Eat, Pray, Love! Reprise

EAT – Oh boy did we eat! I look back at the pictures from our post on March 8^th (Lord of the Dance) and figure that I’ve gained about 4-7 lbs. And you know what? It was worth every calorie and carb! Thai food was our favorite, with Indonesian running up a close second. Cambodian food was neck and neck with Indonesian and all three far outweigh the stale bagel I am currently gnawing here at the LA airport. Suffice it to say that the culinary aspect of this trip did not disappoint.

That brings me to the final Gala dinner. This event, held under the stars at the Mandarin Oriental was, as Jerry put it, an extravaganza. Exotic dishes to taste, dancers performing, more votive candles set out on the green than any US Fire Marshall would ever allow, and the sky lit up with the paper balloons we released (emerging nations have not caught on to modern environmental practices). It was a lovely, elegant and perfect way to end the trip. Weigh-in takes place tomorrow at o-dark hundred.

PRAY – Bali, Cambodia and Thailand are very spiritual places – especially Bali. There are temples everywhere and flower offerings at virtually every doorstep and street corner. Buddhism is the predominant religion in the area and the people seem imbued with a deep sense of peace and happiness. Hmmm.

Another form of praying took place the night of the earthquake . . . . While Jerry and a few hearty Californians went back to the rooms and slept, the rest of us hunkered down in the parking lot to ride out the aftershocks in relative safety - but no need to revisit the one terrifying moment in an otherwise wonderful vacation. Again.

LOVE – These last 3+ weeks have been some of the most fun and interesting we’ve ever had. Our last day in Hawaii marked the launch of what was, in effect, a honeymoon of sorts (see blog post March 13, I (still) do). In addition to enjoying the travels and the adventures, we met some lovely people along the way – people with whom we dined, laughed, climbed ancient ruins, ate and drank exotic foods, and yes, slept in the parking lot. I am sure we will remain friends and travel together in the years to come.

PHOTOGRAPH – ahhh yes! Of this we did a great deal. Although this was not a photography trip, per se, we both brought along our cameras and made the most of being in the far east. While others were packed on a bus, we were exploring markets and back streets, meeting people and having a blast with our cameras. The wonder of digital photography never ceases to amaze me. We take pictures and the next moment we are sharing them with you on our Flickr pages! Although relatively new to the digital world, I must finally acknowledge that my film days are behind me, and all my darkroom equipment will, sadly, continue to live quietly in the garage.

Epilogue: We arrive home on a beautiful, crisp, early spring day. Jerry’s bag arrives, too. Mine is, apparently, still in LA. That’s OK – I won't need summer clothes again for at least another few months!

Post epilogue (is there such a thing?): I get on the scale no less than 5 times this morning (mostly to see if it's broken. . . . It's not): I have not gained a single pound!

Jerry's Ruminations

As we prepare to leave Thailand after our visits to Thailand, Cambodia and Bali (Indonesia), a few odd ruminations (would you expect less).

Thailand is beautiful, the food is great, prices are reasonable and Thais are a warm and wonderful people. The cities, and the countryside are clean for the most part. Thailand clearly has a solid middle class and is country moving up rapidly from being a developing nation.

Bali is wonderful in all respects, but not quite as clean and with less of an established middle class.

Cambodia is a little hard to read. We saw only one place, Siem Reap, where Angkor Wat is located. This is a developing nation with plenty of poverty and cleanup work to be done. Siem Reap is booming with man large hotels under construction due to the presence of Angkor Wat.

Three million people visit Angkor Wat a year now. The government is putting in a new international airport to accommodate flights from outside Asia (we flew in and out of the existing regional airport from Thailand).

So who controls access to Angkor Wat? Two private companies. If you look on the back of your entry pass (which contains your photo, taken as they issue the ticket), you see a passing reference to the companies. I asked our guide about it and he confirmed my theory. The Government lacks the money, so they have an arrangement with the two foreign companies to in effect operate Angkor Wat as a tourist attraction. The same is true of the existing airport and the planned new airport.

We talked with one of our guides in Cambodia about where he learned English. No, not in school (although that is a common way to learn it) and not by travel abroad. He learned to speak English through YouTube. There apparently are many language lessons on YouTube. New one on us.

The guide already speaks Japanese. He is working to learn Italian and Spanish to make himself more marketable as a tour guide. He is part of the up and coming Cambodian middle class.

Back to Thailand. It’s a mystery to me why, for no apparent engineering or construction reason, there are so many small (2”) step ups that will trip you up. The same is true of stairs, where the rise varies between steps, making stairs and the little step ups genuine hazards.

We used the SkyTrain in Bangkok, a relatively new above ground rail system. I wondered why the overhead straps for those standing were hitting me in the head. Simple. Thais are short people, and, as it should be, the system was designed for them, not for taller westerners (and as we all know, I’m not all that tall).

Group travel is a mixed blessing and an interesting experience. There were roughly 50 of us in Bali and 102 of us in Thailand and Cambodia.

With a group, you have to allow more time for everything, so we arrived at all airports an hour earlier than we would normally need to arrive. However, we were for the most part whisked through visa lines, immigration and check in. In Bangkok, the travel agency even paid the airline to have two check in lines just for us.

There is the matter of the tours. Some of the tours took us to great sites and permitted us to bypass lines. However, some of the tours were for the purpose of creating shopping opportunities that we would have passed on—and when we could, we did.

On two evening in Thailand, part of the evening’s events included releasing large paper balloons, as they call them, which really are specially designed paper bags with a light metal frame and a flaming burner (which burns itself out after the fuel is exhausted). When lit, the heat causes the bag/balloon to rise. Simple physics. As a group, we launched 50 of them one night and 20 another. They are spectacular in the sky. In theory they should burn out and fall harmlessly to earth without causing a fire on the ground. However, they are an obvious environmental hazard in general, but also, you can be sure that some of them hit the ground lit, lighting something on fire. Beautiful, but not a great idea.

Then there are the departure parties we referenced in earlier positing (except for last night’s, which Giules will reference in her last posting), one each from Bali, Cambodia and Thailand. Think hotel luaus in Hawaii, but put it on a world class ancient temple ruin (Cambodia) or a Hindu temple with 250 villagers turning out to perform (Bali), dancers, food, music. Extravaganza is the term that comes to mind.

Jerry from Chiang Mai

It’s an hour bus ride from Chaing Rai, to our final Thailand destination, Chaing Mai, Thailand’s second largest city and the center of activity in Northern Thailand. Good roads through scenic countryside, but still four hours.

The Mandarin Oriental Dhari Dhevi (I put in its full name to make it sound important) is an over the top resort. We have a suite (suits and villas are all they have) that has literally almost as many square feet as our entire condominium. We don’t need this much space, including two bathrooms, but it gives you some idea of the place.

We arrive Saturday night and skip the Mandarin Oriental’s five restaurants in favor of going into town to a Thai restaurant. We were not disappointed. Great tastes and flavors, and about $100 a couple, including wine.

On Sunday morning Giules is not feeling well (head cold), so she stays behind while I go off temple-viewing with the group. Good temples with lots of people watching and photographs to take.

In the afternoon we have a luxurious couples massage for two hours. This is Thailand, so the rates are reasonable and the Lanna massage (this area was the Lanna Kingdom at one time) consists of a warm oil massage, tapping of the body with a special tool made from the bark of the tamarind tree and then hot compresses. After that, all we want to do is relax.

We had another dinner out with friends in Chaing Mai on Sunday evening at a Thai restaurant Giules found. More wonderful Thai food, inexpensive Australian wine, and then . . . on to the night market. This is a local equivalent market, i.e., not designed for the tourists. It’s full of clothing, jewelry, shoes, and food for consumption on the spot. These markets are always fun and colorful and this one is no different.

There are six of us. So how do we get back to the hotel? The type of cab that took us downtown is no where to be seen. One option it to use tuk tuks, the three wheeled sort of carts that are ubiquitous. However, we instead use the Chaing Mai version of a bus, in effect chartering our own, a small pick up truck with roof over the back and benches on both sides. We pile in and back to the hotel we go. It’s not very comfortable (or in the least bit safe), but it works.

On Monday, our last full day in Thailand, we skip the group trip to the hillside tribes with the women who have many rings around their long necks and instead go in to find the local market. We wonder amongst the shops and stalls for about two hours—being about the only westerners to be seen. It’s a street photographer’s paradise and we take in every minute of it.

Housekeeping

Hi again, G here

I have just uploaded my photos to my own Flickr account. You can see them at http://www.flickr.com/photos/33339594@N06/sets/72157626213266131/

They are a bit different from Jerry's pictures - from rather a different perspective - and many of different subjects.

You can also get to both of our Flickr pages by clicking on the links above, under our headline picture.

Enjoy!

Yesterday's Elephants

Earthquakes to Elephants

Here we sit with a direct view of the Golden Triangle and the three countries that meet here, Thailand, Myanmar and Laos. As we learned around 9 P.M. Thursday night local time, it also is an area that experiences earthquakes.

From a night spent partially outside with aftershocks that have continued for most of the next day, we moved on to elephants today.

The resort has a connection with an elephant rescue camp with about thirty elephants that reside on the resort property. Today we got to ride them, or at least Giules did. I passed on my allotted time because I knew how much she would love her time with the elephants, so here’s Giules to talk about it . . . .

Hi all - - - Yes, it’s true that I am no fan of BIG THINGS THAT RUMBLE underneath you… (thank you, mother nature for reminding us that you are more powerful than anything else), however I make an exception for riding elephants!

This had to be one of the most amazing and wonderful experiences of my life – and even though I had a sleepless night in the parking lot, I actually forgot about the quake for a few hours and had a blast.

We arrived at the elephant camp to get briefed and trained by the Mahouts – the elephants’ life long partners and trainers from a nearby tribe (being a Mahout is a profession passed from father to son for many generations). After being trained we got on our respective elephants and rode (think riding a large horse bareback, but sitting right behind the ears). We practiced steering, stopping, moving forward and backing up. I loved every moment of it and Jerry generously let me stay on for a second turn while he photographed.

The morning culminated in taking our elephants into the river for a swim. For this, the Mahouts rode with us (probably to fish us out of the river if we came off as the elephants dunked). My elephant had a blast blasting me with water from her trunk and soaking me from head to toe. I cannot imagine more fun!

This afternoon we went to see the elephant camp and had a great time playing with a mother and baby. You can see pictures of all of this on Jerry’s Flickr page.

Shaken, not stirred

The aftershocks come about once an hour with small rumblings in between. Jerry went up to the room around midnight - - I stayed outside with some other folks until after 2 a.m., then went up.

We are safe and the hotel is solid and still standing. We got a few hours of sleep and are now off to breakfast. Hopefully we will have less exciting adventures to report on the next blog entry - such as riding elephants.

Earthquake

As some of you may know, there was an earthquake here in Northern Thailand around 9 pm local time Thursday March 24. It apparently was a 7.0 about 65 km from where we are in Chiang Rai. It was a pretty good shock. We bolted out of the room, Giules wrapped in only a towel, and stood outside for about 45 minutes with all of the other resort guests. We are still feeling small aftershocks (one just hit), but things are fine. Photos are on Jerry's flickr link. Time for bed.

Angkor Wat

Up at 5:00 a.m. to see sunrise at the temple at Angkor Wat. In darkness we load onto the buses, drive to the site, unload and walk to where we will watch for the sunrise. We cross the moat on a bridge approximately a quarter mile long and proceed along a road. It’s dark, the road is uneven, the guide has the only flashlight for about 25 of us. Giules is using the flashlight application on her iPhone, to no avail.

We go off the road, down some very (and I do mean very) uneven and old steps (not a handrail to be seen anywhere in Angkor Wat), stumble, literally to our spot on the steps of an outbuilding to watch the sunrise.

Sunrise commences as scheduled (no surprise there), however, with the cloud cover, there is almost no color in the sky as it becomes more light. Therefore, we take images of the silhouette of the temple and enjoy the start to the day.

We have a very good guide, who takes us around the perimeter and in through the back of the complex. Along the way we see a building off in the jungle about a quarter mile away that is what Angkor Wat used to be –encased in the jungle.

We walk through the temples, admiring the carvings and the great work done by thousands of workers at a time. We are fortunate to be able to get close enough to touch the sculptures (which we do not do). Sooner than later this access has to end to preserve the site, however, for us, it’s great as we walk through the complex for nearly two hours.

Breakfast is a boxed affair from the hotel served at a restaurant/gift shop just outside the temple complex. It fits the need.

Hawkers are everywhere as we go to breakfast, leave breakfast, go to the buses. At every stop at a tourist destination, there are hawkers. Saying anything to them means they do not let you go; the only thing to do is to ignore them and keep on walking.

We head out next to another temple, Ta Pram; a temple held together, literally in places, by the giant roots of trees. The structures are in maze formation, so we stay with our guide. It also is in the process of being restored, but is at a much earlier stage than is Angkor Wat. The Indian government has contributed funds and expertise to help with the restoration, which is a massive undertaking. Watching it we can get a sense of what was involved in freeing Angkor Wat from the jungle, a Herculean task.

One poignant part of the tour through Ta Pram is the group of seven musicians playing by the side of the trail, under a tree, as we walk in. They are selling CDs and DVDs, and the music is quite pleasant. However, as you look more carefully at them you realize they are all missing a limb – they are all land mind victims.

Their CDs and DVDs are priced in dollars, as is most everything in this part of Cambodia, or at least what the tourists might be buying. Cambodia has its own currency, but we never saw it. All transactions were in U.S. dollars to Thai baht.

Lunch is at the hotel, a multi course, delicious lunch, followed by . . .a 90 minute couples massage, meaning that we are both in the same room getting our massages at the same time. Aaah.

We go out for a walk after the massage, just wandering the streets. People on bicycles, motorcycles and motorbikes are everywhere, transporting all manner of goods and people. Five on a motorcycle or motorbike is not unusual. It’s great for street photography.

Since it’s hot and humid (as it is everywhere on this trip), a swim in the hotel pool, shaped in the manner of the one at Angkor Wat, is a welcome respite.

The temples are all closed a night, however, for us . . . we have an extravaganza at Banyan Temple. It is lit from the outside as we sit on a wooden floor, put down for the occasion, with well decorated tables. The entertainment is Cambodian dancers. The food is from a catering kitchen brought in for the night, western to a large degree (steak imported from the U.S. and Atlantic cod). It is a memorable night, hopefully some of which shows up in the photos.

As we post this, we once again have a good an internet connection, so Giules has added some of her pictures to yesterday's Siem Riep post.

Cambodia - Everyone smiles

Where do I begin? (Hi, it's G again) We arrive to blazing heat – hotter than Bali but perhaps not as humid. Once again the ubiquitous busses take us to a very nice hotel – elegant and sleek, in contrast to Siem Riep which is dusty, bustling and colorful – filled with people, bicycles, cows being herded, markets, shops, tuk tuks, street performers, and lots hustle, bustle and color. Amputees (from stepping on land mines) are not uncommon. Everyone smiles.

Our first venture was a river boat trip. We ride on a 30 person motor boat, with a guide pointing things out and his young son helping to man the boat. The river is a tributary of the Mekong, which is some 200 miles away. This is the dry season in Cambodia and the river is a low body of brown, filthy and very muddy water, surrounded by mountains of mud dredged by large backhoes. Along the sides of the river are shacks where people live in the most abject poverty. They fish, they scavenge for clams, their children run naked on the mud mountains, and they bathe in the filth of the river. It is a real and profound education in the dire poverty of this area and of how many people still live. Not everyone smiles.

Our river trip culminates at a small dock where we were initially accosted by many small boats containing mothers with very young children begging for “one dollar”. The young girls (2-4 years old) are draped in large live snakes around their necks so that we take pictures of them and then they can beg for money. It is rather jarring.

We end the day with a trip to the museum and museum store (more details on that when I get home) and a lovely dinner at our hotel, complete with gymnasts and fire dancers. Somehow the excess of food and opulence feels strange and disquieting given the contrast to the poverty. This is a nation of contrasts. Much to cry about and much beauty. Like the Balinese, the people here are genuinely lovely and happy to meet us. Everyone smiles.

Jerry and Giules combo entry

Sunday-

Jumping ship today instead of going with the group was one of our better moves. No need to see the world’s largest solid gold Bhudda. Instead, we went to the Bangkok weekend market—hundreds of stalls organized by what is for sale. All sorts of foods for consumption or to take home and merchandise of every sort, in addition simply to great people watching.

We took the Bangkok Sky Train to get there – clean easy to use and reasonably priced - it also gave us great views of the city and all the brightly colored taxi cabs!

We stopped at the Jim Thompson House on the way back. His home now is a museum. He was a former American OSS operative who set up in Bangkok after WWII and promoted the Thai silk business. His home is interesting, really five houses joined together on a small canal, with all kinds of art.

Adding to his mystique is the fact that while he was vacationing with some friends in the mountains in Malaysia he went for a walk in the jungle—and was never seen again.

Dinner was on the 62^nd floor of a building that was open to the sky. It was quite an experience, although the food was mediocre and vastly overpriced. We paid for the view.

Off to Cambodia and Angkor Wat for two days before we fly to Chang Rai in northern Thailand on Wednesday.

Great adventures!

Jerry writes from Bangkok

Bangkok bustles, but everyone knows that. It also is the land of temples (wats).

It is similar to Hong Kong in its level of sophistication and interesting places, and, unlike India, there are no beggars or street people.

We have a room with a balcony overlooking the river with all of its traffic, which is great simply to watch.

Saturday was a great day. They are having record cold temperatures for March, i.e., it was in the high 80’s but not nearly as humid as Bali—perfect for us.

We saw the Royal Palace, which is beautiful and interesting, however, our tour guide was very, and I do mean very, detail oriented. Fortunately, while she provided detail and other groups got ahead of us, we photographed.

After lunch with the group by the river, we stopped at a jewelry store and then abandoned the group and headed off on our own to Chinatown--as Giules put it--the cleanest Chinatown she’s ever seen. It’s full of all kinds of shops selling food and a great variety of products we never see. The flickr photos provide some illustration. It was our idea of nirvana—so many people and things to photograph!

Dinner was a boat ride across the river to a Thai restaurant with a performance by Thai dancers. Yes, it’s for the tourists, but great dancers and performances.

Today we are jumping ship by going out on our own and not with the organized tour group and Giules and I cannot wait to hit the streets.

Rice! Temple! Volcano! Dancers! Party!

And what do all these things have in common? Us - in our last day in Bali.

Rice - Ok, rice is a staple, THE staple in the Bali diet. It's everywhere and at every meal. And it's yummy. Our day started out being taken to see rice terraces and also to see how rice grows. It's actually rather sweet and soft before it ripens - we got to pick it in its green husk and taste it. It is grown in beautiful cascading terraces along the country side.From rice we went to temple. No, not Mt. Sinai , but a fantastic Buddhist temple hosting the start of a religious ceremony. We watched some of the ceremony preparation and the procession in which a high priest was led in and given various offerings. He looked to be a very gentle man and smiled warmly as we took his picture. The grounds were lush and tropical - as is everything in Bali - and there were tourists there from all over the world - - which leads me to my next topic - our new friends from temple!

As we were leaving we saw a group of about 15 tiny Muslim women - - - yes tiny.. And by tiny I mean not one was over 4'11. They first asked us to take their picture and then, like a tiny headdressed hurricane they swarmed around us gleefully wanting their picture take with us! They could not have been more excited and each one gave her camera to their guide to take their picture with us. One of them kept offering me her cheek and saying "kiss me! kiss me!" when the pictures were being taken. (Upon hearing this story one of our friends on the trip whispered to me, "you didn't tell them you were Jewish, did you?" I don't think it would have mattered - these women were just so happy to make new American friends!Our next stop was a spectacular buffet lunch overlooking a rather tired volcano. We made a few more stops where most of our group negotiated with vendors in tourist traps to buy souvenirs and Jerry and I wandered off to take pictures of real people.The day concluded with a trip to an ancient temple (1500's) where an entire village presented a dance and food extravaganza for us. The dancing, costumes and music were beyond anything we had seen before. We were met at the outside of the temple by the villagers in traditional celebratory costume.
They then adorned us and led us into the temple where they performed and served us dinner in a beautifully choreographed display. Unfortunately the evening and the final "fire dance" were cut short by a strong rain - but each of us was handed an umbrella to use as we hurried back to the bus!

The pictures you see here are mine - Jerry has posted more of his on Flickr (see link above) and I will be posting a Flickr link soon.
Next stop, Bangkok!

PS: did I mention the spider that was as big as my hand?

Eat, Pray, Love?

Maybe in the movies, but on this trip, it's EAT EAT EAT!
Yes, it's G here again....

Yes, the Indonesian food is incredible, but incredible does not even begin to describe Bali.
What words can I use?

Tropical, exotic, beautiful, peaceful, lush, fragrant, gentle, subtle, humid, spiritual, mysterious, constant... in other words, it's the anti-Vermont (at least winter in Vermont)!

Yesterday we were herded onto a tour bus and ended up in a mire of touristy shopping stops. We finally made our escape in Kuta, a congested and chaotic little city, by abandoning the tour bus and heading back to the hotel for lunch and the afternoon by the ocean. We spent the afternoon lounging in and around the infinity pool by our villa and dined on Indonesian somethingorothers that were very very good.

Today we were taken, again by dreaded tour bus, to three shopping/crafts places where some folks shopped and Jerry and I had much more fun photographing the artisans doing their batik, jewelry making, etc. We also had some great photo moments outside of the tour centers when we left the group and wandered up the streets by ourselves. Jerry has started a flikr site for his photos and I will post one as well, probably when we get home. In the mean time, Jerry's site is: http://www.flickr.com/photos/jfon24/sets/72157626153803293/
and I have included a few of the pictures that I took, here.

The Balinese people are utterly lovely. They are kind and gentle and see genuinely happy to see us. Rather than shaking hands with you, they clasp their hands together as if in prayer and bow to you - - a practice that I think we should be well served by adopting back home. This gesture serves as hello, goodbye, thank you and you're welcome. They are also very friendly and happy to be photographed.
Bali has its share of third world glamour as well. Many dogs and some cats roam the streets - and due to cases of Rabies last year we do not touch them. There is considerable poverty and trash lined streets and waterways in the more urban areas and the cars are in various stages of dilapidation. Many people ride motor scooters and it's not unusual to see three or four people and children riding together, frequently without helmets.


Overall, however, Bali is a spiritual place. There are over one million temples on the island (so says our guide) and everywhere you look there are flower offerings, carvings and signs of a deeply spiritual people (mostly Hindu). We explored one temple today - a work of art in it's breadth, architecture and carvings. It appeared to be ancient, but it was actually only two years old - the heat and humidity age the stones very quickly and everything here (including the temples) is in a perpetual state of being rebuilt. Sarongs are mandatory at many temples. . . .


That's it for me - - J is already asleep and I am getting bleary as I write. We have another day and a half here and will be writing more posts as we recover from the jet lag.

Jerry writes

So here we are cruising along high over the Pacific on our ten hour daytime journey to Seoul to connect for our eight hour journey to Denpasar, Bali, Indonesia. We depart at 11:10 a.m. Sunday Honolulu time and are due to arrive in Seoul at 4:40 p.m. local time on Monday (we cross the international date line and Bali at 12:05 a.m. on Tuesday morning. The time difference between Seoul and Honolulu is five hours - another hour to Bali.

All this translates to the fact that we are leaving in the daytime, chasing the sun, and landing in daylight. So why, three hours into the flight do we and our 450 fellow travelers have the shades closed and why is virtually everyone trying to sleep (except for one nutty guy stabbing away at his keyboard). Could be it was the delicious, all carb, Bibimbap lunch that came with detailed directions:

and a tube of hot sauce?

Could it be this is the Korean Airlines flight attendants’ way of getting a little down time while we all sleep – the view of our friend Patty, a former flight attendant, when I told her of a similar evente on 16 hour flights to India. In any event, it’s odd to be flying over the Pacific in broad daylight in an almost completely dark plane and virtually everyone trying to sleep. If someone non-conformist didn’t every once in awhile have the utter nerve to open the shade to look out and blast us with sunlight, you would think it was the middle of the night. The KAL flight attendants are different. They are all perky, heavily made up, lithe, attractive young women who smile incessantly and bow to you when you get on the aircraft or they hand you water or do anything else for you.

Seoul’s Inchon airport is very modern and contrasts dramatically with the pictures one has of the rural Korean landscape. Quick connection there and on to Bali – arriving at just after midnight.

And suddenly it's Tuesday....

We finally got to bed at 2:15 in what they call a villa with its own small pool, outdoor shower, lounge area and anything else you could need. We thought we would sleep until 7:30 a.m. Not so. The body clocks had us up at 6 . . . .

I (still) do

3/12/11 we renewed our vows.
Aloha, Lana'i

Last day in Hawaii

And we are scurrying to print boarding passes that won't print and pack bags that don't want to be packed! Notwithstanding the tsunami that wasn't, we had a wonderful time at the ISOB conference and are sad to say goodbye to our friends, new and old.

The beaches reopened yesterday around noon and we went for a quick swim in the bay last evening. It was deeeelicious! Our plan is finish packing and go snorkeling this afternoon. Swimmers are not supposed to interact with the bottle nosed dolphins in the bay but apparently they will come swim around snorkelers. We can hardly wait!

At sunset we will be hiking up to our cliff where we were married with a split of Champagne in hand. It's a wonderful way to celebrate our 5th anniversary begin the next five years (which of course means that we will have to return every five years . . . at the very least).

Tomorrow we leave for Bali via Seoul, South Korea. It will be a long slog to Seoul (10 hours) and then a slightly less long slog to Bali (8 hours) - we should arrive shortly after midnight on Monday? Tuesday? The year of the cat? We will then be roughly 12 hours ahead of the east coast, rather than being 5 hours behind. That whole international date line thing is still a bit confounding to me. Anyway, we'll post more once we get settled in Bali (and yes, J will be writing as well), unless I feel the need to vent during transit!

Signing off until the next port,


Giules and Jerry

No Tsunami here

Thank you for all your concerned e mails!
During the night we heard an alarm sound twice - apparently tsunami alarms - and this morning the beach and low lying areas are cordoned off with yellow tape - but the waters look gentle and calm and the danger has apparently passed - only a mildly higher tide.

The airports and public schools here are closed but we are fine and no big waves are expected at all. Fortunately, our room and the hotel are quite high above the shore line. No worries here, but our hearts go out to those in Japan.

Princess point

See that tiny little cliff in between the two huge ones?
That's princess point - where we got married.
We hiked the big one on the right yesterday.

Lord of the dance

G here, once again.
Because a number of you asked, I am posting a couple of pictures of paradise.

Today's adventures consisted of meetings in the morning and Hula lessons this afternoon. No, not Jerry. He did not dance the ancient Hula, although that would have been mighty entertaining. Instead, J came and took pictures and video as I haplessly flailed my arms, sashayed left as others turned right, and looked like a stuck log as we were commanded to flow like clouds. You get the picture.

What, you may ask, ever possessed me to take a Hula lesson? I will tell you. Peer pressure. Yup. The "head spouse" pushed me into it and told me that all the cool spouses were doing it. I'd be a nobody if I didn't try. She ignored my protestations and told me that if I ever wanted to be in the cool girls' group, I needed to do this. Then she'd be my bff. Having never been in any cool girls' group before, how could I turn down instant admission and the Mai Tai's she was offering?

Turns out, I still belong on the math team with the other nerds - but I had a lot of fun confirming that, once again! - And the head spouse? she belongs on the math team with me!

And no. We will not be posting the video.

Record snow fall!

G here again (J says he will start writing when we leave for Bangkok). I was going to post a pretty picture of the flowers, the ocean, and the view from our room, but then we checked the weather back home and saw that y'all had two plus feet of snow last night and huge drifts...

sorry....

I'll be brief today. I won't talk about the lunch on the veranda over the ocean, the whales cavorting in the water offshore, the butterflies flitting about the gentle breezes... and there I go - I've said too much already.

Instead I will tell you about the International Society of Barristers induction ceremony. Jerry was "inducted" this morning, along with 16 others and their spouses. (Spouses are considered equal members and are inducted and introduced as well). It was a lovely ceremony and there were a few humorous and even poignant speakers. After the induction we began the conference in earnest, listening to very compelling presenters on a number of topics. This will be the regimen for each day this week and I am happy to attend it with Jerry. It promises to be quite interesting.

but enough about us....
We miss you all and we will miss galloping the horses through the most recent snowdrifts...
ttyl!
-Giules

Aloha!

and good morning!
G here, reporting from our hotel room in Lana'i.

After awakening at 4:10 a.m. yesterday, a two hour flight to Chicago, a nine hour flight (can you hear my knees groan?) to Honolulu and a 25 minute spin in a blender, courtesy of Cuisinart Air, we landed safely on Lana'i. Our luggage, however, did not. Had we not been so tired, we might have been more concerned, but we were greeted by good friends and promptly distracted by tropical drinks and a delicious dinner. By the time we made it back to our room our luggage had arrived. sigh.

We slept in until 4:00 a.m. local time (pretty impressive, right?), which is 10:00 a.m. east coast time. Although we landed in the fog and rain yesterday, today is starting out sunny and lovely. Our room is considered a "partial ocean view", which means that we can hear the ocean from it. To be fair, if we go out onto our porch, we can see the sea off to the right. Otherwise we look out onto a tropical garden and the far edge of the pool.

The land is lush and sumptuous - palm trees, flowers, pretty things I cannot name and a cacophony of birds - - my god, the birds! They sing! They trill! They chirp! and when we adjust to local time and actually want to sleep past 4:00 a.m. I will want to kill them all. Until then, they are delightful.

The more 'exotic' legs of our journey begin on the 13th when we leave for Bali, however until then we will be enjoying Jerry's Barristers conference and some time off to savor paradise. We are staying at the Four Seasons, where we were married 5 years ago, and we plan to go up to the cliff where we had our ceremony and celebrate with a split of Champagne. Yes, even if it rains.