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Peacock Dance – Pai, Thailand

Feeling a bit worn out from our six week whirlwind trip through India, Lila and I boarded an early flight heading to Bangkok, Thailand, each of us looking forward to slowing the pace of our trip down a bit after covering so much ground the previous months. From the airport we headed into the city to meet our friend Josh who was staying along Khao San Road, Bangkok’s famous “backpacker ghetto”. Cheap rooms and good eats make this a comfortable place for the western crowd, but Lila and I were in the mood for some real R&R, so we hooked up with Josh and headed north to Kanchanaburi, a province located in Thailand’s central plains and well known for it’s natural beauty. We booked a large room for the three of us at the Jolly Frog Backpackers resort that sits on the bank of the River Kwai – the setting for one of the all time great WWII films, The Bridge on the River Kwai. Josh is one of my oldest friends and, being the vagabond that he is, has been to Thailand seven or eight times in the last decade. After so many months on the road it was nice to see a familiar face and it was a plus that Josh knows the country so well, which meant that Lila and I could take a break on research and just follow Josh about for a bit without having to think too much.

Josh - morning stretch on the River Kwai, Kanchanaburi

The morning after our arrival we rented the first of what would be many scooters while in Asia, and headed to Erawan National Park. After a nice hour long ride through the countryside, we hiked the winding path beneath a canopy of trees and up through the park, passing beautiful pools of crystal blue water along the way. At the top sits Erawan Falls, the largest of the waterfalls in the park. Sweaty and muddy from the walk, we jumped in and showered under the falls as local families picnicked and played in the pools below. The ride back turned into our first true Thai adventure when a monsoon downpour started. The rain was so intense that it was hard to see the road ahead. It felt like the water drops were cutting through our cheeks as we slowly made our way to shelter where we shared a shop overhang with other riders until the sky cleared up. We had been in some serious storms throughout the year, but I had never experienced rain that fell from the sky with the intensity of the waterfall we had just visited. We ended the night at our first Thai “night market”; endless stalls of Thai delicacies, including delicious curries, green papaya salads, and of course my favorite noodle dish, Pad Thai, all washed down with a large Singha beer. Nine months in the world and we had finally found paradise.

Erawan Falls, Kanchanaburi

We spent a few more days exploring the town and the surrounding countryside. We checked out the new bridge on the River Kwai (if you’ve seen the movie, then you’re well aware of the fact that the first bridge didn’t survive). We spent a lot of time relaxing, reading, and napping in the hammock outside our room. Lila and I experienced our first, second, and third four dollar foot massage. Awesome! Feeling rested and rejuvenated, we headed back to Bangkok where we caught the overnight train to Chiang Mai, Northern Thailand’s largest city.

Buddha Buddies, Chiang Mai

Chiang Mai is the massage capital of Thailand. There are more massage schools and centers than I could possibly count. At least one or two on every block. Josh usually spends several months a year studying massage in Chiang Mai along with numerous other students from around the world who come to sharpen their skills. Josh had the city wired and since he speaks Thai pretty darn good, it was easy to get around and make small talk with the locals, though most Thais seem to have a pretty good handle on English.

Prayer Flags, Chiang Mai

The city itself is small and manageable. Modern guesthouses line the streets and food can be found on every corner. Every night of the week several city blocks are turned into giant night markets that go on and on. The locals come out to stroll and socialize and the vendors compete for sales of food, drink, clothing and crafts. If you are a foodie, and we are, Thailand night markets are like a dream. So many inexpensive delicacies to sample – grilled meat skewers, piles of noodles, delicious fruit shakes, and doughy creamy desserts that make your mouth water (and sometimes your stomach turn). Thailand must consume mountains of canned condensed milk and if you ask for anything without sugar be prepared to get some strange looks. And the Thais love their insects too. “Don’t knock it til you try it” is my motto, and I swear that wok fried grasshoppers with soy and ginger are worth a try!

Yum, fried grass hopper

After a week of food, temple visits, and loads of yoga and massage and we headed for the hills to the small mountain town of Pai (Pie). A one hundred and thirty kilometers scooter trip up, over, and through a mountain pass, and we arrived in a trendy little tourist town that was like a miniature of the bigger city we had just left. Good food. Cheap massage. Beautiful smiles – in fact Thailand refers to itself as the “Land of Smiles”, and I had to agree that they had figured out the recipe for happiness. A few days of hiking and exploring, and one good night of drinking and salsa (Josh and Lila, not me), and we made our winding way back to Chiang Mai just in time for the annual Loy Krathong lantern festival celebrating the last full moon of the Thai lunar year.

Josh and Lila, while trying to avoid incoming bottle rockets, release a lantern for good luck

Sunset over the River Kwai

Our first two weeks in Thailand had already been so amazing, but it was time to head further into the continent and into Laos – so we hopped a boat that would take us two days down the Mekong River to the French colonial inspired city of Luang Prabang.

We come back to Southern Thailand later in our trip, but we’ll save those stories for the right place and time.

Click here to see our Thailand photos.

Landing small hopper flight to San Jose, Costa Rica

Lila and I have been home for just about a month now. Setting up house, buying cars, paying bills, and visiting with family and friends. Getting back into this so-called “real life” has been taking up most of our time, so there has been little time to work on finishing up our blog. How do we summarize our thoughts about a whirlwind trip that took us through 22 countries in thirteen and a half months? What did we learn about the world? What did we learn about ourselves? These are all things that will take time of reflection and discussion with family and friends before we truly have answers. In the meantime, we thought we’d give you a different view of our trip. We started this list a couple of months ago while on a night train between Hanoi and Hue, Vietnam. We finished it over a bottle of wine just a few of nights ago…

Our Year in Numbers

5 Continents
22 Countries
23 Planes
14 Trains
30 Buses
16 Ferries & Boats (not including dive boats, houseboats, or kayaks)
9 Motos & Scooters
6 Bicycles
2 Rental Cars
17 Paid Tours (i.e. Safari, Valley of the Kings, City Tours)
100′s of tuk tuks, taxis, and minivans
1000′s of kilometers walked
4 Illnesses (2 each, but not counting 6 weeks of general bellyaches in India)
1 Volunteer Program
40 Dives each (Brazil, Seychelles, Zanzibar, Egypt, Thailand)
49 Coral Species Memorized
2 New Dive Certifications
74 World Beers Sampled
3 Cameras (1st underwater cam got water in it, 2nd camera left in campground in Uganda, 3rd camera huge scratch on lens)
6 pairs of flip flops (Jeff). Lila – too many shoes to count:)
15 cooking classes
15 pounds lost (Jeff)
10 pounds gained (Lila)
Money Spent? Don’t even ask.
Life experience. priceless.

Stuck in the sand just south of Lima, peru

Sleeping in on the night bus - Andean Pass, Chile

Cycling through wine country - Mendoza, Argentina

Our Safari Rig - Kenya, Africa

Lila stepping out of a tuk tuk - Rajasthan, India

Easy Riding - Goa, India

Josh, Lila and I on a slow boat down the Mekong River - Laos

Lila ready to board a dragon boat - Hue, Vietnam

When we catch up with life, Lila and I plan on writing about each of the countries in South East Asia that we never got around to blogging about. Stay tuned.

Rajasthan Women

Lila and I left India nearly three months ago and have since traveled through Thailand, Laos, Vietnam and part of Malaysia. We are seriously behind on our blog updates. I guess we have been having too much fun. So here is our last bit on India and then we’ll do our best to catch you all up on our time spent in South East Asia.

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From Goa we caught a flight that took us further north into the Indian state of Rajasthan, the India that I had imagined in my mind when I first started dreaming about the trip. Old forts, lake palaces, elephants, spicy curries, and amazingly colorful people in beautiful costumes make Rajasthan one of the most unique places that we visited all year.

Master of Puppets

Our first stop was the lakeside city of Udaipur. The city is situated around a shallow lake that acts as a buffer to the grand palaces that sit in the middle only accessible by boat. The “Lake Palace”, once a retreat for the local maharajah’s family, and also the setting for the James Bond film Golden Eye, is now one of India’s most exclusive hotels. We stayed in the neighborhood adjacent to the lake at the Krishna Palace Guesthouse, a traditional haveli (Indian mansion), the interior decoratively hand-painted by the owner, a well known Indian artist once commissioned by the local raj. Lila took cooking lessons and added a few northern India dishes to her growing recipe box. We spent our days exploring the local forts, palaces, and museums and winding our way through the narrow neighborhoods full of shops and restaurants. Every once in a while someone would ride an elephant through town as bicyclist and tuk tuk drivers swerved to miss the pedestrian traffic. We spent our leisure time hanging out atop the many rooftop terraces overlooking the lake.

Lila making friends as usual

From Udaipur we took another eventful bus ride to the city of Jodhpur. On the way we were mesmerized by the change in scenery and people. The green of Goa behind us, the desert spread out before us. Boulders and cacti lined the roads and the normal assortment of distractions – cows, goats, dogs – played chicken with the bus around each bend. Lila, holding a little Hindi girl in her lap for a good part of the trip, noticed the change in the local clothing. The women adorned in bright colors and bangles up to their shoulders. The men wore mutton chops, big mustaches and even bigger and brighter turbines, each color significant in communicating, age, caste, and material status, amongst other things.

Hindi Festival, Udaipur

Jodhpur seems more of a working city than a tourist destination, but it turned out to be a favorite for a number of reasons. First and foremost was the beautifully up kept Mehrangarh Fort. The day we visited there happened to be a annual international music festival. Throughout the day we were treated to the sights and sounds of a number of traditional dance troupes and musicians who traveled from all over India for this event. We returned in the evening for a sunset concert outside the fort walls and then another performance inside the fort itself. We stayed at the Heavens Guesthouse, a pleasant family home-stay. Nisha, the owner, took a liking to us and invited us to join her at a local folk festival where we spent the afternoon admiring the amazing array of characters vying for first prize in a number of events, including turbine tying, a traditional raj costume contest, and tug-o-war.

Jodhpur Folk Festival

From Jodhpur we took a night train to the fort city of Jaisalmer. Arriving tired (around 5am) we were lucky when we checked into the Fifu Guesthouse, by far one of our favorites in India, and they had a room ready for us to return to bed. When we awoke we met Fifu and his brother, the most gracious hosts. During the day we visited the famous Jaisalmer Fort, the town inside still intact and full of shops, restaurants and narrow winding neighborhoods. We also visited the three Jain temples located inside the fort walls. The intricate carvings so unique and beautiful and different than the Hindu temples that we had visited in the south. (Jainism,based on a philosophy of non-violence, was spun off of Hinduism centuries ago in a revolt against the harsh Indian caste system. The most devout of the Jains do not believe in harming a single living creature. They wear white masks covering their mouths to avoid inhaling insects and are often seen sweeping the path in front of them to avoid crushing ants and other bugs beneath their feet as they walk.) In the afternoons we took refuge on Fifu’s rooftop terrace – a perfect escape from the dusty roads below, with a picture perfect view of the fort, good food, and endless lime sodas to cool us down from the scorching heat.

We spent our final evening with a Jeep tour into the surrounding desert with a friendly couple from London. An hour off-road, past heards of camels and small villages, we made our way into the dunes where our guides prepared us dinner as the sun set behind the hills.

A view from the Jaiselmer Fort

Another night train journey, kept company by my own little cockroach family this time, and we arrived in Jaipur, Rajasthan’s capital city. Hot, crowded, and crazy and we were quickly shocked back into Indian reality. Fortunately the food scene in India is never a let down, so we perused the city streets looking for the perfect chapati, samosas, and curries. The following day we visited the Amber Fort, just out of town, saw a Bollywood film at the Raj Mandir cinema, one of India’s largest and well known theaters, and Lila replenished her wardrobe with a few choice pieces from Anokhi, a traditional block print fabric boutique.

Yet another train ride, arriving after midnight this time, and we were in the city of Agra, home of the Taj Mahal, and apparently the breeding ground for the swarthyist of touts, but I won’t get into that as you can read endlessly about this on other peoples India blogs. The Taj was magnificent. That is the only word that can describe it. It was every bit as beautiful as we expected. Built by the Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan in the 16th century as a memorial to his favorite wife – Mumtaz Mahal, every detail is a testament to a love lost.

The Taj Mahal

A final Indian train experience, this time on the day train, upon hard wooden benches, in a car full of men – and Lila. Needless to say, there was some serious staring, one thing that you never really get used to in India. Six hours later, however, and we arrived in New Delhi. I might have more to say about Delhi, but at this point Lila and I were feeling more than a little road weary, so we stayed in a suburb on the outskirts of town in a modern little hotel, with a hot shower, clean linens, and a flat screen TV. Awe the little things. The following day we made our way to the giant western style mall. I mean HUGE mall (apparently not everyone in India is poor), where we strolled around unharrased in the air-conditioned stores looking at an array of useless crap and generally just hiding from the overwhelming swarm of humanity outside – not that the mall wasn’t packed as well. Lila went to the spa for a facial, had a fish pedicure – thousands of tiny fish eat the dead skin off of your feet (very strange, but popular in Asia). You should have seen her face. The following evening we boarded a flight for Thailand.

Fish Pedicure

There is no real was to wrap up my feelings about India at this time. It is one of those countries that I haven’t fully absorbed. As beautiful as India is, at the end of your trip I think that there is a need to wash away the weeks of dirt and grime and some of the things that you have seen and to give it a rest for a bit. For every beautiful palace and temple, there is a heartbreaking reminder of the poverty in this country of nearly a billion people. The children growing up on the streets without parents, the dead dogs along the roadways, the morning bathroom huddle along the train tracks because the slums have no plumbing, the endless beggars with missing limbs and gaping self inflicted wounds, their only source of income in a country that believes that your lot in life has more to do with your karma than with a culture haunted by centuries of caste discrimination and imperialism.

Click here for India pics.

Click here to view photos from Thailand

Click here to view photos from Laos

Click here to view photos from Vietnam