Africa at a Glance

Africa with Elise!

So I made it back from Africa in one piece. I was not attacked by lions, leopards, or cheetahs. I did almost hit a hyena on the way back to Elise's house after dinner.

Flew into Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe and got the quick run down of the town, booked our adventures for while we were there, and got settled into the house we were staying in while there.

The house was owned by a family friend that now lives in Kasane, Botswana and is taken care of by Robert and Unice (two of the nicest people I have ever met). The house was amazing and the bed was the most comfortable bed I had slept in in over a year or so. We took it easy the first night because the first couple of days were going to be killer.

Sunday we got up and went to see Victoria Falls. It's high season so there was tons of water going over the 1.7km long water fall that stands just at 100m tall. The Zambezi was very high while I was there which made the viewing of the falls not so great but amazing all the same. After about an hour of wandering about the paths by the falls we came up to the bridge that we would be jumping off of in a matter of how long it took us to walk there after we left the view. We are both chickens and thought we would both chicken out so we didn't want to watch, but as someone jumped we were glued and watched another 3 or 4 people go. Elise went first and jumped right away. The girl that was supposed to go before me chickened out and since we were the same weight, it was my turn. I had to have a little help but I did jump. It was such a rush and so amazing. Watching the water get closer and closer. Coming back up on the first bounce and being weightless and completely out of control before heading back towards the water. I really want to go again.

Monday we went white water rafting down the Zambezi River. The water was high so we didn't get to do the first 11 rapids but we did rapids 12 through 21 or 22. We did the paddle trip, so no holding on just bracing yourself with your legs and paddling till you got through the rapid and had a rest before getting to the next one. I got ejected from the raft on the first or second rapid (the small ones). I took Elise's dad with me when I got thrown out and then the raft moved over me. I was under the raft trying to get back to the surface. When there was no more raft above me I still wasn't coming up. I was coming up under the person I took out with me. They finally got me out from under him and back in the boat, took a paddle from someone in the back and gave it to me and the paddling continued. At this point I was looking for a way to walk the rest of the way...haha. The rest of the trip was great, scary as can be, but great. On the biggest rapid our guide told us, "Whatever you do not fall out on the first part of this rapid. If you do you will go down 3 rapids on your backside." Did I mention the whirl pools that would suck you under for 'most likely no more than 10 seconds' and could possibly suck your shorts off or you out of your life jacket? Or the boils that were hyper-aerated which caused your life jacket to pretty much be useless until you got out of them? So we watched the first raft go through and flip on the first huge wave. Our guide said, "OK, let's go get them, paddle as hard as you can!" We ended up with 3 of their 6 man team in our boat. One girl almost ended up going down another 2 rapids on her backside, we got her just in time. At the end of rafting we had a nice little hike out of the gorge. And by nice I mean beautiful view but killer. Elise and I were the first 2 out!!

The rest of the time in Zimbabwe we spent wandering around the town, shopping, and went on a sunset river cruise. I saw my first hippos and an amazing sunset!! Not sure how it happened but we ended up on the Senior Citizen cruise. It was nice and relaxing though and we had some nice catching up and reminiscing TAMU-Commerce.

We also had dinner at The Boma. Traditional African cuisine and entertainment. I ate crocodile tail, impala, wart hog, cape buffalo, and a mopane worm. Everything was great until the worm. It tasted like really burnt steak that wouldn't chew up. The entertainment was dance and drums and then they got everyone a drum and the entire restaurant drummed together.

We headed to Kasane about an hour and a half away. It was a beautiful drive. Went to dinner at a place that some friends of hers own. We played some Titanic, ate some great food, and I met some new friends. While in Kasane I went on another sunset river cuise and saw another amazing sunset. Saw tons of wildlife. Went on a bird count (exactly what it sounds like...count the birds on the water...if I never see a white faced duck again, I'll be okay) where I saw tons of giraffes, zebra, and many other animals. Kasane had wart hogs walking down the side walk with you.

Sunday after church we went to tea and started talking about what I was going to do the coming week while Elise was at school. I told them I wanted to go the the Okavango Delta if possible. With that said, it was as if i stuck a stick in a bee hive. Everyone and their friends/parents were working to get me a flight the next day, someone to pick me up at the airport, a place to stay not at the delta, and a spot at a camp. I can't thank them all enough. I had someone at the airport to pick me up, a couch to sleep on, and a huge boa constrictor capture.

The Delta was beautiful. We took a huge tank of a vehicle 2 hours out (through some meter deep rivers) where we met up with our mokoros (dugout canoe) and the polers. When we got to the camp we set up the tents and headed out for a bush walk. We didn't see much that evening. Dinner was amazing over a campfire. We were told if we hear something in the middle of the night...don't get out of your tent and if you have to use the restroom shine your light out first and go with someone. The next morning we woke up at 6 am, had breakfast, and then went for another 4 hour bush walk. We saw tons of giraffe (got to see them run and one bend down ), tons of zebras, and a few hippos. Then it was lunch and back to the mokoros for the trip back to the vehicle.

The last day in Kasane I packed everything and shipped my mom's huge drum home (almost made it in one piece). Went on a bike ride with Elise running (training for a half marathon). Had dinner with everyone I had met and watched a movie. Got on my transfer back to Zimbabwe.

Early morning, customs going into and leaving Zimbabwe. Flight left an hour and a half late causing me to miss my connecting flight so I got to stay a night in Johannesburg (I had no money so ate my heart out in the hotel and relaxed). Made it to Hong Kong and then to Seoul, where I found out my bag was "still in London" and responded "I was never in London" "Ok, your bag is in London". Filled out paper work to get my back back in a few days "after we find it". Flight left an hour late from Seoul, got to Busan and had to borrow money from Charlie (life saver) to get back to my Apt. Got home at 1:30 and had to work at 9 am the next morning.

Watched my bungee video with all my classes and got nervous each time. The kids loved seeing the pictures and watching the video.

Great trip... pictures to come in the next post
(sorry it's so long...it was a long trip and a lot happened:)

AFRICA with ELISE HONEY!!!

Elise said rafting is a go...every one pray for me :)


and then there is the bungee jumping...aaaaaahhhhhhh


Leave Friday, July 16th...I'll try and keep up, possibly while I'm there

So...

The weather has finally decided to get nice. Up until the 1st of June or so it was cool enough to wear jeans and a long sleeved shirt. We had Wednesday the second off for "Erection Day" (election day but 'r' and 'l' are mixed up all the time) and it was finally nice enough to spend the whole day at the beach. Ever since it has just been nice weather :)

I ran my very first 10k on May 16th and finished in 1 hour 12 minutes (not bad for no training what-so-ever and not running at all for the 6 months before it).

Went to 2 Jim Jil bongs (Korean shower houses/spa) and got naked. After the awkwardness of being naked around a bunch of other naked women, it was pretty nice. I decided to go for the whole experience and paid extra to have an ajumma (older woman) scrub me down...I no longer have a tan and one of my tattoos is missing (just kidding on the tattoo part but serious on the tan :()

Went to the carnival near Gwangali beach and rode the Ferris Wheel, bumper cars, and these carts that have mechanical 'people' pulling. Also rode stuffed animals and shot pellet guns (I now have a monkey in my front window of my car because I hit the target 4 times)

I had a photo shoot with my two best friends and a great photographer at the beach and lunch.

Visited the casino too many times (4) can came out on top once, even 2 times, and in the hole once...not too shabby.

Had a scavenger hunt/clueless birthday party/going away party for one of said best friends. She had no idea and the only clues she got were really helpless pictures (except the picture of a woman showering and millions of eyes staring at her that I drew).

Played in a volleyball tournament on the beach with 3 guys (they asked me to play bc they thought I could hang with the competition [blush]) and we lost the first game to the team that won the tournament :( only one of the 3 in our pool went to the tournament)

Met a guy on the beach and the first thing he said to me was that he liked my dreads:) ATE TACO BELL!!!!

Found the equivalence of Redbull in Korea called Hot 6ix (sometimes heard pronounced 'hot sex'...koreans really have a had time with that stuff)

Learned that my school has belly dancing lessons as part of an after school program.

ALMOST TIME TO GO TO AFRICA...36 MORE DAYS!!!

Australia Feb 2010

Week 1: Sydney

Got into Sydney pretty early Saturday morning and headed straight to Bondi beach. It took pretty long to get there and with my pack. By the time I got there I only had about 45 minutes (thank goodness, I was so burnt in such a short time) before I had to find my way back to a train station to meet up with my first couch surfing host, Art. The whole way to the meeting place I laughed, almost out loud, at the school uniforms. They looked very old school. They did look good. Made it out to Davidson which is right on Garigal and Kur-ing-gai Chase National Parks. The view was amazing, you could see the city in the distance and overlooked a forest. The house was amazing, great wood floors and the most amazing bed I've slept in in over a year. The bedroom had a Hollywood theme and had a Wizard of OZ poster in it...Love the Wizard of OZ and all jokes that have put Kansas on the map.

Over the next three days I visited Manly beach, the Quary area with the Sydney Harbor and Opera house. Manly beach is beach volleyball central. There were so many nets set up, it's a shame that the weather wasn't very good and there weren't many people playing. I did get to over-the-net pepper with a native indigenous guy and it made my day. At the Quary area/Sydney Harbor I saw some street performers, did some shopping, and found out the embarrassing way that the UFC was in town. Ran into a few of them thinking they looked familiar but couldn't figure out why. I actually went up to one and asked if they were the wrong name...I'm an idiot. Met a girl from Germany who was staying at the same couch host as I was. Ate some great food in the local pubs and tried many different beers. Ate a kangaroo steak that was rare and so unbelievably amazing!!

The last three days in Sydney I stayed in Newtown with Lisa. Newtown is known as the "colorful" area of Sydney. Many places that had live music. So many coffee shops and pubs. Shopping galore, second hand/vintage stores were everywhere. Visted Coogee beach.

Week 2: Brisbane/Gold Coast/Byron Bay

I didn't buy a flight before hand because the were cheap and left almost every 30 minutes and I was flying out on a Thursday. Who would have thought that almost all would be sold out by the time I got there Thursday morning. I ended up paying double what I had originally expected and waiting in the airport for 3 hours, but I did make it to Brisbane. Not really paying much attention to detail, I was planning on waiting for my next couch surfing host at the beach. There are really no beaches in Brisbane only an hour away by train on the Gold/Sunshine Coast. So I headed into the city center where I relieved a little stress with some reading and a nice cold beer. Finally getting a hold of my host, he informed me that he thought I was coming in next weekend and that he was out of town. Thank goodness I had written down some hostels and addresses. Got to my hostel and dropped my bag off and relaxed for a bit before heading back into the city to meet up with Dave and Geoff, two guys I worked with at Lake Powell almost 2 years ago. We had some drinks and talked about Powell. They asked what my plans were for the weekend. I planned on hauling all my stuff down to Byron Bay for the weekend and then possibly heading back to Sydney early so I could just sit at the beaches there. They offered to drive down the coast with me and said we could stay at their grandma's on the beach and that I could stay at his house because they had an extra room. Friday morning, while listening to 7 swedish travelers talk, I packed my bag to put it in a locker at the hostel till I could pick it up later and meet up with Dave. Spent the day eating Subway, drinking redbull, and reading down by the river on the grass. There were a couple of showers during the day, but it was still amazing.

We headed down the coast on Saturday morning. I got to meet Marie (pronounced Mar-e) and drop off some stuff. Continued down the coast to Byron Bay where we did some sight seeing, ate some amazing meet pies, heard some live music, laughed at some surfers that wanted to wait for it to stop raining before going back to the surf, played in the surf (kinda scary but a lot of fun), and did some boogie boarding. Sunday we took a drive into the mountains and saw a rainforest. Monday and tuesday I sat on the back porch and read, moved to the pool for a bit, and the headed down the hill to the river for the rest of the day. At the river I just watched the birds fly overhead, clouds go by, leaves rustle in the trees, read, slack-line, and listen to music.

Your true traveler finds boredom rather agreeable than painful. It is the symbol of his liberty-his excessive freedom. He accepts his boredom, when it comes not merely philosophically, but almost with pleasure. Aldous Huxley

Wednesday I helped Geof move into his new apartment in the city. It had the most amazing view of the city with a huge rap-around roof-top balcony.

The people I met in Brisbane were so welcoming. I couldn't thank them enough for inviting me into their homes. I was very thankful that things didn't work out how they were planned, had they worked out I wouldn't have had as much fun or been able to relax as much as I did.

Overall the trip to Australia was amazing. I will live there/travel long-term there at some point in time. The only thing is that all public transportation was ridiculously expensive. I felt like almost every time I got on a bus or train I would pay with a five and not get much change back. It was hard to leave and come back to cold rain, but on an upside I got to see my family and my Luna!!

Last Couple of Months

Some new things just because I'm bored and haven't posted for a while.

-Road trip with 2 Kansas boys and a guy from Illinois up to Seoraksan for Cheusok (Korean Thanksgiving)

-Was queen in a queen/king of the court volleyball cauldron (everyone plays against everyone with everyone) at Haeundae beach

-Became addicted with the Twilight Series and finished all four books in less than 2 weeks.



-Became addicted with the TV series Supernatural and finished 4 and a half seasons in a week and a half and now have to wait till Thursday to see the new episodes.



-Had the engine rebuilt in my scooter for 180,000 won.


-Had 9 people stay the night in my apartment (super small one room apartment)


-DREADED MY HAIR!!!




-Bought a plane ticket to Australia



-Watched a thousand people go swimming in the ocean the last day of January for the Haeundae Polar Bear swim

Halloween

A friend had a house party that many people showed up to. Many very good costumes...I went as Tom Cruise off Risky Business, you know the look ;)

Ariel view of the apartment

Tom Cruise and MJ

Cereal killer

Jelly fish and dead fish (later she had 'X' on her eyes)

Shoes, shoes, and more shoes...even Shrek's

Pro Wrestler and the kid that 'floated away with a balloon that was later found in the attic (Falcon)

A friend had a house party that many people showed up to. Many very good costumes...I went as Tom Cruise off Risky Business, you know the look ;)

Meet and Greet Greatness

Middle of October was the fall Korea On the Rocks Meet and Greet. Climbers from all over Korea get together, climb, drink, and have wild shenanigans.

I opted to not bring Luna because it was supposed to rain and rain with a dog in a small tent...not so much fun. Boy am I glad I didn't bring her.

I got in Friday night and set up my sweet 10,000 won two-man tent. I kinda had a ground mat/beach mat but it didn't cover the entire bottom of the tent, oh well right. Haha, I don't think it would have made much of a difference. So we were told a huge storm was going to be coming through at midnight. At 12:30 am it was still clear skies. Everyone decided on bed time. I don't sleep well outside anyways but the tent was a bit to short for me, even laying cross corner I touched both walls. Rule number one of tents, if you want it dry don't let it touch the walls. Fetal position it was. That's when the wind picked up, the lightning started and the rain fell. Ok so that kinda stunk, but my tent was holding up against the gail force winds. I then realized it was brighter in my tent then it was a second ago... I looked out my screen window (with the rain fly on I can not see outside) and saw everything. The wind had undone my steaks and my fly was hanging on by one steak. Choices: 1)wait it out and hope that it (rain/wind) stops soon 2) get out and put my fly back on and re-steak it so that everything in my tent stays dry 3)wait what will hold my tent down if i'm not in it and there is only one steak still in the ground....my pack (everything went back in my pack and the rain fly for my pack went on and went to the corner of the tent being dominated by the wind) 4) should i put my pants back on, it's cold but then they will be wet?

Whatever... the pants went on but didn't get buttoned so were falling down as I was running around my tent trying to steak the tent down again and untangle the fly to put it back on. Another guy was running around in his underwear ( i should have done that, i would have dry pants) steaking his tent down better and putting rocks on the steaks. Another guy got out and helped me get my fly straightened out and steaked back down. Great times!!!

Woke up in a lake...if you didn't know, down sleeping bags do nothing if wet...no worries, after i wrung it out I got up and had some coffee. It rained most of the morning off and on so everytime it would be blue skies everyone would put all their stuff on the line to dry...as soon as everything was out it would start raining again. My bag ended up in a minbak with heated floors so it dried nicely.

The climbing was amazing, the view amazing, the people amazing, and everything else also. Ganhyeon has been by far my favorite place. After/before dinner the drinking began. We soon moved to a bonfire by the river with a ukulele, singers, and apparently football player wannabes. I was tackled 7 or 8 times by a friend. Got up early the next morning to make sure everyone had followed through on their leave no trace. Nope...you could probably imagine how much waste (bottles, cans, cigarette butts, and other randomness) 25-30 some people can produce.

Finished off Sunday's climbing with some great leads (I don't like lead climbing but the leads here were so much fun and just overall great climbs). Then a large group of us headed out. Jan and I were heading to Busan together. Got some lunch in the station and some dang coffee that just turned out to be a bigger pain that it was worth. Got on the bus just in time.

About 30 minutes down the road...WHAT WAS THAT?!?! (Jan and I looking at each other) I'm going to laugh if it was a tire...haha, sure was but no worries we weren't going to lose any time...the bus driver is going to continue at the same speed (passing people) Korean passenger "ㅣㅏㅓㄴㅇ먀ㅏㄷ김츠ㅜㅊ능롸" Bus driver : " ㅓ추ㅕㅑ랴ㅓㅜ주쳧녀챠ㅕㅑㅊ녀ㅛ쳐" Korean passenger: " ㄷ추ㅡㅜㄷ유운듀ㅜㅠㄴ유ㅏ" I'm pretty sure that it translate to something along the lines of KP "WHAT ARE YOU DOING?" BD "DON'T WORRY ABOUT IT...ONLY 3 MORE HOURS" KP: "YOU BETTER PULL THIS BUS OVER NOW OR ELSE..." the bus pulled over and three men got off the bus to look at the damage... got back on and continued...WHAT WAS THAT?!?! (Jan and I looking at eachother laughing from fear) Me: "English? Little English?" Korean woman: "Flat tire"...duh, but why are we still driving

Finally (10 mintues after the first stop and 5 minutes after the second stop) we got to a rest area. Korean woman "We wait for engineer to fix tire" Jan and I "Engineer? Really?" I guess they don't have the word mechanic.

Back on the bus 2 hours later. Offered an older korean woman (adjumma) sitting behind us some crackers. I was expecting her to take like 5 or 6 and then hand the rest back to me, so I waited. After she continued to consume my crackers I turned back around with a straight face. Jan look at me and asked if she took any. I said yeah... she asked me how many...i said "ALL" with a straight face and even tone...Jan looked back at the woman who was still so joyfully eating my crackers, looked at me and we both started laughing.

The people who had left on the a different bus and hour or so later than us got back before us...doesn't always pay to get the earlier bus...haha, still a great weekend

Sorry no pictures, I'll have to get some from people because I left my camera at home :(

Wow

Okay, so I just figured out that I had comments on some of my posts. I never knew how to see if I had any. Now I know and I'll try and reply back. Thanks for the comments!!!

Thailand Part II:4 months later

Thankfully Luna didn't get ahold of the pages in my notebook where I wrote down some notes on my Thailand trip. She did how some ever get ahold of the rest of it. So it's been a while but let's see if I can't make this good.

So the first day back to the mainland was spent traveling from the pier back to Krabi. I got another room at the AoNang Grand Inn, it was a fan room, for a whopping 750 TBH (30 TBH=$1). I booked my next two days adventure: Elephant Trekking and a Speedboat Islands tour.

I honestly could have done without the Elephant Trekking. I must be either really hopeful or didn't ask enough questions. They picked me up and I actually ended up in a van traveling for much more of the day than I would have thought. We went to the Hot Springs first. It was pretty much like a natural hot tub.

Next we went to Emerald pools. I was asked to take a picture with some kids(??) and did some swimming.

This next picture is from the actual elephant trekking that was very short and kinda sad the way they treated the elephants. Take a look at the kid that was riding with me. 12 year-old-boy form China. Check out his shirt...gotta love it!!!

This is where we had an awesome lunch. It's a fishery.

The last place on our tour we went was a Tiger Temple (no tiger) that had a bunch of greedy, thieving monkeys. They were so cute but would only get close if you were offering them food.

On this tour I met a couple from New Zealand. They are also teaching here in South Korea. I met up with them for dinner and some wandering about the beach area.

My second to last day in Thailand I went on an 8 stops powerboat Islands tour. Growing up on a boat made this a blast for me. Fun in the sun on a boat with stops here and there to do some snorkling, shopping, sun-bathing, and some history/stories. I saw so many amazing things that I can't even describe it. I'm just going to let the pictures speak for themselves (even though they don't do the beauty justice).

After a day on a powerboat...a little wind-blown.

The crew and I

Bamboo Island

Have you seen the movie "The Beach" with Leonardo DiCaprio...well this is it.

The last stop on our Island tour we stopped at Bamboo Island. I took a nap on the beach in the sun, did some snorkling, and met an amazing older couple. It was a Hungarian couple that had lived in Australia for the last 50 years. Larry was almost 90 years-old and his wife Kuki (nickname) was early-mid 80s. For about an hour and a half Larry was telling myself and a woman from France (her and I were the only non-coupled/non-family people on the tour) about his life and the war. Wow, he had lived. He got the last train out of Buddapest before the city was taken, made it to another station just for them to say it was going to be destroyed the next day. They ended up pretty much in the middle of no where... the Americans then ended up shooting up the small staion he was at. He was mad because all of his stuff was destroyed in the train. His stories were so amazing. To think that a person could live through all of that. Even though he had lived in Australia for the last 50 years he still had a much stronger Hungarian accent.

When I got back from the tour I did the usual walking around but decided that I wanted to try a scooter. Now, I have never ridden one before and the last time I rode a bicyle was ??? It was something like $15/24 hours. It was perfect, I would have it that evening and all day the next day till it was time to go. He gave me a quick run down on how to turn it on/off, gas, and break. "Have fun!!" ummmm...... ok?!?! In the first 30 minutes I almost hit 3 cars (steering was quite strange) almost ran into the back of parked cars, jumped a curb trying to turn around, forgot to put the kick stand up... oh man, this was too stressful for a vacation...I decided I would try this whole scooter thing when I got back to Korea and bought one. So after 30 minutes I took it back...they laughed, I laughed but then he just took my payment as a taxi to the airport the next evening...he was going to pick me up at 9pm for my flight at 11:55pm...better to be early than late, right?

The last day I was there I spent the day slack-lining on the beach,

laying in the sun, and doing some last minute shopping. I ran into Larry and Kuki again and made dinner arrangements with them at 7 at this open air resturaunt. (I was never disappointed by the food in Thailand or the atmosphere). To kill time till then, I did some more sunbathing to get nice a crispy before my aloe vera massage I was going to get. Went back to the hostel, took a shower, got my massage, went to dinner, got my bag, and got in the taxi.

45 minutes later we arrive at Krabi airport, extremely small, which was completely shut down. I was freaking out knowing there was no way I missed my flight because it wasn't leaving till 11:55 so I pulled out my itenerary to show the security guard... as I was passing it up I noticed that my flight from Bangkok was at 11:55 pm and my flight from Krabi was at 7:15pm... ooops. Luckily the taxi driver was super nice and took care of me. He drove me around to 3 different hotels about 30 minutes away (closet area with cheaper hotels) until we found a cheap one. On the way he stopped off at his cousins taxi service and made arrangement for him to pick me up in the morning and take me to the airport at 6am. I ended up at a concrete bungalow that was a little...um, yeah but it was a cheap place to stay and i had arrangements for the morning so all was good. I had no alarm or anything so I slept in my clothes(I would have anyways...no need to unpack and pack again) but woke up to a knocking at my door at 5:30 am. It was my taxi, I threw my shoes on, my pack on, and grabbed my purse. When I came out I realized I got to ride on the back of a motorbike with my pack (round two). The driver had already gotten my passport from the owner and we were on our way. 30 minutes later I arrive back at the airport that was supposed to be open at 6:30 (it was 6 now). We went through the gate and got dropped off at the front door to wait for it to open... 2 hours later people started showing up for work... apparently it doesn't open until 9:00am. Made arrangements to leave Krabi and spend the day in Bangkok and arrive into Seoul instead of Busan.

In Bangkok I bought some books, ate some food, ate some more food, drank some drinks, met some people, and just had a great day wandering the airport. The first lady and I were sharing snacks and taking turns watching eachothers things while the other went to the restroom. When she left 2 hours later her place was taken by this Swedish guy that had decided he hated dark winters and was moving to Australia. We hung out the rest of the time I was there (the last 8 hours anyways). Barely made my flight to Seoul...they had told me the time on my ticket was the boarding time but it was the departure time...after I got on the plane they shut the doors...whew almost was stuck there again!!!

Thailand was amazing and I will be there again!!!

Today you are You, that is truer than true. There is no one alive who is Youer than You.

Ok so for now the rest of the Thailand trip will have to wait to be posted. I know I am falling horribly behind, but...sorry.

For those that didn't know I visited home for a wedding. I left Busan, South Korea at 2:15 pm on Sept. 12th and got into Kansas City, MO at 6:30 pm on Sept. 12th (same day). I had two lay-overs that were 1.5 hours each, one in Tokyo and the other in Chicago. I am lacking (once again) all creativity in writing so here is the run down of my trip home A.K.A. "The Blur". ( I'm going to keep a running total of time awake to time there just so you can see why I was unable to form sentences when you saw me in the states or when I got back to ROK)

Woke up at 6:30 am on Friday the 11th and went to school. Came home, got the dog and the bags, got in a car-for-hire and headed to Jangsan (15 minutes by car 1 hour by bus away). This is where I stayed up all night except for a 1.5 hours nap around 5 am saturday.

22.5 awake-24 total hours (th)

Did some last minute shopping for some friends and finished the packing. 11 am got in a cab and headed to the airport shuttle bus. Made sure I was going to get to the airport in plenty of time to check in and get through immigration. Got to the airport around 12:15 and was checked in and through immigration by 12:30. Now what?? No internet (alien number wasn't working), girl sitting next to me talking as if she was in the club trying to make sure her friend could hear her (Americans, geez). Got on the plane and peace out ROK.

No napping on plane #1 and left for Chicago at 5 pm local time.

33-34.5

Watch a few of movies (The Proposal, Yes Man, Easy Virtue, and the Hangover), read some of the Alchemist, ate 1 of 2 meals(too turbulent for the second one), drank 3 pops, and took a couple 30 minute naps.

Landed at Chicago around 4pm (CST) 6am on Sunday for Korea time

44.5-47.5

Got into MCI in Kansas City at 6:30 pm CST and no napping on the plane. I was talking to a guy that is from KC but is living in London for work and was coming back for a work visit. He was maybe late 20s' and it was a nice conversation...the other flights I talked to no one (mostly bc they were asleep or didn't speak English)

47-50

A friend from my days at NCCC in Chanute, KS (TJ) picked me up at the airport, went to dinner, visited an old coach, tried some Soju, and Omegled (google Omegle) for a couple of hours before I finally went to bed at midnight.

52.5-55.5

I was wide awake 2 hours later and sayed awake

52.5-57.5

Had Sonic for breakfast and headed back to the airport to head to Dallas, Texas. No sleep on the plane and got in at 10:30am.

61- 66

Jane (friend from school in Texas that I played volleyball with) picked me up, we got some taquitos and met up with some other friends from school that I climbed with. Freebirds (google it)...enough said. Said by to Jane and left for Commerce, TX with Kat and Brian. Took a 30 minute nap before the dinner and sea shell drilling. Woke up at 6 pm ready to go.

68-73.5

We headed out to Cameron and Emily (a couple that is a bit older than us that have a house just outside of Commerce with a slackline, fire pit, and bouldering wall in their garage) where Kat, Brian, Cameron, Emily, Steven, John, Mike, Bradley, and I spent the evening eating hotdogs, cheese (me), drilling sea shells (we all slayed atleast one sea shell), drinking soju and black berry wine, and watching climbing videos. Headed home around10 or so.

72-77.5

We watched a movie and talked a bit before I fell asleep around midnight or so.

74-79.5

Woke up around 4:30am and stayed awake till 7:30am or so, saw Kat leave for school.

77-87

I then slept till about 1pm...finally some sleep.

82.5-92.5

10 hours of sleep in 3.85 days...crazy

Watched a crazy movie with Kat (Jesus Camp), went back to the Rec to visit Tony, ate lunch with John Hill, visited the training room at the college, visited my Education Instructor Jency, visited with the John Hill replacement(who gave me some Orikaso(google it)), climbed with Cameron and Emily at the wall and realized how weak I am on climbing overhangs, had chicken fried steak with mashed potatos and gravy and green beans, had Einstein Bagels with Kat, coffee at the library where I saw Grace, and got a ride back to the DFW airport from Steven on Tuesday afternoon. Left Dallas at 6:55 and got into Tulsa around 8.

No more sleep counting bc from here on out it was pretty steady on CST.

I was met at the gate by my Uncle Kent (dad's brother) and my cousin Tyler. My parents weren't too far behind them. It was so good to see Kent and Tyler, I was not expecting it and I hadn't seen Tyler for quite a while. Mom had packed me a bunch of food and we had a picnic in the airport parking lot. Great food...much needed!!!

Didn't do anything Tuesday night because I new that Wednesday was going to kick my butt. Woke up Wednesday to a call from Cody (friend from HS) who was leaving for music festival Wednesday afternoon. I asked if he would help me out. He was my driver to and from and back to the DMV (lack of sleep was lack of brain thinking that I needed ID to get my DL). Lacking a car he then took me to get my phone changed over to my mom's cell phone number so I would have a phone with all my friends numbers in it while I was home. Got to eat Mall Deli (thanks Cody).

Wednesday afternoon I got in the car and headed up to Kansas City (not before stopping by and seeing my good buddy Daniel at work) for my now cousin's bachelorette party. I couldn't find her house and ended up at my aunt and uncle's house. Got a ride with my aunt to dinner. When I walked in I saw Lacey (girl from NCCC that I played volleyball with and hadn't seen since she left there). Dinner was at a Japanese Steak house where they cook in front of you. I caught 5 shrimp in a row in my mouth sitting about 6 or 7 feet back from the table.

(Activity deleted) :)

Off to the bars in the Power and Lights district in Downtown KC. We were pretty much the only people in the bars to start off. There were some dance offs, some game playing, and some dares (card game...so much fun). Then we went to the next bar and continued having fun. There were some guys that kept buying rounds of drinks for everyone ($90 a round).

Across the room I saw this guy that was incredibly tall. And I don't mean compared to Korean height...he was quite a bit taller than all the guys that were walking by him to go to the restroom. I had to see him up close. I walk around the room and stood next to him, almost breaking my neck to look up (jk), my head was right at his chest. I said, " I'm sure you get this alot...but excatly how tall are you?" he told me he was 6'11 bu that 7' sounds better!!!! He also said that no one ever asks ( i don't believe that). We talked for a bit but I need to get back to the party so I headed back over to the girls. Turns out he(Sean) is from Hays, KS (he said it's better than Pittsburg...don't think so). The thing that surprised me was that he was not only extremely tall, but was well built, coordinated, and pretty darn good lookin'. We danced for a while which pretty much made my nigth because we both dance Kansas Freestyle (idiots) and even were able to have a small dance off (he killed me). Sean helped me out of a sticky situation like it was nothing...on the long trip back to ROK I had tons of time to think and looking back at the time in that bar... he makes me laugh...good guy

Slept not so great sitting up in a chair and then on the floor before getting in a car and heading back to my aunts house (6:30 am). Got back to the car and headed back to Pittsburg to have lunch with a friend from Church (Shirley Hawkins). After lunch I took a 4 hour nap. After my nap I don't remember exactly what I did but I got to hang out with Bethany for a good time. It was really good to see her. Made it an early night.

Friday went to Wal-mart, saw the Smith family, saw Daniel again. Went to dinner with my parents...Del Rio has nothing on Senora Taco or Taco's Family, but the company was really good...miss dinner with my parents, the familiarity of dad lounged out across the booth across from mom and I where mom is telling dad to talk at me and not at her...his voice hurts her ears when he is talking in close areas...lol, gotta love 'em.

Friday night went out for Tamara's (friend from school/church) birthday. It was fun...a little drama, but what is Pittsburg bar night out without drama...it doesn't exsist. Saw Mel, Lauren, Jason, Cassie, Chris, Tamara, Matt, and I'm sure some others (sorry I didn't include you). Funny thing, got to use my passport to get into the bars bc most don't except the paper liscense without the old liscense.

WEDDING DAY

Saturday got up and headed to the lake to put up signs directing everyone to the wedding ceremony. Then mom took dad and I back down the the south end of the lake to get the boat. Dad and I drove the boat up to the north end of the lake while sipping on some beverages...nothing beats a day at the lake on a boat with a cold beer/margarita in hand, and even a little rain.

When we got there we were informed the wedding had been moved up and it was starting in 30 minutes and not in 1.5 hours. Lots of hussle and bussle but everyone got around and the ceremony started just as the sprinkles began falling (God's kisses/blessings). Beautiful ceremony with a BEAUTIFUL bride (Mal) and a good looking groom (Zach). Brown and pink, beautiful flowers and a great area. The only thing that would have made it better would have been no rain but everyone held up and the rain held back.

YOU MAY KISS THE BRIDE

The Zalarey wedding party left on the boat, in the rain, with umbrellas.

Great reception too, cake was amazing, and the best punch I have ever had.

Breakfast the next morning (sunday) and then goodbyes to all and a short boat ride with my cousin Matt and his wife Jill, his mom Christi, my cousin Quinlynn, Andrew and Christina. After dad and I dropped them back off on the dock we headed back to the south end of the lake for mom to pick us up.

Subway...yum, yum!!!

Once home, packing, packing and more packing. Daniel came by and hung out with me while I packed. Bethany came back by. Stopped by and saw the Brown family for short time before heading to see Megan and getting some Tropical Snow (the best ever). Then movie with Cody (Inglorious Bastards...good but very gorey). Almost made it all night again...3 am.

Watched the last Kansas sunrise I would see for a long time. Dad dropped me off at the airport and got a parking ticked for leaving his car in the loading only zone for 2 minutes.

Plane broke down in Chicago and left 3 hours later. Overnight layover in Tokyo and back to Busan Wednesday evening...first class from Tokyo to Busan...very nicea (korean for nice).

Had coffee with Nikki before getting Luna, getting a cab and heading home.

Great 2 days of nothing but resting...took Luna to the lake, got really muddy.

Great weekend with some Northern South Korean folk staying in my apartment.

Ready for the 4 day weekend of Cheusok and the roadtrip with Mack, William, Drew (?), and possibly Luna...I get to drive this weekend!!!! can't wait.

Whew...that was a lot, now my hands hurt...Thailand part II coming soon!!!

Thailand...at last

So I'm not feeling much into telling a story so what I'm going to do is make a list of everything I experienced in the order that it happened and add pictures where words just won't do it justice.  

• Left Jess's apartment at 6am so I could arrive to the airport 1.5 hours early to make it through customs and baggage check... I waited at the airport for an hour.  Busan Gimhae airport is super quick and small.  Even with it being very busy the lines were moving quickly.
• Went to Bangkok first and had about a 2 hour layover there.  Met a couple from South Dakota that were both teachers.  They were going to Krabi to go climbing.  If only I would have brought my climbing gear with me.  We talked the whole layover and continued talking when we realized the 3 of us were sitting next to each-other. 
• Krabi airport is so small.  If you live in Pittburg,  KS it's about half the size of the mall.  I caught a airport shuttle to the hostel at AoNang Beach.  Air conditioning, shower, bathroom, and a 5 minute walk from the beach:400baht ($12.50) the view from the balcony outside my room: priceless
• First night dinner at an open air restaurant with a  thatched roof.  Red curry was amazing and so was my banana drink of some sort with a Thai Orchid in it.

• Took a walk by the beach, got a massage, walked around in the rain, and got a good nights sleep.
• In the morning I got on a bus to go to the bus station to get on a bus to Trang to get to Koh Kradan.  Took a scooter taxi from the bus station to the mini bus station (with my pack on).  Mini bus station to Koh Mook Pier to catch a long tail out to the island.
• I spent the next couple of days laying in the sun during low tide on a beach by myself and laying in a hammock with water under me reading during high tide.
  

• The last day I was there we (Me, three Italian guys: Fabrizio, Luigie, and Vittorio, and Deah) we took a short walk to another beach on the other side of the island.  To get there you have to walk down the beach during low tide in the late afternoon and up over a hill.  When you get to the other side there are waves and it is so secluded.  I got to see my first sunset in 6 months that sunk under a flat horizon and not mountains.

• On the way back from the other side of the island there was a low tide so there were tons of tide pools.  We saw sea urchins, sea cucumbers, starfish, and tons of crabs.  Deah, the other girl, loves crabbing.  She would just sneak up on them and grab their claws and put them in a sarong.  She caught tons so we had grab as part of our dinner.
  

• Some pictures from Kalume Kradan. 

The view from my bungalow.

My bungalow.
Swing over the water just down the beach.
One of the bends on the Kradan Island.
Me in my hammock.

Sunrise from the hammock.

Sunrise.
Sunrise with the coral wind-chime.
Sunrise from my bungalow window.
The beach just around the first bend next to the one that Kalume is on.

• On the way back to the mainland we stopped at Koh Mook (the next island over) and went to Emerald Cave (Morakot Cave).  This is a cave that has an opening about a meter and a half tall on the sea side that opens up into a cave before turning into an 80 meter tunnel that is completely dark.  Just on the inside the cave has waves that crash into the back that sends and echo of thunder through the cave.  When it opens up words can't describe.  I didn't take most of these pictures because I don't have a underwater camera.  Even then these pictures don't do it justice.

Inside the cave looking into the land side.

The light at the end of the tunnel.
Inside looking at the entrance to the cave/tunnel.
In the middle of the picture you can see a white speck.  That is a rope signifying the entrance to the cave.

The boat ride back to the mainland.

The long-tail boat.
This is only part one but I'm tired of typing so this is it for now... maybe I'll have the rest up in a couple of days.