Hello all - It's me again
You might be asking yourself why? Well I'll tell you. No, I'm not traveling at the moment (at least not right now) but I've decided to give my blog writing different flavors....and I do mean that literally. I'm going to start writing what I became passionate about (and good at) over the year and half I have been here so far....cooking and baking. Yes, I am a man who loves to cook (besides just the manly grilling) and also bake (nothing beats the smell of your kitchen when baking fresh bread, not from a machine either). I'll be sharing my yummy recipes with you all.
Now, I've always been a descent cook but with the extra time I've had since coming here to England, it has given me the chance to excel in this area. I love to eat so I'm going to be damn sure the food that I'm putting into my mouth will be damn good!! Plus the food here is not the greatest...but that's another topic.
Ok, well I hope you enjoy!
Wednesday, December 8, 2010
Sunday, August 16, 2009
Bali
I am coming to the end of my trip now and a little sad but will be happy to land in England to start over looking for a job, place to live...etc all the fun stuff.
They get to know you and will remember you and always come back. Our new friend Ani cut us up some fruit a few days we were there.
While in Bali we went to this small town known for the arts and saw a Balinese dance. It was quite interesting and something to say that I've seen. It's where these guys are playing some instruments and then the people tell stories through their dancing. There was about 7 acts.
We hired a driver one day to take us around Ubud seeing temples and such. Then he took us to "his friends" coffee plantation where we got to sample some of the fresh coffee and tea. Of course we bought some tea and spices which was good. But he made a profit off of us since we bought something. That's how it works in the countries over here. In Thailand it's much worse with the gem shops and other things.
Well I am back in Bangkok after a 2 weeks in Indonesia which was a fun trip but expensive. We went straight to Bali and stayed there for 3 nights. We went there with no reservations and arrived at 11:00pm so we were walking around with our backpacks trying to find a hotel. Well we eventually found one for $50 USD which was not worth that. We were tired so we just wanted a bed. So the next day we found one for $66 which was nice. So we moved our stuff and hit the beach. The beach was nice, big waves and lots of fun. So while on the beach everyone thought I was Austrailan because there were a lot of them there on holiday. Then when I told them I was from the states they immediately said - "OBAMA"...haha Everyone there was glad and excited that he was elected. They also have these hawkers walking around on the beach selling all kinds of stuff - saraongs (which Nicole bought a few), hats, paintings, henna tatoos,....etc and fruit which was good on the beach. 
They get to know you and will remember you and always come back. Our new friend Ani cut us up some fruit a few days we were there.
While in Bali we went to this small town known for the arts and saw a Balinese dance. It was quite interesting and something to say that I've seen. It's where these guys are playing some instruments and then the people tell stories through their dancing. There was about 7 acts.
We hired a driver one day to take us around Ubud seeing temples and such. Then he took us to "his friends" coffee plantation where we got to sample some of the fresh coffee and tea. Of course we bought some tea and spices which was good. But he made a profit off of us since we bought something. That's how it works in the countries over here. In Thailand it's much worse with the gem shops and other things.
After that we made our way to Gili Air which took a 5 hours boat ride. We arrived there, again late at night and no place to stay so we got a transport 
to some of the guest houses since they were to far to walk to. There are not cars or motorcycles on the island which is kinda nice. This place was a little too quiet for us so we took a short boat ride to Gili Trawangan which was a more backpacker/party place. Compared to Thailand, plus being in high season this place was expensive $85/night. So this was another place to just relax and meet some new people. I did go scuba diving one day and it was amazing, I got to see - a 3.5ft white tip reef shark, 4 sea turtles, octopus, squid, and lots of tropical fish!! It was the best dive yet. The snorkelling was great as well. So we spent a few days there and decided it was time to go, we then took a fast boat instead of the slow one where we had to eat the cost. The Balinese people were very friendly and helpful. Even though we spent more money it was a good learning experience. Now next time we need to do more research and looking into so we aren't running around looking for accomidations while in peak season. The food wasn't all that great though, we ended up eating lots of western food, pizza, pasta, burgers...etc. And that didn't really agree with my stomach...I'll leave it at that haha So I was looking forward going back to Thailand for the cheap food. 
We finally made it back to Thailand. Traveling can be a bit tired at times but in the end it's great. I get to experience all the different cultures and food. It really opens up my eyes and I try not to take the simplist things for granted that we do in America.
to some of the guest houses since they were to far to walk to. There are not cars or motorcycles on the island which is kinda nice. This place was a little too quiet for us so we took a short boat ride to Gili Trawangan which was a more backpacker/party place. Compared to Thailand, plus being in high season this place was expensive $85/night. So this was another place to just relax and meet some new people. I did go scuba diving one day and it was amazing, I got to see - a 3.5ft white tip reef shark, 4 sea turtles, octopus, squid, and lots of tropical fish!! It was the best dive yet. The snorkelling was great as well. So we spent a few days there and decided it was time to go, we then took a fast boat instead of the slow one where we had to eat the cost. The Balinese people were very friendly and helpful. Even though we spent more money it was a good learning experience. Now next time we need to do more research and looking into so we aren't running around looking for accomidations while in peak season. The food wasn't all that great though, we ended up eating lots of western food, pizza, pasta, burgers...etc. And that didn't really agree with my stomach...I'll leave it at that haha So I was looking forward going back to Thailand for the cheap food. 
We finally made it back to Thailand. Traveling can be a bit tired at times but in the end it's great. I get to experience all the different cultures and food. It really opens up my eyes and I try not to take the simplist things for granted that we do in America.
We are here for a few more days before heading to Istanbul. That should be a good time as well, pretty different from SE Asia - known for their coffee and great food. We are there for 5 days then going to Barcelona for 3 nights. After that I go to England while my girlfriend goes back to the states to work out her visa.
More to come from on Istanbul and Barcelona.....
Saturday, August 1, 2009
Bangkok, Koh Tao and on....
Well my current location is Bali right now. I know I haven't written in my blog in a while because I've been on an island scuba diving and relaxing so I'll tell you a bit about it.
After Cambodia my girlfriend and I went to Bangkok (BKK) to hang out with my cousin for a few days. This is nice as it saves on a hotel. We really didn't do much there since we have already been there and seen the sites, so we went to this huge outside market (JJ) and only made it through not even a quarter of it and I was ready to go, sweating from walking around so much. You can get anything you want there from clothes, pets, household items, and so on. It's only on the weekends and it is packed with locals and tourists. We then went to this IT mall where you can get any kid of software, movies, tv series..etc. So my girlfriend and I picked up a bunch of new stuff for our Mac. We got the Adobe acrobat suite for probably about $20 (which in the US is quite a bit more,hehe), also got about 3 HBO series for really cheap as well and a bunch of other stuff.
Also while in BKK you have the guys trying to sell you suits and what not. You have to be careful because you can get ripped off but my cousin and his wife went to one specific on and got a pretty good deal. So I needed a suit and decided to get one myself tailor made. They were pretty cool. I got a suite and 3 shirts for approx $180 which is a great deal. My cousins wife who is Thai did the bargaining for me and got me a good price. After a few days there it was time to go to Koh Tao which is one of the many islands of Thailand known for it's scuba diving. I got my Advanced certification there and did some fun dives. It was a very chill island. The diving was pretty good, didn't see anything too cool - lots of fish, sting ray, crabs...etc. My girlfriend was a little board because it was mainly a diving place and the beaches there weren't all that great. So we had to figure out what we were going to do next. We played around with Malaysia (Kuala Lumpur) but that seemed to be too expensive. We ended up deciding on Indonesia specifically Bali. So we had to go back to BKK and then the next morning we took 3 flights to get there around 11:30. I don't recommend that...I was way too tired. We stayed there for a few days just lounging on the beach. The waves were great and big. Did some boogie and body boarding. Couldn't have asked for more....the people are nice and it's a beautiful place. You do get some people walking along the beaches trying to sell you stuff, sarongs, food, newspapers, knives...etc.
We are now making our way to the Gili Islands which is supposed to have great diving and snorkelling. Just something else to travel and see. We really just want to relax a bit more before going back to the real world.
Well that's it for now. I know I don't have any pics because I didn't bring the connection with me and plus it take a bit with the computers here.
Till next time....
After Cambodia my girlfriend and I went to Bangkok (BKK) to hang out with my cousin for a few days. This is nice as it saves on a hotel. We really didn't do much there since we have already been there and seen the sites, so we went to this huge outside market (JJ) and only made it through not even a quarter of it and I was ready to go, sweating from walking around so much. You can get anything you want there from clothes, pets, household items, and so on. It's only on the weekends and it is packed with locals and tourists. We then went to this IT mall where you can get any kid of software, movies, tv series..etc. So my girlfriend and I picked up a bunch of new stuff for our Mac. We got the Adobe acrobat suite for probably about $20 (which in the US is quite a bit more,hehe), also got about 3 HBO series for really cheap as well and a bunch of other stuff.
Also while in BKK you have the guys trying to sell you suits and what not. You have to be careful because you can get ripped off but my cousin and his wife went to one specific on and got a pretty good deal. So I needed a suit and decided to get one myself tailor made. They were pretty cool. I got a suite and 3 shirts for approx $180 which is a great deal. My cousins wife who is Thai did the bargaining for me and got me a good price. After a few days there it was time to go to Koh Tao which is one of the many islands of Thailand known for it's scuba diving. I got my Advanced certification there and did some fun dives. It was a very chill island. The diving was pretty good, didn't see anything too cool - lots of fish, sting ray, crabs...etc. My girlfriend was a little board because it was mainly a diving place and the beaches there weren't all that great. So we had to figure out what we were going to do next. We played around with Malaysia (Kuala Lumpur) but that seemed to be too expensive. We ended up deciding on Indonesia specifically Bali. So we had to go back to BKK and then the next morning we took 3 flights to get there around 11:30. I don't recommend that...I was way too tired. We stayed there for a few days just lounging on the beach. The waves were great and big. Did some boogie and body boarding. Couldn't have asked for more....the people are nice and it's a beautiful place. You do get some people walking along the beaches trying to sell you stuff, sarongs, food, newspapers, knives...etc.
We are now making our way to the Gili Islands which is supposed to have great diving and snorkelling. Just something else to travel and see. We really just want to relax a bit more before going back to the real world.
Well that's it for now. I know I don't have any pics because I didn't bring the connection with me and plus it take a bit with the computers here.
Till next time....
Monday, July 13, 2009
Cambodia - Killing fields and Temples
So far I have enjoyed my time in Cambodia. It is pretty laid back even with the people asking you every 10 feet if you want to buy something or if you want a tuk tuk. You just politely tell them no thank you. Though it can get repetitive at times. If you are a good bargainer you can get stuff here for really cheap. You just have to start walking away and they'll drop the price.
A random monkey at one of the temples.
When we were in Phnom Phen one of the attractions to see where the killing fields where they murdered and tortured 2 million of their own people. It was a pretty depressing site to see but should not be forgotten what some people went through. At the front they have this shrine of the bones, skulls and clothes so that the people and the history of this tragic event will be remembered.
It didn't matter if you were a man, woman, young or old, they got taken. Then what is now called a museum was originally a shcool then the Khmer Rouge had turned it into a prison where they also tortured people and held them captive in small cells made of bricks and some of wood. They would barley get fed and looked so thin and malnurished. Also at the museum they had the photos of the people they took. You could see the pain in their eyes - some fearful, sad and pain, some showed courage and strength accepting what was going to happen to them and others confusion. It was an eerie feeling just being there. It was a sad site to see but should never be forgotten.
We had 2 days in Siem Reap that we visited some temples. They are a pretty impressive site. It is so HOT and HUMID here that I am sweating my ass off here. The architecutre and carvings are amazing. There is so much detail put in to some of the designs and to think how they did it with out the tools of today is amazing. We are here in the rainy season but that is it only down pours once a day (if that) for about 10 minutes.
I got to pose for a group photo. Of course you have to contribute something so it only cost me $1. Then when you get done with the temples you have peddlers asking you - "sir you want T-shirt, water, books, ....etc. It gets very repetitive of saying no thanks, no thank you. But that's how some of them make their money. You can get really good deals from them if you start walking away. The sad thing is though you see very young kids coming up to you and asking you to buy things.
I got to pose for a group photo. Of course you have to contribute something so it only cost me $1. Then when you get done with the temples you have peddlers asking you - "sir you want T-shirt, water, books, ....etc. It gets very repetitive of saying no thanks, no thank you. But that's how some of them make their money. You can get really good deals from them if you start walking away. The sad thing is though you see very young kids coming up to you and asking you to buy things. Angor Wat - One of the amazing temples. We got up at 4am one morning to go see the sunrise. It was a bit cloudy so we didn't get to see the whole thing. It still was a great site.
Interesting fact - I call this the "ass sprayer". It is used in a lot of the SE Asian bathrooms. Some don't have toilet paper so you take the what us westerners call a kitchen sprayer and use it to clean your bum bum. It takes some getting used to but works great!!
A random monkey at one of the temples.
We leave on Thursday for Thailand and will hang out in Bangkok for a few days before going to Koh Tao. This is one of the many islands that I get to do some scuba diving on.
Thursday, July 9, 2009
We finally made it!!!
Well I am sitting in our hotel in Cambodia right now. We decided to spluge which is $50/night. It wasn't too bad of a flight to get here. Our first flight consisted of 13 hours...I know it sounds like a lot of time (which it is don't get me wrong) but we had some entertainment...movies, tv shows...etc. So I caught up on my movies, The Wrestler, I love you Man, Gran Tourino just to name a few and the ones I liked. So that made the time go by a little faster. I'm not a big sleeper on planes, I tried catching a few winks listening to my iPod but it's not the deep sleep one needs. Plus my neck was kinking up with my blow up neck rest thingy. So we had a layover in Seoul, South Korea and decided to get some food...authentic Korean food which I like. I had Spicy Pork w/rice and with that comes kimchi. (pics below). 
Then we caught our last flight (only 6 hours) to Bangkok with NO MOVIES :( So that's when I tried to get some sleep which I did for about 4 hours or so. After that I met up with my cousin who teaches english over there and we stayed with him and his wife. After a nice meal we went to bed expecting to catch up on some sleep...well that didn't happen since we are about 11 hours ahead of when we left so our bodies haven't adjusted to it (gotta love jet lag). So we woke up with only 4 hours of sleep wide awake ready to start the day. We then had to catch another flight to Cambodia later in the afternoon.
So now that we are here in Cambodia we are finally able to relax a bit and see some sites. I have never seen so many motorcycles in my life. And these aren't the crotch rockets or anything like that. I will try to post some pics later. Here and in Bangkok there is only one rule when driving - watch out for yourself!!! Especially in Cambodia, it is a great experience to see all the motos dodging between the cars. It's better too put a blind fold on so you don't get so nervous. I mean, I am an agressive driver and I was scared a few times. Cars/Buses/Motos get within inches of each other. WHEW!!!
The food has been amazing so far - lots of rice and noodles here in South East Asia. The street food can sometimes be the best which is really cheap - $2-3 for a nice meal.
Anyways, I have to go back to the room to freshen up for some authentic Cambodian food. The weather is nice but a bit muggy. All in all that is the short of it.
Till next time....to be continued in Cambodia.
Then we caught our last flight (only 6 hours) to Bangkok with NO MOVIES :( So that's when I tried to get some sleep which I did for about 4 hours or so. After that I met up with my cousin who teaches english over there and we stayed with him and his wife. After a nice meal we went to bed expecting to catch up on some sleep...well that didn't happen since we are about 11 hours ahead of when we left so our bodies haven't adjusted to it (gotta love jet lag). So we woke up with only 4 hours of sleep wide awake ready to start the day. We then had to catch another flight to Cambodia later in the afternoon.
So now that we are here in Cambodia we are finally able to relax a bit and see some sites. I have never seen so many motorcycles in my life. And these aren't the crotch rockets or anything like that. I will try to post some pics later. Here and in Bangkok there is only one rule when driving - watch out for yourself!!! Especially in Cambodia, it is a great experience to see all the motos dodging between the cars. It's better too put a blind fold on so you don't get so nervous. I mean, I am an agressive driver and I was scared a few times. Cars/Buses/Motos get within inches of each other. WHEW!!!
The food has been amazing so far - lots of rice and noodles here in South East Asia. The street food can sometimes be the best which is really cheap - $2-3 for a nice meal.
Anyways, I have to go back to the room to freshen up for some authentic Cambodian food. The weather is nice but a bit muggy. All in all that is the short of it.
Till next time....to be continued in Cambodia.
Thursday, June 25, 2009
Almost Time For the Big Move
Well it is almost time for my girlfriend and I to depart and start a new chapter in our lives. We will be living in Bristol England at the beginning of September. But first...we are taking a 2 month vacation to Thailand, Cambodia, Laos, Istanbul and Spain (More to come). I am very excited and ready. Some people might think I'm crazy for quitting a good job and being stable but this is what makes me happy so people need to just accept that. I will be successful in finding a job over in the UK.
I've decided to keep a blog of my travels for my family and friends so they can see through my eyes all the different places I've been and to appreciate some of the things they have and not to take anything for granted.
I'm not the best writer in the world but I'm going to give it a shot and have fun doing it which is all that matters! Also this way people can keep in touch with me as well. This will be a fun trip and I hope you all enjoy.
I've decided to keep a blog of my travels for my family and friends so they can see through my eyes all the different places I've been and to appreciate some of the things they have and not to take anything for granted.
I'm not the best writer in the world but I'm going to give it a shot and have fun doing it which is all that matters! Also this way people can keep in touch with me as well. This will be a fun trip and I hope you all enjoy.
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