Sweet home Chicago!

So, here we sit in the lounge, waiting for our taxi to take us to the airport.  We have an 8 hour flight to Tokyo, then we change planes for another 12 hour flight to Chicago, finally landing in Chicago at about 10am on June 16.  We have had a fantastic time, and thank all who have followed our journey.  We will be following up with some stats, the “best of”, and some other pictures that didn’t make the first cut, so if you have enjoyed so far, please feel free to come back and see any updates.
We have missed you all so much, and really look forward to getting together and catching up soon!

Love,
Jen and Scott


Our last sunrise in Asia for a while…safasfasdf

Bali, Indonesia

It would be a long couple of travel days to get our final destination of Bali.  From Railay, we took a long boat and 3 mini buses before reaching the town of Ao Nang, the jumping off point to Malaysia.  A 15 hour bus ride from there would take us across the border and down to Kuala Lumpur, where we’d catch a flight to Bali.  It helped knowing that this would be the last big travel day until our flight home in two weeks. 

 

Kuta Beach

 

Packs of dogs playing in the water

 

The waves covering long stretches of sand make the beach look like smooth glass

 

Black sand mixed in with brown

 

 

Learning to surf

Kuta is famous for its great surfing, especially because the waves break over a perfectly sandy beach (instead of rocks and coral like in many other surf spots).  This makes it a perfect place to learn to surf… Scott gave it a try with a couple lessons.  I preferred to get some sun on the beach and take some pictures.

Learning the basics on dry land before hitting the waves

 

A few pictures of Scott “hangin’ 3”   :)

   

 

Catching the wave late, this is Scott right before getting slammed by the wave and going into “the washing machine”, as they say in surf lingo…

Scott and his surf pal, Tyler, heading back out for another run

 

 

SCUBA diving

With my new certification in hand, we planned a two day dive trip to the Tulamben area of Bali… a popular dive site a few hours away.

 

  

A Great Barracuda… probably about 4 feet long!

 

 

  

The ‘Liberty Wreck’ is located just off shore (about 8 meters down) making it a terrific dive site

 

Swimming through the engine room…

Scott and I with two other guys we met from Ireland (Darren and Senin) and our dive master.

A school of Big Eyed Jacks…

Tiny shrimps…

 

 

Last stop before home

After about 8 nights in the Kuta neighborhood of Bali (staying in a cheap, run-down hotel that was a bit of a walk to the beach), we decided to class if up for a few nights before finally flying out.  We used some of Scott’s hotel points to stay at the Conrad Hilton Resort… it was quite a treat and we did not want to leave!!!

 

  

 

   

   

**more pictures from Bali to follow**

Railay Beach, Thailand

Another short boat ride would take us to Railay… a beach area of Thailand that has no roads or boat piers, and is accessible only by long boats that pull up on to the sand beaches.  Railay is actually a small, thin peninsula on the Andaman Sea with beaches on the south, east, and west sides of the peninsula.  You can walk from one end to the other in about 15 minutes.  Some days, we would catch sunrise at Railay East, relax on the southern beaches and then catch sunset at Railay West.

Some local wildlife

 

Long boats lined up along Railay East

 

Our bungalow for our stay in Railay

 

 

Jen gets SCUBA certified

After loving snorkeling so much, Jen wanted to give SCUBA a shot.  Although I was SCUBA certified back in 2004, it had been about 4 years since I last went diving so we signed up for a dive trip together—a “refresher” course for me and a “discovery” dive for Jen. 

Taking a long boat to some local islands

 

 

It was truly sink or swim for Jen… apparently, there would be no classroom or pool learning required before being plunged into the ocean in Thailand.  Her instructor gave her a brief intro of her equipment and then over the back of the boat she went!!

 

 

 

 

She ended up really loving it and decided to continue on with a course to become PADI open water certified.

Jen and her SCUBA instructor, Tek

 

She did it! After 3 long days of classroom and ocean instruction, Jen received her PADI open water diving certification.

 

Rock Climbing

The steep limestone cliffs on Railay are popular for rock climbers… both amateur and professional.  While Jen was working on her SCUBA cert, I took half a day and tried some climbing.

Our climbing instructor teaching how to properly gear up for a climb

 

 

 

After a few hours of climbing, my arms and fingers were exhausted!  Time to go back to the beach and relax!

 

Phranang Beach

Beautiful Phranang Beach is on the south side of the peninsula, book-ended between limestone cliffs and therefore completely secluded from any shops, restaurants, etc.

 

 

 

 

Monkeys having lunch

 

Dozens of tiny crabs scuttling along the beach

 

Possibly the most serene, gorgeous beach we have ever seen!

 

 

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We ran into Nick and Kristin, our friends from LA that we had met in Ko Phi Phi.  It was their last night in Railay so we headed out for another evening of island bar hopping.

More fire dancing…

 

 

 

 

Railay West Beach

Jen did much of her SCUBA training off of Railay West (the dive shop was two minutes away) and we spent virtually every evening here to catch the sunset.  An array of sunsets below…

 

 

 

Locals playing soccer on the beach

 

 

 

 

Long boats on Railay west