Bangkok and Railay Beach

We've already been back for a week so I guess that means it’s about time to blog about our trip to Thailand.  We had been looking forward to this trip for a long time, but because of scheduling difficulties, and my own travel inexperience, it wasn't quite amazing as our Bali trip.  But I feel like I learned a lot, both about what kind of travel I enjoy, what Brandon enjoys, and how to get the most out of those precious days of leave.

Due to scheduling problems we couldn't make it to Chiang Mai for Yi Peng or Loy Krathong (next year??? Fingers crossed!)  So we decided on just staying at Railay Beach in Krabi province and enjoying the scenery.   But after hours of OCD cross-checking ticket prices and date changes, we thought we would stay two nights in Bangkok: one night on our arrival there before getting to Krabi and one night on our way out of the country.  After all, it’s the #1 tourist destination in Asia, we would have layover time there anyways, and there is a convenient train that could take us from the airport to basically the doorstep of our hotel.  And I knew I would kick myself if I never got the opportunity to see Bangkok again. 

The first day this seemed like not such a bad idea.  We had enough time to relax from the long flight and check out the view from the Moon Bar, the rooftop bar at the Banyan Tree Hotel.  It was pretty swanky.

photo credit: http://www.banyantree.com/en

The next morning we caught a quick flight down to Krabi, and took a bus from the airport that was supposed to drop us at a pier where we could take a longtail boat to Railay.  After an hour, quite a crowd of European backpackers started to accumulate, and we realized there were no boats coming so we got the boat ticket people to take us to another pier.  They agreed to put us in a van and send our bags ahead of us in another truck.  Some of the other travelers seemed cool with it, but I was like Nope, not happening. I know this seems like I was being kind of a jerk, but Thailand is notorious for scams, and this travel booth had already proven to be sort of suspicious,  but as soon as I spoke up some of the backpackers agreed with me.  I hate being the person to say something, and I would have liked to have given them the benefit of the doubt, but I just couldn't.

We exchanged a few words with the rest of the travelers and a compromise was reached: Brandon and I would be put into the back of the truck with the bags. 

The truck which drove about 80 mph down a winding country road, narrowly missing stray dogs, and sharing lanes (and by lanes I mean loosely agreed upon zones) with motorcycles.  It was awesome. 

Upon arriving at the pier, we learned from two other Americans, the only other ones we ran across all week, actually, that the wind and waves were too rough for the boats, and this was causing delays.   A boat had sunk that very morning in similar conditions.  So we waited for the wind to die down just a bit, then went on over to Railay.  It was the most exciting boat ride I've ever been on.  Which is probably a bad thing.  No kidding, when we were leaving a week later we saw a long tail boat capsized at the same pier.  On a beautiful, calm day. 

Our hotel in Railay was on the mangrove-forested East side, which is just a ten minute walk from the beautiful beach on the West side or the Phranang Cave Beach to the south.  The West side is home to the better resorts, but since it was so close we didn't mind at all.  Our budget hotel was full of feral cats, wild monkeys, and other critters, but we spent a lot of time outside, so that wasn't a big deal really.  We hardly spent any time in the room during the day.

Except when we managed to get sick from eating some off Thai food at the local diner.

Then we spent a lot of time in the room. 

Luckily Brandon wasn’t too bad, and the island had a pharmacy with antibiotics, but we our first valuable lesson: PACK MEDICINE.  Because the 5 hours you have to wait until the pharmacy opens in the morning are going to go by real slow.  And maybe don’t eat anywhere called Mom’s Kitchen. 

But the rest of the week in Railay was glorious.  It’s a pretty small, rural area to stay for a long period of time, but I rather liked it.  It was gorgeous, and even on the slightly overcast days it was nice because less tourists would ferry over from other towns to see the beach.  We rented kayaks and paddled around to a tiny, isolated beach one day.  Another day we went around on a speed boat to snorkel and see other local islands.  The most memorable was Maya Bay at Phi Phi Ley, where the movie The Beach was filmed.  Even though there were a ton of people there to see it, it was still beautiful.

Maya Bay

We did other typical beach-y vacation things while we were there, but the only one worth writing about was learning how to rock-climb.  Sure, we've been to gyms and things, but learning the knots and how to be the partner on the ground and stop your partner from falling to their deaths was cool.  And rock-climbing feels infinitely cooler than plastic-climbing.  And the view from the top of the rope is much more rewarding.

We were both pretty sad to leave Railay at the end of the week, but also pretty happy to be back in our sleek CLEAN Bangkok hotel for one more night.  We decided to head out, but our evening was exhausting and pretty underwhelming.   A lot of what we wanted to see was closed for the evening because our transit time took a little longer than we thought.  We settled for a quick boat ride down the river that runs through the heart of the city, which was actually a great option for seeing a glimpse of the temples that we didn't have time to visit. 

I was so looking forward to seeing Wat Arun lit up on the riverside, and it was beautiful and I’d love to see it in the daylight, but we were both surprised to note that it looks so much smaller in person than it does in photographs. 

At one point the boat turned down a fork of the river that was pretty creepy and I was convinced our bodies were going to end up at the bottom of the river and WHY did I think a boat ride for two was romantic?  It was clearly a horrible idea and they had lured us out here to rob and dispose of us.  Even Brandon, the trusting soul that he is, started to feel weird about it.  Then, without a word, they turned around short of our destination and dropped us off at the point I requested.  Maybe they figured we looked too poor to be worth the hassle. 

Hoping to lift our spirits, we went to a night market that I had heard good things about.  After a long (and cheap) cab ride, we were dropped off in front of empty, dark stalls.  At this point, I was pretty irritated, both with the market’s website for giving us bad information, and with myself over my pretty much failed itinerary for our last night in Thailand.  And just Bangkok in general.  It smells terrible.  I am so grateful for Brandon’s optimism and patience, because when I was feeling about ready to Hulk out and rage-flip a taxi, he was still determined to salvage the night.  So then we got in another cab and found another huge night market. 

We quickly discovered the meaning of all those T-shirts we had seen that said SAME SAME. 

We made no purchases, and I was pretty underwhelmed with the market.  Eventually we gave up and returned to our hotel for drinks and enjoyed the live music for a while.  And just really genuinely enjoyed being in a hotel that wasn't overrun by feral cats.   

And basically, after this trip, I think we have learned how to get the most out of our travel, to make it so much more than adding pins to a map. I, despite my curiosity, do not enjoy urban areas in developing countries.  Bangkok made me kind of crazy.  I was so excited to get back to Tokyo.  I never thought I would be like “Yes, Tokyo, a familiar place!”  I loved Thailand, but I got the most out of staying in less crowded, rural areas.  Granted, there were some very developed, shiny parts of Bangkok, but we didn't spend a lot of time there.  With Brandon, it’s a good hotel with good service that makes him feel like he’s on vacation.  I think he was a little disturbed that we were cohabiting with a gecko in Railay. 

And our most important lesson learned, two airport days in a row are never worth it, even if it was ranked the #1 tourist destination in Asia.  Too much transit time. 

If you've managed to get all the way to this point, thanks for reading and I hope you comment with your own Thailand experiences!  I will post some more photos later!

- Brooke

Halloween

               Halloween is my favorite. 

               Especially this year’s Halloween. I can say, with no ego, that it was epic. I have been itching to design/decorate for a while now, and I found that I had the time to put together a house party.  I knew I could pull together the Gothic or Victorian look with a lot of things I already had and I didn't want to invest in a lot of your typical Halloween props.  So, I decided to base the theme around The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. 

               And as you will probably be able to tell from the pictures, I had WAY too much fun.  :) 

               While I’m not big on broadcasting my life onto the interwebs, I wanted to post this so that it’s available for other people to use as inspiration.  I borrowed a lot of ideas and was able to get inspired by a lot of brilliant people out there who were kind enough to share their awesomeness with the internet, so I’d like to return the favor. 

Specimen Jars

               To start: the invitations.  A simple vial filled with candies and a tea-stained scroll invitation in a little box.  They didn't break the bank, and people love getting packages!  Plus, it’s probably the only party I’ll ever throw where I can send all these boxed invites via MPS. 

               Decorating was time-consuming.  I hung cheesecloth strips from the ceiling throughout the house to try and get that abandoned house feel.  Buying loose-weave cheesecloth in bulk is probably the best Halloween investment I've ever made: it’s durable, there are tons of applications for it, it can go with a lot of themes, and Halloween stores really overcharge for “creepy cloth”.  Most of the decor was from thrift shops or the Daiso (dollar store). 

               My artist friend was kind enough to draw on the mirror with dry-erase markers and I scribbled in some quotes from the book.  The duality of human nature and the internal struggle of good and evil desires in man was a big theme in the book… though I’m probably the only one who read it. 

               We converted a spare bedroom into a beer pong room.  It was a good choice. 

               In our study we set up a camera on a tripod and hung a black sheet to make a photo booth. So easy, and I think this was the most popular thing at the party!  We ended up with hundreds of photos and as the night progressed, they got more and more bizarre… looking through them the next morning was a real treat.

               I put out a game called Tempt Your Fate to keep people entertained.  You put a bunch of good and bad ‘fates’ on paper slips into a fishbowl and let people draw throughout the party, whenever they’d like.  Mostly they were bad fates, which require you to complete a task, which is usually pretty silly.  I put in some small prizes and told everyone there would be a grand prize for whoever ended the night with the most fate cards.  This ended up being unnecessary.  People love getting the bad fates just for the fun of it!  No one got competitive over the grand prize and after I ran out of cards, I put some paper and a pen out for people to write their own bad fates to add themselves.  A lot of times I find that party games fall flat, but this one is a keeper!  Nothing like people running outside to howl at the moon, or seeing one poor friend who had to spend a good chunk of time in character as a zombie trying to bite everyone. 

               As for the menu, I wanted to keep it themed so I cooked up some British treats.  Among other things, I served some mini Yorkshire puddings, mini Cornish pasties, and cream scones with lemon curd.  You could get a lot more adventurous with British fare for Halloween (eel pie, anyone?) but I played it pretty safe.  The only pinFAIL: glass (sugar) blood slides.  They ended up looking like a mess.  I think the recipe online included too much corn syrup....

               Putting the bar together was really where I got to be creative.  In the book, all it takes is the sip of a certain tincture and the civilized, sober exterior of Jekyll falls away, revealing the very ungentlemanly Hyde.  How better to stay true to the theme than going all-in with chemistry-inspired drinks to get the party going?  I already had some chemistry drink ware, and the small bottles were from Saveoncrafts.com.

In the test tubes we poured Brain Hemorrhages (they look disgusting).

A lot of the bottles I put in an ice-bath in glass baking pans, and I made some vintage-y labels to put on them.  This setup was great because I didn't have to spend all night mixing drinks! I also made some Petri dish jello shots which were a hit.  If you take some food coloring or heavy cream and poke it into half-formed jello with a toothpick, it really looks like something is growing in there! 

        

          I wish I could take credit for these awesome photos but a friend helped me out with that one.  I keep telling myself that someday I am going to master that camera.  It was a ton of work to set up but I loved every minute of it, and I had a really great time with everyone who came out.  I almost forgot to mention the costumes – my husband was Jekyll and I was Hyde.  Just took a little eye-makeup to make me look a bit evil.  Anyways, that’s all.  Happy Halloween! 

              

Bali

We decided to spend Brandon’s post-deployment leave in Bali.

(In which there is a multitude of good lookin' doors.)

I don’t even know where to start – it was that good.  Actually we were so busy driving from one sight to the next that I know we both could have used a bit more time to work on our tan and appreciate some of the island’s nicer beaches.  We barely had enough downtime to appreciate the amazingly cheap spa prices.  That’s why we are already talking about our next trip there (a little delusional, perhaps, but it’s too amazing not to visit again!) 

Another good lookin' door.

Maybe I should start with our hotel.    We decided to stay in Seminyak, which proved to be a good base from which to venture out on daytrips.   We stayed at a small villa on the edge of town, just far enough from the main drag that we could wake up to strange birdsong and not the metallic whine of the country’s many motorbike commuters.   I fell in love with villa life the first time I was caught hanging out at the pool by one of the awesome staff members.  “Would you like some tea ma’am?”

Why yes.  Yes I would.  Forget cabana boys, it’s all about complimentary afternoon tea.  Especially if it’s lemongrass tea, which is pretty much the thing to drink over there.

But where was I? 

We didn’t spend as much time in Seminyak as I had imagined.  A quick look at Seminyak Square (classy shopping) and the nearby Oberoi Flea Market (people trying to sell you drugs and Bintang tanks) pretty much covers the daytime activities there.  At sunset we headed over to Double Six beach to enjoy the view and the beach bars that set out cute umbrellas and bean bags facing the beach.  Some even have live music and glow-in-the dark furniture.  One night we went over to Potatohead, a classy beach club with decent security and one heck of a cocktail menu.  It was probably one of the nicest places in Bali, but still pretty chill.  Which leads me to another point: unless you are staying at a resort or something, best not pack your good shoes.  After Potatohead we headed down to Kuta, where the party is at, apparently.  A party of crazy, dance-y Australians.  One visit to Kuta totally sufficed. 

Most of our time spent ranging out to different parts of the island seeing the sights with a driver on daytrips.   This is really the most convenient and affordable way to get around and to basically have a travel guide.  Because driving in Balinese traffic would have likely led to my death or a psychotic break. 

We watched artisans producing traditional Batik, watched silversmiths at work turning out an abundance of jewelry, and even visited some woodcarvers.  The Batik was most worth the stop – the goods you can find at a real gallery feature painstaking hand-painted detail and a quality that is not comparable to the knock- off wares we were bombarded with at the little flea markets all over Bali. 

We also stopped in Ubud, but I found the market touristy and uninteresting and really the Monkey Forest there was the main justification for the trek out there.  The monkey sanctuary was pretty awesome, actually.    There were tons of them!  They were so ornery, I found myself thanking God they weren’t intelligent enough to organize as a large group.  Or plot.  They can get pretty scary when they’re mad, and very grabby.  One started a tug of war with a lady and her handbag, and they definitely seem to have some kind of intense hatred for sunglasses. 

There were more monkeys in Uluwatu, which features a temple on a very high cliff overlooking the ocean.  There we stopped to watch the Ramayana and Kecak (ke-chack) Fire Dance.  Although the location offered an excellent backdrop for this dance, when the weather decided to roll in it got a little intense.  Lots of people fled because of the crazy winds, but it was totally worth staying for and it was the most entertaining thing we saw there.  Plus, whenever I need to bug the husband, I can now chant “CAK CAK CAK!!!!”  at him. 

Uluwatu was a little west of our location, as was Jimbaran, which is apparently where the backpackers like to frequent, and also those seeking the prettier beaches.  I definitely want to check this area out more in the future.  We stopped in another more rural area to take in the sweeping landscape of rice terraces that lies a little bit more towards the center of the island.  When we visited, the highway was particularly lively; students who had just finished final exams were celebrating by tearing up and down the roads in huge packs of motorbikes, flying pirate flags and donning their uniforms which they had brightened up a bit with spray paint.  Now THAT’S the way to celebrate finals week. 

We also visited the Bali Zoo, because Brandon ABSOLUTEY HAD TO ride an elephant.  Also there was a baby lion that we got to pet, so that was pretty awesome.   The U.S. has too many rules.

 

Along the roadsides we kept seeing billboards with a strange looking little animal.  When I inquired, I was told it was a luwat.  The luwat is special because it “makes coffee.”  You can probably guess the process on your own.  This coffee sells for like $7.00 a cup over there.  So we went to a luwat coffee plantation to check it out.  We were given a tour of the plantation, which really struck me as more of a garden than a plantation, because they grew several herbs and spices too.  They explained the whole luwat thing, and gave us a tea and coffee sampler.  They do tea a little differently over there, pounding it into a fine powder to mix into a drink rather than steeping it.  There is something very cool about sipping  fresh tea and coffee surrounded by the same plants that produced it, chatting with the people roasting it over a simple fire and grinding it by hand in a giant stone mortar, and even meeting the luwat who….um… produced it.  There was a bat about the length of my arm in a cage next to the luwats, and I had to ask what it was exactly the bat had to do with things, which got a laugh, but thankfully he was just being kept as a pet.  

Of course we visited our share of temples, including Tirta Empul, which is a natural spring considered holy by the locals.  I am OBSESSED with the orange/poppy color used so abundantly in the architecture over there.  There is so much detail put into all the stone and wood carvings.  And in the temples, same as everywhere, there are multitudes of offerings- little leaves folded into small squares that hold flowers, incense, and perhaps a snack.  They are all over the sidewalks, in front of houses, businesses – in random corners where you would never expect to find a little offering of flowers.  They leave these offerings three times a day!

Of course our most special visit to a temple was on Friday, which marked the full moon on the calendar, which meant it was time for a Hindu ceremony.  I asked our driver very nicely if we might be allowed to observe a ceremony, and he was kind enough to oblige us.  So that morning, he took us to his family home out in the countryside, where we met multiple generations of his family.  He and his wife let us borrow an extra set of the traditional clothes that must be worn inside the temple.  The grandmother, who was ancient, came into the courtyard with a massive bundle of banana leaves and set about trimming them with a hand-scythe, for use in the feast later that evening.  We learned a lot about Balinese life that day, and while I won’t go into all the details it was fascinating and for me the most interesting part of the trip.  Festivities can last all day, which we did not have the energy for, but we did stay to watch their priests give out the blessing.  Even though we were decked out in traditional clothes, there was no chance we were blending in, especially with a massive camera hanging around my neck.  I had assumed that due to the ‘cultural tourism’ phenomenon inspired by Eat, Pray, Love that we wouldn’t have been such a strange sight to the people of that village.  But as touristy as Bali is getting, it was clear that we had found one space that was still very authentic and traditional, and would remain so.  Brandon asked if tourists often came out to view these ceremonies, which had to be clarified a little – ‘people like us?’ --  No, no people like us in this particular village. 

While I was not inspired to go on a yoga retreat, seek spiritual advice from one of their wise men, or convert to Hinduism, I did find myself admiring the importance which the Balinese gave to their religion.  I’m sure tradition and habit are a big part of that, but I did find myself thinking that I could be doing a lot more to be expressing gratitude to my God for giving me one more day to live.  In a country where the poverty is so real, you do see a few beggars, but more than that you see how much they are willing to offer up as thanks, and how central their faith is to their life and their communities.  Most Balinese spend about one third of their income on ceremonies, and while I could find more practical uses for income (education, healthcare, roads etc.) there are still aspects of that which I can appreciate, coming from a Christian perspective where investing a lot of time in money into religious observance has become somewhat outdated.  

Anyways, the trip was legit. And it's really nice to have my husband back.  :)