Man are my legs tired...!

More on the climb later, but here's the synopsis:
... it was cold
... it was very challenging
... it was incredibly beautiful and amazing and WE DID IT!

Enjoy the picture in the meantime! This is Eric and I on our second to last day after the summit.

Getting ready for the climb...

So here we are, at the base of Kili in Arusha town. On the flight here the pilot pointed out the mountain, and the plane was flying at the same height as the peak! Holy moly! I can't believe I am going to climb that beast!

We start tomorrow, and I can't wait. I have all of my long underwear, mittens, gaiters, etc ready to go, and I'm tramping around Arusha trying to further break in my boots. This should really be the culmination of this trip, and I'm so stoked!

More later in 7 days after we summit and descend!

Much love...

The end of Phase I

We moved from the beach to Ubud last Saturday, after recovering from JT's birthday celebration (which was fun and boozy but remarkably tame, due to Seminyak's strangely quiet nightlife).

Life in Ubud... this place is a little inland, about 2 hours from the beach towns that we were hanging out it.. but the island is so small, it feels like we barely moved...

The big deal in Ubud is that there was a major cremation ceremony there while we were there. Apparently it was the biggest event in Bali in the last 30 years, and we had no idea it was happening! 2 members of the royal family passed away and so they were having a big cremation ceremony. It's a 5 day+ affair, where they build these huge plaster bulls (like 40 feet tall and 100 ft long) and put the bodies on floats and parade them through the streets out of town and then burn them. The actual cremation was Tuesday (the day that I left) so we watched a part of it before I sent myself to the airport. Basically it was EVERYONE from Bali on 4 city blocks of Ubud, craning their necks trying to get a view of the 200 guys carrying the bull-floats on their shoulders.

Monday in Ubud was actually REALLY fun. We went on an "eco trek," which my friend Amanda said she went on and loved. It involved a 1 hour drive, then breakfast with a view of Mount Batur (which we had climbed at 2am on SUNDAY morning during a "sunrise" hike, not-so-aptly named, as we didn't even see the sun due to fog!). Then we stopped at a model plantation, where we sampled tamarillo, passion fruit, mangos, oranges, and drank coffee from Balinese coffee beans. MMMM!!!

Then we got on bikes and road 25km (about 90% of it was downhill, which is so that the tour can be offered to all sorts of people!). THEN we did an optional 10km which was all uphill, and kinda tough at times, especially since my gears kept slipping (eventually my poor guide just traded bikes with me!) But the whole ride was SO beautiful-- rice paddies, villages, local temples.

Our guide on the eco-trek was hilarious. His nickname was Jering (which apparently means spikey hair, which was TOTALLY appropriate!) and he loves Rancid and Green Day and Blink 182... so funny. He was 19 but looked not a day over 15. But an AWESOME guide. He told us so much about Balinese culture and homelife, etc. Really interesting.

My last days in Bali were bittersweet... leaving the girls was sad, and I will definitely miss them, but I'm excited for the next phase of my journey.

I'm now in Dubai with my Uncle, Aunt, and cousin, who are showing me a good time in the 100+ degree heat! My uncle was so sweet and picked me up at 4am, even though he had to wait because the airline lost one of my bags (the one with all of my Hoi An creations, too! Eek!)

More details on Dubai (and whether or not I got my bag!) later!

(Sorry, Pictures are not uploading! All I have are some monkeys at Uluwatu temple in Bali.. Enjoy!)

More Island Paradise...

Ok, so I'm officially in heaven. Bali is almost perfect. The beaches are beautiful, the weather is temperate, and the people are gorgeous and really nice. I know, life's tough.

We've been here almost 5 days and I'm loving it. The journey from Chiang Mai to Bali was a 48 hour sleepless endeavour, so the paradise-like surroundings were a welcome change. Our hotel is beautiful, right on the beach in a less crazy part of the island, but NEAR enough to the craziness that we can still partake if we want.

We've spent our days taking advantage of the chill scene. I've been running and doing yoga, Christy and I went surfing twice, which was awesome. The first time, we were a little scared because the waves looked huge and we weren't familiar with the area. But we didn't want to take a lesson because both of us had had enough lessons before. So we just paid this local Balinese "instructor" (a liberal use of the word-- he also rents out beach chairs in between instructions to his students!) who we called the big Kahuna (because of his mullet and pot belly) to just go out with us and basically supervise for awhile. It was perfect. We built up our confidence as he occasionally shouted out to us, "Now, paddle paddle!" and then we were off on our own. SO fun.

Yesterday all three of us went on a dive trip to Tulamben, on the eastern part of the island. It's the site of a shipwreck from WWII; I had seen some wrecks while diving in South Africa, but this was unbelievable. The sealife had taken over the ship, and it was really beautiful. An easy but really fun dive.

Today was more yoga and relaxing, and then tonight (because it is Janet's birthday- HAPPY BIRTHDAY JANET!) we are going to have a nice dinner and go out on the town! A few more days here on the beach, and then we're heading to Ubud, in the middle of the island, the cultural capital, for art, yoga, dancing, and hiking!

I don't want this trip to end!!

Last days in Thailand...

We're winding up our last day in Chiang Mai and our second to last day in Thailand. Today we spent the whole day at the best cooking school in Chiang Mai. It was amazing-- we went through 6 courses throughout the day, of course eating our creation after every single one. The school was really great, they started with a thorough intro to Thai ingredients, even telling us what we could substitute in our own countries if we couldn't find the exact thing. They gave me special substitutes for all of the meat dishes, too. We got cookbooks, too, so that we could recreate everything at home. SO good. At the end, I was so full I could barely walk!

Tonight we are taking an overnight bus (eek!) to Bangkok, where we plan to while away the day before we head to Bali tomorrow night. Bali! So excited. It's supposed to be amazing beaches, food, and people there. In fact, I've been warned a number of times how mezmerising the Balinese can be... Hmm....

Some pictures from Banteay Srei in Angkor Wat, Ko Phi Phi and the cooking school...

In north country...

A lot has happened in a few days! I don't even really know what day it is anymore...

After Ko Tao we headed over to Koh Phi Phi, another island off of the southern coast of Thailand. This journey involved another (eventful) boat ride. Christy had an unfortunately timed bout of food poisoning, and was puking off of the dock until we boarded, but trooper that she was, she hung in there and 12 hours later we were lounging in an air conditioned hotel room and Christy was passed out. Poor girl.

Koh Phi Phi was... great. It was our first real BEACH time (laying out, reading, etc), but it was nice for a day. The first night, we had drinks at the Sunset Bar (watching the sunset, duh) and met a crew of people, including some Brasilians who appeared to know life on the island well. They introduced us to amateur Thai boxing, where they incentivize drunk tourists to "try out" Thai boxing on one another for the reward of free drinks for the winner. Smart idea. You know another smart idea that they invented on Koh Phi Phi? Fire jump roping. Yup, drunk people love to do that, too...

The next day, we did a sunset boat ride, which may have been a highlight of my trip. We went snorkeling on a beautiful reef, kayaking, and best of all, we saw THE beach. Like, from the movie, The Beach. Now, some of you may know that this is one of my favorite movies, and I was SO excited to go there. I thought it would be touristy, and crowded, and probably a total letdown. So I was completely shocked when it was one of the most BEAUTIFUL beaches I had ever seen. Practically untouched (it's a national park), and virtually no tourists (only our boat of about 15 people). The water was as warm as bathwater and as blue as sapphire. Incredible. Best 400 Baht I ever spent!

After Koh Phi Phi we spent a day in Phuket Town, just for a change, and then headed up north to Chiang Mai, one of the cultural centers of Thailand. Today we went on a "jungle trek," which included elephant riding (cheesy but kind of cool), waterfall (pretty), and rafting (nothing compared to Bujugali in Uganda!). All in all, a pleasant day...

Tomorrow we are in an all day cooking class... yummm!!!!