Now Boarding for STT

Tomorrow I leave for St. Thomas. I love to go to St. Thomas because we have friends who live there and we know our way around really well since Dave lived there for a few years. That's where I met Dave. Its a very comfortable and very beautiful island and I plan to spend most of my time at the beach. I'll upoad photos if I can while I'm there but they may just have to wait till I get back. TBD

Here's one photo of Magen's Bay taken from the scenic overlook at Drake's Seat. Still as beautiful as ever!

Thinking back over the trip now that I'm home

I've been home a week now, and thought I'd reflect back on my trip and summarize my thoughts.

First of all, it was a wonderful trip and I'm so thankful I had the opportunity to go! Thank you Michael & Beverly for making me aware of the yoga retreat, for encouraging me to go along and for being such great travel companions! I'm sorry my desire to ride elephants put you in the Chiang Mai hospital Michael!! Note to self and anyone else who is thinking about riding elephants bareback - wear long pants!! They have very coarse hair and it will prick your legs as you are trying to hold on. And you don't realize it until you are off and start seeing little bumps pop up on your legs. I only had 3 or 4 of them which I thought were bug bites and immediately put antibiotic ointment on as soon I noticed them, but Mike had on shorts and got the worst of it with hundreds of pricks that ended up infected. Not good! But he has survived and is on to his next adventure.

The experience at Yoga Thailand was so beneficial on a number of levels. First, the people teaching the classes, Adarsh & Heleen, were wonderful teachers and were very enjoyable to be around. And the people I met there who were attending the retreat were also enjoyable. Of the 12-14 people who were there, 4 of us were American. There was a couple from Australia originally from the Ukraine, two British women, one of whom lives in Dubai, a German professor who once taught at UF, and Heleen who lives in California, but is from the Netherlands. There were also drop in students from Sweden and other places. It was wonderful to be around such diverse people who were drawn together for a common interest. We had many conversations and I learned much about the different cultures and environments in which they live. This is one of the main reasons I love to travel - learning about things I would never learn if I just stayed in the U.S. I also learned alot about the Thai culture and cuisine thanks to the staff at Yoga Thailand who were so very accomodating. And I learned a little about Buddhism too. But selfishly, the most beneficial thing was that this retreat set me on a course to get healthy again. Since leaving Yoga Thailand, I've been doing yoga almost every day (except the days I was traveling) and I can tell a big difference in my flexibility (my mouse shoulder is much better!), and I'm even starting to lose some weight! Yay! It takes a lot of concentration and mindfulness to do the breathing right, remember the poses and do them correctly, so it is mentally and physically challenging but is very calming at the same time. The eight guiding principles of Ashtanga yoga seem to be good ones and I want to research more about the history and philosophy around it, and have already ordered the book "Yoga Mala" that is by the Yoga Guru, Sri K Pattabhi Jois, that taught my teachers. If anyone is interested, you can visit the website for Adarsh & Heleen at http://www.ashtangayogadaily.com/yoga.htm. They have also recommended one of their yoga buddies to me who teaches in Atlanta. I'd like to try and make it to a class with him at least once a week to keep motivated and make sure I'm doing it correctly (so I don't hurt myself).

I'm already planning my next trips - the first of which will be down to St. Thomas, USVI, which is a favorite, and is someplace where I can stay for free. We have friends who live there and Dave is there working and housesitting for the next few weeks. Then I'll spend some time at my beach house in Laguna Beach, FL once all of my renters are out. It's very peaceful once school is back in, and the weather is really nice there in Sept & Oct. I've got my heart set on a trip to Prague in the fall, and I'd really like to work Egypt and the Pyramids in somehow. Now if I can just get the money to hold out!! I'll be sure to keep my blog updated as plans progress and trips are underway.

Quick Temple Tour in Narita (Tokyo), Japan

I had a 1 day layover in Japan on the way home and went into the town of Narita for a few hours to see some of the temples there. Narita is where the Tokyo airport is located outside of Tokyo. I was most interested to see how the temples there differed from those in Thailand. The outsides seemed very similar, but the inside was a bit different. Of course the Japanese Budda looks a little different from the Thai Budda, and the inside of the temple seemed a little more formal or something. Another difference were all of the Japanese lanterns that were in front of the temples. And the cemetaries that were around the templese were different as well.

The Elephants - The Icing on the Cake!

Tuesday was my last day in Thailand and we went to visit the elephant farm. As I mentioned in my previous post, this was elephant ownership for a day. We bathed them, fed them and rode them to a waterfall where we had a wonderful lunch of local thai favorites. There was a baby elephant too that was so very cute and playful. At 4 months, he was about 600 lbs! My elephant was named Mai Sinoi (not sure about the spelling). She was pregnant with her 4th. I found out that it's 18 - 24 months from conception till birth! She was very calm and was just my speed! Elephants in Thailand were originally used as transportation, and then in the logging industry until they banned chopping down all of the teak forests. Now they have become fewer in number and Thailand has started a conservation program to take care of them (some live to 80 years!) and increase their numbers so they don't become extinct. The folks at Patara Elephant Farm are doing a great job with conservation and were absolutely wonderful, informative and enjoyable to be with. It was an all day adventure with them picking us up at 7:30 am and driving us to the farm. We got back at 4:30 pm just in time for me to shower and get to the airport. If you ever find yourself in Chiang Mai, this is a must do! Don't do any other elephant farm trip because they don't give you the kind of hands on opportunity that we had here. There were only 9 of us and most others have many many more people and require the elephants to do tricks and such like a circus. This was far from that! I have lots of photos, here are just a few.

More temples - the same only different

Today we went to see some of the temples inside the old city of Chiang Mai, which originally had walls and a moat around it. The walls are mostly gone now thanks to us during WWII and due to earthquakes and 700 years of erosion. But the gates into the city still stand. Inside the walls are many temples some dating back to the 1300's. Many are built of teak that has been intricately carved. The temple compounds contain the main temple and several other buildings that look

like temples but aren't. Monks live around the outsides of the compound and maintain them. For some reason a few don't want women inside, so we had to skip them, but they were a mere few. I'm sure it has something to do with tempting the monks who are supposed to swear off sex - those orange robes are soooo very attractive. This little guy was very cute though and was just hanging out by himself sitting on the curb and I asked if I could take his picture. He decided he needed to pose for me. Anyway, I've included a few photos here for your viewing pleasure.

Tuesday before I leave, we are going to an elephant camp. I'm so very excited about this because as I mentioned before I wanted to ride an elephant. Today we found out about an elephant rescue group that gets elephants from circuses over here (not very animal friendly) and other places and have started an elephant breeding and conservation farm. You get to spend the day with an elephant that becomes yours for the day and you get to feed them, bath them, brush them, ride them and take them swimming! We were talking with some other Americans this morning at breakfast and they had gone yesterday and were raving about it so much that we decided we wanted to do it. It should be an awesome experience and a great way to end my trip here. Stay tuned for the photos, though they may not get uploaded before I get home because I'll have to go straight to the airport from the elephant trip. Hopefully I'll at least have time for a shower before I go to the airport or they may not let me on the plane!

On to Chiang Mai

I am now in Chiang Mai in the north of Thailand. It is the original Lanna capital of Thailand and has some very interesting history. There are many temples here too and we saw several today. But before I go there, I thought I'd share my travel experience with some of my airline friends. I traveled from Bangkok to Koh Samui and then from Koh Samui to Chiang Mai on Bangkok Airlines, billed as "Asia's Boutique Airline". I was quite impressed! I don't have non-rev priveleges on them, so bought tickets (they are the only airline servicing Koh Samui). They have lounges that they invite all passengers to use where they provide food and beverages (not alcohol), internet access and a nice place to rest before the flight. See the photo here of the gate area at the Koh Samui airport - very nice! And they serve a hot meal on every flight. Even my 50 minute flight from Bangkok to Koh Samui had a hot meal. It was amazing how efficient they were serving it and getting it cleaned up prior to landing. My only issue with them was paying by credit card online - your credit card company will need to ok it prior to paying which makes it an extra step. We also found out that it's cheaper to purchase a ticket at the airport! Oh well. I'd highly recommend them anyway.

Magic Garden and Na Thon Market

Yesterday we went to the Magic Gardens (aka Secret Garden or Heavens Garden). This is up in the mountains here where a man created this beautiful garden on a hillside with many, many statues. This is one of many photos I took. We rode scooters up there and I thought my hands would cramp from holding the brakes going back down. But it was fun!

On the way back, we stopped at the market in Na Thon where locals sell their vegetables and the fish they've caught. There were all kinds of veggies I'd never seen before, lots of Thai chilis, and a wide variety of fish, shrimp, crabs, eels, frogs, and other critters, some of them still alive.

We were the only white folks (Anglo) there, and I was snapping photos the whole time. The smell was ummm interesting, and they had a unique fan for fanning the flies away. I would have eaten the veggies and shrimp but some of the other stuff I wouldn't have touched! Thai chilis are beautiful but oh so hot, hot, hot!

The Art of Squid Fishing

Every morning the tide goes out and there are many rocks that are exposed. Apparently these rocks make for good hiding places for squid, and the locals come out to fish. The photo below of the man walking in the water is one of these fishermen. I didn't realize what they were fishing for until today when I was walking down the beach and the men were headed down to the beach. Their fishing pole is half fishing pole and half gig. There is a multipronged gig on the end of the 4-5 ft long stick (some are bamboo, some look like an official squid pole if there is such a thing), and there is a short fishing line - about 8-10 in. with a loop at the bottom. They catch little sand crabs and put them on the line, then dangle them around the rocks until a squid goes after it. Then they gig the squid and snatch it up. I've been watching them every morning with great curiosity. Now I know! The photo here shows how low the tide goes in the mornings, and you can see the squid fishermen doing their thing. The low tide is about 4-5 feet below high tide.