Still here.

It's been a while. Hi! Some people at home mentioned that they still check to see if I still have a blog, and apparently I do. I just haven't written for like seven months. So here I am. We (I) live in Hermosa Beach, which is outside of LA (we... yeah, I'll get to that). It's a nice little beach town with lots of fun bars and restaurants and surfers and stuff. It's pretty inconvenient for... well, basically anything in LA, but the apartment is a block from the beach and therefore totally worth it.

(Hermosa)

PS I'm watching Top Gun right now and I always forget how awesome it is. Don't laugh.

Anyway I have a job, like a real one. It doesn't even involve tourists! I'm working for LA County Sanitation Districts' Biology Group doing water quality bioassays. Got that?

(That's our lab, from the LACSD website.)

Basically it's lab work, which I actually really enjoy. I was talking with some of my co-workers about how you have to be kind of OCD to really love lab work, which I guess works out for me. Pretty much we use tiny fish and invertebrates to test waste water that's been through the treatment facilities and is being released back into rivers and the ocean. So in theory we're using clean water (although that's not always necessarily true... but if it were, there would be no reason for us to be there). It's very science-y, like microscopes and beakers and pH meters and stuff. Which I like. The people are awesome, and much cooler than I expected, considering I work in a lab.

(The biology group plus a couple of randoms)

The bad part of my job is that it's 35 miles away in beautiful Whittier, California, in the shadow of the world's largest currently operating landfill (which actually was really interesting when my boss took us on a tour). I spend a lot of time in the car, so if you ever want to chat, call between 6 and 7 AM or 330 and 430 PM pacific time and I should be available. Yeah, I also work really early, and sometimes weekends. I think it's worth it, at least for the moment.

Which leads me to future plans. Next fall I'm spending two months (specifically August and September) in South Africa doing a Great White shark research internship. I am so excited for a number of reasons, not least of which is the fact that it's just going to be so damn cool. It should hopefully help me figure out what I'm doing with the rest of my life as well. (Maybe?) Regardless, it hopefully will be important to me both personally and professionally. Check them out at www.sampla.org.

(From the SAMPLA website. This is basically what I'll be doing... I hope.)

Top Gun continues to be great, in case you were wondering. Love that volleyball scene.

What else? Oh right, the big one. Jon and I have decided to break up, for a variety of reasons which you can ask me about sometime if you want to know. Bottom line, it sucks but I think it is for the best. What that means now is I have no plans for the future any more (I had been planning on following him to where ever he got into med school). It is a scary but exciting feeling, and at this point I really have no idea what I will do. I'll be in LA at least until April, I'll be in South Africa in August and September, and I am continuing my tradition of intending to apply to grad school in the fall (for those who aren't keeping score, next year will be my fourth year in a row that I will have planned to apply to grad school). I might really do it this time, though. And that's my entire life plan! Oh, the other thing I have planned is a half marathon on February 3rd in Huntington Beach. This will be my first race ever and I'm excited. I ran 10 miles yesterday, so 13 should not be a huge problem. Feel free to come watch, I'll let y'all know how it goes. So anyway, if you're doing anything in 2008 (or early 2009) and you think "hey, Tricia might want to come do this with me," let me know!

So that's it, just thought I would bring everyone up to speed and hopefully I'll write more often now. Love you all, and you can be my wingman anytime.

Picture link

Hi all!
We're back in California, looking for an apartment and on our way to becoming real people. I posted 60 of my favorite shots from Asia on Facebook, and supposedly this link will let even non-Facebookers see the album (but if there are problems, please please let me know). Enjoy!

http://ucla.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2171830&l=aa076&id=2504404

Pictures!

Hi! Quick catch up: had fun diving, it poured all day. Phi Phi islands were fun too, it was pretty choppy, but fun. I had a great birthday, had cake and champagne sent twice (from Mom on my birthday, and from Jon on the day we celebrated my birthday.) The day itself was nice and quiet, we had a lovely Italian dinner at one of the other hotels. To celebrate my birthday, Jon and I stayed at this amazing villa at the Banyan Tree. We had our own pool! I was completely floored when we walked in-- I kind of suspected that we were going to the Banyan Tree, but was not prepared for how incredible it was!

Now we're back in Sydney and leaving for LA tomorrow. Not surprisingly, I am feeling a lot of mixed emotions. I am so ready to settle down, but obviously we had a great time. I'm sure I'll give more details later, but I figured I would share a few pictures! We took 1,581 pictures between the two of us, and I haven't even begun to look through them all. So I figured I would post one from each country, and then add more once I've seen them all.

China:

Great Wall



Vietnam:

Halong Bay



Cambodia:

Angkor Thom



Thailand:

Phuket

So like I said, they're not the best, but reasonably representative of what we've been up to. See you all very soon!

Thailand

Hi! So I wrote this whole long entry about Thailand so far, but I literally had my hand on the button to post it, and there was a power surge in the hotel and I lost it. I'm so angry right now. So you get the short version.

Bangkok: hated it at first. lots of scam artists who like to tell you big attractions are closed so they can pretend like they will take you somewhere else but really take you to fake gem places. we knew about it, so didn't get scammed, but it's funny to always hear "no, wat po is closed, i will take you to the big buddha" or "you can't go to the grand palace today, i will arrange for you to go to the big buddha." always the big buddha, not sure if it's real or not. the sites are really cool, wat po has a reclining buddha that is like 150 meters long and gold (not solid). the grand palace is beautiful, still used for ceremonial occasions, so it's in good shape-- not ruins like angkor wat or the forbidden city where you wonder what it would have looked like when it was in use-- this is actually in use and very impressive. went to patpong, the red light district-- avoided the infamous "ping pong shows," still interesting. stayed close to khao san, the "backpacker ghetto" which had cheap food, cheap drinks, and cheap internet. not too bad, fun to go out. went to a tiny vegetarian restaurant where there was no menu and the lady didn't speak english- fun to just point at things and hope for the best-- not something i get to do very often as a vegetarian. went to a gorgeous high tea at one of the really nice old hotels in town, felt very old-fashioned. went antique shopping with absolutely no intention of buying. went to some fun markets and tried some food (and lots of drinks!) from street vendors. in general, bangkok ended up being pretty fun.

left bangkok for koh tao-- got to the airport and couldn't find our flight or even our airline-- bangkok has two airports and we were at the wrong one. luckily, as my mother's daughter, when the taxi guy said to leave at eight, i said great, see you at seven thirty, so we got a new cab, rushed across town, and made our flight.

koh tao is small and hard to get to, but not very developed. all the taxis are pickup trucks with benches in the back, and our guidebook said the roads were better used for water drainage than driving, which is definitely true. our resort was rustic at best, but we had a private bungalow with airconditioning (jon accidentally stole the AC remote, not sure what we're going to do about that one), and was definitely all we needed. only one restaurant, but it was pretty good and to get to town was a 5km drive that took half an hour because it is so mountainous and bumpy. did three dives, lots of fish but almost no coral, went on a little wreck which was kind of fun. beautiful little island.

spent a day in koh samui because the ferry and flight schedules are not very well timed- had about six hours between the two. randomly found a restaurant on the beach, had a table on the sand, lots of drinks and food, i had a really cheap massage right next door.

got to phuket, beautiful hotel, since it's the off-season, room was pretty cheap and is amazing. we literally have the closest room to the beach in the entire hotel, a private patio with chaises that opens up to some grass, then 20 feet away is sand. really beautiful and lots of amenities-- a much nicer room than we should be in, but it is thailand, and the rainy season makes everything very cheap. weather has been good so far.

today we spent most of the day on the patio, forgot i was in thailand then looked up and saw an elephant walking down the beach. tomorrow we go diving, thursday we go to the phi phi islands which are supposed to be unreal (where they filmed "the beach"). friday is my birthday! no plans, jon has a surprise for me on the thirteenth, but we will probably spend the 11th on the beach and maybe get a good dinner somewhere. i can't believe we have less than a week left in asia. glad we're spending the rest of our time here-- the hotel really is amazing, in spite of the power surge.

i promise to use proper grammar again soon! sorry about the short entry, like i said, i tried!

Cambodia

Happy May! I love May. I think May is my favorite month, and not just because my birthday is coming up. Although it helps.

Hi! I'm in Cambodia! Which sounds weird. Weirder than Vietnam. Not sure why. So, hi! We've spent the last three days checking out the temples at Angkor (the most well-known of which is Angkor Wat) and they are very cool. It's a crazy area, as you drive around you just pass by ancient temples all over the place! Our guide told us that there are over 300 temples in this area. Our favorite was definitely Ta Phrom, which is apparently where they filmed one of the Tomb Raider movies. Most of the temples have been restored and are in little grassy areas. This one, though, is still all jungle-y. Trees grow up straight out of the walls of the temple, and beautifully carved stones sit in piles around the complex. It totally makes you feel like you are in an Indiana Jones movie. Or Tomb Raider, I guess. It's funny because people in the town love telling you about Angelina Jolie's favorite's when she was here (we went to her favorite restaurant. Jon got her favorite cocktail, which was on the menu with a big picture of her.) Interesting, but I guess not all that surprising. The actual Angkor Wat complex is very impressive, the buildings are large and intricate, with lots of carving. The temple at Angkor Thom is also amazing, maybe even cooler, because all of it's fifty four (I think) towers have four faces of Buddha on each tower. It's a really neat effect.

Anyway, the sites are awesome, since it's such a developing country, though, there is a lot of begging, which I really hate. I mean I know no one likes it, but it always makes me feel uncomfortable and guilty. Seeing the way people live around here has been eye-opening, like not even having fresh water to bathe, so bathing in the gross river-- not to mention all of the horrible things that were happening here only a decade ago. I know no one wants to hear preaching about this sort of thing, but it does kind of make me feel guilty for having so many opportunites. I guess that's how I'm supposed to feel. Anyway, I guess it's been a good learning experience all around.

On a totally unrelated note, French tourists are awful. Cutting in line, yelling in temples, pushing in front of people, wearing scandalous clothing... I mean, yeah, it's hot here. I would love to be in tank tops and short shorts, but I (and most other tourists) have my shoulders covered and at least knee-length shorts on all the time. But every time we see someone in spaghetti-straps and tiny shorts, they're always speaking French. I think it just bugs me because American tourists have such a bad reputation, but I really don't think it's deserved.

Today we got up for sunrise at Angkor Wat, but sunrise+Tricia=disaster. Seriously, if you want to see a nice sunrise, don't bring me along. Early morning hot air balloon ride in Kenya? Cloudy. Even early morning (basically late night) hike up Mount Sinai? Cloudy. In Egypt. I didn't even know it got cloudy there. So, true to form, it was totally cloudy. (Sorry, I don't know when this became the complaining blog.) But, good things came of it-- that was when we decided to go back to Ta Phrom, which was much cooler when we were the only people there. And the rain made it look even better, since there were pools of water all around that make it feel even more authentic and undiscovered. Pretty cool.

Our hotel here was amazing, all green pools and a moat and stuff, a giant room, fresh fruit in our room every day, and seriously the largest bathtub I have ever seen. (The tour company booked this one for us... not what we would have picked). The food has been very good (if you're ever curious, Cambodian Mexican food is better than Australian Mexican food)-- but don't worry, we have eaten traditional Khmer food as well. Jon is much more into eating the local cuisine, I like to kind of balance between local and familiar. I think being a vegetarian makes it a lot harder for me to eat unfamiliar food, although Cambodia, being largely Buddhist, has been pretty easy to find clearly-marked vegetarian options. But Jon and I are striking a nice balance-- like the time in Vietnam when he wanted to try Cha Ca, which is a type of fish, and was literally the only dish this restaurant served. I got a delicious baguette sandwich across the street. But Jon is very good about going to vegetarian places with me, and I think we're really both just getting excited for Thai food.

Speaking of which, we're off to Thailand tonight! This is the part of the trip I've been most excited about, and kind of the home stretch, which is weird. At the moment we're doing some last-minute planning, but the general idea is four days in Bangkok, a couple days diving on the East coast, a couple days diving on the West coast, a few beach days and some special birthday surprise. Can't wait. Love to you all, and I'll be in touch from Thailand.

Vietnam

Hi! I feel like I'm so far behind in blogging... so much to write about! Also the blog page came up in Japanese, which is weird because I am definitely not in Japan. Whatever, I have a better chance of figuring it out than if it were in Vietnamese. Okay...

So I left off in Hanoi, which ended up being pretty cool. I did do my final run of my program, around a lake with lots of local people running, walking, and doing Tai Chi. Kind of fun. So then we went to the Ho Chi Minh. Like really, we saw him. It was kind of creepy, since he's been dead for almost 40 years. The place is really serious, you have to wear long pants, file in two-by-two, and stay silent. The guy in front of us got yelled at by a Vietnamese military guy for putting his hands in his pockets. We also had to go through metal detectors and couldn't bring cameras or even bottles of water. So you go into the mausoleum and there is a coffin-like bed with glass all around it and there in the middle is the preserved body of Ho Chi Minh. Jon said it looked like a figure in a wax museum, which is about right. He just looked like he could have sat up and opened his eyes. It took me a few hours to get my mind around the fact that the guy I had just seen has been dead for forty years. Really, really, weird, and also kind of cool.

So we did some touring that day, which included the Hoa Lo prison, which was kind of creepy. Lots of posters showing how nice the Vietnamese were to the American prisoners. A bit of a weird moment- there were also pictures of John McCain and so we started talking about American politics with our guide. He was asking about John McCain and how he was running for president, and asked how many political parties we had. We explained that there were mainly two, "The republicans and..." "The communists?" He asked. It was a totally innocent question and he clearly had no idea that he had just said something funny. I had to work pretty hard not to laugh though. Another weird moment came when he asked us how many kids people could have in the US. Crazy to me that he wouldn't realize that only some countries have a limit on how many kids you can have, and that to have a communist party as a major party in the US would be laughable. Also interesting to hear his view on politics versus our guide in Saigon. Nothing worth getting into, but different.

One of my favorite Hanoi experiences was while Jon and I were wandering around in the afternoon. Hanoi has lots of little street food vendors, who just set up little stools that you can sit at and eat whatever they sell. The most famous are the pho vendors, which is a kind of soup that has meat in it, so we didn't get any of that. But there were some people making these crazy looking drinks. Seriously, they are kind of like boba, but with lots of different stuff in them. Some jello-y looking cubes, some clear spheres, some apple-saucy stuff, some beans (like garbanzo beans, but in a sweet syrup)... and you sit there and they put each of these things in a glass for you. All together. It wasn't bad... some drinking, some chewing... very colorful... I have a great picture. We called it the "Boba Suicide" (but those of you not from the west coast probably don't know boba). Anyway, an interesting drink, and not nearly as gross as it looked.

From Hanoi we went to Halong Bay, which is just crazy looking. Giant limestone formations stick out of the water, and it's all misty and ethereal. We stayed overnight on a boat, where pretty much we spent the whole time eating and looking at the scenery. Not bad. I feel like I really just need to post pictures of the bay, so you'll see those when I either have my computer again or can figure out how to email them from my palm pilot (I keep getting so close, but my palm pilot is very moody.)

We went to Hoi An for two nights, which is an old Chinese and Japanese (at different times) port in central Vietnam. The whole town is a UNESCO world heritage site (we've seen a lot of those), so all the buildings are preserved. It is pretty much all a tourist town, lots of cute little shops, restaurants, etc. We spent the morning touring and then had the afternoon to ourselves. I'm a little embarrassed (but anyone who knows me well won't be surprised) at how I spent the afternoon. I had told Jon that we needed to factor in some breaks in our touring, because I will get tired. Unfortunately, we have a big long break at the end of the trip (Thailand) but there wasn't much in the middle of the trip. So while Jon shopped around, I went for a run and then spent the afternoon by the pool. I feel guilty, because come on, I can lay by the pool anywhere, but I think having some time for relaxation was good for me. Jon also got a suit tailored in Hoi An (they are famous for their tailors). It looks great, and I'm amazed that they could do it all in one day.

Saigon as a city is not that interesting, it doesn't have the charm of Hanoi or Hoi An, but we have done some great side trips from the city. We visited some of the old Viet Cong tunnels from the Vietnam War, which were totally crazy to crawl through, incredibly claustrophobic and really just incredible to think about, since they were hand-dug and people lived in them, sometimes for months. They also had lots of weapons from the war, Jon got to shoot an A-16 machine gun (he just told me what it was, obviously I had no idea), which was very, very loud.

The other side trip we did from Saigon was the Mekong Delta. Pretty much this was Vietnam Disneyland (I know I like comparing things to Disneyland... but it's usually a compliment). So, combine the jungle cruise ride with what Epcot Vietnam would be like. And you have our trip on the Mekong Delta! We rode a little boat, then got off and ate fruit at a little fruit farm while listening to traditional Vietnamese music. Then we went to see coconut candy being made. Then we took a horse-drawn carriage to a honey farm (would that be called a farm?) and then took a smaller boat through little palm-tree lined waterways (this is the jungle cruise part) to a nice lunch. You know places like Williamsburg where they show you how people used to churn butter and make candles? It kind of felt like that, except real. You sit there thinking, oh, they're wearing those pointy hats and making rice noodles, like it's some recreation of something that used to happen. (This was actually on our way down to the Mekong Delta). But then you find out that this group of families makes like eight thousand kilograms of rice noodles a day and is the major supplier for the region. Kind of strange to think about. And people really do wear those pointy rice farmer hats.

One other thing-- Vietnam has the funniest muzac I have ever heard. Lots and lots of Simon and Garfunkel, but played by sort of Asian sounding instruments. I have heard Sound of Silence at least six times. It's pretty funny. But the one I can't figure out is Auld Lang Syne. I have heard it everywhere. Even the Vietnamese musicians while we were eating our fruit yesterday played it as their finale. I get the impression that everyone thinks that Westerners really like hearing it. My theory is that they have some New Years song that everyone loves and likes hearing on a day-to-day basis, and so they asked someone what our New Years song is, and somehow it all got lost in translation. It's bizarre, and funny. At breakfast we heard Auld Lang Syne, Bridge Over Troubled Water, Scarborough Fair, Eidelweiss, and a song from Jesus Christ Superstar. All in the Asian-muzak version. Yeah.

Alright, that's enough. We head to Cambodia tonight, I have no idea how easy it will be to get internet, but I'm excited to see Angkor Wat. I'm sure I've forgotten a ton of stuff, like how everyone drives motorcycles so you see people holding fridges or panels of glass on their motorcycles, or stacks of dead pigs. Or how we ate dinner where Brad and Angelina went when they were here adopting (according to our guide). Lots of random little things. But I'm hungry. So I'm off.

You know, you sound a lot like you're from Kowloon Bay as opposed to Hong Kong...

Hi!
If you're confused, don't worry about it. Wayne's World. Hi! I'm in Vietnam! We got to Hanoi today, and it's pretty cool. Where did I leave off? Somewhere in Shanghai. Basically we ate our way through Shanghai, and it was delicious. And then we ate our way through Hong Kong.

Hong Kong was cool. First I was impressed with their efficiency-- great train to Kowloon, which is on a different island than the airport. The whole city is islands connected by roads and ferries. The train was so nice, we took it this morning and could acutally check our bags in Kowloon before taking the train to the airport. Efficient and awesome. Since we took the train and then a cab, Jon and I didn't really see the whole city when we first got there. Kowloon is across a harbour from Hong Kong Island, which is the big one. So we walked to the water from our hotel, and it was just mind-blowing. As soon as we could see Hong Kong Island, we were floored by how huge it is. Then we turned a corner and it just kept going... and going. Seriously, it is absolutely massive. I know being all spread along the water helps, and the fact that the steep mountains make all the of the buildings visible, but seriously it is just a giant city. What's cool is that it's still kind of nature-y, too (I mean compared to other giant cities). The water was clear-ish (unlike Shanghai), and we took a tram up to Victoria Peak, where you can get a beautiful view of the city. On the way up, there was dense tropical foliage and lots of birds. From the top, you can see other islands in the distance and it is just stunning to see natural beauty on one side and this incredible man-made feature on the other. I really liked Hong Kong. Also, the food was spectacular. We ate dim sum for like two hours, and ordered three times. I loved it.

My favorite part of Hong Kong, though, was the laser show. Turns out the whole city does a light show around the harbor every night. Let me repeat that for you. The whole city. Does a light show. Every night. It was hysterical! It was like Illuminations at Epcot but on a massive scale. Each building kind of did it's own thing, but it was all set to the same music which we could hear from where we were standing. It was amazing. We might have liked it even better because we had just finished a bottle of wine in like 20 minutes (the place didn't sell by the glass, and obviously we couldn't miss the show), but I think anyone would have been impressed.

Hanoi is pretty, very green, especially compared with like Beijing. The city is very colorful too. Lots of cool cheap things to buy (Jon and I are eying the laquer-ware) and lots going on. The traffic is nuts. We've had some scary street crossings in China, but it had nothing on Vietnam. Friends, guidebooks, and our tour guide have all said the same thing, so it must be true: the only way to cross the street is just go, don't look, and let them avoid you. It's terrifying. Jon and I generally wait for a little break in the traffic to cross, but we crossed with our guide today just walking through all the motorcycles. It's crazy. We haven't gotten hit yet.

So as I mentioned, we have a guide here. Since we are trying to do like five locations in eight days, it seemed to make sense. They did all our airfare and hotels, as well as visas for us, so that's cool. It has made things a little more touristy than we would probably have done on our own, though. We took a "cyclo" tour of the Old Town today, which means we were on little carts pushed by guys on bikes. It was fun, but kind of awkward and very touristy. Interesting, though. We also went to a water puppet show, which is what it sounds like, and which was pretty cool because it involved things like underwater pyrotechnics. I mean little ones, but still. So far it's been a good balance of time with the guide and time on our own. Had a great lunch at a nearby vegetarian restaurant. There is a giant market going on outside our hotel tonight, which might be loud, but was fun to walk through. If you need knock-off Power Ranger action figures, let me know. Or exotic fruits. Or underwear. It's interesting.

Alright, off to bed, we are getting up early so I can go running. I've been doing this program that gets you from running like one minute at a time to running half an hour in two months, running three days a week (I started before I knew we would be doing this trip-- it's been kind of inconvenient.) But tomorrow is my final run! And half an hour is a big deal for me; as most of you know, I'm just not a runner. But I am now! So I am pretty proud. Alright, that's it! Love to everyone and I will keep you posted!

Shanghai

Hi all!
We are in Shanghai, and we have a computer in our hotel room! It's really exciting. The overnight train from Beijing was not as bad as it could have been-- the train station was a bit of a mess, because basically they open the doors and everyone just pushes to get to the train. It doesn't really make sense because we at least had reserved seats, so who knows. But once we got to the train it was good, private room for the two of us with a private bathroom, so we only left the room to go to the dining car. Turns out they do room service, so everything really was easy. Most of the staff spoke at least some English (and all the signs were in English) because everyone is trying to get ready for the Olympics.

It has been totally awesome to see our friend Kristin, who is living in Shanghai. She speaks pretty good Mandarin and knows lots of fun restaurants and bars. The bar we went to last night was in a really utilitarian building, and you had to guess which button would open the door for you. If you got the wrong one, a different door would open with a mirror behind it. Also the bathroom doors had knobs on the wrong side and no light switches (the lights turned on when you locked the door) and some of the doors were also false with mirrors on them. Pretty cool, I guess there is a huge ex-pat culture here and those are the bars and restaurants she goes to. Very different from moving to Australia, I guess.

Shanghai is a cool city, much more modern feeling than Beijing. Beijing had all of the old buildings and small alleys to make it feel very old world, like a Venice or a Toledo (but with absolutely NONE of the charm of those cities). Shanghai feels like a modern city anywhere, with some cool old feeling parts and some weird anachronisms like people selling vegetables on the street outside of these skyscrapers. I would definitely move to Shanghai before I would move to Beijing.

Alright, I guess that's it. Basically we have eaten our way through Shanghai-- lots of good meals, and we end up just chatting with Kristin for like two hours, and then walk around the city until it's time for another meal. Not a bad way to do it.

We are off to Hong Kong in the morning... I will try to get in touch from there!

Craziness

Hi! So I know it's quick to write again, but there is just so much to write and I didn't want to let it all build up. So we are leaving Beijing tonight (overnight train to Shanghai, which I'm sure will give me plenty to write about.)

We saw the Great Wall... what can I say, it was great! (Jon had to deal with me saying that at least half a dozen times while we were there). It was great, though. We did a four hour hike on a less-travelled part. Most of it had not been re-built, so it really was like climbing ruins. The whole group was around our age, if that gives any indication. It was cool, because it gave a feel for what the wall used to be like and wasn't crowded with tourists or vendors. Took tons of pictures, you'll see them later.

Yesterday we had another day of touring, and at the end of the day we decided it was time to try some spa treatments at the hotel. For some crazy reason, we though acupuncture would be fun. (Okay, if you don't like needles, you should probably skip to the next paragraph). Don't worry, the place was very clean and very professional, and all of our needles were new and thrown away at the end. The needles look like straight pins, except about half-way down, they get a lot thinner, and they are probably 3-4 inches long. I got a head massage first, then Jon got a head massage while they did my needles, then they did his. My favorite part was waiting for him to open his eyes during his massage so I could say "I have a needle in my forehead, don't I?" And I did! I also had them in both wrists (palm-side up, so like the veiny side), and somewhere in my shins. The wrist ones freaked me out the most, because I could see them. And you know what it felt like? It felt like having needles poked in between my eyes. And in my wrists. And in my shins. And then left there for like 20 minutes. I watched them put Jon's needles in. They go an inch or two under the surface (you can't really feel that) and then the people move them around to release your chi or something, and then leave them there. Jon had a total of eleven needles: one in his forehead, one in each temple, one in each elbow, one between his thumb and forefinger, one in each foot, and one between his big toe and second toe. I don't know whether there is a difference for men and women, or if they just thought I looked like a wuss. Five was plenty for me, though. I could feel them pull my nerves when I moved my hands or feet, and I can still feel my left wrist today-- it doesn't hurt, just feels weird. I'm glad I did it, it was interesting, but I really don't need to do it again.

Okay, gross-ness is done. So after the acupuncture, we got dinner. It turns out that "vegetarian" must mean "under construction" in Beijing, because seriously three times we have looked for a vegetarian restaurant that we have found on a map, and then it has turned out to be under construction. Three times! How does that happen? So we tried for a vegetarian place, it was closed, so we went to the place next door. Jon was looking for the "do you have a menu in english" phrase in our book, but hadn't found it yet when they brought us in and seated us, so we were stuck. And they didn't have a menu in English. And no one spoke English. Everyone was very helpful, but it was definitely a trip to try to get food, and vegetarian food, in a totally different language. It worked, they brought us broccoli and some vegetable that we still don't know what it was, everything was good and it worked out. The highlight was definitely when the "Living on a Prayer" music video came on the tv and Jon spent like two minutes trying to say "I like this music" in Mandarin. I guess he got it right, because they turned it up. I figure singing along is good enough in any language.

Today was a trip as well. I got in touch with a friend from high school, Kristoffer, who lives in Beijing and actually owns a number of restaurants in town. We went to his main restaurant, a pizza place, where we got amazing calzones and had a great time catching up with Kristoffer. He speaks almost fluent Mandarin and has a pet pig! It was so cool to see someone I know who has really embraced living in China.

Alright, time to head to the train station! We are having a great time and I will try to update when I can!

Nihao!

Hi! I'm in China! My blog website is all coming up in Chinese, so we'll see if I can manage to post this. So... hi! I'm in China! I know I said that already, but that's kind of been my thought process for the past day and a half. We'll be walking down a street and suddenly there will be this huge palace in front of us. Or a giant portait of Chairman Mao. Or scary-looking military guys in greenish-gray uniforms doing drills on the sidewalk. And it's like "woah! I'm in China!"

Anyway... we are in Beijing for a few days, went to the Forbidden City today which is very cool, took tons of pictures, which I will post when I have my computer again, which will be in a month. We are planning on a trip to the Great Wall tomorrow.

We started out in Kuala Lumpur, which was a good place to start off in Asia-- lots of English is spoken, and it is a very multicultural city-- a large Muslim population, and an especially large Indian population along with Asians. I did actually feel more out of place there because a lot of the women had their heads covered, and I feel like here, most people couldn't care less about the tourists looking at their city. I felt like a lot more people were looking at me in KL than here.

KL looks a little bit like Vegas-- the government part of town has beautiful Taj Mahal-esque domes on top of Corinthian columns, surrounded by what looked like a Venitian palace. Seriously. All in all, it was cool, we had one day so we walked around the city, mostly. We went to a really tall tower that overlooked the city. As we tried to get down from the tower, we wanted to go to a different side of the park, and ended up doing this rainforest walk. We got lost for like half an hour in the rainforest in the middle of Kuala Lumpur. It was legit- as we left there was a sign warning us about snakes and scorpions. Glad we're on our malaria medication.

Anyway, the other really noteworthy thing we did in KL was Cosmo's World. It's an amusement park inside a giant mall. It had some pretty cool rides, but all of them were kind of painful and liked to hold you upside down a little bit too long. The roller-coaster went upside down, but a little bit too slowly. Seriously, imagine if Big Thunder Mountain Railroad suddenly decided to do a corkscrew. It didn't feel dangerous, just... uncomfortable.

Our hotel was gorgeous, seriously we had to hold back laughter as we checked in under giant chandeliers, checked out the lovely pool, the beatuiful carpets... not to be tacky, but our room was $55 per night.

Our hotel in Beijing is also lovely (a bit pricier, but worth it.) It's down a little alley, so you really get the feel for actually living in Bejing. The alley is barely wide enough for one car, but cars drive both ways (not to mention the pedestrians and bicycles), so things get pretty interesting. The hotel is in a set of Qing Dynasty buildings surrounding a garden that was owned by some eunuch who was important to some Emporer's court (sorry, I forget). Anyway it's really lovely, the garden is beautiful and our room is full of furniture that I feel bad sitting on.

Beijing is big, the drivers are crazy. The crosswalks give you the little walky-man at the same time as the drivers get turn arrows, which makes crossing the street a real challenge. Mostly we try to get a human shield, because the locals are pretty good at it. I have still seen a lot of people almost get hit.

Jon and I are trying our best to navigate using the Lonely Planet Mandarin book, but it has been interesting. It's very strange what we can get across-- I can be asking for water, trying to say it while pointing to the characters in the book, and they have no idea what I want. But for some reason, Jon's pronounciation of the phrase for "check, please" must be perfect-- they get it every time. Weird. The food has been good and very cheap. Getting vegetarian food has been a slight challenge so far, but there is a lot of tofu and good vegetables.

Beijing is pretty chilly, especially compared to the other places we are going. Luckily I have been knitting up a storm and have a cute scarf to wear, as well as some socks that don't have toes, so I can wear them with my flip flops. They sound hideous, but with long pants, you can't see them at all, and they keep my feet warm. (Jon calls them my secret socks.) I mean, they are hideous. But invisible and awesome.

So I had taken notes on everything I wanted to write about... and they are in the room. So that's all you get for now, I wish I could send pictures! I will at some point. It feels weird to write without them. Okay, hopefully I can post this (have to guess which button to hit)!

Uluru/ Ayer's Rock

Hi!
So I actually have had internet for the past little bit, but we have been super busy planning for Asia! We are taking a wild tour, since we keep accidentally adding cities (eg. it's cheaper to fly through Hong Kong, and why fly through when you can spend a day there instead!) so we're spending like 2 nights in each city and it's going to be insane. But fun!

So.... right! We went to Uluru (Ayer's Rock). It's big, and red, and looks a lot like Stone Mountain, except bigger, redder, and without Confederate Generals carved on the side. And surrounded by Japanese tourists instead of rednecks, and there was no laser show that we could find. [Note to Jon's family: crazy Southern stuff. Don't ask.]

I'm getting tired of parentheses, so basically it used to be called Ayer's Rock, but the Aboriginal People (we don't call them Aboriginies, apparently) called it Uluru, so that's what they call it these days. Are you ready for a picture? Because I am.



Ayer's Rock Resort owns all of the hotels in the area, which makes it pretty expensive. But it also makes it feel kind of like Disneyland! (Which is a good thing, if you are Tricia and Jon.)
Seriously, all the staff wore cute outback outfits and Crocodile-Dundee hats, and were super friendly. Our hotel was the Outback Pioneer Lodge, and you can see where my Disney/Outback thing is coming from.



So we did a few tours, a sunset, a sunrise, a stargazing that wasn't as cool as it should have been (stupid full moon), and, true to form, I took way, way too many pictures. Here they are! (My computer decided to give them to you in no particular order, apparently. Sorry.)

Moon-set in the outback.


Sunrise in the outback.


You can only photograph certain parts of Uluru, because there are a lot of sacred sites.

Probably Uluru, could be Kata Tjuta (the Olgas), another set of rocks nearby.


The outback from the plane.

Okay, this one is definitely Kata Tjuta.

Also Kata Tjuta. The sky really was that blue.

Sunrise over (or at least next to) Uluru.

So our hotel had this "restaurant" (eatery) where you could buy fun Australian meats and grill them yourself. Jon got kangaroo, emu, and crocodile. I got a veggie burger.

Anyway, I would recommend Uluru if you have the time. The outback is a really interesting landscape to see, and the mountains are cool (but not breathtaking). Worth a visit, though.

Okay, there is planning to be done! We'll be in Sydney until Wednesday, then we are off to Kuala Lumpur, then Beijing, Shanghai, Hong Kong, Hanoi, Halong, Hoi An, Saigon, the Mekong Delta, Siem Reap (Angkor Wat), Bangkok, Koh Tao, Phuket and the Similan Islands! Yep. (So far we've planned up through Bangkok, which leaves beaches and diving, basically.) As always, I will keep you posted!

Brisbane to Melbourne

Hi everyone!
Sorry, it's been a while since we've had internet! We finished our drive down the coast, and are now in Melbourne. We head back to Sydney tomorrow, and then we are off to Ayer's Rock on Tuesday morning.

So... last time I posted, we were in Brisbane, which was fun and pretty low-key. We went to a terrible "koala sanctuary" that was actually more like a really depressing zoo. I've tried to forget it, so just stay away from Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary if you are in Brisbane. Other than that, a nice city. So after Brisbane we headed down to Surfer's Paradise, which is hard to describe. The best thing I can compare it to is probably Waikiki, a pretty beach surrounded by giant buildings.



They call it the Las Vegas of Australia, which isn't quite true. Regardless, it's fun, lots of bars and stuff to do. It's super-touristy, with wonderful gimmicky bars like "Five Below." So Five Below is a bar made of ice. The decorations are ice, the glasses are ice, the chairs and tables are ice. Luckily, your cover includes jackets, gloves, and Ugg boots.




The real reason we went to Surfer's Paradise is that the Gold Coast is famous for its "American-style" theme parks. We opted for Warner Brothers' Movie World and SeaWorld.

WB is like a hokey Disneyland. A lot of it was more Six Flags-ish, but they had some theme rides (the Scooby-Doo Spooky Coaster) that were pretty hilarious. The Superman coaster is in the background here, and was actually a lot of fun. (My back is fine.)

There were some strange non-WB things (like Star Wars music? Are they even allowed to play that? Won't Disney get mad?) including Austin Powers and Shrek stuff. They're no Mickey ears, but these Shrek ears were pretty great.



SeaWorld was an interesting combination of things: they still had the requisite dolphin and seal shows and a pretty solid shark aquarium, but they also had legitimate rides, like roller coasters. Weird. My favorite was the Bermuda Triangle themed ride:



Volcanoes? In the Bermuda Triange? Yeah, that's what we said, too. The plot line of the ride was really involved and ridiculous, and it was something about how these volcanoes had popped up, and we had to go in and investigate, and then it turned out that there were aliens who had caused the volcanoes to appear. Yeah. The highlight was when one of the Coasties who had "briefed you" on your mission asked another "wait, how do you know so much about these aliens?" and she gets all menacing and says "Because I am one!" Yes, this is what the theme parks are all about. We had a blast.

The best ride we did in Surfer's Paradise was actually the "Vomitron" which was one of those carnival rides (like in the city) that you just pay for at the time. We went twice (after tapas and sangria, ugh). It was great, unfortunately we didn't take any pictures, so Jon drew this for me (guest art!).



You go backwards for a while, then forwards for a while. There are two seats on either end, and they are free-swinging, so they move as the thing rotates. It's fun.

So after three days in Surfer's Paradise, we finally left Queensland (entered New South Wales) and stayed in Byron Bay for a night. We had heard it's very hippy-ish, which we didn't really notice. It was cute, and there was great food. We went to a pizza place and they wrapped up our leftover slices in foil for us in the shape of a swan.


Yes, these are the important things that I know you all want to hear about. Okay, so after Byron we finally got down to Sydney. We stayed with Jenny's friend Ryan, and it was great to hang out with friends. We were only there for a night, then we had to part with the Yaris (sad) and flew down to Melbourne.

Melbourne is cool, very artsy, lots of good cafes and stuff. The highlight has definitely been wine tasting in the Yarra Valley. We met up with some guys that we met in Cairns-- I actually certified them as divers-- and they took us wine tasting. We actually went drinking the night before at a bar called the Traders Bar. Kind of a fun gimmick: the drink prices all work like stocks, so you can look up on the screen and see that Tasmanian beer is down, but American beer is up, so you buy the Tazzie beer. The differences are only like 50 cents up or down, but it's fun. So the next day, we were all very hung over, but still decided to go. These boys are crazy, on the drive out we actually got beers to help our hang overs. (Obviously Shannon, who was driving, didn't drink, and apparently it's legal to drink in cars in Australia. Who knew?) The wine country was very pretty, the wine was very good, the food was even better.


We also went to the zoo, which was pretty good. I'm getting tired of writing so I don't know, it was a zoo, and a good one. I thought this picture was kind of fun.


The orangutans were cute, we saw more cassowaries (numbers 6 and 7 for us), the elephants were big, the platypus was ridiculous (did you know that a platypus enclosure is called a platypusary?), the big cats were pretty active, which was cool. Okay, I'm getting boring, so, in closing... wombats!

Fraser Island

Hi!
Just a few quick pictures from Fraser Island... we are in Brisbane tonight, and head to Surfer's Paradise in the morning. We loved Hervey Bay (where we spent the last two nights), very different than Cairns or the other places we've been. Basically if Cairns is Key West (hot, tropical, lots of partying), Hervey Bay would be Hilton Head (more sub-tropical, much quieter). I obviously love my tropical paradises, but Hervey Bay was a very nice change of pace! One of the most fun elements was the crabs. Remember the balls of sand at Mission Beach? Same type of thing, but on a larger scale. When the tide goes all the way out, the beach is massive. Check it out: this pier is nearly a kilometer long.



So you can tell how far out the tide goes. Anyway, when it's all the way out, the beach is covered in crabs! They roam in groups of probably 100-200, and there are so many you can actually hear them clicking along.


They're a little hard to photograph, because when they are threatened, they fall onto one side and start beating their legs to corkscrew into the sand. It's pretty funny. It also kind of makes you feel like Godzilla, as all of these tiny creatures run from you and try to hide. Good times.

Also, I liked these pictures.






Right, I said Fraser Island. So Fraser Island is the world's largest sand island, which is weird, because even though it's all sand, there is a huge rainforest and lots of other fun things. Like dingoes!


And rainforests! Also in this picture, our crazy German guide, Henning.



But I'm getting ahead of myself. We cruised the island in this amazing vehicle. We opted for the smaller tour (16 people instead of 40, for only like $15 more). And a hilarious looking car!


Seriously! All sand! I took this picture when our 4wd (and professional driver) got stuck in the sand and we had to get out and walk.



Anyway, Fraser is gorgeous, like this beach.



Also, this shipwreck was pretty amazing. At first, I was annoyed that there were people in the picture, but I'm not sure anyone would believe that I took it if there weren't. Okay, maybe it isn't quite that good. Whatever.


Another shipwreck picture (because you know I took hundreds. Along those lines, I've now taken more than 2000 pictures with my new camera! Crazy!)



Being a sand island, Fraser's freshwater lakes and rivers don't have any dirt in them, so they are exceptionally clear.



This creek was also very clear and pretty crazy looking. Also, much colder than the ocean. Unfortunately we couldn't swim in the ocean because apparently it is full of deadly sharks (yeah, I know, but I still stayed away).


Anyway, lots of fun. Brisbane is pretty cool, had a good dinner in Chinatown. The city is interesting because ferries are a major part of public transportation. A little daunting, but fun. Also, strange to be in a big city after so much country. Alright, running out of ways to say I'm done, so here's a picture! (Okay, two.) Bye!

Airlie to Bundaberg

[I just read this through, and I'm really, really sorry about the terrible writing. There was just a lot to write, and I'm still excited!]

Hi!
We are in Bundaberg, and we have internet in our room! That means I'm writing this as I go, not in installments. I hope it makes sense. It's actually a crazy complicated set-up where Jon is plugged in to the internet and his computer is acting as a wireless router that I'm connected to. Whatever, it works, although it didn't work in our room so we're actually in the room next door. We're at a Best Western because all the hostels in town were ridiculously expensive anyway, and Jon is a corporate discount member through one of the companies he worked for in Cairns. Okay, whatever, we're here, and it's been good, there are laundry facilities so that has been good. Okay, rambling, lots to tell you all about, so here goes!

Sailing in the Whitsundays was a lot of fun, we actually went to Hayman Island, where Mom, Dad, Jenny and I stayed almost ten years ago. The sail was nice, although we did get a bit of rain.


Luckily they had super-cool rain jackets for us on the boat. The weather did clear up, and Hayman Island was beautiful.



Check out the clear water. The diving was fine, not nearly as good as what I did in Cairns, which makes me feel good about having worked there. This was probably my favorite diving picture, I could show you more but I just have so much more exciting stuff to write!



Okay, one more sailing picture, just because it's such a good one.


And this one too. Because it's so dynamic. (Dynamic? Did I just type that? I must be tired.)


Okay, that was sailing. The end. So that was St. Patrick's Day, we went to the Irish Pub in town (which was seriously like one of 5 bars, so that was lucky) and had a pint of Guiness, then went to bed early. We had to get up early the next day for Forest Flying!

Forest flying was in the Finch Hatton Gorge, in the Eungella Rainforest. Our driving directions included "turn left just after you go through the creek" and the drive did in fact involve multiple creek crossings. The Yaris is going strong, I am so impressed by this car.

So Forest Flying involves wearing a harness and being attached to a zipline, then cruising through the rainforest. Check out my "sassy" harness pose.



What amazed me the most (and what I'm glad I found out after I did it) was that the guy set the whole thing up using a bow and arrow. That's amazing to me.

There I am! It was very cool, lots of crazy things to see but pretty tough to take pictures with one hand while slowing yourself down with the other as you fly through the rainforest. Also, I need to move on because I am so excited to tell you about tonight!

Before I do, I need to tell you about last night. Rockhampton is the beef capital of Australia, so obviously my expectations for the town were not high. Also, the hostel we were staying at didn't even have a picture of the building on the website (but it was a YHA, which is a national chain, so we knew it would meet a certain standard.) So my expectations were very low, and got lower when we drove up to a depressing brick building. When we checked in, the guy told us we were at "cabin 18," which... well, I didn't really know what to think. Turns it it meant a trailer!


Okay, actually it is a "modular unit" and these specific ones were actually athlete housing during the Sydney Olympics, which is kind of cool. But we walked in and seriously? This thing was a palace! We had our own bathroom and plenty of space for our stuff. Which was a huge improvement over the places that we have been staying. I was so impressed! Also we had a delicious Italian dinner near the river, and all in all, I was pleasantly surprised by Rockhampton.

Today we got up and backtracked a little bit to the Capricorn Caves. Even before we got into the caves, we were glad we made the trip: hanging out in the little nearby campground, there were kangaroos! Craziness!


This picture makes it look really tiny, but it's a weird angle, they were probably four feet tall. Pretty cool.

The caves were pretty, and the end was fun because we had to walk through this part called the zig-zag passage with no guide and with just candles for light. I got to lead the way, which was exciting. Here's a pretty cave picture.


We drove to Bundaberg, did some laundry, and then did what has got to be the coolest thing we've done so far... turtle hatching!

We drove to a place called Mon Repos at about 6:45 pm, which is a turtle sanctuary. We happen to be at the right time of year to see the little baby turtles emerge from their nests and head to the open ocean. Once we were there, we had to wait in a group of about 50 people to hear if there were turtles hatching on the beach. At about 7:30, we all went out to the beach and power-walked down to the nest. The rangers put a little extra sand on top of the nest so the turtles won't get out too quickly, and the timing was perfect. We all got in a circle and watched little bitty Loggerhead turtles emerge from the nest.



Here's the nest they came out of (after they were all gone, and the volunteers were collecting data on the nest).


125 of these little guys came out of the nest we were watching, and they were all corralled until they were out and we could move to the beach.



On the beach, the rangers drew lines in the sand to make a little track for the turtles to run to the beach, and everyone lined up on the sides. Because the turtles are attracted to light to get to the ocean (usually the horizon), they needed a few flashlights to guide them. Jon and I (and one other guy) got to stand in the middle of the track to guide the turtles! This was such an amazing bit of luck, because while everyone else got to watch, we had dozens of turtles crawling over our feet! This is a terrible picture, but we couldn't use a flash, and Jon was taking the picture over my shoulder as these little guys ran at us. You can make out some turtles in the middle, and the guy in front of us's feet, which I had to point the flashlight at to guide the turtles from him to us.


It was incredible to feel like we were actually helping these turtles along to the ocean! I would absolutely recommend this experience to everyone, and I just feel so lucky that we got to be the ones right in the middle of it all!

As you can tell, things are great. We've gone 1,831 kilometers so far, and I think we are about halfway. We've gotten to see and do some great things that we would never have done if we had been flying and only seeing the major cities. (That sounds like such an obnoxious hippy-backpacker thing to say, and I apologize, because they drive me crazy). But seriously, I'm so glad we've had the chance to do this. I will let you know what happens next!