Central America Wrap-up

There was talk about leaving Panana and heading to a rain forest in Costa Rica for my remaining few days. This was a fun idea but it would mean spending several more hours in transit, which felt wasteful of my precious time remaining in Central America. We were really enjoying the place we were already at so I decided that my remaining time was best spent by continuing our stay in Bocus Del Toro.

We looked into renting a boat but weren't able to because of all the random unmarked shoals in the area. One day I inquired at a tourism office about joining a boat tour around the islands. They said the tours were done for the day but I could go the next day. Unfortunately I had to begin my journey home the next morning, so this was not an option. But I didn't give up there; after some negotiation I embarked on a personal island tour with one of the local boat drivers, and the kicker was he let me drive his boat the whole time!

We drove all around a large collection of islands with the owner guiding me around shoals and through narrow passages. We made a little stop at his house to drop off groceries to his family, and we chatted about life on the island. On the way back we passed some locals who asked if they could get a ride. The driver asked me if it was okay and of course I was fine with it, so they hopped in and I drove us all back to the main island. It was an exciting and random experience driving this small boat through the big waves in the ocean; I felt privileged that the driver allowed me to do this!

My last night in Bocus was a party night at our hostel. I started the night by welcoming people at the taxi boat landing of our hostel. I saw one fairly large boat pull in with a bunch of people and I told the driver he had a nice boat. He invited to come along for his next pickup and before I knew it I was driving his boat! After riding along for 3 or 4 pickups, which included walking into hostels and recruiting people for the party, I decided it was time to join the party myself. The next morning I hopped on an early morning ferry back to the mainland, caught a bus back to San Jose, and flew home the next morning. One great month in Central America!

Bocus Del Toro

We learned of a magical sounding place in Panama that's composed of various sized islands; easily accessed by cheap and abundantly available water taxis. The place is called Bocus Del Toro and was a definite must see for both Tara and I. We heard about a hostel in the area that has a diving board, trampoline and swings into the ocean, so this quickly won our vote for where to stay. The entire hostel sits on pillars above the ocean, just off shore from one of the islands. There is also a "pool" here, which is simply a big area that's cut out of the deck and leads into the ocean. When we first arrived it was pretty much sensory overload for me...I've literally had dreams of places like this where boats are the main form of transportation. I spent a good amount of time just laying in a hammock taking it all in.

On the first night we learned a new card game from a Belgium guy who claimed that this game is the reason that playing cards were invented. I thought it was a pretty enjoyable game and has some similarities to Euchre. I think my Dad would approve of this game, along with the countless other enthusiastic Euchre players back home!

One day we rented kayaks and explored two other islands in the area. We paddled through some pretty big waves and even caught a little bit of a surf at one point in the journey. Other than that I've spent my time looking at boats, reading my Antarctica book, chatting with other travelers and playing on the ocean jungle gym. We have done a bit of exploring on the main island but weren't going over there at night because we heard about a lot of people getting mugged while wondering the streets at night over there.

Last night, however, we heard about a party taking place at a hostel/bar on the main island and we were able to get a water taxi directly to the place...so a big group of us headed over there and ended up having an amazing time. I couldn't have asked for a better mix of music, and of course good music + fun people = lots of dancing!

We were planning on leaving this morning but didn't feel ready to leave this place, so we didn't.

To me traveling is about the quality of the time I spend at each place...even if that means I'm going to see one less place on this trip. That's why we didn't leave here this morning, and that's why we may not even leave tomorrow morning. That's the life of traveling with no fixed itinerary, and to me it's the best way to go!

Puerto Veijo Continues

We were having such a great time at Rockin J's that we ended up staying for 5 nights. It's hard to go wrong with a beach-front hostel on the Caribbean coast for less than $6 per night! We reconnected with a fair bit of travelers there that we had met previously in places like Granada. Everyone was collectively contributing to a great time so no one really wanted to leave.

One day we were wondering around in a group of seven...a guy from Montreal showed us a really cool lookout that he had found and it was a great day for it. The waves were crashing in hard against the rocks and the view along the coast was fantastic. Afterwords we walked along the beach for a while and eventually decided on a good spot to jump in the ocean. The waves this day were the biggest they had been yet.

I was really enjoying the waves and felt like I was getting a good workout just keeping myself afloat...then a couple waves carried me pretty far and I started looking around at other people to get a feel for how intense the situation was getting. Suddenly I saw that one of the French girls was asking for help from the American guy nearby and the other French girl was out deeper and being helped by the German guy. I saw Tara managing to swim through the rip tide - one of many advantages to growing up on the island! Then I looked back at the German guy and saw he was asking for help with the French girl because he was able to keep her afloat but couldn't get her in past the rip tide. So I grabbed her other arm and we all made it to shore safely. Tara cheered us all for the human chain of life.

That night we celebrated life by partying the night away at Rockin J's. Celebrating life with good people and good times is the basis of how we spent the next couple days. I went out on the town a couple times and met some pretty interesting ex-pats. Tara did some cool tile art and I did some tiling of my own on the other side of the pillar. Obviously it's clear who the artist is...but most people I asked were at least able to figure out what my drawing was so that was enough to make me happy with it! I'll post a picture when I get a chance so you can try to figure out what it is as well.

Our gang of friends started dispersing from Rockin J's and we eventually decided it was our time to move on as well. This experience was a strong reminder of how traveling is as much about the people as it is the places. It's a definitely a bizarre feeling at times because people who we never even knew a couple weeks ago suddenly feel like our best friends and then just as quickly as we met it's time to say goodbye. Now it's on to new people and new places - as the song I've been singing goes - PAAANNNAMA! PAAANNNHAMA HA HA HA HAHA. PANAMA!

Puerto Viejo

We arrived in Puerto Viejo, Costa Rica two days ago. Didn't have a reservation anywhere but when we got off the bus we chatted to a guy who was on his way to a place called Rockin J's. We had already heard good things about the place so we shared a cab there with the guy. It is nuts here...in a great way! Everywhere is covered in tile art, all sorts of drawings made out of various sizes of broken up tile. After 8 years in the works, the tile art is still a work in progress. Tara's already been chatting to the owner about doing some tile art on a pillar near our hammocks.

We headed for the ocean almost immediately after checking in. The waves have been huge; I've spent a good chunk of time body surfing! Yesterday we rented bikes and went into town to buy some groceries. After putting together some sandwiches we took the bikes 6 or 8 KM to a nice beach. It started raining while we were there but it was good timing because we were ready to swim. In the water I could barely tell it was raining because the waves were so great!

The rain braked for a bit so we went ashore and ate our lunch. The rain picked back up and we jumped back in...however this time the rain continued for quite a while. After tiring ourselves out in the waves we decided to begin the bike ride back. It was warm enough that it wasn't a bad ride in the rain. On our way back Tara recognized some people who were waiting out the rain in a cafe, so we stopped in and chatted with them. Some of them had just come from Bocus, Panama - where we're headed next - so they told us some fun and useful information.


The rain continued through the night and has carried on today - pouring down really hard at times! It is the end of the rainy season here so we can't be too surprised or disappointed about it. I spent most of the morning reading up on Antarctica...the main focus of my spare time during this trip. Tara found me around 2 and asked me if I wanted to go along swimming with the people she spent the morning with...of course I was up for our daily swim! The waves were so huge that a lifeguard came by and told us it was time to get out of the water.

At the moment of writing this, Rockin J himself has been promoting his $1 all you can drink Jungle Juice...literally just before I wrote those words I had to ask, ''J, what do you call this drink?'' because I've been enjoying it but forgot the name as I was typing this. He's had some good lines in the past hour. Examples include, ''You won't find a better deal anywhere, seriously!!' and, ''I literally loose money all the time by doing things like this!'' And that brings me to where I am right now, Beunos Noches amigos!

Nicaragua Conclusion

In class on Thursday we asked our instructor how to find the hot springs. He drew us a map and after class we went exploring. When we got to the place marked on the map there were no obvious hot springs. Luckily a local man was there to help up us out. I walked around in the area he pointed to but didn't feel any hot water. Since I couldn't understand what he was saying, he stepped into the water and scraped away some sand with his hands in shallow water, revealing some hot water underneath. No wonder we weren't able to find the hot springs during our kayak ride the other day - you have to actually dig for them! So we dug away, revealing warm water and in some cases burning hot water. Even ten feet off shore I was able to dig down into the bottom and hit warm water. Not exactly what I had imagined for the hot springs, but still pretty cool.

We were told that our activity on Friday was to go along with the manager of the Spanish school on a roadtrip to Leon to watch a graduation ceremony. Seemed a bit strange to drive 2 hours to watch a graduation...especially when we found out that it meant classes were completely cancelled for the day on what was supposed to be our last day of school. But we went along with it because we did want to see Leon and the situation sort of reminded me of when I was in elementary school...of course I'd rather go on a field trip than have classes for the day!

When we got there it ended up being a kindergarten graduation which started really confusing us because we drove 2 hours just to see it. And then suddenly the guy who drove us there stepped up to the podium and was the translator for the ceremony...and the English speaking people whose words he was translating were his parents. Turned out his parents are missionaries who organized building this school for poor families in the area. Sort of a random situation to find ourselves in, but it ended up being an interesting insight into some of the good things that people are doing to help out unwealthy families in other parts of the world. Still, quite random...especially since the guy didn't really mention any of this to us on our way to the ceremony...maybe he was just being modest. After the ceremony we checked out Leon, had some lunch in the main square of the city, and headed back to the school.

That night was our last night at the nature reserve so I insisted that we go for one last dip in the lake before dinner. After dinner we played some euchre, said our goodbyes (to people and pets) and headed to bed. We were up at 5am the next morning to begin the journey back to San Jose, a way point to where we're headed next - the Caribbean coast of Costa Rica!

Spanish Lessons Begin

We spent 2 nights in Granada, a nice old colonial city with lots of historic buildings. We stayed at a very social hostel, met lots of great people, and did a bunch of exploring.

Next on the agenda was finding a school to take Spanish lessons at. We didn´t have lots of criteria; only that the school had some good reviews, was in a decent location, and offered accommodation with a host family; preferably a family with a dog. We were pretty set on Nicaragua because we like the locals (Nicas), we feel very safe and comfortable here, and everything is a decent price.

After searching around and calling a few places, we decided on a place near Granada that is situated on the Apoyo Nature Reserve. This won our pick because it´s the only not-for-profit language school in Nicaragua, it´s the oldest in the country, and the beautiful location includes a nice big lake in the creator of an inactive volcano. The school is also a biological research station whose projects attract volunteers from all over the world.

We arrived on Sunday afternoon, had some lunch, and went for a swim. The lake is so clean and its temperature is just right. The school has two dogs, Simba and Kooko. Our host family has at least 4 dogs, including a very young puppy, as well as some goats. We are staying with one of the cook´s families about 200 metres from the school. There´s tons of people in and around the house at all times which keeps it interesting.

The first night we played cards with some of the volunteers here. I asked that we play anything but A-hole, so a Canadian girl introduced us to a combination of A-hole and Poker which was pretty fun. We headed to bed pretty early (about 9:45) to find that everyone in our house had gone to bed already. We were greeted by every dog barking away at us and a goat standing in front of us peeing. Had a good laugh at that.

The next morning I was up good and early for school - the first time I had to get up for school in almost 2 years! Class runs from 8am to 12:30 and takes place under a tree in the yard, with one professor teaching both Tara & I. After class on Monday our teacher took us out for a nature walk around the area. On Tuesday we took out kayaks after class in search of some hot springs we´ve heard about. We never found them but got some good exercise and enjoyed the view during our 3 hour paddle (at a pretty relaxed pace).

That evening we were invited by our host family and their neighbours to join in on making a traditional Nica dish. This involved roasting corn seeds on a pot over the fire and later mixing them with cocoa beans to make a festive drink that I`m hoping we`ll eventually get to taste. After this we played with the goats for a while...one of them really likes pushing us around with his horns and nibbling on any exposed skin...I´m not sure if that´s his way of showing friendship or trying to get us away from his family, but nonetheless it was very entertaining.

We played a couple rounds of cards with our host sister and learned about her family. She has 4 kids, her sister (who was helping me play the card game) also has 4 kids, and in total there are 8 siblings. We didn´t get to actually finding out how many of the eight siblings live in the house, but it certainly starts to explain why there are so many people around at all times. Despite the chaos of all the adults, children, babies, dogs and goats, our host family seems very happy and loving and they have kindly welcomed us into their house.

After the card game we went back outside and played with the goats some more, took some pictures (which will be posted when I get a better connection) and headed to bed. Now it´s back to class...I`m hoping we´ll find those hot springs this afternoon.

Ometepe

Our next destination was Ometepe, an island with two volcanoes located on Lake Nicaragua - the largest freshwater lake in Central America. It was beautiful.

Arriving at Ometepe, i.e. Volcanoe Island, Nicaragua

We didn´t have any plans for where to stay, however on the ferry ride over we were talking to a guy who planned to stay at a hostal that had a tame deer roaming the ground. This was enough info for us to make a decision to stay there. We didn´t see the deer right away because it had lots of grounds to hide out in. My first encounter was while I was in a hammok reading, the deer came up and started licking my arm. Tara missed out on this encounter, and was so excited to see the deer that she didn´t believe me when I told her I saw it. The next morning at breakfast we were talking about the day´s plan and all of a sudden Tara´s eyes lit up, ¨The Deer!¨

That afternoon we rented bikes and explored a bit more of the island, finding an intersting, partially submerged playground. The local kids didn´t care that their playground was under water, they were perfectly happy swinging from the tree branches into the water.

That night we decided we couldn´t go to a volcanoe island without climbing a volcanoe, so we talked to a local guide working at our hostel and signed up to climb the larger volcanoe (Concepción Volcanoe). Afterwords, we walked out our hostel and looked at the intimidating volcanoe...1600 metres high

We decided to take it easy the next day and climb the volcanoe the day after, so we had a free day to do whatever we pleased. I was reading in the backyard when Tara came up and said, ¨Bus leaves in 5 minutes, you in?¨Of course I was. The plan was to go to a waterfall, but we were on a local bus where no one spoke English and unfortunately we don´t speak any Spanish...yet. So we ended up at a Mineral Lake. It wasn´t the waterfall we planned to go to, but it wasn´t a complete mission failure because there was still a small waterfall connecting the two parts of the lake. And of course it was a beautiful place to kick back for the day.

The next morning we were up at 4:30am, had some breakfast, and headed for the volcano. It was a cloudy morning so we weren´t able to actually look up at the volcano as we were climbing it, which probably was a good thing because it was a pretty long way to the top! The first 1000 m was mostly walking through trees, where our guide told us lots of survival info about which plants we could eat, which plants could kill us, which plants could calm arthritus, etc...

The last 600m was loose rock, which made for tricky ascending, and, as we later found out, even trickier descending.

Looking into the core of the volcanoe - not quite as I imagined it would be, but nonetheless interesting to see.

The treehouse building volunteer plan didn´t work out this time, but we left Ometepe with some great memories!

Nicaragua

We made it to Nicaragua last night. The place we´re at is a popular destination for surfing, so we decided we may as well have a go at surfing today. It was a beautiful day and great waves for our skill level. Caught a bunch of good waves, and of course got tossed around by some big waves! The scenery was gorgeous, I wish I had pictures but didn´t want my camera to get stolen while surfing, so for now the stories will have to do. I´ve met lots of great people already, today interestingly enough we met a group who drove here all the way from Markham!

Central America Begins!

I am happy to report that I've begun a new journey...I'm currently in Costa Rica with Tara and we're catching a bus to Nicaragua this afternoon. There's lots of Costa Rica that we'd like to explore, but for now we'd like to learn some Spanish and Nicaragua seems like a great nearby place to do it, at very reasonable prices. We've also been looking into volunteer work there, most notably Tara found a place on a volcano island where there's potential to build tree houses.

Walking the street on Sunday - San Jose, Costa Rica

Cool tree - San Jose, Costa Rica

Vancouver & Whistler

My flight path home included a connection in B.C. Originally it was just a connection, but since I was already making one change to my flight home there was no additional charge to add a few days in B.C. So I took advantage of the stop and caught up with some friends and family in Vancouver. I arrived on Friday morning and headed to Tyler's place in central Vancouver. He's a friend from University who's also done some world traveling, and he stayed with me in Copenhagen for a couple days while I was studying there and he was backpacking Europe. Tyler had to work on Friday, but he had another friend staying with him from Germany that he met in Australia named Saskia. It's certainly interesting the connections that are made while traveling! So anyway, on Friday I went wondering around Vancouver with Saskia and checked out some cool places, found some reminisces of the Olympics, and talked to a float plane pilot who flies for a company out of the Vancouver Harbour.

On Friday night, 4 of us (Saskia, Tyler's roommate from Ireland, Tyler, and I) rented a car and headed to Whistler. We rented a sweet condo on the Blackcomb mountain for $120/night, which actually worked out cheaper than staying in a hostel. We got a great deal because of the time of year; I can't even imagine how much this place would have gone for during the Olympics! The rental car was also cheaper than return bus fare for the 4 of us, so we were living the vacationer's lifestyle on a backpacker's budget!

On Saturday, we met up with Tara & her friends and went for a good hike. The whole area is absolutely beautiful and we were all having a great time just taking in the beauty of nature! After the hike we went back to Tara's boyfriend's place which is a beautiful log cabin on the lake near Whistler. It reminded me a bit of the cottage, but a much smaller lake and surrounded by mountains. On Saturday night, we hung out at the condo for a bit and then checked out a couple places in Whistler Village.

On Sunday, Tyler, Saskia & I went zip lining. Mel's parents did this when they were here and gave a great review. We figured we may as well do it while we're here, plus it was on sale for nearly half price. It didn't last long, but it sure was fun! On one line they said we were going nearly 100 km/h! On Sunday night we met up at a pub with Tara, Justin & his friends. They had live music with lots of different performers that seemed to just be stepping up from the audience. It was an enjoyable evening and some of the performers were quite good.

On Monday we checked out of the condo at 10 and had a look at some nearby Olympic venues. We took a slow, scenic drive back to Vancouver, enjoying the sights surrounding the Sea-to-Sky highway. We stopped at a bunch of lookouts along the way and it actually reminded me a lot of the beautiful places that Kim & I saw in New Zealand. Once we got back to Tyler's place, we dropped off all our stuff and then took advantage of the remaining hours on the rental car by driving around the Vancouver area for a couple hours.

On Tuesday, I ended up sleeping in and then spent a couple hours doing some work to get ready for the big job ahead when I get home, Shannon & James' new cottage! I'm really excited for this project to start and I can feel already that another great summer in upon us! On Tuesday evening I met up with Sarah, my second cousin on Mom's side of the family. We went out to a pub and met up with her dad & his new wife. We used to see them a lot when they lived in Ontario but I hadn't seen them in many years. It was great catching up with them, and I got to meet Sarah's new fiancee and Don's new wife. I spent the night at Sarah's place and we had fun catching up on old times and talking about the enjoyment of life and everything ahead of us.

The following morning, Sarah took me to the airport and we said our goodbyes. That brings me to now; I'm in the Vancouver Airport about to catch my flight home after leaving almost 4 months ago. I can't wait to see Mel! I haven't seen her since we said goodbye in Bangkok 3 months ago. This moment felt so far away and now it's finally coming in a few short hours!! It sure has been a great trip and I will keep many memories with me for years to come, but I'm ready to go home and spend some time with the people I love!

Hawaii

Hawaii was a convenient stopover on my way back to Canada that would seem wasteful not to take advantage of. I stayed at a Hostel for $25/night, which is a lot more than Thailand but still not too shabby for Hawaii. On my first day here, I did some swimming in the ocean, walking around, and sleeping to catch myself up to the time change. On my second day here, Jack Johnson & Ziggy Marley were playing a concert. Jack Johnson is actually from Hawaii, so tickets were sold out. However, there were a large collection of locals behind the fences having a grand old time. They had BBQ's, tents & one group even had a volleyball court. I quickly made it my mission to make friends with them and ended up playing volleyball from 4pm until dark, with some food & beverage breaks in between. The sound was excellent from where we were, we could hear the whole concert perfectly! One downside was that we couldn't actually see the performers, but the upsides of being free and playing volleyball definitely made up for it!

Besides volleyball, I had some good chats with people who live here. Most were Americans from other states who moved here to live the dream life. I got some good insight into this life, mostly involving working at restuarants and then surfing in their free time. They also gave me some great tips on places to go, in particular the non-touristy spots. The next day I slept in after a late night, then headed back to see another free show which was great because Ziggy played some different Bob Marley songs than the previous night. I took off part way through seing Jack Johnson for the second time, and I was happy I did because there was an interesting festival happening in the street called Spam Jam. It involved live music and lots of food vendors selling all different products with spam in them. I don't think I had ever tried spam before this, something seems not right about meat that doesn't need to be kept cool, but since I was at a Spam Jam I had Spam Nachos, which were pretty delicious.

The following day I got up early because I wanted to make the most of the day. A breakfast, I got talking to another Canadian who was headed on a hike to some waterfalls and lookout point. He asked if I wanted to join so I did and it turned into a very enjoyable and active day exploring Oahu. The next day I went on the bus to the North Shore of Oahu and took n some more beautiful sights. Great day of touring around the island; 4 hours total on the bus for only $4.50 in bus fare.

The next day I went snorkeling at Hanauma Bay, a very popular spot to go in Oahu and rightfully so. I spent a good chunk of the day snorkeling in the beautiful water and saw some interesting fish. I also went for a short walk to a lookout point of the bay, which was beautiful. So beautiful in fact that I spent a good chunk of time just sitting and enjoying the view. Unfortunately I didn't bring my camera on this jouney but I've got some great mental pictures of the place!

On my second last day I rented a surfboard and was happy to find I'm not quite as bad at surfing as I felt in Australia...the waves were much more reasonable in Wiakiki Beach, Hawaii than Byron Bay, Australia. It still took me probably 45 minutes to catch my first wave of the day, but when I finally did I surfed it for a good distance and then let out a huge "wooooo!!" because I was so happy to finally catch a wave for my first time since New Zealand, and I was reminded of how fun it was!! I spent about 5 hours surfing with an hour lunch break and was very happy with my day well spent. That night I was hit by the unfortunate feeling of a sunburn on the back of my knees, a normally well protected spot but because of lying of the surfboard paddling around for so long they were explosed for a while and WOW do I ever feel it now.

On my final day in Hawaii, I went to Pearl Harbour to have a look at the USS Arizona memorial, one of the ships sunk in the attack and remains visable on the bottom of the sea in Pearl Harbour. I also learned a bit about torpetos that were used in the war, and checked out a submarine. That night I caught my 8:30pm flight to Vancouver.

Surfers in Waikiki Beach

I think 5 weeks with Kim in N.Z. got me paying more attention to trees!

The background of the free area where we listened to Ziggy Marley & Jack Johnson

My hostel for the week

Waikiki Beach

Other free spectators on the second concert night

Spam Jam on the street

The hike

The North Shore

Pearl Harbour

Wreck of USS Arizona

Old Submarine

Ko Chang

After saying goodbye to my Thai family, I went for a short stay on Ko Chang before my departure from Thailand. I stayed at a place called Little Eden, where a few Snake Islanders have stayed before including Tara, Joss, Eric & I believe Leah. Interestingly enough, while I was at Little Eden I met a couple named Martin & Gina who were also there back when the islanders were there a couple years ago; and that seemed to instantly make us friends. They were a really cool couple & very well traveled. There were a few others there and in the short period of time that I was there it felt like we all got to know each other well by just sitting around on the deck in the mountains having a wide range of discussions. One thing going on at the time that yielded daily discussion was the volcano in Iceland and resulting dust cloud, particularly because most of the group was from England and had upcoming flights. Some other interesting topics of discussion included cars, flying, traveling and many more random trains of thought. A very relaxing and yet insightful way to spend some time.

I also did some touring around on a moped, both with the group and on my own. The first day on the moped a group of us went to Bangboa; a cool gathering of shops & restaurants sitting on docks above the water. After that we went for iced tea at a nearby restaurant followed by sunset at a nearby beach. Later on we checked out an entertaining Thai band playing a wide range of music including Bob Marley, The Beatles, Lynard Skynard and The Rolling Stones. The next day I went out on the moped and spent some time just driving around checking things out with no real destination in mind, besides booking my bus to the airport. That night the group of us went out for dinner and then to a nearby pub.

The following day was my last day in Thailand, so I got up in good time and took another moped ride to Bangboa because I really liked the place and still had a couple hours left on my 48-hour rental. After that I said my goodbyes and then caught a bus to Bangkok airport. I spent the night at the airport and caught an early morning flight to Hawaii the next day.

The owners of the place on the right and Martin & Gina on the left

Bang Boa

The fuel gauge on my moped exaggerated how low it actually was, but I should have known that it was time to fill up when I saw it at this level. Luckily after running out of fuel I was able to coast down the hill right into a gas station.

The view as I was running out of gas

The airport bus took about 15 mins to get off the ferry. If you click to zoom in you can see the front bumper got cracked and the back bumper is dragging along the ferry floor.

The chaos at the Bangkok airport because of delays from the volcano dust cloud

Thailand Water Festival (Songkran)

When I was getting ready to leave my Thai family, they told me about the upcoming Songkran festival and srongly encouraged me to stay. At this point I knew that some planning was required, and as a resault a bunch of significant decisions were made. These included coming home two weeks sooner, cutting out Cambodia & Vietnam, adding 5 days in B.C. to my itinerary, and staying in Thailand for the Songkran festival. I am very happy with the decisions & had a fantastic time at the Water Festival. It was basically 3 days of children's water fights, except everyone participated! Just driving down the street we'd get water thrown at us by people on the side and other vehicles passing by, and when we went to the main streets there were parties everywhere and everyone was soaking wet.

We headed to the main streets armed with 2 barrels of water in the back of the truck. It was soo much fun, and the fun lasted for hours and hours, 3 days in a row! The locals were incredibly nice to me, as a foreigner. There weren't too many of us foreigners around so when they saw me they'd run up to me, say some English they knew like, "Hello! What's you name?" And of course, "drink some of this!" Good times in deed. I couldn't stop laughing, everytime we engaged in a water fight with another group I found it halarious!

On the closing day of the festival, the Master Monk asked me a favour. I knew it had something to do with the float that his temple had put together, featuring Buddha. I didn't know what I was getting myself into, but I agreed because who can say no to a Monk asking them a favour? I was also intrigued by what was going on with the float. I soon learned that I agreed to be on the float with Buddha, along with just three others, one of whom was dressed like some kind of princess. I had to go to a place to get all dressed up in uniform before hoping on board. We then paraded the busy streets, led by a truck with a full instrumental band on board. I felt a bit concerned about what the locals would think of a white guy sitting on the Buddha float, but once again it was all positive reaction from the locals! Some people literally made me feel like a king by the excitement they showed when I shook their hands. And one part I found particularly funny was when I waved at a truck full of teenage girls and they all screamed with joy! I actually felt a bit like a rock star :)

The parade lasted 3 hours. At first I thought I might get bored and wondered how I'd bare the heat. And then one of the other people on the float started accepting drinks from locals in the crowd and encouraged me to do the same. I gladly joined in on the festivities, and shortly after I set aside the umbrella they provided me with and allowed some direct hits of water from other festival goers. What a fantastic end to the water festival and my time with the Thai family!

Phetchabun

When I said yes to the invitation to stay with the Thai family I met in Phitsanulok, I expected that it would last maybe 2 or 3 days and then I would move on. Once there, however, it seemed they didn`t want me to leave and were constantly finding new ways of keeping me entertained. Suddenly two weeks has passed and I feel like part of their family with strong ties to many of their friends. I found myself so often thinking, "Is this really happening? Look at where I am right now...what`s happening in front of my eyes right now. I am a part of this scene, not just watching it!" The Thailand that Mel & I experienced was completely different than the Thailand that I experienced when I headed off the beaten track. At first, I felt a whole new culture shock and couldn't possibly imagine living the lives I was witnessing. By the end of my two weeks, it all seemed so much more normal to me and I really believed that many of them were just as happy with their lives as people are in our part of the world. It`s all about making good use of what you got and enjoying the important things in life. I found the family & social atmosphere to be very strong in Thailand.

While I`ll never be able to completely describe or re-live exactly what happened over the past two weeks, here are some short stories & pictures from my time in Phetchabun & beyond.

Almost immediately after publishing my last blog post, Dolly called and was wondering why I wasn`t back yet. She was throwing a BBQ back at her home with a bunch of her friends & students who wanted to meet the foreigner. I definitely stuck out in the small town they lived in; locals were excited to meet me yet often shy to speak the English they`d been learning. Despite the language barrier, I got to know a fair bit of people that night by speaking the basic sentences they knew plus a few Thai phrases that I`d throw in, with the help of my language dictionary.

I also had the privilege of meeting Dolly`s brother-in-law; the Master Monk at the nearby temple. The first time we met we had an interesting conversation about the meaning of true happiness versus artificial happiness, i.e. the happiness that people try to buy with possessions. He also invited me to stay at the temple whenever I wanted. I met another monk who spoke very good English and he told me I could use their computer to go on the Internet whenever I wanted. I found this a bit funny but did take him up on it a few times.

One day the Master Monk invited me to spend the day with him. He took me on a road trip to check out nearby temples. What better way to explore temples then with a Master Monk!

The first temple we went to was on the water where we could feed weird fish swimming around.

There was also a mini zoo at the temple. This monkey especially liked the Master Monk.

We also went to a temple that was inside a cave - very cool. The stairs up to the cave temple & the old car we were driving around in.
Back at the Master Monk`s temple
On the street near Dolly`s house. There are pictures of the King everywhere.
Another day we took a trip to a nearby waterfall. We all went for a good dip to cool off. For some reason all of the guys had their t-shirt on so I went with the flow...but it felt so wrong swimming in a t-shirt.
Good fun, except the part where I smashed my elbow off a rock. ouch!Back at my favourite restaurant. The third time we went I decided it was time for me to insist on getting the bill. 350 baht (approx $12) for 5 people with drinks & dessert. I paid more for dinner by myself in Australia!

One of Dolly`s English students had been getting to know a British man on the Internet, named Howard. Howard was coming to Thailand to meet her, and Dolly asked me to come with them to the airport to pick him up. We had to leave at 3am, but I agreed because I thought I`d be keeping her company on the 1 1/2 hour drive. Turned out 9 of us were going...seems no crowd`s ever small here! This is the ladies getting breakfast together in the back of the truck at the airport.

See the animal? At first all I saw was a bush.
That`s a lot of Buddhas!
Buddha`s got a brand new ride!

We all went to Dolly`s friends place so Howard could meet her parents. People were quickly asking when they were going to get married. Aside from that, the elders were tying string bracelets to his arm for good luck. They did the same for me, but I made it sure it was clear that I wasn`t marrying any Thai ladies!

Out to dinner. In the middle is Dolly`s friend, Chinita, and her new acquaintance, Howard

I also got to know a student of Dolly`s who`s married to a German man. They`re both in their 30`s and lived in Germany together for 8 years before moving to their new home Thailand. One day they took me to another nearby waterfall for a swim. This was the waterfall I first saw and thought they were talking about...haha

That night they had a dinner party at their house. They are the couple on the far right.

That`s all for now, except a small comment about how unbelievably hot it is here! One day I decided to sit in the back box of the truck because I thought the wind would cool me off. Definitely not the case, it honestly felt like there was a giant hair dryer blowing hot air at my entire body!

Another time we got in Dolly`s sister-in-law`s car and she cooled off herself a bit with a hand fan, then waved it a bit to cool me off, then gave it to me. I politely said, "No, I`m okay thank you," and she quickly replied, "No, you fan me!" I thought she was just offering me the fan...but apparently while she was driving I was supposed to be the fan slave.