11/14/04: Into Thailand...following Leo's Trail

Hello everyone -

The time between updates increases as I am beginning to lose motor coordination and the ability to actually form sentences with both subject and predicate.

When last we spoke, I believe we were in Langkawi, Malaysia...just a few more thoughts on that. First, there is GREAT snorkeling on Langkawi...they have a national park which is actually just one of the 99 islands that make up the area. After my initial difficulties with the basic concept that you CANNOT breathe in through your nose while snorkeling (I've never been before)...I settled in. There was TONS of fish and great coral and even got to see sand sharks (must've been 15 or so). It was amazing - and actually better than what we've experience in Thailand around Ko Phi Phi. The "guides" actually bring bait fish and slap the water with it about 5 feet from shore - and the sharks actually come and when they turn their tails are out of the water. It was amazing and a bit scary how casual these guys were holding the fish for the sharks. The only downside was getting bitten by these tiny light pink fish. The actual injury caused (none) was far less than the humiliation of getting chased out of the water by a fish half the size of my hand.

The other cool thing on Langkawi was renting a scooter. Thanks to my really great parents, I've never actually had the pleasure of learning to drive a motorscooter or motorcycle. We picked Langkawi because it seemed to be the only place where we could manage the driving on the left side and unfamiliarity of the bike without dealing with really heavy traffic or the "middle lane" being a two-way lane. As it turns out, Deanna is quite an excellent biker...I was passable. I think I've gotten the urge out of my system but in my new enlightenment I will no longer try to open my car door on the highway as bikes "share" my lane.

From Langkawi, we moved on to Krabi in Thailand...enduring yet another ferry and bus ride where we had NO idea what was going on. "Traveling by instinct" is probably accurate. The tough thing about Thailand is that the alphabet is different...a bit like Arabic to my untrained eye. Luckily, I walk around with such a dumbfounded look on my face (think George W) that no one tries to speak to me in Thai.

Best thing about Krabi. The food. Awesome. There is a night market in Krabi Town and I was in fried food heaven (one of my many, many weaknesses). They have tons of stands where you just point to what you want deepfried and they deep fry, dip in chili sauce, and provide to you in a little plastic bag. Genius. Simply genius.

In the spirit of food, Deanna and I took a day long cooking class. Our instructor "Ya" had an amazing history and also showed us fool-proof (hah! she hasn't seen this fool in the kitchen) methods to cook four different curries, stir fry, soups - all really starting from the same basic ingredient preparation. Yes...2005 will be the year of Mike Chiang, Master Thai Chef. Or at least I have a nice book of Thai recipes to look at before I go to McDonald's.

To celebrate our graduation from class, Deanna and I went to a local fair where we watched 9 year old girls dance "in-sync" to Thai music, browsed for knock-off everything, and ate deep-fried crickets...carefully selected from a stand offering silk worms (recommended by a passing pedestrian laughing at us), some other type of worm, large beetles, and a few other creepy-crawlies. Crickets do NOT taste like chicken...don't actually taste like much. Good with beer. Like everything.

From Krabi Town, we moved on to Ao Nang beach in the Krabi area. Wonderful. Had a Thai massage there and really learned what it is to hurt. The massage was administered by a Thai gentleman named "Mork"...yes really. I didn't think it was possible that he was strong enough to hurt me. I was wrong. The other excitement was getting a haircut. Adding to the experience was:
a. I don't speak Thai
b. The barber didn't speak English
c. The owner of the shop spoke just enough English to get by...27 words or so by my estimation.

In the end, I just closed my eyes and hoped for the best. And actually it ended up fine. Good for me...bad for this story.

Anyway, we are on Ko Phi Phi for the last few days. Yesterday we took a trip to some incredibly beautiful islands (Bamboo Island, Ko Phi Phi Ley). The importance of course of Ko Phi Phi Ley is it's the island where they filmed the immortal, beloved film (here) "The Beach". To all of you that avoid Leonardo DiCaprio on principle, I commend you. But we are looking to watch the movie to compare to our pictures...it won't be easy, but probably easier than watching the crap I normally do (no WB over here unfortunately). DVD's here are 150B...same price as video games. Grand Theft Auto San Andreas was sold out, but I did pickup a few others. I think I'll offer my expertise to help them make the games look more legitimate ("you see sir, you need to put the Nintendo Official seal above the DOL code"). They could start by spelling "Activision" correctly.

Best to everyone. We're off to Phuket next. And then Bangkok where Deanna will make a side-trip to Perth to visit a friend and hopefully Julian will arrive for his visit.