Journeys in Southeast Asia…

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I can’t believe the entire city of San Francisco decided to throw a welcome home party for Ryan and I… I mean, you guys didn’t have to do it. It was a bit over the top, eh? Oh, who am I kidding - it was fuckin perfect! Check out the pics!

Well… this is our last transmission, folks.  And if any of you have read all the blogs we’ve been sending over the last few months, then either you have a lot of free time or you love us very, very much.  And we’re guessing neither is true. 

Yes, we are officially coming home in a few very short days just in time for Bay to Breakers!!!!!! Our stay on Koh Tao has been an absolute pleasure. We’ve made some great friends here among the travelers and the locals-  it’s made island life that much easier and more memorable.

We have taken two snorkeling trips that were super so good. Got to swim with sharks, all types of different reef fish, and check out the beautiful coral reefs all around the island.  We also hit up the “world famous” Fullmoon Party in Koh Phangan.  These types of wild and crazy parties are very rarely attended by people like us, if ever. Right? Okay lets rock. We met some cool people and saw fire spinning, and a super cool flaming elephant (burning man? burning elephant!!), and Ryan perfected the fine art of spinning poi donning a snorkel and mask. We went for it until the sun came up and spent some time filling up two big bags of trash up that partiers had thoughtlessly left all over the beach, and were on our way. Most definetly not a `leave no trace` event. Next we decided to venture on to other parts of Koh Phangan, which turned out to be super chill and very beautiful.

Meanwhile, back at home in Koh Tao, there were more people to be met and friends to catch up with. We have been fortunate enough to become pretty cool with some of the locals here over the last few weeks. As with any island, it takes a bit of time before the locals actually give you a chance and realize that your not just a tourist staying for 2 or 3 days. But, when you are given the luxury of a few weeks and your smiling face shows up at the bar every night, all of a sudden your getting smiles in return. It’s nice to get to know some of the Thais here. They are super awesome and friendly people, with great stories and histories. One of these people is our friend Jon who is quite possible one of the best fire spinners in Thailand. Jon has been teaching us how to spin poi in the hope that eventually we can work our way up to fire. We have a ton of pics and video of him spinning. We also became friends with two waitresses, Pon and Hong, at our favorite beach restaurant King Crab where we have been buying fucking fabulous seafood dinners for 100bath (yea, that’s about $3). Pun and Hong are partners in crime. Super fun duo to have some drinks and a dance with. The other night we ended up back at our apartment and had a little two way language lesson teaching each other the thai and english versions of things like,”I have diarrhea.” We told them that would come in especially handy when dealing with drunk tourist guys that they wanted out of the picture. We are always trying to help international relations.

We went to a Muay Thai match the other night.  Hell yea! For those of you who aren’t familiar with muay thai, it’s the thai version of boxing and it is fucking intense!!!!! Anything goes when they get in the ring. They are allowed to use fists, feet, elbows, and knees to inflict what looks like quite a pummeling. They start the match out with ceremonial dances around the ring showing off each fighters skills - balance and focus, these displays generally to intimidate one another. Then there is three to five rounds of mayham. We saw one guy get completly floored when his apponent blasted him in one swift kick to the head. The guy was out cold. It happened so quick that if you were to blink at that moment you would have missed it.

Besides snorkeling, dancing, singing, laughing, ass kick watching, sun bathing, language lessoning, drinking, sunset watching, good food eating, poi spinning, fire spinner watching, fruit shake drinking, clothes and accesory shopping, dog petting, and baby kissing things here have been pretty much normal and fairly uneventful.

So we are going to head to Bangkok in the morning to spend the last few precious days in Thailand, and we will see all of you when we get back to San Francisco on the 18th.  It’s been an amazing trip and I can’t believe 3 and a half months has gone by - it’s been a whirlwind of learning, making friends, seeing and doing so many amazing new things, and just pure life changing wonderful goodness.  We will remember this forever.

And just to make ourselves feel *a little bit better* about coming home:

THINGS WE MISS ABOUT SAN FRANCISCO:

• Not having to worry about contracting dysentary when drinking tap water.
• Throwing poopy toilet paper into the toilet instead of into a trashcan full of other people’s poopy paper.
• Being able to eat a meal without having flies pick it up and take it away.
• Not feeling like your in a psycadellic trance torture chamber at every bar.
• Not having to look both ways 27 times before you cross the street and 53 times while you cross the street. 

THINGS WE’LL MISS ABOUT SOUTHEAST ASIA:

• Dancing your ass off in the warm tropical rain.
• Deciding which country you’d like to be in tomorrow.
• Getting in a giant water fight with an entire country.
• $5 massages.
• Um… not working for 3.5 months!

Over and out,
We’ll see you in a few days!
Love,
Kelly and Ryan

Life is good in Koh Tao. It really is. We’re just starting to really settle in here in our little world of paridise. We’ve rented out an apartment for the next 3 weeks, where we plan to post up. (Yup, so that means if any of you need a vacation in the islands of Thailand - you’ve got a place to stay!) I’d call it a bungalow - but it’s not, we splurged and spent the extra 7000 bhat on some air conditioning. Fuck yeah.
But first a little on San Kran. It’s the Thai New Year and we were in Koh Lanta for the festivities. Everyone in Thailand starts partying their asses off and engaging in one giant nation-wide water fight. This country knows what’s up! People are blasting people with water at any time - while your riding your motorbike, while your eating lunch, while your at the bar dancing… whatever. It’s all good. They also take take prickly heat powder mixed with water to form a paste and smear it all over eachother. We got a great pic of the cutest little girl.

On the 1st night of San Kran at Koh Lanta there was a big thunder and lightning rainstorm and we started a dance party outside one of the beach bars. Within minutes we were drenched. I threw a bucket of water on some guy at the bar who looked at me like I was nuts… and within 10 minutes the entire bar erupted into one giant San Kran water fight- with no dry survivors. Damn that was fun! Check the pics.
As for Koh Tao - daily life is pretty easy here, a little snorkeling, yoga classes in the mornings, shopping, people watching, sunbathing, and eating delicious Thai food on the cheap. We’re staying at Sairee beach, a super happening beach which at night transforms into a whole different world - a beach paradise of fun, fire, and lights. The bars extend out into the ocean and each bar has their own super cool and creative way to make little fire pits in the sand, forming designs to add to your drinking experience. And the fire poi. My god. Every night is fire poi and it’s fucking *sweet* - the best we’ve ever seen, yup, better than anything we’ve even seen at Burning Man. You can just chill out and watch fire poi and stare and the stars and the ocean and sip on your Mai Tai. We may have to take some poi lessons as well. Ah, and the sunsets… holy shit! Dinner every night while watching these jaw dropping sunsets will make you never want to leave. It’s the life.
We met an Australian couple a few nights ago - Nick and Liz, and we’re planning to meet up with them again tonight for special shakes. Should be fun. On the agenda in the next few days is also to go to Shark Bay to do some snorkeling with some small sharks… sweet.
We’d really like to upload some videos we took in Phuket to YouTube, but due to Thailand’s international ban on YouTube, we can’t publish any more videos. We’ve got a couple great ones of Ryan with lady boys. Ha.

That’s about it for now - please come out and visit us if you can! We’ve got an extra bed waiting for ya. We’re flying home on May 18th, so clear your schedules, cuz we’re coming in hot and happy!
ciao,
Kelly & Ryan

Hey kids. We still had a bit to say about Angkor Wat in Cambodia last we wrote. You may have seen the pictures we posted of it. Really amazing place. Spread over several acres are some of the most amazing buddist temples made in a time where any kind of modern building tools didn’t exist. It is truely a marvel to look at. Even after the Khmer Rouge tried to destroy the temples, they still couldn’t rob it of its awe inspiring beauty and intrigue.

So from Siem Reap, Cambodia we flew to Phuket, Thailand and spent a couple of days in what you could consider the “mouth of hell”. It really is mind blowing just how crazy it is. It’s a non-stop party, a literal fuck show. Lady boys, prostitutes, tourists, expats, beautiful beaches, wave runners, speedos, parasails, tailor shops, street vendors, and any thing else you can think of come together to create a mosaic of chaos. Sex and drugs oozing out from all the bars out into the streets. The furthest thing from culture you can find. We spent two nights at a bar that had a stage set up in front, attracting passers-by on the street. At any given time on any given night you would find lady boys struting their stuff showing off their thousands of dollars worth of plastic surgery on that little stage. We spoke to this one guy at that bar that said that these lady boys are basically indentured servents due to all the plastic surgery (adams apple shaving, fake boobs, nose jobs, tummy tucks, face lifts, and of course the infamous sex change) they have gotten.

But man is it some fantastic people watching. We’d just post up there every night at the same spot and drink some beers and watch everyone and everything. We even made friends with a couple of the bartenders - Ewo and Ying. Ewo was great because she was a very heavyset woman with a taste for Tequila and sex on her mind. Check the pics, they’re fuckin great.

Next we took a boat trip to Koh Phi Phi. Thats the island that the movie “The Beach” was filmed on. It was very beautiful with super clear blue water that we just had to snorkel in. So we hung out for a few hours and got a boat to take us out. We got back from our little snorkel expidition energized and excited to get to Koh Lanta. This is where the stage had been set for a very important meeting on international matters. Those in attendance were to include William Joesph Burr, Melissa Adair, Kelly Parker, Christine Zalaca, and Ryan Douglas Carberry. On the agenda: The fate of the free world, employment, spliffs, pad thai or pizza, how warm is the water, should we get another case of beer, frisbee, becoming the kings official kosmonauts, what makes a seashell a keeper or a throw back, and most important what island do we go to next. These are tough subjects to tackle, but we are ready to address these questions and issues in order to make the world a more liveable place. More to come in the future.

We left you all at Ho Chi Minh City on our way to Cambodia. Now we are through with Cambodia and have nothing but great memories from our short but so sweet stay in what turned out to be one of the most heart touching stops along our way.

Now for those of you who are not familiar with the history of Cambodia, it’s extemely violent and sad. From 1975 to 1979 the Khmer Rouge, a communist group, had control over Cambodia. During this rule they murdered, starved, tortured their own people. In the end they left up to 3 million Cambodians dead. Many of whom were buried in mass graves. They targeted the educated: artists, teachers, scientists, doctors, philosophers, buddist monks, government officials and their families from the previous ruler. Anyone besides farmers and the uneducated were hunted down. They wanted no one to contest their rule or question the new government they imposed. While we were in Phnom Penh we went to visit the infamous prison they carried out many of the interigations. The S21 prison was mainly for torturing the men women and children believed to have known the identities of more “educated individuals. Many of the black and white photos we have posted are those of the detainees of S21 over the four year rule of the Khmer Rouge. S21 was one of many sites were this happened, but has been turned into a museum due to the fact it kept such detailed files of each individual held there. Mugshots included. After the prison stay the brutality wasn’t over. Next they would load the prisoners on trucks and would drive them 15km out of the city to a rural area. There they would have children (much like the Hitler Youth) execute the prisoners at what is now known as the killing fields. Sometimes they would even end up killing their own kin. They were brainwashed to believe they were traitors. No one knew exactly what was happening at the killing fields or they were to scared to ask. A speaker was hung in a tree and blared out propaganda loud enough so people in the surrounding area could not hear the screams of the people being murdered. Nearly 20,000 people were murdered and buried at this site alone. In 1979 Vietnam invaded Cambodia and drove the Khmer Rouge out of the country. Soon after the site was dug up and the souls of the people put to rest. It is the buddists’ belief that when someone dies their body must be prayed over by monks. Otherwise their souls will not rest and will haunt this world. A temple has been erected and 8,000 skulls put on display a macabre display that Cambodians feel is necessay so to remind them and teach others so that this will never happen again.

Sorry kids. Didn’t mean to get you down. This is something that needs to be learned that they don’t teach you in school in America. For us it was a reminder of just how lucky we are.

Okay so on a lighter note While we were in Phenom Penh we befriended a Khmer (local Cambodian) named Sam who worked at the guest house next to our lakefront bungalow. We were instant friends and hung out constantly. He taught us alot about the current culture. We mentioned to Sam that we were interested in going to an Orphanage and donating some food, books, and toys. In true form Sam suggested an alternative to these touristy orphanage trips. Now don’t take that the wrong way. Those kids need ALOT of help and donations. But as it is a popular thing to do amoung tourists, they get alot more attention than some other people in Cambodia. Sam told us there was a village about an hour outside town near his parents house that is always in need of help. However, all to often that help never comes. The government doesn’t help them and tourists don’t know to help. Sam put us in a situation that would end up being one of the most memorable experiences of our lives. We stopped at a market and bought 100 kilos or rice, noodles, a bunch of books, pencils, pens, crayons and markers. We also bought some cute hair clips for the girls and some kick toys (kinda like hacky sacks) for the boys. Sam did all the purchasing with our money to ensure we would get the most for our money. Then, Sam brought us to his parents house not far away to weigh the rice and bag it into equal portions and divide the rest of the food equally. This little stop over was a treat in itself as we met Sam’s whole family. We played some music with instruments his father made and sells and had a little jam session and with the help of Sam translating had some converstion and food. As we were all joking and playing music we noticed a woman come in and sit with Sam’s dad. She gave him something, maybe a necklace, which he seemed to take and pray with. Turns out Sam’s dad is the holy man of their village. Somewhat like a medicine man in Native American Tribes. He blessed the womans item and gave it back to her, and she went on her way. Super cool experience. So then on to the village we set out to visit. Down a paved road and onto a dirt road and past the last of the “modern” area (modern used very losely) and well into what seemed like a waste land we came to the village. They had no idea we were coming. When they saw us some smiled some stared confused. We might have been the first white people some had seen in a long time. Some of the children may have never seen a white person. We stopped and started to unload the food, toys, and books as the village gathered around to see what was going on. When they figured it out they didn’t grab at things as one may expect. The adults sent the children forward first knowing we had brought toys and books for them. They were so excited and yet waited their turn to be given something. Something unexpected considering these kids don’t have a single thing to call their own. Hell some don’t get to eat everyday. There is nothing to spare for toys. Once they ran off and started playing the parents stepped forward and all got down in a squatting position and waited their turn to be handed the 5 kilos of rice and one other bag of noodles and sauce. Just as the children the parents would stand up say “akhun” and place their hands in a praying position at their foreheads and bow. This is showing the greatest respect you could give someone in the buddist faith. Something usually only done in the pressance of monks and elders. They showed unbelievable grace and respect (I told Kelly later that I had to leave my sunglasses on because it all made me cry). These people have nothing. No electricity, no running water, barely a house made of palm tree leaves, no beds, no medicine, no way to make money except break rocks in the sweltering heat and sell them for constuction. Yet, they carried themselves like kings and queens. There are people with everything that have nothing compared to these families. So we stayed there a while and played with the kids and spoke to the parents a bit with the help of Sam. We left and Sam told us on our way back that he was speaking to the elder of the village, a older woman, and she said that that day they ran out of rice. We would gladly bring more if given the chance again.

We also went to Ankor Wat. It was beautiful and I’m sick of typing… but since there is lots of booze, prostitutes, and ladyboys outside right now, gyrating their asses off here in Phuket, we gotta go keep ourselves occupied. ;)Â
So you’ll just have to wait for the deetz on that.  See ya soon.  Check the pics.  And we’ll be sure to upload a good lady boy video so stay tuned.

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Whew!!!!!! What a time it’s been since we last wrote to you all. Well, we left you on our road to Nha Trang which turned out to be a nice beach resort style town on the coast. Super warm water and cold beer. Kelly in boardshorts. Me in a bikini. Breathtaking. It took a bit of strategic tucking but I got my junk in there. Breathtaking.

So in our brief stay in Nha Trang we decided we wanted to do something cultural. Something different than the regular touristy island hopping and tours that you end up getting trapped in. No sooner did we decide that, we met Baba Han and Lam. Two of the Nha Trang “Easy Riders”. We had heard about the Easy Riders and thought riding with them would be so awesome, but weren’t reallys sure how to make it happen. The “Easy Riders” are a motorcycle crew that are dedicated to taking thrill seekers (i.e. us) to what they call “The Real Vietnam” via motorbike. So for $50 US a day we signed up for a four day motorcycle trek through the central highlands and mountains of Vietnam. Fucking sweet.Â
The next morning Lam and Baba Han’s nephew, Bon, picked us up for the ride. They took us everywhere. Less traveled to waterfalls. Coffee, rubber, and pepper farms. Silkworm farms. Silkworm processing plants where they actually unravel each worm cocoon and make silk spools. Rice paper makers. Bonsai pot makers. Small hill tribe villages where we got to see the Manung people, hand out candy to their children, and see how they work the land. We got ourselves, the Easy Riders, and their friends drunk and sang kareoke until we couldn’t drink or sing anymore. Our first Kareoke experience we might add!  (Whitney - I did Paula just for you!) They served us one of their favorite dishes. They told us it was deer, but it was really Ko Tao… that means ‘dog’ in Vietnamese. (We are working on not feeling bad about that, sorry Scruffy).Â
Traveling with the Easy Riders was especially amazing because you get to view everything from the back of the motorcycle, with the wind whipping through your hair, feeling the heat in the valleys and the cool air in the mountains, stopping at different places along the way for a short history lesson from the Easy Riders or just chillin for a coffee break in the hot sun.  Way different than being on a bus for 18 hours.

We traveled the Ho Chi Minh Trail and other less travel highways to see some of the most beautiful *and* horrific sights in Vietnam. Horrific meaning the areas where the US used defoliants like Agent Orange during the war. It’s outrageous and horrible  what happened there and there is still so much evidence as far as plants not being able to grow well, and the ones that do still make you sick from the poison.  The once lush jungle has been turned into a desolate toxic wasteland. Every American should see it and not just know about it. Finally, they took us through a dry dessert area, hot as hell, only to cut through a bunch of sand dunes and see the beautiful green and blue waters of Mui Ne (a vietnamese honeymoon spot) and our final destination on a most memorable journey.  Fucking fantastic.

Well that said we are in Saigon a much more tolerable city than Hanoi. Yesterday we visited the War Remnants Museum where we learned about the effects and devistation of the Vietnam war.  We saw some heart wrenching photos of the victims of Agent Orange - and the horrible birth defects of the children of the victims of the toxins.  It made us wonder why any Vietnamese person would ever want to be nice to anyone from the US.  Our Vietnam journey ends tomorrow when we get on the bus for Cambodia. Vietnam turned out to be great. A lot different than the first impression we got in Hanoi. The people are abbrasive and lovely at the same time. They are amazingly forgiving for the shit that our country and others have slung at them in the past.  After seeing America’s contribution to Vietnam it amazing to us that there is a single smile when we say where we are from. Well Vietnam- big thank you from Ryan and Kelly!  Your country is diverse and beautiful, and the people wonderful.

Next stop, Cambodia!

Motorbiking in the highlands of Vietnam:


More videos:

* Kelly rockin out some Paula Abdul kareoke
* Ryan singin some Bob Marley kareoke
* Motorbiking along the coast of Mui Ne, Vienam

Well, we diddn’t want to post anything until we had something good to say… you know, how your mom always tells you not to do that?  A few nights ago we had a fantastic time at a bar here in Vietnam in Halong City.  Ryan and I decided to take over the bar after becoming friends with the bartender.  Ryan plugged in his Ipod to the bar’s soundsystem and I swiftly pushed the bartender aside and started making my own drinks, showing him a bunch of new things to add to his list, and making a retarted amount for our crew. The next morning we nursed our hangovers on a boat cruise around the islands of Halong Bay in the Gulf of Tonkin.  There are some awesome caves there to go exploring in, and we also went kayaking.  After that we hopped on an overnight train to Hue…  But I suppose you want me to back up a minute.  When Ryan and I first flew into Hanoi from Vientiene we arrived got into a taxi to take us to our hotel, and the taxi ended up scamming us big time - telling us that there was a big toll to cross the bridge.  We paid it, but then after we did the conversion and realized that it was *way* too much money, we started yelling at the taxi driver who suddenly spoke way less english then he spoke just a few minutes before.  Then, he proceded to drop us off at his buddie’s hotel (not the one we asked for) and had apparently called him up on the way over so that he could lie about the name when we got out of the taxi and say “welcome to star hotel” … which, of course, it wasn’t.  Then Ryan totally lost his shit and started yelling at them saying that they were ripping us off and the driver got scared and took off down the street with the doors and trunk open, leaving his buddy there on the street with us.  What a fuckin scene.  I guess everybody has a bad experience travelling, so I guess we got ours out of the way… :(
Now we are in Hoi An after a brief stay in Hue (for you history buffs that is where the DMZ was in the Vietnam War). We were feeling a bit under the weather in Hue and there wasn’t a great deal to do so we moved on. Actually we would have used any excuse in the book to move on the Hoi An. Reason being it is stuffed to the brim with custom tailoring shops. We have spent a healthy chunk on custom clothing in the few days we have been here. When we go home we may be broke and lose the roof over our head - but we will be the best dressed couch surfers in San Fran. It’s easy here. Too easy. You can have absolutly anything made here. You just pick your fabric show them the picture in a magazine for the style tell them any little extras you want, and when you wake up the next day its Christmas. Or whatever holiday you may celebrate that entales getting presents. Our new laundry list includes a linen suit, two pinstripe suits, several beautiful button downs, a coctail dress, evening gown, some jackets, several pairs of shoes, etc… You get the point. We went for it. All custom tailored. You really do feel like a rockstar when you do it to it like we have. So tomorrow its off to another exotic spot in ‘Nam. Nha Trang to be exact. Who knows what the hell we’ll get into there. Well, once again we got some pics for you to feast your eyes on. Enjoy them. Oh- and a special little arial video of how major intersections are handled in Hanoi on a day to day basis. You’ll probably wonder how they pull it off. So did we. Sometimes they just don’t. Hope all is well with you people and once again happy soft pats on the bottom from Kelly and Ryan.

These are the 3 most common words you’ll here in Luang Probang. Just about every 5 minutes in fact. Luang Probang is one of the more touristy spots on the Laos map, but for a pretty good reason. The city is centered in the northern part of the country and acts as somewhat of a crossroads between the north, east, south, and west, and is home to some amazing waterfalls. It also runs along the highly traveled path of the Mekong River. We spent a day just lounging at the waterfalls, swimming, hiking, and drinking a few beers. There’s even cool caves that you can find if you swim underneath the waterfall, and then you can sit on some rocks and chill out behind it for a while. Ah, the life.

After Luang Probang, we headed out to Vang Viene, also along the Mekong. Now this is one hell of a touristy spot. Vang Vienne is party central. It’s packed with tourists, mostly young, drunk, and ready to party down. It also so happens that they’re pretty liberal with their not-so-illegal substances and you can order joints at most any bar or get a ‘happy shake’ right of the menu. The most popular activity there is to rent inner tubes and go tubing down the Mekong for a few hours where makeshift bars (wooden platforms, hand written signs, american pop music) line the river. But the best part is the completely unsafe and outrageously fun rope swings and ziplines that launch you 30 feet or so into the air into the river while onlookers clap and cheer you on. It’s a hell of a time (for any ski-clubbers reading this… think Houseboat with ziplines and rope swings).
But we diddn’t necessarily come all the way to Laos for their version of drunken river fun, so we’re here now in Vientiene to look for a little more culture. We’ll be stationed here for a few days while we wait for our visa’s for Vietnam.
One of the interesting things about Laos is that this country recently opened up their borders to tourists and is one of the more recently explorable countries. Traveling here can be really slow due to their lack of infrastructure in more rural areas. As you travel, you can see new roads being created and paved roads can be somewhat of a luxury… especially for your sore ass after a few hours of travel by bus. It will be pretty interesting to see how Laos develops over the next 10 years or so.
We’ve become addicted to doing dinner and drinks in little bungalos along the Mekong river… Check out some of the pics of the amazing sunsets from the bungalos.

Off to grab another BeerLao and mango fruit shake…