back on the mainland...

...Acazia and I have spent the past 4 or 5 days (I really can't rememeber)... on the island of Ko Yao Noi--a little island in the Andaman Sea. A laid back, untouristified little place that only a few years ago got electricity brought to them under the water. It is one of the most untouched places we visited the entire trip...We headed there following the suggestion of Jay, Donna and Kate who have a friend who lives there part of the year. After biking around the entire island, we finally found Mark and his amazing house on the hill overlooking TaKao Bay. Being an absolute stranger, a mere friend of a friend, he was wonderfully generous and let us stay in his house for a few days while he went to Phuket. We spent the days lying on the huge deck, kayaking, reading, napping, wandering around, watching the monkeys harvest coconuts, playing Jenga with the local village kids, improving our Thai language skills with Gob (the amazing woman who cooks at the nearby Sea Gypsy Restaurant), watching the tides go in and out and basically, tumbling further into the silent bliss of disappearing into vacation...and ...

.......

....... I think I have reached that point...that point where you have officially recharged...Where being on vacation has paid off and you have achieved what the postcards and the t-shirts promise. Three months later and I think I am the most relaxed I have ever been in my life (besides that 9 month stint in the womb). These days, I only see what is right there in front of me and nothing else invades my thoughts. I look out at the ocean and the stars and my mind only says the words "ocean" and "stars"... I feel like my brain is floating and there is not much to do other than to let it float. While this state of near Nirvana is enviable, it doesn't make for the most interesting conversation. I can't believe it, but I think I am DONE with vacation. Pinch me, but it is true. I think it's time to return to that life I left 3 months ago. During the moments when my brain is actually engaged, I find my thoughts turning away from the gorgeous sea of islands in front of me towards cravings of things like getting into my car, driving it, parking it, going grocery shopping, getting back into it and drving home...things like going to the post office and waiting in an endless line...paying bills...sweeping my floors...folding piles of laundry...eating mexican food...ummm and i admit it, I even have these inklings of craving going back to work (!) I'll keep you posted on how long that one lasts, but in the mean time, I can officially say that I THINK I may have had enough travelling for awhile... . .. .. . ...

.. . . .. . . . ....where was I? .. . . . . ....Oh, right...

We left Ko Yao Noi and began our exit strategy back to the states. We took a boat, a pick-up truck and a bus up the coast to the town of Ranong...Why? Because it seemed to be on the way AND it claimed to have some amazing hot springs. It WAS on the way, and it did have hot springs. We opted to enjoy them at a spa that syphoned the water in to a "luxurious" pool as the brochure stated. Thought we'd treat ourselves to some TLC before the journey home....hmmmm...We walked to the place expecting SOMEthing in the 10,000 Waves arena..but were sort of jarred as we approached the delapidated, half-destoyed looking hotel/spa complex on the side of the hill. It looked like a tornado had ripped thru it and the jungle had been growing over it for a century...but my guidebook, published LAST year, said it was fabulous?!?! .... we proceeded as if approaching an accident site, not sure of what we were about to see beyond each corner....BUT sure enough, the place was "open"...We continued to wander in slowly. There was a door man. Hello. There was a woman pushing a cart of towels. Hello. And then there was the front desk. Fully staffed. 3 Women just sitting there...and NO ONE ELSE. Hello. The place was entirely empty. Usually this would be a sure sign to leave, but we were sort of spellbound by the oddity of the place. It was like a Thai, non-snowy version of The Shining. We ate lunch in a gigantic banquet hall absolutely alone and in silence. The same woman was our waitress, our cook and our cashier--she just floated seamlessley from job to job filling the holes in the emptiness...there wasn't even any Muzak.....It was SO ODD!!!

We walked thru echoing hallways and made our way to the Spa area. We saw no one. The pool was gorgeous and full of water. Whew. There were orchids everywhere and live coy fish filled a little pond. Whew. A man appeared out from behind a wall and welcomed us just as we walked in. He explained the hot water and pool area to us and showed us in--nothing out of the ordinary, so we figured, hey, it's probably just a slow day...and well...it was. But it was SO WIERD!!! Even more wierd, the hot springs were SO hot we couldn't even get INTO them. We tried dammit, we tried, but it HURT! I put my toes in for a few seconds expecting the burning sensation to stop, but it just got worse...we sat and stared at the massive pool that we could never even imagine getting into. what the hell is wrong with this place?! we decided instead to use the regular swimming pool and lay in the sun...forgoing the spa treatments offered--it was all just too strange. The afternoon passed and we see NO one in the 300 room hotel except a few people watering plants (why?), pushing carts (to where?) and folding towels (for who?). Then, as we got dressed and ready to leave, a sea of elderly women came in and one by one got into the cauldron of a hot spring as if it was a mild bath. I cringed as they entered becasue, truly, the stuff was BURNING my flesh off and here, these geezers were just wading on in...AMAZING. We decided that this was a hot springs for alien women immune to temperature or a strange colony like in the movie Cocoon....we left slowly, walked past a few maids, who smiled and stared, the three women at the front desk, and finally the doorman who waved us out in to the delapidated, bomb crater of a parking lot.....Have a nice day. He smiled strangely, desperately. See you again. Right.

* * * *

Today Acazia and I are in Bangkok--back on the mainland. A boatride, a pick up truck, another pickup truck and 10 hour busride later and we are back where we began--- In the city of cities surrounded by airconditioning, fashionable teenagers and people in their fresh "I just landed in Bangkok to start my 3 month vacation" clothes. . .It all feels kind of surreal--like the scuba diving-- where you come up to the surface and you breathe the air and you wonder where the hell you just WERE for the past hour...the world above the surface instantly occupies all of your senses in a more frenetic way and you have to struggle to remember all the details of your dive down below....thank god you took pictures because really, all you can do now is concentrate on keeping your head above the water, absorb all the crazy sounds that now flood your head and notice what a gift simply breathing is. Traveling is exactly like that, I think.

* * *

In an attempt to remember all the details of our trip, Acazia and I have begun work on our Best/Worst+High/Low List....to sort of recap the points that stick best in our memories. We have yet to finish it, so stay tuned for such titilating entries as "Worst Squat Toilet in Laos" and "Moment That Caused the NON-Believer Acazia To Recite The Hail Mary"... I think such a list will best show you our trip. So.... Enjoy your turkey dinners--Happy Thanksgiving.

xoxo Liza

Thailand Prevails

After two days of class and diving in a chlorinated pool we found ourselves "ready" for our first experience scuba diving. The morning began with a 7:10 am pickup from the end of our driveway. We sat in the back of a pickup on wooden benches nervous for our first day of diving. I wondered would I be eaten by something that they forgot to tell me about and Liza concerned that she may choke on her own saliva. We got on our dive boat along with a handful of other people, somehow seeing everyone calmed my nerves. As we were waiting for the boat to take off, I wrapped my hand around a pole and felt a hard pinch. Ouch! I looked at my hand and low and behold, there was a black stinger in my pinky. It was about the second time that I had seen a bee in the past 2.5 months, go figure! I quickly removed it and put some ice on it. Is this a bad sign? God, I hope not. My finger seemed okay and we ate our breakfast and off we went. About and hour or so later we arrived at a small lagoon, where we would begin our new found skill. We were loaded with our weight belts, regulators, BCD jackets, ridiculously heavy oxygen tanks, wetsuits, goggles and snorkel, and lets not forget our flippers! I don't think that diving falls in the attractive attire sports. We stepped off the boat and into the 30 degrees Celsius ocean. It was a bit choppy at the top, making me a little anxious, but as we began our decent down the rope the water felt calm. All I could hear was my breathing and the bubbles rushing out of my regulator and up past my face. We finally got to the bottom after lots of equalizing and okays. The fish around us were happy to see us, mainly because we kicked up the ocean floor, which meant more food for them. I looked below me at the neon and bright blue colored wrasses, watching them swim through my legs. I was delighted. We swam for about an hour, past huge coral, sea anemones, and reefs full of life and through thousands of fish. When we came out of the water and onto the boat, it all seemed like a dream, like it almost wasn't real. I was terribly excited and couldn't wait untill I could be back down in the calm quiet ocean world. I was hooked. As we put our gear back on I cut my other finger by pinching it in my weight belt. Liz, our instructor joked that she wasn't sure how I had managed to stay alive this many years. We got back in the water and enjoyed our swim 10x more, probably because we both were relaxed and knew what we were getting ourselves into. We sat back on our trip back to Koh Lanta amped up from our first successful day of diving. Almost no injuries, no drowning and all of our skills completed. As we were heading back, the boat slowed just in time to see about 7 dolphins swimming past us heading back the way we had just come. I figured that if the day started out with a bee sting, at least it ended with dolphins (my first time seeing them out at sea).
The second day was even better than the first, with two new islands and lodes more fish than the day before. Up on the boat Liz had told us that sometimes the wrasses (a fish) liked to nibble on people's ears or pick off their scabs. EW, I thought:) As I was practicing my buoyancy I felt a couple pinches on the back of my calf. The small scab that I had forgotten about on the back off my leg didn't exist anymore and shortly after that another one was gone from my ankle. I guess scabs must taste good! What is it with me and stinging, biting creatures? Guess I am the lucky one, while Liza escaped with only a couple scratches from her BCD. After two days of diving, now we both can say that we are certified (amatuer) open water divers and I suppose our vacations will have to revolve around diving from now on cause if I wasn't broke about now I would spend the rest of my time here in the water.
With its gorgeous white beaches, gorgeous warm ocean and everyone's sweet, mellow demeanor I think that Koh Lanta was one of my favorite places that we visited. I really didn't want to leave. You can't really compete with ocean sunsets, the sound of waves crashing and relaxed environment. :) I think Thailand has definately gotten under my skin and will keep me wanting more!
PS The photos below were supposed to be added to this blog, small mix-up, sorry:)

a return to thailand

Well...after 2 1/2 months of travelling thru northern thailand, laos, cambodia and vietnam, acazia and i have retuned to the friendly, sunny, laid back land of southern thailand. we are currently exploring the area around the andaman sea. After a 10+ hour train from Bangkok we found ourselves in Krabi--where we happened upon the yearly festival to celebrate the end of the rainy season and the beginning of the high season. the town was hoppin-- there were fireworks, small floating offerings with incense and candles filled the river and floated out into the ocean, there was also a car show a la Espanola and plenty of friend food on a stick. we opted for the food stand run by the cute older lady who managed 10 tables, the cooking and cleaning all by herself. she was a raging storm--amazing. and her pad thai was yummy too!

we then took a pickup ride and a long tail boat to the railey peninsula --sort of like an island since it is only reached by boat and has generator only electricity for usually only half the day. we melted into the easy beach life and managed to while away a few days in this gorgeous little rock climbing mecca. an amazing location surrounded by towering cliffs and greenery everywhere. if you climb--this is your paradise.

it is amazing how exhausting it is to spend your day "relaxing" in the sun. there's the walking over to the sandy beach, the setting up of the beach mat, the sun tan body rotation, the swimming, the floating, the book reading, the snorkelling, the pineapple eating, the long journey to eat lunch, the return from lunch and the constant repetion of the above-mentioned tasks. Ugh--utterly exhausting to do that for 4 days in a row. seriously! just remember that when you are all "at work" at your "jobs". ha!

we hiked to a hidden lagoon on our last day that required us to lower ourselves down a vertical wall a few levels with some ropes. we got nice and muddy and even got a few bruises and cuts to remember the occasion. the lagoon was not entirely blue and brooke shields was not swimming in it, but the climb through the jungle was pretty amazing--on our hike we met a hilarious Californian named Adam who was "on assignment" for Outside magazine and we spent the rest of the day with him on the beach and seeing how the non-backpackers "rough it" on vacation in thailand. he was also writing an article for Spa magazine so you can imagine the plush bungalows we had to hang out in.

as gorgeous as railey is, we had to get a movin---we were craving a bungalow that had electricity 24/7 and a shower that was warmer. we jumped a boat to Ko Lanta--the island where i am now writing you from. A long, lazy island with a west coast entirely comprised of sandy beaches. there are fewer people here than many of the other islands--and as the "fewer people=better times" theory of ours continues to prevail, we are pretty happy to be here. we are staying in a row of bungalows WITH electricity and sort of warm shower on the beach. the tables we eat dinner at are little bamboo covered decks over the sand. the sunsets here rock, acazia asked me if i thought they were better than New Mexico's and i gave her "the stare"...i'm not sure many things rival a good NM sunset...these are pretty amazing, but that title will have to stay with NM skies. ahem. Argument diverted.

we rented a motor bike today to head into "town". after an amazing lunch of green curry soup, tam kha gai, iced tea and MORE god damned RICE, we found a dive shop and signed up to take a 4 day open water certification class. we're both pretty stoked to start class tomorrow. we actually have homework tho--ha! more later when i remember to bring my USB cable with me to download some pics for you all.

We are ridiculously thrilled to hear about the midTerm elections and want to thank all of you who voted to help make that change. we are excited to return to a country that is truly different from the one we left---and just think, all Acazia and I had to do to make that happen was GO ON A VACATION!!! I LOVE politics! More later!

p.s. I (Liza) am turning 30 on novmeber 29th and will be having a party to celebrate that crazy fact upon my return to New Mexico--mark the 1st weekend in December for a little fiesta. eVite and info to come! xoxoxo Liza meow.

vietnam recap

We made it to Krabi, Thailand last night, after a plane, a train and a minivan. I think that we were both a little shocked at how wealthy thailand seems now. It is strange to look back and think that once Thailand seemed so poor only to realize that now it seems so rich compared to some of the places that we have been to on this trip and to know that those places probably dont even compare to some in this world.
It seems silly to go back and tell you everything about Vietnam but i feel like i would be cheating you all if i didnt give you some of the highlights.
Saigon was our first stop, we arrived happy at the prospects of Vietnam. You can buy any book you want on the street, photocopied of course and if you were lucky maybe buy some brown stuff they call weed (of course why would you). Crossing the street wasn't as bad as I had envisioned, you just keep walking while the motorbikes, cars, buses keep driving by you. We went to a history museum, art gallery, walked by the river, went to the big market, and geeked out at an office supply store. We then made our way up to Mui Ne, a small fishing village. The hospitality lacked, but it was quiet and next to the beach. The water was warm and full of trash, parts of the beach were filled with dead sea creatures and more trash. Mainly just leftovers from the net fishing. Mui Ne is supposed to be known for its fish sauce:) We visited the beautiful red sand dunes and drove along the coast a little ways on a motorbike. It reminded us of the coast in California.
Our next bus stop was Nha Thrang, another beach town with a gorgeous white buddha that sat upon a hill. We went on a tour of the islands around the area, where we tried to go snorkeling but the goggles leaked salt water into my eyes. We had a "friut party" on the boat and had the best boy band ever play some tunes for us. It was a quirky trip. We left that evening for an overnight bus ride to Hoi An.
Hoi An reminded us a little of Luang Prabang, cute town with sweet people. We did have some motivation to shop a little, but didnt buy as many handmade clothes as i would have liked to. We went on a tour to My Son, parts of which were destroyed by bombing that the US did during the American/Vietnam war. The temples were built in the 4th century and were similar to Angkor Wat, but its hard to compare with such a gigantic place.
We then headed to Hue, where we spent a day walking around, visiting the Citadel and chillin out since we felt a little worn out. And then took a lovely overnight train to HaNoi, which leads you up untill my last blog:)
(as a side note, i wasnt able to post this blog for a couple days, so, as an update: we are currently on the coast of thailand, that is only accessible by boat and only has electricity from 5pm till 6am. It is amazingly warm water and beautiful.....so so beautiful! But it isnt good snorkeling water, so we will be moving on soon:))
crossing my fingers that the election went well......
xoxoxo
caz

HaLong Bay, Vietnam

Okay, so I didnt post a new blog when i woke up from my nap, instead i went in search of some chinese medicine for my sore throat, which was accomplished by following someone down a long narrow alley where an old man sat on a small stool grinning ear to ear next to a room full of pills and the secret stash of Yin Qiao that i was looking for. It seems that i have brought almost all the wrong medicines for our trip. Small adventures. Since i wasnt feeling well, i rested for the rest of the day for our big 3 day 2 night trip out to HaLong Bay, which we have just returned from. It was another amazing place, with huge limestone rocks/islands jutting out of the sea. It seemed as though it could go on forever. There are no words sometimes for the beauty that is created in this world and i wish that i had all the time to just sit and soak it all in. We saw a cave, which was lit up like disneyland, for once we werent blindly trekking into an unknown cave. we swam in the warm waters and had fancy looking food on the boat. unfortunately we spent the night parked to about 25 other boats, it reminded me of camping in an RV park. But we were surrounded by these amazing formations, so i couldnt complain too much. The best part of the trip was that we were able to spend a good chunk of the day kayaking through the area, past these rocks that towered over us, i cant do justice to such an experience through words. we kayaked over to a small beach where our boat met us to have lunch, which was much needed. we were all famished after a breakfast of toast and fruit before our 2 hour kayak trip and swim. we spent the night in a fancy hotel on cat ba island, Holyday View(almost original). We had a nice leasurely boat trip back to HaNoi, where we are now, anxiously waiting for our plane back to Bangkok, where we will begin our decent to southern thailand. the moment we have all been waiting for!! we have to go pick up our bags, which got left on another boat, so i will write more later about our adventures in vietnam.