Our goal was to try everything on the brochure we were handed day one. (This is the compressed version.)

There were more than 20 dishes listed out that Penang was known for.  We almost made it through them all, and most were delicious!

In addition to all of the amazing food and drinks we consumed, we also had the opportunity to wonder around the city and check out all of the street art that is painted.

One day we were there, we made it out to the other side of the island where the national park is located.  We took a long (hot) hike to a lighthouse that gave us an amazing view of the coastline. We were also able to meet up with one of our friends from our island volunteering session! It was extremely hot during the hike, but the view at the end was worth the walk.

Most days were spent waking up early (usually between 6-7), walking around  to grab some breakfast and check out the street art, hiding in the A/C during the afternoons, then heading back out for dinner and more wandering.  It was too hot to be out in the heat of the day.

A couple of times throughout our stay, we ended up busing over to the mall to watch new releases. We couldn’t pass up $2.50 movies in a nice theater with winter cool A/C!

All in all, Penang was a great city that we enjoyed wandering throughout, slamming food, basking in A/C, and people watching.

Best,

Danielle and Grant

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It was an easy ferry ride over and we reached the campground nestled in its own cove south of the main resort beach area. No dock, just jump off the front of the boat. Private beach: check. A pirate and Malaysian flag, hand painted signs all over the place, several bamboo structures, and tons of friendly people greeted us as we made our way to the reception counter.

We met the other volunteers (including a Danielle from California…this was about to get confusing) and the owners who all seemed like incredibly laid back people. We were given the rundown: the cafe and bar has to be manned, tents and bathrooms need to be cleaned, and labor needed to be completed. Easy. In exchange for our time, we were fed and housed for free for a month. Kickass!
 We learned that the couple who we would be replacing slept in the treehouse, which is also where we would be staying. It came equipped with three of the most massive geckos I had ever seen (later to be named Ali, Mercury, and Falsto).

In addition to geckos, there was much more wildlife walking, flying, or swimming around our campground. Giant monitor lizards, sea eagles, stingrays, and black tipped reef sharks were things that we saw daily. Vipers, territorial monkeys, and sea turtle tracks on our beach were special sightings. I had to continue to remind myself that we were staying in a rainforest, because some of these sightings became so commonplace. Turtles and amazing snorkeling: check and check.

We learned more about the island as we explored around. Long beach is a fairly dirty, party beach where nightlife (including crappy house music) can be heard well into the early morning. It makes for great sunrises though, as it is east-facing. Coral bay, on the west side of the island is a bit classier with nicer eating and resort options. We would walk over to coral beach for milkshakes and wifi as needed. Our beach was a 25 minute walk south of coral bay, on a beautiful path leading through the rain forest. This island is unique in the fact there is not a single car, truck, or vehicle of any kind on it. Boat taxis are plentiful however, and many times we could hear tourists screaming as the drivers tend to go as fast as possible between point A and point B. The fishing “village” on the south tip of the island, is is more like a local town.

Our days would be spent snorkeling, hammocking, hiking, exploring, kayaking, or relaxing as wanted.

A couple of times we made it to the fishing “village” for breakfast (always before 8 AM to snag local prices).

We also spent a day scuba diving, which is always awesome. One spot had horrible visibility so we spent the duration of our time diving through underwater caves. It was a lot of fun. The day we spent kayaking was great because we could spot good snorkeling areas as we were cruising over them.

Another highlight was putting up a volleyball net on our beach so we could play in the evening (the daytime was way too hot). While there, an Italian couple that were patrons-turned-volunteers, spent all day preparing for homemade pizza night (cheese included). We all ate way to much that night. They also taught us how to make homemade pasta and gnocchi!

And we ended up seeing the bioluminescent plankton! Check. Apparently, it is always in the water but there is so much light pollution on other beaches on the island it is impossible to spot elsewhere. For 4 or 5 nights in a row, around the new moon, we grabbed snorkel gear and headed to the beach. It was incredible to see the little bits of light spiraling around our moving body parts. The light from the stars in the sky and ocean were almost interchangeable. It was also hilarious to see grown adults flailing around as much as possible to disturb the plankton into glowing bright. Shouts of “You’re a wizard, Harry” were screamed. We were surprised to see fireflys floating through where the rainforest hits the beach. We were surrounded by points of light in the sky, ocean, and air around us. It was one of the most magical things I have seen.

Even though my days weren’t spent doing all that much, I still found myself wishing there was more hours in every day. The volunteers, patrons, and owners of the place were all really great people to talk to and I often spent an entire day sitting in the cafe chatting with whoever was down there. Rainforest Campground is beautiful, and attracts beautiful people in return. It wasn’t uncommon to hear about folks deciding to stay with us after wondering down to our beach randomly, or extending their stay by a week or so once they see what the place has to offer. We had so many laughs there as well as deep conversations about internal struggles, politics, and dreams. One of the volunteers led beach yoga sessions in the mornings. One patron painted a beautiful mural in our cafe. People were often seen meditating on the beach. Our place was magical. I’m going to miss Rainforest quite a bit. 

But, it was time to move on after a month. I feel grateful to have the memories I will take home from this place.  Hopefully we will meet again, Rainforest.

Danielle and Grant

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Kota Bharu is a little dull compared to some of the other places we had visited. Day one we attempted to walk through a few museums that we had researched in advance, only to find them completely closed. So instead, we wandered around the city to see the sights and people watch. We did find a delicious lunch restaurant and enjoyed being the only westerners at the tiny place we were eating at. Eventually, we made it back to our hostel to relax before more food!

We made a few hostel friends and ended up tagging along to the night market.  The food was alright, but the appeal of the night was chatting with fellow travelers who were out as long as we had been. The guys we met had similar interests and a love for traveling that we felt as well. We would soon notice more and more how different the westerners were in Malaysia. As a Muslim country, Malaysia attracts a different sort of person than any other southeast Asian country we had visited so far. I think the way alcohol is frowned upon (or completely banned depending where you go) is one of the main factors.  We hardly found the ‘partying type’ in Malaysia, which was fairly refreshing after a handful of obnoxious people we met on the trip at various points (the worst were the ones in the same dorm as you with no regard for the time of day, night, or level of noise they were making). Most traveling folks we met in Malaysia had more love for experiencing people or the culture than than a night out on the town. It was one of the appeals of the country.

The owner of the hostel were staying at was a really nice local guy and ended up inviting us to a beach barbecue with his friends the following day.

He supplied cheese-filled hotdogs (“what westerners eat”, right?) along with some Malaysian dishes made by his mom that were more to my taste.  While there, we chatted with the locals and learned a lot about the Malaysian culture.  Something that surprised us was the amount of racism that Chinese Malaysians felt from some of the Malay citizens as well as the government. On a lighter note, we also learned that it is illegal in the state we were in to buy or sell any sort of alcohol.  Apparently, the beer they were passing around comes from Thailand because it is cheaper/easier to cross the boarder than to find it elsewhere in Malaysia. Crazy.

All in all, it was the people that made Kota Bharu special for us.  The city did not have much to offer in terms of activities or sights, but the people we met were all so nice and friendly that I enjoyed my time there immensely. If you do go there, however, look up the cultural shows. They are quite cool apparently, but are only on certain days of the week (days we weren’t there unfortunately).

Onto our next volunteering opportunity: a month hanging out on a resort island. It’s gonna be rough… heh. Until then!

Regards,

Danielle and Grant

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We made it! After a 9 hour layover in the dead of night and many long hours on two separate flights we arrived in Bangkok on Thursday morning.  Getting to the hostel was an adventure on its own.  The traffic within the city is absolutely wild.  I had to bite my tongue as we sat in a taxi and wove around cars, motorcycles, and ‘tuk tuks’ which is like a carriage, although powered with a small motor.  We sped into oncoming traffic many times.  Although, crazy enough, there are few accidents here.  Not a car has a single scratch on it that I have seen.  I think LA folks have a bit to learn about city driving.

We have crammed so much into the three days we have spent here, so I will go through a few of the notable activities.

We visited The Grand Palace, which is a series of Buddhist temples and buildings that the king and various political figures still use today.  The aesthetic detail of the temples was unreal, both inside and out.  Figurines, mosaics, timelines painted on the walls, and shrines were all over the grounds and incorporated within the architecture.  Brilliant colors surrounded us as we learned more about the religion and politics of this country

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After this we were hungry so we tried to find an authentic place to eat lunch.  We spied a kitchen on the bottom story of a massive building.  There were many people in uniforms milling around the building, but we didn’t think anything of it.  We walked down and tried to find a menu, or even prepared dishes in the kitchen (which is never in a different room than the dining area) we could point at and order from.  The chef looked at us funny and started laughing as we looked around and tried to figure out how to communicate what we wanted.  That is about the time we noticed that people were talking to each other through a steel fence.  It looked like we had found the Bangkok jail.  Everyone was laughing at this point, including us so we waved goodbye and found a normal restaurant to eat at, one that served to those not incarcerated.

Our Saturday evening was a little unconventional; we decided to participate in a guided meditation led by a Buddhist monk.  He spoke about Buddhism, the body and mind (body and mind, body and mind), and the world as he saw it.  He then showed us how to practice meditation while sitting and standing.  We meditated for an hour, which was a lot harder than I previously thought.  I fell asleep a couple of times while sitting and meditating…oops.  Each time the half hour began, the monk would leave the room, then return when it was time to switch methods.  At the end of the time, he revealed to us that he had been watching us the entire time through a camera mounted at the front of the class.  He laughed, and pointed out a few people who had given up on the pose half-way through.  All in all it was a great experience and has me interested in exercising my mind this way in the future.

We also took a Thai cooking course which has been my favorite activity by far.  We made 8 separate dishes, including a hummus made of pumpkin that was delicious! In between the 7th dish (papaya salad) and the dessert (mango sticky rice) we learned a traditional Thai style of dancing.  Hopefully we can go back to the states and recreate the awesome dishes we enjoyed.  My favorite is an Indian inspired dish called Massaman Curry.  The runner up was the Pad Thai, which had much more complex flavors than what is served in the west. (Papaya salad in the photo)

As I am writing this, we are sitting in the hostel lobby listening to the rain falling among the hum of different languages being spoken by people from all different places.  Lucky for us 95% of the folks we have met speak English, although I feel pretty lame that this is the only language I can speak.  Many are traveling by themselves, most have begun their adventures in Bangkok, and, all have been some of the nicest people I have ever spoken with.  I could definitely get used to this.

Until next time.  Thanks for reading!

Danielle

Yum

The post Beginnings in Bangkok appeared first on Quarter Life Excursion.

While I was chatting with a friend I was questioned about my desire to quit my job, move out of my house in Santa Barbara, and go on this trip. A million reasons started flying through my head including: the money is sitting in my savings account, work is becoming less challenging, and the fact that I love Asian food. The question stopped me in my tracks. I almost felt as if I needed to justify my actions because I have it so great currently. Why was I dropping my life completely to heading into the unknown?

As of now, I would consider myself successful. I found a job right out of college. I am supporting the lifestyle I want within beautiful Santa Barbara County. I have the luxury of being able to explore wherever I want on the weekends. And it’s all been going great…except for the itchy feet syndrome. Some of you may know what I’m talking about. Others will think I am crazy. It started out as a slight tickle and has slowly crept up to inflict my brain. The “next trip” has been in the back of my mind ever since graduating at UCSB. The weekend excursions backpacking around California and even the epic out of state trips I have had the pleasure of being a part of (I have some awesome friends) have not been cutting it.

As luck would have it Grant, my lovely boyfriend, thought travelling in November would work perfectly with his schedule. November is the also time I hit the two year mark of working for the state, which is about where I wanted to be to leave anyway. The “what if” conversations morphed into “when is this happening” over the past couple of months. Cheap flights were found, and lo and behold, a date was set to fly into Bangkok on November 10, 2015.

So far we have covered:

• the who – Grant and myself
• what – adventure of a lifetime
• when – November 10^th
• where – Thailand and beyond
• how – airplane
• why – see above and below (and the reason for the rambling nature of this post)

The rest of the why: I need a challenge. I want to be uncomfortable. I am looking forward to getting lost in a county that I won’t be able to speak the language within. I am ready to LEAP outside my comfort zone. Maybe I won’t have a comfort zone after this trip is over. Who knows… What I do know is that we live on a big planet. One I have seen very little of. I know this trip will be a humbling experience that can open my eyes to different cultures and lifestyles. I love learning and the world is the ultimate classroom. Bring it on Asia!

Some questions you may have:

When are you arriving? We will touch down on lovely, humid Thai soil on November 12th.

Where else are you going besides Thailand? We have a flight scheduled into Vietnam on December 5th. Other than that, we will be travelling to as many countries as make sense. I want to get immersed into the culture as much as possible so we may be travelling between countries slowly. I also want to see as much as possible so certain times may go quickly as well. We will see how it goes once we are there and move on accordingly.

Why southeast Asia? Jungle trekking, serenity, climbing, food, elephants, chaos, diving, public transportation. Is there more we could ask for?

When are you getting back? At this point it is up in the air. We are thinking sometime between February and May. Yes I am trying my hand at NOT being a compulsive planner, thank you for noticing.

Do you have all your shots? Check. And pills for malaria.

Can we get into contact with you while you are over seas? We will not have working cell number. You can always reach me by personal email. We will have a texting app called What’sApp that you can also talk to us on. Reach out to me beforehand to snag the info.

Can I get a postcard from you? Yup! Give us an address and we will be sure to send out one along our travels.

We will be updating this blog throughout our trip for your enjoyment (as well as our mother’s sanity). Grant will handle informative posts about our aspect of the trip for everyone interested in logistics (how-to’s as well as where to go). I will be updating you about our personal experiences. We will both be taking tons of pictures and some of them will be uploaded here. I will send out a facebook notification when we update this site so you can stay in the loop. If anyone is interested in an email shoutout about a new post going out, subscribe to our blog on the left.

Thanks for reading

Danielle

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