Bestest friends, laughter, beautiful beaches and fruit shakes...if this isn't heaven I don't know what is!

We spent a week chilling in hammocks, catching up on each others love lives, sunning our bums and scheming for our 2013 rendezvous, which consequently will be held trekking up Mnt. Kilimanjaro! 2012/13 is the year of Africa!! Come one come all!

You know you've got irreplaceable friends when the reunion is seamless, like you haven't been separated, living different lives for 9 months...when being together is as easy as breathing. Every once in a while there are hiccups and heartaches, but life is what we do best together! :) 

Safe travels dear ones!  And here's to our next 2013 adventures! xx

Quotes to live by:

"You need to sun your moonshine" -V (after we taught miss South African some new hillbilly lingo)

"We don't not pay we just steal!" -V (while explaining SA)

"Just float like debris in the ocean" -M (said in a very profound, zen tone)

"It could be atomic waste"
"Bust I sparkle!"
"You could grow a third arm"
"BUT I SPARKLE! -(During a night skinny dipping session when we found that the ocean sparkled around us when we moved due to microscopic glowy marine plankton)

"Grab a bottle, I'm peeing magic!"

One starry starry night...

We lit a wee bonfire and lounged around its orange flames on fluffy mats, staring at the beautiful night sky as the lake gently rocked our floating house.

Miles away from any city and in the middle of a huge lake, the stars hung so low you felt like if you reached up, you could swirl your fingertips through the milky way.

We all hopped into kayaks and onto paddle boards and made our way out to our own little pockets of the lake. Laying flat on your back, it felt like you were cradled in the arms of the world, rocked back n' forth. The waters shushed you like a soothing mother and the stars twinkles and frogs sang a sweet lullaby.

Here are more photos from the crazy weekend at the floating houses. Introducing the wild ARI crew! ;)

Floating houses, night kayaking, bonfires, grilled bananas, learning German lullabies and how to do grind dance moves, laughing so hard our tummies hurt and sleeping beneath the stars...this was by far a successful weekend! Hope you enjoy the photies! :)

Touch Down...

The first morning in Banda Aceh, we woke to the haunting and lyrical sound of the 4am morning prayer humming from the Great Mosque's loudspeakers. I found myself thinking excitedly, "Todo, we're not in Kansas anymore!" The heavy humid air clings relentlessly to the layers of denim and long sleeves we donned to cover up our scandalous elbows and knees. 86% of Indonesia is Muslim and Banda Aceh has a history of being one of the strictest regions. It seems strange to think that in some of the hottest places on earth, women are required to wear the most clothes.

We set foot on Indonesian soil for the first time on Dec. 26th...a day marking the 6th year anniversary of the 2004 tsunami that nearly wiped out Banda Aceh. For the first week we stayed with some of Inge's in-laws who work in the area. As unfortunate and devastating as the tsunami was for the region, it ended almost three decades of civil war and for an area that had isolated itself from the rest of the world and had not allowed foreigners to enter, this day also marked an in-pouring of of foreigners who came to help rebuild. To this day the peace still holds despite a few recent shootings targeting foreigners. Locals say Banda Aceh is in a fragile balance and that one false move by the government could cause the the conflict to erupt all over again, but while we were there all was quiet and even though we represented a culture, religion, and conflict that many Muslims oppose, the people we met were curious and kind with a touch of suspicion.

Our island hopping journey from snowy South Korea took us through the Philippines, Malaysia, and finally to sunny, tropical Indonesia. Indonesia: land of delicious fruit, coconut milk soup, banana pancakes, Banda Aceh coffee, hammocks on sunny beaches, and some of the most beautiful aqua blue seas I've ever seen! Next time I decide to move to a foreign country and teach English, could someone please remind me to move to a TROPICAL foreign country?! This whole sub arctic Korean winter stuff does not exactly put me in the mood to throw parties! There's only so many frostbite drive-by's one person can handle in a 6 month time period! ;)