online JOURNAL

31 March 07
Tomorrow is our first wedding anniversary. We wanted to spend the weekend in Monterey to celebrate but couldn't get away this weekend, so instead, we went a week early! Saturday morning was spent hiking around Point Lobos National Reserve, which is a few miles south of Monterey. It was very pretty, with trails taking us through pine forests, along the top of rugged seaside cliffs, and across windswept sandstone points.

We saw a bunch of animals, including many nice, fat harbor seals (after working with sick and injured seals, it's great to see healthy, wild ones), a cormorant colony preparing for mating season, and several grey whale spouts off in the distance.

After spending a few hours there we drove back to Monterey for lunch, and ate at the only "vegetarian" restaurant in town before heading to the aquarium for the afternoon. I love the Monterey Bay Aquarium, but after having been there many times, I tend to focus on the new exhibits and critters they've gotten in since my last visit. The most impressive new critter was a huge Mola mola, easily six feet or more in diameter. These guys are so incredibly bizarre looking, and from the side they seem to have a human face, which makes them ever weirder.

As members of the Aquarium we were also able to see a sneak preview of their new Otter exhibit, which opens officially today. In addition to the Aquarium's resident sea otters, the exhibit has two species of super-cute freshwater otters: African spotted-necked and Asian small-clawed otters.

And since every mini-vacation needs an indulgence, we had in-room massages that evening! The only massage appointments we could get ended at 9pm, which is closing time for just about every restaurant in town. But a little bit of planning left us with a fridge full of champagne and chocolate-covered strawberries, and those were a fine (and decadent!) ending to a wonderful day.

14 March 07
From the "You Know You Go To School In San Francisco When..." department:

As I was walking to class the other day I inadvertantly found myself behind a smoker. As he exhaled a thick cloud of noxious fumes I ducked so it wouldn't hit me in the face. The next thing I know, a bicycle cop rides up to the guy, tells him to put out the cigarette as this is a no smoking campus, and proceeds to give him a talking-to. I continue my walk to class and a couple of minutes later the cop rides up to me, apologizes for the smoking guy (he had seen me duck the cloud, which is what had prompted his actions), sees I'm carrying my motorcycle jacket and starts asking me about my bike (turns out he rides a motorcycle, too)!

In the continuing saga of Organic Chemistry teachers:

When I registered for my O Chem class, the class schedule indicated a particular professor would be teaching it. On the first day of class there was another man there. He mentioned he was a SJSU chemistry professor that had only been asked to take over the class two weeks prior. Since this was such short notice, he didn't have a syllabus ready, but said he'd start the actual lecturing at the next class meeting.

At the next class meeting, in walks a woman who tells us she's our new teacher. A fellow student asked, "Will you be our teacher for the entire semester?" to which she responded, "At least through the first exam." The first exam came and went, and then second exam and instructor feedback forms came ... and that teacher went. Yesterday, our first class meeting after Exam 2, we were greeted by yet another instructor.

At least this guy is an actual professor, unlike the previous grad student teacher, and so far he seems okay. Let's see how long he lasts.

(It's funny how here at SF State, as well as most universities, one can be taught by fellow students. At CCSF, where tuition was 1/10th that of SFSU, all of our instructors were actual faculty members. Hrmph.)

11 March 07
I spent a little bit of time organizing the books on our new bookshelves this evening, and in doing so pulled out at least one more book to add to my "to read" pile. It looks like this:

I'm currently reading The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test for my "San Francisco" class, halfway through Why Zebras Don't Get Ulcers, and a few chapters into Analysis of Vertebrate Structure.

Clearly, there needs to be more hours in the day.

10 March 07
School Update:

Wow, I'm already almost halfway through this semester. I'm taking three classes, and the funny thing is I have less work to do for all three classes total than I did for the one class I took last semester. Oh well!

Once again, I'm taking an Algebra class, which is essentially the same class I took a couple of years ago at City College. But my teacher is attacking topics from a different angle which is a really good thing, as this particular course is designed to dovetail with the Pre-Calculus class I wasn't prepared for last semester. Even though the teacher is a grad student, he's doing a fine job teaching the class, and occasionally tells us things like, "I've almost completed a Master's degree in Mathematics and I've never had to use this, so I'm not going to bother teaching it to you." Plus, he sneaks in tiny bits of Calculus, so hopefully it will be less scary when I encounter it again.

The only science class I'm taking is Organic Chemistry. I had expected to like this class because I do find chemistry interesting, however, my teacher is so crappy that I just want to get the whole thing over with. She's a grad student who has never taught this class before, and has a great deal of difficulty explaining things in a way so someone unfamiliar with the material can understand it. And on top of that, she's always making mistakes; sometimes she corrects herself, but just as often she is corrected by one of the students she's trying to teach. Last Thursday we turned in our official feedback forms for the class, so we'll see if anything comes of it.

Finally, I'm taking a class entitled "San Francisco" to satisfy one of my graduation requirements. I went into it thinking that it might be somewhat interesting, but it has turned out to be the best class I've taken in quite awhile! Although we are learning the history of SF, starting from when the first missionaries arrived and founded the city in 1775-76, we are focusing on her artistic, social, and intellectual personality.

One thing that's drawn me to San Francisco is the fact that this is a place populated by people who are "different." The regular rules of class and image don't apply here. I had always assumed this was a result of the hippie movement in the 1960s, but no, this facet of The City's personality has been here since the very beginning. The proliferation of different ethnicities and cultures, the commingling of those ethnicities and cultures, countless great restaurants serving foods from around the world, even environmentalism - those have all been part of San Francisco for the last century or two.

I'm very happy to be learning more about my hometown, and I'm happy to say that the more I learn, the more I like it.

4 March 07
It's weird how we change as we grow older. One day we're saving up our babysitting money in hopes that we can convince someone to buy us beer, and the next we're signing 401k paperwork in anticipation of eventual retirement. In my case, I also seem to have switched from going out and seeing live bands to going out and listening to speakers talk.

Last Tuesday, thanks to the kind generosity of Ms. Diemoniker, Frederick and I went to UC Berkeley to listen to a dialogue between Michael Pollan, author of The Omnivore's Dilemma and The Botany of Desire, among other things, and John Mackey, CEO of Whole Foods. The talk was quite interesting, especially for someone like me who is very interested in food, nutrition, the environment, and the intersection of those three subjects.

John Mackey talked for the first 45 minutes. He gave a brief history of food consumption - how we moved from hunter/gatherers up to the recent commercialization of the food industry, and the emerging eco-environmentalism movement in agriculture. He even showed a 5 minute video on factory-farming slaughterhouse conditions, which, as Pollan said, was unprecedented for a grocer. (Mackey is a vegetarian committed to improving animal welfare.) He also described past/present/future programs to nurture and support local and international artisian food makers and small businesses, including loans of a few hundred to a hundred thousand dollars. (And there was a reference to "Whole Paycheck" in there somewhere!)

I always thought Whole Foods was one of the better grocery store chains, although I never gave them a lot of thought. But I came out of Mackey's talk with a respect for them, seeing that their intentions do seem to be good.

The rest of the time was spent in a conversation between Pollan & Mackey. The two have been in communication since last summer when The Omnivore's Dilemma raised some concerns about Whole Foods' buying practices, and this was a continuation of their emails (published here). The discussion hit some of the big points about organic & sustainability, and could have easily gone on for hours, as there is so much to talk about.

They did have the audience write questions which they were to have gone through, but only had time to ask one or two. Pollan (who was choosing the cards with the questions written on them) must have liked mine because it was the first question he asked: "Considering some estimates state that up to 80% of the world's fish stocks are overfished, would Whole Foods consider discontinuing seafood sales?" While it would be nice to hear that no one was going to sell any fish anymore, that's not realistic, but I was happy with Mackey's answer, something along the lines of, "If we stop selling fish, people are just going to buy it elsewhere, possibly from a retailer who doesn't care where it comes from. So we sell only sustainable seafood and try to educate our customers about the plight of the ocean because we think we can make more of an impact that way."

Considering these guys were speaking to a SRO crowd, and the applause they got at the end of the evening, they really are the rock stars of their genre.

Next talk on my calendar: Dr. Christopher Harrold, Director of Conservation Research at the Monterey Bay Aquarium speaking about "White Sharks - Splendid Mystery of the Seas."

4 March 07
Wow, I've had such a busy week - running here, going there, attending this and preparing for that. I do like staying busy, but at the same time, it sure is nice to have some relaxation time.

Now that I do have a full evening with nothing scheduled, I'm at a loss for what to do! Guess it's a good time to get caught up on all the emails I've neglected these past few days.

25 February 07
I love it when you're at the gym, in the middle of your workout, and the perfect song comes on your iPod making you feel *great*, like you could go on forever. So when the song comes to and end you replay it a couple more times to continue the feeling :)

Re: the gym, I always wonder why people work out in street clothes (jeans and boots? come on), or carry their purses and jackets around. And it just drives me crazy that people cannot close the locker doors when they're done using them! (See: being slightly OCD.)

20 February 07
As far back as I can remember, I've been fascinated with bones and fossils. I remember riding around my cousin's cattle ranch in Idaho at age 14 or 15. It was the summer after a bad drought, and I found nice horse and cow skulls from animals that had perished the previous year. I brought them home and they stayed in my parents' yard until recently. (They had been outside for too many years and were the worse for wear.)

There have been several times these past few weeks when I've seen vultures on the ground in one particular meadow as I've been driving to or from the Marine Mammal Center. Today I remembered to stop and search for what had drawn them there. Lo and behold, I found this:

It's a dead opossum. So I took it home. Now I need to order some dermestid beetles to clean it up so I can add it to my collection:

18 February 07
Last week was my one-year anniversary volunteering at The Marine Mammal Center. (Well, technically I signed up in January 2006, but Valentine's Day was the first day I worked so I consider that my start date.) Yesterday, as if to mark some sort of milestone, I got called out on my first cetacean rescue - a stranded dolphin out at Stinson Beach.

It was a beautiful day so Frederick came along with me. I've been trying to talk him into volunteering at the Center as well, and hoped that the excitement of a rescue might encourage him. But, sadly, as we were driving north, I got a call that the animal had died, and our rescue instead turned into a carcass retrieval. (A whale has to be very ill in order for it to strand, and by doing so their prognosis is poor. So it was no surprise when we heard the animal had died. It will be necropsied in order to learn the cause of death, and just maybe what they learn can help other animals avoid the same fate.)

When we reached Stinson Beach we loaded up the animal in the van - it was a four-foot long subadult harbour porpoise weighing about 45 kg/100 lbs, with no obvious cause of death. Frederick was quite the trooper, helping to haul the body around. Physicist that he is, he says he usually likes to leave the wet and messy biology stuff to me. I just hope I can get him to accompany me on a successful rescue one of these days.

EDIT: Necropsy showed the porpoise died of cancer. He had testicular cancer which apparently spread to his lungs, and that is what ultimately made him strand and die.

16 February 07
We have a cat. The cat, like most, is curious. The cat also likes to climb ladders.

We have a ladder. It is kept in the upstairs closet, and the door is often left ajar as it doesn't latch properly. The closet has a hole in the ceiling, in anticipation of doing some rewiring in the attic crawl space.

The other morning Frederick was lying in bed when he heard someone (I won't mention any names) wandering around in the crawl space above his head.

We now have a heavy object in front of the closet door, holding it closed.

9 February 07
A month or two ago I was having a conversation with someone about food while trying to decide where to eat. I mentioned my food preferences and restrictions (vegetarian, no mushrooms, healthy food), and their response was, "But I thought you were a foodie!" This obviously bothers me on some level, otherwise why would it have stuck in my head?

Do people really think that you have to eat fois gras and truffled fish lips in order to appreciate gourmet food? Do foodies really not concern themselves with health and nutrition? I certainly hope not. Not only is there no reason for vegetarians not to consider themselves gourmets, I'd go so far as to say a chef than can create a delicious and healthy meal from a limited palette shows more talent than one who uses an unlimited selection of ingredients.

I love to cook and I think I'm pretty good at it. Most of what I cook is at least reasonably, if not extremely, healthy food (although I'm also capable of baking anyone into a sugar-induced coma). I wish more chefs would go this route, and if you know of any restaurants like this in SF, I'd love to hear about them.

7 February 07
It's things like this that make me happy:

Today while at school I saw a 20-something year old black guy wearing a t-shirt with a drawing of William Shakespeare and the caption, "Prose Not Hos."

:)

30 January 07
Today I didn't go work with the seals. Not including when I've been on vacation, it's the first time in a year that I've missed a Tuesday. Things are slow up there right now so people are working half days or taking days off to relax before elephant seal pup season starts up next month. I worked a half day last week, and today's my day to take off.

I felt weird all day, like I was forgetting to do something, forgetting to go somewhere. I finished the little bit of homework I had quite quickly, and started looking around for other things to do. Was I forgetting something? No, I had nothing scheduled today besides the seals.

There are so many times when I just don't have enough hours in the day. Too much to do, too little time, wishing for 30-hour days. But every once in awhile, like right now, for instance, I can't think of anything to do (that I want to do). I may just end up going to bed early and reading.

And of course, tomorrow I'll remember a half-dozen things that I could have done today, because that's how it always works.

27 January 07
Epilogue: The Trip Home

Saturday, January 20th lasted 39 hours. Literally.

We woke up at daybreak, about 0630. Had breakfast, did the last of our packing, and recovered our passports. Like children on Xmas morning, we quickly opened them up to see what ~~prize~~ stamps we had inside. About 0800 we were ferried back to Ranong, Thailand, driven to the immigration office (it's a block from the port), and got in a taxi for the two hour drive to the airport in Surat Thani. We arrived at the airport at 1100, 15 minutes before the plane was scheduled to leave, and the only reason we were able to board is that the flight had been delayed by about a half-hour.

Sunrise over Taipei.

Monks in Thailand are treated with respect.

Feeling much relieved, we boarded the plane for the flight back to Bangkok, where we waited three+ hours until our next flight, to Taipei. In Taipei we walked off our plane, to the correct terminal, and onto another plane for the long trans-Pacific flight, arriving home at 1800. Eventually, at midnight, thirty-nine hours later, Saturday was finally over.

More photos, diving and otherwise, available on Flickr.

26 January 07
Diving in the Mergui Archipelago, Andaman Sea, Myanmar:

The visa procedure for entering Myanmar (the U.S. refuses to acknowledge this country name and insists on continuing to call it "Burma") is vague, at best. We had given our pertinent information to the company that owns the dive boat, on which we would be living for the following week, and after we arrived in the border town of Ranong, Thailand, a representative from the company took our passports to the local visa office. This would be the last we saw of our passports for a week, but that's normal procedure for Myanmar; they like to keep close track of who's in their country at any given time. A short time later we each handed over a couple of passport-type photos and $140 in crisp, undamaged American bills, and at that point we were authorized to visit Myanmar.

We climbed into a longtail boat with our gear and a few other divers and were ferried across the wide river mouth to our boat, which was anchored in Myanma waters outside Kawthaung. As poor as Myanmar is, the city of Kawthaung looked nicer than Ranong, Thailand, and certainly didn't smell as bad.

Myanmar Immigration Checkpoint.

Boys playing in the water, Kawthaung, Myanmar.

We boarded Gaea, a tri-hulled sailing catamaran, and our home for the next six days and nights. She is probably the smallest liveaboard out there, but the tradeoff for having a limited amount of space was that there were only four other divers aboard. This is much nicer than most boats, which hold 15-20 divers or more. The crew was nice and professional, and we had an excellent cook. In the "It's a small world" department, our divemaster was a guy from San Francisco who (get this) used to work as a doorman for the DNA Lounge.

The Gaea.

G & F, post-dive.

Diving conditions in the Andaman Sea were average - water temperature was about 80°F, visibility was about 30-50 feet, and there was a lot of particulate matter in the water. As remote as we were, probably up to 75 miles from the mainland, we came across at least three other liveaboards. Thankfully, our dives were arranged so we didn't see other divers - it'd be a shame to go to all this trouble to be away from crowds, and then run into another group underwater.

Fish swarm a soft coral head.

Frederick and a school of yellow barracuda.

There was a lot of life underwater, but most of it was invertebrates and small reef critters. The reefs we dove were in good condition, and were just covered with coral, both soft and hard. We saw some decent-sized schools of decent-sized fish, but not the sheer numbers that you might expect. And there were very few big animals - during 16 dives I saw a total of three blacktip reef sharks (6-8'), two "sleeping" nurse sharks (8' and 12'), and one big (12') manta. Topside, we had one dolphin riding our bow, and the boat crew saw a whale while we divers were underwater. Apparently the idea of conservation is unheard of in Asia, and virtually all waters close to land are overfished.

Speckled stingray.

Jellyfish.

All in all, it was a good introduction to liveaboard dive boats. After doing that, I don't think I can ever dive from a "cattle boat" again. However, six days at a stretch was a bit long; maybe it would have been better on a bigger boat, or with a day spent ashore somewhere. At least now I know I can do it and not get seasick!

25 January 07
Laos and the Mighty Mekong:

Our last full day in the Golden Triangle was spent exploring Laos. It was so close that we had no reason to not go! Our hotel set up a trip, including jumping through all the visa hoops, and Frederick and I headed out along with the pr manager from the hotel (this was a new trip they were offering to guests, and the woman wanted to check it out for herself). Our guide for the day was a really nice 20-something year old Lao man with a degree in finance who spoke Lao, Thai, English, some Japanese, and had previously learned French and Spanish but didn't use them enough to keep in practice. Just goes to show you that just because someone lives in the boonies, you shouldn't assume they're uneducated!

The Lao-Thai border crossing.

Gate to Indo-China.

The border crossing is interesting. We got on a longtail boat for the 1-2 minute ride across the Mekong, then brought our passports (which had previously crossed the river without us, in order to obtain the visas) to the immigration clerk who authorized our entry into the country. However, the immigration building is off to the side of the road, and there's nothing keeping people from just walking past it and into the town.

Welcome to Huay Xai, Bokeo Province, Laos.

The streets of Huay Xai.

From our brief visit there, Laos seems to be Thailand's country cousin. The Thai and Lao languages and written scripts are similar, as are their customs. However, Laos, is a socialist republic (compared to Thai's constitutional monarchy) and a very poor and rural country.

Our guide took us to visit a Banna hilltribe village about a half-hour drive from Huay Xai. Unlike the much-publicized Thai hilltribes who entertain busloads of tourists each day, the Banna see very few foreigners; few enough that the children came out to look and were giggling at the "big" noses on the white people. We met a woman who wove fabric to make colorful shoulder bags. It takes a couple of weeks to make one bag, which she sells for about three dollars. Altough the Banna people lead a simple life without electricity or modern conveniences some money is needed to buy medicine or other necessities for the village that cannot be obtained otherwise. It made me very happy to see that there are still people living in this world that are (somewhat) unfettered by the pressures of today's world.

Banna woman weaving fabric.

Banna village.

Banna children.

From there we headed northeast to the ancient city of Suvannakhomkham. The city was first built about 1000 years ago, but the archaeological sites which remain today are approximately 600 years old. We saw several Buddha statues and stupas in various stages of decay; in the late 1800s invaders broke into the statues and stupas to steal the jewels and treasures housed within. They were never repaired, and time has since taken its toll on the remains.

Finally, we hopped aboard a longtail boat for the two hour cruise down the Mekong River to Huay Xai, and eventually "home" to Thailand. Amazingly, despite our ostensible remoteness, we had mobile phone coverage through four different carriers ... while on the Mekong!

Offerings to Buddha.

Buddha's torso.

Boating down the mighty Mekong.

24 January 07
Elephants in the Golden Triangle:

After spending a few days in Chiang Mai we headed north to the Golden Triangle, the area where Thailand, Myanmar (Burma), and Laos meet. This area is infamous for its opium production, and although opium has since been outlawed in Laos and Thailand, it's supposedly still being grown and smoked by some hilltribes in the area.

The Golden Triangle.

Kids posing for the camera.

We visited the Hall of Opium, a museum dedicated to informing people about the history of opium and how it came to become such a problem (hint: it was the white man's fault), which was conveniently located right across the street from our hotel. It's a nice, fairly new museum, and all of the information is presented in both Thai and (very good) English.

But the best part about this leg of the trip was the elephants! We chose the hotel we did because they work in conjunction with the Thai Elephant Conservation Centre, and have a dozen elephants on their grounds. Frederick and I took a one-day "Mahout Training Course" where we were each given an elephant and taught some basic commands. We learned a couple of different ways to get on and off the critters, got to ride the elephants around the camp, and at the end of the day, we (along with the mahout's help) rode the ellies into the river for a bath before setting them out in the jungle for the night.

Gina and friends.

Mahouts in training.

It is an amazing feeling to be sitting eight feet off the ground, on the neck of a four ton animal! It's also maybe the tiniest bit scary, knowing she can squish you like a bug if she wants. I've ridden horses for most of my life, but riding an elephant is completely different. For instance, while riding a horse you can take physical control of the animal by grabbing the reins and pulling its head around (useful for stopping a runaway animal). But when riding an elephant there is nothing - you're just sitting up there, giving the animal voice commands and cues with your feet. Needless to say, many, many years go into training each animal, and the mahouts (who may spend their entire lives with one elephant) have incredible trust in them.

Bathing the elephants.

Mom and baby.

Mouth close-up.

One thing that surprised me was how not-delicate an elephants ears are. You can use the ear to help climb on or off the animal, and you hold on to the roll at the top of the ear to keep from sliding off when the animal walks up a hill, or submerges herself into the river. And the ears are so strong that when an elephant pushes them back against her body you cannot move your legs (which are hanging over the sides of the neck, right behind their ears).

I came away from there with an incredible appreciation for these amazing animals, and I can't wait to go back to see them again!

22 January 07
The Wats of Chiang Mai, Thailand:

Our second and third days in Thailand were spent exploring the wats (Buddhist temples) in Chiang Mai. There are over 300 wats in the city of Chiang Mai - more than any other city in Thailand except Bangkok - and from our experience of walking around the city, that translates to at least one wat every block or so. The wats are gorgeous, built in a distinctive Thai architectural style and decorated primarily in reds and golds. Many of the wats date back to the early days of the city. The oldest, Wat Chieng Man, was built in 1296, the same year the city was founded. While some of these old buildings are in disrepair, there does seem to be a movement towards restoring them, and thus retaining these bits of history.

Rooftop detail, Wat Doi Suthep.

The temple at Wat Bupparam.

Entrance to Wat Doi Suthep.

In addition to the color scheme, there were other significant points of symbolism displayed at each wat we visited. Images of Buddha, of course, reside in each temple, and there are usually multiple images and statues. Lions are common, and dragons are found outside most (all?) temple buildings; sometimes there is one dragon, sometimes one dragon is emerging from the mouth of another, and often you see a three, five, seven, or nine-headed dragon emerging from the mouth of another. A brief conversation with a monk revealed that the multiple heads represent (iirc) the community, the teachings, and nirvana, and the dragon(s) emerging from the other's mouths mean that one's spirit should not be kept inside, but should instead be allowed to come out. (Pardon my ignorance here; if you have more detailed information I'd like to hear it.)

Wat Bupparam.

Wat Ubokut.

Wat Doi Suthep.

What impressed me is that the wats are still in daily use. Monks live, study, and work on the grounds, and the temples are open daily to both visitors and worshippers. In fact, we often saw people stop by for a quick prayer as they went about their daily business.

Paying their respects, Wat Bupparam.

Monk distributing blessings, Wat Doi Suthep.

Most of the wats within the city had quite a number of dogs and cats living on the grounds. Some of these animals were abandoned there by their previous oweners, and I assume at least a few wandered in on their own and decided to stay after learning they were safe. I don't know if the monks actually feed the animals, but there is at least one group of citizens who attempt to provide food, medical care, and spaying/neutering services to the strays.

One similarity between East and West - the religious buildings (wats, cathedrals, etc.) have some amazing architecture.

21 January 07
Chiang Mai, Thailand:

Our first stop on our trip was in Chiang Mai, the capital of the province of the same name, and the largest city in the north of Thailand. We spent three days there, exploring the city and getting to know the country in general. Chiang Mai is a nice city that gave us a feel for what Thailand is really like; it wasn't overly cosmopolitan or homogenized, and had a lot of character.

If you're at all interested in shopping, then Chiang Mai is the place to go. In addition to many shops, there are literally hundreds of temporary stalls and street vendors around the city. The famous Night Bazaar covers several blocks and is open until 11pm every evening. And the best thing is everything, including handmade silk items, is quite cheap.

A portion of the wall & moat surrounding the Old City.

Five boys play music in a large outdoor market area.

The preferred mode of transportation in Thailand seems to be the scooter, and close to half the traffic Chiang Mai is scooters, mostly 100cc Honda Waves. Most scooters carried one or two people, but occasionally you'd see three people squeezed aboard; once I saw three adults and a small child riding through town. There didn't appear to be any (enforced) laws governing scooters - hardly anyone wore a helmet, passengers with skirts would sit sidesaddle, and drivers rode along one-handed while speaking on cell phones.

Although I never read up on traffic regulations, from what I could tell there is only one rule pertaining to driving in Thailand: don't hit anything. Aside from that, everthing else seems to be legal, and those lines down the middle of the road appear to be more for decoration than for keeping vehicles in a particular lane.

Hang up and ride!

Street chicken.

It was surprisingly easy to get around Thailand. Many signs, particularly in areas frequently by foreigners, are in both Thai and English, as are menus and packaging. As much as I would have liked to begin learning a bit of the Thai language, the written script is just too difficult for me to casulally decipher, and I never learned more than "hello" and "thank you" in Thai. Luckily, most of the people we had contact with spoke English. I know, that's cheating, but oh well.

Oh, the food, I can't forget the food! Any country where the norm is delicious Thai food can't be all bad ;) Panang curries, one of my favourites, are common in the north, and I ate that several times. There was delicious pad Thai and mango & sticky rice in there, but sadly peanut sauce dishes weren't served anywhere. Maybe that's more of a southern Thai thing. Clearly, more research is indicated.

21 January 07
What I Did On My Winter Vacation, by Gina:

10 hours spent underwater
9 wats (Buddhist temples) visited
8 elephants petted
7 plane flights
6 nights spent on a boat
5 sharks spotted
4 Thai spa massages
3 countries visited
2 people travelling
1 vacation

I got home a few hours ago from my first-ever trip to Asia. We had a wonderful trip and saw lots of great stuff, and tomorrow when my photos have finished uploading* I'll post some pics and tell you all about it. Because we travelled home over the International Date Line, Saturday was about 39 hours long and I'm glad it's finally over. And after spending the past week or so on planes and boats, I am so looking forward to sleeping somewhere comfortable that isn't moving.

Three out of the past 4.5 weeks I have been travelling, and now I just want to stay home and rest for awhile. Unfortunately, school starts in just a few days. I could really use a week or two before getting back into that, especially now that I've got a full schedule again. *sigh*

Frederick and I standing in Thailand, with Myanmar (Burma) and Laos behind us.

* I shot all my images in RAW + jpg and it takes forever to upload them, either from the storage device I have, or from the camera directly; 12 hours to move 18 GB over USB, that's just silly.