Thailand Day 1

Whew! We FINALLY made it to Thailand after a very, very long--all night long--drive from SLC to San Francisco. We only had two legs of buddy passes each & therefore had space to get to Hong Kong & back from Hong Kong.. theoretically.. but that's for later....

Anyway- make sure you get your immigration forms all filled out on the plane as the lines for foreigners can be quite lengthy. We didn't receive a form on the plane (I'm sure we were just sleeping) so we had to go find one from the airport customer service, then locate a pen, then stand in the long line... we finally made it out of the security portion of the airport & were immediately accosted by touts... someone trying to screw you out of a few bucks...they wanted us to take their taxi. Best way to deal with them is ignore them, don't talk to them don't even look at them.... completely act as if they aren't there.. It feels RUDE but it's much less annoyance that way. Go downstairs & follow the pictures of the taxis. There is a legitimate government run taxi service that should get you into downtown Bangkok for around 200-250 baht.... MAKE SURE any time you get into a taxi that their meter is on. If it's not, get out of the taxi. You will need to pay the tolls on the way in & out of the city depending on which way you're going. One toll is 70 baht, one is 45... or so if I remember correctly. We got into Bangkok pretty late & our taxi driver took us to the wrong hostel & tried to tell us the one we wanted was closed. Be firm, tell them the exact address you want to go. It also helps if you have the address written in Thai, or you can point to a map... English is not all taxi drivers strong point. After some pains, he finally dropped us off in front of Baan Hualampong our hostel, which was NOT closed... but was full (if you plan on staying anywhere that is recommended by lonely planet or hostels.com reserve in advance) so we went across the street to Home Sweet Home.. or Welcome Home.or Your Home....ok I was really jet lagged so I slacked at the exact name of the place but both are in a small alleyway directly across from each other. We chose this area because we were planning on taking the night train to Chiang Mai that night... which I would also recommend booking in advance here or you'll get stuck with a second class train & a second class bed... do yourself a favor, if you do get stuck in second class, get a bottom bunk. It's only a few extra dollars & SOOOO much better! I woke up in the middle of the night because the air conditioning splashed freezing water on my head several times.. and on the way back to Bangkok I got a cockroach falling from the ceiling onto my face. Other than that though it was OK. Tickets were 771 baht. Anyway, back to our hostel. It was ok, very clean & the staff was very nice. If you're not used to the heat/humidity/are not a wuss then buy the air conditioned room. The beds are hard in every hostel we stayed in & even in our "4 star hotel" so just get used to it.The hot water worked for our friend Drew because he's smart enough to figure out how to turn it on... I'd ask when you check in. The staff is VERY friendly & accommodating. Anyway, we checked in & slept..tried to sleep...bring tylenol pm or something because it's funky trying to get used to the 14 hour time difference. The hostel was quiet which was great too. They gave you a towel, linens & a thin blanket & the ac works great... a little too great...

Woke up, took a shower, had breakfast (toast, and a runny egg). Evan checked a few things on the internet (costs money) & I walked around & took photos of our hostel. They have a garden on the roof that was pretty sweet. They also let me use their phone (for a price) and I got a hold of my friend Nicole (she lives there for a bit) & we planned on meeting up at Lumpini Park. We walked two minutes to the train station (ignoring the "need tuk tuk?" questions because we could SEE it right in front of us), luckily got our tickets for the night train, bought a gofre (begian waffle... not sure if that's spelled correctly) and caught a taxi to the park.

I think this was my favorite park of the day. It was relaxing & very pretty but there were freaking monitor lizards just walking & swimming around! We got some cool pictures but didn't get too close because I heard somewhere they were poisonous... but now I've looked it up online & can't back that up... oh well, they were cool. Evan also found a huge centipede!

We met up with Nicole & took a boat tour of Bangkok, it was 600 baht for all four of us, total. Don't let them completely screw you because they will try to get 1000 baht out of each of you. Of course, we might have gotten screwed... who really knows? Anyway, here are some pics. PS little kids love to wave at tourists. Wave back!

After that we took the sky train (BTS) to NBK. It's the National Stadium exit. Cool place to go shopping & have a HUGE Thai lunch for a buck fifty. mmmmmm. Try the mango, coconut, passion fruit shakes, They're delish. We also got pad Thai.....mmmmmmmmm......look around at the neat shops. Buyer beware, it's all cheap crap from China.. for the most part. And the shoes I found were at USA Payless or worse prices.. but it was still fun to look. After that we said goodbye to Nicole & headed back to our hostel to collect our bags (they had lockers we could keep them in all day- how nice!) Then the boys were hungry again so we bought some food from the restaurant on the main street directly outside of the alleyway from our hostel. Don't be turned off by the looks of the place- it's some of the best Thai food I had all trip! Note to self. Bring cell phone next time for emergencies... like in case you get separated from your spouse in a busy train station in a country where almost no one speaks English, and your train is about to leave but you have all of the tickets, passports & money.... ya. Also, bring something to do on the train, paperback book, small deck of cards... something!

The train is an adventure, don't buy the breakfast, you'll be sorry. Brig granola bars & snacks... all of the food is nasty. The "sausages" are hot dogs... but funny tasting hot dogs. The OJ is watered down Tang... yyyyeeaahhh. Don't waste your money. Esp when good food is sooo cheap! Bring an eye mask too because those lights don't turn completely off.

Day one, done!

Headed to Thailand & Cambodia.. Posts coming soon!!!!

Top things to do in Puerto Rico

Whew! What a trip.

We flew in at 3 am which was of course, too early to get our rental car so we attempted to sleep in the airport. This was much better than I thought it was going to be though- VERY clean.

We rented our car & were off to Utuado- this is a very little traveled area in the mountains. Do not go without have a hotel or something to sleep here. We stayed with a friend, had delicious Puerto Rican food for dinner, went to church & my goodness you could pick so much fruit off of the trees! There were coconuts, plantains, star fruit, avocados, and some kind of green small orange. YUM! Truly paradise. Only weird thing here- no AC! ANYWHERE. They don't use it and it's hotter than Hades with 100% humidity. And it doesn't really cool off at night either so I'd invest in a fan if your hotel doesn't have AC. The one hot night was worth it though for the true Puerto Rican experience that a lot of tourists don't get to see. Moncho- our host- was nice enough to show us around town & some good views of the mountains. On our little adventure we met a coffee farmer who was living above a lake & roasting his own beans! He was so nice! I wanted to take a photo from his balcony & not only did he invite us back but he showed us what he was doing with the beans & chatted with us for a bit. Luckily our friend Jeff who came along spoke Spanish. :)
I was very jealous of this man's view.

We also met a FAT FAT FAT pig, lots of stray MANGY dogs, some loose roosters & on the way home saw a man riding a horse while drinking beer through a pack of wild dogs. Wow. Only in Puerto Rico.

The next morning I woke up before everyone because I wanted to go take some photos. I'm glad I did- the morning mist was rolling over the mountains & the lighting was PERFECT. No one in the town was awake yet except for a stray HORSE!

Moncho had woken up even before I had & walked into town to pick us all up a traditional fried & DELICOUS Puerto Rican meal complete with orange juilius tasting orange juice. YUM YUM YUM. Sadly after that we had to say goodbye & continue on our adventure.

Next stop El Yunque National Rainforest for some hiking. If you want to do anything close to the rainforest plan on leaving before 4pm or you will gain rained on-- ok no that's not an adequate word... you will swim in vast amounts of water as it falls from the sky while you hike down the mountain. There are very little animals in the rainforest but if you're quiet you'll hear the coqui which is a frog known for it's "coke-EE coke-EE" sound. I never saw one because they're tiny & very scared of people. But their call rang throughout the forest as we hiked. Tres- cool :)

We checked in to our hotel in Humacao Four Points by Sheraton at Palmas Del Mar-- The GPS will not take you here correctly. You will end up in the mountains 15 miles away. And it doesn't matter what GPS you're using either. I'd call & get old fashioned written out instructions. AAAAmazing! The hotel ended up being close to 50 bucks a night because travelocity.com gave us a free 100.00 gift card & we also got 2 nights free! The rooms were just okay but the hotel itself makes you feel like you're in an old Hollywood movie. Dinner at the hotel however did not. It was overpriced & far from delicious. The staff were friendly & helpful. One thing I didn't like was that we had to pay for parking each night. So be prepared to spend 12.00 for parking... only the hotel overlooked that & didn't charge us! Even when we told them our car was parked there. WOOT!

The next morning we woke up SOOOO early to catch the 9 am ferry to Vieques. All of the locals went to Culebra but very few people went to Vieques- which is exactly what we were looking for ZERO people. However, you cannot get your rental car over so plan on renting there. If you plan ahead you will spend 40-50 bucks. However we were being spontaneous so we spent 75 for a large isuzu rodeo. I'm not putting the name of the rental car company because they were so overpriced & they charge you an extra cleaning fee.

If you plan on going to any of the off the beaten path beaches (AND I WOULD) you'll need to rent an SUV. In the morning we went to Sun Beach which was pretty cool- but there were a few people hanging around. We saw a HUGE starfish but that is about it. We also went to black beach (black sand- AWESOME no one is there!) walked around & found a couple of coconuts we broke open.

Then we went in our Bio Bay Kayaking tour. AMAZING YOU MUST DO THIS! The bad thing is you HAVE to stay the night... we were cheap & slept in the car on the beach. BIG MISTAKE. The moon is bright, the bugs are awake & hungry & it never cools off. You melt. Even with the windows open allowing a feeding frenzy to ensue. Rent a hotel room. Okay back to the fun part...

We met our guide at this little green mini mart & followed him to Mosquito Bay- again, bug spray IS TOTALLY NECESSARY!!! We had a tour of the area on our Kayaks. Tons of crabs are crawling all over the mangrove trees... they're not spiders. He talked about the local habitat & then we kayaked over to a beach that you can only get to by Kayak. My hubby snorkled & I ate fresh coconut. Yum! Love that stuff. I also took photos of the sunset. I was getting pretty cold because you get wet when you kayak so I'd bring a dry sack with a long sleeved t-shirt...and bring your own snorkeling gear.

The best for last--- the water SPARKLES in the bio bay!!! It's like 1000 tiny fireflies swimming around in the water. We were loving swimming around... until I was stung by a jelly fish. Our guide was quick to get me out of the water & get some vinegar he had handy on my legs-- which felt like I was being bitten by a zillion tiny fireants. Totally sucked. And then I didn't even get red or anything so I just looked like a huge wuss. Oh ya, and it burned for 18 more hours.

The next morning we grabbed some breakfast snacks & headed to BLUE BEACH. The best place in the whole world (because Evan was there). There was only a small family sharing the WHOLE beach with us! And then they LEFT! The water was clear. The sea urchins were awesome. And the water was PERFECT.

We had lunch at the most perfect place EVER. The Patio. I would eat there many many many times, if I could. And it's cheap too! But very busy so plan accordingly.

We returned the car, took the ferry home & drove to our hotel to get some much needed sleep.

Luquillo Beach is another fun thing to do in Puerto Rico. Go! The BEST Snorkeling but the beach is DIRTY DIRTY DIRTY. There's also very cheapish (not $5.50 like on Vieques) Pina Coladas.

Food to try... Pinchos (bbq's meat on skewers) & Tostones were my FAVORITE. Delicioso!

And then all good things must come to an end. What a relaxing, fun & adventurous vacation!

Outerbanks NC & Raleigh

Ok so this was pretty far away for just a short weekend but totally worth it.

We left dc around 2- thought it would take us 6.5 hours to get to Cape Hatteras, NC... little did we know that NO ONE went to work this day & everyone was already on their commute home. What's up with that?! Anyway it took us NINE.5 hours!!! AAAAAAAAGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHH But I really wanted to see my family so it was totally worth it.

For those of you used to camping out west- camping at the beach back east in the summer is NOTHING like camping out west. It does NOT get cold at night- in fact I'm pretty sure it was the same temperature- sweating hot. I'd recommend getting a hotel room with AC. I love camping but none of us got any sleep. The best part about our campsite though

http://www.oceanwavescampground.com/

- it was clean, had showers (very important to get rid of the sand in your swim suit bottoms) and it was ON the beach! We woke up, walked about 50 yards and watched the dolphins swim by! Soooo cool! Everyone on the east coast sleeps in RV's too and practically live there- going as far as setting up plastic flamingoes out front. Does anyone do that because they seriously think it's classy or just as a joke?

The night before we got to see this cool phenomenon. It's called bioluminescence- basically it looks like stars mixed with fireflies in the sand every time you take a step. And each time a wave crashes it's there too. I tried to take a video but it doesn't work. All you see is black :) Speaking of which- everyone thinks a walk on the beach is totally romanitc at night right? WRONG. Your feet are acausted by galzillions of crabs- they feel like tarantulas creeping across your feet! EW!

Cape Hatteras is an awesome beach to get away from the tourists but I still am a sucker for Nag's Head if you plan on going boogie boarding or body surfing- there's less rocks and shells as you hit so you don't hit as hard. My sis and I were pretty scratched up after Cape Hatteras but we're gluttons for punishment and went back in the water anyway. I LOVE THE BEACH! Be sure to take a break and build a sand castle or creature far from the tide- it'll come in quickly and all your hard work will be washed away before you can snap a pic!

We decided to stop for lunch- which was yummy! I felt bad though because my dad paid for us and the waitress mis-understood him and brought us one of every dessert on the menu. I would have sent them back but he's too nice. They were really delicious though! My favorite was the creme brulee or the peanut butter mousse. MMMMmmmm peanut butter (in Home Simpson's voice).

When we were tired of the beach we headed to my dad's in Raleigh. This shortened our drive home so that was nice. Plus Evan and I got a good night's sleep, got to play games with my fam- make my dad a scrumptious father's day meal and on our way out of town Evan got to see Duke for the first time. If you every visit Raleigh and you only have one or two places to visit I would make Duke chapel one of them. It rivals some of the best I've seen in Europe. Plus the campus is just gorgeous. http://www.chapel.duke.edu/

Anyway! What a fun trip. I'd definitely go again even with all of the driving.

Chocolate lovers UNITE!

The other weekend Evan, Mike, Wang, Jared and I ended up in Hershey Heaven! Hershey PA!

Ok here's what I'd recommend if you're planning a day trip from DC... LEAVE EARLY. Traffic is a $%^%&$##@$#%$#$ and @#@$!# AND IT'S A @#$!#!@$!!!!!!

Enough said. But alas we were stuck in DC until the early afternoon because they guys all had a service project. ANywhO. What I would do is head to Intercourse PA- Amish Central Baby! They have some wicked shops and people drive around in buggies. The countryside is absolutely gorgeous too. Intercourse isn't too far out of the way to Hershey either so I'd plan on spending a good portion of your morning there. Don't forget to try the shoofly pie & be sure to take of photo of you on the edge of intercourse, yes I'm still talking about the town.

Now Hershey-
Eat here: http://chocolateavenuegrill.com/ and order Jess's favorite salad... YUM!

Then go into Hersheytown. I'd recommend the theme park first and then the Hershey Factory. No you can't really see them making chocolate but you get to learn all about how it's made as well as join in a chocolate taasting. 10.00 per person is a bit steep because you don't get a ton of candy but the experience was worth it once. You learn about different types of chocolate flavors and at the end you get a Master's Degree in Chocolate Tasting from the professor. Pretty fun!

If you get on the ride that takes you through the journey of a cacao bean make sure to smile at the end- they take your photo & charge you an arm & a leg for it. The store has everything Hershey though and this was a very fun/informative/choco satisfying trip!

Georgetown

Living in DC is very different than traveling to it. The average traveler goes to the monuments, and a few of the top restaurants. My job is to introduce you to things other than that. I travel cheap but I also travel fun. If you're looking for something cheap to eat in Georgetown I would recommend Thai Coast www.thaicoast.com/. 2514 L St NW Washington DC 20037

The food is both delicious and filling. Evan and I shared an entree and were both full. You can even get the food to go which is a huge bonus for those busy site seeing, but you don't get the "fast food" taste or after eating heartburn.

If you're looking for dessert and you love frosting you cannot leave Georgetown without stopping by Georgetown cupcake. I personally don't love frosting but thought all three flavors I tried were yummy yummy cupcakes. The line is very long unless you get there first thing in the morning and beware of their odd closure date- which is Monday. The cupcakes are also a bit pricey $2.75 for one- but keep in mind this is coming from a very frugal Utah girl. Go in with a buddy and split a half dozen and each cupcake becomes $2.50 a piece.

What's Georgetown without the shopping?! There a a gazillion overly priced designer stores and small boutiques. Expect to spend $395 on a pair of shoes... that in my opinion I wouldn't buy for $20... or go to stores like Banana Republic, H&M, Barnes and Noble etc. for more reasonable prices. One store I would recommend is LUSH. Try out their soft hands scrub kit and you will never want to go back to Bath and Bodyworks or Mary Kay Satin Hands again. They use all natural products and their prices aren't completely ridiculous when you compare the quality of their products.

Walking around Georgetown and just photographing the architecture is great too. Don't forget to pack a mini umbrella though. It's rained every single day since I got here. It looks like the weather will be great and then you get sneak attacked by an early evening thunderstorm that leaves you drenched in 2.5 seconds. It also gets very chilly when this happens so pack a fall/spring coat. Don't go through Rock Creek Park without a large group though. The park is too large to be patrolled so it's not exactly safe. But be sure to smile at all of the "homeless" people, they're pretty nice even if you don't give them any cash.

And of course, most importantly, Have fun!

National Archives, and more fun

Hiya! I'm living in Washington DC for the summer so I'm definitely ready to give you the tips to traveling! There will be several posts so if you're planning a trip to DC, just click on the "tag" for DC, or food in DC... whatever!

Evan had a surprise day off of his internship today because the power was out in his building- hurray! So he called me up & I rode "The Circulator" out to Union Square to meet him (the bus is about 65 cents cheaper than the metro- if you're a penny pincher it's great- plus you get to see the city instead of some dark tunnel...). We ended up going to the National Archives, "stole" the Declaration of Independence, messed around in there- THERE"S A TON OF READING TO DO- the new style of museum is to have a gazillion pictures & signs that quite frankly overshadow the artifacts... I'm not sure I like it- too much going on visually & I'm a visual learner! Whatever- Evan liked it. The bad thing about the National Archives... ok two bad things... ok three....

1- It's way too dark to take a decent photo- we didn't even try because - with my extensive photography background- I know that you CANNOT get a photo to turn out with people in extreme low light conditions... It's either blurry (most likely the case as a slow shutter creates movement) or way too pixellated- this is from having to up your ISO (or "film" speed) to 3200. But of course, everyone still tries.

2- The Guards are NAZIS- enough said

3- You have to wait in line for a ridiculous amount of time. School isn't even out yet here & there was about a 30 minute wait standing in line... lame. Don't even bother trying to go if school's out & you see a billion children running around. It'll take hours.

Funny misconception... The Declaration of Independance that's on display is one of the original copies made and signed by the Founding Fathers... it's not THE declaration that was sent to King George... I'm sure he tore that one right up.

OK- the rest of the archives is cool though 1- because National Treasure plays through your head while you're wandering around... and 2- you get to learn a ton of cool facts- they even have a video of George W playing in the snow as a baby.... I'd love to see all of the old videos they've got! You also can pose for President. Oh that Evan! ;)

For lunch we went to Au Bon Pain---

	Au Bon Pain - www.aubonpain.com 700 13th St NW # 1, Washington - (202) 639-0846 4 reviews, directions, menu, and more »
	Au Bon Pain - www.aubonpain.com 1401 I St NW # 1, Washington - (202) 842-2467 4 reviews, directions, menu, and more »
	Au Bon Pain - www.aubonpain.com 2000 Pennsylvania Ave NW # 8, Washington - (202) 887-9215

very tasty, if it's cold out get the soup & breadbowl. If you have a small stomace get the soup & a normal roll... not breadbowl- they're huge. I'd recommend the broccolio cheddar, Evan got the thai curry. The croissants are genuine French style pastries- yummers! Expect a crisp shell!

Lastly for today- if it happens to give you a torrential downpour in June- go play in it! We were only outside for 5 minutes & were both completely drenched. Floods in the street- very fun!