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

Welcome to Thailand

The first day we slept till noon we must have really needed to catch up. And then we went to explore. It was raining a bit, and the city was very busy with people everywhere, and Thai everything. It is pretty interesting. Unfortunately I was not feeling very well. A bit of a stomach ache but that is okay. We stopped for our first Thai meal and a menu full of options, the food all looks and tastes so wonderful, different, and SPICY.
At this point we were feeling a bit unsure about what we were going to do and were we were going to go. My friend Chelsea that we had planned to stay with is on an island much farther away then we had expected. It is on the side of Thailand and apparently does not have as good of diving. Plus she is finishing her instructor course this week so we did not want to go there yet. But we are very fortunate because Becca’s Aunt and Uncle are here; they are traveling around the world on their sailboat with their 2 children. You can check it out at www.thevoyageofbluesky.com, anyways they are very sweet and they will be here for a little while and invited us to come and stay on the boat for a few nights.






That is where we are now. They have been very friendly and wonderful and the boat is beautiful. Yesterday we went to the beach at the Marriott and swam with a baby elephant, really strange to see and play with an elephant in the waves. Also there was a holiday yesterday called Loy Krathong where the Thai people make these beautiful arrangement and you light a candle and let them go into the sea for good luck and new beginnings. Some of the arrangements were carved out of fresh fruit. The most intricate flowers you can imagine carved out of everything form papaya, to watermelon and pumpkin. Positively stunning. And now we are sitting on their sailboat between the mainland of Thailand and Phuket and preparing for a sail tomorrow. Basically we are trying to adjust and enjoy a whole new culture, and loving every minute of it.

Kruger Safari South Africa

Russ and I in the safari truck


Us and our Slovakian Safari Friends





In our tent




Elephant and baby


Buffalo

Our Campsite


We saw everything we wanted to see and more. When we went to meet the group of guys we would be spending the 3 day safari with we were surprised to see they had been diving with us the week before in Tofo. It was 5 Slovakians all wearing the same safari hat, pretty hilarious. As we arrived it the park we were greeted with a baby elephant and informed that it is baby season and we would be seeing miniatures of everything. The drive started in a modified pick up truck with 3 rows of seats in the back and open windows. The weather was a bit cool but this turned out to be a good thing as it brings more of the animals out and about. We wrapped ourselves up in a blanket and began our journey.
The first thing we came across was a giant elephant very close to the road, and then a moment later a heard of buffalo crossing the road. The buffalo stopped to stare at us for a moment and then continued moving on. We looked forward to continue our drive and saw a wart hog in the middle of the road scurrying across to the other side and in to the bush. Pretty ugly and mean looking creatures. Next we came across an enormous wrinkled white rhinoceros grazing in the savannah grasses. It stopped to look up at us with goofy smile. He almost looked friendly, but I think the smile is a bit deceiving. He is called a white rhino because the Dutch first saw them they thought they were very wide and called them a wide rhino and over the years the translation became a white rhino, the other one is called a black rhino and they are much more rare in the park. After that we spotted a solitary zebra with perfect parallel strips, they looked so flawless like they were painted on.
By this time it was almost 8 am and we had already seen so much. We pulled into our camp area, a fenced in miniature town. With a store, restaurant, bar, gas station, bathroom and shower facilities and housing any where from luxury to campgrounds. Our rest camp was situated in a back corner and consisted of several rugged plain gray tents all set up with mattresses. Also there was a dining area set up with a breakfast buffet of fresh fruits, cereal, yogurt, and pastries. This is where we would be spending the next 2 nights, with all our meals prepared for us between our drives into the park. Just outside the fence we could watch impala graze in the area and in the distance an elephant climbing a mountain.

Baby Lion

Baboon

Giraffe


After breakfast we began our next drive, which ended up lasting all day. As we pulled out of the park our guide would stop many of the other tour trucks to chat about what animals they saw and where they saw them. They were sure to talk in either the local language or to use code words for the animals so we were not prepared or expecting anything particular. We came across every type of small deer like creature you can imagine, water buck, sable, kudu, reedbuck, wildebeest, bush buck, suni, and more. A group of female impala and one male with huge spiraled antlers as he kept watch over the ladies and worked on his hard job of impregnating all of them. As we continued on I made some small requests for a giraffe and maybe some monkeys. Moments later a 15 foot giraffe appeared on the side of the road and with in moments several more randomly through out the horizon. We came down a hill then and into a valley where we found some baboons and velvet monkeys making lots of noise and running about fighting. From there we moved along in search of one of the big 5 we were missing, the lions. After hours of driving we finally found them, sleeping under a tree far in the distance, about 8 of them, with a few of them just little pups, amazing. Throughout the drive that first day we saw tons of elephants, giraffes, monkeys, rhinos, another heard of buffalo in the distance. And all of these animals had a little baby hiding by its side. Truly spectacular.
We returned to our camp as the sunset for a nice walk around the park and an impala stew for dinner, complete with some local fixing of pup (a corn meal based potatoes like dish) very popular in the area. And with a wonderful bottle of South African Shiraz.
Zebra and baby

Velvet monkey and baby

We woke the next morning to begin the day at 6 am with a short drive before breakfast. On our way out we were informed of a group of lions feeding over a kill. We came to the spot with several cars stopped to watch as the lions 2 large females feeding on a buffalo and another female with her baby close by laying on the ground relaxing. They were just close enough to get some amazing photos. We enjoyed a quick breakfast while watching some of the local bird life. A spectacular shiny blue cape glossy starling also a yellow black and white crested barbet, as well as several helmeted guinea fowl running around the camp.

Me and my camera


Lions Feeding

Lepord

Hippo

Giraffe



We began our day in search of some hippopotamus and a leopard to complete our sightings of the big 5 most dangerous animals in the park. As we pulled out of the park we heard the loud noises of a bunch of elephants running and making loud grunting noises. One of them ran into the road and looked at us like it wanted to charge us but then continued galloping off to the other side. As we listed to that one grunting in the distance we noticed a herd of elephants moving towards us to follow after him. We watched in awe as a group or 30+ elephants of all sizes crossed in front of us. Spectacular.


Moving on we came to an area where we were aloud to get out of the car. We walked down a fenced path to a viewing area over a pond, where we came across several hippopotamus. With a further look we noticed a crocodile just below the surface moving past. The area was filled with beautiful yellow masked weavers that were squawking loudly. Also standing in the shallows near one of the crocs was a little egret feeding on some of the small fish swimming by. From there we moved on in search of the leopard. On our way we came across an elephant that appeared to have 5 legs. Our guide pointed out that the other leg was indeed its penis and as we got closer to him he must have been un happy to see us as we watched it slowly shrink back to normal size were we could no longer see it. But it really was the size of one of his legs, kind of scary.
Moving on again we came across tons of cars stopped looking under a bridge at a sleeping leopard far in the distance, we moved to the top of the bridge just above him and our guide began to make hyena sounds to convince the leopard that there were hyenas in the area that would go to munch on his recent kill. As he began making the noises we looked down and just below us we spotted the leopard awake and move from his spot over to him dead impala and begin snacking. It was incredible to get to see this all so close up, and some amazing photos. From there we stopped to have lunch at one of the fancier rest camps. There were beautiful bungalows looking over the river that we had been traveling by and it was filled with hippo of all sizes, including a little baby one. After lunch we continued on back to camp to enjoy our last dinner.
The next morning we woke early for one more quick drive before heading off. Not much was out this morning but some last elephants, a couple of giraffes in the distance. At this point we felt like we had all seen pretty much every thing. We did come across a group of baboons on a rock. The male was going to one female after the other and quickly mounting and mating with them. Apparently the women can not get enough so the one male has a lot of work to do to keep them all happy, even the young babies. Every few seconds as they finished, they would make a loud noise. Rather hilarious to witness. All in all it was a great way to end an eventful safari.
Russ in one of the safari hats


Rhino and baby


Me and the Giraffe


Monkey family


Baby Lion



After the safari we went back to Nelspruit and rented a car to drive around a bit and to get us to the airport in Johannesburg four hours away. We drove to the mall in search of the civilization we had been craving so much. And much like my last few reintroductions to civilization it was a bit too much for my senses. My eyes got really big and started to hurt after a few minutes. The mall was packed full of people and things everywhere. We tried to shop a bit but I gave up. Russ got some ice cream and we used high speed Internet for the first time. I forgot how fast it could be. On our way out we went in to a grocery store (they have lots of these in the mall here) to buy some snacks for the ride. I got a little frustrated when all I wanted was cheese and there were too many options and it was located in 3 different sections, does that make any sense. Anyways we made it out safely and began our drive.
The countryside was truly picturesque, lush and green and tropical it surprised me a bit. We arrived at the Johannesburg airport a bit early (or so I thought) and were looking forward to getting settled and ready to fly. The ticket counter informed me that we were very late and about to miss our flight (apparently I cannot read military time). We ended up going from the rental car to being on a plane in less then 15 minutes, sounds like a record. Anyways from there we flew through Doha and then to Bangkok and finally at midnight local time into Phuket. Making us 14 hours from home. And barely any time to look back at our quick goodbye to Africa.