Lunatic Magazine June cover story

The June Issue of Lunatic Magazine brings us back to the dangerous animal job roots. The Cobras and crocodile handlers that appeared on the first two covers are followed up here in June by the Komodo National Park hiking guides.  Komodo National Park is, of course, home to the famous Komodo dragons.  They are big.  A single mature Komodo Dragon would hang over the ends of most anyone's dining room table (even with both leaves in).  The dragons are land hunting members of the monitor family and have bacteria in their saliva that has evolved to make the wounds they inflict become infected.  They eat full grown hogs and Sambar Deer (Asia's answer to the elk).

Hiring a guide for walking in the park is mandatory and costs eight dollars for groups of 10 or less.  Guides usually get to work with two groups a day and make sure that the dragons do not get too close to the tourists and visa versa.  To keep the dragons in check, the guides all get an eight foot long forked stick and a shirt that identifies them as guides.

We noticed that no guide was older than 26.  Trin, our guide, was proud to be one of the more experienced dragon handlers.  He had been employed at the park for all of a year and a half.  As we started the tour, Trin explained to us that adult dragons can't climb trees.  At first we thought that this was the first of the many interesting dragon facts that we were going to hear as part of our tour.  Trin was not so much entertaining with that fact as he was advising.  He followed up the interesting fact with, "so if dragon runs at you, try to climb tree.  Stick can not stop dragon."

We asked Trin how many attacks happened per year.  Turns out only 10 tourists were bit so far this year.  The guides are the ones who get bit most.  His poor friend was in the hospital for 2 months with 40 stitches.  Trin was glad that his wounds had finally closed.  Apparently, when the dragons start biting, they just take indiscriminate mouthfuls out of what ever prey they have captured.

Because there are not many jobs for the guys on Komodo who are just starting out, a bunch of the young fellas start working as dragon guides.  That is, just until something better comes along.

Because it is worse than cobra handling and crocodile cage cleaning, Trin and  his fellow Komodo dragon guides, get the cover of Lunatic magazine for June.                

Weird Wildlife (marine style)

We've been spending a lot of time underwater the past week.  Paul and I were thrilled to see three mimic octopus and a pair of seahorses last week.   If you've never seen mimic octopus it's worth Googling it.  We saw two do a sea snake routine.  Our seahorse couple appeared to be pregnant So that was pretty cool.We were also able to snorkel a wrecked  ship which sounds cooler than it is.  We also saw four species of lion fish and a scorpion fish. On another outing we swam with at least six small sharks.  On our last trip they took us to see Manta rays.  We saw two,one at least 15 ft across.  We also saw two 6-7 ft sharks.  Very few things could distract us from such large sharks, but the mantas sure did.   It was a series of truly amazing experiences.  Sorry no pics.

PAUL MUGGED BY MONKEY!

It's true.  That monkey knew about the diet soda he had hidden in his shirt. And he wasn't leaving until he gave it up.  Other than that Bali was great.  Here are some pics of the area where it all went down.  I wasn't able to get photos of the actual incident.

Time with the Toraja

Paul and I spent the better part of last week with the Toraja tribe in Sulawesi.  It was definitely an interesting encounter that left both or us doing some processing.  The Torajans believe the funeral is the most important ceremony a person has and go to great lengths to plan four-day funerals that hundreds of people attend.  It can take years to get up the money and make the preparations and during that time, the dead person stays at home in a big box with all of their things (clothes,tools,etc.).  At the time of the funeral, the box is moved to a cave or hung on the side of a cliff or put in a special house.   Lots of Buffalo and pigs are slaughtered to go with the dead person.  These are eaten by the family who come to the funeral for the most part.   Once the box is moved to its final spot, it begins to rot in the tropical climate exposing the dead person .  We were able to attend a funeral and a couple grave sites.  Paul will describe what we saw.

Really we saw two separate things.   The first was The funeral of police major Raham Kumbong and the second was a Torajan cemetery.  Police major Kumbong's funeral was billed as a proper Christian affair and day one  started as such.  What happened after the hymns stopped and the coffin was hoisted on to the elevated platform above the bull fighting area was enough to send even the most devout Christian  onto the margins of the festival grounds.  Without even a change in rhythm the program switched from amazing grace and how great art thou to an animistic shaman shouting verses of ancient language.  All of his  couplets started with a scream that approximated the noise Aurthur Fonzarelli would make after slamming his hand in a car door. "And then it came to pass" translates as "ayaaaaayh" screamed in ancient Torajan.

After thirty minutes of the man screaming at the start of every other sentence,  he finally stopped.  Some of the other men started carrying bamboo stick tied squealing hogs on to the festival grounds while the family and friends of the deceased, in their nicest Sunday go to meeting clothes, promonaded across those same grounds and into the family sitting area.  Around 25 hogs were assembled by the time the final mourner reached the seating area to take tea and cake while the names of those who had donated each hog was read. 

After the donor's name was announced, his initials were spray painted onto the hog and it was carried to a different area between the coffin platform and the family area.  In short order several groups of men had all 25 hogs killed and butchered right there on the ground.  Eight hogs at a time were stabbed thru the heart, bleed into a bamboo tube, de-haired by blow torch(Unlike the market pigs), gutted, and dismembered while Major Kumbong's kith and kin chatted over an afternoon  snack.

After the hog slaughter, everyone made a big circle and the bull fighting began.  Indonesian bull fights are just that, bull on bull til one turns tail and runs.  Jen and I stuck toward the back because there were no barriers between the people and the bulls.  Even with with this modicum of caution, we got close enough to one of the winners to get an autograph.  We were never in danger of joining police major Kumbong and his 25 hogs in the afterlife, but I am glad we were not any closer to that bull either.  I have had pork and I have  seen card playing and gambling at a number of Christian funerals.  Betting on bull fights and hog slaughter at one was new to me.  We did not come back for days two thru four, but I will never forget day one of police major Raham Kumbong's final going away party.

Torajan cemetaries are truly creepy places.  They are located on cliffsides and it is all the better if the cliff has a cave in it.  Some folks carve their own family tunnels into the cliffs that don't have caves and other  families construct hanging wooden burial arks to hang from the cliff face.  At each burial site there is also a spot where people whose families have managed to slaughter 24 bulls at their relative's funeral can place a life size effigy of them.

If a family has a tunnel, the whole burial thing is like a moseleum and not that weird other than the open door, communal burials, and exposed bones.  The hanging graves are more creepy because they also have many generations of dead guys in each one and they lose structural integrity as years pass.  Piles of bones and an errant skull or two beneath the older ones does  not seem to cause any concern for the living.  We were at a site during a hard rain and really had to give the hanging graves a wide birth.  Getting dripped on with dead guy water is one of the grossest things I can imagine.

That is except for a cave full of coffins and bones that gets played off as a tourist attraction.   The cave burial site we visited was a natural limestone cave chock full of bones coffins and offerings.  A guide leads you via the light a Coleman lantern into the cave.  Here and there you notice groups of skulls on the natural ledges of the first few chambers, but it is not until you get a hundred yards or So back into the cave when the piles of coffins and bones really start dominating the scene.  Newer coffins are just haphazardly piled onto older ones and the bones of those whose coffins have desintegrated.   Floor to ceiling disorganized piles of  bones and boxes.  The latest date i saw on a coffin was a fifty four year old who died in 2010. We cut the cave tour a little short, but on the way out I did stop to get a photo of me with my face behind three skulls that were strategicly placed for tourists to get the requsite shot of a visit to the cave.  Like getting a photo of me and Mickey at Disneyland, it seemed like I kinda had to.  Our guide mentioned that the Torajans started using formaldehyde just 30 years ago.  I bet that is going to change things.

Lastly,  I have to mention the baby trees.  If a Torajan child dies before cutting teeth,  the body is placed in a special bag and nailed to a tree in his or her village that is designated for baby burial purposes.  The tree has sap that is used to make baby food and the bark of the tree eventually grows over the bag and envelops the baby.  The baby bag is nailed to the tree facing his or her house.  The tree we visited had around eight or nine bags hanging on it.

Weird Wildlife

Last week we got a chance to see some unusual wildlife.  We did some truly amazing snorkelling on a fringing reef.  It seemed like we were in a Discovery Channel special.  The coral and fish were beautiful and we saw a large lionfish and purple spotted ray.  From there we went to a wildlife refuge where we saw the critically endangered black masque, cuscus, and tarsier.  Cuscus are whitish raccoon-sized marsupials with long tails that live in trees.  Tarsiers are tiny hand-sized nocturnal primates.  Paul is convinced they were the inspiration for the Ewoks.  Both were adorable.  / Jen

Rounding Third...

Jen and I are in Indonesia and we just realized today that we are going to have to cut some stops from the itinerary in order to be back to Jakarta in time to catch our June 13th flight.  Wow, we can not believe that the time has gone so quickly.  We will be in Bali for a short time next week, it will probably then take a week to go see the Komodo Dragons, and then a week to travel across Java and see a few things on the way.

No matter how much time you have, you always seem to run short.  It is sad to see some of your preferred destinations slip away.  Travel here is a lot slower than we expected it to be.  It is supposed to take 38-44 hours to get to the stepping off point for Komodo from Bali.  Of course, any sane person is going to want to get off the bus once or twice in 44 hours to stretch their legs a little.  Breaking the trip for a comfortable overnight adds a day on each side.  We may fly.

With 27 days to go, spending 4 of them on a bus just does not seem like our best use of time.



        

The other white meat.

DOG AND CAT LOVERS MAY WISH TO SKIP THIS POST.

CERTAINLY DO NOT LOOK AT THE PICTURES.

OK, if you are still reading it does not mean that you hate dogs.  You might love them in the same way that  the people of Tomohon Indonesia love them.   That way is on satay sticks grilled and marinaded in a sweet garlic and chili sauce.  It kind of ouks you out when you hear about people eating dogs.  Seeing how wholesale dog eating (many restaurants serve dog) is made possible really makes you think about  your carnivorous predilections in general.

People have dogs as pets here.   They come in all shapes and sizes.  "Market Dogs" are all short haired brown or bridle cocker spaniel sized canines.  They are thin and wear the fact that they are meat animals outwardly.  Pet dogs would watch people in a crowded market go by with acknowlegement or begging.  Market dogs shun contact with passersby for obvious reasons.  They are packed into crates at the same size to space ratio as market chickens.   They scatter like fish from a net when the door on top of their kennel is opened and they yelp growl and snap at the rope looped through a  hollow six foot pole that is used in all interaction they have ever had with the dog farmer.

They know when the end is upon them,  but it does not seem that this realization is any different than that of the chickens or pigs a few stalls down the way.

Once a dog is selected and hauled thru the top of the kennel by the rope around it's neck, the guy clubs the dog dead right in front of the customer, any passing folks in the crowded market, and all of the other dogs.  After the dog is dead, the guy guts the dog and uses a blow torch to singe off  all of the hair.  Burnt hair does not really stick out as a bad smell above the others in the meat section of third world markets.  For customers who are in a hurry or for those who want only a quarter or half a dog, there are several preprepared dogs to choose from.   The blow torch guy uses the fixture that he has connected to a propane tank by eight feet of hose to cook the dogs as well as dehair  them.  Dog turns white as it cooks and it takes the guy about half a cigarette to complete the process as he is standing there hawking freshly blowtorched dog.
They bring the pigs in on the backs of scooters already dead.  Their skin can be sold, so there is no blow torching, but they do get butchered in the market.
Fruit bats and rats are also blowtorched although the bat's wings are removed first for use in soup.  Cats are displayed with fur on as they are skinned after purchase.  Bon Appetit!

Droopy eared tribal members

We have found the source of inspiration for all kids who are driving tapered earings into their lobes. Dayak tribesmen are not making their earlobe holes big in an effort to stave off gainful employment until they can afford plastic surgery, but they are right there with your local skater kid when it comes to big earlobe holes.  It is not a fad for the Dayaks so much as it is  a dying tradition. Only the old folks are keeping it real.  In Borneo the kids must  think the elders are dorks for having big ear holes.  In Los Angeles,  it is the other way around.  Funny how the exact same practice can divide
generations backwards and forwards depending on where a person with big holes in their head happens to be standing.  Maybe that is what the kids here and there are thinking.  My guess is most just kind of dig the look and the attention that it generates from their parents.

Paul

Technical Difficulties

Sorry for the long silence.  We are adjusting to our new tablet and have had week internet connections in Borneo.  We're still not able to post pics.  Will try from the next city tomorrow.

Brunei

On our way up the Malaysian coast of Borneo we  overnighted in  Brunei which way different than we expected.  We were able to pick up a few treats we couldn't get in Malaysia like diet soda and  yogurt.   Brunei actually seemed a little more mellow of a Muslim country than Malaysia.  Also super clean.  The sultan has a three story museum dedicated just to him, and many of the other residents live in stilt houses over the river.  And of course the mosque is beautiful.   Check out the ladies wear at the mall.....

One of the craziest things in the sultan's museum  was the actual size solid gold arm, complete with open upturned hand,  that he can use to hold up his head when the golden crown gets too heavy.  Others must  suffer from heavy golden hat trouble too and it was worth the trip just to see how folks  deal with the problem.  Way Way Way  Better Homes and Gardens ought to publish a piece on that.

Still in Borneo

We've spent the last week Borneo trying to scare up some of it's famous wildlife.  We visited three national Parks in Malaysian Borneo and saw the proboscis monkeys I was looking for.  We saw only tracks of the saltwater crocodiles Paul was looking for, but that was close enough in my opinion.  We also toured a cave where bat guano is harvested along with the bird nests they use to make soup in Chinese restaurants.   We got up close to orangutans being re-intoduced to the forest in a rehabilitation park.  We've had some technical difficulties on the way which required us to upgrade our technology so that we can now publish camera photos.  Here are some favorites.  We're on a flight now to the Indonesian side of Borneo to take a public boat to the interior to see what can see there.

May Lunatic cover story

The LUNATIC Magazine May Cover Story combines hygiene and monkeys.  We do not have a picture of the German tourist who made this month's cover, but believe me he deserves the honor.

Bako National Park in Malaysia has a canteen where the people staying in the park can buy bottled water and their meals.  Of course, the outdoor tables attract some of the park's wild boars and monkeys.  There are signs posted everywhere that say "look out for wild animals", "do not feed the monkeys and pigs" and the Malay equivalent of Yosemite's "a fed bear is a dead bear" mantra.

We did not see anyone feeding the animals, but problem monkeys and scavenger pigs do prowl the canteen outskirts from time to time. 

At breakfast on the third day we were there, we had our first encounter with a "problem monkey".

Apart from his (there is no doubt as to which sex any macaque monkey is) taking a crap on one of the tables, our problem monkey was climbing beams, dashing under chairs, dodging the slingshots of park staff, making noise and attracting the attention of everyone.

The park staff was successful in scaring the monkey out of the immediate dinning area.  We went back to eating our breakfast and one of the staff got some tissue to erase all traces of the problem monkey incident.  The guy with the tissue did not look like the cook.  He for sure was not the cashier and I did not care to look any further into the matter because we had already eaten most of breakfast by then and he sure did not wash up after handling monkey poo.

It was a few minutes later when an older German tourist walked into the canteen.  He got two hard boiled eggs, two pieces of toast, and two bananas. (this spread cost him around a dollar fifty)

He placed his plate on the table next to ours and went to get a cup of coffee. 

As soon as he was ten steps away from his plate, the problem macaque was back.  As fast as snakes, the monkey was over his chair and on the table.  He grabbed the two bananas, placed a piece of toast under his arm and turned to make a get away. 

The  German tourist was pretty quick for an old guy and got back to the table in time to make the monkey drop the toast and scamper away.  In the confusion, the monkey knocked the eggs onto the floor, but did manage to get away with the bananas.

What happened next is what has earned the German tourist the cover of this Month's Lunatic.

The guy picked the eggs up of the floor and placed them back on his plate along with the toast that the monkey dropped from under his arm onto the table.  He went and got the coffee that he originally started for and two more bananas. He then sat down, peeled his floor eggs, ate his monkey armpit toast and sipped his coffee.  I do not know if the man got to the bananas, we had to leave after seeing him (Seeing him!!) eat the toast.

Because of this grown man's complete lack of healthy eating practices, he earns the May cover of Lunatic Magazine. 

I am not sure if the monkey had any lasting health problems because that tourist had touched his food, but I can imagine that the fella might benefit from a stool test upon his return to Germany. 

Paul

Leeches or Mosquitos?

What's worse?  This is a topic Paul and I have been discussing lately.  I was horrified when a close friend suggested that leeches were preferable, but I've come to agree.  Leech bites are more predictable, leeches are more obvious, and leeches don't carry nasty diseases.  on the other hand leech bites are pretty ugly...... Our thought for the day ~ Jen

Universal Sign for Crocodile?

It's really important to know whether there are crocodiles in the river nearby.  Over the last month I've seen people from all over the world try find out and I've discovered there is a cross-cultural sign for crocodile.  You know what it is if you think about it.... ~ Jen

No Booze

You don't need booze to have a good time.  As true today as when my high school health teacher, Coach Gresseto, said it so many years ago.

The debate here is about the differrence between need, would like, see no practical reason for not, and was designed for.

We are in a very dry very muslim area of malaysia right now at a beach resort.
We are having a very good time and there is not a drop of booze to be had. 
  I would like to have a beer or two with my beautiful sunset dinner on the beach.
  I can see no practical reason for there not being drinks at the beachfront restaurants and coffee areas that populate the island strip. 
  The place was designed for drinks as much as was any strip of palm thatched beachfront eating and drinking establishments anywhere else in the world, yet the sky would fall if anyone were to crack open a coors around here. 
  People have built areas where drinks would be served (if there were any), but they have decided to fill those areas with small cake displays and coffee services.
   The areas are so like bars in everyway except for the most important.  There are even dartboards and pool tables in these areas.  You could hustle a few eclairs out of a guy for kicks, but then what?  "Hey how about playing for a cream custard longjohn this time?"

  The areas are close enough to have fooled me into sitting down more than once.  I know how geese feel when they land in a big blacktop parking lot that, from the air, they have surely mistaken for a lake.

Got to go. They have line dancing in the cake and coffee area after dinner at a spot on the south end of the strip.  Hope it is not too late of a night.

Paul

Shark.

Jen and I just spent three days snorkeling and the highlight of the effort was the four foot reef shark that we saw.  Jen saw one on the first day. Day two we saw some small ones and then on day three we both saw a biggie like the one Jen saw on day one.  In addition to the sharks we also saw big parrot fish, tons of colorful reef dwelling fish, a giant cowfish, mating puffer fish, a titan trigger, big conchs, and a sea turtle.  I have yet to see a can of coors, and I was hoping that with all of the bigger than usual things we were seeing the past few days, I would happen on a frosty one, but it has yet to happen.

Malay wildlife hide

When jen and I heard that they were going to send a married couple to Mars, we both thought of the togetherness that we have been experiencing during our travels.

Tonight we are spending the night in what amounts to a deer blind in one of Malaysias national parks.  The place is built to sleep twelve, but if our luck holds for another hour or so, we will have the place to ourselves.  The blind overlooks a salt lick and we are hoping for tapir or better on this stormy evening.

The evening should be like a couples retreat if we play things right.  Guys usually go to deer blinds to get some alone time.  I am glad jen is with me.  It was her idea to come and with two people we have a better shot at seeing animals.  The storm has the heat down and we are both better off for that.  It was a sweaty walk out here and if the temp stays, we just might get some sleep tonight.

...Turns out that we did get the blind to ourselves.  We saw a boar this morning and most of our clothes are dry for the sweaty walk back.  One rat woke us up, but we did not lose any food to him.  Not having company was a plus.  We got to play scrabble and talk and just hang around.  It rained almost the whole night and our metal roof told us how hard.  Phoenix dwellers seldom get to hear roof rain.  In the tent rain noise puts me into fits.  Under a solid roof there is something comforting about
it.  It reminded me of being really young and listening with my parents as we heard a memorial day at the pool turn into a game of monopoly.  Also it reminded me of being at work as a lifeguard and hearing an easy day and getting sent home early.  Drips through the roof sound horrible, but rain on the roof and the leisure it brings sounds good to everybody who has one over them. ~ Paul
Here is a photo of the hide, part of crazy long column of marching ants, and what I think is a giant millipede.  ~ Jen

Malaysia 639

It seems that when you get too many complaints against your bus driving ability, the Malaysia state bus company places you on the 639 route.  639 is the route that delivers tourists to the Perhentian Islands.  I am sure that some clever administrator figured that since tourists were in general not repeat customers and did not know how to lodge formal complaints anyway, moving problem drivers to the 639 route was a win win.  At least a win, problem solved.

We had a driver on the way there that we thought was bad on account of his complete inefficiency.  He stopped the bus mid route to talk to a friend for a full 15 minutes.  This was after he had us sitting on the bus for an hour waiting for a lady friend of his to show up.   We were on the two thirty pm departure and the four thirty spent more than three quarters of the entire 50 mile route following directly behind us in traffic.

On the way back, things turned from inefficient to downright dangerous.  We hit a goat.  Regardless, we did not stop and making a big deal about the driver charging us 7 malay ringet a piece for the 6 ringett fare would have been a waste of time.  30 cents is hardly worth fighting a killer who can kick you off the bus.

The dangerous part was that the guy was clearly dozing at the wheel and doing all the tricks that tired drivers do to stay awake.  He squirmed in his chair ala Stevie Wonder, clapped his hands loudly at various intervals, sang songs to himself, turned the radio on for us all to hear, stopped and ran around the bus, and finally used the two extra ringets snaked from us to buy a cold coconut shake.  To his credit, we did not swerve out of the lines.  Still, clearly our hot sleepy tired afternoon nap approaching bus driver was worse than our inefficient chatty bus driver.  The drivers we had on all of the other lines have not been noteworthy.  Not noteworthy is what I am looking for in a bus driver from now on.

Pictures from Last Week in Thailand

We spent our last week in Thailand camping at a marine reserve, relaxing and snorkelling twice a day.  We saw lots of eels, a pink and white lobster, and lots of clown fish (nemos) in addition to loads of other types of fish.  We also saw monkeys, a new type of hornbill, trogons, and a monitor lizard.  The big news of the week was waking up to a foot-long tokay gecko on the ceiling of our tent.  (We had the door open because it was hot.)  The gecko ran into a tent pocket and we were obliged to leave him there until he left on his own accord.  I did get a picture of him on the tree next to our tent the next day.  After crossing into Malaysia we ended up in Penang and are now headed to another island to do some more snorkelling.  After that we head to a national park to do some hiking, so we may not have reliable internet for the next week or so.  Hope all is well with all of you.

Why poligamy can never work

I was looking back thru our travel photos and found proof as to why Arizona and Utah are so up in arms about the Colorado City Fellas having more than one wife.

Historically, I am sure that the pros and cons of each side have been discussed in great detail by some of the finest  philosophers.  The evidince I have discovered in the far flung wilds of Burma should prove to everyone once and for all that while a fella can have two great and true loves in his life, he can not fully realize his love for both in tandem. 

He can be a true fool for each of them and he can enjoy interacting with both separately, but having them together is just not going to generate the kind of harmony one thinks it might.  Toward the bottom of the menu board is my proof.

Happy Easter from Malaysia

Jen and I are hoping that everyone has a happy Easter.
We crossed into Malaysia yesterday and after several plan changes and the inability to get ferry passage off of Langkawi Island (giant air show and festival ending) has put us traveling on Easter to Georgetown in hope of catching a later church service.

Just five more transfers to go.  Boat to local bus to long distance bus to boat to local bus.  If they all connect, we are in business.

I bet that the Easter bunny really can not stand Santa.

People always talk about how Santa gets around the world in a day delivering presents to all of the good little boys and girls.  They mention his flying sleigh and they leave him high calorie egg nog and cookies to keep his strength up.  We all know he lives at the north pole.

You can imagine the rabbit asking kids "do you even know where my house is?".  I picture him simply losing it on a kid who can't answer.

"Yeah, but Santa stays at the North Pole right?  You are clear on that.  No one knows anything about me other than egg delivery service.  My job is way tougher than the job that so called Clause has.  Also, there are no elves or Mrs. Bunny to help out around my house.  It is all me.  I have a single night to hit everyone, not just the good ones.  I ain't airborne either.  Do you have any idea how hard it is for an earthbound rabbit to cover the South Pacific?  Look, you ever have trouble finding your christmas presents?  Right under the tree in the same place every year.  Santa can almost sleep walk through visiting your house by the time you hit eight or nine years old, I have to keep finding new places to hide eggs.  Do you have any idea how much longer that takes?  Oh yeah, and lots of kids leave out carrots for me.  What do you think, like I am on a diet or something?  Ain't a kid in the world would pick a carrot over cookies and nog, but everyone thinks a carrot is just fine for me."

If he visits your house, Please be nicer to the bunny this year and leave him some johnny walker black or at least something nicer than you leave for santa.  The bunny works just as hard or harder and gets way less respect.

Out of Touch

We've spent the week a little out of touch snorkelling  and enjoying another Thai national park.   Got personal with long-tailed macaques, parrot fish, squid, really big spiders, and some extraordinary coral.  Turns out the snorkelling was just long enough to cure the blisters on our feet before we got more at the next park.  50 miles of jungle hiking logged so far.  We're in Phuket now, which is a jungle of a far different sort.  More snorkelling planned for next week..... ~ Jen

Lunatic Magazine April Cover Story

This months issue of Lunatic spotlights business and what some folks will do (or subject customers to) in order to make a few extra bucks.

A while a go in Cambodia we had boat transport that involved the least regard for passenger well being, safety, and comfort of any ride I had ever been on in my life.

The new record on all three fronts belongs to the travel we did on the overnight ferry from Ko Tao back to the mainland here in Thailand. 

Picture 60 individual pool raft size mattresses laid on the floor side touching side.  They ran the length of the room against each long wall of a boat galley with five foot celings. 

Jen and I were number 34 and 35.  A German woman was number 33 and a Japanese fella was 36.  There was no space between any of our two and a half foot wide mattresses and we, along with 56 others and 60 more on the deck below us, spent the night rolling thru the sea. Two bathrooms for everyone.

I woke up way too close to my Japanese friend twice and jen and her German neighbor had like ackward moments.  In fact if Jens neighbor had been a German Shepard rather than a German tourist, PETA would have been on site trying to shut things down.  I felt like a veal calf and did not really have room to turn around in the dark.

Really a bad travel choice.  We are taking a day ferry tomorrow and are hoping for better.

The complete and reckless disregard for large groups of nice people just to squeeze more money out of each run earns the Ko Tao overnight ferry operator this months cover of Lunatic ~ Paul

Welcome Juice

During the hotel check in process in all of the countries that we have visited there is sometimes welcome juice and wet towel service.  This sounds great and would seem to be providence for only the higher end hotels that Jen worms us into on discounted travel points.  The thing is that welcome juice is a random occurance.  I have yet to be able to figure when we are going to receive welcome juice and when we are not.

It is not associated with price and certainly not associated with hotel cleanliness or general upkeep.   Welcome juice can come with lipstick on the glass.  It can be served in a frangapani scented, fern filled, and air conditioned lobby or as a compliment to an inch of dirty standing water on the floor.  It goes well or not with all occasions inbetween.  The thing is that it is very difficult to refuse welcome juice.  No matter if it is plain old warm Tang or chilled fresh pineapple smoothie, avoiding instances of unwholsome welcome juice is no small trick.  Jen has enjoyed the welcome juices and has never been sick, but there are times when you want to say outright to a persistent hotel owner "look pal, your plumbing better be in better order than it is down here at reception prior to pushing that juice on me too hard.  How about having the juice guy clean instead of pouring juice?"  Of course you say "no thank you really again, I am allergic to tang" and then avoid anything orange for the rest of your stay.
This still causes a stir, as if your parents meant to cause offence today by passing on orange allergic genes so many years ago.  Dad said to mom "let's get that guy" and they have just been waiting since then.

I am not sure that welcome juice is really worth the hassle that some but not all hotels go thru.

Warning.....

Some of the warnings from our national park visits are in the pics below.  While we did not see elephants, we did see elephant tracks and "droppings".  No sign of the endangered siamese crocodiles unfortunately.....

Gibbons and Sambar, and Hornbills - Oh My!

A large part of the time we have spent in Thailand so far has been camping in two national parks which is why we've been a bit out of touch.  Thailand's national parks have been great - tons of wildlife and nice campgrounds with canteens.  We have seen loads of animals - white-handed gibbons, pig-tail macaques, dusky langurs, sambar, giant squirrel, barking deer, hornbills, 15 inch geckos, civit cat, asian porcupine, walking fish, butterfly bigger than your hand, other small mammals, birds, fish, reptiles, and cool bugs and plants.  We saw a snake catch and eat a frog as well which we thought was pretty cool, though a bit gruesome.  Many of these animals wandered freely through or near the campground.  Unfortunately, most pictures were taken on the camera so you'll have to wait til we get home if you want to see them.  There are a few we got in camp though with the phone including me interacting with an habituated gibbon.  Yes I did get my rabies series before we left.  ~ Jen

Welcome to Thailand again!

Although we've been here almost two weeks we've had intermittant internet access and so are still trying to catch you all up.  We flew back into Bangkok after Burma where we rested, spent time at 7-11, and accomplished some errands.   I visited the fancy temple that's part of the royal complex before leaving Bangkok the first time. Inside this temple was giant gold reclining buddha with mother or pearl inlay on his giant feet.  Here's some pics of that..... ~ Jen

An afternoon at the Strand Hotel

One of the main reasons for going to Burma was to have a cocktail at the Strand Hotel in Yangoon.   Over the years famous guests have included Rudyard Kippling, Mic Jagger, and George Orwell.  Jen and I sat at the empty hotel bar and sipped gin and tonics.  You could really imagine the famous folks whose names have appeared in the hotel register over the years sitting in the very same room.  Later we shot pool and lounged in the hotel lobby.  Clearly a five star joint and with all of the history, worth the trip.

One of the other main reasons to go to Yangoon, besides seeing the place I have read about, was to get some of those delicious crab rangoons straight from the source.   Turns out that no one in the town has ever heard of them, not even the folks at the Strand Hotel.  That was kind of a let down. 

Beasts of Burden

In addition to the oxen, there were a few more beasts of burden in Burma.... ~ Jen

Myanmar Market

Pics from a food market in Myanmar.  ~ Jen