Lessons and Best Memories

I am officially back in the U.S., but my three month Southeast Asia Adventure is not over. One of the lessons I learned during my trip is that no moment can be relived or repeated and so I began to record everything as best as I could, into my memory. For the first time in my life, I learned how to embrace and appreciate every single moment. I continue to be overwhelmed by the beautiful sights, sounds and smells that I experienced throughout my trip. I am grateful for the amount of love and support I received from my friends and family while I lived my dream of traveling. This is my official last entry on this blog. I want to thank everyone who traveled with me in spirit. I have included two final memories from Bangkok and India. Enjoy...

Bangkok
Sundays in Bangkok where the best ever. Somehow it worked out that every Sunday Carla and company - whether it was me, Liza or Shirley (pronounced Chirrrleee), who often slept over after a fun Saturday night out - went out for a market run and came back with delicious fresh fruit for shakes, eggs, fried chicken, mango sticky rice and whatever else we picked up along the way. Carla was often the chef, while Shirley served as sous chef and I cleaned the apartment. Sunday brunch was almost always followed by sun bathing and a late night movie. Sounds like fun, doesn't it? The best part is that this was my life for nearly three months. It was during one of these precious Sundays, while Carla and Shirley chatted in the kitchen and I set the table, that I realized neither of us could ever relive that precise moment. What we shared on Sundays in Carla's little apartment was absolutely magical. I carry these memories in my heart. Thank you Carli!

India
I have learned that in my life, I live extremes. I have been consciously working to find my middle, my balance and I feel really good about the work I have done to get there. The fourteen kilometer walk in India is an example of living extremes. For the past five years I have been considering running a half marathon. Instead, I walk a half marathon in India, barefoot. I guess my rock climbing experience in Rai Lay is similar to the 14K walk (see "Climbing Rocks, Conquering Fears"). The 14K walk was around Arunachala, a mountain in Tiruvannamalai, South India. The walk around Arunachala is a pilgrimage performed to practice discipline, to gain enlightenment and to purify the mind. I accepted the inviation without really understanding the purpose of the walk. I was completely open to all of the activities we engaged in, but during the first hour, the walk suddenly became an intense burden.

I began to ask for guidance and as I did so, a renunciant rode his bike towards me, looked me in the eye, held his hand to his heart and said to me, "Om Arunachula, many blessings to you." He said this in his language and thankfully my friend Peter was able to translate. The beggar encouraged me to keep going. He was the answer to my prayer and I knew that I was not alone. Suddenly, it was so clear and so obvious to me. Each pebble that pierced my feet and each sting of pain represented the small sufferings, small angers and small fears that I chose to carry with me for 30 years. I decided that was not how I wanted to live my life and during my walk around Arunachala, I slowly began to release 30 years of crap. There is no other way of saying it. On that day, I experienced the meaning of letting go, and it was an amazing feeling. Thank you Arunachala.

Chicago Bound - Good Bye BKK

It's time. I am heading back the states, but I am not sad. I am grateful for the wonderful opportunity to travel and live out one of my dreams. I am in Carla's apartment in Bangkok and packing up my stuff. I arrived with one suitcase and I am leaving with three. HA! I'm going to miss Bangkok shopping. Funny enough, I am in BKK alone. Liza and Carla are back in Chicago for the holidays and Julie is still prancing around in Koh Lanta. But it feels great. I have gotten to know the city well enough that I am running around like a mad women with t-minus 10 hours until take-off. I'm not sleeping tonight. Once I'm done packing, it's off to Cheap Charlie's for one last beer, some night market shopping, street food and a train ride to see my pals, Nida, Lu and their brand new baby, Cat.

Thank you Bangkok for a wonderful adventure. I am so lucky because I found a wonderful family in Bangkok. Thanks Liza, Fede, Ron, Shirley, Krystal, Nida, Lu and Cat for being my BKK familia. Most of all, thank you Carli for your unconditional friendship. I love you.

See you later Bangkok. Chicago, here I come!

Beach Paradise

I am writing you from Railay. I am in a small internet outpost right across a jungle shrub, and just past the shrub is the ocean. The magnificence of this and the surrounding islands is beyond words. We arrived in Railay yesterday, which is an island just off of Krabi Province. Julissa and I flew into Krabi Province on Tuesday and stayed on the mainland our first night. The digs in Krabi were so-so, but our digs in Railay are so fun. We are staying in a small bamboo bungalow that sits on stilts in a mini jungle-ish set up. The island is pretty developed. It is beautiful and the views are stunning, but everything here is set up for tourists. After speaking to a few other travelers, we learned that Railay is one of the less populated islands, which is good because I am not in favor of the super touristy holiday. Julissa and I were looking forward to staying at Koh Phi Phi, which is were the movie "The Beach" was filmed, but we also heard it has become quite expensive and dirty. We have decided to visit the island for a day, but stay in our fun bungalow. After a couple nights in Railay, we will make our way to Koh Jum and meet up with our friend Kevin from Washington, D.C. And then, sadly enough, I make my way back to Bangkok, pick up my luggage and head back to Chicago.

Before I share how sad I am about returning to the cold and leaving paradise, I want to paint in words, as best as I can, our snorkeling adventure . After lunch, Julissa and I booked a snorkeling tour for a very reasonable price that included water (very important), fruit and dinner on the beach. We left at 2pm and returned by 9pm. We swam with the fishies for about 3.5 hours of the six hour tour. The fishies were everywhere! I even saw nemo! My goodness, as I write I can not think of the words to describe the experience. It was beautiful, relaxing, challenging and amazing all in one. We rode out to different rock formations, caves and islands. The tour guide, Joe, who was a skinny little Irish man, would drop us off and we were free to swim around at our leisure. Joe gave us a path to follow to make sure we did not get lost, but it was very relaxed and not structured at all, like other snorkeling tours.

During our swim in the caves, the waves were quite strong and it was a bit scary trying to swim with the current and not being swept into the rocks. Many of the fish swam right along with us. I hope they were not disturbed by our presence, but they seemed unaffected. I saw neon multi-colored fish whose colors were brighter and more sticking than any color produced by American Apparel. I also a sword fish and I could have sworn I saw a shark, but it may have been my imagination. The fish loved pineapple. They came in droves for little bits of the pineapple. Julissa took a picture of the fishies surrounding me as I fed them. I will be sure to post it later. After swimming around for a while, Joe took us to a beautiful sandy beach in the middle of nowhere to watch the sunset and prepare dinner. We lit torches, indulged in a yummy coconut curry dinner and chilled out for an hour or so. Once dinner was done, we rode out to one more island and swam with phosphorescent fish and plankton. You could litterally see the fish and plankton glowing in the water. Julissa and I put on goggles and from under the surface, it looked like we were swimming in a 3-D movie, or in the stars or in the ocean with glowing fish!!! The experience was very exciting for me. The entire tour was tons of fun, and best of all, at a great price.

Today we will be beach bums for at least half of the day and later we will explore the Diamond Cave that apparently looks like its walls are surrounded by diamonds. I will report back soon. Hugs from paradise...see you soon family and friends...

Living the Holiday

Tomorrow marks the end of my holiday...well, sort of. Julissa, my BFF and old roommate from Washington, DC arrives in Bangkok and the party will undoubtedly begin. I cannot see it happening any other way because when Julissa is around, you are guaranteed to have a good time. But her arrival means that I have come to the last leg of my Southeast Asia adventure. We will be partaking in some fun, touristy Bangkok mischief and after three or four days of that, we will begin our island hopping adventure. This, to me, is the best way to end my holiday - on the beach, looking at the beautiful ocean, under the warm sun, and neglecting the fact that I will soon have to return to freezing, unkind Chicago weather. I am excited about seeing my family and celebrating the holidays at home, but I am very frightened of the cold that awaits me.

This last leg of my trip also guarantees that madness will ensue because we will have to squeeze in many memorable moments in a short period of time. As much as I want to go hard on the last leg of my trip, I have changed quite a bit in the last three months and I function at a different pace. Thankfully, Julie is all about taking it easy. Everything here is so easy. I have nothing to worry about. My reactions to stress, drama and negative energy have shifted to a very calm plane. I truly hope I can translate my new outlook into the rest of my life. I have a feeling that it cannot be any other way, but I am human, and doubt sometimes shows its little head.

Today was a tad bit sentimental for me. Carla and I spent the afternoon shopping for fabric in Chinatown. When Carla and I were in high school, we lived her budding obsession with fashion by spending our afternoons at Jo-Ann Fabrics on the north side of Chicago looking through the discounted rolls of fabric. It is magical to see Carla in a fabric store because you can literally see her creative juices begin to bubble. Carla's eyes open wide when she spots the perfect roll of fabric and immediately beings to describe the garments that she envisions with the fabric in hand. Carla is truly a genius when it comes to putting together different patters, color pallets and textures. Today, in Chinatown, my heart was filled with immense joy and happiness because, fifteen years later, I still get excited fabric shopping with Carla. Fifteen years later, I still witness the same ingenious reaction as we find the perfect roll of fabric. In fact, today we found six perfect rolls and two happened to be on sale! I carefully instructed Carla that she is to save the material until she comes up with the best design for me. It is pretty neat to know that you have a future super cool, super trendy, super sexy outfit waiting for you within the depths of Carla's imagination. Our shopping trip was also the last afternoon that Carla and I would spend together in Bangkok. Carla flies back to the U.S. on the day that Julie and I embark on our island adventure. We had a fantastic time weaving through the fabric shops looking for the perfect material for the dress she designed special for yours truly. It was absolutely the best afternoon I have spent in Bangkok so far.

I was expressing to my friend Ron that I feel like I have not written as much as I could have on my blog. Ron suggested that I decide whether I want to live my holiday or write about my holiday. I think I can do both, but I think I shall write more about the trip and the fun lessons and adventures once I return to the states. I just came across a ton of pictures from Cambodia, India, Koh Samed and Petchaburi that I have not posted, so stay tuned. Once I am back in the cold and do not have the sun and pool to keep me company during the day, I will plunge into the task of recounting my days in Bangkok and beyond. I figure it will be like a writer who composes their memoirs after the fact, but obviously it will be my Southeast Asia memoirs. "Memoirs"...that sounds kinda funny...

P.S. In the picture above, Carla and I had just finished purchasing 6 meters of beautiful black stretchy organza fabric and ivory cotton lace....it was taken today by the shop keepers...

Chinatown Shopping

Loi Kathrong & My Bangkok Familia

The last two weeks have been a mish mosh of events. It has been a combination of cultural experiences, while trying to live in some sort of normalcy in Bangkok. After Cambodia, I decided that it would be good to start working out again. After I hurt my knee in New York, I kinda used it as an excuse to put off the work out routine. Well, it's four months later, and after submerging myself into many delicious food adventures from New York, Chicago, Thailand, to Cambodia, I decided it is time to take it easy and work on the waistline. Although, I must confess that I am addicted to mango sticky rice. I dream about it everyday. I have also indulged in the fried chicken with sticky rice and papaya salad that is sold every 50 feet on the side walk; this is also something that I should probably cut from the diet, but it is so. so good. And finally, the fried spring rolls...for only 6 baht each, how can you not want to eat four a day? Well, I am exaggerating...I've had them once a week, but even that is a lot of fried food when you mix in the fried chicken. After indulging in yummy, super delicious food, and seeing that the result is an expanding waist line, I decided to hit the gym. For the last two weeks, I have worked out for a couple hours a day, but aside from the gym, the Bangkok adventure has been about what happens after the workout.

On Monday, November 2^nd, we floated our worries away on a little banana leaf boat decorated with flowers, candles and incense. The Thai people celebrate Loi Kathrong, or the Festival of Lights on the night of the 12th full moon, which means that the dates changes from year to year, but is typically celebrated in November. It was originally a Buddhist ceremony, but is now celebrated throughout Thailand. The candles are a way to honor the Lord Buddha and the "floating away" of the banana boat leaf symbolizes the release of all the anger and worries of the previous year. It is a way of starting anew, which is always nice.

We began our Loi Kathrong celebration with dinner. Carla, Lisa, her husband, Federico, and I had a traditional Thai dinner at the local bar, Winks, and then headed to the festival. We each had our own offering and took a moment to cast off our negative energies and bad luck down the river. The most interesting part of the experience was the homeless individuals that took to the river and collected the money that was placed in the offerings. They were shivering, and yet they were turning over offerings to collect the change. It is quite striking when a traditional Thai holiday is treated so lightly by the less fortunate – it puts things into perspective.

Later that week we attended a Tango concert in the city. TANGO…dios mio. We were invited to the live show at the Siam Cultural Center by the embassy of Argentina. The concert was absolutely amazing. It was alive! I sat next to our friend Shirley, from Queens, NY, and after each song we turned to each other and simultaneously released a breathless “wow.” The most memorable part of the concert for me was the moment when I realized that I was in Bangkok listening to the most beautiful tango I have ever listened to in my life. In that instant I realized that it did not matter what country I was in and that what mattered was the moment and the experience. I have been very lucky to experience Thailand through my friends: through Carla that has been here for nearly five years and building her fashion career, for Lisa and her husband that are simply taking a chance in life and seeing what Bangkok has to offer, or for Shirley and Krystal who have come to teach and purposefully take themselves out of their comfort zone to try something different. Taking this time off has allowed me to strip the layers of stress and worry and really look at how I hope to life my life. I feel lucky and happy to have my Bangkok familia with me throughout my Southeast Asia trip. Thank goodness for them and this experience...and so it's back to working off all the yummy food adventures.

Sundays in Bangkok

Sunday is my favorite day of the week. There is something warm, cozy and hopeful about a Sunday. For me, it has always been a day full of possibilities. My perfect Sunday includes sleeping in late or summoning up the motivation for an early work out as I sometimes managed with my friend Laura in DC, catching up with friends over brunch, finding neighborhood stoop sales or visiting the farmer’s market, going for a walk or maybe catching a movie, and settling in with some good music towards the end of the day as I prepare for the upcoming week.

Sundays in Bangkok are wonderful. This last Sunday, Carla and I made our way to her local market to pick up breakfast. The menu included fried and grilled chicken, papaya salad, pork salad, sticky rice, grapefruit, grapes and fresh, homemade passion fruit juice. This may not sound like breakfast, but at 11 am, it was the perfect meal - a Thai market brunch, if you will. After the market we made our way to Carla’s condo and enjoyed our meal poolside with Carli’s friend, Shirley, whom I had met the night before. With music playing in the background, including Billie Holiday and Aretha Franklin, and with the perfect amount of shade above, we ate and enjoyed insightful yet light-hearted conversations about life and our dreams. After applying the right amount of sunscreen, we floated the afternoon away on our swimming pool rafts until our bodies told us it was time for a nap.

My first Sunday was very similar, except we spent the day poolside at Lisa’s condo and ended the day with Thai massages. My second Sunday ended with a Flamenco concert at the Thailand Cultural Center. It was a wonderful experience and a last minute decision - the kind of decision one makes on a Sunday that is full of possibilities.

The concert was extraordinary. The dancers were fierce, untouchable, sharp, passionate and strong. They emanated a feeling and energy that let you know they were living their dream, that their exceptional performance was a result of their hard work and love for their craft. Their presentation of each act was like a gift to the audience. And we were grateful. Watching the dancers and feeling the music took both Carla and me back to the time when we danced Flamenco. The performance filled our hearts with wonderful memories and renewed the dormant dreams and possibilities that still exist for us both. It was a thrilling experience and I was grateful to have shared it with my friend in Thailand.

Sundays in Bangkok may be slightly different, but they are just as wonderful, hopeful and full of possibilities.

Ladies night

Thursday nights at Coyote is Ladies Night. Coyote is a chain Mexican restaurant that has venues throughout southern Thailand. Ladies Night at Coyote means bottomless margaritas from 6pm to 8pm. Carla, Lisa and I arrived at 7:00 pm ready for the lime flavored tequila inspiration to begin.

To my surprise, the food was decent. We ordered empanadas, taquitos and fajitas. The empanada filling was delish and tasted like ropa vieja (La Cuchara should visit Coyote). The taquitos were tasty and the fajitas had just the right amount of spice and zest. The best part of the fajitas was the corn tortillas. Yummy corn tortillas on Bangkok, oh my!

After Coyote’s, Lisa went home and Carla and I decided to keep the night going. Cheap Charlie’s was the next stop. At Cheap Charlie’s, all drinks are 70 baht. That’s about $2 a drink, hence the name. It’s a popular place for tourists and expats. An expat, or expatriate, is anyone living in a country where they are not a citizen. On Thursday night, Cheap Charlie’s looked like an expat convention. Carla ran into a couple friends, Carmen from Spain and Lana from Canada. Lana’s Filipino boyfriend plays in a band at The Australian Bar, so from Cheap Charlie’s we headed down the street to the Aussie inspired bar & grill.

As we walked in, the band was playing “Corazon Espinado” by Maná. We couldn’t believe it and took over the dance floor. After Maná, they played Santana, Shakira, Stevie Wonder, James Brown, Simon and Garfunkel and many more artists. We ended the night signing and dancing to “Sweat” (A la la la long song). Click here to hear the fun tunes http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p0M4J849dmA.

The evening was full of good food, great company, cheap drinks and fun music. Other than the wait staff at each venue, and the fact that we were in Bangkok, nothing about the evening was Thai. Since I have arrived, the trend has been to visit expat venues, and although I am not complaining, Carla has promised to take me out to party with the locals. So here’s to future Thai adventures…

Bogotá en Bangkok

Last night's adventure began with dinner at a Colombian/Thai fusion restaurant and ended with the most breathtaking view of Bangkok.

Carla and I had dinner and drinks with a friend at La Cuchara, a cozy Colombian restaurant in the heart of downtown Bangkok. It was a bit surreal sitting in the brightly decorated restaurant with Botero replica paintings hanging on the wall, a drink menu that included mojitos, caipirinhas and pisco sour and salsa playing in the background. We ordered mojitos to start off the evening, which were delicious (I think any Cuban would be proud), and shirmp ceviche and empanadas as appetizers. The ceviche was O.K. and the empanadas were dry and hard. But dinner had yet to arrive so I held out hope that my ropa vieja would be better than the empanadas.

The music was very nostalgic. They played old school cumbia and salsa. I don'tknow who set-up their playlist, but I really felt like I was in a chic Latino restaurant in Chicago or New York. Overall, the atmosphere at La Cuchara was warm, festive and very Latino.

Carla's dinner arrived first...she ordered pork chops in a tomato stew. Her dish was very good, but I couldn't tell if it was Colombian or Thai. The spices they used must have been a fusion of both cuisines. I enjoyed her dish (we split both orders), but every time I took a bite, it took my brain and taste buds a few seconds to decide if I liked it because I couldn't place the flavors.

My ropa vieja was a whole 'nother story. It was not ropa vieja...it was a spicy mixture of onion, whole garlic cloves, red and green peppers and very sparse pieces of shredded beef. I would describe the presentation of the dish as a"fajita gone wrong" (minus the tortillas), but it was still yummy. It has been the spiciest dish I have eaten in Bangkok so far. My lips were still throbbing after dinner from the chile. Both dishes came with white rice and something that resembled yuca and plantanos, except the yuca was sweet and the platanos were bitter. It was still appetizing, but not Colombian and not Thai, which made it an interesting eating experience.

After La Cuchara, we made our way to The Dome at State Tower for drinks on the 63rd floor for a view of the city. I do not have the words to describe how beautiful and breathtaking that experience was. Sixty-three floors above the hustle and bustle that is Bangkok, the view from above is exciting and calming all at once. You feel magical, or at least I did. I have seen beautiful skylines from rooftops in Chicago, DC, New York and Madrid, but nothing beats the 63rd floor rooftop experience in Bangkok. The Dome includes two outdoor bars and an outdoor Mediterranean restaurant. The scene was very European, very chic and hip. I kept telling Carla, "Oh god we're so bright, so Latina!" But we loved it. The Dome experience and the La Cuchara experience were on opposite ends of the spectrum, but they fit perfectly well together on our very Latino and very magical evening in Bangkok.

Some reads on La Cuchara and The Dome

La Cuchara: http://mag.ttoasia.net/la-cuchara-restaurant/

The Dome: http://www.lebua.com/bangkok/dining/

Wanna ride the moto?

Have you received those pictures by email of families of five riding motorbikes? Well, Lisa and I rode three to a bike this past Saturday in the heaviest traffic I have EVER seen in my life. Lisa is Carla's cousin, who has been living in Bangkok for nearly one year. The plan was to meet Carla for dinner, but once I caught sight of the traffic, I was sure we would be late. Then Lisa says, "Wanna ride the moto?"

Cars, buses and trucks were not moving. It was a stand still for miles. Lisa and I decided to jump on a motorbike, and since there was only one available, we jumped on together. There are motorbikes everywhere in Bangkok. They function just like Taxi's and are super cheap. One ride is about 50 cents. The beauty of motorbike drivers is that they weave into and around traffic like nothing I've ever seen before. On a motorbike, you can get around town faster and traffic isn't really a problem. Our driver sped into small openings between cars and buses sometimes calculating whether or not we would fit after we had zoomed into the small crevice. I had nothing to hold on to except for Lisa's knees and I am sure she felt every squeeze as we whirled between traffic. It wasn't so much of a terrifying experience, but a "I can't believe what this crazy driver is doing" experience.

This was my second motorbike adventure. The first was a solo run where I swear the driver exceeded any logical speeding limits for motorbikes. It was fun. I figured, if I could jump off a plane, I can ride on the highway with a crazy little motorbike man.

The locals seemed to enjoy watching Lisa and me, laughing as we rode astride instead of side saddle, which is the way women ride in Bangkok. I had four motorbike adventures this weekend and funny enough, all four drivers seemed conveniently slam on the breaks in such a way that I would slam into them. For the locals and drivers, it seemed like riding astride wasn't the only novelty.