SLEEPY LITTLE BAN PHE

We're settling into our little post here in Ban Phe.

Katie is now half way through her TESOL (teaching english as a second to other languages) course and has just passed her final grammar/phonology exam. Her classes are being held in a Buddhist Temple where saffron-robed monks live and go about their daily chores amongst the English-teaching foreigners. It's a strange and exciting co-existence, and everybody seems to get along. Travis spends his days as he pleases: cruising around town on his motocycle picking up coconuts and exotic fruits, snorkeling in the bathtub waters of the Gulf of Thailand, editing photos on his brand new laptop, and making lunches for his studious wife when she comes home from school.

We also spent the past two weekends doing a little island-hopping. First to the nearby Koh Samed for some stunning white sand beaches that squeeked under our feet. And second to the farther away and much smaller island of Koh Larn, for some less than spectacular snorkelling amongst dieing coral and speedy jet skiis loaded with tourists. How dare everyone else have the same weekend idea we did! Ah well, another weekend in paradise. PS- Believe it or not, for the two people who never EVER burn, we've both become lobsters.

Travis sees how close he can get to this little scorpian, who frequents the same restaurant we go to for dinner. Ban Phe, Thailand.

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Originally uploaded by migratorynature.

Travis learns to fire dance on the beaches of Koh Samed, near Ban Phe, Thailand.

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Originally uploaded by migratorynature.

THAILAND: THE LAND OF SMILES

We made it safely to Bangkok and kicked off the weekend with the locals celebrating Sankran, Thai New Years! Similar to playing Holi in India, here in Thailand the kids and kids-at-heart alike wait in the streets to throw buckets of water on unsuspecting passersby. We walked down Koh Sarn Road along with thousands of other ornery people smearing each other with a white menthol paste and spraying each other with super soakers. Of course, we had to get in on the action. Although we may have seemed like innocent bystanders, in reality we had an ambush of ice water waiting to toss on any unsuspecting locals. They loved it. The symbolism of this ritual is to wash your friends of last year's karma so they can start a new year free from penance. And after all the dousing that was given to us, we feel pretty darn sin-free.

Onward to a little beach town called Ban Phe (see map), close to Rayong on the Southeastern coast... where the weather is a breezy 90 degrees. Katie has begun her international English teacher's certification program here and has a teaching job in Northeastern Thailand waiting when she graduates. She is in school now 8 hours a day for the next month, taking classes in phonology, grammar, classroom management, and lesson planning. While Katie is in school, Travis is doing research for the purchase of his first personal laptop. He has got the mind to edit his photography with his new laptop so he can share his talents in imagery with the world.

Both of us are so glad to finally be here in Thailand: a gentle pillow compared to the coarse culture of India. The English school has put us up in a hotel across the street from the beach. In between class and research, we watch the sunrise together from our balcony, or swim in the hotel pool, or just bob around in the tranquil waters of the Gulf of Thailand and sip salt water.

Stay tuned...

Katie getting a splash down in Bangkok on Songkran.

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Originally uploaded by migratorynature.

FAREWELL INDIA

The eyes can only see what the mind is prepared to comprehend. This last post is written from the southern most tip of India. We are staying in Kanyakumari, where we are watching the waters of the Arabian Sea, Indian Ocean, and Bay of Bengal converge on the shore under our hotel room. The ocean stretches in both directions as far as the eye can see. Both sunrise and sunset are visible from the same stretch of beach.

It is here that the ashes of Mahatma Gandhi were placed until spread at sea. Inside the temple dedicated to Gandhi there is a large plaque quoting him when he had visited Kanukumari before his death. His words speak perfectly to the place in which we find ourselves now. "I AM WRITING THIS FROM THE CAPE. WHERE THREE WATERS MERGE AND FURNISH A SIGHT UNEQUALED IN THE WORLD" -Mahatma Gandhi.

It's hard to believe our time here has come to an end. Tonight we take a night train to Chennai on the East coast of India in Tamil Nadu. Tomorrow we fly to Thailand. And around the corner, a new chapter: Bangkok!

Stay tuned...

Jiggin on the beach, Varkala, Kerala

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Originally uploaded by migratorynature.