Communication Stress

Hello all! Having difficulty getting access to our email. Driving me crazy. Near tears today. Had the most overwhelming feeling I needed to be in touch with family and friends. Sadly, still can't do it directly.

I was, however, able to get on the Mail Tribune's website and saw the article about Mrs. Ginny Hicks. She is in my thoughts, and has been since school let out for Christmas vacation. I'm so sorry to read her news. Even sorrier that I cannot reach her.

We are currently on an island called Ko Lipe. Again, no electricity, just generators and solar. Only about 20 days left. I'm anxious to return, although we are in one of the most beautiful places I've ever been.

It's hot. Snorkelled today. Wish I could post a picture. Impossible.

Miss you all desperately!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Happy Birthday, O.S.!!

The last birthday to happen while I'm gone is O.S.'s (C.D.'s birthday will happen the day I return).

It just so happens, I've got one more birthday story:
We were at a night market in Mae Hong Son and a little boy was having a birthday celebration behind his parent's food cart. They had a birthday cake with candles and everyone sang "Happy Birthday" to him-in English! I thought that was interesting.

Enjoy your Christmas vacation everyone! And O., enjoy your birthday. I won't be in touch until after Christmas. I'm sorry that the blogs have thinned out. The places we've been going are small islands with no electricity. If they have a computer anywhere on the island we leave for tomorrow (Koh Hai), I'll try to add some pictures and a few more posts.

It's much later than Ko Hai, but here's a picture of the kids in their "King's Yellow" in front of a shrine to the king on your birthday.

Jobs

There is a very wide variety of unusual jobs here in Thailand. Here's a short list of a few of the more interesting jobs:

Toilet/Bathroom Baht Collector- Almost all public restrooms have someone sitting outdide collecting 2 or 3 baht for use of the bathroom. It seems childrin are fre. These same ladies (there have been only one or two men doing the job) also sell toilet paper, as that is not a common item in a Thai bathroom. The plus to this fee is that most bathrooms are quite clean.

Cave Guide- There are numerous caves in Thailand. We've visited two different complexes. In both we hired a woman to lead us with a kerosene lantern. In the second, near the small village of Soppong, we also had to hire a bamboo raft guide because the trails were underwater due to the rainy season. It was one thing going downstream, but he had to haul us by hand (and foot) back upstream to get out of the cave. It was very laborious.

Bus Attendant- Busses stop often to pick up new passengers at roadside stops. It is therefore necessary to have a second man or woman to collect money for passage. On one of our last rides we had to stand as they do, propped between seats in the aisles, because there were no seats. Phoebe and Ty were invited to sit between Thais who already had seats.

There are many more jobs: cooks, drivers, vendors... you name it, it's here.

The Currency

On the beach here on Ko Phayam, there are the smallest sand dollars. Since we are not in the U.S., and our currency is called the dollar, I decided I must rename the sand dollar. Here, we call it sand baht.

This is a photo of the great sand baht I found yesterday morning. They are next to real Thai baht. The 10 baht piece (silver with gold) is about the size of a quarter (but thicker), so you can get an idea of the size of the sand baht.

The intersting thing about their paper currency is that each denomination is different colors and the smaller the amount, the smaller the width of the paper. The only thing missing from this photo is the 50 baht bill. Didn't have a single one to my name at the time of the photo.

The Roads

People drive on the left side of the road here; opposite from the U.S. We rode a mini-bus (think mini-van) from Chumpon to Ranong with a man from Scotland who had just read an article in National Geographic that stated that 1/3 of the world drives on the left, and two thirds of the world drive on the right. It really takes a while to get used to. We rented bicycles in a town up North and each time that I took off into the road I had to really concentrate on doing the right thing.

We are on our first island, Ko Phayam. There are no cars or trucks; only motorbikes. We have rented one again to get from here to there, although the islands not too big. Just big enough to make walking impossible.

There is a small two lane road across the island that is made for motorbikes, not automobiles. We have to take a 20 minute (??) turn-off to get to our bungalow at Aow Yai Bungalows. The turn-off road is just big enough to allow two motorbikes to pass. It's a little sketchy. This is a motorcycle taxi going by us on the other side. In the second photo, Scott is filling the tank of the motorbike. On this island, you buy your gasoline in bottles in front of little stores.

We have joined the masses!

Like I've told you before, most people here don't own cars. They own motorbikes. We are now part of the teeming masses. We have rented a motorbike to get us from town, to a place called Ao Manao (ow-ma-now). It is a little bay on a Thai Air Force Base. We must check in and out each time we go there. This is a photo of us just after checking out.

It's funny, we have to drive over a runway to get there. That would NEVER happen in the U.S.

This is a very beautiful beach. There are table and chairs set up all along the water. The chairs are in different colors. Each colored section belongs to a different person. You must pay 10 baht to rent a chair. You can walk across the street to the food center for lunch or snacks. You can buy clothes, beach toys, etc. It's very cool. And just this morning as we were swimming, Ty said, "It's very beautiful here." It is.

Typhoon Durian

Did you know that typhoons, like hurricanes, are named in order of the alphabet as they happen? The first is given an A name, the second B... and so on. We were a part of Typhoon Durian (named for a spiky fruit that grows here), however, it really barely touched us. Vietnam was not nearly as lucky; 73 have died.

Beetlejuice

We've been beetle free for almost a week now. We are in beautiful Prachuap Khiri Khan. We moved closer to town and are in a third floor hotel room that overlooks Ao Prachuap (Ao is pronounce Ow and is the Thai word for bay). We've had interesting weather. Windy, but hot if you got away from the water when we got here. On Scott's birthday (the 6th) we went for a walk to see the monkeys (yes, there are monkeys here) and anticipated it would begin to rain as the sky was black.

Apparently monkeys know more than humans, because there wasn't a one to be found. They knew to take shelter. We met two 18 year old Canadian boys who are teaching english at the local school on our way back. It was a complete downpour (some of the drops actually hurt when they hit), but we were so excited to talk to people who could speak english at length, that we stood in the rain with them for a half an hour and talked. One of them is from a little British Columbian town in the mountains that we have been to. He was surprised we knew of it.

King Rama IX

Today is the King's birthday. He was born December 5, 1927. The Thai people love their king. In June he celebrated 60 years on the throne. Everyone here (only a very slight exaggeration) is wearing yellow polo shirts with the King's insignia that celebrate those 60 years. Phoebe and Ty are both proud owners of the King's shirt.

Happy Birthday to my brother, Tim, who shares the King's birthday, although he's a bit younger.

Added Dec. 9th: Oh yes, it was Lucy's birthday, too!
As we ate dinner this night, a local fireworks show for the King's birthday happened right above our table.

Critters

Okay, this post goes out to anyone who is jealous of me, I think it will make you feel pretty good.

We pretty much follow the suggestions of our two guidebooks for accomodation. They do a good job of telling us what a place is like and how much it costs. In Mae Siriang we stayed in a place that the guidebook referred to as "the best budget choice." We had hike a mile or so with our heavy packs in the heat so we barely looked at it. It appeared to be clean and it was in a nice location by a river. Unfortunately, the guidebook was way off (we'll be contacting them upon our return). There was gum on the wall (chewed already), the sink was just a trickle, the shower's hose had so many holes that hardly any water came out the proper place, the bed was as hard as concrete (it may actually have been) and we shared the room with the biggest cockroach I've seen since Mexicali, Mexico.

But this is the worst. This morning, our guesthouse manager brought us a tray with coffees and a pot of tea, for that is how it is done here. I had two small cups of tea after my coffee. Scott noticed the reflection of a bug in the glass of the teapot. He took the lid off and looked in the tea strainer. He saw only tea, but he could still see the reflection of the bug. He took the tea strainer out and discovered the biggest cockroach dead in the bottom of the pot. I almost threw up. Needless to say, we hightailed it out of there. I was quite homesick at that point. Can't upload pictures here, so I'll post pictures in the next internet cafe with capabilities. For now, you'll just have to use your imaginations.