Author Archives: Bryan Ballweber

Looking for Juan Valdez

In a country not so far away we start the second part of our adventure. Colombia: a country that has so much to offer travelers, but is still trying to escape its past.

After a long flight out of Hong Kong we made it to Los Angeles for a quick break, replenished needed supplies, and enjoyed a decent hotel. Checking in for our flight to Bogota was a bit frustrating as Spirit Airlines requires onward tickets out of Colombia for foreigners (despite that this is not required by the Colombian government). In haste we purchased two tickets out of Bogota to Quito, Ecuador through Expedia. This got us into the terminal where I promptly cancelled the tickets. Gotta love the free cancellation in 24hrs! Landing in Bogota the next afternoon, customs was a breeze.

After being quoted very inflated prices, a security guard helped us to find a reasonable taxi and got us on our way to La Candelaria. This is the old city center that houses many Spanish Colonial and Baroque style buildings. Bogota sits just a little over 8,600 feet above sea level, so it is quite comfortable during the day but gets chilly at night. We weren’t ready for those temperatures. At our hostel we immediately were given a run-down on safety: not going out at night, when it’s ok to pull out the camera, which areas to stay away from, what people to watch out for (everyone), and what real police officers look like.

(Bolivar Square in the Old City Center)

We spent a day acclimating to our surroundings, checking out the local delicacies, and enjoying the scenery. It was nice to just walk around and observe the locals. A considerable amount of people in the old city center are students to the copious amount of universities in the area. We picked up a Spanish-English dictionary at a University bookstore; quite essential as there isn’t much flexibility for those who don’t speak Spanish. We found that hot chocolate is a very common drink, especially for breakfast. Even better, at least for Megan, is that they always offered it with either milk or water. Hot chocolate is just the beginning, as there are European style bakeries everywhere, so every morning we had fresh baked breads and pastries.

That evening we chilled out and watched the soccer game with some Club Colombia beer. The game was great to watch as Colombia came back from two points down to tie the game. This meant that Colombia qualified for the World Cup. That night we could hear the partying throughout town, which later brought out the riot police because people started tearing stuff up. In the morning we found out people had danced on top of the bus stops and we saw white powder (no idea what) covering the streets.

Bogota has some very nice museums. The Botero Museum, named after a Colombian artist very famous for his over sized depictions of people and objects, was quite spectacular as it showcased much of his private collection, including pieces by other artists such as Picasso, Dali, Moore, and Monet. Botero’s artwork was definitely one of a kind! The Museo del Oro (Gold Museum) might be one of the more impressive museums we’ve seen as it has a large collection of pre-Colombian gold work. Pieces ranged from very basic bracelets to intricate masks, figures, and beads. Often it seemed that the smaller the gold object, the more intricate detail was put into it.

(Botero painting)

(Pre-Colombian Gold Piece)

We took a bike tour one day that was led by a former journalist from California named Mike. Mike knows a ton about Colombia and has built great relationships with many locals. The bike tour lasted 5 hours and encompassed much more than a typical city tour might. We began in the old city center, seeing tons of street art along the way and historically important locations such as where officials were assassinated. Further down the road we stopped off at one of the largest markets in Bogota to try a dozen or more local fruits. This was awesome and unbelievably good! Dragon fruit here tastes even better than it does in S.E. Asia, and we had never before seen many of the fruits. The avocados are ginormous! We passed on the opportunity to try a drink that consists of a few different liqueurs, some fruit, nuts, and a live crab blended together. Apparently it is an aphrodisiac, but no one in the group was up for finding out. We made our way to the red light district. Of the three areas of Bogota where prostitution is legal, this red light district is the only one where prostitutes can be visible on the street. We didn’t linger long as the sights weren’t great. The next stop was what I was ready for: a small coffee factory where coffee is roasted and packaged to be exported, with the best beans being exported and the lower quality ones staying in Colombia. I enjoyed a nice cup of very fresh coffee.

(Local girl posing in front of some street art)

We stopped by an important cemetery that contains most of the past presidents of Colombia, along with quite a few graves that are considered miraculous (like the unidentified remains of a man). Locals visit these graves to pray when someone is sick, for example. The variation in the quality of the presidential grave sites was interesting. One former president’s grave was just an outline with a small plaque (he wasn’t much liked). A highlight of the tour was when some young boys met up with us at a park and performed a rap about corruption, drugs, and violence. Throughout the rest of the ride we observed more awesome street art with background information and stories, the old bull fighting ring, and finished it off with watching people gamble on which plastic homes guinea pigs would choose from a few meters away when let loose. I’d hate to see what happens to an uncooperative guinea pig.

(La Candelaria Area)

Bogota is lined on one side by mountains, including the 10,340 foot high Mt. Monserrate which is topped with a church. There are three ways up: tram, funicular, or walking. We were told tourists should take the trail on the weekend when many locals do as you are likely to be mugged during the week. The day we decided to go up, the trail was lined with hundreds of people making the journey up and down. Once at the top we had a magnificent view of Bogota.

(Looking down on Bogota from Monserrate)

That evening we attended a baby shower put on by the owners of the hostel for their son and daughter-in-law. The shower was most interesting as there were just as many men as women and even for a short while a few police dropped in just to observe. I never found out why the police were there, but I think it had to do with having a group gathering. Megan and I participated in all the games and were only told the rules in English if it was in the best interest of our teammates. Luckily we could usually figure out what was going on, although one unusual game involved me hopping around on one leg for 30 minutes. To end the night properly we stayed up with the owners’ adult children and a friend and enjoyed some drinks and salsa dancing. This was quite the event to finish out Bogota!

The next day we headed to the bus terminal to endure a 25 hour bus ride to Cartagena, a city on the Northern coast. The bus ride had gone pretty smooth with only one check-point, but there was one concerning thing: as we hit traffic just outside of Cartagena, I saw a group of kids run up to the bus and try to pry the luggage compartment open. Luckily the compartment was secured and nothing came of it.

Cartagena is probably one of the most tourist areas in Colombia. It resides on the Caribbean coast and use to be a port city used during the slave trade. Most of the buildings are Spanish Colonial and the old city center resides within the fort walls. While we were there, Interpol was having its 82nd General Assembly. I didn’t know if this was a good thing or not, but there were police helicopters flying around the city the entire time we were there.

It seems most of our time in Cartagena was spent working out later trip details, sweating profusely, and cooking up some yummy hamburgers (another hostel with a kitchen!). Touring the city within the fort was pretty amazing. There were quite a few churches plotted throughout and the old architectural style of the area was impressive. At our hostel we met a German, Martin, who we spent a lot of time with and went out for ice cream during the early evenings. That was most enjoyable as Megan got to have dairy free ice cream (helado con agua), we enjoyed more of the city when it was much cooler out, and Martin was great company.

(The main entrance into the old city center/fort)

(Chilling out in the evening with Martin)

As luck would have it we scored some plane tickets to Cali that were cheaper than the 20+ hour bus ride. Cali is a nice city and is known as the salsa capital of Colombia. Unfortunately, we didn’t do any dancing as we were only there during the early part of the week. We did spend a full day exploring downtown. There were some impressive buildings, especially an extravagant, Gothic style church, and the city was much less centered on tourism than Cartagena. Megan was a bit frustrated as every time we pulled out the camera a local would immediately tell us to put it away. Not that we couldn’t take photos, but they were concerned about us getting the camera stolen. We didn’t get many photos because of this, but Cartagena and Bogota were much more photogenic anyway. From Cali we took a night bus to the border and crossed into Ecuador.

(Gothic style church in Cali)

While in Colombia, we really enjoyed the food. Besides the delicious bakeries everywhere, we could always find a nice lunch or dinner special for about $3 that came with a large bowl of hearty soup, meat (once it was horse, not bad), rice, potatoes, beans, salad, fried bananas, a fresh glass of juice, and often a dessert. One particular combo we had (we were told was a traditional Colombian selection) came with not one, but FIVE sources of protein: sausage, chicken, beef, pork, and red beans. Megan was sad we didn’t have the camera with us for that one.

(Typical Colombia lunch + a soup)

Colombia is an amazing country, and coming into it we were both a little worried about safety, but overall we felt quite safe and comfortable. Most locals seemed to keep an eye on us, in a curious but protective way. There were active, peaceful protests in Bogota to fight corruption and everywhere we saw people really engaged in bringing change. Over the next few years I can only see the country becoming safer and I can’t emphasize enough how beautiful a country it is to visit.

Front Page News!

Get up at 4:45 am, walk a few kilometers to a bus station, take an hour long bus to the airport, catch a 1.5 hour flight to Kuching International Airport, walk a few more kilometers to a bus stop, catch a bus that is (hopefully) going into town, and finally spend 2.5 hours looking for a place to stay.

We made it to Borneo, Malaysia! Megan and I were walking into a week of real cultural adventures and were completely unaware of it.

We stayed at a nice little guesthouse, recommended by friends, which had a full kitchen and complimentary eggs/bread/oats so you could make your own breakfast. I ate copious amounts of toast all week long! Franky, who owns and runs the place, is a Malaysian of Chinese heritage. She is a fast talking, super excited, and constantly on the go kind of person. Franky was the key to our very memorable week.

(Us and Franky)

On our first full day we explored Kuching. We stopped off at the planetarium and watched a show on life and evolution. This was my first time in a planetarium and it was pretty awesome! We were the only guests there and it only cost about 75 cents to see the show. Afterwards, we made our way back to the guesthouse to cool down and relax. Franky caught us back at the guesthouse and was super excited to take us to a Chinese Hungry Ghost Festival. We had no clue what was going on but she said something about burning money, houses, cars, and seeing a “shaman” in a trance. All I could think was they are going to burn a house and car! We headed out with another couple in Franky’s car around 7pm to see this festival. Upon arriving there were tons of Chinese people making their way to a small building that was so crowded and filled with incense smoke that we couldn’t make out what was going on. Franky explained that people put their names into a queue so they can visit the shaman. We didn’t fully understand what the deal was with the shaman, but he is apparently possessed by a spirit and can provide advice or knowledge to a current situation. Because there were so many people that night, he was just blessing (or approving?) gifts to the spirits (ghosts) that each person presented before him. We found that they had a huge tent full of food offerings to appease the hell spirits; pig heads, shrimp, lobster, beer, liqueur, potatoes, pineapples, cakes, and so much more.

(Food offerings)

As Franky was explaining all of this to us over a nice plate of noodles covered in chili sauce (I went back for seconds), she decided to put Megan’s name into the queue. Megan was completely lost at what was going on, but the other couple with us were freaking out because they needed to get back and pack for an early flight. So we headed back to the guesthouse to drop off those two and crammed four others into Franky’s tiny car. I think Megan was secretly hoping they would have passed her number by the time we got back, but it was going to be a long time before Franky and Megan’s numbers were drawn. While waiting, the amount of Chinese people were slowly thinning out and we were able to see the shaman sitting at a table acting really strange, tongue sticking out and eyes closed, while stamping things people brought before him. Typically it was some sort of paper, a couple of gutted orange peels, and a flag of some sort. People took the orange peels, filled them with oil, put in a wick, said a prayer, and then set them in a pool of water to float. Time to enjoy some more noodles and chili sauce.

(Orange peel candle pool)

Finally it was Megan’s turn around 1:30am. Looking nervous she sat next to the Shaman who sort of stared at her, started rambling something in Chinese, and then quickly stamped the orange peels she brought. People all around were entertained as we were the only foreigners at this festival. Megan walked away unscathed but still had to wave the oranges over some incense while someone rang a bell, then she got to add hers to the collection of lit orange peels in the pool.

(Megan and the Shaman)

After that excitement we still had to wait for everything to come to an end, so we helped some others burn fake money. They literally go out and buy stacks of fake, paper money to take to a festival and just throw into a fire, and they burn a lot of fake money! Finally we reached the time to burn a house and car! Woot! Out of nowhere a guy walked around a corner carrying a big paper house. Excitement gone… There was a large square with a bamboo fence that we filled with a few paper houses, cars, shirts, shoes, and copious amounts of fake money. There was so much it ended up being a pile roughly 10 feet tall within a 30’x30′ area. It took an hour to fill. The shaman came out and ran around the food tent chanting and then off to light the big pile of paper. Once lit, people bum rushed the food tent to take the offerings no longer needed by the hell ghosts. Megan destroyed little kids, stealing their precious pineapples! Not really, but we did end up with a lot of fruit, sweet potatoes, and some MSG coated goodies.

(Paper houses submerged in paper money in a bamboo cage)

A couple days later we got up pretty early to head to a nature preserve to see some orangutans! The preserve has a viewing area to watch while rangers put a bucket of fruit on a platform for the semi-wild orangutans. While waiting we watched the tree tops until we finally saw trees swaying back and forth. Orangutans are like tree ninjas moving through the canopy. We got to see nine of them, a few just little babies. Later we took in some of the museums as they are free across the state. That evening Franky surprised us with dinner, a vegetable dish with salted duck eggs. To eat, you put a spoonful of the vegetables and egg into a lettuce leaf. I called them Malaysian burritos. After that nice dinner we went to see the waterfront at night. In the central area we found a large tent set up for a formal dinner, and other tents full of local food vendors and tables. Military and police were all over the place, and people were pouring in and out of the vendor tents carrying all sorts of good looking food. Megan and I were quite perplexed at what was going on, and as we stopped to observe an officer took us into a tent where another officer handed us both some ice cream explaining everything was complimentary. Free food! Again! We just barely stepped into the tent and an old lady, not speaking any English, led us through the crowd to a vendor and got us a couple of food dishes. She was so excited to help us. After that we grabbed a couple of drinks and then found a vendor handing out murtabaks! Oh this has to be heaven. With our arms full of food we found a place to sit. Most scrumptious! I am pretty sure Megan and I put a few pounds on after that. The event was put on by the police and was free for everyone. The Chief Minister of Sarawak showed up a bit later by a large police escort, and he got to enjoy the nice dinner tent. Bet he didn’t get a murtabak.

(Orangutang)

The next morning we headed out to Bako National Park. We met a couple of Canadians at the bus stop that we shared the boat with to get into the park. If you don’t stay overnight at the park it is said that it can be pretty difficult to see the infamous proboscis monkeys that are known for their rather large noses. Stepping off the boat we had to follow a path to the headquarters to check-in. Just in that short walk we saw three proboscis monkeys and a few bearded wild pigs. Woot! Seeing anything after this was just gravy. Megan and I decided to take a nice hike to a cliff edge overlooking a beach, and got to see a ton of carnivorous pitcher plants along the way. I was pretty excited to see these. After heading back we took a small detour to check out another area where the proboscis monkeys are known to hang out. Luckily we saw a handful more, yelling and grunting at each other. Great trip! When we made it back to town we decided to have some beers with the Canadians, which didn’t end until about 3 the next morning when we drug them back to their hotel.

(Proboscis monkey)

For our last full day we were supposed to go on a hike with Franky and a few others, but the others cancelled. In style, Franky had another event that she could take us to if we were interested. It was a luncheon put on by the Ministry of Tourism for the Sarawak Homestay group. The different homestays were supposed to bring tourists to the event for yummy free food and to watch a mock traditional wedding ceremony. We ended up being the only tourists there. Through the beginning of the event everything was going well as we got to see examples of different wedding attire from different villages. Halfway through the event the Minister of Tourism gave a speech and had to promptly leave, but before heading out, he stopped by our table to most conveniently use us as PR puppets. The reporters took tons of photos of him shaking our hands and talking to us. This started a chain of events that we can only laugh about now. We immediately were asked to have photos taken of us eating some of Sarawaks famous layered cake. They wanted to use it for advertising, so you might see us on a billboard or tourists brochures in Malaysia. After looking ridiculous while pretending to eat cake, Franky introduced us to some tribe’s people that she commonly takes her guests out to see in their village. After taking a photo with them, the news people saw and asked to take more photos of us, but this time with us trying on their traditional garb. This made for some awkward moments, but we were laughing the entire time. In the middle of the photo shoot one of the national news channels came over and interviewed us. I am not sure how much longer we took photos, but some Chinese Nationals that were guests of the event also had to be part of some our photos. In the end we ate some really good food, had our photo taken way too many times, and even helped Franky collect little cake gift packages that were left on tables to take back to the guesthouse with us.

(Megan and I with a homestay village group)

After so much excitement, our day had to come for us to fly to Kota Kinabalu. While waiting for the plane I walked into a duty free store, and Boom! Right in the middle of the newspaper stand was a big photo of Megan and I. Of course I bought a paper, for now the best proof of what we went through.

Kota Kinabalu was just a junction point for us to fly into Bali, Indonesia. We didn’t really do much there but tour the town and enjoy some different types of Malaysian cuisine. Malaysia was a great time and I would consider it the easiest S.E. Asia country to get around in thus far. There are a ton of photos from Kuching so be sure to check them out.

The Petronas Charm

Being in Kuala Lumpur really seems to be a mild escape back to the western world. KFC, McDonalds, Starbucks, Pizza Hut, Subway, and so many others are to be found on just about any block. Although, I can’t say we have visited any of them. We spent a nice couple of days in Kuala Lumpur heading checking out the Petronas Towers and KL Tower. Locally the Petronas Towers are called the Twin Towers. At one point they laid claim to the tallest building in the world. They are an impressive sight to see with their design based on Islamic art. We didn’t go up into the towers as it was pretty pricey, but just down the road there is the KL Tower which is the seventh tallest communications tower in the world and is taller than the Petronas Towers (because it is on a hill). The KL Tower gives you an amazing 360 degree view of Kuala Lumpur. While in Kuala Lumpur, tons of people were streaming into town by the bus loads as it was the end of Ramadan. At this point nearly everyone walking around the city was a tourist and at times you were shoulder to shoulder down the sidewalk.

(KL Tower)

After a couple days in Kuala Lumpur we headed back into central Malaysia to visit the famous Cameron Highlands area. Cameron Highlands is a montane forest area that has an altitude ranging from 3500-6000 ft. and boasts a broad range of flora. The area is home to many tea plantations, strawberry farms, and plant nurseries. On our first day we jumped on a local bus to head about 5km north to see the BOH tea plantation. This might not have been a great idea, as the traffic was so bad from everyone still being on holiday because of Ramadan. Once we made it to our drop off we had a 3.5km walk to the plantation up a winding single lane road. It was amazing looking out into the valley and seeing all the tea plants. Along the road we could also see beautiful flowers everywhere. This was quite the escape from the city.

(BOH Tea Plantation)

After we toured the BOH tea plantation we started our trek back to our guest house. Unfortunately for us that meant we would have to walk through the regular afternoon rain shower. It already had been a bit cloudy so after getting a little wet it was a bit chilly. While walking back we strolled by the many strawberry farms, plant nurseries, and few cactus houses. This entire area is just a natural green house for growing just about anything.

(A little strawberry farm)

That evening we were exhausted from the day and sat down to enjoy some yummy naan, dhal, and curries. As we were just finishing up our food four people sat down at the table next to us and one of them immediately started talking to me. When he found out we are from the U.S. he got super excited. He was a 22 year old from Pakistan visiting two of the others who were also Pakistani, and the fourth was a lady from the Philippines. This was the first time this guy had met someone from the U.S., as it was the first time I have gotten to talk to someone from Pakistan. He was super nice and immediately got started about how terrorist make his country look really bad when it isn’t. For most of the Pakistani population get really upset with the terrorists and wish Americans would understand that. Side note: looking back at this conversation with him it was almost at this very time that Pakistan had opened fire on India during a cease fire. He explained how most of the people are very simple people and it seems that a vast majority of them don’t really know what is going on in the country. Megan noticed while he would look at her and listen to her, he had a hard time directly talking to her, as he would direct questions about her to me. The other two, who had been living in Malaysia for awhile, talked to Megan easily. While we talked, which ended up being for a couple of hours, he insisted I eat with him from his plate. He was very insistent, and I found out later that it would have been very disrespectful if I didn’t. Megan spent most of the time talking to the Philippine lady, who was so energetic and bubbly it seemed like she was on speed. She worked at a hotel as housekeeping to send money back to her children and parents in the Philippines who she hadn’t seen in four years. This was definitely one of those fun and interesting cultural moments.

The following day we lounged around a bit in the morning and decided to head out for a small trek to a waterfall and see if we could see some more jungle flora. All around town there are small trails that make for some very scenic hikes. During the hike we stopped every few feet to take pictures of some other flower, tree, or fungi. I think we were like excited little kids running around with cameras.

The next day we were back on the bus for Kuala Lumpur. Most of our time before our flight to Borneo was to be used to research out the rest of our S.E. Asia trip and get ready for South America. While we did get to do this, we spent maybe a little too much time in the shopping district. I ended up caving, go figure, and buying a netbook (Thinkpad X120E) to help keep some of my programming/IT skills fresh. At least that’s what I keep telling myself. We also had to pick-up a new tripod for our camera as the other was junk. We did go out a couple times after sunset to see the Petronas Towers at night. There is a huge park next to the towers and it made for an amazing viewing area when the towers were lit up.

(Petronas Towers)

Before heading out we also had to make a day trip through the Botanic Park. This was most rewarding, especially the orchid area. I think most of the pictures tell a better story.

All Along the Andaman Coast

Time to slow down. After that good week of diving in Koh Tao we were ready to hang low and relax. We were fortunate enough to get the better night ferry back to the mainland on our way to Phuket, so we actually got a little sleep in our bunks. Unfortunately, the ferry was followed by a much too long bus ride for just a short distance, although it was amazing to cruise down the coast and see these amazing, huge limestone karsts jutting up all around. This just seemed to be a glimpse of what was to come.

Phuket is one of the places always mentioned when talking about Thailand. It is the party central of S.E. Asia. One beach in particular, Patong Beach, is just a bigger version of Khao San road in Bangkok. That isn’t our style so we headed just south of that to Karon Beach. We got super excited as we ended up with a room that had a balcony, fridge, and more importantly an electric hot water kettle. Time for a little grocery shopping! We had copious amounts of coffee and tea, and for two nights we made spaghetti. I can not tell you how exciting this was. One night we did get to have dinner with some friends from Colorado who now are teaching English in Phuket. It was nice to see some familiar faces and spend an evening chatting it up. Other than enjoying the room amenities we spent some time on the beach, but swimming was a bit difficult with the rough waters.

(Bryan getting smashed by a wave)

Quickly moving on, our next destination was to be straight to Railay Beach through Krabi, but we had to spend a few days in Krabi first. During the past month and a half leading up to Phuket, Megan’s grandma had been in the hospital not doing well. Before we left Koh Toa, it became obvious that she would not be going home. After several difficult days, she passed away peacefully. We were in Phuket and headed for Railay, where we couldn’t expect reliable internet to communicate with the family, so we made a pit stop for a couple of days in Krabi. I can’t say how difficult it is especially when you are thousands of miles away. Megan’s family has been really great about making sure we stayed updated, especially her brother, Nick, who Skyped with us numerous hours. We want to express our appreciation for everything Megan’s family has done to help her grandparents and each other.

(Bryan, Megan, and Grandma Clara before we left on our trip)

Hitching a ride in a longtail boat, we ventured on to Railey Beach. Railay, although it is a penninsula, feels like an island because you are blocked from the rest of the mainland by karsts and you can only really get there by boat.

(Railay Beach from the karst viewpoint)

After really trying to bet against the weather we signed up for a day island hopping trip. This was quite the outing as we were on the boat with several Malaysians. They were super excited for snorkeling, but their idea of snorkeling was much different than ours. With a loaf of bread in one hand, they stayed close to the boat and lured some of the fish to them. We saw angel fish, crab, pipe fish, rainbow parrot fish, and I was fortunate to see a small reef shark. Quite exciting! We explored a few different islands where we got to do a small hike and see some left over debri from the 2004 tsunami. Our guide was most interesting as he went on and on about how U.S. movies/shows are the best, and his favorite is Mega Man. He also has a mohawk and tattooed wings on his back. Never a dull moment.

(One of the beaches we stopped at)

With the water starting to get a bit rough the following day, we decided to climb a trail up the karsts on the end of the beach. On top we expected there to be an amazing viewpoint and hidden lagoon. Heading up wasn’t too bad but it was quite steep and rope was strung around the trail to assist the climb up. We made it to the viewpoint easy enough, and it did provide for an amazing view. Sadly we couldn’t make it all the way to the lagoon as the trail down got increasingly dangerous. The trail ran throuh the water gully which currently was just thick, slippery mud. Some of the drop offs were ten plus feet down and we couldn’t chance slipping down them.

(Bryan standing by one of the drops down to the lagoon)

Megan always wanted to try deep water solo climbing, and this area is the mecca for such a thing, which was our true intention to visit anyways. We started to run into issues where a group would be going then cancel and then some other group would be set for the next day and cancel. Things weren’t looking good. It wasn’t until our last full day and a few hours before the last tour might head out that she got the green light. It was like a Saturnalias miracle! Not only did she get to climb, but she did a bit more snorkeling and got to see phosphorescent plankton lighting up at night like glitter. Pretty awesome experience she had!

(Megan deep water solo climbing)

Since then we are back in Krabi about to catch a minibus to Georgetown, Malaysia. Not completely sure whats in store for us, but we hope to be visiting a national park to possibly see the rainforest in full bloom.