Wanders and water in Chiang Mai - Thursday, Nov. 27, 2014

Happy Thanksgiving!

There were two things I wanted to make sure we did within the old city walls - get a Thai massage at the women's correctional facility and go to Wat Chiang Man. 

So we started with some morning beverages (coffee something for Alisa and Thai milk tea for me) and walked to the prison!

The inmates get trained, then the money they make from their massages is put away for when they are released. We're assuming these aren't violent criminals - though a Thai massage is pretty violent. 

We spent an hour getting pummeled ("I literally had to try and think of happy things during parts because it hurt so much," said Alisa. I wasn't in that much pain, but especially the back bends were close) then were given some tea to enjoy in the garden outside. If convicts is a little to real, the ex-cons are down the street. 

Next was the walk to our planned wat for the day. The walk to the temple was long enough for me to find a banana shake on the way! My Thanksgiving success. 

Wat Chiang Man has a reference to the 1296 founding of Chiang Mai, so is thought to be one of the oldest temples at about 400 years. It also has a couple Buddhas of note - one with a crystal platform and a marble bas-relief. It was quiet and cute, and good for planning our next move. 

There was a mile or so walk that seemed to include some mildly interesting things (one of the bridges over the canal surrounding the city, the White Elephant Monument, Wat Chiang Yeun). Mostly, the walk was hot and through some industrial (real world) sections of Chiang Mai outside the old city. There weren't great sidewalks, but we managed to stay mostly in the shade. The bridge was fine, the monument was lackluster, and the wat was confusingly behind a school and worth only a couple minutes. 

So, hot and hungry, we stumbled into the first restaurant across the canal, a Chinese place. I went for the dumpling balls (pork, red bean, date, and other pork - they were out of egg custard!) while Alisa had a noodle dish. 

There are pros and cons to planning your days as you go. It means spontaneous island-hopping adventures. It also means if it is hot or I'm feeling lazy that it's easy to lapse into apathy. I didn't want to shop, didn't want to eat, didn't know of another wat, wanted some air conditioning, but didn't like the majority of the museums suggested. Alisa didn't have an opinion, but wasn't too keen on my suggestion of a contemporary art gallery. 

But, lack of other ideas spurred us on. Wattana Art Gallery was tucked away outside the city, a bit beyond Chiang Mai University (another CMU like my alma mater!) and past Wat Umong. 

This art gallery is really just Wattana's personal residence and art space. It is a gallery, but of his works. Despite the slightly awkward expectations versus reality, he was a dear and talked me through some of his newer work. He took the art of making paper with a local fiber and superimposed it on fabric from the hill tribes. We chatted about the symbolism, then Alisa and I scoped out the upstairs. I bought a book of his and had him sign it - the $2000 pieces weren't really what I was looking for. 

We walked over to Wat Umong. A forest wat, it was much more peaceful than its city counterparts. Except for the roosters. A few, like the one at our guest house, enjoyed being heard a little too much. 

There was a tunnel system with different shrines that eventually led to a staircase up to the chedi. A monk on his cell was pacing around it, but otherwise it had a regal mood. 

Also in the complex were buildings of men chanting (maybe students) and bookstore/museums. But who needs knowledge when you can just have luck? We headed to the fish pond. 

It was those same slimy, sinuous brown fish with whiskers. Alisa says catfish, and I guess they are, but they have one continuous backfin that makes them so snake-like. There was also a couple gold koi and a turtle. And a million pigeons. 

We managed to harangue a tuktuk into taking us back to our guesthouse for some A/C. 

And then, in true Thanksgiving fashion, it was time for a feast!

We took a tuktuk to the Riverside, our Thanksgiving feast. 

I'm so thankful for this wonderful travel partner, that ruby fish cooked two ways, and my banana dessert. 

Elephants outside Chiang Mai - Wednesday, Nov. 26, 2014

Alisa and I had our toast and Nutella, then were picked up at 8:30 and headed to the Elephant Nature Park. 

On the way, we watched a tv show that was partially filmed at the park. Lek, a Thai woman who grew up in a hill tribe, bought her first abused elephant in 1994 and it only grew from there.

I'm not sure what I was expecting - the elephant area to be on one side and the people area in another? But we left the car, and the open air structure was surrounded by fields dotted with concrete shelters... And elephants. Small herds of two to four just meandering about, with their trusty mahoots following behind. 

We fed them a breakfast (well, a meal - they eat for 18 hours a day, so there's no way that was their first meal) of watermelon, pumpkin, and bananas as all of us had our first of many encounters with elephants. Lucky was the name of one of the old ladies that we followed around for most of the day. She was blind, a former circus elephant. (You can read more here: http://www.elephantnaturepark.org/elephant-herd/lucky/)

We then took them for a walk, followed by a buffet lunch for us humans. We spent lunch chatting with the other Americans in our group about what to do in Chiang Mai, in Bangkok, while scubaing, while on the beaches in the south... Everyone had interesting tidbits to add. 

A documentary about the elephants (including the "spirit breaking" torture that many go through when they are young) was next. Alisa slept through it, so I couldn't commiserate with her on the horrors. I found a lot of similarities to how broncos used to be "broken" - hobbling, stabbing, forcing riders while withholding food, water, and sleep. I hope that elephant training can progress to where horse training is now - much more humane. 

The lifespan of an elephant, though, means that these practices are going to be slow to change. Some of the forty-odd elephants at the reserve are in their 60s and 70s. 

After the harrowing video, it was bath time! The elephant got the easy job - stand and eat and we'll throw buckets of water on you. 

Pretty much all activities were photo ops. The herd with the baby girl came over, and people lined up for pictures. Then, one of the adults balanced on a log, and people lined up for pictures. Then, with half a dozen elephants milling about, people broke off to ham it up with whatever elephant was closest. 

The rest of the afternoon was spent following this herd or that. We saw the old lady best friends - one was one of the original half dozen elephants, the other was blind and rescued a decade later, but found a faithful (sighted) friend in the first, and now they are never apart. See, best friends and best friends!

The two herds with babies (one an orphan, one that was accidentally conceived at the park) were eating together by the river, so we hiked over to them. The mahouts were playing with one of the calves, teasing it with a tire they found. 

At one point, she let out a bellow of fright, and the entire herd charged over and clustered around her to protect her. It was daunting to see their speed and their dedication to their young one.

It was one more trip to the river, then we popped back to the structure for a final feeding. 

We left at around 4:30 for the long, traffic-filled ride back into Chiang Mai. 

No joke, we did the exact same thing again. A little nap and relax, then a tuktuk back to Anusan Night Market. It was a pretty hoppin' ride - blue track lights and some techno bass beats. 

We had Indian food (super good Indian food) then each of us got our snack food: a waffle for Alisa, then mango sticky rice for me.

And then, we shopped. That second ATM trip I took yesterday isn't going to cut it...

Wats in Chiang Mai - Tuesday, Nov. 25, 2014

We got to the Krabi airport without any glitches, so spent the hour or two before our flight to Chiang Mai browsing the shops (and scarfing down seaweed-flavored potato chips in my case). I caught up on my podcasts on the flight ("Serial", you are still good in Thailand) and we touched down in a slightly balmier Chiang Mai. 

Our guesthouse is adorbs, with lush plants and a kitten. We got our room a couple minutes after arriving, dumped our bags, and headed to a Trip Advisor-recommended restaurant. 

We wandered up and down the side street where the map said it was located, but no dice. So, we found some local joint where we definitely got some of the most interesting Thai food this trip - we ordered it, so it was kind of on purpose. The guava juice wasn't my style, neither was the shrimp and macaroni scramble that Alisa ordered. My triple mushroom stirfry was basically mushrooms and spicy. So not our best meal. 

You know what makes every meal better? Banana shake. 

With our sustinance, it was time to get out the short list of wats (temples).

First, Wat Phra Singh. Home to the "Lion Buddha", it was the closest. We didn't quite dress for the temples (my skirt and Alisa's shorts were above the knee), so we borrowed some sarongs and peeked inside. Monks were sitting along the walls, and a popular offering were these paper banners with the signs of the Zodiac to hang on lines between the pillars. 

In each of the three buildings we went into, I kept expecting to see a Buddha with a mane, or surrounded by lions, or something iconic. There were some Buddhas, sure, but which was the Lion Buddha? We read the guidebook closely and picked the one that was in the building matching the description, but it was pretty anti-climatic. 

With one slightly disappointing wat behind us, we moved on to Wat Pantao (or Phan Tao). There wasn't a helpful information desk where we could borrow sarongs, so we headed up the steps...

"Ladies." And a tsk-ing English man scolded us into submission. 

I was hot. I was frustrated. We walked all the way to the wat and, I didn't mean any disrespect, I felt covered and we just got finger-wagged by a tourist!

I sat down in the shade to cool off as we thought of our next move. Alisa paged through the guidebook as I pondered and came up with a solution - she'd take my sleeved shirt and use her scarf as a sarong, then we'd trade so we could each go inside and look and not disturb the man who'd appointed himself garb-keeper. 

The interlocking teak hall was a different style, and Alisa and I put some baht in the box for our day of week of birth, so all in all, a fine wat. While I was waiting for Alisa (and vice versa), we got to witness the man hissing at several other tourists trying to enter the building. 

Well, his female companion emerged with disrespectful clothing on herself, and then proceeded to point the bottom of her feet at Buddha in the next wat. Hypocrite. 

The next wat was Wat Chedi Luang. The grounds of this complex was by far my favorite. The wíhâan was similar to others, with the long room with Buddhas at the end, but the chedi (a spired, separate building) was overgrown and thus ancient and rich looking. Parts of it had been restored, such as the guarding nagas (snakes), but overall, it was still a structure that harkened back the 700 years of its existence. 

With that, our tourist duties were complete, and it was time to wander. And wander we did. A wat with a paper-lantern-covered walkway struck Alisa, and we found a brown lake full of giant, slimy, eel-like catfish. So of course we bought the fish food, fed them, and saw just how disgusting they were when they were in a feeding frenzy. I was skeeved out; Alisa is now going to get me a portrait of the gross catfish for Christmas. 

With our tour of the wats complete, it was a wandering journey back to the guest house. I overshot it in one direction (which did get me a new pair of sandals and us some apples for breakfast) then we were blockaged by the gangs and gaggles of school children and their parents trying to pick them up. 

After some relaxing in the A/C of our room, we took a tuktuk (best way to travel - wind in your hair and the fumes in your nose) to the Anusan Night Market. 

There was a row of eateries, so we picked one at random and had some of our favorite Thai food to date. Just simple, slightly spicy noodles and greens.

Alisa was open to watching the Chiang Mai Caberet - lip synching and dancing performed by "ladyboys". They range from men in drag to transgendered individuals that are transitioning (or maybe have transitioned?) who are working it on stage to Rihanna, Abba, and Mariah Carey. 

Just don't ask me where I put the tip to take this picture:

The market, besides being the location of the show, also had stalls and stalls of handicrafts (as well as some cheap, mass produced products as well). The haggling can be exhausting, as is the ever-eager attention, but the tuktuk back was certainly heavier. 

Railay Beach - Monday, Nov. 24, 2014

This is what vacations are made of. 

We got right into our swimsuits (that's 6 out of the last 7 days that swimsuits have dominated the fashion choices), and, after grabbing breakfast on the patio, bought a pair of longboat tickets to Railay Beach. 

We set up a spot in the sand, then swam, tanned, read/napped, and repeated for five hours.

I forgot. I also bought us a pair of fruit shakes. Banana for me (it is habit-forming), lemon coconut for Alisa. 

At about three, we decided that lunch was in order. The one rain shower of the day perfectly timed itself so we were dry and eating pad Thai and baked rice while it was turning the humidity up a notch. 

We spent a few minutes wandering the couple market stalls before hopping back in a longboat for the ten minute ride back to Ao Nang.

We then proceeded to stand in the hotel pool and read our books until the second shower came through, and we went upstairs to take our own showers. 

A simple evening of wine from FamilyMart (with Reese's and Timtams), banana Nutella pancakes from our favorite street stall, and a touch of buying and bargaining completed our beach portion of this vacation.

It's an early morning flight to Chiang Mai and back to city life. The vacation within a vacation is always a brilliant move. 

Beachside in Ao Nang - Sunday, Nov. 23, 2014

Our hotel does have a satisfying breakfast, so waking up at 7 has it's perks. 

We also had a date with our new South African friends for our island tour at 8am. They showed up right at 8, but then the boatman we had negotiated with the day before wasn't around. After half an hour of waiting, asking, and talking to the boatmen that were around, we got put in a longboat with a different boatman anyway. 

The boat stopped alongside one of the cliff-sided islands... And it didn't start again. The battery that just barely got the motor started at Ao Nang was completely dead. After whacking it a few times with a wrench, he called for back-up. Some of the girls couldn't wait to get in the clear blue water, so jumped off the edge, treading water until another boat came with an extra battery. 

Our first "official" stop was the side of Chicken Island to snorkel on some coral. Compared to the Similan Islands we visited on our liveaboard, visibility was just ok at about 30 feet and the number of fish varieties was low at about a dozen. However, it was much more relaxing to not have to worry about buoyancy and equalizing and time and air remaining.

We puttered to another patch of coral with a few more fish species by a second island (potentially Poda) before the boys started asking about lunch.

Some of the islands are part of a reserve, so at the beach area of Chicken Island, where a food stand was, an agent was collecting the 200 baht ($6) fee per person.

Hanging out with the students gave us a renewed appreciation for the flexibility of our budget - they negotiated to have only one of us leave the boat to get food while the rest of us stayed near the boat so we didn't have to pay the fee. Sharon picked up the containers of fried rice and fried noodles, and we were on our way again. 

The quest for a beach where we didn't have to pay led us to the most idyllic place yet. It was a small cove with a soft, sandy beach, surrounded by caves, and topped with lush trees and vines. 

Of course, caves meant there was adventuring to be done. This area is known for amazing climbing routes - the six foot wall up to the cave was just wet and sandy enough to discourage me from attempting anything harder, but it led to a beautiful frame around the already gorgeous inlet. 

After that, it was an hour of being rocked by the waves as we examined the blue and yellow fish that swarmed at the surface. This - this is vacation. 

The caves had gotten the others excited for some cliff-jumping, so we cruised around to one of the routes. A rope ladder led up to the face of a wall, and some ridges extended horizontally along it. 

Of course I climbed up, went along the wall a few feet, then jumped into the clear blue. Adrenaline-filled, but a one-in-a-lifetime experience. 

We next went to Pranang beach and cave. "Pranang" means princess, and the cave is where Thais ask for the princess to fulfill there wishes. As a symbol of that, they leave wooden phallises. Yup, you read that right - it was a cave full of penis sculptures. The phallus actually has a specific meaning: it is the life-giving connection the makes the universe whole (or something very meta like that).

A pair of monkeys were sitting in a tree nearby, and quite a few people were attempting their own monkey business by climbing up the walls bordering the beach. In general, it was a bustling, multi-cultural beachside. 

Alisa and I just enjoyed our very cheap and delicious fruit shakes. I think I'll have a banana shake every day until I leave - the small, sweet tropical bananas are too delicious.

It was approaching 3pm, and the afternoon clouds rolled in, with a smattering of rain along with them. We congregated back at the boat, but our tour had one more stop on Railay Beach before heading back to Ao Nang. 

Alisa and I are planning on going to Railay tomorrow, so we stayed in the boat with half of the other group. A few ventured out to find beer or explore - squeeze those last baht out of the trip. I was just ready for a shower. 

It was a steady drizzle when we pulled up to Ao Nang. We wished everyone a good holiday, then splashed back to our hotel. 

A shower and a few tv programs later, we emerged for "Thai pancakes." They have crepe-like tendencies, but are ultimately fried, not just cooked. We got a few varieties (with banana-Nutella being the clear favorite), and picked up a bottle of wine and Lays at the neighboring FamilyMart. (FamilyMart is one of APT's couple Asian clients, so I was excited to support them.) One of the Chicagoans from yesterday was a flavor scientist at a liquor company (and the other worked with a food processor, so a match made in a kitchen) and they were talking about how America mimicks Asian flavors. This, and talk about delicious chip flavor, led us to complement our wine and pancake with bags of Lays. 

Yup, that's seaweed, salmon, seafood, and "Italian" (which was cheesy goodness). We scarfed it all down while watching "Mona Lisa Smile" then power-napped. 

I might have been overly insistent that we leave the hotel one more time before we hit the sack, so I dragged a tired and apathetic Alisa to the nightlife hot spot (which was a neon, trashy mix of Thai women and male tourists being loud and obnoxious over clubby music), then found something more lowkey in a restaurant with a guy and gal covering guitar-heavy 90s and 2000s pop. Their lyrics were quite a few mumbles with the clearer refrains between, but it was a nice way to pass the the time as we ate and observed. 

With the cooler air, I wanted to wander a bit. We walked back toward the beach, then turned along a street we hadn't tried before. 

A few blocks down was a group sitting in the middle of the road on chairs they had borrowed from a garden nearby. As we approach, their faces and voices became more clear... And it was the South Africans with their German friends once again. 

We moved two more chairs (which got the guard interested, but thankfully he agreed to let us stay until we were done) and dove right into their conversation on socialism, philanthrophy, and God's will for us.

Both Alisa and I weren't expecting the foreign, attractive twenty-year-old med students to be quoting from Scripture to make their points, but it led to what I hope was a discussion that opened their eyes a bit (and opened mine a bit too). Their views on marriage, mental illness, and the "2%" (I guess the top 1% isn't enough?) were some of the reasons I travel, to talk and hear these perspectives. 

It was one in the morning when the conversation turned to sleep. Perhaps it is goodbye for good, but we can always expect the unexpected. 

Tableside in Ao Nang - Saturday, Nov. 22, 2014

We had a two hour taxi ride from Khao Lak where the Manta Queen 2 docked. We were so excited for our resort hotel - three days of relaxing.

The views didn't disappoint from our balcony. 

We attempted to sleep in, and almost got to 7am - I'm not sure I want to adjust at this point. The morning is calm, and almost cool. 

We started with a walk the block to Ao Nang beach. Longboats were there to whisk you to wherever you were willing to pay. As we examined the signboard of destinations (a collection of islands across the bay), a girl asked where we were thinking of going. Turns out, she and her posse of three girlfriends from South Africa and a pair of dudes from Germany that they picked up along the way. We negotiated for a day trip among the islands for Sunday, and we had the rest of our Saturday to plan. 

We began by walking down the row of shops along the beach... Always dangerous. Doing the math to figure out how much everything costs is hard - so we just ended up buying anything that seemed like it was reasonably priced. I had my little bit of fun bargaining (when only a dollar is on the line, it's pretty easy to have fun).

Lunch was a slow, hot walk up to Massaman Restaurant (a Trip Advisor recommendation). Alisa chose pad thai; I chose a dry curry. When the waitress asked if I wanted it spicy or not, I asked for "medium."

That Mai Thai? It didn't cut the heat at all. Halfway through my torturous curry, I had to order a banana shake to cool my mouth down. With the help of creamy goodness, I managed to finish it. I'll consider it an accomplishment. 

On our list for Ao Nang was a Thai cooking class. We booked an afternoon class for Smart Cook Thai Cooking - well reviewed on Trip Advisor for good reason. A slightly belated pick-up in essentially a covered pick-up, and the two of us, a Chicagoan couple, and a German mechanical engineer were on our way to neighboring Krabi. 

We made five delicious courses. First was using seven fresh ingredients (plus some salt and peppercorn) to make our curry paste. Everything that was spicy was "sexy" to our instructor, June. She had an incredibly dry sense of humor. I was tricked by her more times than I care to count.  (I honestly thought I was making alligator curry until the chicken actually came out. Not a super crazy thing, since they have alligator farms, but...)

We then chopped all our fresh veggies and herbs. About half were recognizable. The Thai eggplant, the galanga (Thai ginger), lemongrass, and interesting varieties of mushrooms all went into our soup, curry, and stir fry. Our first three courses were ready to get exposed to the high heat of the wok. 

One by one, our dishes lined up on the table. We had our first sitting while a monsooning thunderstorm bounced off the corrugated metal roof. Chicken in coconut broth, green curry, and cashew chicken for me; sweet and sour chicken soup, panaeng curry, and pad thai for Alisa.

Our second sitting was the salad, spring rolls, and dessert - an odd order, but it made sense as we chopped our way through fresh spring rolls, banana spring rolls, papaya salad, cucumber salad, mango sticky rice, and (how autumnal) pumpkin in coconut milk. 

After eight hours of cooking, eating, and chatting with our fellow Americans, we were back to our comfy hotel and static-y tv. 

Diving the Andaman Sea - Nov. 18-21, 2014

Alisa and I were nervous coming into these couple days on a boat. From

seasickness to ear problems to buoyancy, we had a number of reasons to be. I'll ruin the suspense, though - it was been amazing. 

The other 18 people scubaing with us in the Simalan National Marine Wildlife Park were mostly from Germany and the others from Brazil, Spain, and Ireland. We got paired up with Vincent and Jessica and Nele - all open water certified years ago, and haven't dived in a while, so they needed a refresher course... The refresher was simply to check weights, hover, as well as my favorite, remove, replace and clear mask. 

When I was getting open water certified at Lake Rawlings (highly recommended if the real deal isn't near you), I had a lot of trouble equalizing my ears, to the point where I had a slight tear in my eardrum. The crazy part to me is the amount of pressure equalization that has to happen before you even hit five meters down. The pressure has gone from 1 atmosphere to 1.5, and my ears can definitely tell. I still am the slowpoke at descending, but at least I'm not trying to keep up (or accidentally sinking like a rock) and hurting myself. 

The first dive off the Manta Queen II... It was amazing. After all the anxiety, all the stress, (and the money for getting certified), we were truly doing something that was worth all that and more. The crew helped us with everything, from putting on our fins to retying my neck strap when fiddling with the wetsuit untied it. 

It was one big step into Koh Bon, and a whole new world was opened to us. We hung out in the coral reefs and the ridge wall, and the diversity was awesome. Besides the dozens of families of fish (thanks for the helpful references, Finding Nemo), we also saw some moray eels, a banded sea snake swimming through the water, and sea anemones with their anemonefish. 

Since the motto is "dive, eat, sleep, repeat", we got a meal or warm snack after every dive. We traveled to Koh Tachai during lunch and hopped in to see manta rays! At least three of them were flying around us as we swam along the hilly, coral-covered terrain. After lots of talk about what to do if there was a strong current, we had great scubaing conditions. A giant barracuda was there to greet us when we went down again, though the slow-moving starfish and fan coral were a stark contrast to the zippy fishes. The rock formations around the "Dome of Doom" were cool as well. 

Amidst all the excitement, including signing up for Advanced Diver Training while we are abroad, I forgot to be jetlagged until 7:30pm. And then it was time for bed. 

I got up at 5, but only partially because of jetlag. I was well-rested, and worked through the review sheets for our five speciality dives we need for certification - deep dive, peak performance buoyancy, underwater navigation, night diving and wreck diving. 

We had also altered course and schedule overnight. The woman from our dive group had tingles and soreness in her arm, so she was on oxygen all night and needed a speedboat to take her to Phuket and a pressure chamber to see if it was decompression sickness. Our initial goal of Richelieu Rock was north where reports said it was choppy, so we traveled back to Koh Bon. 

The advanced training was still on, so a dive down to 26.5 meter showed how the red spectrum of light gets filtered out at that depth. Another manta swam by and around us! 

Next, it was to the Simalan Islands proper, starting with the 9th and last. "Simalan" means nine in Thai - makes sense right? The dive spot was called Three Trees, and we were going to do some training... Until the sea turtle showed up. He was gliding along the bottom, using his beak to rip off bits of coral. So stunning. The mounds of coral (that wasn't as healthy due to activities before it became a marine park) we separated by sand - a new environment to dive in. The pinnacles of coral coming out of the sand were like little miniature worlds. 

West of Eden, by the seventh Simalan Island, had it's pinnacles more clustered. We did some navigation skills (which including traveling a square and counting kick cycles, which Alisa and I agreed was harder than using the compass). We found cold water for the first time on the trip, but the thermocline was at about 12 meters, so we stayed above that. On our way back, another turtle was sighted flying around, but our air and time limits were approaching, so we had to leave. 

Because of the change in schedule, we now had a night dive on the list! Out came the torches, and we followed Matt down along a wall. There were little red eyes of crabs staring out at us from coral and anemones. With the light, we could see the red in fish we hadn't seen before. The clusters of lights were all around, and it was fun to just watch the way the water caught the beams - like inverse spotlights were you are focused on the operator, not the target. There was a concrete lady statue that someone thought was a tsunami memorial. Seeing her at night gave an added gravitas to the dive. 

It was bright and early this morning, and we still had two more training dives in the three that were planned for today. It was a reasonable night's sleep (accounting for exhaustion from eight dives in two days), and I was raring to go at 5:30 this morning, watching the sliver of a moon get drowned out by the sunrise. 

Our first dive was at 7:55am - there really isn't much wasted time! All our gear and in the water in ten or so minutes. We did our buoyancy skills, then explored Anita's Reef, on the other side of Simalan Island #5 and #6 from Hideaway Bay, where we were last night. It was sandy, with coral bommies as little pockets of life, covered by a shimmery coating of  schools of fish. One pocket was clearly claimed by a moray opening and closing his mouth to show his intentions. On the sand were gobies and the shrimp that they stand watch over. The shrimp see but can't dig - the shrimp dig but can't see. It reminds me slightly of the zebra and wildebeest - the zebra can sense danger, the wildebeest can sense water. 

We headed to islands 7 and 8 for what is probably the most memorable dive site. Elephant Head Rock was just the top curve of a granite rock formation that plunged over 40 meters down to the sea bottom. Besides following the currents through crevices and channels, we also did a swim- through underneath a stack of boulders. All the caverns and mountains had fuzzy coatings of coral, with fan coral and fishes waving us through. A ribbon eel was twisting around in the shallower parts where we could get close to the bottom, then we were all twisting around when we hit some currents during the ascent. The boat swung around the help haul us out of the water, and it was an afternoon of travel to our final dive (and the final dive of our advanced course), the Premchai wreck. 

Did I mention that we saw a minke whale surfacing while enroute? Just a dorsal, but check that one off a list somewhere!

The weather turned a bit as we approached Khao Lak, with clouds rolling in. We were suited up and ready for the boat to drop us off when the murmur traveled back that the buoy marking the site was gone. 

We had filled out almost all our paperwork to be advanced open water divers, but had superstitiously kept the wreck dive blank. It looked like we would have to figure out a different specialty and quick.

Or just find the rope marking the spot. The buoy wasn't marking it, but we followed the descent line down to a murky, furry boat. The ship had been used for tin mining, but that industry had been drying up and, whoops, this ship sank. That was about 25 years ago. 

The visibility and the lines of the boat (and them not aligning with the surface) had me swimming at an angle a couple times. But the bubbles don't lie, and I got reoriented. We saw lion fish, a rockfish that blended in amazingly, and schools and schools of small silvery fish and small blue fish. It was interesting, but I felt very crowded because of the visibility. Matt was moving slowly so we could watch him, which meant Alisa was running into him, and I was continually driving under Alisa and hovering until they both moved forward. Some jellyfish relative that is only a single strand has stung us a couple times before, but was extra prevalent near the Premchai. So, while it was very fulfilling since it was the final dive for our advanced course, it was my least favorite dive of the trip. 

After coming onto the liveaboard and handing off our shoes, most of these last couple of days has been out of our hands into much more capable ones. A cook, a captain, dive instructors, and the dive helpers have made everything incredibly smooth. The dive conditions were amazingly favorable. Both sea turtles and mantas that we could observe while they carried on about their business... and these seasickness patches have prevented even an ounce of nausea on an ever-moving boat. The efficiency with how the Manta Queen II got flipped was impressive.

I will say that personally, there are some areas for improvement. I grind down on the bite guard to the regulator, and after three days, my jaw is quite sore. The sides of my mouth are chapped from stretching around the mouthpiece. I don't do a good job paying attention to our navigation - it's so much easier to follow and pay more attention to the fishes instead. But, I'm comfortable underwater, and I can keep calm when I need to figure out the right decision to make. 

I can hear the money flush away into the deep, blue, beautiful sea...

We got back to the dive shop, turned in our computers for our passports, settled our debts, and were in a cab to Ao Nang within an hour. 

Bangkok - Tues., Nov 18

Well, it was going to be a full day in Bangkok before heading to Phuket to meet our liveaboard, but that pesky International Date Line got the better of us. 

We had until 1pm to do our brisk tour of Bangkok. The jetlag helped - we were up before 7 without issue and had our free, minimalist breakfast before an inaugural tuktuk ride to Wat Pho. 

The "trouble" with tuktuks (besides holding your life in their three-wheeled hands) is that there are no meters. But, the price he gave was less than we were planning to offer anyway, so it was an easy conversation. The tuktuk was a thrilling way to get around, and our driver dropped us right by the entrance, right as it opened at 8. 

It was very peaceful as we wandered the grounds. Wat Pho has the largest collection of Buddha images in Thailand at over 300. The Rama kings (at least the first four) each have an intricate temple-like building commemorating them, with Rama IV buried in the middle compound. 

Every room containing a Buddha is sacred and we had to take our shoes off, but hardly any of them are connected, so it was off and on many times before we got to the most well-known Buddha - the largest reclining Buddha statue. By that point, the crowds had filled in behind us, we were accidentally photo-bombing pictures left and right. 

The big guy was pretty awe-striking. The temple surrounding him didn't give him much room to breathe, so that might have added to his perception of greatness. Even with his giant presence, I liked a tucked away garden with a foundation and an island better. 

The lushness was beautiful. There was a bird that sounded like the same note on a wooden xylophone being hit over and over - we assumed it was a car alarm until we traced it to a colorful singer on top of a flagpole. 

There were also these Chinese-looking statues guarding the doors called "Yak Wat Pho." Where Buddha always looks serene and it is disrespectful to include yourself in pictures of his statues, these guys looked like they had a trick up their sleeve and were willing to get posed with. 

We walked along the giant fence surrounding Wat Phra Kaew and the Grand Palace to the entrance on the far side. The compound had a religious area in one quadrant, but every single giant tour group was right by the main temple with the Emerald Buddha. We knew we had to dress conservative, but apparently our scarves weren't trusted to cover our shoulders, so we got pastel collared shirts to don as well. 

We got swept along with the crowds (or perhaps more like shoved along; with so many people, manners aren't rewarded, but persistence is.) The Emerald Buddha was dwarfed by his massive, multi-level platform and the pushy crowd around us. He did look nice in his gold robes. Apparently they are seasonal (hot, cool, and rainy being the "seasons") and switched by the king himself. 

As we wandered the rest of the grounds, we escaped the crushing crowds but just for bustling crowds. There was a group of at least a hundred school children that we intersected with a few times. 

The Grand Palace only had a couple buildings to explore, so we checked out the welcoming hall, the facade of the British-built coronation building, and the building where the do viewings when important people die. 

On our way out, dropping off our now beautiful and beautiful-smelling shirts, we grabbed a mulberry smoothie that we sucked on while walking back toward our hostel to pick up our bags. The Sanam Luang - a giant grassy area that doesn't really seem to serve a purpose - was our guiding 

A general travel tip from the day: if you have wifi, you can pre-load Google Maps images of the areas you'll be in. When you aren't connected to wifi, the GPS signal still works, and you can follow your location along the cached maps. This was pretty helpful for the odd circling streets between Sanam Luang and Th Khao San, the market road where we browsed and had lunch.

Lunch! Our first real Thai food! The restaurant was recommended by our out-dated (but free! - thanks Kelly) guidebook, so it has probably moved away from the authenticity. It was only foreigners while we were eating.

But still. It was delicious Thai food - curries, noodles, rice, spring rolls with peanut sauce. And I got the pumpkin hummus - it doesn't feel like fall at all in the 90 degree shade, but in my heart I know it is. 

Taxi was easy, though because there are two airports, we had to trust we communicated enough to get to the right one. 

And since we are here, we must have figured it out. Though he asked where we were from, then said Rottweiler a couple times. His favorite English word? We'll never know...

It's off to Phuket to get picked up by Khaolak Scuba Adventures for three full days of diving! We have our seasick patches on, and our nerves are starting to kick in - time to test that scuba training in the ocean!

Flying to Bangkok - Nov. 16-17

We were asked to do a survey for ANA, which might chance the language I'm using. Top choice - the movie selection. 

So I watched all the hits that I missed: Boyhood, Jersey Boys, What If, Begin Again, and Guardians of the Galaxy. And a bit of House of Cards. 

We also figured out that we didn't account for the day we lost in transit, so we booked a hotel for the night we spent in the air. Our Bangkok itinerary is a little compact now. 

In Tokyk now, with our Bangkok flight boarding. My eyes are pretty heavy after 18+ hours of travel. 

I'll try to include more pictures next time.

Chicago Layover - Nov. 15-16, 2014

We booked tickets to Thailand through Japan-based ANA for two reasons - they were second cheapest, and we get to spend 18 hours in Japan on the way back. On the way from DC to Bangkok, however, we got a 24-hour layover in Chicago. Average expected temperatures for the rest of the trip: 70-80 degrees. Chicago? 20-30 degrees. 

Alisa and I packed checked bags for perhaps one of the first times we've traveled together. Our scuba fins and equipment were too big for carry-on luggage, so we had plenty of room, though slightly less for our weight allowance. There was lots of bargaining ("I can wear this over three other layers in Chicago, and it'll be cute in the tropics!"). 

After three missteps on my part that sent me back to my apartment to get the stuff I left (which were driving Alisa to hysteria), we made it on to my grandparents' house, then our flight the next morning.

So, starting off with the shortest flight of the trip. Got that under our belt and were ready to hit up the Windy City. First off, deep dish. We got the recommendation for Lou Malnoti's. It wasn't the incredibly buttery pastry crust, but it was certainly appealing. 

As for discovering things, nothing outside sounded appealing, so walking the Miracle Mile, or along the lake, or to the Bean were all off the list. Instead, we looked up shows. The afternoon was spent at the Adler Planetarium. Dark matter. Astrolabes. The  metaphors for the size of the universe. A show that introduced us to the stars. And, a heated building where we could eat freeze-dried ice cream. 

We then went to "Late Nite Catechism." Quite a bit went over our little Lutheran heads, but this is where the show started. 

Our dinner was at another quite established joint: Portillos. With a Chicago-style hot dog, and Italian beef sandwich, and a chocolate cake shake. The area was very flashy. 

Our final show was a ComedySportz in yet another awesome area. The better team won. 

It was not that early of a wake-up, all considering, but being awake for two long planes rides is going to be something else.