So What De Crap Thailand

The title of this blog probably has you wondering, "what the heck is John talking about?" Just wait until the end of the blog and I will drop a little knowledge on you.

Since the last entry, Nadine and I have traveled north from Georgetown, Malaysia to Krabi, Thailand. Our time in Malaysia was great, but after 3 weeks of easy traveling there, we were ready to head to Thailand for a bit of a change. We booked a mini-van that would take us to the border and then on up to Krabi. Our van turned out to be a smallish van, thus the name mini-van, but much smaller than those other Mercedes-Benz mini-vans those other people were taking. Finally arriving into Krabi 10 hours later, my long legs, especially compared to the Malaysians, were ready for a bit of a stretch and freedom.

I say to this ad in Malaysia, No, you bite me Munchies!

One thing becomes apparent immediately in Thailand, things are cheaper! Food is cheaper. Beer is cheaper. Transport is cheaper. Lodging is really much cheaper. And these are all good things. Our first night, instead of hitting a restaurant, we sauntered over to the night market and the couple of dozen of stalls serving some mildly spicy to man I'm sweating spicy Thai food. We saddled up to the table, ordered some noodles and soup, and enjoyed the cool evening weather. At the end of the night, our meal and beer set us back a good 160 baat ($4). Needless to say, every night we've spent in Krabi has included a nice little dinner at the night market.

FRREEEEEEDDDOOMMMMMMM!!!

After visiting the windy Ao Nang beach, we jumped on a longboat destined for Hat Rai Leh (pronounced in a Texas accent, Hat Ray Lay). A longboat is just what it sounds like, a skinny boat that is, well, long, and carries 10 to 12 people somewhat safely. You could probably only fit 4 to 5 chubby New Mexicans though. The propeller is located at the very end of a long pole, thus allowing it to motor through shallow waters. We followed our travel rule for Hat Rai Leh, and stayed there 3 days. We stay somewhere 3 days to get a good feel for it unless it stinks. And Hat Rai Leh definitely did not stink.

Rai Leh is renowned as being a spot for rockclimbing at all levels. Nadine, being the excellent climber that she is, had been looking forward to Rai Leh for a long, long time. She was at her rockclimbing Graceland. We found the King still alive, King Climbers that is, and set aside a day with our smiling guide Chau to climb 1-2-3, the three climbing areas located on the east side of Rai Leh Beach. Being a little lax with instruction and all those unnecessary safety rules, Chau was eager to have us climb. We jumped in our harnasses and climbing shoes and started crawling all over the limestone surface of, I believe, area #2. I could be wrong on that though. We finished the morning with 4 fun climbs each at an average of 10 meters (30 feet) in height. After lunch, a quick power nap and a shower, we returned to 1-2-3. It was during the afternoon that we took on the tallest climb that either one of us had ever attempted. In the end, we both conquered the 100 foot mammoth climb with an awesome view of the area to boot. It's at that point as you take in the beach, jungle, cliff, and sea views from 100 feet that you realize that you are putting alot of trust in a thin rope, a small piece of metal, and that small little human down there at the bottom. Since you are reading this, relax, I did make it down safely AND I didn't wet my pants. Nadine did though.

Is that Nadine stuck between a rock and another rock?

We did more than rock climb at Rai Leh, we ate lots of pineapple, watermelon, and bananas. We tasted the absolute best fried cashew and chicken noodles we'd ever tasted. So if you are in Hat Rai Leh anytime soon, go visit The Rock cafe, you won't be disappointed with that tasty dish. If you are disappointed, I will finish it off for you. In addition to eating, we've had a busy schedule of strolling along the beach. The one personality that I am going to remember about Hat Rai Leh, other than the people and amazing geography is this one wet dog we nicknamed Sardine the Dog. Everytime we went somewhere, morning or evening, we'd look out towards the water and see this blond dog jumping and chasing sardines. We never saw him dry once in three days. At least for his sake, fleas don't have a chance living on him, they would all drown within an hour.

Nadine and I both attempt to respect the local culture by trying to speak a little of the local Thai language. We did a decent job in Malaysia and Singapore and an excellent job in the Cook Islands, New Zealand, and Australia, as our English was right on. Thailand has proved to be a bit more of a challenge. Taking a strategy my good ol' Dad taught me when I was younger, I associate words with different things. Teaching French and Spanish, I do a decent job with Latin based languages and you would expect that a little Thai wouldn't trip me up. But Thai has proven to be a bigger challenge. It is a language that contains 5 different levels of intonation and messing it up can easily change the meaning of a word. Thus, when I try, and this is a big try, to speak Thai, I use word association to help me. In order to simply greet someone and say hi, you say sa-wat-dii khrap. But when you pronounce it somewhat correctly, it sounds like "So what the crap." Thus the title of our little blog entry. So if someone yells at you "So what the crap." Don't be alarmed, they must be trying to speak a little Thai with you, simply smile and respond with "sa-wat-dii khrap." If they approach you without a smile, run!

Could this be the world's best beach?

We are both in good health, Nadine still healing from the bed bug bites, but we've learned of some bad news while in Kuala Lumpur. Nadine's grandma, Betty, passed away from cancer. She lived a good life. We knew going into the trip that she may pass away. We felt it best that Nadine return to the States to be with her family. She is currently in route back to Omaha for a week. My thoughts and prayers are with them all.

While Nadine is back with her family, I am free to run around for a week on my own and explore. I felt it would be appropriate to visit some of Nadine's extended family over in Indonesia at the Bohorok Orangutan Rehabilitation Center. www.orangutans-sos.org This also gives me a chance to get off of the beaten path and not many people visit this part of Indonesia.

They're both beauts

Life is good and full of adventure and we are grateful to be doing what we are doing. Life is short and precious. Travel makes me realize the importance of friends and family in my life. I also stay in written contact better with family and friends when I travel. So, feel free to meet up with us in South East Asia. We will teach you a few Thai expressions.

Question of the week: What is the world's sixth largest island?
Please read carefully: whoever gets this correct, I will put your first name, given to you by your parents, in the title of the next entry.

Peace
JW