Today is different from the usual Thanksgiving madness of stuffing ourselves with home cooked food, inducing turkey-triptophan comas, and lounging around with family members red cheeked and full bellied. Originally we made plans to go into Bangkok with our fellow ex-patriot friends to a spot that advertises a traditional American Thanksgiving 'hoo haw' with all the trimmings. We salivated at the prospect of eating pumpkin pie after two years of eating rice as the staple ingredient of three meals per day. But due to the political unrest and the violence in Bangkok, we had a last minute change of plans. We are staying closer to our home in the village, just to be safe.
So picture a swamp trickling through the back woods of a 400 year old village. Then picture palm trees and a giant wooden barn posted up over the swamp. Picture picnic tables and benches inside the barn over the swamp... add some pink and green Christmas lights and a fish tank. Now picture Travis and Katie, with about twenty of their closest farang (foreigner) friends sitting at the picnic tables eating Thai food on Thanksgiving. There is unfortunately no turkey or pumpkin pie this year.
Instead, we dine on sweet and sour shrimp soup, spicy papaya salad, lemongrass salad, chicken cashew, and coconut soup with onions and mushrooms. Don't forget the rice. We reminisce about the last twelve months together with our friends. We laugh about how lucky we are to be leaving Thailand just when the Thai Prime Minister calls a state of emergency. Of course if the government doesn't re-open the international airport, we may have to take the slow boat back to America.
Despite the violence in Thailand, the terrorism in Mumbai, and the financial crisis in America (not to mention the lack of pumpkin pie at dinner) we still have many things to be grateful for. We are grateful to be Americans witnessing the beginning of a political turn around. We are grateful to be able to travel the world together. We are grateful to be able to build careers that bring us satisfaction. We are grateful to be young and healthy. We are grateful to have plenty to eat and fresh water to drink. We are grateful to have good friends in several different countries. We are grateful to have families who love us. Last but not least we are grateful to have found love to last a lifetime in each other.
With this evening of giving thanks, we pack up our bags and say goodbye to Bangkok moving on to the next city like gypsies in the night.
Friday, November 28, 2008
Thursday, November 27, 2008
Wednesday, November 5, 2008
YES WE DID!
Our experience with being in Asia during the United States Presidential Elections has been overwhelming. Here's a few examples of what happened to us in the days leading up to the election:
In our classrooms, students ask us if we voted for Barack Obama and compare American politics with Thai politics. Travis brings his absentee ballot into one of his adult ESL classes and they smile approvingly at Travis as he fills in the box next to Obama's name right on front of them.
In Indonesia, locals stopped us on the streets to make sure that we had voted for Obama- it was important to them that we were casting our votes for 'the right man'.
In Thailand, people we've never seen before randomly walk up to us and say, "Obama? Yes?"
T-shirts declaring “Bangkok for Barack” are made. T-shirts with Obama’s name are printed in Thai and sold at street stalls from Chiang Mai to the capital. People have buttons and bands.
On election night we went to a club in Bangkok where Obama footage was projected onto a big screen as a backdrop for breakbeat and hiphop music. At one point in the concert the DJ had half of the crowd cheering, "OBAMA" and the other half of the crowd responding "YES WE DID!".
What's striking is that Obama has captured the attention of people from many different age groups, religious affiliations, and ethnic backgrounds in countries all over the world. Our new president elect not only had overwhelming support from Americans in this election, he has the international community rallying for him as well. Asian people especially, understand that the American economy, political leadership, and business trends is constantly setting the pace in their own country.
It appears that most Asians we've met, if given the opportunity, would've also voted for Obama on the 4th. And even though it was a close race leading up to the day that Americans went to the polls, our countrymen finally came around to realize what the rest of the world already knew: YES WE CAN.
PS- Travis and I have decided to come home to the USA now that hope is back in the air (tongue in cheek). ;) ;) ;)
See you in December.
In our classrooms, students ask us if we voted for Barack Obama and compare American politics with Thai politics. Travis brings his absentee ballot into one of his adult ESL classes and they smile approvingly at Travis as he fills in the box next to Obama's name right on front of them.
In Indonesia, locals stopped us on the streets to make sure that we had voted for Obama- it was important to them that we were casting our votes for 'the right man'.
In Thailand, people we've never seen before randomly walk up to us and say, "Obama? Yes?"
T-shirts declaring “Bangkok for Barack” are made. T-shirts with Obama’s name are printed in Thai and sold at street stalls from Chiang Mai to the capital. People have buttons and bands.
On election night we went to a club in Bangkok where Obama footage was projected onto a big screen as a backdrop for breakbeat and hiphop music. At one point in the concert the DJ had half of the crowd cheering, "OBAMA" and the other half of the crowd responding "YES WE DID!".
What's striking is that Obama has captured the attention of people from many different age groups, religious affiliations, and ethnic backgrounds in countries all over the world. Our new president elect not only had overwhelming support from Americans in this election, he has the international community rallying for him as well. Asian people especially, understand that the American economy, political leadership, and business trends is constantly setting the pace in their own country.
It appears that most Asians we've met, if given the opportunity, would've also voted for Obama on the 4th. And even though it was a close race leading up to the day that Americans went to the polls, our countrymen finally came around to realize what the rest of the world already knew: YES WE CAN.
PS- Travis and I have decided to come home to the USA now that hope is back in the air (tongue in cheek). ;) ;) ;)
See you in December.
Tuesday, November 4, 2008
Sunday, November 2, 2008
TREKKING BALI'S VOLCANOS AND SWIMMIMG WITH HER MANTA RAYS
Stuffing our day-pack with water and snacks, we leave our hotel at 2am. Our climb to the top of the volcano at Mt. Batur starts in the pitch black. Our ascent is steep and slow going in the dark. We stop a few times to gaze at the stars and listen to nocturnal birds hunting in the night. We pass over lava fields where old Balinese villages were buried during the last eruption.
At the summit an old man who lives alone with his dog in a lean-to hut is building a fire. He offers us hot coffee as we sit and watch the sunrise over Bali's other two volcanoes. The view is riveting, making us homesick for the Cascades and Olympics. We stay warm by putting our hands inside giant steam vents in the crater.
Our guide tells us his memories of taking part in animal sacrifice rituals with his village. Their Hindu custom is an effort to make the gods happy, whereby they chuck animals over the edge of the volcano such as ducks, pigs and cows. Our guide reminds us that this ritual is still practiced even today. Thankfully, there is no sacrifice ritual happening this morning. So everyone at the top gets to return home unscathed.
After we've recovered from the volcano trek, we board a boat for Bali's best dive sites in hopes of finding some rare marine life. Indeed we do find two manta sting rays, one black and one white, each a little more than six feet from wing tip to wing tip. We encounter them in a lagoon near a cliff, in about 25 feet of water which is very shallow for divers.
They swim circles around us and play in our air bubbles. At one point, one ray swims right over us and we literally have to bend over backwards to avoid it's belly from skimming over the tops of our heads. Katie cries into her mask from the beauty of it all while Travis nearly sh*ts his wet suit from the surprise and amazement of the encounter. Soon our air tanks are getting low and we must go back to the surface. We slowly pull ourselves away from what is clearly a once-in-a-lifetime experience.
We'll never forget the two rays that swam with us in a lagoon in Bali.
At the summit an old man who lives alone with his dog in a lean-to hut is building a fire. He offers us hot coffee as we sit and watch the sunrise over Bali's other two volcanoes. The view is riveting, making us homesick for the Cascades and Olympics. We stay warm by putting our hands inside giant steam vents in the crater.
Our guide tells us his memories of taking part in animal sacrifice rituals with his village. Their Hindu custom is an effort to make the gods happy, whereby they chuck animals over the edge of the volcano such as ducks, pigs and cows. Our guide reminds us that this ritual is still practiced even today. Thankfully, there is no sacrifice ritual happening this morning. So everyone at the top gets to return home unscathed.
After we've recovered from the volcano trek, we board a boat for Bali's best dive sites in hopes of finding some rare marine life. Indeed we do find two manta sting rays, one black and one white, each a little more than six feet from wing tip to wing tip. We encounter them in a lagoon near a cliff, in about 25 feet of water which is very shallow for divers.
They swim circles around us and play in our air bubbles. At one point, one ray swims right over us and we literally have to bend over backwards to avoid it's belly from skimming over the tops of our heads. Katie cries into her mask from the beauty of it all while Travis nearly sh*ts his wet suit from the surprise and amazement of the encounter. Soon our air tanks are getting low and we must go back to the surface. We slowly pull ourselves away from what is clearly a once-in-a-lifetime experience.
We'll never forget the two rays that swam with us in a lagoon in Bali.
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