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.

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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.

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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!!!!!

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?