Struggling

Trying to remain optimistic about finding work in China is tough when the immigration office turns down your application for a work visa. I'm confused, depressed, and not sure what to do next. I feel like I have exhausted all of my resources... its frustrating. It makes me wonder if I am making the right decision.

Indonesia and... food poisoning

Had food poison yesterday. It was not fun. It was just a full day of being in the bathroom. Plus, I felt like I was going to die.

I've been in Indonesia for a little over a week now. Having a great time and seeing a lot. We started in town called Yogyakarta. I didn't know Yogyakarta existed until we decided to go there. From what I read, it is considered to be a quiet, culturally traditional city. Traditional as in a heavy Muslim influence. Had a great time, apart from the Air Asia misplacing my bag for a few days... but I don't need/want to get into that. We went to this restaurant/lounge that was playing live music and had a nice meal with some great entertainment. The band was excellent. The best part of it all was that downstairs, where the band was playing, was all local people. It was a relaxed, friendly atmosphere that I thoroughly  enjoyed... plus the beer was cold

From Yogyakarta, we traveled to Bali. Kuta Beach was the first stop in Bali... To be honest, I wasn't really impressed with Kuta Beach or the night life. It was too built up with McDonalds, Startbucks, Pizza Hut and etc... I did learn how to surf in Kuta and it was fun. I stood up on my first wave. I guess you can say I'm a natural. I surfed for about 4 hours that day and I was pretty sure the next day. But it was all worth it. After Kuta, we went to Ubud which is another city in Bali. Ubud is in the mountain and had more of a community feel. We did a white water rafting tour and a bike tour down the mountain. The rating tour was crazy fun, even though some of the members of our raft were scared and didnt help row.... those people will remain nameless... mostly because I don't remember their names. The bike tour down the mountain was beautiful. We rode through the forest, rice paddies and a small village. It was interesting to learn how everyone in the community helps out in some way shape or form. We also saw a cock fight on the bike tour, but I'm not sure if that was planned. We just kinda stumbled upon it. The best meal I had in Ubud was roasted pig, hands down. It was so tender and juicy. The sausage was nice and spicy and accompanied with a piece of crispy pork skin. My taste buds were in a frenzy.


From Ubud we traveled to Gili T, which is an island of the coast of Lombok... which is another island Ha. On my boat ride I met some cool girls from Canada and Germany (Alex, Tammy and Lisa). I am very lucky that I sat in that seat ;-).  Gili T is cool, there is not much to see here, but the beach is beautiful and there is a huge party every night. I did get food poisoning on my first night here, so yesterday was pretty rough. The crazy thing, I've been traveling for about 2 months now and I get taken out by a street burger... kinda sad. I feel better now and I'm ready to hit the beach and rave tonight.


Pictures coming soon... and don't forget to check out Jon's blog (http://wanderingwon.blogspot.com/)

Singapore, scooters and magic

Currently in Singapore and I can confidently say that this place is amazing. So far...

The first day Jon and I just walked around the city and sampled some tasty treats.

Jon being silly/ inside joke

Tang Dynasty anyone?...

mmmmmmmm noodles :-)

Its pretty hot in Singapore but walking is the best way to see the city and experience everything. But, our hostel offered a scooter tour around the city... FOR FREE. Sign me up please. Luckily we were able to go because a few people dropped out at the last minute. It was so much fun and we met some cool people.

Jon and I #selfie #juanskeener #kdiddy #myhairisgettinglong

Our scooter tour guide. I forgot his name :-/

The Inn Crowd scooter crew

Stopped at the water park to cool off

Went to the Super Tree part to see the light show

Absolutely amazing!

We also went to a show on the river front, but unfortunately I didn't take any pictures. I was a bit tired at this point and just wanted to enjoy the show, the people I was with and my surrounding. It was extremely cool though, machines would shoot up mist from the bay and project pictures and videos onto the mist. It was a cool show and the technology behind it is amazing.

 Our guide said that the Super Tree park and the back cost 1 million dollars a week to maintain! To be honest I was not surprised due to it being so elaborate.

The Inn Crown scooter crew at the end of the night. Very tired but yet very thirsty for adult beverages...

Don't forget to check out my buddy Jon's blog wanderingwon.blogspot.com to see his perspective!

Mothers Day!

It's Mothers Day and I am in Penang Malaysia. I see a lot of post on Facebook about Mothers Day and I got a little emotional. My Mother is very important to me and all of my friends know that. So... from Penang Malaysia I give a huge shout out to my Mother for Mothers day and all the Mothers out there. Happy Mothers Day!

Big shout out to my Dad as well, I will not be where I am today without him. My heart belongs to both my parents.

A couple photos

oooooh kill em

Subway Rides and Caves

The day started off pretty great. Jon and I found this wet market in the morning and decided to have breakfast there. Turns out its a hidden gem of Kuala Lumpur.

Breakfast of Champions! We have ice coffee, Laksa and Ah Fook Chee Cheong Fun

 

I had been looking for Laksa EVERYWHERE and this market seemed to be the only place that had it. I was pretty excited.

We walked by and this lady was cooking up something seriously delicious, so we sat down to have a bowl. 

This was the magical creation that came out of that sweet sweet wok. We have ginger and wine noodles and fish head soup. Both soups were incredible.

 

After getting full from our massive wet market meals we decided to go see something cool. I read about the Batu Caves in my Lonely Planet and thought it would be interesting to check it out. Of course we had to stop and get a Fanta first...

We go back to our guesthouse and try to devise a plan on how we are going to get to the caves. We ask our host and she suggested that we take the subway. My eyes opened so wide. I thought, 'how cool would that be to take a subway in Malaysia.' She told us it wasnt that far and it would only cost us 2 ringitt. Done and done.

It was a super modern train and it had AIR CON! I wanted to stay on there forever...

 

Jonny boy and I on the subway to the Batu Caves.

 

 

 

We get there and I wasn't impressed... at first

 

 

Waterfall from a huge limestone rock

 

I saw these steps to the caves and I just shook my head. It was so hot outside and they want me to climb a huge flight of stairs... I did it anyway

 

The cave is HUGE!... and boiling hot (just sayin)

Oh and there were a bunch of these little guys everywhere

 

How did the chicken get in here?

 

 

So needless to say when we get out of this cave my shirt was completely wet, but that's ok... at least I was doing something fun. 

I will put up more photos from the day in another post...

Kuala Lumpur!!!!!!

Met up with Jon yesterday in Kuala Lumpur. I was pretty excited to see him. It was nice to see a face from back home.

Last night we didn't do much after we checked in, but we did manage to go to a Reggae Bar to grab a few cold ones.

Today we got up and roamed the city.

 Jon in our cab to lunch

Photo of some of the architecture

From what I've seen so far Kuala Lumpur seems more modern than I thought it would. It definitely has a different vibe than Thailand and Cambodia. There is more of a big city vibe here, which I kind of like. Even though its a big city you can still find cheap options to grab food and even a few beers. 

I was surprised at how tall and modern a lot of the buildings were

Chinatown! 

These are the Petronas Towers in Kuala Lumpur. These were once the tallest buildings in the world until Taipei took the title in 2004. Planning on going to the top tomorrow.