Stories From The Road

A quick run down of the last two months which seem to have flown by in the blink of an eye, a bit like the entire last year, now that I think about it…

I left Asia late mid-June and have been back in the U.S. for about 3 weeks now.

• Mid-May: Left 10-day meditation retreat in southern Thailand, started cycling (and bus/train-ing) from Bangkok to Malaysia along the east coast. 
• Survived sweltering heat and “political unrest” in the south (men with big guns enforced peace while friendly locals looked at blonde girls on bicycles like lunatics), landed in a few small villages and on empty beaches, ate phenomenal food, saw tropical rain storms arise out of nowhere, got wet, really wet, then hot, real real hot.
• Came down with fevers (lasting only a few days, my first and only illness of the whole trip) and severe writers block (a more serious condition that has still not subsided, hence no website updates in long long time and such a late mass email update).
• Visited a friend in Kuala Lumpur around mid-June, met his lovely girlfriend, borrowed a beautiful cocktail dress and wore high heels for the first time in 10 months (though oddly and sadly, I’ve snapped back to western culture quickly and effortlessly and have been guilty of shopping in 4 inch heels in Dallas more than once since returning home… I don’t understand it?!)
• In Malaysia, began getting anxious about a professional project/opportunity that I had tried to forget but had been in the works since February. I was hot, tired and indecisive. My forward travel momentum started to slack and the time came to make decisions.
• June 4th, made first phone contact with “the real world” (my previous consulting company), confirmed new project and agreed to July 15th startdate. Felt familiar butterflies in my stomach again… took this as a good sign.
• Spent next day formulating my “Final Fling” and organizing my way out of Asia. Bought ticket at airport and boarded flight to Thailand that night.
• Enjoyed 14 days on Thai island, Ko Phagnan - avoided full moon parties, completed a 10 day detox program; overdosed on cheap massages (2 per day), spa treatments and sunbathing; reflected on the blur and excitement of travels, was bewildered that India and Nepal happened only 5 months prior; read five books, sometimes front to back in a day; ate very many and was as active as… a vegetable. 
• Started the journey home via my dear old dirty mistress, Bangkok. (Don’t know why, I just love her!) Chose hotel based on favorite grocery shopping heaven (Siam Paragon Gourmet Foodhall, a.k.a. Keisha’s Favorite Grocery Store in The Whole Wide World); met a cycling friend there, introduced him to my personal foodie utopia; bought 9 complete pounds of “stuff” (mostly cheap comfy clothes, souvenirs for family, gourmet food items, etc); blew kisses to my dear polluted Bangkok; packed up one dirty, well-loved and hated bicycle; splurged on private taxi to airport and a trashy gossip magazine (I know, embarrassing but true…).
• Became overwhelmed with excitement to see friends and family, cook my own meal (which I’ve done happily and extravagently every night since), sleep in a reliably comfortable bed, experience air conditioning (much stronger than I remembered), use coat hangers instead of compression sacks and drive a car.
• Crossed the Atlantic! - stopped in London for a reality/unreality check and break in the long haul.
• Moved in to a friend’s living room for this temporary Dallas stint. Cooking her dinner every night, drinking wine (oh sweet wine, how I’ve missed you) and laughing a lot… when 32 and living on a single bed squeezed in to a small living room (yes, I said it, I shoved a bed in there), one must certainly be able to laugh.
• Pushed the “36 floor” button in a medium sized metal box inside an enormous glass and iron box and arrived at the entrance to my old familiar company headquarters.
• Was issued my very own laptop computer! (ahh my sweet baby, where have you been darling?!? I missed you…)
• Took a road trip over 4th of July weekend to Arkansas. Had a large dose of welcome-home therapy… wide open spaces, big skies, deep south, beans and cornbread, big trucks, Harley Davidsons, cheap motels, gas bills, hot springs, curvy roads and southern drawls.
• Getting ready for that scary old thing called “work” and excited about my next move to Hyderabad, India around mid-Sept/October, where I’ll be working for the next 8-10 months.

I intend to backpost a few more stories from my journals in the near future (I’m sure I’ll be reminiscing quite frequently anyway), as well as continue this blog while I learn the pains and pleasures of living in India.

Again, loving gratitude and thanks to all for supporting me through the highs and lows - emails, comments, thoughts, friendships, prayers - all were deeply appreciated.

[Nakhon Si Thammarat] So I’ve had my first collision… sort of. Riding down the highway the other day and I hear squeeling breaks behind me. The order of business on the Thai freeway shoulder from outside to the inside is 1) people (step on the pavement at your own risk),  2) traffic running in the opposite direction, 3) bicycles, 4) other rolling vehicles like trailers or hotdog stands, 5) motorbikes and 6) a few odd lorries or big trucks who think it’d be funny to say hello with a blast of wind.

I learned this quick. It works pretty well. But for some reason this guy on a motorbike decided to just haul up on my back tire and kiss it lightly with his front wheel?! I have no idea what he was thinking. There was plenty of room, I could see no real emergency or hurry, I was well to the left, I was wearing a highly visable pink shirt on a bright pink bike, there was no one barreling down on his back tire… just weird. Thinking about it, I figure he was just curious to know if he could do it?! I can imagine wondering the same thing, I just wouldn’t be crazy enough to try it!

Nothing happened and it was actually pretty funny. After the fact. My first response was to bark at him with a mean face that he was indeed crazy while he jumped back a bit saying “sorry, sorry”. Sorry what? Sorry I didn’t think it was funny?!

“Cause actually I did, I just can’t have you going out there and smacking every silly tourist on a bike on the bum because you’re bored and its a fun was to say hello… not everyone is as freshly meditated, agile and forgiving as me!” :)

Photos from this leg: Thailand, Surat Thani to Nakhon Si Thammarat (May 13-17)

Day one back on the bike… Hard to make myself do after 10 days… ouch!

Then the following day…
“Today is better than yesterday. Always better. Everyday getting better.” - a quote from Tan Medhi “The Chanting Monk” at Suan Mohhk (that I was trying to remember!)

For more pictures check the link in the gallery page, I’ll activate it as soon as I upload and comment the photos.

[Surat Thani, Thailand] Finally, after a long inactive break of silent meditation, I’ve mustered the courage to hit the road again. I’ve been lingering in this ugly useless town for 3 days now - gratefully, saved only by new friends and good company from the recent retreat.

Anyway, heading to Hat Siphon today, Nakhon Si Thammarat (15-May), a town that starts with P (16-May) then Song Khla (17-May). From there I make a hard decesion as to whether to take a train to Malaysia or take a bit of risk and ride through the southern area that is currently suffering from sporadic violent tensions. Leaning against it, but feeling silly and stubborn… it would probably be alright. ?!?

New fun and games. Flickr now has videos and I once again have a compact camera that takes them so…

Now Introducing: Real Live Video!

My first day cycling after leaving Bangkok.

And at the end of the day…

(The local air-con bus picked up me and my bike no problem and to my complete and total surprise charged me nilch! Nada. Zero!)

That night I realized I had a visa issue (see Thai Visa tirade/update below) and only got to cycle around town the next day while waiting for a train. Nice town though…

(Ended up hitching a ride with a German & Thai couple to Ranong from Chumpon, then going to Burma for a day and able to get a new 30-day Thai visa upon re-entry. If only someone besides the immigration office on the border itself could’ve told me the actual rules, it would’ve been a very simple process.)

For more photos of this adventure, see Thailand, Hua Hin to Chaiya slideshow.

Like to cover my beautiful set of hot wheels with ragged tape. Two purposes: a) it protects it in case it were to say… fly off the back of a bus and b) I believe it makes it slightly less desireable for the un-rightful owner to want to take it home.

Last time I used duct tape. Then in Bangkok they peeled it all off, reminded me of its former beauty and required me to do it all over again. But this time, I found hot pink cloth-like duct tape. And this time, in the land of anime, carton-loving adults and motor-decal mania, I think I may have got carried away. I decided to add my own creative personal touch with a salute to “girl power” via Powderpuff Girls support (I really wanted to go Hello Kitty but she’s an expensive little cat in this area). Anyway, I may have defeated myself as now it is probably the most desireable girl bike in all of Asia!

Haha, I wouldn’t buy the female model Trek bike in Bangkok because it was simply too girlie looking (turquoise with white leafy decals and big cushy white seat, puhh-leaze), then I made a joke that I wanted a pink bike with streamers and purple flowers.

Well, voila… Sending my love to all my sistas! Powderpuffs rock, baby! 

[Chumpon, Thailand] That was my Thai expletive for my current Thai visa issues… which has highlighted my annoying tendancy towards administrative failures. I realized my visa expires 10-May. I badly want to participate in a 10 day meditation course in Chaiya starting 01-May. This won’t work.

There are some fuzzy rules about a 90 day maximum stay within a six month period *and/or/or not* maximum of three 30-day on-arrival tourist visas. I already have the latter due to one day spent in transit to Cambodia (a visa stamp rip off in my opinion). Anyway, finding answers as impossible as you’d expect it to be. Course registration is in 2 days. I’m in Chumpon, I figure I have 3 options…

1) Take a risk and go to Ranong on a hopeful “visa run”. Leave the country, hop across to Burma and hope to get another 30-day on-arrival tourist visa upon my return… if they let me return. Meaning second part of supposed regulation is not true or absolute (information sways both ways here).

2) Go to course, leave immediately after and play stupid at the border. Usually this results in a 500 baht per day penalty for overstaying a visa but could potentially result in a very very stupid move that lands you in a deportation center when caught in the country illegally. Not a lparticulary pleasant or safe option. Rather stupid actually.

3) Start bee-lining it south out of Thailand! - missing my course I was so excited about, missing leisurely days on southern islands and beaches, missing much loved rest days and satisfaction of a well-executed planned course! (Really I should’ve known better…)

Frustrated. Annoyed. Trying to remember the lessons I learned on flexibility which are severely being put to the test!

All I can say is… &#@*% stupid #&%$@ annoying *&@%#*&% Thailand visa issues! Would love to take that sentiment to the silent meditation course and sit on it…

[Nha Trang, Vietnam] Today I almost crashed my bike into a black SUV parked on the side of the road. I was trying to believe my eyes while gazing through the glass of street stall vendor’s stand at a large plump loaf of dark pumpernickle bread and simultaneously inform Simone to look at the heavenly heap of beauty. It was too much multi-tasking. She screamed “look out” just in time for me to squeeze my brakes, squeal and watch the back end of my bike spin around at the instant stop. Simone veared, no collisions, but sadly she didn’t even see the bread. We were on our way to run an errand but we’re going back in a few minutes to puchase the lump of gold. But don’t worry, there’s not much brown bread in this country, and without it, I do a good job keeping my eyes on the road…

Soon I should finally have the “slideshows” link working in the gallery and quite a few image sets organized but for now, here is the temporary link: http://aimwondrously.com/journal/slideshows 
Enjoy! :)

I just wanted to send a quick smile to everyone from home. I heard that I was fortunate enough to have a nice article published in the Galveston Daily News over the holidays. Big thank you to the journalist, Rick, for your interest and time! It’s been really great to receive supportive emails and hear from my fellow Texans as we enter this holiday season, a nostaligic family time completely lost here in Nepal and throwing me in and out of homesick moments! That said, travels are still going great. I’m mountain biking to Nargakot today, a hill top village where I should see Mt Everest for the first time… so I’m definitely keeping my head up! Anyway, I look forward to replying to emails when I get back to Kathmandu and I just wanted to send a big thank you to all of you who’ve made my Thanksgiving a little warmer!

P.S. I’m a quite embarrassed by shameless self promotion but for those interested, here in the online version: http://news.galvestondailynews.com/story.lasso?ewcd=f7a88a48bec7ac371f2ed3b05899388f 

Just arrived in Varanasi. Spent last night at Delhi airport, at randomly one of the nicer rooms I’ve found in India this trip. (It had A/C!) Flew from Maldives to Bangalore to Delhi to Varanasi. There might have been a more efficient route but I basically ignored all travel headaches and details while in Maldives and decided to just deal with it when I got to Bangalore. At which time I had to go check all the airlines and figure out how to get myself to Varanasi. Via Delhi seemed the most popular route. Et voila, here I am… more later! Just a quick heads up.