Thailand

It is in deep solitude that I find the gentleness with which I can truly love my brothers. The more solitary I am the more affection I have for them. Solitude and silence teach me to love my brothers for what they are, not for what they say.
- Thomas Merton

Having arrived back to Malaysia from Indonesia, I was content on jumping on a convenient, easy plane back to Thailand. But as I stood in Georgetown, Malaysia chatting with a Dutch couple before rewatching the movie Talladega Nights, (a movie I missed the beginning of the last time I saw it, and I did have a free day, so why not watch it again), when they mentioned something to me. "Why don't you go to Koh Tarutao National Park and to the island of Koh Lipe? Noone is there", they queried.

That is where the next week took me, Koh Lipe, in the far south of Thailand. Koh LipeI decided to skip the easy traveling and get off the beaten path. I had previously thought of going to Koh Tarotao National Park, but figured, ah, it will be too inconvenient and after Indonesia, I'm ready for a break. But my conscious wouldn't allow me to take the easy path, when I could have an adventure into the unknown and possibly a few interesting stories to tell.

Money changer anyone?

Making my way from Hat Yai on a public bus to the coastal town of Pak Bara, the jumping off point to the Koh Tarotao National Park, with another Dutch couple and their two year old daughter, we talked about the supposed solitude and quiet of these islands. Next morning, I was placed on a longboat with a local family for the 4 hour cruise across the Andaman Sea to Koh Lipe. The ride was a great trip of sitting back and watching all of the small islands pass by and flying fish flying along the longboat. Our boat was directly in front of some mean looking rain clouds, so we had a time constraint, get there before the rain does. Just as we were floating towards the coral and beach, another set of storm clouds came by and hit us directly head on.

For the next three days, I was on the island of Koh Lipe enjoying the tide go by, eating at the only open restaurant, Pooh's, and doing a little work on Pooh's website. For the first time during the entire trip, I completed some work that I was paid for. In exchange for updating Pooh's website, I was paid with beverage and dinner. I can now say that I am working my way around the world. In between that busy schedule, I managed to squeeze in some snorkelling time on four of the beaches surrounding this tiny island.

Morning view, I could get used to that.

Unfortunately, there are a few problems occuring at Koh Lipe. It used to be an isolated island in a protected national park, but it had been opened up for construction years ago. As a few sparce travellers discovered the place, this led to a steady flow of backpackers, and now the island is becoming one set of bungalows. Combine this with the fact that the water and coral surrounding the island are treated as a garbage can. The result is dead coral and trashed beaches. But as travellers do begin making their way to Koh Lipe, the beaches are cleaned. Clean in the tourist season, trashed during the off-season. It's a sad reality.

After a peaceful and relaxing 3 days at Koh Lipe, it was time to jump on a ferry and head back to penisular Thailand. With bright blue water gliding by, our boat engine stopped, and the ferry came to a gradual, floating stop. For an hour, we just sat there as very large jellyfish made their way by and people worked in vain on the engine. Finally, another ferry came to our rescue and towed us into harbor at a snail's pace. This little roadblock allowed the storm clouds from three days ago to call their distance 2nd cousin Bob to storm on us just as we were pulling up to dock.

Finally, a reliable ferry

There's nothing like a long boat ride, and a set of wet clothes and backpacks to cause a group of 8 farang (foreigners) to bond. As a result, we all jumped in a shared van passing around snacks and drinks, and travelled to the town of Trang. There, like the floating jellyfish from earlier on the boat, we floated around Trang's markets and streets searching for a restaurant. We then found a nice outdoor Thai restaurant where we shared various local Thai dishes. It was good fun.

Tiny local transport

Tomorrow morning, after a 2 week hiatus from traveling, to be with her family, Nadine will be flying back to Krabi where I will meet her at the airport with, yes, a kool-aid smile. It's hard to believe that we have already been traveling, to the day, 4 months. Like always, life is good, real good, and it's about to get better.

Last week's trivia question dealt with the fifth populous country in the world, and the answer was Brazil.

This weeks question:
The second and third longest reigns for a monarchy are Queen Elizabeth from the United Kingdom and the Sultan from Brunei, who holds the longest current reign among reigning monarchs and what country is he or she from?

Life is good. We hope all are doing well and happy.
Peace
J.W.

When you have once seen the glow of happiness on the face of a beloved person, you know that a man can have no vocation but to awaken that light on the faces surrounding him; and you are torn by the thought of the unhappiness and night you cast, by the mere fact of living, in the hearts you encounter.
- Albert Camus

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