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.