Yogyakarta

My mom came in for 6 days and we headed for the cultural capital of Java.  It's called Yogyakarta, or Jogjakarta, or Jogja, or Djodja, or Yogja, or a hundred other versions.  There didn't seem to be a consensus.  Even the different airlines spelled it differently.  We rode all manner of transport, including the "becak" above.

we also rode in this "andong"

Julia took a liking, as usual, to the friendly animals.

another friend made

this one seemed to understand her

We went to a real-life sultan's palace

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Borobudur

After looking around town, we went to the real historical places.  Borobudur is an 8th century Buddhist temple that was really impressive.  It has over 500 Buddha statues all over it, some of them enclosed in stupas.

It's like a huge mountain, it's too big to get a picture of it all

a view from the top

us in our skirts

the local tourists wanted us in their pictures, as if we
were famous

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Prambanan

The next day, we decided to go to the other major temple.  This one is Hindu and was built around the same time.  The walls are full of fantastical friezes telling the stories of the different gods.

        

we hung around until sunset

and watched the Ramayana show, a ballet involving
the stories depicted on the temple friezes

This was the background to the open-air theater, the temples at night.

Sketches of Vietnam

These are some sketches I did while in Vietnam.

A typical power pole overstuffed with wires

A view out of the local Trung Nguyen coffee shop

A Yamaha motorcycle

Santa Cafe, a favorite brunch spot on Bui Vien

A couple of guys hanging out at a coffee shop

Another local coffee shop on the street, that's our motorbike on the left

Bali Trip #1

We took a short trip to Bali to meet our friends Graham and Jenna.  They had just finished up 2 years at the school in Vietnam we all worked for and were taking a long vacation.  We went for 5 days, our first real break.

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1 Night in Kuta

Out on the town with Graham and Jenna

Can't decide what to eat, the menu's not big enough.

The models were having so much fun...

We decided to give it a try.

Not as good as the professionals.

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Nusa Lembongan

Then we took a boat over to a little island just east of Bali, not really knowing what to expect.  It turned out to be amazing.  It was not too touristy and had the best snorkeling around.  We took 2 snorkeling trips to 5 different sites.  We were able to swim with giant manta rays.  They were friendly and allowed us to touch them.  Some of them were 6 feet across.  The other sites were just as amazing, with colorful fish and coral.  It was the best snorkeling we've ever done.

It was a small island with huge volcanoes in the distance.

You could see them above the clouds.

pineapple drinks at the beachside restaurant at our hotel

one of our ventures out to sea

We're looking forward to our trips coming up soon.  Philip's mom will visit for 5 days in mid-July and we'll be headed to Yogyakarta to soak up some Javanese history.  Our second Bali trip is already booked for the holiday at the end of Ramadan, Eid-Al-Fitr, or Lebaran as they call it here.  That is in mid-August.  We can't wait.

The Last Hoorah

Our adventure teaching in Vietnam came to an end last week (April 19th).  Through no fault of our own, the job didn't work out due to a corrupt administration at the school.  Most of the other teachers we started with have already moved on, and now we are doing the same.  
We moved to Indonesia last week to start a new teaching job outside of Jakarta.  Before we left, we were able to see the rest of Vietnam on a two week trip.  Here are some of the highlights:

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SAPA

First, we went straight up to the northern mountains for a breath of cool, fresh air.

To get there, we took a plane to Hanoi, a sleeper train to
Lao Cai, and a minibus to Sapa.

The town was full of hilltribe people.
These are the Black Hmongs
(named so because of their clothes)

Tet Vacation

We took two weeks to travel with Julia's parents in February.

Just getting into the city and wandering around

One of the oldest pagodas in the city

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1st stop on our travels was Mui Ne, a small beach town just north of HCMC.

Fairy Springs, a weird place where 3 different colored
sandstones make an otherworldly sight. 

Yes, that's Philip riding an ostrich

And Kathy riding an ostrich

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Back into Ho Chi Minh City for a couple of days.

Kathy and Brian at the water puppet theater

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And then onto the Mekong Delta.

A beautiful sunrise over the rice paddies.

A floating market in the river.
These boats are loaded with fruits straight from the farms.

We bought coffee from this lady making it on her boat.

Brian making friends with the locals

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Last stop - Phu Quoc Island - just off the coast of Cambodia

We spent every morning and evening (and most of the days)
on the beach at the hotel.

at one of our favorite restaurants back in town

live chickens at the local market

What a whirlwind and a wonderful trip.