Finding my grin in the "Land of Smiles"

You may have caught a negative vibe in the last few threads. I admit I was struggling to stay positive and there were many times that I didn't feel like I was "living the dream." Thanks to some self evaluation and the help of a friend who called me a "Nego" for picking out the negative in everything, I'm seeing things in a different light now. It also helps that I'm in a new place surrounded by new things, people and wonderful, wonderful food!

Bangkok surprised me by how clean (yes I just called Bangkok clean!), green and organized it is. Thailand is very much a main destination on the backpacker trail and everyone from child-toting parents to new-age hippies and straight-out-of-high-school newbies come to experience it. Not since Australia have I seen such a strong traveling community.

Of the many things Thailand has to offer, it was the food I was most anticipating and I haven't been disappointed. There are great local Thai dishes consisting of perfect combinations of sweet, spicy and well... sweet! International restaurants abound and I've had great Italian and Middle Eastern food also. I'm keeping an eye out for food of the creepy, crawly variety but I've yet to find it. When I do, I'll be sure to inform you.

My favorite venue I visited in Bangkok was the snake farm. The Red Cross works in conjunction with the snake farm to produce antivenin for snakebite victims throughout the country and the world. I went hoping to watch the milking of some of the local venomous snakes but, as there was no milking that day, I instead was witness to the best snake show I've ever seen. We all gathered round a small sitting area in front of the show area and as the show began, a man brought a 9 foot long king cobra through the audience and released it on the ground in front of us! The snake hooded and followed the handler while the show announcer educated us about the biology, physiology and general attitude of cobras. Every once in awhile, sensing an opportunity for escape the snake would turn from the handler and come towards the crowd. The handler would grab the snake's tail who would then turn and hood instantly while the entire crowd oohed and ahhed.

The rest of the show played out in much the same way. They brought out more venomous snakes, Siamese Cobras, Mangrove Snakes, Palm Vipers and Banded Kraits, and carried them close enough to the audience that if we were back in the States, mothers would scream and lawyers would salivate. After a particularly close encounter with a teenage girl and the dangerous end of a mangrove snake I turned to the man next to me and commented on how liability must not exist in Thailand. The girls in the front rows provided the most entertainment as the handlers casually dropped tails on them or draped snakes over their shoulders when they weren't looking. I can't say that they cure many phobias but it was definitely good for a laugh.

After the show I walked through the exhibits and was impressed at every corner. Walk into any zoo, reptile house or local pet store and you'll probably agree it doesn't smell too good but this place was immaculately clean. The snakes were well displayed in large, clean cages and the non-living exhibits were very educational. You could learn all about snake anatomy, snakebite first aid and the effects of different types of venom. It really made me miss Delilah, my pet python whom I left at home and it made me think of the crocodile farm in Australia, and I began to wonder what kind of snake, if any, would I get to fill those empty cages once I get back home. And you know what? I was smiling the whole time.

Seven Month Anniversary

It's been seven months since I left my mother country. Seven months since I've driven my car on the right side of the road. Seven months since I sold that car, my climbing equipment, my CDs and gave Delilah, my 13 foot long Burmese python away. It's been just as long since I've seen snow, eaten my mom's cooking or shook my dad's hand Sunday morning at church. I reflected on this last week and thought about where I've been and what I've done over those seven months. Here's a sample of what I discovered.

approximately 8,000 US dollars have been spent
over 2,000 pictures taken
212 days passed

57 boat rides

28 postcards sent

25 books read

23 new scars earned

17 SCUBA dives logged

14 homes stayed in

10 flights taken

9 mountains climbed, including 3 crater lakes and 2 active volcanoes

8 churches attended

7 countries visited

5 calls to the USA
4 bouts of sickness endured

3 seas swam in

2 oceans swam in

2 cellphones bought (and subsequently broken)

and 1 wedding witnessed.

I have realized a few things during my seven months. In terms of travel, I'd rather not travel alone anymore-wait. Allow me to rephrase. I would like to travel with my friends. I used to be a hard-core advocate for going it alone. After all, it is easier to meet people when you're alone, it is easier to do what you want, when you want and all that. However, it's harder to wake up when you know sleeping another hour isn't going to disturb anyone. Restaurants and movie theaters aren't very enjoyable when you're alone either. Good travel companions also distribute and help eliminate stress. You can take turns listening to the know-it-all backpacker, the down-and-out peasant farmer or turning away the sunglass hawker, masseuse, taxi driver, hotel owner, tour operator and prostitute.

It would be nice to have a progressive conversation every once in awhile and not have to ask strangers to take my picture (and then another stranger to take another one since the first can't compose the shot how I want,) to share the price of a hotel room or to not have to organize anything for a day, to do something someone else wants to do. Sounds strange doesn't it? I travel halfway around the world because it's what I want to do, and then have feelings of doing what someone else wants to do! Traveling with a friend can extend the experience well after you get home. Just imagine sitting around with said travel friend months or years after you both have returned home when he/she says, "Remember that time in Morocco when my camel ate your turban!" That's classic!

For awhile I thought I was homesick. Sometimes I want to go home, but it's usually just to eat at a restaurant in my hometown, to spend the afternoon with a friend or to sleep in my own bed for a night. The next morning I want to magically wake up on the other side of the world again and continue the journey. I'd like to go home for an afternoon or a day. So maybe I want to be home for awhile but I really don't want to go home right now.

I didn't know how much I enjoy books until this week when I devoured one on the bus ride to El Nido, another the next day with my toes in the sand and a third, quite by accident, at a cafe. I literally didn't move from my spot until I had finished the book. I'm constantly surprised at how few people read for enjoyment. They don't know what they're missing. It's difficult to find good titles on the road. Usually hostels, home stays and some cafes will have a small selection of books left by travelers you can exchange or buy. An average collection includes no less then five romance novels, an outdated guidebook, the lone classic like Romeo and Juliet or Great Expectations, a few fantasy novels and at least one shelf of German books. I'm not the only one who curiously asks fellow travelers what they're reading and if I could have their book when they're finished. It's a common custom among backpackers.

The pictures in this thread are of the Philippines, most of them around the town of El Nido on the island of Palawan. The weather had a big impact on my travel plans around the country and things didn't turn out exactly how I'd planned them. I did finish my advanced diving course while I was here and I got to make some friends through a pro-hospitality group I'm part of called couchsurfing. Without them, I know I would have left the Philippines already. When I look towards the future, I'm overwhelmed with uncertainty, but if it's anything like this tour's past it's gonna be great!

Traditionally seventh anniversary gifts are wool or copper. Mine is paper. I have a ticket to Thailand on Thursday! The journey continues...

I ran across this poem last week and think it sums up the battle that goes on in my head and in a lot of people’s minds between staying where it’s safe and chasing the horizon. I wanted to share it with you and I hope you enjoy it.

The Double Life
By Don Blanding

How very simple life would be
If only there were two of me
A Restless Me to drift and roam
A Quiet Me to stay at home.
A Searching One to find his fill
Of varied skies and newfound thrill
While sane and homely things are done
By the domestic Other One.

And that's just where the trouble lies;
There is a Restless Me that cries
For chancy risks and changing scene,
For arctic blue and tropic green,
For deserts with their mystic spell,
For lusty fun and raising Hell

But shackled to that Restless Me
My Other Self rebelliously
Resists the frantic urge to move.
It seeks the old familiar groove
That habits make. It finds content

With hearth and home dear prisonment,
With candlelight and well loved books
And treasured loot in dusty nooks,
With puttering and garden things
And dreaming while a cricket sings
And all the while the Restless One
Insists on more exciting fun
It wants to go with every tide,
No matter where just for the ride.
Like yowling cats the two selves brawl
Until I have no peace at all.

One eye turns to the forward track,
The other eye looks sadly back,
I'm getting wall-eyed from the strain,
(It's tough to have an idle brain)
But One says "Stay" and One says "Go"
And One says "Yes," and One says "no,"
And One Self wants a home and wife
And One Self craves the drifter's life.

The Restless Fellow always wins
I wish my folks had made me twins.