the Perks of Jetlag

SO, I am home now back in the NOLA and wanted to do a final update.

I realize my last post from the JFK airport made no sense (not that any of my other posts are any example of clarity) but not sleeping and extensive travel does this to you.

Anyway-while I started this blog as an alert to the fam and close friends, it has also become sort of a web journal for me to remember this amazing experience...SO I felt that it was appropriate to wrap up and fill in any holes. BUT, first I must finish the final adventure.

While stumbling home from our GOLF game, Jess convinced a songthaew(mix between a taxi/tuk tuk/mini bus with no back driver to bring us to the airport tomorrow for about a quarter of the standard fare. I guess we shouldnt have been surprised the next day when he never showed.

We woke up the next day for a long breakfast and relaxing sun time for a few hours before we had to catch our 3 oclock flight from Krabi back to Bangkok where we were to catch a flight to Tokyo then JFK, and then NOLA for me.

Obviously we had to find a new mode of transportation to the airport. the driver brings us to the airport with only TWO sketchy stops. One: to drop off a little girl at her house who we picked up on the way (???) and two: for him to sign in at the bus station and try to sell us rambutan fruit (looks like a sea urchin). So we eventually get to the airport and went to check in for our AIR ASIA flight (air asia basically is a giant flying bus) when they todl us that they just decided that it wasnt going to happen and would we mind leaving ona later flight. Actually, we would mind, being as we have a flight home to the states, but okay.

So we end up buying new tickets on thai airways (which serves food but it is so heinous that it seems like they serve that on purpose...remember the chicken/fish hyrbid? this time it was a jello fruit pound cake fruit cake lemony hyrbid. EEK.

Back in bangkok and our bags come and we get ready for our five hours of sitting. A woman from the tourism agency comes up to us, because really, how could we avoid any last minute haggling, and asks us if we were American. I looked at her strangely. She looked back. "Actually we grew up here. We're Thai." Apparently sarcasm (although rude according to my mother) does not work with the language barrier.

Anyway, I have to share our experience with the last interesting person we met in Thailand because she really was FASCINATING. the woman, Joanna, sitting next to us thought it was funny and struck up a conversation. She was from Minnesota and studied to be a pastor before peacing out to Thailand and taking her two children, who are now 20 and 25. She started her own NGO and lives with a Karen hill tribe in Burma, working to teach them about sanitation and nutrition. Jess and I confessed our ignorance to the apparent persecution and genocide of the Karen people who not only suffer from hunger and poverty but discrimination and exile. It was so sad to talk to her and we explained to her that she should utilize university students as a volunteer asset as we have many friends from school that have been active not only in the United States but in Africa and around the world doing microfinance and the like.

For our last meal in Thailand, we were on a search for Mango with sticky rice and pad thai and of course all we really want at this point is Burger King. Jess also needed to find a gift for Barbie.

Around ten at night, we boarded our Japan Airlines flight (really never seen so many Japanese business men and felt so sloppy large and American)and Jess insisted that her ginormously tall friend (ie, me) get an exit row seat. Japan Airlines serves a lot of tea and rice snacks and the like. Unfortunately, the congealed rice dishes dont sit well and Jess and I had to opt for a luna bar instead. Note: our last flight from tokyo to NY served WAFFLES AND PANCAKES ("western style") so Jess and I had something to eat while everyone else ate fish eggs and the like. No wonder Americans are so fat.

22 hours of flying and about 14 hours of layovers we landed in NY and had to say goodbye. I DONT KNOW WHEN I AM GOING TO SEE JESS NEXT. This saddened us greatly.



Some things I forgot to mention and have no idea how I forgot this:

-there is a fish tank in the mall where you PAY to put your feet in a fish tank with many other people. people do this so fish can eat the dead skin off the bottom of your feet. notabene: It was on a Weeds episode

-hilarious drag show where "lady boys" performed show tunes, Celine, Whitney Houston and the like


-a tuk-tuk driver who had his son in the front seat with him, adorable

-roasted grasshoppers on the street. eek. bon appetit.

Pictures will be put on facebook in the next week. Thank yall all for following!!!

one more flight....

So I'm in jfk airport in New York and just said bye to Garvey and hello to Max (hi max, since I know you're a loyal blog-follower!)
They headed back to the jers and I wanted to quickly jot down some of the rest of our trip.
Our last day in Ao Nang on Krabi island we went on a tour of "james bond island" which, for those James B fans was made famous by one of his movies (duh)which I believe to be the Man with the Golden Gun. Locally it is known as Ko Tapu or Nail Island. (sidebar, can't remember if I mentioned this but Ko or Koh is Island and Hat is beach in Thai). Pics to come. Because the tide was low, we took a "longtail boat" out to the island. It was sort of a gray day and the clouds created this stunny smokey haze on all the jutting out mountains-turned-islands over the past 5000 years. This islaand is not a swimming island or sandy island but it was cool to climb and explore. Our tour also included the reclining buddha in tiger cave which was interestingly in this monkey park where monkeys were just free to run around crazy and wild. Monkeys have these michevious little eyes and we even witnessed some altercations with tourists over bananas and such. Wiley little creatures. Jess and I both love the baby monkeys who travel clinging to their mothers' tummies. So cute!
The last place on our tour for the day was a muslim floating village. It is literally a whole village on sticks just chilling in the middle of the water. You can bet we were surprised to see tvs and computer is some of the "houses" which were really just floating little huts.
The dominant culture/religion on Krabi is muslim and it was fascinating to see the dichotomy between tourist-invaded thailand and religious muslims.
Our last night for dinner we wanted to have a special meal that wasn't touristy or junky and we found a restaurant called "monsoon" that was supposed to be "the best food in Ao Nang.". As always, Garvs and I were dealing with a concierge who looked at us like we asked her if it was raining when we asked where Monsoon restaurant was. Then we showed her the address(hello small beach town) and the google maps of it(which was in thai so we couldn't navigate). She still couldn't communicate with us and two taxi drivers also didn't know. Another hotel concierge from across the street sernt us in a tuk-tuk to where the restaurant was. We get out and pay and there is a huge Mcdonalds. Great.
After wandering around and stupidly thinking we will just happen to be in the right place, I asked an english-speaking (looked like) man in a hotel shiny suv where it was. "Hop in, ill bring you there.". Turns out he was German and in hotel management and after this trip, my sketch tolerance has risen. I think this might be a bad thing.
So he drops us off at this little restaurant which is very cute and run by a very cute man from Scotland who told us he has been in Thailand for 9 years! Diving brought him to Krabi and now he also runs Monsoon--a restaurant that boasts a thai chef and menu but also offers the rare to find goodies that I missed so much (like cheese! Apparently evryone in thailand thinks not only does it make you fat but its not worth having ever becuase it has to be imported!). Eek this means I can never live there.
The restaurant was relatively empty and jess and I ordered a mixture of Thai food (penaang and green curry, tiger cries) and american food (spinach and blue cheese, caesar salad). We ordered wine to celebrate last night and the owner got ON HIS MOTORCYCLE TO GET US SOME!! This was when we noticed he had a prosthetic leg from the knee down. This really got our imaginations flowing...(diving incident? shark bite?)
Hilton, the owner, was sitting outside with a few friends..including Americans and a girl from Holland who had all moved to Thailand. We ended up playing this card game called "golf" with them for awhile which Jess and I were quite good at (beginner's luck??) It was great to have a chill night with people pretty close to our age and get to hear about their experiences living in Thailand. The dive instructors siad they only get paid 6 months out of the year and basically are poor and starving half the year...one guy, from England said he only had made 100 BAHT that day..which is about 3 dollars. Perhaps if Jess and I can't find jobs we will move to Krabi and teach diving....not likely.
love and miss.
last update to come soon when I;m home in New Orleans

Loving the Islands...finally.

Hey all-
really quickly while there is this brief sun shower but I wanted to update since our last near death experience. We absolutely LOVED lalaanta hideaway...The manager, Maki, who was lovely, gave us a huge discount on the cutest little bungalow fully equipped with a shower you turn on with a button and lovely artisitc flowers painted on the wall.
The food at the hotel restaurant was authentic Thai (or American, "western" they call it here) and although there were some families and other people at the hotel, we pretty much had this huge piece of beach to ourselves. I feel SO LUCKY to be in such a beautiful place without a care in the world and am getting so anxious about returning to reality!
For dinner we ventured down the death path (in a car from the hotel) to eat at a beach restaurant called...wait for it, "Same Same but Different." Amazing. We had DELICIOUS Thai curry here and met a really nice couple from London.
The next day, we enjoyed our last day at Lalaanta and met a girl traveling in Asia before Harvard B school in the fall...she was an ex Georgetown, Lehman Brothers, and PE girl who was traveling around Asia solo. We ate a meal with her and I was able to chat with her about DC (can't wait!) and life after college (could wait forever!)
The next day we took a bus to Ao Nang beach in Krabi and the bus drive was hilarious because our driver was a cowboy wannabee and played American classics the whole two hour ride and drove like a MANIAC. The roads here, sidebar, are COMPLETELY COVERED in potholes. "bumpy" is an english word Thai people are QUITE familiar with.
When we got to Krabi, Maki from Lalaanta had organized a driver to bring us to our next hotel, the Red Ginger "Chic" Boutique hotel in Ao Nang. It said online that they were full and booked but we know that in low season that it was a complete lie so we gave it a go.
Of course they offered us a higher price then was offered on their website, so I asked to check my email and used their computer to book online (SO ridiculous and silly) and we were able to snag a beautiful room with a balcony and view fully equipped with another bed on a platform dealio and CUTE matching robes and beach mats.
After settling in, we explored the town which is SO quaint and we saw the most beautiful sunset that my pictures will NEVER do justice to.
Need to go shower and pack but will prep about our trip to James Bond Island, the floating Muslim village, OUR NEW FRIENDS!, and our last day in Thailand when I get to the airport.
much love and miss
Sam

Ill give you 1000 baht if I'm still alive at the end of this ride!

So my last post was from my phone on the longest bus ride EVER and this post is on a computer with a screen with zero contrast. So I basically have no idea what I'm typing, as I cannot read it after it has been typed. Such is life.
I wouldn't normally post this soon after another post but I've scheduled blog time in after last night's wild ride. After I finished the post on the blog, the following things occurred.
1. minibus driver proceeds to pull over on the side of the highway and hand packaged to stranger on a motorcycle
2. Bus stops at a "truck stop" which looked more like a garage sale from the 1980s and then he LEFT. Jess and I are sitting with other passengers and the DRIVER LEAVES. APPARENTLY THIS WAS NORMAL. After stumbling to ask in Thai for someone that spoke english, I was informed that the driver was getting petrol for the truck. WHO EVER HEARD FOR A TRUCK STOP WITH NO GAS?? Needless to say, he eventually came back.
3. Driver stops in front of random restaurant type stands to pick up more passengers
4. We figured out how to get from island to island in a bus. DUH! a ferry. three of them. which were sketchy.
5. When we arrive, we ask the bus driver to drop us at our hotel because he was dropping EVERYONE ELSE off at their destination. All of a sudden, he pretends not to understand english. Great.
6. Jess and I coerce a "taxi" driver and his friend who drove a stick shift pick up to drive us to our hotel. Of course they had no idea how to get there and we had no idea we were going on a path NOT made for cars. Finally after our impromptu hour long safari through a National Park and five deserted villages later< i was able to get someone from the hotel on the phone (thank G for blackberry!) They talked to the driver who continued to giggle as Jess and I shrieked in the back seat. We began to sing. Jess said that people sing when they are nervous. It MUST be true. We sang Michael Jackson (RIP) and some other gems. When we arrived, the lovely hotel manager brought us some pineapple juice and to the cutest bungalow. Apparently all we had to do was call him one day in advance and he would've picked us up. WOOPS.
Anyway, we had delicious dinner and our room is very cute. Moral of the story? Is there some sick twisted gray hair producing lesson here? All is well that ends well. I guess.
love and miss.

a Day with Leonardo from Gennardo...and other island stories

Hello from our minibus from Phuket to Krabi Island. How you take a bus from island to island when there appears to be no bridges in this region still remains a mystery to Jess and me.
Since I've last blogged, a lot of interesting things have happened. I will try to cover them all while simultaneously tuning out the blaring Thai emo-pop music in the back of this van that the driver has selected. Per usual, Jess and I are the only Americans on the bus and everyone looks at us with interest and vague amusement.
This bus ride is five hours (approx.) Which means anywhere from 3 hours to endless, soo thank you and ka poone ka blog for entertaining me.

Enter new vocab:
Farang: slang word used to describe non-thais and white people in Thailand. Origins: we think foreigner (but they pronounce the "g")
Thailand is very Farang-friendly...BUT we have found the constant haggling and ripping-us-off-attempts to be humorous at best and deeply annoying and frustrating at worst.

Jess just made friends on the minibus with some Thai teens quietly playing Jo-Jo's, "too little too late."

Back to our travels: after my last post, jess and I hitched the hotel shuttle back up the mountain to check out the poolside happy hour. At this two-for-one happy hour, we ordered an Or-bama which was orange mango banana drink. More interesting than our drink, however, was a friendly couple from Australia (husband from S africa) who were completely as fascinated with us as we were with them. They were staying at the hotel with their four children (all between the ages of eleven and sixteen-eek!). The father spoke Africaans and I guess English but jess and I struggled to understand anything he said...this is after he told us how he is forced to "tone down his accent" so americans can understand him. The couple had lived in Key West for a few years in the late eighties and thus their perception of the states was mostly based off of television shows and movies... I.e. They thought New Orleans was like deliverance. (Ha ha) and that all americans do tons of drugs. The mom also mentioned how American spring break is so interesting to her and she saw "real Life american stereotypes" like "a jock.". What she was most curious about however, was sorority life. She couldn't understand or figure out the greek life phenomenon that is so popular in "american uni's.".
Although the mom admitted she was a "country girl" and therefore pretty sheltered and ignorant, she explained how many things that are normal and commonplace in the states (like leaving home for college, for example) is just not really done where they live. Anyways, we loved the couple and sat with them for over and hour talking not only about sororities but history and the economy/job market. She didn't really get how I could be "so brave" to want to move to DC and leave my home! It was nice to get an outside perspective on what we think of as pretty normal for us.

Later on, we wandered down the mountain for dinner at this little beach shack called "the White Orchid." From the table we could see little flashlights in the water that belonged to fisherman who look for fish when the tide goes in. I think I would be scared to walk around in knee high ocean water in the pitch black night. The owner of the restaurant came and sat with us for most of the night. She (Angela) made us this amazing garlic pepper salmon, spring rolls, and then mango with sticky rice for desert. We were there for awhile enjoying her frank sinatra tunes and her bubbly personality. She completely lost her restaurant in the Tsunami and had to literally run up the mountain when she saw it. We liked Angela so much that we told her we would come back the next night and she said she woiuld make us anything we wanted on or off the menu.

The next day, jess and I woke up early to get picked up at 730 at our hotel to get transfered to the marina. We boarded a speed boat with about 20 people on it and ventured out to the Phi Phi (pronounced pee pee) Islands. Our tour guide, leonardo, was very nice and first took us to the island where the beach was filmed (the movie, The Beach). Although it is now overrun with tourists (even in the low season) it was still sooo beautiful. After Maya island we stopped around a lagoon to snorkle and swim around. Post-snorkling we went to lunch on another island and some creepy aussies tried to hang out with Jess and me. Their pick up line: "do you girls have any sun cream?". We didn't really understand anything thye were saying, although I guess it was english. We did, however, make friends with everyone on our trip. There were four people who had also just finished school from the Phillipines. They were soo funny and asked if they could facebook us and took a million pics with us. Their english was pretty good and it was really cool to hang out with people our age from Manilla! The other two groups we got close to on the boat (which was a little speedboat that crashed through choppy water I have a huge scrape and bruise on my elbow-yuck), were families from Australia and New Zealand(keewees). The Australian family had two cute little girls who were 5 and 7 and the dad was a diplomat who used to work at the Australia embassy in DC and who had some upenn interns! Now he works at the embassy in Papa New Guinea. The other family was a dad (who now lives in Singapore) and his three daughters (one of which jess thought looked like Rose) who grew up in bangkok and are now moving to the UK with their mum. It was so interesting to hear about their lives and experiences which seemed so exotic and foreign to me! So far one of the best things about our trip has been all the culturally different people we have met. It is also nice to see what we have in common with them. I guess if you go far enough away, you'll be surprised how similar we all are!

The last island we visited was a tiny white strip of beach. Some Thai production company was filming a commercial but we couldn't get that close.
Funny sidebar: people that worked on this island continuously haggled us to buy things like beach chairs or ice cream. Jess and I did not bring money on the trip because waters and food was included. We would tell the vendor, sorry we don't have money. This did not make them stop approaching us. Finally I said, "sure we will have two ice cream bars. Are they free?". The guy looked confused but then said "work one day and you get free ice cream.". Jess laughed and said sure. Jess carried the ice cream sign for about five minutes before the vendor granted both of us free ice cream. Who says there is no such thing as a free lunch? (Or ice cream).

At the end of the day we headed back to our hotel where we sat by the pool and watched as the hotel staff scrambled to prepare for some important guest who they wouldn't tell us who it was. Or maybe they just didn't understand the question.
Things we liked about our hotel on Kamala:
1. Our honeymoon looking room with a bed on a platform
2. Our view of the ocean from our window
3. Delicious breakfast
4. Infinity pool and water slide
5. The golfcart drivers.

Things we didn't like:
1. Our first room. It was on a huge cliff and was a pain to get to and had lots of lizard late night activity.
2. Lemongrass water (ewww tasted like tortilla chips but as a juice)
3. The shuttle refusign to take us into town at 1130 because checkout was at noon.

Last night we went back to Angela's for dinner and played with her adorable niece. She told us to come back the next day and get presents but we were a little sketched out so we bipassed that.

I think that is everything so far... Back to my busride. Miss and love.