The Wild Orchid

Erik picked a sweet little guesthouse, The Wild Orchid, beautiful commons area with lot of Thai artifacts and statues. Side street and big open sitting, dining area to lounge in. There is a little pool with the requisite statues and greenery right by where we eat. The accomodations are $6/nite and rooms are new and clean and simple, small ,just a bed and fan but certainly adequate. Bath and shower down the hall and cold water in the shower welcome respite to the heat and humidity. This Soi Rambutri area is a traditional wayfarers area for the backpacker set. The food is great and inexpensive. Erik got up and did yoga in the adjacent park and went back to bed. He ate at his favorite street vendor Tompei who is pictured here. She loves Erik and is so pleased to see him every time he shows up. She calls me Mama and I told her she is Erik's Thai Mama because she feed him so many times last year. He had yogurt with fresh fruit and granola this morning, fresh squeezed tangerine juice for $1. I ate at our place in the quiet of the morning and paid $3 for an American breakfast with the standard egg and white bread fare with tea.

Later we went for Thai massages which were great. These ladies all come from different small villages out in Thailand. They are lucky in many ways because at this place they do not have to ply the sex trade as they all work in a large room together. They giggle and talk to each other but the general atmosphere is really pleasant and they work you over with their pulling and stretching and kneading out the sore muscles. Afterwards you have tea and it feels like you have really done yourself a favor .....all for $6/hour. They are really sweet ladies and of course love Erik. They remember him from his previous visits.

We are checking out what it will take to get to BURMA after we get visas tomorrow. Expect it should go well and we will fly to Rangoon on Tuesday and go to the beaches along the Andaman seaside and await Rob's joining us for travel north to Mandalay.

Kowloon in Transit

Red Carpet rooms are one of the few perks of having sat scrunched in airplane seats for about 50K miles each year. A glass of wine and in Asia, free computer access. Americans all have their own machines but in Asia computers are widely shared. Passing the Gucci and Prada shops in the Airport the Japanese are buying product like it is their job. It is amazing what marketing has done to create this consumer consciousness across the globe. That indeed is what I have been doing for these last few decades. The news shops display tons of Asian news and magazines and in the one corner you see American magazines defined by 2 topics: Sex and money ( both sell) and of course celebrity. If I read a little more Mandarin or Japanese I could tell you what their dominant magazine themes are but I suspect that they parallel ours with their own celebrities.

The world keeps getting smaller and smaller through communications and commerce and the ties that bind in the international economy are intricately interwoven so that we really can't extricate ourselves from others. The market place which in the past was the closest large village is now a global marketplace and communications alert us to events that are happening globally. So many Americans really only focus in on a country if it touches their heart, their wallets, or their consciousness based on having been there, knowing someone who lives there or the US being involved in some international politic that has had so many headlines it can't be ignored like Iraq and Afghanistan.

Anyway I am off to the heat of the hottest month pre monsoon in Thailand and Burma. Erik will meet me in Bangkok at The Wild Orchid a small guesthouse and we will go get our Burmese visas on Monday first thing when they open. I am hoping the mother and son combo does the trick for fast visa approval. Off to another uncomfortable airline seat from Hong Kong to Bangkok.

Getting the gear together

Erik beat me on the gear side leaving with his 18 lbs of gear and 185 lbs of manly flesh and bone. I am looking at an Eagle Creek rolling backpack travel bag that weighs 11 lbs by itself and probably an extra 25 lbs with my gear..... but I have kept the gear down to 4 shirts, 2 shorts and 2 light weight pants, 1 wrap skirt for temples, 1 swimsuit, 1 money belt, 2 hats and 2 pairs of shoes one totally water shoes as we will hit monsoon if we are lucky in Burma. The real weight is in all the meds and the pharmacopia of sunscreen and deet and bug spray, malaria medication, ( malarial mosquitos) and charcoal( for when the local food does not agree with your intestinal track), and anti-bacterial/microbial water wand to sterilize water for drinking in out of the way places, vitamins and first aid kit with the snake bite kit added for vipers and other poisonous creatures; that is where the weight adds up. Little things like passports, credit cards, books and notebooks. pens for the kids and a flashdrive, camera and case also add to the gear but in all I have packed lighter than ever before.

Monsoon is all that breaks the unbelievable 105 degree heat, so we will probably rejoice when it finally hits and getting wet will be a refreshing break. We did happen to pick the hottest time of year to go to SE Asia not that we would rethink this just because of heat but it will create its own lethargy in our energy. It is all a construct sitting in Boulder on this lovely 70 degree spring day. That being said we probably will head out for 10 days in Northern Laos up in the foothills which should be balmier before going to Burma. If we are lucky we will do the Gibbon experience in Northern Laos,which Jen has talked about but never been able to fit in on her trips and is one of the places where the local wildlife has been allowed to survive for the eco tourism. So much of Thailand's and Laos jungles are quiet because the birds, monkeys and animals have all been killed off to feed the locals. Eco tourism in many ways is the last saving grace of species overrun by population pushed to the edge.

Lucky for us we have internet for all of Laos and Thailand...unsure how much internet will happen in Burma and if there really are internet cafes there but if there are in Vietnam I suppose that there will be in Burma also. We will stay in touch with Rob and see if he gets his Burmese visa through the mail and hope that in fact he does so after the wedding he is shooting on May 2nd he can join up with us whereever we land and we can connect.

Sending Erik an email tonite to see how his 4.20 went on the beach with his new Canadian friends in Koh Lanta and what he has chosen for Option 1 Laos, Option 2 stay on beach, or Option 3 go directly to Burma after getting visas (hopefully) in BGK. We shall see. Last day in Boulder is tomorrow. The girlfriends gave me a send off tonite at Wahoos. Hugs to them all.

Baby we are going to Burma!!

April showers bring travel opps to SE Asia. Part of embracing life and change is seizing the moment and it seems the moment is NOW to go to Burma. Since 1978 when Stephana told me it was the coolest place she had ever been in Asia I have wanted to go. Jen tried two different times and was waylaid both times, first by political and then by natural disaster. The first time there was a military coup against the people that locked down the country. The last time she tried to go after a hard fought run in for a Visa at the Burmese Embassy in Bangkok. After 2 days of resolute bullheadedness at Embassy insisting that she had to go, she was lucky enough to be delayed and missed her plane and thus the cyclone that overran the Irawaddy River and displaced millions of Burmese. So sadly Jen will not be joining Erik, Rob and I on this trip but she will be with us in spirit. She is taking her vacation to visit a friend in Sicily and Florence.

Serendipity must be in the wind because both Rob and I were able to get last minute frequent flyer Saver awards so I think it was meant to be. Erik scored a ticket RT for $835 and because Aspen is in mud season he has a great excuse to take off and return the beginning of June.

So I am gathering Lonely Planets and figuring how to keep the gear down to the lightest weight possible absent sawing off the handles of toothbrushes. Rob provides a weather report daily and today it was 102 degrees there. I am excited to see a predominantly Bhuddist country even though it is under military authoritarian control . For whatever karmic reason the largest indigenous groups of Bhuddists are currently in countries with dictatorial authoritarian, governments, Tibetan China and Burma ( Myanmar) being the 2 examples in Asia. If you know of books I should read while there or in transit please send me the titles.
Be blogging soon from an internet cafe in Rangoon.