Our New Office

We still have two months left in Costa Rica so I’m sure there are many more great experiences to be had, but here are my top seven experiences so far.

1 – The time my mom and I went to the post office and asked for five stamps. We gave the post office worker 1,000 colones, but then he couldn’t give us change…because he didn’t have any, I guess. After checking his pockets he just shrugged his shoulders and asked us to be on our way.  Okay, so those words didn’t really come out of his mouth, but he said it with his eyes.

I guess I can live without the 22 cents. It was certainly worth the laugh.

2 – The water slide and swim up bar at the Tabacon Hot Springs Resort.

3 – The canopy tour and zip lining experience is a must-do when in Costa Rica. Just be prepared for the biggest wedgie of your life.

4 – The day Jason fixed the Internet and we didn’t have to work outside by the pool anymore.

5 – Swimming underneath a waterfall(s). Who knew a waterfall could really take your breath away?

6 – Seeing a tarantula and a scorpion for the first time and the second time. Well, it was the first time seeing these bugs when they weren’t behind glass at a zoo or something.

7 – Jason’s expression when a butterfly landed on his face and the other time when a hummingbird flew circles around him.  I think the bird wanted to eat him because it hovered over Jason’s shoulder for a bit.

Or wait, maybe life in Costa Rica is like a day at the beach.

A couple of weeks ago we visited Tamarindo with our friends Ben and Cathie (where Jason was able to catch this killer wave). Before driving the distance to Costa Rica’s famous surf beach we stopped at the local Do-It-Center for some supplies — beach towels and a cooler. Much to our dismay we learned that coolers were $50 and cheap beach towels were $15. No thank you.

Instead, we bought a couple of buckets for a much better price and decided to just make do. And thank goodness we did, because one of those buckets allowed me to make my first sand sculpture.

I call it my Costa Rican Tribute. That is a volcano and a series of orbs in case you can’t tell:)

Since our time here we’ve also managed to get off the beach and onto the water. First was a party boat/snorkeling tour that we took with all the people staying in our community.

Here’s my dad (Dale) enjoying the water and a good story

We would have spent more time in the water had we not gotten stung by tiny little jelly fish. We couldn’t see them, but boy could we feel them.

Next was a sunset boat cruise. This was a smaller boat just big enough for Jason, me, my parents, and Aunt Betty and Uncle Ralph.

We were fortunate enough to see schools of tuna follow behind our boat and, of course, a beautiful sunset.

As you can imagine, there is quite a bit of water here in CoCo Beach. It’s part of the appeal, obviously.

This is the view of CoCo Beach from the mountaintop near our community.

Not only is there a lot of water, but every beach and waterfall we’ve seen has its own bit of character. Some waterfalls are tall and skinny while others are short and fat.

This is Llano de Cortes waterfall.

Not all beaches are easy to get to. In fact, a lot of things in Costa Rica aren’t easy to get to with the roads being the way the are. But the upside to the rugged and rocky roads is that even a little bit of time in the car feels like an adventure. Once you arrive you feel like you’ve achieved something.

Some beaches have pink sand, some are covered with seashells, and yet others have black sand. This picture is of me at Playa Panama.

Wondering about the boats? Stay tuned for our adventures on the party boat.

I’ll be honest, I wasn’t really sure why Jason wanted to go to Singapore. But then we got there, and I had a great time. What a surprise.

Singapore does a lot of things right.

For example, every day between noon and 2pm the art museum is free. Lucky for us we showed up at 12:05 and were able to enter…for free. We weren’t really planning on seeing more than the gift shop, so it was a great treat.

Next on the list of things Singapore does right is the Singapore Sling. Holy Yum. That’s good stuff. It’s a whole mess of ingredients that I won’t ever try to replicate, but it is fruity goodness for sure. Apparently these things are famous. Something to do with … don’t really remember, but Jason will probably tell you and it tasted good anyway.

Third: We were concerned that Singapore was going to be too expensive for our tastes. It was a little pricey in some places, but if you are brave enough to eat at a Hawker Station, then it can be incredibly cheap. We’re talking just a couple of US dollars and you’ll have eaten plenty and it will be good.

A Hawker Station is essentially a food court, but instead of chain restaurants they are hosted by a variety of different ethnic foods ranging from Western to Indian to Korean. All very yummy.

Last, it’s true that Singapore really is clean and tidy. It was a bit of a bummer to not chew gum, but otherwise it was quite nice and there was really no difference between Singapore and Denver. Well, except for the fact that Singapore has a subway system, you can walk from one part of town to another, and it’s only 1 degree away from the equator.

On second thought, it’s actually nothing like Denver except that both cities are pretty clean and normal smelling.

Thanks Singapore. We like you.

While in Chiang Mai we went to the circus on a jungle safari. I was so excited to ride the elephants and really experience the jungle, but once we got to our destination I was disappointed to realize that it was all a bit too touristy/contrived for my taste.

The first part of our “jungle trek” was an elephant show. I love the elephants. They are amazing. While watching them paint, dance, and do crazy things was entertaining, I couldn’t help but wonder if maybe it wasn’t ethical to force these beautiful animals to act like idiots all just to make us laugh.

But we were there so we played along and enjoyed it anyway.

Next on the agenda was an oxcart ride to a “real” mountain village.

Apparently this is how many villagers got around back in the day. It was a bumpy ride, but not as bumpy as what would come later.

When we got to the village I was not surprised to see 12 or 15 little stands selling the same touristy items we’d seen all over Thailand so far–even though the village was touted as being an authentic village where Tibetan families lived and sold their handcrafted wares.  I was tempted to buy a hat but then I noticed the label said “Route 66″ and I decided if I was going to buy an authentic Route 66 hat I might as well do it at K-Mart back home. Instead, we bought some water and waited for our ride back.

The ride on the elephant was much bumpier than I expected. We really had to hang on  tight. As much as I had looked forward to the elephant ride, I was glad to get off. My tush hurt a little.

The last part of the “trek” was a ride on a bamboo raft. This was my favorite part of the day. It was very peaceful. The scenery was beautiful. And we had good company. Ironically enough there was a couple on our tour from Ft. Collins, Colorado. What are the chances?

Here we all are. Say hi to John and Michelle. (John’s hiding behind my lovely hat).

Of all the exotic and wonderful things we saw that day, only one was not orchestrated…

This giant spider (the size of my hand, at least) hung out over our heads during our lunch. He went completely unnoticed until we were finished and ready to leave. He put the fright in us.

Now, that’s what hanging out in a Thai jungle is all about.

On our last day in Phuket we took a ferry to Koh Phi Phi. Every one we talked to said this was a must see when in Phuket, but what we didn’t know is that its a place definitely worth staying for a few days.

Koh Phi Phi is very remote and it took about two hours to reach the island. Lucky for us we were able to sleep the whole way there. A combination of the heat, the ocean waves, and our spoiled selves not used to waking up at 6am allowed us to nap peacefully.

Once we got close to Koh Phi Phi the scenery looked very similar to what we’d seen on our caves tour, but with the sun out this time it was much greener.

Koh Phi Phi was one of the many places destroyed by the 2004 tsunami. From what we understood the whole island was devastated. They kept some of the wreckage in place as a reminder, but even without the wreckage it was hard not to think about what it must’ve been like.

We only had a few hours before the return ferry left so we played at the beach and ate and drank.

We’re glad we went to Koh Phi Phi. We only wish we had spent a few days here instead of a few hours. It would’ve been nice to stay in our own little bungalow, snorkel, and jungle trek…maybe next time.

Being in a large city—any large city—there are a certain number of smells that are part of the experience. Whether its trash, the result of someone using an alley as a bathroom, exhaust, or just generally stinky people…bad smells are common, I understand.

But the day we accidentally walked through a fish market in Bangkok will forever be ingrained in my memory thanks to my nose. This kind of stink was not your typical city stink. This was fish stink in 90 degree heat.

You see on this particular day we toured a few temples in Bangkok.  Through the tour we endured much sunshine and heat. I don’t think our bodies were used to it because we were both pretty lethargic after only a couple of hours. We saw the Emerald Buddha and the Reclining Buddha, which were amazing, but after that we decided to skip the rest and head back to the hotel. We were just too tired.

This is the head of the Reclining Buddha. It’s huge!

Before we hopped in a cab Jason wanted to get a picture of the temple (Wat Arun) that we were going to skip. It was across the river (which was just on the other side of the street aways) so there was no easy view of it except from the shores of the river. We decided to take a short cut through what looked like a market so we could get a good picture.

Only a few feet deep into the market it was clear that this wasn’t a touristy market…this was a food market for locals. I saw a few fish heads, piles of fish skin, and several other piles of things that I didn’t recognize. A little queasy, I decided that I wasn’t going to look at any of the food anymore. Instead, I just stared at the back of Jason’s head and waited for it to be over.

But my nose wouldn’t let me forget my surroundings. Between the heat, the fish, the river, and the run down warehouse the market was housed in, the stench was overpowering. I tried breathing through my mouth but that didn’t really help either.

I wanted to turn around and leave but then I remembered Traveling Tip # 38, which is to always act like you know where you’re going. If you walk with authority then people are less likely to hassle you or come up to you to sell you things.

Finally, we had reached the end of the long aisle of fish guts and who knows what else when what does Jason do? He walks out behind the warehouse to the dock, which was no more than a few rotting boards shottily nailed together. There was laundry out drying and about five or six Thai people just staring at us waiting to see what we’d do.

I felt like we were intruding and was pretty uncomfortable.  I also wanted to plug my nose more than I ever had in my life. After about five or six shots of this….

…we got to go.  On the way out we walked down a different route, which was darker and a little more sketchy but certainly less stinky.

Once we finally got into a cab and were on our way back to our hotel Jason confessed that while we were in the market he saw a bucket full of boogers that made him want to puke.

I’m really glad I missed the bucket of boogers.

Tuesday, October 21st, 2008. The finest moment of my day was the instant that I first saw the Terra-Cotta Warriors. I walked into the large building that covers the dig site, worked my way through the crowd to the railing, and saw thousands of ancient warriors standing at attention. “Awe-struck” might be the best description for this moment.

While I won’t bore you with all the details, here’s what you need to know about the mighty Terra-Cotta Warriors:

No two faces are the same in the Terra-Cotta army.

• While every warrior’s body is basically the same, every face on every head is different.
• The body of each warrior is hollow, but the warriors were not made using a form. They were made hollow by coiling rope-like strands of clay into the basic shape of a torso, and then shaped from there. Each and every warrior was made using this pain-staking, time-consuming process.
• The warriors were buried upon their completion in 210 BC, and since that time they were mostly undisturbed. They were forgotten completely by history and only re-discovered in 1974, by a simple farmer digging a well during a painful regional drought.
• The warriors were created to protect the emperor’s tomb (about one mile away from the warriors).
• Every stone warrior was buried with a complete set of weaponry, the idea being they would be ready to fight in the after-life.
• At this point, no warriors have come back to life and haunted tourists that visited the site (I asked our tour guide to be sure).

The Terra-Cotta warriors are a site to behold for sure, but the musuem is a little boring. Once you’ve had some time to take it all in, the rest of museum is worth a passing look.

Since we officially paid for a “tour,” we also had a chance to visit a real-life Terra-Cotta Pottery factory(!) and a real-life silk factory (!), each with a variety of incredibly over-priced goods. While I was tempted to purchase a one-half scale Terra-Cotta warrior for my Mom (she could put it in the garden), my concerns about it coming to life and consuming all the staples in lower-half of the pantry at my parents house prevented me from forking over my credit card.

Our niece Katie sent us this e-mail today:

Sara I love you for sending me 2 postcards.

What did you and Jason do today?  Maybe you rode an elephant or tuktuk .

Jason I love you videoing Sara I like it when Sara said you didn’t read the stupid sign did you but I like your videos they are the best.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JASON ARE YOU OLD?

Jason I think you are 34 years old.

LOVE
KATLYNN,SYDNEY,TIM,JEN

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Katlynn is the author of this lovely note. She is pictured here with a goofy face.

She is talking about this video:

She is also talking about the fact that Jason’s birthday is on Friday. He is hitting the big 3-0.

Happy Birthday Jason. I agree with Katie, I think you are old:)

Our short trip to Xi’an after Beijing was quite fun, despite the fact that there are only a few things to do there. It was a lot quieter than Beijing and a little bit more manageable in terms of walking to places and navigating crowds.

There are several memories I will keep from our stay here. The first has to be our dumpling extravaganza the first night we were there. I didn’t really comprehend what a Chinese dumpling was before my stay in China, I’ll admit. But now I’m very well-versed in all the different sizes, shapes, colors, folding methods, and of course the fillings. The pork and cabbage combo is my favorite:)

We went to the infamous restaurant, Dumpling Banquet, and had an 18-course dumpling meal, which isn’t as much food as it sounds. Of the 18 varieties we really liked five, thought four were okay, and ate the other nine just to be polite. That last statement isn’t true actually…I didn’t touch a couple of them at all.

Either way, it was a good meal.

My second memory is the tour guide experience and the cab ride in Xi’an that I wrote about once before.

My third memory is the hour or so that Jason and I walked around the city wall and took goofy pictures of ourselves. See below.

Jason is acting like a guard. If anyone can tell us what he’s doing wrong you’ll get a prize.

Last, of course, is our journey to the Terra Cotta Warrior museum. I’ll let Jason fill you in on the details of that because he knows more about the history, etc.  But me, I know more about the cool statues at the “museum.”