All This Beauty

Manta Ray from our 1st dive day
Blue Holes Drop In
Clown fish
Jaws
Another Clown Fish
Nautalis

Mandarin Fish

Nuedabrach

Nurse Shark

There is a song by the Weepies "All This Beauty" and the first verse starts:
All this beauty;

You might have to close your eyes
And slowly open wide
All this beauty;
We traveled all night
We drank the ocean dry
And watched the sun rise..."

There have been several times as we have traveled these past three weeks, where we found ourselves blinking against the beauty... too, too much to take in...

Sunsets over the River Kwai

Rice fields in Kanchanaburi
The wrinkly flesh of an elephant
The golden eyes of a tiger
Smiling, waving children
Smiling people of all different hues
Laughter with people even when the language of words is unavailable
The kindness of strangers
The generosity of other cultures
The purity of a faith that is not our own
Comfortable beds
Great food
Clean water
A roof in the rain
Old friends
New friends
The hearts of those we love and love us that somehow beyond time and space are with us... always

And then there is the OCEAN...

The Ocean... with billions of people on the planet yet only a few who ever float beneath the waves and God didn't just make it pretty. He made it GLORIOUS. Glorious for just a blessed few... What abundant generosity!!

In one of the earlier blogs we wrote about climbing the steps of the Doi Su Thep Temple... over 300 stairs and that sacrifice bring forth the blessings of Buddha. At the end we said something about if the three of us won the lottery you should book yourselves a ticket and start climbing the stairs.
The truth is, we have won the lottery.

In a world where the vast majority of people never go more than 10 miles from the place where they were born...
Many will never know the stillness after a heavy snow, and others will never hear the thunderous cacophony a countless insects in the jungle night.
Many will never drive a car or even a bike.
Many will never know what it is to run across a vast desert called home and not be tired.
Many are overjoyed at one small meal a day and are vagabonds without a real place to call home and they are happy. (What are the lyrics from the Sugarland song? "Having so little and yet having it all.")
A very few are blessed with an epic abundance. They are ever seeking but never satisfied, living with a scarcity mentality.

We three feel the abundance. We know we are blessed. We don't know why; but we are grateful and like the Buddhists we rubbed shoulders with this past month, we seek to make merit.

"All this beauty;
You might have to close your eyes
And slowly open wide
All this beauty;
We traveled all night
We drank the ocean dry
And watched the sun rise...
You can ask about it
But nobody knows the way
No bread-crumb trail
To follow through your days
It takes an axe sometimes
A feather in the sunshine
And bad weather
It's a matter of getting deeper in Anyway you can
All this beauty;
You might have to close your eyes
And slowly open wide
All this beauty;
We traveled all night
We drank the ocean dry
And watched the sun rise...
I can see you're new, awake
Let me assure you, friend
Every day is ice cream and chocolate cake
And what you make of it
Let me just say
You get what you take
From it, so be amazed
Whenever you stop...
You gotta be brave.
All this beauty;
You might have to close your eyes
And slowly open wide (all this beauty)
And watch the sun rise."

Here's a link to the song: The Weepies

Diving Palau on a Live Aboard

We have a 6 hour layover in Narita, Japan and thought we would blog while we can.Live aboard rules are extremely simple:
If you are dry, dive.
If you are wet, eat.
When you are too full to eat and to tired to dive, sleep.
Our schedule pretty much went like this:
6:15 a.m. - We get up. We have a piece of toast and maybe some hot-chocolate that Chettra makes for us. Change into our swimsuits, and gear up into our wet suits, our.
7:00 a.m. - Get a briefing on our first dive. (In a briefing the dive master tells you about the area where you will be diving, what your max depth will be, how the reef is laid out, what kind of fish you can expect to see and when you will come back up.)
7:15 a.m. - Jump off the back of back of the boat and we are in the water blowing bubbles
8:30 a.m. ish - Breakfast
10:00 a.m. - Geared up, briefing, another dive
11:30 a.m. - Lunch
1:00 p.m. - Geared up, briefing, another dive
2:00 p.m. - Snack and fruit shake
3:00 p.m. - Geared up, briefing, another dive
6:30 p.m. - Night Dive
8:00 p.m. - Dinner

For those of you counting, that would be 5 dives a day possible. For those who are moderately enthusiastic about diving, this would not be your cup of tea. You will get "dived out". Of the 30 potential dives Tammy and Suzi did them all and I did 29... I know... I know... I wussed out on a night dive.

Also for those of you counting, almost every dive went nearly a full hour of bottom time with depths as much as 105 feet. We spent 5 hours a day under the water. This is an amazing amount of SCUBA time.

Now this may get a little boring, but for those interested here are some of the logistics about diving:
The air we breathe is typically about 21% oxygen with 78% nitrogen and 1% other inert gases. When people dive using a regular air tank, they breath air.

When people dive and are exposed to increased pressure as they descend (not work stress but depth pressure) nitrogen builds up in the diver’s system and it dissolves into the body liquids and tissues. When a diver ascends slowly and as they spend time on the surface. these gasses are exhaled through the lungs. This is called "offgassing"

Stop yawning we are getting to the good part... However, (HUGE "however") if a diver comes up too fast (which decreases the pressure quickly) the nitrogen gas is forced to come out of the blood quickly, bubbles form in the body and are unable to leave through the lungs.. This can cause symptoms of the bends or Decompression Sickness (DCS) or embolisms. It is like opening a can of soda, the bubbles form once the pressure is quickly released as the can is opened. The gas comes out of the soda solution. This is essentially what happens in a diver’s blood if they ascend too quickly. Depending on where those nitrogen bubbles go in the body determines how much damage they can do.

It was called the "Bends" because it was so painful it would make folks bend over in pain... okay I lied. I just made up why it was called the "bends". I don't know why it is called the "bends". The first one who reads this and comments back and explains why (the real reason), I'll buy you lunch. (Suzi and Tammy are not included in the contest.)

When people get DCS they are typically taken to a hyperbaric chamber which is essentially a big metal tank. They go inside and the pressure in the tank is increased (just like they were diving) making the nitrogen gases/bubble dissolve into the fluids and tissues again. Then the pressure is slowly released to allow the gasses to escape normally through the lungs..

When divers come up slowly and do what is called a safety stop for 3 minutes at 15 - 20 feet, it allows the body to eliminate the gases normally. However, (Don't ya just hate what "however" can do to a story?) The more time you spend in the water diving and the deeper you go down the more nitrogen you accumulate and the longer you have to wait to allow for “offgassing” till you can go back in the water to dive again.

However, (Don't cry this is a good however), you can change your gas mix (no, not THAT gas mix) in your tank to have more oxygen and this is called…enriched air. So, instead of breathing 21% you can increase it up it to 32% (or more) and lower the amount of nitrogen you take in. This increases your bottom time and decreases your time out of the water because you are dealing with less nitrogen to begin with.

Now there is a lot of math involved in this with "tables" and "graphs" and "algeaorithms" and lots of annoying numbers and equations for people who wear pencil protectors and get beat up at recess.... no offense Tammy. So, I have a computer that beeps at me when I am going up too fast, or going down too deep or peeing in my wet-suit. I lied.... thank heavens it doesn't beep when I pee in my wet suit.

We dove with a 32% enriched air so we could stay down longer. Every day Tammy would try to explain to us what the computers were telling us and why we needed to wait 2 hours and 10 minutes before we could dive again. Every day Suzi and I would look at her with blank stares and nod our heads like we understood... We never did and just waited for the computer to beep.

Gear list:
BCD - Buoyancy Control Device - This is a vest that holds your air tank. You can blow air into it so when you jump in the water with you heavy air tank you don't sink. When you want to go down you push a button on the end of a hose to let the air out. If you go really deep the pressure goes up and you can put some air into the BCD to make you more floaty.
Regulator - This attaches to your tank and feeds air to your mouth piece and your BCD. The mouth piece on your regulator looks a little like the mouth guard football players wear. It is soft and rubbery and fits between your lips and teeth
Wetsuit - This is usually made of neoprene... a rubbery foam stuff that is stretchy. It helps keep you warm and protects you from tuff like jelly-fish stings. Suzi and Tammy wear a 5-4-3 suit. That means in the areas prone to get the most cold they have 5mm of neoprene and areas like their legs and arms that are moving a lot they have 3mm of neoprene. Suzi gets cold in Moab in July so that's no surprise. If Tammy would pee in her suit she wouldn't need it to be so thick.
Mask & Snorkel
Fins
DSB - Diving Signal Buoy is clipped to the BCD - This is usually a bright orange tube that when you inflate it, it is about 4 - 5 feet tall. If a diver ever gets separated from the boat they can use this so the boat can see the diver over the waves.
Underwater Flashlight - For night dives and looking in dark places on the reef. Also clipped to the BCD
Class dismissed


P.S. – If you see words like “tissue” and “off-gassing”, Tammy wrote that and tried to correct words like “agleaorithims” but I wouldn’t let her. Tammy is very smart and Suzi and I don’t understand her a lot of the time because she uses words with lots of letters, but we nod our heads up and down whenever she’s talking because we know she’s right…Suzi is shaking her head “no” and said I lied.

Ocean Hunter Cast Aways

Chettra - Chef/cabin steward

Jaycee - Divemaster

Troy - Our Captain

(L to R) Matt, Les, Dan, Tammy, Suzi, Chet, Shawna, Martin

Sunday morning right at 10:30 the Fish & Fins van picked us up at the LDS chapel in Koror where we attended services with the sweet little congregation there.

Our boat was the Ocean Hunter I. It is a 60’ vessel with a 2000 mile range and top speed of 7 knots… slow and steady wins the race. We also towed a 30ft run-a-bout which would take us to some of the dive sites when the Hunter was anchored.

Our cabin was in the stern of the boat. It had a double bed Tammy & Suzi shared and a single bunk for me. We also had a small bathroom with a little shower, not to be confused with a bidet. It was small but comfortable. They had us unload just what we needed of our gear and kept the rest of our luggage in lockers on the dock.

The bow of the boat had two more rooms that each slept two with their own bathroom. The crew had a couple of bunks in the same bow area. Between the sleeping areas was a small salon where we ate, visited, and could watch dvds. We kept our wet suits on the deck of the bow where they would dry and off the stern all our tanks, BCDs, mask and fins.

In a boat this small with 10 people on it everyone kept their stuff picked up and in its place with no clutter. Tammy was in her element. The crew consisted of:
Captain Troy, from Palau who had been working for Fish & Fins 10 years.
Jaycey the divemaster, also from Palau who has been with Fish & Fins for over a year.
Chettra, from Nepal, who was the cook and cabin steward has been working there for 8 years

These guys knocked themselves out to make it a great dive trip. Anything we wanted or needed was taken care of for us. We don’t think we have been waited on like this since we were in diapers. Heck they would even get mad if we carried our own bags.

Our ship mates were:
Martin from Germany who is a dive master with well over 2000 dives. If we had ever caught him sleeping we would have checked for gills. He has been a dive guide in the Red Sea for several years and has traveled the world. His English was great and since Tammy can say “Gesunthite”, Suzi sings “Edelwise” and I like Strudel we got along famously.

He was quiet and reserved. With his vast experience he never acted like a know it all or interfered with the crew. We think he probably had some great whale stories but he just isn’t the kind of guy to brag.

To give you an idea of his diving ability…he almost always went deeper than us and stayed longer than us. Most impressive was at one of the dive sites where everyone else is tethered to the reef so they don’t get blown away by the current, Martin was in the middle of it. We aren’t talking hunkered behind a coral head. We are talking right in the middle where all the fish are flying by and he’s not moving, he’s not finning. When we asked him how he did it, he said you just find the right place in the current. Whatever…He is freaking Aqua-man.

Dan from Bumpass, Va. No we are not lying that is really where he lives.

He is a retired Colonel and has served in the pentagon and worked in both the Regan and Bush Senior administrations. He flew helicopters during the Vietnam War spending a great deal of his service at that time in Laos, but “we were never there.”

He sort of fell into diving by accident when he was on a cruise, there wasn’t anything else to do, and he was bored. He celebrated his 1100th dive during our week together.

He has been married for close to 35 years to a saint of a woman who will one day be canonized.

Les from Hawaii. Les met Dan on a dive trip put together by a dive shop based in Alexandria, Va. They were room-mates and have since been on several dive trips together. Les is also a retired Colonel and was “Special Forces.” He is an engineer who has worked as a consultant and is now working for the Army. He travels the world trying to help folks figure out which way is up.

He is the proud father of a 9 year old spit fire named Kira who will no doubt embrace his passion for diving. Les has also been married for nearly 35 years and his sweet wife let him come on this trip the day after her father died. We are so glad she did.

Matt from Hawaii, lives across the street from Les and they dive together all the time. Matt is a Lieutenant Colonel in the army and has done tours in Afghanistan and was in the 1st Desert Storm as well. He has three daughters and a good wife who keeps everything together when he is called away.

We don’t know if we could have felt more safe or better taken care of between the attentive and trained staff, Aqua-man and all the G.I. Joes who were all in every way both officers and gentlemen. We have an immense respect for what they have done and what they continue to do.

If someone gets on your nerves in these close quarters when you eat all your meals together and spend all that time diving, they will be riding it for 7 long days. The truth is we all got along great.
I think they were a bit worried by Suzi’s exuberance, and Tammy’s mere 50 dives to their 1000’s, but they got used to and joined in on the WooHoo’s (so close to a “Huray”) and Tam quickly proved herself underwater able.

Diving is a beautiful sport. It has the potential of being very “zen” as you are embraced and surrounded by water that has been here since the beginning of the world. There are colors and creatures unimaginable unexplainable unless you have been 80 feet beneath the surface and had the shadow of a Manta pass over you.

To go with people who love it as much as you do, who you feel safe to joke with, tease with and dive with you… well it is just a joy.

Here is a link to the Ocean Hunter I

Saturday in Koror

Well it is a 7 days later and we are back in Koror and off the boat. As Suzi would say, “WoooHooo!!”

We arrived way early in the morning and were met by the folks from our hotel, The Penthouse, at the airport. They streamline the check-in so 30 minutes after we landed we were all snoring in our small but comfortable room. I lied, Suzi and Tammy were snoring.

We slept in late got ready for the day and were asking at the desk the direction to Fish & Fins, the company we were diving with. As luck would have it Tova the owner was eating with her kids in the hotel dining room, so we introduced ourselves and she arranged to have a van come pick us up and take our big gear bags over to their dock.

We were also asking her if she knew where the LDS/Mormon church was and her son had a friend who goes there so he knew exactly where it was. We arranged for them to pick us up on Sunday from the church and bring us back to the live aboard. It just made everything so easy. Seriously our whole trip has had these kind of serendipitous chance meetings that have made everything go smoothly.

The van picked us up. We got all checked in and registered for the week of diving. And we spent the rest of Saturday afternoon just wandering around Palau. Walking back to the hotel, actually right across the street from the Penthouse was a Chinese Massage Spa. Suzi suggested we just check the prices.

So we go in and tell them we want an hour foot massage and they tell us $20.00, now that’s like 5 times more than Thailand but three times less than the States, so it was practically free and we told them we would be back in ten minutes. We dropped off our stuff and raced back.

Okay now you know how we said our theme was “Massages of Southeast Asia” and you know how the massages just keep getting better and better and it just seems like we are going to hit a wall one of these days? Well we kind of thought that might be the case but we were willing to risk it for our addiction… our goal.

Let me just say if all the Chinese people can do what these women did then God love ‘em and I am so glad there are like 30 billion of them. First they bring out 3 hot basins of water to soak our feet. Then they pour this stuff in it, some ancient Chinese secret that turns the water green and then it thickens up like pudding and it feels so good…. Everything is going swimmingly for the perfect foot massage.

Then, they dry off our feet and they take each one of us into a private curtained cubicle. “Well that’s interesting. Normally I just sit in a chair next to my good friends while a kind soul massages my feet taking me to Nirvana. But okay if we are have private time with my feet… I’m good with that.”

As we go into the cubicle the sweet woman who speaks no English indicates via pantomime that I need to take all my clothes off. “Wrotro Shaggy!” I hit the brakes and indicate via pantomime I am only interested in getting my legs and feet massaged. I will say this to no avail at least a dozen times.

Tammy is also trying to explain the same thing to her girl and shouts out to Suzi, “Suzi did you take off your clothes? What are you doing? Suzi…Suzi?’

Nothing. No reply. What we learned latter is Suzi had immediately stripped and was already well on her way to complete Nirvana. Tammy succumbed next leaving me alone clinging literally to my clothes.

Now here’s the other thing. Usually in the States, when you get a massage and you do take off your clothes (I always keep my granny panties on) they leave the room. Not only did this girl stay, she was helping me undress. I kid you not… helping me undress. No I lied… she was not helping me undress, she was forcibly taking off my clothes. I then, and this is not metaphorically, begged to keep my pants. She was relentless. I surrendered as I heard Tammy in the next cubicle laughing and Suzi down the hall snickering. At this point I stripped, seized a towel and got on the table.

I lay there thinking, “Go to your happy place and just know that in your happy place you are wearing clothes.” Okay now here is the miracle of the Chinese massage. Despite the early trauma, as this woman began to massage my back I suddenly realized, “This is the PERFECT massage!” The pressure is just right. She was finding every knot and slowly, methodically and with the same persistence she used to strip me working the kinks out.

I heard very little from Tammy next to me except an occasional, “That feels really good.” From Suzi we heard nothing. If they had hooked her up to an EKG she probably would have been a flat line as she was building a house in Nirvana.

The hour passed and they asked if for $10.00 more we wanted a foot and head massage for 30 minutes. I asked if I could put my pants on for that part. Suzi and Tammy both laughed again. And needless to say we were there for another 30 minutes and the Best Massage in Southeast Asia. (If this were linked to audio you would hear the Hallelujah chorus right now.)

Erawan Falls

After our adventure at the Tiger Temple we had read online about the famous Erawan Falls. They are supposed to be one of the most picturesque in all of Thailand so… we scootered another 40 minutes over to check them out for ourselves.

It is actually in Thailand National Park. We rumbled up to the entrance, paid the fee and scooted in. Before the actual trail to the Falls, they had some little outdoor cafes. Tammy immediately went on an ice-cream reconnaissance mission because her frozen dairy senses were tingling.

She reported back mission accomplished, the target had been located and it also appeared other food was also available for those inclined toward any of the other food groups.

Suzi would like to report she had some of the best Chicken Curry of her life. For those of you racing to book a ticket to “Erawan Fall’s Road-side Dive”, let me first explain what constitutes “Best Curry” for Suzi:
· Eyes immediately water
· Mouth burns
· Hearing is temporarily impaired
· Nose runs
(I know very appetizing for her table partners.)

Yeah, Suzi is a real culinary critique. I lied, she is a masochist who equates all pain as a good thing. Note to everyone Suzi will hurt you if she is your work-out buddy. She will hurt you bad. She will say it is good, but she is wrong; it is bad.

Tammy eating experience was more along the lines of, “I think I have made a really bad mistake.” See Tammy chose something safe and sure, Chicken & Sticky Rice. Now when I say safe it is all relative. When we walked up to this fine establishment both Suzi and Tammy asked if I had my Pepto-Pills.

We had been told that taking Pepto before eating will somehow prevent all the diseases of the world including scurvy and gout. So if we even smelled something questionable we would pop a Pepto pill. I mostly ate them because I love their chalky flavor.

Tammy gets her chicken and notices it is not so much hot as it is room temperature or outside sitting in the hot sun temperature. She realizes as she takes her first few bites that the chicken is the same chicken that is sitting on skewers in the open air. As she takes a couple more bites she asks Suzi if Suzi thinks it is okay to eat.

(You will note she does not ask me because I think everything is okay to eat except lima beans which are peas that have gone terribly wrong, but I digress.) Suzi says something comforting like, “Well it’s a little late now, seeing how you already started scarfing it down.” I told her she was protected by the big pink pepto, but she remained dubious, until, with her medical training she realized that if she just had a little ice cream it would make all the bad bacteria go away. So she did and it did and we never saw her lunch again.

After an eventful lunch of pain and worry, we hiked the Falls. There are 7 levels to the Falls and in three of the levels you can actually swim. The water is clear, beautiful, and just as the travel sites promised it is all very picturesque. The higher up we went the fewer the number of people we saw as the trail got more and more strenuous. Making Suzi say this is good for us. Suzi is a weirdo.

We got into the different pools along the way and took pictures and ended up practically sprinting to the top so we would be up, down and out of the park by 4:00. In our rush Suzi twisted her ankle and it really hurt and I told her it was good for her. She did not appreciate it and Tammy hit me. Tammy is tough.

Suzi walked it off and we gimped our way down in time to saddle up our hogs and scoot back to the Oriental Kwai arriving at 6:00. Just in time to rinse off, have a fruit shake on our deck over-looking the river and make our 6:30 appointment for… another massage.

Scootin along.....

We kind of skipped straight to the Tiger Temple and what we did there without writing about how we got there. This is the part where it's a good thing I am not left to my own devices. I have the voice of reason with Tammy and the voice of “you ain’t right in the head” with Suzi.

See, I wanted to ride scooters in… well anywhere. In Manila of course there wasn’t time. Suzi said something about a death wish and Tammy thought I was sick and wanted to take my temperature. That meant scooters in Manila were a resounding “no!”.

In Bangkok I wanted to ride scooters. But I now realize that Tammy and Suzi used a diversionary process the same way you would offer a lollipop trade to a 2 year old playing with sharp knives. In this case a foot massage was suggested. Scooters… what scooters?

In Chiang Mai we had actually discussed riding scooters up to the Do Su Thep Temple. Every time it was brought up (every time I brought it up) Suzi’s lower lip would quiver and I would hear Tammy whisper to her...“Don’t worry we’ll find a way to distract her again.”. I think the rehabilitated prisoners are not so rehabilitated and have probably violated their parole in some sort of a fraud conspiracy perpetrated with Tammy and Suzi…. Bad Suzi! Bad Tammy!

When we got to Kanchanaburi, the moratorium on scooters was finally lifted. The Oriental Kwai had scooters on site so I could no longer be distracted with massage lollipops. It was like getting a hotel across from Disneyland. Besides, these were not your ordinary scooters..these babies were totally pimped out!

We asked… (I asked and I had to keep telling myself, “… Must stay focused… must not be side-tracked by the Evil Conspirators… must hold the same train of thought for more that 47 seconds.”) I asked Evelien if it was possible to ride scooters to the Tiger Temple and Erawan Falls. She pulled out a map and explained the route to me… okay I lied … she explained to Suzi and Tammy.

Once I heard, “Ya sure you can do that” I had all the information I needed. Besides the squiggly lines on the paper called a map are just silly. We got up at the “bum-crack” of dawn and headed out on the highway. We stopped at the local market so we could get breakfast for the monks at the temple. The monks can only eat till noon every day so their only meal is often breakfast. This is a “merit offering” that many Thai's make to the monks each day.

There wasn’t a McDonald’s where we could drive through and get half a dozen Egg McMuffins so we had to go to the local street vendors. We weren’t sure what to get and as we can’t speak Thai and they could not speak English. We did a little charade where we walked like monks and then acted like we were eating. The people loved it and we got five sacks of Monk food to go.

We left the little town and started out into the country-side making a “Suzi Scooter Sandwich." Tammy was in the lead, I was at the rear and Suzi was in the middle. See I told you a “Suzi-Scooter-Sandwich”. It was honestly a bit surreal as we motored past rice paddies with green graceful mountains in the back ground. We got several smiles and a couple of children waving at us. We think it was a bit of an oddity to see westerners, especially women out on scooters riding around.


Don't let the waves or smiles fool you. No doubt from our pictures you will get a sense of how tough and cool our scooter gang looked... a terror in Thailand. Most people waved hoping they were flashing the right gang signs so we wouldn't beat them up.

Okay this is our last blog before we jump on the boat here in Palau...

Thursday we rented scooters and scooted about 40 minutes to the Tiger Temple. Yes, a tiger temple. No the monks are not tigers but they take care of tigers. We did the morning program with 8 other people.

We got to play with the tiger cubs for about an hour. A quick note... I don't much like cats. I was recently attacked by a large rather vicious 2 month old kitten and thought I might lose my hand to its vicious mauling so I am a little more timid. Suzi and Tammy on the other hand threw themselves into the middle of the cubs. They were hugging them and squeezing them and giving them new names. It was all fine and good until one of the cubs took a liking to Suzi's t-shirt sleeve. When I say liking I mean this cub decided he wanted Suzi's shirt as chew toy. At first she tried to pull the cub off and it got more aggressive and more vocal. The cute little cub started pulling Suzi's shirt off her shoulder. Two of the workers came over and started to pry the cubs jaws open. Suzi, and two workers were using all their strength to get this 20 pound 2 month old tiger kitty to let go of her shirt. At this point he was getting mad and his claws came out. Claws I tell you ... claws. After a bit more effort they got him to release and Suzi had scratches and everything. That's right Suzi got scratched by a tiger.

Now wanting to be out done, Tammy who was playing with a cub had it begin to "teeth" on her shoulder. That's right folks a Tiger Cub wanted to use Tammy as a chew toy. At first it wasn't much pressure and then I saw this look come into Tam's eyes... "I am baby tiger food!" Again a couple of workers came to her aid and pried him off. At this point I went into a corner and started sucking my thumb. All I could think is if this is what happens with the cubs how are we going to survive the grown up tigers with paws as big as Tammy's head? Tammy ended up getting bruise and lacerations. Yes folks the tiger drew blood. If the bigger tigers would have gotten a whiff of her blood it would have been a massacre. I alone would have survived as the only one with sense enough not to cuddle a tiger.

Note: do not let them close to Grizzly Bear cubs when they go to the Tetons. These girls just don't think right when it comes to animals.

After the cub maulings we took the larger cubs to a waterfall pool area.
Shawna did you just say "larger" cubs?
Why yes, yes I did...
And weren't Tammy and Suzi just playing with SMALLER cubs?
Why yes they were.
So this means the pool is filled with 40-100 pound tiger cubs would this be fair to say?
Why yes it would.

They let the tigers into the pool and asked like it was normal, "Who wants to get into the pool of death with the man eating tiger cubs?" Okay I lied they didn't say pool death or man-eating, but that's only because they are liars and I am not...really I am not.

I moved by the spirit of life preserved immediately said "Hell to the no." Suzi and Tammy looked at each other with this non-verbal ..."today is a good day to die" kind of look and both raised their hands. "We'll go in! We'll go in!" Tammy saying something along the lines of... "How can we pass up a chance to play with tigers in a waterfall?"

I will tell you, just say "No".

Another thing, and lets be honest, cat pee at its best is not a scent you seek out delibrately. That said, they let us walk our tigers back to their pens.... on a leash. As we were walking our cat he stopped at a tree. Now I am no animal behaviorist but I have been to a zoo and I have seen a tiger spray. I was concerned this might be the event about to take place.

Why I did not verbalize this to Tammy, I can't tell you. It's like I didn't know how to articulate "That tiger is about to pee!" Fortunately for Tammy she moves quickly. Unfortunately for all of us, not quickly enough. She caught a little of the spray on her shirt, which she carried with her and us for the rest of the day.

So for those of you reading from home. Suzi got her shirt eaten and arm scratched by a tiger cub. Tammy was bit, yes bit, by a tiger and to top it off peed on. They and I had the best time ever... go figure.

We have more on the Tiger Temple but are just to tired. We'll fill in the blog as soon as we can.

View from room

Oriental Kwai rescue dog - Brownie

Wednesday morning we left Chiang Mai and the Prison Spa... It's okay to cry right? We flew back to Bangkok and then took what turned out to be a 4 hour taxi ride to Kanchanaburi. Don't try to pronounce it took us till just now.

We had planned to get there early enough to go to the Erawan Falls but Evelien at The Oriental Kwai said it would be too late to spend any time there. We also asked about getting a taxi to take us to the Death Railway Museum or to the Bridge over the River Kwai, but again it would be pushing it. So time just wouldn't allow us to go anywhere..

Okay we lied... not about the time crunch thing but about our real reason for not wanting to leave the resort. It is BEAUTIFUL!!! As we pulled up Evelien the woman who owns it with her husband Djo, came out to meet us with a few of their staff. They brought us lemon grass ice tea. And gave us such warm sweet welcome.

Evelien showed us around the resort and to our cottage which overlooked... drum-roll please... the River Kwai. That's right folks at home we had dinner and breakfast as we watched the River Kwai float by. We had fruit shakes out on the patio of our cottage listening to the crickets and watching the River Kwai. In the morning the sounds of all the bugs chirping in the cool air was nearly deafening. It was absolutely wonderful sitting by the River Kwai.

Now before you start thinking we are rich and want to borrow money... We won't tell you what we spent... that would be rude unless we're talking about Youth Hostels. It has got to be THE BEST VALUE in Thailand. For the record we are not rich and even if we were we wouldn't loan you money.

When you see the pictures, you'll at least get an idea of how amazing this place is.

Now we know what you are thinking, "Okay so it's got an amazing view and 1st class accommodations with great food and fruit shakes that have them looking at bananas in a whole new way. What about all their friends back at the Prison Spa? Don't they miss them? To gain all this only to lose their daily massages? Aren't they heart broken?" See we knew, we knew what you were thinking... uncanny huh?

Well massage addiction is a fickle mistress and our only loyalty is to our trip theme. We casually asked Evelien if there was any place to get a massage as we heard that a lot of people do that when they visit Thailand. She highly recommended a local spa there in Kanchanaburi "SUAN". Suzi made a move to embrace Evelien but Tammy thankfully stopped her before Evelien could see us for the addicts we've become.

We said we would figure out our schedule and let her know whether to book it or not. Moments later as we discussed what time would be best, I noticed Tammy was shaking a bit...the first signs of withdrawal were manifesting. Her voice a bit high pitched said, "I am just worried if we don't get it booked now we won't get our fix... I mean our massage tonight."

We are going to need a intervention. We realize this and we will get ourselves into a program, but we would prefer a program that slowly weans us. Maybe we could start with 5 massages a week for the first few weeks and then go to 4 and 1/2 over the next several weeks, and so on. We will be setting up a fund that you can donate to to help us with our recovery.

Suan's was amazing... seriously wonderful. Even better, dare we say it than the Prison Spa. Their style was a little more gentle and all three of us fell asleep through our treatments.

We need help. Please donate.

Hi my name is Tammy and I am an addict.
Hi my name is Suzi and I am an addict.
Hi my name is Shawna and I'm in denial.

Doing it like tourists

Monday night while coming home from our massages with the rehabilitated prisoners, we ran into the LDS missionaries who were on their bikes heading home. They called one of the people from their congregation who drives taxi and speaks English. If she was a licensed massage therapist she would have had the trifecta and been canonized our Thailand Saint.
They called her right there while we visited on the street and arranged for her to pick us up in the morning. See what happens when you do a good deed for the Prison Program and get a massage... the good karma just keeps on coming.



This turned out to be a "typical tourist" day. Not that we hadn't been doing some rather tourist type stuff all along, but this took us on the traditional route tour buses are running folks to see.



Our little sweet taxi driver Thor (not to be confused with the God of Thunder), was wonderful and very accommodating. She wanted to take us to all the things that most folks seem to enjoy. So, we started with the Doi Su Thep Temple which is up on a hill overlooking all of Chiang Mai. It is very picturesque on a clear day and when they are not renovating the temple. That said, it was still a very beautiful building and a source of pride, for the people of Chiang Mai for good reason.



There are over 300 steps to the top. Everyone kept telling me the exact number but I kept ignoring them hoping the sweet little monks would have installed an escalator before we arrived. They did not, something about sacrifice bringing forth the blessings of Buddha. (If the three of us win the lottery or something you should all come out here and climb yourself some steps.)



A couple of the fine points about visiting a Buddhist Temple:

There are plenty of folks who wear shorts and tank tops and it seemed like in most temples the monks won't say a word. In others they will ask you to rent something to be properly attired. We had actually done our home work. When visiting most of the temples we wore skirts or long pants. Not to jump on a soap box or anything, but these are sacred places to the people of this faith and they are very kind to allow us into a part of their world to enjoy the beauty, history and culture. It seems like honoring their faith in this way is a small thing to do as an outward manifestation of our inward thanks for their abundant graciousness.



Okay we are off our soap box.



Over the course of the day we visited:

• A silk factory where we saw how silk was made and learned why it was so expensive. One of the little facts that blew us away is that from a single silk worm cocoon they get a 500 meter length of silk thread. One cocoon... 500 meters. They had a shop where they produce the silk and weave the the cloth. There were some really nice clothes and oddly enough they were all very soft and smooth, like silk.


• We also saw how they make lacquerware, umbrellas, rugs, and jewelry. It was interesting and the amount of time that goes into making these items is amazing, but to be honest it was just not our cup of tea.

We also visited the Hill Tribe people from Burma who came to Thailand as refugees over 20 years ago. They have been moved around 3 times over the 20 year period and there is a lot of political debate about how they are being dealt with.

We don't know nearly enough to make any sort of comment. (That's a first.) They also create a lot of hand crafted items which they sale in their village. Truth is, it felt a little voyeuristic and yet they depend on tourist buying their wares to make a living. They also farm, have live stock, and chickens and seem to have built a life for themselves.

The "Long Neck Tribe" refers to the tribe whose women wear these heavy brass coils. They don't make their necks longer but the coils push their shoulders down. It seems painful and archaic and it is hard not to impose our Western values on their cultures and traditions. Truth is they would probably find our tradition of accumulating and consuming rather silly.

The one empirical comment we can make is that the women and girls of this tribe are beautiful. Not your ordinary beautiful... no they are stunningly beautiful and we found ourselves staring, not because of the neck coil but because their faces are just so darn pretty.

We also went to the CORNIEST Snake Show in the history of Snake Shows. This being my one and only.... that make not be a fair statement... no I lied; it's fair. It was the CORNIEST ever. The Thai guy had a sound system with loud music that he would turn up and down modulated by his comic narrative. His common lines were:

• "Ohhh dangerous!!! Do not try this at home!"
• "Dees ees the most vemonoous snake in Thailand. He bite you; you die. You die we no take you to the hospital"
• "Dees are well trained boys. Do not try dis or you die. You die we no take you to the hospital"

If we'd been thinking we would have done a video. Loaded it on You tube and made a fortune. But the BEST part was watching Suzi wet herself on at least three occasions. At one point they threw the snake out of the pit up into the audience. Now on a good day Suzi is pretty fast. On Snake Day she is a blur heading to the top row of the bleachers.

Tammy and I were laughing too hard to move. So if the snakes had bit us, we die and they no take us to hospital. We got back from the tourist traps and were feeling pretty stressed out with the snake attacks and all. So we scheduled our last massage in Chiang Mai. I saw Suzi cry a little when we were leaving.

If you are planning a trip to Thailand, we would suggest skipping this day except of course for the massage.

Missing you... okay we lied. We're having the time of our lives and don't so much miss you as we wish you were here... really.

suzi, tammy & shawna

Flight of the Gibbons

Monday we didn't really have anything scheduled except some sort of a massage. (We are all very task and goal oriented. You have to admire our persistant dedication to worthy causes.) One of the folks at Church on Sunday recommended we do "Flight of the Gibbons".

If involves going on zip lines through the jungle/forest canopy. The woman who recommended it had never done it herself, but with our "what the hec" mantra, that was recommendation enough.

We were picked up by a luxury Toyota van. I am not being sarcastic. It was big and had all leather interior. It had a pretty good A/C system once they turned it on after one of us said "I can't breathe."

We went with a couple from Canada, Tara and ? who are living in Korea teaching English (who knew Canadians could teach English?). And one other couple. Ali, was from Iran and and I cannot remember where Mira (I think I got that totally wrong) was from, but it is a country close to Italy. I am sure you can figure out which one. Mira is a photo journalist and has spent a lot of time in Afganistan. He was looking into getting into a culinary school. Part of the schooling would take place in Bangkok.

They were a fun group for the adventure. Now about the adventure, Gibbons are a monkey. At least this is what they tell us. We don't know what color their fur is or if they like bananas or if any of them have ever hung out with Cheeta on a Tarzan set. See, we didn't see any Gibbons, not even a Gibbon, not even Gibbon poop.

The guide told us that they are there in the morning and they are sleeping in the afternoon. They probably tell the morning group the Gibbons sleep late and come out for a late lunch. I was okay with it. I had visions of us zipping through their jungle and them throwing rotten bananas at us while we dangle from a thin wire. Monkeys run in a wild gang and I wasn't sure if we were wearing the right colors for their hood, so it is probably just as well.

All that being said about no monkeys, except for Tammy of course, it was a great time. There were about 15 different platforms that we zipped across going from tree to tree. Some of the lines were at a steep enough pitch that we needed to use a "brake". See how I put brake with the little quotes, now I am being sarcastic.

The "brake" was not a sophisticated piece of climbing equipment involving a lot of 2nd and 3rd fail safe mechanisms. The brake was a piece of bamboo a "V" shape to be exact "^" but if I just put that you would think I was cussing.

At each station they would tell us whether we would need to use the brake or not. ... Seems to me like I would be a better judge of whether I need to use a brake or not... Tammy and Suzi just told me I am lying. (They don't know anything.)

They also told us they would tell us when to put on the brake. Again, I am sorry, but I have seen the way the Thai drive and "braking" is not their strong suit, so I was dubious that they be the folks controling when and how we stopped as we go careening through the tree tops. Plus you just never knew when a Gibbon might pop out to use us as target practice.

I kept a very brave face because I didn't want to scare Tammy or Suzi. Those who know them, know how timid and what scardied-cats they are. Alright, I lied. These two make me look like a nervous Nelly. On the repel lines Tammy always wanted to go head first. I don't know why, maybe she thought her face would do a better job at breaking her fall and Suzi was all "I don't need no stinkin' brake!".. Very Thai like...

It was a ton of fun. But the best part was the forest and the trees. They were... magnificent. And the pictures just won't do them justice.

After we got back to Chaing Mai... we... okay say it with us... had a massage.

Chiang Mai's Sunday Night Market

The only food we didn't eat at the Night Market

A quick recap:

Tuesday mid-morning - We left SLC and then spent about 9 hours in LAX at the Crown Room.

Wednesday about 2:00 in the morning - flew Korean Air to Korea... go figure. Most of Wednesday was lost as a penalty tax for being capatalist crossing the international date line

Thursday - Overnight in Manila where we had our 1st Southeast Asia massage

Friday - Flew into Bangkok. Saw Grand Palace and took an overnight train to Chiang Mai. Foot massage @ train station

Saturday - PAINTED with an ELEPHANT. Checked into Green Tulip. Had 1st Thai massage.

Today is actually Wednesday so we have a few days to catch up on the news. Saturday evening we checked into the Green Tulip Guesthouse, which is inside the walls of the "Old City". It was close to just about everything: Sunday Night Market, several Wats (Temples) and most importantly the Prisoners Massage Spa.

This place was rated "Cleanest Hostel of 2008". It is bright and cheery with 17 rooms, some with a private bath and A/C and others where you share a bathroom and the rooms have ceiling fans. We splurged and went for the 1st class accomdations and it cost the three of us about $13.00 each, for a room with a queen bed and a twin mattress.

We found out that the LDS church as literally just 1/2 a block away, so Sunday morning we walked over to the little Chapel and attended their Sacrament Meeting. If it had been more than 1/2 a block away we may not have made it as we doubted anyone there would give us a massage and it really didn't fit into our theme.

Sunday afternoon we walked around the city visiting a local Temple and taking in the sites. We had a relaxing three hour lunch at a little hole in the wall. Which brings me to another sad confession: So far we have eaten Pad Thai or Chicken & Rice (We don't know the Thai name but somehow manage to get the point across and we think they are bringing us chicken; we hope it is chicken.)

See this is all we order because this is the only thing we know. It is very cowardly. And we are a little ashamed... I lied; I am ashamed. Suzi and Tammy have no shame. So if you are reading this blog for information on what to eat in Thailand, well that is a real dumb reason to read this blog and you deserve to be disappointed.

Sunday night we went to the "Chaing Mai Sunday Night Market". No they don't have an ad agency doing their marketing, that why it is called exactly what it is... no offense to ad agencies.

It really is amazing. It goes for blocks and blocks and blocks with street vendors all set up side by side by side. Old men, young girls, families all selling their wares, many of them hand made and one of a kind. There is food and drink, music and monks (Not that the Monks are dancing. I don't think they are allowed to dance.)

We walked for hours part of this amazing human parade and its cast of thousands. There were folks who had their own karoke machine and would just be singing in the middle of the street. Some were rather good and some sounded like me when I am alone in my car driving across the Nevada desert where I am sure no one can hear.

There were beautiful art pieces made by gifted silversmiths, handwoven scarves, silk ties & dresses, hand embrodiered table runners. Some aboslutley amazing stuff.

For those of you looking forward to some lovely Thai gifts from us here is a list of what we bought at the Chaing Mai Night Market:

3 - doughnut kind of things with chocolate in the middle

3 - pancakes filled with creme

3 - Ice Cream Cones

3 - Frozen Spritesickles

3 - Foot massages

Hope they make it through customs.

love

Tammy

Suzi &

Shawna

Thailand Trip Theme

Frommer’s Travel Book for Thailand suggested that you could give your trip to Thailand a theme. For instance, some folks come to Thailand and take several Thai cooking classes. Other people will have architecture as a theme. Still others will visit several Temples, talk with the Monks and study Buddhism. After great thought and careful deliberation, we decided to have our theme be “Massages of Southeast Asia”.

See, once the hope of any puritanical discretion had been lost in a hotel room in Manila and all dignity abandoned in a train’s bathroom we pretty much decided to adopt the mantra “what the hec.” (A rather elegant merging of both the Thai and Utah cultures… We deserve some sort of ambassadorship title.) These losses, coupled with our extremely positive experience with the foot massage in the Bangkok Train Station sent us out with great anticipation for the successful execution of our trip theme.

After leaving the Elephant Camp we checked in at The Green Tulip Guest House. (We’ll tell you about this great find later.) We asked the woman who owns and runs the place if there was somewhere close where we could maybe get a massage. We didn’t share with her that it was our trip theme as she might be a Puritan with dignity and kick us out of her establishment. So we tried not to act overly enthusiastic.

She said that there is actually a program in Chiang Mai for female prisoners. The prisoners are trained in Thai massage thus giving them a marketable trade and helping with their rehabilitation. She said they were running a special: 2 ¼ hour Thai Massage and an Herbal rub Thingy for 500 bhat. They would come pick you up and drop you off when you were done.

That’s not exactly what she said but we really didn’t hear anything except “2 ¼ hour massage”. We huddled up to discuss if 500 bhat meant we would need to take out 2nd mortgages, which we were more than willing to do. We did some complicated computations… I lied, Tammy & Suzi did what appeared to be a combination of trig and quantum physics where they divided 500 by the exchange rate… whatever that is, and told me it would cost about $15.00 each.

$15.00!!! Are you kidding me? We were all ready to give up a kidney or at least make Suzi give up hers and they tell us $15.00. I swear it was like “Field of Dreams”, only with massage instead of baseball. And the honest truth, she could have said male prisoners and we would probably still have said, “What the hec. It’s $15.00 for the love of Pete!”

We told the woman it seemed like a noble cause and we were happy to do our part to support it. One hour later a van picked us up and dropped us off at a spa. (And here we were all ready to go to the prison.) As it turned out, they are recently released prisoners who were trained while in prison. Oh!?! 2 ¼ hour massage at a spa for $15.00 and Suzi keeps her kidney. Does it get any better?

We go in and … here’s the ironic part… they have us change into orange jump suits. They bring us some tea and lead us into a comfortable dimly lit room with several foam beds. All serene all warm, all inviting and disarming. You are probably getting sleepy just thinking about it. Well don’t!

First a word about little Thai women: They maybe weigh 90 lbs dripping wet and have these sweet faces and charming smiles. Do not let this fool you. And do not, we repeat do NOT get into a street fight with them because they will tear you up!! They aren’t just strong the are WWF strong, but without a metal chair over your head.

Second a comment on Thai massage: They use their boney little elbows. They use their knees. They punch you. They walk on you. They use a vise like death grip that could make a Navy Seal buckle and cry for his momma. And they mix it up with some very pleasant extremely soothing massage techniques as well. About half way through we realized we were suffering the effect of Stockholm syndrome, but they had pushed some nerve point known only to Thai people making it utterly impossible for us to resist.

We’ve been back 2 more times.

Elephants n Pajamas

This is the part where you are going to get really jealous and forget we ever used a bedit as a shower.

Arriving in Chiang Mai, we immediately got a taxi which took us about 30 minutes into the mountains to Maesa Elephant Camp. We had signed up for the 1-day Mahout Training Course. When I set this up I knew it was going to be a little hokey and very touristy but I really didn't care and Tammy and Suzi were game for whatever.

As it turned out it was hands down one of the most amazing experiences any of us have ever had. They greeted us at the entrance of the camp shleped all our bags down into the camp. They took us to this amazing little cabin with 3 beds and a private bath which we would be able to use throughout the day.

On the beds they had laid out our Mahout Training clothes. They looked like blue pajamas and also included a totally cool safari hat. We know that when you see the pictures we will be innudated with requests to bring them back to all of you. Well we can't, because only people who have been especially trained can wear these outfits, so save your e-mail stamps we can't get you the PJs or the hat.

Mahouts are the folks who train and keep the elephants. When an elephant is pregnant, nearing the end of her 18 - 22 month term... Yep that's right imagine if the doctor told an expecting mother they will have their baby in one and half to two years, give or take... The mahout actually sleeps near the elephant and once the baby is born continues to sleep nearby to make sure everything is okay.

We learned some of the basic commands:
Ben sai - Turn left
Ben qua - Turn right
Pi - Go
How - Stop
Ouch - Don't step on me

We learned how to mount the elephants, which Tammy kept calling "horses". (I can't begin to explain why.) And then drum roll... we rode them around and then up into the jungle and down to the river were we bathed and scrubbed our amazing Mastadone decendants.

Tammy rode and worked with SongPen and Suzi with WanPen and mine was MaeMa. Mine was a little older and didn't seem in a hurry to be anywhere too fast. I think God was trying curb my "road rage" tendencies and teach me a little patience. There is not a lot you can do if your elephant is perpetually walking as if she is going through a school zone.

After the baths we went to the the Elephant show where the elephants played soccer, did a parade thingy, painted pictures, played the harmonica and had a dart competition against our own Tammy. Who won... like beating an elephant at darts makes her an Irish Bar contender.

The son of the owner of the park came over later and explained the philosophy of the park and answered any and all of our questions. He probably spent about 30 minutes with us and then made a presentation of our diploma as honary mahouts. They were so earnest, kind and sincere, it took out all the corney factor and we felt truly honored.

At the very end of our day we each got to paint a picture with WanPen. No kidding! We would get paint on the brush, point on the canvas where we wanted Wan Pen to paint and then the mahout would give a command for either stroke or blot.

WanPen painted a painting that sold for 1.5 million dollars that is in the Guiness Book of World Records. Our painting came free with the Mahout Course. Seriously so cool! The elephants are such a noble animal it was a once in a lifetime treat getting to spend the day with them.

This little narrative just doesn't do it justice.

tammy, suzi, & shawna

p.s.
There used be over 20,000 elephants in Thailand. Now that logging machinary has made the elephant need obsolete and city sprawl is taking away their habitat. They figure there are only about 3000 elephants in the country today. These camps serve to feed and care for them as well as breed them.

Here are links to the camp:
http://www.maeaelephantcamp.com/
http://www.gallerymaesa.com/

Bathroom training

The spell checkers are awake so we're back...

After the Speed Tour of the Grand Palace we made it back to the train station with time to spare. As we were walking through the station to get our bags, Tammy asked, "are you sure there isn't something else we want to do before we pick up the luggage?"

Now this was rather rhetorical because as she said this she looked longingly at the little shop there in the station with a sign reading "Thai foot massage - 1 hour 200 baht". 200 baht is about 6 U.S. dollars and one hour is about 60 minutes. When you factor in the pleasure value it is like Denny's giving away a Grand Slam breakfast for free only more betterer.

Lucky for Suzi they had three chairs and 3 massagers (can't spell the other word). So we all sat down and found out what the next world is like if you are really, really good and always recycle. Seriously it was AMAZING worth the every one of those frequent flyer miles we used to get here.

We had planned on only doing it for 45 minutes so we would have time to get our luggage and make the train. When 45 minutes rolled around we had forgotten we had luggage and they could barely make us leave when the full hour was up.

We made a mad dash for the bags and a couple of really nice porters helped get us loaded on and into our air-conditioned sleeper car. We had two adjoining rooms which were actually very comfortable and private. First class all the way for about $35.00 each.

Our porter took our dinner order and we watched Bangkok go by our windows for the next hour or so. Dinner came and then another porter came and made up our beds. By 9 o'clock we were tucked in and sleeping. I have to admit I was a little disappointed they did not read us a bedtime story.

Okay that was all the good stuff but now the ugly under-belly of train travel... the bathroom/shower/sink... You don't sit, you stand over and try to aim. Yes folks, in a moving-rocking/swaying train. For Tammy this was not big problem as she only stand about 4 foot nothing and is only 20 inches from the target zone. For Suzi and I it required a greater degree of marksmanship.

My 1st venture in completely grossed me out and I determined I could wait 13 hours or till we were back in the States. I know, I know "the ugly American", but when I went in the first time there was wet all over the place. And, growing up with three brothers it was like my very worst nightmare was realized. I could not go through the train screaming, "Who in the name of heaven used the bathroom last?!?"

The next day, Tammy who had gotten up in the wee hours of the morning (no pun intended) had showered... At least that is what she told us with her hair all wet. Suzi and I looked at her like she was suffering from the dementia of Dengue Fever. Tammy assured us it was quite clean and most of the spray we had seen before was from the bedit. Still, not an extremely comforting thought. After the long day of travel in the heat and the sprint throught the Grand Palace... well let's face it, Suzi and Tammy were really stinky.

Tammy shamed Suzi into showering and then I followed along... for the fellowship. I felt a little better about the whole thing knowing I was following those two though I couldn't help but think over and over again, "I can't believe I am doing this. I can't believe I am doing this..."

I will spare you the details but know that it was not pretty and it did involve the use of the bedit hose as the shower-head. For those of you who know longer want to know us, we don't blame you.

Tammy has been monitoring our vitals and so far we show no signs of Hep A or B.

ox

suzi, tammy and shawna