Texas = Home

Over the last few days, it's been a whirlwind catching up with friends and family in Houston, Arlington, and Oklahoma.  This is despite jetlag waking me up at 3AM every morning and having to take care of business that's been awaiting me for months.  Starting with Christmas Eve, I get to relax with my family in Longview.

The Briley Christmas traditions of shotguns, good food and sleeping late haven't changed.

It's good to be home.

Next Stop:  New Years in Buenos Aires

Singapore for a day

I spent a little over 24 hours in Singapore on my way home to Texas.  My friend Amy greeted me at the airport and walked me around a lot of this Disneyland of a country.  Amy is warm, smart and active, and has been living in Singapore for about a year.  So her guided walking tour of this island city was right up my alley!

Singapore is known for it's shopping, food and planned society.  The shopping and commerciality was on display everywhere.  The streets and numerous shopping malls were decked out for Christmas, even though the locals don't celebrate the holiday.  The food was all great.  (It helps that Amy took me to her favorite dumpling and Indonesian food places :)

Christmas decorations everywhere
They have no idea what they're for
but it's an excuse for pictures

Crab dumplings - yum!

You don't get these kinds of buildings just anywhere
The casino int he back is big enough to hold air craft carriers
Note the white globes on the right.

The city itself is almost unreal.  It is absolutely pristine, with huge structures dotting the landscape.  Singapore is famous for controlling everything, down to spitting and gum chewing.  The penalty for drug trafficking is death. These strict rules yield a pristine and safe country, where people can leave their purses out on tables to reserve them as they go order food.  The same folks creating the personal behavior rules have delivered mightily on their economic vision for the country.  The standard of living in Singapore is so much better because it is much more successful economically than any of its larger neighbors.  And that's largely due to the vision and determination of the prime minister and government.  Their controlling hand is visible as you walk around staring at the strange but beautiful buildings, wide boulevards and concert venues intertwined with public spaces along the water, and the never-ending construction.  We were sipping beverages at the top of the Marina Bay Hotel when Amy mentioned the government announced they will move the Port of Singapore because it is unsightly in it's current location.  Who just decides to move a port?!

From the top of Marina Sands Hotel
A view of the flower dome, the cloud dome,
the grove of "super trees", and the many ships waiting
to participate in the economic miracle of Singapore,

We did luck out and stumbled our way into a local celebration.  Initially, we couldn't figure out why they were filling the bay with this ~2ft diameter white floating globes.  Serendipity led us to where they were signing them.  We scribbled our wishes for the New Year on a globe the last day they were allowing folks sign them, and our globe is probably floating in the water right now.


Thanks to Amy for all her hospitality.  It was great to see my friend and she gave a wonderful tour.




Next Stop:  Home Sweet Home.  I can't wait to see my family for Christmas!

Final days in Thailand

Koh Toa seems to have a magnetic force that draws you in.  Ian says that the biggest lie told on the island is "I am leaving tomorrow."   He told us his first class as a diving instructor was the first time he's seen somebody call their agent so she could stay longer on the island.  He says it happens often.   It happened to me.

The staff amusing themselves

So true.

I went there planning to spend just 3 days to get my basic scuba certification and move on to other, better known islands in Thailand.  I ended up spending one of the best weeks of my life there, leaving at the very last moment possible.  Most days were full of classes and diving, followed dinners every night.  But even these long days were broken up with long breaks on the boat between dives, lunch breaks, and goofing around in the dive shop before dinner.  

Our classroom and my new happy place
With Sammy (fellow student) and Steve (our instructor)

I have loved the mountains on my travels, but nothing compares to the wonders below the water.  We saw turtles, manta rays, thousands of brightly colored fish, shrimp and squid doing everything from schooling, to sleeping, to feeding.  I was hooked from my first snorkel paddle to the shallow beach of of Nang Yuan Island for my confined skills test.  I have never seen this many fish before, much less with this kind of variety and they were absolutely fearless!  Koh Toa is one of, if not the, most popular place in the world to learn how to scuba dive. So the fish are now accustomed to these strange black creatures blowing bubbles.  I wish I had pictures.  Too bad I don't have a waterproof camera.  If our open water classmate Sammy sends the pictures from his GoPro then I can add some of them to this post.  But for now, just believe me that it is beautiful. 

Koh Toa

The view from the beach at sunset
So peaceful

Sairee Beach

The island is also very chill. Unlike the big party islands, most people in Koh Toa are here to dive.  And you can’t dive hung over without risking some very serious consequences.  What that means is that you can still find the party scene on the beach with bucket cocktails and fire jugglers if you want to. But most people turn in every night after dinner so they can catch the first boat out the next morning. 

Like everywhere else, it's the people who make or break the place.  I may have cried a little after hugging everybody goodbye the morning I left the island. 

Celebrating with a selfie the night
after completing our Advanced
Diving class

Let’s start with Philipp - a German Mechanical engineer who was on a 5 week vacation to Thailand.  He works with (and drives) prototype sports cars for a living back home.  I found it highly entertaining when Ian, who scuba dives on a tropical island for a living, became envious of Philipp's job.  Philipp and I struck up an easy friendship the first evening I arrived, as we did our "homework" together for the next day's class.   We were each other's diving buddies and dinner companions for the whole week.  As I was leaving Koh Toa, Philipp was still going  . . . taking his 3rd course to go dive inside a sunken WWII ship.  

Christmas time in Thailand
Check out the weather rock in the background :)

Steve was our instructor and is probably the longest-running employee of the shop besides the owner and manager Natalie and David.  His classes are both hugely entertaining and informative.  Like every instructor at Scuba J, he takes safety very very seriously.  (Teaching diving may be the only thing he take's seriously.)  He’s chosen to work at a smaller shop because he wants to teach his students instead of racing them through to graduation.  Steve had a personal story to emphasize almost every point in our SSI lesson plan.  He clearly cares that his students are competent when they get their certification cards.  Philipp and I enjoyed his open water course so much that we immediately signed up for an Advanced class.  A native Brit, he's taught scuba courses all over the world and tells me Koh Toa is where he decided to stop because it was the best place of them all.  I am sure meeting his "missus" in Thailand helped.  The two of them were on their way to Phuket or Phi Phi when he stopped briefly in Koh Toa and decided it was better than either of those islands.  Koh Toa is so relaxed.  So chill.  So beautiful . . . just two more victims to the island’s mysterious magnetic force.  They've lived there ever since. 

Philipp and Ian talking windsurfing
in between the morning and afternoon
diving sessions

Ian is another full-time instructor employed by Scuba Junction.  A native Scottsman, he is full of stories and jokes.  He played social coordinator all week - acting as the ring leader for dinner and/or drinks most nights we were on the island . . . or maybe that's just because he had all the open water certification celebrations while Philipp, Sammy, Clemont and I monopolized Steve's time. Ian’s fiancé, Marie, the Norwegian Scott, is also a dive instructor at Scuba J, and theirs is the best proposal story I have ever heard.  Amy, Grant, Thomas, Natalie and Kay were all great company as well.  We mostly saw them in between courses or at dinner.  Thomas took me on my first "fun dive" and we had fun listening to his dive prep spiel with an Irish brogue.

Dive Master graduation

If you haven't picked up on this yet . . . the island is run by expats.  We witnessed the beginning of a Dive Master class graduation ceremony one evening.  (It’s basically a roast to provide everybody else with entertainment.)  There were about a dozen new dive masters and all but 3 were from the UK, with one American, one Aussie and one Argentinian.  That's pretty representative of the ethnic makeup of all dive instructors on the island.  I am not sure why the Thais have resisted the best paying job of the industry that powers their island, but they have.  In fact, most of them don't even know how to swim (including the captain and boat staff for the diving boats.  The captain lives on his boat!). So restaurants, massage parlors and tourist agencies are run by Thais, and the dive shops are run by expats.

Amy and Grant were out of
commission at the same time :(

One thing that hits you pretty hard after getting to know the staff is that these guys don't make much money and they can't work while they are injured.  Injuries were shockingly common.  3 of the free-lance instructors at Scuba J were injured while I was there - one dog bite (!) while hiking, one bacterial infection, one motor bike accident requiring stiches.  Bang.  Out of work for weeks.  We had drinks one evening with another instructor who was freelancing at a different dive center who also got in a bike accident between dinner and drinks.  Philipp slipped on the stairs coming down to the ground level of the dive center accommodations and banged himself up pretty bad on his first full day of class. It can be risky living in Thailand.  Good thing meals cost about $2 and medical treatment is both high quality and cheap.

I did not explore much of the island of Koh Toa because I was diving all but one day.  Fortunately for me, the rain finally abated the day we finished our Advanced diving course.  The forecast for the foreseeable future is sun.  It was perfect timing.  The three of us classmates partied late into the night and took the next day off from diving.  All the dive instructors took us out to dinner, and Natalie sent us off with a bottle of Hong Tong.  Philipp and Clemont slept in the next morning while I went hiking.  That day, I climbed a peak, lounged on the beach, and occasionally threw a Frisbee around with Philipp and Ian.  I also practiced with the best yoga class ever . . . for the outrageous price of $9 for a 2 hour session! 

A view from one of the outlooks close to the peak
We didn't get further because we ran into dogs.

Frisbee by sunset on the beach

My last night on the island, we went on a night dive and toasted beers on the “sun deck” of the boat as we rode back to shore.  Bioluminescent plankton followed by beers on a boat under the stars.  Life doesn’t get much better than this.  

I’d have to get used to some things if I wanted to move to the islands - like having no money, no AC and no hot showers.  Still, Ian is convinced I am going to come back.  I am not sure he's wrong.  Remember the girl who called home to change her travel plans during Ian’s first class?   . . . she just passed her diving instructor's exam last week on Koh Toa, almost a year and a half later.  Ian is so proud. 

Next Stop: Singapore on the way home to Texas

Introduction to Koh Toa

I am friggn happy in Thailand now.  I made it to Koh Toa and just had my first open water dive.  Now I understand why everybody is happy here.  It was amazing!!  We did our shallow water/confined skills training today with parrot fish swimming between our legs.  The coral reef projects are thriving, and another dive group in our boat even saw a turtle.  Being underwater with fish that are not afraid of you is so foreign and so cool!!

This is all despite the fact that it's the rainy season in this part of Thailand.  It's also much cooler here on the island and you can sleep with the windows open comfortably.  It's rained both days I've been here and the forecast says it will continue.  But I don't care.  I will be underwater, swimming with the beautiful, cute, curious fishes.  I wish I had a waterproof camera.  There are promises of pictures on the last day of our certification class.

The dive instructors are all very nice, very knowledgeable, very happy people.  There's a comraderie that is contagious.  They joke a lot.   They laugh a lot.  They make no money, and are happy about it because they are diving every day in paradise.  A few of us students ate dinner with 4 instructors tonight and learned a lot about the diving lifestyle.  Several of them had real careers, and advanced degrees before they decided to take the plunge and just teach diving.  Now the travel around the world from peak season to peak season, saving up just enough to travel when they want to.  I can see the attraction.  But I also notice there are no old dive instructors . . .

Bangkok Part 2

I flew back to Bangkok, partly because you have to fly through here from Siem Reap, and partly because there is still so much to do here!  After flying in and out of Bangkok several times now, you get to see just how far out this city sprawls. 

Free exercise equipment in the park
some even with weights!

A view of one of the large lakes in
Lumphini Park

My first afternoon back in the capital, I still had a couple of hours of daylight so I took a stroll down embassy road to Lumphini park.  This beautiful green space is dropped in the middle of the huge city of Bangkok.  It's incredibly scenic and was full of families picnicking, biking or just soaking in the sunshine together on Sunday afternoon.  I immediate went back to my mall-lined neighborhood on Sukhimvit Road, bought running shoes, and changed where I was staying to be closer to the park.  I ran in Lumphini Park every morning after that day while I was still in Bangkok. 

Tai Chi anybody?

The park was full of Thais, usually doing Tai Chi or some other martial art, walking, or using the exercise equipment in the morning.  It felt great feeling my muscles re-awaken after not running for over a year, and I am SO grateful that my knee didn’t start hurting.  I even used the exercise equipment for a few leg exercises.  I did have to show up very early in the morning by vacation standards so I could run before it got warmer than 85 degrees.  But if I’m going to sweat as soon as I walk out the door in Thailand, I may as well do it with a purpose.    

A view of Bangkok from floor #47

One evening, I headed across the street to the sky bar with another single traveler and enjoyed a fabulous view of Bangkok by night.  The next evening, I joined 3 other single travelers to go to the over-hyped Khao San road. I took advantage of being on my own again in Bangkok by doing a lot of trip planning.  I planned the last 2 weeks I would be in Asia and started lining out my trip to South America.  On top of self-improvement projects like running in the mornings and trying to learn Spanish, trip planning and blogging take a lot of time.  I decided to the islands (specifically, Koh Toa) to learn how to scuba dive.  It was hard to narrow down itineraries because all the reviews on everything here are 5 stars.  (and by all, I mean dive shops, cooking schools, and places to stay).   I think everybody is just friggn happy while they are in Thailand.  

Chef LeeZ

I took a Thai cooking class while in Bangkok – one of the best investments I’ve

Lessons in them market

ever made.  The school was run by a firey little Thai woman in a chef’s outfit.  Chef LeeZ come from a long line of restaurant owners/chefs and had her own bachelors degree.  She spoke great English, and had put together a fast paced course that covered a lot of my favorite dishes here in Thailand!  I loved her emphasis on fresh ingredients.  She kept all 8 of us laughing the whole time and I am anxious to see how many of these foods that are so readily available here can be found back home.  The list of things to cook when I get back is getting longer!

The roofs over the Grand Palace

Also while back in Bangkok, I visited the Grand Palace and Temple of the Emerald Buddha (which is actually jade) and wandered

They look like Ogres!

around in awe of all the glitter.  So much gold and glitter.  I also visited the Reclining Buddha complex next door.  I wished I knew more about Buddhism so I could appreciate what I was staring at above and beyond the sheer size and sparkle.  The reclining Buddha itself was HUGE.  I even enjoyed the textile museum, which showcased the Thai version of Jacki Kennedy - their queen.  The Thai's love their king and queen.  (Fun fact: the Thai king is the longest serving head of state in the world.)  The royal family no longer spend much time at the Grand Palace, but it was still very impressive.  Maybe I'll see it on TV one day for a state ceremony.  My last morning in Bangkok, I even visited the Temple of the Golden Buddha with another random traveler.  I think I enjoyed that temple more than the rest, maybe because it was not mobbed with tourists like all the others, and maybe because I went with an ex-Buddhist who could walk me through some of the significance of what I was looking at.    

Temple of the Emerald Buddha
So much that glitters!!

This little jade guy is what
all the fuss was all about
**this is a sneaky photo because you're
not allowed to take pictures inside

If you want proof that Angkor Wat was
amazing, there is a replica inside
of Bangkok's Grand Palace complex

The giant Reclining Buddha
 (Wat Pho)

Complex around the
Reclining Buddha

The Golden Buddha
5.5 tons of real gold

Giant offerings made of
coconut leaves and flowers
Beautiful, fragrant, and
conveniently shaped to hold $$

In general, I saw a lot in Bangkok that was one of a kind.  But I have missed the second birth of a child for the second of my good friends while I’ve been overseas.  I have not been able to congratulate a 3rd good friend on her pregnancy in person.  I missed Thanksgiving with my family.  Traveling is great, but I’m getting travel weary and a little homesick.  I will be glad to come home to Texas for Christmas.  

Next Stop: Koh Toa

A guide to Siem Reap and Angkor Wat

Melanie and I ventured over into Cambodia to see the famous Angkor Wat ruins.  Actually, there are many temples in the Angkor World Heritage park, and but Angkor Wat is the largest and the most famous.  We spent a full day in the steamy tropic heat to tour Angkor Thom (the old city), Ta Prom (site of the movie Tomb Raider) and the famous Angkor Wat.  The temple complexes built in the 9th - 11th centuries are the country's largest tourist draw for good reason.

Waiting in line at
Angkor Wat

Lessons learned in Siem Reap

1.  Bring crisp US Dollars.  And bring lots of them in $1 bills.  The ATMs spit out US dollars, but they may give you $100 bills. 

2.  Don’t start your tour at 8AM.  Start it at 7 or 7:30 because the hordes of other tours start at 8AM.   They go to all the same places you do.  Plus, because Cambodia is close to China, that means no personal space while you’re surrounded by other tourists.  We found it also means lines magically absorb 5-10 people at a time when they shoulder their way in.  You could start at 9AM, and just visit after the big wave of tourists moves through - you would still be surrounded, but less so.  Make sure you save at least an hour to wait in line for the top of Angkor Wat.   But definitely visit it last if you want the picture of it reflecting off the water.

3.  Walking through Siem Reap takes approximately 45 minutes.  Attractions included:       

    *  The old royal gardens with a dried up 90 year old swimming pool, including men soliciting money for their children’s school on the side of the road. 

    *  The old French quarter, which appears to now be all new buildings ringed with pointy iron fences, and  a keep-out vibe.

These were bigger fish than
we expected!

    *  The main drag called Pub Street.  It turns out there are no actual pubs on Pub Street.  We ended up getting a local beer at one bar/lounge and taking in the local vibe the night we arrived.  TukTuk drivers and motorcycles cruise the streets incessantly, creating an atmosphere of dusty organized chaos.  The 2^nd night we were there, we elected to get the fish spa, just for kicks.  It was simultaneously ticklish and terrifying!  

The girl in green was way too smart
to be rubbing our feet for a living

4.  Cambodia is very very poor.  We hired a driver and a guide for an 8 hour tour for $18 and $35 respectively.  That’s right . . . we bought 2 people’s entire days plus transportation for $53, and one of them probably has a very expensive education because he spoke good English.  TukTuk drivers routinely wait for hours to get a $2 fare at night.  Children beg or try to sell tourists chochkies along dusty streets.  Seeing poverty firsthand is sobering.  It’s also sad that the only way out of poverty here is tourism because our hostess on Friday night had NO business being in the service industry but would make a great quality control inspector.  

5.   People here seem to speak English better than in Thailand.  And by better, I mean their accents are more understandable.

6.  Siem Reap pretty much exists for tourists visiting the famous Ankhor Wat temple and other surrounding temples.  New hotel complexes are springing up everywhere.  If ours is any example, these hotels take care of everything  you could want while you’re here.  Ours was a full service hotel, with a tourist agency and post office behind the front desk, had 3 different restaurants, a bar (with happy hour discounts of 50%!!) and pool for relaxing.  They greeted us by name every night and were extremely professional.

7.  Service here is a work in progress.  And expect all of your food and drinks to come out together unless you say otherwise.

Tuk Tuk drivers waiting for their
"people" who are inside
Angkor Wat

8.   You can get anywhere in Siem Reap for $2 on a TukTuk.  Unless it’s the airport, in which case it is $6. 

9.  Don’t exchange money at the airport unless you just want the thrill of seeing the worst exchange rate you’ve ever seen. 

10.  You will have at least 5 people processing your passport when you apply for your visa at the airport.  Do not worry – this is normal.  Look out for the stamper whose sole job it is to stamp your passport at least 5 times. 

11.  Gasoline is sold by the liter here.  Literally.  Mel and I originally saw the plastic bottles and re-used Johnny Walker bottles around town and thought they were brewing their own hooch.  Turns out that's how they measure 1 liter into the TukTuk tanks.   

One shout out to the restaurant where we at Friday night:  Marum has food good enough that I'd recommend it to foodie friends in Houston.  And they are doing great work with Friends International.  The executive chef has put together a very impressive menu and left enough local food in there to be as adventurous or safe as you want.  We elected to be adventurous and picked one made with ants.  It was good but a little intimidating! 

  

Marum.  Offering safe (salad with papaya and beets) or
exotic (beef with ants in sauce).  All of it was good.

The temples themselves were huge and old and amazing!  And here's a bunch of pictures that only attempt to capture it.  

the 4-sided Buddha-heads
of Bayon

The national dancing figure
It's everywhere

Walking across the Rainbow bridge to the temple

Part of the Elephant Terrace - where the king
would stand to address his people below

It's Tomb Raider time!

A shot of Ta Phrom
Note the trees in the background.  These mammoth trees
now grow everywhere - through walls and ceilings
They are now an integral part of the temple structure

Mel and I in front of the royal temple - used only by the kings
and their families 

At the top of Angkor Wat
This place is huge!

The stones from fallen roofs and fallen statues have
just been stacked in courtyards to make room for the
tourists.  They are just waiting for when there is
 funding, time and desire to complete restoration.

The gates to Bayon

The 3-headed elephants

Original carvings around the walls
showcase lifestyles of the people
who built the temples in the 10th centuries

The inner and outer courtyards, the
rainbow bridge and
a 1000 year old swimming pool

Angkor Wat is huge!