Why I'm here

About a year ago I realized that I was going back and forth to work each day, and then doing the same ol’ stuff when not at work. It was all good stuff, but admittedly, sometimes I dreaded work (even though I almost always enjoyed it while actually there.) I had a great job, and a great life in many respects. But still, I was getting stuck in the day to day that is called American life. I was making money to support a life that wasn’t quite satisfying to me right now. I was the American consumer who needed more money than someone else just because I could make more money, so I needed it! I didn’t hate my life and I didn’t need to escape… I just wanted something else at this time while I am still single, unattached, and have the drive to actually get out of my comfort zone and go! I wanted to see the world and live for experience and growth, and I was afraid that if I didn’t fulfill that strong, innate desire of mine then I would quickly become very unhappy. So I saved money as I dreamt and planned and longed for my trip for months!

And, now I am here, in Malaysia, 8 weeks into it! It is still surreal!!!! It is definitely an alternative lifestyle though, which thousands of other backpackers, mostly Europeans and Australians, are participating in as well. Many Americans call it my long vacation, an early retirement, escaping real life, a quarter life crisis, or a European type holiday… but in the end… a day is still a day, in which I live, and every moment is just life. Doing life in a little bit of a different way! Yea, I’m on Holiday, and this Holiday is called my life! ;) As John Mayer says best, “I’d love to tell you, stay inside the lines. But some things are better on the other side… there’s no such thing as the real world, just a lie you need to rise above.”

Over the past week or two I have been asking myself, What I have learned so far? & Has it changed me?
The answer to both of those questions is- SO INCREDIBLY MUCH. Which is the reason for this blog. I don’t just want to tell the people in my life about what I am doing… but about why, and how I felt. A trip like this is not purely for fun or the constant pursuit of positive emotions, it is to track and take hold of other elements to well being, life, relationships, and ultimately the meaning of my own life as it relates to the world around me and the rest of the world so far from me.

The fact that I feel the need to travel and see the world is definitely an inherent desire. Who knows why I am blessed (or cursed) with this, but damn it, I am going to live it up while I can!  So, welcome to my blog “Expressive Aphasia in Asia”. Look to the left for the reason for the title, and you will be sure to excuse me when I just cannot describe something fully… you really just have to be here!!! ;)

PS- is the dude in this picture not the epitome of a life well lived!!

Week 7

It has been so long since I have written! This sounds crazy, but I have been too busy! Lol. But really, since I last wrote, we traveled up to Siem Reap, Cambodia to see the Angkor ruins. This city in ruins is sometimes called the 8th wonder of the world, and is the largest site of its kind. We spent just 2 days seeing some of the biggest and best temples, but you could easily do it for many more days. The short of the long is that it was amazing! I LOVE walking in the places where such a different world used to exist so long ago, and still seeing the remains from that time. It made me remember my times in Rome and Pompei, and the Aztec ruins in Mexico. At Angkor, I could just imagine the people flocking to temple, the elephants dragging the stones, the spiritual meaning that that very spot held for them! We saw the actual “Tomb Raider Tree” from the movie, walked through and to the top of the Angkor Wat, tried to interpret the carvings on the walls, and climbed like monkeys to the tops of high ruins and trees. The design and architecture of the Angkor Wat dazzled me, because we tend to think that our knowledge and technology are so sophisticated, and that we have grown smarter as humans over the years… but at Angkor, I felt exactly the opposite! The Khmer architects knew what they were doing, and got it done in ways that we cannot ponder… without fancy equipment!! The temple was designed after the solar system, showing their knowledge, even then of the vastness out there. Nowadays, we are merely getting dumber… a few people are smart, and inventing things to make life easier for the rest of us, who think we are so superior to “cavemen”!! Ironic! However, the most fascinating thing to me was how the forest and the ruins had become one. After all this time, the creation of man still stood, but nature had grown through and around it, basically taking back its space, but embracing the buildings as well. My favorite was this one hallway of sorts, where the roof had collapsed, but in one place there were 3-4 huge bricks still holding as the roof, but because that was where a tree had grown, and was now supporting it. Very symbolic of human interaction with nature!?!?

After Cambodia, we had the worst, hottest, and most cramped over night mini bus ride across the border and then spent one night in Bangkok. There, we picked up a travel friend, Alicia, and us 3 ladies headed to the Thai island of Ko Phangan in time for the world-renowned full moon party. The monthly parties attract between 6,000 and 30,000 people to party on the beach all night long! It is said to be like the 8th biggest party in the world during high season. It’s kinda one of those things “you just gotta do in Thailand”. The area of beach where the party is held has just as many clinics as convenience stores, and they are well used during the crazy nights. There is even a designated sleeping area for people that pass out or can’t make it home, and we saw them carrying one dude out on a stretcher around 8 am. We spent 4 nights on the island, and the parties did not let us down! Neon body paint, buckets full of alcohol and mixers, fire jump rope, bumpin’ music of every different genre, and wild, out of their mind, people everywhere!!! Alicia, Leah, and I made it past sunrise the next day without acting too much a fool’ (at least in comparison to the other people around!) I have literally never ever laughed that much in a given 8 hour period as I did that night! Like cry laughing to the point where you don’t even bother to wipe the tears! It was AMAZING and one of the best nights of my life. We sadly had to part from Alicia that day, but it was soooo much fun having her with us, and can’t wait to see her again someday, somewhere in the world!!! <3 We meet a lot of people along the travel road, and say goodbye to them all, but it is so good to have one of those people who is not just a friend in passing!!

Currently Leah and I just left the island of Ko Tao, where we took a 4 day long open water PADI scuba certification course. Best part of the course (out of water) was learning the mechanics of the body under water, and the physiological effects to plan a dive to avoid decompression sickness. We can now flash our cards internationally, for the rest of our lives to see the world underwater. As a traveler, this kind of exploration just makes sense. There is more undiscovered area under water than on land, and to only travel and see the land, would be cheating nature and my passion for seeing the entirety of the world! So, underwater exploration, here I come. The splendor beneath the surface has already amazed me, plus, it’s just plain awesome to be floating and seemingly weightless down there!!!

Millions of leeches, leeches for me, millions of leeches, leeches for free

A few days ago we arrived in Kampot, a sleepy little riverside town in southern Cambodia with French style architecture by the river, mixed amongst the ruble and abandoned buildings from the war. The town has recovered well, but the evidence of the hard times can not be missed, and parts o fit remain a ghost town. Nowadays Kampot has a really chill vibe to it, just the right proportion of expats to locals, and it is obsessed with papasan chairs, everywhere you look! We found a relaxed guesthouse that costs us only 3 dollars a night for the 2 of us with a beautiful garden, good food, and a large communal area. I love this place! It is totally one of those places that you could get stuck in! After a few days of lazying around and hanging out with other travelers, we set off for a caving outside of town. As soon as we pulled up the little kids of the community jumped on our tuk tuk and named themselves our official guides. They had decent English skills, complete with words like "watch your head" and "stalagmites and stalactites". The cave was pretty awesome, but the children leading us through there and making really funny jokes was the real treat! Today was a Cambodian style spa in honor of 1 month of travel, and then we got a motor and took off 25km to the beach for a sunset crab dinner on the water. Cambodia, you have treated us well so far! We are now chillin in the garden with other people at our guesthouse, about to learn a Khmer card game and steal some sweet music to replace my played out ipod. Company includes Australian, German, Swedish, English, and Norwegian friends. It always blows my mind that we are here with all these people from around the world, and speaking English, my native language, but it is not their first language! How freaking spoiled we are!!!

So, after escaping Bangkok last week, Leah and I headed down to Ko Samet, a gorgeous island in the Gulf of Thailand, with a few expats, but mostly Thais on a holiday. The beach was white and soft as powder, and the water crystal clear and warm. I love love love little restaurants on the beach, and I swear, I am meant to live in Thailand because I love sitting on the floor at a bar, restaurant, or wherever. My home in the states one day, shall I ever return, will be full of floor pillows, short tables, and triangle pillows! After baking on the beach for a little while, Leah and I got a motorbike to explore the island. I am becoming quite the expert motor driver, up and down rough, rocky,muddy, sandy, hilly, dirt roads with a passenger! We found an awesome lookout spot by a rock cliff, and no one was around so we climbed down for a swim, and took advantage of the privacy to tan our whitest parts while swimming. ;) Ko Samet ended with some partying with a cool travel group and a little extreme chillin out at a utopic resort with plenty of hammock time, badminton, table tennis, good music, and pool.

From there we caught about 5 different modes of transportation to get across the border to Koh Kong, Cambodia, a town in the Cardemom mountains. We had an adventure filled 2 days there, 26 hours of which were spent in the jungle. We had 2 native Khmer guides take us trekking through the depths of the unspoiled jungle, tracking monkey calls, searching out wild life, and flicking off leeches every few minutes. I have a nice little leech hickey on my foot, and a blood stain on my sock from one of the bastards who got in! We made our way through a rough path to get to a powerful river with several large waterfalls, where we hung out, had lunch, enjoyed the awe of the waterfall, and watched the monkeys play in the trees! At dusk we made our way to a stream in the jungle to set up camp. The guys put up some kickin hammocks and we cooked BBQ on the fire, drank to a fun night in the wild, and boiled some Cardemom tree, for some good Cardemom tea, in the Cardemom mountains! It was perfect. That area of Cambodia is one of the places that is still unspoiled by tourism and capitalism in general. I have no doubt though that in 10 years from now we will return to see some huge eco tourism in those mountains, they just have so much to offer that there is no way travelers searching for something fresh can stay away for long! One of these days it will be impossible to travel the "road less traveled", and I am blessed to be enjoying exactly that right now!! :)

Off to Siem Reap in the morn!!!

Bangkok Blues

If a train is traveling south at approximately the speed I can run, and stops every few minutes, then how long will it take to arrive at a destination 751 km away? 15 and a half hours is the correct answer!


I am laying now in my sleeper bed on an overnight 15 hour long train from chiang mai to Bangkok, hoping I don’t roll off my top bunk on one of the turns, and batting the bugs away from me. The train was quite surprising at first, mostly because it looks like it should be in a junk yard somewhere, rusting away, or in a train museum. But after the initial shock it has proved to be a pretty sweet ride. I am soaking up the fresh air and beautiful mountain landscapes to a soundtrack of the noises of the wheels bumping across the track, the general creaking train, and the squeaky electric fan on the ceiling. (If I were a songwriter I would have some awesome beats to go by! Leah and I could jam to it even!) Being on this train is like being in one of those infant bouncy seats, just what I have always dreamed of as an adult! Its nice though cause leah, who is very prone to motion sickness, is doing well on it. The curves on the road from chiang mai to pai though were a different story for her. I think its 700 some curves on that ride, which I enjoyed like I was on a 2 hour long rollercoaster, but unfortunately the rest of the car did not!!


We ended up staying in Pai for 6 nights. It felt like 2! It was such a good and relaxing time. I cant really tell you what I did in Pai though, it all runs together. I know that there were 3 days of motorbike riding, exploring, waterfalls, swimming, hiking, a bunch of mornings, running into the afternoons spent in a cute little cafe or restaurant eating, chatting, or reading, and a bunch of nights partying with friends. I was sad to leave there, and my peaceful demeanor stayed behind in Pai, I hate to say… though I think it is more my reluctancy to move on to Bangkok, than anything else. My ultimate task will be to stay zen in the big city! Yea right! Cars, traffic, smog, malls... not what we are looking for!


Yesterday we got in a really great mountain bike ride in chiang mai. It rained the whole time though, making the challenging course very slippery. Lets just say that I have a few battle scars that I am proud of, and I loved every minute of it. So good to be back on a bike! My lower back was actually killing me the last day or 2 in Pai, and I thought it was going to make riding harder, but after the ride my back was cured… I guess it was missing being hunched over on a bike.


A friend here recently told me this quote, “there are friends for a reason, friends for a season, and friends for life.” I needed that reminder very much. I am trying to get used to the travelers mentality of people coming in and out of my life so quickly. Yes, it happens in normal life too, but I think it is to a much greater degree while traveling. And, even though I have basically moved every few years of my entire life, I have a hard time knowing someone and letting them go. Plus, I am possibly more sensitive to it now because of when I left the Philippines and basically cut off communication with my entire life over there. But back on point, I am learning to appreciate these friends for a reason and friends for a season, for what I am meant to give to them and receive from them. Shout out to the Pai treetop bar gang- miss you all! Thanks for an unforgettable time and your hospitality!!


Now to decide where next… we are leaning towards Cambodia… and will make a quick decision by this evening! Life is good. :)

"To the left, to the left"

i think it is about day 11 of our trip?? Leah and I are never sure what day it is, we are pretty sure that today is Thursday at least. Gotta love it! We just do what we want, always... its completely ridiculous and the the best feeling ever!



The rest of last week in Chiang Mai was great, filled with a Thai cooking class, Elephant conservation camp, Tiger kingdom, an afternoon by a pool, some more crazy water fights, temple visit, and a lot of relaxing and sleeping at the wrong times!!! We missed out on mountain biking because of some last minute decisions, but we are planning to get it in somewhere before heading south. The people that we meet everywhere that we go are amazing. The other day I had a wonderful chat with a holistic health doctor from Canada. She was here for "research" for a month or 2... that means 2 months of massages everyday and working on spiritual enlightenment! Every person that we meet is equally interesting and different in their own way, and for this part of our trip, I am so happy to meet them and exchange stories, or even just understand the other person because they are doing the same thing that you are so you can feel connected easily. The elephant park was a highlight for me, just playing with the elephants and walking around amongst them was cool. The US would never let people just casually hang with elephants!!! We watched them paint, play soccer, and play in the water together. crazy cute! Then we made some organic paper out of elephant dung and had a good time with the staff at the park. It is believed that Buddha was an elephant in one of his 18 lives, so we read all these tales about what he did as the elephant Buddha to teach lessons. For example, a beetle once found shelter in his dung, and when the beetle challenged the elephant Buddha, the Buddha peed on him to kill him. Lets just say i didn't challenge any of the elephants cause seriously, that waterfall of pee could kill! (Now you know, in case you should ever challenge a Buddha elephant... more lessons to come!)





We finished up our week in Chiang Mai on Tuesday and are now further to the northwest in a mountain town called Pai. It is AMAZING here, the scenery is gorgeous and the vibe is very very laid back. The mountains have chilled me out and made my heart smile. They are beautiful, and I almost can not believe where I am right now, it is too perfect. We are staying in a little elevated bamboo hut on the side of a river, hammock on the front porch and all! The town is full of foreigners from all over the world converging in this one place for a good cheap time with some like minded people... crazy and baffling concept, but awesome too. We are entirely too clean and put together though, so in order to fit in we are intending to grunge up... i think ill stay away from things like shaving, shampoo, and tight clothing for the week... "hippie" myself up a little!!!



Remember the previews for Eat Pray Love, when Julie Roberts is riding a cute little bike in Asia, I had that moment in Chiang Mai, as I took to the streets on my one speed bike with a basket on the front. I was trying to get used to driving on the left, before taking to something more powerful! Well, yesterday I have successfully navigated the country from the left side of the road. I was singing Beyonce ("everything you own in a box to the left") the whole time though, as to not let is escape my mind for a split second. I think i only messed up once, but it was when we were driving up a mountain to waterfall, and the local woman were on the side of the road gesturing for us to stop and buy drugs from them, that is of course why all westerners go to this particular waterfall right!? ;) My train of thought was gone and I was all the sudden driving on the right!!! Right turns are the most difficult, but today I have mastered them on the way to another waterfall! Yep, another waterfall, on my motorbike, in sunny hot Thailand, with friends, in the mountains! :)



Today Leah said something hilarious as we passed a napping dog. She was like, "this is the first time in a long time that I have not been jealous of a dogs life, I'm so happy with my own". Its random, but come on, everyone has at one time looked at our pampered dogs and cats on our way out the door to work, and wished to just have that simple, easy, fun life...



I wish everyone I knew could be here experiencing this with me. Miss you and love you!

Where it all began

DAY 1 and 2 Chiang Mai, Thailand April 13. 2011 (Written by Leah and Mallary)



The trip has been so amazing!! And we are only on our second day! We arrived exhausted at 10:30pm Monday night after 25+ hours of travel. With a little bit of English and many hand signs, we mananged to flag down a tuk tuk, a motor bike with seats attached on the back, to our hostel. Our towls and key were waiting for us on the front table with a note welcoming us to Chiang Mai. We unfortunately woke up bright and early at 7am (Mal at 4am) and went down to the hostel retsaurant for breakfast. We enjoyed our hot tea and traditional Thai food ($2 dollars each!) on the "jungle" inspired patio. We started the day off right, as any one should...Thai massages...$5. Relaxing while our Thai massours were walking on our backs, pulling and pushing our bodies, and rubbing all the tension out. Jealous yet:)



So, as we mentioned,We arrived the day before the beginning of the Thai New Year, Songkron. This holiday is best celebrated with a city-wide water fight to inspire rain after the drought season. Words and pictures can not describe how amazing this is! We armed ourselves with buckets and waterguns against the hundreds of Thais and Foreigners alike who seek to drench us from head to toe. In about 0.5 seconds you cannot escape be soaking wet! It is also symbolic to the beginning of our trip, in that it is a time for new beginnings, and here we are starting on this grand adventure, which is sure to change us by the end! Happy Songkron!!!



After a few hours of waterfights, we found our way back to the hostel for a blissful 4 hour nap, because that is what you do on vacation...right? Then, went out for dinner and drinks. Met some awesome girls at a rooftop bar overlooking the main street, without shoes and sitting on mats covering the floor. The night proceed at a sports lounge, outdoor dance bar, and reggae band. We danced with our fellow travelers until 3am. And that is our our perfect first night in Thailand ended.



So, today, our second day, there was a massive rain storm in the morning, which we enjoyed chatting and recapping our first day from the comfort of our beds. We joined the masses in another day of water fights in the streets, camera in tow this time, protected by a cool little water proof bag (they are really prepared here for tis holiday, selling thousands of waterproff stuff, water guns, and buckets all over). Took another nap, and somehow manged to sleep until 11pm. Unable to sleep any longer we went to explore the town at night. We found a night market full of amazing Thai bags, art, food, clothes, etc. We ate traditional Thai noodle soup for dinner ($1 each!) at a street stall...very Anthony Bourdain style.



Luckily, we can bide our time till we are tired again at this 24-hour internet cafe. Tomorrow, it looks like we will visist an elephant conservation outside the city. Who knows what other adventures await us!! on the schedule for the next 2 weeks are mountain biking, camping, hiking, cooking classes at an organic Thai farm, trekking to native hill tribes, hot springs, waterfalls, and a bamboo raft.



Cheers. This is everything we were hoping it would be. Miss everyone back home!!