Loungin' in Langkawi

Without a single rupiah to my name, and very little baht, Sarah and I continued on to the last leg of our adventure. Could we do Malaysia on a budget, too? Well, we really didn't have a choice since we went a little rupiah-wild in Bali, but we still had a ourselves a grand time.


Our destination was Langkawi, a small island bordering Thailand, but we had to stopover in Kuala Lumpur first. We had a long layover, so we had just enough time to see the sights, take the necessary jumping pictures, explore Central Market and eat the local food (Roti Canai= deliciousness). It was a hot one, so we were more than happy to return to the air-conditioned airport to get our flight to Langkawi. 

Petronas Towers

Langkawi was very different than what I had expected. For starters, it was much bigger than I had thought. I thought it was a walkable island, but it was far from that. We had to take cabs to get to most spots. What struck me the most, however, was how 'lost' Langkawi was. It was still trying to figure out what kind of island it wanted to be. Was it a party place? A place to relax? Resort central? It was a little bit of everything. And for now, that works, because it wasn't overly crowded or expensive, so you can have your choice of lifestyle. We went with the most budget friendly- cheap hostel, plop down on the beach, eat local food and go to the most popular tourist locations. But, I bet in 10 or so years, this place will be the ultimate paradise. I mean, it's gorgeous...it just needs a little tourism boost.


 It rained a lot, but in odd time increments, so we had plenty of time to enjoy ourselves. Langkawi was a great way to finish up our SE Asian adventure and rejuvenate ourselves for a brand spankin' new semester. 


TOP 5 Langkawi:


5. Cable Cars: The biggest tourist attraction on the island. You climb into a 4 person cable car and slowly and shakily make your way up, up, up, up and up a mountain to the peak, providing stunning views and a mild panic attack. Of course, once we made it to the top, the clouds rolled in and it started pouring while we were walking across a hanging bridge. So yea, I had about 4 panic attacks at the top, but hey, I survived and I saw a lot of pretty things. 

Nervous!

4. Breakfast: Okay- I lied a little bit. We didn't eat only local food. We splurged and ate a delicious breakfast almost every morning. We had fresh chocolate croissants, incredible iced coffee and a GIANT piece of toast with PB and banana. It's sad, but these are the types of things that get me really excited. But look at it- it's heavenly!

Booyah!

3. Babylon: We spent most of our nights admiring the sunsets, hanging out on the beach and then walking a long distance back to our hostel. We were on a budget- it had to happen. But on our last night we decided to check out a recommended local bar. It was a reggae bar, called Babylon, right on the beach and it was quite popular. It happened to be one of the employees birthdays, and his name was Pony, so OBVIOUSLY we had to celebrate with him. Duh. And celebrate we did...I regretted it a little bit the next morning for my flight, but it is always a better vacation when you hang out with the locals. And as a Bonus Jonas, we met a group of travelers from Boston (!!!!) Even better- one was living in Southie and another was a BC grad! I died of excitement. 


2. Private Beaches: The Tanjung Rhu Resort is the most famous resort on Langkawi because of its location and its private beach which places you directly in front of Thailand. It is an unbelievably beautiful sight.....buuuut it wasn't meant to be seen by us. It is meant to be seen by newlyweds having their romantic honeymoon and who are paying a good penny (or ringit) to spend time there. Backpackers on a budget aren't supposed to be there, but somehow, by pure accident from a mixed-up cab driver and a flustered doorman, we made it through the barrier and spent one of our afternoons lounging on the most gorgeous beach on the island. Pure awesomeness. We may have repeated the offense at a different resort, but let's not get into it. 


              

Hello Thailand

1. Sunsets: No matter if it was cloudy, rainy or sunny during the day, Langkawi provided us with amazing sunsets EVERY night. We spent hours walking up and down the beach, taking gazillions of jumping shots and enjoying the view. It was the perfect way to end each day. And i have about 500 pictures to prove it. 

Just a little sunset yoga

I love jumping!

Honorable Mentions:  


Zackry's Guesthouse: For a hostel that claims to offer the least possible assistance, it was great! Free wifi, cheap beds, big rooms, books, beach mats and.....only the greatest perk of all....STARWORLD. Sarah and I live for hostels with Starworld. It's just a TV channel with some of our favorites from America. But, really, it's so much more. 

What a beauty

PB M&Ms: Seriously, I don't think life would be the same without PB M&Ms. They don't exist here. I've sent way too many PB M&M package requests to my parents (and THANKS for the amount of times you've sent them) but they are inaccessible here...and it hurts. But then there was the Kuala Lumpur duty free. The airport was able to make my dreams come true. Right there in front of us, our beloved M&Ms. Of course I bought some but I refuse to admit the embarrassing price I paid for them. Worth it!

Aroi Maak Maak

Bali on a Budget

Recovery time from post-Gili depression was fairly quick. It would be pretty pathetic if Bali couldn't rid me of my sadness. Once stepping off of the ferry and through the crowd of persistent women selling sarongs, bananas, fans, quilts, etc, we hopped in a bus and made our way to Ubud, the cultural center of Bali. As we drove through rice paddies and by Balinese temples, I was super anxious to get off of the bus and explore. The place was teeming with culture and I wanted to be part of it. Also, I was starving. 

We found ourselves a cute little hostel and then made our way around Ubud, searching for a delicious meal and getting easily distracted by the array of stores. Seriously, I could have spent a lot of money in this place. BUT, alas, I was poor. Sarah and I realized that we were ripping through our limited baht a lot quicker than expected and would have to institute some sort of budget in our final days in Indonesia if we wanted to make it to Malaysia. Every time one of us was tempted by some beautiful decor or clothing, the other would yell out "Budget!!!" and then we would put it back down... breaking our hearts one souvenir at a time. However, our idea of smart budgeting was kind of skewed because this is basically what it came down to:


 In the Budget:
-Dinner at more bumping and social places
-An "I Heart Bali" tote, a sarong and a batik.
-Accomodation (a little off the beaten road, but, hey, we had beds)
-A 2 hour peppermint massage and body scrub. (Whoops! We almost spent even more of the chocolate option, but came to our senses.)
-Cornetto ice cream (they had new flavors!)


 Not in the budget:
-Lunch
-A trek up Mount Batur at sunrise (upsetting but it was raining that night, anyways).
-A social life
-Entrance fees to various temples and sights. 


Barely in the budget:
-Taxi fare to the airport
-Departure tax


Things got a little scary. We thought the fare to the airport was about half of the actual price and we were clueless about the departure tax until the day before leaving. We literally spent every last rupiah and had very little baht to get us through Malaysia. However, we were still able to see a fair amount of Ubud. We wandered around, saw a couple of gorgeous temples, saw the famous tiered rice paddies, frolicked through another rice paddy (very Eat, Pray, Love), went to a coffee farm and tried DELICIOUS blends, and hired a driver for the day to bring us to some of the more popular attractions. Unfortunately, the rain came...it came hard...and cut our day of tourist attractions short. It was definitely a buzzkill but it gives me a great excuse to come back to Bali. Which, by the way, I WILL. 

Rice paddies!

View of the mountain. Thank you, rain.

Jolly jaunt around the paddies

Gili T Lovin'

I've returned from paradise. I was in Bali...BALI (!!!) and ya know what? It was everything I hoped it would be and more. I felt like I was in Bali and I embraced it for all that it was. After spending a rough night at the airport to catch our super early flight, Sarah and I were very ready to plop down on the beach and enjoy our final weeks of vacation. 

Our beds for the night. Oy. 

We arrived in Kuta, the most touristy beach of Bali, and explored the area. It was nice- nothing special- but like I said....I was in Bali, life was good. 

Spiritual offering on Kuta Beach

Although we were staying at one of the nicest hostels I've ever stayed in (The Island- it's awesome. You should go.), we woke up before the sun to catch a bus to catch a ferry to the Gili Islands. What in the world are the Gili Islands? I'm glad you asked. They are PARADISE, HEAVEN, LIFE, UNBELIEVABLE, LEGEND...wait for it....DARY! The Gilis are three small islands about 2 hours (by speedboat) from Bali. We had heard from a few backpackers that if we ever found ourselves in Indonesia, we HAD to go there. We were told on multiple occasions that the Gilis were the most beautiful place in the world, so we decided to spend a good 4 days there to soak up its awesomeness. 

As the ferry neared the shore, it was love at first sight. Turquoise waters, coral filled beaches, volcanoes in the backdrop, blazing sun, and blue skies, all outlining a small mass of lush, green hills. We stayed on Gili Trawagnan (Gili T), which is the biggest and most social of the three, but it is still only a 2 hour walk around the entire island (which I advise you NOT to do at sunset, even if you are overwhelmed by beautiful sunsets on empty sands, but then suddenly find yourself even more overwhelmed by fear of being on a deserted beach turned unlit road in the middle of an island in Indonesia with no clue where to go and being completely dependent on the flashlight on your cellphone that looks like it was made circa 2000. But don't worry...that's not not what happened). ANYWAYS, it was true love. We spent our days lounging on the sand or in our own little hut on the water, and moved ourselves over to the array of beanbags/mats on the beach to enjoy some dinner and a mojito at night (that happened a lot). Once the sun was down and I showered in my open bathroom (roofless!), we made our way over to one of a few giant movie screen projectors, nestled into a beanbag on the beach and enjoyed a good movie with some delicious ice cream (that also happened a lot). The island was incredibly relaxed, made even more-so by the banning of dogs and motors (no cars, motorbikes, trucks, etc), so I was one happy chica. Basically, I've been spoiled. Gili stole my heart. It was truly heartbreaking to get back on the ferry to go back to Bali. But when I realized I was going on a ferry to go back to BALI, I knew everything would be A-OK.

True LOVE

Hut action.

This happened

And a lot of bit of this happened. Like my henna?

Soccer with volcanoes in the background. NBD. 

YUM

We're Soaring...Flying...

 First of all, if you can reference the inspiration for this blog title, I love you. Secondly, I may or may not be watching it as I type this. 


 Alas, Songkran came to an end, but the fun wasn't over yet. Sarah, her sister and her sister's friend had joined the party up North and we still had some oomph left in us. It was my last day in Chiang Mai and we decided to do something crazy to truly make it the best week ever.  We signed up for The Jungle Flight. The Jungle Flight is a ziplining tour through the jungle. We zip-lined from tree to tree (about 35 platforms in total), walked across shaky canopy walks high above the ground, and even abseiled (straight drops) down from a few of the trees. I thought I'd be a nervous wreck, but they basically give you some hairnets, a helmet, harness you in, give you a QUICK introduction and then push you off of a tree platform. I was soaring through the jungle before I had a chance to panic. 


It was unbelievably fun and a great way to see the jungle. The longest zipline was about 900 feet long, while the tallest abseil was 120 feet above ground (scary!) Our guides were crazy and kept us laughing the whole time. They loved to make us freak out by yelling "No NOT that one!" after we had unhooked ourselves 50 feet above the ground during the abseils. I think I only squealed once. 


I know Laos offers an extended version of this and I definitely want to try it out. Rather than a few hours in the trees, you spend 2 days zip-lining and spend a night in a tree house. I think it will be pretty awesome. 


Here are a few snapshots from way up high:

Hairnets? Check. 

Amy ziplining AND peace-signing. Impressive.

Sarah in action

Abseil!

View from the top

Srall with one of our guides.

   And here's a quick video I took while in flight!

Untitled from Nell Riccio on Vimeo.

      Now I'm off enjoying the sun in BALI and LANGKAWI. What is my life? I don't hate it.

Let's Do This Thang: Songkran 2011

Sawatdee Pee Mai!

A Songkran Haiku

Dirty and Icy,

Water is everywhere.

Bucket to the face.

Ok, so obviously haikus aren't my thing, but I honestly have no idea how to describe the gloriousness of this holiday. April 13th-15th marks the Thai New Year and this country seriously knows how to celebrate. The entire country shuts down and partakes in water fights to the most epic proportions. Chiang Mai is known as the Songkran hotspot so I obviously had to go. 

I arrived on Sunday night knowing that the events would definitely begin on Tuesday afternoon, but as of Monday morning, things were getting a little wet and wild. I met up with a few people, found the perfect weapon (a Doraemon gun) and walked around the neighborhood and attacked little children with water. They still owned us. From that moment on, I was in Songkran mode and only stayed dry for 5 minutes max until Friday night.

For 5 days straight, it was a pure water war. People filled the streets, squirting guns in your face, dumping buckets on your head, whipping buckets at your body, and/or spraying you with a hose. Nobody is safe. Truckloads of people (I'm talking 20+ people per vehicle) circled around town with trash barrels full of ICE water and doused you. If you tried to escape the frigid shower, you got attacked on the other side by 1, 2, 3, sometimes 36 buckets of dirty river water, while also succumbing to about 6 other people relentlessly squirting at you with more ice water from guns of all shapes and sizes. IT. WAS. AWESOME.

I have never been so happy. I spent the entire week with a huge grin on my face. It was impossible to not love life. Yeah, there were times at night, when I was dry and warm, hungry for dinner, and wanting more than anything to stay dry (to no avail), but it made everything more exciting. It was like an obstacle course to get from Point A to Point B, trying to avoid buckets to the face. I am still in complete shock that I am not dying of some weird disease after what I put my body through that week. Mai Pen Rai. 

To add to the fun of Songkran, I met a really cool, super fun group of people (Little Bird Guesthouse is the best!) that made my experience even better. I basically spent the entire week hanging out with the same group of people, some of whom included CIEE members that I hadn't seen in a while. Between Songkrannin', the people, the food, and the environment, this week goes down as one of the best of my life. 

Courtesy of Google

Game Face
(Photo courtesy of Sarah)

Tuk-tuk attack!

(via Google)

Wet and Wild
(Photo via Sarah)