Sapa Enlightenment

I don’t know whether it is the fresh mountain air, the energy coursing through my veins from the exercise of the hike or just the majestic waterfall in front of me, but all I can do is smile and enjoy everything that surrounds me. It was a moment of peace heightened by my euphoric state of mind. As I was taking in the view I realized that there seems to be some amazing order to the way in which I planned my travels. With each destination I’ve learned something new that benefits my experience in the next country.
I am amused by how in love I am with the surroundings of Vietnam. I can’t help but wonder if there was a greater power who helped in designing my itinerary to get me to this point of elation. India showed me chaos and garbage that has yet to compare to anything I’ve ever experienced. Thailand showed me the kindness of scam artist and taught me to be polite but not naive. Thailand also taught me to book my room ahead of my arrival, even just by a day or two so that you are not bombarded and overwhelmed by the chaos at every airport, bus station, train station and port, by people trying to lure you into their hotel, dive shop or taxi. Cambodia taught me that a smile with a no thank you is all you need, and that the begging is apart of the countries struggle.

Therefore life in Vietnam has been easy. While my time in Sapa was surrounded by local village woman trying to hoc their wares, I realized that again they are just trying to make a living. It’s funny, they have the same speech planned out for every tourist they meet. I heard it over and over again I begin to wonder whether they just have a script to follow or whether they actually know what you are saying. But it goes like this, “Hello, what is your name, where are you from, did you arrive to Sapa today?” No matter who you run into this is the routine. While I was hiking alone I would be approached by these woman asking the same questions and I would answer and then as they continued to walk with me. I explained that they are more then welcome to join me but I had already done all my shopping and therefore I was not going to buy anything else. There responses varied from “But you haven’t bought anything from me” to “ok, maybe you buy something later.” And yes while this is more of a hindrance then anything else you can’t let it affect you. You can either play along and interact with them or you can firmly say no thank you and continue on.

So my travels have led me to a more calm place. While the occasional bump in the road has taught me many things, I have to wonder whether I would be having the same experience in Vietnam had this been my first destination, because guess what I am in love. This country is so spectacularly beautiful and the people are wonderful, inviting and kind. I am so grateful for all I’ve learned along the way because even if my time in Vietnam is seen through rose colored glasses, I’m just thrilled that I can say that I’m enjoying my time here.

It Rains In Paradise?

Britta and I were relieved to be leaving Koh Tao, not only were we both covered in bed bug bites but we were also exhausted from our endless diving days. We were ready for some R&R and Phuket was our next destination. What do you all think of when you hear Phuket? Well probably first and foremost the tsunami that rocked the country in 2004. But secondly maybe something posh, famous and beautiful. Well that is what I was hoping for and instead I got slammed in the face by Patong beach, a town in Phuket that I would describe as the island’s version of Bangkok and tourist hell. Of course we had done our research of the areas and knew we needed to stay on another beach so the driver dropped us off at our hotel in Kata beach. While is was a nice area it wasn’t anything like the posh vision I had dreamed about. But our night consisted of picking through our clothing to make sure no bed bugs had joined us in our travels and then off to sleep to prepare us for a full day at the beach.

Well thank the gods because Kata beach was the most spectacular beach I’ve ever been to. While yes it was dripping with tourists and vendors, the sand was as soft as Egyptian cotton sheets. The ocean was the perfect temperature of refreshing cool and the texture of the water was as if it had been run through a water softener. We acquired a chaise lounge and umbrella immediately and so I was happy!

And we sat back and relaxed, an entire day reading, occasionally dipping into the water and letting the scratching, swelling and exhaustion from Koh Tao drift off to sea. And then the sunset over the beach, icing on what was a perfect cake of a day. So amazing I couldn’t help but feel truly blessed to get to experience this beauty.

Then we were off again, heading to the island of Phi Phi. Have you see the movie “The Beach”, well every island scene was filmed on Phi Phi. We were excited for this island destination but unsure of what was in store for us. Phi Phi has no cars on the entire island. Therefore you take boats around to the different beach hotels or you can hike into the jungle to get to the other side. Well Britta and I were jungle hiked out and we were ready to set out our beach towels and relax. Pulling up to the resort we began to realize that we were in for some rustic nights.

While Phi Phi Relax is a true island getaway it is another hotel stay I would categorize as glamping. So we examined our mosquito nets and then read the sign. “Electricity will only be available from 6pm to 6am.” “Um I’m sorry what…So at 6am our fans will turn off because the power goes off.” Ok we officially have down graded from glamping status to camping status. Deciding to ignore our sleeping arrangements and lack of electrical power we headed to the beach. I couldn’t get over the views, it truly was as if we were on the set of The Beach or Lost and I was loving every moment of the seclusion.

Night one, was uneventful. I love mosquito nets, you tuck yourself in creating a barrier between you and all that creeps and crawls. And yes while I learned it was a false sense of protection, at least for night number one I slept ok. Who knew that power was a comfort I can’t live without, as the fan puttered and shut off around 7am I realized that that was the end of my restful nights sleep and the next hour would consist of tossing a turning. And then came the rain, so this is what a monsoon looks like. While I knew that I was taking a risk traveling at this time of year, I had yet to really experience too much precipitation. Well it proceeded to rain for the entire day. What do you do when you are in island paradise and it rains….

First, find a spot to relax protected from the water and stay there all day…

Second, be amused by the downpour for at least 20 minutes…

Third, read an entire book and then venture out into the rain to the little hut where there is wifi and download another….

Fourth, have your first cocktail, its 5pm somewhere….

Fifth, move onto beer because it is a 10th of the cost and pull out paper for a game of MASH, do you all remember this fortune telling game? Well it consists of creating categories and then selecting people, houses, careers and number of children and then counting them down until you have your future told…

Britta’s Future – Britta will be living in a shack on the island of Phi Phi with the teacher from Chiang Mia who tried to scam us in Bangkok. She’ll be driving a Tuk Tuk, be a Thai masseuse in every sense and have four children. If you can’t tell we chose everything based on our travels.

Lindsey’s Future – Lindsey will be living in a bungalow on Kata beach married to the teacher from Chiang Mia (yes the same). My mode of transport will be a truck taxi, I’ll be a dive master and have zero children, which Britta thought was good as I didn’t find the little French boy who came up and pinched as amusing as everyone else did (I may have had some choice words for him).

Sixth, you move on to the playing cards and keep yourselves entertained with games of “screw your neighbor,” war and gin rummy.

Seventh, you realize while it is only 10pm you’ve made a valiant effort to relax and enjoy your day and its ok to call it a night.

Well with another night of restless sleep and our third run in with a cockroach which was on my bed and proceeded to get away by scurrying under the mattress, Britta and I were in a fit, screaming, cussing and laughing at our situation. Throwing items into our bags we concluded that we were too old to have the patience to deal with cockroaches no matter how wonderful the island setting and we just wanted to get out of there.

While we road our long boat to the ferry dock I was sad that our time together had come to an end. Two weeks had flown by in a blur of activities and while we were a little water logged, bitten and still fearing future bed bugs we both concluded that it had been a wonderful adventure. While Southern Thailand may have lost some of its authenticity due to the large influx of tourists, the islands setting, water and sea creatures make it a destination worth some of the rustic struggle.

Into The Deep

“Why don’t you get your advanced diver certification?” I looked at the woman with excitement and asked what it entailed. I went into the dive shop to inquire about doing a night dive. I have always wanted to try it but I have always been fearful of what would find me in the depths of the ocean at night. But as I was wandering around the town I realized that pushing my limits has become one of the themes of my travels and this was the perfect opportunity to do something I have always wanted to try but never had the courage to follow through. So with my inquiry I was told that for the night dive and the other dives I was interested in, it made sense to go for my advanced certification, a total of 5 dives and some class work would have me in a entirely new category of diver. And without much more question I said “Lets do it!”

Dives one and two focused on the theories of peak performance buoyancy control and navigation. Being able to turn upside down, 60 feet below the waters surface to look at something up close with out disturbing it was one of the cooler tricks I learned. Navigation on the other hand is still tricky and an area that needs a lot of practice. It was the first time I think I have ever held or used a compass so I at least give myself credit for getting around the bottom of the ocean and back to the surface.

Dives three and four were focused on deep water diving (100 feet) and wreck diving. Diving into the water for our 100 foot dive had me in a knot of nerves, fearing some sort of nitrogen narcosis effects I braced myself for the descent. But as I slowly drifted down through schools of fish and deeper into the depths I was mesmerized at how peaceful it was to descend into the dark blue. As we hit the bottom I looked above to see the sun glistening at the surface. Knowing that the water was especially crystal clear I was enthralled by the life around me. After our few deep exercises we headed to the reef where I experienced the best dive of my life. The aquatic life, the crystal blue waters and the swarms of fish were everything you see in the movies and more. Never have I experienced anything more beautiful. As we surfaced we all exclaimed how amazing that dive had been. Really the ship wreck didn’t stand a chance of toping what we just experienced but it was another dive to add to our total.

The night dive had me in a fit of nerves again. Growing more silent as we headed deeper into the darkness of night I was unsure of what I was getting myself into. As we anchored the boat and looked down into the dark night waters I saw nothing but the think black liquid of ocean. So I suited up and jumped in. Moving my equipment around me I tried to get settled as the current and waves rocked me back and forth. And then it was time to descend. Into the black water again we floated down to the bottom. Looking around I saw the quite that is night in the water. Using my torch (flash light) we explored the coral reefs and watched as the fish hid in the crevices of the reef using it as protection from the predators of night. Swimming around I was overcome by a sense of ease, the silence and darkness seemed to calm my breathing and I became more adventurous exploring the area. One of our night dive stops had us sitting on the bottom hiding our torch light and waving our arms around. This brought out a florescent wave of light from organisms floating all around. You couldn’t help but feel as if you were in another world completely.

I ended my diving adventure with two more dives to Sail Rock, what was sold as the best dive site in all of Koh Tao. While I would argue this, after my best dive ever, I did enjoy using my new dive education by heading head first through a coral chimney cave. Experiencing the different exhilaration that came from the head first descent ran panic through my body but once I realized that it was the blood rushing to my head from the position I was in I wanted to try it again. This dive spot is known for its sharks and so our first dive was focused on looking deep for these creatures. The water was a murky mess of floating bits which made for poor visibility. As I searched around for sharks I tried to push the thoughts of horror movies out of my head as I felt as if I was starring in one. While some divers saw a couple of sharks I did not and I didn’t want to waste my second dive doing the same. So I joined another group and explored the rock area and the life around it. While it wasn’t as great as the other day I did use a lot of my new advanced diver skills and I was glad I had earned my status.

I ended the day reading a PADI email of congratulations for my achievement of advanced diver status and I realized that in 48 hours I had completed 7 dives and two wake up calls at 5:00 am. Pure exhaustion ran through my body as the adrenaline of all the diving slowly faded away and I was fast asleep by 4:30 that afternoon.

Climb Every Mountain

“Britta I was born in the rocky mountains, its in my DNA to know how to hike.” “Well I was born in Kansas.” Yes my sassy mouth got me into another situation where I was eating my words. Britta and I had decided to do a day trip out to Ang Thong National Marine Park off the island of Ko Samui.

About an hour or two out from the island we entered into a network of passage ways through limestone pillars and islands that jetted out of the depths of the ocean. What was once a great hiding ground for pirates has now become a marine reserve and a breathtaking wonderment of nature.

As we pulled up to our first stop, the island of Wua Ta Lap, we were told that there was a 500 meter hike to a view point, but that if you just go half way the view is still stunning. Britta looked and me and I said “Oh we are going all the way!” I couldn’t understand why they said it would take two hours to hike 500 meters, .6 miles, come on I may not be in peak physical shape but I was planning on jogging up that hill. 100 meters into the climb, dripping with sweat and questioning my physical strength I realized I was in a strenuous situation and being born in the rocky mountains wasn’t going to help me at all.

In the final 50 meters of sheer rock face I blocked out all the dangerous possibilities I was facing with the slight slip of my foot and powered my way to the top, purposefully ignoring the fact that what comes up must come down.

Drenched in sweat and breathless I took in a big gulp of air and then I took in the 360 degree view of the most beautiful island setting I’ve ever seen.

We just had enough time to take a couple of photos trying to mentally capture this majestic setting and then the fear of the decent clouded my view.

The climb down was one fueled with scratches, leg spasms and exhaustion. Ignoring all potential hazards I made a point to focus on getting to the bottom in one piece, which at times meant crawling on hands and knees. And it took all my strength both mentally and physically to not completely have a melt down in the jungle. My legs burned and every muscle in my body was screaming for relief. As the jungle started to clear and there was an end in sight my legs were on the brink of physical exhaustion. Clearing the jungle Britta and I wandered like zombies to the waters edge and walked straight in letting the warm ocean water wash away the heat from the climb.

Assessing our bruises and cuts later on that night we couldn’t help but laugh at the absurdity of the situation we put ourselves in. And our souvenir for all our hard work was plastered on our shines, knees and elbows. But then I took out my iPad downloaded the days pictures and we realized that the breath taking view that could barely be captured in our photos was worth every bump and bruise.

When Nature Calls You May Not Want To Answer

You may not know this about me as I was a little surprised myself, but I am a 100% true blue city girl. What I have recently learned about myself is that I have a irrational fear of anything that crawls, buzzes, scurries or bites, whether that be gecko, spider, mouse or mosquito. Just the faint feeling of crawling on my skin makes me scream. Also I’ve never understood what a fingernail brush is actually for because I have never really had dirt caked under my nails without a manicure parlor in site, now I really wish I had one. And finally I’m not into shoveling anything that smells, whether that be rancid bananas or elephant poo, that one may be the most rational, but the truth is, getting dirty is just not my thing. I know this sounds negative, but my realization definitely helped me pair down the potential jobs list. While I love animals and being active I now know I am not meant to be a vet, animal care taker or anything outdoorsy. But, as with everything else on this trip I pushed my boundaries and guess what, I slept in the jungle on the ground and survived.

I should have known when Katherine asked us if we liked camping, and my first thought was “well isn’t what we are doing right now sleeping in our adorably decorated huts exactly that?” That I may not be cut out for the great outdoors of Thailand. Actually my first question was “lions, and tigers and cobras, oh my?” Katherine’s response was that there haven’t been tigers in Thailand for decades, and with that (yes I realized she didn’t actually answer my question) I became the driving leader of discussion when it came to our camping adventure. My reasoning was, “why not?” This may be a once and a lifetime experience, and hell, who knows maybe I’m meant to be an outdoor adventurer (obviously this was pre-realization). Well come 6 am the morning after, I’m lying on the hard, cold ground with bamboo stumps strategically placed everywhere, debating how much longer I can hold it before leaving the semi-protective confines of my tent, and I said to myself, “oh yeah, now I remember I hate camping!”

But I survived and after a long cold shower to wash away the days of mud caked under my fingernails, on my arms, neck, face and hair, I was able to sit back and realize how cool that was. Don’t ask me to go again any time soon, but your mani, pedi, girly girl, city loving Lindsey slept a night in the jungles of Thailand and lived to tell the tale.

Like I said it started with the question and flew from there and before you know it we are wearing wellies hiking through a stream following four large elephants through thickly dense bamboo. The elephants were leading the way up into the hills of jungle where they would be free to roam for the night eating and enjoying their natural habitat. We would set up camp, enjoy some bamboo curry and sing songs and swat at mosquitoes. When we arrived at camp the mahouts went straight to work setting up fires and taking shots of whiskey (although I call it Thai moonshine) in honor of the jungle spirits in hopes for a good nights sleep. I did the same, but knew I had Benadryl as a back up if the spirits wouldn’t grant me rest. I headed up the hill to set up my tent. When I came back down the mahouts had created a perfect table out of bamboo and dinner was a cooking, at least I was surrounded by nature know it alls.

As the night progressed the mahouts kept the moonshine a flowing and we kept saying “ok only one more.” Trying to be polite three of us would share one shot, so that we didn’t end up sleeping under the bamboo table. As Fa sang and played guitar, all I could do was focus on the music and moonshine trying to block out any wilderness fears. When we finally convinced the mahouts we had had enough, Anon (Katherine’s husband) and the other mahouts walked us to the tents scouring the area for any wildlife. They reiterated over and over again in Thai which was then translated that we were not allowed to go anywhere by ourselves even to use nature’s restroom. I jumped into my tent zipping the misquote netting shut, hoping to fall into a deep slumber. Well hell if that was going to happen after a very rocky and rolling night I was awoken to the trumpet of elephants. It was then that I realized how special this experience is. The elephant sound is so surreal, you feel as if you are in a scene from Jurassic Park and the roaring of the T-Rex is the most amazing and awe inspiring sound you’ve heard. That is the power of the elephant trumpet. And with that the night of terrible sleep and fear of the unknown slipped from my mind and I embraced the jungle and all it has to offer.
But like a said, that was 24 hours of fun to last a lifetime!