Spent our last night in Sanur walking through the night market. Had a few unidentifiable, fried

street food snacks while searching around for the ever elusive wifi connection.


Discovered an intersting area we originally(shamefully) dubbed, "German town"after taking notice of the names of the grocery
store, guest house and restaurants we came across there. Ironically, there also happened to be an enormous amount of German

tourist in this part of town. After a bit of research, I discovered that the swastika symbol actually represents the name of a hindu
god.






 We listened to a live reggae band on the beach, did a little dance to Buffalo Soldier after an experimental swig of the local wine, Arak. Imagine a drink that tastes like rancid white zinfandel, mixed with a generous  splash of gasoline. Yuck!!
Early wake up call to catch the morning ferry to Nusa Lembongan, a small island off the coast of the Southern point of Bali.
Spent four, gloriously lazy days in the beautiful Bali sunshine. Nusa Lembongan also happens to be one of the largest seaweed growers in the world.

 Seaweed farm production constitutes 85% of the labour on this island. Our ice cream, (as well as a LOT
of other foods we consume in America) is made with the carrageenan collected from the seaweed grown here.

Turdy Moccasins, mature sucks so much and summah summah! Sing Can Can!

     Upon leaving Bangkok Thailand, we hopped on a four hour flight to Denpasar Bali, practicing our Balinese along the way.  Terima Kasih (turdy moccasins), matur saksima (mature sucks so much) and suma suma are the phrases proven to be most useful since we've arrived. Thank you in both Balinese and Indonesian, and you're welcome.  The Balinese are very kind people and haven't been too critical of our pitifil attempts at communication in their beautiful language. Gary has his favorite beverage words mastered well; Bir and kopi. I've also worked on my favorite phrase, Sing can can; no worries.  It's funny to see the surprise and appreciation on the faces of each Balinese i've spoken those words to.  Time here is truly marked by the crow of the rooster, no one is in too much of a hurry.  We're not surprised when our meal appears forty five minutes after we've placed the order.

     Our first night in Bali, we thought we'd spend a quiet night in Legian to get our bearings and start fresh the next morning.  Instead, we found ourselves in the midsts of tourism hell. Potbellied Germans and Aussies littered the sidewalks in every state of drunkeness, like teenagers during spring break 1988 in Daytona Beach.  Gyrating to really bad 70's rock revival music, played by non-english speaking, pseudo-waiter/rockstar balinese bands. "Sweet Home Alabama" blasted at 0200 from the crowded pool at out hotel; this was definitely not the Bali we'd signed up for. The best thing about our first night in Bali, was the amazing meal we were served at a little Warung(local's restaurant) called Yogya.  The food served at this tiny, hidden place down a side alley was phenominal.  We sipped cool Bintang beers and devoured delicious plates of Gado- Gado and Nasi Campur. The kangkung(water spinach) was spicy and superb and they made the best peanut sauce we've ever tasted. I didn't even tell Gary I had ordered vegetarian until half way through the meal and he loved it.
     We hailed a taksi the following morning to escape the bedlam that is Legian.  One hundred- thousand rp. ($15) and an hours ride, found us in the sleepy little town of Sanur at a quiet little place aptly named, the Watering Hole.

Last night in Bangkok..

Leaving Bangkok in the early a.m., looking forward to seeing Indonesia.  We cruised through Khao San road last night after an amazing dinner of Morning glory greens and Massaman curry.

Stumbled upon a dragon festival of some sort.  It involved a small child on a tall pole, fighting a fire spitting dragon. Sort of a David and Goliath story.  He was fearless!

Bangkok

We've finally made it to our favorite little oasis in Bangkok, Villa ChaCha. A quiet  boutique hotel, tranquil and serene in the middle of the chaotic scene that is Khao San road. Sipping Chang beers (fresh coconut w/ an ample pour of rum for me) pool side and enjoying the 85 degree weather.  Wandered over to "our tailor friend" Khumar's shop and discovered our photographs in the storefront window. We're now "local celebs"!!!

 Who knew?! Unfortunately, our new status did not entitle us to a substantial discount on our next purchase. Oh well.. Had an amazing plate of Pad Thai and ended the night at our secret spot, the reggae

"Happy" bar. Gary got a little too happy with one large Chang beer too many. Next stop Bali..

First snag.

Had a wonderful flight to London.  Treated like royalty in business class.  A big thank you to Purser extraordinaire, Ms. Kelly Jean Duggan, Lanie, Naoko and Deb.  Our flight to Bangkok was oversold so, we're spending the night in London and making the most of it.  Wine from duty free, in room wifi and room service..it could be worse. Right?

Packed and ready for adventure

First stop, poolside at Villa ChaCha!

This is all we're taking for 5 weeks!

Finally packed and ready to go. Leaving for London and then taking Thai Airways to Bangkok.

Would this fly if he, were a she?

dress code

noun

a set of rules, usually written and posted, specifying the required manner of dress at a school, office, club, restaurant, etc. : while the dress code doesn't require two-tone shoes, you will get turned away if you wear jeans.

Boarded on an American Airlines flight at DFW airport.  

http://ireport.cnn.com/blogs/ireport-blog/2010/08/20/join-the-conversation-what-s-ok-to-wear-on-a-plane

30 days or Bust!

insanity |inˈsanitē|nounthe state of being seriously mentally ill; madness 

http://www.nanowrimo.org

      Mkay... So, i've decided to sign up for this year's NanoWriMo.  November is national novel writing month and I thought it might be fun to give it a try.  The goal is this:  Write a 175 page novel by midnight November 30th. Easy, right?  That's approximately 1,669 words a day; 50,000 words in 30 DAYS!!!  From scratch...  What was I thinking???  Not sure how I intend to do this, as I will be treking through Indonesia and Thailand with a 40lb. pack on my back.  Did I mention that I will not be taking my laptop?  That means I will be writing the old fashioned way, with pen to paper and updating via internet cafes along the way.  I can do this. I will do this, I just need something to write about. Suggestions?

Flighty Writer's Stew: Prologue

beginning |biˈgini ng |noun [usu. in sing. ]the point in time or space at which something starts
Friends, family and random strangers I've had the opportunity to meet in my travels, have suggested I start a blog.  "You're so funny/interesting/traveled/crazy, you should have a blog!"  Well, i'm not sure how funny I am but, I decided to finally take the advice.  This will be a, "learn as I go" process so please bear with me through the many mistakes I will inevitably make.  Apologies in advance.   
I'll start by saying that I have a very short attention span.  I start a lot of little fires in my world and run around trying to keep them all under control; fanning the flames and maintaining a few here and there, while frantically extinguishing the ones that get out of control.
This blog may seem a little haphazard at times, again bear with me here.  There will be a little  traveling, some writing (working on my first novel and will need lots of help) and always food.  It all cooks up to a big, boiling pot of Flighty Writer's Stew. Hope you like it. Enjoy.