The Mister Breaks his Silence

Greetings faithful readers, friends and family,
I am sure you are all shocked to know that Mrs. Adventure has been the storyteller thus far. The following is an account of our travels through the OTHER pair of eyes and ears. As there is no need to recap or restate what you have already read, I will try to focus on what might have been left out due to our innate differences.

THAILAND
For those that do not know, other than a one week trip to Bali when I was 13, this is my first time in Asia. I expected Thailand to be full of people staring at us, trying to beg for our money or get it via a "service" of some kind. I expected a "developing" nation where a lot of the comforts I was used to would simply be forgone or few and far between. For some reason, and this only seems to happen when I am with Marci, I was wrong. Thailand is a beautiful country where the cities are clean (in fact, every home or shop owner is constantly sweeping the sidewalk in front and around their stores), the food is of good quality (especially the pad thai vendors who charge 30 cents for a whopping plate), and the people are friendly and not overbearing (there is even a tourist police and a tourist authority that wears badges and seeks out foreigners to help them out for free at train stations, etc. One perk of Thailand that Mrs. Adventure loves are the 3 dollar massages. Let me give you my perspective. Now I am not against massages in any way, but my massage involved a 150 pound Thai man walking up and down my back, digging his elbows in to my kidneys, bending my legs in directions previously never endeavored, and then twisting and pulling my torso until my back cracked and popped. AHhhh, relaxation at his best. Nonetheless, the Mrs. obviously sees this experience differently as she had 3 more while I stopped at one. Overall, the country is not quite as cheap as this might lead you to believe. Travelling expenses (overnight buses and trains) plus excursions and purchases do quickly add up here. Then again, I think money is always spent the fastest at the beginning of a long trek.

Now for every male's favorite type of viewing...The Highlights...or (if you can stand them)...The Thai-lights

- First things first: Squat Toilets. Know what they are? I didn't and had to walk and sheepishly ask my wife how in the world you "flush" these after you manage to aim correctly.

- Bangkok is much larger than I expected, but public transport (elevated trains, buses, and my favorite-the Ferry boats) are easy and rewarding.

- A week on the beach anywhere in the world leads to the same activities and entertainments, but the view from Rai Lay and southern Thailand is one I have never seen. If you took the cliffs of the Mediterranean and chopped them into splinters and wedged them in the ocean standing straight up, that is about what these are like.

- The gulf of Thailand is EXTREMELY over fished and I may never eat squid again after seeing some of the offerings here.

- Bring sunscreen when you kayak for 5 hours (10-3pm) on a cloudless day

- Book trains in advance (but they give you much better views of the country)

- Our naturalist guide into the majestic Khao Yai National park is a perfect example of how one can profit from the environment by maintaining (and simply explaining) its grandeur. It also helps to be in the Lonely Planet guidebooks.

- In fact, Lonely Planet seems to make or break establishments/businesses of all kinds nowadays. Every traveller we came across had one, and every bookstore had them front and center.

NEXT STOP...INDIA

Holy Moly! Wow! Aaaaargh! You have to be kidding me! This is crazy! Wow!

Let's back up. Upon arriving in India we paid the extra 4 dollars to have our "hotel" pick us up. Best 4 dollars I have spent yet! This helped avoid the hordes of "touts" that are everywhere trying to get you to come with them. Not to mention the street/alley our place was in was the most challenging road to navigate with a vehicle I have ever seen in my life, anywhere. Imagine a small side street (paved with dirt) where vendors line each side, people and large cattle walking every which way, plus bicycles, bicycles with two-wheeled carts, three wheeled motorized vehicles, cars and our narrow minivan(-ish) . I wil just stop here and say to watch the video (I will hopefully get) of a day in traffic and you will see what I mean. There is NO WAY to put it in words.
The next morning we hop on the train from hell (8 hours on a hard wood bench) while everyone stares at us and tries to talk to me. In case Marci hasn't mentioned it, in India EVERYONE addresses the male. In EVERY situation. Thus every rickshaw driver, street vendor, beggar, curious passerby, etc. strolls up or keeps pace with me to get and keep my attention. As some of you know, normally I am OK with the spotlight but this was amazing. I actually point this out as I find it fascinating and not overly frustrating. It is just assumed that the man is the one to deal with. Conversely, we have found that women will approach Marci and try to talk with her but only when I leave or am not right there. Men stare at her whether I am there or not, but never harass her otherwise. I don't know how a single female traveller would do here though. Oh yeah, the train. So in the midst of staring out the window for 6 hours trying to avoid conversations, I am shocked to see men and boys on the train tracks (with a bottle of water in one hand), squatting and their pants around their ankles (hands are used for toilet paper here, thus the water for rinsing). What surprised me was not that this existed but that literally every 50 feet there was someone doing this.
The rest you know as that led to Agra and the Taj Mahal. Now we are working for Dr. Ram Boojh at the Center for Environmental Education in Lucknow, India (www.ceeindia.org) . Everyone here is GREAT and it is so nice to have people help you with the little stuff like train tickets, phone calls, grocery shopping, rickshaw prices and there is a FREE ROOM. We also get lunch and dinner brought to us in a large thermos that has four bowls inside (one with rice, one with 5 mini wheat tortillas, one with spiced potatoes, and the last with a vegtable puree/soup). Let's get this out of the way right now. Indian food is UNBELIEVABLE. Truly every meal is different and spectacular. All of that, and we haven't even ate a piece of meat yet!
The highlights I will save until we are further along here in India, so for now I will sign off (as the aforementioned Thermos just arrived with our dinner). If this ending comes abruptly, please blame it on my hunger. You what they say about men and their stomachs.

This was fun though, so expect more from Mr. Adventure!!!!