We're home! Oh man, America is just the way we left it and things are awesome.

Our travel was long, but things went smoothly and we arrived in both Tokyo and LA on-time. The Tokyo airport was a bit of a disappointment -- not only was it hot and muggy, but its selection of eateries wasn't as inclusive as we would have liked (no Starbucks? no Subway?). Still, we managed to get a McDonald's fix -- hopefully it's the first AND the last one we will get now that we are back in the USA where healthier dining options are available to us.

Our parents were waiting for us just outside of the customs gate at LAX and it was a wonderful reunion. Even though we were tired, hot, and smelly, we all piled into the car and headed right for the Cheesecake Factory, just like I dreamed! After fighting through 40 minutes of traffic (welcome back to LA), we were sitting at a table with margaritas in hand, munching on chips, and not one, but TWO dips: amazing guacamole and hot spinach-and-cheese. The rest of the meal (my chicken sandwich with red onion, avocado, bacon, and bleu cheese) was mouth-watering and the dessert (lemon torte and Reese's caramel chocolate cheesecake) was divine.

I snapped a picture of Ashlee hugging her mom just outside of customs. Sorry, the picture is blurry. That's Ashlee's dad in the orangish shirt over her shoulder and that's my mom on the left with her camera also taking a picture of the reunion.

My mom and I

My sandwich. FYI, Ashlee got a pizza and salad. She said the salad was so good it made her want to cry.

Me eating my sandwich

Dessert

Our car was waiting at home. My little cousin has been taking care of it for us. His name is Hamish the Hyundai. All our Mongolian friends approved of the fact that we drive a Hyundai in America. "Ah, Korean cars are very good."

Now we are currently staying at my parents' house and we have been keeping busy unpacking and catching up with friends and family. It really feels that we have accomplished a lot these past two days. First and foremost, we got our iPhones! It actually ended up being better that we got them here because we managed to get a healthy rate discount through my dad's work. We've also been shopping up a storm since Mongolia claimed most of our wardrobes. All in all, life is great.

I guess this brings me to the end of the post...and the blog. I'd really love to be able to write something deep and profound here. Maybe write something about how our time in Mongolia has completely changed our lives and the lives of the friends we made and the students we taught. At the moment, however, the whole thing is too fresh in our minds for me to write something so definitive -- not to mention our heads are still spinning from the excitement of being back in America. Suffice it to say that while our Peace Corps was definitely a roller-coaster (the highs were high and the lows were oh-so-low) we are happy we did it and we have no regrets. We made some amazing (and hopefully life-long) friendships and some memories that will never fade. Peace Corps, it has been swell.

This morning Ashlee and I successfully completed the close-of-service process, officially ending our two years' of service with the Peace Corps here in Mongolia. As of 11:30am today, we are no longer Peace Corps Volunteers. Instead we have moved into alumni status as "Returned" Peace Corps Volunteers, or RPCVs. It feels awesome!

Adding to this feeling of awesomeness, the antibiotics I have been taking to kick this stomach bug seem to be working and I am feeling MUCH better -- plus the rain finally stopped and the weather is perfect! All-in-all, we're both feeling pretty good, albeit tired and ready to come home.

Our flight leaves tomorrow at 7am, so it will be an early morning. We'll have a 5-hour layover in Tokyo (we're hoping to score some good sushi) and then it's a 13-hour flight to Los Angeles. We will land around lunchtime and our parents will pick us up and whisk us away to the glorious Cheesecake Factory. Much to Ashlee's amusement, I have already scouted out the menu online and I have an idea of what I want to order: chips and guacamole, a Navajo chicken sandwich (add bacon and bleu cheese), and a mojito. For dessert, I'm vacillating between the red velvet cheesecake and the lemoncello torte. Hmm, decisions decisions.

As for the rest of today, we are currently sitting in our tiny guesthouse room packing our bags for the trip tomorrow. We're worried that we have more things than we will be allowed to take, and we really want to avoid paying exorbitant excess baggage fees, so we have to make some tough decisions on what to take and what to leave behind. Tonight we're going to meet up with some friends to say some final goodbyes -- not all of our goodbyes, however, because there is a fair number of fellow RPCVs flying out with us tomorrow.

Life is pretty sweet at the moment.

PS - Because of our (Ashlee's) excellent budgeting skills, we have found ourselves with a healthy amount of leftover Mongolian tugriks. Rather than blow this little nest egg on last-minute (and unnecessary) souvenirs, we decided to convert the sum to US dollars to bring back to America. After visiting the currency exchange kiosk at the State Department Store, we have exactly enough money to buy our iPhones! It's like it was meant to be.

I woke up this morning excited to check my email for an order confirmation from Verizon about our iPhones. While there was definitely a confirmation email, it was a confirmation of the cancellation of our order. There was no explanation of the cancellation other than a phone number to call, which I called through Skype. It turns out that orders can't be placed outside of the country. Lame.

Today was pretty productive. We managed to take a good chunk out of our "close-of-service" checklist, including our final medical appointments and getting our travel per diem (we're getting $64 to spend at the Tokyo airport!).

My stomach has still not recovered from my final Mongolian meal this past Saturday and I am now on antibiotics. Keep your fingers crossed that I am better by Saturday, because at the moment making a 13-hour international flight on a wobbly belly is about the last thing I want to do -- plus once we touch down in LA I'm planning to gorge on either Avila's El Ranchito or Cheesecake Factory (Ashlee and I can't decide what we'd like our first meal to be).

Also, we decided to get a leg-up on the readjustment process and we ordered our cell phones online this afternoon. We have each been wanting an iPhone for years now and we figured it would be now or never. When we placed the order we were asked what area code we wanted. Now I grew up as a 909 and Ashlee a 949/714, so we had to compromise. We figured that since the next two years of our life will take place in Los Angeles, a 310 area code sounded good. The phones will come via 2-day shipping, so hopefully they will be waiting for us in the hands of Ashlee's dad when we land at LAX on Saturday.

Tomorrow the plan is to lay low. Hopefully this little El Nino that has been rocking UB for the past two days will finally blow out of here. Walking around the city has not been fun. Maybe we will take in a movie -- Ashlee says that Kung Fu Panda 2 is playing at the theater just around the corner from our guesthouse.

That's all for now.

Ashlee and I have officially picked up stakes and moved out of Olgii. We are currently cooling our heels in UB finishing the laborious close-of-service protocol to end our time with Peace Corps. Weird.

The past couple of days has featured lots of packing and goodbyes. Yesterday our friend Nurbol treated us to lunch at Arvin, the local Mongolian restaurant. Ashlee was right, I totally jinxed myself the other day when I said something about eating my last Mongolian meal. I got a traditional Kazakh meat dish -- and I have been paying for it ever since. I have found it a lot easier to say goodbye to Mongolia when its food keeps me up tossing and turning all night and running to the bathroom every 20 minutes.

Anyways, the weather was gorgeous in Olgii today -- a perfect day to fly. Brian, Sabit, and Nurbol accompanied us to the airport, which was nice because we have over a hundred pounds of luggage. The flight itself went smoothly and we made it to our guesthouse fine.

Since I was still feeling a bit under the weather, we kept it low-key this afternoon. A simple lunch at Cafe Amsterdam before closing our bank accounts at Khan Bank. Some nasty weather rolled in after lunch time and it has been raining ever since -- which means that tomorrow the city, with its complete lack of drainage, will be riddled with small rivers and lakes. Awesome.

Here's some pictures from this morning.

Olgii's airport. This year they finally started paving the runway.

The US State Department only approves of one domestic airline: Eznis. While turbulence can make parts of the flight pretty shaky, the airline recently started serving Coca-Cola beverages.

A shot of the dirt runway during takeoff.

Flying out over Olgii

Downtown Olgii. That's my school square in the middle.

The end of our time in Olgii is fast approaching. On Saturday we had our last "Monopoly Night" with all 5 of us Olgii PCVs. I hit the bottle a little too hard and paid for it Sunday morning.Just last night Brian had us over for an amazing pizza dinner. It was literally the best pizza I have ever had -- well, it's tough to beat Costa Mesa's Haus of Pizza, but last night was pretty darn good. It had everything from buffalo sauce to bbq sauce to pepperoni to chicken seasoned in a "spicy Cincinnati butt rub." I swear that Brian makes this stuff up sometimes. Anyways, it was a great time and it also gave us a chance to say goodbye to our good friends Khala, Nurbol, and Sabit.We're UB-bound tomorrow!

Ashlee and I just got back from a farewell lunch with a few of my teachers and the school's vice-principal. It was our third or so round of goodbyes and probably our last time eating Mongolian food...hmm, hopefully I didn't just jinx us on that. Sorry, Ashlee!

A couple of weeks ago I got a phone call from Bahitgul asking me to come to school because the teachers wanted to give me a "Kazakh sweet." I learned long ago to not seek immediate clarification on things like this (especially over the phone) so I decided to go with it. The entire walk to school I kept wondering what exactly a Kazakh sweet would entail. It turns out that she meant to say a Kazakh suit. The reason I had to go to school was because they were going to get it tailor-made and they needed to measure me.

At lunch today they presented me with my new suit -- a snazzy embroidered velvet jacket and matching hat. Despite the measurements, the coat has a pretty snug fit -- it's about an inch shy of buttoning and I can't really lift my arms above my shoulders. Everyone found this funny, however, and they took turns trying to pull the jacket shut and then, upon giving up, patting my tummy. Thanks, guys.

They also gave Ashlee a really pretty wall-hanging, bringing our collection of hangings to three now. We're going to have a pretty heavy Kazakh theme in our next apartment.

After finishing lunch, we all headed out to the town square to take some pictures in front of the government building and the war memorial. Then we just sort of awkwardly stood around for 10 minutes or so because no one really knew how to say goodbye. I guess I have been so focused on our return to America that I haven't really given much thought to what our departure will mean for the friends we have made here in Olgii. Everyone was really sad and worried that we would forget them. I tried to my best to assure them that we will keep in touch -- afterall, if our future children turn out to be spoiled little jerks you better believe that we will be sending them to spend a summer with Aunt Bahitgul in the Mongolian countryside to get some perspective!

Now in a couple of hours we will have our last sitemate get-together with all 5 of us Olgii PCVs. Although we aren't leaving until Tuesday, Justin is taking off tomorrow for a children's camp in the neighboring province. We will be marking the occasion with multiple hands of Monopoly Deal over a bottle of Grant's scotch whiskey along with sour patch kids, cheezits, pretzels, and peanut butter. Can you tell that our cupboards are getting pretty bare?

Guest Post by, Ashlee

"... and the rain rain rain came down down down..."

The "rainy" season is upon us here in Mongolia. Generally this means 30 min of light showers once or twice per week, but today it's coming down in buckets with thunder and lightning and that musky smell. We're cozy in our apartment in Olgii, praying for the sanity of our friends that continued on the trip to Tavan Bogd National Park...

Well, I know our blog has been silent for a couple of weeks, but it's because there is nothing really new going on. I took down our official "Countdown to Freedom" last week because it was making me too antsy, but we are leaving Olgii exactly one week from today and we'll back in California a week from Saturday.

We've both been trying hard to keep ourselves busy and entertained with movies, television shows, and the internet. A PCV buddy of mine recently gave me over 900 e-books for my kindle so I have been on a literary binge for the past few days now.

This past week we managed to square our accounts with our agencies and our landlord -- supposedly all of our utilities have been paid and we are good to go, and we have the signed forms to prove it to Peace Corps! We have pretty much divided up all the things that we are leaving behind amongst the remaining PCVs and close friends we have here. We are also diving into our kitchen cupboards with reckless abandon, eating up all the precious care package items that we have been hoarding for the past couple of years. I think we still have 4 cans of refried beans and something like 3 boxes of Kraft macaroni 'n cheese, so we're pretty much set for the rest of the week.

We've also been spending a lot of time with our sitemates. This past week we've been getting up early to watch the NBA Finals with Brian. It was a pretty exciting series and I think there was a group of 8 of us watching Game 6 over bloody marys and eggs benedict. Our trip out to Tavan Bogd (the national park on the Russian border) has fallen through for various reasons, but we're not too sad. We realize that we have had enough Mongolian travel experiences for a lifetime and now we have a few extra days to pack up and say goodbye to our counterparts.

We have already tapped into our PC-issued "readjustment allowance" and we have been flexing our credit cards e-purchasing items that we know we will need/want for the summer. We have also decided to bite the bullet and get iPhones. We are planning to order them this weekend so they will be ready for us the minute we get to my parents' house. Ashlee would probably like to point out that this was entirely my idea and that she thinks I'm a little silly for getting so excited. Oh, well.

So, yeah, that's about it. When we get to UB next week we will have to spend a couple of days in the PC office officially closing out our service, returning our PC-issued equipment (water distillers, training books, medical kits), getting medically cleared, closing our bank accounts, and conducting exit interviews with the country director. Supposedly getting out of Peace Corps is even more complicated than getting in. We're looking forward to it...

We encountered a minor setback today in our COS plans: apparently our June 24th flight to America got bumped to the 25th. Not really a big deal, I guess. If anything, that gives us one more day in UB to say goodbye to Mongolia. Now we will be back in America on Saturday, June 25th -- which actually works out better for our parents so they don't have drive through Friday's rush hour traffic to get us at LAX.

We have just crossed the one-month mark! I'm beginning to feel that hourglass effect where the sands of time are slowly but steadily running out. We are leaving Olgii on June 21st, spending a few days in UB officially closing out our service, and then flying home on June 24th.

We have both been busy figuring out exactly how we will transition back into our Californian lives. For Ashlee, that means abandoning our threadbare fleeces and long underwear for more appropriate SoCal apparel and, for me, it is navigating the confusing world of university financial aid. Among other things, we are also shopping for cell phones (to get iPhone 4s or not, that is the question), another car (anyone looking to sell something clean, reliable, and economical?), deciding between on- or off-campus housing for the Fall, and looking for work. We have also been drawing up a budget to figure out how we are going to survive the next few years. Man, life in America is expensive! In the shorter term, however, we are both excited about enjoying this summer and mooching off of our families -- you know, the American dream.

Something else that is going on here in Olgii is our friend and sitemate, Brian, is spearheading a fundraising effort to purchase new sports equipment for his school and we have promised to help spread the word. Sooo, if you have an extra 5, 10, or 20 bucks onhand and you want to help a bunch of kids in Mongolia, please consider making a donation via Paypal. Brian has a blog with more information: http://sportsresourceproject.blogspot.com/.

That's about all that is going here at the moment. The weather has been nice and school officially ends this Friday. In the next few weeks we will have to say our goodbyes, pack up our things (hopefully donating most of our stuff to friends here), settle our account with our landlord, and finally make a trip out to Tavan Bogd, the national park on the Chinese/Russian border. Our Peace Corps service will be over before we know it.

We got word from Peace Corps HQ in UB today that they have booked our flights home! We'll be leaving UB at 7am on June 24th and, after a 5-hour layover in Tokyo, landing in LA at 11:30am on June 24th! Like Ashlee says, don't try to figure out the time difference, but simply chalk it up to Harry Potter-esque magic.

In other news, our apartment is sans-hot water (and heat) for the rest of our time in Olgii. Bummer sauce, I know. I guess we'll have to keep visions of our coming California summer in mind to keep us warm!

Well, we're back in Olgii after two weeks in and around UB. With dental check-ups, medical physicals, language tests, our close-of-service seminar, lots of visiting with friends, a quick trip to the Gobi, and the longest flight delay ever, our time away from site was hectic, nerve-wracking, maddening, and awesome all at once.

While in UB itself, we stayed at our usual place: Khongor Guesthouse. For 12,000 tugriks per night we get a private room with access to a shared toilet and hot water shower. With so many PCVs in town, however, we got bumped up into a larger room with a full-size refrigerator and balcony over-looking Peace Avenue (sort of UB's downtown Main Street). Needless to say, with PCVs being so broke...er...budget-conscious, our place became the party room. It helped that we brought our ipod speakers, that the weather was awesome our first few days in town so the balcony came in handy, and that the supermarket just around the corner sells 1L bottles of Gem Draft for 3,000 tugriks.

Like I said, the weather started out gorgeous with plenty of sunshine and highs in the 70s, however, over the course of two weeks we got to experience the full gamut of Mongolian weather: fog, rain, sleet, snow, and wind/dust storms -- but more on that later.

Our first few days in town we were busy with Peace Corps business. Our first item on the agenda was taking our Mongolian language test, which was mandatory for our whole class of volunteers. We actually had the option of taking a Kazakh language test, but we decided that while we speak Kazakh much more often than Mongolian, the Kazakh we know is very informal whereas we had 6 weeks of formal training in Mongolian. Anyways, we were both really nervous about taking the test. The test itself is graded in multiple levels: Novice, Intermediate, Advanced, and Superior. Each level is then further divided into low, middle, and high. Back during our initial training, volunteers had to test at Novice-High to officially swear-in as volunteers, so that was the level we were gunning for. We got the test results within a few days and we both did shockingly well: Ashlee got Intermediate-Mid and I got Advanced-Low! Peace Corps' in-country language coordinator did announce, however, that scores this year were a little inflated because the testers placed more of an effort on communicative ability rather than overall accuracy -- thus even though our grammar is terrible and we speak haltingly, we were able to string words together and express what we wanted to say. Our language might not sound pretty, but it gets the job done.

Anyways, the other things we had to get done early on were our dental and medical check-ups, which both went well. Before we officially leave Mongolia, however, we have to provide blood and stool samples to test for parasites. We're really looking forward to that.

From the 27th to the 29th, we were at a ger camp two hours outside of UB for our "close-of-service" conference. Out of the 69 M20 volunteers that arrived in June 2009, 48 have stuck around -- the others have gone home for various reasons (including medical). The camp itself was nice and the gers were warm and well-insulated. "Ger service" was available in which you could give your key to the front desk and they would dispatch someone to build you a fire. The volunteers who actually live in gers year-round found this hilarious.

The 48 M20 PCVs who have stuck around

The whole point of the conference was to talk about how to end our Peace Corps service and move on with our lives. Some of the sessions were helpful, but I found others a little boring. I realized that a lot of our fellow volunteers are sad about leaving Mongolia and these sessions got pretty sentimental. Now while I know that I will miss certain things about life in Mongolia, they are a little overshadowed by our excitement about returning to America.

Anyways, the conference was great. One of my favorite parts was eating lunch with the US ambassador and his wife. They are a wonderful couple of people and we had a great wide-ranging conversation. The ambassador's wife is Scottish, so we had loads to talk about from Ashlee's and my experience studying in Edinburgh. Another highlight of the conference was the cooking competition that took place on the second night of our stay. There were three teams of volunteers organized along geographical lines in Mongolia: north-west, south-west, central, and east. Ashlee was on the north-western team with a few other culinarily-inclined women from the region and they called themselves the "Beach Bitches." They actually won the competition with their beach theme featuring a Thai cucumber salad, peanut-garlic noodles, fish & beef tacos, nachos, and chocolate & coconut-covered bananas.

The Beach Bitches: Lara, Kara, Sarah, and Ashlee

The BBs again accepting their awards from the judges

We also had a great time hanging out with our fellow volunteers. We have made some great friendships here in Mongolia and I really hope they continue after we leave. An idea was floated to have an M20 reunion in New Orleans in 2013 -- I suggested San Francisco.

My buddy, Ryan, and I enjoying some rocking chair time in between hands of Monopoly Deal

Now, back to the weather. During our last night at the ger camp, a storm blew in. All night long rain and wind battered our ger. When I woke up the next morning, I stepped out to use the bathroom and laughed when I saw that everything for miles around was coated in three inches of snow. The snow didn't stop all day and it was near white-out conditions, which made our drive back to UB quite fun. The entire time I kept thinking of how much negative publicity Peace Corps would get if something bad happened to one of our two buses, which were carrying 24 volunteers apiece. We all made it back to the city safely though.

This is Ashlee trudging through the snow to our ger on our last morning of the conference

The ger camp is set on a hill, but the buses couldn't make it up the slippery driveway, so we had to meet them at the bottom of the hill. We were all pretty miserable by the time we boarded.

After a couple more nights in UB, we set out for a visit to the Gobi Desert on May 1st. A couple of months ago, we floated the idea of taking a week-long tour of the Gobi with some friends through one of UB's tour operators. For various reasons, however (work, money, and scheduling conflicts) we couldn't round up enough people to commit. In the end, we decided to strike out on our own and use Mongolian public transportation to visit some friends of ours two provinces south of UB in the northern Gobi. Mandalgovi is the capital of Dundgovi province and it is about 275 kilometers of dirt road from UB. There are two M20 volunteers there along with a M21 married couple, the Newberrys.

From what we can tell, Dundgovi is one of Mongolia's scruffier aimags (provinces). It's pretty remote, the road there is quite bumpy, and it is subject to fierce dust storms in the spring. In fact, a day before we left the worst storm of the year had just rolled through, quarantining our married friends in their ger. We thought it was funny that the few people we told of our trip south (particularly a Mongolian friend that works for Peace Corps) firmly came out and said, "Why? Mandalgovi is not nice."

We were not dissuaded, however. Although the trip down was a little long and really bumpy, we made it in about 8 hours, which included thirty minutes of being stuck in a snow bank and having to be dug/fishtailed out. We stayed three nights with the Newberrys in their cozy little ger and we had a lot of fun visiting, cooking, and playing Monopoly Deal (of course!). I think they enjoyed having us over and I hope we didn't cramp their style too much. One of the highlights of our visit was driving 18 kilometers outside of town to visit a nomadic family with a herd of camels, including a few babies. Another highlight was the creation of our very own cocktail: tequila, orange juice, and lime juice. The little mixture got everyone pretty chatty, so we named it "Loose Lips." **Ashlee's edit: actually, it was named "Veritaserum."

The road is paved for about the first hour of the trip. We actually managed to score a pair of comfy seats right behind the driver. If you look closely, you can see two (crazy) men on bicycles in front of the car ahead of us.

Our ride was the newer-looking Korean bus in front. The bus behind it is one of the older Russian buses that are much less comfortable. When they are not breaking down, the Russian ones can travel faster because they are better at off-roading.

A view of Mandalgovi city from "Monument Park"

The largest morin khuur ("horse-head fiddle", a traditional Mongolian instrument) in the entire world

A small Buddhist monastery on the main drag

We always joke that Mongolian towns are the same: "And this is OUR statue of Lenin."

This is the Newberrys' ger. They are the first PCV married couple in a long time (maybe ever?) to be placed in a ger. While ger-life certainly poses challenges, they seem to have adjusted to it well and their home is very cozy. The small structure directly in front of their ger is called a ping and it functions as sort of a front-porch, helping to provide a weather buffer and food storage unit in the winter.

This is during our trip out into the countryside to see camels. One of Ashlie's counterparts sent her niece to guide us to her family's small camp. The problem is that because camps move, there are no set roads, no street signs, and not even any real landmarks, finding the camp was difficult. We had to stop a number of times for our young guide to get her bearings.

The Gobi Desert. If you look closely, you can see tire tracks marking the road we were following, or maybe forging? In the distance lies Mandalgovi city.

The Mongolian word for camel is "Tiimmeee!"

Ashlee trying to make friends with the baby who was quite shy. She will be the first to tell you that camel humps feel really really weird.

As I was getting close to take this picture, this guy decided to spit/sneeze on me. He had the most rancid breath.

Ashlee making a new friend. Camel babies aren't very cute, huh?

After being spit on, this was as close as I wanted to get again. The family tried to get us to ride the big one in the back, but the camel wasn't having it.

This was the family's small camp. You might be able to notice the solar panels and satellite dishes -- and also the goat trying to open the front door of the ger.

Even though Ashlee hates goats, she loves baby animals.

Mandalgovi's larger monastery

We made the trip back to UB on the morning of the 4th, which was just in time because another nasty snowstorm rolled in half-way through our trip. It was pretty slow-going most of the way, but our driver seemed ultra-cautious as we slowly but steadily made our way to the big city. I think it took us a little over 8 hours.

We once again holed up at Khongor Guesthouse, whose hot showers were quite welcome after three days' of ger-life in the dusty Gobi -- I know what the Newberrys will think when they read this: "3 days!?! Try 2 years!"

Anyways, the rest of our time in UB was basically wrapping up a few loose ends before returning to Olgii -- for the last time! We had some shopping to do for the sitemates -- Brian wanted four bottles of hot sauce to last him the summer and Adi had a few spice requests of her own. Another thing we had to do was make a visit to the optometrist so we could both get new glasses on Peace Corps' dime. Thanks all you American taxpayers!

This is during my eye exam. They gave me these "tester" glasses to test my prescription.

Me, my new glasses, and a plate of tasty nachos from Los Bandidos, "the only Mexican/Indian restaurant in UB" (and probably the world).

We flew back to Olgii yesterday. As usual, our flight was scheduled for 6:50am, so we were up by 4am and at the airport by 5am to be first in line to check-in and avoid all the pushing and shoving. Unfortunately, after getting squared away at the check-in desk, we heard that windy weather in UB was going to affect the flight schedule. At first flights were only delayed an hour, then two hours, then four, then eight, and finally twelve. That's right, we got the pleasure of miserably sitting around Chingiis Khaan International Airport for pretty much the entire day. What made the whole experience really irritating was the fact that the airline didn't seem to care about keeping us passengers informed because they just closed down the check-in counter and retreated to the back room to drink tea, what announcements were made were in unintelligible Mongolian over the scratchy PA system, and the only desirable food available to us were candy bars, ramen noodles, and Mongolian grisly sausage-stuffed dumplings (**Ashlee's edit: this was desirable? was it even edible?). Anyways, our plane was finally cleared for take-off around 6pm and we made it to Olgii by 8:30pm.

Me not happy after spending 12 hours at the UB airport

So yeah, now we are back in Olgii to finish up the last 7 weeks of our Peace Corps service. It sounds pretty weird to say that we will be back in America next month! Speaking of which, we should have our flight information home next week! Then the countdown will really begin.

So I just realized that the rambling post I made yesterday didn't have any pictures! How can I make a post without pictures? Let's remedy this.

This first batch of pictures is from Agii's wedding. It was a pretty formal affair complete with long dombra solos and a group of candy-tossing "apas" (Kazakh for "grandmothers").

This is just before the ceremony. According to Kazakh tradition, the couple cannot show excitement until the ceremony has been completed.

Towards the end of the ceremony, these young ladies were dispatched to toss candies into the crowd. They actually threw the candies really hard and since they're pretty small, they flew right into people's faces.

This is during the feast/toast portion of the event. Agii was allowed to smile at this point.

This second batch of pictures is of my and Bahitgul's 8th grade students who are pen-pals with a first grade class in New Mexico. Today we distributed the contents of our very last package from America. Margie, the teacher in America, is awesome and she always includes posters, pictures, and hand-outs in addition to the letters from her students. Yesterday Bahitgul and I taped everything up on the walls of her classroom for the students to look over. This coming Monday is our school's Open House and Bahitgul is anxious to share everything with our students' parents.

Bahitgul explaining a couple of Margie's posters

The students looking over more posters/letters. That world map in the corner also came from Margie.

Bahitgul opening the package and distributing its contents

The students posing with the letters they received from their penpals

I told them to make "crazy" poses and they gave me waves instead

They said I had to be in the picture so they kidnapped the teacher from the next classroom over to take this

One last picture of everyone in their seats

It's been a busy few weeks of school, weddings, beautiful weather, and the usual drama of life in Mongolia. We are leaving on Saturday for UB and we won't return to Olgii until May 7th. Before we go, however, I thought I'd make this rambling post updating you on the goings-on of your favorite Olgii PCVs.

Last week I got pulled into my school director's office for a little chat/lecture. I think it was prompted by Peace Corps' inquiry into whether my school would like another volunteer after I leave. With Bahitgul acting as translator, my director interrogated me for fifteen minutes on "everything I have accomplished in two years." Unfortunately, most of my proudest achievements (like surviving two Mongolian winters and forging a close friendship with Bahitgul) don't really seem to impress her. I fear that all she sees is an American who doesn't speak Kazakh, who brings her expensive-by-local-standards electricity bills, who took a three-week vacation to Thailand in the middle of the school year, and who always seem to duck out of school parties before the meat plate is served. During the meeting, she said several times that she expects me to "work very hard" during my last months here.

Feeling a bit chastened, I walked home and discovered that our electricity had been shut off because the very same director that had just put me on the hot seat for not holding up my end of the bargain had neglected to pay our electricity bill for the past several months. I tried to be diplomatic about it first and not kick up too much of a fuss, but I don't think my director really understood the situation we were in. I know it makes us sound like Peace Corps divas, but Ashlee and I have discovered that there is a fine line between misery and "getting by" here in Olgii and that line is electricity. The second the power goes out, our refrigerator thaws spoiling our precious American food, our laptop batteries drain meaning we can't watch our beloved TV shows (the horror!), we can't use our little toaster oven, and, basically, life is in the pits. Anyways, I didn't see my director take much action, so I got on the phone to a few counterparts and also our PC regional manager. Within an hour or so, my director was getting phone calls left and right about her missed payments. All the badgering paid off and our electricity was restored within 36 hours, which is lightning fast for things in Mongolia.

In addition to fretting about our electricity, we have also attended two weddings in the past five days -- one for our friend Agii and another for our friend Aynabek. If you're in the right frame of mind, Kazakh weddings can be a hoot. For the most part, you are packed into a dining hall like a sardine for hours on end semi-listening to rambling toasts whilst snacking on potato and pickled vegetable salads and throwing back shots of vodka. Every now and then everyone breaks and heads into the dance hall for some good ol' Kazakh circle dancing. Although both weddings featured 25 toasts too many, we had a good time. It was nice that the four of us Olgii PCVs got to go together. At Aynabek's wedding we were even joined by our friend Denise, the American director of a local mine, who recently got back into town. During Denise's toast, she tried to explain the American tradition of clinking silverware on a glass to get the wedding couple to kiss, but it simply led to an awkward exchange in which the wedding emcee told the whole crowd in Kazakh that Denise was drunk. She was pretty embarassed.

In other news, the "countdown to freedom" that we have hanging in our apartment is currently at 65 days. I called it that because it's common to hear PCVs speak fondly of "Freedom Land" and not because we feel like we are in prison or anything.

We'll be in UB for most of the next two weeks. We have to have our medical physicals, dental cleanings, and our Mongolian language test (which we are confident we will fail). From the 27th to the 29th, our M20 class of volunteers will gather at a ger camp outside of UB to discuss how to transition into our post-Peace Corps lives. After this conference, we plan on making a trip down to the Gobi to visit some friends of ours. We figured that we can't leave Mongolia without seeing the Gobi!

Anyways, that's about all that's happening at the moment. My buddy Agii is still waiting to hear back about his Fulbright application and I'm waiting to hear from the Bowers Museum about hosting an exhibit from Olgii's museum -- at this point I can't see much happening on this during my remaining time here.

I guess that's all for now. I'm sure there will more updates when we get back from UB.

Guest Writer, Ashlee Burt

Firstly, thanks SOOO MUCH to my dad for sending the rocket kit, motors, and fun to Olgii! Everyone loved it!

We were finally able to launch our rocket today!! What a beautiful day it was too, 70*, sunshine-y, and only a whisper of wind. Scott was able to gather a good group of kids with his main counterpart (CP) Bakha, who were all super stoked to see the rocket launch. We set the rocket up ahead of time, so all we had to do was add the motor and let it fly. At first we were a bit worried that the kids would want to be really close to the rocket and swarm us as we readied it. But when I pulled the motor out, they went running for the hills. I'm sure Chinggis would have done the same.

The kids, teachers, and PCVs, getting ready for the big moment (this was just after I put the motor in, and it was hard to get the kids to be that close to the rocket).

The first launch was perfect! It didn't drift too far and all the boys (big and small) went running after it. It was caught by a very pleased 10th grader and he received a chocolate bar in return for his catch. After a short inspection, I deemed the rocket intact and we set it up for launch #2. Unfortunately, we had a dud-motor, so while the kids looked on with interest, I unloaded the motor and we prepared for the actual launch #2.

Bahka was supposed to help me launch by pressing THE BUTTON, but as soon as I pushed in the safety-key, the rocket was in the air! It went just as high as the first launch but the parachute didn't come out and it came back to the ground with a (less than shattering, but no less painful) thud. A fin popped off, but we were able to recover everything and we're hoping to make another run of it soon!

In the meantime, please enjoy this video of the first ever rocket launch in Olgii :)

The four of us Olgii PCVs finally made it out to countryside to visit Adi in her little soum ("village") of Tolbo. In a nutshell it was 48 hours of bumpy roads, icy winds, inflated prices, complaints, laughter, over thirty hands of Monopoly Deal, delicious American food, and dozens of spilt beverages courtesy of Brian "Spilly 1" Morris and Justin "Spilly 2" Gallagher. Ah, the memories.

Under Adi's leadership, the 5 of us caught a ride to Tolbo in one Olgii's ubiquitous Russian jeep taxis. With 7 of us in the car (the driver brought his son along), we were cramped by American standards but riding in the lap of luxury by Mongolian ones. The two-hour ride was punctuated with numerous bathroom breaks, the driver's impromptu decision to switch out the carburetor, a photo opportunity, and a chance for Ashlee to take a break from Brian's "moldy brussel sprout" breath.

Justin, our driver, and our ride

Adi and her kitty, Tartepsis. Tartepsis is a Kazakh word meaning something like "bad one." She named it that because Kazakhs don't really like cats and whenever people see her cat they say "Tartepsis."

Bathroom break

Roadside maintenance

With around a thousand people, Tolbo is one of Olgii's smaller villages. It sits between a couple of mountain ranges really close to Tolbo Lake. Adi lives in a two-room house sandwiched between two other houses -- it's sort of like a triplex. Her living situation is much like ours was last year, with a few small changes. Her primary fuel source is animal dung (which she uses to burn coal), she has her own lockable outhouse, and her water-source is a good 10-minute walk from her house.

Adi's house. The white structure to the right is where she stores her dung and coal.

Adi headed out to fetch water accompanied by her two dogs. The brick structure in front of hers is a standard countryside outhouse -- just a little 3 foot wall covering a pit with a couple of pieces of wood to stand on.

At the well

Justin struggling to funnel the water into the containers.

The small town that it is, Tolbo doesn't really offer much to do. We basically sat around Adi's house cooking, eating, playing games, and flipping through all the celebrity gossip magazines that Adi's family sends her. The magazines made us all realize how out of touch we are with American pop-culture because of our time here. Adi was a gracious host and she made sure we were all well-fed: amazing chicken burritos, equally amazing breakfast burritos, and turkey pepperoni pizza. Really, Brian was responsible for the pizza. Oh yeah, Ashlee also made some excellent hummus (all with ingredients bought in Olgii!).

Tolbo's main street

Poor Adi will probably be the source of town gossip over the fact that us three boys bought a large bag of beer and vodka. In Brian's words: "Hey, what else is there to do?" Actually, something that did keep us entertained was keeping track of the amount of times either Brian or Justin spilled something all over Adi's floor, rug, dresser, or bed. It must have happened at least 10 times, including the time when Brian laid back on the bed and right into the flour-covered cutting board that he was using to roll out the pizza dough.

To be fair, we did take a small sightseeing trip around town yesterday. Adi showed us the main sights of the "big store," her school, and the mosque. She also led us on a walk towards the nearby lake, although her sense of direction/distances is questionable. "Yeah, the lake is only a mile away so we should make it there within two or three hours." What? The walk did give us a chance to burn off breakfast, the scenery was beautiful, and walking on a frozen lake is always fun.

Tolbo's mosque

Looking back at Tolbo from the lake

That about wraps up our trip. We lucked out in securing practically our own car this morning for the drive back to Olgii, which we made in about 2 hours. I think it was a great bonding experience for our little Bayan-Olgii family, complete with a fair share of ribbing, eye-rolling, and tidbits of drama. It was also some great perspective for us city-dwellers. After walking the streets of Tolbo for a couple of days, Olgii is a booming metropolis.

So yeah, we're back in Olgii now looking to get on with April. School started back today so tomorrow will be my first day of classes in about a month. I've only got two weeks though because we're headed to UB on the 23rd for our "close-of-service" conference and we probably won't return to Olgii until May 7th. Also, our "close-of-service" date has officially been set as June 24th, which means that we will be back home in California either the last week of June or the first week of July. Hooray!

PS - Today I filed my statement-of-intent to register at UCLA so I am now officially a Bruin. I even have the fancy @ucla.edu email address to prove it. Actually, the address might not work until I pay tuition. Gulp.

Yesterday was excellent for two reasons: (1) we celebrated a wonderful Nauriz with our closest friends in Olgii and (2) I got accepted into UCLA’s graduate-level Teacher Education Program! Man, if only everyday could be like yesterday.

I’ll admit that I wasn’t exactly looking forward to Nauriz this year. In fact, I woke up yesterday morning feeling a little squeamish over the idea of eating bowl after bowl of yogurt soup in between choice cuts of horse sausage and sheep face. Nonetheless I dragged myself out of bed and turned on my computer to check my email – my usual morning ritual, which has taken a more serious tone the past few weeks in anticipation of hearing back from grad school. My brain wasn’t working too well and I was confused to see a message from “Scott” to “me” titled UCLA and beginning with the word “CONGRATULATIONS!” I thought, “What was I doing sending such a mocking e-mail to myself?” After a few seconds I realized that the email was in fact from Ashlee’s dad, also named Scott, and attached to it was a letter he received from UCLA (his address is our official “home of record”). The letter was the admissions decision saying I have been expected.

Needless to say, I was over the moon. Waves of relief, excitement, happiness, and a twinge of nervousness washed over me. I ran over to Ashlee to share the good news. I have never seen her wake up so fast. So yeah, it was a good morning – and it set the tone for the whole day.

We soon got a message from Brian saying that there would be a parade in the square around 10:30am. Our “downtown” apartment has a balcony that conveniently affords a view of the square, so we Olgii PCVs gathered for a celebratory toast at our place. The weather was awesome (in the 40s with blue skies and sunshine), the mood was elated, and Brian remarked that having drinks on our balcony made him feel like he was in New Orleans.

View from our balcony

After a bit we trotted over to the square to catch the parade. While it wasn’t an actual parade, there was lots of dancing, colorfully embroidered costumes, and loads of enthusiastic people. After a half hour or so we escaped back to our place for a Mexican lunch. We thought that if were going to spend the afternoon eating questionable Kazakh food, we might as well give our stomachs something nice to prep them. After we finished lunch, we got our first invite from our friend, Nurbol.

Nurbol is one of the nicest guys in the world. We used to see him a lot last year, but this year he finally secured a job at a local bank so he has been pretty busy -- in his words, "He's a banker now!" He still hopes to study abroad (he has something in the works that he should hear back from soon), but he says that his family is pressuring him to settle down and get married. He is 25 after all, which here in Olgii pretty much makes him middle-aged.

After Nurbol's, we made two more visits, one to our friend Khala's and another to see Ashlee's co-worker, Saule. According to Kazakh custom, a person should visit forty homes over three days to fully celebrate the holiday. What this means is that you spend roughly thirty minutes at each place slurping down soup, picking through the meat plate, and then cleansing your palate with cookies and candy before moving onto the next place.

We decided to end the night at Brian's "hashaa" (compound) visiting with our friend Sabit and his wife Nurgul. They are a wonderful young couple and we had a lot of fun playing "Sorry! Revenge" and sharing a taste of America with a bottle of Johnnie Walker in honor of my news from UCLA.

Around 8:30pm we found ourselves knackered and stuffed to the gills, so we decided to head home. We made a quick stop at a little store just around the corner from Brian's to buy some eggs. The store is owned and operated by a really sweet family who always light up when we visit. Ashlee and I both used our Kazakh to wish them a "Happy Nauriz" and they promptly invited us into their backroom for more soup and meat. Within 15 minutes our whole party (Ashlee, Justin, Brian, Sabit, and myself) were sitting on their couch enjoying their spread of food. It was really a delightful way to end the day -- and our last major holiday in Mongolia! It was one of those magical moments that makes our time with Peace Corps worth it, especially when our host pulled his dombra off the wall and serenaded us. Apparently he's a big deal in the dombra community.

So yeah, yesterday was awesome. As for the near future, we have to wait a few more weeks to hear back from school regarding our financial aid and housing options. We'll keep you posted!

It's March 19th -- which means we have about three and a half months left in Mongolia. We don't have a definite departure date yet and we probably won't have one until mid-May. The best-case scenario is that we will be home during the first week of July, just in time for me to take the CSET on July 9th. A number of things need to happen between now and then for this to take place, however. Keep your fingers crossed for us!

Things are pretty much the same since my last post. I'm still waiting on pins-and-needles to hear back from grad school, especially now that a few friends of mine who have applied to their own programs have gotten word on their applications. I check the status of my app every few days and it just says the same thing -- "No decision has been reached yet. Please check back during the months of March and April."

With all these things up in the air, Ashlee and I have been doing our best to keep busy. We're both studying for our respective grad school tests (Social Science CSET for me and GRE for Ashlee) and we are continuing with helping our two local friends (Aynabek and Agii) develop web sites for their nascent tour companies. I'm also happy to report that Agii passed the TOEFL this past week! This means that he can now officially apply for the Fulbright Student Fellowship for the 2012-2013 school year. Basically he just needs to write an essay, gather a few references, and send in his university transcript. If he makes it past the first round, he will need to return to UB in May for an interview at the embassy. After that the decision goes to Washington. I heard from the embassy that approximately 100 people apply for the scholarship every year and that they accept around 5. Keep your fingers crossed for him as well.

Earlier this week Ashlee and I also took a few baby steps in helping establish a Mongolian space agency. We finally got the chance to complete the model rocket that her dad sent us months ago (we have been waiting for the weather to get warm enough to the make an outdoor launch bearable). While things got pretty sticky (quite literally with our Mongolian superglue), we...er...Ashlee managed to assemble the little spaceship. Because of my large sweaty hands I'm not the best at such detailed work. Anyways, the rocket is ready. Now we just need to wait for a non-windy day for the launch -- something which we haven't had much luck with in the past few weeks. We're hoping for the first week of April when school goes back in session so we can have an audience.

In other news, this past Thursday we Olgii PCVs gathered for a little St. Patrick's Day celebration -- actually two celebrations. We started with brunch at Brian's with hollandaise sauce-covered omelettes and mimosas (although the Mongolian sparkling wine we got was flat). We continued the party with dinner at our place. Ashlee prepared an amazing soup (creamy, buttery, and baconey potato soup) along with sauteed cabbage, fresh soda bread, oatmeal cookies, and green cheesecake. There was also a considerable amount of beer. We love our holidays here.

Next week is Nauriz, the Kazakh holiday celebrating the first day of Spring. For us, it means three-ish days of visiting counterparts and being encouraged/forced to drink bowls of yogurt soup and eat chunks of meat (including choice cuts of sheep face and salty bits of horse sausage). Lord, give us the strength to pull through. Actually, it's sort of an awkward holiday, because in Kazakh culture you don't wait for an invitation to dine at a person's home, whereas for us the idea of showing up at someone's home uninvited is extremely rude -- and something we don't like when our counterparts do to us (like when a teacher at my school crashed our Christmas party). So basically I can see the situation playing out in which we sit at home waiting for text message invites to visit and our counterparts sit around their homes scratching their heads and wondering why we haven't dropped by yet. Ah, the perpetual battle of cultural integration versus retaining our American roots. Wish us luck!

Spring is definitely coming. The weather has consistently reached the high 20s the past couple of weeks and people are slowly but surely shaking the winter off of themselves. My school is still riding high on our Olympiad wins and everyone is looking forward to the upcoming spring break -- and all the craziness of Nayourz, the Kazakh national holiday on March 22nd.

We're doing our best to stay busy. I'm happy to report that I have made some more progress with the whole Olgii museum exhibit to America thing. I helped the museum director translate a brochure into English and we compiled a photo album of the museum's prized items to send to the Bowers Museum in California. The information has been passed onto the president of the Bowers Museum and their director of exhibits and they promise to get back to me soon. Ashlee and I also helped our friend Aynabek with his fledgling tour company. He is attending a tourism conference in UB at the end of the month and he needed help designing a brochure to distribute from his booth. I used my writing skills and Ashlee used her awesome computer skills to make a pretty professional-looking leaflet. Aynabek was pretty happy. Also, I have nominated my friend and counterpart Agii for a Fulbright scholarship to study in America during the 2012-2013 school year. I think he's an awesome candidate. The only catch is that before he can officially apply, he must take and pass the TOEFL (Test of English as a Foreign Language). He's taking the bus to UB on Monday, so I have spent the past week finding materials online to help him study. Cross your fingers for him! Lastly, Ashlee may have finally found a project that is actually related to her field! The local branch of World Vision helps operate a small center for kids with a mix of physical and mental disabilities. Ashlee toured the facility earlier this week and she hopes to return in the near future with a translator to help see exactly how she can pitch in. Wish her luck!

Everything else is groovy. I'm still waiting to hear back from UCLA -- according to their website admissions decisions are made between March and April. The only other news is that we will be back home in California in four months! Avocados, here we come!

Oh yeah, I suggest that everyone look for a chance to catch the latest BBC series "Human Planet." It's a follow-up to the "Planet Earth" series, but this time around they are focusing on people and not animals. One of the episodes heavily features Kazakh eagle hunters. The BBC crew made a couple of trips out to Olgii last year and Agii served as their tour guide and local fixer. You can even see him in the episode! You can catch a YouTube clip here.

That's about it for now. There are two weeks of school left before the two-week spring break. We also got word that our Close-of-Service conference in UB will take place at the end of April -- we're hoping to tack on a trip to the Gobi right after. Four months!

PS: This past Monday we Olgii PCVs gathered for a little Oscar party. It was pretty awesome! Justin hosted and we streamed the show live on Brian's computer. We also made banana pancakes and eggs benedict to celebrate -- all under the disapproving eye of a Danish couch-surfer that Justin was hosting. She's one of those people "who doesn't own a television" so I think she thought we were pretty silly for getting excited about Hollywood. Oh well -- it was some good quality America time!

PPS: This week was the Peace Corps' 50th Anniversary! Here's a video commemorating the momentous occasion :)

Phew -- with that collective sigh of relief from all of us PCVs and English teachers in the city, Olgii's third annual English Olympiad is over. My students' hard work really paid off: my 9th and 10th graders took first place and my 11th graders took second (out of 9 teams competing). Brian's 9th graders took second and his 11th graders third. Sure the two-day competition was long, nerves were frayed, and emotions ran high (especially amongst the private school kids who couldn't accept the fact that they were getting beat by the public schools), but it was all worth it in the end to see how happy my students are now. Plus, I feel like I have finally "delivered" something tangible to my school director who seemed quite pleased with the competition's results. After the awards ceremony she even invited all of us PCVs to her office for "refreshments:" crackers, oranges, and bowls of fresh koumiss (fermented mare's milk).

The competition consisted of 6 rounds: (1) team introductions; (2) general knowledge; (3) a spelling bee; (4) grammar; (5) a talent show; and (6) proverbs and slang. Justin, my counterpart Agii, and I moderated the events and Ashlee, Adi, and our English-speaking friend Khala were the judges. Brian became the de facto computer maestro as nearly every team wanted musical/video/slideshow accompaniment for their performances.

Overall, I think the whole thing was a success, however there is definitely room for improvement for next year's competition. For one thing, the "talent shows" were pretty one-dimensional: most of the teams ended up sending out one student to sing the same handful of English songs -- costing them points for creativity and participation. Also, there needs to be a way to make the whole thing more competitive for the other public schools who were all pretty much floundering on the grammar and introduction sections, totally placing themselves out of the competition. Oh well, that's something for Brian, Justin, and Adi to worry about since this time next year we will be back in America. Weird.

Here are some pictures:

The Mongolian/Kazakh "goi" factor was in a full force with balloons, twinkly lights, a karaoke system, and a "Merry Christmas" banner.

Justin and I emceeing it up.

My first place 9th graders. All first place teams won 40,000 tugriks worth of phone units donated by the local branch of World Vision. Second place got 30k and third 20k.

This is me monitoring the grammar portion of the competition. All the kids were super serious.

These are my 10th graders performing a skit called "An American Comes to Olgii" for the Talent Show. This performance really sealed the win for them.

My 10th graders after winning 1st place. That's Bahitgul on the left. She's the 10th grade teacher so she was pretty invested in the win.

These are my 11th graders in an equally creative talent show performance. Each student recited a Shel Silverstein poem while the other students acted the poem out. I think after the 9th and 10th graders took first place, the pressure to do as well really got to them. They were so nervous at the beginning that they fumbled their introduction, but they bounced back for this performance. They were initially upset about placing 2nd, but they soon came around to realize that 2nd place is pretty awesome.

There was lots of posing and photo arrangements going on after the awards ceremony.

Judges Ashlee and Adi with my counterparts Sophia and Bahitgul.

One last arranged photo. In the front row that's Bahitgul on the left next to Agii. Indira, the school director, is sitting in the middle. See how she is actually sort of smiling?

We've been back in Olgii for just over three weeks now and we are soldiering on with the rest of our service. We are officially within about 5 months of returning to California!

Life has returned to its usual pace. We are still spending lots of time at home watching shows (we have recently discovered AMC's Mad Men), but things are picking up at school for me. This semester I am co-teaching fourth grade in the afternoons. The kids are ridiculously cute and incredibly enthusiastic. Since it's their first year studying English, we mostly play lots of games and sing songs.

The 9 secondary schools throughout Olgii are also busy preparing for my counterpart Agii's third annual "Knowledge Olympiad" that is coming up in two weeks. Each school will send small teams of 9th, 10th, and 11th grade students to compete in the areas of Math, Computer Science, English, and Russian. Naturally, I am in charge of preparing my school's English teams. My students are all working really hard and we have been meeting for two to three hours every afternoon for the past week. The English portion of the competition includes six rounds: (1) introductions; (2) a spelling bee; (3) grammar; (4) a talent show; (5) general knowledge; and (6) proverbs and slang. I think my students have a real good shot at taking some of the competition's top prizes, which would make my director happy. She has not made it a secret that she expects our school to take 1st place since we are hosting the event -- and since we have a "real" English teacher. Naturally my arguments that the most important thing is that the students work together and have fun means nothing to her. Oh, well.

Here are some pictures from the past few weeks:

This is from my birthday dinner at Altai BBQ in UB. My buddy Todd (who lives on the opposite side of the country from Olgii) was also in town and he joined us. He gave me one of the greatest birthday presents ever: a bottle of Jack.

This is a picture from our favorite place to eat in UB: an Indian restaurant called Hazara's. We get the garlic naan, butter chicken, and saag paneer.

This is a picture of frozen Olgii that Ashlee took from the airplane on our descent. Looks welcoming, huh?

One of the packages we had waiting at home for us was from Thoreau Elementary School in New Mexico, the school I correspond with. They made us this gift for Christmas.

Since my birthday is January 22nd and Ashlee's is February 1st, our sitemates threw us a joint birthday party at Brian's place. Chef Brian made an alfredo pizza and Cincinnati chili. We also had cheesecake (the Jello no-bake kind) and a chocolate cake courtesy of our German friends in town.

Over the school break our "soumer" Adi decided to spend the week in the "big city." She spent most of the time at Justin's, but she stayed with us one night. She brought along her kitty.

Last Friday Bahitgul and I took our 8th graders to the local museum to take pictures of Kazakh and Mongolian cultural items for our friends in Thoreau.

That's about all that is going on for now. There are 5 weeks left until spring break and the huge Kazakh celebration of Nayourz. The weather is warming up and we have been having daily highs in the 30s. Just yesterday was my first day not wearing long underwear since October. It was glorious.

Oh yeah, I should be hearing back from grad school in the next 6 weeks or so. Keep your fingers crossed for me!

PS - The BBC has put together a follow-up series to the acclaimed "Planet Earth" series. It's called "Human Planet" and it looks at groups of people all over the world. One of the episodes focuses on Kazakh eagle hunters. The series has so far only been broadcast in the UK, but you can watch a short clip on YouTube here.

And just like that, after twenty hours of travel we are back to where we started a little over two weeks ago: our little double bed-sized room at Khongor Guesthouse in UB. Isn’t modern air travel great?

While our travel was long, nothing particularly noteworthy happened. I DID get another Subway sandwich in Korea though. From Seoul to UB we flew Miat, a Mongolian airline. It was a little funny finding ourselves in a large group of Mongolians after two weeks in Thailand. Boarding the plane in the Mongol melee, we quickly began to miss the orderly queues in Bangkok.

Anyways, we’re back in Mongolia now. We will be in UB a few days before returning to Olgii on the 25th. It’s nice to have this time to decompress. Since neither of us got much rest yesterday, we both got about 16 hours of sleep last night. We will pretty much be lying low here in UB. This is partly because after a few weeks bustling around Thailand, we are a little tired and the idea of sitting in one spot sounds nice. It’s also partly because UB is FREEZING! When we landed yesterday we found snowy weather and temperatures around -20F. It’s just not right. It’s also party because our favorite UB pastime – eating – doesn’t hold much appeal to us after the incomparable deliciousness we experienced in Thailand.

With that said, we are planning a small excursion tonight. Today is actually my 26th birthday. I know, I know – I’m an old man. Does 26 count as mid-20s or have I crossed into the late-20s? This afternoon Ashlee has promised to take me out for some authentically American Mongolian BBQ to celebrate.

Well, I guess that about wraps up this little travel journal. We had such an awesome time and we are looking forward to getting back to Olgii to unpack our bags, sort through our souvenirs (though we’re leaving most of them here in UB), and look at our pictures. This trip was a wonderful escape from our Mongolian lives, and while it wasn’t easy coming back I do feel that pushing through these next six months is doable.

Besides, if things start looking bleak and we need a distraction, we will just plan our eventual return to Thailand. After all, the bulk of the fellow travelers we interacted with were making their third, fourth, fifth, and even sixth trips to the Land of Smiles. Thailand is just one of those places that you can’t get enough of. As I said before: Thailand, this is the beginning of a beautiful relationship.

Well, we came, we saw, we spent a lot of baht, and now we’re headed back to our humble lives as Peace Corps Volunteers in Mongolia. It has been such a magnificent vacation and I am incredibly glad that we got the privilege, opportunity, and good fortune of coming.

After I last left you, the rest of our afternoon passed in a blur. We spent some time at the MBK Center plugged into the internet and preparing ourselves to re-enter reality and leave behind glorious holiday-land. After checking my email I spent a good half hour scanning the headlines to check what we’ve been missing. Nothing too spectacular. I was a bit surprised to see that the Peace Corps is in the national spotlight – albeit a negative one – regarding the physical safety of volunteers. It looks like this is going on at the same time that the nation is mourning the loss of Sargent Shriver, the father of the Peace Corps. Man, what a bad week for the Peace Corps.

Anyways, after getting our fill of the internet, we noticed that it was already 5pm and realized we had to get a move on it if we wanted a nice dinner before heading to the airport. Ashlee already had the place all picked out: a Thai restaurant near our hotel called “Cabbages and Condoms” that she read about. It’s a place run by an NGO focused on HIV awareness and reproductive health in Thailand. A portion of the restaurant’s proceeds funds their awareness campaign.

Hearing about the restaurant, I really wasn’t expecting much. As usual when you don’t have high expectations, I was really impressed with the place. It was really big, the outdoor patio was nicely decorated with lots of twinkly lights, the menu and food selection was large, and (most importantly) the food was top-notch and moderately priced. We also had a few laughs over some of the place’s decorations – mannequins dressed up in condom costumes and a Christmas tree decorated with multi-colored rubbers. It was an excellent way to say goodbye to Bangkok.

Finishing up dinner, we realized that we..er…Ashlee budgeted for the trip really well and we still had over 1,500B leftover. We thought this a little too soon. On the way out of the restaurant we noticed a gift shop. Shopping? Sure! 750B and a bagful of souvenirs later, we were on our way.

As we were walking back to our hotel it began to sink in that we were leaving. We were both a little sad, but like I said earlier, it has been an amazing trip and we’re leaving with no regrets. With that said, we were both pretty miserable when we had to exchange our shorts and flip-flops for jeans and shoes, which immediately made us sweat. I also felt a little weird walking outside with my carry-on bag stuffed with my winter wear. How cold is it in UB? -40F?!?

We breezed through the check-in procedure at the airport and we spent the last of our baht – one last Auntie Anne pretzel, a magazine for Ashlee, and two bags of dried pineapple.

Both a little giddy from a mix of sleepiness and travel excitement, we’re on the plane now as it is taxing to the runway. We’ve already gone through the on-board media station and we have selected our movies. It’s a short four-hour flight to Korea.

New Bangkok is amazing! It’s sort of NYC meets Las Vegas. It’s also exactly the place that we would avoid if we were making this trip from home in southern California.

We forced ourselves out of bed a little after 7am and dragged each other downstairs for breakfast. I think we were both having a really hard time because we know that today is our last day of vacation. Major sigh.

The hotel put out a nice spread for breakfast: loads of fresh fruit, bread, and a tray of Thai milky sweets. My favorite was a spread that tasted like a mix of pumpkin and coconut.

After breakfast we reluctantly trudged back up to our room to pack up so we could check out. Pulling our winter cloths from the bottoms of our bags was pretty much the most depressing things ever. Here in this Bangkok heat the idea of putting on wool long underwear, jeans, a fleece, a beanie, a scarf, and mittens is incomprehensible. The hotel let us stash our bags there after we checked out, so now the plan is to just spend the day around town and return to the hotel after dinner to change and catch a taxi to the airport around 8pm.

Top on our to-do list this morning was visiting Jim Thompson’s house. Jim Thompson was an American architect born in 1906 who, after service in WWII and a stint in the OSS, moved to Thailand where he became an entrepreneur and a “silk magnate.” He was a successful man and he used his wealth and his engineering skills to build a beautiful home here in Bangkok. He actually combined six individual centuries old Thai teak houses to make one large home, which he then stocked with a modest collection of art and Buddhist artifacts. After a mysterious disappearance in the Malaysian jungle in the early 1960s, his home become a historic site under royal protection. Today the home boasts a beautiful garden and guided tours of the compound. It was right up Ashlee’s alley. I found it to be a very peaceful place – very zen, especially since it’s in the middle of noisy Bangkok. I really enjoyed sipping a cappuccino next to a quiet koi pond while contemplating the type of man that Mr. Thompson was.

When we finished our visit, we decided to head back across town for lunch in Lumpini Park. We both purchased skytrain day passes again to help us get around. The reason I said that New Bangkok feels like NYC (even though I’ve never been there) is because with its skytrain, subway, and skywalks (sidewalks above the street just below the skytrain rails) it is very pedestrian-friendly. It also feels like NYC because lots of these megamalls are filled with “hi-so” (or high-society) stores. Heck, I’m sitting in at a café right now surrounded by such fashionable stores at Mont Blanc, Loewe, Tag Heuer, Burberry, and Louis Vutton. The reason New Bangkok feels like Vegas is because while it’s pretty warm outside, every store is blasting it’s air-conditioning. Also, all the big malls are linked, so you can walk down entire blocks with very limited exposure to the heat.

Walking through the skytrain station, I spied a woman carrying a bag of Krispy Kreme donuts. It immediately set my mouth awatering. I dragged Ashlee around the station looking for the donut shop, but we didn’t have any luck finding it. I soon resigned myself to the idea that it must have been a mirage. Wishful thinking, certainly.

We boarded the train and headed towards the park. As we glided along the track above the street I looked out the window watching the shops slide by below us. Then suddenly I saw a 7/11 slip by with a small stand outside it selling Krispy Kreme! I quickly told Ashlee and she said she took one look at my hopeful face and knew that we had to go after it.

We got off the train at the next stop and made our way back up the street to the little donut stand I spied, a small shrine to American overindulgence. We found the place and my donut was every bit as amazing as I hoped it would be.

Now, on to the park! For navigation purposes, we have been using a map called “Nancy Chandler’s Street Guide to Bangkok” or something like that. Lonely Planet recommends it and it was pretty spot-on when we used it around Old Bangkok – where things haven’t changed much in recent years. Here in New Bangkok, however, the map (whis was last updated in 2009) has been a little off. Every time we are led astray (especially when it’s shopping advice), Ashlee shakes her fist in the air and says “Nancy Chandler!” Ashlee swears she is going to send a tersely worded email to Ms. Chandler.

We were a little uderwhelmed by the park. We definitely expected a little more people-watching going on, but the place was pretty dead. I guess it was only 11am on a Thursday. We were also hoping for a slew of street vendors hocking some delicious food for us to sample, but no such luck – even though our friend Nancy told us there would be. With rumbling tummies, we turned our backs on the park and headed in search of some grub.

We didn’t have to walk far. We soon came upon a chain French bistro – something like Au Bon Pain. The place served up some amazing sandwiches! Refreshed with some full tummies, we decided to head back to megamall land so Ashlee could shop around – although she was still doubtful of Nancy’s advice – and we could possibly catch a movie.

On the way to the nearest sky train shop, Ashlee saw something that made her do a double take: a mall boasting a sign for Auntie Anne’s pretzels. No way! Even though just five minutes before she was complaining about how full she was, she HAD to get a pretzel!

This is what I mean about New Bangkok being a place we would have avoided if we had made this trip from California. If we had just come from America – the land of Subways, Burger Kings, Auntie Anne’s, and all the rest – and we knew that we were headed back there soon, we would scoff at everything American in Thailand. Screw Pizza Hut, gimme some pad thai! Alas, tomorrow we are to return to the freezing Mongol Steppe and a few days later we will be back in Olgii, so now we feel the need to stuff our faces with whatever we are craving. No regrets!

So, yes, even though we were stuffed to our gills with delicious sandwiches, we DID eat a pretzel and it was awesome. After this little (over)indulgence we headed back uptown.

After walking through a couple of malls and considering and then rejecting the idea of catching a movie another movie, Ashlee found the “ultimate fix-priced souvenir shop” (according to Nancy) in the basement of the Intercontinental Hotel. Not sure I could handle it, I made a beeline for the nearest café – which is how I ended up here, at this ridiculously over-priced little place smack-dab in the middle of high-society. I shudder to think of how much this iced latte is going to cost. To be honest, I would rather have a condensed milk-rich Thai iced coffee from a street vendor outside for an eighth of the price.

We are doing our best to make the most of our remaining time in Thailand. My pizza was awesome – I’m glad that I splurged and bought the “medium” size. There’s no way the menu was correct when it said that it could feed two to three people – at least not two to three American people…

After my lunch I joined Ashlee for her lunch at the Thai food court. She was a happy girl because she got to have both dim sum and sticky mango rice.

At about 12:30pm we found ourselves full of food with four hours till our movie. We decided to use the skytrain (we bought a day pass) to get back to our hotel to finish checking in.

Our place is called Suk 11 and it seems to be a fixture among Bangkok’s hostel. It is deceptively large and it has character and a fun décor – with its rooftop garden with vintage tuk-tuks to its labyrinthine hallways that make you forget you’re inside to all the supposedly proscribed messages scribbled on the wall by former guests. The whole place sort of reminds me of the long entrance to the Indiana Jones ride at Disneyland. Ashlee made arrangements for us to have our own room complete with bathroom and AC. What a girl.

Back at the mall we got a small caffeine fix after following a series of signs to a 5th floor food court offering free Thai iced teas to international visitors. We love free stuff!

A little after 4pm, we headed to the movie theater. The doors to our theater weren’t open yet, so we wandered over to the concession stand where we had a funny moment. On display behind the counter they had three types of popcorn: salted, cheesy, and caramel. Intrigued, we ordered the cheesy kind. The woman helping us sort of laughed and offered us a sample of the popcorn before she filled our tub. We both popped kernels into our mouths and then looked at each other funnily as we chewed and swallowed them. We looked back at the sign over the popcorn a little more closely: cheesy corn popcorn. Cheesy corn? The lady just laughed again and understood when we changed our order. After sampling the other flavors we got a mixed tub of the salted and the caramel kind.

Soon our theater opened up and we eagerly found our seats. At the top of the theater there were four cushy love seats complete with reclining backrests, cupholders, and snack trays. The floor was also lined with carpet. The couch was really nice to sit in and it made the theater experience feel a little homier.

The movie was okay, nothing to rave about. The best part, actually, was just sitting in the air-conditioned theater on that comfy couch and scarfing on snacks. The only other thing that stands out in my mind was when before the movie started the theater played the national anthem and showed a little video montage honoring the king. Everyone in the theater stood up to show his or her respect.

We got out of the movie at 7pm – just in time for dinner. We already had the place all picked out: a Mexican joint called Charlie Brown’s right next door to our hotel. While it was our most expensive meal yet (we had to get margaritas!) it was well worth it. We got chips with salsa and guacamole and a combo plate with a taco, chimichanga, and enchilada. It was delicious. People must have thought we were animals if they heard us say “Mmmm!” after each bite – and then fingerlick the bowls of salsa and guacamole clean. Hey, they can’t judge us until they have spent some time in Mongolia.

After dinner we picked up a few ice creams from 7/11 and decided to stroll around for a bit. The sidewalks were filled with vendors hocking food, clothes, pocketknives, and bootlegged media. At one stall I was very tempted to buy the complete series of “West Wing.” I didn’t.

At one point during our walk we were happily licking our ice creams when we came across a small cross street that was tastefully lit with lots of twinkling lights. We made it about halfway down the street before we realized we were entering part of the red-light district. All of a sudden we noticed the street was lined with young scantily clad Thai women, “clubs” with blacked out or heavily curtain windows, and plenty of people passing out fliers for ping-pong shows. A bit red-faced, we both backed our way back to the main street and returned to our hotel.

Alas, tomorrow is our last day in Thailand. The good news is that our flight doesn’t leave until nearly 11pm, so we still have a full day. Also, we are both looking forward to our 7-hour layover in Seoul, although I’m sure we’ll be pretty tired. Eh, we’ll sleep when we get to UB.

Phew, after a pleasant day of traveling we have made it back to Bangkok. We are actually in a city within a city within a city, but more on that later.

After I left you yesterday, I joined back up with Ashlee and we went on a snack-hunting expedition for our train ride – we remembered the food that the train serves is both over-priced and definitely not worth it. Anyways, we stumbled into a small supermarket called “Ocean Mart” and we were blown away. The place was packed with a fresh bakery (we went a little crazy and got coconut rolls, a banana muffin, a loaf of brown bread, a couple of baguettes, and an apple roll), loads of salty snacks (jalapeno kettle chips!), a complete liquor aisle, and a lot more. I now what you’re thinking – it sounds like a well-stocked 7/11 in America, right? – but to us, a couple of PCVs from the Mongolian countryside, it was amazing. It’s funny, even though we’ve been in Thailand for two weeks now stuff like this still surprises us.

After piling up on some snacks, we caught the bus back to Krabi Town. These buses – the pick-ups with plank seating in the back – have a specific name, but like many other Thai words we have come across, it is difficult to spell, pronounce, and remember. We eventually made our way back to our hotel just in time to get picked up by the busy agency at 4pm. It was a pretty sophisticated operation. The bus station sent out a fleet of small minibuses to pick up all pre-booked passengers from their respective hotels and brought them to the station itself, which is a little ways from the town center.

Most of our fellow travelers seemed to be people we left on PP – they all looked a little bedraggled from spending a couple of weeks on the beach. I’m sure there was a fair share of hangovers in the bunch, too. Our bus left on time and it was a two-hour drive to Surat Thani, which is the nearest railway station to Krabi.

We pulled up to Surat Thani around 8:20pm and we had an hour to kill before boarding our train. Once we got settled on the platform, Ashlee decided to go exploring. All the exploring I needed to do was right in front of me: a small kiosk with a large cooler of cold beers. Since the station is in an out-of-the-way place, and not in a tourist trap like PP, I was able to get two beers for cheaper than the price of one back on the beach. Only after making the purchase did I realize that each bottle was 650mL – hm, a liter and a half of beer right before bed? I paused for a second and then thought, “What the heck, it’ll help me sleep.”

It was actually a pretty great moment for me sitting there on that busy train platform on a warm night and sipping on a cold bottle of Chang. It’s the simple things in life, huh?

The train arrived as scheduled and we jumped aboard into our first class cabin – the beds were even already turned down for us! Even as the train was pulling away from the station we were already snug in our beds. The beer (and the delicious salami sandwiches we put together using the ingredients we picked up from Ocean Mart) did the trick and I slept like a baby the whole night.

A quick side note – not everyone in our section of the train seemed impressed with their first class digs. I saw a Frenchmen leaving the bathroom shaking his head. He looked at me and said, “Disgusting. First class my ass.” Alright, I admit it: the bathrooms were a bit sketchy.

We pulled into the Bangkok train station a little after 9am. This time instead of staying in Old Bangkok, Ashlee booked us a place in New Bangkok – the part of the city dominated by skyscrapers, megamalls, skytrains, and subways. We hopped onto the subway right from the train station. It was really nice and clean – in fact, I think we were the dirtiest things on the whole train.

The subway spit us right out into the heart of New Bangkok. We’re staying in an area called the Sukhumvit District, a place popular with expats, tourists, and young middle-class Thais. As usual, it was a challenge to get our bearings in a new place and navigate our way to the hotel, but Ashlee eagerly led the way and she managed to get us there relatively easily.

While it was too early to fully check-in, the hotel did let us stow our bags so we could tackle the city unencumbered. We didn’t really have much of a plan other than to explore some of Bangkok’s famed megamalls.

The street our hotel is on is right at a sky train stop. Relatively new, the sky train is a subway in the sky and it seems to be surprisingly efficient in getting you around New Bangkok. Ashlee was really excited to ride it – she loves this sort of public transportation. Again, the stations and the trains themselves are really clean and well maintained. They are also wonderfully cool with air-conditioning.

Our first stop of the day was the MBK Center, one of the main megamalls. I don’t think either of us were prepared for it – I mean I already told you that we were floored by the friggen’ Ocean Mart in Ao Nang. With it’s very own sky train stop and security checkpoint, the MBK Center totally blows UB’s State Department Store out of the water and it even overshadows South Coast Plaza. The place is absolutely huge – something like seven floors of shops, restaurants, and food courts complete with a movie theater, bowling alley, and souvenir market. This is what I meant earlier when I said we were in a city within a city within a city – MBK, New Bangkok, Bangkok.

MBK holds tons of stores – which made Ashlee happy – and twice as many places to eat – which made me happy. The place has Thai food courts, international food courts, up-scale restaurants, and staple American fastfood joints like Burger King, McDonald’s, KFC, and Pizza Hut. There’s even a Sizzler!

The movie theater is on the top floor. Just for the heck of it and to soak in the theater experience, we bought a couple of tickets to see the new Tron movie. The theater even has a tiered ticket system. Just because we were curious, we shelled out 350B ($10) for a “premium couch.” We’ll let you know how it goes.

Anyways, the place had us in such a tizzy that we couldn’t even make a joint decision on where to eat lunch, so we split up. Ashlee is doing some shopping and I came here to Pizza Hut. I know, I know – it’s not really the best pizza and Thai food is so amazing (and cheaper), but I’m just really craving the American pizza experience. I got a medium pan pizza with extra pepperoni. Here it comes!

What a pleasant morning it has been! We grabbed breakfast at the same place as yesterday. Our two friends were still running the show and they both broke into smiles when they saw us walk up. They even remembered our order because even though we only selected a few donuts, one of them set a large bowl of pineapple on our table and then winked at us.

Since we’re catching a bus out of town this evening we had to check out of our hotel. The bus agency will pick us up from the hotel at 4pm and the hotel let us store our bags behind the front desk.

Thus we found ourselves walking to Krabi Town around 9am with about 7 hours to kill. As if a signal from above, just a few minutes from our hotel we saw a small open-air bus with a sign saying it was headed towards Ao Nang, the small beach community I mentioned yesterday. We flagged down the driver and jumped on board.

Thirty minutes later we found ourselves in downtown Ao Nang. With sort of a Laguna Beach feel, Lonely Planet got it right when it described the place, with its shop after shop of cheesy souvenirs and cars driving up and down the main road advertising Thai boxing matches and snake shows, as kitschy. Although the day is quite overcast there are plenty of people out and about and loads of them are sprawled on the beach. While the scenery is pretty enough and there are loads more beautiful places just a boat ride away, we are thankful for our time on Mai Khao Beach.

We walked around a bit, poked our heads into a few shops, snagged a watermelon shake, and then decided that the morning warranted a couple of massages. We found a stretch of beach with a long row of massage tents. We selected one – or rather it selected us with a 50% discount and a skewer of pineapple – and we settled for an hour-long coconut oil massage for each of us. It was pretty great.

Nice and relaxed after our rub-downs, Ashlee put the restaurant choice for lunch up to me. A little Thai-ed out from yesterday, I jumped at the chance for a nice Subway sandwich – I told you the place was kitschy!

Now that we are well-fed, Ashlee is off getting her shop on and I’m sitting in a little café sipping on an ice tiramisu latte. I don’t want to go back to Mongolia.

It's watermelon shake time!

Inside one shop, the shopkeeper ran over to Ashlee and ran her hand down Ashlee's back. Apparently Ashlee picked up this little hitchiker while shopping around.

The "bus" between Krabi and Ao Nang.

Ok, I know I sound like a broken record, but today was excellent! I’M SO FULL! We’re back in our hotel room now freshly showered and watching a terrible Australian drama on the TV while the AC blasts away. We’re also trying not to move too much because our stomachs are busy digesting all the food we gobbled up at our cooking class.

The class took place in a nearby beach community called Ao Nang. The six-hour session was led by a very energetic and personable lady named Ya. She has been working with and around Thai cuisine in places ranging from Luxembourg to Australia since she graduated from a culinary institute in Bangkok in 1983. She opened up her private cooking school here in Krabi about ten years ago.

The were nine of us students in all: a couple from New Zealand, two independent travelers from Germany, a small family of three from Sweden, and us. Everyone spoke English fluently. The Swedish family included a good-natured but extremely chatty 14-year-old boy who reminded Ashlee of Augustus Gloop.

Over the course of six hours, we cooked and ate an incredibly amount of food. I think we made something like 17 dishes: spring rolls, pad thai, 4 or 5 different curries, a few stir fries, a couple of soups, and 2 or 3 salads. The whole process was very hands-on and we were involved in every step of the cooking process.

Even during the tedious work of chopping the raw ingredients, Ya kept us all entertained. Her favorite things to say always came in pairs: “Same, same”; “Chop, chop”; and “Bang, bang.” She would say the last one when she wanted us to smash certain vegetables (garlic cloves, lemon grass, ginger, etc.) with wooden mallets.

My favorite dishes of the day were the spring rolls, pad thai, yellow curry, sticky mango rice, and chicken and coconut soup. While a few of the dishes were nice and sweetened with coconut milk, most of them were quite fiery. The whole thing was such an enjoyable experience and I’m glad we did it. When the class ended, Ya sent each of us off with a small recipe book so we can recreate our favorite dishes at home.

Our friend, Augustus.

After class, we caught a ride back to Krabi Town. Although we were stuffed to the gills, we were too tempted by some of the delicacies on display at the night market. We managed to put down some coconut ice cream and a couple more of those donuts from this morning. At this point, we waddled back to our hotel room.

Tomorrow evening we will be on the move again. We’re catching a bus back to Surat Thani where we will take an overnight train to Bangkok. This means, though, that we still have most of the day to spend here in Krabi. I think the plan is to head to a nearby beach community where I can find a nice café and Ashlee can shop. What a life!

Just a quick note to rave about the authentically Thai (and truly enjoyable) breakfast we just had. We got up this morning and we realized that we weren’t in the mood for hotel food. Since the hotel is on the outskirts of town, however, we weren’t really swimming in dining options.

Undaunted by these prospects, we walked up the road a bit until we saw a few tables set up outside a canopy under which a smiling woman was dishing out food to a small crowd of locals. Jokingly looking around her hut for a food rating, we decided this was the place for us. The lady and her friend, who was in charge of a small drink stand, welcomed us right in and were eager to show off the dishes. Relying on our Peace Corps skills of using broken English and hand gestures to communicate, we managed to get a whole pineapple, a couple of deliciously tasty beignet-style donuts, and probably the best iced coffee I have ever had. As we were tucking into our meal, I took a look to see what sort of food the locals were eating. It appeared to be white rice topped with boiled chicken along with small packets of homemade sauce and sliced cucumbers. I got the lady’s attention and ordered us a dish. It was great! It also came with a bowl of soup flavored with cilantro, green onions, and fried onions.

Sitting there with those people and enjoying our little improvised breakfast, I think we both realized exactly how much we have come to love and enjoy Thailand. I don’t think we can rave about it enough.

Oh yeah, the other nice part about our meal was when it came time to settle the bill, the total was only 90B – about $3! To put it in perspective, that is about what I spent on my large iced latte at that fancy coffee shop on PP and it’s actually 10B less than a single beer at the Seaside Cottages!

Now let’s just hope we don’t get sick…

PS – In case I haven’t mentioned it before, what makes Thai iced teas and coffees so good is the copious amounts of condensed milk and simple syrup they contain. Thais are known for their sweet tooths.

Unfortunately our time in Thailand is coming to a close. The good news, however, is that today we had two of our best meals yet.

For lunch, we headed back to Ciao Bella, the Italian place from last night. We went there for two reasons: (1) it was just 15 steps from the beach loungers we were sitting in and (2) we spied a couple of people eating some delicious-looking pizzas. We ordered a couple of mixed salads and an incredible Hawaiian pizza. It was pretty awesome.

After lunch we both decided to do our own thing. Ashlee went to get a pedicure and I headed to a combination coffee shop and bookstore. The place was pretty crowded so I shared a table with a rather chatty Russian man with poor English. As I sipped my iced latte, my new friend tried to explain to me the benefits of yoga and meditation – or at least that’s what I think he was talking about. He was a real happy guy and when he left, he simply said, “Be happy,” which I thought was a nice way to say goodbye. Oddly enough, that’s how goodbye is translated into Mongolian.

When my friend left I was free to finish my drink and browse the bookstore. I ended up purchasing a copy of “The Beach” (it was a book before it was a movie). I’ll let you know if it’s any good. Once I made the transaction Ashlee showed up with freshly painted toes and we headed back to our hotel to fetch our luggage.

We grabbed our bags and said farewell to Chris, the helpful guy at the front desk. He managed to do us one last kindness by arranging for his friend to carry our bags for us on a wheeled cart all the way to the ferry terminal – about a 25-minute walk.

We got to the boat with plenty of time to spare and we settled into a seat inside the air-conditioned cabin. The boat left on time and we waved goodbye to PP as we pulled away. The ride itself was uneventful, well, we did enjoy eating a bag of salt and vinegar kettle chips which we found at a 7/11 on PP.

We pulled into the ridiculously nice Krabi port a little after 5:30pm. We managed to jump right into the back of a waiting taxi and got a free ride to our hotel. By American standards, the place we’re staying at (Thara Park View Hotel) is pretty no frills, but with its AC and hot shower it is a backpacker’s dream. It still only costs about $20 a night. The only catch is that the place is a good 20-minute walk from the town center.

After checking in, we did our usual ritual of running to our room, peeling off our sticky clothes, and jumping into the shower. Cooled off, we got dressed and proceeded to get all sweaty again by walking to town in search of dinner. We vaguely knew where we were going but for the most part we said a little prayer that we would make it to where we wanted to go: the “night market.” We weren’t sure what to expect, but according to Lonely Planet, it’s the place to eat at in Krabi.

From what I know, Krabi is a great place to visit if you have time to explore the surrounding areas. While there is not much to do in Krabi Town itself, it is a great base from which to visit some awesome beaches, islands, and mountains. Apparently it is some sort of rock climber’s dream.

To us though, it is just a sleepy little Thai town, which is nice to experience after crazy Bangkok, isolated Mai Khao Beach, and uber touristy PP. Walking to town, I was struck by how quiet it was – no traffic, no street vendors, no tuk-tuks, and no one trying to get me to buy a crappy suit. It was nice.

We ended up finding the market quite easily. While Ashlee was disappointed that it wasn’t a “true” market since it didn’t have clothes or knick-knacks for her to browse through, the food did not disappoint. The market itself was about a hundred yards of food stalls. Most of the dishes we recognized, but some looked a little different.

We took a seat behind one of the busier stalls after the energetic cook beckoned us in. The place was definitely booming and it was popular with tourists and locals alike. It took a while for our food to arrive, but it was worth the wait. We went for seafood noodles with vegetables, garlic and pepper chicken with rice, and Thai iced tea. After this, we discovered another stall making our favorite banana pancakes and then another one offering fresh coconut ice cream.

As we sat along the river rubbing our bellies, we realized that it would be nice to learn how to make such delicious food. At that moment, we made a snap decision to take a cooking course tomorrow. Right across the street from where we were sitting was a guesthouse with a whole rack of brochures with different courses to take. We selected the best one and paid our deposit. Wish us luck!

PS – Whenever people in town heard where we are staying, they would repeat it back to us in voices of wonder. We don’t know if it’s because the place is far from town, expensive by local standards, or maybe it’s a well-known ladyboy brothel…

It has been a very enjoyable stay here on PP, especially once we got our bearings and learned how to avoid most of the craziness. We’re currently sitting in a couple of loungers at a beachside bar about 15 paces from the water’s edge. We’re on the backside of Tonsai Village looking out on an idyllic bay and enjoying a refreshing watermelon shake. The sand is white, the ocean waters are a mixture of blue and turquoise, and there is a small fleet of longtail boats just waiting for the rest of the island to wake up. It’s a pretty sleep Sunday morning – just our speed.

Yesterday was quite nice. Despite the noise and the heat we both managed to get some sleep and we got up around 8am ready for the day. We started it just down the road from our hotel with breakfast at a small homey café called the Garden Home Café. Chris at the front desk assured us that it’s the best place to eat at on PP – in the interest of full disclosure, however, the place is owned and run by our hotel. We were pretty happy with the food: yogurt parfait with fresh fruit and home-made muesli, a banana pancake, and – to Ashlee’s delight – a bagel with cream cheese!

While we were waiting for our food to arrive, we were looking around the café and we found a wall of photos dedicated to the 2004 tsunami. Apparently it did a fair amount of damage here on PP – no worries, though, the place seems to have bounced back nicely.

After breakfast we set off for the beach and we wound up at the exact same spot that we are sitting now. We spent a few hours just relaxing, reading, and people-watching. It seems that the majority of sun-seekers here are European with a fair sprinkling of Australians – as evidenced by the amount of beer-bellied men in speedos. Mixing in these crowds you just hear so many different languages: French, German, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese – pretty much everything but Mongolian or Kazakh. Even with all these languages being spoken, however, nearly everyone we have interacted with seems to either speak or at least understand English. The other thing you notice is that people from Iceland have a different sense of fashion.

Anyways, after getting our beach-time, we walked to our hotel just in time to be “picked up” for our afternoon longtail boat tour of neighboring Phi Phi Ley. The reason I say “picked up” is because on an island with no roads and no vehicles, “picked up” means trotting behind our guide/boat captain as he pedaled furiously on his bicycle through the village alleys leading us to his boat. Along the way we picked up some fellow passengers – a young German family, a French couple who brought Mom along, and a few other independent travelers. They seemed like a nice bunch of people.

The boat we boarded was the same model as the one we tooled around Bangkok’s canals in: a traditional Thai longtail. Long and slim, they seat about 15 people and they are powered by giant outboard motors controlled from the rear by the captain. As we piled into our boat, about 10 other boats were being similarly boarded. We quickly realized that each boat had the same itinerary as us.

Our first stop of the day was at a place called “Monkey Cove.” When we pulled up there were already a half dozen boats there and tourists lined the shore. There were also quite a few shrieks followed by roars of laughter. As you might have deduced from the name, the shore and the nearby mountainside was swarming with monkeys. Socialized to take food from humans, the animals certainly weren’t shy. A few minutes’ stop was enough for us.

Our next stop was a calm bit of the bay where the captain distributed masks and snorkels and sent us overboard. My 7th grade snorkeling experience in Catalina came in handy. Swimming around and looking at colorful fish, coral, and various other undersea life made Ashlee as giddy as a child. I was just happy to be paddling around in such beautiful water. After about 20 minutes overboard, we all clambered back into the boat via a removable metal staircase.

Since the boats are so narrow, when someone is climbing in it concentrates a lot of weight on one side causing the vessel to lean – the larger the person, the more the boat leans. I didn’t particularly care for this manner of entry because I don’t like situations in which attention is brought to the fact that I’m a larger than average man. I joked with Ashlee that whenever I climbed into the boat it was like a kraken attacking the ship with how much the dang thing would rock and unsettle our fellow passengers. At one point I was entering the boat while unbeknownst to me a young woman was making her way to the back of the ship by walking along the outside edge. As the boat leaned to take my weight, she lost her balance, gave a short scream, and fell into the water. I was a little embarrassed.

The rest of the afternoon passed in this manner. The small fleet of tourist-bearing longtails motored around on a set circuit stopping every now and then to disgorge their passengers and let us snap pictures, paddle around in the water, and/or snorkel. The scenery was gorgeous.

Our afternoon boat trip culminated with a visit to Maya Bay – the gorgeous setting of “The Beach.” The place has become so popular because of the movie that it is simply referred to as “The Beach.” It is definitely a beautiful spot with a nearly enclosed bay and a long white sandy beach. The only thing that would have made our visit better is if there were about 150 fewer people there with us – well that and if one of our fellow passengers (a young guy from Holland traveling alone) had not injured his shoulder on our last snorkeling stop. From what we can tell, he may have dislocated it. He managed to get himself back in the boat and assembled into a position that he didn’t move from for the rest of the trip. Poor guy – I hope he gets a chance to return to “The Beach” under happier circumstances.

We left Maya Bay around 5:30pm and headed back to PP. On the way we were treated to yet another gorgeous sunset.

Back on PP, we made a quick stop at our hotel to change clothes and then we set out for dinner. We decided on an Italian place called Ciao Bella. Right on the beach (our table was literally on the sand) and owned by a real-life Italian – who is also the author of a harrowing tale about surviving the tsunami – the place serves up some great food. It was an excellent way to end the day.

This morning has mostly been more of the same, although we did start it out with a grueling 20-minute hike up to the island viewpoint. Our efforts were well worth it as we were rewarded with stunning views of PP’s twin bays. Our little hike really worked up our appetites which we once again satisfied at the Garden Home Café. After yesterday’s bagel, I don’t think Ashlee thought about going anywhere else.

Unfortunately today is our last day on PP and we have already checked out of our hotel – although the place was gracious enough to let us store our bags there until we catch the ferry later this afternoon. We’re headed onto Krabi, a town back on the mainland. We will be there for another couple of nights before heading back to Bangkok.

We’re back in our hotel room now after an excellent dinner. We did go with the Banana Sombrero and their Mexican food did not disappoint. We even thought it was good by southern Californian standards – don’t get me wrong, it was no Avila’s, but it was a few steps above Baja Fresh. The chips and guacamole we started the meal with really hit the spot.

After dinner we stopped by a 7/11 (they really are all over the country!) and I picked up a can of coke and a cup of ice to complete my after-dinner cocktail. We then headed to our place.

We’re staying on the outside of town at a little place called the Garden Home. We have a small bungalow with a garden-like bathroom and a small patio with a hammock! It was really nice pouring myself a little drink and swinging away.

While I was busy with my cocktail, Ashlee went to the front desk and booked the half-day excursion for us tomorrow. Since it doesn’t leave until 1:30pm, we thought it would give us time for a leisurely morning. From what we can tell it will be four to five hours of boating around the island along with a bit of snorkeling and lots of photo opportunities. It may or may not culminate with a visit to “The Beach” at sunset. I’m pretty excited!

I guess I’ll try to get to sleep soon. It’s a little stuffy in here (no AC – only a large fan and it sounds like we’re sharing a wall with a bar, but hey, we’re in Thailand!).

This place is nuts! We made it to Ko Phi Phi and its main town (Tonsai Village), which literally translates to “Tourist Village,” is an absolute beehive of activity – a total sensory overload for me. In short, it’s pretty much the complete opposite of where we spent the past three nights on Mai Khao Beach.

It really all started the second we got to the pier in Phuket. We said goodbye to the Seaside Cottages around 11am – after eating our fill of bacon rolls, drinking our last watermelon shake, and enjoying our last few quiet moments with the beach. Malcolm gave us and another departing American couple a lift to the main road where we had to hail a ride to Phuket Town. The second we hit stepped out of Malcolm’s car we were hit by a wall of heat. After a rather sweaty 20 minutes we managed to score a ride in a nice air-conditioned minibus. We dropped our new friends – who are thinking of joining Peace Corps – at the bus station and then our driver took us all the way to the pier, which is where the craziness began.

The place was filled to the gills with a whole crowd of 20-something “wasteoids” all looking bleary-eyed and hungover from their partying in nearby Patong (the red-light district of Phuket) and looking to continue the fun on Ko Phi Phi, Ko Lanta, Ko Samui, and the other islands. In Thai, “Ko” means “island.” Technically it should be Ko Phuket, but since it’s so big people forget it’s an island and drop the Ko.

Despite the craziness we managed to book passage on the 1:30pm ferry to Ko Phi Phi. Phi Phi (PP from here on out) is a place made famous in the late 90’s from the book/movie “The Beach” with Leonardo D’Caprio. The movie used an uninhabited island just off PP (Ko Phi Phi Ley) as the setting of the “perfect” beach. Ever since it has been sort of a mecca for backpackers – and it’s also one of the reasons we’re here.

Anyway, the ferry ride was pretty uneventful. We boarded early and snatched a couple of coveted seats in the air-conditioned main cabin. Most of the wasteoids spent the two-hour trip sprawled on the outside decks. Mixing with these crowds makes me realize how special Malcolm’s place is. It also makes me feel like a 70-year-old Puritan.

The boat pulled into PP around 3:30pm, but it took 45 minutes for us to disembark because of the absolutely terrible baggage claim system the boat had in place. As Ashlee put it, “Hey, we’re still in a Peace Corps country.”

Once off the boat, it was another sweaty thirty minutes of wending our way through a honeycomb of shops, eateries, food stalls, massage parlors, tattoo parlors, travel agents, and scuba shops before we found our hotel. Thankfully Ashlee had the foresight to make arrangements weeks in advance because we saw numerous people getting turned away from places with no vacancies – meaning they had just three or so hours to hang out before catching a ferry back to the mainland.

After getting settled – and taking a couple of nice cold showers – we hit the streets. On the way out of the hotel we did drop by the front desk to ask about excursions to “The Beach.” The guy up front (Chris) was really helpful and also quite a good salesman. We told him we definitely want to take a trip tomorrow, but that we will need to decide between the half-day and the full-day excursion.

Walking around town, we picked up a few snacks (fruit shake, popcorn, and a couple skewers of fresh pineapple) while scoping out a good place for dinner. There are loads of options: Thai (duh), Indian, Italian, etc. After checking a few menus, we think we found a winner: the Banana Sombrero, a place promising tacos, burritos, and fajitas in addition to the freshest guacamole around!

We spent another thirty minutes or so walking through the narrow streets of “Tourist Village.” My purchase of the day was a small 200mL bottle of Jack Daniel’s. I’m really looking forward to a nice after-dinner cocktail.

With my new purchase tucked safely away, I decided to let Ashlee roam free and I retreated to this outdoor coffee shop where I’m sipping a tall iced latte and trying not to be too distracted with all the people-watching. There are some interesting characters here – European men in speedos, older ladies with lots of make-up and unfortunate hair colors, and lots of 20-somethings in various stages of inebriation and showing lots of skin, most of it tattooed. Hm, I wonder what some of the monks in Bangkok would think of this place?

Some of these people make me feel pretty raggedy. They have probably been planning their trips for months and bought entirely new wardrobes for the occasion. Here I am fresh from Mongolia with a couple of ill-fitting shorts and a handful of t-shirts. To make matters worse, both my and Ashlee’s legs are covered in angry red mosquito bites which really stick out on our rather pale skin, making us feel like lepers. Oh, well.

Here comes Ashlee. It’s dinner time!

Ashlee’s diligent travel research really paid off – she found a very special place here at the Seaside Cottages on Phuket. Opened in 2008 and run by a quiet but witty British expat (Malcolm) and his Thai wife, the place is a collection of tents, huts, and small cabins all situated around – what else? – a kitchen/bar and outdoor patio. The whole place is just a minute walk from a gorgeous – and pretty isolated – stretch of beach.

We originally planned to stay here two nights, but within an hour of our arrival we knew we had to squeeze in a third night. The place is just so homey and laid-back. One of my favorite things about it is that Malcolm has three dogs and the sweetest orange cat scampering around the grounds. There is no schedule here, no set meal times (the kitchen is open from 8am to 9pm), and no one asking you about your plans for the day.

Our room the first two nights was one of the eight huts lining the periphery of the camp. Set on stilts, it must have been about 50 square feet in size – literally just big enough for a double-sized mattress on the ground and a swivel fan set on the wall. There was a nice set of bathrooms with showers just down the walkway from our place. Hey, what more do you want for $20 a night? Actually, we didn’t need much more than that – other than sleeping we spent the rest of our time outside.

With that said, however, when we extended our stay the only space available was one of the “deluxe cabins” – oh darn! Triple the price of the huts ($60), the cabins come nicely furnished with a bed, a wardrobe, a table with chairs, a vanity w/ water boilers and teacups, and an attached bathroom w/ shower. Having this upgrade was really nice earlier this afternoon when we wanted to escape the sun for a bit.

After that brief rainstorm on Tuesday, we have enjoyed near perfect weather the past couple of days. We have really taken advantage of it, too. We haven’t worn more than our swimsuits and we have spent pretty much all of our time in three places: (1) sitting in loungers on the beach with our books; (2) in the water; and (3) on the patio stuffing our faces. I guess after today, I can add a fourth place: in the pool of the neighboring resort.

I can’t tell you how amazing these past few days on the beach have been! Quiet, peaceful, relaxing, soothing, meditative even. The place is a gorgeous sandy beach with lots of leafy shade-providing trees. The water is all shades of blue and pleasantly warm. I don’t think we have once taken a towel down to the water with us – we simply sit in our chairs and let the sun dry us.

Continuing with the food theme, we have been eating quite well here at the Seaside Cottages. The kitchen offers a bevy of Thai dishes as well as a few European imports. My favorites so far are the fiery red curry and the spicy seafood salad. I think our favorite meal of the day, however, is breakfast. As a British expat, Malcolm has made sure the breakfast menu includes such Brit classics as a traditional English breakfast (fried egg, fried tomato, sausage, toast, and beans), bacon rolls, and beans on toast – ah, it takes us back to our days in Edinburgh! Also from the kitchen we have enjoyed our fair share of Thai iced teas, iced coffees, and delightful fruit shakes – including the most wonderful watermelon shake that I have vowed to recreate when we get back to America.

In a truly American spirit, however, even with all this food at hand, we still aren’t completely satisfied. Yesterday we were sitting there on the beach enjoying the sun and we both got intense cravings for Mexican food, specifically chips and guacamole (and a couple of ice-cold Coronas!). I went to ask Malcolm if he knew of any places nearby with some decent Mexican dishes and he looked at me and asked, “What the hell do you want Mexican food for when you’re in bloody Thailand?” I then had to explain about our time (exile?) in Mongolia and the dearth of food options there. I should have just said, “Hmmpf, what do you know about food? You’re bloody English!”

So yeah, we’ve been having an amazing time here – just the sort of thing we had in mind when we set out to take this vacation. Everything is just the polar opposite of Mongolia – the heat, the humidity, the ocean, and the food. Everyday we both sort of shake our heads when we think or talk about Mongolia. We are careful for the most part, however, because as a Buddhist country karma is pretty big here. Just yesterday we were playing around in the water and Ashlee said something like “Man, I’m glad I’m not back in Olgii right now!” The very next second a large wave washed into her face and gave her a mouthful of seawater.

Surprisingly enough, we have found a couple things that actually make us prefer our life in Olgii: (1) hungry insects and (2) uninvited house guests. The past few days we have been practically eaten alive by some sort of mosquito no matter how much insect repellent we use. Our arms and legs are covered with small red bites. Having had enough, tonight Ashlee is sleeping in a pair of pajama pants tucked into her socks.

About the uninvited house guests, last night after dinner I was the first to enter our hut where I discovered a 5-inch grasshopper on the wall above our bed. I attempted to escort it out with a magazine (even Ashlee didn’t want me to kill it), but when I got near it flew right at me and landed on my crotch, which sent me running into the bushes outside. Thinking the drama was over for the night, we both headed to the bathrooms. As Ashlee was shutting the door to her stall, I heard a scream and then saw her run outside. I asked her what was wrong and she yelled, “A frog!” I peeked in a saw a pretty cool-looking frog just chilling behind the door. Then later as were brushing our teeth we had to do battle with a couple of extra annoying flies. Mother Nature must have sensed our distress, however, because when one of the flies buzzed near the wall a gecko pounced on it out of nowhere and promptly ate it. Ashlee likes geckos now.

Anyways, tomorrow our time on Mai Khao Beach comes to an end. While our say has been wonderful – and we can certainly understand why Malcolm abandoned jolly old England for it – we know it’s time to move on. The things that make it a paradise (the heat, the isolation, the lack of things to do) would make it more of a prison on a long-term basis. Besides, I really don’t think we could tolerate many more bug bites!

Tomorrow we will enjoy one last British breakfast here (bacon rolls and fruit shakes!) before heading back to Phuket Town where we will catch an afternoon ferry to our next destination: Ko Phi Phi, a small island between Phuket and the mainland. Let’s hope that this leg of our journey won’t be as adventurous as the one from Bangkok.

We have arrived in paradise and it’s totally as beautiful, peaceful, and amazing as we hoped it would be. It’s also completely worth all the crap we had to go through yesterday to get here. We are currently sitting in a couple of lounge chairs on a long stretch of golden sand watching the turquoise waters break on the beach.

Let’s see, when I last left you we were riding in a bus through a rainstorm on our way to Phuket Town. Well, we finally got there at about 2:30pm. The bummer is that Phuket Town is on the southern end of the island and our little place (the Seaside Cottages) is on the northern end – and Phuket is a large island. Thus, when we got off the bus with empty bellies we were a bit discouraged to realize that we would have to backtrack about an hour. To make it worse, we weren’t sure exactly where the place was, how to get there, or what mode of transportation to use. All we had to go off of was the name in English, which doesn’t mean much to the locals.

Trudging through the rain with our backpacks we attempted to find an eatery recommended by Lonely Planet, but we failed. Starving and a little frustrated by this point, we settled on the first café we found – and we were rewarded with a great meal, the best Thai iced tea that Ashlee has had yet, and an incredibly nice waitress who did her best to help us on our way. After we asked her for directions she walked us next door to a travel kiosk manned by an English speaker. The man there showed us a map, marked off where we wanted to go, called our hotel to let them know we were coming, gave us the hotel’s directions written in Thai, and directed us to the bus stop. We were very impressed with his and the waitress’ kindness – especially considering that neither of them would accept tips for their help.

Heartened a bit with our full bellies and new directions, we set off for the bus stop. Thinking about it now, we should have just paid the exorbitant fare for a personal taxi, but the man at the travel kiosk insisted that doing so was just too expensive. Anyways, with a little more help from some locals, we jumped onto a northbound “bus.” The reason I say “bus” is because it was actually a renovated pickup truck with slat benches and handholds in the bed. Our fellow passengers were mostly students and young women clutching bags of groceries. The students were all immaculately dressed in crisp white shirts, pleated skirts, and black pumps with ribbons in their hair – I was embarrassed at how raggedy and sweaty we must have looked.

Although we must have picked up and dropped off another 20 passengers, we were among the last people to be dropped off over an hour later. We got out when the drive told us, but we did not see a sign for our hotel where we should have. Doing our best to not get discouraged we walked to a small shop across the street. After a little awkward conversation with the shop owner, she graciously let us use her cell phone to call the hotel. The hotel owner – an Englishman – basically told us that we were on the right track, but that the bus driver dropped us off too early. We needed to continue north on the main road for a while longer. Also, the hotel itself is actually 2km west of the main road.

This is about the point when we both wanted to hang our heads and cry a bit. It was just so frustrating. We both had so many “why” questions. Why did we take the bus to Phuket Town? Why didn’t we take a taxi? Why is this place so hard to get to? Why didn’t we just stay in Phuket Town?

We took a moment to collect ourselves and trudged on. We must have looked pathetic however because within about 10 minutes of walking along the main road a Mercedes pulled over and the driver, a small English-speaking Thai man with a toothy grin, pulled over and asked if we needed help. Yes! He looked at our directions and said he knew exactly where to go and that he could give us a lift. Praise the Lord! Inside the car the man was a non-stop chatterbox. It was at this point that we began to take hope that we would actually make it to our hotel.

The man drove us up the road for about 10 minutes – man, that would have been a crappy walk – and he pulled over at a turn-out for our place. We even saw a sign saying “Seaside Cottages!” Unfortunately, our savior couldn’t drive us all the way to the hotel because he had to get to work, but he did flag down a passing car and asked and got them to take us.

There is just something to be said about the kindness we have experienced from the locals: the waitress, the tourist kiosk man, the handful of locals who directed us to the bus stop, the bus driver, our fellow bus passengers who helped us with our bags, the shopkeeper who let us use her phone, and now these two drivers. It got me wondering if there is a reason for their kindness? Do they realize that tourist dollars really support the Thai economy? I like to think that they are nice because of their Buddhist culture and the idea that spreading kindness gives you good karma.

Anyways, after approximately 24 hours of travel, we finally arrived at the Seaside Cottages on Mai Khao Beach. We checked-in with the owner (who doubles as the barkeep and dogwalker), tossed our stuff into our hut (more on that later), grabbed a cold beer, and headed down the water for a swim and a sunset. It was magnificent.

Well, we survived the night not too worse for the wear. In between the creaking of the train, the sudden lurching changes in speed, the swinging temperature, the crying toddler two cabins over, and the fairy-like voice of our cabin steward, we managed to catch a few winks. Needless to say, it wasn’t the most comfortable night, but like I said earlier, it’s all worth it for a few days in paradise.

Our train was a bit behind schedule and we reached our destination of Surat Thani about an hour late at 7:30am. While we were waking ourselves up, our cabin steward came by to help out in the process. Incredibly nice, he had an amazingly high voice and we could hear him go down the length of the train knocking on every door saying, “MornING!” with a sheepish grin. He then brought us our breakfast followed by “tea!?!” and “coffee?!?”

Once the train came to a stop and we disembarked all of our fellow passengers trundled off to their waiting tour buses. Those of us independent travelers, however, were stuck waiting around. I guess there was a miscommunication somewhere along the way and our bus didn’t arrive until 9:30am. Ashlee handled the delay really well and she kept me distracted by playing multiple hands of Monopoly Deal. She also didn’t say anything when I bought a small bottle of Thai whiskey (I think it actually might be rum), but she did make me promise not to open it until we got to our hotel.

We’re on the tail-end of our bus trip now passing through a small rainstorm. It’s only making the surrounding scenery look all the more lush. We’re on a pretty nice bus and the overall drive is about 4 hours. We will get dropped off in Phuket Town where we will eat lunch, make our travel arrangements to Ko Phi Phi on Wednesday, and then catch a ride to the hopefully quiet spot where we are staying the next few days: the Seaside Cottages on Mai Khao Beach.

Goodbye, Bangkok, and hello, Surat Thani! We are currently making our way south on a rather creaky train with uneven AC, sickly sweet smells, and paper-thin walls – and we’re riding first class!

We got to the train station earlier this afternoon with plenty of time to spare, so we stashed our luggage and headed out to nearby China Town. We explored a wat with the “world’s largest golden Buddha” and snapped a few photos of the China Gate. We wandered down some interesting alleys, glanced into some old monk cells, disapproved of a restaurant selling shark-fin soup, stopped for tea and people-watching, browsed some Chinese coffins, and were thoroughly underwhelmed by the “busiest intersection in all of Bangkok.” We did this all in a little over two hours and we got back to the train still with an hour to kill.

Back at station, we noticed that we blended in quite well with the swarms of western tourists who were also headed to the beaches. While waiting for our train, we both took turns exploring the station. Ashlee scored me an issue of today’s Guardian newspaper and an English-language travel magazine for herself. I brought back a couple of stale treats from Dunkin Donuts. Since we weren’t sure about the dining facilities on the train, we also picked up dinner from KFC.

We boarded the train fine and made it to our cabin. As I mentioned earlier, we decided to spring for a first class sleeper cabin. We have a tiny place to ourselves with a couch that converts to a set of bunk beds and a sink that – don’t tell Ashlee – I just saw a small cockroach crawl out of while brushing my teeth. The AC also works in strong stints – 15 minutes of frigidness followed by 10 minutes of humid warmth. It’s ok, tomorrow we will be in paradise!

As noted above, the train does not go all the way to Phuket. At 6:30am the train should arrive in the small town of Surat Thani where we will board a bus headed to Phuket.

As for now, we just placed our breakfast orders – it should be interesting – and now it’s lights out!

Oh man, I’m about to explode I’m so full! We’re sitting in a random internet café right now after eating one of the best lunches ever – more about that later. Ashlee is catching up on some Facebooking and we are basically just killing time before we have to head to the train station in a few hours.

It has been a sleepy little Monday so far – well except for something that sounded like a parade outside our window this morning around 7am. We never did find out what it was. Today was our last morning at the Lamphu Treehoue and we were definitely both a bit sad to leave – thankfully we’re only headed onto Phuket and not back to Mongolia…yet. I’m going to miss the breakfasts and all those banana pancakes – even though this morning they served raisin ones.

After packing up and checking out – with her Mongolian winter gear and new souvenirs stowed away Ashlee’s bag is now twice as big as when we arrived! – we headed down to say our goodbyes to KSR. I must say that in the early morning light with its littered streets and hungover partiers, it’s not quite as charming as it is at night. The streets were all a bit clearer too because Mondays are mandatory street-cleaning days so all the food carts have to be off the roads.

We followed through on our plans to get a couple of massages. Don’t worry, we didn’t get one of those questionable “oily” massages that your dodgy Uncle Al has told you about. We went to a respectable place that has been well-reviewed in travel books and websites. For 180B (about $6) each we both got 1 hour Thai massages. Now I’m pretty inexperienced when it comes to getting massages and I have that Thai ones can be a bit intense, so I tried to keep an open mind. I can say now, however, that the whole thing was 85% wonderful and only 15% painful.

After changing into some massaging garb provided by the parlor (fisherman’s pants and loose-fitting tunics) we were led to side-by-side tables. We were introduced to our massage therapists (mine was a very good-natured and thickset older woman) and had our feet scrubbed. We then both layed back and the massage was on! It was sort of an active massage in the sense that the ladies contorted our bodies and limbs into different positions. Ashlee called the process a “yoga massage.” The ladies really got into it, too. They were literally using their whole bodies to beat into us: hands, fingers, forearms, elbows, shoulders, shins, and feet. A few times I opened my eyes and found my lady twisted around my lower body like a pretzel with her feet up near my armpits. For me, the only painfully parts were when she pushed on pressure points in my inner thigh and the base of my skull. It was funny, too, because at multiple points when the lady was trying to move me or maneuver my arms and legs she would say, “Ah, you so big!”

After our rub down, we headed to lunch. Not seeing anything appetizing on KSR we headed to a little Mediterranean place a few blocks away. Like I said earlier, it was the best lunch ever! Thinking about it now I’m sure it might have had something to do with being fresh off the massage tables, but still the food was delicious – and we ordered so much of it! We both got pita sandwiches with fries and we shared a bowl of hummus, fresh pita, and a most ridiculously awesome Greek garden with chunks of fresh feta. We had to be carted out of that place!

We love you, Bangkok!

PS – In an unrelated sidenote, there are so many cats in Bangkok! They are literally all over the place and me, the crazy person that I am, always says something like “kitty!” They always look a little mangy, and most of them have something funky going on with their tails, but some area real sweet-looking.

PPS – I hope Phuket doesn’t have any stinking tailor shops. I’m tired of getting hassled into looking at suit brochures every 15 feet whenever we walk in the KSR area. Some salesmen have good hooks though. Most try to compliment my existing wardrobe – which is laughable since I look like a complete ragamuffin – but one guy told me that he “can tell I have good karma.” Thanks, guy, but I’m still not buying one of your crappy suits.

We’re back in our hotel room freshly showered and laying down under the AC after our last full day here in Bangkok. We had a difficult time this morning deciding how to spend it. We had options ranging from lounging by the hotel pool to adventuring to Thailand’s ancient capital to getting those massages I mentioned yesterday. While weighing our options, Ashlee remembered that on the weekends Bangkok hosts one of the world’s largest open-air markets. That decided it: we headed out shopping.

Chatuchak Weekend Market, with its 5,000 stalls and 200,000 daily visitors, rivals the LA County Fair in size and, in Ashlee’s words, puts the OC swapmeet to shame. The place holds stalls offering everything from keychains to coconut ice cream to fried insects to boa constrictors. Ashlee was in heaven. I did my best to keep up – or more importantly, not slow her down. After walking through row after row of Buddha figurines, household items, sunglasses, and various pieces of art, we took a break for lunch. A little wary of the various street stalls – and wanting to put distance between us and the fried insects – we opted to dine at a large food court on the 3rd floor of an air-conditioned mall. It was exactly the crazy experience that Ashlee had read about. You start by paying a central cashier and getting a temporary cash card, which you use to pay the actual food vendors. Like a regular mall food court, eateries line the periphery of the area while all the seating is in the middle. It appeared that we weren’t the only hungry people because the place was packed. Despite being a little intimidated, we managed to get a papaya salad, shrimp fried rice, spicey pork soup, and a Thai iced tea – all for about $5!

After lunch we wandered over to the pet section of the market. Not sure of what to expect, our hearts melted when we saw store after store of the cutest puppies ever: golden retrievers, Siberian huskies, beagles, Pomeranians, and –our favorite – bulldogs. I was totally ready to get one, but Ashlee brought me back to reality. It would just be too cruel to take such a creature back to Olgii to live in a tiny apartment in a freezing climate – although some of the furrier breeds didn’t seem too keen on Bangkok’s heat.

A bit pooped after visiting the puppies, I elected to stop for an iced coffee and turn Ashlee loose on the clothing section. She showed surprising restraint by returning after an hour with only two purchases: a dress and a belt.

By about 2pm we were ready to head back to the hotel. After an unsuccessful attempt to hail a cab – the driver looked at our hotel’s address (which was written in Thai) and just said “no” – we found a tuk-tuk driver willing to take us for an agreed upon price. Now I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, these little vehicles are so much fun to ride in. Our driver seemed really good-natured and he definitely knew the ins and outs of Old Bangkok. We did get a little worried at one point because we were driving through some twists and turn in a small residential neighborhood before eventually stopping at a house – but it was just so the driver could drop some groceries off.

Back at the hotel, we spent the afternoon lounging by the pool. In the evening, we discovered that a wrench had been thrown into our dinner plans. Ashlee made reservations weeks ago at a nice riverside restaurant famed for its sunset views, but when she called to confirm them today she discovered that they have been lost. Dangit. We didn’t let it get us down. We ended up eating some pretty authentic British fish and chips followed by ice cream for dessert.

We love condiments!

Tomorrow night we will catch an overnight train and then a bus to Phuket. It doesn’t leave until 7 however, so we’ll have time to say goodbye to KSR with a couple of massages.

PS – Our favorite phrase of the day is “same same.” All the market vendors love to say this when they are advertising their knock-off wares – as in “Gucci sunglasses. Same same!”

We were sort of fuddy-duddies tonight: dinner at 6:30pm and back in our hotel room by 9pm. Oh well, it’s our vacation.

We ate at the same place from the other day. They make an excellent spicy papaya salad that Ashlee really likes. We combined it with tempura prawns and – surprise, surprise – pad thai! I had an iced coffee and Ashlee rediscovered her love of Thai iced tea.

After dinner we sort of wandered around the KSR area for a while. We also nabbed some more of those awesome banana pancakes for dessert. In between that and slurping down a fresh dragon fruit smoothie, we scoped out what we plan to get tomorrow: Thai massages! I know I had mixed feelings about our foot massages the other day, but I think I’ve come around. We’ll just be sure that we make it clear we want Thai massages and “oily” ones, because that is apparently a code word for more than just a simple rub-down. On that note, goodnight!

Man, I’m pooped. It has been a long (and expensive) but good day. We’re back at our hotel now enjoying fruit ice cream bars on the rooftop patio. I’m also sipping an A&W root beer and counting my bug bites.

After my coffee earlier, Ashlee took me for a little souvenir-shopping. She bought a small windchime of sorts – it’s a string of flying elephants with propellers on their butts – from the nicest old man.

From there, we headed back across town to Wat Saket and the Golden Mount. We hiked up a fair amount of stairs – ringing bells along the way – and we were rewarded with stunning views of the city. On the way back down, I got to pound on a gong for a bit. That sounds a little weird, huh?

This little boy had all the bells to himself and he was really going to town. He acted the way I imagine my brother, Shawn, would have had a young Shawn been in his shoes.

From the foot of the temple we headed south towards China Town. On the way we took a detour down a long and narrow alley to “Monk’s Bowl Village,” the only place in Thailand where people still make traditional alms-collecting bowls for monks. After walking down a series of twisting lanes populated by children, sleeping dogs, and adults taking tea breaks, we found a group of bowl makers. They were really excited about showing us the bowl-making process – and more importantly, getting us to buy one. The bowls themselves each take about a day to make. They are hammered together from eight separate pieces of steel (symbolizing Buddhism’s Eightfold Path) and then fused together with melted copper wire. They are then beaten, polished, and coated in black lacquer. Realizing that what we were seeing was not so much a tourist trap as it was a glimpse into a raw, poor Bangkok community, I decided to buy a bowl – my first souvenir of the trip!

Back on the main thoroughfare, it was another 20 minutes (we walked a lot today!) to China Town. I think we made it to where we wanted to go. It’s hard to tell because the streets aren’t clearly marked and the map we are using isn’t the most finely detailed. Anyways, the place we found wasn’t exactly what we wanted. After 15 claustrophobic minutes, Ashlee took pity on me and we tuk-tuked it back to our hotel – with a stop at 7/11 for some ice cream. I tried to also buy a beer, but apparently you can’t buy alcohol between 2pm and 5pm – maybe it’s because that’s when school gets out?

Now we are just killing time until dinner and plotting our moves for tomorrow.

Just sitting here sipping a ridiculously nice iced coffee while Ashlee is shopping down the road. It’s been a really pleasant morning. We made an effort to get an early start and we were up and down to breakfast by about 7:45am – unfortunately we both ate a few too many banana pancakes and we had to lay down for a bit before tackling the city.

After a bit of a rest and slathering ourselves in sunblock, we headed out for the first item on our morning’s agenda: hiring a long-tail boat to take us to one of the “floating markets” of Old Bangkok. Sometimes referred to as the “Venice of Southeast Asia,” Bangkok is criss-crossed with a fair amount of canals and waterways. Unfortunately as time marches on, the increased use of motorized vehicles and the roads they use have largely made the canals – and their accompanying river culture – irrelevant. Nowadays it’s mainly tourists being motored around on the water.

We got to the pier by 9:30am and had no trouble finding a willing captain to ferry us around for an hour and a half. Our worthy vessel was an aging Thai longtail boat driven from the rear by a tremendous outboard motor. While the boat had seats for up to 15 people, we had it all to ourselves.

We were blessed with perfect boating weather: sunshine with a few clouds and a wonderful breeze. The water itself had a nice healthy green hue to it and once we got into the canals with their lush vegetation, it felt sort of Disneyesque. Ashlee said it was a much better version of the Jungle Cruise.

Early in the tour we made a brief stop at the Royal Barge Museum – home to a handful of restored ships used by the royal family and the Thai Navy in ceremonial processions. Often carved from just one piece of wood, they were finely decorated with intricate designs. The bows of each boat were topped with fierce totems.

The rest of the time on our boat tour was spent wending our way through sleepy canals and old riverfront homes. It was all just really beautiful – the creaky old boat, the quaint little homes, the thick leafy plants, and the flowery bushes. We did have to stop twice and wait to pass through a locking mechanism. Inside the actual lock, it takes about 5 minutes for the gates to lower and the water level to adjust. When we were waiting in the first lock, we were huddled together with 3 or 4 other boats. As if to entertain us, a duck flew down into the water and swam around our boats preening for photos. People sort of oohed and awed until I looked away for a second and then heard a big splash, a loud quacking, and a several gasps from a nearby boat. Apparently a Thai from atop the lock thought the duck would make a good meal because he captured it in a net, pulled it out of the water, and carried it off. Poor, duck.

Can you see the duck?

Something else I noticed as we were tooling around the canals is how happy all the locals look. Ashlee says that Thailand is called the “Land of Smiles” and it definitely seems true about the parts we have seen. Now I don’t know how genuine the smiles are, but I much prefer them to the blank stares we often get in Mongolia. Even the animals seem happy. I think that’s the other weird thing that is drastically different from Mongol Land – there are dogs and cats everywhere and people are not throwing rocks at them.

Anyways, the initial reason for us to hire the longtail boat was for a lift to the “floating market.” Ashlee was particularly excited about it. Our shopping experience was a bit underwhelming, however, because our boat driver ended up pointing out a small floating dock with people eating lunch on it and he said, “Floating market.” As we prepared to get our shop on, he zoomed right by it without even stopping. I did manage to snap a photo or two. Oh well, we didn’t really need to seek out more chances to spend money – we’re doing pretty good with that on our own. Plus, it didn’t really look at all how Ashlee imagined it…

Our captain dropped us off on the pier right about 11:30am – just in time for lunch. Ashlee already had a place picked out and it was conveniently right across the street. It was a small café seemingly popular with the locals and serving a range of curries. Ashlee really enjoyed it, but I thought the portions were a little small. Ashlee will probably roll her eyes when she reads this.

That now brings me to my post-lunch coffee. On the way over here I stopped by a little massage parlor offering “fish massages.” Apparently you can stick your feet in a large tank and let a school of tiny fish nibble all the dead skin off your tootsies. Weird. Oddly enough, there is a sign warning you from sticking your hands in the tank because the fish will bite them.

Oh, Ashlee just showed up. We’re off now for an afternoon in China Town.

Yep, it’s official: we are never leaving Thailand. We will claim asylum from culinary persecution in Mongolia. You can’t make us go back! Hm, I guess I should be careful what I saw – you guys might take us seriously. All jokes aside, we are loving our time in Thailand. I know it has only been 2 days and we have only seen a small fraction of a fraction of the country, but we have loved every second.

For dinner, we made our way back to KSR. If possible, the place is even crazier at night, but in a good way. Plus since it’s dinner time, there are even more food carts packed along the street. The smell is mouth-watering.

We considered eating at an Italian joint and we even went so far as to take a table and look through a menu before we looked at each other and said, “What the heck are we doing? Who raves about Italian food in Thailand?”

We ended up at a small Thai place down an alley from all the action. Like everywhere else, the place had a patio for outdoor dining underneath the stars. It was just one of those moments when I had to pinch myself to make sure I wasn’t dreaming – there was just so much going on that was too good to be true. One of the main things I can’t believe is that just 4 days ago we were freezing our tootsies off in Olgii, and now here we are sweating our way through Thailand.

For dinner, we settled on pad thai – I know, I know, we are such tourists for continuing to order pad thai. I swear all the waiters all roll their eyes whenever we order this. We did also get an excellent chicken dish with onions, peppers, and cashews. It was a wonderful meal and we have the pictures to prove it.

After stuffing our gobs, we headed back out onto KSR for some dessert. We decided to sample from a street cart serving up Thai pancakes – which are really more like crispy crepes stuff with various fillings. We chose fresh banana and they came drizzled with condensed milk. Delicious!

Fully content, we made the walk back to our hotel with a quick stop at 7/11. Earlier today Ashlee discovered that our hotel has a rooftop patio that seems to be a well-kept secret. The stop at 7/11 was for me to buy a beer to enjoy on the patio. It was an excellent way to end the night.

I’ll say again how happy I am with our hotel. It’s in a great location (right in the heart of Old Bangkok and only a 10-minute walk to KSR), the staff is super friendly, the rooms are comfortable and quiet, and the morning breakfasts are delicious. Even the décor is nice – lots of old wood, which I recognize might now sound very nice, but my rooftop beer has diminished my vocabulary.

I’m also really happy with how our vacation is going overall. The pace seems to be just right and it is equal parts relaxing and adventurous. Thailand, this is going to be the beginning of a beautiful relationship!

PS – I got an email from Brian, our sitemate in Olgii, today. He says that our school break (which was supposed to start the 10th and which is the reason we are on our trip now so I don’t miss too much class) has been postponed to the 28th. Oh, Mongolia. No class for 5 weeks? Sure!

Still living the life here in Bangkok. We are sitting pool-side at our hotel right now and I’m contemplating what pre-dinner cocktail I’d like to order from the bar. What you think – a bloody mary? White Russian? Hmm, maybe a jack-and-coke? I’ll keep writing and see what strikes me.

We spent most of the day soaking up some Thai culture – and when I say “soaking,” I mean it because things got pretty sweaty. Our top items on the morning’s agenda were visiting the city’s two largest Buddhist temples (called “wats”) along with the Grand Palace. In respect of Thai culture, visitors must follow a pretty strictly-enforced dress code when visiting such places. Basically your legs and your upper arms must be covered. It’s probably a good idea because the monks at these temples be might forced to rethink their vows if they saw some of the outfits ladies were wearing down on KSR yesterday.

Anyways, to honor the dress code, I wore a pair of jeans – the only pants I had to bring. It was either that or be forced to don a pair of the unflattering fisherman pants the temples keep on hand for visitors unaware of the rules. Ashlee had a pair of shorts that convert to pants with a zipper attachment, so she was set.

Our first stop of the morning was Wat Po, a temple about a 30-minute walk from our hotel. We knew we were getting close because with each block we covered there were fewer food carts and more Buddhist merchandise stores selling everything from small Buddha statues to large framed pictures of the king to these little standalone temples that I kept thinking look like birdhouses. A couple stores were even selling monk’s robes. I thought about buying a set for Halloween next year, but Ashlee didn’t think that would give me very good karma.

Wat Po (it’s official name is Wat Phra Chettuphon Wimon Mangkhalaram Ratchaworamahawihan) is also known as the Temple of the Reclining Buddha because, surprise surprise, it has the largest reclining Buddha statue in Thailand. The grounds of the temple were really quiet and peaceful. Along with the 85F weather and sunshine, we were also blessed with a nice breeze. It was really pleasant sitting in a shady spot and watching the wind move through all of the leafy plants and trees. Our time in Olgii has really made us miss such greenery. My favorite part of the temple was all the stone warriors standing guard at the entrances. Some of them were armed with wicked-looking swords and others were hybrid creatures like dragons crossed with chickens.

After Wat Po we walked across the street to the Grand Palace, the official residence of the Thai monarchy, and the Temple of the Emerald Buddha. I think I’ll just let the photos speak for themselves. No disrespect to Thailand, but honestly a lot of what I read and heard just sort of went right through my head.

I do vividly remember lunch, though – we went to an American style café called Rick’s Coffee where we had Mexican food! Or at least a close approximation to Mexican food. Ashlee got a chicken taco and I got a chicken quesadilla. They even came with little sides of salsa and guacamole! We were in heaven. We also got a green salad topped with bleu cheese and a house balsamic vinagriette dressing. I rounded the meal out with an iced latte that really hit the spot. After finishing our meal Ashlee just shook her head and said, “We’re really going to cry when it comes time to go back to Mongolia, huh?”

As we were leaving the café, I saw something that made me do a double-take. Just across from our table there was a painting featuring the standard image of Chinggis Khaan. “What the heck is he doing here?” I thought. I guess it was just Mongolia’s way of telling us that we can run, but we can’t hide.

After lunch we headed across town to Dusit Park where we visited the Vimanmek Mansion, a former royal palace. A bit intimidated by the distance – and little weighed down by our lunch – we decided it was a good time for our first tuk-tuk ride. We had no trouble hailing one, but even though we had the name of our destination – a huge tourist site – written in Thai, the driver didn’t understand where we wanted to go. He must have been new because even after we showed him a map, he had to stop and ask for directions. He made up for it though with his mad driving skills. It was like Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride. I think he enjoyed my reactions (wide eyes and white knuckles) to some of his crazier maneuvers and it they only served to egg him on. Thankfully we reached our destination in one piece.

After walking through the park grounds we made our way to the royal mansion, the largest golden teakwood mansion in the world!, which is now just a museum. We got there just in time to join a free English-speaking tour. This was another place that had a strict dress code – the place handed out lots of awful-looking Hawaiian shirts to ill-equipped guests – and we all had to leave our shoes outside the building. The house was built and furnished in 1900 after the then-king visited Europe and found himself impressed with their royal palaces. It was filled with all kinds of artifacts, furnishings, and other treasures that he picked up on his trip. Hands-down the best part of our visit was our tour guide, a cute young woman with a thick accent but the widest smile ever. Since we were perhaps the only native English-speakers on the tour, I think we were the only ones to really understand her. Ashlee wanted to adopt her – even though she must have been thirty.

We finished up our tour, got the world’s best fruit ice cream bar from the gift shop, and decided to tuk-tuk it back to our hotel to rest a bit and take a dip in the pool before dinner. I guess that about brings you up to speed on our day. Now, I’m off to see about that drink. I think I’ll go for a bloody mary…

Dangit, when we get back to Olgii it’s going to be like our return from California all over again: my counterparts and students are all going to poke my belly and say things like, “Scott! You are very fat!” Oh well, it’s worth it. As our sitemate, Brian, would say, “Hey, it’s vacation!”

The rule of the day has been “Oh well, why not?” It has been applied to everything from a second round of beers to a side of crunchy spring rolls to a 30-minute foot massage. Bangkok – or at least the very small part that we have seen – is just such a hedonist’s paradise. There is definitely something for everyone: bars, shops, clubs, salons, massage parlors, and things that are a little more risqué. I got more than a handful of invites to “ping pong shows” and “banana shows,” things that I’m pretty sure aren’t as innocent as they sound. A few times I was even asked while walking hand-in-hand with Ashlee. The guy would ask it a little slyly and then wink at or nudge me, causing Ashlee to ask what was up. Real sly, guy.

Anyways, we had an excellent first day in Bangkok. While we didn’t do much cultural sight-seeing, we did see some interesting stuff down on KSR – namely the Western tourists who got suckered into buying pairs of “fisherman pants” – “you’ll look just like a local!” We also noticed that there is definitely an interesting mix of people out and about in the “backpacker’s ghetto” that is KSR: bedraggled backpackers, hip young families, aging Britons, and middle-aged men on the hunt for Thai companionship.

Ashlee got to spend a large chunk of the afternoon bargain-hunting through the stalls lining KSR. She came away with a new swimsuit and a handful of tank tops. We considered getting our sitemates back in Olgii a couple of tanktops of their own, but we realized it would be too mean to give them such a garment when it’s -20F.

While all this shopping was going on I managed to sneak off and have my first encounter with Bangkok’s “street food.” Basically every 15 feet or so on the major tourist streets someone has a cart set up to sell various Thai dishes: pad thai, pancakes, kebobs, chunks of fresh fruit, smoothies, and iced coffees. For just over a buck a nice lady whipped me up a fresh plate of pad thai. It was pretty tasty. When Ashlee met back up with me we also purchased half of a fresh pineapple which was cut into chunks for us to eat with the use of wooden skewers while avoiding whizzing motorcycles and mad tuk-tuk drivers.

Traffic here is pretty crazy – although it’s not as bad as UB. At least here there are nice sidewalks and functioning crosswalks. It doesn’t help, however, that Thailand uses the British road system in which cars drive on the “wrong” side of the street. Drivers for the most part seem to follow traffic rules, but it appears that motorcyclists get to make up their own.

Tuk-tuk drivers can also be pretty annoying. They constantly ask where you’re going and they are just bursting with unsolicited (and unwanted) advice – including the locations of the best gem shops, tailors, and the above-mentioned “ping pong shows.” The tuk-tuks themselves are pretty cool, though. I can’t believe how fast they go!

We had an excellent dinner tonight. We chose to eat on the patio of the many little restaurants lining the roads of old Bangkok. I think it was called Lotash Seed. It had a wonderful atmosphere: lights, live music, laughter, and the smell of amazing food cooking away. I went for a plate of “drunken noodles” and Ashlee got a spicy papaya and seafood salad. There were both awesome. I asked the chef to make my dish extra spicy. He looked a little skeptical and he ended up bringing me a small dish of diced red chilies on the side. I tried one very small piece of a chili and it was insanely hot. The cook found this very funny and he just shook his head. He said that it’s important for Thais to eat such spicy chilies because it helps them “sweat all the bad stuff out of their bodies.” Interesting.

On the way back from dinner we passed by a small shop advertising 30-minute foot massages for 100B – a little over $3. These places are all over. Applying the day’s philosophy of “Oh well, why not?” we stepped inside. Overall, it was a mixed experience for me. The massage itself was wonderful – I just felt weird paying some nice young woman $3 to rub oil all over my feet and legs for half an hour. Maybe it’s just me, but isn’t it a little degrading – especially considering the fact that Thais are even weirder about feet than I am? The other thing that was awkward was that Ashlee and I were laying side-by-side during the massage and the two ladies who were rubbing us down were busy chit-chatting in Thai. I began to wonder what they were talking about. Something about us? Something about me? Thinking this made me really warm and when I get warm my feet sweat. Thus I convinced myself that she spent the whole 30 minutes complaining about my sweaty feet – which made them sweat even more.

After the little footsy rub-down, I trotted out the old “Why not?” one last time after walking by a Swensen’s ice cream shop. Fudge sundae – why not?

That about wraps up the day. Tomorrow we’re going to do a little Buddhist sight-seeing.

PS – After eating my sundae, I had a small epiphany regarding my dietary indulgences, especially now that I’m poised to enter my “late” 20s: I saw a couple in their 30s who were quite pudgy. Is that my future? Oh no!

I’m sitting at an incredibly loud street-side bar right in the middle of Khao San Road (KSR). Conveniently enough, the place is called Center Khao San. I’m nursing a tall bottle of Singha beer (“The Original Thai Beer Since 1933!”) while backpacking life is bustling around me – and Ashlee is shopping.

KSR is definitely an onslaught on the senses. It’s pretty much the center of backpacking life in Thailand and it’s filled with noises, smells, vendors, stalls, hotels, bars, restaurants, travel agents, and about a million tattoo parlors. Hm, I wonder how many regretted tattoos are done every day?

Like the start of all my travel experiences, I was feeling pretty overwhelmed here this morning. Maybe it’s because I have grown accustomed to the slow pace of life in provincial Mongolia and now I’m in the heart of a large, bustling, and sweaty city. I also feel a little out of place amongst the other travelers. There’s lots of skin, tattoos, piercings, beads, and dreadlocks going on. Thankfully, though, I’ve got Ashlee here with me – which means that I can just kick into co-pilot mode and let her take the lead. Now that’s what I call teamwork!

Sitting here, I can’t help but remark on the wonderful atmosphere. There is just a really great vibe going on. I can tell that the vast majority of the people around me are just looking to relax and have a good time. With that said, however, I’m glad that Ashlee booked us in the hotel that she did – which is just a few blocks away on a quiet canal. It’s fun to be able to come down here to KSR and enjoy the noise, the crowds, and the hustle-and-bustle – but it’s great knowing that at any time we can retreat to our quiet little hotel room with its AC, shower, and cable television.

Ashlee and I had a great first lunch here in the city. We went to a small road-side vegetarian café in the KSR area that Ashlee found through her research. We had green curried vegetables, pad thai, spring rolls, and a couple of fruit smoothies – all for about $12! I can already tell that finding good food here will not be a problem.

As we have been enjoying our morning, the thought that keeps running through my head is that Thailand is a Peace Corps country. It’s even in the same administrative region as Mongolia – which means that we easily could have been placed here instead of Mongolia. What would service here be like? I totally know that it wouldn’t be a cake-walk and that we would encounter just as many problems here as we have in Mongolia, and I know that during our trip here we will only be seeing the good things about Thailand, but I just can’t help but think that our two biggest problems with Mongolia (the food and the winter) don’t exist here. Hmm, imagine spending a few months with a host family here or being invited to dinner at a counterpart’s home. Pad thai and spring rolls instead of horse milk and sheep head? Sure!

A benefit we DO get to enjoy from Thailand being a Peace Corps country is the fact that we have a support system here to call upon should we need it. Just a 20-minute walk from KSR is the Thai Peace Corps office with a fully stocked medical unit and a safety and security officer.

I have a feeling that I’m really going to like Thailand. Our plane landed just after midnight, local time. The whole country is in the same time zone as Olgii, so we are 1 hour behind UB but 15 hours ahead of California. It was a pretty long day of traveling for us – especially for me since I was up at 3am, so we were pretty knackered by the time we made it to the airport. We were so tired, in fact, that on the way from the plane to the immigration desk we broke into fits of hysterical laughter when we saw that the people-mover was named the “travelator.” Why was that so funny?

Anyway, the airport, which is about a 30-minute taxi ride from central Bangkok, is nice and new. It also has one of those distinctly Thai (and totally unpronounceable to English speakers) names: Suvarnabhumi International Airport. We sailed through immigration, snatched our luggage (we’re traveling pretty light), hit an ATM for some baht (the Thai currency), and grabbed a taxi to our hotel. Thai currency is called “baht” and 30B is about 1 US dollar.

I must confess that I don’t really know much about Thai culture. I know, I know – I’m being an “ugly American.” Well, I guess I do know a few things, but please fact check these independently before you quote me.

Thailand is bordered by Myanmar (Burma) to the west, Malaysia to the south, Cambodia to the east, and Laos to the east and north. The southern part of the country has long stretches of coastline along the Gulf of Thailand and the Andaman Sea (Indian Ocean).The population is a little over 60 million and Buddhism is the dominant religion.Because the country is so stretched out vertically, it has a pretty diverse geography – mountainous jungle in the north and sandy beaches in the south.The government is a constitutional monarchy led by King Bhumibol, who has been in power since 1946, making him the longest-serving current head-of-state and Thailand’s longest-reigning king. He is highly respected in Thai culture and it is a grave insult to not treat him and his office with reverence.The language here is Thai and they do not use the Roman alphabet. All we know how to say is “hello” (sa-wat-dee) and “thank you” (karp kun). So, yeah, I guess I’m not totally ignorant of Thai culture. Thailand even shares a few similarities with Mongolian culture – the most important of which is you must be careful with what you do with your feet. Make sure you take your shoes off before you enter a person’s home, keep your feet pointed towards the ground and definitely away from any temple or Buddha image, and don’t touch anyone with your shoes.

Our taxi ride to the airport went smoothly. Our driver was a kind older man who treated us fairly and who even let us stop at a 7/11 (there are everywhere!) to buy a bottle of water and to break some of the large bills we got from the ATM. There seemed to be an elaborate road and highway system and we passed tons of large buildings – Bangkok is definitely much more developed than UB. Cars move quickly and despite the late hour there were lots of pick-up trucks, motorcycles, and tuk-tuks (sort of a hybrid motorbike and wagon) making their way around the city. Even with just what I saw last night I already know that I wouldn’t like driving a car in Bangkok.

The other thing I noticed on our way into the city was the fact that the king’s image is everywhere! Plastered on billboards, the sides of buildings, and in gilded frames along the streets and avenues of the city, the king is always smiling down on you. There also does not appear to be a standard picture of the King. The snapshots are from various stages of his life, with our without his wife, and in various outfits – from everyday wear to pretty regal costumes. He seems to be a kind man and you can always identify him by his large squared eyeglasses.

We arrived at our hotel a little after 1:30am. We are staying at the Lamphu Treehouse, a mid-range option recommended by Lonely Planet. We quickly checked in and were shown to our room. We’re staying on the 5th floor in a nicely-furnished room complete with a queen-size bed, flatscreen tv (with 3 watchable channels), mini-fridge, safe, and an ensuite bathroom with shower. The most important thing in the room, however, is the air conditioner. I forgot to mention how warm the city is. We felt it immediately upon disembarking from the plane – actually right when the plane touched down on the landing strip I felt the plane’s climate system switch from heating to cooling.

Anyways, yes, the weather last night (and this morning) was in the 80s with some decent humidity. Our little remote-operated AC unit seems up to the task of keeping our room cool though. We’ll see what it’s like once we get to Phuket where we are staying in a hut on the beach with only a fan…

After unpacking a bit and showering to get the plane smell off us, we hit the sack. As I lay in bed drifting off to sleep with the sound of the AC whirring over my head, I remember being amazed at what a difference a day makes – afterall just 24 hours earlier I was waking up in a snug little guesthouse room in Ulaanbaatar relying on a radiator to fight of the -35F chill outside, and then there I was in Bangkok in the exact opposite situation.

We both slept comfortably last night and we got up and downstairs in time for the tail-end of the hotel’s complimentary breakfast buffet, which we enjoyed on the patio in the sunshine. It was surreal sitting out there in shorts, sandals, and a t-shirt realizing that today is January 6th and that, had we not come, we would still be in Olgii huddled under wool and fleece to escape the winter chill.

Breakfast was nice – they had eggs, pancakes, French toast, maple syrup, toast with jam, yogurt, cereal, and muesli. The drip coffee was also pretty darn tasty. The dining area is pretty much the whole first floor of the building and it completely opens up onto the street, which borders a small canal. Living up to its name (the Lamphu Treehouse) the décor is heavy on wood and green leafy plants. There is also a pool and small patio just to the left of the front desk. Ceiling fans (and the entirely open section of the front of the building) do a good job keeping the air moving. December and January is the peak of the tourist season here in Thailand, so there were plenty of English-speaking westerners out and about this morning.

After breakfast we came back to our room for a little late-morning nap – hey, we’re on vacation! We are also putting together a plan for the rest of the day. While there are plenty of sights to see, I think we will make our way down to Khao San Road, which is sort of the backpackers’ strip, to see what’s up.

That’s all for now!

Oh man, I’m tired. It’s 7:40am right now and we are waiting to board our plane to Korea. I slept pretty fitfully last night and I pretty much woke up at 3am because of a mixture of excitement and nervousness. We arranged transportation to the airport through our guesthouse and it was actually one of the nicest – and cheapest – such rides we have had.

Driving to the airport I realized that over the past 16 months I have been to the UB airport more frequently than all other airports put together. The ride without our winter coasts wasn’t too bad – in fact, sitting here now in the warm flight lounge, I wish I had left more stuff behind. Now I have to cart my fleece, beanie, scarf, and mittens all over Thailand.

There is a pretty odd mixture of people in the airport. There are outgoing flights to Beijing, Seoul, and Moscow. There are lots of really fancy Mongolians, plenty of Russians, and quite a few English-speaking westerners whom I am having a really hard time approaching and asking “What are YOU doing in Mongolia in winter?” Of all these people, we are definitely the most raggedy of the bunch. Oh, the life of a Peace Corps Volunteer.

We are both keeping ourselves awake and entertained by people-watching. We selected a couple of flight lounge seats right on a walkway with lots of foot traffic. Ashlee is a little delirious and she is noisily giving nicknames to the passersby. My favorites include “Man With a Purse,” “Jaunty,” and “Oh My God, Woman in a Form-Fitting Cashmere Pantsuit, Cashmere!” I had to remind Ashlee that the further we get from our lives in Olgii, the more English-speakers we will encounter. Usually I’m the one with that problem.

Our flight to Korea should be about 3 hours. That means in a little over 4 hours I’ll be sipping a cappuccino and chowing down on a nice sub sandwich. I can’t wait – I just ate a rather unappetizing and extra mayo-filled sandwich roll from the flight café. What was I thinking?

Woo hoo – our vacation is finally here! Tomorrow morning we set out for our 2-week trip to Thailand. It will be 15 days of warm weather, amazing food, sunny beaches, and relaxation. After more than 16 months in Mongolia – albeit with a brief respite in California this past summer – we deserve it!

We’ve been in UB for the past few days now. While we have been doing our best to enjoy it – we finally got to see the newest Harry Potter movie in theater – the weather has been a real drag. Although it has been a relatively mild winter so far, the temperature this morning was about -20F. No bueno. I just checked the forecast for Bangkok this week: 80 to 90F! We are planning to leave the bulk of our winter gear here at our guesthouse in UB and practically go to the airport in our skivvies to avoid having to cart that stuff all over Thailand.

While this trip has been a long time coming – our old Olgii sitemate, Laura, planted the idea in our heads last year – we only bought our airplane tickets a month ago. Ashlee, as usual, has spent the past 3 weeks planning our trip to the T. We will be in Bangkok for a few days before doing a bit of island-hopping off the west coast. From Bangkok we’re taking an overnight train and then a bus to Phuket, then a ferry to Ko Phi Phi, another ferry to Krabi back on the mainland, and then another train/bus combo back to Bangkok.

Money-wise, we are really planning to do our best to be responsible on this trip. We – er, I – need to balance our desire to splurge and treat ourselves with the reality that aren’t making any money at the moment and this whole trip is coming out of our meager savings as well as the love and generosity of our family back home.

Splurging is something I’m really bad at. I’m the one who likes to set an overall budget but then I get a little extravagant on the day-to-day stuff and then complain about going over budget. It’s sort of like when I set out to make a modest burrito: a little beans, some rice, fajita peppers, oh chicken, cheese of course, maybe a little extra cheese, hot sauce, GUACAMOLE, salsa, a dollop of sour cream – and pretty soon I’ve got a 3-pound burrito bowl. I’ve promised Ashlee that I’ll be better on this trip – or at least I won’t kick up a fuss if we go over our budget.

The plan tomorrow is to fly out of UB at 8:40am, enjoy a 6-hour layover, in the wonderful Seoul airport (Subway and Starbucks, here I come!), and then get to Bangkok a little after midnight local time. Here’s hoping things go smoothly!