To Overcoming Fears

Update! This Just In...

After some humble beginnings, Ty and Nick are officially highly skilled mopedians.

In effort to maintain the bulge in our wallets and minimize the bulge in our waistlines, however, we have vowed to still supplement our motor excursions with healthy doses of foot powered travel.

What better way to consummate this man / motor marriage than with a trip to the "Grand Canyon" of Thailand accompanied by our new travel buddies Mat and Marie? I wanted to hot-dog my Ped along that thin ridge there, but Ty thought it was a "stupid idea..."

<---- and I don't like doing stupid things so I marched right out to the edge of this cliff for a picture instead.

Marie is stronger than she looks (Heather, don't be jealous, you're still the buffest girl we know).

Hmmmm... We have no idea what this is or why it's here but Ty said she thought you're supposed to take goofy pictures in it like a giant stamp, and again, I don't do stupid stuff so...

After our canyon adventure we hopped on our hogs (hyperbole is my thing) and we were off to go enjoy a promising sounding waterfall. We just dipped around on our hogs snappin' pictures along the whole way.

They say that the life happens in the journey and not the destination. Thank goodness, because this waterfall was a touch too dank for swimmin' (we ended up back at the falls featured in our last post which is okay by me because I fancy the dickens out of them).

Afraid there might be another monsoon.

We concluded our very first moped adventure with a little dinner and some good conversation. Mat snuck a little kiss on my wife right before the picture was snapped. Canadians are sneaky and not to be trusted =)

We have a few more days in Pai, and then it is off to Lao to get Visa renewals. For those of you not on our facebook, it should be said that we officially have work. We will be teaching several evenings classes and Saturdays on Koh Samui! We're thankful and excited about starting this new chapter in our big adventure!

Missing everyone,

Nick and Ty

P.S. First person to book a flight to come and see us gets a free banana Roti and a Thai massage on us (no Marko, I didn't spell "Ty" wrong). Make it happen peeps.

Slice of Pai

Before leaving Chiang Mai in pursuit of novel experiences, we had one last evening out, celebrating our moving on and our anniversary (again).

We had to start the night off with un-carbonated Thai energy drinks enjoyed from the rear seat of a tuk-tuk. Red bull xtra for xtra wings, and by wings I mean sugar, hence my wide smile. Mmmm.

This beverage looked so interesting and the people sitting next to us said it was tasty so we tried it. WRONG! It remained at the photographed volume for the several hours we sat there listening to live music, which, true to Thai style, was comprised of American rock and pop cover songs. The band played a quirky rendition of B.O.B.'s "Beautiful Girls" that tickled Nick's fancy.

Two mornings later we were on a mini bus to Pai. Let me just say that the mini bus was not the best ride I've ever had, due mostly to the hippie sitting behind us with THE WORST body odor I've ever smelled. Seriously. This dreadlocked fellow had obviously worked hard "cultivating" a scent so repugnant that Nick put dots of sunscreen under his nose to mask the smell. It was no joke. Nick told me to pretend it was onions. To all of our Bellingham and Pullman homies, it smelled a little like Pizza Pipeline's pepperoni and onion pizza. You won't be eating that anytime soon, will you? Me neither.

Anyhoo, after the four hour ride enduring Stinky-Mcgee's olfactory torture, we arrived in one of our favorite places thus far, Pai.

The T-shirt sums up our experience; we are ear to ear in Pai. Pai is a quaint mountain valley town in northern Thailand, populated mostly by laid back Thais and young farang hippies. Although we don't quite belong to either category, we've found great enjoyment in exploring some of the nature and culture of this picturesque place.

Before leaving Chiang Mai, we hopped on agoda.com and booked a secluded hotel with great reviews and views for our first two nights in Pai. Upon arrival the receptionist informed us, to our pleasant surprise, that she had given us a free upgrade to a honeymoon sweet. The room was huge! The bathroom area was the size of the place we had stayed in Chiang Mai. We wanted to commemorate our good luck with a photo on the charming bed, complete with mosquito net. Unfortunately, as Nick was setting up the timer on the camera, I was not so pleasantly surprised to find a slew of flee-like bedbugs on the pillows and between the sheets. Remember, this was far and away the most expensive hotel we'd booked in Thailand. "Bedbugs" apparently doesn't translate very well in Thai, especially over the phone. The maid who came to help us assured us through the use of hand gestures that changing the sheets would solve the problem, and I think she was trying to tell us the bugs were falling from the ceiling. We weren't very convinced, taking into consideration that she did not change the pillow cases or duvet cover but thought we'd give it a couple of hours and check the bed again.

This is the photo we took at the resort after the our bed was "cleaned." You'll notice our halfhearted smiles.

We wanted to check our email regarding jobs we had applied for online before leaving Chiang Mai so I called reception to inquire about accessing the wi-fi they had advertised on agoda and on a placard in the room. No wi-fi, but they did offer to let me use their computer at the reception desk.

A little disappointed, we headed to the pool for a pre-lightning storm dip. Can you be appointed? It was amazing.

We returned to the room from our swim and storm watch to find that our room had no hot water. :( Call 3 to reception. They quickly came to fix the hot water system and we were good to go.

The grounds of the resort were magical; foliage and wildlife abounded.

Our honeymoon suite had a fantastic view of rice paddies and mountains.

So did the pool.

The resort was about 4km from the town so the hotel provided a free shuttle which we took to dinner. We found a place with live music, met a cool couple from England and Holland, and chatted until our shuttle came to pick us up at ten.

If you can believe it, changing the sheets does not cure a case of the bedbugs. A 10:30pm fourth call to the reception desk included an ultimatum resulting in moving to a clean bungalow rather than us checking out, which pleased us and the hotel.

Day two entailed lounging by the pool and getting a bit of a sunburn despite our SPF 30. Hot from our sunburns, we returned to the room to find that we didn't have power, subsequently we also were without AC. Bummer. The power came on around 4pm. We later found out that the whole town was without power for hours.

Trying to stay cool in the room.

That night before dinner we searched for a hotel in town so we wouldn't have to have such an early curfew or be dependent on a shuttle. This rickety bridge was about 5 feet above water on Tuesday night. When we went to check into our hotel on Wednesday morning parts of it were covered by the river as well as the road we actually had to take to get to our hotel. At least our hotel wasn't across the bridge.

This is the view from our balcony at Wang Chang Puek Pai Resort. It's fun to keep tabs on the river level.

The Thai name of these delicious pancake treats is roti. Although banana coconut isn't an option in the mountains, banana nutella is equally delicious.

So, Nick and I rented a motorbike. I'm not a huge wuss about most things, but motorbiking is simply not for me. They're really more like mopeds, so I don't know why I'm so terrified. I felt better about riding on the back of an elephant than on a back of a motor bike, which says a lot considering the incident described in my last post. It's actually quite disappointing because the distance to most of the sights we want to see around Pai are too great to walk or ride a bicycle, which leaves us in the predicament of either not seeing them or taking a tour ($$$). I'm not joking when I say that everyone in Thailand rides motorbikes. I literally saw three 10-12 year olds on one motorbike today. Even the other tourists make it look easy. I felt slightly more comfortable when I was riding on the bike by myself rather than on the back while Nick was driving. At least then I had handlebars to hold onto. We'll probably give it another shot soon, with each of us having our own, as this is the ideal place to learn with light traffic and a slow pace.

In the meantime, our two modes of transportation will be our tootsies or not-so-well maintained mountain bike rentals, the latter of which we implemented for our 12km excursion to Mor Paeng Waterfall.

On our way we saw rice farmers in rice paddies...

kiddos hanging out on motorbikes- and no, those aren't the twelve year olds I mentioned earlier; that's a different group of kids with a motorbiking skill set that I envy-...

and wats.

Did I mention the way there was all uphill?

It was worth it.

Stunning vistas of the valley (check out that pose Demian).

It's hard to do the Superman pose barefoot on slippery rock (this one's for you H-bomb).

You don't bike 12km uphill to a waterfall not to swim.

Thai (beatdown) massage compliments of Mother Nature.

Waterfall Whirlpool Video

The beauty of the first half being all uphill, is that the second half is all downhill, right? Not when you miss your turn and end up taking the wrong road downhill in a direction you're not supposed to be traveling. Luckily we caught our error after traveling only about a mile.

Our fair town at night.

A groovy little spot where they bring patrons wacky glasses, brain teasers (two of which I solved by the way), and Jenga. I'm thoughtfully deliberating my next move.

The plan is to hang out in Pai for another week or so while we wait for a package from the fam. Yesterday we received an email requesting an interview with us for a job on Koh Samui. Hopefully things will work out. Keep your fingers crossed!

Hugs, kisses, and misses.

Ty and Nick

Almost our Last Anniversary...

Greetings once more from Chiang Mai!

Five years ago, on August 7th we gathered together with loved ones on Kalapaki Beach to embark on the adventure of marriage. With the stress of National Boards, Professional Cert., planning a year away, and moving behind us, Nick and I are thrilled to spend this anniversary falling in love all over again on our new adventure. Our (very expensive) present to one another was a trip to the most amazing animal farm in Thailand, Patara.

August 6 - 8:15 arrival at the farm. I'm getting goosebumps just thinking of the excitement I felt! Nick looks pretty excited too.

We passed through the fields of elephants to a gathering place where we donned our mahout gear, sunscreen, and the oh-so-important bug spray. Pat, the owner of the farm, gave us a history of the domestic elephant in Thailand and a rundown of the day. Truly fascinating.

Pat informed us that our first meeting with our elephant was extremely important and that the best way to make friends is to bring them delicious food. I knew I loved elephants for a reason.

The only way to approach an elephant is from the front, as elephants don't have peripheral vision. Before approaching we were taught how to determine the mood of the elephant from a distance. A happy elephant swings its tail and flaps it ears. I was the first person to meet my elephant (lucky). Since she exhibited the signs of happiness, I called her name "Nui" to which she responded by trumpeting and raising her trunk, signaling that I could approach, provided that I would be supplying delicious treats, of course. To get her to open her mouth I said "buhn" which made her lift her trunk so I could hand-feed her bananas, sugar cane and sticky tamarind. "Di di" (pronounced dee-DEE) was a little extra positive reinforcement for performing the demanding task of opening her mouth. She really was a good elephant. Di di Nui, di di. CLICK HERE FOR FEEDING VIDEO

Nick's elephants name is Mecome (MEH-come). His guide didn't speak a lick of English so his initial meeting was a little awkward. His elephant was 32 years old, huge and pregnant. Although Nui was also pregnant, she was much smaller at only 10 years of age.

After introductions, we left our elephants and reconvened to learn how to identify a healthy elephant in the morning. Four steps:

1. Elephants should ALWAYS be hungry. If they don't accept food something is wrong.

2. A dirty elephant is a healthy elephant. Dirt on both sides of the elephant means she slept laying down alternating between sides. Sick elephants know they might not have enough energy to get back up if they lay down, so they sleep standing up.

3. Sweat should be noticeable around an elephant's toenails, the only place they perspire.

4. The poop. Six is the magic number. --->

Dung means the elephant ate during the night. But we still had some investigating to do...

• It should have a mild odor. It didn't smell quite as good as the picture would suggest, but it was surprisingly okay. Stinky pooh means slow digestion; food should run its course in 3 hours.

• It should be wet enough to squeeze liquid from it - yep, we had to handle the "poops."

• It should be comprised of small flickable fibers. Large pieces or leaves means poor teeth or digestion.

Made from real elephant, so you know its good.

Next we learned how to unchain our elephants from their feeding area.

I then led Nui by her ear (very 1950s teacher of me) to an open area where I told her to lay down, "nonlong" (now-long), so I could clean the dirt off of her.

Once they laid down we whacked our elephants with bunches of leaves to remove the dirt. This is where I noticed that Nui was the only elephant still wearing her chain. Hmmm.

She was clearly lovin' life.

We then walked our elephants to the river where we lovingly scrubbed the dirt from their massive bodies. Any remnants of dirt can lead to skin abscesses if ground into the skin by passengers or cargo.

It's important to scrub behind the ears AND under the trunk. What's the magic word? Buhn.

CLICK HERE TO SEE THE ELEPHANT BATH VIDEO

One final cooling rinse and then its picture time with our squeaky clean elephants.

CLICK HERE TO SEE THE ELEPHANT RINSE VIDEO

Pat wrote helpful words* on our forearms before we got on the elephants:

By: walk forward

How: stop

Toi: back up

Nonlong: sit down

Look: stand up

Jana (pronounced yana): don't do that, which is useful for trying to prevent an elephant from eating a farmer's crop.

Up we go. There are three methods of getting on an off of an elephant. Nick and I chose this mounting technique. She's so helpful!

Nick had a larger climb than I did.

It's higher than it looks.

On the way to the jungle trail via the road.

View of my mahout, "A" from atop Nui.

Mountain goats have nothing on elephants.

They can easily navigate narrow pathways between trees.

This is hardly the steepest or muddiest section of the trail.

In retrospect, nothing about this experience was "westside."

Lunch at the waterfall...

but not before the elephants had a chance to cool off and play in the water. Some people chose to swim with the elephants but we had experienced enough dung for one day.

All vegetarian leftovers were fed to the elephants, including the banana leaf placemat and food containers.

The trip back to the farm was on the road. Nick and I were on the first two elephants in the group. Several (9 or so) elephants behind us, we heard an elephant trumpet LOUDLY, startled by a car. We continued to walk on and heard the same elephant call out again, this time responded to by a baby back at the farm.

Nick and I made it off the street and onto the dirt road that led back to the farm when the man on the elephant behind me began shouting profanities - turns out the elephant that his daughter was riding panicked and ran. The elephant calmed down but when it started running again, his daughter asked to get off. I patted Nui's head and told her, "di di" in appreciation of her staying calm...

*This is the last picture I took before finding out the "commands" written on my arm were useless in the event of stampeding elephants.

Most elephant communication isn't audible to human ears - the elephants in the back were sending warnings to elephants in the front.

Nui heard 'em loud and clear and took off toward the farm. My guide, seeing that I was about to be thrown from a rogue elephant, snatched me off and gracefully "assisted" my fall to the deep mud. He then hurried after Nui. Terrified that I was about to be trampled by the panicking elephants behind, I scurried into the prickly shrubbery alongside the trail taking shelter behind a rice farmer's hut. My only sustained injury - a brush scrape on my foot. Nick, looking a little concerned, quickly dismounted his shockingly placid elephant and we both waited for the mahouts to try and get control of the situation, which is difficult when elephants decide to go elephant.

Not everyone was as lucky as we were. In the midsts of the whole fiasco, two Canadian girls were riding tandem when their elephant flipped out and began sprinting down the highway. Eventually, they lost their grip, and fell to the pavement below incurring several strained muscles, one bitten lip, and a "precautionary" trip to the local hospital as their souvenirs.

Everything calmed down once all of the elephants made it back to the camp, and although there was no reason to get back onto Nui since the day was over, we made up through the exchange of a "di di" and an elephant kiss, which is actually more of a trunk suck to the arm. :)

Despite the overly exciting last minutes, I would relive the entire day again (and again) in a heartbeat - I'm sure this will be one of my favorite days, ever. And to think we almost celebrated with a spa day. Yuck.

We spent the next day, our actual anniversary, in the relative safety of a rooftop kitchen learning to cook 9 vegetarian Thai recipes.

Naan, who runs one of our favorite restaurants here in Chiang Mai, really schooled us in the art of Thai cooking.

Caroline, our sole cooking companion, was a bit hungover and understandably not much help during this phase of the red curry.

Whipping up some Tom Kha.

The first time we made Pad Thai that actually turned out well. Good job Nick!

Our dishes:

-fresh spring rolls

-papaya salad

-pineapple fried rice

-pad thai

-tom kha

-red curry paste

-pumpkin curry (ft. red curry paste)

-green curry

-mango and sticky rice

Tomorrow we head out for Pai, a small town west of Chiang Mai. We've had enough of the city, and I've been instructed by my mom not to ride anymore elephants, so...

Hugs, kisses, and misses,

Ty