bags and sadly walked away from the shrieking Russians and concerned lovers and headed to a puppet show in Puputan Square. We didn't really know what we were in for at this event, but a student at ISI was performing, so we were told not to miss it. Puputan Square is one of the few parks I have seen in Bali and is a huge public space where events go on in the evenings and children fly kites and play soccer in the day time. There was a stage set up and a show was already in progress when we arrived. It was an event to encourage people to ride their bikes as opposed to scooters or cars. There were environmental videos shown, and a long period of time where kids rode around in a circle on bikes as the crowd clapped and about a billion photos were snapped of them. Next men with topeng masks came out to entertain the crowd, some legong dancing happened and then a huge fire show which ended in fireworks. The atmosphere of the event was wonderful, kids playing on the field as their parents sat and watched a performance. Vendors walking amongst the crowds selling peanuts, fried goodies and one man with magic mushrooms. This was a pretty chilled out night. We met Johblar, the puppet master and he gave us coffee Bali and some treats and said it was time for him to get ready. We settled ourselves in front of the giant shadow puppet screen and when the performance began, the crowd was immediately entranced. Now I don't really know what went on in the puppet show, nor did I care. It was hysterical. The crowd laughed at every joke and I was right there with them. The child like wonder in me was awakened as I watched the 2 clown puppets beat each other and then cower in fear when the god puppet came. There were flying monkeys and dancing puppets, the 2 clowns later performed a song. The whole show lasted for 2 hours. We couldn't stay for the ending, because we were all exhausted, some people wet from having coconut water poured on them by the healer, so we left early. But as an artist, it is always an amazing experience when you see art bring a community together and be the focus of a good time.

Balinese dancing = legs of steel

2 hours of Legong (female Balinese dance) with substantial breaks in the middle and my legs are killing me... Since coming here I have reverted to my 5 year old self; I am constantly playing and therefore getting scrapes and bruises on my legs, feet and hands. My feet seem to always be dirty from being barefoot and there is rarely a time when all my fingernails are clean. Basically I am a mess, and loving it. I did laundry tonight for the first time since I left London and I can't wait for my semi clean clothes to be dry! I say semi clean because I hand washed everything in a tub that I borrowed from the hotel. At least it's hot out, if I were in London I would have to wait for the rain to stop and then wait for the clothes to dry. Today was a pretty relaxed day. I woke up at noon (I arrived home at about 4:30am so it was necessary rest) got some lunch, went to my professors house for a dance class, ate some more, went to the supermarket to obtain more food for later, had a massage, made Dutch pancakes with Martijn and then laundry! Not too shabby.

This second week has gone by like a blur. We've been having rehearsals for our collaboration project, classes on puppet making and gamelan playing, went to a fabulous Balinese cultural museum, taken day trips to Ubud twice and gone out with Al (Cameron's good friend from home) 3 days in a row. It's going so fast, in only 9 days I have to leave the island of the gods behind and go after my next adventure. And now it's 1:30am and I have to be up early for a cremation ceremony (like you do) so I'm off to bed! Goodnight Sanur!

Balincing Act

Bali is all about balance. The more I see of this beautiful island the more clear it becomes that there are two very distinct sides to it. On one side there is a rich cultural and religious tradition and on the other the over populated tourist hot spots characterized mainly by parties, alcohol and drugs. The relationship the Balinese have with tourists is a love hate. They blame tourists for the pollution, and for turning their sacred dance rituals into hotel shows but their economy is centered around it and most people would be out of a job if the tourists were to leave tomorrow. Today we were talking about the terrorist bombings in Kuta that happened in 2002 and again in 2005. The bombings killed mainly tourists but some Balinese as well. Discussing it and why the bombings happened, they said it was due to a lack of balance of good and evil. Kuta is a tourist party city and the more traditional, conservative locals fear it is bringing more evil spirits to the island. The people worry about the next generation and of loosing their rich culture. After the bombings, the Balinese were not overly concerned with finding out who did it or why. The Hindu way is not to blame others for your problems, but to look inwards, meditate, and try and put a more positive force into the world to counter act the negative that has happened. That is exactly what they did after the attacks. A huge festival/ceremony was held in Kuta to bless the spot and to restore it to become a more holy place.

I'm not sure what the answer is for Bali. On an island that can be crossed in about 3 hours, they receive an estimated 2 million tourists per year. To try and stop this influx is impossible and, economically, not practical. But at the end of the day, what is the price they are paying? It is obvious that many people who come here do not see the real Bali. The people are always smiling and are so hospitable it would be easy to see them and think they hadn't a care in the world. If you scratch just a little deeper, however, it is clear Bali is on the cusp of some major troubling changes. I hope the Balinese are able to maintain their balance and keep their traditions and culture alive as the borders of the world blur more and more. Perhaps it will morph into something new and even more exciting, it's hard to tell.

Go With the Gut I Guess?

I feel at a bit of a crossroads in my life right now. My life plan until today was to go back to London and get a place to live and a job (hopefully in acting) for the year and then move back to California when Cameron has returned from his active duty. But now I am thinking, what if I were to just stay in Bali for this year? It might be that the coconut and the sunshine have gone to my head, but it is a real possibility. It would be much cheaper than London, that's for sure. And who knows if I would even be able to get acting jobs in London? Probably not enough to live off of, which means being in a restaurant/ some other awful job. In Bali I could stay with a mask/dance master teach his kids English and stay for free as I study. I don't really know the answer, but I believe things happen for a reason and paths are put in front of you in life at the moments that you need it most. This might be a follow my gut moment! I will now begin a furious search for grants for artists in Bali... ok, go!

Update on the last 2 days to follow later!

Bali Bali Bali...

Thursday, August 4th 8:35pm

Today is the first day where I have had free time to write, with internet, and the will power not to fall asleep as soon as reaching my room. Yay!

I have been in Bali for 4 days and so much has happened already I feel as if it has been 2 weeks. So I arrived Sunday night and began classes Monday morning at 9 am. We took a quick tour around the campus and then began had a lecture class on the introduction to Balinese dance, music and drama forms. In the afternoon Ainhoa, Ankita, Martijn and I arranged for new accommodation closer to the beach and for a cheaper rate, which is where I am at currently. We went to some local stores and bought some traditional clothes which we could wear to temple. It was good we got it quickly because we were invited to an event by Professor Dibia in his home town of Singpadu to watch a Barong Dance competition. The Barong dance consists to two dancers (traditionally men) inside of a dragon costume similar to ones you would see on Chinese New Year but painted and decorated very differently. There were 10 groups competing the night we went and they each had 15 minutes to show the judges all there skillz. The dances all had a similar structure and elements but the dancers threw in their own moves and variations to impress the crowd. It was fascinating to watch, but in all honesty I started to fall asleep after about the 5th performer went up. The music accompanying the dancers is called gamelan and it is performed by a band of about (in this case) 20 musicians, all playing instruments that look similar to a marimba, small flutes and of course drums. This music was enough to put my jet lagged body to sleep faster than a tranquilizer. Luckily I was not the only one who felt this way and during a break between dances we snuck out and as soon as I was back at the hotel I crashed.

Class started at 9am again Tuesday morning, but we had to wake up much before then in order to move to our new hotel and get to school before the allotted time. This done, I met my new love interest. His name is Dr. I. Nyoman Catra. This man is amazing. He is a topeng (masked theatre) master and has worked with Julie Taymore, Eugenio Barba and Bill Irwin just to name a few of my personal heroes. We spent 2 hours learning some basic Topend moves and at the end of it I was sweating like a pig. It was fabulous, my favorite part might have been at the end when we were taught the voices of the characters. Catra spoke in the voice in Balinese and we tried to imitate the voice while also trying to copy the sounds of Balinese. The result was ridiculous, I loved it. Next we met a group of students at the school of performing arts in Denpasar mostly studying puppetry but also some dance and music students. It seemed they all did everything though. We introduced ourselves and then talked about ways in which we can work together over the next 3 weeks. But mostly we got invited to tons of events the students were involved in around Sanur and Ubud. All of a sudden our calendars were full. After class we went to the house of a friend of Professor Sedanas to rent a car from him! We were promised a 6 seater and when we showed up it was a 5 seater with a pillow in the trunk, golden. We were so pleased with our new freedom we got in it and immediately left for Kuta, a close by town that would have taken us ages to get to otherwise. Kuta was so busy (and this was only on a Tuesday) but we found some parking and walked out towards the beach. I was asked by a few people to get my picture taken with them, what can I say, the Asians could not resist the scary whiteness of my skin in a bikini. After posing for a few shots I made my way to the beach and swam happily in the water for the first time since I left California in September! We went and got dinner and then walked to a local night market for some drinks and to meet up with some friends Ankita had made the weekend before I arrived. We played some music and sang (poorly)and talked until all of us started to droop with sleepiness. We decided it was time for bed and said goodbye to our friends. Once in the car we realized it would not start. Awesome. There was a problem with the battery so we had to push start it... in Balinese traffic...at night. It was the scene from Little Miss Sunshine almost exactly with the addition of swarms of motorcyclists and cars trying to run us down as we jumped into the now moving car. We got lost on the way home, but eventually made it and went right to bed.

Wednesday started with a Balinese culture and history class. This was taught by a man of obviously high education and status, unfortunately it was nearly impossible to understand him. Also, a trend I am noticing amongst the Balinese is a way to answer a question with an answer from a completely different topic and somehow relate one piece of it back to your original question leaving you with more questions than when you started. The talk was good and there was a highly informative handout, and a goody box of food which I took for lunch, so all in all, the morning was a win. After the talk, we went directly to the house of a master mask maker in Singpadu. We were all presented with a block of wood, a mallet and a chisel. The mask maker spoke very little English. He had his own block of wood and started to whack at it, we all followed suit pretending we had any idea what we were doing. He made 2 or 3 whacks and said 'start nose', all of a sudden a nose was on his block, then 'eyes next' boom, boom, 2 eye holes, then 'make mouth' and in less than 5 minutes there was an outline of a beautiful mask sitting in front of him. Urged on by the his results we began to hack at our blocks more furiously with little to no change appearing on our block. After an hour 3 people had cut themselves badly, a few others had blisters, and our masks looked nowhere near as good as the mask he produced in the first 5 minutes. Over the next hour one by one we all gave up and handed our mask over to the master for 'fixing' where he really just undid everything we had worked for for the past hour and made a new beautiful mask outline. In order to make the mask you place the wood between your feet, holding it with your toes as you use both hands to chisel away. Standing at the end of 2 hours after having been in this position was extremely painful. My hips and knees especially felt it, not to mention the pain in my lower back. It must be something you have to get use to, but I can't imagine sitting like that for hours and hours every day of my life and still being able to stand up. My amazement for the mask maker grew.

After mask making it was off to Sut's house where he had prepared a traditional Balinese meal for us. First we went to the temple where a rehearsal for a performance was going on. It was a small village temple. Two women were practicing a dance, one teaching the other the part, there were musicians providing music for them, and then there was the guy in the trance... Now trance dancing is something I have read about, but never experienced until last night. The Balinese believe that the gods come to you when you dance and inform you how to move, and in some cases can completely embody you putting you in a trance state. That was the case with the man wiggling his butt at me now. Apparently the gods were telling him to act like a flirtatious woman cat calling every man in the immediate vicinity. He was waving and wiggling his butt as he giggled like a school girl at the mens embarrassment. He danced back and forth singing in a high pitched tone in between his cat calls. The rest of the men stood and watched, some playing along with his game, some just acting as if this was totally normal behavior. I watched with delight. We had a dance lesson at the temple led by Sedana and his wife. We finally learned some woman dances and holy mother are they hard! Much harder than the man dances, I hurt in places I didn't know existed on my body. We sat around and talked at the temple to Sut and his friends and then went to his house for dinner. Balinese houses are set up in a very specific way according to a North, East, South, West model corresponding to certain gods and religious traditions. They live in family compounds with many generations living in one location. Sut showed us his house and laid out a wonderful meal. By this time it was 10pm and we were all starved. I took a bit of everything, wanting to try it all. It was delicious! I started in on a dish I believed to be chicken but after the first bite was confused about the number of bones in it. I spit out the bones only to realize that they were teeth. I examined my piece of meat more closely and discovered prickly hairs covering one side of it and more teeth in the middle of it. I turned it over and was met with the distinct outline of a pig snout. I didn't want to be rude by making any noise about it, but couldn't help but start to laugh. I had been so confident in my food choices and all of it was suddenly taken away. I inspected the rest of my food... all normal... and continued to eat. After dinner we relaxed and talked and looked at Sut's puppet collection. They were beautiful with so much detail painted on them. However, by this point it was getting late and we still had to make it home through some pretty crazy winding streets. We left and without fail got lost on the car ride home, fortunately the company was good and we laughed the entire way making it seem shorter.

THE ASIA TRIP BEGINS! July 30th, 11pm

I know it is not July 30th, this was written in a no internet phase of my life and so is being copied here from my journal!!

Having found the last 2 benches in KLIA (Luala Lumpor International Airport), Ainhoa and I greedily stretched out. A 2 hour tube ride, 7 hour flight, short bus ride to another 7 hour flight later and we are in Asia! Our final destination just a short 13 hour lay over and 3 hour flight away! We left our flat in London, in the evening of the 29th and the epic journey began. All of our things carefully packed in the attic, to make room for new tenants, we left our keys and kissed Debden goodbye forever, one can only hope. The train to Heathrow was packed and we stood for most of the way, but it just so happens we stood right next to Lavender Brown from the Harry Potter movies! At least I believed it was her... She was the spitting image! Upon eavesdropping I heard the words audition and premiere, ergo she is an actress, ergo she must be Lavender Brown.

We reached Terminal 4 and checked in insanely early and headed outside to enjoy the last 2 beers that were left in our fridge at home. This particular terminal at Heathrow was designated for Middle Eastern flights and air companies and as Ramadan is starting on Monday, the place was bustling. Ainhoa and I sipped our now warm beer as women in burqas and men in long tunics rushed around us with large cases of luggage and children in toe. I've never seen so many women in head scarfs or burqas before. We were amazed at how wearing all black and covering your entire body could still leave you with style options, but it seemed these women weren't going to let a little thing like fanatical religion get in the way of fashion. They were beaded, in different expensive looking fabrics, I saw one woman with a full face covering (not even eye holes) beneath which you could just make out the Gucci logo on her sunglasses. And they ALL had designer purses. My favorite was the Louis Vuitton head scarf, classic. Heading through security, it seemed Heathrow was determined to prove they don't racially profile and I was padded down head to foot as my luggage was emptied and investigated. In the end I was cleared, but my sunscreen was confiscated.

Ainhoa and I were not next to each other on the plane and both of the people next to me refused to switch with us. The woman on my right stayed on her cell phone until forced to put it away by a flight attendant, at which point she turned to me and began to recant her entire life story. I learned everything about her sons (we looked through pictures and watched some home movies) her divorce and how as a Kuwaiti woman that had shamed the family, her fathers recent stroke, her brother who an engineer for the oil company, and the reason she was leaving London - her break up from a man she had been seeing for the past 2 years. This was a 7 hour flight, I slept for about an hour or two, this woman had a lot of feelings that she needed to get out. I really didn't mind too much, her life was interesting and so different from mine I couldn't help but continue to ask questions. We exchanged information and I promised to call her the next time I come to Kuwait or Dubai. I wish her all the best.

We landed in Qatar at 5:20am London time, so 7:20am local time and were bused from the plane to the terminal. It seemed no one was actually staying in Qatar, just catching a connecting flight somewhere else. Buses, shuttles and limos (carrying first class customers) carried people from one plane to the next and I only stepped inside the airport for 30 seconds. You have to give it to them, they are very efficient. It was kill me hot weather and I thought of all the women in their giant black drapes and wondered if they had built in fans as I am tolf Disneyland costumes do. Probably not, but that might not be such a bad market to tap into! Safely on our next flight, this time sitting together we settled into our in flight entertainment before the plane even started to move (I [played Who Wants to be a Millionare for way too long, giving up only after winning 500,000 pounds! Imagine! Though the wealth of Qatar is sp great that they could probably afford to actually award everyone who plays that game on their airways). Perhaps I'll return to Qatar for the FIFA World Cup in 2022, they are already advertising for it. Qatar was an interesting country to see from above. It lookedalmost artificial, as if someone had pilled sand just high enough to reach above sea level and then put a number of tall business looking buildings at random around it. There seemed to be a few resorts along the beach side, but these too looked oddly out of place in the barren land.

We tried to sleep for most of the next flight, mostly unsuccessfully. I started to feel like a baby, constantly being fed snacks to keep me quiet, after which the lights would turn off indicating it was nap time. There was turbulence so I needed permission to go to the bathroom and at one point I found myself telling a flight attendant, 'I'm sleepy, can I have a glass of water?' I half expected her to burp me after dinner. All the flight attendants were gorgeous - young, fit, with perfect hair and make up - as if Qatar is building up their own army of Steppford wives. The flight went on, our eyes burning at this point from lack of sleep. With a little over an hour left an announcement was made (first in Arabic of course and then in English, though they sounded very similar when mumbled through a PA system) that said 'we will be spraying disinfectant throughout the cabin, we advise that you cover your mouth.' Ainhoa and I exchanged confused looks. Was the disinfectant for us or for the plane? If it was for the plane, surely they could have waited for us to leave first? Before these questions could be answered, 2 Steppford Stewardesses came marching up the aisles (it might as well have been a cat walk for the attitude they put behind it) holding spray bottles over their heads emitting a steady flow of antiseptic that then rained down on us all. Ainhoa and I could not contain our laughter at this point and broke down into delusional hysterics.

When we landed, we realized that we had made no accommodation plan and knew we were destined to sleep in the airport until our next flight. So here I am, already 1 night without sleep sitting on an uncomfortable bench next to an Indian man who is snoring. The prospects of tonight's sleep seem dim. Oh well, I'm in Asia, I can't really complain!

The Real World is Coming! Better Grab my Clown Nose!

So to start, here are some awesome, inspiring, creative things!

Blown Glass by Chihuly!

Dancers in their natural habitats.

Also, I saw the best piece of theatre I may ever have seen this last Sunday here in London. It was Richard III at the Old Vic with Kevin Spacey. At first I was making fun of Kevin (we're on first name terms) for casting himself as the lead role. But ok, he's allowed to cast himself in anything as far as I'm concerned, there wasn't a moment where he did not deliver flawlessly. It's a touring show, ending I believe in New York (not in California) but I would suggest it to a friend if there are any tickets left! Great to see American actors on stage in London as well!

To continue the disjointed theme of this post. This is my last weekend at East 15 Acting School and that really only hit me today. I walked on campus and everyone was sitting out on the lawn, lounging in the sunlight (rare), doing cart wheels, dressed up as clowns (not so rare), and I realized how lucky I am to be in such a wonderful environment. As I embark into the 'real world' and face adulthood I kind of wish I could do it with a clown nose on. Think of how much more fun the little annoyances of life would be if they could be made into lazzis?

Money Spent Today:
3.60 pounds for lunch!

Artistic Goal:
Spend time usually devoted to facebook stalking to writing/ memorizing!

To re-apply to be Mother Mary or not to re-apply?

Whilst in the bath tub yesterday, I reached for the shaving cream my boyfriend left at my apartment and realized that there wasn't too much left. As shaving cream is a luxury item in my life I pondered how important it was for me to shave my legs for the next day. Should I save said cream for a big event? It is London in July, meaning it is on the verge of raining always, so dresses are out of the question. I eventually decided to shave. I also decided to start a blog on being an artist and being poor. Somehow I have managed to get 3 degrees, go through 5 years of higher education and be no more qualified for a job than I was in high school. The reason? I followed a passion and got my degrees in acting. It's cool, I don't regret it, but it does make rent paying difficult.

I just spent the past 20 minutes applying to amazing jobs on spotlight that I will probably never hear from again. One of these days, right? I was surprised to see a post for a TV movie I had already put myself up for. The role? The Virgin Mary. Mother of Jesus. I guess they are having a hard time casting this as they have really let their standards drop (age range they are seeing has now doubled and they will see any ethnicity with any hair color or eye color). Also, the filming takes place in Tunisia, I hear it's really nice there right now. So confused as to why they can't cast this. Little do they know I am dying to play this role! Ever since my visit to Tierra Santa, the Christian experience theme park in Buenos Aires, I have held a secret desire to play out this beautiful ancient story (please see images of the park here!!!). I am re applying for sure.

Money spent today?
- 0.60 pence on some Lamsip, medicine for a sore throat I am nursing.

On the artistic agenda for this week?
- Performing in Oh What A Lovely War at the East 15 Loughton campus. (Shaping up to be an awesome show!)
- Trying to write anything for a new script I'm working on!