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Caitlin10 - Caitlin Buckley & Sam Barber

Where We've Been

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Caitlin wins

Both have visited

We leave August 15th for Southeast Asia. The following is our very loose itinerary which I'm sure will change as we go:

August 17 - Arrive Jakarta, Indonesia
Travel down Java to Yogyakarta - Borobudur
Meet Sam Fuchs in Bali
Maybe a short trip to either Komodo or Rinca - Komodo Dragons
Papua - Baliem Valley trek
Maluku - Banda Islands/Kei Islands
Borneo - Not sure yet if we are going to the Indonesian or Malaysian side.
On or around October 17th our visa expires and we will say goodbye to other Sam and head to Cambodia
Cambodia - Ankor Wat
Thailand - Chang Mai
Vietnam - Hanoi/Halong Bay
November 13th Fly to Singapore
November 14th Fly home

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Joined on: June 10th 2009
Last Login: November 14th 2009

Blog Entries: 16
Photos: 320

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Status: BLOGGER

Blogs & Travel Journals

by Caitlin10, order by Date newest first.

By Caitlin10
November 5th 2009

Spicy Thailand Asia » Thailand » North-West Thailand » Chiang Mai

Tigers!

Caitlin's Take: After about 2 weeks in Thailand we are pretty immune to the common sightings of old white men with one to three tiny Thai women. We try to give them the benefit of the doubt - maybe they are married expats...But most of the time it is clear they are just here with ladies for hire. It is pretty disturbing how common and accepted prostitution is here. But aside from that, we have really loved the land of a thousand smiles. Thai people are amazingly friendly and helpful and Thai food (despite the spiciness) is delicious. We decided to [View Full Entry]

By Caitlin10
November 3rd 2009

Thailand (Hookers and Other Things) Asia » Thailand » North-West Thailand » Chiang Mai

Decorations and Full Moon

Sam's Take: Thailand is a little different than what we've come to know in the last two months of our travels. There's a beautifully paved four lane highway called the "Super Highway" which links up Bangkok with the rest of the country. Cars actually out number motos and bikes here. It seems like the Thai people are much better off than most of their neighbors and most likely it has to do with booming tourism. You'd be hardpressed to find anything that is off the tourist beat or anything that, according the countless expats, wasn't "like sooooo much better like twenty [View Full Entry]

By Caitlin10
October 24th 2009

Templed Out Asia » Cambodia » North » Siem Reap

Angkor Wat at Sunrise

We arrived in Siem Reap, Cambodia after a long travel day and hopped on the back of 2 scooter taxis to find a hotel. A few misses and one very annoying taxi driver later we decided to be fancy and stay in a nice hotel with a/c, a balcony, a pool, wifi and a real hot shower all for a whopping $20 a night. The less annoying of the two drivers, Vong, had a two person tuk-tuk cart that he attached to the back of his moto to drive us around the temples. The first day we hit up all of [View Full Entry]

By Caitlin10
October 23rd 2009

Biggest Cave in the World! Asia » Malaysia » Sarawak » Gunung Mulu National Park

Cave Explorers

After reaching double digit dive status in Sipadan with 14 dives under our belts, Sam and I headed to Mulu National Park in the Malaysian side of Borneo. It was another long travel day with by far the worst overnight bus I have ever been on and 9 hours in a freezing over-airconditioned airport. But in the end we both agreed it was all worth it. Mulu National Park has (arguably) the largest caves in the world. If you have ever seen the Caves episode of Planet Earth then you have seen where we were (and if you haven't seen it, [View Full Entry]

By Caitlin10
October 19th 2009

Double Digit Divers Asia » Malaysia » Sabah » Sipadan

Scuba Divers
We are pumped and ready to see sharks and turtles!

Caitlin and I easily would have stayed longer in Kalimantan if we could have, but our 60 day visa had run out on us. So we opted for the next best thing and hopped on over to the Malaysian side of Borneo. "Hopped" is probably a poor word choice. Inter-Borneo travel, particularly on the Indonesian side, is difficult. The quickest route in the end was to take three separate flights, from Kalimantan to Jakarta, then on to Singapore and finally back to Tawau in Malaysian Borneo. Sort of a circuitous route, but the only reasonable option. Two months ago way back [View Full Entry]

By Caitlin10
October 14th 2009

Adventures in the Jungles of Borneo Asia » Indonesia » Kalimantan

Orangutan

Borneo has proven to be just as exotic as it sounds. We have spent the last week seeing floating markets, diamond and gold mines, and a jungle full of orangutans, proboscis monkeys and gibbons. It has been a wild ride. We started in Banjarmasin, a city that relies heavily on the river system for all aspects of life. I was laying low trying to recover from some stomach problems when the Sams found a guide, Tyla waiting for them at our hotel. "I have been waiting long time for you here" ..."Oh...um. Sorry?" Apparently Tyla had heard tourists had arrived and [View Full Entry]

By Caitlin10
October 5th 2009

We"re on a boat! (with dragons and crystal meth) Asia » Indonesia » Komodo

Komodos Enjoying Themselves

By Sam: In order to go see the dragons out on the Komodo islands, our only realistic option was a four day boat cruise. I think we were all a bit wary about being on a relatively small boat out on the open ocean for four days, but in the end we figured the ends justified the means. I mean, dragons, we were going to see dragons. Enormous lizards that hunt and eat water buffalo. Nine feet long, over 200 pounds. Our first day on the boat did little to reassure us that it our decision to go was the right [View Full Entry]

By Caitlin10
September 25th 2009

What Happens in Dani Country Stays in Dani Country Asia » Indonesia » West Papua

Enjoying the Beetlenut

Sam's take on Papua If you want to get married Dani country you have to have the pigs to do it. Usually a wife costs around 4-6 pigs depending on the size of the pigs and the quality of the woman. Now, 4-6 pigs isn't cheap, but the good news is if your lucky enough to have acquired many pigs, you can buy many wives! If you're a woman, uh...well, you can't really buy a husband. It just doesn't work that way. This might sound like a loveless sort of affair, and we pondered about the relationships between husband and wife [View Full Entry]

By Caitlin10
September 23rd 2009

Pizza, Black Magic, and Naked Men in Papua Asia » Indonesia » West Papua

The Sams with a Dani man on the trail

As the Sams and I were on our way to Papua we started one of those conversations that tends to happen at least once on long trips - discussing all the food we are missing. Cheese…burritos…all Mexican food…cheese…pizza…mmm cheese. There is definitely much more bread than I was expecting. but on a whole Indonesians are grossed out by cheese and dairy products so they have been a little hard to find. On our first day in Jayapura, the capital of Papua, we were walking around and we saw a sign for Pizza Hut. We all looked at eachother…Pizza Hut?? Really??? [View Full Entry]

By Caitlin10
September 13th 2009

Banda Birthday! Asia » Indonesia » Maluku » Banda Islands

View from our room

We just finally were able to get decent internet...so 2 entries today :) The Banda Islands (spice islands) were everything we hoped for and more! After an epic boat ride here we were latched onto by several different hotel/homestay hawkers “mister mister you stay here? You want hotel? Good price.” Overwhelmed we went with the one that looked the nicest. Best decision ever. Our room is on the second floor with a patio looking out across the channel to a perfect little volcano - Gunung Api. It is a wonderful place to eat our breakfast and dinner every day and the [View Full Entry]

Sams enjoying boatride to one of the outer islands to scuba

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