Happy Endings

We arrived in Chiang Mai after an early morning start from Koh Samui and took a little rest. For the remainder of the day, we toured temples and walked the city center of Chiang Mai, a bustling city in the north of Thailand. We got fantastic hour long foot massages for $4 – Gerad’s first but not last! We visited the residence/office of a local in hopes of booking a jungle trek. Unfortunately, the rivers were way too strong and the cost did not justify the journey, so we decided to save that for Pai. In the trek owner’s home, we discovered that he actually went to the University of Florida to get his Doctor of Philosophy. They welcomed us into the living quarters and were so excited to show us his diploma, UF coffee mug and license plate frame. Very cool! We ran into a guy that we dove with in Koh Tao that night, not expecting to see him! Such a small world!

On Sunday, we lounged around and then set out for the bustling Sunday Walking Street Market. It was absolute chaos in every direction…vendors selling all kinds of things, lots of Thai people everywhere, Westerners sprinkled throughout. We ate delicious street food, bought some stuff and things and then decided to people watch from a nearby bar. There, we met a fabulous couple, Alex & Gino (picture) and chatted with them about the Price is Right, mostly. They own a flower business in Hawaii and supply the show with all their flowers. I almost felt like we were personal friends with Bob Barker and Rod Roddey (RIP) afterwards. You can’t make stuff like this up! We went out Sunday night really late (home after 4 AM…yikes!) with the owner of our guesthouse, Kung, and some of her friends. Lots of fire twirling, Thai whiskey and dancing. My life passed before my eyes a few times, once as the fire stick landed on our table and again as kerosene was accidentally sprayed all over my shirt. Luckily, I never burst into flames!

We took a fantastic cooking class all day Monday, completely exhausted! We did a market tour and then headed to the school for a day of cooking and eating. Between the two of us, we made: pad thai, green curry paste and green curry, chicken w/ cashews, spring rolls, fried bananas w/ ice cream, sticky rice w/ mango, hot and sour prawn soup, prawn and coconut milk soup, chicken with basil leaves….incredibly delicious food and boy were we stuffed by the end of the day! Needless to say, the Barden children were well fed on Monday and slept like babies Monday night!

We lounged around, still sloth-like from overindulging on Thai food, for most of Tuesday morning. That afternoon, we more than made up for it by taking a three hour Muay Thai (Thai Boxing) class at an outdoor gym. I was sweating and exhausted before we finished warm-ups!! The class was a lot of fun. I was, not surprisingly, the only girl. There was a chubby 10 year old English kid…I had just slightly more stamina than he did to get through the class. We learned lots of punching, kicking, blocking, kneeing…great fun! That night, we went out with Kung and an Irish guy at the guesthouse. Amazing Thai food and then a live show performed by Thai women dressed as women and Thai men, some dressed as women, some as men. It sounded like cats dying and the whole time I couldn’t stop thinking of nails down a chalkboard…it was horrible. Oh well, they looked like they were having fun trying!

Could barely move on Wednesday what with more exercise in the 3 hours of Thai boxing than I have had since leaving Beijing in January! We took a bus to Pai, in the northwest part of Thailand. We’re staying in a bamboo hut for $6.50/night. It’s a village with only 3,000 residents and judging by what we’ve seen of it so far, will likely become my favorite city in northern Thailand!

I’ve learned the following things about my brother: he has frequent dreams of leading an army against oncoming zombies, he thinks I hog the bed (yes, unfortunately we have had to share a bed more than once on this little adventure), he likes to have a toilet nearby at all times, just in case, and he gets cranky when he’s hungry or thirsty or tired. ;) That’s all for now!

Sibling update from Gerad’s view: My sister does not like to carry ANY of her own things, definitely likes to hog the bed, and can only sleep on the outside of the bed because she has to use the bathroom during the night, of which she has not done so far. Other than that we are getting along fine and have not gotten on each other’s nerves too much.

Chiang Mai was an excellent change of pace from the beach. It was nice to be in a bigger city for a while. We stayed at this little six room hotel close to the city center. The owner was this tiny cute Thai girl named Kung, she was an excellent cook and a great hostess. We did a Thai cooking class, which was actually a lot of fun. It was very well organized, but too much food. We literally ate all day, the class was from 8:00 AM to 4:30 PM and we stayed out until about 4:00 AM the previous morning with Kung and some other people from the hotel. So, needless to say it was a bit hard getting out of bed, but it was well worth it because I am officially a certified Thai chef. Do not fear, I will not be opening up a Thai restaurant anytime soon.

After being complete gluttons, we signed up for a Thai boxing class scheduled for the next day. I have taken a few of these classes in the States, but this one was a little more authentic. Our trainer was a Thai boxing champion with a totally of 287 fights under his belt. It was a cool experience to see where and how the Muay Thai fighters train and the moves they learn. If you have never done a Muay Thai class, you might need to give it a try. Believe me; you will be carved out of wood in a few short weeks. These guys are bad asses. It was funny because I could tell they were going SOOO slow when we had to try to block their kicks and punches, it was almost silly. They are professional fighters trying to train out of shape foreigners, it was funny. We even took a few short videos and a bunch of pictures; however I hope none make it on here because they are kind of embarrassing. We survived our first Muay Thai lessons in Thailand!!

We packed up from Chiang Mai, said goodbye to our new friends and headed to Pai, which is a little town in the mountains. We already have an adventure to tell on our second day in Pai, which involves a scooter and me falling off said scooter. Do not worry Mom, I am not hurt in any physical way. To be honest the fall was not entirely my fault, as any man with wounded pride would try to put to blame on someone else. I will tell you next time and let you decide who is at fault. The rider or the person he is riding with??

Bottle Beach

We occupied the remainder of our time in Koh Tao by doing one of the following things: eating, sleeping, lying on the beach, enjoying Singhas and/or diving. The diving, although visibility could have been a bit better, was still really good. I saw my first wreck and the whole time I was swimming around it, I kept thinking of the Titanic. We did a deep dive, around 90’ or so. Saw some cool fish: trigger, a massive sweetlips (I love that fish’s name!), giant grouper, etc. Also, saw a cool white/hot pink jellyfish and a moray eel. At one dive site, there were a lot of swim throughs – kind of like caves – which was awesome! All in all, a great time was had in Koh Tao.

On Tuesday morning, we said goodbye to our new diving friends and took a 45 minute ferry to Koh Phangan. We met an Austrian couple, Laurenz and Lena, on the way from Bangkok to Koh Tao and kept in touch throughout our week diving. They made their way prior to us to Bottle Beach on the north side of Koh Phangan, so we decided to meet up with them. You can only access the Bottle Beach bay by boat (that’s a lot of b’s!!). If there is a more amazing beach on the planet, I’d love to know about it because Bottle Beach is truly paradise. There are three restaurants and three ‘living quarters’ on the bay. The living quarters go like this: on the far left, the budget-conscious (aka poor) bungalows. In the middle, the average bungalows. On the far right, the fancy (aka pricey) bungalows. One shop. No roads. Hardly any people - nothing but white sand, teal water surrounded by mountains and palm trees. Paradise.

Obviously fitted for the slums, we suffered through a very basic bungalow right on the beach for 250 Baht a night, roughly $8 USD. We had a balcony, so we immediately purchased and hung a Gator blue hammock. The food at the restaurant on the slum side of the beach was incredible…by far the best green curry I’ve ever had, as an example. They had a very chill bar with lots of fun experimental drinks like an Oreo & Jim Beam shake and other magical treats. Each night, they had a bon fire and live music along with fire twirlers. It was amazing. We didn’t raise our heart rate above resting other than to swim, play volleyball, snorkel or jungle trek (Gerad did that without me…the hammock was calling my name that particular morning!). If you happen to be in the market for a honeymoon spot…Bottle Beach is number one on my list! We met a cool Israeli couple on their honeymoon and spent the majority of our time hanging out with them, Laurenz and Lena. By far the best beach I’ve ever been to!

On Friday, we pulled ourselves away from paradise and took another ferry bound for Koh Samui. I’d always heard that Koh Samui was really paradise…but in my humble opinion, it is a little overdeveloped and too touristy, not too mention more expensive. We enjoyed our day by the beautiful beach and ate our weight in food for dinner – for $32 USD total, we had beer, an entire sea bass (Gerad ate the eye ball!!), calamari, massive tiger prawns, crab, soup, salad and rice…a fantastic end to a great time in the islands of Thailand! Up early on Saturday, we flew from Koh Samui (which, incidentally, is the most impressive, tropical, open air airport I’ve ever seen!) to Chiang Mai to begin our jungle adventure!

Sibling update: Gerad and I are getting along fantastically….laughing and making fun of each other a lot. It seems there is a battle of wills going on to see who can be the laziest of the two of us. For example, we argue over whose turn it is to go up to the bar to buy the next round or who’s turn it is to walk the 200’ to the shop to buy toilet paper. In the end, we sided with just borrowing some napkins from the restaurant to save us from all that silly walking. Gerad’s turn!!

I am officially an Advanced Open Water Diver. I am not even too sure what that really means, but it sounds pretty cool. To get the advanced certification I needed to complete five more dives in a day and a half. I got to do a deep, navigation, wreck, fish identification, and multi level dive. We were supposed to do a night dive, but were never able to because of bad weather. Another important note is that I had no more major melt downs under water after my first little episode. The advanced course was much easier, as we actually got to dive and did not have to do any under water safety exercises. I will definitely be diving when I get back home; it is quite an amazing experience. I hear Boynton Beach has great diving and the Keys. Mom we need to get down there again and dive this X-mas. After completing all the diving and having a little party with our new friends, we left Koh Tao and headed to Koh Phangan to meet up with a couple we met earlier in the week.

The couple was staying at Bottle Beach, which is a beautiful place. If heaven exists and it’s anything less than Bottle Beach, you will not find me there. Bottle Beach is by far the most amazing place I have seen or been to yet. It is the epitome of the term “No Worries.” We stayed about 50 feet from the beach for about $8 a night. The beach is surrounded by mountains and a ten minute walk from the beach puts you in the middle of the jungle. The Thai people at Bottle Beach are so friendly, nice, and laid back they definitely put things in perspective for me. They do not have medical coverage, car insurance, a dental plan, 401ks, any type of investment portfolio, fancy degrees, a four bedroom house, a luxury car, designer clothing, or any of the other material possessions that are often confused for necessity items in the Western World (America). They have none of these things and yet are happier and more relaxed than any other people I have ever met. All they have is beautiful surroundings, delicious food, amazing families, and great friends. I am not saying that everyone has these items as the most important things in their lives. I guess I just forgot about what is really important to me and spending a few days at that beach brought it all up to the surface. It was a great time and a wonderful life experience.

We just got to Chiang Mai and are going to get into the jungle and see some animals. Talk to you later and I will try to be funnier on the next blog.

A Whole Lot of India Pictures!!

Click on the link below to see way too many pictures from India!

A Whole Lot of India Pictures!!

The Bardens in Bangkok

I am not in India anymore, and Gerad made it to Bangkok in one piece! It was awesome to see him turn the corner into the hostel and give me a big ol' Gerad hug! We celebrated his arrival by sampling some Thai beer, catching up and listening to a Thai guy try to sing Western music, of which he should get an A for effort! Gerad had some trouble sleeping and was wide awake at 8 AM…I could have slept until 6 PM because I got no sleep my last night in Delhi partying with Gundula, Shive (the guy from Belgium that we survived the strike with happened to be in Delhi at the same time!), two Italians and an Indian! I sucked it up and we went out to explore Bangkok.

Our first stop was the Wat Pho temple. I had been before, but Gerad seemed to enjoy seeing the massive reclining Buddha in gold leaf, the other hundred+ Buddhas and other Buddhist temple things! From there, we took a river boat taxi and the sky train out to the weekend market. It was crazy hot, ridiculously crowded and overwhelming. We walked forever looking at all the random things for sale and got lost trying to escape! A tuk-tuk took (ha ha) us to the boxing stadium where we watched seven Muay Thai fights (Thai boxing in Thailand). The fights were actually awesome to watch…lots of punching, kicking and kneeing involved. We picked winners…I won 5 of 7…should have joined the Thais in gambling! Gerad had to suffer through a fish foot massage for losing. The jet lag caught up with him and he slept through most of the championship fight. Very funny to see him passed out on the concrete floor in the middle of a boxing match!

We made up for lost sleep, got Thai massages and did a little shopping on Monday. We were lying next to each other in the room while getting our massages. Every time I looked over at Gerad, I started giggling. That evening, we took a 10 hour overnight bus ride south. Then, we jumped on a ferry for a couple of hours, final destination: Koh Tao. On the way, we somehow managed to lose/have stolen 6,000 Baht (roughly $200 USD). Not a great way to start off our island adventure, but our hope is that whoever found or took the money needed it more than us and will use it for something good. We’ll also be more careful with our money going forward!

Koh Tao is a small island, about 3 hours by boat north of Koh Samui…aka paradise. Koh Tao (Koh means island in Thai) is a great island for diving. Gerad started his open Water dive certification training on Tuesday. Despite a minor freak out he had 12 meters underwater yesterday, he graduates tonight! We have spent most of our evenings with his classmates…two Aussies guys, an English guy, and an Irish girl...they are a lot of fun! While he’s been in class, I have been thoroughly enjoying the beach, fantastic Thai food and good books….what a drastic change from a week ago in Varanasi! He’s going on to do his advanced certification, so we’ll be here a few more days. We’ll be able to dive together once he finishes his advanced!

All in all, the Barden children have not caused too much trouble as of yet. Gerad has been a diligent dive student. Something tells me we’ll make up for it after his graduation tonight! Mom, you’ll be happy to know that the Junior Mints and Oreos that you sent me were enjoyed by everyone on the overnight bus with us. Thank you. Also, we are eating well, all bodily systems are functioning and we haven’t killed each other. Gerad will now provide some commentary of his own on the first week of our little adventure together…!

Hello folks. Thailand has been an amazing experience so far! My flight was a little on the long side, but it was well worth it when I saw Jamie. As she said, we had a few beers when I got there and finally went to sleep after a 24 hour flight. Bangkok was pretty interesting, a lot different smells and people selling anything you can imagine. I gave some thought to buying a few new suits for the job I do not have. All in all Bangkok was nice, but I was ready to get to the beach!

Koh Tao is amazing. I have enjoyed getting my open water scuba diving certification, of which I finished today! Tonight my classmates and I will have a few hundred beers and enjoy our accomplishment. Then, on Sunday I start my advanced certification, which is the next level in the diving world. It has been an awesome experience to be able to learn how to dive on the other side of the planet. Yes, as Jamie so graciously mentioned above, I did have a little melt down on my first scuba diving experience of my life. Scuba diving is MUCH more mental then I thought. I started breathing too fast, which sent my mind into panic hyperventilate mode. At the same moment, I decided to go up and see how things were going on the surface no matter what happened, which can be extremely bad. I gave the "there is something wrong" sign to the instructor followed by the "I'm going up" sign. I thought my scuba diving career was over before it started and at that moment it was fine with me. However, my instructor, which is an amazing individual from Israel, grabbed me, pulled me down to him and looked into my eyes. Now that does sound like a romantic moment, but it was not. Believe it or not it actually helped. He calmed me down and my scuba diving career was back on track. I love it and should have done it a long time ago. So far, Thailand is beautiful, the people are very nice, we have meet a lot of people from all over the planet, and have not gotten sick!! Mom, we are fine and safe, you have nothing to worry about!! Hello Rage!! I am sure there will be more to come as the adventure continues......