Random cleanliness thoughts

Hanging out in Phitsanulok and Sukhothai (one of the earlier Thai capitals) for a couple of days before heading up to Chiang Mai.

 

One of the things we have noticed is that there are dogs EVERYWHERE here in Thailand, mostly of the stray or allowed-to-roam free variety. Actually, they may be more the latter, as a goodly number of them are wearing shirts or sweaters. I swear I'm not making this up. (I'll try to post a picture soon). Anyway, despite the overwhelming number of dogs running around you cannot find dog poop on the streets or sidewalks or grass anywhere. (In complete contrast to the minefield that is France). It's unbelievable. The street cleaners here are gods.

 

Something else we notice. Despite the fact that it's so super clean on the streets or other public places here , it's often incredibly hard to find a garbage can to toss something into. Go figure....

 

More later

 

Becca

Postcards from Bangkok

Impressions of Bangkok
(have attached a couple of pics, will try and load more into flickr soon...)

-- First of all, we both like the city far, far more than we were expecting to. (Then again, our expectations were pretty low). We have spent most of our time walking the streets or riding the rivers in between seeing temples and palaces or shopping, and it just doesn't feel like a city of 6 million people. It helps that our hotel (New World Lodge Hotel, no where near as fancy as this makes it look) is on a little canal, away from the commercial nightmare that is Khao San Road (the budget tourist/backpacker capital of the city) and far away from the ritzy commerce of the area around all the upscale hotels (The Oriental, Shangri-La, etc.).

-- We are captivated and fascinated by the markets lining the streets, especially all the food vendors. Walking down the street you pass by cart after cart with exotic looking fruits and soups and meats and noodles, and catch whiff after whiff....some familiar, some strange, some drool-inducing, some repulsive...and the sheer number and variety just makes your head spin. That more than anything has probably given me the "I guess we're not in Kansas anymore" feeling. It's like walking through a postcard or documentary.

-- While we haven't eaten anything off of the street carts yet, I have no doubt that we will. (Though we will choose carefully to try to avoid paying for it later.) Actually, our culinary adventures have been a huge success so far. While we haven't quite made it to the street vendor stage, we have stayed far away from any restaurant aimed primarily at tourists. Ironically while we have been following some of Lonely Planet's recommendation, we have seen very few other westerners at the restaurants. But the recommendations have been good ones as most places have been packed with Thais, with tables spilling out down the sidewalk. Our favorite local dive (Jeh Hoy, on Th Samsen) is actually an open air restaurant, with the kitchen outside on the street corner and the woks and knives flying constantly. We've pretty much loved everything we've eaten and most dinners have been under $6 (for both of us). After wincing each time we paid for food in Scandinavia, this is more like it.

-- One of the things I like the most about being here is the friendliness of the people and the fact that when you are walking down the street and you smile at somebody, they smile back. I hadn't realized how much I had been missing that.... Plus we have gotten lots of smiles and giggles from out attempts to speak a (very little) Thai and to wai (bow with hands folded) at the right moments. Hopefully in the coming weeks we'll be able to add a few more words to the vocabulary.

-- Of course, the Thai reputation for friendliness is also a downside, because it makes it very hard to figure out whether somebody is genuinely being friendly, or is trying to scam you. I think as we get farther into rural areas, the ratio will fall shift firmly into the genuine category, but for the moment over half the people who approach us are actually trying to con us into going on a tour with them, taking their tuk-tuk to destinations unknown or buying something... We're trying hard not to let it turn us cynical, but it does get old at times.

-- The river taxis are fantastic and we highly recommend them for anybody visiting the city. While their greatest benefit may be the fact that they let you avoid the terrible city traffic and (most) of the exhaust pollution, they are also a great way to see the city and commute to places with Thai people instead of only on tourist-mobiles. They are also very easy to figure out and use, once you past the initial awkwardness of transferring between dock and boat (the boats stay in dock just long enough for people to get on and off so you have to be pretty quick jumping)

-- We have of course gone to many of the requisite places and seen the first set of what I'm sure will be many, many, many exquisite temples. Favorite sights and moments so far...appreciating the detail and decoration on the building housing the emerald buddha, being impressed by the sheer size of the giant reclining buddha (finally, someone with bigger feet than Brian!), getting a better sense of the king and royal family walking through an exhibit of the king's personal photography, and sitting at the back of a temple soaking in the ambiance as 30 monks chanted their evening prayers.

-- One of the more interesting cultural items has been learning and experiencing how reverent the Thais are about the monarchy. We had read that saying bad things about him can be a criminal (and in fact jailable) offence, but we weren't prepared for the pictures of him everywhere: shopfronts, intersections, schools, office buildings, ATM machines, etc. And these aren't small framed pics on the wall, like you often see other places, these are billboard-sized photos dominating the landscape. We have also caught a glimpse of this national reverence at 6 pm on a few of the days. At this time, everything stops and the national anthem is played (at concerts, events, movies, on the street, etc). Once we were out walking and heard the music and noticed that people at the bus stop had all stood up so we stopped and stood too, and then last night we were actually watching a football match on tv and it broke into the programming to play the anthem, complete with patriotic images and the words scrolling across the bottom (all that was missing was the little bouncing ball).

-- Finally, our shopping woes continue. After 6 months of wearing almost the same things every day our clothing is growing a little ragged. So we have been trying to replace a couple of items for a while. In Europe the last 3 months we struck out because we were looking for warm weather clothing (short sleeves, etc.) and shops there were all full of winter gear. Now here we are finding more weather-appropriate clothing, but now we're running into the problem of size, as Brian's head and feet and my general body are a little bigger than your average Thai. Sigh.... Wish us luck!

Tomorrow we head north to Sukhothai and Phitsanulok for a few days and then will continue up to Chiang Mai.

Becca

By the way, a few days ago was the six month mark since we landed in Belgium to begin this adventure.....wow. Still going strong, though.

Sawatdee from Bangkok!

Letting the faithful readers know we have successfully touched down in Bangkok.  Plan on spending the next 5-6 days here sightseeing and doing some planning for the rest of our visit to Thailand.

Couple of quick thoughts:

 

- British Airlines excellent.  American Airlines sucks. Easiest flight I've ever had (despite it being over 11 hours) compared to the no-sleep inferno we had coming over to Europe.

 

- While landing we noticed that there is a golf course situated in between two of the major runways.  And they say golfers are wimps about noise!

 

- As we were walking around town, we heard what sounded like dogs barking from the apartments above.  Either a lot of pets or there's a decent chance we eat Fido in the next four months.

 

- For anyone visiting Thailand on their own, getting into Bangkok proper was very easy.  With just a little work you can find the affordable taxi, hotel, etc.

 

- Just had a tasty dinner of fried seafood with garlic and pepper and tom kha gai (spicy coconut chicken soup) for under $5.  Total.  Me thinks our budget is going to be a little happier here.

 

- Of course choosing dinner was difficult as we were walking past all these tasty food vendors with their wares filling the air. 

 

More later!

 

Brian

We're Off!

Heading off in a couple of hours to the airport for our trip to Bangkok! (Though unfortunately we added 4 hours of flight time by having to go west from Copenhagen to London before heading east to Thailand).

We're all packed and ready, or at least as ready as we can be at this point. After a little more than four weeks of staying with friends, I think we're starting to feel a little soft. We'll have to crank it back into gear again to be on the lookout for pickpockets, clean toilets and places to lay our head at night.

Though we do feel a little bit out of the travel groove, we can't overstate how wonderful and helpful this break has been for us. Many of you have asked if we have gotten homesick at all or sick of travelling. And while we are still loving the trip and looking forward to continuing it, the answer is (not surprisingly): yes, we do get burned out and tired of being "on" all the time. You want to be sure that nobody is stealing anything from you/hustling you, you want to be sure that you are making a good impression, you're concentrating to try and pick up words in languages you don't know, you're paying a lot of attention to different cultural cues, you're thinking about where your next meal will come from and if you can afford it and where you will sleep the next night, and you're out and moving almost the whole day, almost every day. That definitely wears you down. That's why having a home again has been so very nice.

We also get asked what we miss the most. Excluding the obvious answer of our friends and family, I'd say this is our top 5 list:

5) Having a job. Now before you all think I'm crazy, let me explain a little. I certainly don't miss having to be at my desk for hours staring at a computer instead of hiking in the alps. Or bringing the laptop home EVERY night and working weekends instead of lying on Thai beaches. It's just that there's a certain amount of feelings of responsibility and accomplishment and identity that come from working that I miss. (And I notice that the most when we're staying with people who are going off to work while we hang out.)

Ed. note: Brian is quite happy getting his intellectual stimuli and sense of being elsewhere for now. Not saying I don´t think about work, how it differs overseas or what I want to be doing upon our return. I just don´t have the guilt/need surrounding work that my wife does. The difference between a type A and type A+ personality I suppose...

4) Mexican/Tex-Mex food. We've eaten a wide variety of cuisines so far, and while we haven't had as much Thai, Vietnamese and Indian as I would like, I know that'll change starting tomorrow. However, we really haven't found any good Tex-Mex. While we don't eat it that often at home either, there have been a couple of days when we've REALLY been wanting a burrito. And for some reason our hostel spam quesadillas didn't quite cut it :-)

3) The concept of a couch. Another thing that's missing in most backpacker/budget accommodations is anything resembling a living room with a couch. And the majority of the cities we visited didn't have an abundance of public spaces and benches and parks to use as warm weather living rooms. (Paris and Seville being notable exceptions). Not that we had the time to do it that often back in our real life and not that this is going to get much sympathy from all of you with little kids, but we really miss just being able to occasionally crash on a couch and lounge for an afternoon reading a book or watching football, etc..

2) Being part of a group. One of the most different things about this kind of a trip is that you are pretty much a world unto yourselves in terms of significant social connections. We look to meet people and make friends at hostels or in new towns, but most of those end up being at most nice acquaintances, as you're moving on within a couple of days. It's a good thing we're such good friends and get along so well, but we really miss hanging out with other people and feeling part of a group or network. I think some of our loneliest/most homesick moments have been observing other groups of friends in different places and wanting so badly to be a part of things.

1) The concept of "coziness" (hygge in Danish). It's unbelievable what a difference having or not having that makes. Backpacker/traveller clothing is very functional (easy to wash and dry, breathable, yada yada) but it is not cozy, especially when you are a little chilled. Give me some comfy fleece any day. Likewise, backpacker/budget accommodations, while clean and safe, are generally sterile, cold, and not particularly cushy. Military-style bunk beds provide a sleeping space, but hardly a good spot to lounge. Sometimes you just crave being curled up in comfy clothing on a deep couch in front of a roaring fire, etc.......

It'll be interesting to see how this list changes after travelling in Asia. My money is on clean, western-style toilets moving to the top of my 'missing' list!

Next post from Asia!

Becca

Living la vita dolce in the Cinque Terre

Last but not least on the tale of our Italian tour (in fact, it was actually the first place we went to with Earl and Elaine.....) is the national park of the Cinque Terre, or 5 lands. This park, in the Liguria region of Italy, encompasses five villages perched on or between cliffs along the sea: Monterosso al Mare, Vernazza, Corniglia, Manarola, and Riomaggiore. These towns are connected only by train and by boat (there is a highway up above from which you can with difficulty reach the towns, but it doesn't go through (or very near) them. Thus the towns have a peaceful, car-free, "old-time Italy" feel. Vernazza was our favorite town, as it had the best combination of small town feel and amenities.

This was probably our favorite place in Italy (though we liked Tuscany a lot) and we highly recommend it for any one to visit with a couple of important caveats.

- We were there at the end of shoulder season: end of Oct/beginning of November and it was crowded enough for me. I can't imagine it during the height of the tourist season and I believe it would likely be difficult to see the cities' charms through all the people. October is much calmer, and the weather (if you have good luck) is still beautiful and warm during the day (though quite cold at night).

- If you have physical issues with hills and stairs (LOTS of them and STEEP), then unfortunately this is not the vacation locale for you. There was simply no escaping the climbing up and down and up and down. On the flip side, it made us feel a whole lot more virtuous with all the pasta and gelatto we were eating.

Highlights from our stay in the Cinque Terre include:

-- Relaxing out in the hanging garden of the Trattoria Gianni Franzi hotel gazing out to sea...It's an incredible spot, just carved out of the cliff

-- Hiking between the towns of the Cinque Terre, between olive groves (with the cool way that they harvest olives) and vineyards, and at each corner oohing and aahing at the view. It's actually kind of brutal for picture-taking, because you keep thinking it can't get better and then 5 minutes later realizing it IS better and you have to take another picture.

--Watching the Halloween festivities in Vernazza. (Yes, I am writing about Halloween in December. So I'm a little behind....). We had seen a riot of scary commercial Halloween decorations in every store in Lyon, France earlier, reminiscent of the commercialization of the holiday that we see at home. (Which was a surprise to me (and further proof of the Hallmark-ization of the world) because when we lived in Belgium in the late '70's, no one had heard of Halloween) Upon arrival in Vernazza we had noticed several carved pumpkins around the town (often with the ubiquitous cats curled around them), but hadn't thought that much about it. But at dusk on the 31st we walked down the street to see what Halloween must have been like in the States 30 years ago. All the children (and it was only young children) were either dressed up as witches (complete with pointy black hat and long wig) or as ghosts (complete with white sheet). No cartoon or movie characters, no pop culture references, no toy tie-ins. And they seemed genuinely pleased to receive something. Earl ended up raiding his snack sack when he saw them coming which is how I ended up distributing granola bars to a number of bemused young Italians.

-- Discovering that anchovies can actually be good! Yeah, we didn't believe it either...but they catch them and serve them fresh that day, with a little bit of lemon, and they're YUMMY. Who knew?

-- Sitting out by the harbor in the morning with a pastry and the Gazetta della Sport (Italy's soccer newspaper which actually outsells all other newspapers of any kind in Italy) and watching the locals stroll by, or sitting watching the sunset enjoying a gelatto

All in all...a destination that has made its way onto our greatest hits lists.

Becca

From pickled herring to pad thai...

Greetings from Copenhagen!

We were bemoaning the icy, rainy, blustery 30ish degrees here until we were not so gently reminded by our Minnesota brethren that it was -10 to 2 degrees there. Yeah....this'll work. And 80-90 degrees in Bangkok next week will work even better!

That's right, we finally have a plan and more importantly, a plane ticket! I have to admit it was a strange conversation at the travel agency:

-- Hej. Hvordan kan jeg hjælp dig?

-- Hej. Jeg vil gerne ha et ..... Um, we'd like to buy a ticket please.

-- <seamlessly switching into flawless English...I hate the Danes> Yes, where would you like to go?

-- Well, we were thinking Bangkok.

-- No problem....

-- And then maybe Hong Kong....and then Sydney....a side trip to Auckland....maybe to Indonesia...back to Australia....then towards the States?

-- No problem, I have just the ticket program for you here. <and gosh darn if he didn't have exactly the type of routing and overland trip options we were looking for>

-- Um...wow...okay. Yeah, that would be great. We'll take it.

-- And when would you like to leave?

-- In two weeks. <which is high season to go to Thailand, btw...>

-- <masterfully manages not to blink> I think we can make that work. There. <and upping the ante...> And as you get one more stop for this price, why don't you break up the trip home with a stop in Fiji....

-- Um. Yeah. Ok. <Brian and I are wondering if this question is in the dictionary under 'No-Brainer Decisions'>

And then some paperwork later we walked out of the office, considerably lighter in the checking account (though not really considering all the places the ticket is going to) but holding tickets to get us all the way back home again at the end of next summer. I must admit it's not everyday that I just make that kind of major purchasing, life-affecting decision so casually, but the planning process for a trip like this really warps your brain.

The Eurorail pass in Europe starts the change in thinking. As you have the ability to get on any train going anywhere, you begin to relax your itinerary and be open to more spontaneous decisions about destinations. The logical end to this train of thought occurred as we were planning the Asian leg of our adventure. There are many places we want to see and definitely not enough time to dive deep into them all. As we have decided that we don't want to rush around the area, that meant we needed to make some choices, leading to the following email conversation (paraphrased slightly).

Lincoln: so where are you going to be spending Christmas?

Brian: Well, we're not sure. We may go to Bangkok and be exploring Thailand, but we are also toying with being in India. But since we also want to visit China before hiking in New Zealand, and don't want to cut Laos and Vietnam short, we might skip India.

Lincoln: This has to be the all-time best sentence in an email I've ever received. You make it sound like India, China, and New Zealand are stores in a strip mall. Last night I toyed with hitting Target but I had to stop at Fred Meyers, the gas station, and the bank before the kids' bedtime

It's great having friends to remind you when you are off floating in rarefied air. But it's also kind of a cool transformation to watch happen to ourselves that we are actually starting to think that way.

More details as the departure date approaches. But just wanted to let everyone know that as of December 13th, it's a whole new ballgame! (sorry...was practicing my holiday movie taglines. Now we just need movie announcer guy to say it for us)

Happy December.

Becca

Quick Poll

You the readers:

Knowing that this blog serves as a journal for our travels as well as entertaining reading for those of you at home, are there any particular opinions as to what (if anything) we can do to improve the site?

Are the blog entries too long?
Would you rather read descriptions of our travel vs. quirky opinion pieces?
Other thoughts?

Mainly we just wanted to get people´s opinion of the site to date. If you have opinions as to how it might be improved, send them our way via the comments link below. Or if you think it's too personal (aka Brian's writing sucks), send it to us in an email.

B&B