Last Post

If we're making the drive from Logan to Salt Lake or Salt Lake to Logan, coming home from school or a long day at work, or about to make the journey home after three months of travelling, the feeling is always the same. We are excited to come home. We have seen some amazing things and meet some amazing people and have loved every minute of our journey in Southeast Asia, but feel ready to come home. We now sit two more nights of sleeping in hotel beds dreaming of eating cereal with real milk or baking some kind delicious sugar filled dessert. Needless to say, we are "riced" out and ready for food from home.
The future brings many unknowns. We need to find jobs. See what Spike ends up doing with school and a career. Think more seriously about starting a family and buying a house. But, all these things will work themselves out in due time and life will go on. Similar to what we have experienced on our trip. We want to thank everyone for their love and support while we've been gone. We are super excited to see you all and share these wonderful stories. However, we won't have to share many because of the blog posts.
Here is one last experience we've had today.

We were able to learn from the Manila Temple that a small Branch meets in Coron so we decided to stay in Coron for church and we were super happy with that. The Branch President asked us to share our testimonies in Sacrament and we felt somewhat like celebrities. We sat in front and everyone was so excited to have visitors. One Elder who has been in Coron for seven months said that they never get visitors so everyone was so excited. The Branch has only been formed for about three years and meet in a rented space next to the Branch President's house. After church, one set of Elders asked us if we wanted to join them to visit some people. From 6pm to 9pm we visited several families and shared many lessons with families who live in huts built above the ocean with wooden bridge walkways connecting the doorway of each house to the dry land of Coron. Elder Sims from Boise, Idaho and Elder Sacay (pronounced "sock"-"eye") from the Philippines did a great job tonight sharing to Lord's message. We were so happy to have been able to be with the missionaries tonight.

We have packed for our journey to Manila tomorrow then to Utah on Tuesday. We are off to bed now. Below are a few pictures from our time tonight with the Saints of Coron.

Filipino Pictures

                           

Tao Philippines Expedition

The past 5 days have been super fun and relaxing. We have been on an outrigger boat going between the islands of the Palawan. We started in a town called El Nido and got off the boat yesterday in Coron Town. Below are a few highlights from the trip.

-Our group consisted of people from Canada, Germany, San Diego,  Japan, Italy, Switzerland, China, and Dubai. One Canadian and the San Diego guy work in China. Another Canadian is a model in Dubai. Two Germans were retired while everyone else were around 30 years old. Besides the older German couple, Shelley and I were the only married couple. The model and third Canadian are gay. We had a crew of 6 Filipinos doing all the work. We enjoyed being with each person in our group. Everyone came from such unique backgrounds so it was fun to get to know each one.

-A typical day consisted of waking up in our beach huts and mosquito nets, having breakfast on the beach, breaking camp, getting on the boat and going to different islands and snorkel spots. We always had lunch on the boat then continued to move through the islands. We would stop each night at a Tao Basecamp, have dinner, and crawl into our mosquito net for another nights rest.

-The Tao Philippines is a great organization that works with the native people of these remote islands in the Palawan. Tao has built kindergartens, organic farms, created electricity and fresh water systems for the native people. Tao also breeds pigs and chickens then distributes the animal to the villages for them to raise. When the Tao needs the animal back, they purchase the animal from the village for half price. Tao has also built many huts and buildings for the expedition as well as each village. Tao has 15 basecamps around the islands.

-We purchased a pig and killed it one night for dinner. It was a crazy experience because we put the pig on the boat in the morning and the pig just sat on the back squealing every now and then as we drove between islands. When we arrived at the basecamp, a native village guy killed the pig and cleaned it then cooked it for our dinner.

We have many more highlights and lots of pictures to share, but the picture upload isn't working right now.  Hopefully,  we can get some pictures up later today.

The Philippines

We have made it to the Philippines and boy is it hot! We sweat all day long and the sun is super intense here. We definitely know we are closer to the equator.

We have spent all of our time here in Manila thus far and the time has flown by already. We cannot believe that it is already Thursday. We apologize for not posting anything earlier. The Internet situation has been less than desirable, but we are managing. There is an Internet Cafe next to our hotel so that is what we are using to supply this blog post. Because of us needing to us the Internet Cafe, this post won't have any pictures. Sorry.

During our short time in the Philippines, we are constantly reminded and seeing the similarities between here and Hawaii. The cars drive on the right side of the road and the steering wheel is on the left side of the cars also. The buildings resemble that of the architecture in Hawaii and everything is affected by the sea air. The people are super nice. We feel as if we are being introduced back into American culture and life before coming home.

The food here is not as good as India's food. The food is similar to Vietnam, Cambodia, and Thailand's, however, with less flavor. We are becoming somewhat "riced" out, so it is nice to have western options all over. We had a McDonald's breakfast this morning for about $4.

We ventured out yesterday (Wednesday) to Quezon City and found the Manila Temple there. We took the metro train system to get there and it was slick. The train station was near the Temple and as we were walking, a truck with a Manila Temple sign in the window honked at us and we climbed in. The driver knew exactly where we were heading and it was nice to get out of the heat. The Temple is very nice and simple in nature. There is nothing too elaborate about the Temple grounds or building, but it was really nice to be there and do an endowment session. The MTC was located across the street, so it was fun to see all the missionaries and shake several of their hands. After our time at the Temple, we walked to a nearby mall.

Here in Manila, you can always tell where a mall, metro station, KFC, McDonald's, and Jollibee's (similar to Jack-in-the-Box) because they are all located right next to each other. We spent some time at the mall and basked in the air conditioning, while enjoying a shake from Dairy Queen. Then we took the metro to a park called Rizal Park. Rizal Park was created in memory of a man (who's name I'm not remembering) who was martyred for wanting freedom from Spain. His death sparked the revolution against Spain and ultimately Filipino freedom. The park was huge and nice to walk around as the temperature dropped and the night fell.

Today, we are venturing to the area of Palawan and getting ready for our time down there. We hope all is well with every one back home and we love you. Sorry for a short post and no pictures.  

The Real India

Described below are a few things we've experienced in India and wanted to share what India is really about.

-The streets of India are littered with cows. We asked Brother Boddu if someone owns the cows wandering the roads and he said no one owns them, they are street cows. The cows eat the garbage, sleep in the most convenient spots and roam the streets as if they own the place. In previous countries, the streets were owned by dogs. Here the cows rule the roost!

-The Indian head bobs. When Indian people speak, it is hard to tell if they are in agreence or disgust with you because of the way they bobble their head. Each person does it differently too! Some shake from side to side to answer yes and some go up and down to answer yes. Even during a conversation, a head bobble can be seen numerous times when certain words or even sounds are being said.

-Flyover is the English word used to describe a bridge or overpass. Because if you get going fast enough, you will "flyover".

-The ground is spotted with spit. Spit is everywhere. Smoking is not very common, however, chewing and spitting is. It is gross when every person you walk by (and you walk by hundreds of people) spits. The ground is decorated with a red dye from the chew used.

-The Indian Stare. We have had many people stare at us as we walk around in other countries, but India wins. It is amazing how many people stop the conversation they are having and stare at both of us. During our time at Amber Fort in Jaipur, Shelley and I became the stars of some guy's video as he walked within a couple feet of us with his camera phone pointing right at us. I can only imagine how boring that video will be to look back at.

-The men strongly out number the women in India. Each time we walk down a street, we are amazed as to how many men occupy the street and no women are present. There have been several times when Shelley has and/or probably was the only woman on the street and there were thousands of people on the same street.

-Last night as we were walking to a nearby restaurant for dinner, Spike was hit by a motorcycle. It was somewhat surreal because he wasn't hit hard and the biker tipped his bike over and fell to the ground. The left handlebar hit Spike's shoulder bag that crossed his back, but it wasn't hard enough to send the biker to the ground. Spike's arm was hit harder by a motorcyclists in Vietnam. We think the man tried to swerve to miss us and over corrected and hit Spike on his way down. His leg was stuck under the bike. Spike picked up the bike and everyone went on their way. We were glad it wasn't any worse than it was.

-No one, men, woman, or child, ever puts their mouth on the cups or bottles they drink from. Most places have community cups so everyone is trained to pour into their mouth. However, they don't just pour then swallow then pour again. The Indian people can swallow as they pour. It is actually quite amazing to watch.

-People are getting ready for the Holi Festival that will occur starting tomorrow, Monday, March 17. We are super sad that we will miss the festival by one day, but the kids around town have started early. As we were walking around the streets near Jama Masjid, Shelley was hit by a water balloon by kids who made basecamp on a balcony above us. The balloon mainly broke on her bag, but still got her wet. As we looked up to see where it came from, another was launched at Spike. Spike caught the water balloon, without it breaking, and threw it back at the kids, nearly hitting one. The balloon broke one the wall behind the little boy who threw it as the people below cheered. Everyone at the market below thought it was pretty funny that a foreigner would retaliate like that.

-Church today was amazing! We were greeted by and shook the hands of every single member of the Branch wanting to welcome us. We have something to learn in the Utah church culture. At the beginning of Sacrament, Brother Boddu asked us if we would bear our testimonies for seven minutes each because one of the sisters who was suppose to speak wasn't able to make it. If we knew we would be giving a talk in church, Spike may have brought a tie to wear. The rest of church was wonderful. The speakers and teachers did an excellent job and everyone was so candid with one another. The discussions were uplifting and not like pulling teeth. Everyone was engaged and participating. We met the missionary who baptized Brother Boddu in 1997.  He is from Delhi and is in the Elders Quorum Presidency. We have seen some amazing things while one our trip,  but church today was one of the major highlights of the entire trip. 

Indian Pics

Us with "the Man", Brother Boddu. 

All the guides had people like us pose like this. The guide did a great job at lining up the Taj behind us.

Shelley and Brother Boddu enjoying some hot milk in clay cups. The cups are formed with mud and cooked like a brick so they can be easily disposed of.

Snake Charmer

The Air Palace. Back in the day, the women weren't allowed outside so they would be in the Air Palace and open the tiny windows to let the air through.

Eating dinner at Chowki Dhani.

Us and the family whose apartment we stayed at.

The Taj Mahal

On Wednesday, we met Brother Boddu at 7am to drive to Agra. We crawled into his small car and off we went (all the cars are small here). The traffic was crazy as usual and Spike would continually push his invisible brake pedal to stop the car. We stopped at Mickey D's for lunch and a break. There was no beef products on the menu and brother Boddu told us that he has never had a beef hamburger. The drive took about 5 hours to drive about 200 km. That is about the same as driving from Lehi to Logan, but taking 5 hours to do it. Crazy eh?!
The Taj Mahal was breathtaking! Of course, we were haggled by ever person in the parking lot trying to make a buck. This time we had our secret weapon: Brother Boddu. The Taj Mahal took 22 years to construct and revolves around a love story. The Queen wanted to build something that would remind the King about her, so she had the Taj Mahal created. She died before it was finished and the King's wicked son who took over threw his own father into prison. The King would mourn and cry as he would look at the Taj Mahal from the Agra Red Fort. When to Taj Mahal was completed, about 500 workers had their hands cut off by the Prince because he didn't want the Taj Mahal to be recreated anywhere else in the world. Replicas of the King and Queen's grave have been placed in the Taj Mahal for worship and praise.
After the Taj Mahal,  we visited the Agra Red Fort then ventured to Jaipur. The Taj Mahal cost 750 rupees each to see and the Red Fort cost 250 rupees to see. For Brother Boddu the cost was 20 rupees each to see.
One our way to Jaipur, we stopped for some street food. Brother Boddu found some egg rolls and they were awesome. We loved talking to Brother boddu about Hinduism. His family joined the church when he was about 17, but were Hindu before. We also talked about the church and he was so curious about the church in Utah and things about Utah also. As he would zip in and out of traffic, we would occasionally hear, "I'm the man".
Because we did not have Internet,  we didn't have a hotel booked in Jaipur. When we arrived, Brother Boddu called his college friend who is from Jaipur to ask about hotels. His friend insisted that we stayed with his relatives. We ended up meeting a man at 10pm at a restaurant to follow him to his house. We thought we were going to stay with the family and be sleeping on couches, but this guy took us to a completely furnished apartment with two separate bedrooms and bathrooms. He wouldn't let us pay him either. We were previously told that the people outside of Delhi are a lot nicer, but we didn't expect this. This man owns an apartment building, but keeps one always open for family and as a guesthouse. He has never seen us and we had never seen him. The next morning the family had us over for breakfast.
We spent the day visiting the Pink City, Amber Fort, the Air Palace and other sites around Jaipur. Jaipur was a beautiful place! We hope you enjoy the pictures below. In the evening time, we took the family we stayed with to Chowki Dhani. Chowki Dhani is a place where the culture of Rajasthan (pronounced "Ra-Ja-Stan"; the state Jaipur is located in) is exhibited under one roof. You could ride camels, elephants, dance, watch magic shows, and eat good Indian food. We loved spending this time with the family.
Now we are back in Delhi and far away from the first hotel. The Internet still isn't the best, but we are actually around more Western folk.
There is not enough memory on this blog to upload pictures, so I will upload a bunch in a separate post.

India (this one was previously written, but we couldn't post it because no WiFi)

We have made it safely to New Delhi, India and what a roller coaster we have riden since being here. Before coming here, we were warned by a man we meet in Nepal that india is difficult to navigate through because the people aren't as helpful and friendly as other Asian countries.
From the airport, we took a pre-paid taxi ride to our hotel that cost 400 Indian rupees which is roughly $6.50 USD (the exchange rate is $1 to about 60 Indian Rupees). We had to swim through all the cigarette smelling taxi driver worms who continually catcall us to take their taxi. We got into the taxi of a nice guy who tried to find our hotel. When we neared out hotel, we found that the major road to get to our hotel was blocked off by a police border because of elections occuring. Our taxi driver took us to the Ministry of Tourism where we called our hotel. The hotel reassured that there wasn't a way to get there and said they would give our money back on our card. We will see if that actually shows up. The guy at the ministry told us that our budget for a hotel wasn't good because the hotels aren't safe and clean. We upted our budget to a max of $50 and the taxi driver took us to another hotel. Sure enough the hotel was $50 a night and it wasn't better than any other hotel we've stayed at. When we arrived, the "nice" taxi driver then said that we owed him another 400 rupees for a "second trip from the first hotel to the second and 500 rupees for (his) tip". Our jaws hit the ground. First off, who askes for and quotes their own tip. Second, there was no way the "second trip" cost the same at the "first trip" because it was only around the corner that he took us. We were peaved and ready to be done with India. We were stuck so we paid the man and went angrily to our hotel. We complained to the front desk about what just happened and the front desk guy's jaw dropped also. As we were stewing about what happened in our room and how much we had to pay for a less-than-average hotel room, the guy from the front desk knocked on our door. He handed us the money that we gave the taxi driver. We asked him how he got it and he said that he knew the owner of the taxi company and called him and told him what happened. The owner called his driver and demanded that he turn around and give the money back. The front desk kid had restored a little faith in India for us.
India is a dirty place with so many diverse people. We walked around our hotel for a little bit trying to find a cyber cafe because our hotel's WiFi wasn't working and we crossed the paths of many homeless people who eat, sleep, and do their business right on the street or sidewalk. It was hard to walk around. We grabbed six samosas for 60 rupees ($1) and went back to our hotel to meet with Brother Boddu.
Brother Boddu was a ray of sunshine. He was so nice to come out to our hotel. He lives about an hour from our hotel, is the Branch President here (four weeks ago he was called to that position), is also the public relations officer for the church in India, and works as a systems analyst at IBM. He gave us a phone with loaded minutes on it to use while we are here in India,  and just put a smile on our face. He is a super nice guy and we are excited to spend a few days with him.
The next day we checked out another hotel and moved to another one that was down the street for $30 a night.Later, we hired a tuk tuk driver to take us to some sites around Delhi. We first went to the Askhardham Mandir (you guess is as good as ours. Indian people speak so fast it is hard to understand them). That place was very beautiful, but it kind of felt like Disney Landish. The temple was completed in 2005 and displayed incredible stonework. However, knowing that it was done with modern technology and craftsmanship kind of took away from the magnificence. We were required to leave everything except our passports and money in a locked place so we weren't allowed to take pictures.
Our ride continued to the Lotus Temple. This place was neat also. Most all the sites to see in Delhi are free to enter so, that made it nice to swallow our hotels arrangements. Plus, we have spent about $7 for food thus far and that has covered four meals. Not too bad. With the major expense of our hotels and losing the money from the other hotel, things are starting to balance out because of the super low cost of food.
As we were driving, the tuk tuk driver informed us that the first hotel we were staying at is owned by the same guy who owns the pre-paid taxi service at the airport and that there are fake Ministry of Tourism offices around the city. What a total scam! If they celebrated Christmas here, our taxi driver would get a nice Christmas bonus.
The taxi drivers hands are in the hotel's pants and the tuk tuk drivers have their hands in the merchant's pants. On our way back from the Lotus Temple,  the tuk tuk driver stopped at 3 differet stores that sold rugs, carpets, and little trinkets.  After denying several rug offers and being pushed to the far corners of each shop to look at another wooden elephant, we made it to our hotel to get ready for the Taj Mahal.

Shelley and the Lotus Temple

Catching some ZZZs.

The first carpet/rug shop taught us how to weave the carpets. We learned that it takes one family who works 6 hours a day for 6 days a week, one year to complete a rug that is 4'x6' in size.

The man with the white hair and beard is Professor Butt. He educated us about all the carpet info..

Around Kathmandu

Our time in Nepal has come to a close, but here are a few pictures of Kathmandu.

We are creatures of habit and have eaten at this guy's restaurant every day in Kathmandu. The restaurant is called "The Typical Nepali Kitchen". Bishnu, who is pictured between Spike and Shelley, taught his son on the left how to cook and the food was delicious. The place was super clean. Funny story: we had recommended the place to two other people and tonight, our last time eating there, Bishnu gave us dessert for free. Dessert was called Kheer. Kheer is like a rice pudding. It was really good. The boy who brought us our check wasn't around when Bishnu offered us the dessert for sending people to his place. The boy had added our free dessert to the bill. So our free dessert wasn't free. We didn't want to make a scene so we paid and bounced.

Langtang Valley Pictures

Here are some pics from our journey up Langtang.