Bali - Day 2

We had a ton of fun on New Years Eve!

We ventured away from the hotel, while most of the guests stayed here and enjoyed dinner. We wanted to be different! We went to a restaurant in Jimbarin called Fortein. This restaurant, like many of its neighbors, sits directly on the beach. We had a candle lit dinner on the sand while we watched real, authentic Balinese dancing....it was SO COOL! This was a seafood restaurant, so you pick what you want and then go to the kitchen and actually pick your piece out. I had lobster, which I had never seen a lobster like this, and Jeff had trout. As Americans (Westerners as they call us) - we are so used to very nice looking, established restaurants. Well, you have to get over that when you venture to Asia. If they put candles out you are at a nice restaurant. So with that said, we are naturally preconditioned to think "is this place really going to be good, is it okay to eat here?" Well, once we walked back to the beach and witnessed the beauty of the sand and the candle lit tables we felt a little better. After we ate we felt great. The food was excellent! The grilled lobster and trout was accompanied with 4 different type of sauces - tomato, chili sauce, garlic, and soy. We also had "chippies" with it - french fries. This might have been the best lobster and fish I've ever had, probably because it was so fresh.

We really enjoyed the company of our waiter. He even gave us his personal email address so that we could keep in touch. Everyone was really nice there - shaking our hands saying Happy New Year when we left. They even gave us a complimentary ride back to the hotel.

After dinner, we went back to the hotel for the DJ and fireworks. Unfortunately, but very common here, it started raining at around 11:30PM. When it rains here it is like a curtain, thick, hard, and windy! So the DJ and fireworks didn't happen. That is okay though, we enjoyed ringing in the New Year with a cold beer looking over the Indian Ocean.

We are off to Ubud today, which is known as the cultural center of Bali. This is where people go to experience real Bali, rather than just the beaches and a few Pina Colada's. We are hoping to add to our art collection with a painting or some type of sculpture from the Balinese.

We also contemplated visiting this Medicine Man that lives just on the outskirts of Ubud. I read about him in "EAT, PRAY, LOVE". He has asked that people come visit him, as the tourism has been down since the bombings in Bali 4 years ago. This man wanted to be a painter when he was young and was very skillful, but had an accident that burned his arm severely. Through a dream, he was able to mix herbs and natural medicines together that would eventually save his arm. This was the beginning of his spiritual path, as he had another dream that told him what his path was - a healer. He fasted for 6 days, eating only the dew off the rice patties until he felt one with God. He is supposed to be an amazing man, with good English and an amazing ability to heal both physical and mental anguish. He has seen people from all over the world. He is very poor, but will heal for no money if you don't have the means to pay him. I'm not sure if we will be able to see him, as there are many factors that make this difficult: he is very far from the city of Ubud and taxis are not readily available and it is extremely hot here today so we are not sure how long we will make it with no AC. However, it would be really wonderful if we could see this Medicine Man.

We are off....we will post pictures on this blog when we return tonight.
Cheers to the New Year!

Bali - First Full Day

Bali, also known as the Island of the God's and 'Morning of the World' is absolute paradise - everthing they say about it is true! It is lush, green, has wild flowers growing everywhere, volcanoes, mountains, lakes, ocean, etc. We love it here and are already planning out next trip! It is hard to actually come inside and write this blog - bc it is SO BEAUTIFUL outside. Bali is only 8 degrees south of the Equator, so we are enjoying a tropical climate. We are in the wet season, but really haven't experienced any rain yet. The island is pretty small - stretching 140km from east to west and 80km from north to south. 3 million people live in Bali in tight little villages and of course they all know each other. With the religion being 90% Hindu and the belief in the good of the people, the crime rate is very low here - mostly brought on by tourists.

We are staying at the Ritz Carlton in Jimbaran Bay. This is on the Southwestern tip of Bali - about 25 minutes south of Denpasar, Bali's capital. We could probably see the entire island in 12 hours because it is roughly the size of Delaware, so of couse we have already planned out our excursions over the next few days!

We arrived last night, after standing through customs and immigration for 2 hours! They are very strict here - death penalty for those found bringing drugs into their country! When we arrived at the Ritz, we were given orchid lays and an upgraded ocean view villa. This villa is even bigger than the villa in Chiang Mai - 4 rooms and a killer bathroom. We have our own outdoor, private plunge pool that overlooks the Indian Ocean and our very own cabana that sits outside. We can't decide which is better - Chiang Mai or Bali. They are both so different! Every detail has been touched here - extravagant waterfalls all over the property, plunge pools, beautiful gardens, koy fish, hindu statues, private beach, etc. etc. etc. We can't take enough pictures! Everywhere we turn is a Kodak moment. The pools are really great. We will load everything on JeffJenn.com so that you can check them out...doing all of Chiang Mai later on tonight.

Today we just hung around the hotel and checked out the facilities. This is the largest hotel in all of Bali - equipped with 4 pools (see one of them below) and 7 restaurants. Each pool is different - colonial, polynesian, beach side, and wading pool (slides, etc.). We are heading to Jimbarin tonight for our New Years Eve dinner. The restaurant sits beach side and we get to choose our own piece of seafood to have grilled at our table - I am very excited about this, as I ate way too much rice when we were in Thailand! Finally, we can eat again!!!! We are then coming back to the hotel, as they are having a huge party and fireworks. We will enjoy the martini bar here - with over 50 Martini's to choose from!!!



We are off to dinner. HAPPY NEW YEAR to everyone from BEAUTIFUL BALI!!!










I know all of you like my quick facts, so here are some more on Bali:

Bali is 90% Hindu. Hindu is very similar to Buddhist; just don't believe in Buddha. Instead, they believe that most worldly problems reflect some imbalance in the netherworld and they can be restored by appropriate rituals. Order and harmony are personified by deities who live on mountain tops and bestow their blessings on humans. Demons symbolise disorder and dwell, beneath the sea, seeking chaos and distruction. Hindus sacrifice to the Gods every full moon. They offer the good spiritis food,flowers, tobacco, etc. They offer the bad spirits liquor and blood. They sacrifice animals to the bad spirits and believe that these animals will come back one level higher. They also believe in reincarnation and that if we live a good life, we will be presented in heaven in front of the Gods in a favorable light before reincarnated.

The Balinese are rich in culture and have not swayed away from many traditions even thought they have been taken over by tourists. Over 50% of the land is still Green and they still follow traditional art and culture - painting, stone and woodcarving, textile, dance and drama. In fact Kecak is still practices here and is the most famous of all Balines dances. This dance is based on trance chorus formerly used in times of epidemic.

That's enough for now - can't stay in the Villa too long. BALI is too WONDERUL - everyone should plan a trip here!!!!! And you can swing by Australia on your way out - the northern tip is only 3 hours away.

The Internet here is very slow, so we will upload more pictures as soon as we can.


Peace, love, and happiness to all of you in the New Year!!!

Bangkok - Day 2

So our pledge was to be honest in this blog - so with that said, in the last 24 hours we have experienced a lot (including getting pickpocketed)! Some of what we experienced, we would have rather not seen or have been part of; however, it does give you a great appreciation for the US.

Last night, with the recommendation of our tour guide, we ventured down to the Phad Pong area, which was supposed to be the bar/club area. Instead this areas was home to hundreds of young girls selling themselves. Some had prices around their necks, while others carried posters with girls faces on them so you could choose who you wanted. They hid their real jobs by offering you to come in for a "show." I figure they wanted to show us more than just their dancing skills. The most unfortunate part of this is that many of the men were white Americans/Westerners. You saw very few Asian men with these young girls.

There were also a lot of handicapped people here that cannot work because they don't have working hands. We saw many homeless people crawling on the street because their legs were too tangles to stand up. Even children seemed to be left with no family roaming the streets for money and food.

This morning we took the Sky Train to Moi Ching for the weekend market. The weekend market in Bangkok is the largest outdoor market in the WORLD! It was really neat and had a ton of great bargains. I got a few dresses for $10 each! Jeff was scooping up tees for $7!

Many of the bargains also included all kinds of local street food - deep fried grasshoppers, deep fried baby birds (with beaks, eyes, included), pan fried larva, etc...GROSS! Ummmm yummy - take a look they are a big seller here! Only 10 Baht (roughly $.30)

Unfortunately, we got lost and ended up in the animal section of the market. Puppies upon puppies were in cages without water or food being sold for $20, pet squirrels on leashes (string tied around their necks), bunnies in clothing, baby owls, parrots, ducks, snakes, lizards, fish, hampsters, mice, and other animals for sale (for what we don't know).

While some of the things we saw in the last 24 hours were very upsetting, we understand that we are here to see and experience the culture. After experiencng this we are thankful for ours! I guess when you travel you have to expect to see all types of things...some that are good/some that are bad.

We actually really love Bangkok, we think it is actually more interesting that Hong Kong. However, you need time here to know where to go and what to see. It is a beautiful city full of great history, religous temples, tons of fresh flowers and fruit, great bargains and shopping, and generally very friendly people. We would definitely come again, just be more wise about were we venture off to.

We are off to Bali tomorrow morning. We are very excited to finally sit on the beach and have a cocktail! Almost 7 days in Bali - spa, beach, pool, good food...a great change from Bangkok! We are staying in Jimbarin Bay, so no worries about mudslides or downpours here. The forecast has been 83 degrees and sunny, so cross your fingers that it stays that way!

P.S - we're determined to find a way to ship back 100's of these puppies! I almost bought a few today to save them. There were a ton of Jackie and Jorgies! Probably being sold after being only 2 weeks old. Here's one they were trying to get us to buy for $25. When we asked to hold this little guy, the woman ripped him out by his legs and he started crying.....we wanted to bring him home with us!!! Who doesn't need 3 dogs to love???? And CHERYL - they had white, baby pomeranians....want us to send a few back??

Bangkok - Day 1

Today we took a tour of the Royal Palace Grounds and the spectacular Wat Phra Keo with its Emerald Buddha, Golden Chedi, Pantheon of Kings and Towers of Nine Planets. The Royal grounds are absolutely beautiful - made of both Chinese, Thai, and Cambodian Architecture. The walls are pure gold and hand painted. You can tell the difference between Thai and Chines - Thai is very colorful and shiny, while the Chinese is made out of ceramic materials. I can see why this is one of the 7 wonders - SO BEAUTIFUL. Everything has so much detail that you can't take it all in by just walking by. This palace is the 4th capital of Thailand. The King had to keep moving because of the wars in Burma. This has now stood since 1876, with no fear of being moved anytime soon.

We also followed a few Buddhist traditions today -

-Made a wish at the front of the Wat Phra Keo by dipping a flower in holy water and then pouring the water on my head, as well as Jeff's.

- Praying in front of the beloved Emerald Buddha by clasping our hands and bending over to the ground. The Emerald Buddha has its clothes changed by the season. If you do a close up on this picture he is wearing a gold robe for winter. In summer he wears vines and flowers and in the rainy season he wears a shawl.

While we only saw a few temples today, it is overwhelming. Bangkok has 450 temples, while all of Thailand has 30,000. It is the biggest city in all of Thailand, which has a total of 76 cities. There is a lot to do here - including tons of markets for bargaining!

After the palace tour, we took a relaxing cruise along the bustling Chaeo Phaya River and canals to enjoy picturesque scenes of typical Thai canal life. These people live very simple lives, not buying food or water, but by cultivating it from the earth. Water is collected during the rainy season from drippings off their roofs. Ater boiling, this water will last them all year. Their land is worth much more than their homes. For one acre of land along the canal it is $3000. For a home it would only cost you a mere $500. These people are very poor, but are content with their lives. We were laughing that in the US, we would be selling off our land to make a huge profit!

We also fed the fish in the canal, which is a major source of food for these people. The koy fish were HUGE!!! I would never want to fall out of the longboat! Beware - it is unlawful to kill fish by the temple! They are sacred there.

We also took a tour of the Royal Barg Museaum to see the historical barges of Thai kings. The Royal family has 4 private boats and another 48 boats that makes up the Royal security for when the King travels the canal.

Finally we visited Wat Arun, the spectacular Temple of Dawn. This was absolutely beautiful.

We were very hungry by the end of this tour, so we visited the local supermarket, where they have a diner. I had Pad Thai and Vegetable Spring Rolls - REALLY GOOD! Jeff, of course, had a cheeseburger. Can't take the Wisconsin out of this man! We are also enjoying Singha and Klostner - the beer of Thailand! This entire meal only cost us $13!

Chiang Mai - Last Night/Bangkok - First Night

Greetings from Bangkok. We left today at 3:30. This pic of me is at the Chiang Mai airport. This is one of many shrines the Thai people put up to give gratitude to their King.

Bankgok is Thailand's capital. This is where the royal family lives, as well as 12 MILLION others! The most interesting thing is that all of Thailand has 64 Million people, so roughly 20% of the country lives in this small, condensed city! There are hardly any English speaking people here and everything is in Thai - very different than Hong Kong.

We just got here at 5PM, so we haven't had much time to explore. We did venture down to the night market for some great bargains, as well as a local, hot spot for dinner. Bargains were great - we got 6 funny/trendy t-shirts for $3 each! The funny thing is that I got the SAME exact tshirt in NYC for $30 this past fall! While all the locals seemed to love the food, I just couldn't get past the fact they served Jelly Fish, Pigeon, Ostrich Feet, Birds Nests, Duck Tongue, Eggs with AMMONIA, ect. Needless to say, we will probably be enjoying the rest of our meals at our Hotel. We were happiest when we spoted a Haagen Daz by our hotel! If you can zoom in on that menu, you can see what great choices we had for dinner!! We ended up ordering a ton of food, as one thing would come out we would decide we just couldn't eat it!

For $6 we took a tuk tuk back to the hotel, which is basically a really fast golf cart. Ours had a major engine on it, as our driver swerved back and forth through the traffic. Jeff got a good video on this!

We have 2 tours scheduled for the next few days. Tomorrow we are taking a tour of the Bangkok Canal, the Grand Palace (one of the 7 wonders of the world), and the Emeral Buddha Temple.

Chaing Mai - Day 3

Today was our final full day in Chiang Mai, I'm already missing it! We got up at 6AM to ride the elephants in the Nature Park, which is about an hour away from Chiang Mai. This park is one of the most humane parks in Thailand where they teach the elephant working jobs vs how to do circus tricks. We really loved seeing the elephants being treated well. These animals are magnificent. They are smart, loyal, and very sensitive.

Just a few fun elephant facts - they live to be about 75 years old and they are born weighing 40 pounds. When they are born they are taken away from their mother for a few days as she recovers from the pain. Instinctively another female elephant watches the baby while the mother is gone. Once the elephants

are adults they can eat up to 40 pounds of food a day and 200 liters of water!!!!! The bridge you see to the left was straight Indiana Jones Style, made out of bamboo! This was the bridge we took to walk over to the camp. Very creepy, as it swayed back and forth as we walked!

We had the unique opportunity to see the youngest elephant in Thailand - Mini. She is so cute and is only 6 weeks old. She was still with her mother. Generally the elephants roam free, but since she is still young she needs to be with her mother. Her mother also had to be chained because she can be very protective of her baby. That is Mini to the left....she was SO CUTE. All she wanted to do was play, play, play. Although we did catch her sleeping standing up right against her mothers back legs. I wanted to bring her home with me!

We rode for a full 45 minutes through the jungle, in the river, and up to visit the local Hill Tribe. There are 6 ethnic Hill Tribes in Thailand. These are tribes of people that live off the land, speak their own language, wear their own ceremonial robe, and very seldom venture down to Chiang Mai. Over the last few years, more and more of the Hill Tribe people have been trying to learn Thai and venture down to Chiang Mai to become educated. This is a big change from the past, when they were considered so different. These people literally live in the Hills, in leaf roofed homes, held up by bamboo walls and dirt floors. They have no electricity or the luxuries of modern life. Just a few years ago they got running water. They used to walk all the way down the hill to the river and collect water 3 times a day. The women generally stay home in the village and make local crafts, while the men work in the rice fields. The local craft of the "LISU" is embroidery. Isn't that little boy SO CUTE!!!!!! He's a 3 year old LISU boy and he was so happy when we gave him those clementimes!

On the way home from visiting the LISU, our elephant actually walked back through the deep river. This was pretty cool. We then proceeded to watch them be bathed, fed, and they performed a show to demonstrate their working skills, as well as their painting skills. They are very close to their trainers, which generally stay with them through their whole lives. They will only listen to their trainers, but love them and respect them.

This was a great experience and done in a humane and loving way. The elephants ranging from 35 all the way down to 6 weeks seemed happy and content in their natural surroundings. They only work till noon, then they are escorted up to the other side of the mountain where they can rest and be away from people. Many other camps work the elephants all day in the hot sun and teach them circus tricks. We really enjoyed today!

We leave tomorrow afternoon for an hour flight back to Bangkok where we will visit the Grand Palace...very exciting.

Chiang Mai - Day 2 Pictures

From left to right - Most important temple in Chiang Mia - offerings to the Buddha, the Golden Pagoda where Budda's relics are kept, Buddhas donated by the Buddhist to the temple, my dinner tonight - most popular Thai dish in Thailand, Jenn drinking Thailand Singha Beer, Jenn in very interesting taxi, Jeff in that same interesting taxi, rice paddies at hotel, Jeff chilling by the pool.

Merry Christmas!

We just wanted to let you know that we are getting all of your comments. We love all of you very much and hope you have a Merry Christmas! It's 3PM here, but 2AM there your time...so Santa should be visiting now!

We just got back from a tour of many temples and factories. We saw the most important temple today, called the Wat Phra That Doi Suthep. This temple sits 3500 feet above sea level up in the mountains of Chiang Mai. The temple was beautiful, we saw many monks and buddhist worshipers. This religion is very facisnating and make me so curious and somewhat envious of how well these people live (calm, passionate, patient, etc.) The Buddhist believe that we should live a balanced life - not too high, not too low and that we should feel satisfied with what we have and to not desire more and more. They believe you should live without conflict and know that this life belongs to your God (Buddha).

The rituals of these people and their charity is amazing. Most of the temples are built by donations only and the Monks survive on the donations from other Buddhist only. They are not allowed to shop for any food, clothing, worldly possesions at all. The temple we visited today held some of the Buddha's relics. Legend has it that the White Elephant carrying the Buddha's relics on his back wandered through Chiang Mai, up the mountain, and laid down and died in this very spot. Thus, they had the forsight to build the temple here. Unfortunately, the road to the temple was only built 80 years ago so people from all over the world would spend days climbing the mountain to pay their respect to Buddha. However, 80 years ago one of the famous Monks decided to build a road. The Thai people were too poor to donate money for the construction, so with a little help from the government and hard working Buddhists, they built the road in 5 months. Now as you pass the gate to this temple, you honk or pay your gratitude to this Monk for his graciousness to build a road for the Buddhist people.

We took a private tour, which was good because we learned the story of Buddha. Buddha was reincarnated 10 lives. In his last life he had finally given everything of himself to the people. He no longer desired for anything. He reached final enlightenment when a man from the village came and asked that now he give up his children to become slaves in his home. Buddha had already given all his possessions/valuables, his work, and even his home to the people, and was now being asked to give up his children. While this was very hard for him and his wife, he knew that his children would be fine and that their lives did not belong to him. He gave them up to this man and then found enlightenment in his next life. In his next life, born as a prince, he left home at 19. While he was given every worldly possession because he was of royal decent, he was still not happy. He knew that beyond the walls people were old, sick and dying. When he left the palace, we went and lived in the forest, sitting under a Banyan tree. This is why you see many Buddha figures under trees. He sat and meditated for many years, fasting at first, and then realizing he needed some food to concentrate on his meditation. At the age of 35 he finally reached Nirvana and then spent the rest of his life teaching others.

I may have some of this wrong - the translation was not perfect. But facsinating either way. It really teaches you that you should be happy and content in this life because the most important time is now - not the past and not the future because it is unknown.

On our way back from the main temple we saw many more temples in Chiang Mai, beautiful wood crafting and wall tapestries. We also stopped at a silver factory, where we watched them make beautiful silver products. They actually do this by hand, hammering every detail into a ornately decorated bowl. We also went to the Jade factory and learned about Jade. Jade is not only green - it comes in white, black, orange, lavender, and blue. Very beautiful and easy to fake, so they warned us against buying this in the night market...they obviously wanted us to buy from them!

We are heading over to the pool now for some good food and relaxation! Then we will venture to dinner downtown and the night market again this evening. Jeff is not following the Buddha's way - he desires more souvenirs...and the Diesel jeans they sell for $30...HA HA HA.

Fun Facts about Chiang Mai:

- 2 Million people live here in Chiang Mai
- 95% are Thai
- They love the royal family, especially their King...pictures of him everywhere
- Yum Kum is the traditional food here, Green Curry is also very well recieved here
- There are roughly 1200 temples here
- Chiang Mai is surrounded by a wall. The original wall has fallen, but has been rebuilt by the people.
- the elephant is the most important animal in Thailand. Very smart and very well trained..in fact Jeff and I fed one today and his instructor asked him to pass the empty basket back to him and he did! So cool.


Until tonight,
Jenn and Jeff

Chiang Mai - Day 1

Today we slept longer than we have any other day - till 9AM!!! We have been getting up at 5AM, so this was a real treat for us. We decided to take it easy and lay by the pool today. The pool is very beautiful and overlooks the rice fields. We ate lunch and then decided to go into town and walk around the Ping River area. We took a carriage back to our room - this was a trip!

The Ping River areas is where all the nicer restaurants are. We ate at "The Riverside" restaurant for $17!!! This included 2 meals and 4 beers! We couldn't believe it! After dinner we went to the night market. We thought this would be a short street full of vendors - we were wrong. This was the largest outdoor market we have ever seen. It probably went for 12+ block and was probably 5 blocks wide! It included everything from silk robes for $20, handmade paintings for $30, designer jeans, silks, jewelry, purses, shoes, etc. EVERYTHING! We loved the handmade sculptures. We will probably buy one tomorrow night - we were way too indecisive this evening.

Since it's Christmas eve the hotel had the entire area lit with thousands of candles. The lobby area also had huge hand designed ornamets (made with tiny rocks) that were displayed at the entrance. They made us feel even more welcomed with a huge heart made out of roses on our bed and a Christmas stocking! We love it here!

Tomorrow we are getting up bright and early for a private city tour - I'm sure the pictures will be fabulous!