MONKEYS ON THE ROOF!

september 17-21st: gili islands & bali, indonesia

dirk came back from one of the many perth trips in august & september and we decided to get away for a long weekend to indonesia. i got an idea from a friend at work that these islands off the coast of lombok, indonesia were amazing and a great place for scuba diving. so i booked our trip which included 2 nights in bali and 2 nights in gili air. you can look here for more information on the islands : http://www.gili-paradise.com.

we stayed on gili air which is the smallest of the three gili islands. it was known for being the quiet island with a more laid back atmosphere... boy were they right on the laid back part. we could barely get food within a 2 hour time span. but it was so nice not having tv, internet, moblie phones (they didn't work on the island and it was great for dirk). there weren't even any cars, just horses to get around.

we managed to dive both days that we were there, getting in 5 dives total. we saw so many turtles and up so close. one turtle was sleeping the while we swam around him in aw. the dives were really great and the snorkeling was even better. we literally walked out the front door to our bungalow and to the beach to snorkel. the reef was amazing all around the island, turtles and fish everywhere!

lombok is the island next to bali and is known for its trekking. you can see the moutains in the distance from gili air. next long weekend will include lombok, we got some great recommdations from some people and its just as cheap as phuket, thailand!

the water was amazing! i loved all the colors.

so this is a random picture, out of place, but i am too lazy to correct it. this was one of the days we were in bali on it's famous beach in kuta. kuta beach is known for the surfing and when we were there some sort of surfing competition was going on so all the hotels were fully booked. i am really glad we planned ahead and got a hotel room.

ok... back to gili air! dirk & tina enjoying the water and probably waiting for food.

oh the water... just gorgeous!

so many colors!!

our bunglaow: included open air shower, haven't seen one of those since our honeymoon in costa rica!

Bali, Indonesia

back to bali in 2009... still not that impressed with bali. maybe we aren't going to the right places. it is great for shopping and indonesian massages... they are the best massages we have had in all of asia.

while we were in the gili islands bali had an earthquake. it was one morning really early and the sun was not up yet. i felt the whole bungalow moving but when i went to wake dirk up he proceeded to tell me it was just the monkeys on the roof. i thought for a moment... then decided that if it was an earthquake and there was a wave... we would die anyway because the island is too small and flat to even get to high ground. monekys on the roof... i just love my husband sometimes. needless to say we just went back to sleep. found out that it was a 6 on the richter scale and bali had some major damage.

all the surfers in the morning waiting for the perfect wave!

kappa delta reunion

august 28th 2009- railay, thailand

so back in august i lost my husband for a month to the oil field and became rather restless on this wee island of singapore. i knew of some sorority sisters that were backpacking through australia, new zealand, thailand, and india. so i decided to join them on their journey in thailand.

first off... i love thailand! i love the people, the food, the scenery! i can't get enough. i left singapore and flew into the phuket by myself. i hired a private taxi to drive me 3 hours to krabi so i could catch a boat to railay. railay isn't exactly an island, more of a pennisula with impassable rock formations cutting it off from the rest of krabi. it is known for it's rock climbing and serene beaches.

so mark this off my list of 1000 places to see before you die... didn't even know it was in the book but this beach in railay is absolutely amazing! one of the james bond movies was flimed there too.

these were the lovely ladies that i came to meet. katy & sarah! they were on the last legs of their 6 month trip and i am so happy they let me tag along. here are some scuba pictures they took. i thought they were really awesome and they rented the camera too.

we hung out at some back packer bar that turned out to be really interesting. i believe most of these guys were smoking more than cigs but they were certainly entertaining. a little thai boxing, fire throwing, playing the diggerydoo?

beaches & rocks... oh my!

then we come to the good stuff! the rocks & beaches. i couldn't get enough of these rock formations! they were massive and would come from nowhere, you felt like you were in a total movie too. there was also this great lookout point with a hidden lagoon and all but it was a trek straight up a cliff and i didn't bring any tennis shoes... not that it would have mattered. it rained a bit and the cliff trek was straight up slippery mud. no thanks, i will have to bring dirk back and make that climb. at least someone with an SOS card incase i break a bone...

this was a walking trail with caves in it. the rocks came so close to your head that you had to watch where you were walking at all times.

monkey on the beach that was not afraid of humans and would come straight up to you if you had food... you think cute... no way! i think rabies and how i should have gotten my pre-exposure vaccines... these monkeys are crazy and aggressive!

the beach in 1000 places to see... pranang beach

had to get a point of view... it was totally out of a movie or on a postcard

railay west beach, where we stayed

and this was the transportation to get out to the island... i almost didn't make it when i met up with them... it was dark and an adventure.

ok... i wrote this really fast. i have been terrible about updating this. work has been busy and we have been taking advantage of every opportunity to travel so i am a little backed up with blogging. i promise to do better. dirk is still making his routine trips to perth and i continue to book holidays for when he is home. our bangkok trip was cancelled this weekend due to his work schedule... but we will go in march (our first free month from traveling... kind of crazy)