Tom and Jessi's Big Bad Boat Blog

Big Bad Boat Blog - Home Edition!

2007-12-06T11:43:00.000-08:00

Ok, well, so we can't rightfully have the Big Bad Boat Blog anymore. Having a boat blog is hard when you don't have a boat. But we're back in the Blogosphere and just liked the old blog name too much (or we aren't creative enough to to think up a new one.) So we've started a new blog to go along with our new adventure...

We've created Tom and Jessi's Big Bad Boat Blog - Home Edition! Please come join us over there for some more stories about how we don't know what we are doing...

Anyway, here's the deal. As the previous post indicates the boat went up for sale last year. Well, we sold it and moved into a house that felt cavernous. But alas, at 1000sqft we outgrew it in only a year. Now you may ask, "You survived on a 300sqft boat for 2.5 years, how did you outgrow a house so quickly?" Well, without the novelty of living on a boat, it's a lot easier to give up more quickly. On the boat we would say, "Sure it's small, but it's a boat, it's supposed to be small."

That excuse no longer cuts it.

So, Jessi and I started going to open houses and dreaming of our "someday house." One such Sunday an idea that started out as a joke, turned into a very generous offer for help. And since we were given this huge opportunity to upgrade from our current small house to a nicer bigger house - we couldn't resist.

I'll go into more detail on the new blog, but essentially when we couldn't really find exactly what we wanted, we decided to buy a house with an awesome layout in a great neighborhood, and re-finish the inside. That way we can turn it into exactly what we want.

Since we've never remodeled a house before we figured we'd blog about it since it probably won't go smoothly. And honestly I'm already way behind. We just closed last week, construction is starting as I write, and we've already had plenty of ups and downs.

I'll get into the details in the first post over at the Big Bad Boat Blog - Home Edition! But for now.... We're back!

-Tom

For Sale

2006-10-14T10:41:00.000-07:00

Well, we never thought the time would come, but we've decided to make the move back to land. Sea Change has treated us very well and we've had a blast living on her for the last 2 years. But Tom recently took a job that requires him to work from home, and although Sea Change is very spacious, there's just not quite enough room for a home office!

CLICK HERE FOR TONS OF PHOTOS AND MORE INFO

Here's just some of the great things about Sea Change:

Transferable, hard-to-find liveaboard slip in downtown Seattle
Two staterooms, two heads – sleeps 6 (walkaround bed in master stateroom)
Freshly tuned, efficient twin GMC diesels and new engine room sound insulation (installed in ’05
Includes Boston Whaler dinghy w/freshly tuned motor (’05)
Hauled, surveyed,& painted stem to stern in ‘04, including professional hull and bottom paint. Freshly painted decks (’06).
Numerous recent improvements, including: rennovated master bath (’06), new refridgerator (’05), newly rebuilt Webasto heater (’05), newly rebuilt fore and aft heads (’05), new portlights (’04)
Great amenities such as washer/dryer, shower tub/stall, marine grill

Don't hesitate to email or comment if you have any questions, and don't forget to check out the complete listing here.

Time Flies...

2006-10-05T22:15:00.000-07:00

...When you aren't blogging.
Well, we're going to try to get a few posts up here to update friends and family.

So remember how excited I was that Jessi was going to be around this summer and it was going to be a huge boating summer... I was going to do SO much to the boat and we were going to cruise all around. Well, instead I got a new job and Jessi has become a triathlete. I'm in the training phase of the job, so I'm putting a lot of my free hours into studying. And when I say Jessi has become a triathlete... I don't mean she is training to try to finish a triathlon sometime next year... I mean she has already trained so hard that after her second triathlon ever, she qualified for Nationals! (Go Jessi Go!)

So what that means is that we've only taken the boat out a few times. (Actually we have a post written and sitting in the queue about the last time we took her out.)

And, all that work I wanted to do? I put it off.

But finally, after getting frustrated at the condition of the boat I called around to some places to see about paying someone else to do some of the work. I wanted the work done, but didn't have the time to dedicate.

HA!

I had obviously forgotten about the boat unit. And the days of pain and anguish having the heater fixed and the fridge replaced have all faded to happy memories. 1000 bucks to have the bilge cleaned, 75 dollars an hour for touch up paint (probably 1000-2000 total), and 100 bucks to have the boat washed... not detailed, washed. Um, did I mention I'm in the training phase of my job? - I'm not even earning my full salary yet. Perhaps I thought I had become rich in the last few months, and just had so much cash lying around I could pay someone to do my work while I sit around and drink margaritas. So much for the dream.

What actually brought me down to earth was talking to Seattle Yacht Service. They were nice enough to come out the the boat for free and take a look at what touch up had to be done. After talking with Jeff from SYS for half an hour, he convinced me that it would be a waste of money to have SYS come down and do the work, and that I should just get off my butt and do it. And I thank him for that, he could have easily just taken the work and the money and been on his way. But instead he took the time to explain some things to me, talk to me about how to get it done, and just shook my hand and left. So thanks to Jeff and Seattle Yacht Service.

And because of him, I got off my butt and started filling in cracks in the paint. I remembered that I actually enjoy boat projects. It's really nice to have some mindless labor to clear the head. One of my wood boat neighbors actually came over and we had a nice conversation (another benefit to working outside). We talked about all the work we had to do on our boats, and how there were much worse things in life than putting a few hours into the boat out in the sun. It made me realize how lucky I am to have the boat and the lifestyle. So, no more getting frustrated at the boat (yeah right). It is time to do some work!

Hooray boating!

-Tom

July 4th

2006-07-08T20:09:00.000-07:00

Believe it or not, this is the first July 4th we have spent in Seattle. We were going to invite a bunch of friends over for a Par-Tay, but instead we decided to have a simple 4th, and spend it just the two of us. It was really fun.

Before dinner we decided to hop in the dinghy and cruise the lake just to see what the hub-bub was all about. I was a little nervous because we have a small dinghy and there were a lot of big boats out there. Plus, we haven't really run the dinghy motor very much. (By the way, thanks to our neighbor Sig for giving us the dinghy motor, and Mom and Pops for fixing it for us - You made our July 4th!)

Getting ready to go... We certainly won't need these oars, but we'll bring them anyway.

Heading away from the dock into the thick of it.

MOTORIN!!!! WHAT'S YOUR PRICE FOR.... Ok enough.

After getting out into the melee we realized that although we were in a small dinghy, we certainly weren't the most ridiculous. We saw several "clown boats" out on the water.

The water was actually washing up over the bow as they motored along.

Paddle? Why would I need to paddle?

This one was an actual clown boat...

In addition to clown boats there were pirate ships too... YARRR!

But to keep all those pirates in line, Seattle finest were patrolling the waters.

As were Seattle's bravest.

We cruised (putt-putted) north to see the crowds up at Gas Works Park, thankful the whole time that we were not in the middle of it.

Wow, look at that crowd.

Lady Liberty came to visit. Tweet!! Hey Lady! The fireworks are going to be over here!!!

I prefer Lady Jessica though!

Motoring around the lake was really great. Not only did we get to see a whole bunch of different boats, and give thanks that we weren't smack in the middle of a huge crowd, but we also got too see some great scenery.

Hooray rainbows!

Hooray America!

Hooray Seattle!

After touring around for an hour or so, we decided to head back to the dock to have some dinner before the fireworks started. Hilariously, on the way home we ran out of gas. This is extra funny because before we left the dock, Jessi asked if we would have enough fuel, and I assured her we'd be fine. To add to her comfort our boat neighbor Greg assured her that "these small motors use like a tablespoon of gas an hour." Apparently, we had a teaspoon in there. But, if you recall, we brought our oars, just in case the motor broke... or just in case the operator was an idiot.

Well, to make up for it, I rowed us home.

Grinning and bearing it. It turns out I was happy to have practiced rowing while on the river.

Eventually we made it back home. We rowed up to the dock to the cheers and jeers of our dockmates, who were grilling on the dock and had watched us motor out an hour earlier. It was a proud moment for us. We'll show them that we're not young and inexperienced!

We did, however, manage to recover from our bruised egos and fire up the grill.

Jessi worked her magic and POOF dinner was ready!

Just as we were wrapping up dinner, night had fallen and the fireworks began. It was a spectacular show set to music. We turned on our radio, sat on the bow, and enjoyed the festivities.

Oooooooooh!

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhh!

I hope your Fourth was as fun as ours!

-Tom

Still in Seattle

2006-07-04T14:38:00.000-07:00

The weather here has been sooo good lately, I was starting to think we had accidentally moved to California. Every day I'd check the weather and it would say sunny and in the 60s or 70s, perfect! Because it's been so nice, we set up our "air conditioner" Which is just a fan pointing inboard on our bow skylight, and a fan pointing outboard in our pilothouse. It actually makes quite a nice little breeze through the boat keeping us cool on all but the hottest days.

This morning we were reminded that yes in fact we do live in Seattle. Jessi woke up and was getting ready to do some triathlon training. "Is it raining?" she asked. Just then a drop of water hit me square in the forehead. Oh crap! I hopped out of bed (so much for sleeping in) and ran out onto the bow to pull in the fan and close up the skylight. Plus I dabbed up all the drips and drops seeping in. What the hell happened to sunny, Mr. Weatherman? I think you need to come down to my boat and dry out my carpet for me...

Anyway, some good did come of all of this. I was discussing with our neighbor Chris how leaky everything was this morning. Especially when the wood in our boats has been dry for the last few weeks and therefore shrunken (is that a word?) up. Nothing seats tightly, so when it sprinkles the water just marches right in. He was telling me he's been using this stuff called Boatlife Life-Calk because it's flexible and rubbery, but can still be sanded and painted. Amazing!! I had been using a fairing epoxy to fill every little crack and crevice that appears as a result of the wood expanding, contracting and moving. Then, the wood would just separate from the epoxy. I was getting very frustrated because cracks I filled last year are back this year. "Yeah, no kidding epoxy doesn't work well for that." Chris told me, "But this stuff seems to work great!" Man, I can't wait to try it out!

Is it weird that I'm excited about caulk?

-Tom

Summer is here

2006-07-02T19:27:00.000-07:00

Last weekend we squeezed in some of our favorite summertime activities... Grilling, swimming, drinking a few beers, and BOATING! Hooray!

Jessi came up with the great idea to take the boat out on Sunday for some fun in the sun. It was Jessi and I, Jamie and Amy, Andy, Beth and Mike, and Frankie. We set sail at about 4pm and cruised up to Juanita Bay on Lake Washington. It was an absoultely gorgeous day. No clouds and about 85. The only problem: the wind was a blowing at 12 knots. Gulp. Oh well, I gotta learn sometime...

It's not so much driving in the wind as it is docking in the wind. No one wants to be the young guy with a big boat, making a pathetic attempt at docking right in front of a crowded restaurant (we live in front of a popular lakeside restaurant). I could just hear the screams and see the fingers pointing. I'm pretty sure I would have had no problem at the end of the season last year, but with not much experience under my belt the skills decay is huge! But alas, I sucked it up and we went.

I'm so glad we did.

The ride up Lake Union was no big deal, although it was crowded.

We weren't the only ones enjoying the day.

When we got out to Lake Washington, it was choppy! We rocked and rolled a bit, and I was wondering if we'd be able to find a good spot to drop anchor, but Juanita Bay didn't disappoint. Along the way we got in touch with one of Frankie's friends who was on a boat up in the bay and told us it was great.

I realized I was getting old when we arrived in Juanita Bay to find tons of boats rafted up to each other partying hard. Lot's of booze, loud music, and scantily clad women. It was like the French Riviera! But believe it or not, I just wanted to find a little calm spot to anchor, swim and enjoy ourselves, without the raucus parties around us. Yeah, I'm definitely getting old. So we cruised over to the other side of the bay to the "family" area and set up shop. We threw some burgers, brats and turkey legs on the grill and got to relaxing.

Must... grill... meat!

Andy working hard to keep the chair from blowing off the boat.

Mike holding Duncan. He's only sitting still because he's being petted... normally underway he whines. (Duncan, not Mike)

Frankie maxin' and relaxin'.

The ladies, chillin' on the bow. From left to right: Beth, Jessi, and Amy.

Jamie, Amy's husband. Despite appearances he's actually not color blind.

We're sinking!!! Oh wait no, we're OK, you guys can come back now.

Welcome aboard!

At about 8 o'clock we wrapped things up, futzed around with the anchor (I'm still only half sure how to use that damn thing) for 20 minutes or so, and headed home.

The sunset was gorgeous! I love Seattle.

Luckily by 830 the wind had died down to about 0 knots and pulling in was no problem. Whew, I can put off learning that skill until some other day!

-Tom

Boating returns!

2006-06-25T21:38:00.000-07:00

We said we'd start writing about boating again, so here goes...

Only instead of wood, the boats were made of rubber. And instead of Lake Washington, it was the Colorado River. And instead of Seattle, we were in the Grand Canyon... But it's close enough.

Rafting the Grand Canyon

It was a lot of fun, and rather than tell stories, we're just gonna show a bunch of pictures. No one reads the text anyway right? As always, click on any photo to enlarge it.

Jessi and her brother (Eli) looking so fresh and so clean. This was taken at the rim of the Canyon, the night before we started our trip.

The hike down.

Every night we camped in a different spot along the river's edge.

We made it our mission to find the Penthouse/Honeymoon Suite at each camp site. Not too shabby!

Jessi's Dad (Peter) and Eli taking a ride in the duckies.

Tom relaxing in a raft.

Along the way we went for some "Easy Hikes." They often lead to some amazing scenery.

This picture shows how blue the water is in some of the side canyons.

Tom wading through a side canyon

Fellow rafter Dana shows her tough side on a day hike.

One hike lead us to the throne room... ah to be queen for a day!
(From left to right: Kelly, Sullivan, and Elizabeth)

Kelly shows Jessi how to navigate the rocks.

Jessi catchin' big air. Siiiick. (In all honesty, it was pretty exhilirating - big enough that you had time to think "When am I actually gonna hit the water?")

They days were filled with "Bigs..." Big water (Lava Falls, just like Lake Washington!)

Peter and Eli, with Win (another guide) at the helm, dive into Lava Falls.

Big Scenery

Big Falls

Big Reflections

Even though the days were long and tiring, camp was usually fun. Here's Eli chattin' up Kelly before the No-Talent Show.
Nothing but good clean fun on this river trip.

This can't end well... Tom bellyflops onto a makeshift "Slip N Slide" at camp one evening.

Win lookin' hot doing dishes at camp.

It was an incredible trip. We highly recommend it, and we highly recommend Canyon Explorations, the company we went with.

These are all of our fearless guides. They made the trip what it was! Thanks to Kelly, Susan, Geoff, Kristin, Win and Kent!!

It really was a once-in-a-lifetime experience. DO IT!

Bye Bye River!!

-Tom and Jessi

Whew, we're back!

2006-05-10T22:08:00.000-07:00

Last weekend was opening day in Seattle. Boating opening day, that is. So that means it's boat blogging opening day too!

It's going to be a big summer this year. Jessi isn't going up to the San Juan Islands for the whole summer (for the first time since we started dating!!! YAY!), and I'm planning to put some more elbow grease into the boat.

As the weather gets nicer, I'm dying to take our tarp down, correct the leaking windows, finish the bathroom I started ages ago, repair a little rotten wood I recently found and do some serious touch up paint. In addition it's time to re-organize the engine room, maybe varnish the outside wood trim. Oooh, I'm getting exciting just writing about it! Hopefully we will be able to take a few little trips this year too. Maybe visit some local islands for an overnight, and definitely do some afternoon anchoring, grilling and swimming!

Anyway, I just wanted to post a quick note to say we are gearing up for the boating season, and wake up, the vacations photos are done.

-Tom

Last stop

2006-05-06T18:14:00.000-07:00

Finally. We are finally on the last travel post. We promise to return to being a boat blog after this...

We returned to Bangkok for the last few days of our trip. Since we had a taste of the good life in Koh Chang, we were in no mood to hostel it any more. So we stayed in the Asia Hotel, a real live hotel near the Skytrain so we could tour the city easily.

Bangkok is a city like many US cities. It's big, lots of shops, businesses, malls, towering buildings... so honestly we didn't take a lot of pictures. But we do have a few...

Lots of traffic... Still with lots of bikes... See the red number 79 on the left? That's the coolest thing. It counts down to the grren light, so you know just how impatient you have to be. And the big concrete elevated structures are the sky train "rails" that go all over the city.

This is the mall where we did some shopping... and saw The Chonicles of Narnia with Thai subtitles.

One of the things we did was take a water taxi up the river... just to see what there was to see.

Where's Waldo? Errr... I mean Tom... Where's Tom? (one hint: He's the white guy) It turns out lots of people commute by Water Taxi, so we weren't alone.

That's a pretty nice commute!

Lastly, we went to a few markets for some last minute souvenir shopping... I love markets.

This was my favorite souvenir. Unfortunately I had to return it before we left because it wouldn't fit in my backpack... oh well.

Trust me, I tried to get it in there...

Nope, she didn't have room either. It's OK though, we were just happy to be heading home. I mean honestly, after lugging those bags around for a month, wouldn't you be ready to go home?
Whew...

-Tom

Beautiful Koh Chang

2006-05-05T19:07:00.000-07:00

OK folks. We are winding down. There's only one stop left after Koh Chang, so here's our picture dump... Have Fun!

We decided to break the bank and spend a few days at a resort (instead of our usual backpacker's hostel). It was amazing!

This is where we ate breakfast every morning... not too shabby huh?

We'd go play out in the water...

Here's Sweetie enjoying a little shade...

I "drove" the princess around...

This was our bungalow. Oh my god there's a ghost on our porch!!

In the evenings we'd sit and have drinks...

This is where we had our New's Year Eve dinner... no that's not a typo.

See, that's how it goes in Thailand. They celebrate New's Year Eve with karaoke bands...

...And sad clowns...

...And they launch these really cool burning paper lanterns into the air, convincing naive tipsy foreigners that they are seeing aliens. SEE, ALIENS!! (Click to enlarge)

... And FIREWORKS!! Only they accidentally start setting them off at about 10 minutes before midnight... which leads to a group sing-a-long of Auld Lang Syne at about 5 minutes til midnight. Ah well...

...We just rolled with it!

It was really perfect. Exactly what we wanted. A little pampering, a little relaxing, a little celebrating... And the sunsets!! I still dream of these scenes.

So gorgeous!

Sweet dreams!!

-Tom

Planes Trains and Automobiles - Siem Reap to Koh Chang in 24 hours

2006-05-03T21:07:00.000-07:00

After touring Angkor Wat, we woke up the next morning and took a flight - yes, a flight! on a plane! it was a huge splurge! - to Bangkok. From the Bangkok airport we caught a taxi to the Skytrain. We hopped on the Skytrain and got off at the bus station. Then we took a 6 hour bus ride to a ferry terminal. Tired yet? Yeah, so were we. By that point it was 8 pm, so we crashed for the night at a cheap hostel near the ferry port. The next morning at 6 a.m. we caught another taxi from the hostel to the ferry terminal, and then finally we got on the ferry to Koh Chang. It was a long 24 hours, but imagine how long it would've taken us if we hadn't flown from Siem Reap to Bangkok. Or if we'd simply flown direct from Siem Reap all the way to Koh Chang. Actually, let's not imagine that last option.

Pictures of Koh Chang coming soon!

- Jessi

Anchor What?

2006-05-01T21:22:00.000-07:00

So that's not that clever. It's on a lot of T-shirts in Cambodia. But I like it.

Angkor Wat was gorgeous. It turns out when you say you are going to see Angkor Wat, you aren't going to see just one temple. There are tons of temples spread across the countryside. The largest and most restored is Angkor Wat. But, honestly, it wasn't the most gorgeous.

Anyway, we walked/tuk-tuked around the grounds and saw many many many temples. Here are some pictures. Enjoy.

The first evening we decided to see the sunset from one of the temples...

We weren't the only ones with that idea.

Not exactly a romantic sunset.

There were SO MANY people it kind of ruined the whole "mystical" feel we were hoping for. So we decided to get up really early the next morning to beat the crowds...

We got up "headlamp" early. But it worked, no crowds...

It was amazing. So quiet and peaceful. This is the Bayon Temple.

As the sun came up, the faces carved into the temple emerged from the mist.

From there we started hopping from temple to temple soaking in as much as we could.

Whoa!! Watch out Sweetie! These temples' gigantic steps weren't made for touring...

But tour we did... Even though the temples were gigantic, they were decorated all over with the most intricate deatil work.

Nature was fighting hard to reclaim her place...

But the temples fought back even harder. They stayed pretty well intact over the last 700 years.

Well, not all of them... The sun streaming down over the ruins was amazing.

And of course we had to visit the actual Ankgor Wat. There it is behind us.

It was by far the largest of the temples. JESSI!! WAIT FOR ME!!!!

We wrapped up the evening chillin' by a lake in the temple complex, watching the sun go down. A perfect end to the day.

-Tom

Phnom Penh: The sequel

2006-04-28T18:01:00.000-07:00

The next day we arranged for a Tuk Tuk to take us around and see some more sights. We really wanted to go see the Genocide Museum and the Killing Fields, so we hired a driver to stay with us all day taking us where we wanted to go. Ah luxury!

It's really hard to describe these places. It's difficult to imagine such terror in the recent past. You should go see it for yourself, it's pretty haunting.

The Genocide Museum. It used to be a school, then it was used for torture.

The rules to be followed.

Just a few of the approximately 2 million people killed during the Pol Pot regime... young, old, male, female... it didn't matter at all.

A monument at the Killing Fields filled with recovered skulls.

The skulls in the tower.

These are some of the mass graves from where the skulls were recovered.

In the paths between the graves, you can see bones protruding from the dirt.

Occasionally there were piles of bones and clothes. So disturbing.

Despite the gruesome and somber feelings surrounding these sites, we managed to see some real beauty on the way home. The countryside was just gorgeous.

Phnom Penh countryside.

We headed back to the hotel to rest up for the next day's trip north to see Angkor Wat.

-Tom

Phnom Penh

2006-04-13T22:23:00.000-07:00

After 4 days in Sihanoukville, we were ready for a change of pace. We were actually getting kinda bored with the beach. So we headed north, back to Phnom Penh.

We'd spent a night in Phnom Penh on our way to Sihanoukville, but didn't get a chance to do much exploring. So we went back to check out the city. And what a great city it is. Scenic, river-front, friendly people, elephants in the street - all the things that make a city great.

The view from our hotel.

The elephant. Of course. Every city needs one.

Phnom Penh also has some beautiful temples.

A temple downtown.

Another temple downtown...

Our favorite part of Phnom Penh, if not one of our favorite parts of the trip, was wandering through the temples and universities, chatting with the monks. At first we were intimidated by them, but after initiating a conversation with one monk, we realized that monks are typically friendly, well-educated, and very eager to practice their English. As we were walking around looking for and interacting with the monks we came up with some monk-centric slang... it went like this....

"Quick! Don't miss the monk-ortunity to take their picture"

"Let's go take pictures of them at Monk-iversity, sitting on their Monk-ercycle..."

In all seriousness, we had a great respect for the Monks. It turns out every Buddhist male has only one opportunity in their life to live as a Monk. Some do it for a long time, some for only a year or so. But once you have given it up, you may not go back.

After a day wandering around the city, we made arrangements with a tuk-tuk driver to pick us up the next morning for a tour of the surrounding areas, including the Genocide Museum, the Killing Fields and the countryside. As depressing as it sounds, we were really looking forward to learning more about the fascinating history of this area. But that's for the next entry.

-Tom and Jessi

But what are you doing NOW?

2006-03-27T16:56:00.000-08:00

The SE Asia posts are getting to me... We've been back for over two months but we've only documented half our trip! We still have to write about Phnom Penh, Angkor Wat, Koh Chang, and Bangkok. I want to start posting about the present, but I think it might get too confusing.

Enough whining. We could have worse problems, right?

Since we're so far back-logged in our posting, we'll rely on our friends John and Kamie to tell you about our latest trip to Whistler.

That's us hiking in the first picture, and that might be us in front of the Guest Satisfacton Center as well...

- Jessi

Sihanoukville, Cambodia - Gitcher motor runnin'!

2006-03-21T22:10:00.000-08:00

On our last day in Sihanoukville, we decided to rent a motoscooter and check out the nearby National Park and some of the surrounding beaches. It's possible to do a tour that includes all these activities, and our last couple tours had actually been pretty good - but we were still ready for some independence.

So we rented a scooter and took off (don't worry Dad - unlike almost everyone else, we always wore helmets! I prefer to enjoy my vacation without brain damage, thank you very much.)

We had a SWEET moto scooter and Tom got to wear the most X-TREME helmet. It was SICK!

On the way to the park we passed some water buffalo.

We thought the buffalo were super cool, but they weren't nearly as interested in us.

We soon found the entrance to the park.

The park ranger was very uptight.

Once inside the park we stumbled across yet another gorgeous beach.

We veered off the paved road and followed a dirt road along the water, through a grove of palm trees.

We were very happy to be doing some exploring on our own! With a moto as a means of transport, the world was truly our oyster!

As we were driving along I noticed movement in one of the trees. Turns out it was a guy climbing one of the trees - with no rope, no harness, no tools. Nothing but his bare hands. Scary and amazing! He seemed perfectly comfortable (as with all photos, click to enlarge).

We cruised past an oceanfront fishing village.

More shots of the fishing village.

Eventually we came to a bridge. Although we were feeling very independent and X-TREME , we decided that crossing this bridge on a scooter was a little too X-TREME for us.

So we got off, stretched our legs, and then headed back into town.

But you know what they say - it's not a real adventure until something goes wrong! Ten minutes from our guesthouse, we got a flat tire. Luckily it was fairly easy to find a roadside shop, and this guy took care of us right away.

- Jessi

Sihanoukville - Christmas in Cambodia

2006-03-20T12:38:00.000-08:00

Although Cambodia is a Buddhist country, most of the backpackers traveling through the country are not, and so Christmas Eve is actually a pretty big deal in Sihanoukville. By "big deal," I mean that all the beach-front bars have special Christmas Eve dinners, and people in Santa hats shoot off fireworks over the ocean. Hardly typical, but definitely fun.

We met Nashib and Maria at an all-you-can-eat buffet which was absolutely packed. No surprise there - you've got a beach full of backpackers trying to live on $20/day, and for $5 they can eat til they're stuffed? Let's just say all-you-can-eat buffets are a rarity, and that's because no restaurant would be able to stay in business if they offered them nightly.

We watched another gorgeous sunset, and then feasted on a Christmas Eve dinner of Khmer curries and rice, with Angkor beer to wash it all down.

Christmas in Cambodia - not bad!

Tom, myself, Maria, and Nashib

During dinner a fire-twirler put on a show right at the water's edge. Very cool.

After dinner we decided to head over to the Snake House restaurant, which was exactly what it sounds like. A restaurant and bar filled with snakes and other reptiles. We'd been told it was not to be missed.

It was very difficult to take pictures of the creatures because they were all in glass cages, but believe us when we tell you that there were some crazy critters there. Huge boa constrictors, cobras, and even a croccodile.

In the center of every table was a snake enclosed in a glass cage.

By far our most exotic Christmas yet!

- Jessi

Sihanoukville, Cambodia - Islands

2006-03-18T11:56:00.000-08:00

Our first night in Sihanoukville we met a really cool Canadian couple named Nashib and Maria. We had a few drinks with them, and decided to join them the next day for a tour of the islands lying off the coast.

We took this boat to reach the islands.

Once there, we spent the morning doing a whole lotta nothing.

Happy campers

For lunch, our guide cooked us up some FRESH barracuda he had just caught that morning.

We ate lunch with our group around a little palapa on the beach. It was one of the best meals I had on the entire trip!

In the afternoon Tom, Nashib, Maria and I wandered off down a trail that led through the center of the island, to another beach.

And then we wandered around on that beach too.

Like I said, busy days. Busy busy days.

There was even a little palapa bar on the beach, so we had a couple beers before heading back to the mainland.

We heart Cambodia!

- Jessi

Sihanoukville, Cambodia - Doing Nothing

2006-03-17T12:57:00.000-08:00

I know. I know. We've been so bad about blogging! The problem is, we've still got so many Southeast Asia pics and stories to tell that it's downright overwhelming. And really, as much as we want to share it all with you, we want to get back to blogging in the present! But we can't, until we finish all the vacation pics. But there are so many pics left to post...

You can see the vicious cycle. I have to admit, I'm kinda shocked. I'm a big fan of making lists and getting stuff done. Typically, the more I have to do, the harder I work. I never really understood how people could be overwhelmed into inaction - it just didn't make sense to me. But that is what has happened.

And I'm procrastinating even as I write this post! Let's get down to business:

After crossing the border into Cambodia, we spent one night in Phnom Penh and then headed straight for Sihanoukville. Sihanoukville is a beach town in southern Cambodia, aptly pronounced "Scenicville."

Woohoo! A new map, finally!

As you know, rain had been chasing us down the coast of Vietnam and it was a real treat to find warm weather and sunshine waiting for us in Sihanoukville.

We wandered around for awhile, searching for cheap but nice rooms. Turns out there's no such thing in Sihanoukville - at least, not around Christmas! We wanted to actually enjoy our beach time, so we ended up going with something a little higher end ($30/night):

After we'd dropped our bags at our hotel, we walked 5 ft down a path to the beach, where we did.... nothing. All day. It was great.

The cool thing about Sihanoukville is that it's not totally built up. Although there are plenty of backpackers and tourist activities, there aren't a bunch of high-rise condos. It's still possible to eat dinner right on the beach (like, with your feet in the sand), which is exactly what we did.

Blue skies, gorgeous sunsets, friendly people... this is what we'd been looking for!

-Jessi

Into Cambodia

2006-02-21T20:41:00.000-08:00

I realized that it's taking WAY longer to blog about our trip than to actully go on it, so I decided to get off my ass and write a little.

We came back into Saigon from the Mekong and started planning our escape to Cambodia. We were ready to move on. Vientnam was good, but we were searching for the sun, and word on the street was that Cambodia had it.

We decided to head out for our last dinner in Vietnam, which honestly I don't remember. What I do remember is we ended up at a Frenchman's bar eating delicious crepes for dessert, and having a few drinks. Or maybe a few more than a few drinks... still can't remember. Come on, we were kinda celebrating leaving Vietnam.

Yup, a Black Russian with a straw... that's how they roll in Vietnam.

And even though we had had a few drinks we still weren't as bad as this guy.
(WARNING: that's a 3MB video file for those of you with slow connections, or low patience)

So, it was a good last night in Vietnam. We decided we'd take a bus trip to the border the next day, cross the border into Cambodia, and start our adventure there.

We took a bus from Saigon to Phnom Penh, crossing the border at Moc Bai.

We were ready to be somewhere different... try something new. It was kind of nice getting on the bus. We had plenty of room and the trip to the border wasn't bad at all. We met this really nice couple from New Zealand, and this really nice (although a little clingy) man from Canada. They all made it a much nicer trip, we had good conversations and generally joked around. We were actually a little surprised at how well it was going. But, of course, Vietnam didn't disappoint... or I guess it did, depending on how you look at it.

While crossing the border into Cambodia we had to go through several Vietnamese checkpoints: Checking our bags, checking our passports, clearing customs, etc... at the last Vietnamese checkpoint, the guard took our Vietnamese visas out of our passports and kept the visas. We really wanted them as souvenirs, so we asked repeatedly if we could have them back. He kept saying, "NO, just go!" and waving his hand...

There comes a point when you think, "Is it worth getting shot at the Vietnamese border for a souvenier?" Obviously the answer is, "No," so we moved on disappointedly. When we arrived at the Cambodian border, it was all smiles. The guards were very nice and helpful, and they even taught us some Khmer.

The best thing they told us was, "You can't come into Cambodia without an exit visa stamp on a Vietnamese visa." Oh, shit. When we told them that a Vietnamese guard had taken our visas, they all kinda chuckled, looked at each other knowingly, and sent us back towards Vietnam.

Now we were pissed, and a little worried. The prospect of spending the rest of our lives in the buffer zone between Vietnam and Cambodia wasn't exciting. We sped back over to the guard, afraid he might not still be there, and said, "They won't let us into Cambodia without our visas!" At which point he reached into his pocket, pulled them out, gave them to us with a pissed look on his face and dismissed us with a grunt and a wave. He was gonna steal our visas and sell them on the black market!! Ah, Vietnam!

On the other side of the border we caught up with our group and awaited the bus ride to Phnom Penh. We had a nice little lunch at a street side cafe, and told our border crossing story to our new friends.

Me, the Canadian, and the Kiwi couple enjoying some lunch.

Not too much later a guide came up and told us the bus had arrived, so we hoisted our packs and wandered over to board the bus. When we got on the bus, it was already almost full. Luckily, the five of us got some of the last seats on the bus. And, of course, everyone's luggage was piled up in the aisle.

But then more people started getting on the bus...with more luggage. Turns out, there are several tour busses that get you from Saigon to the Vietnamese border, but only one that takes you from the border to Phnom Penh. So this bus was crammed with like 4 different tour groups. And, of course no one had thought far enough ahead to realize there wasn't gonna be enough room for everyone. So they got creative...

That's right... plastic kiddy chairs in the aisle.

We couldn't believe it. We thought it was gonna be Vietnam all over again... Especially since part of the trip involved stopping to wait for a ferry. When the bus stopped, these ladies approached the bus.

Peddling their wares to the bus riders...

But the touts weren't really aggressive. It was refreshing. The ladies just stood there with smiles on their faces. If they caught your eye, they'd offer something up... but there was no yelling or begging, and everything was done with a smile. Ah, Cambodia. After about a 10 minute wait we loaded onto the ferry. Keep in mind, these ferries aren't quite Washington State Ferries...

A view out of the bus on the ferry. Look closely at the back of the motorcycle (click to enlarge).

Hanging out on the ferry

Soon after we drove off the ferry, we pulled off to the side of the road. At first I wasn't quite sure why. But our Kiwi friends were on the other side of the bus and told us we were "filling up." I didn't understand, we were just at the side of some dusty road. They said, "Give us your camera..."

Texaco - Cambodian style.

After the refueling operations were complete, it was an uneventful journey into Phnom Penh.
So nice to be out of Vietnam and into Cambodia!

-Tom

Mekong - Photo Essay Part 2

2006-02-13T19:35:00.000-08:00

As promised, here are some more pics of the Mekong:

What comes after lunch? Dessert, of course! After lunch they took us to a place that makes coconut candy. This is a pic of a guy doing just that. First step: heat coconut, butter, and sugar in a pan. The woman next to us said "Well, it can't be that bad for you, it's all-natural." Yes, just keep telling yourself that.

Then they wrap the candies in rice paper and package them up. We were suckers and bought a package of candy.

We were also suckers and took a shot of coconut wine. No pics of our faces after the shot, but let's just say it didn't taste good.

Once we'd gorged ourselves on coconut candy (which honestly didn't take long because the stuff was so rich), we got on smaller boats which would take us on the winding canals that branch off of the Mekong.

More views of the canal boats.

View to the bow: this is the woman who paddled us down the canal.

Tom held the camera up and took a picture towards the stern. Something tells me the woman behind him didn't know he was taking a picture.

We passed several boats along the canal.

Some villagers standing on a bridge, watching the tourists watch them.

Yay, Mekong!

-Jessi

Mekong - Photo Essay Part 1

2006-02-07T10:28:00.000-08:00

On our second day in Saigon, we decided to take a tour of the Mekong Delta. (Yes, we'd said we'd never take a tour again, but we just didn't have time to do the Mekong independently.) It started with a bus ride from Saigon to the Delta:

On the bus ride, our tour guide introduced himself and started giving us a little info about the area. He was a very friendly, knowledgeable guide and we instantly felt better about taking yet another tour. The Mekong showed us the up side of tours: if you have a good guide and a good group, you can learn a lot about the area while meeting other cool travelers. In fact, our guide was such a nice guy that we couldn't help but forgive him when he tried to lead the bus in a round of the "Coconut Song." What's that? You don't know how the Coconut Song goes? Well, first of all, cocount must be pronounced "conk-o-nut."

C-O-C-O-N-Uuuu-T
Conkonut! (high pitched)
Conkonut! (low pitched)
Conkonut! (high pitched)
Conkonut! (low pitched)
C-O-C-O-N-Uuuu-T

Repeat ad nauseum. Now you understand just how nice he was - we were able to forgive him even after that.

Anyway, where was I? Oh yes, the Mekong. It's an incredible area, and at risk of seeming lazy, pictures really are the best way to describe it. No one ever really reads the text anyway, right?

So, what follows are A LOT of pictures of the Mekong, with a few informative captions interspersed. In fact, so many pics that we'll do this in two installments. Here's the first. Enjoy.

A line-up of the Mekong tour boats. We were hoping we didn't end up on the boat third from the left. (And we thought Sea Change had a list!)

Side view of one of the tour boats.

Tom talking to our conkonutty tour guide.

Some houses along the Mekong.

As you might guess, boats are a very important part of life on the Mekong. All of the boats have very loud 2-stroke motors that sound exactly like the THWAP THWAP THWAP of a helicopter. Interesting background noise for our tour of the Mekong.

Two ferries passing under overcast skies - just like home!

There were a lot of people living on their boats, which they covered with tarps to keep the rain out. Again, just like home!

Many of the boats had giant eyes painted on the bow - apparently these are dragon eyes that are meant to scare off sea monsters.

Our first stop on the Mekong was a small town with a fruit market. Although we were just as sick of exploring markets as you are of seeing pics of them, it was neat to see all the Vietnamese flags flying in honor of a national holiday (unfortunately, I can't remember which holiday!).

Villagers loading up their boats to shuttle goods down the Mekong.

After the market we stopped on an island for lunch. It had been pouring all morning, but there was a miraculous break in the rain after lunch, so Tom and I wandered off down a path to do some exploring. The tour group was a good bunch of people, but it's still nice to exercise your independence every once in awhile!

Tom crossing a rickety bridge, wearing the ubiquitous and highly fashionable plastic bag rain jacket - totally waterproof! (Until you rip it after owning it for 2 minutes).

More Mekong pics coming soon...

- Jessi

Saigon

2006-02-05T15:35:00.000-08:00

Two days were about all we needed in Nha Trang, especially since the weather never did get better. So after the hot springs we packed up our bags and continued south on a night train to Saigon.

At 8 hours, it was our shortest train ride yet, which was good and bad. Good because it was a short train ride. Bad because we left Nha Trang at 8 pm, which meant that we arrived in Saigon at 4 am.

We caught a taxi from the train station into Saigon and plopped down at a street cafe to drink tea and watch the city wake up. Saigon... what a great city. There is something about it that I really like. It somehow feels more open, youthful, and brighter than Hanoi.

Anyway, by 6 am most of the guesthouses had opened their doors, so we began searching for a room in earnest, and after wandering around for a couple hours we finally found a place we liked. As they say, there are two kinds of travelers: Bag-Ditchers and Room-Searchers. You'd think that because we rarely stay in a place for more than couple nights, we'd be Bag-Ditchers (find a room - any room - drop the heavy bags and start exploring). You'd think wrong. I refuse to settle! I want that great room: $10 for a balcony and A/C and hot water, and yep, even clean sheets.

After we dropped off our bags and showered, we headed out to explore. Our first stop was the War Museum. As an American, it was a tough place to visit. But I'm glad we experienced it. The War Museum is very well-done, with numerous artifacts and some chilling re-creations.

This is a wax figure inside a re-creation of a POW cell

Another wax figure inside a cell.

War artifact

After the War Museum we felt like something a little more upbeat, so we headed to the huge market. On our way we passed a Christmas display of the sort I only thought I'd see on a lawn in Wisconsin (I can say that because I grew up there).

Yay, presents!

Frosty and Tom didn't hit it off

After tearing ourselves away from the tasteful lawn decorations, we entered the Market. It was chaos. For some reason the women selling t-shirts were especially aggressive towards Tom, in a pseudo-charming kind of way. They'd grab Tom's arm with huge smiles on their faces, grinning and laughing and saying "You buy t-shirt! You buy t-shirt!" It was funny for the first couple minutes, but then it got a little weird. At one point I was literally playing tug-o-war for Tom with a Vietnamese shop girl. Let go of my man!

Tom makes a run for it

I guess this would be a good time to explain that almost all stores in Vietnam are organized in districts: there will be a bunch of stores right next to each other that all sell t-shirts. Then suddenly the t-shirt district ends and you find yourself walking by shop after shop that only sells ceiling fans. Then the cabinet district. Then the Tupperware district.

Candy district

Flower district

Silk district

The silk was gorgeous

Fruit district

Once we tired of the market, we decided to head across town to find a pagoda in Chinatown. A woman at our guesthouse told us about a bus we could take to the pagoda, and we were immediately turned off. Tour bus? No thank you! But it turned out it was a public bus. A local public bus. Perfect! So we headed for the bus station and on our very first try we got on the right bus!

Unfortunately, once we got off the bus we had no idea where were going. Although Lonely Planet books are great for giving you a general orientation to a city, their maps are crap for navigating. We finally just walked into an office building and asked for directions. It was a good move. The businesspeople in the office building were incredibly nice. After sitting us down in plush armchairs, they proceeded to make 15 minutes of phone calls and poll almost everyone in the office before one man was finally able to draw us a map that lead us right to the pagoda. It turns out the pagoda was just a few blocks away, but we couldn't find it because the street names change every 2 blocks. Oh, of course.

The pagoda was really cool. Similar to the one in Nha Trang, it was an active temple, not a tourist site. There was a constant stream of people filing in to worship, so we didn't take too many pictures because we didn't want to offend anyone.

The red cone swirls are hanging incense

After the pagoda, we hopped on a bus and headed back to the hotel. We'd been going strong since 4 am and were pretty tired by this point. Drinking beers on the balcony had become something of a ritual by that time, so we opened a couple of cold Tigers and enjoyed the view.

Streets of Saigon

Yum, Tiger beer!

City sunset from our balcony

- Jessi

Nha Trang - Thap Ba Hot Springs

2006-02-03T15:33:00.000-08:00

After Monkey Island and our experiences with Wolf, we decided that tours weren't for us. Not enough freedom - in terms of both what you do and who you're with.

So the next day, even though our guesthouse offered a "special package tour" to Thap Ba Hotsprings, we decided to do it ourselves. We were looking forward to some relaxing hot springs, mud baths, and maybe even a massage. We caught a taxi to the hotsprings and bought our tickets upon arrival, for the same price we would've paid had we done the "special package tour." (Our guesthouse had sworn we'd pay 5 times as much if we tried to do it independently...) Although Thap Ba was a little more touristy and less organic than I was hoping, overall it did not disappoint.

Tom in the mud bath

Jessi relaxing

View from the tub

Argh! Turn it off, quick!

Kidding. The "hydrotherapy" showers were actually really nice.

It was a fun relaxing day, just the two of us. Just what we were after.

- Jessi

Nha Trang - Temples and Locals and Wolf, Oh my!

2006-01-29T20:41:00.000-08:00

Yes, believe it or not I did go on the trip too... It's just that Jessi has had more time to write about it than I have. But as she keeps reminding me, "We gotta finish this so we can start writing about the present again."

So where were we? Oh, right Nha Trang.

So Monkey Island sucked. But that was just one part of our day tour. There was plenty more in store for us. If you recall, our tour also included a temple and a waterfall.

The temple was awesome. I don't think it was a tourist site - it seemed like it was an actual active hilltop temple. It was really nice to momentarily be in a local setting, seeing local life. It was one of my favorite spots in Vietnam.

The temple. I love the intricate designs.

A Vietnamese Bhudda in front of the temple. He had a view of a valley full of rice paddies.

View from the Buddha (above pic).

These were some local kids who live and worship at the temple.

This is the Bhudda inside the temple. We thought it was funny that it was outlined in flourescent lights. Then we realized that it was just intended to make the Bhudda look more glorious. Kind of like stained glass.

The temple was especially nice because we got to step quietly away from the only other guy on our tour - a Finnish man named Wolf. This guy was just about the worst tour mate for us. We are generally wide-eyed travelers who like to see and experience new things. Wolf, on the other hand, likes to spend his time talking about how many snowmobiles he owns back in Finland. When he's not doing that, he likes to talk about how many houses he owns back in Finland. Occasionally, when he stops talking about Finland, he likes to talk about how many times he's been to Vietnam. And no, he never completely stops talking.

The next stop was a waterfall near the city. This one Jessi and I were particulary excited about, because we wanted to see a little untouched nature to balance out all of the city we had been seeing. We were driving up to the trailhead when a local called out "You can't keep driving, it's washed out." But we didn't want the rain to ruin another piece of our vacation. So we asked the guide if we could make it by walking. We were told it would be a 2k walk down a muddy road. No problem, we think, it'll be worth it to see some Vietnamese countryside and a nice waterfall. So we all set out walking; Jessi and I, and our guide and Wolf. Along the way we saw some great stuff. Local farms, local people... It was a nice walk.

Farmhouse on the side of road. Gorgeous countryside.

Vietnamese woman carrying goods on the road to the waterfall.

Two friendly Vietnamese women with no ulterior motives. None at all.

The local ladies in the picture above were really nice to us. They helped Jessi out through some slippery parts of the walk, they chit chatted, smiled, and laughed. Boy, we were really impressed with their English too! How did two villagers learn English so well? Well, turns out a lot of tourists come through there. They all speak English, and if you wanna hawk sodas to tourists, ya gotta speak English. That's right. After being soooo nice to us on the walk to the falls, they spent the whole walk back telling us "you HAVE to buy sodas, since we helped you out." Ah, Vietnam.

Anyway, back to the waterfall. Actually, through all of this, we never got to see the waterfall. We walked 2k on the dirt road, listening to Wolf bitch and moan about how stupid it was, and how the car should have been able to make it, and how come he had to walk so far, and why had the locals lied to us about the road being washed out (did you see the pictures above? he must not have), before we finally arrived at the trailhead. The guy who owns the waterfall (so much for untouched nature) refused to let us see it because it had been washed out by the rain. We tried bargaining with him, but eventually realized it wasn't going to happen... and honestly, it probably wouldn't have been all that nice. Look how muddy the river was!

Is there water in there too, or just dirt?

It looked like it was glowing brown...

So we left, a little disappointed that we didn't see the waterfall, but satisfied that at least we'd had an adventure. Wolf, on the other hand, was just plain unhappy. He hadn't wanted to walk to the waterfall, and he sure as hell wasn't going to walk back. So he handed his bag to our tour guide, hopped on the back of a passing scooter, and was carted all the way back to the car. Rural Vietnam was a little too much for him. He was much happier and felt "closer to nature" (a direct quote) on Monkey Island. To each his own.

-Tom