Jurassic Park

I slept from about 4:3o pm until midnight. I feel like the travel gods were being kind by easing me into this so well...either that or just really hoping to get a good laugh at me today when things are not so smooth. Midnight huh. Too late to join night activities, too early to go do anything else.

However, I can now report that this place (same one as last night) is at least a 3 cockroach guest house. A fact sure to be much less traumatic if not discovered when waking up groggy and disoriented at midnight, stumbling into the "toilet". There was one in the hall outside the bathroom, they other two were buggars were eating pooh that had not been appropriately "flushed" by dumping water on it to make it go down the toilet drain (or-I don't know, maybe you're not supposed to do that, but I do).

Ugh. So I took 1/2 a benadryl, having slept through any night adventures, jazz bar or otherwise. Never been a night persona anyway. But I love live music and it probably would have been a great place to get travel tips from other falang (foreigners). Given my plight, I cozied up to Chris Trapper and John Mayer who did a wonderful job of keeping me company until sleep came again.

And then it happened....



I think it was around 5:00 a.m. when I woke up to something landing o me. COCKROACHES?! Maybe. It seemed slightly larger than that. And warmer....-Maybe that last part is just my imagination. Either way, I awoke, managing to stifle any over reaction and hastily swatter, at which point it scurries, yes scurried across my abdomen. Ack! That felt worse than even knowing something was on me! I've seen rats and mice around, so that's a possibility. Given, shape, size, uuuughhh warmth......it may have been a small rat, or a moderately-sized mouse. In Hawaii I heard that if a gecko lands on you it's good luck. So I'm going with gecko. That's what it was, a gecko. I hope.

It's 5:30 a.m. after all the commotion is over. Well, that's close enough and I'm not going to get back to sleep any time soon. (I have to admit that I have a small fear of something crawling in and living in my ear (i.e. Broken Down Palace, for those of you who've seen it), especially with the hole still present in my left ear drum. It could eat all the way to my brain! (I blasted half of my eardrum away jumping off a cliff in Hawaii-it's still not healed. It was especially obvious on the plane when my right ear would plug and pop as normal but I would just feel a "whoosh" of air in my left ear. Kind of surreal, but just like you'd imagine it would feel with nothing blocking the air pressure change.) Anyway, so I sleep with my headphones in. Also, it helps drown out the ever present noise. I'm a pretty light sleeper, so I'm surprised it doesn't bother me more.I guess one just resigns herself to that just being how it is here. A mentality that helps things go smoother. (I'm so much calmer and less annoyed when I travel, especially here. I attribute it to the magnificent people and hope it rubs off more than just a little.)

I decide to take a shower...in the same room with the "toilet" and cockroaches. Fortunately, the roaches are gone but a rather large frog decides to join me. Yes, one just like from the market yesterday, except not dead yet. I spray him with the cold water before spraying myself. I must say that with that chilling hit I was again pleased with my ability to stifle a yelp.



After my Jurassic Park tour last night and early this morning I went out and about to see if I could find the least expensive way, without burning all of my time, to get to Cambodia. (As I will be doing most of Thailand at the end of my trip with a group my goal is to get out of the country quickly to have more time elsewhere.) A woman at an internet cafe wrote two bus stops for me in Thai. One to the city center on a minibus the other with the name of the Cambodian border crossing I needed to get to.



I spent the next little bit (it's barely 7:00 a.m. at this point) flashing my little pieces of paper around town, being guided and sometimes escorted, to the correct minibus stop. The other passengers, unannoyed, helped me pack all of my gear into the tiny bus/van. In order to not be charged for two seats (which the driver tried) I sat in the same seat as my pack, not an easy feat. No one complained or got frustrated, just seemed pleased that I understood how to pay less money.

A young Thai college student, studying English education :), offered to take make sure I got to the right bus to make my connection. Awesome! I'm sure it helped to solidify the correct price as well. I do have to note that I haven't run into too many problems with people trying to over-charge or scam me as yet. For the most part I would say the Thai are generally more honest than most.

I didn't' realize it until she got me all set up, but I think she even got off on the wrong stop just to make sure I would be ok. She mentioned she had class at 11:30 a.m. and had to go. It was only about 8:30 a.m. at this point.

I am now on a bus traveling safely to the Cambodian border. happy and enjoying the journey. We all could certainly learn a lot from how awesome and un-intimidatingly kind the Thai people are. I saw a man give up his seat, respectfully, several times for monks entering the train. It was a no-brainer. I need to a have a brain that has more no-brainers like that. I hope by the end of this trip I will have learned a thing or two.

Ayuthaya

I think this guy says, "waaaatttccchhhoiut!"

Today I saw Thailand's largest Buddha. And am happy to report that this is a no cockroach guest house. I slept very well again with some benadryl assistance midway through the night just to make sure I continue to transition to the time change.

I spent most of the morning wandering the market, buying only 1 kilo of grapes, not having much of an appetite yet as is common with jet lag but very foreign to me. Here are a few treasures I found at the market for you viewing pleasure.

Having woken up pretty early, after a couple of hours at the

market I still had plenty of day left. I rented a bike for 40 baht (about $1.60) and headed toward some of the more famous ruins, at least I'd hoped. Boo-yah! Found 'em.

I couldn't see them headed up to them due tot he vast market surrounding the main entrance and park surrounding the perimeter. As i finally made my way through the gate I actually had to catch my breath. They just appeared so suddenly and were like nothing I'd ever seen before.

I have to admit I have almost zero knowledge of Asian/Thai ruins or history. And even though I've been planning this trip in my head for a while, it was a pretty last minute trip (buying my plane ticket just 3 days before leaving), I didn't do any research; therefore I had no idea what to expect. This is what I saw:

There are 3 of the giant white ones holding Emperors 8, 9, and 10, I believe, of the Ayuthaya period (this city of which I am now in). Ayuthaya was the Bangkok before Bangkok. It used to be the center of the country's power until it was conquered and alter rebuild in current day Bangkok. Man, I hope I'm getting all this right. It is an island city, centered where three main rivers meet. The rivers don't seem too big at this point. We did take a small boat from the train station last night to the island but it wasn't much of at trip, maybe 30 yards across at most. While I was out on my bicycle adventure I saw several wooden bridges cars, bikes, and pedestrians could cross easily. Some no more than 8 feet across.

I headed back to my guest ho use to change rooms. I had been sleeping in a double room, meant for two people so I switched to save 50 baht ($1, a seemingly small amount but it all adds up and if I save that four days in a row that's a night in a cheap room). I also switched to show I couldn't be succored into paying extra. An important thing to express right up front or you'll pay double or more what the real cost is. (I don't think I'm super good at it but gotta start somewhere.)

Both days I've managed to stay under budget, spending 409 baht the first day ($16.36) and 302 baht ($12.08) today.Granted I haven't really done much yet but it's good to know how minimally it can be done if necessary. I do have some excursions I really want to do that will add up quickly.

After changing rooms, a man named Toi, who runs a jazz restaurant just a few buildings down wanted to play some U.S. trivia games with me. Sure, he was probably just drumming up business but like everything else in life the people involved can really make or break and experience. We played his games, which I did okay at (ugh), which we played for about 30 minutes and then I headed in for a nap.

My favorite picture so far.

One night in Bangkok

I seem to have transitioned well. I woke up at 8am this morning feeling pretty good. It's just after 8pm an I'm just now getting sleepy.
Today was a logistics day. My pan was to head toward Laos, if possible. let's just say I'm slightly closer to Laos but may change plans. My western thinking was that train is faster than but ans that i could either get a sleeper car if necessary or just tough it out if necessary. Besides, I don't have a shoulder to sleep on if I take the bus. Let's just make this simple. Train is not faster than a bus. However, the buses are notorious for adding imagined fees at critical points during your trip, or so I hear.

I met a 23 year old guy, Tim, from Germany who speaks English with a slight British accent. He's been traveling S.E.A. for "5 month" now and flies home or somewhere tomorrow (or so he says. Don't you love how trusting I am?) Anyway, he did have some good tips and as neither the train nor the bus I wanted-all the way to Laos-was leaving anytime soon, I hoped a train at least getting me out of Bangkok. Note to anyone traveling this way: Get out of Bangkok as soon as possible! That place is a mess in every way imaginable.

Tim got on the train as well. Most guest houses (something akin to a hostel but usually you have your own room, and unless you got 4-5 star full blown hotel, it's what you'll find here) "cheap rooms" were full except the one Tim had rated as a "5 cockroach" hotels opposed to the 2 cockroach guest house I'd asked him to show me too. It's nice enough, but after taking the train for 3.5 hours (supposed to be 1.5 hrs, and it left 1.5 hours late) and seeing how many of the Thai people live, I feel pretty good about it. Hmmm...perspective. Funny how it changes.

The train ride here was actually quite pleasant due to the 2 wonderful women and a 12 year girl (one of the women's daughter), who immediately skootched over and invited me to sit with them, despite all my cumbersome luggage. As I've run into at nearly every turn, Thailand deserves it's time of "Land of a Thousand Smiles". I've been here less than 24 hours and I've already seen at least that many.

The beautiful 12 year old girl starting sharing the love with this:

Yep, seaweed-flavored pringles.

Now most of you know, I don't do seafood, or seaweed, of ANY kind. The smell alone gets to me in a big way. I simply don't do edible sea anything (no, not even fresh water fish...no fishy fishy.) But...when in Rome...or in this case, when a 12 year old Thai girl offers you a chance to try something new and make a new friend, suck it up and accept the adventure. I smiled through choking it down as they continued to help me learn my numbers in Thai. (Tim started this, they, and several others around us joined it :).) The next opportunity for "adventure" reared it's ugly head when the woman next to me offered me some of her chicken. Or was it fish? We couldn't seem to get the translation quite right. I thought I did o.k. smiling through this one too, but apparently not evidenced both by Tim (who also doesn't do seafood) mercifully eating the other have of my bite and secondly by the sweet smile of the fish-offering woman handing some Dentyne.

I'm glad she did. I shared this with Tim as well. I'm such a giver ;). Guess my face still is pretty telling. Oh well, we all had a warm-hearted laugh at my expense. I, in turn, shared the love with my honey graham gold fish.

Off the train tot he aforementioned, "cheap room" guesthouse. Part of me is glad to know of such heap rooms, 150 baht (about $4.50), instead of the $10-20 ones I had mostly heard of and intended on staying at but the snob in me thinks I'll splurge sometimes for ease (you gotta know where these places are already, methinks), safety and amenities. Amenities such as my own bathroom to shower and do laundry in as well as a little bit more privacy and of course a western-style toilet.

You guessed it. Tonight I ran into my first one of these:

Growing up a girl in the sticks and camping, I've got the squatting posture down pretty good as far how to keep it clean goes. That doesn't mean it's what I would choose. And fortunately, I knew to bring my own toilet paper. It wasn't too bad but I still prefer the sit down option.

Good night for now.. I really hope the bed bugs don't bite. Cause it's a huge possibility.

Oh quick pic of my first meal in Thailand.

It's Yum Tom (aka "spicy soup", although I found it quite tasty, it wasn't very spicy). Full of delicious fresh basil and other Thai spice magic. I wasn't quite ready to try the street hawker stuff despite my fortuitous, generally cast iron stomach.

For dinner I did have pad Thai (a noodle dish) from a street hawker in Ayuthaya (the city I fled from Bangkok to by train) and it was quite tasty as well. Yum yum yum.

So Far So Good

I had an uneventful flight over here, surrounded by rare extra space, smooth transitions, brief layovers and cool peopleto chat with, or not. Looking out the window we saw the Aluesian islands of Alaska which is where the word bleak was invented. It looked like a very cold moon with all its grey craters and mountians.

We saw full circle rainbows outside our windows (by we, I mean myslef and occassionally the cool people around me). If you stare at the picture long enough you'll see the rainbow.

Almost exactly thirty hours later (nothing compared to the fifty plus hours my mom and I spent getting home from Greece), I am nestled in my simple, but clean hotel just away from the airport in Bangkok, Thailand. So far, so good.

The people are wonderfully friendly and helpful, although I have a difficult time with the accent. I'm just glad they, and I, speak English. Give me a few days and hopefully I'll get used toit....and then I'll switch countries. :)

I love the moist air and warmth. Of course it's the middle ofthe night, so the 80 degrees is great and not overwhelming.

I'm all freshend up with clean teeth, airborne and benadryl and...

...I can't wait to see what tomorrow brings!

I really really really want to go!

I have the opportunity to go to Thailand, well Asia. I applied for a study abroad program through the University of Utah. The program doesn’t start until mid-December and I have no where to be until then. (I literally don’t have anywhere to just be. A physical place to exist in, I have not. I quit my job to go home to see my Dad after a serious hospitalization-everything looks ok now-and to save my soul. It was one of those working environments.) So essentially I have 7 weeks before I have to be in Thailand for the study abroad. What to do until then? WELL.

:) Well, I have a sister in China right now teaching English and how cool would it be to fly to China and work my way over to Thailand from there? Pretty darn cool my friends.

Anyway, that’s my idea. I run into these problems though: I’m American. Blonde. Female. Traveling alone. And drop dead gorgeous. Life just is not fair.

There are probably a few people that I could call and might be able to travel with me but this is something I really want to do on my own.

I’ve lost a lot of myself in the last year or so. The bay area is rough. The people are hurtful and have left some scars; some that I feel have impacted me more than I would have liked and made me ugly.

I’ve never been an uber-motivated person but I do ok. Anything that I have been able to do has been of my own accord even if it did take more work for my to muster the commitment more than it does for most. I need to go back there. I need to get to a place where I am my own captain and rough seas (or people) will not sway my connection with God and my confidence in myself. I’m embarrassed that for as close as I felt to my Heavenly Father I was so, comparatively, easily swayed and brought down. Disparaging myself-and worse, others- along the way. When I should have been building us all up, I all but joined the sad and non-progressive attitude of the area.

At one point to squelch the disconnect I felt there, and knowing how close a connection my happiness and spirit have to both progressive goals and fitness, I did my best and tried to train for a marathon. It did help but I didn’t fight hard enough, getting up to 15.5 miles (hill training even!) and when my body gave up on one run, so did I, feeling the heavy weight of bay area general increase of gravity on ones gumption.

I do not blame the people. I blame myself for not rising above it and living in ways that I know bring happiness. Suffice it to say I am painfully lazy, listless, and have the untrue notion that nothing matters and regardless of the effort I put in today will eventually be swallowed up in my inability to maintain positive change.

That being said, I would love to go to Asia. I know travel doesn’t solve problems but it does, I believe make one a better person and make one look introspectively. I’ve felt it before and it feels good. It’s like it’s okay to be who I choose and I have to because there are so many outside factors to choose against. I could really use the time to commune with myself, make conscious decisions of how I will behave and how I will treat others. It will also give me time to improve upon my physical health (which as I stated before has a major effect on my spiritual well-being). I hope to do a lot of land travel. I’m not sure how much will be possible just yet, but that would be ideal.

I’ve been told I don’t give myself enough credit and I know I should be proud of my 15.5 miles (which I was, well am) but what good does having done it once do for my body and soul now? if I don’t keep it up? If I give up when things get tough? That’s never been my style and I fear I may have adopted a little bit of the bay area passive approach to life; waiting for things to happen to me and being pushed around by whatever blows my way or creates resistance. I think I’ll go back to plowing my own way, thank you very much. I was much happier welcoming the bumps in the road as something to look back on as another mountain climbed.

More to come...well probably not, but I’m going to post this before I delete it entirely. :)

Lately...

I don’t blog much. In fact, I hate writing. I’m more of a speaker, despite my best efforts to keep my mouth shut.This is merely my attempt to be a little more than completely anti-productive.

This year has been a doosey. (And by year I mean 12 months, not specifically a calendar year).

I spent the last year and a half in the bay area of California. A beautiful, beautiful place, with not so beautiful people. I know everywhere has it’s problem people but it just seemed that nearly all the people there hated everyone. Without going into details I can say that it was enough to leave some significant scars and making me feel like a hateful, callous hermit. And any place that’s mean enough to hermitize me is pretty ugly as, once again, despite my best efforts, I’m a social girl. I like to be around people. I like new experiences and new places, and most of all a good laugh at all our awkward attempts at being human.

I miss having good friends. A lot. I’ve done a fair amount of traveling and feel like, although maybe I wasn’t a perfect fit, I have “never been known to not be able to slide right in and make friends”-as noted by a So Cal friend. I miss having good friends close. And although I can see the link between the bay area and my now overly cautious and callous nature, my attitude is my own and I blame no one. And if I’m being honest, I am now too fearful, cautious and untrusting to be comfortable with my ability to make friends and fit in anywhere, which worries me because I know how important good friends can be. “Friends are the family we choose.” I simply don’t know how to make friends anymore because you have to trust friends.

It’s been a long time since I’ve had someone I loved so much close to me. I miss all the crazy laughter and have not experienced someone’s quirks being endearing rather than obnoxious for quite some time because of the score-keeping and backstabbing I’ve witnessed I’m more than a little guarded and perhaps even a little paranoid. (This is why Kelli and I need to live next door to each other and have one giant back yard :). That and so she can raise my kids because she’s an unbelievably fantastic mom.)

I’m worried about finances. (warning:::: I’m about to sound like an ungrateful snob::::). Times are tight right now. For everyone. Except they weren’t for me. I was a making good money doing a job I loved (with co-workers I didn’t). Suffice it to say, I was financially secure and making some really good headway in life and the savings department. I was able to do things and travel places I often thought not possible. And now I’ve quit. And think I may be going back to school. Paying out of state tuition. For a degree that won’t pay any more than I’m already making. Oh, and there’s no work in Salt Lake (where I would go to school) and even if there was, I’d be making half what is fair (and literally half of what I was getting paid). And I don’t necessarily want to change careers. I just want to know stuff. I’m such an idiot.

I don’t want to be, yet again, worried about money. Well, to be more honest, I don’t want to give up the ability I had to travel and take a break when needed. I feel like I was in survival mode for so long (having worked full time since I was 16 all through high school and even through out nursing school). I’m afraid to go back to survival mode. And I really really don’t want to. I neglected a lot of important things in that mode. Things I’m still playing catch up with-like my health. If I go back to school it will most likely either put me deep into debt or significantly cut down on the amount of places and experiences I could have. No money may not buy happiness, but it certainly provides opportunity for experience, and significantly lessens the stress in life.

I just wish I knew if these are okay decisions. One that wouldn’t cause major damage for several years to come, or freak me out for years to come.

The Golden Streets of Athens

After a very long flight, and still not having the travel intenerary finalized, (travel agent didn't get back to us in time), we arrived in Athens, Greece. Athens, GREECE! GREECE, I'm in Greece! And it is beautiful.
Remembering one of the hotels from the travel iteneray we were supposed to have, we caught a cab and traveled to the Athens Gate Hotel. It's a 4 star hotel 500 meters from everything, including....the Acropolis :). It is definately my aesthetic, too, as the description listed in the elevator says something akin to, "a modern hotel with a minimalist approach". Ah, perfect. It, too, is beautiful.

I spent last night wandering the golden streets of Athens alone while my mom showered and napped. I initially started out just looking for internet at the hotel to try to get ahold of the failed travel agent but a sense of safety and freedom took over and I found myself contentedly and calmly exploring this ancient city.

I feel safe and happy as I wander. The streets reflect the sunset, at least near the Plaka and Acropolis where I'm walking, in such a manner they glow gold, or bronze maybe. People appear as if they are walking on avenues of light. Literally, look like they are walking on light! Children are playing soccer. Happy, (I'm assuming stray) dogs harmlessly work their way in and out of the sparce crowd, and sleep on the steps leading up to the Acroplois, which I just happened upon. Always nice when one's adventures lead them to right where they want to be, isn't it?

The few tourists out walk hand in hand, but it is the Greeks who are openly affectionate towards one another. I notice one couple, working in a shop together, nuzzling and watching the crowd as they take their time closing up. The weather is perfect with that perfect summer breeze the seems to intice the spirit to let go of anything holding it back. Everyone is calm and happy. Everyone, including me.