Trains and Planes and Automobiles....

My Grandfather 'Vati' and I

I made it! I made it to Switzerland after oh... about 40 hours of traveling. I arrived last Monday and met my mom at the Airport, who had flown in from the States that morning as well. It was actually perfect timing. I was 2 hours late and she was 30 mins early so we arrived within 10 minutes of each other. I deliriously disembarked the plane and wondered down the escalator and saw a women at the bottom who looked quite alot like my very own mom. Not wanting to make a total fool of myself, and feeling even more blind then I normally am, I squinted my eyes and stared but was not about to wave at someone who might not be my mom. She was staring right at me and not waving... so it probably was not her. But it was, I only was sure, when I was about 10 feet away... a sign I really need to see the eye doctor!

I have to say it was quite an adjustment all around. When I left Cairns it was 36° and when I stepped outside in Bern it was snowing! As beautiful as it was, my body has completely vetoed the change in temp and it is not happy! I have unfortunately been sick since then. I am just glad my body waited until now, since I have my own bed and coach to lounge on... its the perfect place to the be under the weather.


Other then reading, playing solitare and doing puzzles, I have been hanging out lots with my family which has been great. My 94 year old grandparents are inspirational. They are in incredible shape for there age... although my grandfather likes to tell me he is ' old man river'! It always brings back such great memories of my childhood when I am here with them.

I have 2 more weeks here, and plan on heading to the mountians to do some hiking and skiing... which I can not wait for!


Whitehaven Beach... one of my last adventures in Oz


A dreary wet day in Bern

Hanging out with my Cousins cuties!

Can you tell by the mud what a good time we had on our walk?!?


The mountains... view from my uncle's house

So there is a brief view into my lazy time here in Switzerland. I will try to update when I take some more interesting pictures.

View from the shores of Airlie Beach

Hello mates!
Well the land down under has been treating us well and sure has lots to show! We have been moving constantly for the last 3 weeks and I won't lie I am getting a little tired. Which is ok because today Amy and I are boarding a sail boat for 3 days of sailing in the Whitsunday Islands. Airlie beach where we are and the boats leave, is a super cute little town. The water is crystal clear and very calm contrary to where we have been further south. The weather has been quite crazy, producing lots of rain, big swells, rip tides and lots of flooding up north( which is somewhat welcomed as they were in a drought). Some of the areas we saw where not as beautiful as they normally are due to all the wind and rain. The water was more of a brown color. We were still excited to see it all!

I was finally able to upload some pictures from the last 2 weeks, so I wanted to share a few with you.

Gold Coast somewhere... see the nasty seas behind me!

@ Australia Zoo- home of the Crocodile Hunter. That is a Koala in the tree, they are ever so cute!

Maybe my new favorite animal, the Kangaroo! At Australia Zoo you can walk around and there are Kangaroos bouncing all around or in this case being lazy.

About to go Surfing in Coolum... I have to say I might be the new master of surfing on ones knees! Its pretty stylish!

Lake Mackenzie on Fraser Island( the largest sand Island in the world)... pretty amazing place. This lake is in the middle of the Island and is completely freshwater and has some of the finest sand in the world. They say it is great to clean jewelry and also makes your skin and hair very soft and it great for wrinkles.. maybe a fountain of youth?

A dingo on Fraser Island. He came right over to the bus!

The view of Lady Musgrave Island ( you like the sideways shot!)

Lady Musgrave Island. This is the southern most point of the Great Barrier Reef.

Time to board the boat! Talk to you all soon!

Cheers,

Sanna

Aussie update

Hello!
I just got in from a morning surf. The water was nice and warm, but a tad dirty from all the rain they have had here on the Sunshine Coast. Amy and I have been traveling with her friend Lisa, who lives here, for the last week. It has been so nice having our own personal tour guide! We departed Sydney last Sunday via night bus which wasn't too bad and saved us a night on a hostel. Byron Bay was nice, but is super trendy these days. Our first hostel made us all feel like we were in High school again, our dorm room was filled with 10 other LOUD rowdy youngins! So we moved over to another hostel, The Belongil Beach house. This was recommended to me by Jim! and might I say it was a great recommendation!

Lisa has shown us tons of small towns along the way up the coast. We stayed in Palm Beach which is in between Tweed Heads and Surfers Paradise with some other friends for a few nights, before heading to Coolum which is on the Sunshine Coast. We are currently staying with Bill and Jill. They are Lisa's boyfriends parents, and they are awesome and so welcoming! It is so nice to be in a house and have space to spread out and not worry about who might be getting into our bags, other then the dogs! We have visited some markets, gone hiking, visited more casino's and played more 'Pookies'( thats what they call slots machines here) oh and I won another $40! and been surfing! All in all its been a great vacation.

We will be here a few more days and get some more surfing in before heading up to Fraser Island, then to 1770 to see Lady Musgrave Island and do some diving and snorkling in the reefs. Our last stops will be the Whitsundays and then Cairns. Can't believe that there are only 2 weeks left! Then its off to the cooler climates of the Alps! Man will I be in shock!

Sorry for the breif update! Its quite hard to get online here and well we have been super busy trying to fits so much in, in one month! I will try to upload some pictures in the near future.

Hope everyone is well. Cyclists at home I can hardly wait to get back on my bikes! Its torture to see so many people out for road rides here! So get ready! I cant wait to see you all.... now go ride your bikes for me and I will go for a surf for you!

Hello from the land down under

12 Apostles

Yes the toilets really do flush the other way! If you are like me, you have been dying to see this for yourself! So I happy to report that myth is TRUE!

I arrived last weekend in Melbourne, where I met up with my pal, Amy from High School. Arriving in the airport I almost felt like I was back home. It has been strange going from countries like Thailand and China that have so many differences to one that is rather similar to the States.

Amy and I at Apollo Bay
Upon arrival I took the bus into town and was dropped at the Southern Cross station and was told my hostel was a short walk down the road. I love to walk, so I thought why not. Well thank god it was down hill, because the temperature was a balmy 85 degrees at 11pm! So by the time I schlepped all my stuff to the hostel I was dripping, which was exactly the impression I wanted to leave on the very cute Aussie behind the counter at the hostel. Leave it to me to charming.
Urban Central turned out to be a great modern hostel with everything we needed!
An overlook on the Great Ocean Road

Ferns in the temperate rainforest

On Sunday Amy arrived and we got our barrings and made a general plan for our adventures. The rest of our time in Melbourne included, lots of walking and soaking up the sun and warm temps ( most so for Amy.. I am almost cold here sometimes!) Great dinners at places like the chocolate Buddha, short and lucrative visits to the Casino ( I won $48 on the slots machines!) a walk to Port Melbourne and most memorable a trip down the Great Ocean Road including a helicopter ride over the 12 apostles!
Sydney Opera House

We departed from Melbourne via bus last night, destination Sydney. Well 14 hours later we arrived in Sydney. Not the speediest way, but definitely cheap. Trust me there were moments I was questioning whether I would ever do this again. There were some great personalities on board, like the couple in front of me that hadn't bathed in a few days and reeked of nicotine... they we pretty awesome, or the guy who decided it would be cool to play the music on his phone for the whole bus to hear, also equally charming and wonderful at 2 am in the morning when you really want to sleep. Oh the experiences we are having. In the end we made it to Sydney and are loving it. We have already visited the harbour and did a speed boat tour which was a thrill. Our plan it to stay here until Sunday, but due to slight complication ( I left my passports, travelers checks and plane tickets in Melbourne) we may have a to stay a few more if the fed ex package doesn't arrive tomorrow. Oh the joys of traveling :)

Hope everyone is well!
Cheers,
S

Happy New Year

Cartwheels on the Beach!

Hope everyone had a great New Years! Mine was amazing. You know how people always hype up New Years and then it never seems to be that great, well I am happy to report that mine was quite fun! I decided to stay in Khoa Lak for the celebrations and to hangout with my pals just a few days longer. My friend from back home, Jonathan, arrived in Khoa Lak on Saturday, so he was able to partake in the celebrations as well.

Look its proof that Jonathan is here! (we were hiking in Khao Lak National Park)

Here is a quick recap of my last week!Wednesday the 26th, was the 3rd anniversary of the Tsunami. As I have written already I meet a wonderful women, Dee, who is a tsunami survivor. She is such a strong and positive person, it is joy to be around her. I went with her to several ceremonies and we even ventured out into the sea to place a wreathe, in honor of her boyfriend, and his parents who were all killed in the Tsunami, on a large rock near the coast. There were many frogs on these rocks.... I don't like frogs and they were jumping all over, so its a miracle I didn't abort the mission of finding the perfect place for the wreathe. We also attended a candle light vigil lead by a group of monks. It was a beautiful procession down to the beach where candles were placed along the beach. We then also lit lanterns in honor of Tom, Carole, and Colin. This is a Thai tradition and is absolutely beautiful! At one of the larger ceremonies they let off 5,000 lanterns into the night sky! Really an amazing sight, one that leaves you with goose bumps.

Letting a lantern fly away

Candle Light Vigil on the Beach
My last few days were filled with lots of time with friends and playing. I meet some other great volunteers too! There is Rene, who is originally from South Africa, but has been living in Australia for the last 10 years or so. Then there is the adorable Marc, my lovely Spanish friend. He is on month 2 of a year of traveling. I am hoping to meet up with him at some point somewhere. Marc has the best accent, especially when saying words like 'sheet' and 'beach'!

Dee and I- one of my last nights in Khao Lak

One of my favorite drink combos... Singha and Sprite ( usually they bring you a glass)

Marc introduced us all to a Spanish New years tradition, one I think I will keep. The last 12 seconds of the year you have to put one grape in your mouth each second. Since all the grapes in Thailand have seeds, we all prepared ours and had them lined up and ready to go. Funny thing is we somehow missed the first 4 seconds of the countdown and were forced to just shove half the grapes in at once! It was hilarious!

Marc with 12 grapes in his mouth!

Me, Rene, Marc, and Dee... New Years Eve
I spent my last few days on the beach, visiting the Khoa Lak National Park and just having a pretty amazing time with some amazing people. Wish you all could have been there too! I Have been a bit sleep deprived the last week... there just really has been no time to sleep. On New Years Day, I flew up to Bangkok on about 3 hours of sleep and well there has been lots to see here, so sleeping hasn't made too high on the priority list.

Jonathan, Me and Marc on New Years

Bangkok is a big big, somewhat dirty city. It does have some charm though. I have discovered KhoaSan road and well pretty much love it. It is the backpackers haven in the city, so I fit right in. I have found that I like the smaller, little sister of Khaosan, called Rambutri Rd. I thought my hotel was going to be in this area... and well its not, its in Chinatown,(I feel like I am in Hong Kong again)

Jonathan arrived the morning after I did, so we have been sightseeing and walking around the city. Both Jonathan and I need feet massages after the miles and miles we have walked in the last few days.

Coconut milk out of the coconut is so much better!

Riding in a tuk tuk in Bangkok with Jonathan

Tomorrow morning ( 4:30 am to be precise) I head off to the airport to fly to Melbourne! I am getting pretty excited to see my pal, Amy and to be in a country where they speak English and don't just look at you like you have 2 heads. My Thai ( that is the 20 words I know) is getting better, but still I need to try harder as I am a visitor in their country!

Can't believe how fast time is flying by. The last two weeks are a big blur and I feel like my head is spinning. Thanks to everyone for all the Christmas emails ( EX2 folks... the card made my day!!!) calls, etc. I have not been great about responding, but know I think about you all often! While there are countless other stories I could tell.... I need to go pack, so you will just have to wait until I get home! Miss you all and Happy New Year!

Merry Christmas from Sunny Khoa Lak

Merry Christmas! I must say being in a warm climate for Christmas is quite strange! I know its Christmas, but it doesn't really feel like it. None the less its been a fun last week.

The perfect Sunset at Bang Niang Beach
On Saturday I spend the day at the beach with two of my volunteer friends. We were incredibly lazy and just sipped on watermelon shakes and I got incredibly roasted, so I ended my day with a oil massage! It was a great day!

On Sunday I had to do my Visa run to Myanmar ( formally Burma). This was an experience. You pay about 1,500 Baht, this is about $45. I left Khao Lak about 8 am, hopped on a minibus with some other visa runners, and drove 3 hours north to Ranong. Here you are taken into the immigration office, to depart Thailand. Then when you walk out of the office, some Thai man takes your passport, probably the worst feeling for an international traveler! You are then put back on the minibus, driven to the pier, put on a long tail boat and driven across the river to ( the name of the city escapes me at the moment, Myanmar). Once there you are hurried on the boat, by a whole lot of Burmese dudes, asking you questions and of course you have no idea what they are saying. You try to be polite, but don't want to be too polite and be misunderstand. Luckily there were too other English speakers with me, Tony from Manchester England, and a girl from Vancouver. Once off the boat, you wait in another line, to enter and then immediately exit the country. You are then put back on the boat driven back across the river/sea and taken back to Thai immigration office to re-enter the country! Then 3 hours back in the minibus! Good times. You are probably wondering why on earth I did that! Well as a tourist you are given 30 days to see the country and then you have to leave, or pay 1000 Baht a day you stay over. My stay is 38 days, so 8000 baht would just not be fun to pay! Proof I was in Myanmar
Sunday night myself and a few other volunteers, went to the orphanage with a box of Christmas presents. ( Yes I am aware many of them are Buddhist and Muslim) But we wanted to share our tradition with them and give them all something special, as they all deserve it! My pal Colette was the master mind behind the selecting the gifts, I donated to the funds and wrapped the presents. Presents included sewing kits for the girls, fishing rods for the boys, art kits, key boards, recorders, rubix cubes, a guitar, etch-o-sketch, and playdo for the little ones.

Hmmmm... What's in here???

When we arrived the first thing they all saw, ( kids have a special radar) was the giant box of presents! We were able to distract them for a good 1+hrs by playing with them. I turned into a 10 years old again and was running around, and rolling in the dirt. It was awesome! Not only was a dripping in sweat, but the sweat was attracting dirt, and awesome combo! I was sooo dirty by the end of the night.

Rolling around and getting pounced on by 4 year olds! Couldn't ask for more!

Me and Little Ben!

We ate delicious meal with the kids and then opened presents. Oh but before we did this, they all made a circle around us and joined hands and in their very best English, Thanked us for being there and for all the presents. It took all that was in me to not cry!

Once it was time for presents, they all sat quietly and we put on our Santa hats (literally) and started to hand out presents. They all waited until everyone had a present to rip the paper open and see what was inside. I cant describe to you the looks on their faces when they opened their gifts... all I can say was it took a lot to not let the tears that had welled up stream right down my face! Truly a priceless moment! One I will never forget!

Mess with his new Keyboard

Anything can happen on Christmas right? Even snow in Thailand!

After presents we had a dance party... honestly one of the best I had ever attended. (No offense friends, but dancing with kids is way better! No pressure to look cool.... lords knows I am a fool on the dance floor, but the kids loved it ( at least I think that what there laughter meant ;) It was a great scene the older ones dancing the younger ones decorating themselves in the wrapping paper, and playing in the box.

Soon it was time to go. About 10 of the kids came with the owner to drive us back to town. As some of you may know the 3 year anniversary of the Tsunami is tomorrow. Many, if not all of these children lost their parents and loved ones in the Tsunami. Driving into town where is all happened is hard for them. Many of them got really quiet and had sad looks on their faces as we drove into town. It was one of the hardest things to see. All you want to do is make them smile and all they need is unconditional love. Saying goodbye was hard that night, but tonight I will go back and spend my Christmas night with them! Cant wait to see them!

A waterfall in Khoa Sak National Park

Yesterday I went with two friends to Khao Sak National Park to be a tourist for the day. Boy did I feel like one at the end of the day, but it was worth it. We saw tons of stuff in one day which was great. The day started with Elephant trekking. I was a bit weary about how they treated the elephants at first, but then was pleasantly surprised! I was even able to sit on the elephants neck for some of the ride! This is a little scary when going down hill!

After elephant trekking we went to lunch and then on a canoe ride through the park. This was quite nice, because for the first time, I didn't have to paddle the canoe, I was getting chauffeured around. We saw some snakes and frogs and interesting birds from the boat. I wasn't able to catch the name because our guide spoke no English, but still it was nice to see.

Finally the tour finished with a visit to Monkey Temple. When you arrive you think oh sweet I get to feed monkey's! You walk a few feet in to this open area where there are tons of these little monkeys running around. Might I add their beige/brown coloring is great camouflage! I fed a few and then just wanted to take pictures. I got some alright shots. But I need to add that you should NEVER look a monkey in the eye. I did and almost got eaten for dinner! This little guy saw me and I guess was intimidated and started to run after me. I really wish I had it on video... you all would had peed your pants. Imagine me, getting chased by a tiny monkey! Might I add I was screaming too. Good times in Thailand!

Only a few more days here in Khoa Lak then its off to Phuket and Bangkok and finally next weekend to AUSTRALIA!!!!

Hope you all have a VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!! I miss everyone, if you have snow where you are, go play in it for me!

observations from Thailand

So in the 3 weeks I have been in Thailand, I have seen lots. Somethings are tragic, other just plan bizarre, and of course there are the just simply hilarious moments. I have tried to write them down so I remember. So here is a sampling of Thailand through the eyes of me!

Feet
The Thai people view the head as the highest, best part of the body and consequently the feet are the lowest and well the grossest part of the body. This makes sense right, you walk on your feet, they are the lowest part of the body. So here is the part that is a little odd to me. Everywhere you go, everytime you step indoors, you take your shoes off. If the feet are so gross why are we exposing them to each other? Also, just a little news flash, the more you walk barefoot, the grosser your feet get! Just an observation.. I love to be barefoot ( my mom can tell you stories about when I was a little girl) and am happy to obey the custom, but just a little confused on the reasoning.

Massages

This could be one of the best parts about Thailand. You can not walk down a street without being asked if you want a message. The two most common types of massages are Thai, which combines a massage with yoga, and Oil, which is just a massage with oil. I have tired both several times and have a few pointers for when you embark on the world of massages.

-Get your massage on the beach... extra relaxing and its so much nicer to hear the waves rather then the hussle and bussle of the massage parlor.

-When getting a Thai Massage, make sure not to get the a large person to be your masseuse. I made this mistake and almost lost the ability to breathe! There are several maneuvers they do to help stretch you that involve... basically sitting on you. Well as you can imagine when I big girl sits on you, it makes it very hard to inflate your lungs! This same women... we'll call her Olga, also left a bruise on my elbow and legs from massaging too hard. (note- I bruise easily) While you don't want them to be super strong, you also don't want a masseuse that is just barely touching you... that annoying as well. I have yet to have the perfect massage!

The roads

Oh where do I begin? People are crazy drivers here! First of all they drive on the left side of the road, which after being in Hong Kong prior to arriving here, I am somewhat used too, but still its a bit strange. There are loads of motorbikes, as well as cars and trucks on the roads. I am not sure if its their chillness that they are just not paying attention or if when they hit the roads they get impatient, but man its nuts on the roadways! They pass on both sides of you!

The range of vehicles is also quite interesting! There are loads of motorbikes, so ancient with no mirrors, other with side carts which are small but somehow act as school buses at the beginning and end of the day. One of my first sights when I arrived in Phuket a few weeks back was a family of 5 all piled onto a motorbike! This is a sight I have grown used too! There are also the insane bus drivers that pass on the highways going 90 km on a blind turn! Its a miracle not more accidents occur!

With all this said you might think I am crazy to get on a motorized vehicle and get on the roads. Well let me assure you that I don't drive far and I am the slow poke on the side of the road. I think my top speed thus far as been 60km!

This is my handsome motorbike, I named him Henry!

Stray Animals

Lets just start this segment by saying Bob Parker would be truly appalled by the lack of spaying and neutering in Thailand! My first day here I was waiting at a school to be pick up with one of the other volunteers. Several dogs we just hanging around so being the animal lover that I am, I was oh aren't they cute, and began to pet them. Tim the other volunteer quickly informed me that these were all strays and I probably shouldn't touch them! A few moments later we turned around to see these dogs fighting over rolling in a dirty diaper! Man I have never wanted to wash my hands more! The dogs are everywhere, and they are not afraid of cars or motorbikes, so you have to be careful at night! Some will curl up to sleep right on the side of the road!
There are also stray cats, but they seem to be much less.


Trash

Oh trash.... its everywhere! I have already written about this, so I wont harp on it too much more! There is just trash everywhere despite trash cans all around! I was speaking with one of my Thai bosses who had a really good point. She said that back in the day, all food was wrapped in leaves and other natural substances that break down quickly. So people would just throw them on the ground when they were finished. Apparently the messages was not released that plastic takes decades to break down if not longer!

language

The Thai language is an incredibly hard one to learn. Not only do they have a completely different alphabet, but also MANY different tones. The same word can have two or three meanings because it if pronounced with different tones. For a native speaker of course this is easy, they just have the ear for it. Me on the other hand... I am lost! The kids have taught me many words. Usually when preparing a lesson I will look up the word in Thai so I can help them understand the definition. Most of the time I get a room full of kids laughing at me because I have pronounced it completely wrong! I usually laugh with them, because when they correct me, it sounds like, to me, what I have just said! I am just happy that I can make them smile!

Thai time

Going along with their chill lifestyle, well its not hard to imagine that they are not always on time to things. Everyone here just rolls at their own pace, which sometime is not the most efficient! The Swiss blood in me cringes at moments like these where people do things completely backwards and so slowly! I am drawing a blank on a good example.. I will be sure to add one when I think of one!

Strange animals on the side of the road/sidewalks

Oh I wish I could upload all the pictures I have of strange animals here! I generally see them at night when I am walking home and it is dark and all of a sudden I look down there is a huge frog, just hanging out... frogs freak me out! So you can only imagine how awesome my reaction is! I have also run into my fair share of strange spiders and cricket like things, all much bigger then in the US. The one critter I truly despise are cicadas! At home we have them every 17 years, here in Thailand... ALL THE TIME! You will be sitting eating dinner when all of a sudden you are dive bombed but one! And the noises they make, its different then at home, much more high pitched! Mom you would have a headache in a heart beat!

Some new pics from the last week! I have many more to add... hopefully soon!

On Tuesday we went to the orphanage to and taught them a Christmas lesson! They loved it! We made mini trees and decorated them. As you can see they wanted me to wear mine. The best part was I forgot I had the tree on and went out to dinner.. looked like a total fool!

I took a day trip to Phang Nga Bay, it was beautiful and super relaxing!

Only in Thailand... a goat in a boat!

This was the place we ate lunch on Phang Nga Bay, a little village on stilts!