Jill's Book Club!

While I don't actually have my very own book club, or even belong to one... I do think I could easily see myself being a part of one!  I have scarily surprised myself with my new LOVE for reading!  

I remember, as a child, my mom would make me read for 10 minutes a day, with a timer set next to me.  I would watch the timer as if it were counting down the minutes until I was once again FREE and happy!  I hated every moment of reading and carried that feeling through my adult life (except for the few moments when a Nicolas Sparks book was laid in my hands)!  

Although living in Korea, and probably more so, my trip to Indonesia changed all of that for me!  When you don't have internet or a TV at your fingertips, or any Western form of entertainment for that matter, you tend to long for a good book!  In my case, I longed for 3! 

Yes, mom, I know you're surprised!  In the last MONTH, I have breezed through all 678 pages of these books!

#1 The Alchemist!  A great story of finding your life's purpose and doing everything to fulfill it!

#2 The 5 People You Meet in Heaven. (Same author as Tuesdays with Morrie... which I also read this year!)  This one was a quick and interesting read, but in the end, I probably wouldn't recommend it.

#3 Committed.  This is the sequel to EAT, PRAY, LOVE... but my gosh!  If you want to be forever scared of getting married or having kids, read this book!  It was fairly terrifying!  

Next on my list are Life of Pi and The Last Lecture.  Any recommendations for which one I should start this morning?!

Banana Conditioner!

Well folks... here's a very tiny preview of my new permed mess of a head of hair!   Yes, I tried the banana treatment!  It felt a little like I was on an episode of Double Dare from the 80's!  I think it's safe to say I'm desperate for help!  Because my hair is sooo damaged though, some of the banana wouldn't wash out (or should I say, couldn't wash out) because my hair is sooo tangly now!  eeeehhhh!  I've been picking banana out of my hair all day!  

I start work next Monday, and I'm hoping I'm allowed to wear a hat!  :)

Salon Day with the girls!

Jessica, Young and I met up for lunch and a girl day at the salon!  

We spent 4 hours there, primarily waiting for my perm to finish!  Yes, I said "perm!"  I'm not sure what I was thinking.  A girl with as much damage to their hair as I have, should NEVER be going and getting a perm!  

I will say though, it was a fun experience that I ended up not having to pay for (not by my choice, but by the hair stylists.  She is a perfectionist, and wasn't happy with how my hair turned out, so she wouldn't let me pay her.  I felt really bad, because I could tell she felt horrible!)  

As a side note, she told me I'm not allowed to do anything to my hair for 1 year!  (That's a nice thought, but isn't gonna happen!)  She also gave me a natural remedy for damaged hair, that I think is worth sharing.  1 full mushed banana, lemon juice, and honey (or sugar).  Mix it all up and put it on your hair for 20 minutes and then wash it out!  If I had a lemon, I would have tried it tonight!  I've never put banana in my hair!  Hope it works!  At this point, it needs to work, or I'll have straw for hair!  Wish me luck!

Day 20: 3 countries in 3 nights!

It's crazy to think I will have slept in 3 different countries in 3 consecutive nights! Ahhh, the life of a traveler.  I could get used to this!

So, as you can see, I made it through the night in our crazy Hong Kong hostel!   We both woke up early and were ready to get out of there and head out into town to see what we could find to entertain ourselves!

We both really hate to admit this, but we went to McDonalds for breakfast!  In our defense though, it was literally the only place open to eat at 8:30am and we were starving!  We noticed this "Say No To Straws" sticker on the straw dispenser!  Glad to know Mickey D's in Hong Kong is doing it's part to stay green!

After breakfast, which again, we hate to admit it, but it was delicious, we headed for Fa Yeun Street Market, which we heard had some good, inexpensive shopping, and noticed right away that you could find a lot of random stuff there...

There were one of a kind paintings...

One of a kind foods... (I have no idea what this was, but it smelled rancid!)

Traditional Chinese clothing for children...

Character thongs for men... Aaron thought the tuxedo one was pretty clever!  

Pig hooves... 

Full fried ducks...

Weird sausages of every shape, size, and animal...

Traditional Chinese party decorations...

Nuts of every kind and candy from all over the world...

and delicious tropical fruits!!!! 

I have to say though, my all time favorite find were these Victoria Secret-Roxy slippers, which were obviously in the midst of an identity crisis! 

We were able to play around the city for about 5 hours before jumping on the bus back to the airport!  As we were walking to the bus stop, we spotted this Popcorn Monster place that offered every disgusting flavor of popcorn you could ever imagine. You think I'm joking?!  You could buy anything from dill pickle cream to watermelon flavored... we settled for some caramel, which happened to be delicious!

We made it to our flight, with plenty of time to spare!  I'm now laying, comfortably in my own clean bed, in my welcoming and cheerful Korean apartment, sad to have said goodbye to Indonesia, but content with being home and enjoying the comforts that it brings, like warm showers!!

I speak for Aaron, and myself, when I say this.  Indonesia will always occupy a piece of our hearts, and the people of Lembongan and Ceningan Island will have an especially special place in them! 

DAY 19: "Hello, Transport?"

We got up nice and early for our last morning on Lembongan Island and said goodbye to all our local friends at the hotel. Dan was up early, eating breakfast, before his big scuba dive, which was a nice treat for us to be able to say goodbye!

We jumped on the crowded boat and lounged for an hour and a half till we arrived back in Bali, at Sanur Beach. We had 6 hours till our flight left, so we shopped around a bit (Lynzi, I found something for Blakely!), but were hounded, the entire time by taxi drivers asking, "Hello, Transport?" It makes sense, since we were holding our bags, but I honestly don't think it would be an exagerration to say we heard it over 70 times in the couple hours we were in Sanur!

... and ate some delicious Balinese sweet corn for breakfast!

When it was time to go, we hailed a cab and headed for the airport. We were both a little hungry, so we stopped here for lunch, just outside the airport. I say this, because I think it's worth saying that when you order food in Indonesia, your personal meal will NEVER, ever, ever, come out at the same time as your friends! Look at Aaron's plate (completely finished) just as mine was placed on the table.

We had a little bit of Rupiah (Indonesian currency) left, and knew it wouldn't be worth it to exchange it back to won, after paying the fee... so, we decided to do some shopping in the airport... but unfortunately, "I Love Bali" shirts weren't exactly something we wanted to add to our wardrobes, so...

in true fat kid fashion, we walked over to Dunkin Donuts and spent our last couple dollars on...

a 1/2 dozen donuts and laughed at how fun it was to splurge, while we ate each one of them! hahaha!

Our flight to Hong Kong was easy, comfortable, and just under 4 hours, with lots of movies and TV shows to keep us entertained!

Since I was still limping along with my gimp leg, and Hong Kong was a gigantic airport, Aaron offered to carry all the bags! (And no, I never asked him to! It's just the southern gentleman in him!)

When we finally found our way out of the airport, we got on a bus, headed to Mong Kok area... not sure, really, what we would find there or where we would stay! (We didn't do any research on Hong Kong before we arrived - adventure style!) We spotted a hostel, right away, but it was full. We were handed a business card and told to "Try this hostel." So, we went there, and it was full too! At this point, we were exhausted and just wanted to set our bags down. The lady could sense our exhaustion and said, "I have 1 room, but you have to check out at 9:30am" Great, we thought! We'll take it! We can do that! So, we followed her to the room... and quickly realized it wasn't at her hostel, but rather another one about 5 blocks away! She walked with us the first 2 blocks and then handed us over to this older woman who guided us the last 3 blocks!

After you see "the room" we were offered, you will probably be about as speechless as we were!! I honestly couldn't stop laughing, and knew right away that this would be something I wouldn't soon forget!

We literally walked into the storage room, that just happened to have 2 beds, neither of which had any bedding on them... so, Aaron helped her make my bed! I was trying soooo hard not to laugh at this place!

Too bad I didn't need to do any sewing, huh?!

Yes, that's a dead roach outside our bathroom!

I'm adventurous, but I decided I could wait another 18 hours till I got home to take a shower! This was just a bit much for me!

We kept the TV on all night as a night light, because this place was soooo freaky!

We had to pay $200 Hong Kong dollars, which is about $30 USD (a decent price for Hong Kong hostels), but it was twice the price of the place we stayed on Lembongan Island! Crazy huh?!

We were given 2 toothbrushes... probably as a peace offering! I kinda wonder if the lady felt bad for offering us such a shady room!

We ended up dropping our bags and heading out for the night! The less amount of time we stayed there, the better! So, we walked, talked, shopped, ate, and drank until 1:30am, living it up in Hong Kong!