The First Post

Houay Xai, March 2nd 2009
An incredibly sleepy town. I was born in an incredibly sleepy town and grew up in some even sleepier towns (anyone ever heard of Bridge, OR) but this town puts them all to shame in the category of sleepiness. I have been here for a little less than a day at this point and some of the really noticeable things I have noticed are that anything that happens here happens in exactly the same way on any other day (I am convinced of this even though I have been here less than a day), and I am pretty sure the town has hired about 10 young couples to drive up and down the main street to give the illusion that there is something going on somewhere; and that people are trying to get there. After very close inspection, however, you realize that the people on the motorbikes must be driving the same 5km stretch over and over again, all day long. What I have just said is not actually true, but it feels that way.
The trip actually began yesterday in Bangkok. Marcus and I made our way to the airport at 7 in the morning. Marcus, in a far worse state than me, wasn't sure he was going to be able make it and was dreading the flight up north to Chiang Rai. The reason why Marcus was in a far worse state than me? The night before we had gone out for some end of term drinks with our co-workers and Marcus, in his infinite wisdom, decided to get on the whiskey. Not such a bad decision, some of you might think, but what you don't know is that Marcus hasn't really had anything to drink in about two full months (according to my calculations, anyway). We all had a good evening, but the drink hit Marcus a little harder than he was expecting.
We got to the airport, checked in to our flights and then proceeded to kill the next three hours. We wandered around. Marcus, starting to enter the stage of his hangover where everything was becoming funny because nothing made any sense, picked out a strange little cafe for us to have a breakfast sandwich and for me to get my coffee. It may sound like I am berating Marcus for drinking but, I assure you, I am not. I am merely berating him for drinking whiskey all night when he hasn't drank in two months.
We went through the security check (I think they are making the machines more sensitive because my piercings keep setting the damn detectors off), immigration, and then made it to the departure gate. Marcus immediately laid down on an empty row of benches and went to sleep. I found a place to buy some water and snacks and then proceeded to watch the Discovery Channel in Thai. It is very strange to see a bunch of American inmates speaking in Thai. I have always wondered what people do in prison and now I know--they learn strange languages so that they can be on TV shows in foreign countries.
Eventually we boarded the plane. The flight to Chiang Rai took just about an hour and we were in a taxi and on our way to the Chiang Rai bus station before noon. We got to the bus station and asked when the bus for the Laos border was leaving. We were shown to the bus we needed to take. I asked, in Thai, when the bus left. We were told that the departure time was 2:45. I checked my watch. We had an hour and fifteen minutes. Somewhere in this process I realized that I had forgotten to pack any socks. Marcus laughed at me for being an idiot, still blurry eyed, but obviously in better spirits. I looked up and down the street and saw, to my luck, an Addidas shop. Now, I have never been a big fan of Addidas but I was pretty sure they could fulfill my need for a couple pairs of socks. I wasn't wrong.
That wasted about ten full minutes. With an hour and five minutes left, we decided to get some lunch. We opted for pizza and thank god for that because if we hadn't, we wouldn't have met this guy:

This will take a little bit of explanation, I am sure.
And it will come in the next installment. I promise.

Same Same, but different!

And now it's time for the update from Brett.

I have succesfully survived my 14 day trip to Laos. The tale of the trip will be coming soon. Probably in several installments, so please be patient. There is a lot to tell.

Maya succesfully survived 14 days without me. She will probably kill me for writing that with the slingshot that I bought her in Laos. Not exactly the wisest gift for me to give a woman with her tendancies towards violence.

The other important things that I feel that are neccesary to mention are that

a: we started planning the wedding early with the full expectation that things were going to change.

b: there has already been a very drastic change.

c: that change is the date of the wedding which is now MEMORIAL DAY WEEKEND, SATURDAY MAY 29TH, 2010.

d: we have also decided on the location, which is going to be in ZION NATIONAL PARK, SPRINGDALE, UTAH USA. the exact location of the ceremony and party will be decided soon but that should give you a good idea of how far you need to plan on traveling. I know it is a long way for everybody but that is the only way we thought we could make it fair and it is as close to an equal trip as we could find from both Texas and Oregon and it is a very beautiful place. (Thanks to my mom for agreeing to handle all of the really difficult parts of planning a wedding. All we have to do is come up with the ideas.... see (e). We are both very appreciative.)

e: when we are closer than more than a year away, we will create a website listing the possible options of activities (there is a golf course, Stan), places to stay, options for camping, and a better idea of the kind of wedding we are going to have. Just so you know, it is in the desert, it will be very non-traditional, and the groomsmen may not be wearing pants. We are planning on having a good old fashioned bbq for the reception and possibly renting a mechanical bull (that is the only thing I can think of when trying to decide how to entertain Texans, Oregonians have a good enough time just doing keg-stands).

f: Maya wants me to mention how much I love her, so, I love Maya very much.



Now its time for the update from Maya:


So while Brett's been galavanting around Laos, I've been busy working, doing yoga, not cleaning the house and changing up all the plans we made prior to Brett leaving for Laos. It's been a grueling process but luckily Brett takes to change like a champ. The change revolves around our post wedding/honeymoon roadtrip plans. We had initially decided to move back to Austin so that Brett could get his teaching certification in order to get gainful employment at well-paying international schools wherever we happen to head to next. But then, I got inpsired. What inspired me? Two things really: 1. I met a woman with my dream job. She's the SGBV (Sexual Gender Based Violence) coordinator for the project in a refugee camp where I work. I love what she does. I want to do it, or something like it. I need a Master's. 2. Kit and Michelle. Michelle is going back to grad school and Kit is finishing grad school. They somehow managed to write that daunting essay and get their recommendations and get into school. So I've decided that I just might be able to pull off the application process as well. I absolutely hate the application process because of one thing: The essay. And while I'm comfortable writing silly stories about riding motorcycles up mountains and putting them on the web, that 500 word essay is, to say the least, intimidating and procrastination-inspiring. I've sang this tune of grad school before. I even had my recommendations and GRE all ready. It was the essay that stopped me in my tracks. This time, hopefully, I will persevere.

In looking for programs in what I want, 4 programs really stand out: 2 in Massachusettes, and 2 in the UK, and then there's UT. The programs in Massachusettes is double the time and because of that almost quadruple the cost of the UK programs. And because of the shorter period of the UK programs, they even beat UT in costs. I'll be applying for scholarships and aid but we'll see what happens. I'm only looking at schools where Brett would be able to get his teaching certificate at the same time and he's being more than accomodating about locations. He's awesome that way. So we'll have to see if, 1st of all, I get in to any of these school, and 2nd of all, which won't knock us back into decades of debt. Bottomline: Our intended move back to Austin might be shortened to a few months up...depending on if I get into a school. A lengthy visit to Oregon is also planned so I can finally see what all that hype is about ;). High on the agenda of next year for both of us is catching up with family and friends before we take off again.

That's about it. Brett will be writing lots of long, detailed and funny accounts of the past 2 weeks. Mine went something like this : Wake up, Work, Yoga, Sleep, Wake up, Work, Run, sleep, .... you get the idea. I've been trying to take advantage of my time in BKK to work out as much as I say I want to work out when I'm not in BKK. With no one to come home to, that makes it much easier. Riveting, isn't it. Yeah....I'll leave Brett to it.

The Big Date

We've done it! We've actually come up with a date!

Mark you calenders!

* May 15, 2010 *

Location: Somewhere between OR and TX

The Long and Winding and Dusty and Bumpy Road

On the jarring scooter ride to Mae sot from the Wattana resort, I am first hit with the smell of horses, making me nostalgic, then of mangos, which makes me hungry, then of dust, which makes my nose scrunch, and then of Tom Yum Gung, which makes me hungry again. Around that time, I turn onto the main highway and its nothing but exhaust until I hit the market. There’s something to be said about riding on a scooter as opposed to a car. You notice more, like the bumps and potholes on the road, for example. The sounds, the smells, the wind, the amount of bugs in the air, are all acutely in your ears, nose, hair and face. Our resort lies about 20 minutes out of town, making walking and a mountain bike impractical. I rented a motorbike. Unlike the motorbike I rented in Mae Hong Son, this one has seen better days - and none of them were with me. It’s not an automatic but a manual, the brakes are shot, the starter practically comatose, and I spent the 1st 4 days learning how to get the lazy creature to start.

3 tips should you ever find yourself renting a scooter in Mae Sot:

Don’t drive a dusk down unpopulated roads, lest you spoil your appetite on the copious quantities of insects along your way and freckle your face with unbecoming bug carcasses.

While while Bangkok races, Mae Sot shuffles it’s feet. In BKK it’s virtually impossible to move fast enough for the poor schmuck with the misfortune to get stuck behind your pokey moped. In Mae sot, I don’t know know if the dramaticly slower flow of traffic is due to the slower pace of life, or just because these poor 100 cc dinorsaurs just can’t go any faster carrying every household member on board.

After 3 or 4 trips into town and no movement from fuel gauge needle, chances are more likely that it’s broken and not that you’re clunker is getting exceptional gas mileage.

My favorite establishment in Mae Sot: The Borderline Cafe, Shop and Gallery

Happy... Happy....

Happy New Year! I hope 2009 blesses you with good health and peace and ice cream and a puppy.

We had a rather eventful ending to 2008, but then again, when is travel with this dynamic duo not eventful? On Christmas Eve, Brett and I hopped on a bus to Krabi. We bought some yummy Thai snacks at a stop along the way and I dozed off and Brett dozed off and we woke up in Krabi a lot of hours later. We hopped off the bus and Brett went digging in my purse for his wallet and couldn’t find it. I stuck my hand into my purse and noticed my big bulky red monstrosity of a wallet was also missing. We found a table. I dumped the contents of my purse onto it. Everything was there…except our wallets. Perhaps the most frustrating thing about this is I KNOW BETTER!!!! My wallet was only ever taken from me by threat in Honduras, I slept atop my purse in China. I KNOW BETTER! To my defense, it was an acrobatic feat that our little thief achieved getting past my feet on the window side to steal them. Then again, considering how heavy Brett and I sleep, maybe not. Little bugger. We were stuck in Krabi with absolutely NADA. No CC. No cash in pocket. NADA. The kind people at the Tourist Info were kind enough to give 50 Baht to a songteaw driver to take us into town to the police station. There, many hours later, and with some help from some of you, we got 2 pieces of paper saying our wallets were stolen. I was able to cancel my cards and have them sent to Krabi. Unfortunately, they were then sent to Texas instead. The situation has since been fixed.



Here's a picture of Brett, hoarding his chicken and mr. donuts, pre-fleecing.




Here's me worrying:




Here's Brett worrying:

Here's Brett after he gave up worrying:

Here's why it was easy to give up worrying:

Thanks to the gracious generosity of our friends, Marcus and Pascale, we were still able to enjoy our vacation. We got a wonderful little bungalow and we climbed and ate and ate and climbed and climbed and ate and laid in the sun and ran (one of us for longer distances than the other) and got bitten by mosquitos (one more than the other) and met people and climbed and ate and ate with people and drank and it was all very lovely. I left my camera in my bag most of this trip and took mental photographs instead.

New Years Eve, on our last full day, it was just Brett and I who headed to the crag. We went to Eagle wall and I started the day doing what I’m always scared to do: lead climb. Nothing too challenging.. I got to the anchors. I did something wrong but caught myself and was able to stem my feet so that my hands were free. I fixed it. I came down. My foot hurt. I though I could just walk it off and it was really just stiff, no intense moment of pain just a sudden lack of full movement. I climbed two other climbs - badly. We headed back and I started limping… and it just kept getting worse. By the end of the dinner, every step was painful and bringing me close to tears. I decided I would forgo the festivities since the thought of walking in the sand was making me sad. I said the words: “I’m not going anywhere without a cane or a crutch”. Brett disappeared and reappeared with a crutch. This man is works miracles. He makes crutches appear from thin air. I hobbled to the beach. We drank, we celebrated, we danced (me on 1 foot and a crutch), the tide ate one of my fugly fake crocs and I celebrated even more, we watched paper lanterns create staircases in the sky, and then I went to bed.

The next day we got to Krabi without incident, showed them the lovely slips of paper issued by the efficient and effective Krabi Police Dept. and boarded a plane back to good ‘ol BKK. That evening, Brett met my Dad and Sue. It was lovely. We had a nice dinner which was serendipitously not to far from our place.

The next day, we took Dad and Sue to Lumpini Park, one of our favorite places in BKK. Lumpini Park: BKK as Central Park: NYC. We sat, we chatted, we reminisced, we observed a water monitor creep around the lake and then we ate at a neat restaurant: Cabbages and Condoms. Brett loved hearing my Dad’s mishaps (it runs in the family) and stories, some of which I had never heard before.

On Sunday, they came over for a lunch and we chatted and reminisced some more. We went to one of my favorite restaurants, Three on Convent, for dinner then said goodbye as Dad and Sue would be taking of for Chiang Mai and I to Kuala Lumpur the next day.

I continue with my month and a half long cough. I’ve gotten a number of different suggestions as to how to get rid of it but not much has worked yet. An expensive Doc took chest x-rays and told me it wasn’t TB (yay!) and that it was acute bronchitis. Acute my *ss. This is chronic.

So here I am, in Kuala Lumpur. I’ve found a lovely yoga studio that I like much more than the gym that I was going to last KL ride. After several yoga sessions of the easy and restorative variety, and a week of work and a still swollen ankle, I have taken the weekend to do nothing other than elevate, ice, and heat my ankle. So here I lay, ankle in the air, scouring the net for entertainment and wedding locations, depressing myself with BBC news, and waiting for next weekend when I am hopefully mobile and Brett arrives.

Thinking About Maya

  So,I was just sitting here, thinking about Maya, when all of the sudden the words to a Magnetic Fields song started playing through my head.  I decided to listen to the song and I thought, "Wow, that's really great."  Then I decided to write the words to the song down here.  

Maya, I think this should go on the playlist.  

The book of love is long and boring

No one can lift the damn thing.

Its full of charts, and facts and figures

and instructions for dancing.

but I, I love it when you read to me

and you, you can read me anything.

The book of love has music in it.

In fact that's where music comes from.

Some of it is just transendental,

Some of it is just really dumb

but I, I love it when you sing to me 

and you, you can sing me anything.

The book of love is long and boring

And written very long ago.

It's full of flowers and heart-shaped boxes

And things we're all too young to know.

but I, I love it when you give me things.

and you, you oughta give me wedding rings.  

Magnetic Fields, "The Book of Love" from 69 Love Songs

It has been a long time since we posted anything.  Here is my attempt to catch you all up with what is happening in the next couple of months, and what has happened in the past couple of weeks.  

  At the beginning of this month I finally found a job that I thought was worth taking.  I am teaching Science and Math to 7th, 8th, and 9th graders at a very expensive private school in the west of Bangkok.  So far it seems like a good match.  My co-workers are all people who seem truly interested in teaching and I am really enjoying not having to teach English.  

  Maya is a little unhappy that I have found a job.  She has since lost her houseboy.  I just can't get as much laundry done when I am at work for 10 hours a day.  Maya and I have also been adjusting to the fact that she spends a majority of the month away.  To be honest, it was much more difficult when I didn't have a job.  The good news is that she is back in Bangkok until the 5th of January, so we are having some quality time together.

  In fact, on the evening of the 24th, we are jumping on a night bus and heading down to Krabi to rock climb for about six days.  Both of us are extremely excited.  Then, on the 1st, we are coming back to Bangkok to meet with Maya's father.  He is going to be in Bangkok to visit for about a week and I am truly looking forward to meeting the man that brought Maya into the world.  After that, its back to work on the 5th.  School for me, and Maya heads off to Kuala Lumpur for three weeks.  I will be going down in the middle of the month to visit her for the weekend and check out the capital of Maylaysia.  

  The next big event after that is the wedding of two of our best friends, Marcus and Pascale.  They will be getting married on the beach in Railey and it should be one hell of a party.  Pascale is French and, from the sound of it, everyone she has ever met is flying over for the celebration.  Marcus is Canadian and, it seems, most Canadians are pretty lame and not many of them are coming.   We also have some friends from Japan who are tentatively trying to make it.  Our good friend Dan will be flying in from England and, hopefully, my little brother Mike will also be able to make it out for the event.  There is a small rumor that the Tamir might also try to make it but I have absolutely no confirmation on that.   

  I am going to co-officiate the ceremony with one of Pascale's best friends from Japan, Delphine.  She will be in charge of the French translation of the service.  It will be the first time I have a partner in performing a wedding and I think it will be a lot of fun.  

  And that is not the end.  After the wedding, it is back to Bangkok for a couple of weeks and then we get on a plane and fly into Austin, Texas for a couple of days.  I am scheduled to meet Maya's hometown entourage and then we are flying to Tulum, Mexico to attend Maya's sisters's wedding.  Then back to Bangkok and back to the grind.  

  To my folks in Oregon.  The plan right now is that we will be back in Oregon in the fall for a week or two so that Maya can meet my home state entourage and so we can attend Aaron and Katy's wedding.  You will all get a chance to meet Maya then.  In the meantime, anyone who wants to come and check out Thailand, our doors are open and we would love to see any and all of you.  

  That's what I have for now.  You all have our email addresses and we would love to hear from you if you get the chance.    

All my Love and Lickens,

Brett