GETTING THE JOB DONE

In a matter of 3 days, we managed to ferry and buss it back to bangkok {an 11 hour tiedious journey}, place our votes for a new president {thanks to Amy for sending our ballots to out hotel in Bangkok, and thanks to our friend Bruce for recommending a hotel that would recieve such a package for us} and we also crossed the boarder and back into Cambodia on a visa run!!! All in a matter of 3 days....so if we can accomplish all that, then the least you peolpe can do is go and vote and change he state of our counntry please!!!!
ok...off to take care of more buisness..
xoxoxox
ALICIA CLAIRE

Episode 2 of Reading Rainbow

hey boys and girls, Lavar Burton is off getting his star trek lenses adjusted, so I will be your host today.

Last I left you was that I was finishing up the second of the Shadowmarch series. The third instalment is not out yet, but we are looking forward to its release. Next up was:

Maximum City, Bombay Lost and Found by Suketu Mehta - this book is harsh, intense, and truthful. Suketu is a very intelligent writer and he delves into the grimy and wicked underbelly that is Bombay/Mumbai. There are things and people that this book tell about that let you see the corruptness and true colors of this major Indian city. Every city has a tale to tell, and a scene, if not many that are hidden from the average eye, but in this book you learn of more seediness than one could ever imagine. After being in Bombay, its quite a slap of reality. There were parts of this book where I just did not want to read anymore, due to the abrasive nature of the subject, and parts that I just could not put down. I recommend this book for anyone who is going or has been to Bombay/Mumbai. It will shock, disgust, and give understanding to one of the most hectic cities in the world.

Drop City, by T.C. Boyle - After Maximum City, I needed a break. I needed nonsense. This book gave me all I was looking for. This story is about a bunch of hippy dippy messes living in California in the 70s who eventually move to Alaska with their faulted commune. All the characters are majorly flawed and overall not likable people, but the way that T.C. Boyle strings them together with his wacky, poetic and chaotic writing is fantastic. His writing style is what did it for me in the end. I just loved his "magical dream trip" esque descriptions falling off the pages into my escapist brain. Recommended for anyone who likes the drams and kookiness!

Six Suspects, by Vikas Swarup - Loved. This book was a total fun and page turning mystery. Its a grand scheme of "who done it". The entire book, all I could do was imagine it in vivid scenes that would be perfect for the big screen. The fast pace is smooth and all the characters are quite interesting and very different entities from each other. This book also ties in some of India's horrid corrupt political system, which is once again upsetting, but good to know about. I highly recommend this book for a quick, easy and extremely entertaining read.

Life Of Pi, by Yann Martel - Rather enjoyed. We found this book at one of the many places we have stayed that had a book exchange. Jonathan was skeptical, but I thought I would give it a chance. I was pleasantly surprised. Usually books that "everyone" reads aren't my cup of tea, but this one really did have that lil bit of magic. Its a story of fear, religion, compassion, and over all, the will to live. This book is also a super quick and easy read, and I recommend it for a moment of feel goodness.

I, California, by Stacey Grenrock Woods - Borrowed this one from where we are staying now. I was in the mood for something light and fun, as we are tearing through books, every now and then you want a mindless one. This hit the spot. Stacey is a relatively witty and sarcastically funny lady. The story is all different chapters dedicated to her bizarre and selfish Southern Californian life. There were many moments when it made me feel at home, since so much that we have been reading has been based in far and away lands. I have to admit she is kind of bratty, but she did get a good out loud laugh to escape my lips a few times, and who doesn't like an out loud laugh while reading. This was much more of a "girl" book though...so take that as you will. I would not run to the store and buy this book, but if you happen across it, its fun.

You Can Heal Your Life, by Louise Hay - Also from the lending library. This is one of those new age reads. I like to consider myself open to the universe and all its wonder, so I like to indulge in books like this every now and then. Overall, the book was not directed to me, but I still learned from it. It is more the sort of thing that people who feel so stuck in some realm of their lives, weather it be health, finances, body image, the past..and want to change but don't know how. One thing that I did find interesting is that she kept stressing "the power of now"...this book was written in 1984, way before Echart Tolle passed that off as his own. Its a simple notion, but obviously many need to hear it again and again to truly get it. There were things in this book that I agreed 100% with, and stuff that I also deemed rubbish. I would recommend this, once again, if you came across it, but now a days there are so many better, up to date books on this subject to choose from.

Blink, by Malcolm Gladwel - This is a book all about split second decisions/feelings. It is an accumulation of studies that show how intuition plays into what we see and do. It is interesting, but I did not think that the whole book would be testimonials. I am actually still reading this one, and I am not in dyer love, but I will still finish. Recommended if your the type who likes analyzing data.

Till next time...take a look, its in a book...

The Koh Phangan update

Typical daily activities:

* shower in our weird, outdoor, under giant rock bathroom
* super tasty breakfast and super bitter instant coffee
* watching the beach and reading
* sitting in hammock by beach reading/resting
* sitting in hammock on our porch reading/resting
* snacks and more reading and interesting conversation with other guests
* more snacks (for Jonathan)
* Alicia does a wonderful set of laps in the super calm and clear bay
* Jonathan goes on a hike in the jungle
* more reading
* super super amazing dinner
* super amazing cakes for dessert!
* relaxing by ocean and stars
* more hammock
* avoiding bats and bat@^%$
* battles to the death with large, scary insects in our room
* getting ready for bed outside under a huge rock
* wonderful sleep with the sounds of 8 BILLION insects outside

All in all, this is an amazing place

Bat %&#@!

Last night I ran up to our bungalow to grab something. Through the dim light of my flashlight I noticed some weird plantish-fiber-ish dropping like material (which we had seen before on our porch). Our theory was that this came from an animal.

Right as I was going to walk over the gross pile (on my way to the broom) another little bit came down, narrowly avoiding my head. I stopped and looked up and about a foot from my head was a distressed bat, which promptly flew away.

It scared me quite a bit, and I almost fell backwards off the railing-less stairwell!

There ended up being another bat asleep right in front of our door. It ran away too as soon as it 'heard' me. Both had returned when we came back for bed.

And there was bat poo all over our porch and stairs this morning... Ahhh, the jungle!

-Jonathan

Drags and hags

Its been a while since I have given you all a taste of my life, so here is a little back log.
On Koh Tao there is a LADY BOY show that occurs every evening. This is a second class show to what goes on in Bangkok. The lady boys are just that, boys that are more like girls , performing in drag, and very effeminate, so much so that you actually might mistake some of them for being real girls.

In the early evening they are all out in flapper dresses sans make-up and handing out flyer's for tonight's big show. One night as Jonathan and I were going to dinner 3 of the lady boys stopped us and were cooing all over me. Not a surprise as I was sparkling and shimmering galore with all my glitter, they were drawn to my glitz like minnows to a lure..too easy. One of them was particularly enamored with me, and it was her that made it impossible to say no to the show layer that night.

Now, as I said, Koh Toa is second runner up to Bangkok, therefore I went to the show already epxecting what the level of performance would be, but still happy to be there. As you all know I am coming from San Francisco here, where I am indulged in some of the best performances, makeup, and fashion, enough to make your eyes bleed with visions of wildness {Valentine!!!!} so I have incredibly high standards. I pushed my standards aside for this evening though, and just decided to let the performers perform.

The show was ridiculous, outlandish even. The costumes were torn taffeta, tassels, glitter and technicolored. Hideous in a very trying way. The songs lip synced to were not always memorized and were bad ballads. The head pieces were astronomical and absolute pices of mind blowing art created by the lady boys themselves over sweat and tears for sure. Last but not least, the make up was beautiful, enough to give and MAC girl a run for her brushes and compartments full of shadow. The show as a whole was a mix of terror and grace. Half of it I was blown away by {headpieces and eyes} the other half made me shudder in sorrow for their faulted efforts. One thing did ring true though, through the whole performance. All these lady boys were passionate. They loved what they do, and you could see their happiness of being on stage dripping out into the audience like octopus tentacles.

I sat with a permanent smile for the entirety of the show. These lady boys wouldn't make it in Bangkok, and never in San Francisco, but they were happy there. At then end of the show, some of the performers came out and pulled some people out of the audience and brought them back stage. Of course you all know that I was one of the chosen!!! hhahaaha!!! Miss thing who was adoring me earlier that evening was the one to grab me. Backstage she grabbed a venomously ugly coral coloured gown that had safety pins where the zipper should be, and she helped me into it promptly. At this point I realized I would be performing on stage too!! I made a quick decision to work the look like no other, she had no idea she was dealing with such a drag veteran!! I looked at my lady boy assistant and told her I needed a wig. She practically fell over with exalted pleasure. She grabbed ajust as wretched tangerine colored wig, and I held my hair up for her to fit it on me properly. After a swipe of tangerine lip gloss I was shuffled out onto stage. Oh the look on Jonathan's Face!!!!

I along with all the other claimed guests from the audience then danced around the stage, or rather, the rest of them shuffled around self consciously while I flailed and twirled to my, the lady boys and Johnath's delight!!!!

This was one of the most hysterical and non sensical moments of this entire trip!! There will be some photos to follow at some point{as all the lady boys wanted to pose with me for pictures after the show!!}!

Days later on the Island of Koh Phangan, Jonathan and I attended another memorable event: The infamous Full Moon Party. We are staying in a gorgeous cove a boat ride away from the beach that host this wild and raunchy party every month..{thank god}. We set out for the evening around 11pm, and as the boat curved into view of the party beach it was settled that we were in for a night of debauchery. Not our debauchery, as I had been sick, and drinking was a bad idea, and Jonathan was keeping it low profile for my sake as well, but the general public sobriety was a whole nother story.

The beach was lit up from end to end with neon blinding brightness, and djs blasting out the "DISCO DISCO" tunes to deafening decimals. As our boat pulled in we were ever so lovely welcomed by 3 guys in a row peeing right into the ocean where we docked and waving at us. It was at this point that I knew it was going to be a bad scene!!

We decided to walk the length of the beach in search of dancable music, as all I wanted to do was dance it out. On our lovers stroll we witnessed many, many people alreday completely passed out in the sand {remember its only 11pm here!!} people stumbling all over the place sloshing their liquor filled buckets everywhere, people vomiting in the ocean...with nearly 10 feet away people swimming in that same ocean, and just the absolute worst choice in the trampiest outfits ever!!!!!

Needless to say we got some good laughs out of the evening, and some even better photos {coming soon}. We decided to settle into one of the biggest dance partys on the beach, and had more fun people watching to ok house music. Later as I was just over it, and sober and tired we agreed that we should get a baot back. Just as we were headed to the boats we heard some wild drum and bass coming from a muchless populated part of the beach. As this is one of both of our favs, I pushed my tirdness out of view, and we headed over. If I was to put up with all these drunky messes I at least wanted the redeption of a good dance.

The drum and bass party was the LOOK!!!

That is a bit more like it...

Alicia and I are in super relax mode on a semi-remote beach of Koh Phangan called Hat Tien. It is a quick longtail boat ride from the scary drunken backpacker den of Hat Rin.

We are staying at a wonderful little spot called The Sanctuary (http://www.thesanctuarythailand.com/resort-spa-home.htm). It is wonderfully hippie dippie with a huge vegetarian menu and a great crowd of people. The surroundings are beautiful, the calm bay and clear waters divine.

It is indeed, very hot, and full of bugs, and not all together cheap (for Thailand)... but its what we've been looking for. We've been here for five full days now, and likely will stay about a week more.

Updates will be a bit sparse as Internet time on Koh Phangan is a bit expensive. We've got some hilarious stories from the Full Moon Party (quick summary: super lame (minus the tiny drum n' bass club) and filled with thousands of gross people drunk out of their minds).

Icelandic

A quick bit of fun

So some time last week on Koh Tao lover and I went to one of the many beach bars for a cocktail. The bartender, a short Thai guy, bronzed to perfection, covered in Tribal tats, and featuring stretched ears, looked at us quizzically and asked where we were from. We stated San Francisco with pride, and he looked at us even funnier. He then said, "I thought maybe you were from Iceland." I said "Iceland??!?!" and he said "yeah look at your skin"!! I loved this moment. All I have been trying to do is stay as pasty as possible and not look like the afro mentioned boiled sausages!!!! So we are working the Iceland look in Thailand and I am loving it!!!!

xooxox
Alicia Claire

Boiled Sausage

Thai people love their meat..
so don't overweight travelers..

For breakfast we have been lucky enough to get normal to us poached eggs, croissants, scrambles, yogurt..yummy protein goodness to keep us going, but what is funny is that every now and then you get a mystery non ordered meat on the plate as well....such as pink boiled baby fat finger sized sausages!!! Umm...gross!!!

My other version of boiled sausages here in Thailand is all the fat reddish pink boiled looking skin of sleazy tourists. You know the ones...strutting around the beach with their bellies out, and they are practically aglow with the suns love. Or even better...the ones that tried to put on sunblock, most likely in some drunken stupor..because they are now red and blotchy only in lazy streaks over their bodies. Or even the bright pink bald head look. It is all too much for me, especially being an esthetician and a vegetarian all!!!

Boiled sausage is a don't do, weather it be food or skin!!!!
xoxoxo
Alicia Claire

Alive

Hey lovely readers!
Ok..As you know we made it, and are in Thailand, or the small tropical hot island of Koh Tao to be specific.

We arrived in Bangkok after an easy breezy flight as Jonathan has told you about, but what he did not tell you was that miss thing who checked us into our amazing {cant thank you enough Rob} hotel, was fierce. She was precious like most Thai ladies, and was featuring huge false eye lashes. I loved her immediately and felt at home. I only wished I had some falsies with me so that we could parade around together batting lashes!!!

I could not have been happier to be out of Delhi and into a much cleaner modernized city!! All I needed to make the night complete was some good Thai food. We walked around for a while looking for a spot that had anything without meat...as Thailand is not for vegetarians. Every dish has pork guts or some other eye balled creature in it. Not my cup of tea. We found a spot where I could have cliche pad thai and I was happy. If I could only have seen into the future, I would have starved before filling my belly with what I thought was good.

Somehow I made it through Africa, and India {the filthiest of filth} and came out clean and healthy. Who would have ever thought that in a country with girls working false eyelashes that I would be poisoned by the nastiest of bugs my body has ever come in contact with?! I ended up suffering for the next 24 hours, every hour to be specific with the most horrible and vile sickness known to man. I did not even think my body was capable of a sickness of that magnitude. The next 2 following days were spent lying in bed with a limp and weak body just trying to eat the plainest food to give me some energy. I basically did not recover from all the drama and wooziness for about 5 days. I am FINALLY feeling like a normal human again. Still not 100% but better.

Koa Tao is gorge, and just what the doctor ordered. Nothing but Beach, sun, good food, and some serious heat to deal with here. It is hotter than I can handle actually, but the water is so stunning that its ok. This is definitely one of the most beautiful places in the world, no wonder Thailand is such a popular traveled place.

Ok...just wanted to let you all know I was alive...

xoxoxoxo
Alicia Claire

In the happy island place after a long trip...

Alicia and I have made it to the island of Koh Tao, in SE Thailand.

We a trying day yesterday of Alicia feeling terrible. While she was able to move around, her energy level is super low. We found some palatable food for her in a nearby shopping center, though the trip there and back on the Skytrain was difficult for her. We then made our way to the train station for our scheduled six-hour trip to Chumphon where we were going to stay the night.

Of course, our train luck dictated that the train ran slow AND broke down so the six hour trip took far longer. We were scheduled to arrive at 9:45PM, we got in at 2:00AM.

There was lots of nonsense (mostly funny) via our fellow passengers, but that will need to wait for another time.

Today we took a nicely run ferry ride to the island on glass smooth ocean water. On arrival we of course got ripped off by the local taxi drivers (who act as a cartel together to extract money from tourists) and then found ourselves at our reserved bungalow which was directly in front of a large construction site (which we were of course, not told about).

I went off looking for another room and after some hoofing, found a simple little bungalow right off the beach. It has been fine minus the massive, 2 inch long flying cockroach Alicia found in the bathroom.

The news currently has news about government protests in Bangkok. Not good for the country, but they really pose no danger for us as the protesters have no motivation to target tourists. We may however re-evaluate how much time we spend in Bangkok at the end of the month.

So far Koh Tao is beautiful, very tropical, and without a doubt, the most touristy place we've been on our trip. That said everything here is easy with lots of food for Alicia to eat (as eating Thai, especially for her, is difficult after our sickness).

Internet is absurdly expensive here, so I will be off!

-Jonathan

To the Beach! ... as long as we don't throw up

Alicia and I are on the move again tomorrow. We are both feeling a lot better, but not quite 100%. We are crediting our recovery to our foresight to get heavy duty antibiotics in case of gastrointenstial disaster. This saved me in Shimla, and Alicia here. So if any of you reading are planning a trip to a 2nd/3rd world country you've never visited before, do yourself a favor and go to the doc first.

Tomorrow we have a long afternoon train ride (6 hours) south to Chumphon where we will crash for the night and then continue on to Koh Tao the day after. There we have six days scheduled to hang out in this divers paradise (though we'll stick to snorkeling).

After that the plan is to head to Koh Phangan for the Full Moon Party and a stay in a wonderously hippie-dippie spot on a beautiful beach.

Wish us luck! I'm assuming we'll find Internet soon enough, but who knows...

updated map


View Larger Map

Map link

Arrival in Bangkok, dinner, drinks, then drama...

Alicia and I had a super nice flight on Thai Airways from Delhi to Bangkok yesterday. Our flight experience was, thankfully, totally normal and nothing like our domestic hell-ride from Kerala to Delhi.

We had a nice driver to the airport, super smooth airport check-in process. Utterly reasonable and professional conducted security check, a nice waiting area, coffee, affordable water on the plane. Amazing!

The Thai flight was of course run by the nicest people ever. We had a celebratory Sapphire and OJ on the rocks with our pseudo-plane-food (everything can't be perfect). It was wonderful.

Our arrival in Thailand went smoothly despite the missing cabs at the airport (I read something about an airport taxi strike in the paper today). We took a shuttle bus in through the typically horrific Bangkok gridlock and got to our swanky hotel, the Asia Hotel Bangkok, of which our old roomate and super-friend Rob hooked up for us. This is hands down the nicest place we've stayed (minus maybe our one night in Manhattan in June). The place is huge, and very 80's Vegas loungy weirdness. Everyone is super nice and our arrival even had music via an Elvis impersonator!

We went out and found a simple Thai diner, and then had cocktails (Alicia) and yummy Singha for me at a funny bar with really bad live music.

An excellent, super fun arrival for Alicia's first time in the 'real' Asia.

And then... poof. We both get REALLY REALLY SICK. Caps lock required for emphasis. All the digestive badness you can imagine, all night long. We both really didn't sleep.

Long story short, I'm feeling a bit better, a mild fever and have not really been able to eat but Alicia still feels terrible. We're hoping she'll improve by the morning.

I need to do some research for her and then head back. Wish us luck.

Its never easy

Oopps...seems Jonathan and I just wrote about exactly the same thing..here is my version, then his {I think his is better}

Ok..here we are back In Delhi. This place makes me want to rip my hair out of my head..ok, that's a little of an exaggeration..rather it makes me want to shake everyone here really hard until they get it that this place is crazy, and something needs to change!!!!
We spent the last couple of days in Solan hanging with Lovers old host family, and that was lovely. Reinu made us a fabulous lunch one day, and it was a vegetarians delectable delight!! We got to spend another afternoon eating samosas and some sinful desert cake that had enough sugar in it to fuel a space craft!! I liked it!!!! The point is though, we had a great time...then we had to come back to Delhi...
The day we left Solan, we started off the morning getting into it with crappy cab drivers who are all scammers{we had hoped to take a cab to Kalka where we had to catch a train to Delhi}. Then we had to go to the train station instead, and book a ticket on the super slow{ but beautiful}toy train. After almost 3 hours on the most uncomfortable toy train we made it to Kalka where we waited another hour for the train to Delhi. That ride was ok, but long. We arrived in Delhi around 9:30 pm, and then had to hike out of the train station into the never ending madness of this city past all the wretched rickshaw drivers and to our overpriced guest house. We walked to our guesthouse because we knew that it wasn't too far, and I could not deal with the rickshaw urchins at that point. We made it to our room, which was very nice...or so it seemed!!! NOTHING is ever easy for us, not in India at least. There was no window in our room, but there were vents open to the hallway. The absurdly loud and annoying hallway. Early in the morning there were guys sanding the wall in the hallway, and so much foot traffic, and phones ringing, and people talking at high octaves. It was horrible. After our long trip all we wanted was to sleep in!! Mind you, this place is also the most expensive place we have stayed in this entire trip!!!
Jonathan was over it, and went to the front desk, where, amazingly, they were nice, and told us we could move rooms. This was great...but I have to tell all of you...I am OVER packing and unpacking, and moving so frequently, so to have to change rooms was like torture to my sleep deprived brain and body.
After getting settled we headed out for breakfast. Into the heat and muck and myer of Delhi. We had to walk a bit to get to where we were going, and people are lucky I did not start swinging my umbrella around to get them away from us. It is just impossible to walk in this city without being harassed.
We leave for Thailand tomorrow morning. Please wish us luck, and a better environment than Delhi!!!!
xoxoxo Alicia Claire

Trains, trash, sanding tiles and eventual planes

A quick update: Alicia and I made it to Smelly New Delhi after a long day of train travel. We left beautiful-but-horn-filled Solan in the afternoon yesterday, having spent the previous night having delightful high tea, samosas and sweets with the Sharma's.

We wanted to take a taxi down from Solan to Kalka (which is where the 'real' trains start) but had a horrific time with the lazy, rude, and greedy taxi drivers in Solan. They tried to charge us at least 300 Rs. more than the normal fare and were incredibly unpleasant. We are both at our wits end (Alicia especially) with people trying to con us so this was really frustrating.

We knew the toy train was an option so we stopped at the train station and thankfully spoke with two very nice Indian Railways people and got tickets. On our return to the train station with our bags we caught a rickshaw with two guys in their early 20s who I think were super Indian metalheads (one was sporting a Slipknot tshirt). Unlike the taxi drivers they were exceedingly nice, charged us a fair price, and then asked for a photo when we got out. Those two were a welcome spot in my day after dealing with such unplesant people before.

The train ride down is long (about three hours vs. one by car) but super beautiful and thankfully there was lots of room in the car. I spoke for a while with a couple over University students from Chandigargh. Like the metalhead rickshaw driver-and-friend they were a nice reminder that the vast majority of Indians are nice and welcoming. However being tourists we often end up interacting with a bad lot while all the nice people are going about their day-to-day lives around us.

After a bit Alicia took a fake-travel-nap in the highly uncomfortable toy-train seats and I stood in the doorway watching the scenery go by. The doorway spot on Indian trains is the best. You can stand, feel the wind, poke your head out (always looking for what is coming down the track, though the toy train doesn't move more than 20 kph so its rather safe). The view from the train is always more interesting to me as trains bisect the scenery. You get to see in to buildings, neighborhoods, etc... vs. the front-door view from the road. All sorts of people are lined up or walking along the tracks. You can see daily life happening on the doorways and roofs of houses. Or you can see in to the back of a factory or warehouse while people are having a smoke. Its all quite interesting to me...

After picking up the 'big train', which was a special Shatabdi Express. This is excellent as it is basically the nicest type of train in India. You get lots of snacks, water, and a pseudo-dinner. Nice seats that recline and for your added pleasure people loudly adjusting their phone ring tones, men with headphones poorly singing along to songs, and rampant small children running up and down the length of the car screaming - their parents of course totally apathetic to the disturbance the kids are causing to the 50% of the passengers who are trying to sleep...

Our arrival to Delhi was as expected - hectic. At this point we were at least used to the intense chaos of the area around the train station at night and got to our hotel after a rather 'easy' (with huge bags) walk.

We are first thought our hotel, the Hotel Ajanta, was going to be quite nice, even if it was a bit expensive. Nice bathroom, AC, comfortable mattress... not all bad despite the lack of an outside window. But after some closer inspection we realized that the glass block divider of our hotel to the hallway also had wooden, uncloseable slats. This meant that acoustically, our room was IN THE HALLWAY. Where at 6:30am phones started ringing and an hour or two later men started inexplicably sanding tiles outside our door. The hallway is of course made of concrete and tile, so its an echo chamber that all pumped directly into our room and straight past my earplugs which had been forcefully (and vainly) re-inserted at 7:00am so I could try and sleep.

Once we gave up on sleep I was able to get us another windowless room without a direct acoustic coupling to the hallway. Though this room provided us with a smashed ant in the sheet.
We now only have one more night, which is good as we are both ready to escape New Delhi. We have a quick day of a couple errands and then keeping a low profile in our room.

Hopefully the AC will be working when we return (it wasn't when we left!).

The next update will hopefully be from Bangkok in our hopefully-to-be-swanky digs via the epic awesome help of our friend Rob.