Thailand - A Montage!

Kim buying tom-sum thai from a vendor on Khaosan Road in Bangkok. Tom-sum thai is a dish made from various fresh fruits and veg using a mortar and pestle. The spicier the better!

If a scene like this doesn't make you realize how lucky you are i don't know what will. This was taken on a street in an upscale part of Bangkok where just around the corner there are mega malls housing expensive shops and restaurants. I highly doubt this guy cares about the sale at Dolce & Gabbana.

Kim marvelling at the destruction caused to a hotel swimming pool by the tsunami in Khao Lak. In this particular area about 4 metres of water would have passed through. It's crazy to think about but reminders of it are everywhere in Southern Thailand.

Here we are chillaxing at one of our favorite spots in Khao Lak. White Sand beach was our home for many days until some grumpy Germans complained about us having a cooler filled with beer. We're still not sure why we were asked not to come back!

The view from our beach chairs on White Sand beach.

Kim cooling down in our own private rock pool. This place was heaven on earth and we returned day after day after day!

The Floating Bamboo restaurant, 25 kms north of Khao Lak. We found this little gem one day while we were exploring on our scooter. We almost turned around 5 mins before but decided to keep going just a little further. We're so glad we did because it turned out to be our favorite restaurant and we went back again and again!

Even though all the food here was incredible the curried crab dish was our favorite! I think during this particular meal we had the crab, a seabass dish, squid, mixed veggies, rice and a few beer to wash it down with and our bill came to the grand total of $20!

One day we were at our favorite rock pool when it started to rain so we took shelter under a nearby hut. Soon after a Thai family came along seeking shelter as well. Long story short, we ended up spending the entire afternoon and evening with this beautiful family. They didn't speak English and we don't speak Thai but through gestures and a few common words we shared many moments and laughed a lot. The father who is the one pictured above owns a karaoke bar and we've come to affectionately call him Mr. Tiger Mountain Karaoke!

This is another great group of people we were fortunate to meet and share an evening with. Sitting next to Kim is Songkran and his wife Oi. We met them at a market in Khao Lak where they were selling beautiful hand crafted jewelry that they make. The next thing you know we're back at their place drinking beer, sharing food, chatting and laughing until the wee hours. You gotta love those random moments!

The eating area on our liveaboard dive trip in the Similan Islands. An amazing experience with 16 dives over 4 days! Well, truth be told we actually did 17 dives because Kim lost a torch during one of our night dives and the next morning we had to do a search and recovery dive to look for it. I'm happy to report that we found it!

The bottom deck where we'd get suited up and ready to go.

A curious turtle swims up to the back of the boat hoping for a banana!

Mom arrives in Phuket and we throw her on the scooter. Just like a local family we were. Actually if we were a local family we would've had a couple of kids on there too!

Kim & his ladies on one of the many beautiful beaches in Phuket.

A boat trip we took while Mom was with us on Koh Phi Phi. The boat is a traditional Thai fishing boat called a longtail.

Because we were in Thailand over a month ago and are just now getting around to posting something about it we decided to do a montage (every blog needs a montage)! We also figured that a picture speaks a thousand words. We picked a few photos from each of the spots we went to. Our trip actually began in Phuket (which is at the bottom) on February 4th and ended in Bangkok (which is at the top) on April 17th. We're still figuring this blog thing out which is why the photos are in the wrong order! In any case, we hope you enjoy!

The Boundy Baldies!

Cooling off at a waterfall in Rishikesh.

As you can see, Kim and i shaved our heads! For a guy it's no big deal (they do it all the time don't they?!) but for a girl it's a whole other story. Doing it was definitely a holy shit moment but it's a totally liberating experience and something i think every girl should do at least once in her lifetime. I was that girl who was utterly and completely attached to my long locks. I was obssessed with brushing it (i know some of you will be laughing right now!) and it was very much a part of who i was. Then one day i grabbed some balls so to speak and got my hair cut, gradually going shorter and shorter. Before leaving Australia in February i got a super short pixie cut that i absoluely loved and i thought the shorter the better for travelling. I soon found out how wrong i was. Short hair requires frequent cuts to stay looking good so it's actually a really high maintenance cut for when you're on the road. So, i thought i'd have to grow it out again and knew i'd have to endure all the scraggly bits and those awful awkard stages. But, after only a month or so i became so impatient i that i thought screw it, i want hair like my husbands. So into Kim's barber shop i went and voila! It's cool. It's easy. And there's absolutely no maintenance required other than a buzz every week or so. So, for now we're the Boundy baldies who get strange looks from Indians where ever we go. But, hey, i'm sure they'd look at us strange hair or no hair!

Monkeys!

Cheeky monkey on one of his daily visits!

The view from our balcony.

We're still in Rishikesh and getting bendier by the day! We're loving our twice daily yoga clases and fall asleep exhausted every night before 10pm. The yoga and the HEAT are draining. A record was set here the other day with a temperature of 43 degrees. Apparently that's rather high for April. It's May now so the days will only get hotter from here until the rains come.

Because of the heat we don't do much between our morning and afternoon class. Yesterday, however, we did manage to get ourselves down to the river and have a swim in the Ganges. Calm down, i'm sure a lot of you are cringing as you read! Let me ease your worried minds. The Ganges here is actually very clean (from what we can see at least!) and it is cold and refreshing. Nothing here is cold, so when you get the chance to feel coldness envelop your entire body you take it! Just to emphasize just how hot it is i'll let you know what i look like right now. As i type i'm wearing a soaking wet sarong (it's michelle typing) with a wet scarf wrapped around my head (which is bald by the way. i shaved it!!!!) and i'm barely cool. I'll also be bone dry in about 5 minutes and then i'll have to go in for another soak in the shower! There's no humidity here whatsoever which is good. If there was i think it would be a pretty inhospitable place.

On other days we've wandered around the town which spreads out along either side of the Ganges. Being in India is like watching a movie, there's so much action and so much going on. Every where you look you see things that astonish you, repulse you, make you feel happy and make you feel sad. It's like being on a see-saw you see and experience all these different emotions in the matter of one or two minutes. Often when we go out we sit down at a street vendor selling chai and have a glass or two and watch the movie play on. When we're sitting there it's inevitable that people come up to us and want to sit with us and chat or just nod their heads and smile. So we end up buying them a chai as well and we all sit there enoying one of the best parts of India together. We've met some real characters this way!

On most days though, we do nothing. We come back from yoga, eat breakfast and sit on our balcony chatting, reading and puttering. That's not to say it's boring though, far from it. There's a lot of action that takes place on our balcony and it involves cheeky monkeys! There's a fat little guy, orange in colour who waits until you turn your back for a moment then sneaks into your room to steal food or rummages through the outdoor rubbish bins. He's a daily visitor. More rare, however, is the family of Langor monkeys (grey in colour with long tails) that hung out on the balcony for an hour or so a few day ago. There were 3 adults and two babies. One of them so tiny he didn't even have hair yet. (or do they have fur?) They are so incredibly human like in their mannerisms and postures that it's hard to take your eyes off of them. I think they find us pretty interesting as well. I'd give anything to know what goes on iside their little monkey brains!

Well, that's it for today. I'm dry now so it's time to go inside and soak myself again!

Namaste
(that's how you say hi & bye in India)