I am feeling very lucky to be in the Schiphol airport in Amsterdam. This is because, when I arrived at the check in desk in Cape Town, I was told I was not in the system. A little sleuthing led to the discovery that, when Ihad changed my ticket to a day later, the idiot on the phone booked my new flight but failed to cancel my old one. So, when I didn't show up yesterday, they figured that I wouldn't be leaving Cape Town today, again, either. Well, I'm not proud of it (ok, I'm totally a liar, I am very proud of it), but I did a little flirting with the guy at the counter and found myself on the flight, in a lovely aisle seat, with no one beside me! He'd even written a note to the people in Amsterdam to encourage them to put me first on the waiting list here! The other gate people asked if he was trying to get my number...and I commented that it would be a very long distance number, so that was the end of my romance with the gate guy (at least, until he met me at the airplane steps to say goodbye, at which point, I think it became a good thing that I was flying far far away). So, here I sit, at the first functioning computer I have seen in almost a week, enjoying the lovely comments I have received from everyone and the emails I have missed.

I guess I am going to have to rely on my memory for a bit. I am not going to lie...my enjoyment of Africa was shaky for a bit. It was really cold, and the hostels are not prepared for heating that kind of cold, and I was not dressed for it. All the photos i have taken show a very puffed up Jenn, with about 4 shirts (including 2 sweatshirts) and a kway on every day. I was still cold. It made it tricky to enjoy the whale watching without the whales, and it made it necessary to enjoy lots of red wine at the hostels in the evening. I also stood close to many a fire, so I am pretty sure I am a bit stinky of wood smoke. In truth, it was hard to enjoy the evenings knowing that the best place to be would be in all my clothes tucked into my bed, wth an extra blanket on top and my hood around my ears. I was often in bed by 8 or 9. Luckily things started to warm up by the end of the week and everyone started peeling off layers of clothes throughout the day.

I learned an important thing on this trip...I am not really a "tour" girl. I liked the people and it made things easier to have everything organized for me and, in fairness, there was no way I could have done this much on my own. Really, I caouldn't do much of anything on my own...being white, being female...I was simultaneously ashamed and enraged. It added up to frustrated. But had I been on my own, I would have taken a far more leisurely route, stopping in smaller towns, lingering a night or two in each of the amazing hostels i stayed in, enjoying the sights, doing some long bike rides and hikes through the amazing scenery. I am definitely coming back to South Africa, and definitely seeing the rest of Africa. I guess it's just going to have to wait until I have a male (or very tough female) travel partner. Or I learn to fight. I'll need to see both Table mountain and Robben's island when I come back, both having been off-limits to me because of "inclement" weather. Seriously, don't come to South Africa in the middle of winter...it's still beautiful, but everyone keeps telling you how beautiful it will be in just a couple of months. Thanks.

Some highlights? Well, I went to the highest bungy jump in the world, but didn't go for it (are you kidding? how much fun is crying and wetting myself? fine if I am a baby, but just awkward for everyone since I am not). I skipped ziplining for the lure of the quad bike. Thought it would be, well, like riding a bike. Not so. Alexandra (a lovely school teacher from Germany) and I had to apologize profusely to our guide for boring him to death. Except for when I drove right into the trees. I think he found that pretty funny. Don't worry, mommy, I didn't even have a scratch. Just a little injured pride.

Addo was wonderful. Again, would have loved to have lingered. Would have totally done the two day guided park hike or the sunset horseback ride...but had to settle for two hours in the jeep and two hours in the van. But I really got to see elephants and zebras and kudu and warthogs up close. I even had the priviledge of getting to see some elephants "getting it on." I have pictures, too, for those of you who might enjoy some elephant porn. It was a good thing the lion we saw was very far away, because his belly looked very scratchable. As Alexandra asked "Do you have to pet every animal you see?" Umm. Yes, I think it is a compulsion.

We also went to the elephant sanctuary, where they rescue elephants that have been "interfered with" by humans. It was great to be so up close with them for the short time we were there. I even "held hands" with one as we walked to the forest. Well, i held his trunk. Elephants have very nice warm breath, but slightly snotty noses.

I wasn't allowed to pet the monkeys at Monkeyland (a monkey sanctuary). but one of them tried to climb up my leg, which was a bit freaky. I did manage to tame a stray cat at one of the hostels.

Oh! I even managed to get myself interviewed for South African news in Port Elizabeth!

My favourite parts of the trip were the evening spent at the hostels, chatting with the people from my tour and other travellers around a campfire with a glass of wine in hand, usually after a lovely family-style meal, and often with a dog or cat at my feet. It was great to get information from everyone about day trips they had done, places they had visited. I found the general age of the travellers i met to be a little older than the typical backpacker I met in Thailand or back in Europe. Lucinda, a woman from my group, was retired and often left her husband back in Chicago for a few months at a time to see the world. She told great stories about travelling in Nepal and Indonesia. Meaghan, a girl who looked like Lisa and sounded like Rachel (which made me occasionally call her Lisa or Rachel, depending on which sense was ruling) was a super cool 27-year old, just finishing some work in Stellenbosch, and totally open to whatever life was planning to throw at her next. Marie was the chain-smoking Italian woman who used a wide variety of sounds to communicate when she didn't have english for what she wanted to say....Marie's at a crossroads in her life, right now. I think things are going to open up for her as soon as she starts making decisions for herself instead of for everyone else. Jeff is a quiet guy from Switzerland who got progressively louder and braver and funnier as the trip went on (he was the only one to do the bungy jump). And the Scottish family, complete with mum, son, and daughter all travelling together (they all went ziplining!). I don't have much to say about the 2 whiny german girls, who complained all the time. I never bothered figuring out who was who, and never referred to either by name. Oh well!

Maudi, our guide, was pretty fantastic. He had an answer for everything and was always cheerful, which may not have been easy when we were all freezing and somewhat sullen at the beginning.

Anyway, time to sign off and go for a bit of a walk. I'll see if I remember more later...

See you back in Montreal soon!

Lions and tigers and horses,ohmy!

This is going tobe a bit tricky as the spacebar on thiscomputer isnot the most effective. I figured I'dgivemy three readers a bitof a challenge!

After yesterday's full day of bus riding and freezing, we spent the night in a very coolhostel that became quitelively afterour dinner of bobotie and rice. Just to prove the "it's a small world" theory, yet again, there was a guy staying at our hostel who was riding his motorcycle allaround africa and he's actually heard the story ofPeter's friend Sam hitting akid. It was quite funny to hear him telling a story I already knew,and wepieced it together by thematching sum of $1500 and the "one phonecall." He'd heard thestory through some other travellers...so,Peter, if you are reading this, you're a tish bit famous.

After sleeping with about 3layers ofclothing on, we wokeuptoquite a nice day andmade our way through someof themost beautiful scenery I have ever seen,ending upat a hot springs and horse ranch, where I wenton an hourlong horse ride. Sitting down is going to an interesting effort for the next few days! Then we moved on toasmallwildlife breeding and conservation park,where I got topet some young tiger cubs! They were cute,but don't worryMerlin, you aremy number one cat. Iam now at anotherlovely hostel, using their computer after a delish dinner of ostrich steak. Apparently I will have the chance to ride an ostrichtomorrow, which doesn'tsound likemy ideaof agood time. Tonight we alsogotsome salad, which is a nice change from the usual dinnerof tonsofmeat and some bread. I may avoid scurvy after all!

OK, this computer is driving me bananas.More tomorrow.

Storm of the decade!

Today would have been a marvellous day....hale watching at Hermanus, horseback riding, a long walk down the beach at Cape Agulhas (the southernmost pointof Africa).Would have been...but the storm of the decade rolled in with 65 km an hour winds, rain, and snow. SNOW! I left Canadian summer to come to Africa for snow. I have been wearing the same outfit for days, adding layers as I go. In any case, I saw some lovely views from the bus, had a nice toasted cheese sandwich, and am now hanging out in a lovely Backpackers where tonight will be movie night! And there are dogs! And soon, wine for me! Hooray! I am nothing if not a salvager of days.

I have found it harder to blog here in Africa than in Thailand. Mainly because I've been busy all day, at the conference and sightseeing, also because the computer at the hotel was quite slow, and because it isn't really safe to just walk around and find an internet cafe. In fact, it isn't really safe to walk around. As such, I've been feeling very lazy and,along with the weather, a bit trapped in. Hopefully we'll be able to do horseback riding and whale watching tomorrow, weather willing.

So, last time I posted, I spent some time describing the beginning of my trip to the townships withmy conference gang. Our first stop after the district 6 museum was a creche in the township of Kayalitcha. The little ones were clearly anticipating our arrival with eagerness, and immediately broke out into a series of songs about the locations of their heads and feet, etc. A couple of the kids seemed to be gatekeepers, holding their arms out to prevent the rest rushing forward....all of a sudden, one, two, three...and they all rushed over to us, arms up, hugging waists, climbing up legs, yelling and shouting. The littlest ones simply held there arms up for a cuddle. One kid really seemed to take a shine to me and pretty much held onto my leg for the entire time I was there. A few of the women on my trip had been clever enough to pack some little surprises, like colouring books and toys and pencils...which they gave to the teachers to give out to the kids. It was quite a show for the kids to see their new playthings, and quite fun for us to watch them gettting more and more excited as each surprise emerged from the bag. It also gave us a little break from carrying the kids around...some of us had two or three, one on each arm! It seemed a bit weird that the kids were sort of indiscriminately affectionate, and I wondered if it was wise to teach these little ones to hug random white strangers, but someone told me that it's just a more affectionate culture. I don't know. But they were lovely little kids and, truly, the lucky ones. Education isn't free in South Africa, and many kids in the townships simply can't afford to go to school.

After our visit to the creche, we went to a neat bed and breakfast in the middle of the townships run by a woman named Vicky. She openly welcomes foreigners to experience a true sense of the townships by staying with her over night. Had I known about this place, I would have most certainly made an effort to stay there. She enlists community support by using her income to support christmas parties for the kids and allowing artists to sell their crafts outside her door. Check out Vicky's here: http://www.nomvuyos-tours.co.za/vickys.shtml

After that, we visited an incomprehensible medicine man, and made our way over to Eziko's restaurant in Langa. This restaurant serves delish samp n' beans and curries (and "delectable" tripe, no thanks) made my young men from the townships who he trains to become cooks. Super cool. They also teach foreigners African cooking: http://www.ezikorestaurant.com/index.html

After a brief trip to a "shebeem" to drink african beer got us smelling like woodsmoke, we headed over to the conference centre with no time to get changed into non stinky clothes. An interesting plenary and a opening reception later, and we were at Mama Africa's, a totally touristy restaurant where the food is crap but the atmosphere is excellent. Too bad I was so tired.

More later...my fingers are tired!

Ignorance is most certainly not bliss, but can sometimes lead to insight.

On Monday morning, I was picked up at my hotel by Sele, the driver and guide from Daytrippers, the tour company I hired to take me to the townships. The bus was full of my friends and colleagues, all of whom had followed my lead so that we could get to learn about an entirely different kind of life. After a little bit of confusion about who had registered and who had not, we ended up a little over capacity and piled shoulder to shoulder into the bus as we went to the district Six museum. I don't necessarily have all of the facts straight, and don't mind being corrected, but my understanding is that what we now know as "district six" used to be a vibrant, multiracial community in Cape Town before the government declared it as a "whites only" area (in the 60s) and all non-white residents were forced to leave their homes, and thus began the history of the townships. I couldn't help but feel a connection, as I thought about my own people who had been forcibly removed from their own homes and forced to live in ghettos by the Nazis. The floor of the museum was covered by a large street map, and previous district six residents had written in where they lived, played, ate, and went to school. The irony is that district six never became a community for the Cape Town whited (not that it would have been any better if it had) and, from what I understand, the process of giving people back their land, homes, and businesses has been slow and difficult.

Because we'd had a late start, and the tour was supposed to end at noon, we decided to ask Sele if we could extend the tour and if he could find us somewhere to eat lunch in the townships. As many of you already know, I always try to engage in ethical touris, as much as possible, and I liked the idea of putting some money back into some of the legitimate businesses in the community.

More later, the people in the email line-up are grumbling loudly....

I am a very serious researcher

If you take a peek at the comments on my preceding blog, you'll notice that the manager of my wonderful hotel has somehow found the reference to the hotel on my blog, and has made a comment! Thanks, Anton! We haven't met, yet, but I am there until sunday and will certainly find you to say hello in the next couple of days!

So, I was just talking about my day trip, meeting Jennifer, the solo traveller from Toronto, and biking down the peninsula. did I mention it was raining and cold? I can't tell you how grateful I was to find the carafe of hot beverage waiting at the reception of the hotel..." Tea or coffee?" I asked. "Hot chocolate" came the response. "I love you guys" I gushed.

This trip has really reminded me of the pleasure of solo travel. Though I am not technically alone, since many friends/colleagues are also in Cape Town, I am on my own at the hotel, and have certainly had my times eating brekky on my own, enjoying a glass of wine at the bar while waiting for a friend, and the day trips that I took solo. There really are the pros and cons of travelling alone vs. with a friend. I do find myself looking around for Krisi, now and then, and missing her company and tremendous organization skills and forthought (I have no first aid kit, nor chain lock) I'm really enjoying how being on my own is forcing me to be more open and much friendlier. Truly, I think I am my favourite me when I am travelling, and I'm far more excited for my upcoming Cape Town to Addo tour: http://www.capetoaddo.co.za/2008/index.htm, with 9 people I don't know (yet) and for my upcoming day trip to the wine region of Stellenbosch.

so, where was I? Some hot chocolate and a nice hot shower later, and I was on my way down to the hotel bar to meet Barry and Jonathan, two colleagues (and friends) who had come to meet up to go for dinner. We headed out to Willoughby's (a fish restaurant at the V & A waterfront) and enjoyed some great fresh fish and maybe one too many bottles of wine. I had invited jennifer to join us, and she gamely endured our talk of autism, intellectual disabilities, grants, and some highly unprofessional gossip! I initially met both Barry and Jonathan when I began working with the Ontario Association on Developmental Disabilities, Research Special Interest Group. Barry was a bit further ahead in the profession than I was, when i met him, but Jonathan and I have really "grown up" in the field together. We were grad students at the same time, I passed on my role as conference chair of RSIG to him, and eventually my role as committee chair. We won the Academy on Mental Retardation's dissertation award in the same year. And we also both grew up in Montreal. Jonathan will soon begin a position as an Assistant Professor at York university, and we have been chatting about eventually developing long-term research partnerships.

Sort of awkwardly, he's now sitting right beside me as I write about him...he'd like me to mention his skill at bellydancing, but that will have to come in a later entry, as the line for the computers is long, and we have some drinking to do, with Rob and Sean, somewhere in Cape Town. We are very serious researchers.

To be continued.....

Africa is way colder than Canada

Hello from chilly Cape Town! I haven't had very much time to even check email, let alone write a blog...and my time may run out soon, so this may end with a very quick "to be continued..." But, at least I have a bit of time to let you all know that I am still alive, successfully continuing to avoid prison, and having a wonderful time.

My trip began in the customs line-up at the airport in Montreal, where I ran into a colleague, Marjorie, who lives and works in Montreal, but who I only ever see at conferences outside of the country! As it turned out, she had booked the same flights, and we got to keep company for the full 30 hours. It was my very first time flying KLM...I had been told there would be more leg room than Air Canada, as the dutch are the "largest people in the world" (there wasn't) and better meals (maybe slightly better, but not much). The airport in Amsterdam was pretty wonderful, and Marjorie and I spent our 3 hours there tasting delicious cheeses and wandering around the airport museum (genius idea).

I finally arrived in Cape Town, thoroughly exhausted, at aroun 9pm and made it to my hotel by 11. When I walked into the Protea Fire and Ice http://www.proteahotels.com/protea-hotel-fire-and-ice.html I was greeted by pumping dance music and blue lights. The porter led me past the lobby climbing wall, into the themed elevators, to my loft-style room complete with a complementary dish of delicious candies. I have to say that it is, without question, the coolest hotel at which I have ever stayed. The bathrooms at the bar are also themed, and there is a smoking room complete with coffins to sit on, called the "coughin' room." Most importantly, the bed is incredibly comfortable and I enjoyed a great, deep sleep.

On Saturday morning I got in touch with Nathalie and Bill who had just arrived on their Air Canada flight, which had left montreal at the same time as my flight, but arrived more than 14 hours later, complete with a 12-hour break in London and a minor delay. We went for lunch, and then headed back to our hotels. I must mention, it was pouring rain and freezing. No matter. I figured the weather would clear up by the next day and I put on the warmest clothes I had brought and my pink k-way. To offer a little forshadowing, I shall mention that many of my pictures will look like they were all taken on the same day...wearing the same combination of warm clothes and the lovely pink k-way.

When I got back to my hotel, I wound up chatting with Ryan...a middle-east born Aussie Assistant Driller, who was staying at the Fire and Ice whilst waiting for his rig to come into harbour. He was heading down to the V & A waterfront for a bit of shopping (a little LV, perhaps a Tag) so I decided to keep company and join him in a bit of wandering (but not the high end shopping). So Ryan taught me a little bit about life on the rigs and then we had a couple of drinks at a pub while cheering for the ultra-marathoners arriving at the finish line from their 80 km run up the Cape. Crazy people. One guy had even done it twice. That's just too much running, as far as I am concerned.

That night, Nathalie, Bill, Phil and Beth (more colleagues /friends) and I went to one of Cape Town's chicest new restaurants "Beluga" where I tried some delicious Springbok. It seemed appropriate since the South Africa rugby team (which has the springbok as its emblem) had just lost to the Aussies that day.

I woke early on Sunday. Really early. Like, 2am early. Which isn't great when you've fallen asleep at 12am and you have a full-day tour of the cape peninsula including a bike ride, the next day. Although I drifted in and out of headachey, confused sleep, I was awake enough to greet my alarm, rather than being awoken by it. So, after 2 hours of sleep I went for breakfast and got into the tour bus with about 12 other groggy, grouchy travellers and started on a long bus-ride around Cape Town and environs (can you guess who had to request to sit in the front seat after about 15 minutes?). The people on the day tour were mainly around my age, including Jennifer, the teacher from Toronto who was travelling solo across South Africa. The group finally began chit chatting as we boarded the boat to Duiker's Island to see the huge seal colony, but we all quickly quieted down as the waves rolled the boat from side to side quite dramatically. One woman was even sick on the boat, and you'll all be proud to note that it wasn't me! But I did take some time to rethink the shark diving expedition, which Jennifer informed me was a punishing 8 hours on a rolling boat. No thanks! I'll go see some sharks at the aquarium, and switch my saturday plans to wine tasting. Large quantities of wine may also make me queasy, but it should also make me a better dancer, which shark diving cannot achieve.

After a bit more driving and chatting, we made our way to the "most south-western point of Africa," which made me wonder if we are getting way to obsessed with self-esteem. Does everything need a prize? We then went to the most southern point of Africa, which does seem to deserve a prize. On the drive around the park we saw an ostrich, an animal whose name I forgot, and a bunch of baboons. There are signs all around the park reading "baboons are dangerous and attracted by food." which I thought left things pretty open for travellers to draw their own conclusions about whether or not to feed them. After a brief visit to some penguins, we were on our way back to the cape, and I had a new friend, also named Jennifer, which is handy.

To be continued.....

Medo has a friend!

I am now a recipient of the Elephant Nature Park newsletter, which recently described the blossoming of a friendship between Medo (the lonely little ele with the broken back) and another elephant who also has a disability. Here is the story:

Ele Gossip: Mae Lanna and Medo Become Friends
For the past week or so, Mae Lanna (who is 85% blind) and Medo (who is severely handicapped) have been spending all of their time together! All at the Park are very happy to see this friendship blossom, as Medo has been a bit down since the loss of Mae Mai, and Mae Lanna has been solitary for the most part since her arrival. Mae Lanna had started to bond with Jungle Boy, and they were spending much time together for a while, but that relationship ended up cooling off a bit. They are still friends but don't seem to seek each other out.
As of now, all is well as Mae Lanna and Medo seem to have really connected, bathing together in the river, going on their morning walks together, and sharing the same sleeping shelter. They rumble and trumpet and seek each other out for comfort and consolation. It is always lovely to see a loner elephant finally bond with another ele and find confidence in friendship

Culture Shock

Fourteen hours on a plane is a long time. And to get back on the right schedule, I had to try to stay awake for as much of it as possible. So, I watched a few movies (Lars and the Real Girl, the Savages, Empire of the Sun), a couple of TV shows (Top Chef, How I met your Mother, CSI Miami), and continued to push thorough Midnight's Children, the book club book that has lasted way longer than it should have! I also ate a wide variety of confusing meals. When you're on a plane for that time, switching through time zones, you lose track of whether you are hugry, thirsty, bored, or asleep...so whenever they bring food, you just eat it. Luckily, the food was good in business class, and the chairs were the kind that lie down most of the way. I managed about 4 hours of restless sleep. Krisi did a little better, but mainly because she's finishing off the holiday with a bad cold. Even our fun airport game "spend your last Thai baht as creatively as possible" wasn't able to make her feel a whole lot better. But we do have some gummi elephants and a box of "Amazing Thai Dessrts" to show for it!

We got into LA at about 8pm, waited in line for immigration for about an hour, waited in line to get out of baggage claim for about a half hour, and then waited for our hotel shuttle for about an hour. Whenever a car would honk I found myself looking around for a taxi or a TukTuk. In Thailand, people honk all the time, to invite you ito the taxi, or even just to say a friendly hello to a friend on the street. I forgot that honks are acts of aggression, here in North America! I was also very confused about why the driver of the shuttle bus was on the wrog side.

By the time we got to the very fabulous "Travelodge LAX," we were so exhausted we pretty much fell into our beds (with a little help from cold meds for Krisi, and a sleeping pill for me). The reason we picked the Travelodge, initially, was that it was right beside a 24-hour Denny's. We figured we'd be craving a big american breakfast after weeks of asian food. We sat down, ordered, and were pretty much blown away by the portions we received, barely making a dent in half of it. No wonder north americans are sufferig from an epidemic of obesity! On the pro side, the showers here rock. I feel perfectly squeeky clean. Oh! And cheese! There is cheese in the Air Canada lounge. Cheese, my friend, it has been too long.

But oh, how I will miss the street vendors! Anywhere you go you can get a quickly made phad thai or noodle soup, balls of mystery protein on sticks, and a freshly cut pineapple or mango with chillies! And I do love picture menus.

We're soon to board our final flight of this trip. I am looking forward to unpacking, sleeping in my own bed, seeing my family and friends, seeing Merlin. I've saved myself the guilty pleasure of a few trashy magazines for just before boarding.

I've been thinking about whether or not I am going to continue blogging. I've really enjoyed blogging about my trip and the feedback I have received has been really nice. I know that many of my close friends have been reading...and I've even gotten comments and emails from some newer friends! Even my mom (who regularly calls to ask me how to work her computer, or what she should click to get the thing back that disappeared when she clicked the other thing) has gotten into the action...reading regularly and emailing me! Good going, mommy! But my everyday life isn't particularly blogworthy, and I don't think I'm much of the "poetry / virtual hug - pass it on / 10 things you didn't know about me" type. We'll see, I guess. I mentioned this to Krisi and she said, quite simply, "I guess we'll have to do more things in Montreal worth blogging about, like hikes and stuff." OK. I like it. Sounds like a plan.

Coming Home

It feels very surreal to be sitting in the Bangkok airport waiting for my flight home (a brief overnight stop in LA and then back in Montreal by Friday evening). I had been so anxiously awaiting this trip since January. As we all struggled through the cold and snowy winter, I held on to the excitement of my trip. And now, it's all finished. I'm coming back to Montreal. It seems almost impossible.

This holiday can be summed up in different categories. Methods of transportation (plane, taxi, ferry, bus, zipline, longboat, Tuk, Tuk, back of a pick-up truck, subway, skytrain), food (green curry, red curry, fried whole fish, mango shakes, sticky rice, something from a street vendor that I think was chicken but may have been fish, sweet chili, spicy chili, spring rolls, fried bananas, eggs never cooked to Krisi's specifications), activities (hiking, cooking class, ziplining, rock climbing, snorkeling, scuba diving), animals (elephants, monkeys, leeches, fishies, a million cats and dogs, cockroaches -- which, interestingly, could be categorized as food, also), and places (Hong Kong, Chiang Mai, Bangkok, Railay, Khao Sok, Koh Samui, Koh Tao, back to Bangkok). We also got to have some very unique experiences, including feeding and bathing elephants, getting drenched during Songkran, and a Passover seder in Koh Samui.

But in the end it comes down to one important thing...we were travellers. We got to spend some time in a different world, fending for ourselves, connecting with the wider world around us in a way that I couldn't do in Montreal.....

Or could I?

This trip made me wonder why I don't always do the things that clearly make me the happiest. I loved hiking, and learning to scuba dive, and snorkelling. I loved trying new food and putting myself in challenging situations. I met some great people. I went to bed every night exhausted and satisfied.

It's very easy to become myopic about life. All of my friends who are travellers at heart have spoken about the way that being away changes your perspective on being home. I'm defintely not a wanderer at heart...one of those types whose feet are always itching and who don't like to own furniture because it holds them back (although in Railay I did, for a brief second, think that dreadlocks seemed pretty sensible). I love my home, I love my routine. I miss my family and my friends, my cat, my morning coffee at Lili and Olli, my job (although, I have been working a fair bit for someone on vacation in Thailand, so I didn't have to miss it too much), and my yoga studio. I like my habits and my routines. But it's clear to me that I need to bring the spirit of travel into my every day life, continuing to challenge myself to learn new things and open myself up to whatever comes my way.

So, I'm excited to come home and see what happens next.

Also, my PVR has taped a full month of ANTM, Big Love, Dexter, and House...and I really want to know what's happening.

In more mundane news, Krisi and I failed miserably at exploring Bangkok. The original plan had been to do Bangkok right near the beginning of our travels, but we were waylaid (and drenched) during the new year celebration. But by the time we got back to Bangkok, we were totally in the beach mentality. We had just been diving into underwater paradise and hiking through jungles with monkeys. The thought of navigating the big city and all that entailed seemed impossible. Also, after having avoided any gastrointestinal discomfort for the entire trip, a few of our spicy meals and "surprise" dinner options came back to haunt us. We were not feeling very well, at all. Further, I ended up having to spend a couple of hours a day on the internet, catching up on some work that didn't get finished before I left, and must be finished by the time I get back. So we decided to be lazy, hang by the pool, get our gift-shopping done and also take advantage of Bangkok's reputation for medical tourism by getting our teeth whitened for a third of the cost in Montreal. We went to a couple of cool restaurant/clubs in the evenings (the best was a tapas bar called Gazebo with live music...a bit of rooftop eden in the middle of the city). This morning we sped over to the Grand Palace for a bit of real tourism. It was pretty cool. I'm not much of a temple / palace kind of tourist.

We'd heard about this scam, in which some guy comes up and tells you the exhibition is closed and they will take you to some other things but end up taking you to a gem shop where you buy fake gems they tell you will make you huge bucks to exprt...etc....Anyway, we knew about this scam. But when some guy came up and said "oh the tickets are through that door" we stumbled along behind him. And then another guy told us the palace was closed for prayers for the pruincess' death. Well, we knew the princess had died recently. We overheard a few other tourists being led away to the other exhibist (and unltimately, the "gem" shop) when I clued in and pushed past him. What shocked me was how aggressive he was. He actually tried to physically block me from going into the palace, at which point I pointed out that the guards would stop me if I weren't allowed to go in. Eventually, we just had to turn and walk away, go to another door, and it was fine. It's not surprising that many tourists fall for this scam. I'm glad I wasn't one of them. I'm very glad I wasn't polite.

Anyway, we're soon to head to our gate. We've been enjoying the serenity of the business class lounge (massages and all!) and we're soon to board out long flight to LAX. One more night in a hotel...then my own bed again. I can't wait.

3 Nights in Bangkok

We're now safely back in Bangkok and shocked to find how much our perspecyive has shifted. We arrived at the airport still completely beached out, in flip flops and hair scarves, only to realize we were back in the big city again. No sooner did we set out for dinner than we saw a street elephant begging for candy (which broke our hearts) and countless fat, old farang (white) men with their arms around Thai women young enough to be their daughters. Somehow I doubt that those "relationships" have any mutuality not derived from money. However, we were able to continue our efforts at "ethical tourism" by going to the restaurant "Cabbages and Condoms." The restaurant's proceeds go toward sex education in rural areas. We had a great meal and, instead of after-dinner mints, were given two lovely Thai condoms, which Krisi plans to make into fridge magnets, crafty thing that she is. This morning, overwhlemed by the sounds and smells of the city, we headed to the pool for some relaxation. We are staying at the City Lodge again, which is a budget hotel associated with the Amari group. They have a very fancy hotel just around the corner, and we are allowed to use all the amenities, including their beautiful pool where poolboys bring us cool, lemon-scented towels and shots of fresh canteloupe juice. Heaven! But soon we are off to visit the grand palace and do the last of our souvenir shopping before heading home on Thursday evening. We'll be back in Canada by Friday evening!

We're feeling very sad today about leaving the island paradise of Koh Tao behind. It's hard to believe that, only a couple of days ago, we were walking along the beautful sandy beach, and swimming with all variety of sea life. On Sunday afternoon we did our "fun dives" with the nordically-handsome divemaster, Magnus, who showed us all kind of sea creatures, including stingrays, harlequin sweetlips, angelfish, and clownfish. Our dive instructor, Flav, had been a kind of "all-business" instructor, swimming puroposefull and swiftly around the divesites. Magnus was much more relaxed and it was tricky, at first, to swim so slowly. But we got the hang of it, and got to see so many different and wonderful fish! Amd I got to do my favourite thing...swimming right through a huge school of little fish! It almost seems as if you would be able to touch them, the water is so thick with them. we finished the day by heading to the Lotus bar for some drinks with our fellow fun-divers and a fire show!

Yesterday, we spent the day at one of the most beautiful places in the world...the Koh Samui international airport. In one of our few incidences of poor planning, we booked a flight late in the day in hopes of spending most of the time on the beach. Unfortunately, the late ferry from koh tao got us to the airport just a little too late, so we had to take the early morning ferry, landing us in Koh Samui with two huge backpacks and 5 hours to spare. We had hoped to check in early and go to the beach, but the desk was closed until 3:30, and the skies were grey, so we hung around the airport. It's a new airport, all built in the open air, with a little avenue full of lovely shops. When you do finally get through the gate, the waiting lounge looks like the lounge from a resort, wth cushy chairs and sun loungers. The only thing missing was a pool! There was also a "courtesy counter" full of hot and cold drinks, bananas, and other treats, free internet, and the most gorgeous bathroom with an acquarium! I highly recommend the Koh Samui airport as the "best airport to hang around for 5 hours on a grey day."

So, now we have to squeeze n all the Bangkok sights in the next 2 days before heading home. I am excited to see everyone and looking forward to getting back into my life, with a few alterations based on my recent experiences. More on that tomorrow.

We're certifiable!

And certified. Yesterday Krisi and I passed the exam, finished our skills, and sent away for our PADI scuba cetification cards. We contemplated doing the advanced Open Water Course, which includes a deep dive, a night dive, and a few other specialized dives, but today was sunny and we decided to celebrate by doing nothing. We woke up late (thanks to our certification celebration last night), ate breakfast, went to the pool, sat by the pool, swam in the pool (note to self: too big bikini bottoms are hazardous for doing somersaults in the pool), read by the pool, read on our deck, and are now going to go for dinner somewhere....so, today is not so interesting. I think I'll tell you more about yesterday, instead.

I won't lie...I was a bit apprehensive about our second SCUBA outing. First, it was pouring rain again. Second, I didn't much enjoy the seasickness, and didn't feel like going there today. Third, I felt super lazy. But I had no plans to quit halfway through, so I took the seasickness pill they gave me, and did my best to pretend that the cold hard rain didn't bother me at all. We got to the boat, all grim-faced and shivering, and changed into our scuba suits on board (by the way, neither of us brought cameras for any of this, for obvious reasons and also that we seem to have tired of taking pictures of everything, so none of you will get to see us in our scuba suit glory). But things were definitely different this time...I didn't feel like the world was all upside down and I seemed to actually be able to walk in a straight line! As a result, the process of gettng my gear together didn't seem quite as impossible and I felt much more excited to get in the water. In our first dive, we finished all our skills (the removal of the mask and putting it back on underwater resulted in a little bit of water up my nose) and spent the rest of the time just swimming around, looking at the beautiful fish and coral. For those of you have never gone diving, it is an amazing experience. You are weightless, graceful, and the world around you is simply more stunning than you can even imagine. The fish seem completely unbothered by your presence (as long as you don't bother them or they aren't cleaner fish, who ate up some scabs from our more unfortunate motorcycle crashing classmates), and there is no way to describe the feeling of swimming through a school of hundreds of brightly coloured fish. Our second dive of the afternoon was the best, as we had passed all the requirements for the course, and got to just enjoy the ride. It was so much fun, that's we're going to be doing another dive tomorrow afternoon!

In other news, I had to purchase a new pair of emergency flip flops after mine were stolen. It probably wasn't intentional theft...I had a pair of black flippys and, as is custom, I left them outside the restaurant in the pile that was already there. There seems to be accidental flip flop trades going on all the time. One of the girls in my class had hers stolen, so she stole someone else's, only to find that her roommate had accidentally worn hers home, and she had accidentally stolen her rooomates. I walked barefoot to the nearest flip flop purveyor, and tried to pick out a new pair, that wouldn't be mistaken for anyone else's. Unfortunately, none of the girls' flippys fit (woe are my big feet in a country full of petite asian women!), so I had to look at the masculine versions. I decided against the ones with the American flag that said "UNITED STATED" on them, and steered clear of the ones with sculls and fires. The most feminine pair had a young asian boy on the left foot and a young asian girl on the right, with cartoon hearts between them. I love my new "asian cartoon children in love" flip flops, and don't imagine I will ever have to part with them!

It's raining, it's pouring...who cares? We're underwater!

I have suffered from motion sickness for all of my life. As a kid, I had to gravol up for all kinds of car and bus trips, which made me a gas to be around on school field trips. Although I am better, as an adult, I still always try to sit in the front seat and I refuse to even attempt to read anything in a moving vehicle. Seasickness has always been a problem for me, which is unfortunate, since I really, really love the water. About 5 years ago I tried to learn how to surf in Hawaii and, after making it up on my board a couple of times, I was hit with a sudden wave of nausea and had to be dragged back to shore by the instructors (handsome surfing instructor / firemen, no less), where I lay on the sand face down for about an hour. It was so bad, I could have had my pants down around my ankles and people turning me into a human sandcastle and I would have neither cared nor moved.

Up to this point in the trip, I haven't been too bad. I've kept a stock of ginger candies with me for boatrides, and have, so far, survived some longtail boat rides, a couple of ferry trips and a speedboat or two. But today there was a downpour, and the waves were a touch choppy. Apparantly, this doesn't affect the diving experience at all, so we all suited up and got our butts out to the boat. Ther boat ride out was fine, I jumped into the water just fine, went down the line just fine, swam around just fine, did all the "tests" just fine, enjoyed the coral and the fishies, and ascended to the surface just fine. And that is where the just fine ended. Bobbing around the sea in my Buoyancy Control Device (fancy kind of diving lifejackety thing) I started feeling a tish bit woozy. Then I got out onto the boat and suddenly things just felt a little bit all wrong. If you've ever had seasickness, it's not necessarily about feeling like throwing up. In my case, I tend to struggle with balance, and I can't tell which way is up. Luckily, our expert instructors (Flavius and Santi) could immediately see the signs and helped me get out of my gear and sit down. Then I felt a squeeze on my shoulder and suddenly, a cup of ice cold water was poured over my head. Then again. I was a bit stunned, but it was quickly explained to me that this makes most people feel better. It did work, but I think they were having a bit of fun with it.

We had one more dive to do and, to be honest, I was desperate to get back under the water where I knew I would feel better. And I did. The scuba portion of the day was really terrific, although we didn't get to see a whale shark like the group in the morning (apparantly, the only shark-related death in this area occurred a number of years ago when a german tourist went spear fishing alone and carried his game bag under his arm...the shark bit his arm, and he died after reaching the shore...lesson to us all) but we did see some marvellous fishes of all shapes, sizes and colours. Alas, back on the boat resulted in another few cups of cold water being poured onto my head (by Krisi, this time, I think she enjoyed it). They've promised me some anti-seasickness tablets for tomorrow. And I am currently one gravol happier.

I can't wait for tomorrow's dives! But first, a movie in the bar and some studying with my group for the final, tomorrow. It's the first time I have taken an exam in years. Wish me luck!

How can you tell when your "it's too freaking hot to eat in Thailand" diet has gone too far?

When you dive into a swimming pool full of people wearing scuba masks and your bathing suit bottom falls right down to your knees! Don't worry...tommorrow I will be wearing a wetsuit. And I can be pretty sure I'll never see any of those people again...after the next 5 days are over. sigh.

We've had an eventful day, here on Ban's scuba and "spa" resort on Koh Tao. Our day actually started at about midnight, when we realized that we could hear (and feel) the throbbing bass from the dance music from the bar in our beds. Now, I like loud bar music as much as the next girl, but when I am trying to sleep before a big day of scuba lessons, it's a little much. And then, the finale at 3am of Lionel Ritchie's "All Night Long" (the extended mix, no less) at full blast really put the icing on the cake. So, Krisi and I asked very sweetly if they would mind putting the two old ladies a little further away from the bar....and boy are we glad we did! We are now in a beautiful room with a separate sitting room up in a newer part of the resort, right next to the swanky non-diving swimming pool! Sadly, we had to leave my adopted little cat (who slept on our balcony all night) behind, but the perks are completely worth it. We even have a bathroom with a shower that is separated from the area with the toilet! Hurrah! Oh! And a dvd player! Which we probably won't use since they play movies down at the open air bar (tonight's was Hot Fuzz - a great flick) and it's pretty unbeatable to be watching a movie, eating a spicy green curry, drinking a cold singha beer, and feeling the ocean breeze on your skin.

But most importantly, I have decided that I was born to breathe underwater. We had a great time in the pool today, even as our fingers turned into prunes. We feel very prepared for our first real dive tomorrow afternoon. Krisi was even able to get a prescription mask...which saves her having to wear her glasses under a regular mask...awkward! Alas, the days events ended with a bit of a "manicure" accident, so I had to head to the "spa" down the street from the bar (Singha in hand) for some corrective work...a little miming, some laughing and an attempt to look very serious as I chose from their "selection" of "nailpolish". I have ended up with seriously vampy, gothic nails. And Krisi went loopy and got (gasp!) irridescent pink toenails instead of her usual french manicure. I suppose it did only cost 5 bucks between us, so we shouldn't complain.

I expet there won't be any prisons or snakes in disguise (note to Krisi: watch the skipper) in the ocean, so I should be posting again sometime tomorrow. Now I must head to my room to figure out how to duct tape my bikini bottoms to my behind. The Thai are quite conservative, you know...

Where the boys are....

Diving!
We're on Koh Tao after a 2 hour ferry ride stuffed with hungover revellers from the full-moon party (they were stuffing them and their luggage everywhere! I have never been on such a packed boat). On our shuttle bus over we met two lovely Canadian girls who were basically us 10 years ago...one is going into her MA in psychology and the other into law...they were great to chat with on the ride to the island, but went to another resort. We got here at about 4pm and were taken to our "deluxe" room (amazing what goes for deluxe these days) which is heavily discounted during our course. The room even came with a cat, to my delight, who found his way onto our balcony and immediately snuggled into my lap for a cuddle. Unfortunately, he also tried to get into the room much to the dismay of Krisi's allergies.
We began our dive course with some instructional videos at 6pm, during which we were allowed to order beer and food from the bar. This was the first place where I have even been tempted to go for the western specialties...the burgers looked delicious...tomorrow, for sure. There's a guy on the street who makes fruit shakes and adds vodka to them..hooray! And Krisi and I are 2 of 4 girls in a class of about 16. Should be an interesting week. We start diving in the pool tomorrow morning.
Koh Tao has a much more fun and relaxed vibe than Koh Samui, and Krisi and I already feel more at home. The bars show movies at night, so we are looking forward to that for tomorrow evening.
It seems pretty unbelievable that we'll be coming back to Montreal in less than 2 weeks. Please make sure all the snow is melted for us!

It's a hard knock life for us

Yesterday went a little something like this: wake up, breakfast, find chairs at the beach, suntan, read, swim, suntan, walk on the beach, drink a fruit shake, tan, read, go up to the hotel room and watch a movie, walk down the main strip, get a full body and facial aloe vera massage to cool the sunburn, eat dinner, relax more, and so on...

We contemplated going to the famous full moon party on Koh Phagnan but decided against it for a couple of reasons. First, I was way too sunburned and exhausted from my tough day (the sun is very tiring!). Also, a few people had suggested it was way over-rated, although pretty awesome if you are a 19-year-old totally into getting hammered and barfing on the sand after taking bad drugs. The group of teenagers we met at Art's Riverview lodge were totally stoked (or whatever teenagers are these days) about going. Also, Krisi had booked a kayaking trip in the marine park leaving at 7am the next morning. And I had a big day of lazy alone time planned. So, we gave it a miss.

So, today Krisi is off kayaking to her heart's content and I am taking some time away from the sun after completing a 2-hour walk up and down Chaweng beach. I'm going to go get my nails done on the beach soon, and then read my book for a while in the shade before I get tired of my alone time and want Krisi back. In the meantime, I thought I'd throw out a few thoughts and experiences that may have gotten lost in the shuffle.

First, it is crazy hot here. When it is this hot in Montreal and it rains, the air cools off. Here, rain creates steam. We're pretty much used to the heat now, and it provides a great method of self-location...if you don't have sweat streaming down your face, you're probably not outside. We've been splurging on air conditioning, which makes us "executive backpackers," but some things are just plain necessary. I don't think I have ever been so hot in my entire life.

As many people told me, the food here is wonderful. We've only had a couple of bad meals. The worst was when we ordered pizza because we weren't really all that hungry. The pizza was made ith ketchup. We figured that we deserved that one. The other bad meal was when we ate at the ferry station and ordered off the menu rather than just pointing to the "rice with two choices" buffet, like the locals were doing. Again, well-deserved. Unfortunately, the deliciousness of the food is a bit lost on us. The heat and constant water drinking has reduced our appetites to almost nil. We barely ever want to eat, and when we do, we can't finish what's on our plates. We keep thinking that ice cream sounds good, but we can never get around to wanting any. The only thing keeping us alive is mango shakes (ingrediants: one mango, ice, simple syrup, and blend) and breakfast (when we are slightly cooler and not yet full of water). And really, there's no point to any dessert when you have fresh fruit. Although, the street crepes, hot and crispy and filled with bananas and chocolates are a good bet for curing a sweet tooth.

We've gotten to learn a little bit about Thai culture. One thing we find quite funny is the Thai hatred of walking. At our first hotel in Chiang Mai, we asked the front desk person how to get to the Night Bazaar. Clearly thinking we were idiots, she responded "get in a taxi and tell him to take you to the night bazaar." When we told her we were planning to walk, she said "oh no! Impossible to walk!" We asked her how long it was and how long it would take, she told us 3 km and 2 hours. She finally relented and gave us directions, and it took only a half hour. We thought at the time it was a one-off, but any requests we have made for walking directions has resulted in the same kind of "are you insane?" response. Once, someone told us that it would take a hal-hour to walk to a location that literally ended up being on the next block. When we finally asked one of our Thai guides about it, she laughed hysterically and agreed that the Thai people hate walking because it makes them hot, and the will take their motorcycles or cars even if they are going to their neighbours house. In fairness, the streets are not much set up for walking, and we've developed nerves of steel trying to cross roads.

Shopping at the markets is really great fun, and we've found ourselves buying all kinds of stuff we never even knew we could want. We're not fantastic at bargaining, but we aren't bad. The routine is always the same. We ask for their price and they give us something crazy. We hem and haw and say it's too expensive, and they hand us the calculator to write our price. We choose something only slightly higher than half of their original price and they take back the calculator and shake their heads and laugh in a manner so similar that we almost think they all went to school for it. We laugh back, they make us another offer, we raise our price a touch, they go somewhere in the middle, we say for two, and then they give us a slightly higher price for 2, and off we go....getting two things for 2/3 the price of the original one. We've seen people haggle and argue and do the whole "walk away" thing, but we can't be bothered to be that pushy over 100 baht (basically, 3 dollers), and usually the difference is about half that.

When we tell people about the title of this travel blog, we always get a good laugh, and we sometimes get a good story about stupid travel advice. The best story was from our river guide, Ahey, who told us about some friends who had shown her a poorly translated travel guide to Thailand which warned to be very careful about snakes. The book said that many snakes were dangerous and sometimes could be found in toilet seats and in beds (note: we have only seen about 2 snakes, and both were in the jungle, exactly where they belonged). The worst snakes, the book warned, were the dreaded "snakes in disguise." We all laughed hysterically as we came up with images of the wide variety of disguises a snake could wear to fool tourists, including Tuk Tuk driver, fruit shake vendor, and tour guide.

Anyway, that's about it for today. I'm off to get my nails done. Tomorrow we are heading to Koh Tao for 6 days to get our PADI scuba certification, which will take about 4 days. From what I have heard, Koh Tao is incredibly beautiful and a lot more relaxed than Koh Samui, which is basically a commercialized beach town. I'll update when I can. Until then, avoid prison, and beware of snakes in disguise.

Excuses, excuses

As far as I knew, up until recently, the only readers of my blog were Lisa, Sarah, Maydie, some friends of Krisi, and my mom. But a few days with no posts and some more of you have come out of the woodwork to find out where I've been! Well, it may sound like an excuse, but I've been pretty busy. In the last few days I have scaled limestone cliffs, been attacked by ravenous, pineapple-craving fish, hiked jungle paths filled with hungry wildlife, explored dark caves, accidentally participated in a wild monkey show, and met all the Jewery of Koh Samui at once. Further, high speed internet in the jungle demonstrates neither height nor speed. This will be a long one.....

A few days ago, Krisi and I were still in Railay Beach and we decided to explore the cliffs in the way they were meant to be explored...by taking climbing lessons! I discovered that being frozen with fear is much more conducive to ziplining, where your only choice is go down the zipline or live in the tree forever, than it is to rock climbing. I will not lie. I am not a fantastic rock climber. But I am a great cheerer-onner, which I did for my billy-goat friend Krisi, who rocked the rock. While she got up to the top, I made it about 10 or so feet up before the shakes started and I had to come down. I'm still pretty pleased with myself, and proud as punch of Krisi. But rock climbing was not enough for us that day... so we decided to go on a sunset snorkelling expedition, which left Railay at 2pm, when the other boats tend to start their return home. My first foray was not a great success. Although I have gone scuba diving before, I had never really gone snorkelling and my first dive was met with a nose and mouth full of salty water. But I soon got the hang of it and was blown away by the coral and fishies (but did not realize until Krisi started laughing at me that everyone could hear me talking to them through my snorkel). I discovered that fish enjoy a nice piece of pineapple, and was happily feeding them from my hand until one decided that I was also made from pineapple and bit my finger. Creepy. We went to three sites before we stopped on a beautiful expanse of beach to eat our Thai supper and watch the sunset. At dusk, we witnessed the amazing sight of thousands of bats emerging from the tops of the mountains and flying over us through the air. A longtail boat ride and a few drinks with our boatmates later, and Krisi and I were back in our room packing for our jungle adventure, wondering (yet again) how we could ever top the day we just had.

The next day we travelled to Khao Sok Park: http://www.khaosok.com/ to stay at Art's Riverview Lodge http://krabidir.com/artsriverviewlodge/. We arrived and quickly left on a hike through the jungle where our guide caught lizards for us to see and made us cups out of bamboo. The hungry wildlife I spoke about? Leeches. Yuck. We had to pull a few off our legs as we walked. But we got a chance to learn about the jungle and met a fair number of creepy crawly things. The next day, we were off to Cheow Lan lake, a beautiful man-made lake surrounded by towering limestone cliffs. We first hiked to a incredible cave before going for lunch at one of the floating guesthouses (exactly as it sounds). A great day, but our hour-long longtail boat ride back in the pelting rain left us a bit worse for wear. Like Songkran, we had 2 choices...soaking wet and miserable or soaking wet and happy, so we decided to just yell "happy new year" at all the Thais laughing hysterically at us as we emerged soaking from the boat. When we got back to Art's, we started on the path toward our guest house before hearing a rustle of leaves and a loud thump. "Over there" called a voice from the bar patio above us. "Look at the tree on your right!" Not more than three paces away from me was a grey old monkey. Suddenly, they were all around us...babies, too...curious, but distant...jumping from tree to tree in the monkey show that is a regular occurance at Art's. Although the guests are strictly informed to not feed the monkeys, this gang (group? bucket?) of monkeys is clearly quite comfortable around humans, and we saw them again the next morning as they ran past our treehouse (by the way, we were staying in a treehouse with the coolest open air bathroom with a waterfall shower that we never really got to use because it was too cold whenever we were there...s'okay, though....no matter how dirty I am in Thailand, there is always someone who smells worse than me).

A long car ride and ferry trip later and we were back in civilization (hot showers! floors we can't see through!) on Koh Samui. Our first order of business? Passover.

Now, all my friends know that I am not observant. I will happily eat a ham and cheese sandwich will driving a car on Saturday. However, I am proud of my heritage, and a bit wistful to be missing Passover with my family in Montreal. Luckily, the Chabad House of Koh Samui held a seder and we went! The food was nowhere near what my mom makes, and I missed sitting with my family, but we met a bunch of travellers from all over. There were about 100-200 people there! I even passed along a cherished family tradition by reciting my uncle Sam's famous joke to my small table "I work like a dog all year and come Passover, there's not a piece of bread in the house!" It's all in the delivery.

I miss you all and wish I could be there for the holidays!

I'll try to post more regularly, but there may not be much to say tomorrow. Krisi and I plan to do absolutely nothing. For a change.

No roads lead to Railay

It's been one full day in absolute paradise. Railay beach is a little slice of hippie / climber heaven and it's starting to rub off on Krisi and I. We arrived yesterday afternoon by longtail boat, which is the only way to get to Railay Beach. We're staying at the Diamond Cave resort, which is one of the cheapest places on this relatively expensive island. There are no roads to Railay, and the hotels and restaurants have a captive audience. Yet people flock here by the dozens. Why? Beautiful beaches and limestone cliffs for climbing. We've met a couple of people here already who came for a visit and just never left. Take a look: http://wikitravel.org/en/Rai_Leh

For the first time on this holiday Krisi and I are finally doing nothing. Today we went from beach to beach, finding different places to sit, different coves to explore, different places to enjoy mango shakes and mango salads. We sat and watched the sunset on a straw mat on the beach with a large bottle of Singha between us. Then we headed to watch a movie on one of the outdoor beach bars, which turned out to be a hilariously bootlegged version of "Jumper" with english closed captioning clearly done by someone who doesn't speak english. Further, the whole movie was sped up just slightly so that everyone sounded like chipmunks. It was pretty awesome. Did I mention we'd already had some beer?

I'm starting to find myself drawn to long flowy dresses and I'm starting to think that the right thing to wear every day is exactly what I wore the day before, so it's probably a good thing that we only have one more day in this hippie paradise before we go to Khao Sok park and do some jungle living in treehouses. But what a day it will be....we have planned a climbing lesson for tomorrow morning and then we're going on a sunset snorkelling and beach dinner excursion right after.

Did I mention the island is also home to a whole bunch of affectionate little cats who have begun to follow me around like I am the pied piper of ear scratches? Also, the mini marts sell Tim Tams.

It's all pretty nice.

Cleansing our sins in Bangkok

We arrived in Bangkok on Saturday afternoon. After switching hotels (our original hotel was very swanky....in the seventies...before someone closed the door and smoked in there for thirty years before giving us the keys) we headed over to the fancy hotel associated with our cheaper version, to take a bit of relaxing pool time before heading out to meet Marc.

I originally met Marc at one of Lisa's parties just before I went to Barcelona. As luck would have it,he was heading there too, to stay with his friend Steve. So, I hung out with Marc and Steve in Barcelona, and haven't seen him since then. As luck would have it, he's been living in Bangkok for about 5 months, knows tons of people, and knows his way around!

We met up with Marc in the early evening and we began by taking a brief tour of the seedier side of Bangkok. We began in a small area filled with hostess bars, where young thai women dance on stage in skimpy clothing. They are each identified by a number (just like Thai restaurant menus) to make ordering easier. We get to witness firsthand the disgusting scene of old men purchasing the company of young Thai women. We stay for a beer, then move on for a little "same, same...but different" at a bar featuring ladyboys (male to female transexuals). They are quite fabulous looking and very flirtatious (compared to the self-conscious women) and we are pretty sure that the three muscular frat boys in the front row have absolutely no idea that the "ladies" they are making eyes at and high-fiving each other about, were men not too long ago. Buyer beware, indeed!

From there, we make our way through market stalls and push past offers of "ping pong /banana shows" (if you don't know, I am not telling you) to Silom Soi 4, an exuberant area filled with a variety of lively,non-seedy, bars. There, we get an opportunity for a good and throrough cleansing.

April 13-15 is Songkran, the Thai new year (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thai_New_Year), but often the festivities begin earlier. Songkran is about cleansing, and part of the tradition involves pouring water on others as a sign of respect, but this tradition has evolved to become the world's largest and longest street water fight. The first time you get shot with a super soaker, it's surprising. By the fifth time, you give up. Eventually, you have to give up as streams of water come at you from all directions. Some of the more enthusiastic participants fill buckets of water and splash them on passerbys. Krisi, Marc and I are thoroughly soaked by the time Marc finds some friends and the 3 of us are co-opted to "Team Bar Bar" which is in direct competition with the bar across the street. We borrow super soakers and water guns and we join in the fight. At this point, you have 2 choices: be soaking wet and miserable or soaking wet and happy, so Krisi and I join in full force, dancing to the music and aiming our water guns. We keep our beers covered and our eyes and mouths closed as water is thrown at us from all directions. By the time we get home, we are like drowned rats and the dye from my very cheap Chiang Mai market-purchased skirt is dripping down my legs into little black puddles on the floor.

The next afternoon, we get soaked by the time we return to our hotel from pool time. We buy $3 t-shirts and prepare ourselves for an afternoon of water by wearing bathing suits and water shoes. We meet Marc and begin heading to meet his friends around Kho San road. What we find is pure chaos. People are walking around with super soakers and buckets filled with warm and ice-cold water. I purchase my own super-soaker for $6 and join in. There's nothing you can do except go with it, and I soon find myself aiming squarely at the tourists who look like they want nothing to do with the celebration. People are also walking around with a white chalk mixed with water, which they smear on your face (politely saying "sorry" or "thank you" as they do it). We've got all our belongings, including a camera, in plastic ziplocks to avoid getting soaked. I find I have dead aim with the water gun, and my square in the face technique wins me a number of individual battles.

At the end of the day we look like we've gone swimming with our clothes on and there is white paste dripping from our faces all over our clothes. We decide to get a Tuk Tuk home, and about 6 of us pile in. What we don't realize is that a Tuk Tuk, when stopped by the curb at a red light, is basically putting us right in the line of fire with no possibility of escape or retaliation. People are hurling buckets of water (alternating warm and ice cold) into the Tuk Tuk, and all we can do is close out eyes and mouths and get drenched.

We've had a great time here in Bangkok, but with two more days of Songkran we realize that we aren't going to see any sights and we haven't got enough clothes we can ruin. So, we've changed out flight and are heading out to Krabi today, returning for 3 days in Bangkok at the end of the month.

Without Marc, we never would have been able to participate as actively in the Songkran festival. It was such a great experience and I feel quite thoroughly cleansed as we head to Railay Beach for some serious relaxation and beach time....although, Krisi has decided we are going rock climbing...we'll see.

Sawasdee Pi Mai!

I'm a monkey!

I am terrified of heights. I've tried indoor rock climbing with minimal success. I have never had a desire to jump out of an airplane or bungee jump. Scenic glass floors in high buildings? No thank you. But when I saw this: http://treetopasia.com/index.php, I knew I was going to have to get over it and get out there. Krisi assured me that this would be safe...but really, it hardly matters. I know I am not going to fall off a balcony, but put me more than 10 floors up and I won't go near the edge. No matter how much I try to calm myself and do positive self-talk, I shake, my heart races, and I have been known to burst into tears or yell at others in an effort to not burst into tears.

We got out to the first platform at about 10 am...they told us it would take about 3 hours, and there would be 15 zip lines, 2 shakey bridges, and 3 times they wouldhave to lower us down. The proudy proclaimed that they might soon make it into the Guiness book of world records for having the longest zipline (150m) and the highest drop to lower down (50m). Umm. Awesome.

But I had no choice. I was not going to let the rest of my group go on without me. Also, there was a retired couple in the bus with us on the way up, and if they were going to do it, so was I. So, I got clipped on, sat down in my harness, and reluctantly let myself zip to the next tree.

I am not going to lie. It was really scary. It wasn't until the third time that I started to enjoy myself. I had some excellent no-fall strategies. I never looked down. I hugged trees as much as possible. And I always went last.

Krisi held the camera, and a review of the various pictures and videos shows the many different smiles of Jenn. Smiling to prevent crying. Pure fear smiling. Worried smiling. Smiling to stop from screaming. And finally, happy, proud smiling. I did it! A wise and good-looking man (Ben Afflek) in a bad movie (Bounce) once said, "if you're not afraid, it's not brave." Today I was brave.

I still have no intention of ever bungee jumping or freefalling out of an airplane. I will always choose the bottom bunk over the top. And I was never so happy to feel solid ground under my feet. I wouldn't even go so far as to say that i conquered my fear of heights. But I tool a good swat at it, and I feel very proud of myself for doing it.

Tomorrow Krisi and I are off to Bangkok for the Songkran festival. Songkran is the Thai new year which is celebrated through ritual cleansings and, basically, a massive street water fight. Chiang Mai is famous for their Songkran festival, and the teenagers in this town take it very seriously. So seriously, that they began tonight, about 2 days early, taking to the streets with hoses, pails, and super soaker guns. We got hit quite a feew times on the way to the night bazaar. Luckily, neither of us were wearing white t-shirts.

I think we're getting out just in time.

No elephants were harmed in the writing of this entry

Today Krisi and I went to the Elephant Nature Park, run by the Elephant Nature foundation: http://www.elephantnaturefoundation.org/ This park is dedicated to providing rescued elephants with a safe haven, free of the abuses of traditional domesticated living.

In Thailand, only wild elephants are considered endangered and protected. Domesticated elephants are considered to be livestock and have minimal protection by the law. That means that their owners can do pretty much anything with them...and they pretty much do. Traditionally, young elephants are taken away from their mothers at about 3 years old and put in the "crush" (english pronunciation...do not know thai spelling). Basically, they are kept in a small cage and are beaten by the mahouts (trainers) until their spirit is broken and they become obediant. From there, they can become working elephants, doing illegal logging, street begging, elephant shows, providing elephant rides for trekkers throughout Thailand.

Apart from the brutality of the training process, these elphants are harmed in multiple ways. The street beggers are often injured by cars. One of the elephants we met had his leg broken by an 18-wheeler. Some are worked to death...one of the sweet female elephants we met was a recivering amphetamine addict...her mahouts kept her high so that she could work double duty without rest. We also learned that Asian elephants' backs are not made to carry the weight of the saddle that is used for riding them, and we saw many elephants suffering from back injuries.

The elephant who stood out to Krisi and I was Medo, a 24 year old who, according to those in the know, looks far older than her years. Due to a hip injury, Medo was fired from her logging job, but her owner still wanted money from her. So, he tied her front legs around a tree and released a male in musth (the aggressive period before mating) into her pen. Unfortunately, the male didn't like her,so, instead of mating,he forcefullly and aggressively mounted her until her back broke. Because he was so aggressive, no one could go in to help her for days. Luckily, she was saved by the park. But her crooked little body alienates her from the others and, other than her mahout, she has no friends. So Krisi and I fed her bananas (favourite), watermelon (meh) and pineapple (spat out) and made sureto give her some extra scrubbing in the lake and a lot of compliments and praise.Yes, after we fed the elephants, we got to go into the lake with them and wash them. It was an experience I will never forget....walking to the river in step with the elephants.

The park is also home to about 50 friendly dogs and cats ( I triedto pet all of them!), some cows, a number of burmese mahouts, local women working as cooks, and volunteers from all over the world. Receiving no governement funding, they must rely on ethical tourists and volunteers.

The goal of the park is to save as many elephants as possible and they must often purchase abused elephants from their cruel masters. They are also trying to change the traditional role of the mahout...from a lowly working boy / punisher, to a respected and kind animal trainer with knowledge and skill.

How can you help?
Well, they take donations. They also take volunteers, and I hope very much to return to the camp in the future for at least a week to help with these amazing animals. Most importantly, spread the word and do not support tourist industries that feed off cruelty. Do not pay to feed street elephants. Do not go on an elephant trek in the jungle. Never ride on an asian elephant's back.

Krisi and I ended today feeling like we had an extraordinarily special experience. We got to see elephants enjoying their lives in an oasis of safety and love. They are the lucky few. We feel luckiest of all to have met them.

We went to prison

OK, well, not quite. After a long day at cooking class involving huge amounts of delicious food cooked by us (with supervision), Krisi and I were in need of a little pampering. So, we did what any girls in Chiang Mai would do....we went to the Women's Prison....spa. Female prisoners in their last 6 months of incarceration are trained for skilled labour upon their release. In this case, the women are being trained to offer maasages and other esthetic services, they get to earn a little money, and when they are released, they have a skill to enable them to earn money. So, we got a little bit of pampering and got to give a little back to the community.

Tomorrow we are going to be visiting the Elephant Nature Foundation, where abused elephants are allowed to live their days in peace. Friday we will be going to have the Flight of the Gibbons, involving ziplining through the trees.

And honestly, I think it's pretty likely that Krisi and I will be going back to prison again. Avoid prison? Not when there are massages to be had!

3 Words

Deep. Fried. Bananas.

New FavouriteThings

1. Mango shakes: I handed a woman a cup containing a fresh mango, she mixed in some ice and simple syrup, suddenly I have the most delicious drink in the world.
2.Copy Bags: I just got myself a "I'm not a Plastic Bag" bag for less than $10. I may pick up an excellent Chloe imitation today. I will also soon be buying acopy suitcase to carry everything home.
3. Air conditioning and cold showers: It is HOT up here in Chiang Mai!

"No problems. Solution!"

My camera broke. The pictures I took are fine, but the whole thing is just broken. Luckily I am in Hong Kong where electronics are plentiful! Unfortunately, I am at the airport where things do tend to run slightly more expensive. But I want a camera, and I want it now. I ask the nice man if he sees a simple way to fix it and he takes a look at it and says "5 years old! Need new camera." So, he shows me an awesome camera that is definitely a bargain in relation to Canada. I buy it, he throws in a couple of things for free. I tell him how stressed I was to have broken my camera. He says "No problems. Solutions!" Best line I have heard in a long time. Solutions. I am all about solutions. And I am all about my awesome new camera. If only I had access to a computer with the option of downloading not hidden away....looks like you may all have to wait until I get back for the slideshow!

So, we are leaving Hong Kong today with mixed feelings. We're both very excited for Thailand...but HK was awesome. We definitely missed out on a few great hikes and a couple of intersting neighbourhoods. I would gladly come back here, any day. I hope I do.

HK Favourites:
1. Monica and Lindsay. You guys were awesome. We'd only met Monica once and Lindsay never, but you both gave us a perspective on HK we couldn't have had otherwise. Thanks so much for your hospitality!
2. Dragon's Back trail and Shek O: Best morning ever. Beautiful views, beach, and great food.
3. Old Peak road: Steep as hell, but worth every blister.
4. Big Buddha: Yes, it's totally a tourist trap, but the cable car ride up was fun and scary, and the vegetarian lunch at the monestary was delicious. It would have been way better if we'd done at least some of the hike up.
5. Lan Kwai Fong: Beer, music, party, etc.
6. The Star Ferries: Just a lot of fun to take a boat

HK Not so Favourites:
1. Smells: I know, it's very euro-centric...but some of them were just plain awful. On the upside, no matter how dirty I was I knew I wasn't the smelliest person on the subway.
2. Crowds: Insane number of people on the streets. The creates an even bigger annoyance when combined with number 3.
3. Hong Kong Walking Speed: Slooooooooooooooooooooooooooow
4. Noise: Holy crap there is a lot of noise.

Overall, an awesome layover. the hotel was excellent, and we saw and did a ton of stuff.

Bye from the HK Thai Airways lounge! I am off to the massage chair for a rest before my flight.

Walk it off

Krisi and I are walkers. We both share the love of spending entire days walking around the city of Montreal (mainly in the summer). So, of course we are walking everywhere we can in Hong Kong (and are immensely frustrated with what we now refer to as "Hong Kong Walking Speed," which is barely above a shuffle. So, we walked through all the markets on Friday, down the "steep trail" from Victoria Peak on Saturday, around the city some more on Sunday, and across the Dragon's Back on Monday: http://www.discoverhongkong.com/eng/touring/hiking/ta_hiki_141031.jhtml
We are broken. Apparently walking down a steep incline in sandals is a bad plan re: blisters. I also got shinsplints, but only in my right leg (shinsplint?). My right shoulder was a bit wonky for a while, don't know why. And my quads are a tish bit sore from yesterday's hike. Krisi's calves have been stuck in flex for about 3 days, and she has a wide variety of cuts and bruises. Our new philosophy? Walk it off. Leg pain? Walk it off. Too much dim sum? Walk it off. It seems to be working!
Sunday was an incredibly eventful day. We did the Dragon's Back hike all the way to the beach town of Shek O, where we waded in the ocean and enjoyed an awesome Thai lunch and a beachfront restaurant. Back home for a quick shower, then off to the Hong Kong history museum. It was pretty cool, but we only had an hour in there so we had to cram in some quick learning time. Next we went to the Peninsula hotel for afternoon tea, which was very nice, but probably a bit over-rated. From there, we took the ferry to central to meet up with Lisa's friend Lindsay, who has been living and working in Hong Kong for a few years. Lindsay gave us the ex-pat view of Hong Kong, taking us to 3 incredibly cool restaurants and bars clearly populated by the ex-pats. I usually try very hard to only eat indiginous food when in foreign countries, but I have to admit I gave that up in Hong Kong. I'm not fussy about chinese food in Canada, and the Cantonese cuisine in Hong Kong was all the things I hate about chinese food multiplied by ten. Basically gristly meat shards coated in batter and swimming in sugary gloop sauce. So, it was a realy delight to enjoy a mediterranean tapas platter, a mozzerella salad, and a chocolate mango daquiri with Lindsay. It was definitely a side of Hong Kong that suited me....after the beautiful hike, the history speed tour, and the experience of the nightlife, I'm definitely feel like Hong Kong is a city in which I could definitely live. I think I will have to marry very, very rich to do it, though.
So, after a lovely night of food and drinks with Lindsay, Krisi and I took our jet lagged and tipsy selves home to pack up for our flight the next day. We didn't take the escalators down, though. We walked it off.

Hong Kong Ambivalence

I think I might be in love with Hong Kong. I think I might hate it a little bit, too. But I don't think that is really a big problem, here. Everything about this city is a study in contrasts. The greenery, sunshine, water, islands, mountains are incredibly beautiful. Sunday's trip up to the Big Buddha on the cable cars left us breathless (me, mainly, with fear) and Monica's little area of Lantau island feels like paradise. Then you walk into the city where it's crowded and dirty and fis guts are being slapped around on the street and when you see a cat, it's impossible to know whether it's been bought as a pet or for dinner.Walking down the street you might pass by the worst smell in the world (as yet unidentified but seems to eminate from the dumpling stands) or the best (also, from the dumpling stands, ironically). The people here are poor and stooped and walking with canes or driving luxury SUVs and loaded with designer labels. There seems to be no in-between. There aren't even any non-luxury cars here, as far as I have seen. The people ignore you, shove you, serve you chili-less chili chicken....or, like our server at lunch today, go the extra mile to let you try a new dish, even though its not on your set menu (fried lotus root! Yum!) and then bring you good luck buddha cards, just because they like you.

Anyway, after a day of subways, buses, cable cars, and ferries, Krisi and I are heading off to a cocktail cruise on an old junk boat called the Aqualuna. We're hoping tomorrow will include a hike, a visit to the history museum, high tea at the Peninsula hotel, and a drink with Lisa's friend Lindsay. Looks like our good luck buddha cards are working!

It's a long wait up, and a long way down (Krisi, 2008)

Saturday started with a very large coffee and a trip across to Central on the Star Ferry. Once we got there, we waited at the pier for Monica to join us from her ferry ride over from Mui Wo, on the far side of Lantau island. One we were all together, Monica took us on a walk around the city.

I don't know what I was expecting. I really didn't read up on HK before our trip. I knew it was crowded, busy, and interesting, but I couldn't have imagined HK any better than it was. You walk the city above the streets, going uphill on a set of joining escalators. As you ride upwards, there are shops and signs on every level of the building, screaming at you to get reflexology, fancy nails, dumplings, or tailor-made clothes. When you see something that interests you, you simply get off, and head down to street level. We made our way around Wellington, looking for a very specific dumpling place. FInding it not yet open, we grabbed smoothies (I'm not sure I trust that they really included my "energy booster" in there) and walked around SoHo. We stopped into a temple, where I got my fortune told by a "master fortune teller" (no, I won't tell you what he said). We then made our way down back toward the dumpling store....

On the way, we stopped into the Lok Cha tea shop, where the sweet japanese woman offered us some delicious jasmine tea. Since the store was empty, she spent some time with us teaching us how to make tea properly and offering us several varieties to taste, including a phoenix oolong that tasted of lychee, a green tea, and black teas. In her broken english she explained more about tea than I ever thought it possible to know. At one point, I found myself getting very woozy, but just blamed it on the jet lag and lack of dumplings and figured I could just soldier on without anyone knowing. Within seconds she was offering sugared ginger. Green tea, she explained, lowers one's blood pressure, and it's important to have something sweet with any kind of lighter tea (white or green). We spent about an hour in the store, talking and tasting teas and she and Monica shared the stresses of being recently moved to Hong Kong. When served black tea, I admitted that I enjoyed it more with milk and sugar. With reckless abandon, she shared that she preferred it with a splash of lemon. "Don't tell Mr. Lok," she said, covering her giggles with her hand.

Following the amazing tea lesson, we went to a dim sum restaurant, clearly full of locals, where we totally go the tourist shaft..nary a chili in our chili chicken. No matter, bellies full, Krisi and I said good-bye to Monica and headed toward the huge line-up for the Victoria peak tram. Unable to bear the thought of waiting another hour to take the tram down, we walked. In sandals. Downhill. For about 2 hours. We finally made it to Lan Kwai Fong (the party district) to eat Thai food (in China...) and drink beer with an Aussie and some Poms. A few beers later, and Krisi and I were toast. On the way home, we narrowly avoided prison, as a drunken Krisi proceeded to (gasp!) drink water on the subway. Very against the rules. Such a troublemaker, that girl.

Human Traffic

No, no, not human trafficking. Krisi and I continue to avoid prison and white slavery (phew!). The title of this blog refers to the density of people on the streets of Hong Kong. I have never seen so many people in my life, all crammed together, apparently, not even bothered.
We landed in at the airport in Hong Kong at about noon (after eating 2 breakfasts and 1 brunch, which included wine), and quickly made our way to the YMCA Salisbury on the Kowloon peninsula. This was the least expensive, non-grotty hostel option we could find, for about $150 CAD per night. It's very simple, but nice and clean, and located right on the harbour so we can watch the light show right from our bedroom window!

Although the beds looked lovely and comfy after almost 36 hours of travelling and very little sleep, we decided it was time to walk. We planned out our route, aiming to hit all the markets on Kowloon. Our first challenge was making it up Nathan street, which was crowded like Montreal during F1 weekend. Then we hit the flower market (which smelled lovely), the bird market (somewhat creepy with the caged birds and their various creepy crawly dinners in buckets on the ground), and the goldfish market (selling mainly fish in plastic bags). One thing we noticed was how slowly people here walk. I told Krisi that I would move faster if I just stood in one place and hoped to get to the next. For those of you who have walked with me or seen me making my way about town, you know I have a long and determined stride. So, in my jet lag, these crowds tried my patience. And by this time, Krisi and I were bumping into each other, lampposts, and other people at an alarming rate. After a slow walk through the various other street markets selling jade, all types of clothes, "copy bags," and sex toys (a street dildo? I think not!), we sat down at a place called "Healthy Dessert" for a mango trio, including mango ice cream and mango puree with gelatinous rice balls (my new favourite thing in the world). Krisi enjoyed a strawberry juice while I had "Crystal Jelly with Mango and Strawberry," which was basically mango and strawberry juice with chopped up fruit and slivers of clear jello, drunk through a big straw. You never nknew what kind of mouthful was going to happen next! After a few more markets (copy watches, anyone?) and a stroll through lovely Kowloon park, we got back to our hotel at 7ish, watched the Victoria Harbour light show, and crashed. 10 good hours of sleep later, and I am drinking a very expensive coffee and using very expensive internet.
Today we are meeting up with Sarah's friend Monica. I think tomorrow we will do a big hike up Victoria Peak and perhaps indulge in an expensive afternoon tea at the Peninsula hotel, just to say we did.
I am taking tons of pictures, but have not found a way to get them on the blog. There is a great series of Krisi and I in the Korean airport, taking photos among huge posters of Korea. We were pretending to be in Korea and it sure made us laugh a lot. In fairness, that was after 24 hours of travel time, but still, the pics are pretty funny. You'll have to trust me until I find a way to post my pics. Perhaps i will find a computer that will allow me to download one day soon!
OK. I can no longer afford this internet connection if I want to eat today. And I do.

We've made it to Korea! It's a lovely airport.

With two hours to go on our flight from Chicago to Korea, Krisi and I realized we had been in transit for a full 24 hours. With four hours of waiting in Korea and a 2 hour flight to go, we wondered how it all seemed to go so quickly. The first flight was easy....we ran into our friend Peter, also on his way to Chicago, pilfered the free magazines from the lounge (5 years of saving points = business class). waiting in Chicago was another story. We accidentally left the good terminal and headed over to the international terminal way too early to be let in to go to the lounge there. With 5 hours of waiting time, we entertained ourselves by riding the train between terminals and exploring the airport Hilton, where we had a fantastically salty dinner that won us free dessert for our complaints. We boarded our next flight at 1am...14 hours in the air. I desperately tried to keep myself awake as long as possible. Unfortunately, the on board movie "National Treasure 2" was not particularly helpful. I am happy to announce that I ate a grand total of 3 dinners all spaced about 4 hours apart. Also, I have many small bottles of beauty products as I walked through the aisles of the plane, stealing the free hospitality packs that others left behind. Krisi called me a hoarder, but we know who will be laughing when we need our fourth small bottle of Biotherm toner somewhere in southern Thailand.
Krisi and I seem to be successfully avoiding prison. So far.

Departure Day

It's my first time blogging! I have always been averse to blogs, as the thought of putting my thoughts and feelings out there for everyone to see is kind of terrifying. But I want to record my trip to Thailand and provide an easy way for friends and family to keep track of my activities and whereabouts. The title of this blog is taken from an excellent piece of advice I got from the Montreal General Hopsital Travel Clinic's advice on avoiding illness in foreign countries. Don't drink the water, don't eat fruit with the peels on, avoid prison. Will do. I think it is a good motto for life.

Only a couple of hours before I make my way to the airport and begin more than 24 hours of travelling! Next stop, Hong Kong!