Request for email

I have a cool field experience. If you want to know email me and I will send it to you personally not publicly.

Cooking with fresh veggies and whole fish

If you know Will, you know he loves to cook. The next best thing for him is to teach someone else. This was a perfect opportunity for him. J loves fish and seldom has a chance to cook it. So here is the first time for her to learn how to clean a fish. It is more entertainment than you can imagine.

The only sad thing to report however, is that I forgot to show the finished product!!!! Yikes. I'm sooo sorry. It was AMAZING!!!!!

Karaoke (aka agony)

When In Rome (Do As The Romans Do)" (a visitor should try to act as the people do who are from that place... )
I'm trying to follow this silly English idiom.
With monumental effort and zero talent for singing I showed up for Karaoke. I would like credit for this. I would also like everyone to know that I am also able to laugh at myself and let you laugh at me too. So sit back and enjoy the "really good show"

Transporting Textiles

J and I went shopping for fabric to turn into curtains, slipcovers, napkins, table runners, clothes, bedspreads... We went a little crazy! Then we had the dilemma of transporting our material goods from "Old Town" to our home in North Chiang Mai. NO TRUCK!! We picked up a few cheap bungie cords and loaded the bike.

Delivery of Furniture

Bamboo furniture!

The house we are in is really great for us. Interestingly though, the owners aren't very interested in the "quality" of the plastic furniture which furnishes the house. Considering how inexpensive utra cool furnishings are, we are making ourselves right at home. When all of it is done I will post it on the blog. However, here are a few teasers.

Video tour of outside of house.

Hi again everyone,
This morning I did a brief video of the outside of our house. I am also planning one of the inside of the house when we get curtains and our new furniture. We negotiated and purchased ($30 total) two bamboo tables and two bamboo chairs. Very cute all of them. Then we will have the man make curtain rods for us out of bamboo to drape white sheers over them.

Before pictures of our house.

Bedroom has Pokemon sheet as curtain. Bunk bed and double bed (with a new mattress which is nice) Both beds in same room. So we moved that around a bit.




Living room had furniture set up as tho they were waiting to put a flat screen tv on the wall. haha.


The kitchen had an Anglo-American flag up for privacy. The bathroom is a small but nice western style bath. I will post pictures of the house after we moved things around. I also have a video that I will upload so you can see the outside of the house.

Souksaan wan Christmas sawatdii pimaï

Christmas days are unique. Stores are closed. Perhaps snow on the ground? No work! Better yet NO SCHOOL!! We all have good memories don't we?



This is one that I won't soon forget. It has been an absolutely GORGEOUS day. 82 degrees, blue clear sky, (which means super sunny) cruising on the motorbikes through central Chiang Mai. "Nimmanhemin Road" to be precise. Very famous. Also very western influenced. J calls it "Trendy Thai" not all Foreigners there but will appeal to foreigners. Will was not impressed. No surprise there.


Back to Christmas in Thailand. In Bangkok Will got a foot masssage while I had my nails done and we asked about the christmas tree in the shop. "Christian?" we asked. "no, we want to have a Christmas party" Very common here. Everywhere we went, all the trappings of full on Christmas. Here are a few samples.

The Night Train

As hard as it is to live out of a suitcase, I love traveling. Getting loaded into the train, settling down with dinner and a coke.... It felt great. J and I got a little giggly. Too much sugar perhaps?

Whatever the reason, we waxed philosophical about people who travel in far away places. There are local people who only view the train as a means of conveyance from work to home. Or perhaps from home to vacation. Then there are Westerners (anyone from cultures such as US, UK, AUS, EUR etc). Easy to spot with their leather bound journals, eyes gazing off meditatively into the middle distance. Trying to discern their minute spot in the world. "What is the meaning of my existence" they ask themselves. "What is it that the locals have figured out that I haven't? How do I find it"..... And how can I impress others with it? (My opinion only-and J's haha)
It's a cliche isn't it? Travel to discover yourself? Look at the local people and see what they have discovered the meaning of life to be? Then write about it.

Meanwhile the locals are tired from working a 12 hour shift and would most likely be shocked to discover that they are a focal point for rich Farangs (Thai word for Foreigner) in the eternal quest for meaning in life.

It was a hilarious conversation. I guess you would just have to be there. Maybe next time?
To give you a taste of train travel I interviewed J. Please watch the following you tube video and ENJOY! Perhaps one day soon you will be on the Night Train to Chiang Mai.

Last run in Benjasiri Park/Moving Schedule

Will and I left J's place by 8:30 and eased into our morning workout. "Eased into" is code for: we walked, stretched, jogged up steps to the BTS, exchanged dollars for bahts, purchased an iced coffee, jogged down the steps, walked to a book store and browsed books, bought a used book for me, walked back to Benjasiri Park. THEN we ran the perimeter of the park three times consecutively. It was a nice hour and a half. To see beautiful Benjasiri Park click on the title of this post.

Today is our last day in Bangkok until February 13. The night train leaves the station at 7:30. We should arrive in Chiang Mai by 10:00 on Sunday morning just in time to shower and change for the meeting at 12:00.
I'll let you know how the train ride goes as well as post pictures as soon as I can.
We will begin looking for a place to live Sunday. If I have time I will also post pictures of our choices of places to live and you can help us decide. Unless I decide first. (haha)

By the way, Will and I are OFFICIALLY down to one house. The closing was Friday December 18.

Meeting stars and gypsys

So Sunday we went to KH. Will's talk went really well. Loads of exclamations and gasps when he crunched his nose. Then an explosion of laughter. NO ONE expects a person to do that.
The picture I took of him explaining how he did the nose trick didn't turn out well. Sorry.

Here is a better one of him in the parking lot.








Naturally we met interesting people. I mean how could you not? Half the group are Reg. Pio. Majority of them are Nd Grtrs from far and wide. A few of the names were funny to us. A Texan named Sayid who has been here for 2 months. Then a Japanese named Hiro. In real life it's not funny. But to us since our experience with those names is from TV, it was funny. After our late lunch/early dinner (meeting was at 1:30) we went to see some Sea Gypsys about a pearl. Our new Texas friend haggled with those poor gypsy's until I came away with a new pearl necklace, bracelet, ring and 6 PAIRS of earrings. I wish I had been able to record the haggling. I could barely contain my laughter. Will got off cheap for our anniversary this year. (We postponed celebrating until we could be here).

Coming Attractions

Up next is Sea Kayaking and Snorkeling...also a secret floating seafood restaurant.
Stay tuned!

Up to date

Will and I have been running every morning. (I'm enclosing a picture for proof of said running.)
Yesterday we went out for our run and decided to do cross training instead. So we traversed massive granite rocks leading to the more remote Kata Noi Beach. (Currently we are at Kata Beach)
WOW! Kinda scary. But very gorgeous at the same time. The breeze was strong so it kept us cool. However by the time we made it to Kata Noi I was a bit overheated and dehydrated...I know, I should have taken water with me...But I didn't know it would take so long.(This happens to me more often than it should-haha) I hope you like the pictures.

And the WINNER

We spent today exploring and found a cool place to stay for a few days....until we find another cool place to stay. I know. Decisions, decisions, decisions.
Will loves this fruit that looks unappetizing. It is brown and fuzzy on the outside but is tasty to him. Have no idea what the name is. I still haven't tried it, but I've heard from some other of my friends (S and J) that they're great. Soooo I'll let you know what they're like when I finally do try them. That's why he is not paying attention to where he is going. He's digging into his 25b bag of fruit.




I on the other hand had Coconut Shrimp with Thai Sweet Chili sauce and a Coconut "pretty drink". Do I need to open another poll to determine which is more popular??

AFTER!!!

We're done!! Here are the pictures.
If you aren't sure why I titled this "AFTER!!!", go back a few posts. I was writing while you were sleeping. Will was right. J did want to paint. Here's proof. And proof that..........
IT'S A GREAT PLACE TO UNWIND AFTER A HARD 5 HOUR DAY OF WORK

The interior walls we painted

The picture on the wall is one that J purchased in Vietnam. It's hard to tell with the lighting but the room looks very warm and cozy. She wanted us to paint one part of the kitchen. It really made a difference to the kitchen.

Between the Before and After

Here are a few shots of the process. J is at school teaching now. Will is sure that she will want to paint the outside wall herself (I think he got tired of me making him work) so he snagged his book and took off.

Argh! Where's a painter when you need him!!

Quick project we tackled while staying with J. I'll show before and after photos over a couple of posts. The ground floor apartment allows for a patio. Plenty of room for plants and a cozy place to hang out....about to get cozier!
Before picture of patio.














The floor to ceiling selection of paint. Sherwin Williams of Sukhumvit.
There were very few options so J picked a strong orange/yellow and white. We added some yellow to the white to mix our own color.
She also picked out a pint of red to paint a shelf later on.

What would you save if your house was on fire?

Hmmmmm. I grabbed my passport/visa and my iphone. Is that wrong??
I did wake up the other people in the house and removed our precious dogs as well.
Saturday November 28 4am the house was on fire. Since the fire was outside it didn't set off the fire alarms until the entire northwest side of the house was engulfed in flames. Fortunately I woke up before that (nature calls) and was able to warn Will and L and save the aforementioned difficult but not impossible to replace, passport/visa. Saving Boo was easy. He's so small I was able to scoop him up and scurry down the ladder. However, Huck is 90 pounds and not inclined to be picked up and carried down an extension ladder. So I resolved that I would sit at the back door holding on to him until the fire got closer. In my imagination, I pictured myself finding the strength to bodily lift him and toss him out the door. In reality, I don't know how I would have done that. Luckily I didn't have to. Cool headed D, our downstairs neighbor, climbed up towards me, grabbed Huck by the hind quarters and helped me walk him down the ladder backwards. The local volunteer fire department arrived in near record time to Will's relief. However the comedy of errors was about to begin. Fire hose on fire, nozzles falling off, hoses bursting apart.... You get the idea.
Long stressful story short the fire was put out and the house was saved. Here are a few pics from the adventure.

6 degrees of separation

How is it that a person can be 1,000's of miles from home and meet someone who just returned from studying at Ohio State? AND who knows the same people?? .....I KNOW! It's crazy!! Today we met a young man who just returned from Ohio and studied with a brother who is currently serving in a Chinese Cong in Columbus. Coincidentally that same brother was at our house, what is it now 5 days ago? to clean our office computers following the fire. So cool.
Also met a brother who is native WEST VIRGINIAN!!! Currently calls Alaska home. But is in Bangkok because his wife is native Thai and wants to spend retirement years here.

Benjasiri Park Turtles and writing

Airplane Travel Highlights to present

30 + hours of travel are grueling. However, it is amazing that in a short period of time (relatively speaking) we can be on the other side of the world. I'm glad we didn't have to travel by ship to get here!


We were fed every couple of hours and offered beverages in between. Conscientiously we drank plenty water. Elevations of 38,000 feet in an enclosed recycled air system bring on dehydration. By the time we arrived in Bangkok our hands and feet were swollen. It has taken a few days and alot more water to diminish the swelling.
Saturday we slept late. Although we are in a bustling city, the screened windows next to our bed are framed by J's tropical plants. Across the alleyway you can hear birds that sound like they should be in the jungle.
When we eventually meandered out onto Soi 22, it was midday and stunningly beautiful.
In an unexpected turn of events I have not been very tired. I'm attributing it to the cooler temperatures Thailand is experiencing this time of year. J and I spent Saturday afternoon in Benjasiri park lounging beneath palm trees next to a turtle pond gossiping and writing. Benjasiri Park is only a short walk from J's perfectly located apartment. I'll include some pictures of our time in the park. Will and I returned to the park early this morning for the first of our "get back into shape" workouts.

There is much to write about. I've been formulating some ideas. One of the ideas is about the many street cats here in the city. I've started taking pictures of them and am planning to record the eerie noises they make at night. I know that I have at least one young friend who will love it :-)

Today, Sunday, we are going to the English Cong. meeting which is at 2p.

Enjoy and exert yourselves!!
Love,
Nat

Arrived!

Hello everyone!!
We arrived in Bangkok at 11:30pm Friday night Bangkok time. or 11:30 am Athens time.
J met us at the airport and we dropped our luggage at her apartment before heading out to get a therapeutic Thai Reflexology session. Will picked up a Tiger and Som Tom on the way.
Weather is amazing 79 degrees. (J was cold)
More later. Will is asleep and I'm heading there.
Love,
Nat

Some information on Phuket Beaches

Help me plan my beach vacation

Dear Friends,
The last few days have been very trying. I will post pictures of the before and after of the damage done.
In my original plan, I had these last three days set aside to double check packing and make any last minutes adjustments. That's definitely not happening! We've been meeting with the insurance adjuster, contractors and today the investigator.
So I have a favor to ask. While we are traveling to Bangkok, we will not have email or cell service. I REALLY NEED a vacation and need help deciding what to do. We will be in Bangkok with J until Tuesday. Then we will be flying south. Help me pick some good beaches in Phuket.
I'll set up a poll that you can vote on. If you find other cool things to do in Phuket (we are planning to kayak around James Bond Island) please email me.
Thank you very much and thanks for all of your help.
Love,
Nat

Countdown

I'm sitting in front of my computer at work contemplating my schedule. Two weeks from today we will be in the air heading toward Texas. When I think of 13 days and counting, I am completely overwhelmed. So I pause, breathe and think of right now. Last week I pulled out a small notebook and beginning with December 3 I worked back to November 16 documenting the tasks, projects and general minutia I have to complete. It helped. Now I consult my little notebook and draw a heavy black line through each project as it's finished. Today's schedule: Work, Doctor appointment, grocery shopping, friends for dinner.
................I should be working.

Visas, currencies, vaccinations, OH MY!

With less than a month to go, we are now filling out our tourist visa application. http://www.mfa.go.th/internet/consular/Visaapplicationform.pdf
It's not nearly as complicated as I thought it might be. The only part left to do for the application is attaching attractive photographs so the Thai Authorities will welcome us to their country with open arms. I would have used money to convince them, however an exemption of the visa fee is now in effect from June 2009 to March 2010.
Saved another $50!!
Saving $50 USD is comparable to .....??? THB
http://www.xe.com/ucc/convert.cgi?Amount=50&From=USD&To=THB&x=43&y=14
That easily buys 5 or 6 Thai reflexology sessions. Or ALOT more Thai iced coffee. The difficulty will be deciding which indulgence will be first.
There is always one more thing on the list that I will be sure to forget. Naturally some are more important than others. Health is one that is more important. The CDC has the recommendations for travel at the following site.
http://wwwnc.cdc.gov/travel/destinations/thailand.aspx
Will and I both are up to date on our vaccinations. Malaria pills aren't necessary. Interestingly, rabies vaccinations are recommended if you are a vet or will be living long term in areas with a high risk of exposure. You know, like bats, carnivores, and other mammals. Rabies myths have created confusion about one of the world’s most frightening diseases. Just hearing the word rabies, conjures up images of foaming, aggressive dogs and animals. It’s nearly impossible not to picture the movie, Old Yeller, and the young boy forced to shoot his beloved rabid dog that suffered with the disease.
Read more: http://mammals.suite101.com/article.cfm/rabies_facts_and_myths#ixzz0VtyVNPfN
For fans of "The Office", please reference Season 4 episode 1 entitled "Fun Run" for more helpful information regarding myths about rabies.

As a moth(s) to a flame

I am sitting with my back to the house. My toes are pointed toward the yellow flames of a new fire. The poplar is very dry and rarely pops. I miss the popping of sappy pine.
Without moving my eyes I lift my glass and sip the cold gin and freshly squeezed lime.
As the fire burns the wood quickly to ash, I now notice on the opposite side of the firepit what appears to be a crab moving horizontally across the tile. For multiple reasons I realize it is not a crab. So I look closer. A moth? Two moths. Attached at the rear facing opposite directions. I scramble to my feet as I realize what this is. Hurriedly I reach for my poorly charged video camera as I try to document this intimate moment. I snap still photos without stopping to completely realize where the moths are situated.
....As a moth to a flame.....