Bob

My last post left you hanging and where I met Bob. So here he is...Ladies and Gentlemen...Bob!
I heard about Bob before I met him. I was in Taman Negara and told some Swedish guy that I was headed to Krabi, Thailand. His immediate response was to go to the Reggae bar and tell Bob he said hello. Yes, Bob is a Thai Rastafarian with a reggae bar and quite possibly one of the kindest people I have ever met. The reggae bar happened to be across the street from my hostel, so I headed over and to relay the message and have a quick drink. That quick drink turned into a night of drinking with Bob, his sister and a few other locals. At the end of the night, I was asked what I was doing the next day, to which I responded 'Bob is taking me on a tour of Krabi, right Bob?'. Of course he had no plans of it and I was half joking but he agreed and told me to meet him there in the morning.
I did, even though I thought he was joking. Turns out he wasn't and he was quite excited about it. I hopped on the back of his motorbike and off we went, to where I wasn't sure.
We first went to a beach North of Krabi where he had another bar, he only opens it during the high season and works on improving it during the slower times. He told me of his plans for a new rooftop area and a cozy cave like seating section inside. I insisted he install the hook game, if you don't know what it is, you are missing out.
The entire day was spent with Bob. He took me places I would have never seen on my own and taught me things no one else could. We had amazing conversations about life, Thai culture, food, Buddasim, being a monk, the Thai military, everything. He took me to a small waterfall where you could stick your feet in the pond below and the fish would nibble at your feet, eating the dead skin away. Nature's pedicure. We ate at some road side stand and I have no idea what I ate but I trusted Bob, and he was right it was delicious.
At the end of the day, I half thought he was going to ask for money. No one goes this much out of their way just out of the kindness of their heart, right. Wrong, Bob does. He was just happy to share his life and culture with me. I was equally as grateful. So instead of giving him money, I let him give me dreadlocks...with a crochet hook...3 of them. I also insisted on helping him in his bar that night, so we gave his sister the night off and I went to work with my new found love of Thailand, Bob, and dreadlocks.

A picture tells a thousand words...

The first question I hear when I return from a trip is 'How was it?' Well, it was good. That seems to be all I can say at times. It is hard to digest 2, 4, 6 months of travel into anything other than good or great. The next question/statement is usually 'tell me about it.' How could I possibly?? I have no idea where to start. Until now.
I finally got some of my favorite pictures printed and hung up on my wall. My good friend Meggie was looking at them one day and asked an open ended question about one, 20 minutes later I finished telling her a story around the photo. It became a game as she would point to a photo I would recall a story. And so it goes.
So whenever I get a chance I will post a photo and tell you the story around it, it may not be a thousand words but it will give you a good idea.

Jungle Train & travels

Leaving Taman Negara I was bound for Jerantut, one of the stops on the infamous jungle train. The train went straight through the heart of Malaysia and was suppose to be a wonderful view and ride through the jungle. So i decided why not, it wasn't the easiest way to get to Thailand or the safest but it seemed intriguing. My bus arrived at 11:30am to Jerantut, I panicked a bit because I thought the train left at noon and I still hadn't gotten a ticket. Lucky for me, trains in SE Asia are notorious for running late. This one wasn't leaving until 6:30pm that night so I had plenty of time. Unlucky for me this town was pretty dirty and boring and since it was Ramadan, a lot of places were closed. I ran into a guy. Lee, who I had met while hiking in the jungle the day before. We were both going to Krabi, Thailand and decided to go together bc the border crossing is pretty dangerous on the east side. It is heavily patrolled by the Thai military and shootings and bombings occur quite frequently due to Malay Muslims battling for autonomy from the Thai Buddhists. Anyhow, We were able to meet up and ended up spending the next 2 days together trying to get to Krabi. We departed the jungle train at 3:30am into a sea of taxi drivers all charging 5x the price it would normally charge. Its not a matter of the money ($4 vs $.50) but a matter of principle so we decided not to go and sleep at the train station until the sun came up and the border opened. That lasted for about 5 minutes before the mosquitos started eating us alive. Next paln of attack, hitch hike into town and try and find an open hostel. No dice. We did find a food stall that was open who gave us a ride into town so we decided to go with that, but the whole town was dead, not a light on and no where which looked open at 4am. So we went to the one place that was open to wait out the sun and the opening of the border, McDonald's. So after spending a sleepless night on the jungle train I found myself in McDonald's, a rather busy one at that too.

After waiting for a few hours we finally decide to take a taxi to the border and cross over. The sun was rising as we walked over the bridge into what seemed to be a ghost town. We finally made it to a hotel to try and ask how to get to Hat Yai but no luck, After wandering around aimlessly for about half an hour we found a minibus that was headed our way! 4 hours later we arrive in Hat Yai just in time to try and find another minibus to Krabi. We both did some price checking to make sure we wern't getting screwed and ended up in an air-conditioned mini bus all to ourselves. We kind of looked at each other and were really excited, but it was too good to be true. 15 min later we were moved to a different minibus packed full of people and lucky us, we got the back to ourselves. Thing is it was maybe one and a half seats and the luggage was hovering over us so it was going to make for a very long 6 hours. Oh and there was a DVD on playing some kind of Thai Justin Timberlake/Cheech & Chong/an  adolescent named Gumby and some drag queens. Apparently thew mini bus got the box set of the concert because we had uninterrupted 7 hours of pure Thai entertainment. It was horrible. Eventually we made it to Krabi and couldn't have been happier. That's where I met Bob.

Pinky Shakes & Petals

The day couldn't have started any better. I was having breakfast on one of Taman Negara's many floating restaurants and happen to strike up a conversation with 2 South African men who were working on a TV game show that was being filmed in the jungle. One of them stood up to introduce himself and gave me a pinky shake. Now this took me a little off guard considering the only pinky shakes I've ever done were in middle school as a bonding agreement rather than an introduction. Regardless it made me smile and there is no better way to start the day with a laugh and a pinky shake.

About the same time I finished eating a got up to pay a bus load of Japanese tourists began loading onto the floating restaurant. I'm guessing there were about 60 of them trying to squeeze onto this floating restaurant which couldn't have been bigger than 15ft x30ft. The South Africans must have seen the fear in my face as I realized that with every Japanese person crossing the plank onto the restaurant we were getting closer and closer to the water. They invited me to join them at their table, although I had to decline to catch the bus, pinky shake man sent me off with another smile. "All right Petal, lovely to meet you and safe travels."

Maybe it was the accent, although I'm not usually one for foreign accents, but this particular pinky shaking, petal calling South African made my heart sing that morning. Good thing too because the next 48 hours were spent in travel hell.

Squatting with the best of them

Apparently all Thai's and Nepalese are born squatting. You see so many people sitting comfortably squatting. Doesn't look that hard but try it once and i guarentee you will fall over. Erin and I have decided to make it our mission by the end of our trip to perfect the squat. We have had a few practice sessions and they mostly end up with us falling over. We met up with Erin's friend, ryan in Thailand. His wife is Thai and her parents were visiting from the north Although there was a immense language barrier we shared many laughs while this 60 yr old woman tried to teach us to squat. Pretty sure she is the best squatter in Thailand because i trip to tip her over a few times and she didn't budge.

If you want to try it just look at the pics, feet as close together as you can and butt almost touching the ground. Let me know how it goes.

Love/Hate Relationships

There are some things in life that people either love or hate. I don't like using the word hate but when it comes to India people I have spoken too either love it or hate it. My friend Kesse had someone tell her that India stood for I'll Never Do It Again. I'm off to India in about a week and headed there solo. Erin is going to stay behind and do a Yoga retreat in Nepal. Over the past week I have heard more good stories than bad about India but it makes me that much more excited to go and see for myself.
Speaking of love/hate relationship, I have one with kids. Sometimes I can't stand them and they annoy the crap out of me. But other times they can make me smile a smile that doesn't come around that often. One of those days was yesterday. Erin and I had gotten our permits for trekking Annapurna and both of us were not feeling well. We were walking down the street and had about 5 little kids run towards us and start waving and saying "Hello, Goodbye, Namaste!" It was maybe one of the cutest things I have ever experienced, they followed us for a block or so and just kept repeating "Hello, Goodbye, Namaste!" It's the little things (and people) in life that can really make you smile.

Malaysia/Thailand and beyond

I will write more when I have the chance. We are Currently in Bangkok and i need to pull together the highlights and thoughts of the last few weeks. We are off to Nepal tomorrow and then into NE India.

Indonesian Intensity

From the moment I stepped off the plane to the moment I left for Kuala Lumpur everything was intense. I think Erin explained it best when she added the 'unexpected'' factor. So for me Indonesia = Unexpected Intensity. The traffic, the motorbikes, the people trying to sell you something, everything. At the same time we met some interesting characters and I have learned not to be so scared when other people are driving because in Indonesia there are no rules when it comes to driving and motorbikes and buses alike just do as they please. A few of the highlights from Indo: Bert & Ernie: The place we stayed at in Kuta had two managers whom we named Bert & Ernie. they couldn't have been more helpful and told us how to get places and what to pay etc. They would argue like an old couple over what they should tell us and finally come to a conclusion and set us straight. Yogyakarta: I met up with a guy my dad does work with, Firman, and we went out tot dinner with him and his family. He and his family were a fountain of knowledge about Javanese culture and we soaked it in. Also, in relation to the crazy driving habits of Indonesians it makes it very difficult at time to cross the street. We went to cross the street and found myself holding Erins hand, who was holding Firman's daughter's hand, who was holding her fathers hand. It was like human Frogger. Which for the record Erin and I have become very good at. Bromo Volcano: We arrived off a night bus to Proboliggo where we went on a mini tour to watch the sunrise then go on to the volcano. Pretty sure our driver was the inspiration for a cartoon somewhere in the world. We had by far the crappiest mini-van but the best driver. He was passing people left and right and when he waited fort us to come back from watching the sunset or climbing to the top of the volcano he greeted us by dancing around with his bright pink scarf on. Speaking of the volcano, pretty sure it was the moon, not a volcano. The wind was so strong that the sand would sting your bare skin when it it you. there was nothing around except for people trying to sell tourist rides on their horses up through the sand so they wouldn't have to walk. While walking up and looking into a volcano's cone was pretty cool I am still finding moon dust in my bag and pretty sure inhaling the noxious gases has shortened my life by at least a year. Circus Train: We took an overnight train from Yogya to Jakarta. We have dubbed it the circus train for the following reasons. Within 30 min of departing the station train stewards and stewardess were in the aisle on after another. Coffee, Newspapers, Hot plate of Food, Mystery box food, Dried fish in a box, Future orders of food (about 5 of them came by), the toy cart man, and my personal favorite the blanket man. All in all Indonesia was an interesting introduction to SE Asia. Although I always want to spend more time than I have in a country I was ready to go to Malaysia.

Country to City...

I've been laying low for the most part in Australia, spending time with the Rodgers and road tripping to Sydney in a campervan with Emily. We got into Sydney on Thursday night and had a walk around the city. I guess I have never really experienced a city before but for some reason I was enthralled by everything that was going on. Businessmen on their way home from work in their handsome suits, women plowing by me in heels I couldn't even imagine walking in. They could have been wearing tennis shoes but the sound of the click-clack made me smile and give them silent high fives because there is no way some of those shoes could have been that comfortable. Men picking up bouquets of flowers off the streets to bring home. Peering into pubs and seeing the gathering of a happy hour group, glad the day is over. Waiting for traffic lights to change so everyone could walk across the busy intersections, occasionally someone would sneak across when the man was still red and you could see the jealous/nervous on lookers still waiting patiently for the signal to change. Passing by store fronts, re doing their display windows or doing construction, or passing through China town seeing whole roasted ducks in the window. Cities are full of life. Although I don't think I could ever live in a major city, simply because I don't have the patience to wait for the signal to change or sit in traffic, or on a crowded bus or train I have come to appreciate walking slowly and admiring all the different events going on.

Home is where the heart is....

and family is all relative. I don't have a large immediate family, but I cherish the relationships I have with them. I've come to realize how large my 'extended' family is. I have many friends I consider family, I have an Australian family, I have my Mom's side of the family, I have an Irish family. All in all I have a huge family.
I bring this u because I saw a lot of family while I was in Australia and it was good. I saw Lalena, Haley's older sister in Townsville and it felt like I was having breakfast with my own sister even though I hadn't seen her in over 10 years. But Haley is my friend, family, and therefore her sister is part of my extended family.
I went on to Mackay, where I did my exchange program in high school almost 9 years ago. With the exception of Emily, i hadn't seen the other girls or Norm or Shelley since I left. It took all of 5 minutes to make me feel at home again. These people aren't my Australian family, they are part of my real family. I found myself crying when I left them at the airport, and questioning the boyfriends and new roommates of my younger sisters, making sure they were ok in my book.
Then in Brisbane I saw Michelle, my Irish cousin. Again I haven't seen her in prob about 5 years. I walked into her house and she immediately started calling over all her friend to introduce them to me, "her cousin, from America." Although we aren't related by blood, we are family through ad through.
Then in Sydney, I saw Steve. My cousin on my Mom's side. He is someone I look up to and to spend an evening with him was great. On top of that I got to introduce him to my Australian sister Emily.
So my tree may not have many branches, but the ones it does have has many limbs and forks which makes it a massive one. Sometime I just need to step back and look at the bigger picture.

pics

where you can find some pics from the trip

http://picasaweb.google.com.au/meglamb

Who knew?

I met up with some Irish girls in Sydney the other day and we were sitting having drinks when the table next to us asked where we were all from, they said Ireland, I said the States. Their reply: New Mexico? Holy Shit, there are other people that actually travel that are from New Mexico. I think they are few and far between so to meet up with them was pretty funny. A friend had just met up with them and brought green chile so we reminisced about green chile, and breakfast burritos. It was pretty random. One of the guys (all from Albq btw) had been traveling for over a year and a half and had only met one other person that was from NM in his travels. Just a bit of NM pride. :)

I'm ready

I'm ready to be in another country already. I want to be somewhere where I don't understand the signs and its not so easy to ask for directions to the train station, or understand a menu. I wan't to be lost and confused. Sounds weird but I love it. I love looking at signs and having no idea what they mean and having to guess, all part of traveling and learning. Don't get me wrong New Zealand was amazing, Australia is amazing. I am so excited to see the Rodgers, my Australian family in just a few days. I haven't seen them in almost 10 years which blows my mind. I don't even mind if I don't get to see any of Australia, I would be quite content just hanging out with them. But after than is when I'm ready, for the confusion, unknown, and wonderful language barriers. Some people find it fustrating, I find it invigorating!

you would think...

in a country that drives on the opposite side of the road (from the US) that people would walk in that same direction. I was walking through Auckland and walking up the street on the left side of the sidewalk and found myself the black sheep of the flock. Everyone was walking up on the right and down on the left. Don't know why just seemed strange.

Wow

I'm glad you guys are enjoying this blog. I haven't been insightful, just honest. But I think that's what makes for good writing. Since Swampy's I headed on the ferry to Wellington. I was fortunate enough to get a ride to the next town, Picton from one of the English girls who was staying at Swampy's. The ride was rough and started with us entering through the bottom level car port area and working our way up, Titanic style. Little Weird. Thank goodness I don't get seasick but otherwise I would have. Stuart was already in Wellington, another guy I met at Swampy's and he booked me a room in a 10 bed dorm. So basically sleeping in a room with 10 strangers is pretty interesting, but fun.
I am going to write more later, but I've had a few glasses of wine and watching the All Blacks vs Australia game so will continue at a later date. Headed for Australia tomorrow. Was suppose to go today but when you drink and go out with people til 4am sometime it just doesn't work out. more to follow.

Swampy's

Wow. What a place. Imagine the Real World house but not nearly as nice, lots of bunk beds, people from all over the world, and freezing. That's Swampy's. And where I spent my past 2 nights. Everyone who was staying there had been there for at least 2 weeks, one guy 5 months. They were all there to work on the vineyards and Swampy's was the closest, cheapest place to stay. I arrived Friday afternoon and people were all ready gathered around drinking, playing poker, reading, or just sitting by the fire talking. Everyone knew everyone, so me coming into this was a big shock and I immediately felt like the outsider, especially when I said I would only be staying 2 days.
No one was from New Zealand. There was quite a few from the UK, Canada, Germany, Ireland, 2 others from the states and I think one from Malaysia. It was an international family. We all sat around and played drinking games on Friday night and I had soon been welcome into the family (know by how much they were making me drink!). The next night one of the Canadians and Germans cooked a feast of a dinner and it just added to the familial dynamics. I had a few people tell me to stay and I really thought about it for a while, I could stay, work for a bit and then keep on. I decided not this trip but it's a possibility for the future.

Hitching...

So i decided that instead of riding a bike I'm going to hitch hike to the wineries. it was a much colder day and the ones i wanted to go to were a good 10km away. So I'm all set, saying bye to some people at Swampy's and someone asks if I want to smoke. I decided why the hell not. Big mistake. I start walking down the street my confidence crumbles, I haven't hitchhiked since the Guatemalan tow truck driver and even then I had Julia with me so I wasn't by myself. And then the paranoia kicks in and I have a long standing debate in my head about the proper way to hitch hike. Do I walk with my thumb out and my back to the car? Do i turn and look them in the eyes and guilt trip them? Do i turn smile and stuck out my thumb. I have no clue and apparently this is a big issue in my mind. I am finally able to laugh it off, stick out my thumb and the first car pulls over. Moral of the story: Don't smoke before hitchhiking. bad idea.

Don't drink and Ride

So I got to Christchurch, a bustling city of no more than half a million people. I got a weird feeling and decided to get on the train the next morning and head up to Blenhim, the wine country of New Zealand. I had read about this place "Swampy's" in LP and said it was closer to the wineries and they had free bikes to use. This seemed the most appealing considering I was planing my own wine tour o bike.
I hitched a ride with some random that sat besides me on the train, actually I take that back, his Dad gave me a ride and dropped me at Swampy's which I will explain in another post. I decided to get a bike (which were not free) and start on my wine tour. I head out and turn right, after coming to the second bridge with no shoulder and having semis pass me and nearly blow me off, I decided I must be going in the wrong direction, and I was. It would figure that I'm the one who would get lost before they even started drinking! Needless to say I made it to a few, had a good afternoon bike ride and then came home to Swampy's.

Franz Josef

I'm not even sure where to start other than, today was incredible. The thought of climbing on a glacier was an incredible thought in the first place but to actually do it and experience it was even better. I opted for the full day tour/hike which apparently is the only way to go. We started at about 8:30 this morning and started the trail walking through a lush rain forest. All of a sudden it opened up into a valley of rocks and in between the two mountains ahead of us was a glacier. A giant glacier. What seemed to be close turned out to be about 2.5 km away. The glacier is dwarfing when you finally get close to it.
We strapped on our crampons and headed up the ice. We spent about 5 hours on the ice, crawling through ice tunnels, climbing up steps carved into the ice, and squeezing ourselves through tiny crevasses. It was a bit of a surreal experience. Two other Americans were in my group and we kept saying to each other we felt like we were on a ride at disney land and no way could this be real. We ran out of water a refilled it with ice cold pools of delicious glacier water.
It is an experience I can never truly explain or ever forget. I climed a glacier! I still can't believe I did it, not because of the physical part of it but becasue I've only ever associated glaciers with Antartica or the titanic.
All in All, I can only say incredible. For now at least.

Glow Worms

The are real. And I'm not talking about the toy we all had when we were little. I'm talking real live glow worms. A few people I met at the hostel I am staying at knew of a trail up the road where we could see some of the worms. I was a bit hesitant and wasn't sure what to expect but after a 10 min walk into the rain forest we came across a fallen tree and underneath it there they were. Glow worms. We turned off all the flashlights and had a look. It was like a miniature planetarium. They were tiny so you couldn't see them when the light was on them but when it was off it was really like you were looking at a sky full of glowing stars.