The Bailey Expedition - Quinn in Asia

Quinn's Asia

We just arrived in Bali Indonesia. As we arrived we found geckos hundreds of them, in our hotel rooms, restaurants and everywhere else. In the morning we woke up and walked around the large hotel grounds. We found that our hotel had a large pool with stone fountains. Our hotel was also on the beach, so we walked along the beach. Near the beach there was a temple we went inside and were walking around when one of the Hindu monks told us we needed to leave and get a sarong. So we got one and came back. Another monk then told us that the gamalon was going to play the next day. We left and went back to our hotel.

Today we are at the gamalon, it turns out it was five gamalons playing. We stayed for a while for the music but had to leave to go to Ubud, we stayed in Ubud for a while. One day we went to a monkey forest in ubud. It was a forest and a temple where wild monkeys live. The monkeys were very cheeky, one attacked me, another stole my cucumber. It was really cool. Another day we went to the mother temple, a large Hindu temple. It was amazing there were carved stone statues and stairways. We had to get a guide to walk around the temple. We went all around the temple and then had lunch. Since we had the same driver almost every time we drove, Ketut, we got to know him pretty well and developed a friendship with him.

Earlier we had decided to cancel our tickets to Yogjakarta, Java. But we decided to go, so we bought tickets and my dad and I went to Yogjakarta to see Borobudur. When we arrived Borobudur was closed but since we were already on the grounds we walked around and took pictures. It was amazing, It was huge and so intricately carved. Then we went and saw the movie on Borobudur playing at our hotel. In the morning we got up at 5:30 so we could be there for the opening. When we were up there we saw we were surrounded by tropical rainforest. We walked around and looked at all the Buddhas.

There were hundreds of carved panels and Buddhas. We came back the next day having watched the Borobudur movie again so we knew a little more. We hired a guide and I tried to look at the panels and decipher them. It was really cool. Our guide told us that some of the Buddhas on Borobadur had been blown up by Muslim extremists. We reached the top and then had to run down to catch our plane. Soon we were back at our hotel we stayed for another day before we left. Bali was amazing, it was paradise.

Tonight we are staying in Bangkok Thailand. The next morning we went to the airport for our flight to find that our flight had been canceled. So the airport put us up in the airport hotel. It was a very nice hotel, breakfast and lunch were included. When we left Bangkok we were on the seven o'clock flight. Since it was a Thai flight they served real food, on this flight it was curried fish with rice and coconut cake. It was so different than what they would serve in the U.S.

We just arrived in Hanoi quite late. On our second day we walked around town, Hanoi is very stinky. Next we flew to Hue it was a nice change from Hanoi, Hue is ten times smaller. Here we are staying with Lorelle. In Hue there are a few markets and attractions. Now we are leaving for Hoi An.

We have arrived in Hoi an. Today we went to My Son, an important religious, historical and political site created by the Champas. It was amazing, there were many small buildings with brick walls, many had carved panels on the outside. My Son was in the middle of the forest. It was amazing to look at because you see these ruins in the middle of the forest, and when we went there was almost no one there. We have just left Vietnam. We feel very differently about it now, when we arrived everyone seemed serious, now it seems people are nicer.