Ko Samui Continued

Well, I hate to say it, but our guided kayaking tour of the marine national park was rather disappointing. For one thing, the guide did not come across as particularly knowledgeable about the marine park and the wildlife that lives there, which was a shame. A lot of the other guided trips we've taken have had a guide who could really tell you all about what was around you and how the area was formed. Downer #2 was that we didn't have nearly as much time in the kayaks as we would have liked - all together, we probably only had about an hour out of the whole day to kayak, a half an hour in the morning and a half an hour in the afternoon. Then, when the first time we got into the kayaks in the morning, we were surrounded by these strange looking "sea bugs" for lack of a better word, which were floating around in the water. they were about an inch to two inches long and oval shapped with with a fringe of legs surrounding their bodies. They would slowly swim through the water and when you scooped one up with the kayak paddle, they would curl up like a rolly polly bug. Too weird! When I asked one of our Thai guides about them, he thought they might be some kind of leech - gross - and our main guide had no idea what they were. Regardless, this quickly deterred us from getting in the water to do any snorkeling! Besides, the water quality wasn't that great anyway. Finally, the food on the boat was the worst we've had the whole trip, and we thought Thai food was pretty hard to mess up! So that's how the cookie crumbles I guess......enough complaining right?

Yesterday, we took the scooter out again and went back to a spa across the street from the cooking school we attended. We had been there the day we had our cooking and carving classees for a wonderful foot massage between classes and when we noticed they offered all kinds of other spa treatments, we decided to go back. Jim got a rejuvenating facial while I had a pedicure, foot massage and scrub. The prices are so cheap here it's amazing - my two hour foot treatment cost the equivalent of about $30!

Well, as Carol Burnett said, I'm so glad we've had this time together.......tomorrow we fly back to Bangkok where we'll overnight at a hotel attached to the airport then bright and early on the morning of the 21st we'll be flying back to Dallas. Thanks to all of you for following along with our travels - this has truly been an amazing and rewarding experience for us. While we have enjoyed almost every minute of our travels, we are also really excited to get back home where we can be around our family and friends again. So best wishes to you all and when more fun travel opportunities come our way, we'll definitely fire up the blog again!

Ko Samui, Thailand

We arrived here on Saturday from Chiang Mai and it's been a pretty relaxing, laid back few days. We are staying at a place called L'Hacienda Hotel, which is located in Baphut, one of the smaller beach communities located on the north side of the island. We chose this area because it's a little smaller and quieter than the other towns on the island, Chaweng and Lamai. Unfortunately, the beaches on this side of the island aren't the best, but it's still quite lovely.

Our hotel is a small with only eight rooms and we're on the second floor with a perfect view of the ocean from our deck and a view of a neighboring island, Koh Phangan in the distance. Oh and the best part is, we have a small pool on the roof! this part of Bophut is called "Fisherman's Village" for the pier that is in the middle of town and it's really walkable, with lots of restaurants and shops lining the narrow main street.

The taxis on the island are really expensive compared to the other places in Thailand we've been in, so we decided to rent a scooter through the hotel for a couple of outings we've had. They're actually pretty fun once you get over sharing the road with all the other scooters on the island as well as the cars and trucks that drive by! There is a place on the island called the Samui Institute for Thai Culinary Arts (SITCA) and yesterday we went there and took a fruit carving class and another Thai cooking class. There was one other student in the carving class and we all were given a watermelon to carve a flower on. After getting some great instruction, we all did a pretty great job! Unfortunately, we didn't have the camera with us so I can't post a picture of our finished project, but the woman who was in the class with us said she would email the pictures she took when she got home.

When the class was over, we had a few hours to kill until the cooking class began at 4 p.m., so we went across the street for a foot massage. As any of you who have ever been to Thailand know, massage places are EVERYWHERE and they are so reasonably priced, you can't pass it up. Plus, it feels so good! We each had a one hour foot massage, which included your calves and then a shoulder massage as well and paid about $5. What a bargain!

The evening cooking class had five other students in the class besides us, four women from Denmark and a guy from The Netherlands. Our teacher was really entertaining and we cooked four dishes, all of which turned our really beautifully. Man, if this keeps up, we'll really be able to cook some good Thai food when we get home! Also, we were given dvds and a cookbook from all of our classes, which should help a lot.

Today we did a little island exploring on the scooter - oh by the way, Jim is operating it perfectly and I'm trying not to be too fidgety of a passenger - and headed over to Big Buddha Beach. It's a little point of land on the northeast part of the island. True to it's name, there's a HUGE golden buddha at the point with a temple nearby. It was quite a site and well worth the trip -plus, there were some great shops around the area as well.

Tomorrow, we head out on a guided kayaking trip to the offshore island chain that form a national marine park. We've really been looking forward to this so hopefully we'll have some great pictures to post........

A Nice New Zealand Video

As we've gone along with our travels, I've actually found that the pictures and videos that I can take with my phone are just as good (if not better) than the camera. So, I went through my phone and found some videos you might be interesting in seeing. This one below was taken on the Otago Penninsula on the south island of New Zealand while we were there with Tina and Sharon. We had driven up to this point of land that offered an amazing 360 degree view of the ocean. When you watch it, you'll see Tina walk by and then at the end will be Jim also filming the water. It was a bit windy that day, as you can see! Oh, and sorry about the gloved fingers over the lens in the beginning........

Chiang Mai Continued

After spending 10 wonderful days here in Chiang Mai, we leave Saturday for Ko Samui, and island in the Gulf of Thailand for the last 10 days of our trip. Our time here in Chiang Mai has really been fantastic, much of it because of the great place we stayed. Originally we were only going to stay here until June 4th, but after just one day in the place we liked it so much we decided to extend our stay until the 11th. The property is called Baan Orapin Guesthouse, and it started as a family plantation about 100 years ago. As the city built up around it, the family keep it and the grounds in their original condition until the current owner, who’s grandfather built the place, decided to turn it into a guesthouse. It consists of about 5 buildings set among lush tropical gardens with an inviting swimming pool as it’s centerpiece.

Our room is certainly the largest and nicest we’ve had on this whole trip, which is amazing given that we are paying the equivalent of about $65 U.S. a night. That also includes a full breakfast each morning that is really delicious. Unlike a lot of places where it’s just a breakfast buffet, they bring you a menu where you can choose from 6 daily breakfasts or there are another six which are more of a specialty that you can order for the following day. All of them have been really, really good and the service is impeccable. The fellow who serves breakfast every morning is the cousin of the owner and although his English is minimal, he is always so friendly and accommodating. He’s gotten to know us pretty well so every morning when we come to breakfast he tries to teach us one new phrase in Thai. We've tried to remember them, but by the next morning, it’s a bit of a struggle!

As I’ve mentioned a few times, the best part of traveling for us is the wonderful people you meet along the way and we were very fortunate to meet Colleen and John who were also staying at Baan Orapin. They are from Adelaide, Australia and we just hit it off right away. We visited the markets with them and enjoyed a few meals together as well. They very generously invited us to visit them in Adelaide and of course we told them once we’re settled in Seattle and have a guest bedroom we would love to have them come to the States as well......that will be a hoot!!

The nice thing about Chiang Mai is that it is much smaller than Bangkok so consequently, much easier to get around and not nearly as frenetic. I think that, in combination with all the fun outdoor activities there are to do here, make this place an excellent Thailand destination. We’ve also been fortunate that even though we are technically here during their rainy season, the weather has been quite cooperative and there have only been a couple of times we’ve been caught in an early evening shower. The markets are amazing and the variety of things you can find is really something. I can see why people go crazy with their shopping here!

I guess that’s it for now from the northland……next dispatch will be from the island!

Temple Spotting in Chiang Mai

Obviously, one of the big draws in Thailand are the buddhist temples, and Chiang Mai is a wonderful place to see them.

Our Place in Chiang Mai

Here are some pictures of where we are staying in Chiang Mai. Totally beautiful!! In fact, we liked it so much, we extended our stay by a week!

Jim Sailing Through the Zip Line

This is a great video Jim made while he was on the zipline:

Jim's Baby Elephant

Here's a great video that Jim did while he was riding his elephant. He had the mama elephant and her baby came along......such a cutie!!

Australia Photo Album

Hey Everyone,

I finally organized some pictures from Australia into a photo album......enjoy!

Chiang Mai,Thailand

We've been in Chiang Mai for a few days now and already are enjoying it much more than Bangkok. It's located in northern Thailand, about an hour's flight from Bangkok. Of course, it's much smaller so that makes it much easier to get around but that also means much less air pollution and noise. The other cool thing about this area is there are a lot of really interesting things to see and do on a much more human scale. One of the more popular things to do here that we're looking forward to is taking Thai cooking classes. Since we have about 10 days here, we're hoping to take a couple of them. Of course the trick will be to see how much we remember when we get back to Seattle! We're also looking forward to some great Thai massages.

Yesterday was probably one of the best days we've had on our travels. We visited a place called Patara Elephant Farm which is a conservation/elephant breeding project about 30 minutes south of the city. It was a day of complete immersion in the day to day activities of the farm and man, was it a blast! They picked us up from the airport about 7:30 in the morning and when we arrived at the farm, there were about 15 total people there, ranging from a family with four little kids to mature adults like us (don't laugh......). The day was to consist of getting to know the elephant and trainer we would be matched up with, doing a health inspection on our elephant, then guiding them to the river where we would bathe them. Then we would be riding them on a 1 hour path through the jungle to a waterfall, where we would all have lunch while the elephants played in the water and then ride them back to the farm.

After learning about basic elephant behavior and commands, each person met their elephant and trainer. I had a female elephant who was one of the oldest on the farm at 38 while Jim had a younger female and her 3 month old baby......totally adorable. My elephant's name was something like Mae Koo Pa, which in Thai means "flower" but I'm sure how I've written here probably means trash bag. Anyway, it was such a fantastic feeling to walk up to this huge beast (mine also happended to be the largest on the farm) and feed her pieces of sugar cane and whole bananas while I scratched her trunk and said "dee dee" over and over, which means "good girl". Intimidating? Oh yes.......but it is amazing how gentle and friendly they are. The health inspection involved four items: First, ensuring the elephant slept on the ground the night before (apparently, if they're sick or not feeling well, they'll stand up all night) and you do that by checking for dirt marks on their sides and ears. Second, making sure the elephant is sweating property. How do you check this, you might ask? Well, elephants don't sweat from their skin and the only place they do sweat from is right around their toenails. Sure enough, mine had damp rings around her toenails so she was in good shape. Third, you check their dung. Yes, the dung. Each elephant is expected to produce at least 6 softball sized balls of dung at a minimum a night which shows they are digesting their food properly. Fourth, and this is something that is usually seen first thing when you walk up to the elephant, is that they are swishing their tail and flapping their ears which tells you they are in a good mood.

My girl was doing great on all accounts, so we then walked her to the river to the river. Jim was there with his elephants as well as everyone else in the group. Besides Jim's elephants, we had another one in the group with a small baby, so it was quite entertaining! Before we took them in the river, though, we had to get them to sit down and then we used a large bushel of branches to brush off the dirt on their backs that they blow onto themselves during the night. This is really important because apparently if you sit on them where there's some leftover sand or small pebbles, you can actually force it under the skin and cause an abscess. Well, I got as much off as I could and then down to the river we went with her. I used a bucket to splash wate all over her and then a brush to get everything off. Needless to say, we were going to definitely need showers by the end of the day!

After they were all clean and ready for the trek, the group took a short break during which we learned the necessary commands to use when riding the elephants. There are three ways to mount the elephant (we were riding bareback, by the way): First, you get the animal to bend it's leg so you can use it as a step up, then you grab the top of it's ear and pull your way to the top. Second, you can have it lower it's head and climb up it's trunk to the head where you turn yourself around and third, you can get it to sit down and climb on it's back that way. Most of us found the easiest way was the first. I was told because my elephant was the oldest heading out that day, she would need to head out last behind all the others as it gives the other elephants a feeling of security having the oldest, and presumably the wisest, bringing up the rear. Apparently, elephants are more fearful of what might come up from behind them rather than what might be in front of them.

So off our parade of elephants went, with us riding behind their heads with our legs tucked up by their ears and our trainers walking beside us. It is really phenomenal to be riding that high up on such a massive animal through the trees and feeling their huge bodies moving underneath you. I have to say, though, that I never felt unsteady up there at all as elephants are very careful and methodical about their steps as they go along so it was really quite safe. It wasn't just a simple straight path through the jungle, either. We were going up and down a pathway that at times was very muddy and quite steep. Let's just say there were a few times I chose not to look down the side of the path if you know what I mean! The journey gave us lots of time take in views of the lush hillsides and enjoy the sounds of the jungle, which was a real treat.

What wasn't such a treat is how much you have to use your inner thigh muscles to keep your legs in position and by halfway through the trip, my legs were quivering like jelly! While I LOVED being on top of the elephant, I was really read to get off and stretch my legs - if I could still stand, that is - and since elephants only move at oh, say 2 miles an hour, I started to wonder if we were going to be having lunch in Cambodia. We finally made it to the waterfall, and they cleverly had each elephant go into the water, walk up to a rocky area that was about the height of their backs so each of us could easily step off. Once on the rocks, the guides had set up a classic Thai buffet for us laid out on banana leaves. Yummy! There was a little of everything, from fried chicken to classic Thai sticky rice with sweet coconut milk as well as various kinds of local fruit.

After lunch, we were able to get in the water below the waterfall with a couple of the elephants and swim with them while the guides took our picture. What a hoot! The ride back was much through a shortcut - thank God - and only took us about 15 minutes. It truly was an amazing day and has given us some absolutely wonderful memories. It also felt really good to conribute to such a great organization that adopts these elephants and takes them out of some pretty miserable conditions where they're treated like circus sideshows. Definitely a Thailand highlight for us!