Cambodia

I love it here, this place doesnt get near the credit it is due. Considering their recent tumultuous past and the poverty level, what Ive seen so far of this country and its people has been nothing short of mighty impressive. The kids here could sell raw beef to a vegetarian. They are beautiful and quick witted....I was easily sold a photocopied book about Ankgor....a few moments after that I noticed another little girl was in love with our insect repellant...she loved how it smelled and I had absolutely no choice but to give it to her...she didnt ask for it but I explained that its for mosquitoes and not necisarily perfume purposes, she was thrilled with it none the less.
Yesterday we went to the Killing Fields and S-21. This is part of where Cambodias version of the holocaust occured...S-21 is a High School turned prison in Phnom Penh..it is now a meuseum honoring all of those who died during this time. In the meuseum they have probably over a thousand pictures of some of the people who were killed at the prison and the killing fields...men, women, children...It was very heartbreaking. Ben and I couldnt say anything when we left. Im still absorbing it all the next day, I want to read more about the Khmer Rouge, but I dont think I will every really comprehend what happened.
Tomorrow we are taking a boat down the Mekong river into Vietnam. Our itenerary is lose there so far, all we know is we will be in HCMC for Christmas to visit our friend Jenna!

Master and Misses Divers.....

Well not exactly...We did get our open water certification to scuba dive up to 18 meters or about 60 ft...and we have been on 4 dives all ready!! I was a little aprehensive because of the problems I have when I fly with my ears...but I was able to equalize them with little trouble at all....We are on a little island off of Bali galled Gilli something.....this is paradise...no cars on the island...only horse drawn carts and bikes....today is our first day to relax after our scuba classes....they have been all day productions for the last three days....a great deal of fun though...being under the water is a whole other world..we saw eagle rays and a blue spotted ray...and some beautiful corrals and bright fish....refer to Ben's Blog for technical names.. :-)
We are also close to an island called Sumatra..and fellow coffee drinkers know what that means....GOOD Coffee..Ben and I had a french press today...probably the 3rd cup of good coffee weve had since we left the states ...but it was fantastic...a shock to our systems though....we were both bouncing off the walls afterwards....
We have both been slacking on the picture side of things...today we are going to go snorkling and use Ben's underwater camera then post some picutres up.......we are sure what our next move is...Probably Cambodia then Vietnam..it all depends on ticket prices and availability....I was listening to a little Christmas music last night!! It makes me miss everyone very much!!!

military time

in india they use military time...02:25 is 225am...i learned that the hard way this morning when we arrived at Anna International Airport in Chennai at 1030....8 hours after our flight left...I take full responsibility...I booked the ticket, Ben had nothing to do with it.....I am the luckiest girl in the world though...i was ready to throw in the towel, and Ben level headed as always took charge and now we are back on track to go to Bali! thanks ben...The bitchy lady who yelled at me two years ago in Alaska was right...I dont know how to tell time....
Moral of the story after giving Air India and Air Asia some free money....I love Ben.

Bye India :-( Hello Bali :-)

After numerous hours on buses..we are back in Chennai and we are going to Anna International Airport then off to Bali to meet up with our friends Nicki and Dustin...they have the room allready reserved for us all we have to do is show up!!! we are both ready for the change of scenery I think....just wanted to update everyone will write more in Bali!!!

No Pain No Gain

We are in Goa...ahhhh...life here is very different than the rest of India...its almost like we are in Europe...probably because there are way more Europeans than Indians here...I like it nonetheless. Cows on the Beach...today we saw a cow peeing on the beach...something I never could've dreamt I'd see anywhere...but if you are going to see it somewhere its going to be India....Beach life has been great!!! Reading, Writing, splashing around in the Arabian Sea...having a sunset cocktail..then a fresh seafood dinner...then off to bed in our cozy little beach hut...this is the life...Yesterday I kept putting off buying sunscreen so those of you who know what I look like (and I don't think Ive acquired a mass of blind followers quite yet) can image the burn i received...I did it to myself so no complaining allowed...and its getting better...I should be all ready for the sun in SE Asia....
The hummus here is outstanding!! There is such a large population of Israelis that the demand for good hummus is through the roof..Ben and I have been taking advantage to say the least....

Ill write more tomorrow or the next day right now I'm feeling a little phased by the sun....I know I know...poor me....

Still Trying Dad!

Still trying to figure out a way to put a map tracker on here dad!!
I've had two Lassis since my last post last night!!!
One Pineapple and One Apple

Lassi Lass

We are in Kolkata, its amazing, it feels good to be back in the city, but not back in the smog. I've discovered here that I like Lassis, (Yogurt, Fruit and sugar) I was a little hesitant to try them at first because they are dairy, and im a bit sensitive to dairy. Last night was HEAVeN!!! Ben ordered a sweet Lassi, I drank 95% of his then ordered my own and wouldnt let him touch it...Partially because I couldnt eat the meal in front of me but mainly because Ive got it bad for the Lassi. It happened again at Breakfast...Ben ordered one..I followed suit...drank my Banana Lassi then his Sweet Lassi...Ive always had a thing for yogurt but nothing like this before...

Darjeeling!!, China pictures and the Bloods n tha Cripts

I think ive lost all computer literacy over here, it may be the draining effect the food has on me..i just found a post i did in china and though i lost, and it has PICTURES!!!! yeah...well try for some india pictures next week when we are in Calcutta.

We have made it to Darjeeling, we actually made it here just in time to see the election...I was very happy and tearful...electricity here is sketchy so you can imagine the internet serivice...its beautiful here surrounded by the himalayas and tea plantations. Ben is out on a 4 day trek and Ive been spending some time exploring the area with a lovely french couple we met on the way here..they left today and i miss them already! we went to a tea plantation yesterday where they grow some of darjeelings finest. Then Xavier and Crystal and I bolted through the streets of Darjeeling to catch the Toy train, this is a touristy diesel train that huffs and puffs along the Indian Himalayan Railway...my bugars are still black. All in all a great day...this town pretty much shuts down by 830 or 900 so i find myself in my room either watching bad friends and americas next top model reruns, writing postcards, or reading my hilarious book called "Holy Cow" its a very funny account of an aussie lady's experiences in india...i find myself reading at least one part of every chapter outloud to ben...she is so right on..

last week we were in Varanasi, arguably one of the oldest cities in the world, the Ganges river goes along its edge...and i took the longest healing bath in the river, ben and i dunked at least 10 or 13 times...i felt very holy...if you know what the Ganges river is (and i suspect most of you do) you would know that if that were actually true ben and i would be in intensive care right now...amazingly holy and disturbingly filthy this river...we did a boat tour on it with a really sweet indian kid who loved his boat more than life itself, he reminded ben and i of an indian johnny ott...he even had the lips....in varanasi they have what are called "ghats" which i believe are just the stairs leading to the river, and they have one called the burning ghat where they burn their relatives corpses then put the ashes in the ganges..i felt horribly obtrusive watching this and particularly embarrased at all the westerners staring and gawking at such a personal intamite ceremony for these people...I thought Varanasi was lovely, however i sort of felt i was intruding the entire time i was there, it was like watching people while they are attending church or a therapy session. It was moving however to see the impact this river had on so many people...I guess Im realizing to get a real grasp of how other people work and live you may need to be a little intrusive.Varanasi also has a gang problem, we didnt realize untill the middle of our first night spent in this town...screeching, barking, crashing, falling...at the end of the night all of the businesses set there garbage outside and its a blood bath between dogs and monkeys...the dogs dont win..they come out beaten and battered, i wish max were here to show them how to stand up for themselves....

wow longest post yet
dad, mom, kara, jessco, janie, jessica
please email me your addresses

Dehli Belly

we made it to india!! we both love it here...the food is sooo good, i think we both prefer indian food to chinese food! its a beautiful country we saw the taj mahal yesterday it was very beautiful, and tonight we take the train to Varanasi to see the Ganges river...cant write much Baby Boo has a slight case of dehli belly and I need to get him some immodium....just for the record I have been eating a variety of dishes here, not just chicken tikka masala...although i did have that in dehli and we couldnt stop talking about it for hours...so so so good.
ill write much more and pictures soon!

Election in India

I just got done spending the morning confirming our flight to india!!! I am so excited!! we have quite the journey to get there...we go 20 hours on a train tonight, get to shanghai tomorrow around 3pm then we fly to dehli at 10 pm and get in at 245 pm...

Im sad to leave China, however I have wanted to go to India for quite some time now.

Finally I can get some pictures of our trip so far...

Shanghai to Beijing

We made it to Beijing on the train today...it was an overnight train ride, it was very smooth but also very smokey..we were in the back and there were lots of smokers back there...
Shanghai was a great city Im excited to go back there with Betsy in feb shes going to love it...ive never been around that many people so it was very humbling for me as was not being able to communicate with anyone except Ben, I consider myself a somewhat social being, so its strange for me to talk to only one person a day....We ate at a very strange French Restaurant our last night in shanghai...Ben and i made the most of it though we left laughing our asses off...I loved Shanghai it was a great place for me to have my first Chinese exposure.

Im very excited about exploring Beijing, I love everything about it so far, the architecture the landscape, everything...we are going to Tiennemen square tomorrow and the Great Wall the day after that...We went to some of the street markets today and I talked a very charming lady down from 45 rmb to 20 rmb (US $3)for a really cute scarf, i love bargaining, she was very impressed with ben's choice in me for his woman. HA! we have seen at least 3 little kids going to the bathroom right on the sidewalk....im talking number one and two.....pretty funny...the little kids over here are so freaking cute!!! even when making a doodle on the street! more to come tomorrow hopefully with some pictures!

we made it to shanghai!!!

this is our second morning in shanghai, both mornings we have been up by 430 am, i think this morning may have been in part due to some partiers below us....i love it here its such a bustling city, the air makes me miss the fresh air in iowa and oregon...im still getting used to the food, but i was expecting that, its a lot of fried doughs and interesting meats...ben and i are both trying to get over a cold before we head to bejeing where the air is apparently much worse than in shanghai.,,,ill write more when i can!
peace!
anna

Leaving on Wednesday!!

I am putting the finishing touches on before Ben and I depart for four months to Asia! Most importantly I voted today!!! Remember to vote!