Preparing for Vegas

While away on my adventure in Thailand, my husband was awarded a 3 day trip to Vegas in December. Skpe is a beautiful communication medium and as I sat in an Internet cafe in Ao Nang, he shared his news. Somehow I remembered that friends were running a 1/2 marathon in Vegas that same weekend. Next thing you know we are booked to run too. I think after my adventures trekking through the jungle I thought I could do anything.LOL

My training scheduled suddenly got boosted from running a 1/2 in April to running 3weeks after returning from Thailand. And you know I was training in Thailand. NOT. Well, hopefully the hiking, biking and kayaking helped a little or a lot!

Since returning home we are runnong 10 km a day, topping of with 17km yesterday. Yes my longest run ever, completed in 2 hours 12 minutes. Today I rest, and a small run Tuesday and Wednesday. THursday I pack and we are off. Can I do it? Absolutley!!

The Missing Adventures in Thailand

Part of the challenge of documenting an action packed tour is finding the time to log the highlights of each day without missing out on any of the excitment. So obviously there are a few days missing that I want to share and capture, starting with the midnight train from Chiang Mai.

Following the afternoon visiting the tigers and walking through old town we boarded the night train from Chiang Mai to Ayuthaya. The agreement was whoever slept on the bottom bunk on the way to Chiang Mai got the top bunk on the way back. So the top bunk for me it was. The challenge was 2nd class on this train was quite different than 2nd class on the first train. So much so that we got a refund on a portion of the fare. What this meant was there was plenty of room to sleep as long as you didn't need to turnover. NO problem though, they had the equivalent of seatbelts to prevent you from falling out. I chose not to test them! SInce we only got to sleep until 4:30 am, it was a short night. We reached our destination at 5:00 am. Backpacks on we were ready to go!

Hiking into Ayuthaya, we crossed the river on a very primitive ferry, and headed to the guesthouse to drop of our bags, a quick shower and then time to explore the local market. Overwhelming! Venders with their merchandise covered every corner of the street market. Fruit, vegetables,raw meat,fish, clothing,and the occasional pigs head. It was all here, out in the open, no refrigeration. You had to wonder how it all got sold, but rumor is it does.
After breakfast in the market we explored the ruins of the World Heritage site by bike, including stopping to give prayer to the reclining Budda. Truly moved by the magnificance of the temples and the beheaded buddas, it was hard to understand why in war it was deemed necesary to destroy the site.

Ayathaya was the Thailand capital from the 14th to the 18th century and it's splendor definitely captured our admiration.

From Ayuthaya we headed up to Erawan National Park where we boarded two rafthouses for an evening on the lake. Coincidence had it that tonight was Halloween. After playing in the water, a few canoe rides and a feast of fish purchased earlier in the day at the Ayuthaya market it was time to celebrate. While Halloween is not celebrated in all countries represented, the creativity of the group quickly presented it self as we produced interesting costumes from the depths of our backpacks. Cross dressing does seem to be the outfit of choice and the laughs never seemed to stop. The beverages may have helped??

The next morning we were on the road to Erawan waterfalls. Seven tiers of clear blue water, with fish that nibbles at your feet. While getting a solid workout as you climb up to each level of the waterfall the sites are amazing. At level 3 we stopped for a fish massage and swim to cool off. At level 5, we remembered that we were looking for monkey's. Since we were climbing our focus had been on the ground, so da let's look upward. Sure enough a pair of monkey's in the trees. Now unlike the monkey,s we had seen in the mongroves, we were told the monkeys at Erawan were not friendly and could be darn right mean. So here we are taking pictures of the monkey's when they start to come towards us. Chicken hearted we were as we ran back to the path away from them. Too funny, 3 ladies searching for monkey's but to scared to get the picture. Thank goodness for Jeanne, who was our resident, expert photographer. By noon the park was getting extremely busy with locals and it was time for us to head to Kanchanaburi. Home of the river Kwae.

Back on our bikes, we rode to the Museum of the Railway on the River Kwae. The history of WW11 documented in the museum was overwheliming and very emotional. It is extremely hard to comprehend the degree of hardship the POWs experienced! As the Japanese tried to establish a supply route to Myanmar and India, POWs were used to build the railroad. Over 100,000 Asians and 16000 POWs died during the construction.
Visitng the museum, war cemetary, under ground caves and the Bridge over the river Kwae, took our bike ride well into the evening and we found ourselves riding home in the dark. A bit scary!

Talking about scary, that night we headed off to the local night market. After wandering around for an hour we decided it was time to head home. So we took Scooter taxis. Our guide told the drivers where we wanted to go. They put on their helmuts and away we went. However the passengers don't get helmuts, you just get to hold on for dear life. A short ride and we arrived safely at our destination.
Interesting rules in Thailand. First they drive on the wrong side of the road, and only the driver is required to wear a helmut. However very few helmuts were seen on anyone and often 3 or more indivuals were riding one bike.
The motto- honk, honk and more honking to advise you are coming through, get out of my way or I am passing.

Day 9 is a day of travel as we leave Kanchanaburi and drive to Bangkok to catch a flight to Krabi. Final destination for the day Ao Nang, arriving in time to celebrate the Full Moon Festival.

Heading Home

Leaving Ao Nang Friday afternoon, it was pouring rain. I forgot to mention that it rained every evening the last week in Thailand, from about 5:30 to 6:30. A great time for shopping, supper and refreshments.

Anyways the rain, helped make our departure a little less sad. Karbi to Bangkok
Friday evening and then a 12hour wait until we leave Bangkok. WE decided to book a hotel for the evening rather than sleep in the airport. Bangkok airport is big, noisy and not really conducive to spending the night. Fortunately you can check you bags at the airport at " left Luggage". Which we did, and headed off to the hotel.
A nice meal, and oh yeah a complimentary massage ( yes tha was 2 for the day) and we were good for the night.

Back at the airport at 6 am for the long flights home. Time to catch up on our sleep!!

The last day in Thailand

What do you do on your last day in Thailand? For us it was easy to decide; we needed to relax and capture as much sunshine as possible.

A few hours at the pool, one last manicure, a pedicure and for sure a coconut oil massage.

It has been a great three weeks and we have done absolutely so much it is hard to capture it all! 4 of us from the GAP Tour, talked about what our favorite part was and it was truly to hard to decided. It was all fantastic!. The people were amazing, the Gap tour outstanding and the country awesome. With weather hovering in the mid 30's the entire time, even when it rained it was warm.

The last day in Thailand was my wedding anniversary and I would be amiss if I didn't thank Randy for being such an amazing husband. I am truly a very lucky lady!! His support made the trip possile and encouragement stretched me to participate in the adventure to the fullest. While he wasn't here in Thailand with us, he was here in spirit. Thank goodness for emails. Happy Anniversary Love!

Phi Phi Island

With only a few days left to capture the entire ensense of Thaland we decided on Thursday that a visit to Phi Phi Island was a must!

The island is recognized as having some of the most amazing beaches in the world. It offers scuba diving, snorkelling, rock climbing and of course playing on the beach..
During the day when the tided is out you can walk out into the sea for what seems like miles. Sand like silk and water clear, emerald blue, what a great place to soak up the sun. Of course working on the tan was a must!!
The entire island is truly an tourist haven. Small cobblestone roads are lined with shops and food kiosks. Mercahnts use oversized wheel barrows to transport goods and tourist's baggage from place to place. NO cars here. The town is like a small maze and fortunately we had friends to show us around.

Sitting on the beach with friends from England we found "Pail" drinks, that once empty were great for making sand castles. Too much fun and certainly not enough time too experience all the island has to offer.

The ferry leaves Phi Phi at 3:30, which meant we had to leave much earlier than hoped, but it is low tided and the ferries are unable to dock in Krabi later in the evening so home to AO Nang we went.

Just meant more time for dinner and drinks at the resort. Oh the challenge of the traveller!!

Trusting Tourists

A fancy brochure catches your eye. The pictures look fun and the itineray looks interesting. The hotel is more than happy to book you into the tour and take your money.

So 7500 Baht later you are packed and ready to take on a new adventure. A nice young man appears at the hotel with the appropriate T-shirt on, so you blindly jump into his car and begin a 3 hour drive across the countryside with him. Now at home we all tell our children not to take rides from strangers. SO why do we just expect this person will drive safely? Fortunately he does. He points out Pineapple plants, rubber trees, Palm Oil trees and stops at a rice field for us.

In southern Thailand the climate is quite dry compared to the north so the rice is grown in fields similar to grain at home. Harvested by hand and then put through a de-husking machine.

We discover an amazing temple in the back country with a huge Budda overlooking the valley. Really quite spectacular!!

Then we are of again. Destination the Elephant Adventure. This elephant ride was extremely nice, travelling down the river bed, thru the jungle to a small waterfall. The elephant master provides direction to the elephant from the ground, which seemed way nicer that him sitting on the elephant head, holding a huge stick. Our second elephant ride and we are duly impressed.

We reach the waterfall and are told to get off. Thinking the ride is over we start looking for the path back to the car. This was our first clue that our guide for the Safari was not as helpful as he could be. What we later discovered was that the elephant master would wait for us while we went for a swim in the waterfall. We did realize that we would get a ride back on the elephant but totally missed the swim. Cathy was able to ride back on the elephant head, while I remained in the chairlike saddle. Yes we bought the photos!!

SO far our trip was going OK. WE continued our travels to the site of our home for the evening, which was a hut on stilts. Several monkey's were leashed in the area and two were more than anxious to play and cuddle. However we soon found that the other two were not so friendly and apparently don't like women, as one chased after Cathy in attack when she got too close. A little scared, we were again reminded of how glad we were with all the bootcamp exercises we did this year. Something like the crab crawl took place.

A canoe ride down the river, dinner and then a night canoe ride finished off the day. What did we see? Two snakes and several frogs..LOL. I have to admit we were a bit nervous that we were the only ones on the adventure. Fortunatley before the night canoe ride a very friendly couple from Belguim joined the camp.

The next morning we head off to the National Park. Pay our entrance fee. Oh yes no one said we would need money. Before heading into the park we are told that the biggest flower in the world is in bloom and a government guide will take us to see it if we are interested. So why not? A trek straight up the Thailand mountain takes place and after 30 minutes we arrive at the very interesting, unusual plant. Nice.

We are now told that we won't get to see the park as there is not enought time, go back to camp and spend the next 2 1/2 hours waiting for the rest of the group to arrive. Why we didn't go to the park, is anybodies guess. A disappointment for sure.

However during our wait Cathy tried to teach me backgammon. IF I play every day for the next 2 years I might eventually beat her, but maybe not...LOL.


The best part of this adventure was arriving at the river rafts for the next night. Very quaint huts, built right over the water. Only the picutres will do the story justice.

Cathy and I bow out of the Longtail boat night right and choose to spend Wednesday morning suntanning in front of our huts. The message from the rest of the group was we made the right decision.

After lunch we board the Longtail boat and start our journey back home. We could not get there fast enough. Now we admit we were spoiled by the Gap trip, but the guide on this excursion was just awful. We never knew what was happening until he was at our door, stating "we have to leavce now". For where, for what or for how long was never shared. OF course he received No Tip.

We did arrive home safe and sound and glad that part of our adentures was over. A guide can make all the difference!! OF course we are probably a bit too trusting of a fancy brochure.

Time for Pampering.

Saturday November 7th, saw us sleep in for the first time this vacation. We finally got up at 10 am. We are registered at the Golden Beach Resort which is truly a 5 star location. With a seaside view and lot's of hot water, we have died and gone to heaven! Hot showers have been a bit spares these last 2 weeks.

Today was the day for pampering. A Manicure, pedicure and facial massage started the day. Then a rest on the beach followed by a full body massage.

What more could a girl ask for? Oh yeah, time at the Night market in Krabi. Truly an authentic local market. We ate quails eggs, meat on a stick and fried ice cream as we wondered through the market. Young artists painted, children preformed song and dance and you could buy a variety of food and clothing. I bought nothing. The market definitely had a East Indian(muslim)apearance and focus. Two hours in Krabi and we were headed back to Ao Nang for the night.

Tomorrow we head of on the Khao Sok Safari for 3 days and 2 nights.

When in Thailand...

When in Rome you need to do what the Romains do. When in Thailand... what the Thai do. Friday night entertainment is Baja Thai Boxing. Sorry Brad while your Mom couldn't watch you fight, I had to see what all the excitment was about.

A truck drives up and down the streets of Ao Nang, advertising the evenings events. If you want to go you simply jump on the truck behind and you are escorted to the Arena.

So what is Baja Thai Boxing?? A combination of Kick boxing and regular gloved boxing. East Indian music plays in the background as the fighters go through a dance/ prayer ritual preparing to deliver the first punch. There appears to be more kicking than boxing.

Last night's card had 10 bouts scheduled, with fighters from the age of 12 to grown heavy weight men. We saw two knock outs and the remainder of the fights went a full 5 rounds.

What really blew my mind, was after a fight the boxers congregated in the back of the arena smoking. Knowing how diligent my son works at ensuring he is in top physical shape before any fight, the sight of these very fit boxers smoking made us all laugh at the situation!

After 8 fights we had seen enough and headed back into town to do what the rest of the tourist in Thailand do... Drink! LOL

Finding Nemo

Heading back from Ko Hong Island to Ao Nang, in search of a great place to snorkel.
The challenge was that the currents were so strong the first place we stopped at was not safe. So we moved onto a second location. Finally a great place to snorkel for ~35 minutes, before the rains came. Everyone asking "Did you see Nemo?" Some yes some no but everyone got to see a variety of fish.

Then back to Ao Nang for our last meal as a group. With lots of promises to keep in touch, and a few tears the group divided as some of us are staying put for another week and some heading back to Bangkok on their route home.

Today another adventure starts.

Kayaking in the Andaman Sea

A short 3 hour kayak through the currents of the Andaman Sea took us from Ko Hong Island to Ladin Island and back. Ladin Island reminded me of the set of the movie "Beaches". Bamboo platforms and huts made up the living quarters for the park rangers and looked just like the huts in the movie. Rumor has it segments of the movie "Paradise" and "Pirates of the Carribean" were filmed here.

While I had been resting on my laurels of how easy kayaking had been the previous day, today was a different story. We think there was a rock planted in front of our boat, but it was probably just the strength of the current and the fact my partner had a sore arm. ( yes I am blamng him, it works better for my ego). We proudly brought in the tail of the team at each destination!!

Back at Ko Hong Island I caught up on my sleep, resting on one of the most beautiful beaches in the world. The sand is soft as silk, pure white and cool to the touch. A perfect place to enjoy a peaceful afternoon.

Dinner a barbeque of squid, fish, chicken and even a little beef on the beach.

Staring at the stars we watch the moon rise into the sky. What a wonderful way to spend the last night of the tour together.

Tomorrow we go Snorkelling!!

Monkey Business

On day eleven, I indicated that Kayaking was a little tougher than I expected.
Now an interesting fact is if the weight in the boat isn't even, the heavier individual can struggle to keep his end of the boat from sinking too deep in the water.
WHo knew that Not being 110lbs would make me a more attractive kayaking partner? That several (LOL) extra pounds made it much easier for both myself and my new Canadian Kayaking partner.

ON Day 12, my new partner and I sailed through the mongrove and manuveoured around the brush like no buddies business. It was a breeze and way more fun. We were teased with the opportunity to see a few monkey's along the way and the guides strategically threw Pineapple on the kayaks. A few MOnkeys was an understatement as dozen of monkeys jumped out of the trees onto our boats. Climbing all over us they moved from one boat to another. When the fruit was gone they tried to open our drypacks to see if there was any food hiding. I found myself talking to them as if they were little children. "No, No, Get out of there". A mother moved between boats while her baby continued to nurse, solidly hanging on. Just when we thought we had past all the monkeys, another group jumped out of the trees, through the water and onto our boats looking for left overs. Several licked the pineapple juice of the surface of the boats.

This was better than any day at the zoo. Touching, patting and feeding the monkeys.
I am sure they were thinking " Here comes another parade of tourists. Let's see how much fun we can have with them."

After playing in the mangrooves, we headed out into the Andaman Sea in a Longtail Baot, destination Ko Hong Island. It poured rain the entire trip, but once we arrived at the white sandy beach the clouds parted and the sun shone. Just in time for us to put up the tents that would be our accomodation for the next two nights.

Now my husband will appreciate that we slept in camoflough tents on bamboo matts. The ground was a little hard for these bare bones, but sleep is highly over rated anyways.

So what do you do when you are camping in the middle of a Thailand Island? Play Texas Hold 'em of course. If only it had been real money. I won the pot, not just once but the entire game. Worried no one would play with me I started throwing a few hands. To my family, I am not usually so nice, so don"t expect the same treatment at home. LOL

Things you should know!

A man wanting to become a Monk has 296 rules he must learn and live by, while a Buddist follower has 5.

Thou shall not Kill
Thou shall not Commit adultery
Thou shall not Gamble
Thou shall not Drink
Thou shall not Lie

Shouldn't be too hard except the person telling us had obviously committed at least 3 of the 5 . Too funny

Kayaking through the Mongroves

I had been pretty confident that after all we had already accomplished that a simple day Kayaking would be a walk in the park. So why were my arms so sore an hour into today's adventure? How hard can it be?

Well not so hard for me in the front but the poor guide behind me saw the underneath of way to many bushes,I am sure. My direction was off and the speed slow. So I am going to insist there was just way too much for me to see to concentrate on paddling. Tomorrow he may ask for another partner,,,LOL

Oh yeah, I am sure the rain had something to do with it also. That being said we had a great day paddling through the caves, and taking in the view. Trees with their roots reaching meters out of the ground into the water below. Caves with ancient drawing and even 6 monkeys. Now I am not sure who was the attraction, the monkeys or the kayakers, as the monkeys played swinging from root to root and climbing up the mountain walls. I am convinced they were laughing at us!!

A short drive to a fresh water river provided the opportunity for us to play monkey. Swinging from a rope into the water. Funny thing though most of us just veg'd and watched. Guess I wasn't the only one a bit tired.

Full Moon Festival

The Thai celebrate the Full Moon of the last month of the year, with a great street festival, that takes over the streets after dark.
We arrived in AoNang last night just in time to participate in the celebration. The street was alive with excitment. Dancers entertained and the skys filled with fireworks. Thai Lucky Lanterns were lite and sent into the sky.

Let me try and describe these for you. They are long sleeves of paper closed off at one end. At the open end they attack a fuel filled circle that is lite on fire. As the heat builds up in the cylinder they float up into the heavens. It is quite a sight to see but extremely hard to capture in a photo.

All along the board walk there are live statues dress in customs, decorations and a parade of dancers moving along the street. The funny thing was a firetruck following the dancers so you knew when the parade was over.

We had an amazing seafood dinner overlooking the sea and were each given a bowl of flowers , candles and incence to drop into the sea. The myth is that you are giving thanks for the abundance of water and washing away all your stresses and concerns by placig the decoration into the water. I not sure if this also means washing away all your sins, but we can always hope. People made wishes as the plants floated out to sea.

Walking backfrom dinner we found a lady selling "Takeaway Drinks". What an entreprenuer! I think she was a little overwhelmed when 12 tourist walked up and ordered. It was a long walk from dinner to the closest Pub. maybe 10 minutes or less.

Yes we ended up at the Irish Rover pub. A very fun evening!

Off for a day of Kayaking.