Trouble in Paradise: Part 2 (But it got better!)

Did you notice is my last post there wasn't one picture of me smiling? I'll try to do better in this one.

Also, apologies that this post is coming 3 months late. Explanation soon to come...oh who are we kidding...eventually. So where were we?

Picture it: Island of Java, February 1, 2013........
Our bus arrived in the early evening to the train station. Luckily we were able to get seats on the next train which left within a couple hours. Josh and Jonny had a bite to eat (unfortunately, I stuck to my saltine crackers) The Indonesian trains are nice enough, the only bad (not so horrible) thing is that they don't have sleeper cars, which kind of stinks when you're on an overnight train like we were. For some reason, they thought riders would love to listen to random pop music at a loud volume all night long. And then the worst thing about this train (yeah, I would say the "most horrible" this time) is the dang squatter toilets. I've made my peace with them over they years, sure. But when you're sick.... and you just want to sit on a proper toilet.... and it's the middle of the night..... and you've already made 10+ trips to the squatter..... I'm not going to be dramatic. It wasn't the worst thing I've ever experienced, just super unpleasant.

But whatever. I survived.

We made it into Surabaya at around 4 am. We've always been so fortunate when we take weird flights or middle of the night trains. There is always someone there who wants to make a buck and will take us wherever we need to go. A taxi took us to a guesthouse, where we happily slept the rest of the early hours in soft beds.

Surabaya, Java, Indonesia

The next day, and pretty much the whole week, my activity level was very low. I spent a lot of time resting and reading while the guys explored.

A nice little hole in the wall near our guesthouse. Good food...just didn't help my tummy.

The woman is the owner of this little restaurant. I'm not sure if the man was related but he was super friendly. We found out he's just visiting home.  He now lives in Oklahoma and is a dentist. We told him we live in China. He told us that he doesn't like Chinese food but prefers Golden Corral. He's truly American now!

Here we went to the Arab Market. On the hunt for a hookah pipe!

Time to pray.

My tasty chicken and lychee drink

Josh's leg of lamb

The next day, Josh and I found this little coconut stand where this guy made us a kind of coconut float with the pulp and water. That stuff at the bottom is like a honey juice. This also did not help my tummy- but it was so delicious, I'd do it again in a heartbeat.

As we checked out of the guesthouse, the workers there had to get a picture with us. Fascinated by the whities?

Our last day in Surabaya, Josh researched the sights. We hired a taxi to cart us around from place to place. With the meter running, it only cost us about $15. This is a pretty cool Chinese style mosque.

The biggest mosque in Indonesia

A pretty Catholic church

We took Jon back to our little hole in the wall restaurant. Our friend wasn't there, but the owner's sister was and she loved practicing her English. Those boys were her nephews, and she tried to get them to talk to us, but they were way too shy- complete opposites of their aunt!

After all our running around, we hit up a bookstore to find "The Little Prince."  We were unsuccessful. We caught our train to Jakarta; another miserable all-nighter.

Jakarta, Java

Arriving in Jakarta, we all were beat. I think the unfamiliar foods were also starting to catch up with the boys, and we all spent most of our days there resting. The good news is that Josh finally found an Indonesian copy of "The Little Prince."

Obama Fans Club.... oh darn, I wanted to eat here.

The guys stocked up on their java from Java. I think Josh brought back 10 kilos.

After many long naps, it was time to catch a flight to Phuket.

I really enjoyed our time in Indonesia. Though I didn't have much of an appetite, and didn't do much, the Indonesian people were so friendly. I hope to go back and enjoy myself without the accompaniment of a stomach bug.

Phuket, Thailand

Josh and I were so excited to get back to the paradise we were lucky to call home for a month two years ago. You know me, I was ready for Thai iced tea and my most favorite cuisine in the whole world. I wasn't going to let my stomach stop me!

Josh and Jonny had their own reason to be excited to arrive in Phuket. It just so happens that their grandpa and a few friends built a hunting cabin way up north in Minnesota. For years they hunted every winter together, and passed the tradition on to the sons and grandsons. One of the second generation hunters, Kurt owns a hotel on Patong Beach in Phuket. As fate would have it, he and his father Roger (one of Josh's grandfather's best friends and original hunting cabin member) were in Thailand at the same time! Kurt invited us to stay at his lovely Summer Breeze Hotel, and who knew I would meet these family friends for the first time on the other side of the world?

Kurt, Me, Josh, Jonny, and Roger

Seriously, how cool is that?

It was wonderful to be back in Thailand. I love the people, the food, the weather.... everything. The one thing that I HAD to do this time around was ride an elephant. I kept putting it off last time we were here, and so it became top priority.

Halfway through our ride, the elephant driver tried to sell us jewelry made with the elephants baby teeth. "The money goes to help feed the elephants," he said. Josh told him that he was pretty sure they would still feed the elephants even if we didn't buy something.

Baby elephants are the cutest!!

Well, I can check that off the list.

We stayed on Patong Beach, which is definitely not our favorite part of Phuket. There are tons of tourists, and honestly, it's kind of trashy. Josh was quick to rent motorbikes for us so we could hit up our old stomping ground, Phuket Town.

We had a mini-TEFL Reunion with Ed and Eoin, who both stayed in Phuket to teach. I love these guys! This was the restaurant that was in between the school and hotel we stayed in last time. We went there everyday, and it's still totally awesome! It was also amazing to see how much cheaper things were in Phuket Town compared to Patong.

We also were super excited to take Jonny to our "secret" beach we found two years ago. When we were there, it was completely isolated. We were all alone there with our own private restaurant. Two years sure makes a difference.

Secret beach in 2011

2013: What??

Oh no! There weren't even any chairs last time we were here!

Go figure.

Oh well, kudos to the secret beach restaurant for getting more business in the last two years.

Our time in Thailand was great, but way too short for my taste. As usual, there is always a part of me that wants to forget the rest of world and stay there forever. One day we'll make it happen. After a few days in Phuket, Josh, Jon, and I flew to KL where we would part ways.

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

It's funny to think that the last time I was in Malaysia, I thought something along the lines of: wow, this is so awesome. I'll probably never come here again since it's so far away from home. Well, lucky me being wrong :)

Josh made Jonny try durian. Wasn't I right, Jon? Tastes like a rotten mango!

I truly think this is my favorite restaurant in the entire world.

Since we only had a day in KL, we decided to spend it in Little India (You know, since our original itinerary for this trip was to go to Big India). We had fun.

Oh yeah, Happy Chinese New Year!

The next day, we said our goodbyes to Jon. He headed back through Thailand to catch a flight home from Bangkok. We flew to Kunming, China, where we traveled north by train to Shanghai. I'll tell you all about that interesting experience in the next post....