We are in Cambodia.

I know, it's crazy.

The last few months have gone by so fast.  I was planning on posting all about our summer and Anna's birthday, and some birth photos from a year ago, but I ran out of time.  Maybe later.  Anyway, so we are in Cambodia now.  We will be here for three months at least.  If everything goes ok (if I don't go crazy here) we will probably stay for another six months.

We are in the capitol, Phnom Penh.  We live in a really fancy apartment with TWO bedrooms!!!  Yay.  If you don't live in New York City you may not realize what a big deal this is.  And we have a lady who cleans our apartment three days a week.  She also does the laundry.  Score!

Anyway, we are still getting settled in and trying to overcome jet lag.  It has been rough.  Night is day and day is night.  I hope we can get through it.

I still haven't decided whether or not I like it here.  My thinking is a little out of wack from sleep deprivation.  Maybe after we're all sleeping better and I get a chance to learn my way around I'll decide.  But we have had some good food and been to a few cool places.  And today we went to church and had a great time learning the gospel and making new friends.  We are attending the international branch, which is English speaking.

So here are the first batch of pictures:

First day, first meal, accompanied by a tall glass of fresh watermelon juice.  I've been looking forward to this.

Our first ride in a tuk-tuk, our primary mode of transportation.

Tuk-tuks and their drivers waiting for passengers.  Tuk-tuks are like horse-drawn carriages, but they are pulled by a motorbike instead of a horse.

Our street.  Our apartment building is the tall white one on the right.

A fun place we found for Anna to hang out.  It is a play school for babies and toddlers.  We have to pay but it's worth the money because she loves it. 

 She's signed up for a class there three days a week.  This has been a good place for us to make friends with other English speaking foreigners who have kids her age. 

Yesterday we took Anna to her first swimming lesson. John's friend from work takes his kids to a swimming class where they are taught by members of Cambodia's olympic swim team! Anna had so much fun we signed her up for a 14-week term.

Ok, I hope to have more pictures and updates soon. 

Anna at 6 Months

Here are some of the photos that my cousin's wife, Samantha Comte, shot of Anna back in February.  It was hard to chose just one, so here are four.  She's also wearing a special dress that Samantha and (our other cousin) Jody bought for her.  So cute!

Java

After our trip to Bali we flew to Java, the next island over.  John's cousin Marc is a foreign service officer and was working at the consulate in the city of Surabaya.  We got to stay with his family for a few days and it was, seriously, so much fun.  By now they are already moving on to their next post in Russia.

The first night we were there their cook maid "flying fish" for us.  Yum!  Just kidding.  I didn't actually try any. 

The day after we arrived, Amy (Marc's wife) took us to Taman Safari.  It was probably the highlight of our entire trip to SE Asia.  It is a zoo that has a drive-through section and a petting zoo section.  We drove past all sorts of animals who came over to the car and took bananas from our hands.  When we drove through the sections that had predators in them, there would be a sign indicating that we should roll our windows up.  But we could have rolled them down if we wanted to, no one was checking on us.  So crazy. 

 Anna was asleep when we got there and she woke up with this llama's head a couple of inches from her face!  This picture is a few seconds after that.  I am so mad that I didn't have my camera ready when it happened.  She wasn't scarred, but she did have a really surprised and confused look on her face!

There were hundreds of deer that we drove past and after a while I was like, "why do they have so many deer at this place?" and then I realized that they were probably just food for the lions and tigers and bears.

I didn't get a good picture of them, but we drove past a lion and some lionesses.  One of them started chasing the car, and then its started attacking the bumper as we were driving away!  There were huge bite marks on the bumper!  That was one of the only times I've seen John get scared.  He had Anna on his lap and I think it scared him to think about what might have happened to her if we had had the window rolled down when that Lion came after us.

Hippo crossing.

This was awesome.  We got to go in and hold a baby Orangutan.  She was about the same age as Anna.  At first Anna was curious and wondering what it was.  We tried to switch and have John hold the Orangutan while I held Anna, but the Orangutan wouldn't go to John and only wanted me to hold her.  I couldn't hold both of them and suddenly Anna got frustrated and made a head dive toward the Orangutan, trying to attack it or something.  It was really cute.

Then she got to pet a baby tiger!  This was scary.  I mean, who has ever been to a place that lets children pet tigers.

And then she got to pet baby Simba!  We concluded that these guys must have been sedated because they were awake, but they just sat there and were so tame when we were hanging out with them.

We also saw a group of grown-up Orangutans.  We got to toss them some bananas and it was so weird to see how human-like they were.  Especially when they got up and walked on two legs.

We got to ride an elephant!  It was a little scary for me, because it was such a wobbly ride and Anna was also wiggling around.  But it was awesome.

We ate lunch at a restaurant that looked into a holding area for these white tigers.  One of the tigers came to see us and Anna was really excited about that.

This picture is an example of what happened to us everywhere we went with Anna.  Everywhere in Indonesia people wanted to take pictures of Anna.  They were just so fascinated with her.  

I am missing other pictures from our trip, including a visit to a cigarette factory where hundreds of female employees hand-roll cigarettes at lightning speed all day long.  The rest of the time we just relaxed and hung out with John's cousins.  They are one of the neatest families we have ever met. They have four kids who are all extremely smart, kind, and funny.  I hope we get to visit them again someday.

Bali

Bali!  Do you know where it is?  It's an island in Indonesia.  It has white sand beaches, terraced rice fields, and rain forest.  It is right next to the equator but not too hot.


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I thought about making this a short post with mostly just pictures so it wouldn't be too boring for you but I know that this is the only place I am going to write about our trip so I'm making it detailed for my own sake.  Sorry!

We were in Bali the third week of May.  We arrived just after the rainy season had ended.  Perfect timing.  Since this was a place we had never been before, we decided to hire a tour guide/driver to take us around.  It wasn't too expensive but if we go back we'll just rent a car and do it ourselves.

Day 1:  We arrived at the airport and our driver was there waiting for us.  He drove us to our hotel in Ubud.  Ubud is a village inland where a lot of historical/cultural things happen.  We ate dinner at a Thai restaurant that night.  The young waitresses came and took Anna and played with her during our entire meal.  Even the boys had fun making her laugh and showing her the fish.  This happened at almost every restaurant we went to in Bali, and even the grocery store.  People just loved Anna there.

Day 2:  When we woke up the next morning we walked to a monkey park. There have been only a few times when I've seen John be concerned for Anna's safety and this was one of them.  As soon as we walked in to the park he took Anna out of her stroller and carried her around.  Then I noticed that the monkeys were trying to snatch things from the stroller.  Good thing for John.  Anyway, they were pretty funny and the babies were cute.  And this monkey park wasn't an enclosed or fenced in place.  I think the monkeys were living on their own but came to the park for the food from the caretakers.  It was cool to walk amongst them, and even pick them up if we wanted to and not have to just look at them from the other side of a fence.

Anyway, in the early afternoon our driver came and picked us up.  He took us to see a traditional Balinese house.  At first I thought that we were visiting an old traditional dwelling that had been preserved for tourism but then I noticed that Balinese people still live in structures like that.  All of them, actually.  I never saw any "normal" houses in Bali.  That was really cool.

It's hard to explain what they look like so I found this illustration on the internet to kind of show it.  Balinese houses don't have hallways I guess.  They consist of several huts or pavilions that are surrounded by a stone wall.  Some of them are bedrooms, plus a kitchen and a bathroom. And each home also includes a family temple (you can see it in the top left corner).  

In the afternoon we went on a hike through some rice fields to a really cool restaurant that wasn't accessable by car. This is when I found out that tempe (a yummy meat substitute) is a normal food that Indonesians eat, not just the vegetarians.  And that tempe was even invented there!  Indonesia is a GREAT place to go if you are a vegetarian.

Talking to some people along the way.

On the hike home (it was pretty tretcherous at some points--crossing over rivers and walking next to cliffs--we couldn't even use the stroller) Anna fell asleep in John's arms while we were hiking.  She was squawking and looking around, and then all of the sudden she was dead asleep.  So funny.

In the late afternoon, we went to another village where hundreds herons famously perch in the trees over the village before going off to nest for the night.  As we were walking down the street a motorbike with three girls on it rode by and one of them shouted "Anna!  Hi Anna!" So, I guess by that point Anna was already famous in Ubud.

Spotting herons

That night we were eating gelato (passionfruit gelato--yum) and John asked a stranger for a suggestion for a vegetarian restaurant for dinner. He suggested a place called Bali Budha.  It was sooo good.  First of all, there was a play area for kids which Anna loved and secondly, the food was excellent and cheap.  And thirdly, not only was the food excellent, I ordered a veggie burger and it was the number one best veggie burger I have ever had in all my life.  I will go back there someday to have that veggie burger again.

That night after Anna went to sleep I went to see a performance of Bali's famous gamelan music!  I never thought I'd actually get to see the real thing in it's home country.  Gamelan is a big deal in Ethnomusicology (the study of social and cultural music) and I never understood why.  For example, you can know that a University has a good Ethnomusicology program by how good their gamelan ensemble is.  Gamelan groups from the US (and maybe other countrys?) even travel to Bali for competitions. Anyway, I was so mezmerized during the performance.  There is no way I can describe this style of music.  It's a big part of Balinese culture not only historically, but even today.  That's what was so surprising to me.  It was similar to what I witnessed in Ireland.  People participate in this music and dance not for tourism (although there are groups who perform for tourists) but because it is still part of their culture.

Here's a Youtube video of gamelan music, because it's too hard for me to explain what it sounds like.

Day 3:  John's 30th birthday.  In the morning our driver took us to a big Hindu temple.  We watched hundreds of people there participating in ceremonies and rituals.  They were just carrying on as if there were no tourists there watching them at all.  I thought it was a little weird that they let us in (for free) but I'm glad I got to see it.

They washed in this holy water from a natural spring before going into the temple.

Worshipping in the temple.

That day we also visited a coffee and spice farm.  The most interesting thing we saw there was a type of coffee that was made from cat poop.  I guess it's a really fancy kind of coffee that is made from coffee beans extracted from the feces of a wild cat, (the beans are fermented in the cat's stomach.) We also got to taste different herbal teas and hot chocolates and Anna got to play with a Balinese girl her own age.

In the afternoon we went on a drive to see a volcano.  When we got there we stopped to eat lunch at a restaurant that is impossible to describe.  It was on the edge of a cliff looking down on to a huge valley at the foot of the volcano.  The side of the restaurant was completely open--there was a wall that came up to the height of the tables and the rest was just a completely open view of an incredible scene.

Well I thought that was all but on the way home we met some men from the village who offered to take us on a hike up the side of the volcano where we could have an egg cooked over a steam hole.  Well that turned into a two-hour hike to the TOP of the volcano (it was a very steep climb too).  And when we got there the guide told us another 30 minutes to the boiled eggs.  And I was like um, it's going to be dark in like one hour so... we're leaving now, good bye.

Anna suffering in the backpack all the way up.

We finally made it to the top!

When we got back to Ubud, we checked into a new hotel.  We wanted to try sleeping in a house in the middle of the rice fields.  It was a newly built, fully furnished house and I think we were the first people to stay in it.  It was fun but the only problem was that the roosters woke up at 4 am and wouldn't be quiet!  So we packed up in the morning and went back to the other hotel.

So beautiful, but so noisy.

Day 4:  John wanted to go see the rain forrest.  Our driver took us on the scenic route which was cool, but it took ALL day.  We almost made him turn around and take us back half way there.  But we stuck it out and once we got there we found out that it was actually a temple in the rain forrest we were going to see AND, they didn't allow children inside.  So I waited outside while John and the driver went in.  I was pretty mad that I had to ride in the car all day basically for nothing.  Oh well.  We did see some beautiful terraced rice fields along the way, and we made the driver take the quickest route home and we were there in only 90 minutes.  Anyway that night we had dinner at the Bali Budha again, the best veggie burger ever.  And John got to go see the gamelan while I stayed with the sleeping baby.

Terraced rice fields along the scenic route.

We saw a lot of these demon sculptures as we drove around the countryside.  The main religion in Bali is Hindu, and I guess they worship these demons to keep them at bay. They were enormous and highly detailed. This one was inside a community gathering place but most were just at random places on the side of the road.

Day 5:  We Packed up our things and drove to the beach.  We stopped at this waterfall along the way.

We also stopped at this really cool bird park. Anna loves birds, she had so much fun.  There were all kinds of tropical birds and other strange-looking birds that I had never heard of.

Then we finally arrived at Sanur, the beach town, and went straight to the beach. It was Anna's first time being in the ocean.  She was really happy there.  We had to be quick to keep her from eating sand and seaweed.

Day 6:  I slept in and John took Anna to beach. We had planned to go to church, but we totally forgot.  We hung out at the beach some more, and then we met a family from Denmark staying in our hotel.  They had two little girls, one that was Anna's age (within a week or so) and her name was also Anna!  We had a good time hanging out with them.

Day 7:  We got up early, went to the airport, and flew to our next destination: Surabaya, Java.

What we've been up to lately.

During the month of May we went on an amazing adventure to Southeast Asia.  This time we went to Vietnam, and then to Indonesia (including Bali!).  John's assignment with WHO was over so he had this great idea to travel around the region before coming back home.

Vietnam was... hot.  So stinkin hot.  Hotter than I remember.  But this time we did get to stay with our very good friends (last time we went they were still in Atlanta for school) who are actually Vietnamese.  Oanh, the wife/mother, is one of the best cooks I know.  Seriously, Alton Brown could learn something from her.  She cooks the best tofu.  And I love tofu so very much. 

Hoang, Oanh (parents), Ngan Ha, and Ngan Thai ("Mi" and "G" for short).

And as a side note: I figured out why the food there tastes so good.  Because it is fresh.  The meat, veggies, fruit, even the tofu--as in, you go to the (street) market and watch the guy in his shop making it right in front of you, then you buy it and take it home.  Ahhhh.

The neighborhood market

Fresh tofu (you haven't had tofu until you've tasted it fresh like this.)

Also, fresh dogs

Anyway, we didn't do much in Vietnam other than eat food and visit friends.  And adjust to the time change.

John and Anna posing infront of a garden of our favorite vegetable, morning glory.

Anna loved the dogs in the neighborhood and John would carry her around chasing them. I think most of those doggie friends will end up like the ones in the picture above from the market.

Walking around the neighborhood

Anna not riding in her car seat. They are more relaxed about car seat laws, as in there are none.

Now the trip wasn't all 100% fun the entire time.  There was one part that was not fun, and almost made the whole thing not worth it.  I had to fly there with Anna alone.  And back home with her alone.  Worst idea ever.  If you have a baby, and you feel like going to the other side of the world with her, DON'T DO IT!  If your husband or other helper comes with, then maybe.  I would say that three adults per child is a good ratio.

Bali pictures will be in the next post, when I get around to it.