Thailand Journal: 10 Days In Chiang Mai

As I said in our last post, we’ve had some illness, we’ve been on a couple of hospital visits, and we are very ready to be home.  That doesn’t mean, though, that we haven’t had some fun in our last Thailand destination – Chiang Mai.  Chiang Mai, the second largest city in Thailand (according to one of our drivers), is an old city that has a very small Old Town area that’s surrounded by a moat and the remnants of a castle-like brick wall.  If you know Julie, you know that this wall and moat are the two primary reasons that we are here haha.  She LOVES her some castles and moats!  We expected there to be historical tours and lots of fun old things to see – but were slightly disappointed to find that, according to our hotel host, there aren’t any historical walking tours.  There are a few temple tours, 3 main night markets, and plenty of coffee (mostly Nescafe powder-based) and a lot of little restaurants.  Because of some personal convictions, we weren’t too interested in taking part in the monk blessings or the worship that takes place in the temples, so we didn’t do the temple tours.  We did, however, try plenty of the local cuisine.  The food was nothing to write home about – but was decent.  If I’m being completely honest, I’ve had better Masaman, pizza, quesadillas, and chicken tikka masala back home – but it was still fun to try new places.  We also decided to take a Thai cooking class, take a day to rent a motorbike and drive up to a few nearby waterfalls, and to go to Elephant Nature Park, an elephant sanctuary that focuses on rescuing abused elephants.  In our 10 days here, we slept a lot, ate way too much, went for a few walks, watched a couple of movies in the theater, and basically took it easy.  These were the 3 larger activities that we did in Chiang Mai…

THAI COOKING CLASS

The Thai cooking class that we went to, Thai Secret Cooking School, was sort of an “exclusive class” that not many people know about – according to our host.  She prides herself on not paying any tourist companies to sell her course and relies solely on word of mouth.  She can do that because the experience that she creates for her customers is T O P – N O T C H.  I’m not joking.  The best Pad Thai I’ve ever eaten in my life…I MADE IT…with her recipe, of course, but wow.  What an incredible experience.

To start the day, we were picked up from our hotel in one of those red tuk-tuk – taxi trucks – the big ones that hold 8-10 people.  It was us, a couple from Canada, a couple from the Netherlands, and a guy from San Fransisco.  We were first shuttled to the local market where our host gave us a lesson on aged rice, Thai vegetables, and coconut milk.  It was extremely informative and eye-opening – I’ve never seen a fully intact severed pig head in my life – let alone half a dozen of them laying on butcher’s tables out in the hot, humid afternoon air.  It was a fascinating, disturbing (I contemplated giving up bacon for 2.3 seconds before I realized how crazy I was acting), and educational stop.

Next, we headed to our host’s home for the day.  She lives on a farm that is located about 20 minutes outside of Chiang Mai.  They have a traditional Thai home with the living quarters upstairs and an open space downstairs – one that they had converted into rows of burners and side tables for their magazine-worthy kitchen class space.  The house was located right in front of an expansive checker board of rice paddies and right next to their small but fruitful garden full of herbs and vegetables.  The property was perfectly manicured and welcoming.  If you know my mother, it felt a lot like home.  We arrived, put all of our stuff in a safe spot, and then headed out to the garden to pick our vegetables and herbs for our meals.

Before, on the drive from the hotel to the market, we all had the opportunity to choose an appetizer, a lunch, a dinner, a soup, and a dessert from a menu of about 5 options for each.  I chose prawn soup, Pad Thai, green curry, spring rolls, and a pumpkin and coconut milk soup.  Julie chose prawn soup, Pad Thai, green curry, papaya salad, and mango sticky rice.  After we had gone to the market and after we had picked our fresh ingredients from the garden, we proceeded to prep and make each of those dishes.  Not only did we make the dishes, themselves, but we even mortar-and-pestled our own curry pastes and squeezed our own coconut milk.  I’ve always wondered how curry was made, how authentic Thai dishes were prepared (and what ingredients went into them), and what went into making coconut milk (vs coconut water).  I learned so many things in this one day that I’ve wondered about for so long that I can’t help but place this experience at the top of my Thailand list.  It was SO much fun.

WATERFALLS

Chiang Mai is located at the foothills of a few nearby mountains.  We rode a rented motorbike up into the foothills and went for a couple short walks to waterfalls.  We’re from Portland, OR – just a 30 minute drive from the most breathtaking waterfalls you’ve ever seen in your life in the Columbia Gorge – and we have pretty high standards for waterfalls (if people are even allowed to have “waterfall standards”).  These were pretty waterfalls…but…they weren’t Columbia-Gorge-pretty waterfalls.  Perhaps we’re a little biased.

ELEPHANT NATURE PARK

The second and last paid tour that we did in Chiang Mai was a visit to Elephant Nature Park.  I like elephants and all – but my take on the experience and Julie’s take on the experience could not be more polar opposite.  I hesitate to share my opinions on it – but I will.  I’m just going to list out the things that stood out to me and then let Julie tell you about how amazing it was.  1) For lunch, there were only vegetarian options and they were all cold by the time we got to them, 2) They offered free coffee but it was Nescafe style, 3) We spent about 5 hours looking at about 20 elephants or so….they all looked very similar, 4) We got to stand in ankle-deep water and splash the elephants with a tiny bucket of said water, 5) we watched a total of 3 different films on a lady named “Lek” who takes care of elephants and saves them from dangerous environments and abuse.  Like I said – elephants are great.  I really think that what Lek is doing with the elephants is admirable and I understand that she needs to raise money to take care of them.  That said – I’d probably rather have spent the day watching a video, then given some money, and then taken a nap in my hotel room or something.  I feel like I’ve experienced what I experienced there many times before at both the Denver zoo and the Portland zoo.  It’s almost like it was a zoo that only let you see elephants.  Anyways…it’s a Scroogy, bah-humbug look at it all, sure, but it’s an accurate representation of how I felt – so don’t hate!  Haha.  (enter Julie…)

While I agree that it was a bit… hmm… big and commercial…?  It is born out of necessity as the word is getting out about the plummeting population of elephants due to poaching and mistreatment.  Lek and her team have carefully designed rules, structure, and have things running smoothly and safely among the 3-4ton animals.  Our guide and the first video did an amazing job of informing the daily visitors (Levi and I) of the ground rules to protect us and them. As elephants are the largest land animal they were understandable rules such as: don’t stand directly in front of them, don’t hide behind them, and due to their fragile eyes, don’t use a flash on your camera. The first video also gave us an idea of the background of the elephants we would be meeting.  The elephants had amazing stories.  Some were land mine victims (as its common for the locals in the countries they were in to use them to clear land mine fields), one was orphaned by a sick mother, and others were purchased from city street entertainers (who aren’t able to provide a safe place or clean food and water for them and exploit them at the cost of an elephants life in most cases.)  This big-hearted woman has also taken in about 200 street dogs, probably 1/2 as many cats, 40ish water buffalo rescued from slaughter houses, and her menagerie continues to grow.

I, too, was a bit let down by the experience after seeing a more intimate interaction with the elephants advertised on the website and the brochures.  They showed so many fun photos of bath times and feedings that were not part of the actual experience.  I did find amusement in the elpha-selfies that our co-visitors were taking to make the experience appear much more sincere than it really was.  I will admit that I too tried to snap a quick photo before looking over my shoulder to avoid being trampled but I think unless there is real time spent volunteering here (the 1 week package is a popular one) those photos don’t happen organically.  All that said, the money we paid to visit and get an inside look into what this sanctuary does was well spent as it does go to feed and rescue more animals and care for those that they already have.  There were storehouses of elephant food, new tree plantings taking place (for elephant scratching posts), and so much care shown from the staff that I chose to enjoy the lukewarm food and appreciated that it was vegetarian (how often is too much vegetarian the issue? oh ya-this was the first time in our 7 years together…)  The only fault that I could find with Elephant Nature Park would be that they advertised the experience as a fun day out with the elephants when it was more informational and emotional education.  Nobody likes to be caught off guard but maybe others were able to look past the tragedies a little more.  We were – after all – in a sanctuary.  This place was one of hope and safety where these creatures don’t have to worry about anything other than what tree to sit under and where to cross the river.  That is a dream come true for Lek and something I can get behind.

 

Thailand Journal: Sick And Tired Of Being Sick And Tired

Traveling is fun, thrilling, fulfilling, and………it’s exhausting.  I remember times when a weekend away never felt like enough – when a week away never felt like enough.  Heck, even after a 2-3 week vacation I would be left wishing it would go on forever.  Never in my life did I think that I’d actually fill up on travel to a point of satisfaction – let alone a point past satisfaction…  Never in my life did I think I’d fantasize about renting a 400 square foot apartment just to have a consistent bed of my choosing to sleep in and my own kitchen to cook in.  Never in my life did I think that I would long for a consistent place to show up to work everyday – whether it be tethered to a headset selling on the phones, designing software/graphics on my computer in a coffee shop, or shoveling dirt in a ditch – ANY consistency sounds like a dream right now.  The elasticity of schedules and the inconsistency in food, lodging, and everything in between is growing overwhelmingly tiresome for these road weary travelers.

Now, add in the fact that I’ve had a cough and congestion for 3 weeks (from our last 2 days in our first Thailand stint, all through our Africa trip, and then all the way through the final leg of our Thailand trip), our first 2 days in Chiang Mai were spent with Julie on a post-hospital-visit anti-biotic regiment because of a spider bite (she has since recovered), we’ve found ZERO healthy food options in Chiang Mai since we’ve been here, and we haven’t seen our dogs for 3 months!  Things are beginning to add up physically and mentally and they’re admittedly taking their toll.

The exhaustion all started setting in back in Kenya when, seemingly daily, we would go from one luxury hotel to the next – never fully stopping to truly rest.  We began to realize the value of having a consistent place to rest our heads over the quality of the hotels we were staying in.  We realized the advantage of having limited, high quality food options over having an endless buffet of low-nutrient, but tasty foods.  We found ourselves getting frustrated with luxury services, luxury hotels, and high end eating cuisines.  I’m sure we seemed spoiled to some – but I assure you, the weariness isn’t coming from a jaded place in our hearts or a spoiled attitude towards things that aren’t meeting our wants or desires, but rather, they are coming from a place of pure exhaustion.  We just want consistency, a little security (not much…we still do like adventure), and some familiarity.  We want HOME! 🙂

Contrary to what I thought would be the case coming into this journey, 3 months has ended up being more than enough travel.  We have 1 more day in Thailand and then we head home.  I knew this time would come but I didn’t think I’d feel the way that I do about it.  We’ve had an AMAZING time on this journey – a life changing, absolutely incredible time – and we can’t wait to get home!!

To our Portland friends and family – SEE YOU SOON!!!!!!!!!

Thailand Journal: 3 Days In Bangkok

We might be back in Thailand, but we are definitely somewhere new!  We’re a world away from the tropical, quiet, small town of  Rawai, Thailand on the island of Phuket.  This concrete coated, bustling, chaotic, and commercialized world that is Bangkok, Thailand is quite a change of pace.  We went from the slow moving, relaxing world of Phuket to the posh and exotic world of safaris in Kenya, to the jarring high-speed change of pace in Bangkok.  We’ll admit that while it is a little difficult to get up to speed, it is definitely a fun and exciting new adventure.

Everyone that we spoke with in Phuket said that Bangkok was kind of lame and that we would only need about 3 days to get our fill of the hustle and bustle before we would be ready to move on.  So, we took their word for it and only booked 3 days there.  In hindsight, we could probably have used a few more days – but those days probably would have been spent on the same thing that we spent first 3 days on……mall walking!!!

MALL NUMBER ONE

You heard me correctly….mall walking.  There are SO MANY malls in Bangkok.  When we first arrived we didn’t know this.  On our way in from the airport, as we approached our hotel, our driver pointed out the MBK mall on the corner just a 5 minute walk from our hotel and indicated that it was a really popular mall – that we were in a fun area of town.  After sleeping in until 1pm, we thought that it would be good to get out and check out the mall on our first day, so we did.  As we walked around, we were overwhelmed with how HUGE the mall was.  We checked out the popular stuff like Starbucks and the “Certified” Apple resellers, as well as, all of the used and off brand electronics booths – which took up more than 1 of the EIGHT floors.  We also saw a new movie for 140 Baht ($4.27) each, had some dim sum for breakfast, and walked….a lot…  When the day was finished, as we were waking back to our hotel, we noticed there was a sign for a Madame Tussaud’s Wax Museum on the huge building across the street.  Tomorrow, we would check that out!

MADAME TUSSAUD’S WAX MUSEUM

It turns out that not only was there a wax museum across the street, but there was also a MASSIVE mall – just as big as mall number one.  The wax museum was simply the top floor of this glossy, clean, overwhelmingly nice mall.  We went to the museum, checked out the stores, and even caught a live, Thai-teeny-bopper pop concert!  Haha.  It was a fun find.  So ya, mall number two was pretty cool, sure, but it was nothing compared to mall number 3…

THE LARGEST AQUARIUM IN THAILAND…IS IN A MALL

When we purchased our wax museum tickets, we bought a package deal for the wax museum and the aquarium in the mall next door.  (Seriously….they’re all separate malls….the wax museum was in Siam Discovery and the aquarium was in Siam Paragon).  So, on day 3, we went and checked out the aquarium in the Paragon.  The aquarium was the best aquarium either of us had ever seen in our lives – and it wasn’t even the clear winner for our favorite things about the Paragon.  You see, the Paragon is known as a “luxury mall”.  They have stores for Maserati, Lamborghini, Ducati, Rolls Royce, and literally every high fashion designer you’ve heard of and even more you haven’t.  It was the most breathtaking display of “nice things” I’ve ever seen in my life – all in one place.  That said, while it was an impressive sight, it was definitely weird being the misplaced homeless couple wearing the same old well-worn exercise outfits that we’ve been wearing for the last 3 months, smudging up the luxury vibe as we awkwardly stared at all of the exotic cars and irrationally priced hand bags.  That’s one of those times you REALLY miss having access to your normal wardrobe back home!

So, to summarize, the basement housed the largest aquarium in Thailand, the main floors housed the nicest things I’ve ever seen assembled in one place, and on the top floor?  On the top floor of this mall was a huge cineplex (with a Starbucks inside) that had an IMAX theater – where we ended up seeing Interstellar (with Thai subtitles, of course).  This mall was so incredible and huge that I had to google for “the largest mall in the world” to see if it was up there – it was massive.  To my surprise, the Paragon actually wasn’t on the list.  However, the mall just around the corner….one that we had yet to see and didn’t even know existed….Central World…was #7 on the list of largest malls in the world.  Seriously.  In all of the mall walking we’d done in the last 3 days – we hadn’t even set foot inside the largest one!!!  By the time we got to that mall, we had about 2 hours left in our final day in Bangkok – so we just went in, ate a TERRIBLE Indian food meal (the last one served before they closed…but unfortunately not the last one they served period) – and then “Walking-Deaded” our way back to our hotel and passed out.

Also worth mentioning – we did check out Jim Thompson’s house while we were there.  He’s an American that helped Thailand revitalize the silk industry.  It was a nice house and had a lot of old Thai artifacts (most of which were partial or incomplete pieces).  It wasn’t very impressive and didn’t merit more than this side note – but I thought I’d at least mention that we went there.  The malls were definitely the biggest take away from Bangkok.

African Journal: Part 4 – A Day In Mombasa

 

This is Part 4 of a 4-Part journal of our African adventures.  Catch up here… 

• Part 1
• Part 2
• Part 3

I said in an earlier post that you would hear about the complaints when they arose.  Well, 6 days into our trip, we were finally starting to feel a bit frustrated with the state of begging in Kenya and I’d like to take just a moment to talk about that.  When we arrived in Mombasa, we were tired, overheated, and sick of people begging us for money.  At first, we didn’t have a very tough time with the sporadic hasslings of folks soliciting us in the the streets or the heartbreaking children with open hands that we drove by from one safari to the next.  That was at first.  As the trip continued, from one day to the next, and the ever-present begging continued to wear on us, it became quite frustrating.  It was heart wrenching.  It might sound heartless of us to be frustrated with this, but as 2 people who’ve recently quit their jobs that are traveling their way around the world on a once in a lifetime trip – using their savings to get by – simply can’t feed and provide resources for every single human that they come in contact with.  It’s simply way too much to ask.  I’m including this section here because Mombasa was by far the worst of all of the places we went on this front – so much so that it merited this short little excerpt you’ve just read.  This was the only complaint I would have about our entire trip – so we’re doing alright :).

     Even though we spent 2 full days in Mombasa, we’re only going to highlight one of them because the second day was the only one worth writing home about.  A brief overview of the other day would simply cover buying a cell phone (we lost the Thai phone in the back of the taxi after the Phuket FantaSea event), visiting a run-down mall with an underwhelming cafeteria and terrible food, and a whole lot of whining and complaining – wishing we were still on Safari.

     The taxi driver that took us to the mall, ironically also named Joseph, could tell that we weren’t impressed by the sites of Mombasa that we had seen thus far and offered to take us on a 3-4 hour tour of the city the following day.  After thinking about it for a bit, agreed and booked the day.  It did not disappoint…

FORT JESUS

Once we arrived at the first stop, we soon realized that this was going to be an epic day of culture and history.  Joseph (#2) had arranged for a licensed guide to show us the fort, the museum inside the fort, and then take us on a walk through old town so that we could take in the architecture and various sites – including the produce market.  I’m writing this portion of the blog the following day and all of the information that I consumed yesterday has already began to fade.  I wish I had retained more of it. Basically, if my memory serves me well, the Arabs (this is what the Muslim gentleman giving us the tour called them – I’m not certain what country they were actually from) conquered and settled the Mombasa area in the 9th century and ruled until the late 1400’s when the Portuguese took over.  The Portuguese were the ones who, with the help of a Spanish architect, built Fort Jesus – which, when viewed from above, is the shape of a turtle. Then, after about 100 years of ruling the area, the Arabs came and reclaimed the city and claimed the fortress. They were the ones who allowed the British to come through and colonize the Nairobi area.  Later, in the late 1800’s, the fort was actually turned into a prison – and they didn’t stop using it as a prison until the mid 1950’s.  It’s a fascinatingly diverse history for such a unique structure.  All of that said, there were also pieces of the story that were never really fully told to us on the tour – the Indians and British and the railroad being a few of them – but this information alone was SO interesting to us.  For some context as to why, we come from in the Pacific NW and our “old buildings” are from the late 1800’s.  Anything over 100 years is amazing and old.  To be able to see a Portuguese fort that was built in the 1400’s in a coastal city of Kenya was just an amazing treat for both of us.

THE WALK

   

After the tour of the fort, Fahmy, our guide, took us for a fun, otherworldly walk through the tight alleyways and narrow streets of old Mombasa.  When we say “old Mombasa”, we’re talking about mosques-built-in-the-13th-century old Mombasa.  It was a very impressive assortment of buildings and mosques, most of which, according to local tradition, were built between the 13th and 19th centuries – some having seen minor updates – but not many.  Our favorite part of the walk was when we ducked into a small little spice shop ran by an extremely effervescent Indian gentleman.  He gave us a fun, educational walkthrough of all of his homemade spices – quizzing us on which combinations of spices we thought were in each.  It’s hard to explain the moment in such a way that captures the charm, smell, and simply sensational 10 minute experience in that spice shop, but suffice it to say that, for me, it was a top 10 experience in this entire 3-month trip.  He was so passionate about his spices that it was inspiring.  Needless to say, we purchased some spices to take home and experiment with.  After the spice shop, we made our way to the local produce market.  It was an extremely overwhelming display of bustle and haggle.  We made it out with a couple of beef pastries (for yours truly), some macadamia nut samples, and a few delicious red bananas.  Next, Joseph (#2) had scheduled for us to take a tuk tuk from the market back to our taxi – it was off to lunch, coffee, and some wonderful conversation with Joseph (#2).  We probably spent the next 4-5 hours hanging out with him at a restaurant, a coffee shop, and taking in the sites and sounds as we drove from one to the next.

This was a wonderful way to spend our final day in Kenya.

African Journal: Part 3 – The Maasai Mara

This is Part 3 of a 4-Part journal of our African adventures.  Catch up here… 

• Part 1
• Part 2

THE SAROVA MARA GAME CAMP

The Maasai Mara is very hard to describe. If a picture is worth a thousand words, it would take a thousand pictures to fully describe the uniqueness of this place. It’s a dessert looking grassland with sporadic tropical rains that keep it lush and green. It’s flat, rolling hills seem to go on forever – and as you drive, acacia trees grace each new horizon making for far too many photo-perfect opportunities. The plants, birds, and animals are so varied and exotic and yet, far more familiar than I’d have imagined. In the American northwest, we have deer, elk, antelope, moose, and buffalo. Here, it’s topi, water buck, gazelles, eland, and Cape buffalo. Cougars, mountain lions, Lynx and Bobcats at home are lions, leopards, serval cars, and cheetahs here. It’s absolutely a different place and the animals are far more exotic to foreign eyes like ours – but it’s also a very approachable and easy to ingest reality because of the context that our history and home provides. Here it is the same reality but a different realm.

The same comparisons could be made between the Sarova Mara Game Camp that we stayed at for our 3 days in the reserve and the log cabin resorts back home. Instead of log and river rock cabins in thick woods, its canvas, stone, and wooden tents under the cool shade of a tropical canopy. Birds chirping their songs and wind rustling through trees all in the same way – but decidedly different. I simply can’t explain it with words.

The Sarova chain of lodges, hotels, camps, and resorts provide the best, highest quality experiences that Africa has to offer. Here at the Sarova Mara Game Camp, you’re greeted with a refreshing, aroma filled wash cloth to wipe your hands and face and a glass of freshly blended mango juice. Bellhops take the luggage to the room, receptionists check you in at the front desk, and greeters give you the overview of the campus and what to expect. Groundsman can be seen all about – sweeping pathways and running wheel barrels to and from and security guards walk the paths, making sure that each tent is safe and secure. The hustle and bustle of a fully staffed machine hums along in a beautiful symphony of hospitality and service.

It stands to reason, then, that the food they serve at each meal is of the same exquisite quality. From quail egg omelets and fresh Kenyan arabica coffee to peppercorn steak and mashed potatoes mixed with spinach and corn. I asked one of the chefs at the Sarova Mara lodge and she said that there are over 20 chefs at this one location that work on a rotation. Each meal – breakfast, lunch, and dinner – have at least 25-30 options to choose from. A luxurious buffet of pastries, breads, gormet cheeses, curries, meats, seasoned vegetable medlies, and salads. It’s a foodies paradise. Needless to say, we’re not going hungry.

MAASAI VILLAGE

One of the coolest things that we did during our time on the Maasai Mara was visit a Maasai village. On our first full day there, sandwiched between our morning and our evening game drives, we went just outside the reserve to a village that our guide, Joseph, had a close relationship with.
The people were very welcoming and truly seemed excited that we were there. Dixon, the chief’s son, was our host. He was quick to give us an extremely interesting run down of facts about about the Maasai people. Most of them were quite astounding to us both. It’s hard to believe, in the isolated western world that we’ve grown up in, that a people group with these seemingly primitive traditions and customs still exist. It was a very wonderful (in the truest sense of the word) glimpse into a very foreign world. On to the facts…

– The Maasai diet consists of meat, milk, and blood from a live cow. That’s it.
– They get circumcised at the (old!) age of 12 – in the middle of the village for all to see.
– They’re a polygamist people (Dixon’s dad has 6 wives) who exchange cattle for wives. It costs about 15 cows per wife (for reference, I paid about $60 USD to the courthouse for Julie…so…that seems a little steep…haha)
– They have a very renowned jumping competition in which the men compete in jumping as high as they can. It’s said that the highest jumpers get the most girlfriends.
– The role of the woman in the tribe is to make the huts (out of sticks, grass, and cow dung,) cook, clean, care for the children, and make the jewelry to give to their boyfriends and husbands and to sell to tourists.
– The role of a man is to shepherd the goats, sheep, and cattle. They fend of lions, hyenas, cheetahs, leopards, and other aggressive predators.
– It takes about 10 Maasai to take on a lion and Dixon’s brother killed one and they showed us the claw from it as proof.
– Traditionally, they believe that taking a photo of them steals their soul – but want tourists to come and pay money for their kids to go to school so they allow paying tourists (6,000 Kenyan shillings or around $67 USD) to take unlimited photos. At first we were uncomfortable taking them, but they insisted that we do.

Here is a series of videos that we took throughout our visit:
WELCOME DANCE

JUMPING COMPETITION

FIRE MAKING EXHIBITION

FAREWELL SONG

This was Part 3 of a 4-Part journal of our African adventures.  Continue here… Part 4

African Journal: Part 2 – Three Safaris In A Day

This is Part 2 of a 4-Part journal of our African adventures.  Catch up here…

• Part 1

THE MORNING SAFARI: NAKURU

On our second morning in Africa, we arose early, swiftly packed our bags, ate a quick breakfast, and headed out.  We would have a big day ahead of us.  The plan was to do a short safari in the morning on our way out of the park (Sarova Lionhill was located inside the park gates), take a boat safari in the afternoon on lake Naivasha, and then go on an evening safari in the Maasai Mara once we had checked into our Maasai Mara camp.

     The morning safari turned out to be quite short but very successful.  It was the only time that we saw a full grown male lion!  We took some time watching him stalk some Cape buffalo and then headed out for safari number two…

AFTERNOON BOAT SAFARI: LAKE NAIVASHA

The road from the main street to the “marina” (if you can call it that) was bumpy and slow.  A large herd of about 30-40 goats escorted us most of the way.  Once we paid, we were handed our life jackets and shown to our boat.  What followed was one of the coolest things we’ve done in Africa.  We puttered around, stopping many times for some breathtakingly picturesque photos, while Joseph pointed out and named each bird, Julie wrote them down in the journal and I snapped photos.  At times, Julie would do both duties while I captured video with the iPhone.

     On the boat safari, we saw two groups of hippos, a fish eagle swoop down and get a fish that Daniel, our “captain”, fed him, and we saw many more zebra, Cape buffalo, giraffe, water buck, and wildebeest.  All of that and we added 22 birds to our bird journal!  It was a picture-perfect afternoon of lake-faring and bird watching.

     (NOTE: it might sound like we’re sensationalizing the good, concealing the bad, and making everything sound better than it really was.  I assure you, you’ll hear about the negatives when they arise.  We are truly blown away at how perfectly things have fallen into place thus far.  We’re quite honestly having the time of our lives!)

EVENING SAFARI: MAASAI MARA

     After grabbing a very late lunch, getting our debrief on the “electricity situation” (the generators are off campus-wide between the hours of 4-6pm and 12-4am), and checking into our tent, we took a few moments to rest up from the bumpy 1-hour, gravel-road-drive into the Maasai Mara and then headed out for our evening game drive.

     A few highlights: we saw 6 lion cubs, 2 baby elephants, and 1 baby topi.  I joked with Joseph and called our trip the Future Safari Safari.  We saw many more birds and animals on the drive, too, but those are the few animals that stood out to us the most.  Another note – the sunset was absolutely gorgeous.  The African sunset you dream about when fantasizing about going on safari – the one that makes its way into all of the movies – was the same one that lit the sky this night.

     We went back to the camp, had a buffet of exotic and delicious food, and then went to bed in our tent, sheltered from the rain, thunder, and lightening that had rolled in since we had returned.

This was Part 2 of a 4-Part journal of our African adventures.  Continue here… Part 3

African Journal: Part I – Arrival and First Safari

ARRIVAL

The day before we left Phuket, Thailand for Nairobi, Kenya, I came down with a pretty severe cough and head cold – the kind where the ears, nose, and chest all sharply ache with an intense pressure and sleep is the only reprieve.  A day later, while we were working our way through our 30+ hour travel itinerary, Julie came down with the same thing.  By the time we arrived in Nairobi, despite the fact that we had slept approx. 17 of the last 30 hours, we were both ready to pass out from exhaustion.
We were picked up from the airport by Kevin (our greeter) and Joseph (our soon-to-be-assigned driver) at 6:30am and shuttled to our hotel – the Sarova Stanley.

When we initially booked our trip to Kenya, we went to Kenya.com and picked the package that we thought had everything that we’d want to see.  Period.  That was all of the thought that we put into it.  Sure, the price tag was a little steep (about $5600 for 2 people for 9 days) but it was reasonable for what we wanted to do, we thought.  However, once we arrived in Kenya, we realized that, somehow, we had chosen the most luxurious package that we could have possibly found.

The trip began with a host-and-driver shuttle from the airport, a bellhop gathering our luggage upon arrival, a fresh scented towel for our faces and a glass of freshly squeezed mango juice upon our entrance.  We were then educated by the host on the history of the Sarova Stanley (from the fact that it’s the first hotel in Nairobi to the fact that Ernest Hemmingway and Clark Gable are among its history’s guests) and the vast range of luxirious amenities that we might enjoy (steam room, sauna, pool, multiple restaurants, a tailor, and a spa).  It was quite the welcome to Kenya.

All of those things were a wonderful surprise, but because of how sick and exhausted we felt, instead of treating ourselves to a spa day or a brand new suit fitting, we promptly went upstairs and passed out on the plush, cloud-like bliss of the best mattresses we’ve encountered in our 2 months of travel.

We awoke for lunch and a pharmacy run, went back to bed, and then awoke once more for a nice dinner out at Absynnia – a delicious and romantic Ethiopian spot a short taxi drive away from our hotel.

NOTE: This is the last I’ll speak of our sickness as the beauty and wonder of Africa is incredible enough that even when you feel as miserable, physically, as Julie and I have felt this week – it is enough to completely drown out any sickness or discomfort.  We are so incommunicably happy here that we’re simply ignoring the illness and soaking in the wonder and beauty while we can.

THE TRIP TO NAKURU

On our way from the airport to the Sarova Stanley, we had asked our host, Kevin, for a driver that specializes in birds and plants – because Julie has always loved plants and has developed a burgeoning passion for bird watching, as well.  We had no idea that Joseph, our airport shuttle driver, had 31 years in the industry and a huge passion for birds – with a memory bank full of hundreds of birds and plants stored in mind.  Luckily, we were reassigned drivers so that Joseph, not the guide we were originally assigned, could be our driver and give us a more fascinating and educational bird and plant specific experience.

So, at 7:30AM the following morning, after our first of many buffet-and-Kenyan-Arabica-coffee breakfasts, Joseph picked us up from the Sarova Stanley and we started our journey to our first safari destination, Nakuru National Park.

In just our 7-hour drive to the park, Joseph had already pointed out 44 different birds types – all off the top of his head – and many more plant, shrub, and tree types.  He had a well worn “Birds of East Africa” book and an African plant book that he would sometimes use as a reference to show us their spelling – as the already challenging bird names combined with his African accent was, at times, a little tough to understand.  To our astonishment, every bird that he pointed out was exactly what he claimed.  After 31 years in the safari industry, Joseph seems to be quite comprehensively studied in just about every possible African plant and creature.

THOMPSON FALLS

On our way to Nakuru National Park, we stopped at Thompson Falls.  Not only was it a beautiful waterfall, it was also the place where we would go on to have a few very interesting encounters.

One of these encounters was our first brush up with the “I do you a favor you didn’t ask for and then demand that you give me way too much money for it” approach of selling things that now seems to be quite a common occurrence here in Kenya.
We were finished looking at the falls, turned around to go, and to our surprise, there were 3-4 Kikuyu people dressed up in full regalia ready and waiting for us.  They swiftly placed a chameleon on Julie’s arm, one on my shoulder, and shoved a spear in my hand.  They gathered around me and started demanding that Julie take a picture.  It was quite a hurried and confusing moment but Julie gathered what they were saying and took a few photos.  Soon, another local man, who was not dressed up, took our Canon camera from Julie and insisted that she join us in the photo.  We played along, smiling and laughing in our discomfort, until the moment had passed.  As soon as they were done, they surrounded Julie – each about a foot from her face, and started rubbing their thumb and fingers together indicating that we owed them money.  They had taken the chameleon off of Julie already, but I couldn’t even get their attenion to take mine off of me.  It was quite intense.  It felt as though it quickly turned from a very odd, somewhat uncomfortable yet playful moment to a downright shake down.  She offered them a couple hundred Kenyan shillings ($4-5 USD) but they refused and made her give them a thousand!  Then, the normal-clothed camera guy demanded an additional 500 shillings!  After the shakedown was finished, we realized that we were basically robbed of $16.85 USD for some silly pictures we didn’t want in the first place.  That was quite ride to say the least.

The second encounter was much less violating and intense.  We met a local girl who was wearing a Portland State sweatshirt!  She had no idea what she was wearing, but seemed pleased that we liked her sweatshirt so much.

THE DRIVE

The things we would see on the drive from Nairobi to Nakuru would later prove to be the normal sites and sounds of the Kenyan countryside that we would grow accustomed to in our hours of safari bus travel.  Corn fields, bushes, grasslands, and acacia trees would dot the highways as we went.  Produce stands where merchants offered bananas, carrots, potatoes, sweet potatoes, onions, peppers, and black eyed peas would line the roadside.

The towns were like what we, in the US, grew up seeing depicted as the old-timey “Wild West”.  Although, instead of wooden saloons, mercantiles, and hotels, here the same buildings are made of concrete and tin.  Instead of horses pulling wagons, it’s donkeys.  Instead of cowboys guiding the herds of animals, we see shepherd boys walking alongside their cattle, sheep, and goats.  Because of this, the rustic towns and the people’s lifestyle all seem so familiar.  Sure, in modern Kenya, there are cars, gas stations, and cell phones – but the beautiful simplicity and the hard way of life stand out to me as something from a bygone era.  It’s an amazing sight to see.

 

OUR FIRST SAFARI

We arrived at our second Sarova destination, the Sarova Lionhill Game Lodge, late that afternoon.  After having lunch and checking in, we headed out for our first official game drive.

On the drive, we saw white rhino, olive baboons, Cape buffalo, water buck, zebra, warthog, impala, Thompson gazelle, and many birds (each of which Julie feverishly wrote down as Joesph identified them by name.). It was a nice, cool evening drive with a beautiful sunset over a breathtaking lake surrounded by wild, exotic animals.

That evening, before we ate dinner, we were treated to a tribal dance show at the lodge.  After dinner, very exhausted from such an exhilarating day, we went to bed and passed out.

This was Part 1 of a 4-Part journal of our African adventures.  Continue here… Part 2

Thailand Journal: John Gray Sea Canoe

ARRIVAL

A romance novelist couldn’t get away with a story as perfect as our John Gray Sea Canoe experience.  The reader would simply dismiss it as an unrealistic, idealistic fantasy and quickly put the book down to find something else to read.  For example, on the ride there, from the moment we stepped into our taxi to the moment we got out, a tropical downpour spattered our windows.  We watched the soaking wet motorbike riders hurriedly make their way to cover as we sat, thankful that we weren’t among their ranks.  As soon as we arrived at the place we were to embark from, like orchestrated perfection, the skies parted and the sun started shining.  We were soon checked in and introduced to our personal guide for the day.  “Alex” (a nickname his nephew had given him) spoke perfect English and was very personable – he was to be our guide.  Before boarding the boat, we had already talked about family, enjoying nature, and his home.  It was a great start to a perfect day.  One interesting thing about the John Gray company is its conservation mission.  They do a lot of things like trash pick ups, glass water bottle re-use, dedicated adherence to various Eco-tourism standards, and they even help give the local Thai people from areas of high unemployment an opportunity for part time work.  Alex was very proud of these things and as the day progressed, we got to experience, first hand, his passion for nature and in the care of his homeland.

 

SEA CANOEING

Once on the boat, as we puttered our way out to the islands we were going to be exploring, we were given the safety briefing and were served lunch.  It was a simple lunch of soup and noodles.

When we arrived at our destination, while everyone else had some free-swim time to play around in the water, our guide wanted to get us out to a couple of the “off the books” places he wanted us to see.  As we went in and out of lagoons and caves, under ornate cavelike island overhangs, and played on private sand beaches, we began to realize that somehow, by a stroke of complete luck, we had been paired with the best guide on the boat.  John Gray, himself, had a fun, jab-counter-jab relationship with him.  It was like we had an insiders VIP trip and didn’t even know it.

The caves, the steep-walled cliffs inside the lagoons, the vegetation, and the animal life were all awe inspiring.  We knew that we’d be experiencing some beauty on this trip – but had no idea just how incredible the sites and sounds would be.  This place was like no other place that either of us had been.  We had the opportunity to see all kinds of unique plants, trees, exotic birds, bats, and even monkeys.  To top it all off, we didn’t even have to row or anything.  It was a wonderful 3-4 hours of guided bliss.

 

SUNSET DINNER

Like I mentioned above, the trip was simply too perfect.  Like a magnificently orchestrated dance of activities and time, we finished canoeing just in time to build our candle ceremony floats (made of banana trunk, banana leaves, orchids, marigolds, nails to hold them together, candles, and incense) before having a delicious sunset feast of large shrimp in cocktail sauce, masaman, and fresh fruit.  Julie and I sat on the bow of the boat and ate while we watched the sun slowly set over the horizon.  It was one of the most amazing moments I’ve ever experienced.

 

THE CANDLE CEREMONY

Once the sun was fully set, it was time to go out on our canoe one last time for the candle ceremony.  With a group of other tourists, we paddled into a small dark cave, lit our floats, and watched the candlelight dance off of the happy, awe inspired faces all around us.  When we were finished, we blew out the candles on our float and after everyone else left the cave, our guide took us to the darkest spot that he could find and showed us one of the coolest things I’ve ever seen in my life – bioluminescence.  I had never heard of this and had no idea this sort of thing existed.  It’s like tiny illuminated particles that activate as you quickly move your hand under the water.  It’s breathtakingly beautiful and can only be seen in certain places around the world.  We tried taking a phot of it, but were unable to capture it. It’s one of those things where you wish you could show everyone – but simply have to use your memory and the limited words available to convey its beauty.  If you never have, I do hope that you get to experience it someday.

 

THE STARLIT RIDE BACK

Once all of the tourists were safely aboard and all of the canoes were packed and organized, it was time for our long, quiet, starlit ride back.  Julie and I went back to our hidden sunset dinner seats, laid back, and talked under the starlight for the hour or so ride home.

In the whole two months that we’ve been here, this was my favorite Thailand experience.

Thailand Journal: Phuket FantaSea

The first activity in our 3-day tourist activity extravaganza was spent soaring amongst the jungle treetops as we dangled from zip lines with the Flying Hanuman.  Activity number 2 was no less enjoyable for me, but was definitely far less terrifying.  We had the opportunity to sit back, relax, and enjoy Phuket’s most well known stage show featuring a wonderful historical walk through the beautiful, colorful Thai culture.

THE ARRIVAL

When we first arrived, we were blown away with how ornate everything was.  Lots of the touristy places in Thailand can start to feel a little run down at times – with trash all over the sidewalk and the normal wear and tear on the sidewalks, bricks, and other various building materials that you’d expect in a place with such heavy rains and frequent tropical storms.  This place was the exception.  Every single aspect of Phuket FantaSea proved to be the best and highest quality in presentation, craftsmanship, and artistic creativity that we’d seen in our two months in Phuket.  From the wooden structures to the wooden structures painted in gold to the paintings on the wall to the massive statues and light exhibits throughout.  It was overwhelmingly beautiful.  Quality-wise, it was like a miniature Disneyland – without the rides.

THE BATHROOMS 

If you know me, you know I couldn’t resist a bathroom report!  By my standards and exquisite taste in all things bathroom related, the Phuket FantaSea bathrooms did not disappoint.  The first 2 pictures are of the main entrance bathroom.  Lots of gold in that one.  The last 3 pictures are of the main bathroom inside the event center (or park….not sure what the technical name would be).  If you look closely, you can see that the cows heads come through the wall and watch over you while you pee – sorta awkward but definitely hilarious.  The wall is open, too – so you can see outside while you’re going.  It’s a very weird set up, to say the least.  I had to share.

THE WHITE TIGER EXHIBIT

This was a cool, unexpected treat.  We went to Phuket FantaSea thinking that we were simply watching a stage show with some dancing and music.  We didn’t realize there were exhibits and elephant rides and all kinds of fun side exhibits.  The best was the white tiger exhibit.  It was cool….and…kinda weird, if I’m being honest.  There were bird cages with fake birds alongside real birds, bird cages with huge birds and paintings of the outdoors on the walls, there was a creepy gerbil exhibit, and there was a futuristic-looking scarecrow (or farmer stick figures?) exhibit that housed tiny birds.  The thing even had a really dark corner with a dinosaur head poking through the wall and a cave that you had to walk through with fake bats.  I didn’t love it because the exhibits were amazing or cool or anything like that.  I loved it because it was the weirdest thing I’ve ever seen.  Even the tiger cage had windows that were so thick that you could only look through them straight on because if you were at an angle, everything distorted like a fish tank.  Anyways – totally awesome and weird and just how we like it!

THE BUFFET

Our particular Phuket FantaSea package came with an all you can eat buffet.  It was pretty amazing – they had everything from masaman curry (my favorite) to Chinese chicken salad to an Italian pasta station, to fried chicken and French fries.  It was a very fun feast – but I would say the most enjoyable part of it was a couple that we met from South Africa.  They had just arrived on holiday and were spending their first night at this show.  We had a wonderful conversation about cultures, heritage, and food.  That has been a really amazing part of our trip to Thailand – we’ve had the opportunity to chat with so many different people from so many walks of life – it really opens one’s eyes to the vastness of our world and all of its beautiful diversity.  This was my favorite part of the evening….unlimited masaman curry and interesting conversation – that’s what I’m talking about! :).

THE COURTYARD AND PRE-SHOW FESTIVITIES

After we finished up with the buffet, we headed outside to take in some of the sights and sounds.  As you can see, it was quite enchanting.  There were glowing fountains and buildings, people riding atop elephants around the main statue in the center, and a ton of bustling tourists taking pictures (yours truly included).  It was a really nice moment.

THE MAIN EVENT

We turned in our phones (no pictures allowed inside), switched seats with a couple of nice Indian girls (so that I could have an aisle seat for “restroom reasons”), and settled in for the show.  What followed was a fun mixture of trapeze acrobatics,  what could be described as elephant acrobatics, and some fun magic tricks, dancing, and storytelling.  The best part of the show was the unique use of trained chickens, goats, elephants, doves, and an ox.

I didn’t have very high expectations going into this particular tourist activity, but was pleasantly surprised and had a wonderful time.  It’s one of those things that’s totally worth doing once – for the memories – but isn’t necessarily a “must do” in Thailand if you have a limited budget of time or money.  Overall, I’d say we had an odd but enjoyable time at Phuket FantaSea.

 

Thailand Journal: Flying Hanuman

That was………intense.  Julie, for some reason, can’t get enough of these adrenaline pumping, heart stopping, thrill seeking activities.  She absolutely lives for them and can’t get enough.  I, on the other hand, get my thrills from more mild activities like good conversation, tasty food, and the creative brainstorming of products, ideas, and anything technology.  I’ve never once in my life desired to skydive, bungee jump, drive at reckless speeds, or race – dangling from zip lines – from one tree top to the next in the heart of a tropical jungle.  My idea of adventure is going to Thailand.  Julie’s is going to Thailand in order to do activities that put your life in jeopardy.

Now, she’d tell you that our lives were never in jeopardy – at any point – and that I’m being a baby about the whole thing.  Right Julie? (right. – Julie)  I mean – if Kim Kardasweqerawe (sp?) can do it, so can we.  (there was a picture of her on the wall – I suppose that’s their claim to fame.)  That, and there were grandmothers, children, and 6+ feet tall, 250lb+ Russian men on the trip along with us.  Somehow, despite all of this, I was the only one in the group with shaky knees and tremoring hands.  I would have felt embarrassed or shameful of this ridiculous response to being up there if my mind had possessed any ability to process anything other than irrational fear of falling to my imminent death for the 2 hours that we were up there – but it couldn’t.

Of course, once it was done, I was happy we did it.  It’s one of the reasons that I married Julie in the first place – she gets me out of my comfort zone and living life.  I’m immensely grateful that she got me up there and helped me develop my newfound fear of heights. (haha).  Seriously, though.  What an incredible experience.  I’m not sure I would “do it again in a heart beat” – but I suppose I’d do it again if I was running for my life and the only means of escape was running to the nearest hillside and zip lining away to safety…