February 15, 2007 - Bangkok Hard

When we landed in Bangkok, we were immediately overwhelmed by the place and the people. On the plane, we read in our guidebook that the airport is a bit crazy and tourists should only take metered taxis - not taxis from the people who stand at the arrival area. Okay. We got to the arrival area and were accosted by hordes of people who were talking very rapidly and pressuring us to ride with them. We kept our wits about us and went to get money to call the guest house we were interested in staying at. By the time I got back with the money, Sarah was surrounded on all sides and had agreed to a ride in some guy's taxi. You should have seen her face - she was quite at her wit's end. I was scared to death the whole way but we made it to our guest house unharmed and with all our bags intact. It's funny how exhausting it is to keep people away when they want something from you.

The next day, we did a little research to find out how to get down to the Krabi region. We knew we wanted to take a train instead of fly so we could see a bit of the countryside. We went on a little excursion to the train station and it was quite an experience. Let me just start by saying, "It was hot." You haven't felt hot until you've been in Southeast Asia during the hot period. In addition to the heat, the air pollution was unbelievable. Locals all wear face masks so they aren't breathing in so much of the fumes. We definitely got a contact buzz everytime we walked outside. On top of those things, the city is nearly impossible to navigate on your own. Maps don't make sense, street names don't exist, you can't see more than a few feet in any direction because of all the buildings piled on top of each other. Somehow we got ourselves into the heart of Chinatown, trying to find the river so we could get on a boat. We couldn't figure out where we were and it felt like we were making poor choices with each alley we decided to go down. Just when I thought I'd have to pick Sarah up and haul her over my shoulder like a sack of potatoes, we blessedly saw water. That little shred of hope was all we needed to pluck up the courage to keep going. After much confusion, we made it onto a boat and back to our guest house where we promptly packed our bags and left on the next train out of town.

Bangkok wasn't our kind of place. Now we know ;-)

February 23, 2007 - Train - Tuk Tuk - Bus - Taxi - Boat

Getting from Bangkok to Tonsai was quite an effort. We took an overnight train for 13 hours down to Trang. This was a pretty interesting experience. There were many locals on the train so we got to observe them a bit and we got to see some of the countryside. This was also my first experience with a sleeper train. It's difficult to lay down to go to sleep while on public transportation. I mean, it's one thing to briefly nod off on a Muni train and many of you know that I can't stay awake on an airplane anymore... but to haul yourself up a ladder and lay down to sleep is just difficult.

When we got off the train, we were quickly swept up by some locals and put into a tuk tuk. We felt pretty hilarious with all our bags hanging off the back and sliding around on the roof. We made it to the bus station (I use that term very, very loosely.) We took the 2 hour bus ride from Trang to Krabi and were let out in the middle of nowhere. It looked like a 7-Eleven surrounded by a bunch of huts. People were coming at us from all directions and were trying desperately to figure out how the hell to get from the outskirts of town over to the little bay town where we wanted to stay. We finally threw our hands in the air and paid one of the harrassers an outrageous amount of money for a taxi ride to AoNang. From Ao Nang, the only way to get to Tonsai is by boat. We didn't think we could handle any more moving around or negotiating, so we stayed the night in Ao Nang and took a boat over to Tonsai the next day.

Boat girl #1

Boat girl #2

February 23, 2007 - New Culture, New Everything

Sarah and I are both fairly well-traveled, but neither of us has been to an Asian country before. We knew it would be different than anything else we'd experienced and we prepared ourselves to welcome all these things and really enjoy the experience. This was the first country on the trip where we didn't have any experience with the language. We read up on how to say a few phrases and we learned more as we went along. We learned about their customs and did as they did - we took our shoes off before entering a place, we greeted people with hands palms pressed together, we bought Thai pants (and learned how to put them on ;-), we layed around in hammocks, we ate local dishes and drank copious amounts of pineapple lassi and thai ice tea. The other thing we learned to do was bargain. This is part of the Asian culture and it's expected that people will haggle with each other to try to negotiate the best price. This is something that we just don't do in our country and it almost seems rude to challenge someone on the price of their goods. However, we got into the spirit of bargaining quite readily and became pretty good and getting prices lowered. Turns out that they key is to be willing to walk away at any point and then you usually get what you want. Something that can be applied to other parts of life as well.

February 24, 2007 - Positive Energy

Sarah and I are both positive-minded people and that trait has been essential on this trip. Whenever we undergo hardships, we always search for the bright side. Anytime we're struggling with all our luggage (which is frequent), we think about the great exercise we're getting. What better way to get strong than to haul your bodyweight in luggage up and down the streets of Sydney... or what a great calf workout to have to walk up the stairs with heavy backpacks.... or the good balance development you get when you're trying to get out of a long-tail boat and have to wade through shin-deep water and try to avoid the razor-sharp coral scattered everywhere. Endless possibilities there.

Now that we're in Southeast Asia, it's all about the cleanse. When you sweat this much and are constantly too hot to move, it's important to visualize yourself sitting (willingly) in a suana and getting all the toxins out of the body. This is a good thing. Sweating is healthy. Sweating is good. Mmmm hmmm.

February 24 , 2007 - A Hut of Our Own

When you're jumping around every few days in a new city or a new hostel or a new country, you start to long for stability. It's amazing how desirable it becomes to just stay in one place for a long period of time. I suppose that's the balance we're always trying to strike - our innate desire to be nomadic and to keep moving and our equally innate desire to settle down and establish roots.

Since I was a child, I have always been someone who moved around a lot. I suppose I have my mother to thank for that. She is a nomad at heart and, now that she doesn't have kids to look after, has a job that moves her around to different parts of the country every 3 months. When I was growing up, we rarely stayed in a house more than a year or two. The apple doesn't fall far - I've down quite a bit of moving around since I left home and this trip is part of that.

Sarah and I were looking forward to Thailand because we knew that we would have a hut of our own and we could unpack our stuff and let it sit there for a whopping 3 weeks. Our little place at Dream Valley was barely held together and had a charming bounce to it since the floor wasn't supported through the center. Even though we had to share the hut with several geckos, hordes of mosquitos and a gigantic lizzard, it still felt gloriously like home.

Home sweet home

Dream Valley

February 25, 2007 - Great Travel Partners

There are many people that you are friends with, that you love dearly and that you can't imagine not being part of your life. But there are very few people that you can travel with. Sarah and I have hit the jackpot with each other as travel partners. We have so much fun together - which is essential. But more than that, we are completely aligned. We almost always want to be doing the same thing at the same time. We share meals, our sleep patterns are perfectly in sync, we get emotional at the same time... the only thing we take turns with is being sick - therefore we always have someone to take care of us ;-)

We've already developed the abiility to communicate through telepathy. We so frequently think the same thing at the same time that we're unsure where one of us starts and the other ends. I keep telling Sarah to "get outta my head!" and she keeps telling me that she can't find the door. Hee hee!

What's even better is the support that we give each other. When one is struggling, the other is always there to help. We really rely on each other and the trust we've developed in just the past 3 months is solid. We spent the night in different rooms one night and the next morning we were so glad to see each other. It was strange to not have her sleeping right beside me. You feel like something important is missing.

So we took a chance that we would enjoy traveling together and it has paid off. We are so lucky to have each other and this experience is all the more phenomenal because we can share it with each other.

Great scenery

Amazing experiences

Silliness

Always together

February 25, 2007 - Letting People In, Letting Them Go

We have met so many wonderful people on this trip - both locals and other travlers. That's part of what makes traveling so fun. We have intentionally opened ourselves up to meet new people and therefore it's been really easy in each place we've traveled. When you're open and willing to let people into your life, you can make amazing connections. We've learned so much from people we've met and we feel like we've shared a lot too. That's one of th cool things about being gone for such a long time. It always seems worth it to make the effort to get to know people even though one or the other will be moving on and out of your life in either a few hours or a few days. At home, we're much more guarded about who we choose to open up to. We want to invest our time and effort in people who will be around for a while. On the road, that's not possible. So you take what you can get and move quickly into more intimate relationships with people where you're sharing your life experiences, your plans, your dreams, your feelings.... all of it. But you also have to let people go. You have to be thankful for what you had and leave it up to fate whether you will see them again, keep in touch by email or just have those few moments.

Mexico

New Zealand

Australia

Thailand

February 26, 2007 - Can't Sleep, Doesn't Matter

Last night I couldn't sleep. I woke up after just a few hours and laid there for quite some time. At first I was anxious about it. But then I realized that it doesn't matter - at all. I have nothing to do that requires me to be fully rested for the entire day. Even if I go out climbing, I can come back and take a nap in the afternoon. This is something I would never have felt at home. Life was so busy that there wasn't a moment to spare and not being able to sleep one night would wreak havoc on an entire week. When I get home, remind me not to get so busy that I can't function if I don't sleep through the night.

February 27, 2007 - Two Hearts

Sarah and I are very much involved with our trip and committed to meeting new people and having new experiences. On the other hand, we're also very much tied to our friends and family at home. We feel like we have two hearts - one we take with us as we travel around, and one we've left at home with all our loved ones. It's actually a beautiful feeling - to be able to experience the wonders of the world and make all sorts of new friends but to have a solid foundation of people at home who love us and who we absolutely adore.

Two hearts

February 28, 2007 - "I'm on Lead Honey"

When you're climbing, it is normal to get scared, especially when you're on lead and you're making difficult moves. It's not uncommon for people to become irritable with their belayers if they think the belayer isn't paying close attention to them.

Sarah and I were climbing for the second day in Thailand and I was leading up a climb. I was resting right before the crux and had started to move up. I was pulling the hardest move on the climb and didn't have any rope. Sarah still had me locked off. I kept pulling up trying to overpower her and in the sweetest voice you can imagine, I said "I'm on lead honey, I need some rope." She quickly played out enough rope for me to get to the next clip. When I got there, we both started cracking up at what I had just said. You know it takes an amazing amount of trust to be sweet in a moment like that. I thought that was really cool. And it's true, in that moment, I knew Sarah was paying such close attention to me that she momentarily forgot to let out the rope. Sarah's always got my back and this goes to show that I know that on several levels. =)

Support system

Big trust

March 1 , 2007 - Life Story

Sarah and I spend 99% of our time in each other's company. We're both talkers and we've had all kinds of crazy conversations running the gamut from politics to waxing to men to art to cats to bathroom habits to renewable energy... and on and on and on. We noticed that we were also telling each other our life stories - little by little, bit by bit. The stories just seem to unfold, either by triggered memories or reminiscences or a renewed desire to revisit certain things that have happened in our lives. It's been fun listening to Sarah's stories and it's also been fun telling my own. We figure that by the end of this year, we'll know more about each other than anyone else will know about us just from the sheer amount of time we spend together and the amazing percentage of that time we spend talking. I think that automatically qualifies us for BFF membership ;-)

March 2 , 2007 - Telepathy

I've noticed that my mental telepathy skills have increased. Not only can Sarah and I communicate without speaking, but I can also sense when people from home are thinking about me. It usually happens when I've been quiet for a long time, either laying on the beach or waking up in the morning or just staring into space thinking my thoughts. Some random person will enter into my thoughts and I'll know that they've emailed me. This has happened 5 or 6 times now and I find it very impressive. I know some of you are now convinced that I've gotten too new-agey, but I think there's something to it. Maybe if you're mind is open enough, there's space to receive energy like that from other people. Who knows - it's totally possible!

March 3 , 2007 - Star Signs

Speaking of new-agey... our new friend Scott is a believer in star signs. He has a book that he carries when he's traveling that lists all the combinations of sun and moon stars a person can be born under. I have to say that I am a complete disbeliever in astrology. My mom used to love to read our horoscopes every morning and those things were always so vague and general that they could apply to anyone.

But Scott brought the book to dinner one night and looked up my signs (My sun/moon is Taurus/Aries which apparently means earth/fire. So he pops the book open to my page and proceeds to read an exact description of me. It was really spooky actually. It talked about my strengths and weaknesses and how I am outwardly versus inwardly and what type of people I like to be around. I thought it was very cool.

But being a doubter, I insisted that we read Sarah's signs the next night. To my dismay, her's was pretty much right on as well, except for one or two exceptions. And what's more, her description could not be applied to me at all. So the write-ups are not just generalizations to apply to all-comers.

If I'd known there was a book out there with one page that told me all about myself, maybe I wouldn't have had to work so damn hard the past 34 years to figure it out.

Written in the stars

March 7 , 2007 - One Foot Forward

Many of you know that I have several "issues". My biggest issue is that I hate feet. I don't like to look at people's feet,I don't want anyone's feet to be near my body, I don't want anyone to touch me with their feet and I certainly don't want to touch anyone's feet. I know this is strange, but that's just the way it is.

I've tried to push past this issue time and time again and have made a bit of progress. Kirsten's feet have been near me when we sat in our living room and sometimes I never said anything about it. On this trip, Sarah's feet have touched me several times and not only did I not say anything about it, but it really didn't bother me. But recently, I've broken new ground. I actually touched Sarah's foot! My girl needed me and I came through for her. She had cut the bottom of her foot on some coral and needed to apply iodine to it. She couldn't get it on the wound because of the angle so I stepped in and took care of it. As befits a momentous occasion, we got proof:

Serious progress

March 8 , 2007 - Karl and Amy Arrive!!

Our friends Karl and Amy came to visit us in Thailand. It was such a joy to be with them again. Karl and I have a history of thinking the same thing at the same time and therefore we believe that we were separated at birth. I am happy to report that nothing has changed - we're just as in-sync as ever despite the 3 month separation. Amy and Sarah have been best friends for the past 10 years and are unstoppable when they are together. It's so fun to be part of that energy. These are two of the people that we love most and when you're around you're favorite people, life is just better.

SAB

BFF

March 8 , 2007 - Tiny Her Update

I was having problems with my camera and asked Kirsten to get me a new one and send it out with Karl. Not only did my wonderful friend take care of all of that (plus my taxes) on a moment's notice, but she also managed to go over to Simon's for a visit with Tiny Her. She proceeded to fill up my new camera's memory card with pictures and videos of my beloved. I don't deserve to have such a loving and thoughtful friend, but I'm so glad she's mine. (Please note Her's tiny-ness. Apparently, Simon has her doing laps up and down his long hallway and she's dropped some poundage. I hear that he's talking about a tummy tuck to complete Her's transformation. I'm not going to recognize this glamour-puss when I get home!)

Aunt Kirsten and Her

So tiny!

Her likes to play

Happy about Her

March 11 , 2007 - Thai Massage

While we were in Thailand, we managed to get a massage about every other night. At $6 a go, it was well worth the indulgence. I had never gotten a Thai massage before but was thoroughly impressed. Instead of rubbing, they do a lot of pressing to release muscle tension. They also incorporate yoga moves into the mix to stretch out muscles and get your joints back into alignment. A one hour session will leave you exhausted and ultra-flexible. There were a couple of days when we got worked over so much that we needed a rest day the following day.

When you get that many massages, you're bound to get to know the masseuses. We got to know a few of them and were really crazy about one in particular named Kao. She had such a fun personality and even went out dancing with us on our last night on the island. Unfortunately, we didn't get any pictures of her, but she's definitely part of our memories.

Thai massage

March 13 , 2007 - "Nell"

Sarah and were having dinner and were slightly buzzed. (We really don't drink anymore so just one drink will really throw us for a loop.) We heard some crazy music coming from one of the bars and were commenting on it. Sarah said it reminded her of some television show theme song. She couldn't think of it and to trigger my memory, she said that it was a show like Wonder Woman but starred a black woman with a big afro. Out of nowhere, one word came out of my mouth.... "Nell" ... Sarah and I started laughing so hard and I swear our laughing fit lasted for about 5 minutes. We were gasping for breath and trying desperately to swallow the food we had in our mouths. Then Sarah gained enough composure to clarify, "You mean Nell Carter?" I nodded my head and we laughed for another 5 minutes straight.

I don't know how Nell came into my head but when the word came out of my mouth, it sounded like I was possessed... like some other force took over my body to say that word. We are laughing hysterically as I write this because it was such a random, hilarious moment for us. I doubt it will translate well to anyone but us, but we can look back at this someday and roll around with laughter once again.

(For those of you who need to know, we figured out the next day that the show Sarah was referring to was Jackie Brown. A far, far cry from Nell.)

Nell

March 15 , 2007 - Imitation, Sincere Flattery

When we were getting our final Thai massages, our fave masseuse Kao told us about a Thai ska band that was playing at one of the beachfront bars. Martin and Matt, some new friends we met, joined us and we all met up at the Chill Out bar for a night of dancing.

Thai ska is a really funny form of ska - very upbeat and bouncy. We danced and danced and Kao was so fun. I noticed that she would imitate our dance moves and I thought that was so interesting. When we dance, we make a point of doing different moves from those around us, but imitating us was clearly her way of showing respect. Sarah and I both caught onto this and did the same for her. It was more like dancing with someone than just near someone. It was really different than what we're used to and it was really sweet and fun.

April 15, 2007 - Sawatdee Bee Mai! (Happy New Year)

We arrived in Thailand at the perfect time - the last day of Songkran (Thai New Year). This three-day festival is an all-out celebration. People go home to spend time with their families, they go to the wats to pay tribute to the buddha and they throw water everywhere. I couldn't think of anything similar that we have in the states. Our festivals are pretty short and pretty tame in comparison to this. I mean, don't get me wrong, we have Macy's Thanksgiving Parade and we have the Super Bowl, but it's just not the same.

Sarah and I went out in the morning to see if we could get a Thai massage before joining in the festivities. Not only were all the businesses closed for the holiday, but we got ambushed as we were walking down the street. Kids were chasing us down the street with water pistols. You don't realize how fast you can run in flip flops until you really need to! We jumped in a tuk tuk to seek refuge. As we were driving down the street, a tuk tuk coming the opposite direction threw a huge bucket of water right in our faces. We were absolutely stunned! We looked at each with mouths agape and then quickly shut them to prevent more water going into our sensitive systems. At that we took the "can't beat 'em, join 'em" attitude and stopped off at the store to buy some guns and load up on water. We inched our way back to the guesthouse and the ambush was in full force.

Our people had set up stations on either side of the road to douse passers-by with buckets of water. We were quickly annointed by our own crew and then joined in the effort to get the rest of Chiang Mai wet. We had so much fun. We laughed and giggled and screamed like school girls!

We wanted to go down to the moat to see the main action and it just so happened that our Thai neighbors were loading up their truck with people and buckets of water and heading down. They invited us to join them and we jumped on the tailgate. I have never seen such chaos in all my days. People were everywhere - in cars, on scooters, in the back of trucks, walking down the street, flanking the sidewalks and even in the moat itself. We were not prepared for the deluge of water being shot at us from every direction. We couldn't keep our eyes open or our mouths closed! It was crazy. We fought off attacks as best we could, but I think we swallowed half the moat that day. The coolest thing was that everyone was smiling and happy and no one was doing anything out of malice. It was all a celebration and they welcomed us into their tradition with open arms (with a bucket in each hand).

Water fight!

Stopping traffic

Armed and ready

April 16, 2007 - Thai Cooking Class

Thai food is extraordinary. So many unique spices and ingredients coming together in perfect unison. As some of you know, I'm no cook. Never have been and have never been upset about it. But being on this trip and having to eat out for every meal every day has made me want to cook a meal from time to time.

Sarah and I signed up to take a class with Smart Cooks and we got lucky to get a professional like Nancy to teach us the Thai secrets. She took us to the market to pick out our ingredients and then took us in hand through seven dishes. We made pad thai, spring rolls, curry paste, stir fry, sticky rice and mango, papaya salad and coconut milk soup. Everything turned out delicious and I was surprised by how much fun I had. When you've got time, cooking is great. It's quite a challenge but so rewarding when it turns out well. I think I'll try out my new skills when I get home. Of course, that's 8 months from now and I'm like a leaf in the wind with my interests these days, but it's good to have goals!

Pro at work

Excellent teacher

Visual proof

I totally made these!

April 17, 2007 - Day of Beauty

Sarah and I really wanted to get Thai massages to ease our aching backs and stiff necks. We found a lovely place down the road from the climbing shop and got fantastic massages. We thought we might as well get pedicures while we were there (because everyone wants pretty toes when climbing rocks). As we sat and enjoyed the pedicure, we thought it might be nice to get a facial. So we got ugly for the sake of getting pretty again. Because of course a facial is going to get rid of all the new wrinkles we've developed from spending so much time in the sun. Yep.

After all of that, we went to the local yoga studio for a nice stretching session. We worked our hamstrings to the point of popping but felt fantastic afterwards. So good in fact that we took ourselves down to the night market for a bit of shopping. Of course, the first thing we bought were Thai outfits so we'll have even more costumes when we get home. We've already decided that we'll need to throw a party every couple weeks when we get home just so we'll get a chance to wear all our new ethnic-wear.

Beauty in progress

Thai massage

New costume

Night market fun

April 19, 2007 - Elephant Nature Center

We had read about an amazing place called the Elephant Nature Center just outside of Chiang Mai. Lek is a Thai woman who grew up loving elephants. It has become her mission to rescue elephants in jeopardy, to educate people about the atrocities committed against elephants in Southeast Asia and change legislation and the way people think about how animals should be treated.

The center has over 30 elephants right now, in addition to 37 dogs, 22 cats and 2 cows. All have been abused or abandoned and are now being nursed and loved back to health by Lek and her crew of volunteers. We got to watch these elephants doing what they do best - just being elephants. We learned so much about these beautiful creatures. They are remarkably like humans in the way the live in communities, nurture their young, tease each other, support each other, throw fits when they don't get their way, cry for the loss of their friends and suffer when they are mistreated. It was a joy to watch them interact and a special delight to see the babies in action. We also got involved with feeding and bathing them which was fun because we got to get so close to these wonderous beings.

We also learned about the plight of the Asian elephant. These poor animals are systematically tortured by their owners in order to "break" them. I'm not going to describe the torture here because it makes me sick to know that human beings are capable of hurting animals in this way. But I do want people to know that these animals are tortured and used for logging work and tourist treks.

You can help put an end to this by not going on an elephant trek. If enough tourists express their feelings that they are not interest in abusing animals for their pleasure, then it will help stop the brutality that exists today. In addition, elephants aren't built to carry heavy loads on their backs. It literally breaks their back and causes excruciating pain to carry people in baskets. In addition, the baskets cause gaping sores on the elephants body that rarely get medical treatment. So please do your part by saying no to elephant trekking. Besides, it's much more fun to sit and watch these animals play than it is to sit on their backs and look at the back of their heads all day.

Lovely

Amazing woman

So sweet

Poor angel

April 21, 2007 - Climbing On... Trying to Anyway

We haven't been climbing for about a month but managed to get out to the crag two days during our stay in Chiang Mai. It was a little disheartening to realize how much I've slipped in my climbing level just from taking a bit of time off. However, I have to say that I didn't really push myself to climb many difficult routes when we were in Tonsai. I'm not really sure why that is. However, based on my performance on a two-pitch climb rated 6a/6a+, I think a little training plan is in order. I struggled so much on that 6a+. I literally climbed from bolt to bolt and had poor Sarah take in as much rope as possible as I sat at each bolt to figure out how to get to the next one. Sad. I don't want to beat myself up, but I will devote myself to working on harder projects once we get to Morocco and Italy where we'll be able to cimb more regularly.

Limeston cliffs

Starting pitch 2