Em & Trev

North Central Cascades Traverse

2011-06-03T22:14:00.009+07:00

It’s interesting how routes are created. The pre-conception for this traverse began on Glacier Peak in 2003 as Peter and I looked south at an obvious high route connecting The Enchantments to Snoqualmie Pass. At that time, we had no idea that we were standing amidst a future Cascadian crossing. It wasn’t until we were in the middle of the Central Cascades Traverse in 2008 when our eyes kept being drawn to the snow filled massif east of Glacier Peak that the inspiration for this route was born.

The plan for the North Central Cascades Traverse (NCCT) matured quickly the fall of 2009 when I entered the zone around Trinity for my first time. I remember looking at a map while on the south side of Clark Mt and double checking that I was standing amongst a continuous 6000’ descent of skiable terrain. I thought such vertical was only offered up on our bigger volcanoes and amazed that I had not heard more about the ski potential in this part of the Cascades. From then on, the map studying intensified as I tried to piece together an east to west high route.

Fall of 2010, I got commitment from my main touring partners. Finally on May 20, 2011, Adam Vognild, Peter Avolio, Rob Bolton, and myself boarded the Lady of the Lake headed for Lucerne and then on to Holden where our man-powered adventure began.

The folks of Holden Village were as friendly as fellow ski tourers had reported and I look forward to longer visits in the future (both amongst the community of the village and amongst countless ski explorations in every direction). Thanks to a long winter, we only hiked ten minutes and fifty vertical feet before we started skinning up the Copper Creek basin.

Traveling in the afternoon hours of a warm day, we swiftly followed the path of least objective hazard. This basin is a steep skier’s delight and we were impressed by the large wet slides that trenched out football field arenas in the low angle valley floor. While the forecast indicated this would be the last sunny day for who knew how long, I was relieved that conditions would become less “mushy” with colder temps. While this stability relief was long endured throughout the tour, the continuous poor visibility eventually triggered some navigational concerns.

Feeling strong and knowing we had a large climb up to Fernow’s south shoulder the next morning, we continued over into the head of the Entiat where we set our first camp. This location proved true to what we expected with most camps: a place we would want to base out of in the future for days of great ski lines.

The next morning we left early without any overnight freeze. We made good time up the southeast side of Fernow with a couple short boot sections to get over it’s south shoulder around 8900’.

We downclimbed a couple hundred feet of rocky section and then patiently waited out a whiteout before enjoying a fun 3000+’ ski into the head of Big Creek.

We set camp just before enduring an eight hour stint of rain. This was the first of many tests for Bolton’s new Beta Light shelter. It proved successful through all the tests and instills a great argument against my Megamid for two people.

The next morning Peter sniffed out a smooth route up to the Dumbell/Greenwood saddle. Clouds stayed at least a peak away this day and we enjoyed visibility throughout a fun ski to the northwest. While the map indicated we should trend skier’s right for less aggressive terrain, this route had slid to rock and we were forced to finish the descent fall line through cliffed terrain.

Peter and Adam descended left around a rocky ridge on belay where they found a ledge of 3^rd class scrambling down to snow.

Bolton had been eyeing a snowy line with uncertainty directly below us. Peter skied down to scope it out and gave us the OK. Rather than battle a pendulum repel with uncertainty of pulling ropes, I preferred Bolton’s ski line.

More than 2500’ below the saddle, we transitioned to skinning and climbed south/southwest to 7200’ on the ridge looking west onto Lyman Glacier. Adam encouraged a long “drying” break as the sun was shining. We hung shelters and sleeping bags, air dried happy feet, and enjoyed a most comforting hour and a half lounge session.

While the sun shone bright through most of this relaxation period, clouds continued to cascade down Chiwawa’s northeast side prohibiting any views of the next day’s summit ascent. Chiwawa convincingly became known to us as “The Cloudy One.” The final 1000’ ski to the bottom of the Lyman Glacier instilled smiles on our faces as our legs quickly trusted consistent mush turns.

Before the trip started, there were two crux points in my mind. The first was getting over Fernow which we had accomplished. The second was getting over Fortress and descending its huge southwest face. This second obstacle required we first travel over the summit of Chiwawa and then look for the weakness in the south ridge of Fortress. We left camp on Day four with this Fortress test and the challenge of getting to our food cache at Buck Creek Pass. Light snow showers fell from the sky and clouds stayed low preventing any looks of “The Cloudy One’s” summit. The glacier climb went smooth with the couple inches of new snow benefiting our skinning efficiency. In decreasing visibility, all of a sudden we topped out a few hundred feet lower than the map told us we should. We saw a peak a bit higher to our climber’s right and realized we missed the summit. It appeared best to descend down the other side of our high point and then hope visibility increased to shows us a good route up the peak on our right. If a weather window didn’t prevail, we could descend to the head of the Chiwawa River and work a route west over the ridge to Buck Creek. We downclimbed on belay and then ski cut belay a steep chute before committing to skiing the steep terrain below us.

The weather was not improving and due to The Cloudy One’s short observed history, we weren’t going to hang out and hope. We followed the skiable terrain first to the right and then left through firm runnels. When visibility would increase to a few hundred feet, we glimpsed dark walls to both sides of us. We finally arrived on a bench after 2000’ of steep skiing and took a well deserved break. I pulled out the map to see our options. While I expected steep terrain off Chiwawa’s south side, something didn’t feel exactly right about our descent of least resistance and especially this flatter area we were resting on. It was at this point (2000’ too late) that I pulled out the compass to confirm our direction.

I held the compass level…waited a bit, shook it a bit, and momentarily wondered why the arrow was not moving to where it should. We were headed northwest…almost 180 degrees from where I thought we were going. Lovely. We had climbed the upper Lyman Glacier too far right to a sub peak north of Chiwawa’s summit and descended into Miner’s Creek. Rather than travel back south up to the col between Chiwawa and Fortress into worse visibility and still have the Fortress crux awaiting us, we agreed to ski down Miner’s Creek and then travel south over Middle Ridge, across Small Creek, and finally to Buck Creek Pass. After beating myself up a bit for the major navigational blunder, I enjoyed the final turns of a sporty 3500’ descent!

We knew we had a lot of mileage between us and our food cache at Buck Creek Pass so got into a slow and steady pace. With pea soup visibility and the recent navigation error still fresh in my mind, the compass stayed out getting the attention it deserved. After trying to force a route in bad visibility through steepening terrain, we resorted down to safer slopes to set up camp and hoped for clearer visibility and thought process the next morning.

It snowed off and on through the night and the morning yielded the same pea soup conditions as the day before. Confirming our camp location with the GPS, we chose a more conservative route over a flatter bench of Middle Ridge at 6240’. We then descended south to Small Creek through trees (most of which were spaced tighter than one would like).

We climbed to a saddle east of Flower Dome and then traversed to Buck Creek Pass, the location of our long desired food cache. The navigation anxiety momentarily subsided while the uncertainty of our food’s security built. Will it be there? Will half of it be shredded by long claws or beaks? Will we be forced to exit to Trinity on the small rations we have remaining?

Food cache in tact and it was time for a well deserved refueling session. The cache consisted of five hanging Ursack bags…one had its strings cut and one had been pecked through its Kevlar exterior but nothing inside any of them was altered. We relished in the fact that we had an extra food bag as my brother Rob had to bail from the trip last month. We consumed all four of his dehyrdrated dinners, all his chocolate bars, and some of his trail mix. Hmm hmm good. We figured he deserved a thank you phone call and pulled out the sat phone to send our appreciation and get a weather report. He was amazed we were still socked in as it was bluebird in Seattle and he could see a good portion of the Cascades.

With his optimistic weather observation and our full stomachs, we continued south that afternoon. Bolton led us up Liberty Cap in the same 50-100’ of visibility we had grown accustomed to.

But then the heat on our faces intensified, the light through the fog grew brighter, and soon enough we had risen above the cloud layer! Mountain tops started appearing in all directions and soon the massive volcano to our west started to revere it’s bulky mass. All photo capable devices came out and we stood still to admire our surroundings.

Knowing we still had some tricky transitions with limited daylight, we couldn’t gawk too long and kept traveling south along the ridge. We skied down along the east side of Pt. 7276 and climbed back over the ridge through a weakness in the cornice. At this transition, the skylines began displaying immense color contrasts. Dark gray clouds were approaching Buck Mt from the southeast while the sun was beginning to set over thin clouds to the northwest. The result was fiery orange to one side of us and gothic purple to the other. We descended southwest and hastily set up camp below Triad Lake as a blustery rain shower moved in.

The next morning we traveled over High Pass and skied south to the Napeequa River. Again, we observed many days of fun ski terrain in our immediate surroundings. With the aid of bear tracks, Peter led us up the Napeequa and over the col to our camp at Moth Lake. The wind was howling down from the glaciers and the forecast called for ugliness so we spent some extra time digging down for added protection in our shelters. That night Adam was pretty excited about our whereabouts and kept brainstorming where else in the Cascades we could get this “deep.” I tried to share his enthusiasm for our remoteness but also wished to talk more about it the next night after we had traversed the rugged north side of Tenpeak Mountain.

While the map shows a slight bench at 6000’ amidst Tenpeak’s rowdy north couloirs, I gained the confidence in this section of the route from Lowell Skoog’s previous crossings. Thanks Lowell & Co. for pioneering this section and for the beautiful photos of that zone…it’s refreshing to see what we traveled through!

We awoke to colder temperatures, light snow showers, and three inches of new snow. I liked it…good temperature trend for stability, not too much new snow for potential destruction but enough new snow to help travel over otherwise firm icy runnels.

We made a descending traverse from the outlet of the lake and then skinned (ski crampons mandatory) to a wide saddle that allowed an easy entrance onto the Honeycomb Glacier. Visibility held in there for great travel…never enough to see the top of Tenpeak or much into the valley below but plenty to see at least a couple hundred feet.

While on the Honeycomb Glacier, visibility got worse. Map, compass, and a GPS reassurance for a preset waypoint got us through the Honeycomb, down and across the Suiattle, and down the White Chuck to where we set camp northeast of White Mt at about 6300’.

This traverse was always intended to conclude with a Glacier Peak summit ski. The weather never presented much chance to even discuss such an opportunity. The weather also did not allow other summit alternatives along the route or even the visibility to enjoy some ski descents along the way. None of us ever complained. We were close to completing a long planned ski traverse through new country. We were stoked.

The next morning we awoke to three additional inches of snow. Bolton led us through powder turns from camp and then we began our final ascent to a col west of White Mountain. The top 1500’ of our south facing run to the North Fork Sauk River consisted of pleasant powder turns. It then slushed up before finally giving way to more dirt/rock/brush than snow and we downclimbed the last few hundred feet after enjoying another 3000’ ski descent.

We hit the valley bottom a little east of the trail and had to earn some Cascadian bushwack credos before finding the trail out. Due to road closures, our car was parked off the Mt Loop Highway at the start of the North Fork Sauk River Road adding seven additional miles of walking fun to the finish.

We got into the car and were amazed at how quickly the miles peel off when rolling at 30 mph. The culture shock continued in Darrington as we couldn’t find an appropriate dining establishment. We all stared blindly out the windows as the green pastures turned to concrete strip malls and soon founds ourselves in a Red Robin consuming 3 courses of high caloric meals.

The trip was extremely rewarding for me as I got to travel through entirely new terrain with my good friends. Strong work team and thanks for a most memorable traverse!

More NCCT photos here and will add more as get them from Bolton.

Central Cascades Traverse

2008-05-14T07:20:00.021+07:00

The Central Cascades Traverse (CCT) has been high on the hit list for over 5 years. It began the spring of 2002 on a tour through various headwaters of the Middle Fork of the Snoqualmie. Then in 2003 as we stood atop Glacier Peak looking south, Peter and I knew we must attempt to ski across the Central Cascades. The traverse was linked quite clearly starting west from the high peaks of Snoqualmie Pass through the expansive whiteness of the Daniel-Hinman massif on through the Wenatchee Mountains to finally finish amongst the granite-laden Stuart Range. From that day on, we started the CCT scheming.

The trip required some logistics: time, snowpack, and us being in the country. Finally this season was go-time. We had always envisioned this tour happening during sunny spring days with a reliable freeze/thaw snowpack. However, Peter becomes a father towards the end of May and his supportive wife had valid reason to want him around. So, our scheduled window was late April. Due to unfavorable weather conditions on the western slopes, we decided to start in the Enchantments and end on Snoqualmie Pass.

Robo dropped us off on the Icicle Creek Road on the morning of April 22^nd. The sky was deep blue and we were thinking starting on the sunny side of the Cascades was going to reap rewards. A few hours further up the Rat Creek drainage, the weather turned to that which was consistently hitting home on Snoqualmie Pass: clouds, wind, and eventually snow. Not wanting to get stymied by too much snow for a safe climb up from Coney Lake to Canon Mt the next morning, we pushed on. Almost 7000’ above our start, we reached Canon Mt. in a windy whiteout. With skins and compass still in use, we quickly got down to the Lost World Plateau and over to our desired descent towards Prussik Pass. We enjoyed increased visibility and a couple sections of powder turns amongst larch trees before finally setting up our first camp above Perfection Lake.

We awoke to four inches of new snow and began touring through the Enchantments. There were a couple moments when the sun won the battle and we caught glimpses of our snow filled neighbors, most notably Prussik & MacClellan Peaks. Due to continued winter conditions, we chose to abort hopes of tagging Colchuck and Dragontail and elected for the more familiar descent from Asgaard Pass to Colchuck Lake. We took advantage of some brief sight distance and floated through cold smoke all the way down to the lake. We sipped tee and admired our turns waiting for the giggles to wear off. Then we roughed a nasty descent down to Mountaineers Creek where we filled up on water and tore layers off as the sun came out. Just a few minutes later we layered back up and toured through snow showers up to camp at Lake Stuart.

Never seeing the upper half of Mt. Stuart, we discarded plans of traveling over Goat Pass and chose a more direct route over Jack Ridge via Jack Lake. In winter fashion, the visibility shut down and the wind picked up as we climbed higher. We booted over the rocky ridgeline and safely navigated down a few inches of wind-consolidated snow on a firm crust. Once down to Jack Creek, we snacked and then started a long valley day. Once more, the weather and snow conditions turned us away from our intended exploration up and over Harding Mt. Instead, we opted for the creek cruising day and skied down Jack Creek and then up Meadow Creek to the southern base of The Cradle. Consistent with each morning thus far, we awoke to new snow on the Megamid. But soon the clouds dispersed and the sky appeared to want to remain mostly clear. Odd. Through a satellite phone call, we got a weather update that the next couple days looked cloudless. We relished in the thought of seeing our surroundings and quickly headed west determined to spend the big alpine day on Daniel and Hinman in the sunshine.

We spotted a gorgeous basin on the east side of Granite Mt we wanted to climb. Before entering this basin we toured across the first set of tracks we’d seen on the trip. I pondered different possibilities, “Maybe they are snowshoe tracks…no too small. They look like boot tracks…but way out here?” They turned out to be from a bear who either didn’t have the strength to lift it’s legs out of the snow or was simply too heavy to do so.

Soon we were climbing above tree line. In addition to the decent weather, being back in the high country increased our stokage! We continued north over a ridge and then climbed the NE basin to crest the ridge and reach Granite’s summit. For the first time of the trip we could see the top of Mt. Stuart and where we began the morning before. The northern flanks of the Wenatchee range boasted tons of attractive skiing that would have to wait for another trip. To the south was the almighty Rainier and obstructing most of the view to the west sat the snow-packed NE aspects of Mt. Daniel. Grande!

We began our descent with great curiosity and satisfaction. We were satisfied that we put ourselves into a position to get Daniel and Hinman on an expected good weather day. We were curious about our descent down to Hyas Lake and if the bucket of food I cached a month ago would still be there. Curiosity and uncertainty often result in surprises and we experienced the beneficial side for both revelations. We skied dry unconsolidated powder on the descent down to upper Robin Lake and then soft spring turns down the west side of Granite. Equally exhilarating was discovering the food cache was unhampered! We set camp and consumed as many calories as we could.

Early the next morning we started skinning up a chasm into the huge NE basin and eventually onto the summit of Mt. Daniel. Glacier Peak beamed to the north and Peter starting pointing its direction and saying things like “that’s next, the NCCT” and “then there’s the NCT.” We scoped out a safe entrance onto the Lynch Glacier and began a long descent down to Pea Soup Lake. Mt. Daniel definitely separates itself from the rest of the Central Cascades by its expansive alpine acreage. Feeling like I was closer to the Chugach range than my backyard, we slid through glacial powder without a tree in site.

From Pea Soup Lake, we descended west on firm snow down to the bottom of a gully separating Mt. Daniel from Mt. Hinman. We toured up this wind funnel and then accessed the NE side of Hinman. Except for having fewer rock towers around, the wide-open whiteness was similar to that found on Daniel. We got into a trance-like zone of skinning. I admired Glacier Peak thinking of the day we were on it’s top thinking about doing what we were doing right now. Peter was reciting a self-motivational mantra: “I am light, I am strong.” Whether the mantra helped or not, Peter’s strength was evident as I observed his relentless pace up the mountain. A reliable partner to get things done in the mountains, Peter is the type of guy who gains strength during these multi-day marathons.

Reaching the summit, we admired the ruggedness of the Snoqualmie Pass high peaks and sensed a connection to finishing the traverse. We traversed west off the summit, skied some steep breakable crud above La Bohn Lakes and then sloshed through soupy snow past Williams Lake to a nice opening safe from any wet slide runouts. It was only 4:00 and we basked in the afternoon sunshine: gear dried out, bare toes breathed, and multiple freeze-dried meals were consumed. We enjoyed our only open bivy and woke up early to beat the onslaught of wet slides we were expecting.

Touring up the valley under the north side of Summit Chief was as spectacular as ever. Snow and ice gripped its rocky veins displaying that the present warming was an oddity in this long winter. At Summit Chief Col, we continued touring towards Overcoat Col hoping we could avoid a descent and climb back up under the east side of Chimney Rock. We climbed to the ridge that borders the east side of Overcoat Glacier until we hit a dead end. Falling west onto the glacier or south onto steep slopes were a couple rappel options that both required more rope length than we carried. We easily decided to ski down to the south and tour back up under Chimney’s eastern flanks. After 2500’ of safely sliding over bulletproof conditions to the bottom of the basin, we were relieved to be skinning again as we climbed up to Overcoat Col. We skied directly off the Col towards Iceberg Lake in favorable conditions: a huge snowpack limited the amount of exposed rock and the heat of the day had softened the snow.

Knowing the heat was going to start causing havoc in our surroundings, the rest of this day was all about safe speeding. We toured south from Iceberg Lake to a notch under the Lemahs where we quickly traversed one at a time to the outfall of Chikamin Lake. Here we found a safe spot and enjoyed some lunch while listening to the thunderous slides around us, most frequently from the rocky southern slopes of Burntboot Peak. We knew it wouldn’t be safe to ski south off Chikamin any time soon so extended our break. Late in the afternoon we toured up Chikamin’s north side to set camp and take a peak at our descent. Views from the summit ridge were spectacular and for the first time I was reversing the view out my condo window. We eyed our expected route under Huckleberry past Alaska towards the Kendall Catwalk and admired a ton of snow still remaining on the lower peaks west of us.

The next morning we awoke early for a less saturated descent off Chikamin. While the temperature did decrease overnight and the snow stiffened up a bit, the temperature was not cold enough to freeze the H20 falling from the sky. This was not good for the remainder of the traverse as we were camped higher than we would be at any future point west. With this in mind, plus the fact I allowed the wind to blow away the necessary maps, we chose to exit via the Gold Creek valley.

Picking our way through clouds and cliff bands, we navigated down the southwest side of Chikamin. Far from the methodology I have always envisioned while gawking out my window towards this aesthetic face, our descent consisted of careful sidestepping and long traverses. Once down on the bench northeast of Huckleberry, we safely sloshed down towards Joe Lake and finally the valley bottom. Due to a supersaturated snowpack that was still gaining water content, there was little ski success along Gold Creek. We stuck on our skins one last time and began the long waltz home. Ignoring the rain through thoughts of long sought after accomplishment, soon enough we saw the only other person we had seen since we began six days earlier: Robo our taxi driver.

There are some more pics here but for for the most part I experimented with video and the final product is far too large to upload efficiently.

Front Page News

2008-02-13T10:17:00.007+07:00

It's been a while since we've gotten around to a post, but being on the front page deserves a mention. Scott Wagar from the Bottineau Courant (my hometown newspaper) did a very nice article about our trip. The thumbnails on the right link to the two parts of the article (we were continued on A4).

It's been a crazy winter to be living up here on Snoqualmie Pass. We recently got over 10 feet of snow in two weeks. We're well on our way to having a record-snowfall year, and both the skiing and the road conditions have reflected that. Washington State Department of Transportation has a really interesting graph going that shows snowfall and closures for the last six years. We've been stuck up here off and on. But we've also had some fantastic powder days. The ski area's photo of the day gallery and the Hyak Flikr account (Hyak is the community we live in) show some of the craziness... everything from the end of January up to mid-February shows us pretty much buried. We'll see what's still to come from La Nina.

Being back and at work hasn't always been a super-smooth transition, but we're figuring it out. Trev's busy planning a spring Central Cascades Traverse ski tour that he's been dreaming of for years. Stay tuned for more on that one. I'm taking a math class at BCC, and working on getting accepted to graduate school. I'm hoping to start a Master in Teaching program this year.

As for continued blogging... we're not sure what we want to do with the blog just yet. In the beginning we set out to keep friends and family posted on the big trip, but now we're back and feel like we should be doing that by actual two-way interaction with our loved ones. But we both enjoyed the writing part of keeping a blog, so we may have some spin-offs in the works, once we decide if we have anything to say.

Home Sweet Home

2007-10-31T13:05:00.000+07:00

Our last few days in Hat Yai were a whirlwind of goodbyes and loose-end-tying, punctuated by a crazy day of playing dress-up. Pitt had the grand idea to get us all done up in Thai costume and have pictures taken. For the guys, this involved about 5 minutes of costuming. For the girls, this was a nearly two-hour process, with costume and jewelry selection followed by makeup and hair. Basically they used an Emily canvas to create a Thai-Barbie end product. It was a lot of fun, and the pictures will always be great to have. A lot of folks turned up at the bus station to see us off at 7 a.m. for an only slightly weepy goodbye. We'll miss everyone!

After approximately 13.5 hours on the bus, we caught a quick taxi to the airport for our red-eye to Korea. Our lengthy layover allowed us to get out and see a bit of Seoul on the 29th. Unfortunately, the palace we were aiming for was closed for the day, but we did have a nice wander around before meeting Kara (a friend I haven't seen since high school!) for lunch. She's teaching English to middle school girls there, and managed to shuffle her schedule and get the afternoon off. She treated us to some fantastic Korean barbecue, and we had a great afternoon visit over coffee and dessert. We were having such a good time, we pulled it a little tight getting back for our flight, and arrived just in time for boarding.

A speedy transpacific flight later, we were ready to start the 29th all over again. Trev's parents picked us up at Sea-Tac, and we headed straight for Gorditos (how long have we been thinking about burritos????). Dave and Vanessa joined us, and we thoroughly enjoyed our second lunch of the calendar day.

Now we're starting to think about things like cars, cell phones, a laptop, driver's licenses, and all the other practicalities. It's enough to make a person want to hide in the hot tub for a week. And did we mention we're FREEZING? We have officially left the tropics. But overall we're really, really happy to be home. We're so excited to see everyone in the coming weeks! The air is clear, the sun is once more our friend, and the PNW is indeed a beautiful, beautiful place.

Tropical Finale ala Similan Islands

2007-10-24T14:29:00.000+07:00

The decision to splurge on the Similan Tour yielded great rewards. Not only providing some decompression time, it also gave us our best tropical water experience to date.

We have finally uploaded photos from the last few weeks of travelin' fun:

Similan Islands
Khao Sok
Trang

The Similan Islands are world renowned for the clear underwater beauty they provide to many scuba divers, and are shortlisted to become a World Heritage Site. For some odd marketing reasons, they are never mentioned for snorkeling, leading one to believe that all the good sights are too deep for us tankless swimmers. Wrong. The east side (monsoon protected) of the islands provides abundant acreage of shallow coral gardens before rapidly dropping to deeper depths that are still visible in the 20-25 meter visibility we were lucky to enjoy.

This convenient geography allows the snorkeler to get close looks at the complex ecosystem surrounding the shallower reefs while also being able to peruse the steeper drop offs for the bigger creatures of the sea. And you can do it at your own time for however long you want without worrying about running out of oxygen from your tank. Plus, if you are into free diving you can also experience the depths as "any person can free dive comfortably to depths of 30m." This was easy for Olaf (owner and guide) to say right after he did spend a large portion of his first snorkel session poking through corals 15 meters below us. I guess after a couple day course on technique, free diving is quite simple and appears to be gaining momentum in the underwater community. Not having taken the class or gained the technique ("Look at me, I'm about 3 meters deep!") we settled into the more relaxing position at sea level to observe the hard (brain, staghorn, mushroom) and soft (cup sponges, seafans) corals housing parrotfish, clownfish, triggerfish, lionfish, pufferfish, unicornfish and other numerous neighbors.

Whether observing terrestrial or marine habitats, I am usually the one scanning the perimeter more often with hopes of catching a glimpse of the larger inhabitants while Em is deep into a plant or coral deciphering its function. This trip the more sensational creatures treated Em to some private viewings. She got a long look and short swim with a black tip reef shark, and a face to face (hoping the current doesn't do something bad) experience with a sea snake.

Some other highlights were giant moray eels, crown of thorns starfish (Yeah for Andrew Wood) and swimming with large sea turtles. We observed an octopus get pecked at by a group of black fish (apparently must have been in their territory). Most fascinating with the battle was the octopus's defensive camouflaging mechanism: If attacked while on the sand, the octopus would flash white, in contrast to the dark red and purple of its usual coloration. We finally watched it settle in on a hunk of coral, mimicking both the color and texture. But if we had to pick our favorite underwater encounter, it would be swimming along with a green sea turtle. First we saw it slowly moving above the bottom, grubbing on algae and grasses interspersed among the coral. Even though it noticed us, it definitely didn't feel threatened and continued its grazing. We then followed it into the deeper waters where it slowly rose to the surface for a breath of air before being joined by it's mate coming from our right and then swimming slowly off into the blue abyss.

While this underwater world is truly phenomenal, the beauty of the live aboard boat is you can snorkel as long as you please. And there are temptations to not being in the water as life on board is quite comfy: endless coffee, tea, and fruit, bottomless meals of top notch food, full time shade, beautiful views, and the consistent boat rocking back and forth that rivals any Thai massage for deep relaxation to both body and mind.

The Similan live aboard dive season begins in November but Olaf ran this trip early to satisfy Hans & Natalie's vacation schedule allowing them to get in their third "Similan Tour" and for Olaf to get a look at how the conditions were after the monsoon season. This meant us four guests were outnumbered by crew (all of which were considerate and fun) and enjoyed the solitude of moorings that normally would be shared with many boats, most of them running their loud air compressors and herding up their guests with megaphones. Tough to believe after our silent visit, and all the more reason to patronize the off- or shoulder- seasons!

Just in case we hadn't been spoiled enough, our path back to the mainland intersected with a large pod of dolphins. Whether it was jumping, breaching, fast surfacing races or spinning around longitudinally while playing in the water off the bow of the boat, they were excited to share their zest for life.

We won't be doing such tricks, but we look forward to sharing fun filled moments with our friends and family at home very soon!

Goodbyes, Trang, and Khao Sok

2007-10-17T13:20:00.000+07:00

The last two English camps were hot but successful - a heat wave hit Hat Yai just in time for Dylan's arrival. After two days of fun with the kids, we were all droopy but happy. Our going away party with the Smart English crew was also a very good time. We all went to one of our favorite Thai restaurants, ate yummy food (some of which P Toi, our manager, cooked for us) and sang bad karaoke. A lot of people had some commendable things to say about us, and we were given some very nice Thai clothes that we look forward to wearing on special occasions at home. We'll miss all of our friends from Smart English!

With school officially wrapped up, we hit the road to show Dylan a bit of South Thailand. We headed first for the Trang coast to Haad Yao Nature Resort, where we had a fantastic self-guided paddle through the mangroves to a HUGE cave. After exploring the cave, we headed back only to hear from Khalil (the resort founders' son, and a great cook) that we'd actually missed the "main" cave, which was up a ladder to the side. Dylan and Trevor couldn't resist heading back, and braved the turning tide and setting sun to do the real thing. I settled in on the deck to read a book. We also had the good fortune to make it over to the "secret beach", which can only be accessed at low tide. With tons of small caves and rock arches, it might be the prettiest little beach we've seen so far. For a small beach, it also offered a lot of prime nature-viewing, with langurs (leaf-eating monkeys), brahminy kites, a white-bellied sea eagle, and the tracks of a small monitor lizard, which we followed in and out of the rocks.

Anxious to get out to the island, we headed for HYNR's sister operation on Koh Libong, where one has the opportunity to boat or kayak into dugong habitat for a chance to see the rare animals. This trip was not possible at the time, and after enjoying the beach and extremely friendly village for a couple days, we decided to head for Khao Sok National Park a bit early.

We checked into the Rainforest Resort, a quiet establishment along the Sok river, and picked two bungalows up on the hillside. We saw a flying lizard on one and a beautiful green tree frog on another, so we decided this must be the lucky place! Our big jungle hike the next day was outstanding. We saw lots of hornbills, langurs, macaques, lizards with horns, and countless other amazing examples of tropical forest life. We swam in a beautiful little gorge on the Sok river.

The next day we decided to go up to Cheow Lan Lake to stay in a floating bungalow. The boat ride to the bungalows alone makes the trip worthwhile: huge limestone cliffs and pillars shoot straight up out of the lake, with thick forest growing on seemingly impossible slopes. We took a lot of pictures. Arriving at Ton Teuy, we enjoyed some fantastic food, and found the staff very friendly, and very encouraging of our Thai!

Unfortunately this beautiful place was struck by tragedy on our first day there. A group of 9 people (2 Thai guides and 7 tourists) was caught in a flash flood through a popular cave near our bungalows. In the evening hours we watched a large-scale search and rescue operation unfold. A single tourist was the sole survivor. The caring, diligence, and effort of all involved was touching and impressive, even if the end result was extremely sad. As the search stretched into the second day, we made plans to leave early, and were an hour away from boating off the lake when the operation concluded with the celebration of finding the survivor. With our concerns of being in the way allayed, and the bungalow staff insisting that we stay on, we opted to stay one more night. We had a fantastic connection with the staff that night, talking about the park, what happened, and their friends who were gone. None of us will forget this experience any time soon.
Back at the Rainforest Resort, Dylan had one last lunch with us before catching a bus for his "One Night in Bangkok" (and one day, too) before flying home. He was there for my 100th Thai bird (the ruby-cheeked sunbird across the river, not the mystery sea eagle on the lake - sorry Dylan)! We were very glad to have him here with us, and think a good time was had by all.

Initially it looked like only the lake portion of the park would be closed, but then it was announced that all parks in south Thailand would be closed for at least a week for a safety assessment. After sneaking in one more short hike, we decided it was a firm sign to head for the beach, and that we should treat ourselves to the fancy snorkel trip we've been contemplating. Our boat leaves the day after tomorrow, and we firmly resolve to sip fruit shakes on the beach until then!

Students, Waterfalls, and Students at Waterfalls

2007-09-30T20:38:00.000+07:00

Our last couple weeks have focussed on finishing classes with our students, enjoying ourselves exploring Ton Nga Chang waterfall, and hosting Em's school's English camp at another waterfall.

We both finish teaching class this coming Wednesday and our last camp is this Friday. The program we work for (Smart English Hat Yai) holds English camps for each of the three schools where we have western teachers. Em's camp (last Friday) was the first of the three. Pictures from Jiraporn's camp and school are here.

A couple weeks ago Em began teaching a "Thai animals" section that would be covered again in a couple of her camp activities. The topic looked so fun I piggybacked some of her materials (often the case this term). Teaching a topic that excited me gave me another glimpse at the beauty of educating. I have been more focussed on trying to get the students to learn English in a fun manner and still enjoy this principle challenge. But taking this opportunity to research and teach a topic I'm interested in yielded additional rewards of this work.

At the camp, Em conducted a Scavenger Hunt where teams had to find cut-outs of different animals amongst a forested creek bed. Each animal had a secret code written on it, and the first team to return with all the correct codes won. I held a hornbill relay where students raced to see who could carry the most food to their respective nests. They first had to collect one peanut with long tongs and then run to their nest and drop it in a small hole in future board (similar to the small opening mudded together in a typical hornbill nest). If this activity didn't wear them out, I then conducted a "Mother Monkey, Mean Tiger" activity which replicated a survival of the fittest game in an exerting fashion. The day did have some spoken English, some fun games such as tug of war, balloon relays, and of course some song singing.

Em and I have spent the last couple weekends exploring around Ton Nga Chang Falls. This area boasts seven tiers of falls, and they are all quite impressive. While this area is a popular tourist spot, almost nobody hikes beyond the first couple falls (.5 km from the trailhead) so it is an easy place to get intimate with the jungle.

On our first voyage we spent more time in the middle tiers exploring the rocky creek beds, inspecting a large toad, and swimming in a pool where we found a 6-foot-long dead rat snake. On the second trip we blazed a trail to the last of the waterfall (#7) where we saw a long millipede, admired more types of orchids, enjoyed more swimming, and heard gibbons. Whether it's gibbon calls, cicada chirps, or the gurgle of the stream, the natural noises of nature are a great reprise from the horns of the city.

We are excited to spend time soon with our friend Silky (also known as Dylan). He lands in Hat Yai on Thursday and will ~~sing songs at~~ observe my school's camp on Friday before we head out for some fun beach time and jungle exploration.

Homecoming!

2007-09-20T06:30:00.000+07:00

It's official! We have our tickets and land at Sea-Tac on October 29th.

There are definitely mixed feelings going home... excitement about seeing family and friends; re-emergence of food and place cravings; sadness about leaving behind new family, friends, and food here; satisfaction at successes and lessons learned; and thoughts of the things we're not getting around to, and want to come back for another time. Making it all happen (skiing in India, living in Thailand) was such a big focus for so long that shifting to longer-term goals back home has been tricky, especially as we try to enjoy our remaining time here.

Thinking about seeing all the familiar faces at home reminded me of an article I read a while ago about facial recognition. The researchers said that we recognize faces by comparing them to an internal template in our mind that's a composite of the faces we're used to seeing. We recognize the face of our grandmother, our favorite barista, or our best friend by noting how that face differs from the template. The idea is that a person's template is likely tied to the ethnic group(s) they are familiar with, and when dealing with another group it's really not that "They all look the same", but that they all differ from the template in similar ways. We noticed when we first got to India, we had trouble recognizing people we'd see periodically. But after several months, remembering new people got easier. The same happened in Thailand. I wonder, now, if we'll go through the same process back in the US? I went to a pub that's one of the main foreigner hangouts in town the other day to trade some books, and had the startling realization that all of them looked the same! To be fair, they're all middle-aged, portly, balding men of (mostly) British decent, but still.

Big, big thanks Tarah, who gave me the lovely birthday gift of carbon-offsets for our flights home. More info on offsetting flights (or almost anything else you can think of) here: www.TerraPass.com

Making peace with Thale Ban

2007-08-26T10:07:00.000+07:00

For our third long weekend out of the last four, we loaded the motorbike and headed to Thale Ban National Park. Yes, this is pronounced like the terrorist trained posse from the Mid-East. No, we did not need to create an improvised explosive device to enter the park gates.

This park sits on the southwest portion of Thailand bordering Malaysia and hosts wet ecosystems ranging from tropical rainforest to mangroves. The park headquarters and bungalows we stayed in are located next to a small lake tucked between steep forested hillsides. This valley is a huge migratory path for birds and one can see many different species throughout the year, including multiple types of hornbills.

The hornbills are most prevalent after their nesting periods (springtime) and we never saw one of these bulky-billed beauties. But we were treated to many types of swallows and swifts darting around the swamp salas and boardwalks at all times of daylight. Never seen but always heard were the rare barking tree frogs.

One morning we headed to the Wangpra Meadows for wildlife and bird viewing. The directions on all park & internet resources were correct but they neglected to mention that the final 10 km after the last left turn was a bumpy dirt trail well suited for a motor cross race. We took our time scooting in while enjoying the calls from two different families of gibbon monkeys. Play the video below to hear the sounds of these majestic mammal callings.

While the meadows were a little too wet to trek great distances, we were lucky to see a couple falconettes, banded woodpeckers, leaf birds, and crested bulbuls. That afternoon we took a nap after lunch hoping the rain would stop. Hours later and no sign of the precipitation relenting, we threw on the ponchos and headed out into leach territory.

Park headquarters has a group of nature trails that places one immediately into the lush diversity of this jungle. While the trails are longer than we might have expected, we never completed either of the two loops. Throughout the weekend, we started out on three of the four different legs and each time were forced to do some difficult trail finding before wisely returning. We learned later that the park strongly recommends a guide and this time of year there are no guides. Thinking of myself as an experienced mountain traveler, I continue to be humbled by the difficulty of navigating dense jungle climes.

On our bigger nature trail walk while hearing another family of gibbons, Em spotted a flying lizard. I only saw it resting on the tree, but she saw it fly (twice). Right after this, we heard some rustling in the upper canopy and looked up to see a gibbon swinging elegantly through the trees. Not only smooth, but this creature also traveled through branches making hardly any sound at all. He stopped a couple times to give us a good look and it was quite memorable. We see macaques (long tailed monkeys) around Thailand all the time and admire their swift mobility. But after seeing the gibbon in action, we have a whole new appreciation for acrobatic agility.

Click here to see more photos of our Thale Ban trip.

The Friday night before we left for Thale Ban, we had a dinner party at a nearby favorite restaurant for Em's birthday. We frequent this place regularly because of the ambiance on the outdoor deck. Sure enough, it rained this particular evening so we sat inside where I sadly realized there was a karaoke machine in action. True to eastern entertainment, this karaoke machine was the hit of the evening as the ladies couldn't put the mic down. Pitt dominated one microphone for a couple hours while Em, Gi, Win Win (Gi's 5 year old daughter), Toi, and May sang a few back-up rolls.

Teaching is going well and I continue to learn the importance of "mixing it up." While I am strongly encouraged to follow the school's syllabus, I really wanted to throw some environmental education into the loop. I figured since my 5th graders were working on recreation activities and a very smart group of kids, I would try to introduce the "Leave No Trace" concept. The first challenge was working on translating with Jean, my assistant. I then headed into the classroom with various pieces of garbage for the kids to guess their decomposition times. Not expecting them to really be able to have an English conversation about the topic, I think it went well and some of them learned the importance of packing it out. I think I also gained some false respect from some of the tougher boys since one of the articles was a cigarette butt.

We ♥ Phatthalung

2007-08-14T13:59:00.000+07:00

When we first started planning a weekend roadtrip to Thale Noi in Phatthalung province, out came the trusty Lonely Planet. I went to the "Southern Gulf" section... no Phatthalung. Must be under "Andaman Coast"... well, that can't be right - no Phatthalung there either. It seems to be the only province (that we know of) completely left out of our guidebook. Poor, neglected Phatthalung! We got a few ideas off the internet, and set off for the non-existent province. (pictures)

We opted to take the roads less traveled (and, it turns out, less signed) hugging the coast of "Thale Sap", the large complex of inland seas that get progressively less salty until you reach little, freshwater Thale Noi. We stopped for lunch on a small peninsula, and encountered a shrimp-lover's dream: prawns the size of lobsters, no joke! While we were waiting for our food, I went to grab my camera from the bike, and the waitress pointed across the road, where she was headed. She said "shrimp", and motioned for me to follow. There, in a shallow cement tank, were the most enormous shrimp I'd ever seen. She fished one out, and we walked back. I returned to the table babbling excitedly about freakishly large shrimp, and I think Trevor didn't really believe me until our Tom Yum soup came with a 16-ouncer in it. [I think they were giant freshwater prawns - Macrobrachium rosenbergii. Common length: 20cm/7.8in. Maximum length: 34 cm/13.4in. Weight: 0.32kg/0.7lbs - 0.40kg/0.9lbs. Big shrimp.]

Closer to Thale Noi, we pulled off to investigate the "Phatthalung Botanical Garden" which turned out to be a kilometer-long boardwalk through some interesting swampy forest. By then we were both getting stiff and sore from the bike, so it was a nice break to stretch our legs and check out the birds and trees.

The park bungalows were unfortunately full, but Pitt had booked us a room at a nice guesthouse along the main strip of shoreline, and we got settled and took a stroll to check things out. The existing park accommodations are some fairly nice bungalows over the water. At the other end of the strip, some new bungalows under construction looked like they might be park service as well, though all the signage was in Thai. On that end, the water vegetation was fairly dense, and there was a lot more opportunity for wildlife watching directly from the pathways.

Our early-morning boat ride was really beautiful. The lotus were definitely done blooming, but pink and white lilies were still in fine form, and Thale Noi's bird life is always amazing. We saw purple swamphens, egrets, little grebes, brahminy kites, white-throated kingfishers, and little cormorants in abundance. Bronze-winged jacanas, common moorhens, purple herons, yellow bitterns, little herons, blue-tailed bee-eaters, greater coucals, and lesser whistling ducks put in frequent appearances. It was also interesting to watch the fishermen at work, plying the lake with traps and nets on a fairly small scale. We did a complete loop of the lake, including a quick trip under the bridge and into the next lake (Thale Luang).

In the afternoon we set off in search of Khao Ok Thalu (A mountain/karst with a hole in it - though I'm not sure that the Thai name has anything to do with a hole). Our first turn off the main road became a circumnavigation of the karsts, which wasn't what we had in mind, but turned out to be really beautiful. We stopped at a little temple with some nice statues and a stupa set into the cliffside. We'd almost given up on finding a trail up the mountain, when one last side-road attempt put us in exactly the right place. We started up some stairs....1,050 of them that went all the way up to the hole, which offers an interesting perspective on the town below.

At the top there was a gathering of monks and other folks, and we had our first encounter with the extremely friendly Phatthalung People's Association - a kind of social/service club with members who came from Phatthalung and currently live there or in Bangkok. Many of them had done some kind of run/race from Thale Noi early that morning - 20k - then walked up all those stairs to finish it off. They were having a cleanup party, and had invited monks from all over (even one from Malaysia). When we got to the bottom, more folks from the PPA offered us food from the chow tent. We tried valiantly to turn it down (already ate... very full... couldn't possibly...) but accepted some water. Which led to fruit. Which led to noodles. I felt like I'd been to Granny's house, in a good, very full way.

Monday we started the drive home, heading over the bridge (which we'd been under on the boat ride) and down the coast. We made a loop around a cape, and stopped at a wildlife preserve. There wasn't much to see, but a nice covered pavilion on the water overlooking the mangroves made a pleasant break. And of course we stopped on Koh Yo (Yo Island) for late lunch at our favorite seafood place. Yummy!

Total mileage: 430k.

Railay, Krabi

2007-08-01T14:56:00.000+07:00

Thailand's coastline is famous for those crazy, dramatic limestone cliffs and islands that shoot hundreds of meters straight up out of the sea, and look like they should topple over any moment. Nowhere are these features more photographed - and hyped - than in Krabi. A four day weekend (hooray again for bountiful Thai holidays) gave us just enough time to see what the fuss was all about. (pictures and map)

We arrived on Railay Beach Saturday afternoon, and spent some mellow time just enjoying being out of the city. Our place at the Railay Beach Club (thanks so much for the recommendation, Bodhi!) was pretty amazing, and we had some good chill time on the deck enjoying the natural setting. On Sunday we had a beautiful few hours of paddling, poking around the karsts (the name for those limestone protrusions) and sea caves.

Monday was reef day: ancient reefs in the morning, and new reefs in the afternoon. Those improbable karst formations are actually the remnants of an ancient barrier reef that was 5,000 km long. When the Indian subcontinent collided with Asia 30 million years ago, the same forces that created the Himalayan Mountain range uplifted the reef, the end result of which can be seen throughout Southeast Asia. Water erosion carved the stone into the existing karst formations. (Geology-in-a-nutshell courtesy of Thom Henly's great book Reefs to Rainforests, Mangroves to Mountains.)

Monday morning we explored the two well-known caves in the area. The Princess Cave (Tham Phra Nang) is really more of a huge hollow in the cliff with a shrine at the deepest point, which is right on the beach under a massive overhang. The walk there along the base of the cliffs offers plenty of opportunity to poke around in small cave openings. The Diamond Cave (Tham Phra Nang Nai) is more impressive from a cave formation standpoint, and with lights and a pathway, was really easy to get around. While you're walking around wondering at the fantastic things water can do with limestone over time, it's hard to imagine that even further back this was living reef at the bottom of a shallow sea.

To do the "new reef" part of the day, we unfortunately had to take a boat trip out to some outlying islands. Apparently there used to be reef just offshore, but it's been almost entirely destroyed by dynamite. We snorkeled at three different islands, and were impressed to see a lot of neat things we haven't run into anywhere else. The soft coral was very cool, with lots of long coral whips, barrel sponges, and some lovely little sea fans. We saw a barracuda and a harlequin sweetlips, and we got to snorkel through a cave.

Tuesday morning we decided to brave the hike to "the lagoon" (AKA the princess pool). We were warned that the hike was pretty gnarly... and this proved correct. Muddy trail, muddy rope, rock scrambles with rope assist... It was also an amazingly beautiful hike, ending at a lagoon completely surrounded by towering limestone cliffs. Well worth the effort.

Trails, Tests, and Tranny Talent

2007-07-27T10:43:00.000+07:00

Final Visa Run

A couple weeks ago I finished my last visa run to Penang, Malaysia! Ahhh, this still brings an extended exhale of relief. While Em has had an official "work visa" since November, I have been conducting regular "border hops" with the periodic trip to Penang for a tourist visa. On this last visit, I finally got to the long sought after "Penang Hill" and hiked along a trail I heard was the "real deal." Considering I was more tired and sore after this 8 mile jungle walk than I was after climbing and skiing off the top of Mt. Rainier, I concur that it was the real deal.

Midterms

I, and my students, seem to have survived midterms. After colleagues looked over my test, I was a little concerned that I made them too difficult...what, me have high expectations? It is easy to relate to my best students and perceive that any signs of boredom in class are because the lessons are too easy. I was in Malaysia while my first classes were tested and returned to comments from the substitute that they were hard and direct quotes from students such as "this is difficult." Yes, I was happy to hear that they were using such good English to complain. So, I was immediately thinking of extra credit opportunities and excuses to tell the administration in a country that does not fail students. But after grading them, it seems their whining was exactly that. Sure, 90% of the students did not get As but most of them did well and I was happy with the range of grades.

Seven Falls

I recently hiked at Ton Nga Chang, a nearby tourist spot boasting seven levels of waterfalls. With an entrance fee and well maintained pathways (at the beginning of the hike), I figured it would be a simple walk around a nice stretch of waterway. But sure enough, it satisfied some wilderness craving as after the fourth falls the trail connected with stretches of rocky river bank and demanded some jungle route finding. The irony was I was only able to get to the sixth falls as after that point, I explored dense forest and steep embankments without finding any sign of a route progressing further upstream to the seventh and final falls. I enjoyed some quiet time at the sixth falls listening to the sounds of cicadas and gibbons radiating from the jungle around me and cooled off with a dip into the pool (which is probably how I got the leach bite on my chest I discovered hours later in our apartment) . I also visited with a rather large millipede as shown in the photo (that's my finger in the bottom right corner of the picture).

Nightlife

There is a new hot spot in town we visited last Saturday night with Pitt, P Nutt, and P Nutt's clan. We had appetizers and drinks outside before entering the swanky flavored interior. Due to P Nutt's local respect, we were treated well all evening and had a nice stretch of tables near the band. It was my kind of dance atmosphere as there was no dance floor but rather the move your shoulders around a bit while holding a drink standing by your table dance scene. I got a little loose and soon enough was throwing around my famous "surfer" dance.

Towards the end of the night some expensive talent entered exposing more skin than cloth. While we are pretty certain they were all born men, they still successfully won repeated looks from all genders. Most likely out of the clientèle's league, or simply too intimidating, there weren't many folks approaching them. One began venturing around and soon enough was over dancing between Em and Pitt (likely because Em was one of very few present who could really dance). To my blind regret, I learned later from Em that the first few seconds she was dancing with us, she had both breasts fully exposed.

Next...

Tomorrow morning we're heading for Railay Beach in Krabi to enjoy a little vacation over the four day weekend.

"OK" is almost always the right answer

2007-07-16T16:59:00.000+07:00

A couple weeks ago my school started talking about a teachers' trip to Surat Thani. And by "talking about" I mean in Thai. "Teacher - go to Surat Thani" is about the only explanation I got. So, what the heck - "OK". (pictures)

My school's Kruyai (literally "Big Teacher", but basically the principal) speaks a little bit of English, and a couple of the older teachers have tried to talk to me... But most of the teachers at my school are under 25, don't speak much more English than I do Thai, and are mostly caught up the school's fairly clique-y teacher scene. I thought, if nothing else, I would end up talking to someone in the course of a two-day trip.

After getting up at 3:30, we rolled into Surat late Thursday morning, parked, and I still didn't know what was going on. It turns out we were at a huge school expo. Sixty schools from all over south Thailand had endless rows of booths displaying all kinds of projects their students have been working on. There were books, origami, beadwork, string art, paper and cloth flowers, ceramics, mini ecosystems, melons carved into flowers, paintings, etched glass, fossil replicas, and much more - all made by students. Big display boards in each booth gave extensive information (in Thai) so that other interested teachers could find out more about the projects.

By 2:00 we'd all had enough of the heat and the crowds. That's when they told me where we were headed next: "Teacher, go Koh Samui." Koh Samui is a big tourist island with lovely sandy beaches. "OK." Unfortunately, after driving the hour to the ferry, we found the boats were full. So we eventually found a place along the shore with a perfectly nice beach. After a full day of having little to no idea what was going on, where I was going, or what was being said, it was nice to just sit on the sand for a while. There were a few minutes there when I was wondering what on earth I'd been thinking to agree to this little outing. I'd spent the day mostly hanging out with Kruyai, and the other teachers still didn't seem overly friendly (maybe because I was hanging out with the boss like some kind of pet poodle?). But before dinner folks started warming up. It turns out the older 6th grade teacher actually does speak some English, she's just really shy. And her friend - the older kindergarten teacher - offset that by not knowing much but being very willing to try. Between that and my really basic Thai, I started to feel more a part of the proceedings. And as dinner and the evening went on, even some of the younger teachers seemed more friendly.

In the morning we tried for the ferry again, with no luck, so went to plan B: "Teacher, go temple." "OK." We went into the town of Nakhorn Si Thammerat, to Wat Phramahathat. Then we continued south into Phattalung province, and Wat Khao Hor, which has a nifty cave and a small shrine on top of a limestone karst.

We were all starving when we left the second temple, and the principal assured me that our lunch destination was only ten minutes away. With a name like "Ban Thale noi" (translation: small lake sea, or something like that) I was thinking seafood, so was pretty surprised when it was only mediocre vendor food along the lake shore. But after lunch I found out why we were really there: "Teacher, go boat. Birds." Definitely "OK." Thale Noi is a large freshwater marsh, with endless stretches of lillies, lotus, and water grasses - and tons of water birds. (I didn't have my camera with me, but someone's put up a very nice article and photo gallery on AsiaExplorers here.) We spent an hour and a half in a red-white-and-blue painted wooden boat, gliding amongst the blooming lotus, getting up close and personal with purple swamphens, pygmy geese, purple herons, little cormorants, brahminy kites, egrets, and little grebes. Fantastic birds. The big excitement for the principal and teachers that came with (only six of us) was snapping off the lotus flowers and seed pods as we went, but they seemed impressed by the birdlife as well. Not a bad way to end a very interesting two days.

In the Routine

2007-06-20T15:20:00.000+07:00

We feel as though our more routine recent lifestyle has lacked some of the sensational adventure we have been blessed to post so often the last year and a half. This excuse for not posting in a while aside, we continue to enjoy life and experience the idiosyncrasies of this culture.

While we grow relationships with our Thai friends, we have accepted that they have a different tone than those with friends at home. Thais live much closer to the surface, preferring not to discuss deeper issues, and allowing very little penetration by themselves or others to the deeper core. Hence, all the smiles. This reaction is easy, and often positive, but does not portray the core contentment we think of as the root of a smile. For example, if there is something bothering a Thai, they would rather smile it off, keep it out of sight,and out of mind. To their credit, they are fairly successful at keeping it out of mind. This is quite different from what I am used to.

This shunning of issues is quite apparent with the country's contemporary affairs. To us, it feels as though the country is likely experiencing a low point in recent history (sounds a bit like home:)). The "temporary" military government seems to be lacking tangible progress and the violent conflict in the deep south seems to be getting worse.

But you wouldn't know it at the dinner table. Not much talk at all. Most of what we get (and this is with our friends that we know we can push) is that it is not great news so people elect not to talk about it.

Staying with the pushing the norm strategy, I have been having a blast joking around with colleagues at school, especially our good friend, Pitt. Pitt and I both teach at the same school and eat lunch together with a couple other teachers in our program. Pitt is an extraordinary individual who has traditionally stayed to the professional expectations of back straight and how are you today interactions. During my first week back in Thailand, I was not sure if she even understood the concept of sarcasm. Well, I am happy to say that now she delivers it to me daily!

We all got embarrassed pretty good last week at our school's "Teacher Appreciation Day." Our school hazes the new teachers by mandating a cat walk performance and then a speed eating contest including getting a coin out of a bowl of flour. All good fun, and that much more supportive of my mission of having fun in the classroom. This objective of "having fun" seems to lead to success in most all aspects of life.

This does not mean it has been all (happy) laughs for me while teaching. I had one great scenario during my second week where my assistant Jean (translator when needed and class controller) had to leave class. I thought I would be fine, but learned my class management skills in this country have a ways to go. Sending kids out of class is a huge wake-up call to the kids, which they despise. In this class, I "tried" to send the back 2 rows out, but with the language barrier and the fact it has probably never been done before, this attempt at class control failed miserably. Soon, there were more well-behaved students outside than the rowdy boys in back. If any other English speaking person (especially a teacher) could have seen my debacle, they would have been on the ground laughing. I was also laughing (inside). So, after a few minutes of complete failure with this, I calmly announced "All students back inside and sit down."

Then there is my after school tutorial class with four-year-olds. Both Em and I are doing a couple of these private classes a week. I did not know how excited I was about this young age, but want to support the new business started by our friends Pitt and Gi. It was the beginning of my second class when the round boy with permanent innocent look grew a wrinkle of frustration on his face just before he puked down his shirt and onto the floor and many seconds before his brain ordered his hand to rise up and try to catch some of it. Coincidentally, this student is evolving into a favorite as his innocence is sincere (unlike some wiser students who use the look to get away with everything) and his round figure can sit in the half-lotus as natural as any bodhisattva.

Socially, we had a surprise visit from a buddy Jase (fellow NATR volunteer) a couple weeks ago . During his stay we helped Pitt move apartments, then she took all of us to dinner at a swanky little restaurant. Jase intended on buying Em and I dinner since we put him up. Refusing to be defeated of the kind gesture, he demanded on buying us many drinks after dinner. Thanks bud.

Last weekend, we headed to Songkhla with Pitt and Pee Lek to help Pee Lek plant trees at the temple he recently spent ten days practicing Buddhism at. It was great to get our hands in some soil again. We then worked some of the tourist hotspots with ice-cream on the beach, a lift up Tang Kuan Hill for good views, and topped it off with another great seafood meal on Ko Yo. (pictures)

All the news that's fit to block...

2007-06-10T18:23:00.000+07:00

Hooray for fruit! I came home from the fruit stand with a full bag yesterday - you're looking at $2.20 worth, minus the mongosteen I ate as soon as I got home.

In the current round of political squabbling here, it would seem free speech has definitely come out the loser. As a result, we currently can't view our own webpage, or any other Blogger site. YouTube is blocked, and Google is supposedly cooperating with the government (as they did in China) to censor search results. Political websites and websites of free speech projects (like the Tor project) have also been blocked. Also on the computer front, we're having some trouble with ours, so won't be as speedy on the replies as we have been.

In happier news, we had a whole truck-full of visitors from Phang Nga last weekend. A bunch of the crew from Kuraburi came down for a visit, and we hung out in Songkhla, ate too much seafood on Koh Yo, and took in the really extensive museum at the Institute for Southern Thai studies.

May 31st was a big Buddhist holiday here, and we celebrated by going to the temple with Pitt and P Noot. We weren't very smooth holding our lotus/candle/incense combo - Trevor burned the middle of his incense, and I kept dripping hot wax on my fingers, when my candle wasn't going out - but we made it around the temple three times under a lovely full moon.

Then we went and bought a motorcycle. We brought up with them over dinner the matter of the bike we were renting from their relative, and that it wasn't working out very well. Turns out someone had asked P Noot just that afternoon if she could sell a bike for them. We headed over for a look, decided it was a good deal, and bought a new (to us) bike.

It seems like there's a lot going on at home right now - weddings, parties, new babies, new opportunities. Congrats to all! It's easy for us to start thinking and talking a lot about home, and what's next... and forgetting about where we are and all the great opportunities we have right now. Both of us are still busy with the beginning of the new term. I'm starting to feel more competent all the time, and Trevor's learning lots of new tricks and enjoying the adventure, so we think it's going well. Thanks again to all the folks who sent us new music last month - we're really enjoying it!

Breathing at Suan Mokk

2007-05-21T20:54:00.000+07:00

While Trevor was having a look around the Jagatsukh, I was exploring my mind at a meditation retreat. Suan Mokk - a forest monastery in Surat Thani province - offers a 10-day session with instruction in English. I'd been looking at it ever since I decided not to go to India, but was a little intimidated. My last attempts at meditation were part of my college yoga class, and mostly I just fell asleep every time. The instructor would come by and gently nudge me, saying "work on staying awake." The online description of this retreat sounded pretty rough: two meals a day, a 10-day vow of silence, wooden pillows... it probably wouldn't fit into my schedule anyway, I thought. School prep, visiting friends, etc. No time. Two days before the start date, my calendar magically cleared, so I set off for Surat, feeling very uncertain about the whole thing.

Schedule for days 1-8:

04:00 *** Rise & Shine
04:30 *** Reading
04:45 Sitting meditation
05:15 Yoga / Exercise
07:00 *** Morning Talk & Sitting meditation
08:00 Breakfast & Chores
10:00 *** Dhamma Talk
11:00 Walking or Standing meditation
11:45 Sitting meditation
12:30 *** Lunch & Chores
14:30 *** Meditation Instruction & Sitting Meditation
15:30 Walking or Standing meditation
16:15 Sitting meditation
17:00 *** Chanting & Loving Kindness Meditation
18:00 Tea & Hot spring
19:30 *** Sitting meditation
20:15 Group walking meditation followed by Sitting meditation
21:00 *** Bedtime Goodnight ...
22:00 LIGHTS OUT
(*** signifies that the Large Bell will be rung just before the activity begins.)

The living conditions are, well, monastic. Suan Mokk International, where the retreats are held, is a couple kilometers from the monastery itself, on very pleasant semi-forested grounds, with several large ponds. The rooms are little concrete cells (and I mean that in the nicest possible way) with a concrete shelf built in as a bed. You get a straw mat, a blanket, a mosquito net, a lantern (candle) and a wooden pillow. Two meals a day - very plain, wholesome vegetarian food - and tea or Milo (sort of like hot chocolate) at dinner time. Men and women have separate sides of the dining and meditation halls, as well as separate hot springs. The hot springs are in secluded natural settings, and are a welcome relief after evening tea, loosening up those tired back muscles just in time for one last stretch of sessions. Almost all of the sitting meditation sessions are in a large hall with a sand floor and no walls, leaving us open nature - leafy green views, birdsong, and mosquitoes. We picked our meditation spots on orientation day, and spent every session on our very own burlap sack, 2'x2' cushion, and two pillows to support us in our chosen posture(s).

The type of meditation taught at Suan Mokk is called Anapanasiti, or mindfulness with breathing, as it was taught by Ajarn Buddhadasa - the monk who founded the monastery. There's quite a bit more about that on their website, but from the beginner's perspective, you basically concentrate on your breathing, following it in-and-out-and-in-and-out-and-in-and-out while trying not to think about the future, or the past, or anything at all except your breath. Try it for five minutes, I dare you. You quickly find that the mind is a very, very busy place. The biggest challenge is trying to convince your wayward brain that breathing is more interesting than thinking about that movie you saw last month with that actress... what's her name again? -- oh, right, meditating-- in---out---in---out -- oooooh! I have a whole Ziploc baggie full of Easter candy waiting for me back in the apartment! Yippee! -- shoot. supposed to be meditating-- in---out---in---out---in - Buddhist nuns don't really look much like nuns at home. That whole shaved head business. "The hills are alive..." -- no... meditation time-- in---out---in---out -- and the bell rings. The first few days were mostly 45-minute sessions of that. I might have given up fairly early on, except for the extremely patient and well-timed instruction offered by all of the fantastic folks who volunteer their time to staff the retreat.

Aside from the afternoon chanting session and optional interviews with instructors for those of us having trouble with the meditation, most of us kept the silence for the entire 10 days. In a lot of ways, this was a relief. It was nice to focus on the reason for being there, rather than having to be social. And the retreat wasn't easy - I think we were all sore, and frustrated, and not used to living in a monastic setting. I think a lot of what we might have said would have been venting our difficulties, and not exactly conducive to our purpose there. Silence was also a great help in "being mindful", which was a major focus of the retreat. The idea is that one should stay in the present moment all the time, and be aware of where you are and what you're doing. So again, less thinking and fewer mental distractions. Trying to keep your actions silent as well as your voice is a great way of becoming much more aware of every motion you make. Working on staying mindful all the time is really difficult, but helped create a frame of mind much more conducive to meditation.

As for things NOT conducive to meditation... Who knew the back had so may different individual places that could complain about sudden over-use? Thankfully, we did yoga for almost two hours every morning - led by Machee Aree (AKA The Bendy Nun). By the end of the retreat I could almost manage all of the various sitting meditation sessions without ending hunched over in a very non-meditative posture. It helped that I started making more progress on the staying-focused front after day three. I could really feel that I was getting somewhere in training my brain. I would recognize almost right away when my attention started to wander, and manage longer and longer stretches when that didn't happen. You eventually reach a certain level of concentration where you experience some really interesting physical and mental sensations... it actually feels like you've gotten lighter, and you get a sort of happy buzz. You no longer have to follow your breath as closely all the way from nose-tip to navel (the figurative end-point of the breath) in order to keep your attention from wandering. It's when you can consistently reach this level of focus that you can begin to cross over into "Insight meditation". Or so we were told. I'm a little hazy on exactly how all of that works, or exactly what to expect... I'm still working on that focusing bit, and figure I'll cross the Insight bridge when and if I come to it. My current challenge is staying focused and productive during those sessions that aren't going so well... gently bringing myself back as many times as necessary to the breathing without being critical of myself.

Day 7 was a landmark day for me. I hadn't slept much at all the night before, as I was scheduled to give the morning reading, and I was nervous. It went fine, and the rest of the day was maybe my best from a successful-meditation standpoint. In one session I was just reaching that point of lightening and lifting when the bell rang. The bell for the end of sessions wasn't the big monastery bell, but a little one the session leader/instructor would tap three times when the time was up. My whole body rang with the bell. It may have been the strangest thing I've ever felt. In the next session, I was really deeply focused when I felt a tap on my knee - my neighbor was pointing to the frog that was nestled in between one of my pillows and my leg. I didn't see any reason to shoo it away, so I went back to meditating, and at the finish of a very good session, she was still there.

Days 8 and 9 were harder. I was frustrated that my back still hurt, and if a session didn't go well, I'd feel like I'd totally failed... which was giving me some kind of weird meditation performance anxiety. Luckily, we had The Loving Kindness Lady. I never figured out her name, and I think she was a layperson, not a nun, but she gave a talk about the importance of loving kindness in meditation, and how it begins with loving (accepting, forgiving, etc.) yourself. Until you love yourself, you cannot love others. In our interview, she said that when I felt self-doubt, instead of trying to ignore or avoid it, I should turn toward it and say "hello good friend". She explained that these challenges and difficulties present us with our best opportunities to learn and grow. She also said that I should be using my successes and some loving kindness meditation to build up the positive energy in my heart, and draw on that strength when confronting challenges. I left the interview wondering how and when I'd let my positive feelings toward myself ebb to such a low point, and decided that cultivating some loving kindness toward myself should definitely be a higher priority.

All of the "Dhamma talk" sessions giving instruction on Buddhist teachings were really interesting as well, and a good compliment to the meditation practice. It took some adjusting to slow to the teaching pace and very different instructional style of monks whose first language is not English, but it was good to learn to slow down and listen. The teachings of the Buddha can be an enriching experience for anyone, regardless of their faith, and I appreciated the spirit of openness with which the talks were given. Personally I remain undecided on the self/no-self issue. I think my subconscious doesn't care for the idea... on about day 9 it staged a mini-rebellion, with a whole assortment of songs popping into my head that prominently featured the word "I". Perhaps most notably "I am the one and only / nobody I'd rather be / I am the one and only / You can't take that away from me..." I don't even know who sings it, and it may or may not have been an improvement over the Sound of Music medley I'd been trying to suppress all week.

To sum up a really long post, the retreat was by no means easy, but it's probably the best thing I've done for myself in a very long time. Setting up a regular meditation practice outside of a retreat setting is easier said than done, but we have been doing yoga regularly. And Trevor and I are thinking about going back together for another 10 days after the school term ends.

Steep Mountains to the Thai Classroom

2007-05-18T07:40:00.000+07:00

Due to timing, we decided that our final ski trip would be up the Jagatsukh Valley. This conclusion involved carrying in 12 days of food allowing for many fun opportunities. So, with the backpacks full of food and some climbing gear, we weren't too ashamed to hire porters for the first day.

Rob and I went in a day ahead of Jeff and Dusty (our new great friends from Canada) as they wanted another day to get over some stomach illnesses we all endured. The trip started with good karma as we were able to drive up 600m and 10 km farther than expected. There is a huge hydro project going in (combining water from both the Jagatsukh and Hampta Valleys) and the worker's road enabled us access. While this project is great for access, the net result appears negative as man is tainting a most spectacular piece of nature.

After leaving the village of Khanol, we walked up the south side of the valley hearing consistent dynamite explosions from the north side, watching massive boulders being pushed down the cliff through dust storms, and trying to gauge the battle this development team was fighting. In addition to the steep eroded hillside the first 10 km of roadway switchbacks through, this blasting section was taking place on a few hundred foot cliff. Crazy.

Not soon enough, we were past the noise and into the Himalayan wilderness. This was apparent as we spotted many Himalayan griffons gliding around. To no surprise, we had to push our porters to get them up near snowline. Even though they only walked for four hours, it saved our bodies from hitting energy depletion on day 1. The next day Rob & I enjoyed a nice ski into a large basin before the afternoon thunderstorms began. This weather pattern was fairly consistent throughout our trip....decent mornings followed by afternoon showers accompanied with entertaining lightning and thunder.

Jeff and Dusty arrived that afternoon and we were all stoked to move camp up to the end of the valley into some primo ski terrain. Well, the weather pattern fluctuated that next day as we woke up to a little shower and after making a dash for it, had to set camp short of our final destination due to rain and hail. But finally, on day 4, we beat the weather to our destination and set up camp at the base of the Goru Valley.

From this camp, we optimized the weather windows and scored continuously great skiing. On the second full day there, Jeff, Robo, and I summited Pachim Pahar at about 5040m, enjoying some fast turns off the summit on a couple inches of new snow and then a great gully ski to the valley floor 1100m later.

On our third day we ventured farther up the Goru, each few minutes gaining additional looks at tasty terrain. There was one ridgeline providing a couple steep chutes that awakened all of our taste buds and we knew we had to sample its spice before this trip of gluttony was over. The next day we climbed up around these lines and soon found ourselves on top of the desired goodies. Peering over the edge onto our options, we began getting nervous stomach flutters, wondering if we were eligible for such fine dining. With stable conditions, we could not leave such culinary treats to spoil with the springtime heat.

Robo, our professional paparazzi for the trip, dropped into the central chute first to get some photos. Dusty followed linking consistently great turns down a wonderful fall line. Jeff decided to ski a sportier line skier's left, forcing him to make a couple turns above a rock band and through some rocks to enter the chute proper. He made it happen and put a new hunger in my belly. Seeing there were many delicacies left in that line, I also went left.

We were all breathing heavily half way down our chutes requiring a quick rest before finishing. At the bottom we shared hoots and hollers as the endorphins raged through our bodies.

The next day was our last day of skiing as we needed to move camp down the valley before the long march back to civilization. All still buzzing from the previous outing, we were content to just get some turns in for the last time of the season. We ascended a high point at the end of the Goru Valley rewarding us with views into the Malana Valley and further east amongst the peaks of Spitti. We skied steep chutes back into the basin and then, sure enough, decided to muster the energy to boot back up for one last feast off our favorite ridgeline.

This time Robo and I skied a line skier's right adjacent to a hanging glacier. Robo went first, not scared to let his sticks bomb over hard pack steepness. Quite impressive. I felt things out; more hesitant to make a mess but still excited to explore a new treat. Dusty put together another smooth descent down the central chute and Jeff finished with a fantastic line coming directly into the central chute through some rocks.

Wow, what a trip of skiing. We were all happy to have skied some steep lines safely amongst big mountains and impressed to continue to enjoy each other's company. "Pick 'em up" and "5-3-5-2" were often hollered from one tent to the next to put a smile on our faces.

After this trip, Robo and I maximized on our one full day in Manali with some shopping and final chais or mango shakes with friends. Then it was an overnight bus to Delhi, some A/C movie time with the bro before departing ways, then an overnight flight to Bangkok followed by an an overnight train to our apartment here in Hat Yai. I enjoyed that first night of good sleep before waking early and heading to school to teach English to Thai elementary students.

Yes, that's right, I have decided to teach and am stoked for the challenges! Due to Em's respectable performance, her program (Smart English) has hired me for a part-time position this term. When meeting with the boss, she (and all the Smart English team) reassured me that I would do well since I have Em for help..."she is the best."

After the first two days, I am optimistic about the situation. I have fourteen hours of class time and so far the class size has not exceeded 30 students. I have a Thai teaching assistant, Jeen, and there is another Smart English instructor (with Thai assistant) at the school, which makes for good lesson sharing in addition to the respectable library Em has created. It is apparent that one could choose to just get by and lean on the given materials or create some fun lesson plans (with contingencies of course) and be that much more competent. So, I have lots of work to get caught up and then comfortably ahead.

In addition, both Em and I are also teaching some private classes two afternoons a week through a program Em's friends just began. We had our first session yesterday and it was nice to be in a classroom with only eight students and also a Thai teaching assistant. The not-so-nice surprise was the four parents who also attended the hour and a half class. Turns out it was all good and they were supportive of what I did.

So, from the Indian Himalayan peaks straight to the Thai urban classroom. Pretty cool.

Em is great and it is wonderful to learn some of the strengths she gained during her meditation retreat, which she plans to write something about later.

And finally, we are both very excited to be on similar schedules these next few months!

Nina Anderson Larson

2007-05-15T14:22:00.000+07:00

My Grandma Nina passed away on Friday. She'd been out working in her garden the week before - finished planting the dahlias and moving on to the begonias - and had a stroke. Grandma was an extremely active 86. All of us are glad she was able to do what she loved, right up until the week before her 87th birthday. Her autobiographical obit (on the right) sums up what she thought was most important. Not long ago, she and I traded emails talking about teaching, and we were looking forward to talking more when I got home. It was fun to be sharing something she felt so passionately about.

Body Surfing and Happy Teeth in Phuket

2007-04-28T19:03:00.000+07:00

Quite a while ago, I planted the idea with Vanessa that she should come to Thailand for some dental work she's been putting off. A few months later, having secured a week off from work, V was actually here! The visit was much too short as far as I'm concerned, but it was great to have her here. (I'll try and work on some pictures later...)

We got a recommendation from a friend on a good dentist in Phuket: Ruadee at Dent Smile. Within a few hours of arrival a very jet-lagged Vanessa found herself in the chair, well on her way toward a couple of crowns. Disoriented? Maybe. On a day off from dentistry, we went on a snorkeling trip to the Kai Islands. The coral wasn't much to look at, but there were tons of fish, greatly encouraged by the fact that the guides were feeding them. We stopped at one snorkel spot, and two tiny little islands with gorgeous sandy beaches and row upon row of beach chairs. We got a little sunburned. After several appointments, we finally finished up both our teeth. I had a few fillings, and V had more than a few. We had a big night out to celebrate. An Irish Pub, a cranky lesbian bartender, some very strange eyes, a live Thai-pop-cover music joint, and late-night noodles added up to an interesting night on Phuket town.

The next day we fled for the P&T Kata Guesthouse (always great to be back there) off Kata Beach, and two days of beach umbrellas and fun in the waves. I had no idea V was such a big body-surfing enthusiast - good times, and sand everywhere. Too soon it was time to head for the airport. We headed in for aloe massage treatments ("OK... he not real man"), then a quick pack-job and she was gone.

Back in the Mountains

2007-04-26T17:35:00.000+07:00

Just returned from our first trip back in the hills of northern India and wow is it great to be back in snow country! I think Dusty summed it up great when she justified my sustained energy to climb as "eleven months away from mountains." It has been quite rejunivating to be back!

In addition to the large masses of snowy earth that calls my soul, my return trip to the Kullu Valley has yielded warm welcomes from the friendly communities of friends we made here last year. After the 16+ hour bus ride from Delhi, we arrived in Manali to the warm hospitality of Peter's family: hot chai, showers, and peaceful views up the valley from their balcony.

On our first full day in the valley, Rob and I hiked up to Solang where Em and I lived for most of our season. Just before Solang, we were stopped at a river where villagers from Burruwa and Solang were building a bridge to connect the two communities. We helped throw some stones into the approach and appreciated being allowed to share in the communal chore.

The next day we got on our skis for a day trip up into the Gulaba region. We both felt the altitude but still enjoyed almost 4000' of spring turns as Robo caught his first glimpses of this vast high country. We descended to the bottom where the Himalayan Ski Village was sponsoring a ski contest. I ran into a bunch of local mountain acquaintances there and soon enough we were strongly urged to attend the awards ceremony and eat lunch. This was Robo's first no silverware eating experience and being the rough-Alaskan-working-next-to-the-wild-things-guide he is, he was quite the natural with his bare hands.

The day was great as I recognized most of the attendees and immediately felt like I was back amongst a community of friends. I think the fact I returned has given me a certain level of respect from locals while simultaneously boosting their pride in their backyard. Lots of people continue to ask how Em is doing and sending love her way. She is missed by many.

Building to the community of great people we have met here in the Kullu Valley is the Canadian duo of Jeff and Dusty. Fabulous folks and instantly we hit it off. They are kind of the Trev & Em of this season as they have been living at The Iceland Hotel in Solang since February.

They invited us on their "final trip" to Rohtang Pass and due to the obvious synergy, it was a no-brainer to accept. We were delayed a few days on our departure as the Army was not allowing us to our desired road drop-off point due to the fact that the "Chief Engineer" was in town. We tinkered with trying to get permission as it is just a liability issue that they wouldn't allow us to pass their road block. Sure enough, two days later we were allowed up as any sort of liability concerns seemed to have left town with the "Chief Engineer."

We spent seven days camped up on Rohtang Pass (~14,000') and enjoyed some very sport lines. It was a perfect first trip for Rob and I as we had one base camp allowing for day pack (lightweight) trips, were camped high for instant acclimitization and had quick access to many great routes that did not require early morning starts and huge vertical gains.

Conditions were fantastic with consistently sunny mornings and a stable spring snowpack. In addition to great skiing, we shared tons of laughs with Jeff and Dusty. They are both holds-no-bar sort of jokesters and it was great to throw jokes around so easily.

We had such a great time that they are going to join us on our next trip up the Jagatsukh Valley. We are hoping that this journey will be another false "final trip" for them!

Invasion Complete

2007-04-11T12:58:00.000+07:00

And they are off...all of them. Due to the upcoming holiday (Songkran: Thai New Year), Em could only get a train ticket home leaving yesterday afternoon. With the parents flying out early yesterday morning, I am now solo and transitioning myself from the smoggy chaos of Bangkok's transportation system to the unlimited visibility on top of Indian Himalayan peaks. Very excited to see Robo and tour around some big mountains with him.

So, my parents trip. Overall, fantastic! (Phuket, Kuraburi, Ban Talae Nok, Koh Surin, Golden Buddha, Bangkok... pictures are all here.) I feel very fortunate that they made the journey to see us, and Thailand! For all of those who questioned if "Rondo can do Thailand?", time is proof, and he did. But not without chasing down some of his normal comforts, which could be quite entertaining considering he was still doing it with his own joking style that many native English speakers might struggle to understand. For example, let's take his daily coffee request: 2/3 hot water, 1/3 steamed milk (soy if they have it), light on sugar (vanilla if they have it)...then returning half a cup later to refill with hot water. Even veteran baristas in the Coffee Capital of Seattle struggle with such a demand. But Rondo is Rondo, and with his joking mannerisms (and untraditional tips in these parts), he got what he wanted and everyone was happy (if confused) after the exchange.

Continuing from Em's post, we headed out to the Surin Islands where we all camped for a couple nights. We departed the Kuraburi Pier on a 30 foot speedboat boasting triple 200 horsepower outboards. Rondo loved it. In addition to the beautiful terrestrial landscape, the marine life and water clarity around the Surins never disappoints so we had a fantastic couple days. During each snorkel we swam amongst various schools of tropical fish over a diverse spectrum of hard and soft corals and one day I was lucky enough to see a Giant Moray Eel . One afternoon Obb led us to the other campground via beach and nature trail. We waded back around granite rocks to a burning red sun falling into the Andaman Sea. Adding to our experience on the Surins was the fact we got to share it with some of the Kuraburi crew including Gordy's father, Allan, who was visiting from Scotland.

We went directly from the Surins to our desired long-stay (4 nights!) location of the trip...Golden Buddha Beach Resort (GBB) on Koh Phratong. We had some extra fun while leaving the Surins as we made a detour to the north to pick-up some divers on a larger boat. Not only was the extra scenery nice, but this next episode of fun made the journey...moments after pushing off the other boat, our driver gunned the engines almost flipping (intentionally we think) a crew member off the back of the boat. Rondo couldn't believe it and I had to restate with sincerity that the boat we were on has the reputation as the most professional out of all the operators providing transportation to/from the Surins.

We were dropped off at GBB on low tide, which meant a decent wade in with all our gear. Upon arrival we dropped baggage off in our house and then walked some of the beach before checking out the restaurant. Mom wisely went for a mango shake which was as good (and without added sugar) as any I've had. The sweet mangoes are in season (along with a few other of the 20-some mango species in Thailand) and we relished in them whether on the fruit plate with breakfast or part of dessert for lunch or dinner. The food at GBB exceeded expectations. Since Em and I are usually eating at local eateries for 30 Baht a meal (and darn good grub), we were critical going into GBB with its more western prices. But we must admit, all of it was delicious and they were not short on food. With buffets for lunch and dinner, I think I was successful in putting on a couple pounds before heading off to India.

Besides great dining, there were other treats at GBB. Each night we enjoyed the sunset from a beautiful location: our home's deck, the beach, the restaurant, or hornbill hill. The beach landscape is beautiful and isolated. Directly west of the resort is a golden sand beach that stretches 10 kilometers to the south without anything on it but crabs and the periodic squid trap that floated in from the sea. North of the resort is a bay that boasts a couple rocky islands and an inlet to mangroves and palms. One morning we rented kayaks and drifted into this canal with the rising tide until the overhanging palms and branch debris prevented any further progress. We paddled underneath some frolicking chestnut-headed bee-eaters and continuously saw our mystery cormorant. According to the bird guidebooks, there are no cormorants in this part of Thailand but we saw this Little Cormorant multiple times around GBB and Em also sighted one up the coast while we visited Ban Talae Nok.

The area has tons of birds, and we all enjoyed seeing the resident oriental hornbills each day. We also saw a gliding lizard (which Emily observed fly from tree to tree a few different times). The environment of Koh Phra Tong is quite unique to Thailand as its interior is mostly savanna: flat and sandy with a few trees here and there. Em and I did a morning walk in this Africa-like environment and saw more waterfowl near a couple ponds.

On our third day at GBB, Gordy, Allan ,and Obb arrived with some of the villagers from Tung Dap. Tung Dap is a village I spent a few days in while researching "voluntourism" opportunities and absolutely loved their core communal way of living. It was great to introduce Pin and Nu to Emily and my family and spend the afternoon swimming in the bay with them.

Our last night we played Bach Deng and got to see Pee Tah in her element. Pee Tah is a friend from Kuraburi who does accounting work for GBB. She loves money and loves Bach Deng! Yes, there is gambling, yes, she won most of the money.

We snuck in some more beach time before departing GBB by longtail back to the mainland. We spent our last little bit in Kuraburi hanging out around Jeab's shop and eating dinner with friends one more time at "The Strip." Our bus arrived early and unfortunately we didn't get to try the crab Jeab got for us. Thank you Jeab for your continuous help and friendship!

The overnight bus trip to Bangkok was smooth and soon enough we were on the multi-modal tour of the big city! We started by taking a taxi to the weekend market where one could get just about anything. Thinking my parents would be the big shoppers, Em and I were surprised to find tons of good stuff and got gifts for friends and ourselves! We left the market via Skytrain (elevated rapid transit) for Siam Center in the new Bangkok (no stalls here, this is western shopping with touchscreen directories, real designer names and prices, Starbucks, etc.) From there, we took a canal boat taxi west towards Old Bangkok where we walked around Democracy Monument, through Khao San road, and then finally to our hotel. A big day out.

The next morning, we met a tour guide at the Grand Palace and saw a few of the historic sites including the Royal Palace, Temple of the Emerald Buddha, Temple of the Reclining Buddha, and the Temple of the Dawn. We saw and learned much! I am consistently impressed with how much detail older Eastern rulers put into their homes and even homes or burials for family members. As our guide showed us the elaborate gold-plated structure Rama I made for his parents, I was surprised my dad never asked me how his structure was coming. While most of Rama I's work was traditional architecture boasting gold and ceramic materials, much of the Grand Palace was constructed during Rama V with a combination of Western and Eastern architecture. The main hall has a traditional European look with an elaborate Thai roof. Interesting, but it works! We ended my parents' stay with a candlelit dinner on the Chao Phraya River.

I will miss the Thai food in India and am not stoked for the rice/beans/chapati combo I will consume twice daily hoping that it was cooked in boiling water. But the pull of the Himalaya outshines such gastro concerns.

In just a few hours, I expect to see Robo wide-eyed in the Delhi airport clinging onto our ski gear!

Kosto Invasion Part 1: Phuket and Kuraburi

2007-03-30T17:13:00.000+07:00

Ron and Pat's Thai tour is finally underway! They rolled into Phuket last weekend, and we all spent a couple of days in Kata lounging under our beach umbrellas, enjoying the very nice pool at their hotel, and drinking decorative fruity drinks. The guys were burning up the backgammon board, and only getting slightly sunburned in the process.

Rolling directly from there into little Kuraburi must have been a little bit of a shock, but everyone seems to be adapting well. We got to hang out with the NATR crew before they took off for a fun/work retreat, and it was good for Ron and Pat to meet all the crazy kids Trevor's been working with. We were also happy to treat them to some real Thai food - considerably cheaper than Phuket options, and a lot yummier.

On Wednesday we went with Andaman Discoveries into the village of Ban Talae Nok. Trevor has been out there a lot as the program has been developing, and it was really great for him to watch the community members warming up and getting more involved with visitors, as well as seeing us have such a great time. We drove along the beach and were given a run-down on the tsunami damage, and the rebuilding process. Back at the new community center, we got to meet some members of the soap-making committee, and make our own soap strings. It was neat to see how the ladies have been able to come together and make some supplemental income for the village. Our tour guide, Tui, did a great job of translating back and forth so that we could ask questions and joke around with them.

The villagers who participate in the homestay program rotate, so each home has a chance to play host and the money is more evenly distributed. A woman named Maria cooked us a tasty fish/veggie/rice lunch at her house, and then she and a couple of the ladies helped fit Pat and Tui and I out in headscarves. It was a hot day, and the extra headcovering made it that much hotter! I suppose the ladies must get used to it, though. After lunch we learned how to make roti - a kind of traditional fried bread/pancake. We weren't super-smooth like our instructor, but it was fun. We finished the day off with a row in the mangroves before saying goodbye and driving off into the sunset.

Thursday we went out "fishing" with Bau, a fisherman friend of ours. We only did a little bit of fishing (he said the water wasn't very good for fishing - in terms of tide changes or clarity) but we did get in some primo beach and snorkeling time on a lovely little island. A quick tropical shower on the way in left us completely drenched, and Bau's mom considerately offered us some hot coffee and biscuits to help warm up.

Friday we followed up some fantastic Dim Sum breakfast with a bit more beach time closer to Kuraburi. Very lazy, with books and backgammon. Back in Kuraburi Pat and I both had lovely Thai massages (!) followed by Som Tam dinner with Jeab. Today we did a fairly rough hike up to some gorgeous rock pools on the river. Ron and Pat were troopers on the hike in... Ron came out as the grand champion with 9 leaches! Yay Ron! We were all in agreement that the destination more than made up for any hardships along the way, and we spent a pleasant couple of hours swimming, resting, and sliding around on the rocks before hiking back out.

Tomorrow morning we're off to the Surin Islands for some more great snorkeling, and then we'll be at Koh Phra Tong for yet more beach time. So far team Kostanich has been up for the Thailand challenge, but can they handle another week of sand and sun? I'm guessing yes.

Tranquilo Tarutao

2007-03-22T16:05:00.000+07:00

The longer we are in The East, the more we appreciate (and miss) the easy access to wilderness found at home. The island of Koh Tarutao just gave us a strong dose of this love to roam around privately amongst wild flora and fauna (pictures).

Tarutao is the largest of the 51 islands constituting the Tarutao National Marine Park in the Andaman Sea abutting the sea border with Malaysia. Em and I spent a few days on Koh Lipe last month which is the only island not run by the national park system as the government donated it to the sea gypsies who have lived there for centuries.

These sea gypsies have allowed private bungalows to continue to pop up along the beachfront. While Koh Lipe still possesses a very nice vibe and does have excellent coral right off its beaches, there is hardly any native environment above sea level around and little room to wander. Koh Tarutao, on the other hand, is massive and only a fraction of it has been touched by man. The park system has three areas offering bungalow accommodations, dining, and camping. There are many other spots to throw a tent but the access to fresh water, good cooking, and most importantly, being camped at one of the prettiest beaches I've ever visited, kept us in Ao Molae from day 3 until we returned to the mainland on day 12.

We spent our first two nights at Ao Phante Malaka, the park headquarters and pier. If we didn't know Ao Molae existed, we would have had a wonderful time staying in Phante Malaka for our entire visit. Our first morning, we chose to hike to the lookout just behind the camp for sunrise. We noticed a few macaques (commons monkey species in these parts) on the way up, thinking it was cool. Minutes later as we watched the red sun rise from the east, we had one macaque pretty much force us to move. His anger began by snorting at us and scratching the ground like he was a bull about to charge. Then he grimaced at us and violently shook the tree he was holding. OK, time to move on. In the gazebo at the top, we had more problems. We took out a snack, soon realizing that this was a mistake. Once they saw we had food, they became a little more aggressive. As I mock charged one of them, he mock charged back towards Em. OK, time to leave.

I went for a run right after this and had some more hissing from the macaques. We figured we would report their unpredictable and somewhat frightening behavior to the park staff as we expected they would send some rangers up to the gazebo to knock the monkeys around a bit and remind them who's boss. Oh no. Instead, they reinforced our concerns, "Yes, they are dangerous....and if they bite you it is worse than a dog biting you." Lovely. We were also told that it was best just to give them any food we had so they would stop threatening.

Our last day at this spot, we noticed macaques getting into the restaurant's trash and very little effort from staff trying to stop them (a sign on the front deck of the same restaurant threatened a 500 baht fine for feeding the wildlife). Given the food-human connection around park HQ, the monkey behavior made sense. Whenever we saw macaques away from this spot, they were logically more fearful of our larger size, less convinced of gaining a meal from us, and never really a problem.

Before leaving Ao Phante Malaka, we took a long tailed boat up the mangrove-lined estuary to the entrance of Crocodile Cave. Yes, there used to be crocodiles in these waters and our guide was not totally convinced they were all gone. On the way to the cave, we saw a couple large water monitor lizards before the boat grounded. This tour must be done at low tide to safely get in and out of the cave and it must have been really low this day. So, the driver, us and the other couple Tony and Katrina got out in the water to help push the boat. Fortunately, Tony was a large Dane whose strength probably saved us from waiting for the tide to rise. We went up the cave initially on a small wooden raft until we got to dry land and then were led around on a longer-than-expected walk amongst huge stalactites, stalagmites, and other impressive formations.

We had a great visit with Tony and Katrina, and they added to our desire to check out Ao Molae as they bragged about the beach where they were staying. In no hurry to leave as we were enjoying the shade the pine trees provided while still basking on the sand, we still decided to pack it up and head south to Ao Molae.

There we slowly but surely sunk into some serious beach time without ever really getting bored. We had snorkeling on either end of the bay, great bird watching with hills rising steeply behind camp, were centrally located for great walks or morning jogs to a waterfall hike, other beaches, a cross island journey, or back to park HQ via beach or road. These road walks turned out to be quite enjoyable. Because the path was cleared wide enough for a vehicle, it allowed space to view birds unlike the limited visibility while hiking in the dense jungle. It also served as a great wildlife corridor as we learned that humans are the minority of species utilizing this path of least resistance. There is a park maintenance pickup and shuttle bus that probably combined for ten daily trips on the main road, less on the smaller fork our camp was on. So, when walking on these "roads," we would see one vehicle every couple hours.

One day we made the 12 km journey to the east side of the island where the prison was located. Tarutao has a crazy history (including the filming of Survivor for all you reality TV buffs) going from sea gypsies to prisoners of war to pirates and to its current state of conserved recreation. For more facts on this lovely isle and marine park, visit here. And a map of the island - helpfully annotated with all the key Survivor locations - can be found here.

During this 12 km journey, in addition to tons of birds, we saw scorpion, snake, macaque, dusky langur, monitor lizard, geckos, and the most unique fauna of the trip, the palm civet. This four legged, skunk-marten like creature came bobbling towards us like he was drunk and blind. I kept looking at him waiting for him to notice us and wondering how he had lived so long in this wild world. Upon Internet research when returning home, we first identified it, and then learned that it is a nocturnal animal and explains his confused behavior when we saw him.

I can not leave out the bird life. It has taken some time, but I really started to appreciate the hobby of bird watching on this trip. I think it was because we sat in some neat spots where we were surrounded by noises of the jungle. Plus I have been outdoors with Em long enough where there is some residual knowledge/pleasure coming my way. Our first day on the island, we saw the oriental hornbill and continued to see many of these tropical beauties, one morning counting nine in one tree. White-bellied sea eagles and Brahminy kites are also found in abundance, and we often watched from the beach as they circled and dove over the water. Multitudes of tiny, jewel-like sunbirds were showing off their iridescent colors along the roadsides, while Asian fairy bluebirds and racket-tailed drongos swooped about more furtively in the understory.

So, where is the beach time you may ask. Oh, it is there, sometimes all day, but always some every day. The water was usually calmest and hence most clear in the mornings so this was the prime snorkeling time. Though not nearly as good as around the further-out islands, we really enjoyed the occasional snorkel, conditions permitting. We also got in some nice morning and evening strolls, just seeing what the ocean tossed up on shore that day, and what the crabs were doing about it. But most of our beach time was spent laying on the sand in the shade of a large casuarina tree. We would venture into the sun for quick swims or a few tosses of the Frisbee or longer sessions if it was cloudy or within a couple hours of sun rise or sun set. Mainly we read books or played cards while our eyes were able to stay open. Tough work. There is a stereotype of islanders that they are lazy and don't think or care about too much. After 11 days, we easily see how this stereotype can be true and at some level, admirable.

Even though we packed our home stove, we usually ate one or two meals in the restaurant and got to know the staff. The "laying around in the hammock, have to get up to cook every once in a while, yes I am lazy and no I do not care about much" staff. Good folks.

We are now preparing for a little quicker pace of travel as my parents arrive this weekend for a couple weeks of beach and culture fun. Look out, Thailand!

Aunt Nancy

2007-03-05T12:55:00.000+07:00

My Aunt Nancy passed away yesterday, Saturday March 3rd. She loved her church and her music, and was on her way out the door to practice before playing in a wedding. She couldn't catch her breath, and Uncle Ches had her sit down in the car, where she quietly passed away.

At Jenny's wedding (she played for that, too) she stashed the last bottle of good red wine to make sure the two of us could have a glass later. We decided that family should get to drink the best. That was almost two years ago, and unfortunately we haven't been able to get together since. I'm very glad she had the foresight to hide the merlot, and very glad I got to share it with my Auntie.

We'll miss you, Aunt Nanc.

Happy New Year, China!

2007-02-25T16:28:00.000+07:00

Yes, this is Thailand, but the Thais have never met a festival they didn't like, and there are a lot of ethnic Chinese living here, so they do it up pretty well here in Hat Yai. Chinese New Year was actually last weekend, but here it stretches into a week-long celebration, culminating today (pictures). We kicked off the day at dawn with a dragon- and shrine-filled parade, followed by a yummy dim-sum breakfast, and some crazy firecracker dancing at P Noot's Car Care business (video 1 - above, and video 2). The teams of shrine carriers from the parade spend the day going from place to place around the city blessing homes and businesses by dancing madly around under a super-long string of exploding firecrackers. Noisy and smoky, but fun to watch. Mid-day we all retreated from the heat, then regrouped for an evening at the festival. Many of the men who hauled shrines around all day turned up for fire walking (video). A bed of hot coals was prepared in front of the Chinese temple, and participants raced across singly or in groups with their shrines. Most ran at a dead sprint (can't say I blame them) but those that went at a more deliberate pace got bigger cheers from the crowd. Afterward, we saw a lot of men and boys limping around very gingerly, and one being carried by his friends. Welcome, year of the fire pig.

Koh Lipe and Killer Clams

2007-02-11T21:23:00.000+07:00

After a weekend on Koh Lipe (pictures), I've decided that my favorite marine critter of the moment is the giant clam. Some interesting giant clam factoids and nice pictures can be found here, and the Wikipedia article had this fascinating historical overview:

As is often the case with uncharacteristically large species, the giant clam has been historically misunderstood. Known in times past as the killer clam or man-eating clam, reputable scientific and technical manuals once claimed that the great mollusc had caused deaths; versions of the U.S. Navy Diving Manual even gave detailed instructions for releasing oneself from its grasp by severing the adductor muscles used to close its shell.

Today, it is generally acknowledged that the giant clam is neither aggressive nor particularly dangerous; while it is certainly capable of holding one fast in its grip, the shell's closing action is actually a defensive response, and far too slow to pose any reasonable threat. No account of a human becoming trapped in this manner has ever been substantiated. (full Wikipedia entry here)

I never felt threatened, but Trevor did tease me that they would take a finger if I got too close. Everywhere we snorkeled off Koh Lipe, we saw lots of giant clams. Some were so embedded in the reef their mantles looked like crazy colored sea slugs on the coral - bursts of vivid purple, blue, orange, red and turquoise. Others were more exposed, showing their enormous shells. There was something medieval about the giant hinge creaking shut with a dull thunk when a snorkeler ventured too close. After some internet searching, I now know that they actually sense light, and were responding to our shadows rather than any motion or sound in the water. And those brilliant colors are the result of symbiotic algae that provide most of the clam's food via photosynthesis. We didn't see any of the 1.5-meter monsters that are the maximum size for the largest species, but we did see one very impressive ~3-foot specimen.

Leaving for the islands on mid-day Thursday, we had actually planned to go to Koh Tarutao, the biggest island in Tarutao National Marine Park. We accidentally bought tickets to Lipe - the most developed of the park's islands - and decided not to bother changing them. Our boat pulled up to the island in the late afternoon, and not really having a preference on where to stay, we took the advice of the boat driver and headed for the Porn Resort (get your minds out of the gutter, you nasty folks - Porn is a very common nickname in Thailand, and has nothing to do with anyone's entertainment preference). They were out of bungalows, but offered us a tent on the beach for 150 baht a night, which we happily accepted. We even had time for a snorkel, which was actually quite nice right off our beach. Aside from the giant clams, and a lot of wicked-looking long-spined sea urchins, there were an incredible number of nondescript, 6-12" long sea cucumbers littering the sandy bottom around the coral. We spent the next three days watching the local people harvest them off the beach by the barrel-full, but repeated snorkel trips showed no sign of decreased numbers.

We managed to tear ourselves away from the lazy read-snorkel-nap-repeat cycle on our beach long enough to explore the island a bit. There are no roads, but a trail system connects the different beaches and resorts. Most of the lodging is still pretty basic, and fairly inexpensive, though some up-scale operations are starting to pop up. We had some sticker shock paying resort-island food prices for terrible Thai food again, but we were happy to find Jack's Jungle Bar dishing up some tasty local fare, along with some interesting live Mexican music. The singer was, we're guessing, temporary, as he kept forgetting which island he was on and yelling out "Happy Birthday!" between songs. We liked him a lot.

On Saturday we hopped on a snorkeling tour that proved way more fantastic than not. The first stop was unfortunate. Out in the middle of nowhere, there was an (admittedly) gorgeous coral mount, with (unfortunately) wicked currents. It was carnage. There were permanent but easy-to-miss buoy lines intended to keep the tourists from being swept away, while happily oblivious Thais in life jackets were towed around by their already-tired tour guides and baffled foreigners were left to figure things out for themselves. Amidst all of the face-kicking and confusion I dropped my snorkel, and we resigned ourselves to trading off and on for the day. The next site boasted some really fantastic coral, and redeemed the trip completely all by itself, at least in part due to the kind boat driver who tossed us an extra snorkel. The next two sites were both beach snorkels, so we were able to lounge on the sand and eat lunch between bouts of similarly amazing underwater viewing. On the last beach we found ourselves surrounded by massive schools of 2-inch long fish, all zigging and zagging in unison. Gorgeous coral, amazing numbers and variety of fish, exotic starfish, tons of giant clams, and even some pipefish (think sea horses only laid out straight) made it a memorable day out.

Sunday morning - and our ferry off the island - came way too soon. We definitely kept our eyes peeled on the boat-ride home, checking out the many islands we passed, and plotting our next Marine Park adventure!

Long Live Kuraburi

2007-02-05T13:48:00.000+07:00

When I started my three month stint with NATR, I was a little worried I wouldn't want to leave. The crew appeared top-notch, the type of work extremely fulfilling, and the amount of backyard recreation truly blissful.

All of these perceptions proved true. Thus to my surprise, and overall contentment, I was ready to leave Kuraburi to fill a void that was growing in me due to Em's absence. While I will miss much about the Kuraburi area, I am stoked to stay connected with the crew by continuing to help virtually for the next few weeks.

NATR is in a transition of phasing itself out in the next few months. It is great to sit back and realize that there are current programs that will carry NATR's foundation into the future. Projects like the Kuraburi Information Center, continued vocational training and English speaking with local groups, various environmental education programs being led by our ACE Expert graduates, and the community-based tourism project I have been working on all will help develop the communities in a sustainable methodology benefiting local people.

Supporting our endeavors, the state of Phang Nga is focussed on developing ecotourism and beginning to put resources into the Kuraburi area. This is both for environmental sustainability and marketing differentiation. The states of Phuket and Krabi began on this "ecotourism" concept but due to high tourism volumes have stopped promoting the outdoor local Thai experience, which is also now harder to find.

It will be a test to see if the Kuraburi area can withstand the lure of big money as developers hope to build the next chain mega-resort destination up the Andaman coast. We believe the people in Kuraburi will resist as many locals have heard first-hand from other villagers in the Khao Lak or Phuket area how things have changed, and in their opinions, for the worse. These opinions are even coming from those who are now basking in tourist dollars, but conscious that their old livelihoods are dying out and their native forests are receding inland.

The other unique factor in NATR's success has been the lack of mafia intervention. Like most developing nations, Thailand has widespread corruption. Local mafia groups make sure to get involved where there is money. That has been our saving grace. We are not making any money and we are not getting involved in already established money-generating industries such as boat trips to the Surin Islands. So, we have been able to go about our business and support a community-driven process for creating tourism. It will also be interesting to see how the mafia reacts to programs such as homestays when the money does start coming in.

Either way, I feel lucky to have been there during such a transitional stage in little Kuraburi's history and to help push change towards the positive. I look forward to returning with Em and my parents and have a feeling I will be back beyond that.

My last weekend consisted of great jungle wilderness. Most of the crew went out to the Surin Islands, but due to the cost and knowing I will be there for a longer stay in a couple months, I chose to stay on the mainland. Jason and I found the seven pools, a beautiful playground just a few kilometers upriver from the dam we visit regularly. We ended up hiking too far upstream and had an adventurous river-walk/rock-slide back down to the pools.

Then Jeab took us to his uncle's property in Kapong. We went down for a big jungle hike his cousins had planned. With a late morning start, I was thinking it would just be a little stroll to some stream to watch them spearfish. But no, with lots of river walking, some fishing with bamboo poles made on-site, and many waterslides and waterfalls, it turned out to be a fantastic outing. The river walk is a true wilderness experience as you are not using any man-made trail and hence get to places that are literally off the "beaten path".

In addition to this great hike, we attended the funeral of one of Jeab's father's friends both nights we were in Kapong. A funeral in Thailand, and most of the east, is quite different from home. For instance, it lasts a week. They do conduct a more traditional ceremony the first night, but each consecutive evening has a party atmosphere with dinner, drinks, and card games. Again, a great experience. Thanks Jeab for your continued invitations to show me more of your country...I have enjoyed them all.

So, back to my transition here in Hat Yai. Stoked! My next month consists of virtual work helping grow Andaman Discoveries, some intense training for the return trip to the Himalayas, and starting to look for my next work project here after our two months of vacation! With Em's laptop and high-speed internet in our apartment, I am currently setting up the virtual office. Kind of nice to be able to rock out to new music (thanks NATR peeps) while working!

Times of Kuraburi

2007-01-25T12:53:00.000+07:00

Relative to progress here with NATR & Andaman Discoveries, I continue to spend a majority of my efforts towards website and search engine optimization. While we have a great website, we are trying to make it more available to potential visitors. Google AdWords has generated some visits but more importantly been extremely valuable in providing great analysis for successful keywords, referral sources, visitor demographics, site navigation, etc. We have done some outreach/brochure-drops to partners in nearby tourist areas, but we invest more effort into viral marketing (travel hosts, forums, blogs, word-of-mouth-grassroots-goodness). If you have any suggestions on virtual neighborhoods we should be targeting, please let me know!

We continue to get inquiries for ‘voluntourism.’ While we currently provide a responsible travel option, many outgoing types are also looking to ‘do something’ while traveling. Ya, sounds familiar. So, we are developing programs catered to this voluntourist ranging from a few days of participating with existing village responsibilities to longer term research/monitoring projects. I spent a couple days last week in the village of Tung Dap for an R&D trip.

Tung Dap is a village we have supported on a project level but it is not one of the villages where we currently offer homestays. There are fifty people living in Tung Dap and they all contribute to the community’s sustenance. The lack of a CBT committee and associated tourism expectations was quite refreshing and it was apparent that this village is still collaborating at a roots level. I talked with two women who were gutting the fish from the morning’s catch. Through some chicken dancing and Thainglish, I was able to determine that the ~25 kilograms of fish would be salted, hung to dry, and distributed to all the families of the village evenly.

I had a great experience in all the activities I helped in: picking up garbage with the schoolchildren, making squid traps with the fishermen for the next morning’s mission, and fishing in a fresh water pond with my host Nu. While I struggled at grabbing the fish under water with my hands, I did learn to throw the net. To see more photos of my trip, click here.

In terms of recreation and social life, it seems the last month’s theme has been dinner parties. With volunteers coming and going and new homes to constantly warm, it is not hard to find an excuse to all get together. One weekend we visited Jeab’s uncle’s property which borders a stream and national park land. Last weekend, I had a great paddle off the beach of Ban Talae Nok and into an estuary full of mangroves. The amount of mangrove habitat along this coast continues to amaze me. Enjoying the constant breeze and hence ability to do it in this heat, I continue to bicycle around Kuraburi but will need to step up the training soon for the Himalaya return trip in spring.

Oh, and how could I forget…The Rainbow Gathering. I had heard of these hippy fests back at home, but never really knew much about them. We happen to be located just 15 kilometers from this year’s “World Gathering.” Starting on a new moon and lasting one full lunar cycle, the event usually peaks in attendance around the full moon. So sure enough, a group of us headed out for that particular night and had a great time of being “welcomed home.”

Core to its peace and happiness mission, the gathering boasts a no-drug/no-alcohol policy. I really admired this and it made it much easier to engage in real conversation rather than just chaotic-counter-culture-expression I expect at large communal events. After a couple different overnight visits, I left feeling a little mixed. It was a great example of efficient communal living, encouraging acceptance and learning, and consisting mainly of good-willed people. But there was a large group of these “idealists” who appear to shelter their beliefs in their own small circles rather than taking them to more real world scenarios.

I've Got a CD Coming Out!

2007-01-22T17:49:00.000+07:00

A set of them, actually. I'm getting paid to read dialogue, lesson examples, and dictionary terms for a set of instructional CDs. I've been writing example sentences for the same company, and the whole process is really interesting. I've read a couple thousand dictionary terms, and quite a bit of lesson content now, and the production schedule is picking up. I'll be recording for two hours each day for the next week or so. Pitt took some pictures of the first session, and I'll try to post those soon.

Flowers at Jiraporn School

The school owner's wife grows fantastic orchids, as well as some lovely water plants. It's funny to see what I think of as "hot-house flowers" thriving outside, but they're gorgeous (a little like those "tropical fish"). She rotates them through so the ones that are blooming are out where they can be seen. (more pictures)

Alternate View of Thai Royalty

Around the time of the coup, we said a bit here about the sterling reputation enjoyed by Thailand's king. We pretty much passed along unedited the stated opinion of every Thai person we've ever talked to. But it seems that that's not the only opinion out there, and I'd be remiss if I didn't pass along the alternate view: here.

And on the Economics of Education

The school I work for is a private school, and it's common in Thailand for the families of some students to get off as long as possible without paying. It's also common for the school to hound those students on a regular basis for payment, rounding them up in the office for lectures and giving them bills, and generally putting them in a very uncomfortable spot. Last week I was finishing the last of the P. 4 speaking tests (with about 8 students who happen to comprise the bottom quarter or so of the class) and had them come in at lunch hour. As the students arrived dutifully on time, we saw the school secretary throw her hands in the air and yell "Jackpot!" (or what Louise assures me is the Thai equivalent). Almost every one of those students owed the school money. As expected, they struggled on the test, and it left me thinking about how economic status fits into the educational machine, both here and at home.

Reflections

2007-01-12T17:08:00.000+07:00

EDIT: After some concern from family members from this last post, I finally took the time to reread my words and feel there was validity for their negative speculation. So, I'm back to expand a little bit.

NO, I have not been having conversations with dead people and YES, I was completely sober. On that day, I focused on reaching out to Erik and letting him know how much he is missed, how much people admired his zest for life, how much positive snow safety education has resulted from his accident, etc. This is not new for me, I have reached out to other lost loved ones before. Some people do this through prayer, meditation, whatever. When reaching out to people, I have often sensed they can hear or feel my thoughts. With Erik, I felt a really strong connection and felt he understood what I was saying and was in a happy place. It was a powerful 15 minutes and due to that I felt like sharing. It probably was not wise to share with the cyber world so soon after the experience.

Today (January 12th) has been an impactful day for me. Before picking some colleagues up at a village, I had some time to reflect next to a beautiful stream. One year ago today, Emily and I landed in Delhi and began this odyssey. Wow, what fantastic experiences. I also thought about a good friend Erik Lewis who passed away two years ago today. While reflecting on quite an amazing year, it reinforced how lucky I am and how rewarding it is to continuously enjoy living. Erik shared this zest for life and living amongst his passions. To no surprise, he is doing extremely well and very much at peace with his current surroundings. It was an amazing connection: full of tears, smiles, and mutual appreciation.

Update

2007-01-10T19:42:00.000+07:00

Grandpa's back at home, and feeling much better by all accounts. Nothin' like watching HeeHaw through your eyelids in your very own comfy chair to speed the recuperative process.

We love you Grandpa, and hooray Aunt Barb for being the rock-star-on-hand this week!

Get Well Soon, Grandpa!

2007-01-06T10:03:00.000+07:00

We've had some bad news from North Dakota. My Grandpa Wesley is in the hospital in Minot after a minor heart attack. He's stable, and they've moved him into his own room. I'm anxiously awaiting the updates, but they think he'll be ok. When I talked to him at Christmas he said he hadn't been out ice fishing yet this winter - the ice was too thin. He said it would be thick enough to hold him up, but not him and that huge fish he was going to catch. Here's hoping the ice thickens up and he's out fishing soon. We love you, Grandpa!

I've posted some pictures from Trevor and my visit to Khukhut waterbird sanctuary and Koh Yo. Pitt let us borrow her motorcycle, and we had a fun drive over the bridge to Koh Yo for lunch. The island seems pretty laid back, and we were sorry we didn't have more time to explore. There are fish farms all around, and plenty of seafood restaurants to choose from. A lot of folks from Hat Yai day trip up to the island (about a 45 minute drive) to eat seafood, so you know it must be good. We had lunch in a lovely, out-of-the way spot nestled amongst the palm trees, and decided we'd stop on the island for dinner on the way back, too. Continuing on to the next bridge, we made it to Khukhut in another 45 minutes, and enjoyed a beautiful drive in after leaving the main road.

We knew we wanted to get on one of the boat rides, but had no idea to go about it. Signage wasn't stellar, and it took us a bit to find the office, which was empty. Luckily a cleaning lady came over, and I happened to know the word for boat (random - you learn it with the Thai alphabet) and she pointed us in the right direction. A guy who turned out to be the boat driver walked us over, and we were soon out on the water in a long-tail. He drove us through an area of shallow grass beds with canals winding through, interspersed with larger open areas and the occasional tree with crazy stalagmite-like roots sticking up all around. The shy purple swamphens with their bright red heads and purple-blue-turquoise feathers were a highlight, as were the enormous purple and gray herons. There were tons of Egrets, though I'm not sure which ones. According to the bird book, there could be 4 different kinds in the area right now, and all wearing almost identical non-breeding plumage (great egret). There were large flocks of little grebes swimming around, and when we got too close they would take off running across the water before leaping up and diving under, as if undecided whether up or down was safer. There were plenty of little cormorants perched in the trees - looking more like little vultures than waterbirds from a distance - and we saw a flock of black-winged stilts, with long skinny beaks and even longer legs. A couple of Greater Coucals were poking around looking for a meal, and we saw a blue-tailed bee eater snag either a bug or a fish off the water. Back on shore we spent some time up in an observation tower, where we watched some ashy drongos and black-naped orioles play in the tree-tops at eye level. (Thanks to Carl-Johan Svensson for posting such fantastic pictures of Thai birds - most of the links above are to his site.)

On the drive home we stopped at another restaurant on Koh Yo, and had some fantastic seafood tom yum (spicy soup) and sweet-and-sour shrimp. Yummy.

P Noot hosts a big New Year's Eve party every year, and we were recruited to come over early and help set up. We peeled, sliced, chopped, marinated, and skewered, helping set up the massive spread of food that we'd later help demolish. At the party, there was musical chairs and waterballoon tossing for the kids. There was also musical chairs for the adults, who were probably more into it than the kids, after a few hours of party time. Chairs were broken, people went sprawling, cash on a fork was awarded. It was fun. Getting on toward midnight, the fireworks started to come out, and the kids' excitement level went up. There was no count-down, but at few minutes to midnight the amount of firecrackers and roman candles being set off in the neighborhood escalated until their was constant noise and smoke. Trevor and I counted down and had a smooch, just to do it properly. Here are some pictures from the party.

This last week (or fragment of a week, anyway) we've started mid-term tests at school. It's a bit of a process. I'm doing a full class period of review, then administering the test the next period, then finishing the one-on-ones the period after that (there's a written part, then a one-on-one outside the classroom to test for speaking and listening, which takes a while with 30+ students per class). So far most of the younger kids are doing pretty well, so it's gratifying to see that they're getting something out of class, and that my expectations for the tests were fairly realistic. We start testing with the older kids next week, so we'll see how that goes.

As for me, I better get back at my own studies now. I'm hoping to meet up with Tor this weekend for some Thai/English study, and she expects me to spell all the words that go with the Thai alphabet. I don't want to fail the test!

Jungle walks & Christmas trees

2007-01-01T21:27:00.000+07:00

Happy New Year!

Before I get into the last week of holiday cheer in Hat Yai, I need to mention a most fantastic hike I was part of a couple weeks ago. Bodhi has raved on and on about "the lake" in Khao Sok National Park and has always wanted to hike into it from Kuraburi. He had finally put the trip together and of course I was in. Here are some photos of the adventure.

We were stoked to be supporting a graduate of our ACE Expert program by hiring Reese to put together the jungle walk. Reese is hoping to be a local guide in the Kuraburi area and completed our six month program of English, computer skills, and small business skills with 21 other ACE Experts. While he realizes the need to learn more English to communicate with future foreign visitors, he is well-versed in the language of the jungle.

We began the hike with a 4-wheel drive ride deep into the woods. From there, we spent a couple hours of walking through thick vegetation until we came to a beautiful spot at the confluence of two waterfalls. The main stream dove down slippery rock into a large swimming pool where we spent most of our afternoon. Reese brought along a small spear that was used to catch fish by propelling it forward with the large rubber band tied to it. While us farang (foreigners) struggled to just hold our breath long enough to get down to the fish, sure enough, the local guides made it look easy. Besides the fish they caught, that night our guides prepared us a camp meal we will never forget while maximizing the use of bamboo - serving dishes, hot water pots, ladles, cups, etc.

Camp is a little simpler in the jungle. Gordy and I lugged a tent in only to realize there was practically no flat, clear space big enough to set up a tent. We made do but watched as the locals prepared a more fitting sleeping arrangemet...hanging a hammock (with mosquito net) between two trees.

The next day we walked in and along the stream for a few hours before hitting the lake where a long tail boat awaited us. Chieow Laan Lake was created by a dam and provides floating access to extensive jungle habitat. We went for an afternoon canoe trip where we heard tons of birds, monkeys, and even saw a great winged hornbill fly right in front of us. We all enjoyed a good night sleep in our floating bungalows before reversing our trip back out.

While we were all proficient at pulling leeches off our lower legs every few minutes, we were grateful to have local guides keep us safe from the bigger dangers of the jungle.

Holidays in Hat Yat
Up in Kuraburi, it was easy not to miss the holidays as there were no signs of it anywhere. Arriving in Hat Yai was a different story. Hat Yai is by no means a big city, but it is one of the larger ones in Thailand and therefore boasts a good size industry of consumerism. Just in my tuk tuk ride from the bus station to Em's apartment, I observed streets lined with Christmas lights and "Merry Christmas" or "Happy New Year" signs on restaurants and retail stores. "Hmm," I thought, "I guess it is Christmas time."

Arriving in the apartment built on the theme and in addition to the lovely girl I was excited to see, there was a small Christmas tree (with presents under it!) and Christmas carols streaming on the laptop. The Holidays were on!

For Christmas Eve we headed to P Noot's place with American Christmas food in hand. Doing our best to get some meat & potatoes like we would have at home was not so easy. We bought a few cooked chickens (close enough to turkey) and then had to resort to KFC (yes, finger lickin' good KFC) for mashed potatoes. Christmas day was the work part of the holiday where I helped "Teacher Em" introduce some Christmas vocabulary and sing lots of "Jingle Bells." We helped her students make ornaments and taped them on a paper Christmas tree in each classroom. It was great to see the admiration she gets from her well behaved students. Christmas night we went a little out of tradition and enjoyed a sushi dinner for two. You can see more photos of our Christmas activities here.

While Thais think Christmas is fun, and a good excuse for shopping, New Year's Eve is one of their major holidays. Last Thursday was an all-day party at Em's school, with the parents coming to watch the students performing on stage all day, and the school putting on a dinner party for the teachers that night. Gordy, a colleague from NATR, was passing through town so joined Em and I for this night of uncertainty. Em's bilingual teaching assistant, Louise, chose not to attend so we were on our own to understand what was happening or expected from us. Gordy and I had it easy as we were just guests. Being the foreign superstar, Em had larger responsibilities such as selecting various costume contest winners, along with giving her mandatory karaoke performance. The night turned out to be quite fun with lots of dancing.

Em will write more later about the New Year's Eve party and other fun outings.

Merry Christmas!

2006-12-25T16:41:00.000+07:00

Hooray for the Holidays!

2006-12-16T10:13:00.000+07:00

In the last couple of weeks, the Thai holiday calendar provided a Tuesday off and a 3-day weekend, allowing me to get out of Hat Yai and into the great outdoors. I've also been getting a steady stream of Christmas packages from home (thank you!) and pigging out on Christmas cookies and jerky.

The King's birthday (also Thai Father's Day) fell on a Tuesday this year, and unfortunately my school didn't take the Monday off as well (darnit). Fortunately, Pitt's family was heading out to a waterfall an hour outside the city, and I got the invite to go with (pictures). Eight adults and seven kids (everyone but me wearing their yellow king shirts) piled into P Noot's truck for the drive out into the country. Waterfalls are really popular domestic tourism spots here, and this one was beautiful but heavily impacted by all the visitors. The kids had a great time splashing around in the water hole created by a dam just downstream, and the rest of us enjoyed a nice picnic in the jungle.

Thai Constitution Day fell on a Sunday, but luckily was observed Monday, resulting in a three-day weekend so I could go see Trevor! Some of the NATR crew had put together a boat-ride out to the Surin Islands (more on the park here, our pictures here, and a map here), and Trevor and I managed to hop aboard. The islands are a little over an hour away via speedboad.... or 5-6 hours via longtail boat. The price differential is proportional to the time, but we happily opted for the more expensive zippy boat. Mu Ko Surin National Park is considerably better preserved than other islands in the park system (like Koh Samet and other developed "Park" areas). There is only camping, and they are well-organized for tent and bedding rentals, as well as having a reasonably priced cafeteria. Trevor had borrowed a tent, so we pitched that right away upon arrival, and then headed for the kayak rentals.

We had a hot tip on a small "nearby" island with great snorkeling, which Bodhi and Paul paddled out to and thoroughly enjoyed. After noting it wasn't quite near enough to suit my overnight-bus-weary self, Trevor and I opted for a closer option in a lovely secluded beach. With only one other couple sharing our find, we got way more solitude than we'd anticipated. After fighting the surf a bit to get out, the snorkeling from the beach proved absolutely amazing, and we both concluded it was the most fantastic coral we'd ever seen. When they toss out the term "coral garden", it's tough to imagine what they mean until you see it - gorgeous, varied coral formations with an equally varied assortement of fish flitting around them like butterflies. A large school of parrotfish made its way over the coral, descending here and there in unison to scrape away on the algae and polyps, making an audible crunching sound and sending grains of chewed coral drifting toward bottom. Cleaner wrasses tended to the bigger fish, and buttefly fish added bright bits of color darting amongst the coral.

After a nap on the beach to dry off, we went to haul our kayak back in the water only to find that the tide had gone out much further than we had any reason to expect, and that lovely reef was now hemming us in. With some fancy footwork, we managed to get back out without causing any damage (we really really hope). The situation back at home-beach was even worse, but luckily (for us getting back in before dark without feeling horrible, anyway) the reef approaching that beach is almost totally dead. Mostly it was just really mortifying for us to break a cardinal reef-etiquette rule by tromping on coral, even if it was dead, in front of people, even if all the Thai tourists could know or care less. The Thai Park system's ideas of preservation haven't extended as far as educating people about reef health, even as far as having employees warn kayak-renters about the tides.

The next morning Trevor, Paul, and I hopped on one of the park's organized snorkeling tours. We were taken to two different sites - along with a long-tail full of Thai tourists wearing long-sleeve t-shirts and life jackets. We didn't really know what to expect, as an entire fleet of boats was all departing at the same time, heading for the same sites. Pulling up to the first site, the "tour guide" conducted a 5-minute orientation speach (in Thai), complete with much gesturing toward the shore and some rock formations, then concluded by smiling sheepishly at us. Ok.... we opted to just hop in and hope for the best. The water was amazingly perfectly clear, and we didn't realize until Trevor tried to dive down for a closer look at something that the water was actually about 30-40 ft. deep. That something was a cuttlefish (!) and a very good omen for the rest of the morning. We noticed that the current there was briskly pulling us away from the boat (quickly enough that we probably couldn't make it back) and had a moment of worry until we saw all those life-vested Thais bobbing just as quickly away and decided there was no way they could swim against the current, so the driver must be planning to intercept us (who needed that orientation, anyway?). We were blown away by the sheer variety of fish we saw at the two sites, and the driver had to track us down and scoop us out of the water both places. At the second site we saw a black and white striped sea snake (or eel - there's one that copies the snake) and lots of clown fish. The clown fish were really fun to watch - burrowing around amongst the anemonies, just like Nemo!

On Sunday we went back to the mainland for Eric's going away party. After collecting fried rice, fried chicken, some beer, and some badminton rackets, we headed to the beach for some sunset recreation and a campfire. I doled out some of my carefully hoarded Christmas cookies from home, and making some long-term American volunteers really happy. Eric came through with a very impressive fire, carefully tending it to ensure optimum burning efficiancy (at great personal risk) and we all had a very nice visit under some incredible stars. Orion peeked up above the horizon, and I thought it was funny that seeing that winter constellation will always instantly make me think of snow crunching underfoot, even when I'm on a beach in tropical Thailand. On the other horizon, the squid and fish boats several miles out (Bau thought they were as much as 7 miles off shore) put off enough light to create an odd glow over the water.

Back in Hat Yai, the packages continue to come at a steady rate, and none of them have been marked "do not open until..." (there might have been something perishable in there, couldn't take a chance by waiting). Yummy treats from home like Christmas cookies, jerky, cornflake wreaths, Nibs, and Dakota Kid sunflower nuts have been satisfying my food cravings. And my students have been enjoying all of the new stickers, stampers, and markers. Hearing about all the Christmas plans and festivities at home makes me feel very, very far away. Happily, Trevor got a week off for Christmas, and will be heading this way next weekend! I'm going to ask my school if he can come to class on Monday, and he can help celebrate Christmas with the kids. This week I'm starting them on Christmas songs and vocabulary, so that should be fun.

My Thai lessons are still going well. I have the 44 consonants mostly down, and am working on the vowels. They say there are only 12 vowels, but there are really 24+. Where English has a short i / long i, etc., Thai has different ways of writing the short and long versions, which they count as one vowel. Then there are a few extras. Vowels are placed before, after, under and over consonants, and can be really tricky to sort out quickly. I have been able to sound out a few simple words, though! I'm just starting to look at the handful of tone markers, and they add an extra level of confusion. Trevor continues to gain more and more functional/conversational Thai, and sometimes I wonder if I'm wasting my time with the reading end of things, but I'm hoping it will pay off in the long run. And I do enjoy it. It's like a puzzle - a really complicated cryptogram, maybe - and I'm enjoying the challenge of untangling it, even if I do get frustrated.

The November monsoons may have shown up over a month late, but they're making up for it now - it's been pouring all weekend. Our Christmas here might not be a white one, but it will probably be wet. Wherever you are and whatever the weather, have a Very Merry Christmas, and a Happy New Year!

Untouched Thailand

2006-12-03T21:03:00.000+07:00

Yes I know I've been working on marketing and with that comes crazy buzz words like "untouched" or "real," but I feel very fortunate to be on the North Andaman coast right now. The place is truly not (and hopefully won't become) disturbed and almost every day I seem to be experiencing some new jaw dropping location or activity.

Today was no different as I helped take a film crew (iHot TV out of Bangkok) into Tung Nung Dam. Real tough work as every time I visit a village I feel it's more a privilege than a work task. Today no different and again the film crew was impressed with the experience...traditional coastal living is not just foreign to the typical westerner but also to the Thai urban go-getter. Today was a better experience for me as some of the local villagers I'm starting to see often are warming up to me and saying that even though there is a language barrier it is no barrier to the fun they have when hosting foreigners. The day concluded with a full-moon longtail boat ride back to the pier...quite serene.

So, the last week or so...swimming under waterfalls, finding great mountain biking terrain, more sunset swims in the Andaman, a day in Ban Talae Nok helping host a sports day, a day in Tung Nung Dam gathering research on a local hike, a BBQ/bungalow warming party at a fellow volunteer's, and last night we supported the only other NGO in town (Swiss Development Corporation) at their closing party. The entertainment was quite slow as it was traditional Thai fun...karaoke without any spunk. It is very common here (and most of Asia) to sing karaoke even though you have a horrible voice and are just standing on stage with your hands in your pocket. Even some regional political leaders attending sang in this same banal fashion. Sure enough, NATR was called upon to sing a song. Even though the average Thai singer is bad, I am far worse, so don't worry, I stayed seated. But Erik and Bret got up and put together a gut-wrenching with laughter, and possibly a reputation-damaging performance to Michael Jackson's "Beat it." Hilarious and very frightening for Bodhi (our Director). While it was definitely extremely entertaining, they also seemed to be praised from most all the crowd, including the high-ranked politicians, but you never know if they are just saving face and looking for ways to deport us and our program soon. According to our good friends at SDC, it was all good.

On top of this, a bunch of us went out and spent last weekend on our own island at Ao Koh Kwai. Yes, you can still get your own tropical island in Thailand! Jo's boyfriend Bau is a local fisherman and was our transportation and food gatherer for the weekend. While he struck out on Friday, he delivered on Saturday with some stingray and baracuda. The stingray was a little chewy while the baracuda had tasty tender meat. For appetizers we often ate oysters and snails found in our bay. The snorkeling was very decent albeit one intense zone of sea lice. These things have been in most of the waters I've swam in around southern Thailand but usually just a short single-pointed sting. There was one section off our island exerting much more force with hundreds of concurrent stingings that felt like you were getting electrocuted. This rightfully aborted our group of three grown men's attempt to swim around the island.

The untouched Thailand bias was strongly enforced during this trip as I constantly looked at the mainland's coastline and saw nothing but beach and forest. Oh wait, there was one siting of a white building but otherwards...nature.

Work is great...starting to feel like I'm adding value both in terms of marketing progress and overall teamwork. We had a beyond belief November with 22 guests going through Andaman Discoveries, and more rewarding, the fact that four of them told us they had life-changing experiences in the villages!

While it all seems peachy, community-based tourism is no simple task, and our most attractive feature is also our largest obstacle. Their happy-in-the-moment attitude does simplify their existence and is apparent to guests visiting their lifestyles. But meanwhile, we are trying to teach them ways to preserve this attitude through long term thinking, vision, and planning. This is tricky and needs to be done carefully. To help them maintain their livelihoods forever (something they truly want...unless maybe someday huge amounts of money persuades them otherwise similar to traditional tourism development where the locals are "bought out") we feel tourism in their communities needs to provide supplementary income only and never detract from their traditional sources of sustenance. This means the number of tourists must remain limited. So what am I doing in marketing, well, we are not at capacity yet. Marketing is a main facet of this program I doubt the villages themselves will ever truly understand or be able to conduct. This is OK as long as they understand the significance of marketing and that there is a cost for this need.

They are getting pretty good at delivering the product, but continuously take for granted the efforts we put into bringing them business, organizing tours, and being Uncle NATR with deep pockets. Due to the large amounts of tsunami relief money that fled into Thailand, some of the local people assume that westerners will just keep on giving. Then there is the normal corruption factor where we are learning there is a strong likelihood that one village's leaders are pocketing most of the "community fund" money. The community fund (20% of all revenue) is intended to benefit the entire community through needed projects. It could be worse, we could have local mafia all over us (and they are starting to pay close attention) as we become successful in bringing in tourism money. The only reason mafia are not involved in our business already is because we created a new market...when it comes to the bigger, already developed businesses such as scuba diving around the Similan Islands, oh yes, they are in control. I do not totally understand the extent of "mafia"...it doesn't seem to be anything dangerous and does seem to be prevalent in all facets of business. One reporter estimated that over 60-70% of all business in Thailand is mafia related or corrupt. My best guest is if the mafia is involved it basically means there is a large sum of money laundering going to certain people.

So, yes, I do ask myself at times what are us idealistic white folks trying to do here. But the answer is simple, you gotta believe. As far as tourism goes, I am a huge believer that we have two key attractions: nature and culture. Now we must work on ways to continue to have these.

Learning

2006-11-27T19:30:00.000+07:00

They might call me "Teacher Em" at school, but I feel like I'm doing way more learning than the kids are. I'm learning about Thai language, schools, food, and people, in interesting ways and in surprising places. And every day I teach, I learn more about how to be a better teacher, which is pretty important to me.

The kids seem to be warming up a bit. There are still some "deer in the headlights" moments when I call on a student who has absolutely no idea what to say, or maybe even what the question was, but that may have more to do with learning a scary new language, and less to do with that funny-looking teacher asking the question. We've added "Head and shoulders (... knees and toes...)" to the song lineup, though "The Happy Song" still tops the charts. "The ABC Song" (which - come on, admit it - some of us still have to hum in order to alphebetize things) was an abysmal failure. Needed actions, I guess. We still play a lot of games, and the younger ones do a fair amount of coloring, but we're starting to slip in more of the serious business of phonics, spelling, reading and writing. Particularly with the older students, the gap in ability levels is difficult to overcome. A few in each class read really well (they mayhave had some private tutoring, which is common here with any family that can afford it) while for others who have maybe just transfered from a public school, my class may be their first introduction to formal English education. This is making reading and writing activities very interesting. How we learn a new language, and in particular how kids learn a new language, is fascinating. Even when a lesson or activity is a total flop, I learn a lot that can be applied to the next lesson.

Between classes, we hang out in the office planning lessons and putting together materials on the computer. It's a family-owned and run school, with the mostly toothless but sweet (and non-English-speaking) patriarch always puttering around building, painting, or fixing something. His wife teaches Anuban (kintergarden), his daughter is the secretary/receptionist, and his granddaughter is an Anuban student who likes to hang around Pitt and me and learn new English words. They're a nice family and have been having a good time introducing me to new Thai goodies. Today Ann (the secretary) bought me 2-ft long piece of bamboo stuffed with sweetened sticky rice. Pitt explained that after adding the rice, water, and sugar, they roast the bamboo over a fire, then hack away the outer part of the bamboo. What's left can be peeled down in strips, exposing the yummy rice inside. Who'd a thunk it?

I've also developed a taste for jack fruit, which Im now completely in love with. There's a little market a minute's walk from the school that sometimes sells it. Jack starts out watermelon-sized, covered with thick, spikey-looking skin. Then someone cuts it apart, and out come these tastey little nuggets of fruit, each with a pit inside. I think someone local must just wait for the fruit to fall, and when it does, it translates into about ten full baggies of fruit for sale, each with about 15 pieces. If I don't see them first, someone in the office usually buys a baggie for me.

When Pitt was sick last week, Tor from the Smart English office was my assistant for a couple of days. She's really sweet, but her training was as an accountant, and she feels a bit out of her league as an English teacher. Between classes she was so patient and helpful teaching me Thai words... and she really wants to work on her English... so we've started meeting up for a lesson-swap in our free time. It's amazing how much faster you learn when you have someone to help you practice and focus, and (gently) explain when you don't have it quite right. I also went out and bought some of those preschool style trace-the-letter-then-write-it books of the Thai alphabet. I've decided that I should at least try the reading and writing end of Thai, and it's supposed to really help your pronunciation. For a little taste of it, Learning Thai the Easy Way has some nice introductory material. So... you can see what I'm up against. I can't even write my own name yet, but I'm practicing.

While Trevor was here, I bought a fish (two, actually, but one didn't exactly make it). Right now fishy's living in the bottom one of the 2-gallon jugs I buy my water in, but come payday he's getting a dee-luxe 15-gallon palace. And maybe a couple of friends. When I walk into town on the weekends, I go through a little pet market, where a cluster of vendors offer up fish, turtles, birds, rabbits, hamsters and mice. I recognize some of the fish from my aquarium-keeping days back in ND, and it's funny to think about having to have a heater for them, and all the care I had to take to keep my "tropical" fish at the proper temperature. Here you could throw them in an outdoor pond and they'd be fine. I lot of what I had in my tank were probably native to Thailand. My fish (no name so far) has proven a very poor roommate substitute after Trevor left - we (Trevor and I) both wish we could make those visits happen much more often. Maybe a turtle would help. (Just kidding. Although they are the cutest little turtles...)

I've started tutoring two university students twice a week, and that's been interesting. We got off to a typically, comically Thai start. Pitt mentioned that P Noot had a relative whose daughter needed a tutor for a couple months. I said I would be interested, and suggested Tuesdays and Thursdays for an hour. Pitt said she'd tell them. Monday rolled around, and she let me know they'd be fetching me at quarter to five. Um... Tuesday? No, Monday and Thursday. Okaaaaay. Gib (my student) arrived to pick me up before 5, and we went to her house, where we were met by the other two students (What other two students?) for a two-hour class. It all worked out ok, and I ended up with two students total in the end, for two hours twice a week. It's tough to shift geers into the finer points of subject/verb agreement and pronunciation after small-kid, big-energy classes all day, but they're nice girls, and it's also nice to make a little bit of extra money. I actually ended up having Thanksgiving dinner with their family. Although they didn't really know it was Thanksgiving, and it was fish curry and rice on the menu.

If you were to summarize it on a schedule, my day-in day-out here sounds fairly routine, and completely devoid of outdoor recreation, which is usually a big part of what I enjoy. I go to school, come home, study or do class prep, read and go to bed. On the weekend I do more of the same, meet with Tor, and maybe go to Jim's place for a movie and a beer. Trevor's been hesitant to tell me about all the fun stuff he does - floating the river, going mountain biking, camping on pristine white beaches... because he doesn't want me to feel bad. And don't misunderstand, all of that sounds pretty darn fantastic, and I am a little jealous of all the outdoor fun. But I don't think I'd trade where I am right now. I'm loving what I'm doing, and looking forward to learning more.

Hot Hat Yai, Kool Kuraburi

2006-11-22T18:25:00.000+07:00

The visit to Hat Yai was fantastic...not so much because of Hat Yai but because of that special gal living there! While we are both really loving our personal endeavors, it is clear that we are much more whole when together. O.K., enough of the mooshy stuff.

Hat Yai was also quite fun as I got to visit with the people that take good care of Em. My first night there we went out...not talking about the going out Kuraburi-style sitting under a bamboo thatched roof at the only establishment that does not blare Karaoke. I'm talking about actual bars and do I dare say clubs. The first bar boasted 20' walls of glass with the latest Hollywood and Thai celebrities on large posters hanging from the ceiling. The food, drink, and atmosphere was great but I was a little spooked when one of the three bathroom attendants immediately started massaging my shoulders as I was trying to take a leak. After finally getting him to stop, I was able to relax enough to do what I intended. The next place was even swankier (and no bathroom attendants) with live music and a bar that glowed! Pitt and P Noot do a great job of inviting Em everywhere and it was real clear that this is not just out of courtesy but they really enjoy Em's company.

Besides those festivities, I relished in the luxuries of Em's city apartment. Just a twenty minute walk from the city center, it is only two minutes from markets and full-time vendors offering anything you want (fruit, baked goods, sweets, various Thai dishes, etc). More important than its location, is the comfort to be found inside the apartment. I basked in the A/C, granite tiled bathroom, and technological luxuries such as full-time internet and music! We even picked up a borrowed TV and DVD player towards the end of my stay.

I got back to Kuraburi Sunday evening and sure enough, the crew was celebrating the visit of an old volunteer by throwing a dinner party at Tu's place. It was great to hear comical stories of the last week and more progress with our current programs. For the latest and greatest at NATR, check out the recent update. The next day we spent a lot of time visiting Bret in the hospital as he contracted the weakest strand of Malaria (not to worry, he is real sure he caught it hiking in Cambodia, not cute-little Kuraburi). That evening a few of us hung out on Jo's (neighboring bungalow's) deck listenting to music and playing with cicadas. These large insects are crazy with their sounds!

Yesterday evening I jumped on a bicycle and had a great adventure in the foothills southeast of town. Admiring the crazy oranges and pinks illuminating different portions of the sky (a common evening skyscape here), I cycled through small villages exchanging consistent "Hellos" and "Sawadee kraps." I was hoping to somehow make a loop back above my bungalow, but darkness made me take the known (backtrack) route home. It turns out there is no connection as this road just keeps going deeper inland servicing small villages. Besides the couple unfriendly dogs who were difficult to see until they were at ankle knawing range, the ride home was very serene and complimented by distant lightning that helped illuminate the asphalt in front of me.

A couple updates on the bungalow front: I upgraded a couple weeks ago to a slightly larger bungalow (double bed compatible) and most importantly one that has a hammock on the deck. I am still in the same cluster, but now a little farther from the road which does reduce the car noise and increase the jungle sounds (currently dominated by cicadas). One moring before we went to work, Jo and I were interrupted from a morning cup of coffee by some commotion in a pond behind our bungalows. It turned out a neighbor had called in the local snake expert to help untangle this young boa constrictor from some fish nets.

The jungle theme is still foreign to this mountain man, but amazing in its abundancy to support life and I continue to gain new admiration for its beauty. I am very content but thinking I could stay content while also relishing in some snowy mountains later this season! The time of year and the fact I recently revised the India ski articles have me thinking there is no reason to miss skiing all together this year (thanks to many friends who have questioned my sanity when I stubbornly thought a high alpine visit could detract from my cultural experience here).

To those back in the US of A, have a Happy Turkey Day!

Butterflies, School, Krathongs, and Mini Beauty Queens

2006-11-04T23:18:00.000+07:00

Before I dive into the last couple of weeks, I want to point out that I finally have some picture s from Jenny's wedding - hooray!

Before school started, I had to head for the Thai Consulate in Penang, Malaysia to get a new visa. The process is convoluted and annoying, but I hired an agent upon arrival (for all of 20 ringits - $6) who helped with the paperwork and took care of delivering my passport. Which left me free to go see the Penang Butterfly Farm! I did approximately zero research on Penang before heading down, so the Butterfly Farm was a totally random pick off the free tourist map - and a good one. They have about a dozen species of butterfly in huge numbers flying free throughout a sprawling greenhouse complex filled with lush tropical foliage, lovely koi ponds, and insect/reptile/animal enclosures. Aside from just blissing out watching the butterflies flutter all around, I learned quite a bit about the insect life of the Malay peninsula (which southern Thailand is also on). Mostly that they have some HUGE bugs. In the pictures with bugs on bananas and cucumber slices, please note that those are not mini fruits of some kind - it's the bugs that are skewing the proportions.

Arriving back in Hat Yai, I had a few days to get everything ready for school to start - last minute copying, planning, and shoe shopping - before catching the bus for my first day of class! Pitt (my Thai teaching assistant / all-round guide to Hat Yai) and I catch the bus every morning about 7:15. It takes about 40 minutes to get to our stop, then the school sends someone on a motorcycle to take us the last five minutes to the school. There isn't much out there - the classrooms out back open onto a field where the cows graze.

The kids are mostly sweet, and everyone at the school has been really nice to us so far. I think. No one there speaks much English, but they smile at me, and feed me well. They've even started giving me my own little bowl of cucumber slices with lunch every day - boy do they have me figured out! Lunch is a generous scoop of rice (carefully molded into a little upside-down bowl shape) along with a bowl of curry of some kind and a bowl of soup of some kind. Basic and yummy. We have two 2nd grade classes and two 1st grade classes, and one class each of 3rd, 4th 5th and 6th grade. Classes are mostly around 30 students, but we have one 2nd grade class of 21 (mostly because the room is so tiny they had to make that class small enough to fit) and the 3rd grade class is 42! I think they would have split it, but they're just completely out of room. I'm not sure what the timetable is on the construction of the new building, but they need it! The area is definitely not on the tourist map, nor is it any kind of major business center, so there's a pretty good chance I'm the first foreigner a lot of these kids have ever seen, let alone spoken to. They're warming up though. Umpteen million rounds of the Happy Song (if you're happy and you know it...) will do that. I only see each class twice a week, but they have English with a Thai teacher a couple times a week, too. Overall, it's really a lot of fun. We play games, sing songs, and generally try to have enough fun that the kids don't realize they're using English. I'm working on learning some of the names... Thai names are incredibly long (Natthapong, Wattanachai, Gsmmonchanok, Kalanachan... ) but luckily they all have one- or two-syllable nicknames, so I'm working on those. I'll try to get some school pictures when I have an excuse to take the camera to class - so far I haven't wanted the extra distraction - I'm distraction enough as it is.

Sunday was the much anticipated Loy Krathong festival. Sometimes translated into "Floating Festival" in English, highlights of the festival include the making and releasing of floating offerings to the river, a beauty contest for the littlest girls, and flying "floating lanterns" (more information on Loy Kratong).

Here's the song, which they pretty much play non-stop (the Thai version) in the run-up to the festival:

November full moon shines,
Loy Krathong, Loy Krathong,
and the water's high in the river and local klong,
Loy Loy Krathong, Loy Loy Krathong,
Loy Krathong is here and everybody's full of cheer,
We're together at the klong,
Each one with his krathong,
As we push away we pray,
We can see a better day.

We kicked off the day by doing some shopping at the market. We got the fixings for chicken curry for lunch, and all of the pieces to make our krathongs. All day long, I kept finding funny little parallels with holidays at home - this tradition that felt a bit like something we do for that holiday, family all coming together to cook and celebrate... I even got my "usual" job of chopping up veggies!

After a delicious chicken curry lunch, Pitt taught me how to make a krathong. We started with slices of banana tree trunk, and cut banana leaves to cover them. Then we cut more banana leaves into little rectangles, and folded them into an assortment of little triangles, which are pinned to the wooden base in a number of different designs. Some flower decorations provided the finishing touches. As we were finishing up, Grace and Dia, two more of the cousins, showed up in all of their beauty pageant finery. About five years old, they looked adorable, but I didn't envy them their pancake makeup and fake eyelashes that would have to stay on until late that evening. I helped one of the aunties sort ribbon chain necklaces that would be used later for the pageant. There were several huge bags that needed to be gone through, the broken chains fixed, and all of the necklaces tied into bunches of five to be sold by the pageant organizers (I didn't know any of that until later - she just showed me to tie them into fives).

At the pageant, they fed us tasty chicken and rice soup, some fried donut-hole type things, and glasses of soy milk while we were waiting for the show to start. Before the little queen hopefuls took the stage, there was plenty of long-winded talking by the MCs - nobody can drag an event out like the Thais. There were some songs by adults, and a few youth dance groups. The contestants were finally announced, making careful wais (bows) and pageant waves to the audience and judges. Members of the crowd were encouraged to buy those chains I helped with earlier, and I think the revenue from that paid for the prizes, food, etc. Then each girl's chains were counted up, for some kind of "popularity" award component. By the time the show was finally over, half of them were falling asleep, and poor little Grace had been sick for the last two hours. But they each got a brand new umbrella and a doll. Overall I think the event was much more for the adults than the girls - some of them seemed to enjoy it, but the majority looked less than impressed.

As the event was winding down, P Noot decided to launch one of her floating lanterns, so Kro lit the ring, and everyone held on until enough hot air built up for it to soar away. It took off in the direction of the full moon, and eventually disappeared from sight. The lanterns aren't as popular in the south as up in Chiang Mai, where they are a major part of the festival. It was P Noot's birthday, though, and she wanted some, so we did them. Happy Birthday P Noot!

After another dinner, it was finally time to float our krathongs. We went out to the edge of the city, where there were hundreds of other people doing the same in a park with steps leading down to the river. It was a lot like the ghats in India, even the smell of the incense from the krathongs. My candle and joss sticks lit, they aimed me at the river, with instructions to pray and send it off. I hadn't thought much about what kind of prayer to make... that bluegrass song by Alison Krauss popped to mind "As I went down to the river to pray..." and some thoughts about giving thanks for water, and showing appreciation to the river. I thought about the state of the world's fresh water, and how we take it for granted. There were people and krathongs everywhere, everyone jostling for position at the waters edge, and thousands of krathongs lazily eddying around in the river. I made my way to the front, and gave my krathong a nudge out toward the middle, with Get and Kro helping paddle the water out to send it off. I would have liked to stay and watch, but the space was in demand, it was late, and we were all sleepy. I had a great time, and learned lots of new Thai words!

Next weekend Trevor comes to visit on his way to Penang! We're having a late celebration for P Noot's birthday... something about going dancing. And I have a full week of teaching ahead. For now I'm off to bed!

Homestay Visits

2006-11-04T11:37:00.000+07:00

I got to visit the villages of Ban Talae Nok and Tung Nung Dam last weekend and experience the community-based tourism (CBT) products I am working on. First and foremost, both visits were successful as I walked away with invaluable experiences that can only happen when a guest truly feels like they are visiting/observing/taking part in a village's every day life. I also gained a better understanding of what more is needed to meet a typical guest's expectations from start to finish.

I personally felt that hands-on activities delivered far better rewards than the just watch-and-learn technique. A couple of my highlight activities were helping make soap with the ladies of Ban Talae Nok and assisting the young girls of Tung Nung Dam in making roti. Roti is a common flat bread among the local Muslim communities and quite tasty, especially when dipped in sweet condensed milk. The soap making is a new livelihood activity originally funded by the Thai government directly following the massive destruction to Ban Talae Nok from the tsunami. Similar to many government funded stories I've heard, that money left after only a few training workshops. NATR stepped in to assist with business development and long term sustainability of the endeavor. I am here at an exciting time as this product is starting to take off. Many Phuket boutiques are now selling it in gift shops and some higher class spas are looking at using it for everyday guests! For more on this, please see www.tsunamicrafts.com.

O.K....now that it is clear I am working on a marketing post, I am looking for grassroots marketing help for our CBT experiences. Please visit our site www.andamandiscoveries.com and forward me any good contacts who you think would be beneficial. We are currently targeting the independent traveller who can rough it a bit and education groups who want to learn more about CBT.

I have also got to experience my first couple business meetings with translators and learned how vital this extra step of communication is for efficient progress. Even though we have worked with the villages for almost a year in developing CBT, stepped away from villages not interested in pursuing it, and said no to some that didn't have the passion/ownership desires to successfully go for it, we are still faced with some uncertainty from the villages promoting and delivering successful products. It is all part of the major mindset difference here...people do not think past tomorrow. This is quite wonderful and a major reason for the smily, no worries, way of life here. But it does make it difficult to continue to educate villages on the long term benefits of CBT. It will continue to be interesting!!!

While life in Kuraburi is fantastic, the work is becoming more gratifying with time, and the people continue to be amazing, I am missing my lady and plan to head south next weekend for a multi-day visit!

Life in Kuraburi

2006-10-24T16:03:00.000+07:00

Now that Em and I are posting separately and boasting our living conditions, I guess I should submit something about my new home. Well, the new home (as in structure I sleep in) is not quite up to the contemporary luxuries of Em's. I live in a bamboo thatched bungalow consisting of an ~80 sq ft bedroom/living room which is attached by three stairs to my very own concrete bathroom w/traditional Thai toilet and western shower head. It is better than fine (maybe just wish I didn't get to see those granite counters in Em's place) and does boast a great covered deck with table and chairs made of tree stumps.

And my new home (as in every day living) is truly fantastic. I feel very lucky to step into an organization that receives well-deserved credit throughout the local communities. I have heard from more than one local how indebted they feel towards NATR for granting them renewed livelihoods. I look forward to contributing to our efforts to feel some of those rewards. Thus far I have been getting acquainted with where we came from, what we are doing today, and what we want to be doing in the future. I have also been looking into some marketing strategies for our community-based tourism (CBT) programs. Ya, look out, I know this role (marketing) may make everything I say from here on out seem suspect. We are hosting a large conference this Friday which has taken lots of our staff's time so I've been pretty independent. Looking forward to next week where I will begin to visit the villages and do some "voluntourism."

While the NATR crew shares a passion to work hard for our cause, we also share a passion to enjoy life. A day does not go by where I am not invited for some extra-curricular activity...whether going for a swim in the river, viewing the current Vegetarian Festival, playing Snooker, a quick trip to Phuket for a local friend's birthday party, a visit to a local family's home to celebrate the end of Ramadan, or one huge celebration for Gordy's (a current volunteer's) birthday.

This celebration began with most of the NATR staff leaving work for the beach. We made it there just in time to see a large red sun falling into the Andaman sea. A few of us went for a quick swim before joining the watermelon baseball game. No real outs here...swing the cricket paddle at half a watermelon and try to run around the bases without getting hit by one of the obliterated pieces of watermelon the opposing team is throwing at you. The crew then migrated towards the fire that Erik had created, had some beverages and ate chicken and roti. Before we left the beach, some of us went for another swim and enjoyed the most incredible phosphorescence experience of our lives. Some swimmers had never seen it before, and those of us who had definitely had never seen it that intense. Besides the bright illumination made in the water when moving around, there were shining particles left glimmering on arms and bodies for a few seconds after removed from the water. The party was then transported back to town to Jep's place where we helped setup an industrial size disco ball and then it was dance time.

As we are focussed on community empowerment, the majority of our staff is Thai and fortunately they also partake in all the fun, giving me a chance to learn the language. Sure enough, a word I've gotten pretty good at using is ting-tong (crazy).

Home Sweet Home

2006-10-19T14:45:00.000+07:00

It's been a busy week... We made it down to Hat Yai ok on the train - not quite as smooth and comfy as the Indian train system, but not at all bad. We spent a couple of days getting to know the city a bit better, and then Sudarat (my new boss) and Jeen (her secretary) helped us find an apartment for me. I love my new place! I'm on the north end of town on a relatively quiet street, but with good access to transportation and food. It's in an apartment building that can't be more than a couple years old - a secured building you need a card to get into, with a minimart, laundry, and copy center right downstairs. There's even a couple of exercise machines in an open-air room on the top floor. The apartment is all tiled, with granite countertops and a nice bathroom (with hot water) and airconditioning, and a nice little balcony. I already bought some plants. Hopefully internet will be connected in the next few weeks.

Before Trevor headed north to start work, he got to come with to see my new school. As promised, it's a little private school half an hour out in the country. They're growing (their enrollment has crept up from 1 class per grade toward 2 classes per grade) and in the process of buying land to build a new school sometime soon, if I understand correctly, which is not a given. No one there really speaks English at all, so all my information is filtered through Jeen. While they're waiting for the new school, the rooms are a bit cramped, and I think some of them were intended as temporary structures. The students are all on holiday right now (most Thai schools take all or part of October off, then most of March and April) so the school seemed pretty empty without them. It will be nice to see it full. There's a new temple being built right across the street, which gives the area a nice feel.

I've also met my Thai teaching partner - Pitt (pronounced more like Pete). She's been doing a great job of showing me around the city, and we're zipping around running errands today (between her private tutoring sessions). We're both really excited to get started planning lessons, and she's been a teacher in regular and bilingual Thai schools for about 7 years, so she should be a great source of ideas and inspiration. Yesterday we spent the day shopping with her sister - buying the aforementioned plants among other things - and the three of us spent a long time browsing through all of the English workbooks in the store. Pitt and I bought some to use for our classes, and her sister bought some for her kids (Pitt is their tutor - handy to have an English teacher in the family!).

The other night I walked over to the closest market to my new place. There were mountains of all kinds of farm produce - about half of which I recognized - along with huge piles of meat, an endless variety of fish and seafood, big baskets overflowing with hardboiled eggs (some dyed pink for unknown reasons) and the occasional crate of ducklings or sack of live toads. I stuck to the basics: bananas, apples, cucumbers, and these 3-ft-long green beans that are equally tasty raw or cooked. My kitchen isn't much of a kitchen yet, but it's really nice to be able to slice up some fresh things to snack on, or eat with breakfast. It's not all that common for an apartment here to come with a stove, fridge, etc., so eventually I'll probably pick up a rice/veggie cooker and an electric frying pan (the usual solutions) and maybe even a grill for out on the deck. For now it's so easy to pick up really healthy food from all the restaurants and vendors right around the corner.

I think we're having a barbecue in the park tonight with Pitt's family. I have a tough time keeping up with the plans, but don't have many of my own right now, so it's easy enough to just go with it. Her niece is a big fan of spaghetti, and apparently pretty excited to have a real live foreigner on hand to cook it. I tried to tell them I'm Norwegian, but that didn't seem to make much difference. They're a really nice bunch and it should be fun.

Off to work!

2006-10-11T18:21:00.000+07:00

We are packing things up and boarding a train southbound tomorrow. I will spend a few days in Songkla Province helping Em get settled in before heading up the Andaman Coast to Khuraburi.

Em has had three weeks helping the TEFL school by observing and providing feedback to trainees and teaching a couple kids’ camps. The observing appears to be less work (less hours, less demand). The camps have activities going into the evenings (limbo & karaoke!) and require her full attention all day, but do provide more rewards such as the periodic smiling student. She has also been looking over many lesson plans from some colleagues to help put together a good library of resources.

Dan and I had a very mellow visit on Ko Samet, which was exactly what he was looking for, and it was easy for me to bask in some tourist luxury knowing I will be working hard soon. Most every night we would visit the nearby Naga Bar where the employees had the best energy (DJ and bartender constantly dancing) and a friendly scene where the travelers mixed best with local resort workers. While we are quite social, we still never quite got into the hard-core partiers’ schedule – some of whom started their day at dusk, went to Naga in the evenings for a liquid breakfast, then danced at Silver Sands until three before ending their day at some after-hours bungalow or the beach just before dawn.

Em had a three day weekend while Dan & I were on the island and came down to relax with us on some white sand. She brought with her the most sunshine we saw during our 10-day visit on the island. While it is the rainy season, Em and I feel very lucky as we have had mostly good weather prior to the last few weeks. The seasons are changing as we are now in a smaller northeast monsoon season that ends in November and then we supposedly see nothing but sunshine until May!

During Dan’s visit it was great to hear stories about the hill, most of which were very positive, some of which were quite juicy! I’m stoked for everybody as the momentum continues to thrive. And of course I am more than excited to see the Alpental plaza progress into something very special. Nice work all!

We did a quick stop in Bangkok just before Dan flew out. We stayed in the Sukhumvit area, aka “New Bangkok.” Hmm...”new” to me that’s for sure. I was a little bewildered walking around the streets seeing so many westerners. We visited the biggest/nicest sports bar I’ve been in since leaving the US and while the venue was fantastic, the crowd was not exactly for us. We concluded that there was not one Thai man in the place. But the crowd was 50% Thai. Yes, all the women were Thai and the one hundred or so men were westerners with a couple Africans and Indians thrown in.

We walked around a bit, visited a canal where we saw Thais (no “new-Bangkok” crowd here) using long wooden boats to speed from one part of town to the next. The boats are a great option relative to Bangkok’s congested streets where motorcycle taxis play frogger around stop-and-go buses. While the boats seem efficient, Bangkok does offer a sophisticated transportation system that links their Skytrain (elevated light rail) with their Metro (underground light rail). I used both to get to the train station to buy our tickets south and was impressed with the level of sophistication and ease in this system. With all the “developing” infrastructure I’ve witnessed the last 9 months, it was refreshing to use a modern transportation system... yet disappointing to accept that it is, and will be, superior to ours in Seattle.

Back to the Vision

2006-09-24T15:21:00.000+07:00

We have made some decisions and are stoked to both be enacting on passionate objectives soon! Phuket definitely challenged our thought process by delivering georgeous days of tropical fun: surf, volleyball, snorkeling, and good folks capped out our recreational bliss at Kata Beach. Basically, Phuket would allow us to have our cake and eat it too but we decided the cake is too sweet. The short term highs are wonderful but at the end of the day, we feel these sugar buzzes may prevent the soul from attaining new levels of enlightenment. By witnessing other parts of southern Thailand, we saw opportunities to live amongst non-touristy communities as originally desired.

Focussed on teaching young children, Em has been fortunate to meet with programs varying in class size (5-50), teaching style (scripted lesson plans, totally up to her, even interviewed with a Montossori school), amount of western colleagues at the school (0-20), and of course, location (she was even offered a job in Vietnam after a phone interview).

We are staying in Thailand. We are very impressed with the overall generosity from the people, intrigued by their history to grow as an independent nation (even with the current coup hiccup) while all their neighbors have had foreign rule at one point, continuously delighted by the diversity of natural beauty, and interested in learning more about the effects of Buddhism on their everyday life. And we both have great opportunities to satisfy our current callings!

Em accepted a job in Songkla Province (~20 kilometers north of Hat Yai) where she will be teaching English to ~300 different children! She will have 12 different classes of ~25 students each which she will meet with twice per week. She will have a full-time teaching aid (Thai native) to help with anything and everything (language barriers, class control, school politics, cultural expectations, extra-curricular advice, etc.). Both Em and her aid are not employed by the school but rather by a program called "Smart English" which also provides lesson plan ideas and support upon request. But basically, Em will be rockin' on her own in that school. She is rightfully intimidated but very excited. She had much easier options, but just as Phuket was easy, it is not why we are on this journey. Yes, we like things difficult!

Em would not allow me to support her in taking a great job if it was in a place I had no desire to be. This is not the case with Songkla Province. While there is not the potential for a pre-work surf, Songkhla does have decent access to amazing recreation and we look forward to exploring its inland forests with caves and waterfalls and nearby pristine islands. And most importantly, we enjoyed the welcoming feel from everybody we met throughout our short visit.

But (yes there is a but), Hat Yai is not screaming with work/volunteer opportunities that immediately excite me. I have been focussed on working with sustainable tourism and/or water conservation programs and have been investigating programs throughout southern Thailand. After meeting with the folks at North Andaman Tsunami Relief (NATR) in Khuraburi, I knew this was a match. Their team has great synergy - combining consistent laughter with great productivity - and their endeavors are right in line with my interests. The name of their spotlight program - Adventure Community-based Ecotourism (ACE) - highlights our shared passions. I will be entering at a dynamic point in NATR's history as they are concluding most of their tsunami relief projects and transitioning into longer-term sustainable tourism programs. They are located north on the Andaman Coast (about 100 kilometers south of Ranong) and close to some of Thailand's best diving at Surin & Similian islands. While tourism is not on the mainland or in Khuraburi yet, the big developers have acquired land. NATR hopes to help drive what type of tourism evolves in this area. Also important to me, they have great trust and appreciation from the local communities through two years of delivering on their promises.

So yes, I am quite excited about this opportunity! Mainly, I just feel great to be able to give to such a great initiative (it is considered volunteer work - after my first month, I'll get paid enough to eat enough to stay alive). And also excited for how much I will learn in an industry about which I am extremely passionate. I am committing to three months with NATR which will begin at the end of October. During this time, I am hoping to network with similar programs in Songkla province. Ideally, I would go straight into some related field and be living with my lady again! If the former doesn't pan out, it is still very important to both of us to be sharing our cultural experiences together so the latter will definitely happen. I have been thinking about teaching English (or math or science) to the smiling Thai kids, and these opportunities do exist for me around Hat Yai.

While it is a bummer we will be apart for a little bit, we both know how important it is for us to satisfy our personal cravings for meaningful work. This will only make us happier people and hence better people for each other and our community!

We are currently back in Ban Phe where Em starts a 3-week contract with her TEFL school tomorrow. Coincidentally, my good friend from the ski area, Dan arrives tomorrow. Dan and I plan on boating across to Ko Samet where Em will join us Thursday night for a long weekend.

Coup update: just more of the the same...it is a good thing. While everyone is a little bummed/embarrassed that it had to come to military intervention (not the most democratic solution), all Thai citizens we've talked with saw it as mandatory since Thaksin was not going to go away on his own. In the public's opinion, it will be critical for the temporary powers (CDR) to elect a prime minister sooner than later. They are stating it will happen within two weeks and if this prolongs, people will question their motives for the coup. Nobody seems to really care who this elected PM turns out to be as there is an expected democratic vote in 6-8 months for the people to elect their own leadership.

Here a coup, there a coup...

2006-09-20T10:39:00.000+07:00

It's always difficult to tell how much media coverage anything is getting back home, but we're assuming that yesterday's military takeover of the Thai government didn't completely escape notice in the US of A. For the record: we're completely fine, and no one here seems remotely worried about it. We've only been here a couple months, and won't even pretend we understand Thai politics, but I'll have a go at the nutshell version of what's going on.

Thaksin - the current (now previous, I guess) prime minister - has been steadily losing public support for quite some time. All the usual complaints about corruption are joined by accusations that he's not capable of / interested in any kind of real resolution for the "unrest" in Thailand's southernmost three provinces, among other things. Protests and massive public outcry for his resignation went unheeded, and the military stepped in to show him the door. None of the Thais we've talked to seem overly upset, dismayed, or even surprised by the turn of events, despite international grumbling about the state of democracy in the country. The major international news sources seem to have done a pretty good job of covering the particulars.

There is one important element in the equation that's really difficult to understand from afar: the Royal Factor. The Thai public (everyone from rural farmers to educated professionals) are extremely devoted to the King. As far as I know, his actual, official power is quite limited, but he commands a remarkable level of respect from politicians and public alike. While he doesn't seem to have much in the way of direct political aspiration, what he says pretty much goes. For those of us from a very anti-monarchy country like the US, there's a sort of built-in resistance to the idea of royals as a good thing, but Thailand's King seems to be exactly what a monarch in a perfect world should be: fair, altruistic, and totally devoted to his country. He really cares about his people and has founded innumerable programs and public works to make life better. He's earned the respect he gets. A mark of the King's continuing popularity can be seen in every store and on most of the Thai population - yellow polo shirts bearing the King's insignia are THE thing to wear right now, in all sectors of society, and yellow "long live the King" bracelets modeled on the Livestrongs are also extremely popular. A version of the "King shirt" in blue - the "Queen shirt" - is also seen everywhere, and is equally supportive of the royal family.

The Thai political rumor-mill foretold that Thaksin's marginally King-critical remarks would hasten his exit, and it looks like that may have been a factor. He's been accused of being disrespectful to King and Country, and that doesn't fly here. Conversely, the King's purported support of the coup (he's supposedly quite close to those responsible for the takeover) will have a major impact on public support for the new leadership.

So. Political turmoil and turnover aside, we're at the brink of some major decision-making here ourselves. I have two job offers on the table thus-far, in a province we weren't even looking at very seriously. We've been focusing on Phuket a lot, mostly because we got very excited about the outdoor recreation possibilities here (surfing, snorkeling, etc) and the ease of living. A couple of possibilities down in Songkhla province have piqued our interest, however, and brought us back around to much more of a Thai immersion experience. We spent a couple of days in the area interviewing, and while we wouldn't exactly be able to go snorkel after work, there are a good number of opportunities for beaches, jungles, islands, mountains and waterfalls within a few hours' public transport or drive. We're intrigued. Which leaves Trevor in a bit of a quandary: the area isn't exactly tourism/conservation central, so it might be a lot more difficult for him to find something in these desired areas. Some possibilities might be for him to take a volunteer position he's been excited about up in Khuraburi (small town on the northern portion of Thailand's Andaman coast, which would put us 10 hours via bus apart for a few months) or take up teaching himself (an idea he's been toying with for a while). Or we might be sucked in by Phuket yet. Employers are waiting on decisions, so we'll have to make up our minds quite soon. Like, by Friday.

With the government more or less suspended, schools are shut down for the day, nixing our plans for resume drop-offs (getting a teaching job here involves some good-old-fashioned pavement pounding) and giving us a lovely sunny day with little choice but to head to the beach. Darn. We had a great afternoon of swimming and volleyball yesterday (no net? No problem!) and hoping for surf today.

Phuket Irony (Or: Closed Minded Planners)

2006-09-07T11:02:00.000+07:00

Well, here we are, in the one and only place in Thailand we intended not to see..."oh of course we won't go to Phuket, that is exactly opposite of what we are looking for on our journey." Hmmm, what close-minded stubborn vagabonds we once were. Not that we are sold on Phuket yet, but it is very nice and could deliver the cake we want while also granting us the luxury to eat it.

I got here about a week and a half ago - got bored in Ban Phe and had researched that there is consistent surf this time of year in Kata (southwest side of Phuket Island). Showed up early morning at the door of Phuketsurf.com where the owner Newt hooked me up quickly. When I asked about a recommendation for budget accommodation, she asked me if 200 Baht (<$6) would do. This was well below my desired cost, so I asked if I could see the room (always wise when budget traveling in these parts of the globe). She put me on the back of her motorbike and a couple minutes later I was observing a room cleaner that most any Em & I had stayed in thus far, plus all the basic amenities. She then told me about the BBQ her restaurant does Tuesday (that night) and Friday nights. This is basically a gathering place for surfers to get their all you can eat protein fix plus listen to good tunes while surf flicks are playing on the screen (and it just so happens to be across the street from the hotel she referred me to). Her and her sister Ying's surf shop is right on the south end of Kata beach, adjoining a very tasty Thai restaurant, and basically where I spent my first week (when not in the water). The surf community here is super friendly. Because it is not an international surf destination, the vibe is far from agro and very kind. I spent my first few days hanging out with a Thai boxing duo training in Pattaya. Boris (from Germany) had surfed a bunch in France & Spain and talked his boxing partner, Art (from northern Thailand) to visit Kata with him to learn to surf. Great guy and due to his boxing endurance, Art could paddle most all day - impressive. In the water, there are typically a small group of local Thai surfers, local expats, then visiting European surfers who were happily surprised to find that there is some surf here. There was a large group here from Malaysia who come up a few times during the southwest monsoon season to bask in Thailand waves...then surf their east coast during the northeast monsoon (November - February). The waves here are better after storms and thus the swell has gotten smaller and smaller the last six days as it has been sunny and hot. With small and friendly waves (and warm turquoise waters), I have finally started to figure this tough sport out (and people know I have spent lots of time trying) and been improving my success rate at dropping in from about 1 in 25 when I arrived to a still an unboastable 1 in 3. But catching way more waves. Even more importantly, it is just great to be back amongst a community that thrives on sharing outdoor experiences and a deep love for mother nature's rawness. I have also met somebody not only from Seattle, but from North Bend, and who spent many of his younger years working at the ski hill. This was before my time in the office so we didn't know each other. Vince is a passionate snowboarder, been learning surfing this last year here, and also happens to be teaching English here on Phuket. So, basically a fantastic resource for us plus a fun guy to be in the water with (although he keeps wanting to talk snow and I'm telling him I'm away from that for a bit!) So with this great community, it has been easy to ignore the materialistic/consumption center of Phuket's tourism. Sure it is here, but with it comes Thai people who speak English and we can actually have a conversation with. While I am learning Thai, it is tough to learn too much about somebody in the way they direct you to the bathroom. There are also some nice luxuries easily available here but once you go inland a couple kilometers, you are amongst typical Thai village living. Em arrived a couple days ago and is also enjoying the scene. We are not totally sold on Phuket yet as we have some good contacts/leads in other parts of Thailand that we are going to further investigate these next couple weeks. These range from the cush experience described here on Phuket to encouraging community based tourism amongst small Andaman coast villages and some things in between. It is still early on the leads but things do happen surprisingly quick here. We are feeling some of that stress and know that soon we will be making a decision that will affect the next year of our lives, if not a lot longer. But we also know they are all great opportunitites and all will have many benefits!

On this note, we have made a leap back into contemporary communications and bought a cell phone yesterday! The first privileged call recipient was my brother on a satellite phone in Alaska. He is continuously amazed at the size of trout they pull in up there (31 inches not being uncommon) and was stoked to hear that his brother is surfing. This phone is primarily for our work endeavors but we would love to hear friends and families voices if they feel like calling. Our number is 09 7237241, and the country code for Thailand is 66.

We will keep people posted as these next couple weeks will be exciting not only for finding work projects but will include some tropical fun as soon this early retirment may be put on pause!

The Graduate!

2006-09-02T13:53:00.000+07:00

Happy graduation to me, Happy graduation to me... !

My class is finally over! It was tough work, but a really valuable learning experience. My last four weeks have been full of input sessions covering everything from grammar and phonology to blackboard management and using songs and chants in class. We also had more and more teaching practice and lesson prep time, culminating in this final week, when that's pretty much all we did. It wasn't unusual for half the class to still be working at nine o'clock finishing our lesson plans and materials, and helping each other make tapes. I met some really fantastic people in my class, and hope to keep in touch with them as they look for work in Thailand and further afield. I didn't take many pictures, but some of my classmates have promised to email some, so they're coming.

A couple weekends ago Trevor and I made our first border run. In Thailand you get 30 days' stay in the country (as a US citizen) without a visa, but then you have to leave the country. Most of the foreigners living here without work permits have to make regular trips to one border or another. We headed for Cambodia, the closest. Oi, our taxi driver, met up with us early on Sunday morning, and seemed determined to get us there and back in as little time as possible. We were back in Ban Phe by early afternoon, having seen the first 100 meters or so of Cambodia and dropped a bundle of baht on the Cambodian visa and the taxi. We're definitely looking forward to getting work permits/longer-term visas!

Last weekend I worked at an English camp here (TEFL International also runs intensive English camps for kids and Thai teachers). It was a really good time, and it was fun getting to know more of the Thai staff at TEFL. It was hard work though, and time I definitely could have used for some of my coursework. Monday morning of this last week saw us leaving at 7:30am for our teaching practice (an hour away). It was some good extra practice working with high school kids, though. Our last two weeks of teaching practice have been with 14-17 year-olds, in a school in the town of Maptaphut. I've always been a little uncertain how to work with that age group... after our initial teaching practice with 4th and 5th graders, I didn't know how I was going to do with the older kids. It was really great, though, and even though I still think I want to work with elementary aged kids, it was a good experience.

Next up I'm heading down to Phuket to meet up with Trevor. He was getty antsy sitting here in Ban Phe, and decided to head there to check out the surf scene. He read online that Phuket was the one place in Thailand with consistent surf, and it has not disappointed so far. He was in the water on his first day there, and has been meeting some folks from the local surf scene. It's definitely not big-wave stuff, but good beginner beach breaks, and I'm looking forward to giving it a try! Always open to new things and new people, he's been hanging out with Malaysian surfers and Thai boxers, and generally having a look around at the island we're thinking about living on.

I've been emailing back and forth with a few work opportunities here, but nothing very concrete just yet. Pretty much every school looking for a teacher wants someone ASAP, so with my work commitments here at the beginning of October, I don't qualify. Mid-October/November is supposed to be a good time to get hired. It's a bit different mentality toward finding employees - the process moves a lot more quickly than we're used to - but we're going with it.

More soon!

Thailand, Sweet Thailand

2006-08-14T12:56:00.000+07:00

We are over the culture shock of a mostly developed world and settling in nicely! We experienced some reverse culture shock our first few days in Thailand. Streets with painted lines on them, vehicles that drive within those lines, and much less garbage! Locals that smile at us, return smiles, and just let us be..."uhhh, hello we're foreigners, don't you want to talk to us and try to get into our wallets?" I think we would have had a little tougher adjustment going straight home from India.

After landing at the airport, we bussed through the big city of Bangkok (gawking out the windows in disbelief at how orderly the streets felt, and the lack of people on the streets). Bangkok city has 6 million people but they must all have homes.

We got to Ban Phe, our current home where Em is taking the TEFL course, and checked into the Pines Beach Hotel. This is the hotel Em's course booked for us to live during her month long program. While the bed was nice, the ambiance was overall stale, lacking personality, and I did not see myself making it a month in such a white-walled institution. Sunday morning we reconned other housing options and found a well landscaped cluster of bungalows just across the street from the beach. We then walked down the street to catch a boat to Ko Samet. While waiting for the ferry, I got some cash, some hygiene necessities, and a couple cold Singh beers (all at the same spot, taking about 5 minutes rather than half a day we were accustomed to).

We motored over turquoise waters towards Ko Samet, sipping our beers and smiling with the Thai tourists who were laughing and taking pictures of waves bouncing the boat around. Ko Samet rocks and we had a most wonderful time. There is trance pounding fire shows if you want such nightlife, quiet white-sand coves if you desire beautiful solitude, and great dining options just above the high tide mark everywhere. After a couple nights on the north side, we moved to the quieter southern end of the island where we spent the next ten days at Lung Dam resort. We had a killer little bungalow with a veranda well hidden by trees just above a small rocky headland. Either side of this headland was beautiful beach and just to the south was one of the better snorkeling spots on the island. The visibility is pretty poor this time of year but we still enjoyed lots of coral and tropical fish within the two meters we could see!

We are both in culinary heaven, especially me, as I am eating my favorite cuisine for lunch and dinner. We fell into the routine of splitting a curry dish and wide noodle dish, usually always served with prawns and/or squid. The seafood here is abundant and fantastic. There are also great beach BBQs grilling most types of seafood and chicken. For those that know my favorite meal, I did learn something disappointing. Phad Kae Mao here is served with real chilies (not chili paste) and peppercorns. Anyhow, I gave it a go a couple times, but it has too much kick for me. Don't worry, there are ways to order my western version of Phad Kae Mao!

We met some great folks while staying down in Lung Dam and one day Steve, a most eccentric Aussie, gathered a group of us to help with a local party. The local community (its hard to really call it a village as the island is developed completely around tourism and there were no villages there prior to the bungalows and resorts) was hosting a village group from just outside Bangkok. Our role was to greet them on the beach, place a lei on their head, and clasp our hands and bow in accordance with Thai culture. It was great fun, especially watching Steve run wild with his empowering role! Steve is on his third wife (second Thai wife) all of which he married within a week of meeting. He is currently basking in everything positive in life, meeting everyone who walks by, and determined to find his son Sam a Thai wife.

During our time south on Lung Dam beach, we got to know a fantastic Swiss/Thai family, the Konrads. Roland met Gon about 14 years ago, and as they both told us, continue to like each other more and more each day. They have two wonderful children, Louise & Alan, who are not only beautiful, but impressively self-reliant. Roland had traveled quite a bit when younger and insisted on treating us to a great dinner. Gon's history is fantastic, coming from a rural village in northeastern Thailand, to dancing and bartending at hot tourist spots around Bangkok, to now raising a family outside Zurich. Unlike most western/Thai marriages, Roland has not provided any financial help to Gon's family. They both believe in doing things their own way and have done quite well. We hope to see them again someday and with our love for the mountains and their sincere invitation to spend time at their home, it will most likely be in Switzerland.

We left the island a little bummed, knowing we were ending the "vacation within the vacation". But at the same time we were excited to start doing something that felt more productive. Em began her class last Monday and I began some personal objectives. I have been writing a lot about experiences last winter, primarily ski related articles to submit to publications such as Couloir, Backcountry, and possibly some Indian or British adventure mags. I also spent way too much time on the computer researching work or volunteer opportunities in this part of the globe. I am most interested in water or energy conservation/outreach work. I've been pointed in good directions from friends at home, thank you. If anybody knows of a good contact in SE Asia, please send it my way. I've been learning some Thai on my own with a book, but struggling without being able to hear the correct pronunciation. So I researched lesson possibilities and am stoked to begin private sessions this Wednesday! We are still uncertain if Thailand is where we'll work, but we are very content here and knowing some of the language will go a long way to enhance our experience.

Em has been quite busy with her class and really enjoying both the mental stimulation and the confidence booster this will give her when teaching. She has already visited a local school where she interviewed a student and will continue to visit Thai schools at least once a week. The course is quite demanding relative to our recent schedules as she is usually in class from 9:00 to 5:30 and needs to complete a couple hours of homework outside of this.

It was Em's birthday yesterday and we celebrated with a trip to the Rayong aquarium, some shopping, and a real cheeseburger at Christie's. Christie's is run by a friendly couple (Jim & Chan) and our western go-to establishment. Last week, we both had their steak dinners, and were amazed at the quality of the meat. Now we have been gone a while so I don't know how credible my opinion is when I start boasting it beats out any Keg or Outback, but it is real good, and unquestionably the best piece of red meat we've had since leaving home. Em couldn't have given a better compliment as once she sunk her teeth into the soft pink protein, she was lost from our conversation with closed eyes and a look of satisfaction on her face that I thought only I was privileged to see.

Normally not a shopping fan, I have been enjoying this western habit of consumerism. We indulged in what we normally hate at home, and recently patronized the have-it-all-big-box store of Tesco Lotus in nearby Rayong. Electronic goodies, underwear necessities, beach shirts, food snacks, and some hygiene items, and we were on our way. The store's layout was top notch and we couldn't escape the air-conditioned complex without a fresh salad and pizza at one of the many fast food options near the stores's entrance. We then continued down the street for some hipper clothing items and pimpin' sunglasses. Yes, friends, Trevor has sunglasses from the current decade!

Ban Phe is a great place to spend this transitional period between real work and real vacation. It is a small fishing community that also has an adequate amount of western luxuries due to its location as the mainland terminal to Ko Samet. Oh ya, it also has many kilometers of good beach!

We hope everyone at home is doing well and enjoying summer!

Sand Between our Toes

2006-07-30T12:01:00.000+07:00

And behind our ears. And in our sheets, bags, and books. Pretty much everywhere.

We're killing a couple of weeks here on Ko Samet before my class starts, enjoying the white sand beaches, warm waves, and mountains of yummy calamari. Eat, swim, frisbee, nap, eat, read, nap, swim, eat, cards, sleep, repeat. Not much else to report, but having a lovely time. :-)

Dhanyavad India!

2006-07-22T12:56:00.000+07:00

NEW PHOTOS: Before I begin, please notice that we have finally added some photos to the "recent photo albums" in the left column.

It was fantastic to be back up north. ..not just basking in the mountain landscape (cooler temps, fresh air, oh and big peaks), but more importantly, to be back immersed in a community and realize we truly made some great relationships in the Kullu Valley. Travelling on the tourist track the last month or so, we were uplifted to come back to genuine friends. Their hospitality, and direct spoiling of Momma K, was quite rewarding to Em and I. The spoiling began in Delhi when Khem took us all out to a 5-star restaurant at the La Meridian hotel. Then upon arriving in Manali, we got the special treatment from Peter and his family in the Om Tara Guest House. In addition to good food and fresh mango shakes, their friendliness and pride in making us feel comfortable was greatly appreciated.

After our 4-day tour through Spitti Valley, we returned to our winter home, The Iceland Hotel, in Solang. It was great to see the crew and Ludar welcomed us demanding that my mother stay in the suite (upon Khem's orders). Unfortunately, Khem was out leading a trekking group so we missed seeing him. The suite was quite different from the sleeping situations my mom had adapted to the last couple weeks. The three of us were normally sharing one room which usually consisted of a couple twin beds pushed together. So, it was either the three of us on one double bed or (if the room had enough floor space) we requested another twin mattress. The suite at The Iceland Hotel consists of two rooms each wtih a double bed. In addition to this comfort, the suite boasts glass windows featuring a 270 degree view of mountain beauty. Unfortunately, my mom was only able to catch a couple quick glimpses of the nearby peaks as the weather was gray and damp for most of our two days in Solang. Upon checking out, Ludar informed us that our visit (rooms plus food and many teas) was complimentary. Then while waiting for our bus from Manali, Anand delivers a gift wrapped Kullu shawl to my mom. Em and I kind of stood there in disbelief (or jealousy) as my mom just met Anand earlier that day and only for a few minutes. It goes to show how valued one's mother is in India. Just before boarding the bus, Peter and his daughter Neha, blessed us with prayer scarves for our journey. Knowing I could get emotional, I rather focussed on the future knowing that we will see these wonderful people again.

Thanks to all our friends who contributed to the spoiling and making us feel so appreciated.

O.K., I guess we also experienced some amazing things last week.

Manali:
We did an "acclimitization" hike up Lambaduk with Peter. When it began to rain, we decided it was a good time to sit underneath a tree where Peter boiled noodles over an open fire for our lunch. Later that evening we rooted Peter on during a local carrom tournament. Carrom is an old board game where you try to sink your pieces into pockets by flicking a striker piece. It is kind of a combination of pool and marbles played on a square table and quite popular throughout India. Like most competetive games, it attracts a lot of crap talking and we were quite entertained watching the local Tibetans ridicule each other and then immediately miss an easy shot due to the tournament pressure. Skoog, Kophs, and Dylan, we may be making a board for the next Safari.

Spitti Valley:
WOW. I have been on some beautiful mountain landscape roadways before, but this one truly takes the cake. We left the Kullu Valley on a beautiful blue-skied morning and were able to boast some local ridgelines and peaks we had skied to my mother. I was aglow just to be back in the high country and the mountains seemed more impressive than both Em and I remembered. I joked with Peter that "it was so great to be back in the mountains as I think I experienced 'low elevation sickness' the last couple months." Peter has a great story about when he visited the coast and swears he had "low elevation sickness."

Driving over Rohtang Pass into Lahaul, we were officially leaving the "habitable world" of lush vegetation and entering the land of alpine. The landscape was full of waterfalls cascading down thousdands of feet of steep hillside, granite ridgelines, and huge glaciated mountain tops. We stopped for tea in Chhatru and then lunch in Batal. Each little dhaba (cafe) consisted of stone walls with indoor seating on stone benches and tables made of guess what, ya, stones. Quite a rocky place. Sure enough, Peter knew the owners of both as they spend their winters in Manali.

We then continued on the windy gravel road and ascended to Kunzum La, the pass that seperates the Lahaul and Spitti Valleys. Feeling a little spacey just sitting in the jeep as we ascended, I was eyeing my altimeter as we were approaching the highest elevation in the continental US. We reached Kunzum La at just under 15,000 feet and I informed my mom we were standing higher than the summit of Mt. Rainier or any point in the lower 48 (and we drove to it)! Kunzum La is blessed with a fantastic stupa (Buddhist monument) and many rows of prayer flags.

From this high pass, we descended into Spitti Valley where the landscape changed to huge valleys predominantly made up of glacial till. It was a crazy contrast to see glaciated granite peaks just behind wind eroded ridgelines of glacial till. It was as though we were driving in southwest Utah with Switzerland just beyond the front range.

The next few days included old, high monastery after old, high monastery, walks to high alpine lakes, and visiting Peter's friends for tea. The Spitti Valley was once part of Tibet and the language and culture are very similar. The region was along the old silk route that travelled from the Mid-East into China and was habitable to only the nomadic type. Still isolated for about eight months a year due to snowed-in mountain passes, the people calling Spitti Valley home today are considered nomadic by contemporary standards.

On our drive back, we did a side trip to Chandra Tal, a beautiful lake at 13,500 feet in Lahaul. We drank tea from some shepards who take their flocks of sheep hundreds of kilometers to this area as the local grass seed is superior. On our way down from the lake, and in the middle of nowhere, we had a great surprise. Bouncing towards us on a motorbike with his sunglasses bouncing off his chin and his long wavy hair rigid from dust, came our friend Chala. Chala is the social badboy from the group of local snowboarders we hung out with last winter. Shortly after came Peter, another snowrider from Burruwa village. It was great to see them again and especially in such a remote location.

Solang:
After a heinous descent through thick fog, we were dropped off at the Iceland Hotel in Solang. Following some happy "Namastes" and "Op kaisse hais" to the Iceland crew, we resorted to our winter norm of warm showers and hot tea. Staying consistent with the winter luxuries of the Iceland, we played some Citizen Cope and Bob Marley (thanks Robo) on their stereo and logged online while we were the only ones in the dining/community room. Some cards and a movie (thanks HBO) followed. While the weather never got nice, it was dry enough for me to show my mom around. First we walked up to the ski hill where all the winter craziness happens (beginner rope tow, yaks, tubing runs, tea stalls, fur coated newlyweds in sleighs, first time skiers in the tuck position even though they are on the flats and not moving). Then we headed down a streamside trail towards the village of Burruwa. With the rain beginning, we headed back to the warm comforts of the Iceland.

We are now in Delhi, Momma K flew home last night after a most wonderful visit, and we are flying to Thailand tomorrow morning!

Dhanyavad India, & Namaste.

The Whirlwind Tour: Agra, Kathmandu, Haridwar, and Manali

2006-07-13T20:24:00.000+07:00

It's not really that we're overdue for a post, more that we've done so much this week that we feel behind. And more pictures are coming, we promise!

Em & Pat's Embassy Adventure

To back up a little from Trev's last post, Pat and I had had officially my busiest (and most productive) day in Delhi so far. Trevor wasn't feeling so good, and with temps hovering around 100, with 80% + humidity, we left him home in the AC. The original visa-fixing plan was to head for Amritsar, home of the Golden Temple (the Sikh faith's Holy of Holies), then hop over the Pakistan border to Lahore, Delhi's sister city during the Mughal empire and home to more fantastic monuments. This would require a visa. We hopped an auto-rickshaw to the Pakistani Embassy bright and early (and already sticky), to find that they don't even let you inside the compound to apply. They have windows opening out onto the sidewalk, and we felt like cattle as we got into the appropriate line, narrowly confined by metal railing on either side. When it was our turn, he handed our applications right back, saying we needed a "letter of introduction" from our embassy. O.K.

Another short rickshaw ride away, and we were in the fast-lane at the US Embassy. The "Citizen Services" lane made us feel like VIPs zipping past all of the US visa seekers, and provided a bit of vindication after our long waits of the day before. It was still the 4th of July on American soil, and Ray Charles was singing America the Beautiful over the outdoor speakers, leaving me with a little bit of a lump in my throat. The helpful man at the counter gave us our letters right away, then asked us in his best David Spade voice, "Can I ask why you folks want to go to Pakistan?" before hitting us with the US State Department's info sheet advising against all travel there. O.K.... we just want to go to Lahore. Nobody's causing any trouble there. As I was calling Trevor on the courtesy phone, Pat read the sheet and decided to take Uncle Sam's warning to heart. Fair enough. There was also courtesy internet (God bless the US of A!) and we did some quick searching on Kathmandu tickets. We couldn't buy the cheap ones online, so off to the Royal Nepal Airways office. After paying another auto driver, and taking a minor detour through Janpath Market, where we bought Pat a very cute skirt, we arrive at the "Nepal Airlines" office, with the Royal adamantly covered up and crossed out (they recently stripped their corrupt king of his powers, and take the removal of "royal" from everything very seriously). Tickets in hand, we hopped another auto to the train station and bought tickets to Agra for the next day, as well as to Haridwar (post-Nepal). Then we went to Pahar Ganj and made some hotel reservations, before finally zipping home in yet another auto-rickshaw, triumphant but on the verge of heat-stroke. Pat, not surprisingly, took all of this in stride, and dealt with the heat much better than I.

Agra: India's Worst City With the World's Most Beautiful Building

After departing an hour late, our early morning express train to Agra was a treat. Bottled water, morning paper, full tea service, and breakfast all came in rapid succession. Our arrival in the city was less auspicious. Leaving the station we were mobbed by touts and rickshaw drivers, and actually penned in by a few of them. Trying to get away, my skirt caught on one of the autos and was totally ruined by oil. Not a great start.

Trying to get into Agra Fort was almost as much of a trial, with swarms of vendors shoving postcards, marble boxes, wooden elephants, and assorted necklaces and bracelets under our noses, completely undeterred by our more-than-slightly hostile responses. Inside we were hit with a fairly large entrance fee, and were still suspicious and rattled when the first of the government-approved guides offered his services. After some quick discussion, we decided we did want one, and finding Singh marked a definite improvement in our day. Eighty years old, with very few teeth, Singh assured us he'd been giving tours of the fort for 55 years, and sported a vest with "Save Heritage" embroidered in slightly crooked letters on the back. He showed us all kinds of nifty things, like the floor in part of the palace where the king and queen played Indian chess with female servants. Pat and I were really impressed with the way he painted a picture of what it would have looked like while occupied, describing the lavish furnishings and what the goings-on would have been in different areas. He also threw in enough structural trivia (cooling systems built into the wall, and ingenious water systems) to make engineer-Trevor happy.

The Taj Mahal... words don't really cover it. We got incredibly lucky with the weather, as it cleared up late enough so we stayed fairly cool, but had incredible light for our 4 o'clock arrival. The changing light on the white marble is every bit as fantastic as reputed, and we stayed until almost 7:30, after a spectacular sunset, completely happy to watch the light change on all of its
magnificent faces.

Kathmandu: One Valley, 7 UNESCO World Heritage Sites

At the airport, Trevor and I were more than a little relieved to get that exit stamp next to our Indian visas. (Formerly Royal) Nepal Airways served up a yummy rice and dal meal, which was a happy surprise on a flight that wasn't even two hours, even with the 15 minutes we lost switching to Nepalese time. We made it to our hotel without much incident in a dilapidated orange muscle car the pre-paid taxi booth arranged for us.

After breakfast at the Himalatte Cafe (they lived up to their name - great coffee!) we headed for Swayambhunath (aka the "Monkey Temple", due to an amazing number of monkeys, many of the younger ones having a blast swinging from the prayer flags). After climbing the 365 steps, we were a bit in awe of our 2nd UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2 days (the Taj, of course, makes the list). A large central stupa, topped with a golden spire and striking eyes painted on each side, was surrounded by an assortment of Buddhist and Hindu shrines, and liberally strewn with prayer flags. The site figures prominently in the mythology and history of the valley, and was an important Buddhist pilgrimage site from at least the 5th century AD, with animist roots probably stretching much further back. We caught a bit of the monks' afternoon chanting, before descending back down the stairs. Wandering back into the heart of old Kathmandu, we arrived in Durbar ("palace") Square as sunset was approaching. We spotted a rooftop restaurant, and had some yummy snacks (I tried some wild boar - would have been good thin-sliced bacon, but a little chewy) and local "Gorka" beer while gazing at the many rooftops of ancient pogoda-style temples. The pagoda (according to our guidebook) was actually developed and perfected in Nepal before being brought to China, and the intricately carved examples in Kathmandu's Durbar Square are impressive enough to qualify them as another UNESCO site.

The next day we took a bus to Baktapur, a beautiful town that's done a great job of preserving its traditional architecture and monuments. We were treated to more gorgeous pagoda temples, another well-located rooftop restaurant, and an interesting walk through Potter's Square. The potters in Baktapur still use traditional hand wheels, and dry their creations in the middle of the square, and the older gentleman in charge of feeding the massive burning mounds of straw to fire the pots was happy to show us how it was done. I even snuck in a tour of a thangka (Buddhist devotional painting) workshop/school, where a number of my questions about the intricate paintings were cleared up. Although we were slightly disappointed by the shrine to the "Great God of the Resplendent Phallus", everything else in Baktapur was very impressive. We went home happy but tired after hitting 4 World Heritage Sites in 3 days. Trevor and Pat later rallied to watch the nail-biter of a World Cup final in an Irish pub while I went down for the count, probably with the same bug Trevor had in Delhi.

Haridwar & Our Brush With Celebrity (Our Own)

We were a bit nervous arriving in Haridwar, after being warned of aggressive touts, but after Agra it was a friendly cakewalk. We made the enlightened decision to spend an extra couple hundred rupees for a place that boasted traditional hut-style accommodations (actually really comfy) around an immaculately kept garden, and its own private ghat on the Ganges. That's right, our own quiet, peaceful chunk of the holy river. We went down to action-central - Hari-ki-Pairi - the main bathing ghat, which boasts a stone with the footprint of Vishnu. This was supposed to be the most impressive spot to watch the Ganga Aarti ceremony, where every night at 7, devotees release floating lamps into the river. It turns out we had arrived at the kickoff of a 10-day festival, and the city and ghats were crawling with pilgrims, many carrying elaborately decorated frames over their shoulders, a container of Ganga water on each side balancing it out, that they would be carrying all the way home to their temples. Bright orange t-shirts (the holy color of Hinduism) emblazoned with images of Shiva and Vishnu were everywhere. Groups of young men in matching t-shirts, shorts, and orange sailor caps gave me bizarre flashbacks to my highschool trip to Atlanta for the Lutheran Youth Organization rally. Is there such thing as the HYO? Men and boys were jumping off bridges and stairs into the fast-flowing river, getting a pretty wild ride before swimming madly for the edges of the ghats, where chains extended out from the stairs. Any worries we had about how our presence there would be received were fairly quickly put to rest, as it soon became apparent we were just part of the attraction. We're guessing a lot of these pilgrims might never have seen a foreigner before, and there were surprisingly few of us floating around. Again and again (and again...) we were asked for "just one picture" which then turned into a waiting line as orange-clad pilgrim after pilgrim put an arm around one or all three of us while his friend snapped a photo. Babies were shoved into our arms, and everyone wanted to shake our hands. We decided it was a small taste of what celebrity life must be like, and we definitely got more than a little tired of our devotional paparazzi. By the time the ceremony started, my face hurt from smiling. The Ganga Aarti itself was beautiful. The lights reflecting on the river, and the obvious emotion of the devotees, some of whom were making the trip of a lifetime to come to the holy river, combined for a moving experience. Afterward, we hightailed it back to the hotel to avoid our adoring public. Trevor took Ashok, the in-house ayurvedic masseuse, up on his offer. Pat and I were kicked out of the room, after a short introductory lecture where he explained which exercises we should all be doing every morning to keep our veins "bubbling". Interesting.

Next morning, we had scheduled an early morning puja (prayer) on the river. The hotel brought us a panda (priest) who conducted a truly beautiful ceremony, where we offered food and flowers to the river, prayed for removal of obstacles and fruitful efforts (technically to Ganesha and Lakshmi, but those are their specialties), had lucky string tied around our wriests, and were liberally sprinkled with holy Ganga water (which is actually not so bad at Haridwar - it's milky gray looking, exactly as a glacial river should be). Afterward, Pat scored her own massage (though through the clothes, and with us in the room, as per Ashok's request). We wandered through the bazarre, and took the tram up to the hill-top temple for a lovely panorama view of the valley and the meandering Ganges. Then we had to scoot for our 7pm bus... which turned out to be a local bus. Read: non-reclining seats, five people (3X2) per row on bench seats and extreme overnight discomfort. 17 hours later, we were finally deposited in Manali. Truly heinous bus experience.

Back in Manali!

At the moment we're sooooo happy to be back at Peter's place. The guestroom is cozy, the food wonderful, and a more welcoming bunch than the Dorjees would be hard to find. Hooray to be back in Manali!

Bad Son, Rock Star Momma

2006-07-06T16:08:00.000+07:00

Part of adventure travel is dealing with the unexpected and most travelers enjoy the successes of handling such impedances. Not when the impedances affect one’s mother. Fortunately, my mother is more of a rock star traveler than I could have hoped for.

It starts with a miscommunication of what day she arrives. The miscommunication part is a long story not worth all the ink, but the realization is quite worthwhile. I had called her just before our train left the Bangalore station and with a horrible phone connection, did catch that she was leaving at 11:36. I had always thought she was leaving Saturday night and the only part of her itinerary I really looked at was her arrival which stated, “Monday, July 2nd @8:30 p.m.” This was part of the “miscommunication” as Monday is July 3rd. I am on the train to Delhi and start doing some math in my head as to her flight path. Hmm…seems like an awful long layover in Chicago? I sleep on it and awake the next day pretty confident she is arriving before we had planned. From my numbers, if she left Seattle at 11:36 p.m., she arrives at 8:30 a.m. July 3rd. If she left Seattle at 11:36 a.m., she arrives at 8:30 p.m. July 2nd. Either times are before our train gets to Delhi. Not good. Because she is expecting us to be at the airport, we did not go through any of the required warnings a foreigner needs before meeting Delhi head on. Not good. Well, I needed to make some phone calls. This is not easy as our train seldom stopped and efficiently wouldn’t stop for long (usually 2-3 minutes).

Em and I came up with our game plan…which included the contingency of me missing the train and seeing them in Delhi a day later. Confident that my Hinglish conversation with a train attendant informed me that our next stop was a long one, about 10-15 minutes, I went for it. Leeping from the train as it rolled to a stop, I ran the required few hundred meters to the public phone. Sure enough, a huge line around the two outdoor phones. Waiting, eyeing the guys on the phones, eyeing the train, eyeing the phones, etc.., I finally picked up the receiver. This first call was the one I was least looking forward to: calling Papa at 3:45 a.m. his time to try to quickly get the time she left Sea-Tac from him while softly stating that there may have been a miscommunication. Lucky for me, he was quite reasonable (or just real sleepy) and even mentioned, “ya, there was something weird about the day she gets in.” Verifying that she left Sea-Tac late morning verified that my mom was destined to land in Delhi that Sunday evening in the dark with nobody there to meet her, no hotel reservation, and no help as to what to do. Not good. With the phones a fairly aggressive catfight and the phone operator continuously urging the users to hurry up, once I put the receiver down somebody grabbed it. Without any love from anybody, I was at the back of the line after paying for the first call. This next call was the remedy and I found myself doing the eye bob between phone and train way too frequently. Fortunately, my second call was all I had to make as our hotel had an opening for that evening and would provide an airport pick-up for her.

She was not expecting a stranger holding a sign with her name on it so it took them a little while to connect, but it all worked out. She was quite proud of herself, as she should be, for making it happen.

It doesn't get any more respectable for the vagabond son. I will keep this shorter and less painful (for the reader and mainly me). After being told false information from immigration upon arriving in India and getting the run around from various Foreigners Regional Offices, we learned a couple days ago that Em and I need to leave the country before our six month mark which comes in less than a week! Ya, how cool..."Welcome to India Mom, we're leaving!" Fortunately, she continues to impress me with her free spirited, "that sounds like fun" attitude. With some heavy weight from her vote, we decided we will go to Nepal for a few days!!!

With those stories behind me, it has been fantastic to see her and have her here. We have been staying in Old Delhi, awakening to the local Muslim prayer call early in the morning (and hearing it repeated another four times throughout the day), and been enjoying the sights from the hotel window and walking through the streets. Our first night we witnessed a Hindu wedding below us where the crew transitioned a slummy alley way into an extravagant setting in just a couple hours. The overall vibe is much less tout-heavy (salesman-all-over-tourists) as the backpacker area, Paharganj, we stayed in earlier, and has tons of great local color.

This morning we took the train to Agra for some monument viewing and now we're off to visit the Taj Mahal!

Keralan Backwaters and Creature Comforts ala Bangalore

2006-06-30T18:55:00.000+07:00

After several monsoon-soaked days in Cochin, we decided to roll the dice and take a day-long backwater cruise. Waiting on the hotel's front steps for taxi pickup, we met Chris, and American PhD student on a weekend escape from his research project. Telling him about our ski touring adventures in the Kullu Valley, and outdoor pursuits back home in Washington, we soon had poor Chris (a Colorado outdoor guy studying on the east coast) thinking hard about his remaining school time in Rhode Island. Not so many mountains there. It was interesting talking to him and getting a better understanding of the panchayat system (decentralized self-governance system, pushed hard by Ghandi, but only recently put into much practice) and a taste of Keralan politics, shortly after the communist party has been elected back into power in the state. When the taxi picked us up, we met the rest of the cruise-goers: a French man, and two Swiss (one of whom - Mesum - was born in India). The cruise itself was a very relaxing affair - a covered boat poled through the water by a boatman on each end. (Pictures will be coming soon... hopefully.) The backwaters are a system of lakes and canals surrounded by palm plantations and covered in mats of drifting water hyacinth. Cormorants, kingfishers, Indian pond herons, and brahminy kites, along with villagers in canoes and little round boats, all compete for fish. Over the course of the morning, we stopped at a factory where locals extract meat from the clams found in the backwaters, then turn the shells into lime. We also stopped at a small-scale rope-making operation, where a family turns the fibers of coconut husks into rough rope. Lunch was served in a thatched shelter on an island, and dished up on a banana leaf. Yummy! The weather stayed amazingly nice, considering the previous few days, and we got a brief foray out on a smaller, non-covered boat. Mesum, a professional photographer, was pretty nervous about his expensive camera equipment, but the rain never came. All of us felt pretty sleepy on the post-lunch journey back to the taxi, and we managed a bit of a nap back at the hotel before meeting up with Chris and Mesum for dinner. After a dry day, we weren't totally surprised when a solid sheet of water slammed into us on our walk to the restaurant. Soaking aside, it was a great end to a fantastic day.

We are now in Bangalore for a few days before heading north to pick up Momma K!!! Being the IT capital of India, Bangalore is incomparably the most western cosmopolitan slice of life we've experienced the last six months. We are staying in the trendy neighborhood called MG Road where the consumerism is at full board. Retail outlets such as Levis, trendy espresso chains, pubs, bars, restaurants, i.e. very much like home (but with large, gaping holes in the sidewalks). And quite honestly, we are basking in the luxuries.

We met up with Vikram and Anushri (the owners of Jungle Hut) for breakfast yesterday to go over our observations and suggestions for their jungle resort. They seemed to appreciate our input and we were pleased to learn that they intend to move to Jungle Hut in about five years and spend the rest of their lives there. We are excited for its future and look forward to visiting it at some future time. Later we found ourselves ordering an espresso drink from the Starbucks-like establishment called Barista for the second day in a row. Shortly after finishing our well poured Americanos on the veranda, we figured we were due for a beer together. We went into Pub World where the dark wood furniture and Multiple TVs showing live Wimbledon action did a respectable job of replicating an English pub. Getting cocky with our western surroundings, I was envisioning my first dark ale since arriving on this subcontinent. Reality came back quickly when the server listed the beers on tap...Kingfisher. Yes, only one lager. While we have come to only trust Kingfisher (some not so good experiences with other beers), even it's quality varies state to state. Fortunately, it is reliable here in Karnataka. Tasting good, we ordered another and with the stereo playing some quality tunes from home, we decided to list our Top 20 songs. As this drill is always good fun, this instance it really highlighted our current music deprivation. Then it was Emily's turn to play frogger across the street and use a pay phone to call some local friends. She returned successful this time and with a big grin stating "I think we are in trouble tonight." She reached Anish and he told us to meet him at The Nightwatchman for a Pub Crawl. Ouch. We had kind of given up on reaching anybody for the night and had been ordering beer thinking Pub World was our last stop before bed. Now a Pub Crawl. Uh-oh.

We walked home to drop off the backpack and then hailed the first rickshaw. Not knowing where The Nightwatchman was, we were happy with the driver's suggested fee of only 20 Rupees. Sure enough, he drove us about a third of the distance we just walked and dropped us on the sidewalk right outside our desired bar which happened to be located about 15 feet away from the sidewalk we just walked home on. Classic. With our minds focused on music, The Nightwatchman did not disappoint. Upon finding out that we were from Seattle, the DJ did a good job of slipping in some home-town favorites, tickling my music button further by playing some Pearl Jam and Nirvana. I commented to Anish that this was the best sound system I had heard since arriving in India. Em laughed and swore it was because Eddie Vedder was the voice booming out of it. This always helps, but it was a great sound system!

Fortunately, there was no Pub Crawl. We did our best to compete in the quiz going on at Nightwatchman and before we knew it was after 11:00 and the bar was closing. There was an unfortunate accident about a year ago which influenced the Bangalore authorities to disallow any alcohol service after 11:30 p.m. Quite a shocker for this town as it had a pretty big party image. Considering the average IT employee works until about 10:00 (dealing with US companies in a time zones 10-12 hours away), there are opportunities after hours and most don't consider the evening starting until after hours anyway. Anish wanted to entertain us and had called a friend for the next hot spot. Em wisely chose to be dropped off at our hotel and I continued along. We first stopped by a friend's house and then found ourselves heading back to the MG Road area, entering a nice restaurant/bar via the kitchen door for a final drink. Unexpected, I saw Vinod (a Jungle Hut regular) there and came to realize that Bangalore really is not that big. At over 6 million people living in the city, it is only a small fraction of those who can afford the social pleasures.

It was a fun night and I felt good contributing my support to the locals' confidence in Bangalore's economic future. With daily headlines of software giants investing more and more here all the time, I don't blame them for living it up. I warned slightly of how India's current momentum reminded me of the US's strength in the late '90s and then threw out some controversial talk at how India may be heading towards a huge civil war as it is a small minority who are basking in the contemporary wealth while the heart and soul of the country plunder on in the villages. Some in the conversation had spent time in the US and countered by saying the US also has a huge separation in the way the upper class live with the lower class. True, but we do have a decent sized middle class. Quite different here as India's majority (like over 90% majority) live in villages where a TV is cutting edge. When our economy is strong, the entire middle class and hence a majority of the country feels it. The 90% of Indians are not feeling anything different today than they did a year ago even though their stock market has doubled. Anyhow, a great late night conversation and one of the many reasons I am interested to see this country evolve.

Tomorrow we are on the train for a 40 hour journey northbound to Delhi. Then we pick Momma K up later Monday evening! We are so excited to see her and take in some more of India with her. We are also looking forward to mixing it up and having a third travel partner. While Em and I are kind of amazed at how well we still get along considering we have spent most all the last six months with each other (and lots of that time with only each other), we know a little space or change will be healthy. We intend to leave India shortly after my mom does as we are both getting antsy to start something more meaningful. Em will take her TEFL course in August and then we will decide on a location to settle down and find some work. Em will teach English in a local school and I am unsure on what endeavors I will pursue and probably will remain that way until I know what community (and country) will be called home for the next year. Lots of good ideas and will definitely be ready to execute some of them.

Farewell Jungle Hut, Hello Monsoon

2006-06-24T20:57:00.000+07:00

While it was definitely time for us to move on from Jungle Hut, we will miss it. Sacchi and Pooja and the crew took very good care of us, the jungle was facinating, and the buffet.... did we mention the food was amazing?

We finally managed to make it out with Abid last week. We continue to be entertained by the different guiding styles, and he took us on a stunningly beautiful hike down into the Moyar River Gorge (pictures are in the same Jungle Hut Album). After Bella's insistance on small group sizes, we were surprised when Abid picked us up at 5:30 in the morning with an extra 3 people in tow. He explained that he's trying to get some of the local boys out into the jungle so they can appreciate it more, and not end up poaching and abusing the jungle. He had mentioned before that we could fish in the river, and we said that would be fun. In the interim, we found out that fishing there is illegal, so that morning we told him that we'd rather the group not fish ("No problem, no problem."). After a nice flat beginning to the hike, we started down the very steep trail into the gorge, with beautiful views across the river into Bandipur National Park. We were happy for the overcast skies, as it was already getting hot and sticky, even at first light. Even as Abid told us in hushed tones that sometimes he saw bear along this stretch, the three tag-alongs took off down the trail ahead of us. We asked Abid if it would be possible to keep the group together so we could all see whatever might be on the trail... he looked puzzled, but called them back. He had told us it would take 3 hours to hike down and 3 to hike back up, so we had prepared for a very long day on the trail. But to Abid's surprise, we were down at the river 45 minutes after leaving the car. When we told him later what we'd been up to in the Kullu Valley, it made more sense - he's really not used to taking mountain people out. Down at the river, the boys pulled out their fishing net (?) and got down to business, and we did some hiking up- and down-river. Not many animal tracks (unless you count those of the tribals that camp there), but lots of lizards and butterflies, some monkeys and giant squirrels, and one really big spider. After a lovely nap on some warm rocks, it was definitely starting to look and sound like it might rain. We told the guys to hurry up and cook their fish, and started back up the gorge. We just made it up out of the steep part when the skies opened up, and within a couple of minutes we were completely drenched. The rain actually felt really good after the tough hike up, and we made it back to the jeep an hour after leaving the river, with the three boys panting and continuously asking us "you tired, legs hurt?"

We definitely saw our fair share of tropical bugs in the Nilgiris. After I posted some pictures that tended heavily toward beetles and millipedes, Dad said it should be titled "Bugs Gone Wild". I don't know if it would sell as well as the other titles in the Gone Wild series... I did end up having an unfortunate run-in with a mystery spider of some kind. I ended up with a nasty bite on my shoulder (we never saw the culprit) and after it got pretty ugly-looking (nothing nearly as bad as the pictures I found online of brown recluse bites) took Sacchi's advice and went to the clinic in Masinagudi. The doc didn't look all that worried, and wrote me a perscription for some antibiotics, which did the trick. A week after I went to his office, it's looking fairly good, although it would be nice if I could keep it dried out better. Nothing is dry here. As things got wetter in the Nilgiris, we also started seeing more mosquitoes, and while they're not nearly as thick nor as aggressive as North Dakota's state bird, we're very aware about the assorted nasties these tropical skeeters can spread. So we've been smearing ourselves with toxic deet, and hoping it's better to slowly poison ourselves than end up with malaria. We do have relief in sight, though - Mom's sending a care package of Avon Skin-so-Soft with Pat (thanks Mrs. Koepke!).

We managed to make it out one more time with Abid for a morning of bird watching in another beautiful setting. I've been keeping track in the Indian bird book Jenny gave me for Christmas, and I crossed the 100 bird mark. Sounds pretty good until you figure there are over 1300 different species on the Indian subcontinent. I'll keep working on it.

Our last few days at the Hut were spent trying to wrap up our self-imposed projects in the office (very little luck there) and figure out where in Kerala we were off to next, leaving when, and by what means of travel. Every person we talked to had a different opinion on the matter. From a Tuesday afternoon departure, we slipped all the way to an eventual Thursday morning exit. We considered trains, buses, and jeeps, and settled on the route Vinnie swore his mom took regularly, involving a Deluxe bus to Cochin. Right. After heated debate with poor Gerald, who could not understand what us silly foreigners wanted, we finally made it onto a local bus (read crowded and uncomfortable) to Thissur, where we'd be changing buses to get to Cochin. The ride down out of the Nilgiris was gorgeous, with tea estates and Wyanad National Park slowly giving way to rubber, coconut, and banana plantations. The windy road was tough on the passengers - 3 of the ladies on my side of the bus spent a good portion of the first hour hanging out the windows. The second bus was a shorter ride, and much more comfortable. Arriving in Cochin (or, as the mainland part is properly called, Ernakulam) we caught an auto rickshaw to the ferry terminal, where we got on a passenger ferry to Fort Cochin, which is a peninsula off the mainland the Lonely Planet assured us was a more romantic choice to stay. Grand total transportation cost for the two of us for 8 hours and 5 different conveyances: 380 rupees (~$8). Hooray for uncomfortable local transport! Walking from the ferry landing to our "Homestay" we turned down several persistent rickshaw-wallas, only to take a good soaking when the ominious dark clouds proved not to be just an idle threat. Now this is the monsoon.

Our homestay is lovely. Homestay here means it's an old home - usually Portuguese or Dutch - that's been converted into a guesthouse. Many, like ours, are nearly 400 years old. Our room has beautiful woodwork, and opens onto a courtyard with a garden in the middle, and a miniature replica of the huge cantilevered fishing nets Cochin is famous for. Our program so far has gone approximately like so: rain - breakfast - rain - nap - rain - shopping - rain Kathakali - rain - etc. The weather has been impressive - we've only been caught out in the real downpours (that's not even a strong enough term for the wall of water that descends) a few times. It's much better to watch it from inside, or better yet, from the covered ferry out on the water. The kids in the field keep playing football regardless. (Speaking of football, we watched the US of A get beat by Ghana the other night... what was up with that penalty call?) We've spent some time wandering around the area, watched the fishermen operating the nets at high tide, and caught a Kathakali performance. Kathakali is traditional Keralan theater/opera/dance, and quite an experience. The locals go to the temples to watch all-night performances, but for tourists the cultural centers host abbreviated versions with introductions in English. If you go early, they let you watch the actors do their makeup - a process that takes an hour and a half! They are done up into caricature versions of Indian gods, goddesses, and demons, complete with elaborate costumes and jewelry. A singer narrates, accompanied by two drummers, and the actors pantomime and dance out the story. Afterward, there was a music performance by a north Indian tabla player, and the same singer from the Kathakali sang ragas. Today we took the ferry back over to Ernakulum for some shopping and a look around.

Tomorrow we're hoping to walk down to "Jewtown", the area where the dwindling Jewish population has resided for at least the last 800 years (I know they've been in India for 2000, but I'm not sure if they started in Cochin). And Monday we might try to do a backwater tour... depending on how bad we think the weather might get. We do have more Cochin pictures coming, but while the internet here is speedy, their photo-editing programs are not.

Moving Again

2006-06-09T15:36:00.000+07:00

With the laziness beginning to wear off and the extra trips through the buffet line starting to show, I knew it was time to satisfy the body’s need to get moving again. We are limited to our hiking freedom due to the danger of elephants and other wildlife. Before arriving here, we thought we would be out hiking quite a bit and possibly even leading such treks. Due to some legality issues of foreigners leading groups and more importantly our safety, we have learned that venturing into this jungle is best with a local guide. While elephants are not man-eaters, they are quite unpredictable and can be very aggressive (and known to rag doll our species with great ease). Fortunately, we have been put in contact with Greg at Jungle Retreat and Bella – local jungle man!

Both have quite different styles: Greg is the get-to-the-top guy (great for me!) while Bella is much more the silent-stalker for wildlife sightings (great for Em!). Ironically, and we will not tell Bella this as he would be devastated, we have seen more large mammals with Greg. This morning while jolting down the trail, Greg came to an abrupt stop before back-tracking and telling us to back up. Seconds later, a small herd of elephant crossed the trail about 30 m in front of us. One mother had enormous ears and was guessed to be well over 50 years old. There were also a couple babies in the group. We hung out, let them do their thing (which was lethargically chomp the local shrubs and grasses), and then passed. Just a few minutes further down the trail, we heard the langur (acrobatic monkey) consistently chant their panic call. This is to alert the other langurs that a leopard or panther is nearby. No we did not see a cat, and do not expect to, but we are feeling our chances of spotting one (even the tiger) increase when we’re out with Bella.

While Greg is a young 20-something who looks fairly western, Bella was born and raised locally, and looks exactly like you would imagine a jungle guide should: camouflage pants, old green shirt, and carries a machete. Watching him track wildlife is fantastic! In addition to finding clues through pugmarks and dung, Bella gains information by feeling the warmth of local branches or tapping his machete against the trunk of a tree. Most prevalent for successful tips is his sense of smell. He will often stop on point with his nose in the air and then lead us a certain direction. We’re not sure how much of this activity is for show and how much has some practical wildlife-tracking purpose, but we enjoy all of it! In addition, he keeps conversation to a limited whisper while predominantly using hand gestures. While we understand some basic stop or come signals, we were a little uncertain to some of the other twirly finger maneuvers during our first outing with him. But with time, we are getting it.

With Bella, we have tracked an elephant, a group of wild boar, langurs, giant squirrel, spotted deer, and more birds than I know what to do with. During one short afternoon walk, Em spotted 28 different birds and 8 additional ones she could not positively identify. Some feathered highlights include: grey-headed fish eagle, fish owl, Malabar grey hornbill, several types of parakeet, sunbirds, and many more. While we are stoked to just be out in such a foreign ecosystem, Bella is a large-mammal specialist and seems determined for us to see “rare-animals” like the tiger. We’ll see!

With a stall in the monsoon, the weather here has been excellent…some sunshine, some clouds, very little rain, and temperatures in the mid 80s. Instead of an early monsoon meteorologists were predicting with the bad weather a couple weeks ago, now they are fearing heat waves and draughts up north in the next couple weeks. With most all of India (and this part of the globe) dependent on the monsoons, we hope the rains come soon.

Giant Squirrels and Tiny Deer

2006-06-04T22:14:00.000+07:00

Life at Jungle Hut

We’ve definitely slipped into tropical lethargy. We’ve been very lucky that the temperatures have stayed reasonable – and now that we’ve officially turned the bend into monsoon season, it isn’t likely we’ll see the extreme heat that’s possible down here.

O.K....life here at Jungle Hut: During the week we stay in one of the guest rooms, and then when the rooms fill up on the weekends, we migrate into the main house, where there’s a few spare beds. The food here is fantastic. Granny should be very happy about my meat intake (I made the mistake of telling her while we were still up north that we were only getting meat every other day but eating enough lentils to compensate - I think she was worried). Here at the lunch and dinner buffets, there are always at least 2 meat options per meal – yummy chicken, fish, and beef (!), as well as mutton, which we mostly avoid. Veggies, salads, different breads, and very nice desserts round out the extensive offerings. Breakfast is toast, cornflakes, bananas, Indian breakfast of dosas, masala stuff, chutney, eggs made to order, and bacon or sausage if desired.

Our work schedule hasn’t settled into much of a routine yet… we mostly hang around trying to be helpful. We man the office, taking bookings and answering questions. We do a lot of “general hospitality” stuff, making sure the rooms get cleaned and are ready for the guests, showing guests to their rooms, and making sure they have everything they need. We play scrabble and cards (in the office or out on the deck), watch the birds and deer, and play with the dogs. In case we were to forget we’re in the jungle, there are big frogs (or maybe toads?) on the deck at night, geckos in our room, garden lizards on the trees, 7-ft. tall termite mounds along the paths, and bright-colored and/or enormous beetles bumbling around. Occasionally we go for a walk on the road, or catch a ride into town to grab something. Weekends are a bit more eventful, with more of the Bangalore crowd and often some of Vikram’s (whose parents started Jungle Hut, and who now owns the place) friends around. Pool parties, bonfires, and cocktails mark the weekends.

Some of our pictures are here, and more will be coming.

Gerry and the Snakes

Last week we met Gerry Martin (the local expert herpetologist, who's done work for Natinoal Geographic) when he came down from Jungle Retreat (where he leads kids’ and corporate groups) to give us a brief lecture and show off some of the snakes that he and Greg have recently caught to study. I was lucky enough to get to handle a beautiful ~3-1/2 ft Ceylon cat snake before Gerry brought out a spectacled cobra, which he kept hold of by the tail!

Then a few nights ago he asked if we wanted to go chameleon hunting. (Of course!) Trevor and I piled into the jeep with Greg and Robin, and we drove around for about 45 minutes. We saw a garden lizard, and they showed us how reptiles’ bodies catch the light differently than the foliage (I have to admit, it must be an acquired skill, as I couldn’t see the difference). After a while they decided we should try the area around Jungle Retreat on foot (Trevor headed home for some overdue shuteye – the fierce windstorms the 2 nights previous had kept us from getting much sleep at all). Right away we spotted a nightjar (bird) and while it was stunned by the light I got a nice look a the brown whiskered bird. We hadn’t walked long when the guys found our quarry: a lovely green chameleon, sound asleep gripping a branch. Robin coaxed the slow-moving lizard off the branch, and transferred it to his shoulder, where it stayed for about 5 seconds before making it’s way to the top of his head, gripping his hair one slow step at a time. They also managed to snag a mouse, which they brought back to Greg’s room where 2 aquariums house their current collection of snakes – 2 kraits, a wolf snake, the Ceylon cat snake, a bamboo pit viper, and Malabar pit viper. The Malabar viper had been shunning the frogs and geckos the others ate, and the mouse was offered in the hope that she’d be more exited about livelier prey. After only 5 minutes, she made her preference clear with a spectacularly fast strike. (I went home and told Trevor he missed all the good stuff… but then a few days later I stayed home while he went for a drive with Vinnie and they saw 2 sloth bears.)

Keith & Co

We saw Keith’s work before we met the man himself - his cartoon leopard graces the front of Jungle Hut’s t-shirts. He and his wife Valerie, and two sons (Hayden and Graham) were here for almost a week, and we had a great time hanging out with them. The Francis family was kind enough to take us along on their morning safari to Anikutti, where we saw spotted deer, sambar, gaur, wild boar, peafowl, and even a mongoose! The drive through the preserve at dawn was fantastic – the back of the jeeps are open, and we did most of the ride standing up holding onto the bars on top for a better view. We also got a great view of a crested eagle. I think Keith was really disappointed he didn’t get to show us elephants, but we were more than happy with the experience.

All in all we had a nice visit with Keith and Co., and though we don’t know if we’ll be able to take them up on their invitation to come to Mumbai/Bombay this time around, we have a feeling we’ll be seeing them again sometime.

Hiking with Greg and Vinnie

We arranged for Vinnie to pick us up at 6am, and told Greg to expect us up at Jungle Retreat at 6:15. Several people put the odds on Vinnie showing up at somewhere in the neighborhood of 233-1. Trevor had faith…. But we gave up waiting and starting walking up to Retreat at 6:15. Vinnie surprised us, though, and drove up behind us before we were halfway there. Some bananas and a cup of coffee later, we hit the trail.

The first 15 minutes was a flat hike between houses and around fences, but then we met up with the main trail and started up. Rains the night before made the trail into the perfect canvas for animal tracks, and we saw “pugmarks” (Indian term for tracks) of panther, sambar, and gaur. We saw the drama of a mouse deer being pursued by a jungle cat (the deer is about the size of a medium dog, the cat a bit larger than a domestic cat), perfectly preserved in the mud. The trail meandered uphill through broadleaf forest, most of the trees not more than 30 or 40 feet tall. A swaying of branches off to the side alerted us of the presence of a pair of giant squirrels, orange and brown animals ~2-1/2 ft long. We rounded a bend in the trail and Greg brought us to an abrupt halt – grazing obliviously on the trail ~100ft ahead was a gaur (Indian bison). It didn’t notice us for a few minutes, during which Greg informed us that when he did, he’d either charge or run away. Gaur don’t bluff if they charge, so we were all scoping out the nearby tree-climbing options. He eventually noticed us, and after staring for a minute or two, decided to retreat into the brush. A little further on, Greg managed to pick out (with binoculars) some sambar grazing on the hillside opposite us.

We encountered the usual impressive array of bugs and birds, and Vinnie impressed us with his local bird knowledge. Who knew he was a bird guy? The weather stayed pleasant for hiking – overcast, with only a slight misting, but luckily not sunny (the sun here is a force to be reckoned with). After reaching the camp (~ 1850 m) we had a nice tromp back down the hill to retreat (~ 950 m) and a lime juice and soda.

Coming up…

Tomorrow we’re going out for an early morning trek with Bella, a local wildlife guru with a fantastic mustache. Should be interesting.

Further out, we’ve been corresponding feverishly with Pat (Trev’s Mom), who’s coming to visit in July. We’re starting to lay down some more definite plans for her visit, and all getting very excited about it.

Even further out, I’ve started registration for my teaching course in Thailand. It’s in a quiet little fishing town on the coast, so we’re looking forward to that as well.

Arrived at Jungle Hut

2006-05-22T12:41:00.000+07:00

We've arrived and settled, and life is going well at Jungle Hut. The trip down was long but fairly pleasant - we took the semi-sleeper AC bus to Delhi, making the 12-hour ride much more pleasant. Our day in Delhi was... educational. First priority was booking train tickets, which we'd been unable to do from Manali (the system was down, and via phone all the trains were completely booked, leaving us to pin our hopes on the foreigner ticket quota, which we'd have to buy in person in Delhi). It turns out we're still not quite as savvy as we'd like to think we are. On our way to the foreigner ticket office in the train station, we were intercepted by a very nice man with train station ID who helpfully explained to us that the office was closed on Sunday, but we needed to go to the government tourist office where they could offer the same services. He showed us on the map, and even helped us get an autorickshaw. At said office, we were told there were no tickets (even foreigner quota) for the next four days. However, if we did a car tour to Agra they could arrange a train ticket from there.... wait a minute. After a quick consultation with the Lonely Planet, and comparison of the exact name of the office we were sitting in, we realized we'd been had. It was indeed not the government tourist office (which did exist, about six doors down, but was closed). After catching an auto back to the train station, we made our way up to the foreigner ticket office and by 10am we were able to get our tickets south to Bangalore the same night. We found some breakfast then decided to visit the Bahai temple (amazing building put up in the 80s shaped like an enormous lotus flower). Meanwhile, the temperatures were rising. The pleasant morning turned wicked hot, and we thought we'd burn the soles of our feet on the tile walkways around the temple (the collect up your shoes as you approach). By the time we met up with Bill and Daisy (who is almost 3), it was pushing 45 degrees Celsius (113F). We went and visited some of their other British friends living in the city, had some coffee at a place that felt like it could have been in downtown Seattle, and went back to their house for some ski movie viewing. Warren Miller went to Manali sometime back in the 80s, and did more of a special on the ski scene there than one of his full movies. We had a quick visit with Bill's wife Karen when she got home from work, and then it was time to head for the train station.

We had splurged a bit and bought 2-tier air-con tickets, and it was well worth the few extra rupees. The train ride was actually very pleasant, despite that fact we were on for over 40 hours. Each car is arranged into little compartments, and your ticket is actually for a bunk. With 2-tier, the bunks are only 2 deep, with both people sitting on the lower bunk during the day. This works out really well if you are 2 traveling together. They give you sheets, blankets, and a pillow, and you can be fed 3 meals a day fairly inexpensively. The whole trip was very comfortable.

In Bangalore we decided to stay overnight and catch the morning bus out, and we had a very nice evening out on the town. We found a nice outdoor restaraunt just in time to watch a spectacular evening thunder storm from the comfort of a covered deck, and had steak and red wine (!) for dinner. Our bus ride was a bit of a fiasco... we were at the station bright and early for the 7am bus the Tamil Nadu State bus window promised us, only to find there were no buses until 8:30. I got in line at the Karnataka State window, and barely managed to get us tickets on that one. We made it on and took off... and then the bus broke down. They got it going, but with no AC. The AC buses have no opening windows, so minus the AC turn into mobile ovens, so they eventually shuffled most passengers off onto another AC bus. We got off at the wildlife center as arranged, but very late, and found not a ride in sight, but plenty of monkeys to watch in the meantime. A driver did turn up to fetch us, and on the drive to Jungle Hut (where we're actually staying - owned by the same family as Jungle Retreat) we saw peacocks, a gaur (Indian bison) and an elephant charging one of the jeeps in front of us!

After spending 4 days getting here we were happy to find that the Jungle Hut is a very livable place, and think we'll really like it here. The resort has 12 rooms in 3 different blocks, set a little ways from the main building which has the dining room (a beautiful covered verandah with great mountain views), office, kitchens, and staff quarters, with a pool off to one side. There are tons of birds, bugs, and frogs, and the resident herd of spotted deer can usually be seen grazing on the other side of the clearing. Things are going well so far - they've started us out with some "hosting" duties, making sure rooms are ready for guests, greeting them, making sure they're comfortable and help arranging anything they need. We're pretty clueless so far, but learning and hopefully being somewhat helpful. We're in Ooty for the day, and taking advantage of a computer place as the internet isn't working at the resort right now. Posts/emails may be hit a miss until it is, but pictures and more to follow!

Final Ski Trip

2006-05-11T19:27:00.000+07:00

Well, this is my final ski post for who knows how long. Wow! What a season it has been…beginning in Alaska in minus 15 degree pow, some soft Cascade turns at home with the crew, and then the last four months of growing my mountain knowledge amongst these most admirable teachers called the Indian Himalaya. I must say I have never felt as content with my mountain experiences and this last trip (pictures) was definitely the frosting on the cake.

Em and I had always envisioned a sunny spring camp on Rohtang Pass to end our ski season. Knowing more about the consistently strong northerly winds ripping over this pass, and with a plethora of alternative exploration routes, we had fun brainstorming potential trips. With some approach advice from our Kiwi friends Neil & Heidi, we decided to head north into the Kulti Valley of Lahaul. This trip would take us out of the habitable world of the Kullu Valley north into the higher regions of Lahaul and The Great Himalaya Range.

We taxied as far up towards Rohtang Pass as possible. While the drive up was sunny, dark clouds were approaching the pass just as fast as the taxi could cover the thirty some kilometers of switchbacks. We toured to the top, deskinned and skied just in front of the clouds to route-find our way down. The skiing was marginal and with the limited visibility, we took a conservative route close to the highway. This turned out beneficial for soon clouds socked in, it began to snow, and we were lucky to catch a taxi returning north to Koksar. With heavy precip and looking forward to a new part of India and some culture, we decided to try to find a guesthouse in the small village of Koksar. Due to regulating all people coming over the pass, we had to stop at the “police station” to register our names, passport number, reason for going over the pass, etc. While they state this is for safety to make sure everyone is accounted for, we think the accounting for is more because of the access into nearby Kashmir. Either way, it turned out to be a beneficial stop. The “police station” had no roof or walls due to snow failure and instead, the army dormitory next door housed the necessary passport check. The people inside were not exactly police, but the rescue team in case anything happened to anybody working on or traveling over the pass while the road was still snow-covered. All employed through the army, they could share titles such as police officer, snow rescuer, army road worker, doctor, etc. With mountain skills and passions, a few were also skiers and very excited to have us as guests. They wouldn’t allow us to stay at the guesthouse as it was “too expensive” and demanded we stay with them on an extra bed. It was quite fun as we finally learned the India card game called sweep, got to watch the chapati-making process, and enjoyed their hospitality.

The skiers of the rescue team were very intrigued with our gear and my career as a ski instructor. Nobody here has had the respect for my ski management position as much as they have for my time ski instructing. So when I am now asked what I did back home from an outdoorsman, I reply ski instructor. Their eyes usually light up, they state with praise, “Ski Master” and either try to find a way to ski with me or use me to make money teaching domestic tourists. O.K., back to the gear…they really wanted to ski on it the next morning. If they would have wanted to ski with both Em and I, we would have happily sacrificed a day of our tour to join them. But instead, they wanted (and stated quite directly) that Emily should stay in while one of them skied on her gear, another one skied on my gear, and I skied on their old straight sticks while giving them pointers. By eliminating Em, they lost us both.

So, we were back on schedule to leave the village of Koksar early for our least desired portion of the trip…fording the Koksar river. A couple hours later, and with numb lower extremeties, we were across the river and heading towards the mouth of our desired location, the Kulti Valley. After a few more hours of hiking with heavy packs (including skis, boots, a week’s worth of food, etc.) we set camp just at snowline. The next day we pushed to a most desirable base camp location underneath tons of moderate ski lines. In the afternoon, we toured up the valley towards the bottom of an icefall that limited easy access any further up the valley. This was just fine as everything on the climber’s right side of the valley was full of great looking ski routes. The valley floor sits at ~3600m, was covered with a few feet of snow (~12’ snow banks on the river in the shady areas) and had that much more snow on all the west- to north-facing aspects on the climber’s right side. Due to being farther north and our aspect, the snow was remaining good much later in the day than the south facing slopes I recently skied in the Solang Valley. So, we didn’t need any sort of headlamp starts in order to still get high and get the goodies.

The first big ski day Em led us up to the top of the tasty slopes directly above camp to one of many unnamed peaks. We had to name it something, so this skiable delight became E&T Peak (and Em’s new high point at ~4650m). We took the aesthetic path directly fall line down ~3000ft of prime corn conditions. Then we began our afternoon routine of lunch, cards, nap, etc.

The next morning we awoke to some clouds south and uncertainty as to what the weather would do. With this uncertainty and Em’s legs feeling the last few days, she chose to keep her head down. I started up with beautiful rays of sun protruding over a nearby peak. Fortunately, the weather cleared and I had a most wonderful outing. I had eyed an aesthetic line the day before that contoured around a huge ice bulge and led up a skinnable summit ridge. With weather and conditions bomber, I soon found myself next to a summit flag overlooking the huge glaciated valley just east of us. You may not believe this, but the descent was just as fun as the approach!!! Meanwhile - after waking up late - Em chose to skin up along the gully for some bird watching and a light morning ski.

Our next day, we toured back to E&T Peak and skied a different aspect of more creamy goodness. The amount of skiable exploration just above our camp could warrant a couple more days, and then there is always further up valley. The Kulti Valley did not disappoint!

We received new snow that night and awoke to a beautiful blanket of whiteness to begin our descent out of the valley. With the warm days up in the valley and watching the fingers of the meandering Kulti River grow, we didn’t expect our snow bridge downstream to still be there and chose to ford the river up near camp. We passed a beautiful marsh on the other side of the valley that provided much more life than expected. The walk out was pretty straightforward and the warm days had turned much of the landscape from brown and white on the way up to green grass and wildflowers on the way down. We stopped next to a spring that provided habitat for many wildflowers. I laid down and soaked in the scenery as Em stayed on her feet chasing butterflies with the camera.

We reached the mouth of the river where we camped (the megamid on grass!) in order to get an early start for the despised Koksar river crossing. The evening was quite nice…warm, summer camping conditions. The hike down the Chandra river the next morning was done quickly and quietly as all the small waterways we crossed a week earlier at the same time of day were perceptibly much larger to both of us now. Just before reaching the Koksar drainage, we saw a couple people working some fields, then a couple children…could this mean they replaced the bridge over the Koksar? We risked such hope by talking aloud of a new bridge but both knew not to expect anything. Sure enough, we rounded the final corner and there stood the most bomber footbridge we had seen in India. Heavy pack and all, Em was still busting a move and the high fives were flying.

Shortly after the comforting bridge crossing, we were back with our rescue team friends. In addition to the ordinary hospitality cup of chai, they offered us fresh mango. Yes, fresh mango in Lahaul, the land of snow and rock. This meant one thing…Rohtang Pass was cleared and car traffic was traveling over! Relieved, we hung out for a little bit, exchanged contact info, then got in a taxi that took us to our front door in Solang! Even open for traffic, the crossing over the pass was an adventure. The road cut through 20+ ft snow walls on the upper switchbacks, and was completely clogged with tourist traffic most of the way down the Kullu Valley side. Throughout several hours of stop-and-go traffic (rush hour at 3900m!) our jeep windows were continually approached by vendors selling coffee, tea, and saffron that our driver assured us was most certainly fake.

Exploration galore, new friends, tons of great ski lines, and ski conditions holding bomber late in spring - Lahaul and the Kulti Valley delivered the goodies.

Now, it is a couple days of errands, a social “going away” evening with friends, and then we are jungle-bound!!!

Om Tara Guest Room Officially Open!

2006-05-01T13:43:00.000+07:00

We're back out of the mountains for the final time this season. Trevor is working on the ski post, and I just wanted to sneak in a few things I meant to post before we headed out:

The "Om Tara Invitation Guest Room" (pictures) is now officially open! After much sewing of curtains and building of beds, Peter and Poonam had their first guests (an American couple) a few days ago. I took a few pictures before the guests arrived (and was treated to another of Poonam's fantastic meals - this time red rice, dal, and local wild spinach).

Before the guys came back from the mountains, Dave and I went for a hike up Fatru (pictures) to look for birds and monkeys. The monkeys (langurs, actually) were a no-show, but we did see plenty of birds and wildflowers, and a couple friendly local dogs followed us for the entire hike and scramble.

5000m+ Bliss

2006-04-29T21:04:00.000+07:00

Well, as Emily described, the weather had been inconsistent at best and the ski gods were not dishing up the good karma for the western ski buddies as hoped for. The crew understood the respect mountains deserve (especially these young beasts that rise and fall constantly) and made the most of the many non-ski attractions of this magical kingdom. We ended up bailing on the heli-drop due to a poor weather forecast and instead taxied towards Rohtang Pass for one day of decent weather to get us deep into a basin and then sit in the tent for a long day and night of Himalayan thunder/lightning/snowstorm. For photos of this Rummy heavy/ski light trip, click here.

I just read Em’s post and she did a great job of summarizing our non-ski activities. The one thing she left out, and it does deserve mentioning, is the complete butt-kicking Pepe delivered to all of us in Rummy 500. He won nine straight games and I placed last in just about all of them. We are all a little worried for Pepe and his relationship with Carla as after his first 3 losses with Em and I, he stated with sincere passion that cards and love-life are indirectly related (meaning if doing poorly in cards, one’s love life is great, and vice-versa). Boy, Carla must have enjoyed her time alone in Argentina!!!

With a sketchy forecast ahead of us, but days limited for Pepe and Rob, the crew decided to head up the Solang Valley and see what happens. Rob and Pepe were both passionate that they would rather be in the mountains in uncertain weather than in the hotel as massive formations of rock, ice, and snow is what drew them across the globe. With no expectations except inspiring terrain and great companionship, we headed out with some light overcast overhead. In just a couple hours, it was raining at that most lovely temperature just above freezing. Pepe was holding strong, realizing that his skiing chances for the next day (his last chance) were slowly diminishing, but still wanting to camp somewhere in the mountains. After another hour or two of wet downpour, his tune had changed and he was dreaming of a civilized Iceland Hotel. I was indifferent (knowing the warm shower and hot tea would be nice) and Bolton wanted to stick it out (mostly to get in the tent to avoid more moisture even if it meant heading back to Solang the next day). With a wet hug goodbye to Pepe, Bolton and I threw up the Megamid as quick as ever and dove into our sleeping bags. All we really hoped for was the chance to dry our gear the next day (an extra bonus would be to actually tour or ski). The early morning bathroom call brought clear skies and by 6:30 a.m. the hot Indian sun began its work as we hung out all our items. To our happy surprise, the sky remained blue and we were packed up and moving higher up the valley by 9:00 a.m.

We set camp at 3500m at the bottom of a northern valley with lots of big south facing lines falling off a summit ridgeline boasting peaks over 5000m. After a quick tour to the head of the Solang Valley just underneath Hanuman Tibba, we returned to our site shortly before Frank had showed up on our track to camp. It was great to see him as he always carries a smile and positive energy. We all were stoked we got the bluebird day and just hoping the gods would deliver one more so we could get up high.

Well, the gods have not stopped delivering blue bird conditions and we skied our brains out for the next few days until out of food and needing to get Bolton back to catch his bus to Delhi. I will let the photos do most of the talking, but basically we got what every ski mountaineer planning a trip hopes for. With big descents from over 5000m (one from the summit of Shitidar at ~5200m or ~`17,000 ft), intense ridgelines with views of steep faced peaks in every direction, creamy corn snow, and a great climbing/skiing team, it was most satisfying! So satisfying in fact, I think I am ready to hang up the skis, head south to the jungle, and begin the next phase of our adventure. But before that happens, Em and I still have our week long trip of sunny turns on and around Rohtang Pass we’ve always planned would end our ski time here. She will not let that vision fade away and we all know the benefits of compromise to satisfy one’s partner!!!

It was fantastic to have good friends make the journey to spend time with us during our adventure and share in the awe of these majestic mountains. I'm glad everyone bucked up and made the most of it, proving that the companionships outshine weather.

Life on the Tour Bus

2006-04-25T18:03:00.000+07:00

We’ve had an eventful couple of weeks here – so busy we haven’t had a chance to write about it! Between friends arriving from the US and Argentina, the sudden explosion of ski tourers in the valley, and the local friends we've gotten to know over the last few months, we’ve been surrounded by tons of great people. Newly arrived folks have also given Trevor and me a reason to do more of the “touristy stuff” we hadn’t gotten around to. So bear with me, as I have a lot of sights to describe, and a lot of pictures to go with them (Sightseeing Around Manali - Naggar, Hadimba Temple; April Manali – dinner at Peter’s, ski contest, Thangka painter, etc.; Dharamsala).

The Sights Around Manali

Rob and Tyson arrived by bus on the 19th, and we spent the next two days seeing all the sights around Manali. We took a day and went down to Naggar (16km south of Manali) for the castle, temples, and Roerich Gallery. We started out near the top of the hill at the Gallery, which houses a small collection of works by Russian painter Nikolai Roerich, who lived in the Kullu Valley for most of his life. His slightly surrealist Himalayan mountainscapes were very impressive. Naggar Castle was next on our downhill circuit. The Castle was built about 500 years ago by the ruler of the Kullu Valley, and features lovely woodwork and wrap-around balconies with fantastic views of the lower valley. There is a small and intricately carved temple inside one of the castle courtyards. Three very friendly woodcarvers were working in the courtyard – I think a lot of the woodwork on the temple and castle is original, but there has definitely been some maintenance and restoration work. One of the courtyards served as an open-air café, and we opted for some beverages in the sun. The guys ordered up a few bottles of Golden Eagle, a local beer that turned out to be pretty awful. I got a coffee (instant Nescafe, which with a few rare exceptions is the only coffee to be found around here) which was only marginally better. The sun, breeze, atmospheric surroundings, and views more than made up for the drinks. Before heading back up the valley, I took a few minutes to check out an interesting stone temple across from the Castle. It was a quiet spot that obviously didn’t get as much attention as its more imposing neighbor, but had a nice stone-paved courtyard ringed by some overgrown flowerbeds, and some lovely carvings. There had probably been some kind of ceremony there recently, as there were flowers strewn around, and the foreheads of all the carved figures were marked with orange paste. Back in Manali, we spent some time checking out the Hadimba Temple, close to where Trevor and I stayed when we first got into town. The guidebook says it was built in 1553, and it does have the most impressively ancient feel of any of the places we visited, with its age-darkened woodwork, assortment of animal horns, and forest setting. Tyson got lots of good information and pictures to bring home for his classes, and all of us enjoyed the mix of history and domestic Indian tourism. I don’t think the visitors quite believed us about the gargantuan white bunnies toted by aggressive picture-pushing women until they saw them.

Ski Practice & Competition

Sightseeing accomplished, the guys set out into the mountains for 5 days of turns, and I prepared for some quality time on my own. The planners of the Himalayan Ski Village had a ski contest planned for Gulaba on Sunday, and Khem’s 11-year-old son Rajit (home from boarding school on holiday) was excited to enter. HSV had a practice course set up on Saturday, so Rajit, cousin Sanjay, and I piled into a very crowded sharejeep for a bluebird day of practice turns. The boys didn’t really need much watching, so while they hit the gates under the watchful eye of our HSV friends, I took a lap a bit higher up with our friend Dev, who was camped by the racecourse. HSV provided yummy lunch, and we had time for one more quick lap before heading home. Sunday morning started out sunny, making us worry about snow conditions for the contest. The resident ski crowd at the Iceland all wanted to head up to watch, so Heidi (from NZ), Dave (Canadian BC), Alastair and Marina (England), and I caught a taxi up. We decided on a quick tour before the contest, but as we went up the weather started to turn a bit more ominous. A rumble of thunder helped us decide it was time to head down, just in time to see Luder (Khem’s brother) make his third-place finish. By the time Rajit and Sanjay skied, it was snowing, and we were quite happy to head down soon after seeing Sanjay win his division. All of us looked off in the direction of Rhotang Pass (where the guys were camped) and wondered about conditions up there. Several of us decided to head for Manali for the Ski Village award ceremony and after-party. We ran into our friend Bill, who works for HSV in Delhi, and managed a quick visit before the ceremony finally started. The after-party wasn’t holding our attention, so we headed for Chopsticks for momos and beer.

More Manali Fun

On Monday morning it looked like things might clear… and then it started raining. And kept raining all day. Peter had arranged for me to see the studio of his friend who does Thangka paintings – incredibly detailed Buddhist devotional paintings. The painter’s home sits perched on a hill just south of town, and I could see how it would be a good inspirational setting for an artist, as his studio window looked out over the trees and valley below. He and Peter explained a bit more to me about some of the different forms involved in the Thangkas, and I got to take a close look at the process, as he had two large commissioned works in progress. Afterward, Peter and I headed for the carpet store. Peter has rented out the apartment next to his, and is busy fixing it up as a little guest house, so we picked out some carpet, and then set out to get some money from his daughter Neha to pay for it. On the way we got a call from Bill, and the three of us went up to Peter’s place for some tea and to show Bill the new room. Peter had already painted the walls and sewn a bunch of bright, Tibetan-style curtains, and the next step was the carpet we had selected. The part of town he lives in has more of a quiet village feel (a cow lives on the courtyard below, and Peter jokes that the cow gives an 8am wakeup call) and the rooms overlook the wooded neighborhood, as well as having views of Manali and some of the bigger mountains up the valley. Bill had to run off for a meeting, so Peter and I went to fetch the carpet, and I was going to buy carpet glue before heading back to his place for dinner. I called up to the Iceland to invite some of the other folks for dinner if they wanted to join, only to find that Trevor and the guys had come down early, due to some very sketchy conditions brought on by the weather. And I had the only key to our room. I delivered the glue to Peter, took a rain check on dinner, and ran for the 4 o’clock bus.

The next afternoon, Rob, Tyson, Pepe, Trevor and I headed into town for some shopping, to be followed by dinner at Peter’s. The guys were all thinking about Kashmiri shawls as presents for their wives/girlfriends, and I was thinking of picking up a few to complement the Kullu shawls I’d already bought for Mom’s store. Kullu shawls are all hand-loomed, either wool or wool/angora blend, and they usually have bands of pattern woven into the material. Kashmiri shawls can be wool, angora, silk or cashmere (or a blend) and the focus is much more on the copious amounts of embroidery applied. As a general rule, Kashmir shawls are more expensive (for good quality – particularly cashmere), but this is partly because the dealers are notoriously hard to get a good price from. They also tend to exaggerate the quality, or all-out falsify the materials used. Luckily, we had an introduction to the dealer, and a significantly higher chance of at least knowing what we were buying. We were all ushered into the tiny shop, seated on a bench in front of the raised area the dealer sat on (the stage for his act?) and plied with lemon tea. “Hello! Good day my friends!” He then pulled out what was obviously his sample bundle, and showed us the various materials, qualities, and styles, as well as several inferior materials (so that we’d know to recognize what others might try to sell us, of course). The shawls were beautiful, and the prices started ludicrously high – always typed out on the calculator, of course, never spoken. I did some quick math on what I thought they could be sold for at home, and quickly concluded there was no way it would pencil out. No harm trying, though…. Pepe, Tyson, and Rob came to satisfactory prices, made their purchases, and fled. I was still trying to talk down the price on the four shawls I’d selected. I’d almost settled, when Trevor (who plays a great bad cop) cut in and told me I’d be unhappy later if I settled. This magically made the price come down another 1000 rupees ($25). I said I’d call my mom and ask, and we left, leaving him looking a little disgruntled. (The next morning, I relayed that Mom had said no, and the price dropped a further 500 rupees. After an actual call to Mom, this was deemed acceptable and the deal done.)

After collecting the items Peter requested for dinner (rum, beer, and a chicken – mercifully already dead, plucked, and stored in a refrigerated case), we headed up the hill. Bill joined us as well, and Ryan (and HSV employee from CA who I’d just met at the contest) turned up as well. Punam (and Peter and the girls) cooked up several courses of amazing Tibetan food, capped off by this fantastic mango smoothie dessert (I guess Peter used to run a stand selling them – I really should stop being amazed at just how many things he’s done). Great company and great food. Towards 11 folks started looking a little faded (food coma?), so we called up a taxi and headed home.

Dharamsala

Given the continuing bad weather and unsettled snow conditions up high, the group decided to take a ski-hiatus and head for Dharamsala for some more sight-seeing. Dharamsala is the home of the Dalai Lama, and the seat of the Tibetan government in exile. (Quick history background: In the late 1940s the newly-in-power communist government of China invaded Tibet to “liberate” the people. Tibet is an ancient country, with Buddhist roots going back to at least 600AD, and the pre-invasion culture was deeply Buddhist with hundreds of ancient temples and monasteries. Part of the communist “cultural revolution” involved stamping out religion, and therefore the existing culture of Tibet, a territory they insisted was a traditional part of the motherland. Since then, somewhere around 1.2 million Tibetans have been killed, an almost unimaginable assortment of human rights violations committed, and most of the monasteries destroyed along with ancient scriptures and artworks. The Dalai Lama [who is the spiritual leader of the country] fled to India in 1959 [the same year as Peter’s family], and has been followed by about 250,000 other refugees.) We decided to hire Peter to come with as our guide, and he was kind enough to agree despite the nasty cough he’d been trying to shake. The drive to Dharamsala was exhausting, but incredibly beautiful. We went through at least 3 distinct eco-systems, numerous small settlements surrounded by terraced cultivation, and a mind-boggling number of switchbacks. Several types of trees were in spectacular bloom, including 100+ foot tall rhododendrons! We made a rest-stop near some of them, and we turned around to find Peter half-way up one, picking flowers. He brought them down and bit the base off one bloom, explaining that they were good medicine for his cold. We all gave it a try, and they weren’t bad. It turns out the crazy-steep terraces we were passing were all planted in nearly-ripe wheat, which on the sunnier hillsides was already turning a lovely gold. They definitely looked nothing like the wheat fields I grew up around. Arriving in McLeod Ganj (the village above Dharamsala where the DL resides and most tourists stay), we managed to meet up with Al (from Scotland), Alastair, Marina, Dave, and Frank (Canada), who had headed to Dharamsala a day earlier than us with the same idea of killing some down ski days. We all ate some dinner, and team America headed for bed exhausted.

The next day Peter had plenty of activities planned for us. After breakfast and real coffee (!) at a café (where we said goodbye to the other taxi load from the Iceland, who were already headed back), we piled into the taxi to go up to the local high point for a view. Then we went to the village where Punam grew up for tea and yummy, yummy Nepali bread at her brother’s house, stopping at her sister’s house to take a look at all of the beautiful flowers she grows for sale. We stopped in at a Tibetan school, and walked over to Bhagsu to see the pools where the monks go to swim. In Bhagsu we stumbled upon a pretty crazy temple under construction - they were sculpting some fantastic animals and figures out of cement as they went, and didn't seem to mind our crawling around looking at things. Along the way Peter bought us samples of several kinds of Tibetan food available from the street vendors – momos, mutton sausage, and yummy gelatinous cubes (something to do with cauliflower juice?) called lafing. On the way to the monastery to watch the afternoon debates it started raining fairly hard, and by the time we got there it appeared the session had been called off. We walked around through the temples, and went up to the gate of the Dalai Lama’s home. Peter was part of the DL’s personal guard for 6 months, so knew quite a bit about what went on behind the gates. We walked the very nice paved trail that circles the hill with the monastery and residence. All along the trail are stones carved with Tibetan writing, mostly mantras, that people have had made to leave behind, along with a great number of prayer flags. At the end of the walk there is another temple, with a long series of small prayer wheels, and two of the very large ones. Later we hung out on the balcony of the guesthouse Rob, Pepe and Tyson were staying at, which overlooked some trees and had some interesting bird life – we even saw an owl just after dusk.

Trevor and I opted to get up early the next morning to go hang out at the monastery. We had some nice peaceful time in the courtyard after listening to the monks chanting in a lower room, then walked the prayer circuit again to watch the sun come up over the mountains. At the prayer wheels there was a kind of prayer service going on, with monks leading lay people in chanting. We listening for a while before meeting up with the rest of the guys at their guesthouse for some very good breakfast – I had a fruit pancake that was fantastic. Peter took us to the Norbulingka Institute, half an hour’s taxi ride away. The Institute is set in beautiful gardens, and has a very peaceful feel. Here artisans are trained in traditional Tibetan crafts, and you can watch the artists at work (though we didn’t have time to watch much). There is an impressive museum of dolls dressed to show Tibetan dress from different regions, for different occasions, and during different eras. We spent some time sitting in the temple, an inviting place with padded mats to encourage visitors to sit for a while. Our afternoon was given over to shopping and coffee-drinking, before we met up with Peter again. Trevor, Peter and I had to shift our rooms to another guesthouse (they had too many reservations), and Pepe, Tyson, and Rob moved to a fancier place that had been unavailable the previous two nights. Peter was trying to find his Auntie’s house in the tangle of homes and guesthouses on the hillside, and Trevor wanted to go play cards with the guys, so I opted to follow Peter on the search. After a few dead-end attempts, we finally came across the right place after following a monkey down the hillside, and spent an hour or so visiting with his family. Well, Peter visited in Tibetan. I mostly entertained the kids by letting them take pictures with my digital camera. They were totally indifferent to the end result (picture) – they just liked the flash. His Auntie had actually been very sick, and there was a monk at the house doing a healing ceremony that involved molding little vessels out of flour paste, then adding various grains, rice beer, and lamp oil. Then he went into the prayer room and chanted for a while, occasionally using a bell. Peter’s cousin’s son was apparently working at the family business, so we were sent with an escort to go say hello to him. Down the hill, back through the maze, and down a street we hadn’t been on, we walked up some stairs to what looked like a nightclub. Inside an entirely Tibetan bunch of young guys were playing snooker on three tables and drinking beer. The kitchen brought out an unexpected treat – beef momos. It was a very hush-hush thing. We met up with the gents for dinner, then they went back to their cards and Peter and I made an early night of it.

Our final morning in Dharamsala, we all met up for breakfast and wished Tyson well on his journey home, then hit the road. While waiting for everyone to finish checking out, I wandered into a little stationary store that had an excellent selection of the hand-made paper books and stationary that are made in the area to help support incoming Tibetan refugees. The prices were reasonable and the woman was really helpful, so I walked off with quite a full bag of stuff to send home for the store. The drive home was long, but again beautiful. The route was slightly different, taking us along the Sainj River and more stunning scenery. We were extremely happy to finally get out of the car.

Meanwhile, Back at the Ranch...

Pepe, Trevor, and Rob headed back up toward Beas Kund a few days ago. The walk in was extremely wet, and Pepe came straight back, figuring that he and all his gear were soaked and he wouldn’t have had a pleasant night. He was going to come out the next day after skiing anyway, so he didn’t miss much. After the initial bad weather, it’s been beautiful the last 2 days, so hopefully they’re getting good turns. Frank went up to join them yesterday. The rest of the crew here has been reading and sunning, with trips into town for variation. Yesterday the whole lot of us went down and met up with Drew and Steph from Stevens Pass (WA) for Korean food at the place Peter took us to a while back. Memory did not deceive – the sushi was just as good as remembered, and they whipped up some kind of spicey Korean iced tea that was fantastic. Today Pepe got on the bus back to Delhi, after a nice month-long visit. The weather didn’t always cooperate for him, but he’s a man who appreciates the mountains as they are, and seems to have had a really great time here.

Many apologies again for the extra-long post… now that everyone’s going home, our sightseeing pace should slow again!