A Buddhist Retreat

Tonight I am going back to Bangkok to spend the weekend and possibly some or all of next week at the Sathira-Dhammasathan Center where they accept foreigners and Thais alike to study Buddhism and meditation (I haven't got called about starting work yet and the school is closed next week so it's a great opportunity).

It is something I have always wanted to do (at least for the past 15 years) and I would consider it regretful if I didn't take advantage of such a wonderful opportunity while here in Thailand, a mostly Buddhist country.

I can't tell you too much about it right now but I will certainly do a blog when I return. Basically what I know is that tomorrow (Friday), Saturday and Sunday they have "activities" which I'm told are meditations, then next week there aren't any "activities" but I am welcome to stay as long as I like. I'm told they serve vegetarian food and that we don't leave the sanctuary grounds. I'm really excited and at the same time nervous. Discoveries about oneself can be exciting unless it is discovering something you don't really want to be aware of - that is my fear. But I will welcome the experience the best I can.

The woman I am really looking forward to meeting is Mae Chee Sansanee. She is the founder and Director of Sathira-Dhammasathan Center in Bangkok (where I'm going to stay). Their website is a little outdated and the English version a little limited, but there is a nice article here : http://www.integrativespirituality.org/postnuke/html/index.php?name=Sections&req=viewarticle&artid=322&page=1 (not to mention many others on the www if you're intersted)

I'm going without my laptop so I will be out of touch with some of you.

Hugs and kisses to everyone!

Broken Wings

I went for a walk around the lake in Khon Kaen yesterday. It took me about 3 hours because I took my time and stopped at a few temples along the way.

At one point during my walk I saw a butterfly and stopped to take some photos. At first I didn't notice how "broken" the butterfly's wings were because it flew with such grace and elegance. So then why can't I continue to live with grace and elegance even though sometimes I feel like I am flying with "broken wings"? It was a nice little personal lesson I thought I would share with you ...

There was also these amazing trees with long hanging vines that people must stop to braid!

One of the temples I stopped at was Wat Nongwang. It has nine levels each one smaller than the one below it, kind of like a teired cake I suppose. I walked to the top and as I reached the top the sound of the bells got louder and louder. I found the sound very calming, like being on my grandfather's porch in the summertime listening to his ceramic chimes blowing in the warm breeze. I thought I would share this with you also ...

The Buddhist Practice of Tong-Len vs. Quantum Physics

I'm reading the book "The Art of Happiness" by HH Dalai Lama and Howard C. Cutler (again). Last night I watched "What the Bleep do we know?" (again). The last time I read the book I had also watched the same movie around the same time. Then, I had a doubt, and once again the same doubt has arisen.

In the book "The Art of Happiness" the Dalai Lama speaks about developing compassion and ways to learn compassion and learn to deal with suffering. I quote - "In Buddhist practice, you can use your personal suffering in a formal way to enhance your compassion - by using it as an opportunity for the practice of Tong-Len. This is a Mahayana visualization practice in which one mentally visualizes taking on another's pain and suffering, and in turn giving them all of your resources, good health, fortune, and so on."

In the movie "What the Bleep do we know?" (as well as the movie "The Secret" which is quite similiar) they talk about how we manifest our reality through the power of thought. In "The Secret" one woman talks about how she fought her cancer by waking up every morning telling herself that she was healthy, and how a man eventually (and somewhat unconsciously as it was a dream from years ago that he had not thought about in some time) found himself living in his dream home. In "The Secret" they talk about the "Law of Attraction", in that, positive or negative, we unconsciously manifest what we are thinking, just by thinking it (and that, of course, we can consiously manifest our reality too).

So, my doubt is, wouldn't the Tong-Len visualization practice bring about suffering? I understand that in order to develop compassion we must truly be able to understand a person's suffering, or to practice empathy but on a very personal level, even to the point of having a physical reaction. But it is still always "their" suffering and we are safely observing from the outside. Are we just asking for suffering if we practice this kind of visualization? If we visualize it will we manifest it?

I am only a novice reading books and asking questions at this point. The more I learn the more questions I have, which seems to be a general rule in life anyway. But when it comes to Buddhism, who can you consult? Do you think the Dalai Lama would be free for a Q&A session?

Comments enthusiastically requested!!! (p.s. This blog was sent to the office of HH Dalai Lama asking for guidance .. really. Wish me luck in getting a reply!)

Wat Ratchanda and Wat Saket

I visited two more temples - Ratchanda and Saket (the Golden Mountain). Wat Ratchanda was under construction or having some remodelling done so there wasn't much to see, but there was this amulet market near the entrance. Big buddhas, small buddhas, necklaces, rings, bracelets (big bags full of ones like the one the monk had given me), coins, masks - any Buddhist (and non-Buddhist) relic you could possibly imagine was for sale here, regardless of whether you were decorating an entire temple or simply looking for a lucky charm or souvenir. As I was strolling the isles of the market I came upon two men (actually twin brothers) painting some traditional Thai masks. I gestured to ask if I could take a photo and the one brother quickly tapped the other to tell him to look at the camera. Unfortunately his brother was painting at the time and quickly told off his brother in Thai before realizing I was behind him - oops.

Wat Saket was really nice. Again a lot of stairs but they were really easy to climb - thin and deep (thank goodness cause my thighs were still burning from climbing Wat Arun). This time I bought the lotus flower with gold leaf, incense and candle and tried the ritual solo. At one point I was waiting in line to pay respects to one Buddha and I'm not sure if it was because I wasn't aggressive enough to take my turn or if it was because I wasn't taken seriously (as a white foreigner), but a few people budded ahead of me before I had my opportunity. It's a strange feeling because I'm not confident with what I'm doing in the temple - at this point I'm only following my interest to learn and start practicing Buddhism, with my best efforts not to offend anyone. Perhaps it was this lack of confidence that they took as a sign to go ahead of me?

In terms of a photo for Wat Saket I don't have anything that interesting so what I'm posting is a photo of this crazy big black bee. It's about 3 times the size of our little humble bumble bee.

Wat Arun

On Sunday I went to explore Wat Arun, also known as the Temple of Dawn, on my own. It's impressive but noticeably older (or less maintained) than the other temples I had seen the day before. I climbed the very steep steps to the top to take in the view of Bangkok. Getting up was difficult cause I kept stepping on my sarong, but getting down was freaky cause only going down can one truly appreciate how narrow and steep each step is. Most people descended one step at a time while clinging to the railing (as you can see in this photo).

Having participated in my first Buddhist ritual the day before I was ready to try it on my own. I noticed that if you wait and make a small donation you can get blessed by a monk. The monk didn't have any conversation with me like the people before because it would have been useless me not speaking any Thai, so he went straight into the ritual. With a little twig broom looking thing he dipped it in a bowl of water and flicked it over my head three times. Then he presented me with a bracelet that has a little gold leaf paper in the middle. I know that I didn't do my part of the ritual correctly, but I'm sure he was forgiving of a novice foreigner. Another man in the temple who spoke English came up to me afterwards to put my bracelet on and told me that I had been blessed with good luck and happiness. Later Ko told me that I wear the bracelet for three days before I can take it off.

Wat Pho, the Grand Palace and Wat Phra Kaew

Ko, her friend and neighbor Phi Nok, and I got up early Saturday morning and went to Wat Pho, the Grand Palace and Wat Phra Kaew. The grandeur of these places left me pretty much speechless. It was a scorching hot day so covering myself with a sarong to enter the temples with torturous but nevertheless I marched on, determined to see everything.

Wat Pho (Wat means temple) has this amazing reclining Buddha. It is forty-six metres long and fifteen metres high and besides being gold plated it's eyes and the soles of its feet (the toe prints) are lined with mother of pearl. While I was admiring the Buddha I was hearing what I thought was a recording of bells, but turned out to be the sound of people throwing coins into a row, as long as the Buddha, of monks' bowls. Of course I had to participate, so I bought my little pail of coins and off I went dropping them into the bowls. I think I missed one when I stopped to have my photo taken and I had extra coins when I reached the end of the line so the last few bowls got a few extra.

One of the most memorable things for me this day was participating in my first Buddhist ritual. Ko & Nok were very nice to lead me through it. First we established that "my" Buddha (based on the day I was born - Wednesday) was the reclining Buddha (funny I thought that I would get the only one lying down as if to mock my laziness). Next I bought an unblossomed Lotus flower, incense, a little candle and three pieces of gold leaf paper (inside folded pieces of paper) sold as a set. I saw people pressing the paper on their Buddha, so not yet aware that inside the paper was the gold leaf, I pressed the paper itself against the Buddha thinking that I was supposed to leave with some gold from the Buddha on my paper, until Ko came over to help me. I laugh about that still. Next I lit my little candle and mounted it with the others. Then I lit my incense (3 sticks) and held them with the lotus flower in between prayer hands and kneeling before the Buddhas asked for what I wanted to myself. Then I put my incense with the rest in a vase that is filled with sand, and the lotus flower with the others in a vase that is filled with water, and made my exit.

After, for fun, we shook the Chinese sticks. Eventually one pops up and you read your fortune based on the number on the stick. I didn't really like my first fortune and Ko said that you don't have to keep it if you don't like it, so I shook again. Both fortunes revealed somewhat of a difficult life but I liked the second one better.

After spending the morning and a good part of the afternoon absorbing beautiful Temple/Palace architecture we escaped to a big air-conditioned mall, and I had Burger King for dinner.

Flower Market

The flower market in Bangkok is immense. There are about 2,000 stalls lining both sides of the sidewalks for blocks. It's a frenzy of men running back and forth with carts overflowing with any flower you can imagine, trucks arriving full and leaving empty or arriving empty and leaving with a load to take to another part of Thailand. It is the hub of the flower business.

We stopped at a little stall just out of the way to buy a lotus flower root tea. It was a flavour I've never experienced before. If I had to describe it I guess I would say that it kind of tastes a little like prawn, but despite the fact that I'm not fond of seafood, it was really good.

Little Differences

Restaurants
- at one restaurant we got our bill before even getting our drinks!
- we went into a Subway one day to find the girl, in plain sight, straightening her hair with a straigtening iron (we left, to her astonishment, right away)
- they don’t tend to bring the meals at the same time, so you will have your meal for sometimes 5 minutes before they bring your companion’s
- they hover at the table waiting for your order, and again when they give you the bill (waiting for you to pay)
- food is eaten with a spoon and fork – the fork is used to help the food onto the spoon and you eat with the spoon
- street vendors give you your food in little bags closed with rubber bands, so you get whatever you ordered in one bag, the rice in another bag, and the sauce in another. Even drinks with ice are served in a bag with a straw – oh, and drinks always come with straws, even if you buy a coke at the 7-11

Street Vendors and Restaurants
- they are quite aggressive asking you to look at their products even following you down the street
- they will try talking to you to get your business even if you pass the same place 5 times and have already said no each time (which makes even a 3 day stay a bit trying)
- they are quite tricky and will stretch out their hand saying hello and asking where you are from, then not letting go
- they always say “sir” and “madam”, not “miss”, and tend to focus more on the man (I was less harassed when on my own)
- walking down the street you are bombarded with “taxi?”, “tuk tuk?” (a small truck with seats in the back offering taxi services), “massage?”, “DVD?”, “tour?” – some of them even offer everything!
- you can negotiate the price on anything, even medication at pharmacies
- vendors promote their clothes as “free size” (one size fits all) but it’s really one size fits any Barbie – anything to sell right?

Driving
- there are no rules except the biggest car has the right of way
- you will find 2, 3, or even 4 people on the motorcycles
- girls often ride side-saddle when riding as a passenger
- you will find women with their little babies (driving with one hand) on motorcycles
- people often don’t wear any helmets
- you will even find small children driving motorcycles

Toilets
- households and most “equipped” public toilets have a little showerheads on a hose which are used instead of toilet paper to clean yourself (actually quite nice)

7-11
- you can pay all your household bills at the 7-11
- when pouring a slurpee a lot of air is mixed in, so a few minutes later you’ll find that you have 3/4 cup once all the air has escaped
... to mention a few.

Thoughts While Flying (to Bangkok)

I carry the St. Christopher (Saint of Travelling) a wooden ring (knock on wood) and some rubbing stones when I go flying. If I am supersticious enough to do this each time then why is it so difficult to believe in God? Isn’t it all a kind of faith? Like crossing yourself before getting on a plane?

I wear a special kind of ear plug for flying that helps with the pressure change. If ony people could hear what I hear when I chew my crunchy coated peanuts. I secretly looked around to see if anyone was looking at me as if to say “Could you keep it down!”.

Bad luck is eating the rancid peanut from a bag of peanuts last. What is your idea of bad luck?

I’m on a small plane. My legs are short and it’s a short flight so I can’t complain … except for the tray. The tray is down so I can enjoy a coffee, eat my bag of complimentary peanuts and now write this, but if I were any bigger (the space between the tray and my belling being only one inch right now!) there wouldn’t be any space to put the tray down. I’m not sure if the seat in front of me can recline any further but if it can I’m gonna get jabbed right in the gut!

I like shorter flights simply cause they’re shorter, but then they don’t have the duty-free shopping magazines and I love browsing them. It’s a great distraction when taking off and it’s like window shopping while 30,000 feet in the air. So for the shorter flights couldn’t they put something else to read other than the emergency procedures?

Visa Run

I had only obtained a 30 day “visa on arrival” so in order to stay in Thailand longer I needed to get a tourist visa and this meant leaving Thailand. We decided that as long as we were in the south it would be easiest if I went to Penang Malaysia, so I booked a visa run with the travel agent. We left Sunday night, drove all night, and were at the Thai Embassy for about 12 to hand in our passports. We spent the night in Penang, but shattered from the long trip I only left my hotel room to buy something to eat for dinner and the rest of the time I slept. The next day we picked up our passports and returned to Thailand. I didn’t get back till almost midnight Tuesday night. I only took 2 photos while I was there. The first of a Spanish bar which I thought was funny being in Malaysia! And the second of a little twig looking bug.

Last Days in Phuket

I thought I would try to take advantage to see the famous Vegetarian Festival while being in Phuket, so I planned a day at some of the temples to see some of the events. I went to one temple to see fire walking. Although it said it started at 3 the actual firewalking didn’t start till about 4, the rest was ceremonial preparation. I got there early and got a good spot and waited, the hot ashes making the already hot day even hotter. As the first ceremonial dressed man came out and every one started taking photos I thought “Here we go”. He went to each of the four corners around the fire pit where there were little tables set up with smoking embers and little statues. The whole time he was shaking his head from side to side and talking to himself. At first I thought perhaps he was saying to himself that there was no way he was going to do this. Later I realized after many other men in ceremonial clothing shaking their heads and repeating the ritual came out that it must have been some kind of trance preparing them to walk on the hot coals. After being cleverly pushed out of my good spot the firewalking finally began but after waiting for so long I could only handle about 15 minutes - my feet had already gone numb a few times from not moving! Giving my spot to someone else I looked for another vantage point to watch but soon it was over and they were all inside the temple (doing what, I don’t know).

I also went into Phuket town to try and see some other events but after a couple of hours of loud firecrackers (intentionally thrown at tourists from what I could see) and dirty fireworks I didn’t feel like staying for the finale, which was just going to be a whole lot of firecrackers and noise so I took a cab and went back to my hotel – I felt like I had already had enough hearling loss for one evening.

What I was really interested in seeing was the people peircing their cheeks with large objects (which can be seen if you do any Google image search for “Vegetarian Festival Phuket”, and what the festival is famous for), but I was told that I had missed it a couple of days before. I naively thought they would be walking around for the whole festival with swords piercing their cheeks!

The next day I wanted (as our last day in Phuket) to go and see some of the temples that I didn’t get a chance to see the day before as well as check out the Sino-Portuguese architecture. I don’t know if it was all the smoke I inhaled but I was feeling so bad that I barely left the hotel. We did run a couple of errands – we went to the mall to get a mobile phone for me. While we were there we tried the fish spa (where these tiny little fish, known as "doctor fish", eat away any dead skin - boy does it tickle!!) and I had my nails done. That night I left to do my visa run.

Tsunami Survivor

Our tour guide for the Big Buddha tour is a tsumani survivor. His name is Sunny. He was on Phi Phi Don Island when the tsunami hit. Sunny told me that he was on the beach when he saw the water retreat and so he walked to the middle of the island to find refuge. He said he was under water for at least 30 seconds before he surfaced. He believes that his faith in God (he is Muslim) saved him. He told me that he imagined God’s hand reaching in to the water to pull him to the surface. Sunny’s younger brother (19 years old) had come over to visit him and it was his first time on Phi Phi Island – he did not survive.He could only identify his brother’s body from his shorts because he said it was impossible to identify their faces – he said they all looked the same after the tsunami, but I’m not exactly sure what he meant, whether it was because they were all covered in dirt or sand, I didn’t ask for details. It’s a sad story that still haunts Sunny.

In the photo you can see just how much this island (Bamboo Island) was under water after the tsumani.

Over 58,000 people were affected (killed, missing and still unidentified). They now have a Tsunami warning system and evacuation plans.

BIG Buddha

My last tour in Phuket included the Big Buddha which I'm thinking maybe they should call "Enormous" Buddha. It sits at 45 metres high on top of the Nakkerd Hills between Chalong and Kata. To give you an idea of the size if you look really carefully at this photo you can see that little person at the bottom in front of the column is me!

I'm sure the view from there is spectacular on a clear day but unfortunately it was a little cloudy the day I went. But that didn't diminish my enjoyment of this gigantic and beautiful structure.

The tour guide told me that they have been in process of building it for about the last four years and project end date should be about a year if people keep making regular donations. The project is being built entirely on donations, but they make it interesting for foreigners wishing to leave their mark. Your donation buys you a small piece of marble (100 Baht) or a larger piece (300 Baht) which you can write your name or message on, and then becomes a piece of the Big Buddha (if you look closely you'll see the whole thing is made of little tiles of marble). I'm imagining that mine will become a part of whatever he is sitting on, because everything else has been finished. I donated enough for the bigger one and I wrote the following... (most of you will understand why)

I was told that the inside of the Buddha (which is presently in horrible condition) will become a small museum of Buddhist history so it would be worth it to return when it's finished.

The outside is surrounded by other Buddhas and shrines. You can see a couple of other Buddhas in the first photo.

After the Big Buddha we went to the Wat (meaning temple) Chalong. Extraordinary and beautiful there are a few different temples. One with the most beautiful wall paintings and on the top level a glass protected piece of bone from Lord Buddha. Another temple has these human-sized wax models of some other famous Buddhas. And another temple has some statues (other Buddhas?) covered in gold that is coming off everywhere and covering the floor.

As you can see, despite the incredible heat, I covered myself with a long sleeve white shirt and wrapped a sarong around my shorts, as well as taking off my shoes at the door, to enter the temple. I also knew, simply from reading etiquette guides in the travel books, that the feet should only face away from a Buddha because they are considered vulgar. So why then did I see so many tourists at this temple with short sleeved shirts and shorts. Not only that, but what shocked me more than anyting, were the tourists sitting with their feet facing the Buddhas for a souvenir photo! If I can read a book or look on the internet why can't they? It's not that difficult is it?

FantaSea

A little tired of island tours we have decided to take it a bit easier here in Phuket. A must see, however, is the FantaSea show. We booked the show including the buffet dinner.

Just getting our tickets was an adventure and of course we were encouraged to pay extra for seafood, extra for a souvenir book, extra for a souvenir pack including a DVD, all which I said no to. Not only do I not have enough room in my suitcase for any souvenirs but this was already a pretty expensive luxury and I was trying to avoid spending any money. Unfortunately we were not able to bring our cameras into the show so I don't have any photos. They have a website, so if you're interested you can check it out: http://www.phuket-fantasea.com/eng/index.php

We arrived about 7pm and the show started at 9pm so we had some time to kill before we went to dinner. But the place is like a little Disneyland full of little shops, places to have your photo taken in Thai costumes, Swarovsky statues, pop the balloon and win a prize games, elephant rides, and much more. So we actually didn't have enough time to see everything before we went to help ourselves to the buffet which was pretty darn good.

To watch the show we go into the "Palace of the elephants" which looks like a palace but with elephant stone (fake) carvings. Once in you turn a corner and what seems to be a Thai statue comes alive and scares the crap out of you, then they try and convince you to get a photo taken with them which of course you pay out of your arse for. Further down are two baby elephants only one year old already doing little tricks to entice the public to take more photos. And finally baby tigers only one month old suckling on their bottles yet again enticing the public to purchase their photo souvenir. It was all so very tempting, but they were charging about €25 per photo and of course leaving the best till last, emptying the pockets of parents whose children just couldn't go without touching the baby tigers. I asked if I could just touch the baby tiger, or even how much I would have to pay just to touch it, but naturally it's a photo or nothing.

The show was a brilliant combination of stories, with costumes and music representing the difference provinces or regions of Thailand. Overall it was fantastic, but I wasn't crazy about the magic show part. There was one story from the region of Isan where we saw elephants, water buffalo, goats, chickens, and doves. They all walked from one side of the stage to the other completely on their own - talk about well trained!

Phuket and Patong Beach

Krabi and Phuket are definitely tourist towns, full of restaurants and bars and lined everywhere with shops. What makes Phuket stand out however are the hoards of tourists and the nightlife. There is one street that is always mentioned in any guide book, Bangla Road, that is side by side bars filled with tourists. Western style bars and discos with pool tables and dart boards to make any tourist feel right at home. But then why do people come to Thailand? To feel at home?

You can also find McDonald's, Burger King, Subway, 7-11, Pizza places and almost every restaurant is a combination of European or Western food with either Indian or Thai food. We've eaten at a couple of these restaurants, and although the idea of a "European" menu might be attractive when your stomach is aching for something it's accustomed to, I haven't enjoyed any of it. Sad but true I've enjoyed my meals at Burger King and Subway more. Thailand is famous for being a very cheap place to spend a holiday, but eating at Burger King is just as expensive as it is back home, so unless you're not on a budget tourists need to venture out to find a "local" establishment.

Don't you just love the effort they made to put a Thai spin on good-ol Ronnie!

Krabi - Day 5

Day 5: Phi Phi Islands

The Phi Phi Islands are quite a bit further than the other ones so this tour went by speed boat. As you may or may not know it is rainy season right now in Thailand (until November in the south where we are, and it even rains in what they call their "dry" period). With the worsening weather conditions it is getting more difficult to find a cloudless and windless day for touring. This day was no exception and the ride to the islands was extremely bumpy. And because of the big waves the driver had to go a lot slower than usual which made the trip a bit longer. There was this adorable little girl that instead of being scared would have these giggling fits whenever we hit a big wave, while everyone else just looked worried. Don and I were sitting in the back where we got soaked! I tried to focus on the flat surface of distant waters but on arriving to the first island I had to scramble to get off the boat just in time to throw up on the beach. I didn't feel that bad until he started to slow down approaching the island and then it hit me. I felt a lot better afterwards - but a lot of other people didn't. One girl spent the entire time by a tree bent over while her friend rubbed her back. Another girl asked if she could just stay on the first island and get picked up on the way back after the tour (which they couldn't). The hard part was basically over - the first long trip to get to the islands. I remember after my first longboat trip that even the day after it still felt like (when I sat still) things were rocking, so I was worrying about how I was going to feel after this one (yup - everything kept rocking the day after).

After the first island we stopped for a quick peek at Vicking cave (which I didn't even know was Viking cave, one of the places on the tour agenda, until later - so I didn't bother taking any photos cause it wasn't really that spectacular) then we entered this beautiful lagoon with a turquoise green coloured water that was soooo inviting (photo on left). Quite a few of us asked if we could stay there, or even go snorkelling there, but they told us there was no coral and no fish to see so after a couple minutes we were on our way.

We past by a part of one island where there were some monkeys in trees drawn out by the food that people were throwing up to them. It was quite the show watching these monkeys catching these big pieces of watermelon. Performing such acrobatics there were quite a few times we thought the monkeys would fall right into the sea, but miraculously each time they would manage to grab on to a tree branch at the last moment and you could hear the "ooohs" and "aaahs" from the people watching in their boats.

Then we went and did some snorkelling which I don't think I can ever get tired of. Then we went and had some lunch at Phi Phi Don. Right on the beach where we anchored is the restaurant, buffet style, and the tables. What I didn't realize until I went looking for the bathroom, and when we were almost about to leave again, was that there was a whole lot to see on this island! Now I understood why people always talked about it, and why it is so famous. There were hotels and bars and shops and tour centres .. and I didn't have enough time to explore any of it. In retrospect I would have loved to have spend a night or two on this island - maybe next time.

We were supposed to make a stop to Maya Bay where they filmed the movie "The Beach", but because of the horrible waves we couldn't go. I have to say I was a little disappointed.

Finally we made one more stop at Coconut Island. A little dip in the sea, some relaxing on the beach, and a little show by some extremely well camouflaged white crabs that, crawling sideways, moved soooo fast it looked as if they were skating. Then we made our long trip back to the mainland.

I decided that I would try sitting in the front of the boat for the return trip because a couple of people said it was better than sitting in the back. It was not better at all!!! It was a violent ride and I thought that either the boat was going to split in half (at least that's what it sounded like when it would hit back down on the water) or that I was going to lose my organs. I was literally being thrown off my seat, but I held on tightly to the bars and, even though I was given the option to go to the back, I stuck it out.

Krabi - Day 4

Day 4: Tiger Cave, Hot Springs, Emerald Pool & Elephant Trekking

Don wasn't interested in doing elephant trekking, so I went on this tour alone.

Our first stop was the Klong Thom Hot Springs. At first I was thinking there was NO way I was gonna get into 35-40 degree water with Thailand being so hot, but I did, and it was nice. It's a cascade of naturally hollowed out "tubs" where you can sit to enjoy a natural hot tub. The water flows into a cool pool at the bottom. (sorry, no good picture - but lots on the net if you're interested) I managed to stay in the hot water for about 5 minutes before I slid down into the cool water for a refreshing swim.

Next we went to the Emerald Pool or Sra Morakot. They call it Emerald pool because of the colour of the water (look at the photo!). It's exremely slippery getting in our out, but once in the water is a tempid treat and the minerals in the water are supposed to be great for your skin - don't drink it though!

After lunch we went elephant trekking. Because I was alone I had the elephant to myself, but because they gave me such a big elephant I couldn't sit on the neck like some of the other tourists, or at least that's what I understood from their explanation when I asked. So instead I sat on a seat strapped to its back. They did let me sit on the neck of a smaller elephant just to take some photos though.

The trek was just okay. I couldn't see the elephant from where I was sitting and I was at the front, so it was basically a glorified and bumpy tour of the forest. My guides didn't speak any English whatsoever so I had a conversation with myself - I would say something then start bursting out laughing. They probably thought I was nuts!

I was only nervous at two points. The first when the elephant abruptly stopped and started backing up towards a steep cliff. What I soon realized was that he was going off the trail to do his business, so everyone had to wait while my elephant took a crap. The other moment was when the elepant entered a small lake. At first I wasn't sure if the elephant was disobeying the orders of the driver and simply wanted to take a swim or if he was being lead into the lake. The water kept rising and rising and I was wondering if I wasn't about to drown strapped to my elephant chair. The elephant splashed himself (and us!) with some water from his trunk, and then turned around where one of the English speaking guides took my photo - whew!!

Unfortunately the tour stopped there for me and I didn't get to go to the last stop - the Tiger Cave Temple. I was most excited about the Temple and the elephant trekking. When I booked the tour I asked them if we would be doing the Tiger Cave first and they assured me they would, and they even explained that it was only logical to do the Temple first and the Emerald Pool and hot springs afterwards in order to cool down and relax after such an exhausting climb, but in fact it was last. You see, the temple is 1, 237 steps (some very steep) up a mountain and I knew that if I didn't do it first I wouldn't have the energy to do it, or because of my bad hip I wouldn't be able to, but it made sense doing it first when I had the best chance. So in the morning I popped my ibuprofen and prepared myself mentally to make it to the top. Out of all the people that did go to the Temple only two climbed to the top - the rest were too tired to make the effort. But the reason I didn't see the temple is because I went to the hospital instead. The night before I woke up with something in my eye. I made an effort to wash it out but I couldn't get it out. I went back to bed and every time I would fall asleep as soon as I moved my eye I would wake up. That morning when I woke up it was no better. When we stopped for lunch (before elephant trekking) I filled a bowl with water and tried again to wash whatever it was out of my eye, but again it didn't help. During elephant trekking my eye swelled right up and it started tearing out of control, so when I got back to the stables I looked in a mirror and my eye looked horrible! So, anyway, I went to the hospital while the rest of the people when to the Temple. Long story short - the doctor found something in my eye, removed it, washed out my eye, and put me on antibiotics and eye drops. The whole trip to the hospital only cost roughly €30 thankfully, and now my eye is all better.

Krabi - Day 3

Day 3: Krabi Town

There really isn't much to see in Krabi Town, but the guide book talked about a nice temple, and we wanted an "easy" day so we grabbed what they call a bus and headed into town.

The Kaew Grovaram temple was impressive but still under construction, and we didn't go inside because the monks were chanting and we didn't want to interrupt anything.

As we were climbing the stairs to see the temple we noticed what looked like another temple so we went to check it out. It turned out to be a monastery. There was a monk outside the gate and I asked if I could take his picture, and although he agreed he didn't seem all that happy about it. We looked around the monastery (which turned out to be quite extensive grounds) and what we noticed is that it seemed to be grouped into certain sections - a section for the older male monks, on the other side a section for female monks, and next to this a section for young male monks. There were also a lot of animals - wild dogs and tiny puppies, cats and kittens, roosters, chickens and chicks, all roaming freely and living in perfect harmony, not to mention a couple of caged peacocks near the entrance.

Before returning to our hotel we decided to walk to the river. It was low tide and there were these crazy walking fish on the bank! I took a video - check it out for yourself (if you watch carefully you'll notice that they go to the water to suck some up before venturing out). Does anyone know what these things are??

Krabi - Day 2

Day 2: The 4 Islands

Poda Island: Our first stop ended up being a private island. (Check out the beautiful rock formations! They're all over the place .. enchanting!) With these tours you really don't have enough time to take off and go exploring to any degree because they give you a time limit, so we explored the beach a bit (but a beach is a beach isn't it?), and then discovered the monkeys. The tour guide warned us that these were not the "nice" monkeys and to stay away from them and under no circumstances feed them.

Here you can see one eating a Palm Seed Fruit, proudly showing off his manlihood!


















Chicken Island: Then we got back onto the boat and stopped somewhere off of Chicken Island to go snorkelling (It's called Chicken Island cause it looks like a chicken when you approach it from a particular angle). It was my first time snorkelling and it was incredible! They told us that if we offered the fish some food they would actually come right to us to eat. Luckily we had brought some leftover pizza so we ripped off the crusts to give to them. I had to jump into the water so my clever idea was to put the crust inside my bikini top so I wouldn't lose it. Once in the water I panicked thinking they might try to get at the crust in my top, or worse, chomp on my boobs. So I quickly took it out and was surrounding by these yellow striped fish. Again I panicked so I threw the crust into the water where it was brutally devoured. I was encouraged to try again, but this time not let go of the crust, and let the fish eat it while I hold it - one of them bit me!

Back to snorkelling .. it was great! There is blue and purple coral reef, big fish, little fish, colourful fish ... It wasn't as spectacular as I've seen on TV but I loved it. I didn't need a life jacket cause I float, which was a plus! And I stayed so long I was one of the last people to get back on the boat. I could've stayed all afternoon - It's so calming!

Tup Island: We stopped at this little island to have lunch. Don and I fed the fish our stubby little chicken legs, and there wasn't anything really exciting except one moment when people started screaming. I went to see what was going on and saw a baby komono dragon scurrying off up into the forest. I got a couple of photos but you can't make out the dragon unfortunately.

They brought us here because at low tide a sand bar connecting it to two other islands appears, so anyone interested could easily walk over to the other islands. Once I realized that this was the idea it was too late and we had to board the boat.
Phra Nang Beach in Railay: Luckily we handn't been here the day before, but it was something on my list of things I wanted to see. Here you can find "Princess Cave" named after a local legend. From phuket.com - "Phra Nang (Princess) Cave has been where fishermen, before going out to sea, have made offerings to the symbolic Phallus of Shiva (known as the Siwaleung or Palad Khik in Thai). The fishermen, who say the cave is the home of a mythical sea princess, believe their offerings will bring them success in their fishing and protect them from danger, but what is more remarkable is that the cave contains a large collection of carved wooden phallic symbols, offerings and other objects believed to help with fertility."

We were informed, this was the place that had the "nice" monkeys and you could actually feed them, but the highlight for me was this baby monkey dressed in a little t-shirt which was tied to a tree (owner no where to be seen). Almost everyone on the boat spent quite a bit of time just watching, or playing, with this baby monkey. The only thing that made me nervous was this "look" which was almost always followed by this crazy shriek. I couldn't tell if he was getting pissed off or if he was just playing. I know he wasn't happy that he didn't get my sunglasses though. Maybe next time little guy.

Krabi - Day 1

I haven't had much time to keep my blog up to date, so to those who have complained please accept my sincere apologies. (ya, right)

So here are some highlights from our trip to Krabi ...

Day 1: Railay Beach

The first day we took a longboat and went to check out Railay (Rai Leh), a peninsula just south of Ao Nang where we were staying. (pic of longboats here)

We arrived on the west side of the island then walked over to the east to check out Phra Nang or "Diamond" Cave (I like this photo cause it looks like a giant squid) ...













They call it Diamond Cave cause it sparkles (or here in Phuket I've seen it called Ice Cream Cave!) but I have to admit I don't recall seeing much sparkling. All in all it wasn't as spectacular as I was expecting, but still worth the short walk to see it. On our way back, because the tide had gone out, we could better see the mangroves (sorry, no photos)

Taking advantage of the low tide we were also able to walk over to another beach called Ton Sai which was much less attractive than the rest.

We negotiated with a longboat driver to be taken back to Ao Nang beach, but his boat was anchored a bit far so the water level kept rising and rising and I was getting wetter and wetter. At one point Don was trying to encourage me to keep coming and suddenly PLOP! Don's temporary tooth+plate fell into knee-deep water. There was a moment of panic knowing that the driver was waiting for us. Later, of course, Don regretted not taking the time to look for it. He now walks toothless among us!

Krabi Bound

We left Khon Kaen last night to catch the 1230am bus to Bangkok. It was an interesting bus ride. The pros were that we were one down from first class which meant more leg room, lots more leg room. Not only did the seats recline to an almost horizontal position, but there is a rest for your calves, so the only thing not supported are your feet. So far so good. Then, there is a button which moves the back of the seat and the bottom of the seat in a more chair (like a "v") or bed position (flat). There are also three different massage settings, but it is noisy as hell and they all felt the same to me - like there was someone with a jackhammer inside my chair. There were a few minutes I couldn't stop laughing from the embarassment of turning it on, and of course I couldn't stop at trying only one setting! The service was great - there is an attendant, like on an airplane, who came around three times briefly after our departure. The first time she came around with mini box of juice and a mini bag of chips, then with a bottle of water, and finally with a little plastic container of mini sandwiches - 2 salmon (gross) and 1 ham. What I found interesting was that every time she handed out one of these things she said "thank you" - so imagine there were about 40 of us on the bus and she made three trips, so that's about 120 times saying "thank you". Then comes the irritating part - this whole time they kept on the bright overhead light and had two large tv's in the front with the most irritating promotional commercials and music videos. The sound was on the overhead speakers so we had no choice but to listen to it even though all we wanted to do was try to sleep through the whole trip. About 30 minutes later they finally turned the light and tv off, but about 45 minutes before getting to the bus station in Bangkok they were turned back on again! What a shocking way to wake up!! Of course it was because the attendant was going to come around again with some soy milk.

After getting to Bangkok we caught a taxi to the airport and had quite a few hours to kill. We finally arrived at the Krabi airport just before 3 where it was pouring rain! After quite a lengthy taxi ride to our hotel we found that it wasn't quite what we had seen on the internet and also had a big puddle at the end of the room. Luckily the owner has another hotel not too far from that one and they had a better room for the same price so we switched.

After getting settled into our new room we went for meal at a Mexican restaurant. Yup, you got it. Mexican food in Thailand. The owner of the hotel also owns the restaurant and offers a 40% discount to his hotel guests, plus 2 for 1 cocktails, so we thought we would check it out and it was fantastic. I had piña coladas beautifully decorated with starfruit and a fresh flower (sorry no photo cause I didn't take my camera with me - I think they call that Murphy's Law) .. it seemed like the tropical thing to do - the piña coladas I mean.

On the way back to the hotel I was pleasantly shocked to see a man with a spider monkey! He was so beautiful (the monkey of course). With my mouth wide open in awe and excitement he came over to me and put him into my arms and then offered to take my picture for 200 Baht. It was a ripoff, but I didn't care. It was my first time ever seeing a monkey that close, nevermind touching one, so I got my silly souvenir and paid the man. I know it's not a great photo, cause it's a photo of a photo, but I hope you enjoy it as much as I enjoyed the moment.

Pampering myself

A couple of years ago a Thai massage place opened up in San Sebastian. Hicham treated me to an hour massage that cost €120 - Although I wasn't sure what to expect, I kept thinking that it had to be fantastic for that price and I kept waiting for something spectacular to happen. There was nothing fantastic or spectacular, in fact it was mediocre and I never returned. Ironically they sent me an SMS "2 for 1" on my way to Thailand.

Today I had my first authentic Thai massage. You can choose between a mat on a common wooden terrace where you are cooled with a fan, or you can pay a bit extra for a private room with air conditioning. Shortly before our appointment (I went with Don's wife Ko), there was a rain storm, and because we went just after 7 in the evening it was cool enough that we didn't need a private room and got mats next to each other on the terrace. They give you some Thai farmers pants (or diaper pants known to some) and a shirt to change into. Then they wash your feet with a lemongrass soap and take you to your mat where they bring you a hot cup of mulberry tea and ice water.


I know this is corny, but I'm having trouble putting the experience into words .. so here's an explanation from about.com -

"Thai massage is more energizing and rigorous than more classic forms of massage.

Thai massage is also called Thai yoga massage, because the therapist uses his or her hands, knees, legs, and feet to move you into a series of yoga-like stretches. Many people say Thai massage is like doing yoga without any work.

Muscle compression, joint mobilization, and acupressure are also used during treatment.

People describe Thai massage as both relaxing and energizing."

So, I left feeling great and it's lifted my spirits. The best part was that the 2 and a half hour massage cost only 250 Bhat (just over €6, and about €7 with a tip)!! Am I returning? You bet your ass I am!!

Do as the Thais do

Next week our travels begin and I will have a lot more to report. Right now I'm still in Khon Kaen enjoying the open markets, the fantastic food, and observing the Thai way. I can now say hello and thank you in Thai and have had a lot of chances to practice the "wâi". I'm trying to enjoy the small things in order to keep my mind off the big things that keep that big black cloud above my head. Here are some of the small things I've enjoyed in the last couple of days:

See? I was being literal ...

Oh and these seaweed Pringles... are actually pretty good.

Goin' to Thailand

As we drove to Madrid from San Sebastian I found myself feeling a chaotic mixture of emotions. With only a few hours sleep the night before I still found the energy to enjoy some of the scenery on the way - a single robust tree in the middle of a field, a bird resting on an electrical wire, a baby antelope (or what seemed to be) running across an open field, a farmer herding a large group of sheep, a bright green winding valley sandwiched between two dry rocky hills. I was surprised that I was finding so many sights to enjoy feeling the way I was, but then too tired to continue I put on my headphones, closed my eyes, and listened to Coldplay. I knew a few of their songs but the song "Yes" caught particularly my attention. For those of you who know me well you will understand why.

My flight to Dubai was a couple of hours late leaving so instead of having a few hours to wait for my connecting flight we were quickly shown to our gates by an airport guide. It was a shame because the airport was full of interesting things to look at - perhaps on the return journey I will have time to check it out.

I arrived in Bangkok and I went outside to have a cigarette. Leaving the air conditioned airport I was shocked by the sauna-like weather outside. Even my hand-held fan gave me no relief from the extremely humid weather. Khon Kaen is no different. The only relief is indoors where there is air conditioning. At night the slight drop in temperature provides a little relief but air conditioning is still needed in your bedroom if you expect to get a good sleep.


My favourite things, after being here for only 24 hours, have been the food and the elephants that are lead through the streets at night by their trainer and helpers. My friend, Donald, says that the elephants are left to roam the forests during the day finding refuge from the heat, and are transported into the cities by truck at night when it is cooler. They are, of course, brought out for tourists who are willing to pay 20 bhat (€0,50) to get a small bag of sugarcane to feed them. After you've paid you can pet (but not pat, which was quickly explained to me by one of the helpers) the elephant and take pictures. Donald says that we'll be able to ride an elephant in some elephant village called Surin - that I'm looking forward to!

I'm learning the shoulds and shouldn'ts here. Like how the shirt I'm wearing in the photo isn't very appropriate cause you can see my bra strap. And how I can't take any photos of any buddha statues. And how (which I knew beforehand) women don't smoke in public (except stupid tourists like me). How you never touch a person's head and possibly even an elephant's. And how feet are considered vulgar. And how you greet someone with a "wâi" (the prayer-like gesture of hands near the chin). Besides all of the "rules" I'm breaking in my learning-curve phase, they just stare cause I'm a foreign chick - that's okay cause I'm probably doing a lot of staring too at the moment.