I'm in looooooooooove....

Trains. I am in love with trains. I know, it sounds really silly but I think trains are the way to go. Get it? Go? Bad joke. Anyways...

We had to leave our lazy, indulgent paradise a.k.a. Koh Tao so we decided to make our exit by train. Night boat first- sleeping on life jackets on an open deck, warm night, medium swells, not seasick, perfect. Then taxi- bumpy, no clue where we're going, trusting the driver who means well but will probably overcharge us, that's life. Finally, an hour nap with ear plugs on rock hard benches at the station and then the train arrives. It is a beauty. Filthy, colorful, open windows because we roll Third Class which means non air-con. A sea of Thai faces staring back at us, such a welcome sight after all the farang on the island. And to top it off, uber cheap fare, 53 baht which is hardly more than a dollar. We were off to a great start.

Then there was the train ride itself. Green wet scenery coursed by, palm trees and rice paddies and distant hilly mountains. A sight completely devoid of the usual car traffic and powerlines that we are stuck with on buses. Then we eased up next to the ocean and cruised along the Gulf of Thailand for awhile, gently rocking to and fro. Divine. And then, it was lunch time and a million Thai women started walking up and down the aisles, calling out their wares in a language we still don't understand, selling the most interesting to-go lunches I've ever seen. Rice, sauce, fish, all in a bowl made out of a woven leaf. Sweet sticky rice cooked inside a stalk of bamboo, then split open to devour. (That was my choice.) Juices and unrecognizable sweets in clear bags of all sizes. It was awesome.

All too soon, the train ride was over and we were back on the streets, haggling with taxi drivers. We talked two motorbike taxi guys into giving us rides to the beach for 10 baht each. We had to walk away twice of course during negotiations to get such a great price. But now we're here in Cha-am, this little untouristy beach town a few hours south of Bangkok. It's great to be in a place again where not all the signs are in English. We'll stay here until we've collected enough seashells and eaten our fill of fresh seafood and then we'll book it up to Bangkok to fly out Saturday. Back to the USA!

More reflection later, when I can get my mind off trains. :)


-Kai

On the outside, looking in

Well, we broke our routine of doing NOTHING and went on a six hour snorkel trip yesterday. For those of you who have yet to make the migration out to Maui, you should know that I am now a snorkelling conesieur. For the last six months I've made it my main goal in life to become the best snorkel trip tour guide ever. Four years at a private liberal arts college did much to prepare me for this mentally stimulating job, I assure you. Actually, it is a lot of fun and I've learned a lot- mainly how to tell a rock from a piece of coral and a shark from a dolphin and what the best methods are to deal with cranky, seasick passengers. I've also acquired a wicked tan. But I'm rambling. My point is, Tia and I basically snorkel for a living, so we were very excited to see what a Thai snorkel operation would be like. Different? Same? Oh, the anticipation!

We were not let down. There were of course similarities, such as the fact that a boat was involved and fins and masks were passed out. But that's about where it ended. Differences? Many. No introduction, no safety briefing (mandated by the coast guard back in Hawaii), no gear check or Snorkel 101 talk (one of my favs), no reef tour (although one helpful crew chased down a small black tipped reef shark for us all to see, I suppose that counts). But the most dramatic difference? The complete and utter lack of concern for the coral and the fish. The two cardinal sins of snorkeling were being committed everywhere we looked: STANDING on the CORAL and FEEDING the FISH. Major no-nos. It took all our energy not to lay into the other passengers. Without the support of the Thai crew (they were doing it too) we felt completely unsupported in trying to make it a "teachable moment." Killed us.

So, what can we do? We did find a dusty exhibit on a back street here, talking all about marine conservation. But in the same breath it boasted about the trawlers and their contribution to the local economy. Trawlers are not exactly upstanding stewards of the environment, in fact, they often tear up the sea floor and accumulate by-catch that ends up dying unnessisarily. Therefore we find ourselves caught in the common conundrum that arises with environemental issues. I think we're going to go back to Maui and talk to our employers, the Pacific Whale Foundation and see if there's anything we can do. It's a start.

And the trip goes on! Today we're lapsing back into our lazy ways but we did hatch a plan to take a scenic train ride up the coast back to Bangkok this week. We'll probably leave Koh Tao tommorrow, since we fly out Saturday. Plus we're getting a little tired of the slightly snobby Euro party scene here. I swear, people on vacation are the epitome of self-centered. I guess it's because people work so hard for time off and when the holiday comes, they want to reliquish all responsibility. But come on, you're still a human being! You can act like one. Enough ranting, I am on vacation myself afterall so I should chill out and enjoy the ride.

Man, I'm going to miss the noodle dishes here so much! And the curry. And the banana pancakes. We eat a lot here, it's quite wonderful. I'm also going to miss all the friendly Thais we've made friends with- the latest being the whole crew who work at the tattoo parlor down the street. Going out dancing has been fun and reading a trillion fluff books. But I'm looking forward to getting back to Maui too. I'm refreshed and revived and ready to work hard and play harder.

See you all on the rock soon? Maui's allure is impossible to resist forever. Don't even try, book a ticket and come visit.

xoxoAlohaThaiKai

Life's Hard

We've given up wearing shoes. And shirts. All we need are bathing suits and sarongs in this beach town, Sai Ri on Koh Tao. We've also abandoned any pretense of being real "travelers" for now. We're just tourists on vacation like everybody else. It's too hard to fight it anymore. The water's too warm, the sand too soft, the palm trees whisper in the breeze and we have very busy days of sleeping and reading and if we're feeling ambitious, snorkelling. We'll probably get around to renting a longtail boat and cruising around the island but for now, well, leisure beckons and we're all to happy to answer the call.

More later when we've actually done something of consequence. Until then, pass the sunscreen...

-K.

5 things I love about Thailand

1. Pad Thai and peanut sauce- I could eat this every day for the rest of my life. (I think.) It is quintessensially Thai in my opinion because it is both savory and sweet. Here there's really no such thing as dessert since so many main courses quench your sweet tooth cravings. Yum.

2. Spirit houses- Nearly every home and business has a beautiful mini temple out front, ladened with offerings of fruit and flowers. I was captivated by these small wonders and started asking about them. I was told they are called spirit houses and are errected during a special ceremony before any construction of the home or business begins. Buddists believe a spirt inhabits the land so a house must be given to the spirit to appease them and express graditude for allowing the humans to use the land. Very rad, I plan on building a spirit house for our apartment when I return to Maui. I think I'll make it out of a coconut. :)

3. Yellow shirts- Our first day in Bangkok, we marveled at the popularity of the color yellow. It seemed every other person owned a yellow shirt and chose to wear it that day. But as time passed, we continued to see the yellow shirts everywhere, in every town, on any given day. Finally we figured it out, though it took an embarrassingly long time. On June 9th, The King of Thailand celebrated his 60th
anniversary as king and to commemorate it, everyone was encouraged to wear yellow the first two weeks of June. And then, wow, on Friday the 9th you should have seen the throngs of yellow. We bought some shirts too of course to show our pride for The King. Travellers will do anything to seem more local, won't they?

4. Praying hands- Everyone presses their hands together and bows to greet and express thanks. Even Ronald McDonald! We found him "praying" in front of the McDonalds in Bangkok. I guess he's praying that the Buddists, who are mostly vegetarians, will come eat his Big Macs!

5. Koh Kai- They name islands after me! Just kidding, Koh means island but Kai actually means chicken egg so it translates as Chicken Island. Still, pretty cool huh? We're looking for Koh Tia but no luck yet.


We're in Koh Tao on the Eastern side of the southern penninsula. We got rained out of Railay (on the west side) which was fine with me- the main activity was rock climbing and that's not something that really lights my fire. Koh Tao is another story. Sunny, white sandy beaches, lots of bungalows and beach bars and snorkeling and diving. You just have to watch your step or you'll bump into one of the
trillions of farang (tourists). Apparantly there is no spot left on earth undiscovered by Lonely Planet. Sigh...

That's all for now. Happy Summer Solstice!

Turtles, tuk tuks, and thai massage-
Kai

The Beach

We made it. Two days of cramped buses tried to seperate us from our sanity but we were not detered. On sheer willpower and lots of pocky sticks and potato chips (flavor: sweet basil? lobster? nori?) we made it to the Andaman Coast. First we lapsed into luxery at our new girlfriends from Arizona's FIVE STAR resort. That was bliss. Then we opted out of the craziness of Phuket and Patong and headed over to Railay aka the most stunning place this side of Eden. We are currently holed up in an off season beach resort with a bunch of fire spinning hippies and more rock climbers than you can shake a stick at. Tia found climbers and I found kayaks so we're both very pleased and content. Plan on staying here at least a few more days, hiking to a nearby lagoon and paddling to an empty island across the way. Famous Koh Phi Phi is nearby but prices to get there are astronomical so we're going to continue our bohemian, non touristy ways. Still not sick of delish thai food, and getting much better with chopsticks. The water is much warmer than Maui so it doesn't really cool you off but is still a treat.

Here is a funny anecdote: yesterday we awoke to monkeys running around on the cliffs that back our guest house. We whipped out our cameras, thinking it was such a special treat to see them. Little furry demons with tiny babies clutching onto their chests for dear life. We went to breakfast all smug at our sighting. After we devoured our usual banana pancakes, Tia roped in with some guys from California and started climbing up a nearby rock face. Five minutes later the monkey tribe descended upon her, screeching and rattling the scrubby trees. It was a riot! Climbing with monkeys in Thailand. That's going to be the title of her new book.

A fun game we've developed as we travel is Name that Farang. Farang is the thai word for westerner and when we see them we try to guess where they are from before they open their mouths and we hear their accents. We are getting quite good at differentiating between an Australian and an American and a Brit. Impressive, huh? It's all in the hair, the shoes and the attitude.

Well, hope everyone is doing well! I'm starting to feel spoiled that I get to go home to Maui from here but hey, that's life. I'm planning a trip to the mainland in September so hopefully I'll get to catch up with the w. coast crew.

Lots of love!

Kai

Row rak nai loo-ang!
We love the King!
That's what my new bright yellow shirt says so it must be true.

hippie girls find slice of heaven

We have found the hippiest little hippie town way up here in northern Thailand, practically in Burma. (Where I am dying to go but know is too dangerous right now.) It's called Pai but you pronounce it Bye and there are dreads and rasta posters and tattoo shops and bars lit all with candles. Tomorrow we are taking a yoga class, today we rented one speed bikes with baskets on the front and huffed our way up to some hotsprings in a national park which sounded like a good idea but really was silly because it's a trillion degrees outside so scalding your skin is not appealing. Especially not after a hot bike ride. But the ride itself was incredible, peddling on the left side (as they do here) through the misty hill-sized mountains and farmers tilling red dirt and trainers walking their elephants, you know, a typical day in the Thai country. After we decided the hotsprings were a bust we went to The Pool, which turned out to be a slice of heaven. After a long swim, quick bike ride through the predictable afternoon downpour and showers in our Chacos, we went and ate hot hot curry with an English girl we met this morning. Now we are scarfing down little fried crepe things with bananas and chocolate- divine!- and in couple minutes heading to our mosquito netted beds.

Big day tomorrow! We're going south! The Arizona girls we met in Chiang Mai invited us to their plush hotel in Phuket. We weren't planning on going to that tourist haven but plans can change...

Lots of thai iced tea love,
Kai

Traveling light...

Day One: carefree travelers
Day Two: robbed
Day Three: mourn, recover and recompensate
Day Four: restock
Day Five: backpacks? what backpacks?


Well, it happened, we had our bags stolen. After we had a nasty 24 hours of sporadically remembering wonderful, irreplaceable things we'd lost, we let it all go and moved on. Last night we treated ourselves to luxerious foot rubs on Thae Phae Rd. (the Chiang Mai equivalent of Khoa San Rd. in Bangkok a.k.a. traveler's mecca) and outfitted ourselves in new Thai clothing and jewelry. We really look the part of bohemian gypsies now. No other choice! We've abandonded the practice of taking anti-malaria pills (since we don't have any) and are befriending DEET bug spray and long pants.

We've been forced to release our bonds to material things and travel much lighter. It's our first Zen lesson in this Buddist country. The best part? The travel book I brought was "The Unbearable Lightness of Being" and the irony is not lost, believe me. I think I might switch from the theme of unbearable lightness to something a little more palatable right now like "The Beach".

Every morning here in Chiang Mai, where we intend to stay another few days, we wake up and get dressed and instead of lotion we apply baby powder to ward off the humid heat. We bought a Thai phrase book for $1.50 and practice our pronunciation over a breakfast of fresh fruit with our new best friend, "Ann" or Ms. Napapan Yapanya, the owner of our guest house. She has been wonderful, helping us set up cooking classes and elephant jungle treks. Tonight we go to the former but have been warned not to eat too much since we have the latter to look forward to tomorrow.

Tia and I seem to be very compatible, especially in our style and approach to traveling. Hooray! We've already made plans to travel to New Zealand and Turkey in the future. Everyday so far we've had a conversation pondering how to financially support a life long addiction to travel. Any ideas?

I'll leave you with a list of my favorite things thus far: mini colorful shrines to Buddah ouside every business, raw silk that blesses your skin with its touch, sweet peanut sauce that burns your tounge but you can't stop devouring, silver sparkly scarves that wave in the market breeze, and the omnipresent politeness and bowed greetings from every Thai you meet. How lucky we are to have a whole month in this amazing country.

Lots of love!

Stay posted for more enthralling news from the East. :)

All Thailand, all the time

Hey all,

This blog is about to get a lot more interesting. Why? Because I'm now writing from Thailand! I will be here for the next MONTH which is exciting and daunting all at once. I will try to give regular updates here so feel free to follow along and travel vicariously through me.

So, Day ONE:

It took forever to get from Honolulu to Narita (outside Tokyo) to Taipei (Taiwan) to Bangkok. Every plane was either boiling or freezing but we passed the time eating weird plane food and getting excited. Highlights were going through immigration in Japan, strictly for the purpose of getting our passports stamped. We also managed to spend a handful of yen on various things we couldn't possibly live without, which has set the trend for the whole trip I think. Once we landed in Bangkok we expertly navigated our way into a taxi ride that was way too expensive to a hostel that was dirt cheap. (Side note: flushing toilet, hot water and A/C? Dreamy after studying abroad in Ghana.) We awoke to a heat that could only be eminating from an immense city but undetered we dressed in decidedly stylish traveler appareal and headed straight to the Grand Palace and the Emerald Buddah temple. So did everyone else it seemed. But we managed to dodge the crowds to take a million beautiful pictures and have a very special welcome to this country. Mosiac tiles, elaboratly painted walls, gold statues, buddahs everywhere and an undeniable sparkle everywhere your eyes fell, the Grand Palace was spectacular. Well worth the 250 baht. (37 baht=1 dollar) We went to Wat Pho next, home of the largest reclining buddah in the world. You can't even see the whole thing all at once, it is so massive. Takes your breath away. All the large and small temples we saw through out the day were surrounded by people burning insense and leaving lotus flowers as offerings and pressing their praying hands to their forehead. We were mezmorized.

Spent the rest of the day spending too much on taxis (but got better at bargaining), eating "real" pad thai (good but more fishy), and going crazy at the market that sold scarves, bags, and to die for fabric. Like I said earlier, shopping is quickly becoming the theme of this trip. Of course the fact that Tia is here in part to shop for her mom's new store doesn't help the matter. But we're trying to get out of the city today, day two, and bus or train to Chaing Mai in the North. So that should cut down on spending a lot. All in all Bangkok is interesting but still a sprawling city and we're two nature girls who love the country. So it's on we go!

Now you know we made it and we're okay and having a great time! You can email my yahoo account if you want to stay in touch. I'd love to hear from everyone!

Take care!

xoxoThaiKai

P.S. I finally am on a trip where I didn't pack all the wrong things! It feels very good. The key? Taking half as much as you think you'll need. Especially when we're carrying everything on our backs, a lighter load is definately appreciated.