Mom & I go Country, Rock, and Soul

A few years ago, my mom and I started a tradition of marking things off her bucket list for her birthday each year. This year's item was: Experience the Music in Nashville & Memphis.

Mom flew into Nashville on a Tuesday, where I picked her up after my drive down from Cincy and dropped off our stuff at Ralph's, who we'd be staying with for our time there. Ralph was my neighbor my last 2 years in Austin, who ventured to Nashville (with a pitstop in Cincy at one point ;)) for bigger and better things :) Then first things first: BBQ time. Headed to Wild Horse Saloon for some brisket and pulled pork buns and thankfully left just before they were going to start making us do two-step on stage ;) Went back home, met Ralph's wonderful roommie Jim, and then they took us out to 5 Points for some great live music and cheap beers!

The next day before we headed out to do our touristy sightings, our musical trip became even more complete with Ralph's drumming lessons. Note: I can't multitask. Apparently. Then headed to the Grand Ole Opry... whiiiich, honestly, kinda a disappointment. 1) New mall-like building (there's actually a mall next to it), 2) You're not even allowed to go inside without a ticket to a 'spensive show or a $30 "tour ticket", and 3) tours were cancelled that day for a private event anyway. Pshh. So the highlight was rummaging around their gift shop. Dissatisfied with THIS Grand Ole Opry, we realized what we were looking and hoping for was the Ryman Auditorium, where the Grand Ole Opry radio show FIRST debuted in this once-congregation-hall. Bam. Way more impressive. THIS was where all the country stars became famous and it became known as the "Mother Church of Country Music". 

We hit up Broadway st, and after getting ice cream and shakes at Diana's Old Time Sundae Parlor, deciding not to spend more money at the Country Hall of Music Museum (we only had half an hour left anyway), we plopped ourselves down at Tootsie's, got some beers, and listened to a red-headed country singin' gal and some impressive fiddle music. Too bad I forgot my country boots.

We had promised the boys dinner for their hospitality, so we hit up Kroger, and mom made her famous chilli dinner for them (enough to feed 8). Another night of good quality late night chats, then we hit the sack.

Our last day in Nashville, the boys joined us to the Belle Meade Plantation, which is known for owning horses that spawned many of the famous Derby winners. We toured the mansion and its grounds, tasted their wines at the winery, then headed out to Memphis. Crazy rain storms hit us while we were driving, where I think I was drifting more than my wheels were on the ground. Eek. Got to our hotel in Downtown Memphis and thankfully we had bought a bottle of champagne prior in order to toast to mom's birthday at midnight :)

The next morning we make our way to see the Peabody ducks. Cutest. thing. ever. For the past 50+ years, there's been a "duckmaster" that leads the ducks from their "penthouse" to the elevator to the fountain in the lobby. Adorbs. We then make our way to the Rock n Soul Museum, which besides all the information and history on the music, had a collection of old time jukeboxes since the 1930s. Neat!

Then... it's Graceland time. What my mom's been waiting for ;) The mansion itself is pretty modest (compared to today's lavish mansions) and you get a good feel of what Elvis was like at home. In the end, he was just a small town boy who wanted the best for his momma. Well... and then owning over 40 cars later. And 2 planes. After Graceland (and its many many exhibits -- kinda has that Disney feel to it), we hit up Sun Studios -- where it all started for Elvis, BB King, and so many others. This was my favorite part of the day. It's riveting to be in the same space where prior "nobodies" recorded their first songs. So cool.

For dinner, we ate at a Chinese restaurant where our waiter was Balinese and mom got to practice her Indonesian (and I got to understand about 50% of it!), and then headed to Beale st for some more live music. However, we didn't stick around too long... being a tourist is exhausting, so we called it a night ;)

On our way back to Cincy, we spent a night with mom's old childhood friend in Clarksville, IN, and were spoiled by them. More birthday celebrations and then the next day headed home!

We took a one-day break, then headed to Berlin, OH with Kris & Maria for Amish country. Turns out it's not so Amish after all. Amish women driving cars, cheese factory with electricity and machines, and hardly any buggies. Whaat the hell. *Disappointed in the unfulfilled stereotypes*. Oh but still a fun time with friends. ...And we stopped at a vineyard on the way home, so that helped ;) 

My Destination's "Biggest Baddest Bucket List" Travel Competition

Here's where I make a complete fool out of myself. Vote for me please! :D

                               

Retirement Trip Close-out

Tonight marks 2 weeks since I've been back from my trip. It always fascinates me how fast everything goes back to "normal" and I just cue in to this rotating wheel of society that's of course been running without me :) Hello freezing weather. There's some faint memory of me being on a beach not too long ago ;)

So quick recap of the end of my trip, and well, everything... 

Bali. The honeymoon destination. I feared it would be too commercial. Too many foreigners. Ruined culture.

Wrong.

One reason probably being that we steered clear of the very touristy areas (Kuta, Nusa Dua) and got the amazing opportunity to stay at my mom's friends' vacation home a little off the beaten path in Pecatu. Kelly joined us after a day (3 countries total of Kelly time!) and we all fell in love with the island... the abundance of green rice fields, the coffee plantations, the artists' shops, the Hindu influence and temples, the monkey forest, the various types of beaches, the food...

We also pampered ourselves by taking mom's friend's advice on a hotel called Abalone Resort. Pa.ra.dise. Located on a black sand beach with scattered fishing boats and Nusa Penida in the distance, we were given the "apartment" with 2 pristine bedrooms, bathrooms, living room, and kitchen. And there's an infinity pool with cabanas. Oh, and we were welcomed with "Abalone Special" drinks. We had booked for 1 night. We ended up staying for 2.

All in all, a perfect way to end the 2.5 month trip. Relaxing. On the 25th, Kyle and I took a flight to Jakarta and then parted ways. She traveled with me for 2 months in Asia... and I gotta say, the best travel buddy I could have asked for :) Thanks for being awesome. (I miss you!)

So now that I'm back, people have been asking me, "What was your favorite thing?" A near-impossible question to answer ;) But I'll try to simplify it as much as possible to what my favorite thing was about each country...

• Ireland -- The vibe (Er, maybe I should say "craic"). These people know how to have a good time.

• Netherlands -- Family & friends (no brainer here ;))

• Istanbul -- The sights. One city has so much history and amazing things to see.

• India -- The colors. There's color everywhere... the houses, the clothes, the food...

• Cambodia -- The people. They're friendly and honest (something you don't find in a lot of developing countries. Scratch. Any country.)

• Thailand -- The beaches. The most beautiful ones I've seen, ever.

• Indonesia -- The food. Mostly for nostalgic reasons, but I also think I got the most variety here. 

And, of course, over all... all the amazing wonderful friends, new and old, along the way...

I miss it all though. I want to go back. And not in a "Oh, it'd be nice to visit again one day" kind of way. No, I wanna go BACK... be there, live there. Mission Get-My-Ass-to-Live-in-SE-Asia has started. 

School starts in August. They recommend being there a month beforehand. My cousin gets married in Germany in June... I'm thinking (if it's both financially feasible and NOM-business feasible), to just hang out in Europe after the wedding til school starts. That gives me 2.5 months to absorb as much of Cincy and its wonderful people as possible, sell/lease my condo, sell my car, figure out visa crap and housing stuff in France, get a loan (freakin' A, B-school is expensive!), and try to squeeze in some US last-minute trips if possible. Impossible, you say? Maybe. And maybe the cause of why I'm feeling sliiiightly overwhelmed. It'll all work out.

It always does :)

The Motherland

We arrived in Jakarta on Chinese New Year's Eve close to midnight and were welcomed with fireworks all along our taxi drive to our hostel. We left early next morning to catch the 8 am train to Yogyakarta... While this is in no way a substantial time in Jakarta, I was hoping to recognize SOMETHING in those few hours... Some glimmer of what I recall as some of my favorite years of my childhood that were in Jakarta. Granted, my memories include my best friends' houses and my elementary school, not the banks and high rise buildings in downtown Jakarta. So as I looked out the train window (which, btw, super nice train complete with cheap lunch service delivery, good way to travel in Indonesia), nothing stirred a familiar memory of this city.

However, as we got out of the city, the rice fields with workers wearing the typical cone shaped hats appeared and the lush green landscapes with palm trees and banana trees. Not to sound dramatic here, but something hit home. A part of me is FROM here and belongs here, these are the people I look like. This is my country.

As we spent the next few days in Yogya with our host showing us around, more familiarities showed up: the Indonesian words my mom uses in her daily language, like barang (baggage), adu! (goodness!), kasian (poor thing), and more (which makes me miss her); Indonesian foods I remember fondly (nasi goreng, soto ayam, sate, babi kecap, krupuk, etc.); and slowly some words and phrases were coming back to me. Not in any way where I could hold a conversation with anyone, but just that I would smile when I caught a word or two while others were conversing :)

In Yogya, we went to Borobudur (buddhist temple), saw a Ramayana dance at Prambanan (a Hindu temple), got to "teach" English to young kids at our host's school foundation (adorable!), went to one of his senior centers, and ate at a lot of great local restaurants. This is the country where I'm waking up ALL of my taste buds.

Next we headed to Malang, to be in proximity to Mt Bromo, the volcano we wanted to visit. Malang was the best choice ever (thank you, Kyle). We stayed with THE nicest people there. Richard and his family treated us like family, giving us one of their bedrooms (!!), feeding us, and taking us around EVERYWHERE! More than family, we were being spoiled :) Firstly, Richard picked us up from the train station at 5 am (we had taken the night train from Yogya and had planned to wait a few hours until a decent time) and after a nap, took us around the city with his friend on their motorbikes. The next day we went to Sempu Island with their friends and hiked through the jungle to arrive at a most pristine lagoon. Day after, trip to Batu waterfalls and the Eco Green Park (fun, even though it rained buckets), ate durian (yesssssss!), and then got picked up near midnight to catch the sunrise at Bromo. Did I mention the whole family was wonderful? The dad drove us to the bus station, despite the traffic, and leaving them felt like leaving our family (mom even gave us boxes of baked goods she made for us). Richard and his sister waved us out as our bus departed. I hope we see them again :)

We are now on our way to Bali, the last trek to our whole trip... I won't lie, I'm sad this trip is ending. Two and a half months really flew by and we experienced SO much. India feels like years ago and don't get me started on Ireland (that was THIS trip??). We have one week left here, then back to the US (with a small 2 day stint in Ireland). The kick off for NOM is the day after I get back and I'm excited to immerse myself in that again, especially since Sally has been doing all the work since I've been gone (thanks, Sally!). Even though I don't have a job I'll be coming back to, I'll be staying busy, which I'm looking forward to :)

Ok. So, Bali for one week. We're staying at my mom's friends' vacation home (SO nice of them!) in a more remote part (bring on the relaxation!). Planning to soak up as much of this while I can!

Wats Wats & More Wats

People had warned us about the ordeal to cross the Cambodia-Thailand border, but what's a backpacker trip without experiencing the real deal?

The plan was to take a bus to the border, walk over, grab a tuk tuk to the train station, and do the last leg to Bangkok by train. We left our hotel in Siem Reap (the same one Maria had stayed at almost exactly a year ago!) at 6:30 am to wait at a pick up point at 7. We got transported from one location to another and were finally underway on bus around 9. The border took more than 2 hours of waiting in the sweltering heat (insert nice little mental image of Kyle and I dripping with sweat), so by the time we crossed the border, there was no way we'd catch the train at 1:45 pm. Finally got put into a minibus that flew over pot holes like crazy and seemed to stop at every other gas station and made it to Bangkok around 7 pm, where we got dropped off at the skytrain to find our way to our hostel. Success!

[Two] nights in Bangkok. A short stint there, but nothing but extraordinary. Thai people are super helpful. Every time Kyle and I pulled out our map, an elder Thai man would come up to us and ask if we needed help and gave us suggestions of where to go. Two out of those 5 times, we were shoved into cheap tuk tuks after the elder man negotiated a cheap price with the driver (note: if you travel to Thailand, drive with the government tuk tuks... Way cheaper) and taken our merry way to a bunch of attractions. It just so happened that it was a special buddhist holiday while we were there so we got to go into a bunch of wats that are usually not open to the public :) So many wats. I think we saw 5 in one day. Very cool. (Towards the end... "another wat, another Buddha"). Went on the backwaters of Bangkok, ate street food in the back alleys, and saw more wats. The second day we were resting up from a day of walking in Lumphini park (where the Thai like to group exercise) when I noticed everyone had stopped dead in their tracks. A second later the national anthem started playing and after it was over, people resumed their jogging. Interesting, and weirdly twilight zone-ish. Apparently this happens everyday at 8 am and 6 pm. One can even be arrested for not stopping during the song because it's disrespectful. Good thing we stopped walking too. We made a quick beer stop at Patpong, I got pooped on by a bird (that's lucky, right?), and then we caught the night train to Koh Tau.

We arrived in Koh Tau at 11 am after the train/ferry (the latter of which the people's  nausea on either side of us couldn't handle). Met up with our French host and during our 4 days, met half the French community of Koh Tau ;) It was the night before my birthday and the Frenchies decided to help me celebrate. Thank you, Kyle, for taking care of the aftermath :) Our last full day on Koh Tau we went diving and snorkeling. Best.diving.ever. (Well, of the 3 places I've been to, but this IS considered a diving paradise). Saw stingrays, turtle, lionfish, baracuda, and other creatures whose names I can't remember :P

Koh Phangan is where we reunited with Kelly :) For the couple of days we were there, we balanced our big habit of eating a lot with a LOT of hiking. A larger island than Koh Tau, but less touristy and more habitable (whereas everyone on Koh Tau was a scuba instructor and an expat).

Two days later, we made our way to the west side of Thailand: Krabi. Definitely a more family friendly destination (and honeymooners for that matter) and understandably so... We took a boat to Railay which so far has my favorite soft sand beaches surrounded by giant cliffs.  We treated ourselves to a nice hotel with AC, got upgraded (again, my luck ;), and scoped out the beaches on this peninsula.

Our last day in Thailand we spoiled ourselves with some Thai massages. Oh my God. These ladies worked their full muscles into our bodies, it hurt, but felt so good. Knots? Gone. A very intimate back cracking experience...

Twelve hours of travel (another 6 hour layover in our favorite airport: Singapore, where we explored the butterfly garden and koi pond) and now we're in Indonesia, the motherland :)

Same same but different

Here's an attempt to writing a post from my phone, since I can't seem to find the time otherwise :) Currently en route to Krabi from Koh Phangan via bus after catching the ferry this afternoon. This so far has been the least stressful day of travel compared to others. Whoever started managing "joint tickets" combining ferry, bus, and trains in Thailand... Bless them.

Ok. So since last time a lot has happened. Let's start with Cambodia!

Jan 15- 25 Phnom Penh (and Kep)

Our first week Kyle and I stayed with Craig, who I had met in Cincy once. Blast of a time. Ate a lot of good food and learned a lot about the Cambodian culture (including about bar girls which the title of this post is a movie of). The prior king had died in October, yet they were still mourning until February and had his picture posted everywhere.

Cambodia. To be completely honest, I knew little to nothing about it or their history. "Khmer Rouge" was just a faint memory from high school history, but after our 2 weeks there, I can assure you I'm now more knowledgeable (Mr. Powell would be so proud). Despite their horrific and bloody (and pretty recent) past, they are the friendliest folk. Maybe because tourism is still relatively "new" to their country, but they treated us with honesty everywhere and not once did we get scammed. Tuk tuk drivers became friends and moto taxis were safe modes of transportation (especially compared to India ;)).

Went to Cambodia because I wanted to meet up with Kelly who is doing this cool project where she's painting murals for non profits. I was supposed to go to Zimbabwe with her in November, but the timing hadn't worked out then :( What we thought would take 2+ weeks of painting, we ended up finishing in 3 days ;) That's what we call amazing teamwork, people! Had a lot of fun painting with her.

The weekend before we took a quick trip to Kep and Rabbit Island (a 20 min boat ride). While this is the "holiday getaway" from the city, it was the most peaceful laid back town with little tourists. Granted, a lot more French people, but overall tourism hadn't chirped this beachside town yet. Spent a day at Rabbit Island trekking around in the jungle and laying on the beach, then eating delicious blue crab at night. I even had another successful bike ride there! ;)

Jan 25-28 Siem Reap

A seven hour bus ride to Siem Reap from Phnom Penh but totally worth it. Cambodia's landscape its hiked with these beautiful gates that mark each of the provinces. On the bus ride (and the one from Kep), I started capturing some of them when I could. Each is so intricately detailed and different from the other, even for what looks like the poorest of towns. I think I'll make a collage out if them. Other things noticed on the bus rides: all cows are white (or off white) and houses are built on stilts for the rainy season in the summer. Apparently then the water levels can get so high, villages look like they're floating on water (some are). Our bus also made a couple of pit stops where you can get your fresh array of fried tarantulas, crickets, and beetles. Yum.

Siem Reap is where Angkor Wat is located. Actually, Angkor Wat is just one of the many amazing temples. There's a whole hoard of them! We spent a whole day climbing them (in the western world this would never be allowed)... Temples over 800 years old, some covered with overgrown trees. Awesome. Note, if you decide to climb all the temples, you will be utterly pooped by the end of the day.

The next day we got a blind massage (mom, if you're reading this, my masseuse wasn't as good as yours), went to the Old Market, and took in an Apsara dance with dinner.

Alright, we're supposedly close to our destination, so the Thailand post will have to wait. P.s. I'm still loving my life :)

I is for Istanbul and India

So blog updates aren't happening as frequently as I initially had planned... because overall, I'm staying too busy vacationing ;) But! I have a few minutes on UD's laptop, so here goes a quick recap of the past 3 weeks or so

Oh, before Istanbul... the rest of my time in the Netherlands was fantastic. Spent New Year's at my aunt's place in the center of Amsterdam with great friends and family (my cousin and her fiance came to visit from Germany!), then flew off the next day.

24 Hours in Istanbul
I had the option of having a 6 hour or 24 hour layover for my flight to New Delhi... so I chose to see the much dreamed of city in a day. I had once met up with a couchsurfer from Istanbul in Cincinnati, and while he wasn't there to show me around, he arranged his good friend to give me the best snapshot of the city I could have asked for in 24 hours.

Great Kurdish dinner -- real Turkish coffee -- seeing that one-important-street-whose-name-he-told-me-to-remember -- attempting to play the Kanun -- the most amazing Kanun music he played -- drinking Raki (Rika?...sorry, awful memory) and some kind of root juice and eating Turkish cheese -- going to the Blue Mosque, Hagia Sophia (ohmyyyyygawwwwddd), and the Palace all in one afternoon -- taking a ferry to the Asian side ("Hi Asia! I'll be back tomorrow!") -- taking a stroll through the Spice Bazaar -- then off to the airport with minutes to spare (I ended up having a 6 hour layover, so it was all good :)).

Thank you thank you thank you, Saner.

10.5 Days in India
Not sure how much detail I can go into here because we did A LOT and I only have a few minutes to spare...

UD is awesome. He took off 11 days from work to show Kyle and me around A LOT of India. We were constantly moving. His parents were awesome too. We were constantly fed (speaking of which, eating hasn't stopped at any point in time on this trip so far...).

First few days we spent around Delhi and Rajasthan (sp? again, sorry) -- saw the fort in Amber, went past Jaipur, spent a night in Rathumbar (sp....again...sorry... I can spell check when I get back to the US), and did a safari! Last night in Delhi, UD drove us around to a lot of the highlights there :) We drove through a loooot of villages. India is so colorful... in the dress, trucks, houses, everything.

Then off on a flight to Goa. The famed hippie party beach Goa. Definitely saw some more tourists around here. And understandingly why they accumulate at some of these really nice beaches for months. UD (illegally? hah) rented a car and we drove around to the beaches in South and North Goa for a couple of days and our last night we danced our butts off at Tito's in Arunja. Interesting. Men LOVE to dance here. In fact, you'll hardly see any ladies (hence why entrance is free for us, yet 1500 Rupees for men). And they won't approach you. They might stare, but they wouldn't dare touching you. Ah, nice. But yes, back to the dancing. Men loving to dance. Fantastic.

Then flight to Kochi in Kerala. Layover in Bangalore where our flight had been an hour delayed, but because I'm the luckiest person in the world, the other flight had waited for us and we were escorted on. Kerala is definitely more laid back (beach towns in general?). People are friendly and generally more approachable. It's called God's Own Country. No wonder. It's beautifully lush and has stretches of nice sands and peaceful backwaters -- "the Venice of India". Took a trip out to Cherai beach and spent a night there at a CSer. Next day we went to Allillepey (sp...) where we took a houseboat trip for 21 hours. Best. thing. ever. HIGHLY recommended. You float through the gorgeous backwaters, step inside some of the waterside small villages, choose which fresh fish you want cooked for dinner, (get fed constantly again,) and enjoy the serene scenery. So. Relaxing. Next day, Supi (our driver for 3 days and fantastic drummer) took us to...(frick...another name I don't remember...) Aliithhgrhgjgfd waterfalls. Another breathtaking view (pics to be uploaded later some time!)

Kyle and I got spoiled on this part of the trip. Drivers, people that carry our luggage, free time shares, servants making our food... Hope we didn't get used to this because I have a feeling the rest of this trip won't be like this :) (Thank you, UD!!!)