Simply Living

The entrance to the resort


Coming to visit mom in the morning


Life in the Philippines so far has been very different from our other experiences and different, we are in the most remote lifestyle we have had. Living in a resort in the middle of nowhere has given us many different views of life. For the first time in our travels we are living in a enormously remote area where we are appreciating the chance to see the local life first hand and learn about it. This is also the first place we have received such a strong reaction because of the color of our skin, but not in an offensive way. People are interested to see us and look at us, but are tremendously friendly about it. My favorite part is the children; they are not shy, they point and dance and are totally shocked by us. It is so hilarious. And they love to pose for my camera, I could not ask for much more. Then I show them the pictures of themselves and they squeal with delight.

Local children in their school uniforms


At the resort we are working with many locals that live within a few minutes. In the last few days we went to see and visit them at their homes. The first home we saw was Victors, he has helped build the whole resort, he does everything, electricity, plumbing, wood carving, anything that is needed. He brought us to his home so we could give gifts to his kids. The children were very scared and curious about us and our presents. It was interesting to see their total shock of white people and at the same time the joy to get new toys. His house along with other few homes we saw were very basic, dirt/cement floors, cement block walls, sometimes a stray chicken, television, and one room. Very basic homes full of people. We went to visit their rice terraces where they harvest the rice 3 times a year to feed their families and others in the area. The terraces are spectacular and green just before the harvest. Most of the locals depend on the rice and vegetable and the minuscule local fish for their daily diet. As one of the girls explained, when they are our of rice and can not afford fish they use some local flowers and plant greens to make a salad. They were all extremely welcoming to have us, and excited to show us their homes, but still very shy and scared about what we would think of there simple lives. One of the girls showed us the water that they get from a pump near their homes, sadly she said could not offer it to us, because our stomachs may not agree, but instead her mom opened some coconuts for us to enjoy.
The dogs

Up the river from the sea


Adorable children during lunch break



Playing in the river


On our beach, our dive boat in the background



We have lived in this country for over a month now and I am continually surprised by how friendly the people are.
Another very interesting thing about the culture here is the Catholic religion. Very different for us. Lots of beautiful churches, and a very modest culture. We visited a local cold springs the other day which happened to be a holiday and it was full of locals. They were all drinking and having fun swimming in the giant pool. But they had clothes on, a couple of bathing suits but mostly all dressed and swimming. Of course I had a skimpy suit on and drew a bit of attention being white and little clothes, but still just friendly smiles.
We are getting used to being the only white people in most areas and I don’t notice it any more.

Learning from the locals in our kitchen

Yeah I can finally open my own coconut

More kids smiling, my favorite



That is all I have for now, my new life is not very good for my computer and I do a lot of my writing in my journal, eventually it will all get here, but not now. Time to go enjoy my very romantic Valentines with my Mom and Russ.
More in time
Love
Rachel

P.S.
Look Down FOR TONS MORE PICS

Rain flower


Mom and I on the beach


Happy Hour in Boracay


Seven of us on the tricycle and all our stuff (still room for many more)


All our staff and a couple of fun guests


Fresh coconuts at Pressy’s house


Pretty sunset


Me eating weird colorful puffy cake (with little or no flavor)


At the cold springs


The cold springs

Karaoke



Bamboo ready to be sent down the river

Teaching mom to do laundry my way

Our empty beach

Our pretty puppy, Minney

The tinny Tarsier monkey

At the chocolate hills

Rice terraces in Boho

Baby Pig

Local Boat

Loaded tricycle

End of the Year and Thailand

Me and the Monkey


Two Thousand and Eight

Fireworks in Curacao
Sitting alone amongst a friendly a group of strangers,
Diving into the new day
Sunset divers my work,
Submerged into friendship
Surfaced as family.

January ended with an essential goodbye
As my Grandmother took her last rest.
Those last years drifting back to infancy,
In New Jersey we gathered to remember the memories she lost,
To smile and say goodbye.

February brought a diving rush,
A Valentines crush,
Seventy hour work weeks,
Filled with lonely exhaustion.

And then my fathers soothe,
Sharing my space
Enjoying comforts of home cooked meals.
Surprised by his relaxation
As I plunged him into my underwater world,
Using his thoughts and encouragement,
I bought tickets to Africa

March launched at the airport,
As I waved Dad goodbye,
And my crush returned.
Just a few weeks of romance,
Or so I thought.

Then a rush of company
Mom arrived,
We indulged in cuisine at night
I sunk her dive fear by day
And swam her through my world.
Becca followed,
With drinks, dancing and even a dive certification.

April rushed,
Not ready to leave my land house apartment
With my borrowed dogs,
Falling in love at the wrong time,
Countless plane tickets in the way.

A week at home,
Celebrating Cheyne’s life,
Helping Dad with surgery to help him see,
Showered in my girls,
For a crazy weekend of love, laughter and tears.
And then the goodbyes,
Too many to count.

May in the Seychelles,
Sailing on stunning yacht Erica
Embracing my solitude
While learning my need for socialization.
And yearning for his embrace.

I swam, walked, biked, and bussed around 5 islands,
Peaking into others lives,
I learned

June first we reunited,
An airport in Kenya began our next journey,
On our way to our new island home,
Completely shocked by Dar Es Sallam
A big city
And its poverty.

Arrived in Zanzibar, and shown our new village home,
Nungwi astonished us with its simplicity,
A small Muslim village,
No electricity,
Mud huts,
Happy children.

July we decided to leave,
Slow unhappy work,
Little money,
And a challenging every day existence.
Hundreds of applications sent,
Discouraged by the world seeming so small
Finally Mozambique answered,
Our first choice.

Zanzibar left its mark,
The sparkling turquoise sea,
Falling into beautiful reefs of dolphins and camouflaged creatures.
Stone town market
Every color burqa imaginable,
Covering everything,
Only leaving beautiful smiles.

August launched over waves
Swimming with whale sharks,
Getting cleaned with mantas,
While freezing in the Mozambican water.

Pensao family welcomed us,
A hostel home,
With a kitchen,
We cooked a lot,
Tipo engulfed us,
And we had fun

Septembers start
Changed my perspective . . . on everything,
I saw 8 humpback whales underwater,
A few days later I looked straight into the eye of another.
Once in a lifetime luck, I indulged 9 times that week.
The fear and excitement a reminder how small we are.

Tofo changed every day,
As people left and others came,
Friendships formed and disappeared quickly,
I got depressed,
Working hard and missing home.

October came with a decision to move again,
To a new house and
Thailand was calling,
We decided to answer.
Gave notice at work and bought tickets.

Our last month rushed by,
So many dives and tourists,
And 12 hour days,
Music, local food and parties.

November goodbyes,
In a rush with not enough hugs,
We drove south, through villages,
And into South Africa,
A safari of elephants, giraffes, lions, monkeys, rhinos, hippos, and more
Trampled us out of Africa.

We arrived in Thailand,
We met Blue Sky.
They sailed us around,
And we chose Ko Lanta.
Made a home, rented a motor bike, and found some work,
We were happy,
And the food was amazing.

December came with a shock,
Political unrest in Bangkok and the tourism halted
Worked stopped,
And we decided it was best to leave,
We ate as many banana leaves and curry as we could.
And rejoined Blue Sky.

Sailing south to Malaysia,
Christmas dinner in Koh Kraden,
Bright sunsets emerald caves and rocky nights,
Ending the year in Koh Lipe,
A sleepy island,
In sight of Malaysia,
And somewhere west,
The future.
And once again,
The year ends in a bang of colors.



Being towed on the kayak



Us and our Blue Sky Family


Sunset over Ko Kraden, our Christmas island





The Christmas group of strangers and fun


Blue Sky goodbye to Kraden


Our spot in Lipe


New Years Day



The light house in Langkawi


Langkawi harbor beauty


The boats


The monkey really liked the carrot


Russ and the Monkey, it really did love him


Ko Lipe beach

Our first sunset back on Blue Sky


The tastes, smells, colors, sounds, and feelings of Thailand have aroused all of my senses. We have now spent over a month on the friendly island of Koh Lanta just off the west coast of the mainland. We are just starting to get settled in to the way of life, the food and friendly faces. Which means for us, it must be time to leave. We both feel we are leaving too soon but with little work and a incredible opportunity ahead of us, it is time to go. We will leave here this week to explore the rest of the islands as we sail south to Malaysia. We will be getting back on board Blue Sky and spending the holiday and the following three weeks with Jim, Emma, Phoebe and Drake. Before I look forward to what our future sail may bring I want to finish feeling everything Ko Lanta has offered.

Our favorite part of Thailand by far is the tastes. Our palates have been overwhelmed with a beautiful assortment of snacks to try as well as a wide variety of dishes to devour. The food stands have offered us many options and we try each one with no clue of what we may get. The banana leafs are by far our favorite and no matter what has been carefully wrapped inside they tend to be sweet and delicious. Sticky rice with sweet egg, or coconut goo; who knows what they add to these things but each one is scrumptiously delicious. The tastes and textures always tantalizing, and never too sweet.

Hot Peppers


Food stand YUMMY


Meat at the market


Our favorite foods







The rest of our senses have been inundated as well. With the strong smell of fish in the market, the colors of temples and mosques against the brilliant blue sky. The sounds of locals smiling hello and Muslim prayers in the distance, and the textures of everything from exotic fruits, to soft hands in traditional massage. The combination of it has us craving more and now feeling sad to say goodbye to it all. But we are excited about the different sensations to come. With still 3 weeks to enjoy Thailand, a more deserted island landscape should be fascinating.

We have spent the last couple of nights in Patong, a crazy tourist mecca of Thailand, it is a bit intense. Starbucks, McDonalds, Burger King, Pizza Hut, all the comforts of home. Surprisingly we can not afford any of it, as it is 5 times the price of what we are used to spending on a meal, and the coffee is the same price as a big mac. A bit ridiculous, but okay as we will always know where to find American crap food and it forces us to continue to enjoy the Thai treasures before we leave. There is a tourist carnival on the streets here this week which is giving us a chance to see Patong full of culture. The beach sidewalk is bursting with massage booths, art stands, tourist shops, shows, and tons of local food stands. A huge variety of food, everything from fried whole baby chickens, to ribs, clams, papaya salads, coconut pudding, king crab eggs, the list goes on and on.

After a few beers I insisted on finding us some bugs to eat, you can’t live in Thailand for a couple of months and not eat bugs, right? We found the crazy street full of people and lady boys everywhere. Frogs, beetles, grasshoppers, maggots and more. In conclusion, they all tasted like bugs. Some of the smaller ones were salty enough to hide the taste a bit, and we bought a sauce to dip them in, but they crunch and ooze and taste like bugs. We will not be buying them again, but we did it.


The romance of sharing a bug



Bugs


Fish Eggs


Today we will go Christmas shopping, it is a real treat for us to have so many options for things to buy, but a bit overwhelming. All the vendors were begging us to come see their Armani shirts, fancy Dolce purses, fake watches and sunglasses galore. All I really want is to buy some cute local clothes but I have to weed though the knock off western fashions to find them. Oh well. Then we will be done with the tourist circus and ready for a tour of quiet islands as we sail south.

Our plan from here is to sail south to Ko Kraden for Christmas, they know of a Christmas party at a resort there. We will then explore a bunch of beautiful untouched island as we go further south to one of their favorite islands Ko Lipe, where we will spend New Years. Once there maybe we will find some freelance work for a few days, or for longer who knows. From there we will end up in Langkawi around January 11th and then come up with a plan. I have added a bunch of new photos of us, food and people. I hope you enjoy and there will be more to come next month. Hope everyone has a wonderful holiday and a safe New Year.
Love Always,
Rachel

Us on the boat


The family


Thai Temple







Our motorbike


On our hammock at home in Lanta



Me and cute puppies in Lanta