Grandma

In nearly two months of backpacking, adventures, and good times, it was hard to read an email from my mom that my Grandma Schreiner wasn't doing very well.  My Grandma Schreiner passed away a few days ago, and her funeral was today...I know she would understand why I couldn't make it there, but I just wanted to dedicate a blog to her to say goodbye in some form or another.

My Grandma was 97 years old, but pretty spunky for the majority of her life. She had such a good sense of humor, and I'll always remember her for the many times she made me chuckle without even trying, just by being her. I'll also remember her delicious cinnamon buns, which may have paved the way for my strong love of a delicious cinnamon bun...and her jelly bean jar, which always got the best of my dad when we visited.  It was always so fun as kids to visit her place and go downstairs and play hide and seek with the other kids and hide in her closet filled with pickled goods, or rummage through the box of toys that my Dad used to play with when he was a kid.  She had a great memory, and only towards the end did she get a bit confused by who was who....me and Angie, but who can blame her really?   

I'll miss her a ton, but she lived a great, long, healthy life.....and finally, her and Jarred are a pair again!

Love you tons Grandma! xoxo

Maxxin & Relaxin'...

As of the last blog, we had just arrived in beautiful Koh Phangan....now I sit in an internet cafe in Bangkok on our way to Vang Vieng, Laos in 7.5 hours as our fifteen day visas are up...sheesh that went way too fast! No full moon party this month, it may have been cutting it a bit too close!


Since arriving in Koh Phangan we have been greeted by a whole ton of rain, which got old real fast! We've done lots of biking and adventuring to other beaches on the island, and while sitting in a restaurant on the beach in Haad Rin and watching Friends we saw the news of the tsunami in Japan. Kinda a weird feeling as the crowd gathered and we watched it all happening live and thinking of how we had just been in Tokyo about a month before. We're definitely keeping them in our thoughts!!!


Leif loves when I suggest things to do, so one morning he said, "what should we do today," to which I replied, "let's go to that beach that's on the other side of the island that's apparently very hard to get to!"....Yah, there's a reason I keep my mouth shut sometimes, as there's a reason this damn beach was hard to get to! We ended up climbing ridiculous hills and getting a flat tire in what we thought was the middle of nowhere.  We must have good karma though, because as I hopped off the bike to begin my walk for what I thought would be a crap load of kilometers....just a few feet away was a motorcycle repair shop.  Yup, we never did make it to that beach.....and though I won't stop with the suggestions, I may think them through a little beforehand.


We'd been looking forward to Leif's cousin coming to Koh Phangan, and a few days ago they finally arrived! We met up with them for a visit, which got out of hand, and we ended up going to a party in the jungle, drinking buckets, and dancing for as long as our bodies would allow.  Leif once told me that I was soooo much like his cousin's girlfriend, and holy man was he right. We had a great time punch dancing the night away and freaking each other out about our crazy similarities! LOL..."you mean you are afraid of sharks and love puppies too??.....you're team Jacob too???"....just to name a few.


Leaving Koh Phangan was an adventure to say the least....if it's one thing we're buying, likely today, it's a watch!!! We were packing up in the morning, unaware of the time, and then we hopped on the bike to go to the pier to catch our ferry that left at 12:30 only to be pelted by rain the entire way. Leif dropped me off and still had to go back and get his bag from our bungalow.  He came back at 12:35. We were running down the pier as the boat was about to pull away and made it in the nick of time. Again Karma, we must have splendid Karma, and a lesson was definitely learned.


I hope the rain decides to let up when we're in Laos as I can't wait to tube the river in the sunshine and watch tons of Friends episodes in bars along the river. We'll be there until April the 10th, when we fly...yes fly (excitement)...out of Vientiane into Bangkok so we can get a thirty day stamp (hopefully) in our passports and spend one more month in this glorious country of Thailand with my sis and my future bro in law and get into some trouble.


Enjoy some pics....

Haad Rin beach on a windy day.

Leif checking out the view...

My favorite yellow flippies!

MMMM shakes!

Leif devouring a squid on a stick at our favorite night market in Thongsala, Koh Phangan

The motorbike repair shop that the angels built in the middle of nowhere:

Connor & Neila at the Jungle Party!

We found him!!!

Buckets!!!

Rain, rain go away!!!!!!!

I'll blog in Laos!!!! Miss you all!

xoxo

Oh Sweet Thai Food....How We've Missed Your Taste.

Finally!!!! Back in Thailand!


Our four day excursion to Malaysia wasn't bad, but if I didn't know how much I loved Thailand, I do now!  Langkawi had its perks....beautiful beach, the whole island was duty free, we rode the Langkawi cable car up a mountain which had awesome views from the top, but beyond that...Thailand kicks Malaysia's ass!


Malaysia has rules. Period. Leif was asked if he had his bike license, in Thailand they don't care. Malaysia also is filled with Muslims, which is fine, but Muslims don't serve alcohol. A far cry from the alcohol-ridden Thailand. Malaysia's food is also sub-par when compared to Thai food.  We've officially decided no food will ever beat Thai food, it's that unbeatable.  We were chasing after the taste of Thai food in Malaysia the entire time going to "authentic" Thai restaurants there....only to be sadly disappointed.  When we arrived back in Thailand, we hit up a restaurant right off the ferry and stuffed our faces. 


I'd have to say my least favorite part of our travels is the in between stages of going from place to place.  In Malaysia we were promised a mini bus taxi from the ferry to Satun, and then a "VIP" bus from Satun to Surat Thani, where we would catch a night ferry and arrive in Koh Phangan. Leif literally asked three times! Well when we got off the ferry, we had a truck waiting for us to hop into the back of the cab, and our "VIP" bus was a minibus.  It wouldn't be so bad if they didn't jam you in there like sardines. When we arrived in Surat Thani, the lady at the station talked us into getting a room and catching the "two hour" ferry the next morning, which ended up being a five hour trek...BUT... the thing is, you can't get the laid back easy lifestyle that you get in Thailand without a little bit of this business.  I'll gladly deal with it all cause all we care about is we're here now, and this place is friggen amazing! Ahhhhhh Thailand.


We have rented another bike, found ourself another hut for only $400 baht a night, and we plan to explore the island and hit up the beach until our 15-day visa is up.  Leif's cousin will be in Koh Phangan in about a week, so we're looking forward to that...and we may just have to hit up two full moon parties.  Then it's off to Laos until my sister and Thad arrive.


Unfortunately, now that we (mainly me) have settled into this lifestyle, I don't have much for toilet stories like my first blogs.  I don't freak if I see a hole in the ground, though I never thought in my life I'd ever be so happy to see a toilet and toilet paper.  I've come a long way from the beginning of the trip, or maybe I'm just immune to it all now lol.


Here are a few pics:

The beach in Langkawi - Cenang Beach:

A small Malaysian man telling Leif how huge he was:

The Langkawi Cable Car:

At the top:

Hanging Bridge at the top...our legs were very wobbly walking across:

The view:

Back to Buddhism, hooray!!

Koh Phangan - Haad Rin Beach, where we will go to a Full Moon Party (maybe twice).  This is the long row of bucket vendors:

Many with VERY inappropriate sayings!!!!

Till next time!



Poooooooo-ket

Long time, no update!!! A blog is in order!

My last blog we were in Railay on our way to Koh Lanta. Koh Lanta was fun, once again we rented a bike and rode around the island exploring as many inches as possible!  I've had a few bugs in the face now, but it's just all part of the experience! I love the bike, and many talks have taken place about a Honda Goldwing in our future!

After Koh Lanta, we took a ferry to Phuket, with the intent of going to a Blues festival. We found out on the day of the Blues Festival it was $50 plus drinks...yah, not in a backpackers budget, prolly should have looked into that beforehand.  Live and learn I guess! So instead, we stumbled across a gay pride festival...in which I was enthralled with the lady boys and cross dressers, and Leif just kinda stood back and laughed at me. Meh well, I'm a small town Saskie gal, what do you expect?!

We've been hanging out on the beach here, and once again riding our bike around the island.  This time though, we had to wear helmets that didn't fit properly and were in no way flattering. We've also found an ingenious way to live it up like the richies do!  One day while biking, we stumbled across a fancy schmancy resort with a nice private beach...so we walked right in and took advantage.  We walked the shoreline, and then proceeded to use their gorgeous swimming pool facilities.  We dried off afterwards, walked to our bike...and talked about how smart we truly are.

We came across a volkswagon van whilst walking along the street one day that was transformed into a bar.  I honestly think Leif nearly poo'd himself.  The man loves his volkswagon vans, and to have one that served liqour was just a little overwhelming for him! We've had our fair share of drinks there, and once again the long island iced tea got the better of me one night, much like it did in Mexico!!! One will never learn. 

We talked to the waitress one night at this van bar, her name was Mond.  She proceeded to tell us how it was "too hot" here, and how she wished she lived in a place that was colder with snow.  I nearly choked on my drink.  Beaches, sun, sand, palm trees....and they wish for snow. Lol.  She also told us that she clears about 2-3 dollars a day. Kinda eye opening to say the least, and made me realize how spoiled we truly are!

It's time for a change of scenery.  Phuket's been great, but it's filled with resorts, and overtaken by Russians! Lol. I kinda wanna just get back to a more backpacker-y island.  Tomorrow we're going to Malaysia as we've been in Thailand for a month (wow!), and we need to renew our visas.  We've booked a place in Langkawi.  Bring it on Malaysia!

Now for a few pictorials:

On the ferry, on the way to Phuket....we were getting way more sun that we realized...ouchy!

After placing an order for a beer, this always makes him happy:

The volkswagon van bar:

Our friend Mond the waitress took a pic of us:

Biking Adventures:

Weeee!

Leif's caption to the below pic is, "man I hate this place!"

Phuket:

That's all for now folks!!!

Till next time :)