Georgetown and FORT Corn Wallace

What a crazy town, this George town.

I am loving the Chinese Dim Sum for Breakfast and Indian stand with tasty samosas for lunch.

Remembering how great the Indian Iced Tea is. I have never in my life eaten this much Indian food. Thank you South East Asia. Never too spicy, constantly delicious.

Heading to MALAYSIA!!

So so so so sad to leave the Thai Islands, but I am excited to explore a new COUNTRY!

Hopefully everything works out.

We are in Trang in Thailand and take a minibus to Pulau Penang, Malaysia. We will head to a recommended spot ... The Perhentian Islands! Sounds amazing. Only JUST heard of it and we heard great stories about how beautiful the Islands are.

Oh my lanta, I enjoyed Ko Lanta!

motorbiked around another island. We loved it.

Only here two nights, but it had quite a few things to see with a motorbike.

Issues/Protests in Bangkok and Thailand in general

This reported from the Government website. (http://bangkok.usembassy.gov/042010travelalert_thailand.html)

Some of these incidents occurred at or near areas frequented by U.S. citizens. These incidents appear to be motivated by domestic politics and do not appear to be acts of international terrorism. Travel to Thailand remains generally safe. However, the possibility of more such attacks cannot be ruled out. U.S. citizens are reminded to exercise caution and vigilance at all times.

We are definitely safe on Phi Phi Islands but we are still considering moving quicker to Malaysia (which is our next destination).

Just as a heads up to anyone who is concerned, we have registered on the state website.

http://travel.state.gov/

this keeps the U.S. government informed as to where we are generally in our travels and will send us email alerts if anything is happening in the city or country we are in at the time.

Phi Phi and a man Sea. (Andaman Sea)

We have arrived !!! the Phi Phi Islands. Currently at Phi Phi Don.
Got here, no reservations. BUT, it's not high season. thankfully. There was an actual chart listing all the guesthouses (or as many as would fit) and their going rates for 1 bed, 2 beds, dorm, fan a/c. ETC. A friendly lady (looking for commission) approached us to help us book something. We came across the name of a place that we heard from a tour agent, who of course wanted us to book the room a day in advance for much more money. We checked the charts and decided to book a night at "Up Hill Cottage." Literally, on the hill a little further away from the beach. STILL, only 10 minutes walk. This place was only 600BAHT (20 USD$). I will use the term "only" because comparatively speaking, this is a steal. The other rooms are 1000 baht to 30,000 baht. (up to $1,000 a night).

As our Lonely Planet guide puts it. It is seriously an insane deal for as heavenly as the beaches are here. The blue green sea, the soft golden sand and the numerous bays that line up one after another to surprise you with yet another peaceful place to soak the sun. Lobster style.

We immediately went to Loh Da Lum Bay the other side of the pier. The water felt like warm sweat and was hardly refreshing nor escape from the heat. Swimming out further I was able to sit on a coal rock and watch large black fish and schools of tiny silver fish swim along. This was what I wanted.

After, 7 applications of sunblock, 4 intervals of reading and sweating so profusely I needed to swim, we left. We walked to the other end of the beach and out for lunch.

The cheapest restaurant we were able to find had a special for Pad Thai Chicken 60baht (less than $2 dollars). Had a lemon shake which was a lemon iceeee drink and very refreshing and tasty!

We went up to the viewpoint for the sunset. The first viewpoint out of three had before and after pictures of the Tsunami that hit December 26, 2004.

http://www.theage.com.au/ftimages/2004/12/29/1103996584693.html


From the 3rd viewpoint up steep steep steps ...The sunset was another winner.






Enjoying our porch in the evening we see lightning in the distance and a sudden storm takes over. It rained for 10 minutes fairly relentlessly hard, then calmed a bit.

Successful day 1 on Phi Phi Island.

Phuket for two nights. Ka Ta, Karon, Patong and Surin Beaches

We rented a motorbike for the 3rd time.
Staying on the Island of Phuket for two nights.
Specifically our hotel was in Ka Ta.
We motorbiked all around Phuket, Ka ta, Karon, Patong and Surin Beaches.

This way we were able to explore SOO many beaches.

Our favorite was the beach we stayed at Ka Ta.

We attempted to find guesthouses on the hill because they are considerably cheaper. We found a place where they went down 200baht and the room was similar to an apartment with an ocean view. SOLD!

We did take the motorbike up a hill where food was also known to be cheaper.
We enjoyed pad thai, cashew chicken, pad see ew, tom yum, tom ka (coconut milk), sping rolls and our favorite THAI ICED TEA with milk for FIFTY CENTS. So basically, we ate all those dishes listed because they were only $1. We ate here twice a day and daily. With dishes this cheap we felt so good about being able to tip. With one lady handling the kitchen and so speedy we were delighted!

Prachuap khiri khan there and gone

we managed to stop here and rent a motorbike. checked out all the surrounding beachs which actually varied. Some were fishing villages, some were muddy, the sand was different at a few. One of our favorites had restaurants across the ocean view and it was so relaxing.

The highlight is this is the town for the freshest, cheapest seafood!

We went to the large docks with our motorbike and watched the large trucks get filled in an ice station and also saw them transfer bins and coolers of fresh fish.

The local specialties here are cotton fish (fried/grilled) over shredded green mango salad. This was so refreshing and tasty as green mango is almost always in season especially now.

We also had fish with tamarind sauce and light fish and chips combo and finally Kevin had a seafood dish mixed with garlic and black pepper. All of these dishes were had at one restaurant recommended by books. It was called MA PROW. Very well put together dishes. All fresh ingredients and it looked and tasted professional. complete dishes were only $6. Which in the U.S. would be 15-30$ a dish. So glad we stayed here!

The 2nd night we found a bungalow with an ocean view. This was near another beach and it was again very peaceful.

Songkran, Thai New Year is a water festival!

Well ....We were welcomed to the Songkran Thai New Year, Water Festival in Pai, Thailand.

For Kevin and I, the water party began almost a week ago or MORE!

Now that we are in Kanchanaburi we are here for the new year. Thailand uses a completely different calendar and we are in the year 2553.

For the New Year, there are no parties at night, no fireworks, no family time, no decorations.

All we see are water guns, buckets and clay (or baby powder).

We were out on the streets yesterday, Wednesday April 14th. Everyone in town warned us that this day was the water festival day. Luckily we were at a restaurant and were able to use their bucket of water to soak others. We certainly felt less like victims this way. Eventually, there was a parade on the main street. Small tuk tuks with sidecars either held children dressed up or couples looking like a king and queen. They were not to get wet.

Songkran: Apparently, this holiday originated with simple customs. Locals used to sprinkle water over the hands, feet and/or shoulders of others as a blessing. This was a symbolism to wash away any bad thoughts or actions from the previous year. This is supposed to be a festival linked to the new year and because it is also the hottest day of the year, it has turned into something else! Another custom was to cover other's faces with a white paste or clay. Now they use baby powder either mixed with water or not. They do still use little dry cone shaped clay mixed with water to become a paste. From sprinkles of water and a pasted face to OIL DRUMS OF ICE WATER AND MENTHOL BABY POWDER.

It looked like a water war zone on the streets of Kanchanaburi.

Pick-up trucks circled the towns with kids and adults packed in the truck bed. Forget water guns they had buckets. Each pick-up truck had one or three oil drums filled with water. To top it off a small tuk tuk would drive around town delivering ICE BLOCKS to put in the buckets. Yes, it is the hottest day of the year and about over 100 degrees Fahrenheit, but ice water is always a shocker. So, luckily we were at a restaurant and they lent us their mixing bowls from the kitchen and they were readily supplied with a large trashcan bucket full of water with a hose constantly keeping it full all day. (They must not have water bills, we are by a river?) We helped purchase blocks of ice all day too. We were drenched and we got tons of people wet too. We missed the ladyboy contest!

Today we were sure the water party was over. It wasn't. We were lucky to take back streets and avoid all the water. It was hot and it was tempting to get wet, but when you aren't dressed for the occasion it can be a little annoying. We visited the Thailand-Burmese Museum.

Unbelievably, we made this hot hot hot hot day productive, left our air-conditioned room to bare heat in the reported "97 (feels like 104 F)" weather. The museum, we figured, sounded the best out of all the others. Since we only choose to go to one, this was our choice. It was very informative. There were statues and railway recreation donated from various countries.

It was unreal learning about what Japan had done to so many people, holding them as POW's and forcing them to create this railway!

no pictures allowed inside. no photos.

Kanchanaburi

Took me twenty times or MORE to practice the name of this city.
Finally, after many embarrassing moments at tour agencies I got it. kinda.

We took an 11 hour bus from Chiang Mai to Bangkok.
The Bangkok Bus station was PACKED. Kevin and I had to bump through large lines and crowd of people with both our large backpacks on and our small. Finally we landed tickets at 830AM to get to Kanchanaburi. Once we settled in to our raft room on the river we checked the news and read terrible things about the protesters in Bangkok.
Many people died and even more injured.

I'm SO glad we didn't stay in Bangkok. It was a close call, but we are 3 hours away.

Kanchanaburi is the province that has the Erawan National Park and we hope to made it to the 7 tiered waterfalls soon. The heat has got us very lethargic and it will be a while before we muster the energy to get out.

Maybe after the antibiotics are all taken?

Sweetest slice of PAI

After Kevin learned to ride a manual motorbike we met Amber and fled Chiang Mai to go to Pai.

While Kevin got used to riding the bike I rode with a pro. Amber's bike was SOOOO much better than Kevin's bike and I was lucky Kevin needed some time to himself to get used to his motorbike.

2 hours into the ride up to Pai we stopped for a soda and enjoyed the views of the beginning of The Mae Hong Son loop. Continuing our journey and another 2 hours later we finally stumbled upon a guest house with bungalows snuggled in the lush gardens the owners had put together. There were benches hidden in green corners surrounded by fountains and just meters away from the river. We were able to get a good deal for our third musketeer and settled here for the night.

We decided to walk into town and to our surprise it was much more of a town than we had anticipated. Kevin and Amber waited as I snapped pictures of everything I could.
I was on artistic overload. The creativity and uniqueness of it all sent my brain overboard. I couldn't handle how much I loved the crazy colors, random combinations of picture or objects to decorate little shops who on top of all that had amazing homemade dolls, accessories and shirts. I fully appreciated everything about it.
We stumbled upon a shop with tables outside that were fully stocked with colored markers and ink pads with stamps! Once we bought our postcards there we realized this was all set up so we could write our postcards there and mail them off in the postal box RIGHT OUT FRONT. Sadly to admit, we stayed there after the lights turned off so I could put some final touches on my postcards and after thanking the manager for letting us stay so late we took off.

There were tons of art shops, delicious restaurants and a Jack Sparrow Impersonator who cleverly sold autographed pictures of Johnny Depp as Jack Sparrow with other celebrities. It was tricky and almost fooled me until I reminded myself, this isn't Jack Sparrow. Very good impersonator.

The next day we took our motorbikes to the nearby temple that overlooked Pai and then up to the next town to see the waterfalls.

On our way to the waterfalls we took the motorbike up a hill. Not quite making it up the hill the bike started going backwards. I got off the bike, only to slide down, scraping my shin and slowing me down for a few days.

The heat was getting to us so after the waterfalls, a soda and many water bottles quenched in the shade we went back to the new bungalows we checked in to. Our room was more central and allowed us to check out the main part of Pai. Kevin wasn't feeling well so as he napped I went out with Amber for a smoothie. When we got back we ran into Kevin roaming the streets confused.

I hopped off the motorbike to walk with Kevin back to our room but he seemed feverish. I took him to the doctor to later find out (through converting Celsius to Fahrenheit)Kevin almost had a fever of 103!!!

Needless to say after calling our traveler's insurance, switching hotels, getting bus information, trying to sleep, waking up the next morning to be overcharged for putting our motorbike on a bus, getting soaked on the bus ride because of the water festival and getting back to Chiang Mai to a bigger, better hospital: We were both seen, we are now BOTH on antibiotics for Kevin's fever from a bacteria and my sinus infection.

Thank Goodness for Traveler's Insurance and Thailand's reliable medical care!

I < 3 Elephants

Today we begin our day with the elephants.

Booked through the Elephant Nature Park. They are running late and I hope they pick us up soon!

We struggled getting out of bed because we went to the Chiang Mai Smile Part #2.

Two stages with djs and live music.

The Elephant Nature Park!

The best company in Chiang Mai!

This day was one of the happiest days I can remember.

I got to feed elephants, learn the stories of 31 elephants, wash the elephants, watch 2 documentaries which included the background story of the owner Lek.

In the afternoon we fed them again and bathed them another time.

I didn't have my camera at the end of the day but I watched Lek sing a baby elephant to SLEEP! Only because Lek was there did the mother of the baby elephant let us come over to her baby. .

She encouraged me to hug the baby and I sure did. I stayed with the little guy until it was time to go.

Best Day EVER!

The next day was fun too!
Kevin and I took a cooking class. We EACH learned to cook 6 different dishes!
Delicious and educational, my favorite!


getting ready.



the fire show!




enjoying the food.

Chiang Chiang Chiang. Chiang Mai

Today we arrived in Chiang Mai at 10am. The Thailand buses

have yet to let us down. I fell asleep the quickest I can remember

for being reclined in a seat.

The first sleep interruption was a police officer

waking up everyone on the bus to check identification. He didn't check our passports.

The officer instead went straight to the back of the bus and pulled a passenger off.

I peeked through the window to watch them search the man's bag and have him take off his large puffy jacket. I told Kevin an update, looked back and the man was gone. The same officer came BACK to our bus and made a FIVE minute announcement in THAI. We had NO idea what he was saying. Kevin and I gave each other options.

"We have captured a serial killer who was on the loose for years, you are safe, continue sleeping."

"We have discovered that the man we have captured has planted a bomb on the bus. Stay calm, you will not be able to evacuate until the bomb is detonated."

"You are all being taken to jail, Good luck."

I mean the point is, who knows what he was saying. No one spoke English.

My next sleep disturbance was when the bus attendant turned on all the bus lights, blared music videos at 12 midnight and 4am to wake us for the free dinner and breakfast service. I awoke for dinner to be tricked into choosing way too spicy food and handed it over to Kevin.

Again, Kevin ate for two at 4 in the morning. There was no way I was going to get out at 4 to eat. Never would I depart from my slumber once I've fallen asleep on a bus with less than 5 hours until our ETA.

Once in town, we found a place recommended by The Lonely Planet which

was almost shocking that we actually located it. We have been misled by this book that

we sadly continue to follow. Wrong addresses here and there.

We checked in and walked to The Free Bird Cafe. All of their procedes

go to The Burmese refugees. Burma is one heck of a country

with a wild government system. Therefore, there are a few

organizations raising money to help people. We supported this

cafe and in return enjoyed delicious organic food and whole wheat bread. I had a whole wheat grilled sandwich with hummus feta and olives. Oh my, this was a nice change of pace from the local food we've been eating.

Afterwards, we changed into our hiking boots and took off for a 3 hour walking tour visiting

tons of temples (wat's).

We took the Lonely Planet's suggested walking tour: only backwards.

Wat Lam Chang

Wat Chiang Man

Wat U MOng Kiang Wiang

Wat Phan Tao

Wat Chedi Luang

Wat Phra Singh

and took a songtow to our last stop.

At 5pm we ended up at Wat Suan Doc for a monk chat.

One monk started us off with general information and switched

with another monk. The 2nd monk provided very interesting perspectives on Buddhism

and his personal life experience coming from Luang Prabang, Laos.

We discussed everything from general Buddhist practices to his personal goals as a monk and advice he would give to us.

We spent ONE HOUR and some change talking to monks

and learning about their lives. I could have stayed longer

but rightfully so Kevin was ready to continue our busy day.

We eventually made it to the night market and checked out

amazing local goods. I bought another journal. (Journal #6)

Our goal was to check out a company called The Elephant Nature Park.

This is the ONLY company in Chiang Mai that we could find that didn't include riding

elephants. Many companies claim to be sanctuaries and

safe havens for elephants but include riding the animals

and hitting them to guide them. Not my slice of cake.

Instead this company focuses on bathing the elephants, brushing them and feeding them.

We got some prices to book a tour tomorrow and headed to a chill bar.

We found a little parking lot style alley with a ton of dive bars.

Babylon, Panda bar, Jar Bar, Cafe Del Sol ETC. We SHARED a drink and headed back to

MALAK Guest House.

Finally: we have retired to a much needed relaxing night.

Which, unfortunately still includes doing laundry by hand and updating our budget.