Bad Tactics Regardless of Reason

I think every American should be outraged by the tactics being used by a small group of Congressmen that have lead to our government shutdown.

Let us be clear about what is at stake here. These tactics are dangerous and will continue to be abused if not stopped now. Whether you agree with the Affordable Health Care Act or not, this is not a good way to go about it.  What we have here is a minority group who feels passionately about a subject, but was not granted the numbers by voters to persue the changing of this law by the means granted within the Constitution. So instead they have resorted to extortion. They have said "You must agree to our demands, and in exchange we will give you a two month extension on allowing the government to keep running". They feel that since they have been gracious enough to alter those demands, that this shows they are "negotiating", but in the end, they are still holding all of us hostage, and changing the demands does not change what they are doing.

Let us say, for the sake of arguement, that their demands were met. Do you think it would stop there? This same group has already expressed interest before in turning Social Security over to Wall Street by privatizing it. They do not, however, have the support in congress to do so. So what happens if, during the next crisis (which is just under two weeks away when we reach the debt ceiling) they say "You will agree to privatizing Social Security or we will not allow the debt ceiling to increase", something that has never been done in the history of the U.S. Will we then give into those demands as well?

And of course, we know, if the Repubs are successful at a tactic, sooner or later there will be a radical group on the left who decides to "even the playing field" and adopt the same tactics. What happens when a radical group of democrats gets a sizable minority and suddenly says "You will agree to ban all guns, or we will shut the government down". Then, if they get pushback, they may follow the current Republican playbook and say "Okay, we'll agree to just ban all handguns. That proves we've been willing to negotiate, and if you disagree with us then the shutdown is your fault!".

The constituion has clearly laid out guidelines for passing, adjusting, and repealing laws. It requires the House, the Senate, and the President (or a huge majority of the House and Senate over ridding the President) to all agree on something before it can happen. This keeps us safe from the whims of a minority. But this new tactic puts us all in jeopardy as a nation. There can be no negotiations. This is an abuse of power and will only get worse until it is stopped.

Observations of the Senate Hearings

I listened to the live cast of the TX Senate hearings yesterday where I could. While I do not believe it will actually change any minds, I am glad that the Senate at least allowed all who signed up to speak, unlike the House proceedings last week. There was a variety of testimony on both sides, with some providing compelling, sometimes heart wrenching, testimony, while others left only confusion in their wake.

The supporters of the bill fell into three categories. The first essentially stated “These senators say this will bill will make the procedure more safe, so why not support that?”. These were the minority, but also appeared to be the least ideologically driven. The second, more prominent group included the folks stating “Women cannot be trusted to make their own decisions, so the government should make it for them”. The last group stated very plainly “abortion is against my religion and any bill that makes it more restrictive should be passed”. 

There is little you can say to the third group that will make a difference. I will, none the less, point out that if you make any religious argument for a secular law, you’re doing it wrong. I will also point out that if your ultimate goal is to lower the occurrence of abortion, then making it more restrictive will not do that. You can review my prior posts for reasons and ways of actually decreasing abortion rates, but I’ve found that “true believers” do not tend to be pragmatic. If they see something as “morally wrong” by their religion, they want it to have the force of the law against it regardless of the damage that would cause. Luckily these folks, while numerous and passionate, are not the majority anymore.

                It was slightly depressing to see just how many women fell into the second category. Over and over I heard testimony that stated “I had an abortion, and I regret my choice, so I want the law to ensure no one else has the right to make that choice”. I empathize with the women who went through traumatic experiences, especially those few who were forced by a parent or significant other into making a decision they didn’t truly want. That being said, taking away other people’s choice won’t fix that. There are people who regret having kids at the age they did. There are people who regret giving children up for adoption. There are people that regret nothing no matter their choice. It is up to each individual to decide what is best for them and no blanket answer can fit everyone’s needs. Everyone makes choices they regret at some point, but that is part of being human. We learn from those so that we do not make the same mistakes again ourselves, and share our experiences with others so that they can use it to make their own decisions. We should not take those choices away. After all, if you feel your fellow women are incapable of making that choice, what other choices should you give up? Should we do arranged marriages so that you do not have to regret your choice of spouses? It’s not unheard of, most commonly in societies where women are viewed as incapable of making decisions for themselves.

                The first group seems the most misled. These are the folks I hope will actually alter their views of the bill once they read it in its entirety. I heard many statements such as “all it takes is some money and these clinics can stay open. Surely as much money as the abortion industry makes, it will spend the money on these upgrades, right?” These folks mean well but haven’t actually read what is involved here. For starters, there has not been an abortion related death in Texas since 2008, and complications in abortions happen at a rate of 1/14^th the occurrence of natural child birth. With these well-established facts, why are we spending millions of dollars to push this bill through? With so many actual issues facing the Texas public, why are we adding regulations to an industry that for the past five years has failed to post one single mortality?

           “Yes,” some readers will say, “but they could still be even more safe, couldn’t they? Why fight that?” It is true that  abortion clinics can absolutely increase their hallway width, the size of the procedure room where they often just give a woman a pill, add a specific janitorial closet and even add a men’s locker room (though how this will help increase abortion safety is beyond me). But what it cannot control is whether or not a hospital will grant them admitting privileges. The bill requires that in order to stay open, a clinic’s doctor must have these privileges. It does not, however, require hospitals to grant them. As many hospitals are run by religious groups with their own bias against the procedure, those hospitals are not likely to grant these privileges. Even state run facilities have become very reticent to hand out privileges due to a variety of factors ranging from liability, local government restrictions, or even personal bias on behalf the hospital’s president. This one regulation, by many accounts, stands to shut down most of the currently operating clinics in the state, and short of opening up their own hospital there will be absolutely nothing these clinics can do to stop it. One needs only look at other states that have already implemented similar restrictions to see the aftermath. State after state has seen similar restrictions with most of their facilities closing. A recent report by Guttmacher Institute shows that in the past four years, over 1200 of the nation’s 3000 facilities have closed. Given that many of these facilities are also the only affordable option for women to obtain family planning, birth control, STD testing, and cancer screening, this is a huge loss that is growing worse. If even that fails to convince you of the true purpose of this bill, I would point you to the tweet by Lt. Governor David Dewhurst showing a map of the facilities expected to close with this bill along with a statement reading  "We fought to pass (Senate Bill 5) thru the Senate last night, & this is why!"

Abortion Arguements by the Numbers

Here’s a nifty fact for you. Nobody *likes* abortions. You don’t have to take my word for that, of course. Go out and survey as many women as you like, and I would be willing to bet that the number of them that say that getting an abortion is on their bucket list would be statistically nonexistent.

Yet events occur beyond people’s control where they deem it necessary to have one. The reasons vary greatly, from economic hardship to medical necessity. Each woman has her own reason for doing something she would not have chosen to otherwise do if she could have avoided the situation altogether, and as each decision is personal, the “why” is not the point of this article. The “how” is.

In 1973, the Supreme Court of the United States ruled that women had the right to a legal abortion up until the point where the “viability” or the point where if born the child could survive outside of the womb. This is typically 28 weeks though in rare circumstances could range back to 24 weeks. Since then, opponents of abortions rights have worked to roll back or, where possible, eliminate legal abortions.

The reasons are many but most hinge on the idea that abortion is an abomination and should be removed from society. Here is the catch 22 we as a nation find ourselves in, though; outlawing abortions does not stop abortions, it mere stops legal abortions. The World Health Organization collects data from all over the world on all manner of medical procedures, abortion included. In a world where the internet puts that data at our finger tips, I would invite those who disagree that a choice to have a legal abortion should exist to determine *why* they believe that and then look to see if the facts back up their choice of methods. In most cases, I think you would find that targeting the abortion right itself isn’t the best method for achieving the goal of lowering the abortion rate. Let’s look at some of the common reasons given, and why they don’t necessarily match up with reality.

Making Abortion Illegal would stop abortions

With abortion legal in the US, roughly 20 out of every 1000 women have one. Western Europe has less restrictions in general than the US on abortion, and roughly 12 out of every 1000 women have an abortion there. South Africa, the only state in Africa to legalize abortion, has roughly 15 per 1000. If making abortions illegal stopped abortions, you would expect the WHO’s statistics for abortions in places where it was illegal to be far fewer than places like Europe where it’s readily available, much less the US or South Africa where it’s more highly regulated. This isn’t the case.

In the rest of Africa, an average of 29 of every 1000 child bearing women get abortions. In Latin America, 32 of every 1000 receive it. Making the procedures illegal shows to have no actual bearing on decreasing the occurrences of the procedure. It merely makes them more dangerous.

We need to raise regulations for safety measures.

This is the commonly cited argument for the current round of restrictions to abortion access. Why would we not want safer procedures, right? Who could possibly object to trying to protect women? The sad fact is, the statistics again do not support the supposed results. There is a 0.3% chance of complications from an abortion. To put that in perspective, there is a 1% chance of complications from taking an aspirin. Than means you’re 3 times more likely to have issues with taking an over-the-counter pill than you are with a legal abortion under current regulations. So as you can see, we’re already starting with an extremely low rate of danger, but better safe than sorry, right? Again the facts would say wrong. The current round of legislation is designed so that it lengthens the time it would take for many women to get an abortion. An ultra-sound law recently passed in Texas and other states means that if a woman does not wish to be vaginally violated by a state ordered ultrasound she must wait until the fetus is recognizable by a transabdomonal ultra-sound, which is typically 8 weeks.  Coincidently, this marks the end of when performing an abortion is at its most safe. Abortions prior to 8 weeks literally hold a one in one million chance of fatality. Abortions up to 20 weeks become slightly more dangerous, with one death out of every 29,000 abortions. 21+ weeks, of course, increases the risk further to one death our of every 11,000 procedures (still safer, however, than child birth which holds a 1.29% fatality rate). Now, to put all of this in prospective, let’s find a common denominator for all of these numbers to see how they match up together. Since our largest number is a million, we’ll go with it.

Number of death per 1,000,000 procedures:
Abortion under 8 Weeks - 1
Abortion up to 20 Weeks - 34
Abortion 21+ Weeks - 91
Child Birth - 12,900

If you were looking to make something safer, why would abortion be your target? And if you truly wished it to be safer, making it more readily available would be a better choice than making it more restrictive. Merely delaying the procedure, as the current round of laws do, easily makes the procedure 34 times more dangerous. And forcing a woman to carry the baby to term that she doesn’t want astronomically increases the likelihood of her death over allowing her to have the abortion she sought to begin with. Incidentally, the current infant mortality rate in the US is 0.615%. So out of those 1,000,000 births, 6,150 of those children would have died. That seems a far better place to focus our attempts at safety.

Truly Reducing Abortions

So are we a hopeless cause? Is there no way of really reducing the rate of abortions? The statistics actually say that there are. Europe holds the distinction of having one of the highest and lowest abortion rates in the world. Western Europe has a rate of roughly 12 out of every 1000 women, where Eastern Europe has a rate closer to 43 per 1000. What is the primary difference between the two? Education and Birth Control. Western Europe pushes formal sexual education and has birth control  affordable and readily available to most women. Eastern Europe tends to rely more on traditional and less accurate forms of birth control. The results are pretty stark and logical. Many abortions come from unwanted babies. Teach women how to avoid getting pregnant and give them the tools to do so, and you reduce abortions. Keep them ignorant, or make dependable contraceptives hard to get, and you create a recipe for desperation that will not look to laws for permission.

If your goal is to reduce abortions, then the facts say that the easiest way to do that is through education and contraception. If your goal is to make abortion safer, then the facts say that reducing barriers to a woman getting an abortion when she is going to anyway is the way to go. If you still insist on pushing an agenda that raises barriers to abortion without providing education and contraception to women, then it’s time to admit you really do not care about the women or children themselves, and that you are more likely pursuing control over the female body by stating that if she has sex she will be forced to endure consequences that are not medically necessary merely because you wish it to be so. If that is your goal, at least be honest with yourself and the public at large.

Politics in Texas

I hadn't really intended this site for politics, but the Texas govenor and legislature have done many things lately which make me feel like I should lend my voice in every way I can in opposing them, so here goes:

Texas has a legend which you may have heard of: The Alamo.

Let’s discuss a very brief history lesson: Back when Texas was still part of Mexico, a large group of settlers within it decided they did not want to be part of that union anymore. They chose instead to break off to form their own country. As one could expect when a section of a country announces its intent to take its land and resources and go, Mexico object, and it dispatched a mighty military under General Santa Anna to bring the separatists to heel and keep Mexico whole. A group of these separatists, sporting some well-known names at the time, decided to hole up in a local church mission known as Alamo.

This is where History might have taken a different turn. Santa Anna knew these rebels were sealed away in the grounds of this old church and had a choice. He could have set siege to the grounds, cut off their supply lines, and demanded the surrender of separatist leaders in exchange for the safe passage of those others within. With little hope of fighting their way through enemy lines and dwindling supplies, these leaders might even have been forced to give in, where they could have been returned to the capital to face justice for their crimes against the state. Had this occurred, it is entirely possible that those who really did not care much either way if Texas was under Mexico or its own leadership may have taken the easier path and just allowed Mexico to retain control. As history is written by the victors, ours could be very different.

That, however, was not the choice Santa Anna made. Santa Anna was full of righteous anger. These people were taking the land of his countrymen and deserved to be made example of. With overwhelming odds on his side, he chose to use what could be described as a vulgar display of power to crush and execute all those who stood in his way. The intent was to show that any who stood against what he felt was right would not be tolerated.

The problem with using examples, however is that it is difficult to control the lessons learned from them. Rather than being cowered, folks that were on the fence became incensed. As stories of the atrocities committed at the Alamo spread far and wide, those who would have remained neutral instead joined the opposition, and those already with the opposition renewed their passion with a fervor that would have otherwise been non-existent. “Remember the Alamo” became the rallying cry that turned a battle won into a war lost.

Now, close to two hundred years later, General Santa Anna’s righteousness resides in our Governor Rick Perry. His Lieutenant David Dewhurst is leading the charge to pass a law that they believe just, but that the majority of Texans oppose. They could have compromised, passed something most people didn’t like but that they were willing to put up with, and history would continue to be uninteresting. Instead they have chosen to use a vulgar display of power. They have suspended the senate rules that state 75% must be in agreement to bring a bill forward. They have allowed their supporters to speak while denying the same rights to those who oppose them. They have broken senate rules, made illogical and unsupportable decisions, and even threatened to arrest those who oppose them, making it clear that those who stand against what they feel is right will not be tolerated.

In doing so, people who would have otherwise stood on the fence, are joining the opposition. Those who were on the other side have renewed their passion with a fervor not seen in the Texas Democratic party in close to two decades. It is nearly impossible for those supporting women’s rights to win this battle, but in losing the battle they may very well win the war – pushing Texas from a Republican stronghold back to the Democratic.

It is said that those who forget history are doomed to repeat it. Perhaps if Rick Perry and his followers hadn’t spent so much time cutting education, they may have avoided this.

Bangkok Ending

So, since Dad’s usual hotel was booked we stayed at the Prince Palace in a pair of very nice suites. The Palace seems apply named. It’s a massive multiple tower structure with beautiful ornate hallways, an 11th story bar with a terrace overlooking the city, beautiful wood carvings and statues, comfortable beds, and a fantastic view from our 37th story window.

Statue at the entrance of the Prince Palace

 That being said, it had some oddities to it as well. For starters, it had no free internet, which seemed odd for a place this high end. It also odd that your room key doubled as a power source for the room. When you unlocked your door, there was a slot just inside the room that you then put your key into which turned on the lights, AC, etc. This had two big issues. #1, if anyone left the room they would have to do so without the key if anyone else inside wanted to have any power. Number two it meant that when you left your AC went off. Not a huge issue, as the place was well insulated, but it meant that the rooms weren’t as cool as they could have been given the near hundred degree days. 

    The next issue we had with it was that, unlike our hotel on Sukhumvit, the Prince Palace was not on the BTS route, so we couldn’t just walk out and catch the train. This is a bit of a headache since taxis and tuk tuks require much negotiations to get where you want to go (the taxis want to charge you a large flat fee rather than using the meter, and the tuk tuks want to take you by a tailor first to get measured for a suit... go figure). Still, the Palace is listed as one of the top hotels and if you’re going to be staying at your  hotel a lot and have your own transportation, it isn’t a bad place to stay. If you’re just looking for a place to crash I have to say the City Lodge Sukhumvit 9 Hotel is probably a cheaper and more convenient bet. 

      We left the Palace mid morning, roaming out to seek some breakfast. Dad negotiated with some taxis until he found one willing to use the meter to take us to our first destination, the Siam Paragon mall. Wow. If you’re ever looking for an amazing high end shopping experience, this should be your destination of choice. From Lamborghini to Louis Vuitton, if it’s high end then it’s here. Cars, clothes, bikes, handbags, make up, electronics, groceries and toys of all kinds, this mall had pretty much every major name brand I could think of in its own store. Even its food court was full of high end gourmet dining. We initially laughed when Barb decided she wanted to try a mexican food place for brunch, then glancing at the menus Crys and I noticed they had fish tacos made with red snapper. We decided perhaps it wasn’t a bad idea after all and we all roamed over to join her. The tacos were very tasty. The mexican rice and beans were good too, though I will say they didn’t really taste much like tex-mex. 

Surprisingly the Chips and Salsa were very tasty

    After some more window shopping in the Siam, we decided to catch the train to Chatuchak. Crys and I had both found a few clothes there the first time that we really liked, but since you can’t really try things on there we were unsure at the time whether they would be as cool on as they looked. Having confirmed now they were we went back in search of extra copies of them. I picked up a thai shirt in Indonesia about six years or so ago, and have been looking for more of them since. Unfortunately it appears they’re hard to find outside of Thailand itself, so I definitely wanted a few more to hold me over until our next visit. Chatuchak was as we remembered it, almost the equal and opposite of the mall we started our day in. A sprawling twisting endless array of shops that sell pretty much any and everything you can think of. If you ever get a chance to go, do so. The people watching alone is fun and the sheer variety of what is available for sale is staggering. Just remember if you do that you are expected to haggle. Prices are actually reasonable, but in most of the shops they’re priced well above what the proprietors actually expect to sell them for. 

     After a few hours of shopping, we successfully found all that we were looking for and eventually decided to roam off to a new destination. Barbara had forgotten an item at the hotel the last time we were in Bangkok and was curious to see if they still had it so we decided to wander back to Nana station to Sukhumvit and check back into that area. As we remembered, the streets were full of more shopping stalls, as well as all of the stores, restaurants and services we had roamed past before. 

    This seems a good place to mention the laid back attitude Bangkok seems to have towards sex and vulgarity. During our initial foray around Bangkok I noticed periodically we would hear songs like Lily Allen’s “Fuck you very much”.  We thought at first that they just didn’t know what those songs meant. Now I think that they do, they just don’t care. Roaming Sukhumvit, it was not uncommon to see condoms, viagra and sex toys at some of the stalls, with labels that you would normally not see outside of adult stores here. Sex and nudity attracted no more attention than T-shirts or kids toys. Another interesting note is that throughout all of Thailand and Malaysia, everywhere we went there was something somewhere for sale with Psy doing his Gangnum style. It’s amazing how much that song has infiltrated pop culture over there. 

   After wondering about doing more exploration of the surrounding areas, we were discussing what we wanted to do to finish up the day. Sadly, we were a good distance from the cool temples, so we decided we probably were going to make it to any of those on this trip. We weren’t very hungry yet so Dad offered a way to kill a little time prior to dinner: Thai foot massages. Crys is normally extremely against anyone (including me) touching her feet, but to my surprise decided since were in Thailand we really should give it a try. So we agreed and wandered into one of the many places just off the street that offered haircuts, shaves, and massages. We each sat down in a line of recliners against the wall and were quickly attended to by masseuses who washed our feet before going to work on them. They spent the next forty five minutes rubbing, stretching and gently poking our feet and legs, mostly with their hands but sometimes with a strange wooden tool I suspect to be part of some kind pressure point type tool. They then moved on to our arms and shoulders, finishing up with what was at times awkward or painful stretches. The end result was extremely relaxing though, and changed Crys’s opinion on the idea of professional massages. She’s ready to go back and get some more as soon as possible. 

    Our much more relaxed crew then left and walked down to Dad’s favorite local restaurant there, the Lebanese place from our first Bangkok outing. We ordered roughly the same meal, which wasn’t a bad thing at all, and enjoyed one last group meal together. Afterwards we again set about finding a good taxi to get us back to the hotel. The one we finally settled into was a very nice driver who spoke pretty good English. He had recently moved to Bangkok from Northern Thailand with his wife to try and make more money than he could where he was from. His kids were still living with family back his village since schools were apparently far pricier in the Bangkok area than his village. We had a good chat with him on the way back, and he told us he could actually pick Crys and I up at 3am for our trip to the airport, and he could do so for 500 baht, including the toll. Given that we’d paid 2200b to leave the airport that was a great deal. It meant we were paying the equivalent of about $17 to take the toll road from South Austin to Georgetown. 

   We returned to the Prince Palace, said our goodbyes to Barb since we knew she wouldn’t make it until our leaving and then set about cleaning ourselves up and packing. It was close to 11pm by then and since we had to leave at 3am we saw little reason (despite our bodies’ objections) to try and go to sleep. After getting our bags settled in we decided to roam around the hotel one more time. When we had arrived at 11pm there had been much in the way of New Years celebrating going on, but here closer to 2am all was quiet. We roamed down to the 11th floor to the outside deck overlooking the city and enjoyed the view for awhile. Looking back towards the outside pool and bar area, however, we saw what I would say was my last strike against the Prince Palace, three ROUSs roaming about. Granted they were not quite Princess Bride level, but these Rodents of Unusual Size really were close to cat sized and looked more like brown opossums than rats. It was a bit creepy, though I doubt they are seen much during the daylight. A strange finish to the night. 

    About 2:30am, Dad came over to our room and we spent the last part of the eve talking of the trip and of hopes for future trips. Finally at three we went down stairs where we found that our driver from earlier had sent one of his friends to pick us up. The new driver was just as nice as the first, so we said our goodbyes to Dad and set upon our final drive for the trip through Bangkok. 

   If we have anything to say about it in the future, however, it will not be our final drive through Bangkok ever. Many people see South East Asia as rice patties and small villages, and while those places still exist there it is amazing to think of all of the sites and experiences we saw on this trip in both Thailand and Malaysia. Both have extremely modernized cities with experiences available you couldn’t hope to find in the states and incredibly awesome people at every turn. If you are ever looking for a vacation destination, I would suggest either country be added to your list of options. We could spend another month easily in just Bangkok and not see everything we wanted to see, and looking at the options of other cities there as well as the surrounding islands opens a near endless amount of possible options for exploration. I’ve been lucky enough to do some amazing things in my lifetime, but this trip ranks high on the list of most interesting. If any of you get the chance to go any of these places, take that chance as fast as you can.

Day of Travel

We left Langkawi by ferry at 1:30pm. I was glad that we had gotten our tickets early this time. While our ferry ride in had been only a quarter full, the big holiday meant the ride out was packed to the gills. We didn't bother going outside this time, instead enjoying the cold AC of the inside; watching the islands pass by while playing Scrabble on the iPad and watching odd Thai pop videos play on the ferry's tv. 

    After about forty-five minutes or so we arrived in the port of Satun Thailand once more. We headed for immigration, where we received 15 day visas for the country.  Interesting note: if you come in by plane, you are granted a far longer stay than if you cross the border by land or sea. This is apparently designed to keep people from just crossing the nearest border when their Visa expires and sticking around for long periods without applying for a residency or work visa instead. 

  After passing by customs, we began the fun of finding and negotiating a taxi for the day. It took some time to get one locked in, and apparently even then they could only get the ride to Hat Yai rather than for the day. This left us with the choice of negotiating another taxi in Hat Yai or heading for the airport. Since we had a plethora of bags, it was decided we would head for the airport in hopes of getting an earlier flight. 

 The drive was very nice. We passed through a few towns as well as the Thai countryside. It is an absolutely beautiful area. It is interesting to note that both Malaysia and Thailand are kingdoms. Langkawi had many photos about of the King and Queen, but they were nothing in comparison to the pictures and paintings Thailand has of its king. At 85, he is apparently the longest serving monarch in the world, and his visage is everywhere. Some with the queen, but often on his own. His age in the photos ranged drastically with many showing him in what appears to have been his thirties, others ranging up to current day.  Most show him looking on in a kind if sometimes oddly nerdy fashion. He is apparently a very popular figure in Thailand. 

Fairly typical picture of the King

The second most common site were miniaturized temples that appeared to be set up as alters. These were typically setup in front of houses though you would occasionally see one randomly setup in the middle of nowhere on the side of a mountain or something. Now and then you would also see outdoor shops that sold these little alters, often with a wide selection of styles and colors. Such sites, along with mountains, jungles, temples and towns made for a fascinating drive that felt far quicker than the time that actually passed. 

  Also of note, being that we were out of the big cities, was just how few signs were actually in English. Dad noted an interesting piece of history in that Malaysia, Laos, Vietnam, Jakarta and pretty much every other country around the area had at one point been a European colony. No one ever managed to conquer Thailand though. So one of the main Thailand did not have multiple language signs like its neighbors was that it had never really had to. It primarily did so only in high tourist areas for convenience sake. It is an odd looking language to me, but I really would like to learn t read and write it. It would make future trips much easier, and if course make for a nice way to write nearly secret notes :)

 After a couple of hours, we found ourselves arriving at Hat Yai airport. Security was far easier to deal with here, much like security in the states back in the late nineties before it was decided that making things really inconvenient would give people the illusion that they were safer. We put our stuff through a scanner ( note, while I had to take my laptop out they told me to just leave all of my other electronics in the bag) then passed through a metal detector ourselves. No removing shoes, no other hassles, very little muss or fuss. We wondered in to find out that we had just missed the only other Thai Air flight of the day aside from our 8pm booking. This meant about four hours of killing time in a small airport. 

Random Airport Store

   Given that I had eaten a few left over pieces of naan for breakfast, and had a few banana chips at the Satun port, I figured our first order of business was to have a snack. The selection turned out to be small, but did include, of all places, a Dairy Queen. Having not had much in the way of western food on this trip we decided to give it a try. Oddly enough, it turns out that Dairy Queen abroad has pretty much two things: hot dogs and ice cream. A chili dog made for a decent lunch, and a rather tasty (and very Dairy Queen tasting) brownie blizzard made for good dessert. After that it was chatting and wondering about to kill time prior to our departure. Finally boarding commenced and we settled into a short and surprisingly comfortable flight to Bangkok. 

   While waiting for our luggage, I noticed a sign that explained much about our first airport experience. Apparently there were three options for leaving the airport if you did not have your own ride. Option 1 was the MRT, which connected to the same line we took to Chat a Chat. Option 2 was public taxi. Option 3 was a limo. Guess which one we had been given on our first trip? That's right, the limo. And where Crys and I had spent 2400 baht (around $70) to get to our hotel the first time, the four of us managed to get a public taxi SUV for 700 baht (closer to $25 USD). A great deal, or so we thought. 

   Note that taxi drivers at the airport do not get to negotiate their own fees. For efficiency (and to protect against unlicensed taxis) a central booking desk negotiates the price then has you escorted to the taxi you will be taking. Apparently the taxi driver we were given was somewhat miffed at the price we were given since we were taking the larger than normal taxi (and presumably being white tourists had more money to spare).  After dad refused to let her up rate him for airport and toll fees she informed us that the weight of our luggage prevented her vehicle from going very fast and proceeded to drive the equivalent of about 40mph. She also decided to skip the speedy toll road, taking the longer slower route instead. Barb was very annoyed at this, but the rest of us thought it was hilarious. I for one enjoyed the scenic route she was taking, and figured it was only hurting her as the longer she took with us the longer it would be till she got new passengers. 

   Given the holiday going on, Dad's usual hotel was booked. I'll go into detail about our replacement hotel next post, but suffice it to say it was good to end the long day of travel with a comfy bed and good AC. 

   

Year of the Snake

Thursday was our last full day in Langkawi. Dad had a full plate getting things ready for Tami and the instructor Valma to take over the boat, so after getting things packed, then killing time catching up on some interwebs, Crys, Rio and I decided to go catch a snack down at the Jetty. With a Baskin Robbins, a Starbucks, several interesting stores and extremely cool air conditioning, the Jetty was becoming a standard destination for us to walk down to when bored. Since it also doubled as the primary port for people arriving on Langkawi by ferry, it was also a great place to people watch.

Random observation: many of the malls we visited in Malaysia, this one included, had Power Wheels cars for kids to play on. Strange.   

Random observation 2: Like most public places in Malaysia and Thailand, you have to pay to use the toilet. Paper is also extra and you pick it up at the front. Strange and often annoying. 

As many of you may know, 2/10 marks Chinese New Year. This is a huge holiday in both Malaysia and Thailand. Everywhere we went was decorated in red and gold, and we were given quite a few oranges, which apparently are good luck symbols. This is the year of the Snake, which happens to be Crys's sign in the Chinese zodiac. She likes to point out thar due to her sunburn, she was also spending the new year shedding like a snake. 

The snake played another prominent role in our final full day, as the three of us decided to walk down to the Giant Eagle statue marking the port entrance of Langkawi, just outside the Jetty. 

As we walked around it, we came across a local guy with a very large constrictor snake. He offered to let us pose with it for a photo for 5 ringets, which was roughly $1.50 or so. I thought it would be fun so I paid him. I really didn't think Crys would get close to it, but despite her very vocal opposition (and threats to me) she gave into the guy's good hearted "is no problem" statements and allowed herself to be photographed with the giant snake.  The guy was hilarious and we probably spent half an hour with him and the snake. 

Rio took several pics for us, but wasn't about to let the guy get the snake within ten feet of her.  I laughed when the guy told her "is no problem!" As he tried to get her to walk over and told him that as far as she was concerned "is big problem". 

We finally returned for our last eve on the Silke, finishing the eve up hanging out with everyone, eating Lebanese take out and chatting together. Good finish to our tropical isle trip. 

Videos

So I did a few videos while I was over there, but the extremely slow interwebs connection I had available meant that I couldn't upload any of them. Instead I've compiled them into one long clip for your viewing enjoyment.

Back in the real world

Quick note for those who don't follow on Twitter or Facebook, we did make it safely back to the real world. Obviously though, there is far more to discuss about this trip. I have a couple of more posts written already and I'm working diligently to document our last few days of travel. I also plan to go in and edit some our pics and put them in an online album for all to see. Keep checking in, there will be more soon!

Do Go Chasing Waterfalls

We woke up yesterday to our second to last day in Malaysia.  After a slow moving morning we wondered up to the Jetty mall and got some food with everyone, returning to Kenny Rogers, which has pretty good chicken and sides. Dad was still focused on getting the boat in complete working order for the class that will be taking it when we leave, so some of the rest of us decided to go check out one of the local waterfalls that Tami and Rio knew of. So five us us piled into a small rented car and took off. The drive was very pretty but very warm. We were experiencing another triple digit day, but noticed the temp slowly falling downwards as we left town and started heading up one of the local mountainsides. The drive was full of jungle views, local housing, and random cows and water buffalo scattered along the side of the road. When we finally reached the end of the road we had been driving on, we found ourselves looking at a couple of little tourist style shops leading up to a pathway going further up the mountain. Immediately it was clear that the temperature here was far more comfortable than it had been below. We followed the path into a beautiful scene that looked to take some Japanese inspiration. There was a meandering stream cascading down the mountain, between a rock staircase on one side and a broken up bridge crisscrossing to and along the other. Beautiful flowers and Japanese inspired rock coverings were scattered about. 

We continued following the path ever upwards, which traced along the stream’s pathway. It finally ended at a waterfall that looked to be around thirty foot or so in height. Massively tall then trees surrounded us, and looking back behind us gave a beautiful view of the valley below. It was a great place to cool down and spend some time. 

  Before we had left, Crys had joked that she may have to “fall in” to the water when we arrived to cool down. Once we arrived she did decide to wade in a ways with Tami and the others, and unfortunately within a couple of steps hit a slick spot and plopped down into the water. While very refreshing, it definitely wasn’t planned. Good thing she had thought ahead and packed some extra ‘just in case’ clothes. We spent a couple of hours hanging out there enjoying the cool water and beautiful view before deciding to roam back down the mountainside. 

About halfway down, we came across a place that sold young coconuts. Tami had been in the mood for some coconut water, so we stopped in and had some fresh. It was a little warm, but reasonably tasty drink, as they took fresh coconuts, cut off the top with a machete, then stick a straw in it and give it to you.

We got back to the boat around sunset and Rio, Crys and I decided that it would be a good to finish up the night with a swim in the pool that overlooks the boats. It was warm water, but still refreshing with the night air. A good finish to the night. 

Back in Langkawi

I don’t know that I have said this yet, but Langkawi apparently translates roughly to “Eagle’s Roost”. There are absolutely beautiful red clay colored eagles floating all around the island. I don’t think I’ve ever seen them that color in real life though I have seen them in paintings before. There is a big statue of one such colored eagle in the harbor coming into the main port. Taking photos of that was among the few noteworthy events of our first day back in Langkawi.

    Barb and Tami had taken a women’s sailing course last year, and they had agreed to have the instructor come out and teach the course again this year on their boat. She was set to arrive on the fifth, our first day back in Malaysia, so Barb and Dad were busy getting things ready for her arrival. The boat also had developed a few tech issues that needed to be corrected prior to it being turned over to them when we leave. This meant most everyone else was occupied for the day. This worked out pretty well, as Crys and I were both a bit sunburned and completely exhausted, so a day off was certainly in order. We walked down to the Jetty mall/port down the street from us and had some breakfast. Crys wanted some tylenol so we tried searching it out. There was a 7/11 in the jetty mall that seemed to have basic things like that so we wandered over there. Turns out that it had pregnancy tests, but no aspirin. One would think there would be a higher demand for the aspirin, but what do I know? Anyway, we remembered that the mall further down the street had a Guardian, which is the local equivalent of a pharmacy, so we wandered up the street to it. It’s actually a reasonably cool mall with many interesting shops, so we wound up spending a good portion of the day hanging out there. We did some more shopping, then stopped in at the Hidden Recipe and ate some tasty lunch. I decided to go with a ‘western’ meal of fish and chips, thinking rightfully that the fish should be pretty good. Crys went with a more traditional meal of local fried rice and skewers of satay (meat grilled in a peanut sauce). While different from the Indonesian version she’s used to, she said it too was very tasty. 

   We returned to the yacht club to discover that the day was quickly turning into one of the hottest since we’d been here. It capped out for some time at around 101F, and was fairly miserable outside. Since the boat doesn’t have its cover back on, it too didn’t cool down too much, so we decided to head up to the covered clubhouse where the shade and a normal breeze tends to drop the temp some twenty+ degrees and spend the heat of the day catching up a bit on the interwebs. We returned in time to meet up with the others on their way to Wonderland again, the place where we had the tasty snapper and other foods the other night. We got pretty much the same meal as last time (why mess with something good?) before returning to shower and crash for the eve. 

Catching Up

Okay, I’m way behind in this thing. Let’s start with about three days ago when we spent the day snorkeling. A Snorkel made all the difference for Crys in swimming, making it far easier for her to swim between the boat and shore. We spent most of the morning, and then a few hours in the eve in the water, hiding out in the boat during the heat of the day to avoid as much sunburn as possible. It helped, but still didn’t keep us from getting a bit more sun. Crys especially found all new places to turn red in. 

   The water itself was good, though not great visibility. Dad felt it was probably the worst he had seen there. That being said we could see he bottom at around 35 ft or so, so this was definitely not horrible. We saw a lot of parrot fish, some absolutely stunning sunfish, a few angel fish, some sea cucumbers, many extremely colorful clams and more. There was a ton of sponges, many grown larger than cars, some brain coral, and a little branching coral. I was surprised how little of the branching coral there was to see. 

  For our evening dive we took the zodiac to the northern part of the island, where the water was a bit clearer and the sponges and brain coral more prolific. There were even a handful of sea anemone about, which meant we got to see some clownfish playing within it. 

 I did come across a sad sight on our evening dive. About a forty or fifty square foot area existed near the shore that had become a coral graveyard. The ground was blanketed with bleached coral, including mounds and mounds of shattered branch coral. I don’t know if it’s a global warming issue or an obnoxious fisherman who decided dynamite near the shoreline was a good way to collect fish, but whatever it was it was fairly thorough. There were only a few spots of small sponges and one or two clams still living in the entire area. Who knows how beautiful that little spot was a few years back. Hopefully over time it recovers. 

After another night with beautiful stars and little in the way of modernity we let loose of of our moor and set sail once more for Koh Lipi. Prior to setting sail, Barbara had pulled a couple of pillows out on the front deck to lay on. They were the big square pillows that resembled seat cushions, which made them comfy on deck. The issue came when we set sail and Barbara forgot to stow them away. After we had gotten to the open sea I heard someone call out that we “lost a pillow”. I looked over the edge of the boat, and sure enough, there was one of them floating by the boat. Dad began trying to turn the Cat around and I grabbed the long expanding hooked pole that I had grown accustom to using when grabbing moorings and headed for the back of the boat. Barbara pointed out that there was no place to hook the pillow, being flat cushions, but I was reasonably certain I could pull it in anyway if we could get within ten foot of them. I did, however, start thinking of alternatives as well. The pillow looked like it wasn’t going to sink anytime soon, which gave us time if we needed it. The zodiac would have been a pain to get out. We were in the open sea, so I wasn’t sure how the currents were. However, having been in the water the day before I knew the water was a good temp. There was a float on a long rope next to me, so figured worst case scenario, if I couldn’t get the pillow back on board with the hooked pole I could tie the float off, dive in with it, grab the pillow and have them pull me back (or pull myself back along the rope). Seemed like a feasible plan. As it happened, I didn’t need it. Dad got the Silkie within about six feet of the pillow, and I was able to drag the pillow close enough to pick it up. I then turned and looked back at the water and realized my feasible plan would have gotten me in a lot of trouble had I followed through with it. Floating just about a foot or so behind where I pulled the pillow out of the water was a one square foot box jellyfish. There’s little doubt that if I had jumped in after that pillow I would have come into contact with that thing, and my understanding is that is not a nice sting to deal with. I don’t know if these are as bad as the Aussie variety, which paralyzes the heart and lungs for about five minutes, but I really didn’t care to find out. The rest of the short trip passed without issue.When we arrived at Koh Lipe we found that all of the moors were taken save two in exceedingly shallow water. Since Dad is (thankfully) hesitant to drop anchor in coral rich areas, we hung out until the dive boats began leaving, then took one of the newly available moors and took off for the beach. 

   From there we lowered the Zodiac back in and wandered up to the beach and walked back the path to the favored breakfast spot for some more Thai Pancakes. I tried a Lemon Coconut this time as well as the Lemon Banana from last time. The Coconut luckily wasn’t out this time (or “finished” as the locals say.... “Sorry, coconut is finished.”) so I got to try it. Truthfully it turned out not to be as good as the Lemon Banana, though it certainly wasn’t bad. 

  Afterwards Dad and Barb wanted to get another massage. Crys was wary once more of a massage since her sunburn was newly worsened, so we instead spent the hour roaming about the island’s shops. 

I picked up a couple of more articles of local clothing, and we did our best to avoid the sun as much as possible (a neat trick on a tropical island) before finally all joining back up, checking out of the country and heading back to the Silkie. 

From there we dropped our last mooring, raised the sails and headed back to Langkawi. The sail created a nice bit of shade on the front of the boat, leaving a very nice place to spend much of the trip. Dad picked the pace up, wanting to get back to dock while the tide was still high enough to get in. The trip therefore lasted only about five hours or so, and was relatively peaceful and uneventful. We pulled in just as the sun was starting to set among the islands, pulled the boat in, and worked to get it tied off and hooked back up. 

    If you think parking a car is tricky, try parking a yacht. Turns out the floaty tied to the rope that I considered using to rescue the pillow was actually a fender meant to be quickly dropped down between the boat and anything it might be about to bump into. Getting the large catamaran into a docking berth only a few foot wider than it is without allowing it to bump into either side was an interesting feat. With a good amount of team work between Tami and Rio on the docs and the rest of us on the yacht we finally succeeded, though. We then tied it off, reconnected the power, and set about catching up with Tami and Rio on their few days away and discussing our adventures. We then wandered up to the club house and took some long over due showers. They have the tall shower heads that mimic rain up there, and after only being able to rinse off a bit over the past three days here and there, a good long shower with soap and shampoo felt amazingly good. 

A Wee Bit Behind

Okay, I'm a bit behind in my blogging. Been a busy and exhausting few days. When Wish is from about four days ago. Since then we've spent a day snorkeling, travelled back to Koh Lipe, made it back to Langkawi, done a bit of walking about the island, shopping, and some more tasty local food. I'll try and get details of all of this up soon. In the mean time, know everyone is doing well, though Crys and I are both a bit sunburned (her more so than me) and exhausted. Glad I have a few days off before I go back to work. I'll need a vacation from this vacation ;)
   We're down to the final 4 days. While I'll be glad to get back home, There's definitely a ton of stuff here I still want to do!

When you wish upon a star...

So the party on shore went on till about three or four AM apparently. I listened to two or three Asian bands belting out such hits as "Rhinestone Cowboy", "Tears in heaven" and "The Answer is Browing in the Wind" (Browing?) often simultaneously before popping my headphones in and crashing.  I actually fell asleep early, which meant that I was back wide awake by 7am. I crawled as gently as I could past Crys and wondered outside in time to witness the sunrise over the island. It was a stunning start to the day. 

Crys, however, wasn't so lucky. Her sunburn felt worse when she awoke, and she could hardly bring herself to move. She troopered on, popping a Tylenol and putting on some green stuff before we lowered the zodiac into the water and headed back to Koh Lipe for some breakfast. The trip up turned out to be a bit more tricksy than expected, as we were hitting right at low tide. The hard coral we had zoomed over yesterday was now at surface level, and we soon had to swap to oars to navigate through, since it was too shallow for the Yamaha engine that normally powers us. 

  Once on shore we headed to one of the many restaurants for a traditional breakfast of Thai Pancakes which turn out to be essentially two flat crepes with something tasty between them. I had a standard one, which has nothing between but is covered in condensed milk and tastes surprisingly similar to a tex mex sopapia. I also had one with baked bananas between them covered in a lemon sauce. TASTY! Crys had a Nutella Banana one that she claimed to be excellent as well. We chatted with some Europeans at the next table, first a couple of women from Denmark, then a bald Italian named Marco. Good conversation. 

Crys's sunburn was still annoying her, and mine, which covered my right foot and part of my left leg (don't ask me how, I don't know) wasn't making me happy either, so we sat about after breakfast to find something with Lanocain or Novocain in it to dull the pain. Surprisingly we found none, only things with aloe vera or coconut milk. We did see many aloe vera massages, but Crys was hesitant to have anyone touch her, especially given now much her burn hurt. We continued wondering about the isle. If anyone wants a beautiful tropical location (and you're okay with the occasional topless beach dweller) I highly recommend Koh Lipe. As I said in the last post, it's pretty much everything you would expect from such a locale. Despite the cool stores and beautiful sites, however, Crys was miserable and it showed. Finally she gave in to Dad's offer to pay for us a massage while he and Barb went to get the one they were planning to get anyway, $20 paid for Crys and I to both get a one hour full body sunburn massage. Like all the buildings, this one was open to the main walking path that works for the island's street. The masseuses instructed to get up on these raised mats at the back of the twenty by twenty room, then instructed us to strip down while they held a small curtain closed for us. Afterwards they went to work on both of us. It was slightly painful at times and the iced aloe caused me to suck in some wind when it hit my back, but overall it was extremely relaxing, and Crys most certainly felt like new person when it was all over. The pain was still there but far less so. The day suddenly began looking up and she enjoyed her time much more.

   Lunch for me was some tasty shrimp pad Thai.  Crys grabbed some curry fried rice, and Dad insisted we try a dessert of Mango sticky rice. As best I can tell it is rice cooked with coconut milk, mixed with condensed milk and then covered in fresh mango. It is ridiculously tasty. 

 With that we decided to end our time on Koh Lipe for a bit, returning to the Silke to set sail for our new destination, a mooring just off the coast of the large island behind Koh Lipe. We picked up our mooring just about a hundred yards off shore. Apparently the water here is about 60ft deep, though it was obvious that it tapered off quickly as it closed in open shore. I grabbed my mask and new webbed gloves (a Xmas gift from Crys) and barreled off into the water. I decided against fins since my feet still felt a bit sunburned. Crys grabbed a mask and joined me, and together we made our way towards the shore. It wasn't a bad swim, and soon we could see the bottom and a variety of sea urchins, massive sponges, and fish of all shapes and colors. Crys got a little freaked at the spiny sea urchins, but I assured her they were deeper than she was going to go and wouldn't be close to shore where e would eventually put our feet down. Sure enough, when we touched our feet down it was on white sand littered with shells and racing sand crabs. Crys was amused and slightly disappointed to realize that all of the many awesome looking shells were occupied by cute little hermit crabs. There were hundreds of them scattered on the stretch of beach we walked.

  Finally we decided to return to the boat. Crys hadn't done the swim in as easily as I would have hoped so I offered her my gloves. She accepted and we dove off into the water once more. I pointed out a variety of fish, as well as some beautiful giant clams scattered about the sea floor before it began fading too far down for us to view. That's when our bit of drama hit. The current was sweeping to the right, and Crys began to struggle to swim against it. Then something brushed against her and she had a small freak out, which caused her to suck in some water and have another minor freak out, Too her credit though she didn't panic, but she did start becoming concerned, as did I. With some encouragement, a small bit of help, and a final burst of adrenaline, she finally made it back to the Silkie. We were both extremely relieved when she was back on board. Since we're surrounded by islands I don't think we were ever in actual danger, the current would have intersected us with another point in the island further down, but it was still easy to see how people could suddenly find themselves in dangerous situations. Next time we'll take fins and snorkels, which would have made the whole trip much easier. Her style of swimming means with a snorkel she’d have no issues. 

   After Crys's adrenaline settled and she was comfortable that she was out of any danger, her thoughts turned quickly to the fish we had seen. She admitted that she finally saw the allure that being underwater held for me, something that having only been exposed to lakes and the Gulf of Mexico, she had never seen. She loved the realization that all of those beautiful fish she had seen in pet stores existed in the wild, and she could view them in their natural habitat. 

 We laughed and discussed the sights as we sipped some more wine and watched the sun set over the water. One by one the sky again lit up with a vast array of stars and planets, a beautiful site far beyond what we get back home. 

  We then got to witness something amazing that Dad had told us a story of days earlier.  When squid jet across the water at night around here, the bioluminescence in the water causes the burst to leave a glowing trail. A massive school of squid passed by the boat, leaving snaking glowing lines in the water all around and under the catamaran.   It was a phenomenally cool site. 

  Later as we listened to some of our favorite tunes and watched the beautiful night sky, we saw a shooting star.  Of course that requires making a wish. Crys turned to me and asked what I wished for.

 "That the rest of our trip be amazing. What about you?"

She smiled and stated "That all of our nights be as beautiful as this."

Here's to Jiminy Cricket being correct. 

Bad Day in Paradise

So with the good comes the bad. Yesterday was awesome. Today had some annoyances. Crys felt a bit puny upon waking this morn, probably due to dehydration and wine, though other factors may also be involved. Not horribly bad but a bit icky. She pushed through though. We decided to go scope out a local beach to kick things off. We grabbed our cameras, lowered the zodiac, and took off. We started coming around the edge of one of the little islands there when we started hitting heavier wind and bigger chop. We took a small hit of sea spray and I made the comment that it felt good. The fates decided to up the ante on my comment and within seconds we bounced a wave and took a large spray head on, giving us (and the cameras) a good soak. We laughed it off, but then took another's direct hit a few moment later. Dad judged the chop would likely only get worse before me reached our destination, and we didn't want to get the cameras wet enough to damage them, so we decided to turn back.  We made it safely, if a little damp, back to the boat, stowed the gear, pulled anchor and set sail for Koh Lipe (Pronounced Ko Lippy). 

The six hour sail started fine, then as we cleared further away from the shadows of the isles and into the open water we started hitting some serious white capping. The Silke handled it well, but there was a good bit of bouncing involved for much of the trip. Worse yet, despite heavy and frequent sun screening, Crys and I both got hit with some sunburn. I got the top of my feet. Annoying, especially when I put shoes on, but I can deal with it. Crys got her feet and legs, a good bit more area than me. It's very unfortunate. We're keeping aloe vera slathered on in hopes that it kills the issue off quickly,

Despite the bad, however, there is good. We picked up a moor (attached the boat to a buoy) a hundred and fifty yards off the coast of Koh Lipe and took the zodiac to shore. It's a beautiful little island with white sand, crystal clear water, and a long series of tourist spots. It is the quintessential South Pacific island. We checked back into immigrations since we're technically back in Thailand now and stopped in for a extremely tasty Thai dinner at a local eatery. Stir fried pork and cashews for me and some Pad Thai Kai for Crys. Tasty stuffs. We decided to stay here for the night since it was getting late. We'll go back to shore tomorrow and do breakfast and maybe a bit of shopping before going on to a more secluded area that I can dive. In the mean time I'm sitting on deck listening to the huge beach party that apparently goes on there each evening this time of year and watching the beautiful sky again. Good to know that a bad day of vacation can still be better than a good day at work :-)

   9 days left. Here's hoping they're all better than this one!

Sail Away

We finally set sail today. It was amazing how much more comfortable the air is when you leave the harbor. For anyone who has seen The Beach, I'm told that was filmed on an island just off Langkawi, so that would give you an idea of our surroundings. 

  We cruised along under sail power for awhile, but since we weren't going far and the current was against us, Dad decided to pump up the engines. These catamarans are amazingly smooth over the water. I had been told the would be, but it was interesting to actually experience. 

  After an hour or two of sailing, we pulled into a cove for the night. It is amazing. Mountainous islands covered in a hundred shades of green along with striated cliffs that bear a strong resemblance color wise to petrified wood surround us on all sides. These isles are broken up by calm light green sea water. Eagles occasionally sway above, and monkeys along with several species of birds can be heard calling in the distance. Small schools of fish occasionally break the surface in mini feeding frenzies that last a minute before retreating again below the waves. The large island behind us is known in the local dialect as "The Pregnant Lady", both for the profile of its mountains which resemble a pregnant woman lying down and the local legends that a hike into the isle and a swim in the freshwater lake apparently resting within is a cure for infertility. 

We have a zodiac on the back of the Silkie. After a little cussing, half an hour of work and a lost wrench we finally got it setup to hoist off the boat and get ready to go. Once in we took a more intimate tour of the outskirts of one of the islands we were parked beside, watching the mangroves and shoreline. Not much in the way of animal life greeted us, but again, the view was amazing.

We returned to the boat, grabbed a bit of wine, and headed for the deck. There are perfect moments in travel, when all is right with the world and you realize how lucky you are to be exactly where you are at that moment. They are moments that stick out as highlights of trips and stick with you forever. This was one. I laid down on the netting in the front of the boat, which as I have said before feels much like a comfy hammock. I had a glass of cabernet sauvignon in one hand and a bar of swiss chocolate that contained a chocolate mousse filling in the other. A gentle breeze blew from above and below the netting while the waves gently rocked us. We watched as the sun slowly sat on the horizon, surrounded by the view I described above. As the sun faded Venus came into view, followed by Orion's Belt, then an amazing array of stars. Over the mountains of The Pregnant Lady the occasional flash of lightning could be spotted. If you turned over and looked through the netting,bioluminescent life lit up the sea water like a thousand fireflies. At one point Dad instructed us to head to the stairs on the back of the yacht where the water was more accessible. Crys swirled the water with her feet, and the ripple effect she created lit up as a brilliant green. 

   Crys and I spent much of the night lying together in the netting, before the clouds that were creating the lightening began dropping some sprinkles on us, forcing us to Barton the hatches and return inside for the night. 

Food Folks and Fun

Some something should probably be said about last night's dinner. We wondered off to a little whole in the wall spot that Dad & Barb knew called Wonderland. Excellent little spot at the edge of a small river with an interesting style of menu. Everything you order is family style, and gown much you get of everything is dependent on how many people you have and how much you order. Dad tells me the chefs are excellent at determining portions so that people do not leave hungry but there is very little leftovers left. Last night's meal consisted of sweet and sour chicken, red snapper in a black pepper sauce, a local green that tasted similar to a Chinese cabbage in an oyster sauce, large tempura shrimps, and a mound of calamari. The calamari, which locally is known by the often apt name of cumi-cumi (pronounced chewme-chewme) was very tasty and well cooked. The snapper was cooked and served whole. Crys was unsure of that, having said in the past she didn't think she could eat one that way. Now faced with it (literally) she asked me if I could get some of it off for her, as she couldn't bring herself to dig into it. By then end of the meal she had decided that it was tasty enough to justify getting some more on her own. She did, however, keep the head facing the other way when she did so...

  All was quite good, and true to form we were pretty stuffed with very little left on the table before leaving.

  Another meal worth noting is the past two day's breakfast. We've all sat down to a nice meal of fresh fruits, including bananas, apples, Sri fruit, plumbs, and grapes along with cheddar cheese, cream cheese, nuts and yogurt. Sri fruit is odd. It looks like a hard plumb on the outside, but when you pop it open it's full of these slimy little chunks that look sort of like raw squid. It is very sweet though and has a good taste. You just have to get passed the texture.