Something is missing

2/29/12:

Check out the pic below. Notice anything missing?? No? Well of course you wouldn't you silly westerner. Now think back to a few of our earlier posts. Still nothing??

How quickly we get used to certain 'luxuries' around here. This hotel is really nice except it's missing a critical contraption in the bathroom .... The under-carriage cleaner! FML.

Recovery Day

Apparently I had 3 beer Laos too many last night. I would say it was food poisoning but Michael and I ordered the same meal. I never get sick and this morning I felt fine so who knows what it was from. We got our lazy butts out of bed in time for our free breakfast at the guesthouse and it was well worth it. Eggs, coffee, fruit and a baguette. I am loving the French influence here!

From there we walked into town to exchange some Thai money for Laos money. In true tourist form there exchange places everywhere and most advertise that they can give you cash off of your Visa or MasterCard, thanks but no thanks. The best rate is at the bank but yesterday when we went they were closed for lunch and then closed for the day at 1500, seriously keeping the bankers hours here in Laos.

After that we hopped on a tuk-tuk going to Kuang Si waterfall. After we started the trip we were informed by another passenger that we were only going for two hours because that's all the first couple wanted, we were bummed and the trip was definitely rushed but it's a tourist town, we should have asked before we left. We also got screwed on the price since we thought what he quoted us was for both of us but it was per person. Still worth the trip as it was beautiful and nice to go for swim on a hot humid day. Oh and like any trip it's fun to meet people. This time we got the pleasure of meeting an older German who lives in the French part of Switzerland and lives a harmonious life style. He said they traveled 7 months a year until his daughter was 10 and she told them she wanted to attend school and grow some roots and then she suddenly didn't want to live their lifestyle of yoga, meditation, eating on the floor. All we could think of is how do hippies afford to life in Switzerland?

This afternoon was more get Carolyn thin time and as we climbed up Phou Si mountain to see Buddhas foot print. We wonder why there are never cool things to see at ground level? It had a nice view of the city and was pretty funny to see the crap they try to pass off. The best part was that we were up there at 1600 and that's when Monks do some sort of drumming which we could hear coming from many different Wats. Rounded out the day with a smorgasbord of street food and a beer with our new friend Jim. After last nights ordeal I opted for a fanta. Tomorrow we might try to get up at 6 to attend an alms ceremony where you can watch the locals give food to the Monks but a) we're not morning people and b) we read the Monks don't even want to do it but the government makes them.

A happy happy birthday to our wonderful friend Marisa. I truly don't know what I'd do without you. Thanks for all the advice, emergency doctors visits, shoulder to cry on, being our personal post office and the hundreds of home cooked meals.


Pictures of the day:
Washington Apples in Laos? Jeremy we think you should get a job with red delicious apparently it's a lucrative business
The main attraction at Kuang Si
Michael jumping from the rope swing at on the of Kuang Si pools

Laos is not budget friendly

2/27/12:

Well after a very long boat ride to get here, we tried our best to get to know our new city - Luang Prabang. Last night we found another hotel and booked it online for about $20/ night which is cheap for this town. The place is called the villa suan maak and after some intensive detective work we actually managed to find it as its not on the main drag. This city isn't super complicated but finding a decent map or some directions is like trying to find gas back home for under $3.00. So we managed to get here, checked in and sorted ourselves out. The room is pretty nice so far. We've got a door (always a plus), a bathroom (equally important), a small desk (useful for piling dirty clothes on) and 2 beds. 2 twin beds which don't seem to move at all. Cozy time!!!!!!

We ended up renting 2 bikes from our hotel for a whopping 40000 kip (about $5.00) and went for a ride. We found a couple book stores last night and knew we desperately needed to get a Laos guide book. So we headed back to the bookstores with a couple books of our own to trade.

Quick side note: a lot of guidebooks and websites mentioned that its a good idea to buy or trade for your guidebooks as you get to each new country. This is false information for Laos as this is often a one sided travel route, there are hundreds of Thailand books but only one Laos book. We've been trying since Chiang Rai to get our hands on a Laos book and have been unsuccessful until today. We saw them in Chiang Mai new but wanted to wait until we got to Laos. Oh well. We traded a couple books in and got a filthy, old photocopied 2007 Laos guidebook for around $7.00 (which is way more then we paid for our nice Thailand book in Bangkok). Hopefully progress has been slow here.

Our hotel lady mentioned that we could ride our bikes to a small village where they make paper and silk. So we headed in that direction which took us over a river and into the 'country'. We went over a rickety bridge and around some dirt roads until we found the place. Nothing super exciting except some girls working in a sweat shop making scarves. I say it was a sweat shop cause sweat was pouring off me even before we walked in. It was pretty neat to see but not really a post card moment. We also saw some peeps making saa paper down the road so we went over there to annoy them a little and maybe get some pictures. The designs they make with the paper are amazing! We see them all over the night markets and waking streets but to see them being made was super cool!

Earlier in the day we decided we wanted to kayak the river and maybe see a waterfall. So we went to a couple tour agencies and asked around about pricing. Hahahahaha!!!!! So basically for a 2 hour kayak tour (where you're doing all the work!!!!), you'll be paying $50.00 / person and the waterfall is currently dried up!!!!!! WTF! I nearly fell out of my chair. Seriously I had to look around and make sure I wasn't siting in myrtle beach. We went to another tour agency and were quoted $40.00. It's at this point that we realize 3 nights may be too much. It seems Luang Prabang is a well traveled destination and the prices reflect that. Accommodations and food can be found for cheap. But that's about it.

Carolyn did some investigating and there's a different waterfall not far that you can take a tuk-tuk to. This is where tripadvisor.com comes in handy because we can read peoples reviews from the days prior so we know the information is still accurate. Should be a great time!

We ran into some friends from the boat and had dinner and a few drinks. The local beer is called beerlao and is supposed to be wonderful but I find it rather gross however at $1.50 for a liter I can't really complain. Got home a little while ago since there's a curfew of 12:00 here. The locals shut the city down at about 10:30. Crazy. On the way home I flagged down a tuk-tuk and asked how much .... 50000 kip ($6.20). Another WTF moment. We look at him, sneer and say no thank-you. The guy then follows us for a few meters reducing his price. He finally gets down to 15000 kip as his final offer. This is a good deal but at this point its principle so we keep walking. The part that angers us (and every other traveler we've met) is the scam or deception crap. I mean seriously we're traveling ... On a budget. Just quote us the actual friggin price and just be done with it. It's stuff like tohis (and yes it happens all day everyday) that makes you question everything here and distrust everyone.

Another WTF moment from tonight: at dinner Carolyn and I got the same meal and each had a beer except I had a large and she had a small. When it came time to pay the bill something didn't add up. We asked about it and the girl said our beers were different brands or something like that. During dinner we has both peeled off the label. We tried to argue to no avail. So my large (1 liter) beer was 10000 kip and Carolyn's small (500 ml) beer was also 10000 kip. So we bit our tongues and paid the bill. Carolyn unfolded the labels and they were indeed the same beer. Ohwell. I guess you can chock it all up to the inevitable 'gringo tax.'

Side note: we were able to wrap our heads around Thai currency fairly well and ended up thinking in Baht vice dollars. This has worked against us here as we now have to learn a new currency (Lao Kip) and how to budget for it. To give an idea, $1 = 8000 Kip. They also quote prices in US dollars here so we are working with 3 currencies. *sigh* the issues with traveling.

Pics:
1. Slow boat dock - Luang Prabang.
2. Rickety bridge - Luang Prabang.
3. Sunset over Mekong river.
4. Carolyn on a bike - Luang Prabang.
5. Beerlao.

Laos

2/26
We made it! After 18 hours on the boat (14 of them it was moving) we've arrived in Luang Prabang, Laos. It was long and cramped but not as bad as any of the horrid stories that I'd read. We met a guy from San Fran right before we got on the boat day 1 and ended up having dinner with him when we stopped for the night. He introduced us to a father/daughter from Bath and then we met another American at breakfast so day two we had some people to talk to on the boat.

I think one of my favorite parts about this kind of travel is the kindness you see in fellow travelers. I've seen so many people offer help and when in situations like the ones we've been in people actually take it. There was a French family on this boat trip with two small outgoing children. They talked to all the French people and would run up and down the boat stopping along the way to take pictures of passengers and then show them to them. It was adorable and everyone loved it but when it came time for movement it was hard for the parents to get the bags the kids, the shoes the kids left behind but someone always helped them out. Both times that we disembarked the boat there was a steep climb up to the towns. Unfortunately not everyone is as packing savvy as we are and most have large heavy bags. Today when got off everyone helped. I went back down to retrieve some shoes when the French family realized their little boy took his off and left them in the sand, Michael was carrying his bag and an older gentleman's bag and the French mom was helping someone get up the steps who wasn't doing so well on his own. The kindness went around and around and it was a great thing to see and be part of.

So we arrived, found a nice hotel, had a crappy dinner and planned our lodging for the rest of our time here. Just another travel day. Except it wasn't just another day, it's my 30th birthday and it sucked. New country, knowing practically no one and having your travel partner plan absolutely nothing. Luckily I have a few more birthdays ahead of me and I'll celebrate those properly.


This is the boat day one, day two the seats got smaller

Last night in Thailand

2/24/12:

Not much happening today. We grabbed the 10AM bus from Chiang Rai to Chiang Khong for a whopping 65 baht / person. The bus was open air, small and packed! Plus there was some super weird western dude in the back of the bus shouting out how he went to Laos 15 years ago or something. He was also fondling his little Asian lady who did seem very happy about it.

Made it to Chiang Khong and walked a about a km before finding a super nice place with A/C rooms for 500 baht. This may have been the nicest hotel we've stayed in since we got to Thailand. Huge room, soft bed with clean sheets, balcony, water bottles, bathroom with soap AND toilet paper and the coolest part ... A shower curtain!!!!! Luxury! Had lunch at a cool little place that actually had whole wheat bread!!!!!!!

Rented a scooter in the afternoon and drive around the countryside a bit. The scooter had seen better days so we took things a bit slow. We rode along he Mekong river and were treated to some great scenery. The river is pretty wide with all sorts of large rocks in it. I guess you could say we saw how the locals live away from the tourist areas but it really didn't look a whole lot different.

So later on we got some provisions for our trip since the boat will take about 8 hours and there isn't anything to eat on it. The seven-11 next door had all the goodies we needed .... Chips, cookies and water. We also decided to get a small loaf of bread, peanut butter and jelly ... Our own sammiches for the win!!!!!!

So tomorrow we make our way to Laos. Thai immigration opens at 0800 and we're told the boat to Luang Prabang (Pak Beng) will leave around 1030. So we're planning to get to immigration about 0830. There's no bridge to the Laos side so we have to take a small ferry after Thai immigration and go to Laos immigration after that. Our visa should be about $35 per person plus a $1 'overtime' fee since it's a weekend. Apparently if it were during the week there would still be a $1 fee but it would be called something different.

Ok last night in Thailand, sleeping in a great bed with a great room and a beautiful woman by my side. Hopefully Laos will be amazing but I think our standard of living will be going down from here. But we could be surprised.

Pics: 1st one is our room, 2nd is looking over the Mekong into Laos and the 3rd .... Well that's me on our little hog.

Why did we leave Chiang Mai?

2/23
The whole time we were in the south we kept saying we didn't want to cut our time in the north short but after being here we know that 10 days was too much even with the extra time we spent in Chiang Mai.

Did some bus research today and decided we're going to book all the pieces of our travels to Laos ourselves instead of over paying a travel agency to do it for us. I'll let you know at the end if it we actual saved anything. Busses run every hour to Chiang Khong which is a Thai boarder town. And where we'll be crossing over to Laos. We decided to head out tomorrow so today we rented a scooter and went in to the country.

First stop was to a white temple called Wat Rong Khum. Most Wats are ancient but this one is a private Wat started in 1997 by a Thai artist. We heard its just a tourist trap but we actually enjoyed it a lot. It's beautiful and the first place we've been in the country where things are well taken care of. The landscaping was unbelievable. Although we were told tourist trap there was no trapping, we weren't charged for anything and no one was selling anything. This place has an odd twist on it I guess because it was designed by an artist. The walls inside the Temple are painted and it's one of those murals where there are pictures within pictures but there is a lot of American influence: the twin towers being blown up, superman, batman, angry birds, Neo, Harry Potter, pinhead from Hell-raiser, star wars, and lots more. Weird how all this was painted on a wall in a building that houses something very scared.

There were some waterfalls in the area so after we headed further into the country to visit one. We arrived at 1700 and see that the sign says it's 1400 meters to the waterfall. Hiking at sunset is something that happens all to often for my liking. Michael apparently loves it because he always sets us up for darkness in the woods and its generally in a place we're completely unfamiliar with. We walk through the woods only seeing a few sane people who are on there way out and make it to the waterfall drenched in sweat. We snap a few photos before I notice some bees hanging around Michaels legs. He completely freaks out and I ask if he's allergic (have I mentioned we've been together almost 10 yrs), he responds that he "use to be", what the heck does that mean? I don't have time to ask because he's running, jumping and screaming down closer to the waterfall. We think we're out or range and I'm just about to hop in this awesome tree that reminds me of one from Pete's Dragon when I see bees (yes plural) on me. One is on my shirt and walks over to my neck, Michael is right next to me screaming which I can't understand why because the bees not on him. I watch as the bee goes down my shirt so I hold it out, it's hanging on the inside of it and my options seem limited I can also feel two others on my legs and I still have Michael screaming. I finally flick the one on my shirt off start heading up the trail and just get one off my leg before it stings me, success! I hurry Michael along before the mosquitos walk away with us and we make it out of the trail before darkness takes over.

We head to town where I get a fabulous foot massage and we have ice cream sundaes as a make shift birthday cake since we'll most likely be on the Mekong River for the big day. We tried to plan around it but theres no good way to do it, so we'll have to celebrate when we get to a place worth celebrating in.

The white temple, it's just white wash with little glass pieces around it. Michael hanging from a vine
Me at the base of a huge tree at the trail head to the waterfall
Us pre-bees at the waterfall

Things we learned while in Thailand

- most people own their business but the woman are running them, we have no idea where the men are
- Thai's rarely cook at home, most homes only have a burner, no stove
- there's no line between work/family when you own a business. You will see owners and their families eating, sleeping, watching tv, helping their children with homework, breast feeding while at work
- business owners keep VERY long hours which explains above comment, it's not uncommon for them to be open 0800-2200 or later, especially if they work in tourism
- for every foreigner they hire, they must employee 4 Thais
- only Thai citizens can own land
- the surgical masks aren't to prevent disease it's to help block out the astronomical amount of fumes/exhaust they have
- the standard of cleanliness is zero, there is never soap in public places, washing of hands is not a priority, they don't cover their mouths when they cough or sneeze
- children are only required to attend 9 years of school
- the culture is non-confrontational and are generally willing to help whenever they can
- traffic rules (red lights, stop signs, shoulders) are just a suggestion, for a laid back society they are very aggressive drivers but honking is only used as a warning (ie if a large vehicle is passing a scooter) and we saw no accidents, near accidents or even screeching tires - tourists on scooters is a whole other story
- child safety is on a different level. Babies on scooters without helmets, infants left unattended on couches, beds, no seat belts, car seats, just sitting on a parents lap. This is actual a bit amusing to me as I've recently seen first hand how American moms fret over everything like the kid is porcelain and the children here turn out just fine without all the overage
- Thais are very sociable people, they have many friends and will spend all day with them or talking to them
- most tourists are 20-24 year old partying Europeans/Australians or old dirty Western men looking for a Thai wife (we encountered more of the latter then we would have liked)
- only Chinese inspired dishes are eaten with chopsticks (pad Thai) most dishes are eaten with a fork or their hands (sticky rice)
- being a is Monk is not a life long commitment and you can leave the order and return
- police presences is minimal and from what we saw rules are only enforced to foreigners
- Wat are scared places but Wat parking lots are an ok place to hawk tourists

This is a list of things we learned through our experiences in our short time here. We were mostly in built up areas and the although we tried to engage many locals in conversation the only ones who could speak enough English were tour guides and such so we do realize some of these things might not be true for the whole country.

Same same but different

2/22/12:

Knock on wood but we may be getting this travel stuff down. After being scammed a few times transportation-wise, we decided to go straight to the source and skip all the travel agencies. So we made our way to the Chiang Mai bus terminal and found several tour / bus operators and windows. Quite a daunting scene as there is so much going on and not a whole lot in English.

Side note: traveling in a foreign land is hard enough when you speak the language. Harder still when you don't speak the language but the foreign tongue atleast uses the same alphabet. However it is insanely difficult traveling in a country with a completely different alphabet like Thailand. Luckily for us, English is the defacto universal language which means most things are posted in Thai and English ... but not everything.

Anyway, we finally figured out that the only bus going to Chiang Rai is run by the Green Bus Company. Before getting in line, we agreed that the top price we'd pay for a bus ticket is 250 Baht. We saw a couple travel agencies advertising bus trips to Chiang Rai for 350 Baht / person. We got to the counter and paid 162 Baht / person .... Winning!!!!!

Checked out of our hotel (edit: left keys on table since owners weren't around), flagged down a song-too to the bus station. A song-too is the most popular form of transportation here. They're basically pick-up trucks with a top over the bed and benches on the sides. They drive all over town and are pretty inexpensive. We paid 60 Baht to go to the bus station which probably would have been 150 Baht in a taxi. It's also spelled differently and probably pronounced differently but who knows. Ok back to our trip. Made it to the bus station with time to spare so we walked a bit and grabbed breakfast. I wish I could say the food was even edible. My belly also wishes this. We ordered omelets and toast. We got nasty runny scrambled'ish eggs and a piece of white bread. Oh and the eggs had my favorite food in them ... Onions. F'ing gross! I've come to realize that in certain situations you eat for nourishment and not for taste. So I choked the filth down with a smile.

Our bus to Chiang Rai wasn't bad at all. We had assigned seats and the A/C seemed to work fine. However the seats were leather which means it could have been 37 degrees on the bus and I'd still have swamp-A*s. the trip took about 3 hours so we arrived right at 3:00. Got pointed in the right direction and made our way to a guest house by foot. I found one with good reviews last night so that's the one we went too. Luckily we got the last room!!! Staying at the Orchids guest house, paying 450 Baht with free wifi, A/C, hot water and a window!!!!! Our last place didn't have a window which meant it was pitch black in there 24/7.

Chiang Rai seems nice so far ... Much smaller than Chiang Mai and not nearly as many tourists or things to do. We may rent a scooter and tour the countryside but we're still weighing our options. Have to be out of Thailand by 3/1 but we may head out sooner if we get bored. Time will tell.

P.S. Took a pic of Mrs Blue on the bus. Also that's the clock tower in the middle of Chiang Rai. Lastly, had dinner in the night market tonight ... Spent about $2.50 and got all that food (cashew fried rice). We were Stuffed!!!!

American vs America

Nothing much happened today. We rented a scooter drove to Wat Doi Suthep where for the first time tour guides and shops were aimed at the Thai tourists not the Western tourists. It's really a shame how exploited something so sacred has gotten. There are signs everywhere about dressing and acting respectfully in the Wat and in the presence of the Buddha but once you remove your shoes and cover your knees there are people everywhere trying to get you to pay them to take your picture and inside the Wat they have all kinds of shops as well as about halfway up the 300+ steps are food stalls and souvenir shops. This is a place where most Thais do there pilgrimage and people are marketing off of it.

After that we made a restocking trip to their version of Walmart and ate an overpriced pizza for dinner. Did we mention that in most towns you can either eat Thai or Italian?

As we have mentioned there are very few American travelers here and the ones that are around don't have the best reputation. We've met a few groups who told us the other Americans they've met have been very curt or just downright rude. One person said they met an American who put a Canadian flag on their pack back because they said Canadians get more respect.

The funny part is while there are little to no Americans traveling here, the culture of Amercia is EVERYWHERE. Major league sports, Katy Perry, John Denver (we hear him at least once a day!), Coca Cola, Abercrombie, etc. Most advertisements are in Thai but the people in them are white skinned, blond hair, blue eyed. All of their skin care products claim to have whitening abilities, face wash, lotions, soap, even deodorant.

And how do you spot an American in Thailand? They are the ones walking in the wrong side of the street. They drive in the left here therefore they walk on the left, we are constantly realizing that we're going on the wrong way. Luckily for us Thais are kind and confrontation is basically nonexistent so they just plow around us until we realize and move with the traffic flow.

Thick skin

2/20/12:

Well I started this post about 6 hours ago during our ride back from an all day trekking adventure. As luck would have it I didn't save the post when I closed the app. Consequently I'm laying here at 11:19 PM trying to remember what I wrote while also trying to realize its my fault and not my iPhone. Not to mention we're absolutely starving right now. Usually we don't eat dinner until late which keeps the hunger monster satisfied until the morning. Tonight we ate a little earlier and then had a lengthy walk around the river area. So now we're craving what has become our go-to snack / quick breakfast: milk flavored croissants from seven-11. Delish!

Anyhow, on to the interesting stuff. Before coming on this trip, the Mrs and I chatted about a few things we wanted to do in S.E. Asia: beaches, islands, hill tribe trekking, cooking school and elephants. today we checked off the last thing on that list: hill tribes and elephants. We've been going back and forth on whether or not to do a long trek with some elephants and hill tribes or maybe some random variant of each. We settled on a 1 day trek which included elephants and some other crap we didn't care too much about.

Side note: ask anyone who's been to S.E. Asia about the chaotic travel / tour process and you'll probably get the same sort of answer: controlled chaos. We booked this tour with a travel agent (which are literally everywhere!!!) and we're told someone would pick us up at our hotel at 0830. Sure enough at 0830, some random person was waiting at our front door. Crazy!

Ok, back to our story. So the tour included a bamboo raft trip, hill tribe. village visit, waterfall trek and ELEPHANT camp!!! We ended up doing the raft thing first which was a little weird. We were shuffled onto these rickety little bamboo sticks that floated with a 7 year old boy holding a staff. He must not have liked Carolyn much cause he seemed to run her side of the bamboo sticks into every rock we saw. Oh and the water was friggin freezing! From here we drove to a Karen (this is the name of the tribe) hill tribe village a few minutes away. I don't know what I expected but it certainly didn't live up to it. It was just a couple super poor looking stilt homes with women wearing 'tribal' outfits weaving scarves on the ground floor. They tried to sell us some things but the highlight turned out to be a couple pigs and their super cute piglets running around. It all seemed like a tourist trap to us but I guess you never know.

Afterwards it was a walk down a semi paved road to a pretty waterfall where we hung out in the sun for a bit and watched some brave peeps swim in the icy water. Lunch after that and then on to the ELEPHANTS!!!!!! We pulled in and immediately saw some frolicking in the river with a baby!!!!! A few minutes later a group showed up to or location and it was then we saw the truth behind the camp. Chains, ropes and these awful medieval spike things the handlers had in their hands. We were a little hesitant before this trip about the whole idea of riding an elephant and all that jazz but seeing the conditions made it worse. This is the exact reason why we skipped the extremely popular Tiger Kingdom. Carolyn and I ended up on a wonderful 10 year old female names Bemoi. The lead elephant of our group was an elderly female who just so happened to have a baby with her!!!! The baby was Über-cute and just ran around the whole time. Someone asked about the metal spike thing and I guess the handlers use it to control and steer the elephants. They said their skin is so thick that they can't really feel the spikes. I wonder if the poor elephants told them this?

The ride was fun but a but hairy at times. Going downhill was scary and I couldn't help but wonder I was hurting the elephant by riding her. At the end we all got off and fed them some bananas and got more pictures. All in all it was a good time but I can only hope we didn't do more harm than good.

Tonight we walked around the night market, bought a souvenir and chatted about our next move. We'll be in Chiang Mai 1 more night and then it's off to Chiang Rai to check out the far north of Thailand. We have to be in Laos by 3/1 so time is running short.

Curry anyone

Michael is a math wiz that much most of us knew but it was brought to my attention with his latest GRE scores that he's also a literary genius so I am not even going to compete and paint some vivid picture of what we did today I'm just going to tell you what happened.

Cooking day! Why does fun have to always start so early and guess who over slept since we are using Michael's alarm which doesn't even wake him up at home, I'm his alarm clock for that.

Our tour started in the daily market where it seems you can buy any vegetable under the sun or sausage and what we think is fried intestines. Then we went to the cooking school which like every other place around here doubles as the owners home. Seriously the US could learn a thing or two from this place. The Thai people don't waste time, space or food. There were 8 of us in our half day class, we each got to choose 4 meals but one was curry and the curry paste is separate from the meal. I made Pad Thai, Red Curry Paste (first one done on that strenuous activity!), Curry with Eggplant and Coconut Soup. The full day got to make a third meal, app and dessert. Once I realized we weren't going to get to make spring rolls I was a little disappointed that we didn't do the full day but it worked out because we met an awesome couple from...NY ahh so American travelers do exist! This couple has crazy schedules, stressful workloads and still squeezed in a trip to Thailand. We spent the morning prepping, cooking and eating, repeat. I think it's the most we've eaten the since we've been here. It's interesting to see the Thai version of spicy compared to the rest of the world. They told us 6 peppers was medium and the guy next to us had smoke
coming from his ears. And for those of you who know nothing about curry like me beware that it's the green curry that's super spicy not the red. Generally when green curry is served somewhere that we are we can't breath and everyone ends us coughing just from having it in the air.

After an early morning and a full belly a siesta was in order. After that we got ready for the Sunday Night Walking Street which is a huge bazaar that done every week. It's different from the regular night bazaar that we went to the other night. It's a great place to buy souvenirs and try lots of street meat. Michael bought an amulet and in true Blue fashion the only other money we spent was on food. We tried to meet up with some fellow travelers but we couldn't find them so after waiting around for a while we grabbed some large Chiangs and got food massages. Michael doesn't get massages and doesn't like to be touched at all but he was willing this time and wouldn't it be that he gets the only male in all of Thailand giving a massage. I felt awful but he was a trooper. It was another great day in Chiang Mai!

This is me helping a Swedish man who couldn't get his curry paste finished and the us with our finished products

Which will you choose??

Tonight I'm going to let you pick your own adventure. Sorta like those old books from when you were a kid.

Before we embark on this particular literary adventure, I must warn you that the content isn't suitable for all readers. Specifically, If you're easily offended or grossed out or perhaps you don't see the humor in ' bowel based' humor, then I highly suggest you move on about you're day and forget about this particular post.

You have been warned ...

So it begins:
Picture yourself sitting at a crappy little cafe in Chiang Mai. The eating area is located in a garage type structure and there are perhaps 30 other people there with you. You're seated at a tiny picnic table, looking at a wall. Your wife (in this case it's the lovely Carolyn Blue) is seated to your immediate left but she has the wall on her left side. You've just met an extremely wonderful couple from Canada and are getting along like gang-busters with them. Conversation is flowing like bud light during the super bowl. Grand times indeed!

Now imagine a giant bubble under the water. Now imagine several of these bubbles floating to the top, popping, moving, etc etc etc. have a good picture? Ok now imagine these bubbles in your belly. Not too large and not too noisy, but they're causing an increased sensation of pressure in the belly area. The scene at this point looks like this: Canadian couple on your right, wife on your left. Wife is actively engaged in conversation, about 1/4 through a story. The bubbles are forming and the pressure is mounting. What do you do?

A) politely ask your wife for the room key and quickly excuse yourself.

B) ignore the pressure and stay in your seat.

************************************

Choices:

A) if this was your choice then congratulations, you win. Oh and you're unbelievably boring as well. Or maybe you're more in tune with your body. Either way you're done. Please proceed to the very bottom of this post where you can laugh at someone else's misfortune.

B) You chose to sit it out. Good choice! This bubbling feeling has to pass very soon. The conversation keeps on. The pressure begins to increase. Slightly at first .... Ever so slightly. But with every syllable spoken in conversation, the pressure turns more and more into cramping. Painful cramping. You squirm a little hoping that will ease our stomach. No dice. Your thoughts drift away from the conversation towards the bathroom. How far is your room? How quickly can you get there? Are there any obstacles in the way?? What do you do?

A) politely ask your wife for the room key and quickly excuse yourself.

B) ignore the increasing pressure / pain and stay in your seat.

************************************

Choices:

A) if this was your choice then congratulations, you win. You're not as boring as the squares who chose 'A' in the first round but you're still a yawner. Please proceed to the very bottom of this post where you can laugh at someone else's misfortune.

B) you're very confident in your power over your body. Even when faced with overwhelming odds. The pressure / pain has now become a full on 17 alarm emergency. You desperately try to hang on to the conversation but thoughts are now focused on contingency planning: where is the nearest bathroom? How can I excuse myself from the conversion without raising suspicion? Will I make it? Your body has now entered complete survival mode. All energy is now focused on the catastrophe raging in your belly. What do you do???


A) snatch your wife's bag (which holds your room key and certain relief) and bolt from the table, throwing some money down for the meal.

B) remain seated, praying to the heavens above that the conversation will end soon. You'll immediately make a mad dash for your room at that time.

************************************

Choices:

A) if this was your choice then congratulations, you win. You're clearly a very smart cookie with a healthy dose of risk and bravery thrown in for good measure. Proceed to the end of this post where you can giggle at someone else's poor decision making abilities.

B) if this was your choice, pick up the phone and schedule a Dr's appointment as soon as possible. You need a head check ASAP. I mean who would ignore all the signs clearly pointing to a severe blow out? Well you chose it so you have to live with it. Looking left at your wife you realize that her mouth is moving but you can't hear the words. You look right and see more mouths moving but no sound. Sweat is now pouring down your face and you notice a certain discomfort in your belly area. The world seems a little fuzzy now and the pressure you used to feel is now like a knot in the pit of your stomach. You wonder to yourself: 'did someone give me a round-house kick to the belly and I missed it????' The world is swirling around you, legs are trembling and where sweat was once pouring has now literally become a waterfall all over your body. Your brain sensing the end is near shuts down non-essential body functions such as hearing, speaking and probably facial hair growth. All energy is now fully devoted to holding back the awful tide which is pounding at the gate. Ever see those movies where time seems to slow down when something awful is happening and the hero can make split second life-Saving decisions with unnatural clarity? That is not happening right now. Nothing is slowing down AT ALL. It is at this moment when it hits you. That fight or flight type situation. You're about to explode and the results will be horrendous. In a last gasp effort you think 'maybe the restaurant has a bathroom!' Immediately you jump up and jog towards the back asking the owner where the bathroom is. You don't hear his response because the situation has just gotten 'real.' the jog turns into a run as you turn a corner thinking to yourself that as long as you find an open space you should have enough time to drop your pants before the meltdown. Turning the corner you see the heavens open up, a unicorn gallops past and a sweet baby cherub is sitting about 50 meters away in front of .... A BATHROOM!!!!!!! You break into a full on Olympic sprint. 25 meters into this survival race you loose control. Things are erupting but you don't loose sight of the prize. You pass a small Thai lady washing dishes who looks at you like you've just emerged from a sewer. Reaching the bathroom is only the start of a new race ... Getting your pants off before any more damage is done. You win the struggle and relief is painful but sweet. You've just survived certain destruction and are very happy with yourself until you look for toilet paper. Nothing. Not even the last little smudge of toilet paper that seems to hang onto the cardboard roll thingy. Isn't this just great. Luckily the wonderful Thai people installed a garden hose in the bathroom just for me. You emerge victorious about 20 minutes later with a giant smile on your face and a realization that you just aren't that in control of your body.

All things considered, had a great day yesterday. I'll put a normal post up later with more family friendly info.

Perfect Match

We arrived last night in Chiang Mai and instantly knew it was a better place by the pure fact that we could breath when we got off the plane. Found a super cheap hostel in the heart of the city with air con, hot water, toilet paper and...no bugs or rodents!!! Then to make it even better we found a self serve laundry and washed everything today. Our clothes smell wonderful I don't know if the soap was really strong or I was just use to the stench our clothes had.

Our guide book has a walking wat tour which we started today, we only made it to the first two but we'll go back to finish. At the second wat we got to have a monk chat, he was a student Monk. It helps them with their English and it gives people the opportunity to ask them questions. Tomorrow there is a chat and meditation at a different wat that we might try. I really respect and admire the Buddhist way of life.

There are so many things that we want to do here so I think we'll be staying a while. Michael wants to do a boarder run and stay another month but I think that's a bit much. We signed up for a cooking class this weekend and tomorrow operation get Carolyn thin commences as we go to a wat with 306 steps.

Went to the night bazaar and got a 30 minute foot massage for a whopping $2 on the way back to the hostel.

I love this city!

We were hesitant to take pictures of the buddhas but there have been signs when it's not allow and there were 100s of others taking pictures so we figured we weren't disrespecting anyone

Gastro problem???

Check out the pic below. Now silence the 'h' in the first word. I think this is where you go if you have some ahhhhhh intestinal issues ;)

Saw this outside a wonderful temple in the middle of Chiang Mai. So far we're absolutely loving Chiang Mai!!!!!

Found you!!!!

On a journey like this you realize how much you actually need (or don't need) to survive and be happy. However there are some things you just can't let go of.

I'd like to take this opportunity to apologize to someone special: 'I'm so very very very sorry Starbucks!!!! I didn't mean to cheat on you with that scraggly coffee cart in koh Phangan Or Magoogoo's coffee shop in Phuket. But you just haven't been around much lately and quite frankly I needed someone to fill the void. I'll try to be better but I need you to open up a few stores along my route. Not too much to ask is it? Is it?????'

The stars were taking a shine to us last night. Found a wonderful little guest house just outside the old city walls. Best part is its across the street from a Starbucks!!!!!!! Grande mocha frappuccino???? Why yes I will, thank you very much!!!!!!!!

Ferry'd out

2/16/12:

Been one of those days. After some debate, we decided a 1.5 hour flight to Chiang Mai is a much better option than the 48'ish hour train+bus+train. So we booked our ferry back to Phuket and then bought a cheap'ish flight direct to Chiang Mai. Spent last night watching a Law and Order (winning!!!) and desperately trying to ignore a group of adolescent Malaysian kids party all night. It all culminated with a swift fist to the wall and forceful 'Quiet down in there!!!!!!!!'

Up super early at 0715 (for us atleast hahaha), quick shower (just to immediately start sweating again) and then off to the ferry. At the pier, the lady at the ticket counter tried to sell us an onward transfer to the airport but since we've been fleeced a few times already we decided to take our chances in Phuket.

The ferry started out well enough but about 5 minutes into the trip we stopped in the middle of the harbor. Apparently someone onboard forgot their camera and a nice taxi-boat person drove out to drop it off. Normally I'd remark how nice that was. But being that we had already sweat through our clothes, I quietly cursed the poor soul. The ferry started up again only to stop dead on the water about 2 minutes later. Looking around we saw a couple other boats sitting around as well. Nothing happened an no one mentioned what was happening. Finally another ferry boat approached and tied up alongside us. Now the next part is something out of the late night world news. Our boat already had several thousand people onboard (prolly closer to 200) but for some reason they figured it'd be ok to take on another 200 people. There were bags and people everywhere it was crazy. A large wave would have rolled us over no problem.

Anyway, so our 1.5 hour ferry ride turned into a 3 hour suck-fest. Ohwell, it's all part of the experience.

We managed to get a ride to the airport with a nice Chilean couple for fairly cheap. Got here with about 6 hour to kill but that's alright cause we're in the A/C :)

We'll be in Chiang Mai around 9:00PM and then we'll walk around looking for a place to stay. So far our research indicates prices and standards will be getting much better.

P.S. We definitely got our bronze on in the islands!!!!

Oh and a very happy happy birthday dad!!!!!

Skinny?

Today was Michael's never ending ploy to get me to loose weight. We started the morning with a minimal breakfast and then headed on a trek to a semi secluded beach. A treacherous hike mixed with midday sun left us slimy upon arrival but it was well worth the 50 minutes of cross-fit. The crystal clear water and views of the Phi Phi islands made it picture perfect and the luxury resort behind us made us forget we were backpackers for the day. Left the beach grabbed a quick Thai pancake (a crepe to us Westerns) and headed to the view point to catch sunset. Umm yeah Michael failed to mention the view point was a 40 minute trek at a 90 degree angle, oh we felt the burn. We took some great pictures and hurried down before the mosquitos carried us.

Then on to the exciting news of the day, our shower got fixed and we not only have water pressure but hot water!!! I can't believe we went 2 days without it when we were paying for it. This hostel really isn't bad it's just the language barrier is tough, I'm just happy we at least asked about the toilet seat on day one.

This trip has made us realize how little food we need. I know a lot right now has to do with the heat but we've eaten so little and are rarely hungry. We're heading to dinner now but thus far today we've had a two egg omelet, two pieces of toast, a banana Thai pancake and 640 ml of Chang beer, plus loads of water and we're fine. Having to buy everything and not having room for snacks helps, plus for what they charge for a can of Pringles (which are huge here) you can get a full Thai meal which makes buying them hard to swallow.

And no I don't think Michael really has a ploy for me to loose weight, that boy spends to much time fussing over his own body to worry about mine :)

Moving on to Chiang Mai tomorrow and I even convinced my extremely budget conscience husband to let us fly! WINNING!

Bangkok

Just to let everyone know we're not in Bangkok and we won't be going back until the end of our trip. I signed us up for the STEP program via DoS so they email us with any travel advisories or warnings.

Today's our last beach day for a while so we're off to make the best of it!

Oh! You want a shower?

2/14/12:

Koh Phi Phi (pronounced Pee Pee, not Fee Fee) is exactly like you read: a friggin paradise. Think giant limestone cliffs rising out of crystal blue water, powdery beaches not unlike Florida's gulf coast and a laid back attitude that would make even bob marley feel like a New Yorker. No cars here, teeny little walking paths with all sorts of trinkets and food to buy and of course hundreds of tattoo shops.

We're staying at a place called the banana resort high above the beach. The owner picked us up at the pier with a hand cart to carry our baggage and led us up to the resort itself. We got our key and were led up to our room. When I say 'up' I really mean up. The resort is already up a mountain but our room is 62 horrendous steps above the resort entrance. Normally we wouldn't give it much thought but the climb is so precarious you almost need a safety line in case you trip. Anyway we enter our little bungalow and are greeted with 2 beds (one big and one tiny), A/C (Yay!!!!) a mozzie net and a separate bathroom which looked huge! Of course the air wasn't on so upon entering we immediately developed a case of swamp-As* and had a lovely sweaty sheen all over our body and you know what that means ... Shower time!!!!! Clothes off, towels in hand, soap readied we turned on our shower, which by the way appeared to have hot water. Nothing. A trickle of water came out of the nozzle. Like slightly more than a drip. Grrrrrr. Looks like our Thai cultural experience just got that much richer! Oh and did I mention that the toilet is missing the seat? Yeppers, just the oval pot ... Can't wait to hover! We also noticed the 'under-carriage cleaner' (garden hose) next to the toilet which I'm quite certain uses the same water as our shower. So my loving wife did what any smart girl would ... She hosed me down (pic below).

This experience is just evidence that our standards are lowering with every day. I say this cause as we're washing our bodies and clothes with the under-carriage cleaner we remarked that this place is 'really nice!'

As a child I loved watching Tarzan and sometimes pretended that I was the lord of the jungle. Last night as we lay underneath our mosquito net, high above in our 'tree house' I got to live out that fantasy. Even better, Carolyn got to play the part of Jane :)

So Valentine's day is upon us which means I have to up my game a notch. Sunset snorkel tour on Koh Phi Phi???? Winning!!!!!!! Now I just need to find a sweet heart shaped chocolate box and a bag of red runts (which they don't make anymore) somewhere out here in the middle of the Andaman Sea.

We'll post more pics later from our snorkel trip ... Supposed to be going to the perfect beach from the movie 'The Beach.' So if you can suffer through that awful movie, you can see what we'll be seeing.

Koh Phi Phi

It's the island that the Leonardo Dicapro movie The Beach was filmed or so we're told. We've never heard of the movie. We booked our tickets through the travel people from the bus ride where we spent the night, paying 600 baht per ticket. When we got to Phuket Town we saw signs everywhere "tickets to Phi Phi 300 baht". Darn we got the gringo special again. We figure we're still in our two week period and most people we've met have had their share of getting ripped off during that time.

This place is filled will the most organized chaos I have ever seen! We buy our tickets and have the mans full attention and as soon as we pay he throws us out while we're asking about the bus station. We've got a voucher for a hostel in Phuket Town and one for a ferry to Phi Phi that includes pick up at the hotel. We figure out the bus and make our way to the hostel, mass transit in a big non English speaking country, go Blues! Fast forward to this morning, we're nervous that the cab won't come but it does and then when we arrive he runs over to a table where our tickets our, then a third man has us follow him to the boat and we suddenly realize that we weren't ripped off we were swindled! We are not on the backpackers boat we're on the Luxery liner. No paying to use the toliet or tp here, free coffee, water and snacks even motion sickness pills and lots of rich Europeans. So for the next two hours we're driving in style!

This rarely happens

Thought I'd give a quick look into what our room looks like about 10 minutes after we arrive. Generally as time goes on my crap begins to find its way all over the room. But on this particular day (2/9/12), Carolyn won the prize :). My stuff is the first pic, her's is the second

The secret to good backpacking

2/11
Don't plan and don't bring too much stuff. We have the latter down pat and it's really come in handy while being in the islands and going boat to boat. Everyone is sweating in the blazing sun rifling through to find their bags and we just walk right off.

The planning, well this part we haven't been very lucky with. Seems we're damned if we do damned if we don't. Based on recommendation we decided we'd go to Koh Phi Phi which is on the western coast and we booked our room a few days back. Fast forward to last night in the terrifying room in Koh Tao and we decide we've had enough of the tourist/beach scene and want to just head north but alas our hotel is non refundable and we already booked a non direct route of boat/bus to Phuket so off we go. We leave Koh Tao at 1000 and our booking says we'll arrive between 2000-2100. HA! Our one boat ride turned into two with a total of four stops, then a bus ride followed by a taxi ride where we were taken to a "bus terminal" which was someones store front that sold over priced food and then tried to swindle us for more money to get somewhere else, the owner was not happy when we said just take us to wherever we already paid for. It was delay after delay and we finally arrived at a dark ally at 1035. We had no idea what to do so we started walking and found a travel agency and they had an air con room, problems solved! We got much needed showers and had the best sleep we've had in awhile.

Flower bungalow - Koh Tao

2/10/12:

This post may be a little out of order so bear with me. Just want to give a quick recap of our 'nightmare in the bungalow.'

If you remember correctly, we felt like we had won the lottery when we found an air-con room for 700 baht. After an amazing day snorkeling around koh Tao we returned to our room feeling like a couple of movie stars with our A/C. At this point, let me paint a vivid picture of what we encountered. Close your eyes and picture a rather uninteresting white'ish building with a glass front door you'd normally expect at a dr's office circa 1978. Hovering near this door are approximately 436 Mosquitos salivating at the mere scent of our sweet American veins. We make a valiant effort to fight our way to the door and inflict close to 75% casualties but the mozzies take their toll out of our veins anyway. Entering our posh accommodation we're greeted with a pungent yet slightly subdued scent one might expect to find in a scene from CSI or maybe dirty jobs. That's ok though, we have air-con!!! The holy grail is staring us in the face on the wall just screaming 'turn me on and enjoy the bountiful comfort only I can provide you!' however our joy is short lived when we glance up at the roof. Stains - check. Dirt - check. Spider webs - check. F'ing mud-dauber nest - check and mate. That's ok though cause we have air-con!!!! We move to the bathroom where the hotel owner has generously provided mood lighting!!! Yes that's right, a hole in the roof, or maybe we'll call it a 'sky-light,' has been covered up with a red piece of plastic which gives everything in there a faint red-hue. But wait, that's not all ... The red plastic is held on with about 5 pieces of scotch tape which as you can imagine leave quite a few entry points for the mozzies (Mosquitos). It's at this point that we notice several (call it 53) red-tinted mozzies preparing to mount an assault. We quickly move into action mode: Carolyn naturally moves left dealing out withering blows from her fists and feet. I roll right and smash a great-grand-daddy of a bug with a well -timed elbow. After several minutes we stand victorious in our bathroom. Numerous bug carcasses litter the floor. Exhausted, we decide to shower in our lovely mood-lit bathroom. Of course our day would not be complete if we didn't have a cold-water only shower. So we froze to death in our heinous bathroom. Oh, a good thing to come out of the cold shower is we noticed a hole in the wall. Well you and I might call it a hole but the hotel calls it a drain. Yet another entry point for the mozzies. But we're smarter than them so we stuffed a plastic bag in the hole and said a short prayer.

All this 'experience' worked up quite an appetite so we ate a deliciously greasy pizza, had a beer and some garlic bread and grabbed some supplies for the next day. We went back to our room fully expecting to bed down for the night but the room of horrors wasn't finished with us just yet. Carolyn picked up her bag from the floor and a strange black creature ran under the bed. We both immediately put shoes on. I, being the paterfamilias, grabbed my headlamp to investigate the situation. After a few tense minutes of Carolyn jumping on the bed (trying to startle the beast) and me laying on the floor with my headlamp, we concluded whatever it was is probably in the mattress now. Can't wait to go to sleep!

A little while later, Carolyn had drifted off to sleep and I was still looking at the guide book, we were both startled almost half to death by a sound on our roof. The sound of little claws on plastic. Running all over the roof above us. We clutched each other just waiting for the moment the roof caves in on us. Luckily this doesn't happen. We debate whether to sleep with the lights on and whether to wrap ourselves in a protective layer of long clothing.

We eventually found some sleep and weren't bothered by any more beasties until a few hours after midnight. Again the sounds of little claws all over the roof. Carolyn leans in close and whispers in my ear: 'The Creature's back!' I don't think we slept much after that and when the sun came up, we were literally sprinting out of our room.

All is well though. Don't let the crazy story fool you - we're having the time of our lives here! Making our way to Phuket today and then over to Koh Phi Phi as soon as possible. From everything we've read and heard, Phuket is the last place we want to spend any time in.

P.S. The picture is of our roof from our bed. So this is what we looked up at as we listened to the creature claw across our roof. The other pic is from our snorkeling trip.

Life in the Gulf of Thailand

2/9/12:

For the first time in a week we had to set an alarm! Oh the horror!!!! But it was well worth it. Turned our extremely manly scooter in and then had a fantastic iced coffee! Grabbed a couple croissants before making our way to the ferry. While waiting in the posh 'au naturale' waiting area (i.e. A tent) we noticed a few people with neon paint still on and a couple younger kids sleeping on the sidewalk. I guess they didn't like the idea of an alarm clock either so they just slept at the pier.

The ferries are funny here ... Just a huge boat full of foreigners looking for a good time. I'm thinking the ferry operators make a killing (relatively speaking) with all the tourists running around.

Back up a bit ... We were a little worried about finding accommodation here in koh Tao so we booked a room ahead of time. Unfortunately the only thing I could find was a fan room for 600 baht. We booked one night hoping we'd get here and sort out our other night.

Ok back to the present. Off the ferry we were hit by the predictable mob pit of locals trying to get us to sign up for some tour or other and then the taxi people after that. Carolyn and I are pretty tough people so we trekked our way to the hotel. We already like this island more than koh phangan ... There's exponentially more shade and for some reason the temperature seems to have calmed down the fires of hell to just below boiling. Oh and guess who lucked out like a redneck hitting the lottery???? We did woot woot. Found a room with A/C for 700 baht/night!!!! So we'll be in our mountain room for tonight and then the glorious luxury of A/C tomorrow!!!!

Anyhow, we checked into the hotel and got a nasty snicker from the front desk lady. Apparently they require atleast 2 nights and we only booked one. Tough luck for them. We've got a mountain view room which means we get to watch a local Thai family wash some clothes and some sort of animal which resembles a dog but the jury is still out. Oh and the best part is we get to wade through a river to get to our front door. Well the hotel person said it's a river but I'm pretty sure it's a broken sewage pipe --- gross. Other fabulous amenities of this hotel include: cold showers, occasional running water (randomly shuts off as you're doing your business), no wifi, ridiculously linty towels and no top sheet (they gave us a blanket which is soooooo useful in 90 degree weather - thanks lotus hotel!).

So our itinerary for tomorrow will include sunshine, sunscreen, cold showers and a snorkeling tour!!!!!! Half day tour (which in Thailand mean 10 AM to 5 PM - weird right) around koh Tao with some super super wild life sightings hopefully.

Afterwards we're heading to Phuket on a ferry+bus ticket. Apparently Phuket is located on another F'ing continent cause the trip is going to take 12 hours!

We are not that old

We did it, we survived the Full Moon Party! We really owe it all our new friends who a) let us know what day it was b) had a good idea about when to go. I don't know when it starts, I assume after sundown but they said to wait to ensure we didn't peak too early. That equated us not leaving the resort until 1. There's a lot of Scottish travelers here so it was just the two of us Americans and a 6-7 Scotts in the "taxi" ie truck bed with benches. Let me tell you Scott's have a song for everything and they do a lot of scream singing. I think it's awesome, they even sang (screamed) their national anthem and they all had the Scottish flag painted on them somewhere in here neon paint.

We arrived in one piece, located some buckets of alcohol (generally a liquor, soda and red bull), paid the 100 baht entrance fee to go on a beach that's free every other day of the year and d danced the night away with 20,000 other tourists. There were casualties as Rebecca calls them everywhere. People who got drunk way to early and were just passed out amongst the trash, stray flip flops and straws on the beach. Side note - The toilets here never have paper and finding napkins which to them is a roll of toilet paper is like locating the Holy Grail but straws are given out in abundance. We danced, drank, glowed in neon, watched drunken fools slide down a slide with fire at the end or attempt to jump a fire rope. A good time was had by all and we got back to our room at 6 after an eventful ride back, just in time for the orange ball of fire to heat our room to a most uncomfortable temperature.

Today was recovery day. Laid around the beach at the resort, had a smorgasbord of street food for dinner, packed for tomorrow and now it's off to bed. We have an 0830 ferry to Koh Tao tomorrow.

Fun fact: Luxury item I miss the most is my electric toothbrush
PMB - coffee (I think he's finally over the lack of caffeine headaches)

You mean the party is tonight?

2/7/12:

It's about 7 pm. Our new friends say they're going out to grab dinner but will be back shortly since we're all going out tonight. Great! We'll just go have a brewski and hang out.

Fast forward to 9:30. We're fading fast. I look at her, she looks at me an we both know it: it's sleepy time. The time in which you become a pumpkin is inversely proportional to your age. This little equation means we're ready to hit the hay at about 9 pm. So we decide we'll just head off to bed. Our new friends won't miss us. Besides, the 'party' is tomorrow night.

It's about 9:45 and the girls (our new friends) have returned and say they're having a beer at the resort bar. We decide to join them thinking that'll be a polite way for us to back out of tonight's festivities.

It's 10:24. We notice people walking around in outrageous costumes. Carolyn grabs the iPhone and asks father google 'when is the full moon party?'

Yes you are correct: the full moon party is tonight. Now it's the 4th quarter with 2:00 left. We have to put our game faces on. So that's what we're doing.

Now let's go over the cornucopia of mistake we made today:
- woke up early
- spent all day at the beach in the sun
- got incredibly sun burned
- had a small dinner
- did not purchase alcohol prior to a large alcoholic event.
- did not Pre-game.

Despite all the odds, Mrs blue and I are 2 beers into what will probably be a very long night. We're dressed for success and getting ready to apply our neon paint :)

Did I mention that the ONLY reason we came to this island is for the full moon party? Seriously we were about 15 minutes from sleeping through the party. Thanks Rebecca!!!

More to follow ...

Adamantium

2/7/12:

So if you look at the picture below you'll see a rather normal, plain bed with 2 pillows. You might think to yourself 'the accommodations are pretty good there in Thailand. Decent bed, sheets AND pillows!' Fortunately for the mining industry you're not seeing the hidden wealth just under te sheets. That's right, we've found the fabled adamantium which encases wolverine's skeleton!!!! I don't know what they make the mattresses out of here but it's safe to say it is the hardest material I've ever touched. I'm positive our mattress could stop a direct hit from a .50 caliber machine gun. The good news is we're going to have fantastic posture after this trip! Oh I forgot to mention the pillows or should I say wooden logs with pillow cases.

So the Mrs and I enjoyed a breathtaking sunset last night from the deck just 10 steps from our room. There just aren't words to describe it.

Today we've been motoring around the island just soaking up the sun and getting some supplies for the full moon party. By supplies I mean neon paint and the most outrageously colored clothing you can think of. This full moon party is the zenith of revelry so of course we're going to be participating :)

Went to what was supposed to be the nicest beach on the island today (Had Yao). It was awfully pretty until we got in the water and realized we had joined some sort of jelly fish mating ritual. There must have been 1000000 jellies out there. So we promptly grabbed our things and headed to the next spectacular beach and just floated around for a bit. This was a most enjoyable time however it must be noted that we learned a valuable lesson today: applying sunscreen once a day at 0900 and then sweating uncontrollably is not the best decision. We're pretty crispy right now to say the least.

Tonight ... Going out with some new friends and getting our drink on!!!!

Note: pics below aren't in any order. The first one is our lunch. We were hungry so we stopped at a 'restaurant' (the term is used very loosely) and spent a bit more than usual. My meal was a little over $3.00! Ain't life grand.

Don't go chasing waterfalls

Happy Superbowl Monday! We tried asking around to see if anyone was showing the game which was a no since it was on at 0600. We watched a segment on Al Jazeera about how crazy Americans are and how much money everyone spends on one event. We got on wifi with :57 seconds left, apparently that was perfect timing.

Our non air-con wasn't as bad as we predicted (although right now at 1755 it's a furnace). The issue is that there's no window, no cross breeze and the mosquitos are too ferocious to keep the doors open. Price you pay for being mere feet from the beach.

Did a "short-but-rough hike" to Nam Tok Phaeng. Michael thinks it was a record breaking sweat for him, I had to remind him of Afghanistan. He said its the sweatiest he's been sans body armor. We both had a healthy glisten covering our entire bodies, running off our ears, noses, just about everywhere. After that I rode over to Haad Salad beach with my Larry Crowne husband. He drives in the shoulder the ENTIRE time claiming he's waiting for someone to pass him. He's also a stickler for the rules as he read that you could be fined if your not wearing a helmet, which he inquired about when the scooter only came with one helmet. Only the driver needs to be wearing one but rules aren't unforced on any level in the country (unless they are in reference to the King), 85% of the riders we see aren't even fully clothed let alone wearing a helmet.

Shout outs of the day:
Marisa THANK YOU for convincing me to bring an umbrella, we've had torrential rain every afternoon.

Mom - commenting on my blog isn't an acceptable form of communication, especially when I've e-mailed you. How about responding?