Swimming (and walking) with the fishes

Our Saturday started with another great breakfast at the hotel, although we did compete for our food this morning with the ants who dropped from the sky. Well, not actually the sky. The open air patio on which breakfast is served has vines growing across the overhead trellis, and for some reason, the ants fell from the vines this morning. One in my coffee, but none in our food, just onto the table near us. After breakfast, Phillip, David and Miriam conferred about something important, or at least it looked that way. Maybe it was about the ants.

At 9 am, we began our excursion to three nearby islands for fishing, snorkeling, and lunch/beach time. This is the speedboat that took us across the bay for our activities. No dock or pier, we just waded out to it from the beach. The four of us were joined on our boat by Natalia from Russia and a honeymooning Arabic couple. At the travel agency meeting point, we were offered dramamine. I took it, but probably didn’t need to as the ride out to the fishing island was not too bad. When they offered it, however, I wondered what we had gotten ourselves into.

A fifteen minute boat ride took us to the fishing island, where the boat anchored and the two crew members gave us our fishing poles and bait. Phillip caught the most fish, I think, but we all caught some fish. Y’all keep your visions of giant marlins and blue-fin tunas….I don’t have pictures of the fish for  today’s blog posting (I was busy fishing, then I didn’t want to get squid bait juice on my camera), but the crew took pictures and gave us all a copy on a CD. I don’t have a CD reader on this netbook, so pictures of the actual fish caught will be for another day.

Our next stop was an island with a coral reef. The crew provided the snorkels and life vests and we spent an hour floating around, swimming with the fishes. Striped fish and small blue ones that darted too fast for the camera. Different coral formations. And these spiky black things that had a spot of color in the center, then white spots out from the center. The picture doesn’t show the center color, but you can see the small white spots. I’m not sure if it was a plant or a fish. Phillip and I figured out a way to photograph snorkeling videos and photos. I take the camera, he takes my feet, then he pushes me around as I film, so he’s the one actually swimming. I just float and click. It works as long as we go straight. We have to work on our signals, though, as twice I turned my head, wanting to tell him to stop, that I had seen something to the side, and just ended up with a snorkel full of salt water and no photo.

With fishing hooks and sharp coral around, someone was bound to get hurt. It was David, who cut his little toe on the coral. A bandaid-worthy cut only, and the crew had iodine and bandaids. I’m glad we weren’t in piranha infested waters!

After snorkeling, we went to the third island for lunch. We met up with the people on the second boat on the same excursion. Beach chairs under umbrellas had been reserved for us while the crew cleaned and cooked the fish we caught. That’s Natalia, a 26-year old from Moscow who was traveling alone, speaking with Miriam. We ate the fish, fried rice, mussels, two Thai soups, and vegetables with the people from the other boat.

Our adventure wasn’t over yet. I decided to take the “Sea Walk.” I was the only one of the four of us who wanted to do it. The sea walk involves a heavy diving helmet that they put on your shoulders and send you to the sea floor in about 12 feet of water, where you walk around the coral (not on the coral, like David). Actually, they had us wear heavy rubber shoes and also a glove on one hand in case we touched the coral. Coral can be sharp. Yep, that’s me, walking underwater. (The color in the picture isn’t a fish, it’s the floaty on my camera). Two people in scuba gear were with the three of us who sea walked together.  They gave us bread, which fish apparently love, as the fish swarmed us when we crumpled it in the water. Lots of fish inches from my face. Even when the bread was gone, the fish stayed close for pictures. The sea walk lasted 30 minutes, and my shoulders are still sore from the weight of that helmet!

David, Miriam, and Phillip lounged about on the beach while I sea walked. Shortly after I rejoined them, it was time to head back to Pattaya. The boat ride back was more scary for me, as the speedboat cut across more waves, making it feel like a series of pounding rollercoasters. And I hate rollercoasters. But, we made it back without incident. 

It was a fun time, and we enjoyed having Miriam’s nephew (who works in Bangkok) join us for the adventure. Although he doesn’t speak English and Phillip doesn’t speak Thai, they got along great.

Tomorrow is a travel day, as we will fly to our next stop, Chang Mai.

Travel to the beach

We had a travel day, from Bangkok to Pattaya. Before we left Bangkok in our minivan taxi, we had lunch from the vendors around the corner from our hotel. I had two skewers of roasted pork, but the rest of the crew had bowls of rice and curry or noodles. David looks ferocious in this picture, but I think he was just hungry! Phillip’s big bowl of noodles with beef and vegetables and his bottle of water: 50 baht (about $1.75 US).

After lunch, we made the two-hour trip to Pattaya, a beach town southeast of Bangkok. Our hotel is just across the road from the beach, with no buildings on the beach side of the street. There’s a meandering path  made of brick among the palm trees next to the beach, so we didn’t fill our shoes with sand when we went for a walk to the north of our hotel. The part of the beach across from our hotel is not for swimming, as small boats can come up to shore to pick people up. However, it is only a few blocks walking to the swimming part of the beach. And these deck chairs with umbrellas are on all the beachfront area.

Our room is gorgeous, very modern with a view of the bay from the window above the bed. The pillows are soft and the air conditioner works. That floor to ceiling glass you see includes the sliding door out to our balcony. Two chairs and a table on the balcony, perfect for morning coffee before the sun comes up and the beach calls our name. Because of the humidity – this is a coastal town, cool showers are a must when we get back from walking. And in this hotel, showers are an experience. Phillip calls this showerhead a “rain head,” as the water cascades from above you like you are in the rain. This is the first time I’ve used one, and I must say it’s like showering under Niagra Falls!

Phillip got another “tattoo” at the beach. No “I love Mom” this time… a tiger instead. He must be feeling strong and brave! My very own Tony the Tiger. David, Phillip, and the tattoo guy had a good time. Miriam and me – we opted for the $3 (for 30 minutes) foot and leg massage. So nice, we wished we had such treatment as soon as we had gotten off the plane in Bangkok.

Some views from our beach chairs, right across the street from the hotel, where the vendors walk by selling fruit, tattoos, massages, and all sorts of goods:

Although the bottom picture looks crowded with beach chairs, it is more the perspective of the picture as I took it. We had plenty of room and weren’t crowded by the other chairs. We stayed on the beach this afternoon until about 3 pm, under the umbrellas, so no sunburns.

Tomorrow, we have an excursion to three nearby islands where we will fish and snorkel.

Muay Thai and gooey Thai

Muay (pronounced moo – ee) Thai is a form of competitive fighting, started in Thailand, but becoming popular around the world. It includes elements of boxing, but the participants can also use their elbows and legs to strike their opponent. Some folks we know, like Robin and Andrew, use Muay Thai as exercise. And, in Robin’s case at least, to vent aggression so as not to be arrested for pounding on the person they really want to pound on.

All this background is because we happened upon the Muay Thai world championship matches. Twelve different fights in the various weight classes. We actually watched just the first two, as we were at the location (near a large mall) to eat dinner. Although Robin tells me about Muay Thai, I had never seen it. It was interesting to watch, and more action-packed than the boxing matches that Phillip watches on TV.

After watching the fights, we ate dinner. Since we were hungry, I forgot to take pictures of our food before we started. I did get a picture of our dessert (and the reason for the “gooey Thai” in the post title)… mangos and sticky rice. This is the Wells/Kneblick families’ favorite dessert. For those who haven’t had it, the sticky rice is sweet with sugar and coconut milk and goes perfectly with the fresh, ripe mango slices.

The fights were still going on when we left dinner, but the crowd had grown too large for us to see well, so we went back to our hotel. We did notice that two young women were just finishing their bout!

Back at the hotel, the air conditioning in our room wouldn’t come on, but David came to our rescue and when the hotel staff didn’t respond promptly enough to fix it, he had them change our room. The air conditioning worked well in our new room, and we finally got sleep…. Phillip and I both needed that sleep. I’m not completely over the jet lag, but I think Phillip would say I’m not as witchy (or perhaps with a different letter) today as I was yesterday.

More soup for breakfast, accompanied by French toast with honey and eggs, then off to find the 18 baht street coffee. This morning, I had the Thai tea instead… delicious and fresh! Miriam had iced green tea, and as you can see in the picture, the green tea was very green.

As I type this, Phillip is eating my jack fruit that I bought yesterday (the hotel room has a minifridge). Yesterday, we also bought roasted corn (10 baht, about 40 cents) and Miriam bought these grapefruit segments – huge segments compared to what we have, even in South Texas. Today, we travel to Pattaya, a beach front town near Bangkok, for a few days of sun and surf. Bangkok has been interesting, and we will have four days here at the end of our trip, but I’m glad to be leaving the big city for a more restful location.

Flight and arrival in Bangkok

I think it is Wednesday here in Bangkok. With the 12-hour time difference from Texas, I’m still mentally adjusting to the days. We didn’t have to change our watches, but we are still physically adjusting since I think we lost a lot of sleep en route to Thailand!

Ernest and Grace dropped us off at the airport. We boarded our flight, then we sat. And sat. After about 30 minutes, the pilot announced that a switch showed a malfunction, and they were determining whether it needed repair before we left, if it really was malfunctioning, or if the redundant systems would cover for it. With thoughts of our missed connection in Miami to Quito due to mechanical problems on our minds, Phillip and I just looked at each other and sighed heavily. Fortunately, the switch issue only caused a one hour departure delay. We made it to Tokyo in plenty of time to catch the connecting flight to Bangkok. Long, long flights. 13 hours to Tokyo, switch planes, then 6-1/2 more hours to Bangkok. Both flights had  personal TV screens in the seat backs, so Phillip and I watched movies and TV shows. “I am Four,” Tron Legacy,” the latest Chronicles of Narnia movie, and two episodes of Bones for me. Phillip saw “The Tourist” and “The Fighter,” and another movie during which he was laughing out loud.

We arrived in Bangkok last night shortly before David and Miriam did. Once we collected all the luggage – our two suitcases and their three – we took a taxi to the hotel. Since it was after midnight, the trip was quite fast. Miriam assured me the during the day, the traffic is terrible on Bangkok streets.

Our hotel did have our room reservations. Air conditioning! A city hotel, we are on the ninth floor. Breakfast buffet this morning. In addition to the obligatory scrambled eggs, they served rice, fried rice, vegetables, and soup. A different start to the day, but soup does make a good breakfast, just don’t add too much chili pepper unless you want a real wake-up.

Our hotel is near the shopping area where vendor stalls line the streets and cover entire blocks in buildings. Clothes are a popular item in the shop-like vendor areas. Along the street, fruit and grilled food is available about every ten feet. Phillip and David first exchanged some dollars for the Thai baht (about 30 baht to one US dollar). Phillip gave me my share of the baht he got. I made it about 30 feet before Miriam and I stopped to buy fresh jackfruit. Delicious! I had seen these huge fruit in the Asian market in Haltom City, but had no clue how to prepare it.  I like the canned jackfruit that I have eaten, but fresh jackfruit is so much better. It has a firm texture and isn’t quite as sweet as mangos and papayas.

We stopped to get iced coffee, 18 baht each (less than 75 cents US), made with sweetened condensed milk, as delicious as any Starbucks concoction. And more street food, some fried fish balls (regular fish, nothing exotic… yet). That’s Miriam selecting the food from the vendor, while David supervised. We saw the groups of monks walking thru the shopping area, blessing shops and accepting donations in the small pots they carry.

Humidity is the key word here. We walked around for about two hours this morning. Less than four hours of sleep last night. I am so glad I have this blog-writing reason to stay in the air conditioning this afternoon.

Travel to Thailand Tomorrow!

Phillip and I begin our next adventure tomorrow (Monday, April 25) with a three week trip to Thailand. We will travel with Phillip’s brother, David, and sister-in-law, Miriam. Miriam is from Thailand, the Chang Mai region, and David spent many years in Thailand as a missionary. They both speak fluent Thai and know the country. David and Miriam make a trip to Thailand every other year to visit Miriam’s family, and we are tagging along with them on this year’s trip.

Thailand, a very beautiful country, is on our list to visit. With David and Miriam, it will be even more fun. Unlike the case of Ecuador travels where our Spanish was sufficient to get us by on our own, we speak no Thai. And the language is so different, I don’t think a crash course could help us. I’ve checked out a few phrases on the internet (thank you, how much?, etc.), but the Thai language uses not just the letters, but also the rise and fall of your voice. I could pronounce the word, but without the right inflection, the word I actually say would most likely have the wrong meaning. We are very glad to be going with David and Miriam!

Our flight leaves at 1 pm. No ice on the road like we had when we left for Ecuador, and hopefully any storms will hold off till later in the evening. From DFW, we fly into Tokyo and change planes for Bangkok. Our Tokyo layover is just 2 hours, so we won’t have enough time to start glowing in the dark. No side trips up north in Japan to view the radiation leak. We aren’t that adventurous!

Again, we are traveling with one suitcase and taking the nested empty suitcases to leave in Bangkok (filling them up with treasures we buy on our final Bangkok stay). Packing was easier this time, practice makes perfect! I did invest in more ziplock bags so I don’t have the issue of small loose items in the suitcase. Also, no coats or sweaters as we won’t be climbing 5000 meter mountains in Thailand!

Hopefully, I’ll be able to post regularly to the blog on the trip. Thailand and its temples, landscape, and people are spectacular. David also promises us that we will ride elephants. A worthy blog post indeed. When we ride the elephants, we will be looking for Diego to see if he needs help with animal rescues in Thailand!

Our flight takes about 24 hours, and we will be going forward in time by 12 hours. We won’t even land in Bangkok till Tuesday night, so don’t expect a posting for a bit. Have fun back here in the US of A. Go, Diego, go!