Beyond the Sea

Hello, this is Erin writing. Dan and I just got back from our 2 week break, and it was amazing! I don't think I have ever been this tan in my life. The sun shone at least once every day, and the surroundings were gorgeous. Luckily, I didn't burn. Dan wasn't as lucky, but I made sure we had plenty of aloe before we left so he was ok. During our trip, we traveled to the south of Thailand, to Koh Phi Phi, for a week and then hopped on a flight to Bali in Indonesia! Hopefully the pictures will explain how beautiful it was. Its times like that that I'm really happy I chose to live here for a year.

Before we left, I made a big purchase- I got a new camera! Since we were planning to be in the water, Dan and I also decided to get an underwater case for it. It's a fancy piece of machinery, but we spend a lot of time using it while in the ocean. Our second day on Phi Phi, Dan and I went scuba diving! I would love to do it again. Since we are not certified divers, we went with an instructor. She was great, but on the first dive she told us not to take the camera with- and rightfully so. It took a lot of practice just trying to get used to breathing and keeping at the same depth. On the second dive neither Dan and I felt comfortable enough to take it with us. While diving, we saw huge pieces of coral, tiger fish and a moray eel! Crazy. No snakes though, thank goodness (thanks again, Mom). While we could not capture that part of our adventure, we spent a lot of time snorkeling and put the camera to good use there.

This photo is Dan levitating under water. His talents of levitation have expanded beyond land. :)

The photo above is my favorite photograph from snorkeling. The picture is of a field of pink and white anemones, with some "Gill" fish (from Finding Nemo). The water was so clear, it was amazing. This was taken in Candidasa, Bali. It was my favorite spot snorkeling because the visibility was so clear and I have never seen so many fish before in my life! At one point, I was completely surrounded with little blue fish about as long as your index finger. We also (from a slightly longer distance) saw a bigger school of fish as long as your forearm. That was a little more scary, but still pretty impressive. Unfortunately, the site was also the most dangerous. The undertow and current were pretty strong, so after about 45 minutes I had to climb back in the boat.

A great many sunsets were seen on our journey. This is one from our hotel in Candidasa.
Another sunset photo, this time in Kuta Beach. It was a busy part of the island in Bali, but the sunset was spectacular. If you could see what we are looking at (beyond the camera), all the locals came out to play soccer on the beach, while kids played in the tide pools. Very charming.

More fish! This photo is from the reef outside our hotel in Candidasa. Surprisingly, there was a lot to see in our little bay :)

Dan and I went on a sunset tour on a fairly cloudy day in Phi Phi. This photo was taken on the smaller island, Phi Phi Lei. The island is not inhabited, except by maybe about 6 locals. The cliffs are mind blowing. To get there, however, was slightly dangerous. If you can see behind me, there were quite a few waves and the wind was pretty strong. Since the swells were so big, we couldn't use the "main entrance." Our boat parked in a harbor, and we had to jump ship and swim to a set of ropes that brought us to some stairs so we could climb up the back side of the island and arrive at the beach from behind. It was by far and away the most beautiful beach I have ever been to, and lives up to it's reputation. The movie "The Beach" with Leonardo DiCaprio was actually filmed in this bay. Luckily, since the weather was a little questionable, there were not many people there. I think that made the experience even better.

Phi Phi also hosted a great number of fire shows at night. Dan, being the photographer that he is, loved the chance capture it. Personally, I think he did a great job. These guys used fire lanterns and torches with both ends lit. It was pretty impressive, and they went through about 5 gallons of lighter fluid to keep everything lit for a show that lasted at least 30 minutes. The smell was intoxicating.

While in Bali, Dan and I decided to see who could take better pictures of the gigantic waves with their camera. Since I had the waterproof camera, I was sure I had an advantage. This is Dan's photo of me getting rocked by the waves as they threw me around the beach.

This is my photo of me getting rocked by the waves. I'll let you decide who won that competition haha.

(Sorry these photos are much smaller, but it was going to take forever to reload them as larger versions). Our hotel in Candidasa was beautiful, and Dan and I had the suite room. We were not big spenders, we just happened to meet the right guy who arranged our stay. We considered ourselves pretty lucky. The pool was located next to the restaurant, and both areas looked onto the ocean.
This is the "garden walkway" that leads to that pool / restaurant, and this is the view starting at our room.
Finally, our suite room! It had a sitting area inside as well and the biggest bath tub I have seen in my life. Around sunset, they would fill a teapot with hot water so you could have coffee on the verandah. As you can guess, it was like having coffee in a forest, so we had to use lots of bug spray before stepping outside. Luckily in Phi Phi, I found 15 % deet Off and the mosquitoes didn't dare touch me after that.

And that's our trip! On Tuesday we start classes again, and I'm looking forward to seeing my students again. Its strange to think that our time in Thailand is half way done. I have a feeling these last 6 months will go by very quickly. Plus, Dan and I have so many things to look forward to! Around Christmas, Dan's parents and Becca will come to visit. Shortly after that my mom and a few family friends will make the trip as well. And if my luck holds out, Mariel will travel with me for a bit before I head back home in March! So exciting. That's it for now, but hopefully more updates to come again soon :)

Lopburi and Floating Markets

This is Dan, and I apologize that no one has updated this blog in over a month. It has definitely been a busy month, but more than anything I think the strange sights and smells that inspired the early writing have fallen back to an "everyday life" status. When we first arrived in Thailand we were told that we would go through several phases of living abroad and looking at it now I couldn't agree more. After passing first through the "honeymoon" phase of seeing everything as new and exciting like a vacation, we passed into the phase of trying to make sense of our place here. This means comparing the USA to Thailand (unsuccessfully). Trying to compare the two cultures is a dangerous thing because it just reminds you that you are a foreigner and don't fit in. Everytime something bad happens it gets blamed on the country and that is not a fair way to consider the differences. Then we got a new girl who joined us at our school and we stepped into a position of authority over our surroundings and we saw how much we really do know about this place. I'm not sure where I stand right now but I am convinced that Thailand is a wonderful place to visit and travel in but I could not work here forever. The sense of work ethic and integrity is maddeningly different than western nations.


This is not to say we don't have great experiences all the time though! For example, 2 weeks ago our school coordinator took us on a trip to one of the tallest temple pagodas in Thailand called Phra Pathom Chedi in Nakhom Pathom. This pagoda is reputed to be "as tall as a free dove can fly," a description which I really like. At all Buddhist temples there are bells which followers will ring three times to elicit good luck from the gods. Erin and Whitney were able to do this without a problem but when I tried, our boss took the stick out of my hand and said, "If you don't ring them loud enough, the gods can't hear you!" The best part of it was how completely serious she was about this. She was also very nervous to go into a cave which led to a small altar because of the "ghosts" that were in that place. Thai people are very afraid of ghosts and they consider them to be almost everywhere. When we went swimming at night at the ocean once, a very worried Thai man came to check on us. This was not because he was afraid we would drown, but there are ghosts on the beach at night. My school kids won't go to the bathroom alone because they think that ghosts are waiting for them when they are alone.

After Phra Pathom Chedi, we went to a floating market. This is an elaborate system of canals dug first to provide irrigation and trade routes, but later used to establish a trading post right on the water. Shop keepers open up around 6am and the canals are full of long tailed boats, some carrying shoppers, some carrying vendors of fruits and others full of tourists like me.


Last weekend we wanted to get out of town but only had one night to do it. So we hopped on the northbound train for 27 baht (about 90 cents) and took it 3 hours north to Lopburi, an old provincial capital of the Siamese state. This town is now home to several temple ruins and several thousand macaque monkeys. They mostly live near one of the larger temples where they are somewhat protected and fed. We paid a man 20 baht to act as guardian against the more aggressive monkeys. Weapon of choice? Slingshot. Our friend Meghan was not a big fan of the monkey packs and immediately invested in a slingshot only to find that if you act afraid of them, the monkeys will not fear you. That night, we found a Thai motorcycle gang that was holding a party for the opening of a new bar in Lopburi. They fed us and to repay them we regaled them with American Karaoke until late in the night.

On Sunday, Erin and I are taking a 2 week vacation. Here is our tentative itinerary: Sunday night hop on a 12 hour bus south to Krabi in order to catch a ferry to the world-renowned islands of Koh Phi Phi and Phuket, Thailand. After 5 days of tropical Thai paradise, we will fly from Phuket airport to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. We will stay only one night here and catch an early morning flight to Bali, Indonesia. We will spend 2 nights on the southwest beach area known as Kuta Beach. On Monday morning we will travel east to Ubud, in the central part of the island to enjoy local art, culture, and the terraced rice paddies for which Indonesia is famous. Spending only one night here, we will travel on the next day to the eastern shores of the island, near Candi Dasa. Here we will be close to many world-class snorkeling and scuba-diving sites, as well as several semi-active volcanoes. Not only are the volcanoes interesting sites on their own, but their stature and destructive force has long been a hub of religious piety and sacrifice and many temples have been built in honor of the volcano gods. After a week in Bali, we will head home to begin another semester with Yothinburana School in Bangkok. Erin recently bought a new camera and I bought an underwater case for it so that we can take pictures underwater, I am extremely excited and I look forward to sharing the pictures on here as soon as possible.