Nearing The End

So we get on a train today and head back to the City of Angels (at least that's what the locals call Bangkok). However, I would have named it something different. We now have nothing exciting planned as we leave in a couple of days. Chiang Mai has been great but for some reason I felt it necessary last night to try all of the foods that I hadn't tried yet. Some of the stuff was great and other stuff was not so good. A word of advice if you ever visit here - stay away from the vegetable jello. So the next update will be from Alaska with a bunch of pictures added. Thanks to everyone who contributed to this wonderful experience. We had a great time!

Elephant Trek and Whitewater Rafting

So we missed telling you all about going to the Mesa elephant camp. It was a hoot. The elephants played soccer, painted pictures and put on a pretty good show. We got a tuk tuk for the day and the poor lady drove us everywhere and waited for us while we screwed around. It worked out pretty good for us and if you like the smell of two-stroke engines, you to would love a tuk tuk. One elephant was pregnant and it appeared that she had swallowed a mini-cooper. She was 20 months pregnant and apparently had two to go. Lets just say she was big.

We were able to check out an orchid garden and a butterfly farm as well. We also went to a silk factory, a furniture shop and a lacquer shop. The furniture shop was crazy and they had beautiful stuff. They say that shipping anywhere in the world and insurance was covered yet the prices seemed to cheap to believe them. Nonetheless we didn't buy anything but would have loved to.

The big thing in Chiang Mai is to go on an elephant trek. Typical treks last a few days and you stay overnight in a hill tribe village. We got an inside scoop from a kid that did a three day trek and said you could do it all in a day so that's what we did. We had a great day that started off at another orchid garden and butterfly farm. We thought we had signed up for the wrong venue especially after hiking to another waterfall but finally ended up at a river that had some pretty good whitewater sections. We were on the water for 1 hour then got on a bamboo raft for another half hour.

We then went on a 1 hr elephant ride. Our elephant was a 22 year old gal whose name was Metzke. I thought the guy called her whiskey at first and I liked that name better so that's what I called her. It was pretty cool as we crossed a river, went up hills and they let us sit on its head. Luckily we do a lot of bull riding on Friday nights at Henry's and we were able to stay on. It was neat and now Naomi wants an elephant of her own.

The elephant trek was then followed up by a trek to the Karen long neck hill tribe where we got to see the natives with the gold coils around their necks. It was neat but it really wasn't their village, more like a market in the jungle. There were a lot of farang staying there and they didn't have a lot to do but drink beer. So I think we made the right choice with the day trip as we had an excellent time.

Tomorrow we're sleeping in.

Doi Inthanon National Park

So Naomi really wanted to check out the National Park and go to Thailand's highest peak. I wish I could tell you the name of it or how high it was but I will have to fill you in on the details at a later time. Mainly it was a driving tour that lasted all day. We had a fairly knowledgeable guide who filled us in on some of the trees and history of the places. I would have to say the highlight was seeing the Royal Garden. The hillsides are covered with terraces from growing poppies for opium. The problem is that the soil is only good for three years then they have to go and decimate other hillsides. So the King and Queen made one of the areas into a garden that is huge. There are ornamentals, vegetables and all kinds of beautiful plants. It was an incredible site. I am sure the pictures won't do it justice. Otherwise we stopped at some waterfalls, and met some pretty interesting folks from others parts of the world.

Mekong Catfish

Alright we are a few days behind on the blog. We apologize, but we are just having so much fun, it's been tough to make the time. But here we are at the almost end of our trip, and ready to share the past few days with you. As you have read in our previous blog, our friends Chad and Monica were in Chiang Mai as well for a few days. We caught up with them and went fishing with Chad a few days ago. We were fishing for Mekong catfish. It was not your usual fishing scene, but never the less very fun, and even a work out. We arrived at the lake outside of town in the early morning. We were anxious to see what Chad had been talking about from his previous experience here last year. We had a wonderful guide, his name was Mr. Tuk Tuk. He baited and cast the poles for us. I allowed him to do this all day, but Robbie eventually baited his own pole. Guess what we used for bait? Come on, think outside the box, way outside. Give up, left over 7 Eleven ham sandwiches. Mr. Tuk Tuk cut it all up into small pieces and then stuffed it into some sort of cage. I have a picture, and will post it once we are back in the states. It didn't take long at all to catch fish. Well actually it didn't take me long to catch fish. The largest fish I caught was 46.3 pounds (21kg), and I caught a total of 5 fish, and then lost 3 others. It was hard work getting them into the shore. Robbie did well also. He caught 4, his biggest being 42 lbs. It was non stop action, and there was only a handful of us there.

Cooking Class

O. K. Robbie and I are fresh in from our Thai cooking course, and it was awesome. The two gentlemen who put it on were absolutely great and very funny too. We made seven different courses and they even let us eat our fixing's for lunch and dinner. They sent us home with a small cook book, so get ready everyone, it's on, dinner at our place. Yesterday was our first full day in Chiang Mai, and we spent it walking around. There was a walking market, that took place in the evening, and it was pretty cool. We got to play the bartering game, and I got better at it after a beer. We tried a pork sausage that was to die for. It had lemon grass, peppers and was barbecued. We also had some sort of waffle desert, a fresh strawberry shake, and then the usual fixings for dinner (pad thai). Our friends Chad and Monica have arrived here today as well, and we may meet up with them this evening. All is well, we wish everyone a Merry Christmas.

The Piehls

Chiang Mai

Well after waiting around at the Ferry station, Train station, then the Bus station we made it to Chiang Mai. We got in late last night and have yet to see the town. Our time on the beach was nice. We both got a lot of sun and Naomi is blistered up but good. She thought beings from California and all that she could handle all of the sun. Not so. Our fishing trip was a fishing trip and not much of a catching trip. We had a nice time on a pretty interesting boat. One Barracuda was caught and there were numerous other species of small fish brought on board as well. We didn't get sick unlike many of the others. Poor bastards. We did see numerous fish jumping here and there and they appeared to be barracudas. We don't know for sure but they jump similar to a pink salmon. Mr. Ung was our skipper and just from his name you have a pretty good idea of what he looked like. The bilge on the boat ran nonstop and the railings weren't attached very well, but there were life jackets on board.

I was disappointed to leave as I had found my favorite restaurant to eat, Uncle Noi's. They had a good selection of tasty food and made one heck of a goy ban (banana shake). When I told them I was full they called me an ape. I thought that was Thai for full but after looking in my book I am not so sure. Regardless they were good people and fun to chat with.

Thanks for checking in and we're off to find a Thai cooking course and an elephant trek for our stent here.


Us

Figureing it out

So it appears that the An Thong Marine Park is closed for a week out of the year and it just so happens to be the same week we are here. So we walked to the local 7-11 and bought numerous Chang beers and brought them back to our bungalow. We moved to the north side of the island and it seems as though we have the whole beach to ourselves. It's awesome. We were too late on booking the fishing trip for the day so we booked it for tomorrow. Naomi is bummed because she now has to settle for another massage and a mani-pedi. Spoiled girl. She'll be ruined for sure.

We went on a tour of the island and watched monkeys drop coconuts from a tree, checked out some waterfalls, got blessed by a monk and saw grandfather and grandmother rock. For those of you who don't know the grandfather rock is a large rock shaped like a _ _ _ _ _ (male genitalia) and then there is a large crevasse in a rock that resembles a _ _ _ _ _ _ (female genitalia). The locals are quite proud of those ones. Once again we saw more large Buddha's. Walking around town and on our bungalow we've seen a ton of frogs, geckos and butterflies. I believe that the amphibian population in the U.S. is not declining to pollution as the amphibians here seem to be making it just fine. Thanks for checking in. We'll keep ya posted.

Ko Samui

Yesterday Robbie and I arrived in Ko Samui, it's an island south east of Bangkok. We took the train from Bangkok. It left about 7:30pm and we arrived in Surat Thani in the morning at 7:30am. We had a second class berth and the seats folded into beds. It wasn't bad at all and we met some nice Irish travelers, one who spoke so fast and had such a thick accent it was hard to understand him. They drank the night away with one of the train attendants. Once arriving in Surat Thani we took a bus to the ferry station, at which point we hopped onto the ferry and enjoyed the warm breeze, and ocean spray. We arrived to our bungalow in the afternoon, it's on the beach but not the front row, so tomorrow we are going to try and get a first class view. The island still has a lot of westerners, but is much slower pace then Bangkok, and I'm enjoying the beach scene very much. We are going to take a tour of the island this afternoon, and then go kayaking tomorrow at a national park west of the island. We are having a wonderful time, and might get in a fishing trip this week also. We may have the luxury of catching King Mackerel or Barracuda. I'm still working on trying to get Robbie to rent a moto bike here on the island. I think its probably our best option if we are going to do it. I will probably attach pictures to these posts once we return to the states. Sorry, It just hasn't worked out.
We have to sign off for now. Talk to you again in a few days.

We Made It!

Hey Everyone, after 19 plus hours of flying we arrived safely in Bangkok yesterday. Robbie and I spent a little more time then necessary trying to figure out which taxi to take from the airport to the guesthouse. But the time saved us a few hundred bahts. Everyone said the roads were really busy, I didn't find the highway to be that way, but once we reached the center of town, whoa, hold the horses, it was crazy. However everyone seems to be able to drive defensively enough that we didn't see any crashes. It cool because there are the tuk tuks, moto bikes, and cars all sharing the same road. They don't really stay in one lane or seem to follow traffic rules like we have back in the states. Robbie and I did ride in a tuk tuk to see the Standing Buddha. Very beautiful. We also spent some time last evening visiting the Khoa San area, where there is a night market, and great food. I got a wax, while Robbie enjoyed some brew and people watched. Our guest house is nice and in a good local. It is pretty humid here and the temperature is about 80+ degrees. We do have a fan in the room, and that seems to help quite a bit. Today we are headed to downtown, the snake farm, and maybe we will take in some thai boxing. There is much more I want to write but time is short on the Internet.

Packing, Finally

Well it's 9:15 and we have decided to start packing. Robbie is on the phone with his grandparents, wishing them Merry Christmas. I'm modeling the first bathing suit I've owned in 5 or 6 years. We have a morning flight at 7am, and if Mother Nature sees to it all will start off as planned. We have a lay over in Seattle, so we are going to go and check out Pike Street Market and the surrounding area. As many times as Robbie and I have flown through and stopped in Seattle, we haven't ventured out to far. So we have decided not to sit at the airport for the day, and start this trip off on the right foot. Our flight leaves Seattle for Bangkok, via another short layover in Taipei, Taiwan at 12:55am on the 12th. We should arrive around 12:30pm on the 13th. We move over the international date line, so we have the pleasure of jumping ahead a day. I apologize now if we call home to family at odd hours of the day. The next time you hear from us we will be in Bangkok. =)

It's getting close

Well, the countdown has officially begun. We leave here on Tuesday, the 11th, and arrive in Bangkok, Thailand on the Thursday the 13th. We gain a day in flight, so that's why it seems so long. I'm not anxious to fly, as usual, but am looking forward to the food, sun, and culture. Did I mention sun, oh yeah and the warmth that comes along with the sun. I've begun packing, but it's not to difficult when you only own three pairs of shorts. I haven't figured out how to upload the photos albums I want yet. Thanks for being patient.

It's getting there

O.k., we are slowly piecing this thing together. We hope to get a few pictures added before we leave town on Tuesday. Maybe an album or two, possibly of the wedding and AK. However, we're not sure if we will be able to upload any photos while on our trip in Thailand. I guess only time will tell. Oh, It's getting closer, and we can't wait. The Sun, The Sun!

The Begining

Well, be kind. This is a blog in progress. We hope to get this thing up and running, so while we are in Thailand everyone can come to one place to read our stories, trials and tribulations. Wish us luck on piecing this thing together.