All good things come to an end

Friday 24 Nov 2006
We awake for.........guess what? Three guesses and still can't guess? Why our daily ration of tea of course. We enjoy this day a little more, and I suck down a little more tea, becuase it is our last day on the beach. We are both a little morose and sad so we agree to spend the entire day on the beach. Good idea in theory, but we are in Thailand and things work a little different here. It seems that winter in Thailand is where it gets hotter each day! Who would have thought, obviously not the lobster pink guy, you know the one who thought 30 % humidity was unbearable. That was of course before I came to the tropics and experienced the consistent climbing of the temerature up the Celsisu scale. Seems today was around 28 Celcius with well over 60 % humidity, not to mention the BLAZING HOT sun. We spent virtually every moment in the ocean swimming. It went something like this, swim for thirty minutes, get out of the ocean walk up the beach to our towels, be virtually dry except for our swimsuits, five minutes later our suits are dry and we are both sweating profusely!!!!Back in the water! At 4:20 something prods both of us to get up off the beach in search of something.........ahhh the swimming pool. Maybe that will be cooler than the ocean, which has heated up considerably under the blazing sun for 8 hours. We jump in the pool and realize it is about Bathtub temerature...... oh well at least we are in water. We notice this loveley scandinavian couple with two young toddlers that we have been watching for over a week. You see, we really felt for them as their 3 year old daughter who was exceptionally cute also had THE MOST energy we both had ever seen, and I believe her love of the water was even greater than Rebecca's. We marveled every day at her dad's patience as she was in the water by 8am, before they could finish breakfast, and was playing ALL day on the beach. Well wonder of wonders on day 9 they come to the pool and she is ASLEEP in her stroller!!!!! We both comment to her father how odd to see her sleeping and he smiles the smile of a man reprieved. There you have it, it only takes 9 days of Thailand to cause a hyperactive child to take a nap......We both wish we had her energy. We finish up conversing with her father and she awakes, we feel like we must have tempted the gods by remarking on her sleep and decide to go watch our LAST SUNSET on PHI PHI! While watching the sunset we laugh at this crazy music they have playing at the school next door, something like "ONE-TWO THREE Beautiful Body, 1-2-3 Beautiful ME, 1-2-3 Body for me" as we watch the sun descend. Thenm we see this guy pushing a cart selling donughts, WELL he turns out to be the Excercise instructor for the school. How evil is that!!!!!! He makes you sweat in the tropical heat for an hour, listening to crazy music, then sells you home made doughnuts out of his push cart. As the sun goes down we run into our 3rd american in 10days and he is from Florida. We converse for a bit, and both agree we are very sad to be leaving the beach and something along the lines of 6 weeks is needed on the beach. More to come!!!! A seed has been planted for our near future plans we both believe......Stay tuned.
We purchase our return Ferry tickets, which make leaving the beach paradise all too real, and we are sad!!!!! SO, we decide to go to the Garlic Resturant one last time to cheer ourselves up. Amazing what poached banana in cocunut milk can do for one's perspective! We eat fabulous Green Curry, BBQ Mackeral, Garlic Fried Rice, a pot of Jasmine tea (yes I drank more tea, seems I have supplanted Woodies beer with tea....for now) and of course our beloived desert of POACHED BANANA in cocunut milk. A good day was had by all.......

Thanksgiving Day

Thursday 23Nov2006
I cannot sleep for some odd reason, tossing and turning, awwww, sooo sad =(.........the good news to this is that we are finally up in time to catch the sunrise......we have been setting the alarm clock with good intentions since we got on the island but could never get out of bed.......not this day...we get to see the sunrise!! It is magnificent!! I had no idea that the tide goes out in the morning as well....up until now I have only seen it go out in the afternoon! After sunrise we see all the Thai people starting their days...even the longtail boat guy who seemed to just sit under the tree saying 'boat, boat' to everyone who walked by....i though it was a slacker job but now i have a renewed opinion of him...he gets to the resort by 6 am and sweeps the sand and grass in the front and does some other maintenance things before he sits under the tree......he sees us on the beach soo early and recognizes us and promptly says to us "boat, boat...you go to long beach?" "Mai Ow Krup" (I don't want) promptly replies Shawn, and we all laugh!
We decide to go for a walk on the beach and see many people still partying at the beachfront bars--- they must have been drinking buckets!! They even still had beers in their hands and they were falling all over the place. And right after that we see this couple passed out on the beach...we feel for them as it is really gonna get hot in a little bit and they will literally get baked on the beach..hopefully that will wake them up!! Then we see another couple that was climbing all over the rocks and she would ask anyone and everyone for a cigarette...a bit later we see a pile of clothes on the beach and see them way out in the distance.......yup, they were drinking buckets too!!
What about these buckets you ask???? Well, they are literally sandpails filled with your alcohol. Thai whiskey, a can of coke. and M150--which is RedBUll concentrate-- illegal in the US---and about 100X's more potent than Red Bull!! They sell them like they are going out of style on the beach......some French boys in Chiang Mai had told us that they would drink just a sip each in the morning of the M150 stuff and that would be enough to get them going all day!! Getting back to the buckets....we have heard stories all over this country about the buckets.....even an alcoholic who said that they usually don't get wasted beacause they drink so much...he passed out.....dude that's some strong stuff!! Of course after Shawn's Chang experience and the lesson that we learned about Thai beer, we stayed far, far away.....now we know why there are sooo many people sleeping under the tree on the beach during the day!!!
Shawn gets all philosophical about Thanksgiving on me. 'Is it really Thanksgiving in a country where they do not celebrate Thanksgiving? Is it really Thanksgiving if it isn't the exact same time as it is in the US? Do we celebrate it on the 23rd here or when it is the 23rd in America?' I reply "Dude, it is wayyyyy tooooo early!!!' We have about an hour to go until they open for breakfast and I am fading fast, starving and tired, so we decide to nap for a few hours. We get up in time for 2 hours of tea time...after that I am still tired and take another nap ( yup 2 times before noon! and, without eating turkey! no L'triptophene effects!) Shawn of course is all hyped up on tea so he goes to the internet. Speaking of internet...it is 2 baht for 1 minute on Phi Phi island!! 40Baht for 1 hour in Bangkok, and 10Baht for 1 hour in Lampang!! (exchange rate 36 Baht=1 USD) Pang Mak!! Too Expensive!!!
They day is heating up, each day hotter than the last. So we go about our usual routine of swimming, this day only in the pool. It looks a bit cloud covered so we decided to hike up to the viewpoint to watch the sunset. The hike is quite nice, they actuially have stairs and a path, before it was just a trail. The sunset was beautiful, we stayed up there for quite a while. There was a memorial up there for some British Bloke who died on the island during the tsunami--- it was the first thing of this sort that we had seen. the viewpoint was about 1500 feet up the mountain, straight up. We could see the 60 kilometers to Phuket Island from there and there was a magnificent view of both bays as well!! I heard these ladys speaking Chinese so I chimed in asking them if they would like me to take their picture and such... it was good to pick up on it!! Shawn was absolutely amazed!!
We head back down the mountain for dinner. We decided to eat at this beach restaurant (even though we had been staying away from them, too expensive, not the best food, fish smell....ewwwwwww) but they had the closest thing to Turkey Dinner. BBQ Chicken, a half of a chicken, baked potatoe, what they think of as salad....all for 150baht. It was yummy!! We did see turkeys on the hike and got excited that they might have a turkey feast somewhere...but who are we kidding??? We are like the minority on this island.....we have been here for over a week and have only met 2 other Americans here.....so why would they try to cater to this celebration....right?? I actually goit eaten upo at dinner...more than Shawn which is a first.. I guess he is too sunburnt for even the bugs!!! Nobody likes overcooked meat!!
It was our first Thanksgiving together and it was a wonderful day!!!

The Sky is Lighting up

Wednesday 22Nov2006
We go about our usual beach routine except that Shawn gets sunburned for the second time!! When will he ever learn??? So we opt for the shady tree to set under for the majority of the day just reading and swimming!
The sunset is beautiful and very colorful. After we clean up, we head to the 'local' pace to eat and see how cool the sky is....it is lighing up..kinda like it does with electric or heat lighting but the entire sky is flashing and it looks magnificient with the clouds in the sky and aqll.....hey...I thought monsoon season was over...or am I wrong??? I think I am wrong! But it sure looks cool!!

IN TOUCH WITH MY MASCULINITY

Tuesday, 21 NOV 2006
Guess what? Bet you'll never guess........dang that was quick. Yes I woke up Rebecca early for unlimited tea, chatting, and a leisurely breakfast. We blogged a little bit, then went to work. We had to get our shift in on the beach....the boss might get mad if we called in sick or only spent six hours instead of the obligatory/required eight. We are really becoming creatures of habit now, tea, beach, lunch of banana shakes and tuna baguette sandwiches. Then off to the Garlic resturant for more yummy foood and the delictable poaced banan's in cocnut milk. We certainly could (have gotten) used to this, but we notice that Grandma is not cooking tonight. The food is good but not quite Grandma's...... Then a funny thing happened on the way to the resort.
I have been looking for a teapot for a couple years now, and have finally found THE SHAWN SIZED ONE!!!!! think it could hold enough hot water for all the tea I want to drink..........MAYBE! We all know how competitive I am........and thats not even the funny thing........I was so happy to see they actually make a teapot MY size, that my reasoning skills were weakened.........and Rebecca POUNCED!!!!!!!!
So guess what came out of her mouth????? No better yet guess what I agree to do for the first time in my life?
No not that!!!!!!!!
She sees my weaked resolve and the lovely airconditioned massage parlour choke a block full of women, and says "You want to get a pedicure?" Now who am I to turn down sitting in an air conditioned room ful of women, being pampered by women. NOT ME thats for sure. I may look dumb......but not that STUPID. So I agree. We had to set apart from each other as there was only two seats left in the entite place. She asks if I want to sit in bewteen all the twenty somethings or on the end by myself. Which do you think I chose??????? Once again I may look dumb , but I am not that STUPID!!!!!! I opt for smack dab in the middle of 7 women. I know this was a good choice as EVERY twenty something guy that walks by the large picture window and sees me, in a room full of women ponts and motions to all his buddies. Rebecca chuckles as I say "They are just secretly jealous, and wish they had thought of this themselves" ........much better than being one of many in the bar.
Back to the pedicure, I must admit it is very nice being pampered by a couple women in a room full of women. Not to mention that all the sand and salt water wreaked havouc on my feet and nails..........am I really saying this???? But hey it felt GREAT, and take it from me someone who has the worst ANTI FOOT fetish there is.......and Rebecca can attest to this! But still the Thai lady looked at my feet perplexed, as they are quite large and said, "Oh you cost more, foot so big" ....then they laughed for about ten minutes and coined me "Mr Bigfeet" .....of course I am never one to lose and oppurtunity at a joke, no matter how cliche nor obvious, so I says "you know what they say about guys with large feet?"....They all laugh!!!! And the LadyBoy says a few comments in Thai that make all the workers laugh uproariously!!!!! So the women doing my left foot, grabs it by the big toe between her two fingers and spanks my heel with the other......all the while saying "BAD BOY"!!!!!!!! Hey I just meant under a BIG beautiful building they put a BIG foundation, not a cheap small one so it will topple over right????????

Long Beach

Monday 20Nov2006
I decide to give Rebecca a little break today as she has been sooo very nice and tolerant of me. I let her sleep till 8am, then drag her out of bed with the "I'm thirsty, I'm hungry" refrain (a phrase or verse recurring at intervals in a song or poem, esp. at the end of each stanza; chorus). Yep, thats me the "broken record" or nowadays the broken CD. But it is really a beach attitude to take 2- 2 1/2 hours to eat breakfast, sip tea, and chat with your toes in beach sand. During breakfast this HUGE, posionous? (looked posionous due to its brilliant colors) spider was crawling on my shoulder. Rebecca tells me this by taking a huge breath of air in while making the UAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH sound, this of course leads me to freak and spill my tea. DAMNIT....I wanted that cup...it was perfectly made and stirred, I know, I know its free and unlimited.......but come on we don't want to waste.......especially with the bad rap we Americans have overseas for being overcosnumers and wasteful. But don't get me started on that as the FRENCH are way worse............ok this is no place for a discourse on the DAMN French tourists.....but I have one word, MANNERS.....Learn them, use them......No make that two POMPOUS!!!!!!!!!!!!! Do I even need go further? Or just recommend Dictionary.com Adjective definition number one. Ok back to that cup of spilled tea....................no the spider, thats where I was. Once I realize its not another 15 meter Tsunami wave coming at me, I reach up and flip the spider off my should, like a chip easily removed, right at those DAMN FRENCH tourists in the next cabana/table, who in turn gave me a very nasty look. Hope the spider bites you, would serve you right you smoking chimney!!!!!! And don't just flip those cigarette buts in the sand!!!!! They have a thing in English called and Ashtray...or better yet a garbage can, you know a rubbish pail??????? See, here I am back on my high horse.....I am sure it is because I am still upset over my spilt cup of tea....Damn French toureist making me spill my tea........No it wasn't them, it was the spider, no it wasn't the spider (I was and interloper in his world) it was Rebeccas reaction!!!!!!! Damn Tsunami's.......lol. Ok back to LONG BEACH.
Rebecca thinks it would be good for us to take a 45 minute hike over to Long Beach at the point of the bay in which PHI PHI DON is located. She seems to think I have a little to much energy and such, what with all that caffinee and those damn FRENCH......sorry....she thinks that it will be good for us (me) to take a little jaunt, can't really blame her now--what with all that I just typed can you????? So who am I to argue, the angry tourist? NOT ME, so i agree it sounds like an adventure and quite fun.
We pack up all we will need fore a day on the beach and set off. It is a lovely hike over volcanic rock, under banyan trees with crystal clear water on our right. We we arrive at LONG BEACH, we both remark how beautiful it is, and dash into the water to cool off. It has very beautiful sand, deep cool waters, a different aspect toward the sun, and a great view of the island where the movie "The Beach" was filmed. We sat on the beach, and swan, and had a grand ol'time all day. We departed at such a time so we would be able to watch the sunset as we headed back.
The moment we rounded the first rock point we noticed something quite striking..........no water in the bay!! Because there was no moon, the tide was at it's lowest just before dark and we could walk a virtual straight line back to our beach!!! (You can see the rock point and the boats stranded in the picture) It shortened our hike by 20 minutes as we did not have to hug the contours of the bay and was quite a nice walk. We cleaned up and headed to the TON SAI village, the locals village, for some food. We had some Curry that was SMOKIN HOT!!!! Even for me, OUCH that stuff is going to sear some taste buds off.....back to the three P's i think, but this time with my taste buds. We also got a plate of Penang curry that was literally a plate loaded with shrimp in a sweet yellow curry sauce...VERY GOOD!

Relaxation Station

Sunday 19Nov2006
We get up early for our daily ration of tea...Have I mentioned that Shawn gets me up at 7am for tea on VACATION!!!! Anyone who knows me knows how absurd this sounds- as I love my sleep!! I get up..knowing how beautiful and relaxing it is to sip tea and look onto the bay and chat it up with Shawn. But after about 6 cups of tea and the scortching sun and heat I get pretty tired and head back to the room for a nap- I know that we are VERY relaxed now, as Shawn (MR HYPERACTIVITY) is able to nap as well!!
When we finally get up a good few hours later we run into a small series of misfortunes----not really all that troublesome but it has to happen sometime and we were able to shrug it all off....since we were sooo relaxed and all. First, we realize that we have lost the beachmat that we had just bought earlier in the week.....then, the coin dropped in the locker that we have been using all week for free---this is sad because that was old trusty and faithful to keep our stuff secure and for free!!........then the 'beach resort' we are staying at has no more beach towels!!!!At the BEACH RESORT!!! I swear they only have 10!
All this was amusing and it all worked out-- the beachmat ...only a few dollars we buy another...the coin dropping-turns out it was just a scare--old trusty lives up to its name and still works for free!! There must be alot of coins stuck in that thing!! And later in the day the towels were available again-- besides as soon as you get out of the water you are drying and sweating within 5 minutes anyways.....
We headed to the beach to chill out more.......oh what a life this is!!!

Three P's

Saturday 18 Nov 2006
We awake at 730, tried for the sunrise, missed it by just a little bit. We head to breakfast for my obligatory 6 "cups o' tea". We enjoy sipping tea on the beach while eating a leisurely breeakfast, and are both decompressing and relaxing so well we decide at that moment to stay another 6 days!!!!! Eleven days on the beach!!! Yeah!!! Rebecca goes immediately after our mutual decision to secure the room for the duration. We figure so many places are full, we are a mere 50 ft off the beach, unlimited tea, two hour breakfast in paradise must be trying to tell us something. Besides, how much better than this can it get?
Rebecca has really turned into a bronzed sun goddess, worshiping the sund and beach and sea. Me too, but not with quite the same results. You see no matter how old I am, nor my obvious propensity of british genes, I fancy myself a greek adonis.....YEAH RIGHT!!!!!! For example while Rebecca has progrress from WHITE to RED to MOCHA to a nice brown..........I have progressed throught "THE THREE P's". PALE, PINK (much like a cooked lobster) PEEL! Damn Brit gene's..... Instead of time to burn like all the twenty somethings we see all over, I have skin to burn.....my shoulder, my nose, my forehead (theres lots of that as you all know) my arms, and even my legs (chicken legs yes but you would think at least those would get SOME COLOR.....NOT!!!! I keep getting lured into the assumption that I can at least keep up with Rebecca in some aspect of beach and water, deluded??? YES! Some might even say suffering from delusions of graduer. I my self blame it on all that DAMN caffinee each morning and the blasted sun!!! Yes I am that crazy guy everyone wonders about, you know the guy. The one wearing the t-shirt on the beach, in the ocean, in the swimming pool. You think I would learn not to try and compete.............BUT NO! For now I seem to have at least learned my color progression, quaintly named the 3 P's. PALE,PINK, PEEL.

Koh Phi Phi part song (two)

Koh Phi Phi

Wettest Boat Ride Ever

Friday17 Nov
We awake and go for our 2 hour tea time (breakfast). We are really chilled people now, even 6 cups of tea can't get a rise out of us. This is exactly what we wanted, two weeks on the beach just chilling before our three days of shopping in the hustle and bustle of Bangkok. We head off to catch our 1130 longtail boat for the sunset tour under a blazing sun without a cloud in the sky. It turns into the wettest boat ride ever, but more on that in a minute. I do however have a flash of foresight and bring two disposable camera's, while issuing the challenge that we both have to use all the shots on each (Rebecca accepts the challenge), thinking I don't want to spend the day worring about my BELOVED digital camera. It has been our best device on the trip as it fits easily into my pocket, and we have heard so many travelers complain about the size and weight of the cameras they have brought. We do take all the pictures on both cameras and think we have some great shots, we will develop them in Bangkok and post them once we have them.
First stop on the tour is snorkeling at Sharkpoint. Which is actually a misnomer as we see no sharks, but Rebecca spots many barracuda's. She has an incredible knack for spotting them just on the edge of our vision field and points them out to me constantly. It is obvious that she is the master out of twelve people on the tour at, swimming, snorkleing, and spotting wildlife in the water. After about tenminutes, she points to a spot of coral that she thinks will have some cool fish and says "lets head over there quickly" . I think I am a good swimmer and put my head down and kick the fins as hard as I can!!!! After about 30 seconds I look up, and she is in front of me by 30 yards!!!!! So, I put my head down again and start using my arms to catch up. No Luck!!!! She is a true PICSES for sure. More at home in the water than on land. She slows down and grabs my hand and takes a second to show me how to kick with fins more efficiently. Within a few moments she is pulling me like a dead weight through the water, now I am really EMBARRASED!. So when she stops, I start quizing her exactly on her technique. This time she spends 5 minutes to teach this desert dweller how to move in the water, and I can tell the improvement immediately. My first lesson on BRUTE FORCE not working in every instance.....lol!!! After snorkling they take us to Mosquito Island for lunch. I don't know the name till after the tour, so the old adage "WHAT YOU DON'T KNOW CAN'T HURT YOU" comes true as I get no bites. It is too rocky to snorkle here so we walk the beach looking for seashells and get quite a collection.
Next stop, MonkeyBeach. This is really sad to both of us. There is trash everywhere on the beach and tourists literally "mauling" the WILD monkeys. They are walking up to them grabing there hands, feeding them soft drink cans, and having no respect for them, nor their personal space. These monkeys have canine teeth larger than any dog I have seen and the tourists treat them like domesticated animals. We are both very sad at the appearence of the beach and the conduct of these people, so much so that we decide to take no part. Choosing instead to lay on the beach and catch some rays.
Back into the Longtail boat and onto Phi Phi Ley Bay (the spot where the movie "THE BEACH" was filmed) this is where the boat ride turns into crazy amusement park ride. Crossing the channel between the two islands it starts to blow and rain. You can see how the current and wind are being funneled through this channel. We hit three foot waves, then five foot waves, and people start donning the snorkle masks to keep the spray out of their eyes. Then the lifejackets come out, not to wear but to stop the stinging spray of salt water coming off the bow of the boat as it crashes through these white capped waves. Quite a sight to see, a boatload of "farongs" in snorkle gear with lifejackets in front of them like shields. We look like some sort of modern day knights trying to joust with mother nature. Then the waves get so large people start screaming as we go up and down the waves and your stomach does the same in your throat. Rebecca, of course, is cracking up hysterically. Like a child on a roller coaster ride!!!!!!! She has no fear, she has a mask and a life jacket and just sits back and giggles and enjoys the ride.
Once we pull into the bay, everything calms down as we have a 3000 ft rock mastiff blocking the wind and current. Now this bay is really cool, with lots of flourecent fish and coral everywhere. Having learned from Rebecca, I am much better at kicking the fins and can almost keep up with her. I use her spotting technique of looking on the edge of your vision field and spot a 3 ft black-tipped reef shark. Very Cool! This is the first time I see Rebecca scared in the water and she grabs my hand very tightly. Guess I am good for something in the water after all..... We saw all kinds of different fish, sea urchins, and these flourecent clam type things that breathed in and out. Even more cool! The boat took us into the actual beach from the movie and Rebecca and I did the non-tourist thing again and donned our snorkle gear. This was very cool, as Rebecca pointed out these large black spots in the water that turned out to be HUGE schools of these 2-3 inch long silver fish. They swam in perfect unison and the group together was so large and dense you could not see through them and they cast dark shadows in the water. This was the absolute coolest part and we both decide at that point, and made an agreement that when we get back we are going to get our scuba diving certification!!!!!! This was a life changing experience for me!!!!! Being under water islike being in themountains skiing you forget all the worldly troubles and existence and truly commune with nature.
Then it was back into the Longtail Boat for the 2nd wettest boat ride ever!!!! Back into the 5-6 foot white capped waves, snorkle masks on, with the french and japenese tourists behind us screaming as we went up and down every wave. Rebecca............laughing and gigleing the whole way!!!!!
We decided to go back to the Garlic Resturant, as it really is the tastiest food on the Island ( and about a 1/3 the cost) Yum! Yum! Yum! Can paradise get any better??????? Yes!!!!!!, we try to order desert and our first choice of Flammbe banana with ice cream is crushed as they have no ice cream. So we opt for choice number two, Poached banana in coconut milk. Who knew a desert could be so lucious and delectable!!!!!!! This was absolutely outstanding!!! and a desert we decide to import to the US and into our everyday lives. YUM! YUM! Paradise did just get even better!!!! On the walk back to the resort Rebecca is literally falling asleep. We are both pooped, but my hyperactiveness helps as I am not so sleepy as her. I don't want the day to end. WHAT FUN!!!!!! Pictures to come!

20 Something

Thursday 16 Nov 2006
We wake again and look forward to our unlimited tea. At least I do, that damn genetic make up , reverting back to the 75% british genes you know. At least I didn't get the curse of bad teeth......I think????. Rebecca seems a little out of sorts today, and being the blunt, brutally honest person that I am, I ask.
It seems that 10 years ago today Rebecca was getting married. My answer is , well then we should PARTY to celebrate!!!!!!!!....and book a sunset cruise on the longtail boats floating everywhere. She laughs hysterically at me!!!!!Who wouldn't, I am quite the funny looking guy, no hair cut since June and no shower this morning. Can I say TOLERANT! Although she does mention that she noticed that I ran out of my travel sized deodorant yesterday. Damn!, I thought I could keep that a secret for a day or two.......lol. Anyway, I have my preset quota of tea to swill, and we sit and watch the sun glisten off the crystal clear ocean water in the bay. It looks like paradise, but soon that friendly orb turns into a blazing hot nemesis!
We decide to move to the beach and lay there for hours, just chilling and empting the mind. Around late afternoon we see some huge billowy clouds forming on the horizon, and I predict rain. Seems that rebuilt knee can forcast weather even in the tropics, I wonder what they left in there that is trying to get out. It does turn to a light rain and we decide to take a nap before it storms, which it does. The tap, tap , tap on the roof sends us off to sleep quite nicely and quickly.
We awake feeling quite refreshed, and decide to eat at a resturant right on the beach! We both get swordfish as there is a freshly caught one on display as we enter, but it is not quite as good as the Garlic Resturant of the previous night. The view more than makes up for it however, and we go off to accomplish my prescibed treatment for Rebecca. Oh, and we setup the sunset cruise for Friday afternoon.
We do notice two things at dinner, one is the incredible and increasing amounts of twenty somethings all over! It is definately a "spring break" in Thailand feel. And we again wonder how they have enough money to stay on the beach and party as much as they do? The second thing we notice is that the Reggae Bar plays Jack Johnson WAY TOO MUCH! Can Jack Johnson really be considered Reggae? We heard it four times while on the beach during the day and heard it again at dinner. I thought he only had one CD? Am I wrong? But, both of us agree if we every hear Jack Johnson again on this trip it will be way to soon. So we play a game of lets see how many Reggae artists we can name that the Reggae Bar could play without playing Jack Johnson CD's 5 times in a twelve hour period. We laugh at our jaded perceptions!!!!

Paradise Regained

Wednesday 15Nov2006
We awake early and go to the breakfast buffet that the resort offers and they have unlimited tea-- I wish that I could express to you how happy Shawn is about this...yes we are paying more for the place- about 4 times more than other places we have stayed at and yet it is still not top end- our place here is a whopping 1450baht!! We have been staing at places in the 350 - 500 baht range (exchange rate is 36baht- 1 USD) So it is roughtly $40 a night--way too expensive-- but we have head horror stories and Shawn says that he can drink the difference in tea so we have no worries!! For the price we get a very clean room, right on the beach, a free buffet breakfast. What we don't get is hot water..no hot water in the shower..no proiblem right? RIGHT... freezing cold showers that make you hoot and holler just trying to get in-- it doesn't matter how hot it it outside it is freezing cold!!
Getting back to the tea, Shawn estimates that we have to each drink about 6 cups of tea every day to make up for some things and to keep us in budget. So we leisurely eat breakfast and drink our tea and chat and enjoy the beautiful view of the bay for about 2 hours! Relaxation Station!!
We go off to the beach and relax, read, and ate the typical beach budget lunch. Back to the pancake stand we go and find that they have really yummy tuna sandwiches that are on 6 in baguettes and only 50baht!! We are delighted! We get the sandwiches, banana shakes for 20 baht each--totaly lunch cost 120Baht-- about $3-- yes we are stuffed after that----AND if we contin ue eating like this we will stay within out daily budget range!! (Making up for the room of course) We stay on the beach all day and watch the sunset again- you have to.
After we clean the beach off of us in the freezing cold water--Shawn making some pretty interesting noises that I have never head from him before as he tries to get used to the cold water! We talk about dinner and I suggest that there was this cute little restaurant that I remember Jen and I eating at that was pretty yummy called the Garlic Restaurant. Shawn agrees that we should try to find it if it is still here. We hike along all of these Soi's (backroads) and are starting to get sad that maybe it doesn't exist becasue there is soo much destruction and construction everywhere still from the tsunami. Alas!! The Garlic restaurant!! It is this little put together shack right beside a huge construction site that is basically a straw roof with 6 plastic tables under it- yeah!! We are greeted by the owner who seems grateful to have us and very happy to be there. Let me just tell you- We have shrimp kebobs, garlic friend rice, and kingfish dinner and are stuffed-- everything was soo good!! Best of all, it costs us less than $10 to eat! We are estatic at the find and the fact that they were COMPLETELY destroyed by the tsunami, did what they could to get back into business, and serves people everyday with a smile, and they are very thankful to be there. We wander along looking at the destruction/construction all around and of course all the little shops!

Finally the Beach!!

Tuesday 14Nov2006
This day we wake up and wander into Patong Beach area in search of breakfast. There are many German and Scandanavian guesthouses along 'the strip' which I would prefer to not stay at... anyways we find this cute little place and had a wonferful Scandanavian breakfast-with actual potatoes-Yummy!! At least the food is good in Patong!! We head back to wait for the driver to take us to the ferry dock- we are really excited! The day has started of pretty well- a good breakfast and now the beaches!! Yeah!! The ferry boat ride is about 2 hours to the island and Shawn and I opt to sit on top to see everything. It is quite windy but beautiful and serene. As soon as wel left the dock you could see the crystal blue waters emerge. We are headed to Koh Phi Phi. Once we get to the island it is a cluster@#%& getting our bags as they made one huge pile of them getting on and no orderly fashion of getting them off. I see Shawns bag being picked up to be moved away and get in there and retrieve it and then see mine and do the same--we were ready to get onto the island. I had tried booking a room for us at the Andaman Beach Resort- I knew this place was decent as I had stayed there last time I was on this island and it is right on the beach. I had never received a confirmation e-mail but we went anyways. We were just going to hike it down to the end iof the beach where the resrt is located but we didn't have to, as soon as we got off the dock a guy was holding a sign for the place. I went up there and they took our bags and put them on a cart and then asked me if I saw my name on the list- no I didn't- he asked if I had a reservation- I tried 4 times I exclaim!- he said that he has a room maybe, but no a/c and 2 beds- fine with us--no problem. That is awesome that at least they have a room available- as we walked we saw 5 different places hanging 'full' signs up- we got lucky! When we got to the resort they had already booked that room and we ended up getting a room that is attached to about 5 other places and only a fan but 1 bed-- fine with us-- you can see how our luck has been changing since the last week in Chiang Mai!! It is beautiful out... but the pool is closed for cleaning and no one seems to know when it will reopen --we head to see the sun setting on the beach-- beautiful- we have made it to paradise!! We go back to the room and fall asleep..when we finally get up0 we try to eat at a few restaurants but it is too late so we opt for the pancake stand. This is a very Thai beach thing...they have these little stands that are probably open 22 hours of the day and they serve mainly 3 things- pancakes, shakes, and sandwiches. We eat a pancake, which is like a crepe that has a banana in it and sweetened condensed milk on top-- yummy!! For dessert we get a pineapple offf this old lady pushing this huge fruit cart-- they serve 1/4 of the pineapple on a stick for easy eating---yummy!! We head back to the resort to read and call it a day.

Best Dinner Ever

Monday 13 Nov 2006
We awoke and ate breakfast at our guesthouse, had to have another banana shake, they are the best we have had in all our travels. Somjay, our tuk-tuk driver is waiting to take us to the airport. We will cetainly remember this gentleman!!!!!! We arrive at the airport in the early morning light of the day, and both look at each other quizically. The Siem Reap airport is giving us "deja vu", are all airports designed the same? Or do they just use the same plans and pass them around? Metal and glass, we determine that if you didn't know where you were all airports would blend into one. We keep expecting to see some culturally significant design at all the airports but they all just look the same. We are starting to understand the T-shirts we see everywhere that say "SAME SAME, BUT DIFFERENT" It has many meanings, from the airports (which interestingly enough all charge you to leave the country- Cambodia $25 Us and Thailand 500 baht), to the tourists saying " I will have the same as them, but different, to the temples, etc.........
It is a fast flight to Bangkok, 35 minutes total, and somehow the flight attendents serve us a meal and drinks. Pretty damn efficient, and with a smile on their faces at all times. We have to wait around for an hour before we can check in, and find out all airports are the same. We go to get something to eat, and you must PAY first! You cannot go in and even look, you must pay either 500 or 1,000 Baht that they then load on a plastic card???? What the *#@*. I get a Baguette sandwich that cost's almost $10 US, Rebecca gets noodle soup about $7 US. Ouch! we are used to paying that for a room... All airports are the same, high priced food with no taste. We go to check the internet and get ripped off for that as well, you have to buy a card that is preloaded, 20 minutes 100 Baht! Can we get out of here quick enough? We board the plan to Phuket, and it is another short flight, where they treat us like first class passengers again. It costs us about $80 each to fly there. I guess they make all their profit from the airport.
Rebecca, seasoned traveler in SE Asia that she is, has arrange for us to stay at the Little Buddha Guesthouse, just off Patong Beach, and for the taxi driver to pick us up. Again, we have our name on a placard and feel really special. The taxi driver has a VERY cool car, much nicer than either of ours. He tells us he shows the car on weekends at the local car show. He looks like a wealthy, elite, sophisticated Thai local. The room at the guest house is very nice, 400 baht (about $12 US), and we decide we will stay there upon our return flight back from our two weeks on the beach paradise of Phi Phi. We shower up, they have hot water---Yeah!!!---and head down to Soi Sansaban to look around and take in the sights. This is the in your face crass commercialism, bright lights, big bars, lady boys, and hedonism one hears about. Having grown up in Las Vegas I am not quite so taken in by it as most tourists, but remark to Rebecca how in your face everything is, she replies "This is nothing compared to Pattaya". Wow! I can't quite image how it could get more in your face. I am hit on by both a "lady of the night" and a "lady boy" all while Rebecca is just two paces away looking at jewerly. They saw her but obviously didn't care.........kind of makes me wonder what came before me for them to act like this. We are touted every few steps with, "Masaage Mister", "tuk-tuk mister", "Want a suit mister". But what do I know, I am the big pale guy from Utah now and must just seem like a easy mark?????.
Rebecca takes us down to the Restuarant row on the beach, and we have THE BEST DINNER EVER!!!!!!! We get to pick out our Prawns and they are Huge, The lobster in the picture must be 5 lbs at least. You can tell by how big they are compared to her hand, but pictures do not do their size justice. We have Large Prawns cooked in a sweet salt sauce, Very delectible, Seafood Curry, exceptional, and Pineapple fried rice served in a hollowed out pineapple. We top it all off with a fried banana topped with vanilla and coconut ice cream. Yum! Yum! We walk back and take in more of the sights to try and burn off some of dinner and the bars are now in full swing and packed. Girls and "lady boys" out in force dancing on tables ect....Its very cool to see but we are both looking forward to some decompressing time on the beaches of Ko Phi Phi.

Cambodia...

Shawn and I have devised 'positives and negatives' about our experience in Cambodia.

Positives
+ Angkor Wat- Amazing and Magnificient
+Best Banana Shakes EVER!
+Good Feeling of the honest hard working people that we encountered- Somjay our tuk-tuk driver who worked for us 2 10 hour days and when we were in the temples looking around he was in the heat reading and studying a Thai-English Dictionary. he also was learning the history of the temples in English. On the first day we asked him many questions that he tried to answer but did not know how to say it in English, the second day he pulled over to the side of the road, pulledout his notebook and started to ttell us detailed answers to the questions we had asked the day before! He went home and researched the answers in English to give us answers!! When we asked him why he was studying so hard instead of sleeping he relpied that he wasnted to become a better guide and earn more money so he could support his family and so that his 2 year old daughter could go to school and live a better life and didn't have to work as hard as he does in her lifetime. It is very admirable- especially because he lived through the Khmer Rouge and the society that valued dishonesty and no education. You can still see remnants of this philosohy but there are the ex eptional few who are trying to make their life better. There is no m,iddle ground here - between the hardworking Cambodians and the people who try to get money by ripping off tourists and touting and begging instead of getting an education to better their future.
Also the girl that worked at the guesthouse came from a rural poor vilage on the border of Cambodia and Thailand to better herself. She had only studied English for about 6 months and was not afraid to speak it and was very good. When she first came to Siem Reap she had lost all of her money and the taxi driver tried to coherce her into becoming a prostitute becasue she could make money very fast that way. She said no that she was willing and able to work for her money and not sell her body- she said that she is smarter than that. She works, sends money home, and also saves a bit of money every month and after 3 months she buys a school kid in need a new outfit and books and supplies for school. She is one of the hard working Cambodians who are still trying to battle the Khmer Rouges philosophy of dishonesty and return to the agrarian society of no formal education. She rises above that.
We were extremely impressed by these two individuals and their thrive to do better, to better their lives, the lives of their families, and not forsake their future for the allmighty dollar. ( Yes they use US dollars as currency in Cambodia- no coins though- change is made in Reils)

Negatives
-Japanese tourists- don't get me started again!!!
-touting tourists everywhere
-forsaking childrens education
- the Cambodian HEAT!!! It is supposed to be the 'cool' season
-the view of westerners as an ATM that dispenses money non-stop
-the large gulf between the people like the ones mentioned above who want to make life in Cambodia better by valuing education, honesty, and hardwork (still batteling the effects of the Khmer Rouge) and the ones who are after the dollar today with no regards to the future of things

Angkor Photos

Day Two- Angkor Wat

Sunday 12Nov2006
Day two of the Angkor temples- I tried to tell Shawn about "Wat" burnout- I think he is beginning to understand what I mean!
Today we awake at 4 am, eat breakfast at the guesthouse, which we had conveniently ordered the night before, boy, they really do cater to the tourists!! Somjay, our tuk-tuk driver arrived promptly at 4:45 to take us aound the 'big loop.' We had to leave the guesthouse at 5am in order to make it to Angkor Wat for the sunrise- apparently this is another one of those 'touristy' things to do. We know this by the number of bus horder of Japanese tourists that were there.
Now, normally I am a very tolerant person, especially other cultures and such things. This is going to sound pretty bad of me, but the Japanese tourists really are annoying. They walk around as if they own the place becasue they are better than everyone else. The Koreans are right behind them. They all travel in thesde hordes of bus loades with tour operators but they are everywhere!! You go to a temple and need to try to get around them becasue they just stand everywhere- blocking anyone else from moving around and they really have no considersation that other people are trying to enjoy what they are seeing as well. I actually got shoved out of the pathway by a Japanese guy trying to get down the hill faster than anyone else- I am not a slow person- and I couldn't believe the audacity of him to push me aside and not even recognize to me that he did it!! I was steamed. Anyways off that subject, I know that it is a few out of many but there were numerous things that we kept noticing in our time at the temples that were just crazy! Many things that we thought were just backwards, and we couldn't imagine that type of behaviour going on in Japan as they are such an advanced country!

Back to Angkor Wat- sunrise was cool to see and we actually enjoyed the cool breeze on the way to the wat. We knew that it wouldn't last long! Somjay was in long sleeve shirt and a jacket!! We were trying to do okay in shorts and t-shirts!!
The large loop consists of these temples:
Preah Khan- in which we took lots of pictures. We actually got a biut scamed at this temple but we really didn't mind too much. We were the only people there since it weas soo early and this 'police' officer came up to us and started to speak to us and tell us about the temple. Which King built it for his mother and how there are 4 entrances -three for Hinduism, and one for Buddhism. It was an amazing temple and the 'tour' was actually very insightful. At the end he asked us to provide him with a tip, when Shawn graciously handed him a few dollars the guy got more specific and requested a $5 tip. The audacity!! I was a bit scared at first that he was some sort of shady cop so I made sure in the beginning to check to make sure that he didn't have a gun or anything, that would have made it a bit more scary I think. The temple is also overtaken with these enormous trees, which is the best to me! The overtaking of mother nature on man. Very cool!!! I kept raving about it and so Shawn was able to see why I thought it was soo cool!
We moved on to Prasat Prei and then onto Neak Pean which I thought was totally awesome as well. It is a temple in the middle of the water like an island with 4 pools at everyside and each pool entrance had some sort of statue as a water spout in it. Very cool.
The second day tour around the 'large loop' consists of temples that I did not get to see last time I was here at Angkor so I can experience some newness as well!!
Back on the temple track- we went to Ta Som, East Mebon which totally remonded me of the Kingdom of Champa in Vietman the wat the long grass grows off the top of the temples and blows in the wind. I think that it is soo cool that they can take root there on top of the temple!!
Then on to Pre Rup, Banteay Kdei, and then to Sras Srang. All this before noon!! And boy it was gotting quite steamy out!!
This day at the temples was different than the day before mainly because the touting was different. You see, Ihave experienced it all before, felt bad, want to help them out, then the realization that this is all over the world and this is just a small poart and that the Khmer Rouge really did this to this society. Then you want to help but giving them anything really poerpetuates the problem and older people using thier children as bait instead of looking at their future to educated tyhem, no need if they can beg and rip off the tourists, becasue if they are here then they are rich, which I can see their view. However, it is a sad reality that you cannot help the world out of this- it is far too large. Shawn was experiencing this for the first time. Today was even harder than yesterday becasue at least yesterday the touting stopped when we entered into the ruins. Today they were in the ruins, begging and such things. "Mister, you want to tak epicture of me? One dollar." "Missy, you give me one dollar okay?" It is sad but drives you bonkers after a bit. I can look away, even if my heart breaks. It really got to Shawn and by the last temple they were chasing after us shouting at us. Then inside the temple I was admiting this huge status and this old man saw me. He left and got his little daughter- i swear no older than 3- to come tout me. "You want postcard missy? You buy postcared from me? You see, Angkor Wat, Angkor Thom. Missy, You buy. You buy." I mean come on. How sad.
Shawn was done with Cambodia after that. I don't even think that he wanted to go out to ewat or anything, just stay in the room in fear that he would get touted some more.
We had Somjay drop us off in the Old Market area and we ate lunch and walked back to the guesthouse, which was a ways but a nice walk. We slept for a bit since we were soo tired, already such a huge day! When we woke we took a tuk-tuk to the Old Market part of town, looked around the market for a bit. We ended up eating at this really yummy Indian Restaurant, we opted for Indian as Khmer food is pretty bland compared to Thai food. We like spicy and this was anythign but. I think it is a combination of French influence and the Khmer Rouge taking every luxury away that created such bland food.
When we arrived back to the guesthouse for the night Shawn had the biggest mosquito bite ever!! I swear he is sweeeeeet!! Good thing we are taking the anti-malaria meds!! Good thing!!

Angkor Wat, Cambodia

Saturday 11Nov2006
Ok, my first time to Cambodia, and Rebecca keeps reminding me that Thailand is not a third world country like Cambodia. Little do I realize, what I was in store for, we awake early Saturday and eat breakfast at our guesthouse, best banana shakes ever. Our driver from the airport Somjay picks us up to take us on the "small loop" of the temples in the Angkor Wat complex. They are Angkor Wat, the world renowned, massive temple of a millenia ago, Bayon, Angkor Thom, Terrace of the Elephants, Phimeanakas, Terrace of the Leper King, Victory Gate, Thommanom, Chan Say Thevada, and Ta Reo (and this is the small loop?!). First off, upon stopping opposite Angkor Wat we are literally swarmed by children vendors selling everything under the sun. And very experienced at ripping "tourists" off. They try to sell me a guide book for $30 US that on the back had the listed price of 24.95. Of course this is definately a pirated copy of a legit book and the price would not go to the actual authors but to some sweat shop in China, most likely. I scoff at her, and say "special price just for me right" I must really look that dumb!!!!! Rebecca follows a lady to a shack to buy a scarf and she tells her $5 each scarf, even though the "vendor kids" have been shouting 2 for $1 all the way to her shack. She is obviously cursed to be traveling with the "big dumb white guy". guilt by association. When Rebecca says, "but the kids are selling them 2 for a dollar" she promptly tells her to "please leave". Rebecca gets three scarves for a dollar right outside this shysters shack. Welcome to Cambodia!! Caveat Empour!!
Angkor Wat is everything and then some. It is absolutely immense, grand, and unbelievable in its size and granduer. You get an other worldly feeling while there. We hike up a set of steps that is steeper than some of the slopes I ski back home, I think almost 45 degrees, all with out any sort of safety device, other than a small sign that says "Climb at own risk". Halfway up, the japenese lady next to me starts freaking out stops mid steps starts making some very strange noises and looks to me for help. I am thinking, lady don't take me down with you when you tumble down, as turning around halfway up a 100 foot high, steep set of steps, is not too brilliant an idea. Well, right when I am moving to the left to get out of this "tourists" way Rebecca stops looks over her shoulder and says "look how high up we are already" then looks down. Big mistake!!!!! I look down too when I see the size of her eyes and I freak as well. "Ok", I say, "turnaround, look at the steps right in front of you and lets get the hell to the top of this before this crazy lady screaming next to me decides to grab my arm". Rebecca, good soldier that she is listens, turns around, musters her courage up and we make it to the top. Whew! I admit that was "very hairy". The steps were only big enough for our foot to fit sideways and did I mention VERY STEEP! We tour the Wat and enjoy ourselves for about an hour. Now its time to head down, and we hear from a monk that there is a handrail on the south side, Cool, we think this will make it less "hairy" than the way up. Well the "Hand Rail" turns out to be the thinnest piece of metal running down one side of the steps, and is very loosely attached. Think something a little larger than a strand of barbed wire. All I can think is something a ski buddy, Matt Mclaren, says to me right before taking us up a knifes edge ridge. "Whatever you do, DON"T FALL". We make it down and head back to our tuk-tuk driver. Of course, get "touted the entire way back to him. "mister cold drink, special price for you", "Lady, Lady book for you" "Two cokes one dallar" . We go around our small loop, really too much to discuss here, as am example, we took 180 pictures this day and 364 in two days. We enjoyed sunset at Phnom Bakheng Wat, which is up another set of steep stairs but has an absolutely breath taking view. You can see so far, one can almost see the curvature of the earth as it drops away. We head back to the guesthouse and scrub down, which was quite necessary as our skin pores were in overdrive and in perpetual use all day. I did not mention how hot it was, about 100 degrees with humidity and under a Blazing sun, now I know why Rebecca put up with the touting to get the scarves. We both sweated profusely all day. Those who know me from skiing can attest to my sweating ability, and this was akin to a water faucet contiually flowing off ,my nose for 8 hours. Rebecca of course just glistened!

The Hot Water Incident

Train travel in Thailand is not bad- we took the over night 2nd class A/C sleeper to Bangkok and Shawn passed out right away as he was not feeling well. I kept checking in on him but he was delierious. This left me to adventure in to the train a bit. I had to eat because I had to take my meds that the hospital gave me and I was quite scared to miss them but could not stomach all of the meds on an empty stomach. We had come prepared with cups of noodles and saltine crackers- the best that we could do in short notice and being very weak and sick. But I needed hot water. I brought the noodles with me and headed to the dining car, surely they would have hot water and when I went in there earlier to get Shawn and I a Sprite they were quite helpful. The guy started to shout something in Thai that I obviously didn't understand and pointed back at the car that I came from. I was confused, why is he sending me back to my car? I found the waiter dude and tried to ask him for hot water and he just said 'no'. I was confused, weak, and bitter because I desperately had to eat something and I was not going to eat from the dining car as it was pretty horrible looking. I asked the Thai guy next to me how to say hot water and he laughed and realy didn't help me any. I sat on my bunk sad yet determined. I had to muster up enough energy to get the damn hot water. I tried to wake Shawn and tell him the I couldn't get hot water to save my life, he didn't seem so amused as his action was to roll over, sleep, and drool more. I was on my own. I went back to the dininig car, surely they have hot water!! This time I was saying the words and the lady started to shout at me and of course I don't understand. I must have looked pretty desperate because these consulate kids were in there and were all looking at me. Finally this girl helped me out, thank-you, thank-you..she said that the lady was pretty mean but that there were hot water heaters at the end of each car by the toilets. Oh I see, but I tried that, and they guy said no. So I forged on and found the water heater, the first on was broken but the next one was working and I finally got hot water! What an ordeal. I went back to my bunk and ate the noodles very selfishly, i felt like i was hiding the fact that I had found hot water from anyone who worked on the train. It's all good, I got to take my meds anbd I didn't get sick from eating!! This is the hot water incident...

Sleep- The Elixer of Recovery

Friday 10 Nov 2006
It is amazing what 12 hours of drool filled sleep will do for ones body. Although somewhat groggy, I still feel worlds better. We arrive in Bangkok on the overnight express train at 7am. Back to a different world than we were just in, it is amazing how homogeneous the world is becoming. In the US every city is begining to look the same, you know the familiar strip malls with KFC, Starbucks, Dunkin Doughnuts, Pizza Hut, ad infinitum, ad nauseum. Well, we notice that Bankok is starting to look the same as any Western city, whereas Chiang Mai, Lampung, and Sukhothai were worlds away from this, which is exactly what we wanted on this trip. Another world, another conciousness, another view on life away from the Corporate "dog eat dog", "stab you in the back and leave footprints on your head" to get ahead world........all in the name of more money, more (perceived) power, so one can buy a newer car, something better than our last better device that we believe will make our world, nay us, happier. Our market driven world teaches us that, newer is better, bigger is better, more material possesions in the largest house possible will somehow make us happier. Here these people have endured so much, suffered so much, lost so much- 2002 SARS, 2003 Avian Bird Flu, 2004 Tsunami, 2005 Earthquake.....these four events caused over a million deaths in SE Asia and countless families losing every possesion they worked a lifetime to build in the flash of the Tsunami. But still the Thai people have a smile on their face, a good word to say, and seem so happy just to speak to someone different and connect human to human, no matter how short lived. Don't get me wrong, there are your shysters, crooks and people looking to rip you off or stab you in the back with false words, but those people are everywhere, even in our gleeming clean corporate offices. But in general the Thai people are amazingly open and honest.
Ok, enough of my sermon. Back to the blog, it is raining right now (Sat 18 nov noon) as I type only like it can in a tropical enviroment. The pounding of droplets on the roof made me look up and out the window at paradise, so I step down off my soapbox.
After arriving in Bangkok we take a tuk -tuk to Koh Sahn Road the quintesential "farong" backpacker haven and check into the New Siam which Rebecca had stayed at a couple years past. They totally hook us up, tell us to book our room for when we return on the 26th of Nov as they are almost full, and have us pay one night to reserve the room. Then they even tell us that they can book us a taxi to the airport so we don't get ripped off, how nice!. We tell them our flight leaves at 6:50 pm and we would like a taxi at 1530. They look at us quizically and say that Bangkok traffic jams start at 1400 and there for we should leave at 1500 instead and that we should pay the tolls for the expressway so we don't have to worry about missing our flight. All of this information was voluneered to us, and really proved to be absolutely accurate. We grab a bite to eat poolside and then go to the Air Conditioned internet room to blog. Since Rebecca uses all of her fingers to type, and I just two, so she starts first. Being a little groggy still from the "bug" I am battling I start eyeing the three office chairs conviently situated under the AC vent. It doesn't take me long to figure out my to hips to head can fit on those chairs and I am soon snoring away in the internet room (no drool this time as I am on my back and thus forced to swallow...lol). Rebecca jostles me about a hour later and we head off on our fact finding research of shopping in the Bangkok markets. I like to do a little research first, see what they have, and haggle a bit so I know the going rate for our return 3 day shopping spree at the end of the trip. I quickly learn that XL in Thailand is not XL. I think maybe I am a XXXL here. We feel that our fact finding mission is a success and head to catch our taxi. They were right Bangkok traffic jams run from 6am-10am and 2pm-7pm. We thank the people at New Siam again. At the airport we meet a nice couple from Oakland, he owns a printing company and has done business with many of the publishers in SLC that I dealt with when working in transportation industry. Small world! Its a short 35 minute flight to Siem Reap Cambodia, much better than the 175 km dirt road trip that takes 8-12hrs we have been told about. While on the plane the Flight Attendant for Bangkok Airways walks up to Rebecca and I and says that since we are so tall would we like to move to the emergency exit row as there is much more leg room. Ahhhh legroom, I actually have 12 inches of open space from my knees to the fully reclined seat in front of me. She is sooooo nice!!!!! We arrive and customs is a breeze thanks to Rebecca's brilliant foresight to get our Visa's prior to leaving the US. The line for no Visa's is huge, probably 100+ people, Visa line three total people with 4 attendants. We clear and go to retrive our bags, where I get hit on by a Gay French Guy!! This actually builds my ego, I'm like "I must be somewhat handsome to have a good looking gay guy hit on me".........but quickly grab Rebecca's hand. He smiles and Rebecca gives me a hard time....we both laugh about it. We walk out of the airport and there is our Guesthouses tuk-tuk driver waiting for us with MS Rebecca Heinsl (sic) on a placard. We feel like VIP. His tuk-tuk looks like a horse carriage attached to a little 125cc motorcycle. These are no ordinary 125cc motorbikes. We take about a 20 minute drive down the main drag that is filled with Korean and Japanese restuarants and Mega Resorts. We surmise quickly whom they cater to. We arrive at the Guesthouse and it is a provicial french style house with teak wood floors, hardwood wainscoating throughtout and vaulted ceilings. The room is pretty decent! We eat and sleep getting ready for our big day at Angkor Wat tommorrow.

Two Peas in a Pod

Thurs 09 Nov 2006
Well, today we awake and both feel very poorly, bad in fact, no make that like hell. We are scheduled to meet with Pam at 0930 am at JJ Coffee house in Chiang Mai just 100 yards from Thae Pae gate. A mere 500 yards from our guest house. Still meeting Pam takes a concerted effort and we are very late (20 minutes) and looking very bad. Pam even says so, to quote her "You both look like hell !!!" Thanks Pam for the brutal honesty, we are such amatuers, Pam out drinks us every night, stays out later, and has sold her house (with negotiations and counter offers) while the most we can do is catch whatever virus is around and get biten by every sort of bug in SE ASIA. She is a true pro when it comes to traveling, we are both quite amazed at her abilities and her sense of keeping her head when those about her are losing theirs. If it were a comparison of traveling to sking she would be an Olympic downhill racer and we would have never tried on skis, nay never have seen snow. Anyway we both try to cram some sort of nourishment down our throats, knowing we need to, but all I can think about is returning to the guesthouse to get a nap. We do head back and I fall asleep immediately. (Later on we surmise that I did eat two bites of Rebecca's virus laden Vegetarian food-that will teach me to eat my veggies now won't it!), and is why I am sick but not as sick as she got. I nap till around two and have to scrape myself up to return the motorbike, a very interesting proposition when one is feverish, nauseous, and somewhat delirious. I fit right in with all the other crazy motorbike drivers waeaving in and out of traffic. "Get out of my way will you, can't you see I am going to puke!!!!" Never have I seen as many Thai's get out of my way while having the look on their face of "that guy looks crazy, not to mention his driving" jeez. You know its bad when you scare even the locals. I do notice that no one rides in my wake, I can just imagine why.......... must be the smell eh? Anyway, I collect Pam from her Guesthouse to return our motorbikes. There is a little incident of not knowing why her bike won't move backwards as she pushes it out of the parking spot, being delirious and a large guy my solution is brute force. I pick her bike up and turn it around. This gives me quite a headrush, ohhhh a free buzz....so I have to hurry and sit on my bike. But, still her motorbike won't move even though it is facing forward and is in gear. This is where being sick actually helps, as I have my head on the handlebars looking at the ground for an appropriate spot should my stomach revolt, then I notice that her front wheel has her lock in it. Ahhhhhh that explains it, that and the fact she has NEVER riden a motorbike before, did I mention what a traveling pro PAM is.....not to mention a trooper as well. We return the bikes, me weaving the whole way just begging my stomach not to go Monty Python and jet puke. Again my driving fits right in with the locals.
As we are walking back from returning the bikes, we see Rebecca and she looks frantic, seems the train we want to take to Bangkok to catch our flight to Cambodia is SOLD OUT! We must take an earlier train, which leaves at 1730. We pay someone 50 baht to go pickup tickets so we don't miss our flight out. And while we wait for their return, Rebecca and Pam want to eat at AUM Vegetarian resturant (no not the one that almost killed us both ) as there Khao Soi (a soup with crispy and soft noodles) is the best we have ever had, I have toast and tea.
We make the the train station, with the only thing keeping me going is the fact that I know I can sleep once on the train. We board the train and I ask for the top bunk to be made immediately. Once made I dive in headfirst. Rebecca wakes me hours later saying "Baby, I need to wipe the drool off your cheek and chin........and I have to tell you about my hot water incident."

Things Get Better...

Wednesday 08Nov2006
Shawn and I get up at 7 am ready to leave the hospital. Shawn asks the nurse when the Doctor will come to see me and they tell him 11 am, so he decides to go back to the guersthouse to meet Pam becasue he had arranged to meet her at 10. When Shawn and Pam arrived back at the hospital around 11am, the Doctor still had not come to see me! Shawn tells me while walking to the guesthouse and back to the hospital that he counted a whopping 25 wats-- it is less than 2 miles to the hospital!! No wonder we have experienced 'Wat burnout'- there are soo many wonderful beautiful things to see all over the place!! Finally at 1:30pm the Doctor shows up, examines me, gives me a pat on the shoulder and tells me that I am okay to go, and to have a good vacation! I am feeling better yes, but not 100% as I am still tired. We wait to settle the bill and to get home meds, they offer us a ride back to our guesthouse. We say sure. Little did we know that they meant a ride in an ambulance!!
After theydrop us off we go to try to eat some food and Kao Soy is the ONLY thing that sounds appetizing, somewhat...it was no Aum and not as good...=( After that I am very tired and went for sleep.
Shawn and Pam rented motorbikes and went to Doi Suthepth, which I had already seen. but Shawn really wanted to rent the motor bike and Pam wanted to see the temple, so we were all happy!!
I am glad to be out of the hospital and eager to feel better as it is no fun being soo sick soo far away from your mom!!!