Thailand
After one plane ride, two trains and a tuk tuk yesterday I arrived to my new home for a couple of days in Bangkok. I have an entire house to myself! How wonderful! I celebrated by making my dinner of instant ramen noodles in my underwear! Haha, it has been awhile... Since I have 'made' my own dinner and especially while pantsless! I am excited to be surrounded by the 'fancy' instant noodles of Asia again (you have to add your own dry ingredients and oily flavoring) and I am impressed that this brand even came with a collapsable fork! Dinner's up!
I woke up today to messages of the Sullivan Sisters' arrival!! I walked my way over to meet them at the Sheraton and we spent the day wandering around Bangkok. We checked out the Golden Buddha and searched for a Sleeping Buddha. When the search failed we munched on some street sushi and chicken on a stick and sipped some bubble tea. We finally happened upon a Sleeping Buddha and some other fun statues on the walk back to my place from the market. The girls helped me pack up and we grabbed a tuk tuk that took the 'scenic route' back to the Sheraton. After a short rest we were prepared to head down to Calypso for a Ladyboy's Cabaret Show. My, my, my... Some of them were convincing! What an eventful day! I'm glad to have the girls in town!
Bond...
James Bond! Today we took guided canoes out to the hongs (Thai for rooms) of the islands in Phang Nga Bay. I had planned to be here for my birthday back in June so I was very happy to finally make it! They were beautiful! The final stop was James Bond Island, so called because The Man with the Golden Gun was filmed here in the 70s. It\'s actual name is Khao Phing Kan. It was a lot tinier than I thought it would be but fun to look at!
Guess what you're getting for Christmas?! Haha, anything and everything seems to be for sale on Patong Beach and you don't even have to get out of your seat! Over the past few days I have been offered: painted fans, dresses, t-shirts, pants, sunglasses, flutes, booze cruise packages, aloe vera, coconut oil, sand brooms, silly face glasses... Just to name a few! What have I purchased? I did manage to get the painted fan salesman to fan me a couple of times for free and I was tempted to get some new shades and snack on some deep fried shrimp but I have kept my purchases down to one Santa hat and a few cold Changs! Happy Christmas Eve!
It's a very Merry Asian Beach Christmas here in Phuket! I started the day by meeting Pam and Maria for a delicious chocolate croissant and coffee near the beach before taking in a little early morning sunshine. After the beach time I got my bags packed up to fly to Chiang Mai this evening and then headed to the Fish Spa. What an amazing experience that was, to have a hundred fish nibbling at your toes! The sensation made my entire legs go numb and my tummy feel a little queasy. I solved the problems by sipping on an icy cold Chang (Thai beer) for the duration of their feast. Our time in Patong was finalized with a yummy Lebanese lunch and some watermelon-mint hookah before heading to the airport. I can't believe how fast our time flew by here!
Everywhere's a temple, temple! There seem to be temples every direction you look in Chiang Mai! This temple is Wat Chedi Luang in the center of the Old Town. Parts of the temple were restored in the 90s and the reconstruction helps you to imagine how fantastic the structure must have been in it's prime, over 600 years ago. There are many buildings on this property. One houses a buddha image that holds a pose to prevent relatives from fighting (fitting for the holiday season, haha). Others hold lifelike sculptures of monks associated with the temple. It was kind of like being at a wax museum. In front of the 'wax monks' were little decorative viles containing pieces of the 'wax monk'; his hair in one, fingernails in another and also some teeth!
I had to pull out Mom's famous tummy ache cure once again today... Coke 'n Rice! It's no fun to spend the day sick in bed with friends in town. I am however thankful this is only the third time in over a year of traveling that I haven't been able to get out and about. Looking forward to tomorrow!
I moved over to my new hostel today. I wasn't able to book one room for my whole stay since almost every room in Chiang Mai seems to be rented out right now... Who knew it was high season?! After getting checked in I met up with Maria for her last night in town. We grabbed a light dinner at a cute cafe and then headed over to the 'Chang Mai Countdown Festival 2014' at Thapae Gate. There was music, shopping and food! I managed to cheaply pick up a few new tanks to wear on my next adventure in Thailand... And found some Takoyaki, aka Octo-balls, to munch on! Fun flashback to downing some of them with Kazue in Tokyo!
And new friend Steve! The girls will leave tomorrow afternoon for Bangkok but I signed up for a 3 day trek today and will leave Chiang Mai early tomorrow so it is time to say goodbye. Travel safe ladies! It was so great to see you!!
Tonight we were greeted with some rice whiskey at the Karen village where we would spend the evening. We drank, prepared dinner (spicy blood pudding with cabbage wrap, deep fried pork intestine, rice, chicken & carrots, potatoes & tofu), drank, chatted (some english, some translation, some smiles), drank and went to bed (chilly night on the porch under a mosquito net)! The trek began today at a different Karen village where we walked through the school yard while the kiddos were watching Snow White and the Seven Dwarves; something they get to do once a year. The rest of the day we made our way up the mountain checking out local plants and insects, trekking through some rice and cabbage farms and startling some local guys who were out illegally cutting teak trees (they thought we were the police).
This morning we took a walk around the village before heading off. There were many people out to say hello to. We got to see women out on their porches weaving clothes and bamboo mats. We left the hut we stayed at making sure to thank them for their hospitality, 'Ni bo ni ta!' (hello, thank you, goodbye in Karen). Not too long later we arrived at another Karen village. We helped prepare the rice by grinding it and then went to explore the village while Supot finished making lunch. We bought some ice cream via motorcycle ice cream man and shared our candies with the kiddos and parents in the village. They had us try on some Karen clothing and we spent a bunch of time taking pictures with them. We ate our lunch (rice, noodle soup, spicy fish paste with cucumber and cabbage) and headed off to the jungle. We stayed in a gorgeous area of the jungle right on the river. Took a quick dip (in the cold river) to clean up while Supot, Lala and Naka gathered some bamboo to cook dinner. It was very cool how they boiled the water in the bamboo and prepared dinner (rice, mixed veggies, potato curry, chicken). More rice whiskey was enjoyed while everyone prepared dinner. I etched our bamboo cups with a Happy New Year message and we rang in the New Year with Sydney! (As we need to get up early to hike out tomorrow!)
We woke up in the jungle after a little warmer sleep than the night before. We ate some New Year's Day breakfast of toast, jam, eggs, coffee and tea! (Also some salt fish and rice for those who were interested!) We pressed on to the final Karen village we would visit. Along the way we mainly hiked up river the whole day; it was beautiful! There was a 15 minute portion where we were hiking up the river through a cave. The guides carried burning bamboo (and headlamps) to light the way. They pointed out a snake chilling in a hole in the wall and later told us it was a green mamba. Glad it was in the wall and not on my toe! A truck picked us up from the village and transported us back to where we would meet our van for the trip back to Chiang Mai. When we arrived, Pooh, the owner of the trekking company greeted us with a couple of cold Leos (Thai beer) and we told him how much we enjoyed the hike. Upon returning to Chiang Mai I wound up grabbing a room at Pooh's guesthouse and partied down with everyone for their annual party. Good and bad idea!
I rang in a second New Year, Wisconsin time! The guest house I am staying at has a Japanese restaurant. This is a Japanese sticky noodle, soba, eaten for good luck on New Years. I was told to chew it carefully because people die annually from eating them... I am happy to report I am still kicking after enjoying it but suffering from the hangover involved with the evening!
I decided to drop my laundry off to be cleaned today before heading off to Kanchanaburi tomorrow. After leaving it with the cleaners and heading for some lunch I came across a coin laundry. Since the lady said my things wouldn't be ready until 8pm I decided to go back after eating to see if she had begun cleaning them yet, thinking I could just take them to the coin place. Upon rounding the corner to her shop there they were... My whole laundry bag hung out on the side of the street like a closet. Haha, I don't really know how I thought they dried the clothes but makes sense why they come back smelling like car fumes in the past now!
After a couple of beers last night AND seeing Tara's #safetylast hashtag on Pam's picture of her spooning a tiger, I decided what other country will I get the opportunity to do this in... So I woke up early this morning to go see what Tiger Kingdom was all about. I can see why the guys in the Hangover decided it was a great idea to take Mike Tyson's tiger home with them for the night! I had a great time playing with the tiger cubs this morning and petting the larger ones. I was surprised my heart wasn't racing when I stepped inside a cage with four full grown tigers. Maybe it was all of the other tourists going in and out or maybe I still had a slight buzz from last night... Glad to report I made it out with no scratches! Makes me feel strange to be on the other side of the cage now. I guess it is good prep work for my next week volunteering at the Safari Park!
I hopped on the bus last night bound for Kanchanaburi. One bus change in Bangkok and 13 hours later, I arrived! I rented my first scooter... Happy to say I made it to my new home for the next week with only one spill, due to one dull left brake, one touchy right brake and a lack of practicing speedy right turns! After the spill I stood up and gave the thumbs-up to everyone to announce I was 'OK!' Shortly after I arrived to the Safari Park. Ned introduced me to the leopard cubs (tons of scratches and bruises but finally figured it out) and then asked if I'd like to walk the lion, Simba... Why not? Big Kitty. We finished the evening with an annual party for the staff filled with 'duck face' and 'sawatdee haaaa!' What a great first day!
After a visit to see the leopard cubs this morning I went with a member of the staff, Salapong, for his tour of the park. I began the tour by bottle feeding the new baby zebra before we put out feed for the older zebras and giraffes in their nighttime enclosure. We took a quick peek at baby Scotty, the new giraffe born the same day as the baby zebra, before heading out to other parts of the safari to feed more animals. We divvied out chickens to the safari leopards, fed leaves and carrots to the barking deer and cassowary, filled feeders for the other park deer, took a pass through the bear enclosure, chased escapee deer out of the bear enclosure, haha, and scattered food into the pond for the flamingos. The best part of the tour though was pulling Salapong's bike and sidecar into the giraffe and zebra enclosure and having the giraffes tower over us for food. I was immediately covered in giraffe drool upon entering the gates as they chased us down for food and then continuously covered as they searched me and the sidecar the entire time with their long tongues for more food; they weren't shy. They are amazing and beautiful to watch. I am jealous Salapong gets to do it everyday!
After cleaning the monkey cages, hanging with the big cats (and realizing how big Simba actually is after walking him the first day) and cuddling the cubs, our treat today was going out with the elephants. My first observation, they're pokey! I wore my yoga pants and the hair from the elephant was itching me right through them. It was a surprise because from afar you can't even tell it is growing on their backs. It was very cool to be so high up in the air riding them but kind of freaky not having anything to hang onto but the mahout in front of me; I guess I was expecting a second rope for me! We took a stroll through the jungle and then had an extra special treat of riding them into the water. The lake isn't the cleanest so it was a challenge to try and balance on the back of the elephant as it sat down in the water. In the end the effort wasn't necessary to try and stay dry once the elephant gave us a nice spray of the water out of it's trunk! After the ride I got to meet the new baby bear before heading home to have dinner and a campfire.
Cuz every little thing, is gonna be alright! I went to take a little break with the 'Three Little Birds' after Thierry and I watched 300 plus students roll into the park. We learned that the Girl and Boy Scouts come and stay at the park as well as leadership groups through March. Luckily they only came through the monkey section a couple of times during the day where we had to monitor that they didn't give ice cream to the monkeys or tease them. It brought me back to my lifeguarding days when I had to confront a few that were bothering Gramps.
What an eventful day! Ned surprised me by feeling well enough to walk the cats again. So after Simba and Yaya spent some time playing out on the line we put them on the leads and walked them to their enclosures. Toi was there to keep the cats moving and we were 'armed' with our sticks in case anyone got loose. Halfway back Toi thought it would be nice if I sat on Simba for a picture. Yikes! I was a thousand more times nervous than being at Tiger Kingdom since I had just watched Simba batting a concrete water bowl around like a ball of yarn. He was good though and just laid down by the end; tired of photos! We spent a short time after that trying to catch an unidentified scary looking snake that I spotted slithering into Wendy and Sydney's cage just after some kids ran by. Thankfully Ned and Thierry finally ran it off when the extraction tool failed to clamp onto it. I took a pre-lunch bus tour through the safari area. It was nice to get to see the leopards and lions out on safari and the rest was good but subpar to the Salapong tour! After lunch there was some more playing with the leopard cubs before giving the monkeys their dinner.
Two of the teeniest, tiniest of the leopard babies came to the front today. Named Merry & Christmas because they were born on Christmas. They were nervous and crapping everywhere!! Toi was also nervous once they arrived to the front and decided they were too young for customers to hold. I was glad I got to catch this one working on it's fearsome growl on his premiere to the front since it looks like they won't be back for a few weeks!
At least my smile was behind his back! I stopped by the crocodile show after a long morning of making monkey balloon animals for the Children's Day at the Safari Park. Our neighbor just so happened to be one of the crocodile keepers so he called Thierry and I into the crocodile enclosure after the show to take a few pics. The crocodile smelled a bit like mildew and even had some on his tail. I am not sure I would ever trust putting my head inside his mouth. That's a lot of teeth to pry off of you!
Between monkey feedings and leopard bites today, I busted two of these guys hanging around. No, it is not a Komodo dragon but they come in second place for the largest lizard size only to the Komodos. They are water monitors that live in the lake that winds through the park. I spotted the first one behind Sky's cage, where I think the smell of rotting meat from her not eating is getting the lizards curious. The second one was over staring down the deer. I am guessing he was trying to decide which one he would eat if the fence wasn't between them. As long as they keep their distance I am cool with them but no swimming in the lake for me!
I went on the park's Safari Tour again today. This time armed with carrots! It was fun to watch again as people were shocked when the giraffes popped their heads inside the bus. This time I even attempted a mouth feeding. His tongue got a little too close once and touched my tooth though so that was enough of that! No kisses for giraffes!
Humans, well we're all still walking! The morning started out normal with monkey cage cleanings but by mid-morning news trickled back to us that Simba, the lion broke his chain while out on the line. Amazing in itself, the story then went on to say that one of the Chinese volunteers ran from the lion... Uh, oh. Haha, Simba chased her and tackled her face down as her friend hid behind a tree crying. The story is only hilarious because she didn't get hurt at all from the lion. He just pinned her and all of her scrapes came from hitting the ground. Fast forward to the afternoon. I went out on Salapong's Tour of the park again. This time while feeding the giraffes it wasn't all fun and games. A giraffe was following a fellow volunteer's bowl of food and apparently didn't see me and crashed right down on my pinky toe. OUCH! No broken bones, phew! (You can see in the video the food frenzy they get in though. Hopefully it doesn't make you seasick.) Shortly after getting stepped on I was going up to another giraffe for one last pic as I realized it's leg was coming up quick and he kicked me down the backside! Haha, not even a bruise left on me but I learned my lesson. When I announced the kicking another volunteer said he was kicked while we were out the too! Animals - 4. After getting showered and having lots of laughs about the animal attacks of the day we headed out for dinner with Joe, the owner of the park's son. As we took off down the park driveway we were followed by the dogs so Tat said 'Drive as fast as you can!' to get the dogs to go back. She failed to mention 'to remember to turn'. I heard a loud smash and plastic sliding across the pavement behind me. I was afraid to look back... Reeson, another Chinese volunteer had crashed his bike. Nasty, bloody, cut up lip and arms. Machines - 1. There wasn't much said at dinner but a lot of laughing as someone thought of any moment from the crazy day. The only thing I remember besides laughter was being offered 'chicken tendons', thinking I must have misheard 'chicken tenders' I tried one. Nope, heard correctly, chicken tendons. Not so yum.
I woke up early this morning to finish packing my bags to leave the safari. I stepped out of my room around 6:30am only to hear Chutney all the way up to the house calling for food as the sun was rising. I sent my bag back to town with Mr. Tip and went down to the monkeys to run keys for the last time while cages were being cleaned. Emily and I finished up our vegetable, fruit, no ice cream signs and hung them for the monkeys. It didn't really hit me that I left until I retrieved my bag from Mr. Tip back in Kanchanaburi. I gave the leopards he brings to town a goodbye pet as tourists watched me with big eyes when I got so close to them. It will be strange to wake up in the morning and not have elephants outside my door, monkeys to feed or leopard cubs to play with.
I am excited to spend the next few days checked into a hotel with a decent internet connection. I spent today getting videos working on Shannybug.com in Internet Explorer. I am looking forward to being a hermit the next few days and making other improvements to the site as well as working on promised updates for friends and family! *cough* Nerd.
Minus the Sour Patch Kids, I'm all set up for a proper movie night! While I was out buying my goodies I ran into the Safari Volunteers in town running errands. I joined them for lunch and they told me how Gramps (a park monkey) had an eventful morning. His cage was left open and so he decided to go for a stroll. One of the new volunteers announced his escape by saying 'There's a monkey walking around over there!' Haha, it's been 15 years since he's been out of his cage. After grooming two of the volunteers and biting another, he finally made his way to a new cage of choice closer to the other monkeys. Way to go Gramps! Speaking of Gramps... Tomorrow is my Grandpa Dave's birthday. Happy Birthday Grandpa!
I went for my first Thai massage tonight. I must admit it was quite random to be invited by some Korean men at the table across the way while out for dinner but I had just been thinking this morning why I hadn't been for one yet. From the fancy little outfit they provide to the no oil approach, I am a fan! I couldn't figure out why I was so sore on my left side while being massaged and then remembered being kicked by the giraffe last week... I walked out feeling great!
I met up with my Korean friends again tonight. We had a couple of beers at the place where I met them last night and then wound up at a hookah bar. Besides it being their first time smoking hookah it was their first time making Pringles duck mouths too! They thought it was 'very creative', haha. Thank you Aunt Lisa for teaching me so many years ago. Glad I could spread my love of it with the world!
I ran into Dennis this morning, a Safari Volunteer, while I was out for breakfast. He informed me that the rest of the crew was coming later in the evening so we made a dinner date to meet up with them later. We found them at the Ragae Bar. While we were listening to the band play Emily made a comment about a poster across the way reminding her of a band from when she was younger. I took a look but didn't know the band she was talking about. I then realized it was a poster for the guys on stage performing for Playing for Change. I was very excited to stumble across them after being introduced to Playing for Change's Stand By Me video in Rishikesh! I am not sure which song they performed for but I will keep my eyes pealed!
What's more exciting than another picture of me next to a waterfall? Me on a motorbike! Haha. I rented a scooter this morning to join Emily on a ride to Erawan Waterfalls. It was a wonderful drive. An hour and a half there and another back. The falls were beautiful! Big pools with lots of fish swimming around in them. I saw there were rooms to stay at the park and you could also rent tents. I thought about heading back out there this week for a tent until I saw the 'Cobras' sign. I'll pass this time but I will be looking at camping out somewhere else along the road!
After staying in Kanchanaburi town for almost two and a half weeks, I finally made it to see the bridge today. I was able to stream the movie online last night to try to gain some knowledge on the history of the bridge. From the movie I grasped that POWs were forced to work on the bridge and many died in the process. In the end the British and other POWs had to teach the Japanese how to properly build a bridge and shortly after it was blown up to stop the Japanese from being connected to Burma and being able to easily transport supplies and troops. I also visited the Death Railway Museum and Research Center this morning. There I learned that the Japanese were quite capable in their knowledge to build the bridge, having many of their own engineers they were not taught by the British, but the museum did reinforce how many POWs died during the construction at various POW camps in the area. Many deaths were from tropical diseases, poor living quarters and malnutrition from foods being withheld as a motivation to work harder... Hmmm. The museum continues to research what happened to the remaining missing POWs. Also, many of the Asian workers brought to work on contracts are still unaccounted for as they were not buried in the POW cemeteries. What a sad history. Now there are vendors set up at the bridge selling t-shirts, drinks and food and even young children singing songs for change from the visiting tourists.
I met some new friends last night at Red Tanks Bar, Kimuji and Hoi. Kimuji was kind enough to invite me out on a temple tour today. The first stop we made was at a cave temple high up on the hillside. After climbing the large set of stairs to reach the temple it was lovely to have a cool drop in temperature upon entering the cave. The smell of incense burning filled the air and there were several Buddha statues to look at. Our next stop was an even higher hike up! It had a beautiful view of Kanchanburi and the River Kwai. We grabbed some dinner afterwards and swung by the local market for a quick airbrush tattoo before heading back to Red Tanks to participate in some extreme Jenga. Good times!
A New View of the River Kwai
Today was a special treat! Hoi invited me along to go out on his friend\'s boat on the River Kwai. We spent the early afternoon lounging in the river, enjoying some music and soaking up the sun. On a pit stop to the Jolly Frog we picked up some new friends and headed back up the river to do some more swimming before the sun went down. It felt great to be hanging out on the water again! There was a nice warm breeze to dry us off on our ride back to the dock. Little did I know I would be re-soaked by being thrown off the dock upon returning... Hoi!