http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/Jenni/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from Jenni en-us Sat, 26 Dec 2009 22:05:21 +0000 Sat, 26 Dec 2009 22:05:21 +0000 Part 1 The first half of my 40 hour daySunday July 27 2008 A day that began with indecision. Really not that unusual for me these days. I arrived in South Korea around 9am and had to decide what I would do with my twelve hour layover. The original plan was to go into the city for the day and just look around. Then after a night flight with little sleep I thought maybe I would stay in the ai http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/South-Korea/Seoul/blog-305049.html Wednesday July 23 2008 After saying good bye to Indonesia I boarded my afternoon flight for Singapore. The flight was fine and once I landed in Singapore I picked up my luggage and found the train into the city. I had already prebooked my hostel here which is unusual for me but I had been told that the cheaper places filled up in advance and I am nothing if not a cheaper place kind of girl http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Singapore/blog-305047.html Thursday July 17 2008 This is another one of those longest days ever feeling days but admittedly it was more comfortable than the longest busride ever. I woke up at 630 made sure all my things were together and then discovered white spots on my tonsils. Again I had already started this trip on medicine for tonsilitis. Now I was glad to be leaving this tiny paradise island for Bali at le http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Indonesia/Bali/Ubud/blog-305046.html Wednesday July 9 2006 Today begins as quite an adventure. We had to get up at 6am to get ready and have breakfast before the minibus came to pick us up. We decided to go to the Gili Islands for hopefully beautiful beaches snorkeling and diving. There are three Gili islands Gili Air Gili Meno and Gili Trawangan. Trawangan is known as the party island Meno is quiet and Air falls in bet http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Indonesia/Lombok/Gilli-Trawangan/blog-301350.html Monday July 7 2008 I have another cold. Two colds in one trip Is this possible We had a slow morning. After breakfast we found an internet cafe and decided to check email and see if we could cancel our reservation for the remaining days in Kuta so we could get out of there. Miranda took care of it in the nick of time and we checked out at noon. Our hotel booked us seats on the bus to Ubud and http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Indonesia/Bali/Ubud/blog-301361.html Saturday July 5 2008 So yesterday was the fourth of July. I almost forgot. Today we got up early and got a cab to the airport. We arrived quite early and decided to sit at one of the restaurants for breakfast. Of course all the restaurants are on the outside of the airport. And crazy expensive as it turned out. We paid 30000 for the same breakfast we had for 5000 the day before. It was yummy bo http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Indonesia/Bali/Kuta/blog-302211.html Monday June 30 2008 I arrived in Yogy at 315 pm and called Miranda. She came to get me around 345 and it was nice to see her. It's been almost three years. We walked to one of the guesthouses where I could leave my bag and meet her boyfriend and then we sat down and chatted for a while. Then we went to a travel agent to arrange tickets to Bali for the coming weekend. Bought our tickets and t http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Indonesia/Java/Yogyakarta/blog-294037.html Sunday June 29 2008 I arrived back in Medan around 10am in plenty of time to use the internet and get to the airport for my 130pm flight to Jakarta. I had to get a bus into the city but wasn't sure exactly where to get out. Luckily it was Sunday and the Christians were out. One started to talk to me and said she could show me the internet that was by her church. Ok. And yes I said I'm a Chr http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Indonesia/Java/Jakarta/blog-293915.html Thursday June 26 2008 Leticia and i got on the bus to Bukit Lawang with a local who asked us a few questions but not too many. Could this be our guide that the Lonely Planet said would be waiting for us It was indeed. After three and a half hours of being stuck like sardines in this bus and sleeping everytime I'm in a moving vehicle now I get sleepy like a baby we were there and he was aski http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Indonesia/Sumatra/Bukit-Lawang/blog-293892.html Wednesday June 25 2008 After breakfast I met Sebastien at my guesthouse. He was right on time at 830am. One of the woman there told us we could catch the ferry from the dock at the hotel that we didn't need to go to the ferry itself. So he ordered a coffee and brought it to the dock and we waited. She was right. We flagged it down and it came over. The ride is about thirty minutes back to Par http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Indonesia/Sumatra/Medan/blog-293872.html Monday June 23 2008 So after a long bus ride from hell I got off in Parapat and got a lift to the ferry. Lake Toba is a large lake about 450 m deep and is the largest lake in SE Asia. It has an island inside of it called Samosir which is about the same size as Singapore. This was my destination. Specifically a small town called Tuktuk. The ferry left almost as soon as i got on and being t http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Indonesia/Sumatra/Lake-Toba/blog-293842.html Sunday June 22 2008 Well today is a day I'm not likely to forget. Or remember hopefully. I woke up early to have breakfast at Lake Maninjou and be on my way. I knew I had a long way to go. I just didn't know how long. Once I was ready to go Jerry walked me to the road where I would catch a bus back to Bukittinggi and we said goodbye. I tried for two buses which blew past me. Then a guy on a mo http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Indonesia/Sumatra/blog-293062.html Friday June 20 2008 I originally decided to come to Lake Maninjou because yesterday when I left Malaysia I felt a cold coming on and I thought it would be a good place to recooperate. I thought it was a terrible sign that I had a cold coming on as i was still taking antibiotics for the tonsilitis I developed just before my trip started. But the whole bus journey to Bukittinggi I was sick and http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Indonesia/Sumatra/Lake-Maninjau/blog-293783.html Thursday June 19 2008 Andy and I got up early today and had breakfast together before I headed off to the boat. Went back to the room to get my bag said good bye to andy and off I went. It was about a 15 minute walk to the ferry and it was early but still hot. Once I got on board I chose a seat in the front of the boat. It was all inside and freezing for the whole three hours. If only I sti http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Indonesia/Sumatra/Dumai/blog-293059.html Tuesday June 17 2008 My new friend Andy got a ticket on the same bus to Malaka it was mostly empty and we headed off. I spent those two hours hoping all the sweat on both sides of my shirt was drying and he looked at the scenery as we chatted. We had to take a local bus for 10 min into town after we arrived and then we set out to find one of two hostels we liked the sound of. We finally got http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Malaysia/Melaka/Melaka-City/blog-288701.html Monday June 16 2008 4pm Or as you people at home think of it 4am I'm living twelve hours ahead of you. It has been a long time getting here both in the planning and in the notoriously long plane ride. I left West Palm on Saturday at 10am on a flight to Atlanta. In Atlanta I was concerned as there was nowhere to actually go through passport control. They just let you pass straight on or s http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Malaysia/blog-287930.html After 6 weeks in Sarasota my time there was up and I decided to visit my friend Jen as a stopover on the way home. She is a friend from Boston and now lives in Ft. Myers a scant 90 minute drive south from Sarasota. We arranged to meet on Monday afternoon at a halfway point near Port Charlotte where my aunt and grandma dropped me off and she picked me up. I said goodbye to my family not knowin http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/Florida/Fort-Myers/blog-133398.html Today Jen and I spent the day on Sanibel Island famous for its shelling. A great variety of shells from all over the world tend to roll up on the shores here and so many people walk around leaning over to look for them that they have termed this the Sanibel Stoop. I was mostly interested in looking for shells on the beaches whereas Jen was mainly interested in renting bikes and cruising the i http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/Florida/Sanibel-Island/JN-Darling-National-Wildlife-Refuge/blog-133399.html History lesson Sarasota is home to the Ringling estate once owned by John and Mable Ringling. John was one of five brothers who began and ran the Ringling Brothers Circus World's Greatest Show. For a short time they were only 9 train cars worth of circus and 25 cents to enter. They were bettered by the Barnum and Bailey Circus which needed 64 rail cars to get around. When Bailey died unexpected http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/Florida/Sarasota/blog-126750.html I have been wanting to visit Myakka River State Park since I first heard of it a month or so ago. It is the state's largest park and has about 39 miles of trails along with a large lake and airboat rides. Mark agreed to go with me which would make it more fun. He arrived a little later than I expected and that always throws me off I felt like we needed all day to see it. I'm just crazy that way. http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/Florida/Sarasota/Myakka-River-State-Park/blog-128277.html