ROME: New Skill! Photo Upload.

WOW. I have actually never done this. Uploading photo. This is a test. Neat!

This is St. Peter's Cathedral. This is the place where the Pope gives his address once a year. (Rome, Italy - March 2006)

NICOLE: FINAL ENTRY By Nicole Trombley

Julio and I parted yesterday at the Taipei airport, me home to Southern
California and him off to Germany to transition out of Asia back to the
States. [The baker's wife and son (from our Japanese bakery, see previous
posts) were actually on our flight from Chiang Mai to Bangkok, off to
Japan to see her family for a month. First they were travelling in
Thailand to buy silk for her father's business; he makes traditional
Japanese Kimono.] And for the record, as I arrived in LA lastnight, it was
clear to me that LAX seemed much more of a third world country than
Thailand.

Food & belly:
Julio has already commented a lot on this. But we really did tour Chiang
Mai via our bellies..pastries, curries, stir-fries, all sorts of fried
things including these spinach pancakes served cut up with a spicey soy
sauce, mango and sticky rice, curry baked into a custard consistency in a
banana leaf over an open flame, various versions of drunken noodles, crazy
little coconut milk things, fried fish with chillies, spicey glass noodle
salads...lots of garlic, lots of chilli pepper...lots of rice. We ate
often and a lot and, as Julio mentioned, washed it all down with Thai
beer. The cooking course early on in our trip gave me a good sense of Thai
cuisine (beyond Pad Thai): the balances between spicey curries and more
cooling foods; the tartness and tang of kefir limes, lemongrass and
cilantro; the role of fish sauce. This gave us tools we didn't have (or I
didn't at least), so we could then navigate the food stands at the market
and gain a greater sense of what was exciting.

As Julio has documented, we both came to love spicey food and came to
learn that the spice enters and leaves your body with equal potency. I
felt very lucky to not get sick while I was there - we ate on the street
and everywhere, trying to be smart about water, eating only from vendors
that were cooking fresh or had a good turnover of food, cooking things
thouroughly. BUT here I am home in San Diego feeling a little "Bangkok
Belly". I didn't leave unscathed, but I really don't think I "ate
something bad" -- I mean Jules and I ate all the same food and he's not
sick. And other than a certain sensation in my lower GI, I don't feel sick
at all. But instead, I theorize that I traumatized my intestines, too
much food, too much chilli pepper, too much Chang Beer, too much coffee.
My belly is having its own version of repetetive stress syndrome.

In fact, I just looked in the Lonely Planet Thailand, and they comment
about eating on the street and food safety, - Surely you've heard the
rumors about what foood in Bangkok is sage to eat, right? Let's see, how
does it go: avoid ground meat, crushed ice, something borrowed, something
blue - not that's not quite it. Just to be on the safe side, take that
mental list and trash it. By and large, most street food is not only
hygenic but delicious. Granted, you'll get Bangkok belly, which is often
personal intolerance to chillies or Beer Chang, rather than a tainted
plate of fried food.

Oh yes, and confession: I only ate one bug. I took me about 3 minutes of
focussed breathing and "letting go" to actually put it in my mouth (with
some tough love "just do it" coaching from J.). And when you see the
pictures, the one with me with a bug in front of my mouth is fake - Julio
ate that one.

Thai Massage
My purpose/excuse for this trip was taking a Thai Massage course. Thai
Massage is an Asian healing art with connections to Buddhism and yoga. The
receiver is fully clothed, and the massage is received on a futon on the
floor. The giver applies various compressions and stretches to the
receiver, and then proceeds to stretch them through some yoga poses. It is
becoming increasingly popular in the West, most likely because of its
connection to yoga; in fact, often it is called Thai Yoga Massage. The
system is based on an understanding of energy lines in the body, the Sen
Sib, which massage aims to clear up and open. Though some of these lines
correspond to the meridians worked in chinese massage, acupuncture and
Shiatsu, the larger system is different. And while some parts of the Sen
Sib have sanskrit names, the system seems to have only been influenced
early on by Indian massage. There is a Northern Style, based in Chiang Mai
and a more Southern Style, based out of Wat Pho (a major temple that has
served as a massage "school") in Bangkok; Julio and I have pictures from
Wat Pho of sculptures demonstrating yoga and massage. In the late 80's and
early 90's a revival movement began to solidfy and document "what is thai
massage" -- systemizing it, and making it "safe, effective and polite."
They are movign toward standardizing all techniques. From what I
understand, this is not an innovative, intuitive massage, but rather a
formulaic series, so that not matter what practitioner you go to, you will
receive a similar massage. My teachers did not talk about this, but I am
sure that the sex tourist industry's connection to "massage" was a major
factor pushing massage professionals to get official government
rccognition. "Politeness" was also a big deal: there will be no climbing
over the receiver on the floor, your fingers can only point in certain
directions, and you don't want to accidently look like you are simulating
sex acts with the receiver: that would be very impolite.

I had taken a course here in San Diego 4 or 5 years ago, and always
fancied heading off to thailand to take a more "authentic" course. Julio's
travels were the perfect excuse. I was in class for 5 days, while other
students in the school were completing a 10 or 20 week program (most of
them had no other massage training and had to learn anatomy, etc.). I was
reminded several times why I would not want to be in an intensive program
like that for more than a week or two. This school was definitely more
geared toward westerners; it is even recognized as a continuing ed
provider by US massage accredidation organizations. While I was there the
school received word that it has just been given the "Royal Award" as the
most outstanding Thai Massage school in Thailand - and no suprise to most
of us, it's run by two Thai dykes!!!!

The other amazing thing about this school was that I was able to work in
an international context for the first time since becoming a massage
therapist. Granted, most of the students were from Western and English
speaking countries, except for two Japanese surfers, the teachers and the
curriculum were 100% Thai. In massage, we usually think very locally; I
greatly appreciated the sense of being part of an international community
of bodyworkers. AND my cohort was particularly fabulous.

Queer Thailand
We hung with several of my classmates throughout the lastweek - including
a trip to Simon's Cabaret - a Las Vegas calibar Thai caberet show,
featuring Ladyboys in full drag. From what I understand ladyboys are a
category that includes males who dress in drag to full transsexuals; it is
pretty common and rather well accepted. Most anthropological sources
categorize this as a "third sex" long accepted and present in Thai
culture. It certainly doesn't seem right to call them "gays" or
"transsexuals" -- from what we learned it seems the term encompasses a
wide spectrum that includes individuals in drag to those using surgery and
hormones. For more information, see:
http://dragoncastle.net/ladyboys.shtml , and if you haven't seen the film
"Iron Ladies", Clarissa and I saw it a few years ago at a film festival
and highly recommend it. The cabaret show was over the top, and of course,
you know it is "drag show" when JULIO is singled out from the audience,
smothered in lipstick and pulled up on stage to dance. Oh yes, we have
pictures.

"Farang"
In Thailand the term for foreigners and tourists (typically white
westerners) is "farang" -- I've heard a few stories of the origin of that
term. 1) Farang also means guava in thai. Some Thais told us that bccause
guava originally came from far away, it was appropriately used to label
foreign peoples as well. 2)Another source told me that "farang" is how the
Thai people pronounced "french" and it came to apply to all foreign
travellers. Regardless of the word origin, there are enough farang in
Thailand so that it becomes one of the first Thai words we learn - the
Thai businessmen on the train looking through the train car and pointing
at travellers, counting us, while commenting, "farang, farang, farang...";
or the little Thai boy eating dinner with his family who looks at me and
Julio and screams "farang! Farang!" really loudly despite his mother's
scolding. We soon learned to use the term ourselves, saying "no farang"
when a tuk-tuk driver tries to overcharge for a quick ride or when you are
ordering food and fearing you will get the bland version of the food they
serve to tourists. And, we soon turned it into a verb in our own
vernacular, commenting, "we've been faranged" when the cook puts NO chilli
peppers in your garlic pork rice dish or realize that you have been
overcharged at the market.

Trekking
Except for the first few days in Bangkok, we decided to spend our entire
trip in Chiang Mai - relax and see that city instead of being on an
exhausitn whirlwind tour. Our one excursion out of the city was on a
one-day trek. These "treks" are a huge part of the travel industry in
Chiang Mai - it seems every hotel, every street corner boasts their own
treks, and every traveller goes on at least one. Jules and I didn't do
extensive research (I was at school and he was busy looking pretty at the
pool reading his detective novels), so we used the time-honored tradition
of word-of-mouth. We took the advice of these documentary film making guys
in our cooking class. They loved their trek, loved the guide...that was
good enough for us! And it was a chance, and it was blah. Not that either
of us had high expectations, so it didn't not meet our expectations, but
we'd never do it again and wouldn't rec this tour to anybody else. We
went with three other people, a French-Spanish couple and fabulous Mr.
Wang from the UK. Here is the summary:

1)We rode elephants - in a big circle up a hill. It was really boring.
Though for a few minutes we could see the elephants' vulvas and were
really, really impressed --- though I guess if you need a vagina big
enough to birth a baby elephant.
2)We were led on a bamboo raft down a river. Not the exciting white river
rafting we had secretly anticipated. The most exciting part was when two
local kids who were swimming in the river thought it would be really fun
if they splashed us. They thoroughly soaked me - I was not happy - and if
I spoke a lick of Thai I would have given them the scolding of their
lifetimes. BUT...I got to frown and be sulky and wet.
3)We ate lunch at a restaurant along the street. The food was totally
farang. And the only other people who stopped by to lunch were other
farang in other buses/vans.
4)We went to visit a Hill Tribe village. The "Hill Tribes" in Northern
Thailand are semi-nomadic peoples; each tribe having its own language,
customs, mode of dress and spiritual beliefs. Our understanding is that
most do not belong to any one country (I think this means they lack
citizenship) and continually cross borders and cultures. The people we
visited had been in Thailand for about 20 years, having fled violence in
Burma. Our visit was the more interesting part of the trek, not because it
was exciting, but because of what came up within our little tour group.
Now let me premise this by saying that Julio took the opportunity to grill
the tour guide over lunch about the role of the Hill Tribe people in this
trek - did they receive any money from the tour? How do they benefit?
Despite his prior positive experience with an NGO-affiliated tour in South
Africa, we were assuming this was going to be a pretty exploitative
relationship. And it was. We arrived and "the village" was several
semi-open structures with hundreds of hand-woven scarves and such, and
women working at small looms producing new scarves. We arrived joining
several other groups. There was no intro, nothing. Just some totally
irrelevant info our tourguide told us about traditional dress women
sometimes wear. We took no pictures. And we bought some cool scarves. We
decided to buy the scarves because we wanted to participate directly in
their economy. The French couple did not buy anything and were a little
troubled, commenting, "we are having an ethical dilemma." They felt that
they were being made to feel guilty about others' poverty and they were
being manipulated into buying things. We talked with them for a bit, and
then with eachother. In the end, Julio and I seemed to agree that whatever
economic system these people had been participating in (our useless
tourguide hinted it was poppy (opium) cultivation; since wiped out by the
Thai government) was no longer available to them, and they were in the
middle of this tourism driven industry in Northern Thailand. Whether it is
right or wrong, exploitative or empowering, it is their reality - they
need to send their kids to school, they need to feed themselves. We chose
to go on this tour, to "see the Hill Tribe"; we chose to participate in
this economy. Buying the scarves was the less exploitative thing to do
given the choices we had already made.
5)We then hiked to a waterfall and went swimming. And watched some poor
lady fall really hard on wet slippery rocks.

"Into the Woods to Find the Giant..."
www.brazilbean.net

Light Up My Fire

Thai Cuisine.  What can I say?  It's amazing.  It has not surpassed my love for Italian food yet, but damn, does it come close.  Nicole and I are mirroring Vicky's and my Vietnam trip.  That means we are having a gastronomical tour of Thailand's Chang Mai cuisine.  We eat everything around.

Our love for food is based on one central theory.  STREET FOOD ROCKS!  We have not eaten in a restaurant for about 10 days now.  We walk around market looking for the best looking everything.  We eat sweets, appetizers, main dishes, everything in site.  We are currently committed to a young woman and her brother.  They have food stand near where we are staying and we go there every night.  We look at what she is making for other people, then order it for ourselves.  In many cases we have had 3 meals between the two of us, just so we would try more things.

Of course, one cannot truly experience Thai cuisine without chillies.  Both of our paletes have discovered a new world.  It is called the world of HOT, HOT, HOT. It is amazing what chilli peppers can do to a dining experience.  You bite into them and WWWWWWAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHOOOOOOOOOOOOO, you are immeditately transported into a whole other world of emotions, tastes, and you go to you edge and back.  WOW.  As you know from the previous email, we have discovered that with a cold Chang Beer, it is even more amazing.  We love it.

Important note.  Thai say that the power of chilli peppers is that it is experiences in three main ways: when you eat it, in your stomach, and yes, the next day.  Everyday now we experience the ring of fire.  Using the restroom the day after I had 19 chilli peppers was an enlightning experience.  For several moments I was one with the world.  It was like my own Buddha had appeared.  Amazing.

So, off to eat more.  We are going to the Sunday market and we have not eaten all day so that we could spend the next several hours trying out new things.

Cheers!

 

"Into the Woods to Find the Giant..."
www.brazilbean.net

Thailand: Girls, Girls, Girls (NOT!)

I have not really written about sex work in Thailand. I think it is because it is so evident and so depresses me. I am almost finished with SEX SLAVES, an interesting book on the topic. It discusses facts about many different countries in Asia, including Thailand. Some of the areas it discusses include:

--Asian men frequent different places than foreigners, ofen higher end places to have sex with women. This activity is simply overlooked by wives who find themselves in cultural contexts that allow for this behavior by men. New diseases are entering Asian families this way.

--Families are now starting to consider daughters valuable since they can make money in the sex market. At at a young age (7-8) girls are already promised, for an advance fee, to brothels. When they turn 11 or so they are sent away to make money for the family. In a majority of cases the family is actually in need of basic food and shelter, but more and more with the influence of capitalist values families have started to send girls away in order to buy televisions, cars, and kitchen appliances. The need to keep up with the Asian-Joneses has become so huge that families are making decision based on a revised value system. Let's be clear, Asian women have historically not been given a lot of value compared to men. But, now the value they are given is actually to their ongoing detriment.

---Girls themselves are seeing sex work as an opportunity to make more money than working at stores, waitressing, etc. The need for a higher paying jobs may be due to family responsibilities, paying for schooling, or buying the latest gucci sunglasses. Unfortunately, while many of these girls end up being workers in the sex industry, (a choice i have complex views on, but ultimately i respect the woman's choice) many actually become enslaved thinking they were simply agreeing to do this work for a certain period of time.

---Westerners have changed needs. In the past American and European men were mainly interested in sex. They would go to a brothel, have sex, and be done. Today men are looking for the "experience of love." They are renting girls for days or weeks when they come on holiday. These women are expected to be with them 24-7 and provide companionship (as prescribed by the men) and sex on demand. Of course, taking the women out of the brothel often puts the women at risk of violence or sexual practices that are harmful to them. Still, the experience of having a girlfriend, even if men are paying for it, is coming up and more and more common.

At the same time that I read this I pass by bars and dance clubs with young girls overly made up sitting and waiting for the patrons to arrive every night. It's a awakening experience, and it is also a tough one. It is augmented by sightings of older men with really, really young girls at restaurants, bars, shopping malls, etc. I go to a hotel pool for a few hours every day and there are three such couples there. I try to think that may be they are a couple, may be it is ok. But, my intuition and my intelligence are too aware of the frequency with which the pressures for sex work for money (enslaved or not) have done to Thailand and other countries.

I am also saddened that I have tried to meet with a few NGOs here but have been totally unsuccessful. Between my moving schedule and the travel plans of key people whom I was in contact with for over a month it just did not work out. Still, I am trying to learn as I go.

So, that's the news today. Not so cheery, but I thought you should know.

"Into the Woods to Find the Giant..."
www.brazilbean.net

THAILAND: Chang, Chang, Chang Mai

All is good here. Nicole is about to finish her massage school. I can report from experience that course is going well. Of course, they are on one gear and Nicole is on another very fast track. She will implement this into the larger tool box she has when she does massage therapy in San Diego.

OH BY THE WAY, in case you need an amazing massage when you are in San Diego next...www.equilibriomassage.com

Otherwise we spend our days apart. She in school and me, well, well, at the pool, reading the N.1 Ladies Detective Agency Series (book #4 now) and meditating in the morning and the afternoon. We meet at 4 pm and have a cappucino and amazing pastries by an outstanding Japanese baker. After we usually have an outing - the bazaar, the new market, the trendy market. There are about 8 markets a night here. We do markets for about 2 hours. This includes lots of walking, at which time we burn the calories earned at the bakery. At about 8pm-8:30pm we go to our favorite street vendor and have dinner. She is this amazing woman and (we think) her brother. She makes amazing everything. And, everything costs 50 cents. We love it. We often have our meal with a Chang Beer (named after the beloved JASON CHANG, of course). At about 9pm we check our email and then off to bed to rest for the next day.

Today was extra special. We ate bugs! Yup. I had what we think was worms and maggot looking things. Nicole had the worms. It tasted great. Kinda like shrimp. The maggot looking things were really, really meaty. The special sauce helped it all go down smoothly. We have photos, do not worry. Oh yes, burping bugs is not so fun.

Otherwise all is good. Thailand is getting hotter and hotter as summer will soon arrive. The days are stuffy and full of sun and humidity. This means nothing dries, including you. You get used to it though. In fact, you'd be amazed how wonderful a spicy soup tastes in this heat. It really does something to the body temperature. At first it is really, really hot, but then everything cools down. You should try it someday. Well, you should come to Thailand and try it someday.

Ok, that's all for now. Hugs to all and be swell!!!!

We are off on March 22nd. We are actually on the same plane out of here and Bangkok. So much fun!

Julio

"Into the Woods to Find the Giant..."
www.brazilbean.net

THAILAND: Mother Dearest, Continued...

I just wanted to write a bit more about the time my mother spend in Thailand before moving on to the time with Nicole and my future plans. I also wanted to THANK HER FOR COMING!!!!!!!

The trip with Mother was really wonderful. Of course, the resorts, the nice hotels, the endless dinners were a wonderful change of pace from my less luxurious travel, but it was our time together that really made it memorable.

As everyone knows Hurricane Reny is a breath of fresh air in any environment, country, region, constellation. Like no other visitor I have had, or traveler I have met Mother took Thailand and ran with it. She immediately loved the amazing care and host nature of Thai people. She immediately told me that yes, she would wear more conservative tops, but that Thailand also needed to realize that she was Brazilian and that cultural exchanges come in every form. In her case, it came in beautiful tanned shoulders that were well moisturized every night. I am my mother's son and everything that is big about my personality, is bigger in hers. So, her love for the beauty of Thai women was not held back. She must have told 1,000 women that they were beautiful, stunning, that their skin shined. She thanked everyone profusely for their kindness. She learned to bow in respect, to say thank you in Thai. I turn, she was a guest to this country that honors its guests. It was wonderful to see, after so much of my own constirnation (sp), someone who was unabashedly herself and at the same time unafraid to make mistakes and connect. Again, she taught me about life, as she has for so long.

Mother also helped with another key aspect of Thailand. Its economy. My mother arrived with an empty suitcase and departed with two filled to the rim. She is a smart woman and knows when something is a good deal. Thailand, in the exchange market,is a great deal. This was also a great place to watch her. I, as many of you know, have always been the perpetual negotiator. Three months in India and 6 months in Asias has only honned my skills and my drive to get the best price for anything. Of course, the fact that I LOVE the exchange with the sellers, the ongoing game of who will win the best price, only fuels this activity. Mother is different. While she obviously does not want to be cheated she also thinks that getting a skirt for $3 istead of $1.50 is no big deal since the same skirt costs her usually $30. So, this was also a place for learning. She learned when she came to ask me for money. We would see an item that cost 600 baht. She would talk them down to 500B and then she would ask me for money. I would think, I could get that for 300B. So, i would give her 400B and tell her to work harder. I know, I am an awful son and person. In fact, Nicole simply said, "G-d, you are such a boy sometimes." But, my mom would undoubtedly get the item for 400B. Listen my theory is this. Capitalism being the law of the land, NO ONE WILL SELL AN ITEM AT A LOSS. So, with that in mind I play the game.

But, of course, in all there is a lesson. So, my mother reminded of all that I tell people in my work...that maybe the sellers don't ultimately make that much money, etc. etc. I mostly agreed. After 6 months of traveling my politics is less clear on the "theory of the whole: people are struggling" and the theory of the individual: this person is struggling." I stand firmly that no matter how poor, we all should be honest and unfortunately many of my experiences are that "these poor workers" are not always honest. This has strengthened my belief that we should give money to non-profits groups as the best strategy for change. STILL, I of course, opt to give people the benefit of the doubt, which is that I eased on my haggling techniques and have since my mother paid a bit more than I usually would for things.

Finally, it was outstanding to see my mother so happy, planning her next trip to Thailand. She hates it when I say this, but she is so much the reason I am doing this. Her struggles have made my freedom possible. My life, my success, and this time in my life is a clear reflection of her efforts to create the best life possible for me. She also reminds me that my own efforts and struggles have gotten me here. I am learning to agree, but Freudian Theories still work themselves out too evidently in my relationship with Mother.

Love to all, especially my mom.

"Into the Woods to Find the Giant..."
www.brazilbean.net

THAILAND: First Impression, Old Addiction (Guestwriter: Nicole Trombley)

From Bangkok:

I arrived in Bangkok in the wee hours of the morning on International Women's Day. I got to see Reny with her outstanding tan and fully rested energy. We enjoyed a great breakfast and she was off...with her many, many bags.

It has been wonderfully hot and sticky, and Julio amd I have been taking our time wandering around, viewing temples and lots and lots of buddhas (reclining buddha, sporty buddha, flower buddha...), reading tarot cards and, of course, drinking coffee...at Starbucks. I have to confess, we've been there three times in 2 days. Yes, yes, I know, here we are in the Global South, equipped with all of our really deep, sharp political justice analyses, and unravelling and embracing all of our contradictions...in the end, some addictions run deep. And that is why capitalism is just so powerful. We actually had somebody take a picture of us holding up our Starbucks cups on Kao San Road in the middle of Bangkok madness. I hesitate writing this knowing that people in the world might misread us ...we are being ironic, we are owning our contradictions, being honest...not trying to be arrogant and smug Americans.

All my years in social justice work have seeded a deep guilt in me..."I shouldn't be at Starbucks at home, let alone in Bangkok. I should scorn all the arrogant Western tourists and seek out the authentic Thailand." But...whatever. I am at a place in my life where I don't have the emotional energy to take that on ... and frankly, it just feels even more false...I am white, I am afluent, I am American. The search for authenticity is just as politically suspect/complex as hiding out at Starbucks in Bangkok. Two good friends who have not talked in eons wanting to catch up over a cup of coffee. Punto.

We're off tonight to take an overnight train to Chiang Mai where we will trek around for a bit before I take my 5-day massage course, and then Julio moves on to the next leg of his journey and I head back to San Diego. In the meantime, Julio asked me to share a few thoughts from my perspective...And well around Julio, my perspective is far from his view at 6'0"...

Some observations from 4'11" off the ground (in solidarity with the tiny travellers who have come before me) -- these are of course all about me, and not about Thailand:

Many things about Starbucks are quite the same. The pastries look just as nasty here as they do in the States. But a few things are different. Most importantly, here at Starbucks in Bangkok, there is a fourth size here in: Short. Yes!!! Short/Tall/Grande ... and sometimes Venti. What is that all about? American supersize madness just wouldn't go over here? Maybe, but I wonder if really all this "tall" language is just over-rated for people so small. Size-ism is not the problem here that it is at home, and so maybe the smaller people's of the world can embrace a "short" drink and still be quite satisfied.

I was out walking alone my first morning here in Bangkok while Julio brought Reny (who looked fabulous -- touched by sun and glowing) to the airport. Walking past one tourist area, I was approached by a local who was trying to engage me. Warned by Julio and other friends, I knew he had spotted me as a new traveller and I was about to be preyed upon. I was NOT expectig his opening line: "Hi, Miss, you are so short, just like Thai people. Yes, we are smaller." And he proceeded to use his hands to measure how much taller the average western tourist is...and then proceeded to engage me in a dialogue that was word-for-word from the Lonley Planet's list of scams to watch out for...

A cab driver actually looked at me as I climbed in to the taxi (next to JULIO!) and moved the seat forward for me, claiming I had long legs and needed extra room. Sure he could have been flirting or being overly nice. I did not need the leg room, but I just really appreciated being seen as a fully grown adult, and not ignored as potentially Julio's 11 year old daughter.

From Chiang Mai:
It is still quite hot and sticky here, but now we have bugs too and less breeze. This is a great little city -- the energy is so different than Bangkok -- but we haven't seen anything yet. It's hot and we are feeling slow. There are white people and travellers everywhere and everything is geared toward tourists, but somehow it feels so different. We are still planning out what we are doing...we are soo sure that we don't want to be super tourists and see everything. We did however make a huge transition for us -- we opted to NOT go to Starbucks here in Chiang Mai and opted for a Thai-owned coffee. They served our coffee with tiny little biscuits and a shot glass size green tea to follow our coffee.

We also signed up for a Thai Cooking course: Making the Curry Pastes. Clarissa and Drew shall be happy about this. Julio may take another day of cooking while I do my massage course.

We also SCORED on a great place to stay. At $15 total we have a beautiful little guest house with AC and hot water (even if I cannot reach the shower and Julio has to set it for me) and a great feel to it. Next time you find yourself in Chang Mai, check out SMILE 2 a great place that is the sister of SMILE (not so great).

More later...

"Into the Woods to Find the Giant..."
www.brazilbean.net

THAILAND: Mother Dearest

I returned from Germany on the 23rd at night, and 12 hours later mother arrived. Of course, after naerly 20 hours of travel she looked fabulous, alive, ready for Asia. Asia, a place she said she would never have come if it wasn't for my being here. Yet, she was like, "Let's go Asia!"

Her first 2-3 days she was both full of energy and crashing in the afternoon as her body got used to the new time zone. Perhaps the best moment which should give you a good sense of how things are was when I said:

JULIO: Reny, I was thinking we should go to these three sites. They are monuments and temples.
RENY: They look beautiful in the pictures. You said Bangkok was a great place to shop. Where do we do that?
JULIO: There is a weekend market with 9,000 stals. Today is Saturday, we leave tomorrow for Phuket.
RENY: When does Nicole arrive?
JULIO: In about 20 days.
RENY: Let's do this. You go to the sites with Nicole and shopping with me. How's that?

And, that was the last that was said about sites. We spent from 11am to 9pm in the shops. The day ended with the two of us getting foot massages.

Since then we went to Phuket. Specifically, we were at Patong Beach, an areas severely affected by the Tsunami. Things seems to be getting back to normal. Shop owners say that they still feel the economic effects both of tourists who are no longer coming to the region, and the fact that those who are coming are not buying as much stuff. Part of what has happened is that it has become cheaper to come here and folks with less money are traveling, and their budgets are focuses on hotel and food, not extras.

Phuket was nice, crowded, but nice. We spent most of our days walking around the shops and sitting at the pool at our hotel. The hotel was a mid-range place that provided all that we needed and was away enough from the night crowds for a good night's sleep. Reny loved it all and the daily massages we got made the experience that much better.

From Phuket we took off to Phi Phi Island, which is where we are now. We decided to go to the Phi Phi Island Resort. The resort is absolutely glorious with its private beach. It has beautiful hut/cabanas, fabulous grounds and lovely food. The beach, the pool and the great service provide for an outstanding experience. Check out www.ppisland.com

Will need to write faster. My mother just came back from a hike with a new friend, Sarah, and announced "WE FOUND PARADISE." A deserted beach nearby. I will leave momentarily to have lunch with them in Paradise.

Ok, ok, main thing to know. Parents are like everyone else. They are children. My mother's eyes when the boat came around the corner to PP Resort lit up. "Is this where we are going?" She was amazed at the color of the water, the blue sky, the ower of the sun. The first night we had seafood dinner on the beach. She said, "This is the most beautiful place I have ever been to. Thank you. I just wish Jeff and the boys and Carla were here too."

For the last 4 days I have my mother in a course: JULIO'S DO NOTHING COURSE. Whenever she says things like "do you thing they will mind if I clean the beach?" Or, let's go discover the island. Or, I am going to clean the room. I tell her, NO, SIT DOWN. DO SOMETHING MUCH MORE CHALLENGING. "What?" NOTHING. SIT HERE AND LOOK AT THE BLUE OCEAN. DO ABSOLUTELY NOTHING. It's been good. But then she found a friend and now we are off to Paradise...

Nothing is good, but paradise is nice too...

"Into the Woods to Find the Giant..."
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