1/31/2014 - Chiang Mai - Getting there is half the battle

Tick, tick, tick.  I felt like I could actually hear the seconds ticking away on the digital clock on my computer screen, even though I knew it had to be my overactive imagination.  It was Friday and time was grinding away before I could hop a taxi for the bi-weekly tradition of heading towards an airport.  This week was different however, this week the final destination was northern Thailand, not Singapore.  What had me slightly on tilt was we had friends travelling through Thailand and Sarah had already arrived to meet them earlier that day.  To cap it off, my flight to Bangkok had been pushed back causing me to have to move my connecting flight to Chiang Mai back as well.  There were flights almost every hour, so not a major inconvenience, but enough to make me feel like Zack and Slater, waiting for that bell to ring.  Finally it was 6 and out the door in a mad scramble did I go.

Phase one started well - taxi to airport and through immigration all in less than half an hour.  Even more amazing was the Air Asia flight was actually at the gate so it looked like we were going to take off on time. When we actually did take off on time, I was even more stoked.  I was prepared to sprint through the airport Home Alone style to try and get through Thai immigration, re-check in and snag an earlier flight.  Instead, we naturally parked the plane a mile from the gate so we had to take a bus to the terminal.  Maintaining composure I skirted the people standing on the escalator and took the steps two at a time.  I kept my gait to a slow jog/fast walk and beat everyone to the lines.  Next it was a massive outdoor loop from the international arrival to the domestic check-in, but I was still sitting good.  This evaporated when I asked the ticket agent if it was possible to get on the earlier flight and the response back was a smiling, "No."


- Is the flight full, I inquired? - No
- Is it too late to clear security? - No
- Can I buy a new ticket (thinking this might only be $30) - Yes
- Ok, perfect, how much? - I don't know, check the next counter (massively long line).

Arggggg.  I conceded.  Or did I?  Foolishly, perhaps optimistically, I thought if I could just get to the gate in time they would let me on the plane if there really were empty seats.  Back to my slow jog/fast walk I went through "security" as fast as my backpack could go through the scanner and then went to the exact opposite end of the airport that I was supposed depart from.  Aha, flight to Chiang Mai, one hour earlier than mine, getting ready to depart.  Even better, smiling gate agents willing to help me.


- Can I switch to this flight? - No
- Is the flight full, now I inquired? - No
- Can I buy a new ticket - Yes
- Where? - Back at check-in

Composure was dwindling at this point.  It looked like there were only about 40 people in the waiting area to get on a plane that holds about 100 people.  A conniving thought popped into my head.... this is Air Asia.  If I try and board the plane with my current ticket, will they even notice?  I mean, if a kid could fly from Minneapolis to Las Vegas without a ticket, I should be able to pull this off in Thailand.  I had a ticket, it was only supposed to leave an hour later.  The boarding announcement came and I made a move, but then turned 90 degrees to head back the way I came.  Live to fight another day and preferably spend the night in our hotel in Chiang Mai, not a Thai prison.

Ultimately, it was the right move.  The plane left on time, I was in the very first row so I scooted right off and grabbed a taxi from the taxi stand.  15 minutes later, or approximately 6:30 hours later from when I left work I was tumbling into the lobby where a round of drinks had just been ordered..... Mai Thais. Sarah, Ben and Alex thought that was fitting and I couldn't agree more.  We toasted our friends from 10,000 miles away, spent the next 30 minutes debating what actually goes into a Mai Thai and then retreated to rest up for what promised to be an exciting weekend.

1/26/2014 - Cambodia The Sequel

We still have places left on our travel list, but are getting to the point where we are starting to return to some old favorites.  Ever since we had been to Siem Reap in July, we knew we would find a way to return, the only question was when.  The powers that be at the airlines were nice enough to intervene and we found a sweet deal on some tickets right after New Years.  After bidding adieu to our recent travel companions, it was back to the airport for a morning flight to Cambodia.  When landing, the pilot announced it was 19 degrees outside.  We've been here 18 months, you would think we understand centigrade at this point, but other than knowing our air-con is set at 25 degrees each night, we were pretty clueless.  Glancing down at our shorts and t-shirts we wondered if we were going to be freezing after getting off the plane.  We were instead greeted with spring like temperatures, bright sunshine and something missing.... aha, no humidity!  It was like a bonus Christmas present.

Customs and immigration was a breeze and as we walked back outside we were greeted by a familiar face, our friend and guide Vandy (Vandy_So@yahoo.com, he's the best).  Previously, he had wanted to take us to some temples outside the Angkor Wat area as well as a waterfall, so that was part of the motivation for the return visit as well.  Tomorrow would be another early morning, this time hoping for a real Angkor Wat sunrise, so the rest of the day was spent purchasing tickets, picking up a few souvenirs the suitcases couldn't hold on the previous visit and finishing up with the always delicious Khmer food and Angkor beer.  To me, Khmer food is like Thai food with training wheels.  Just as good, but not very spicy.  So if you like flavor, but can't take the heat, put another checkmark on the list for reasons to visit Cambodia.

At 4 AM we were up and off, trying to beat the hordes to get that perfect photo.  Whereas last time we had walked outside and felt a few drops on our head, this time we could look up and see stars.  They kind of looked like foreign objects coming from the washed out, light polluted, grey sky we see on a nightly basis, so this was a welcome change of pace.  We settled in, me giving about 10 people an obstructed view and enjoying my height being an advantage in Asia vs. my knees into the seat in front of me or hitting my head on the handholds on the subway.  Success, the early wake-up call was worth it.  Feeling good about ourselves, we had some Cambodian coffee and eggs and then set out for the drive to the mountain.

Phnom Kulen National Park was about a 2 1/2 hour drive from Siem Reap. What started out as a smooth ride through villages and rice paddys, turned into a bumpy, pot holed, dirt and gravel filled trip through mango and dragon fruit fields.  This was before we even got to the park entrance at which point we started winding our way up the mountain on a narrow, one lane road.  It turns out that you can drive up the mountain until around noon at which point they reverse the flow of traffic to let people go back down.  They were in the process of filling the barrel sized holes in the road, but it looked like they had at least another week ahead of them, so we powered on through.

Once we reset our teeth from all the jarring, we were rewarded with three spectacular sites, the first of which was a reclining buddha temple in which the reclining buddha had been carved from the rock at the highest point of the mountain.  After the buddha temple it was down to the river to see the 1000 lingas that had been carved into the stone bed of the river.  In hinduism, the linga is where holy water comes from, so by carving them into the riverbed, the whole river, which flows through Siem Reap and provides water for irrigation is considered to be holy. Further down the path you can actually see the spring where the water gurgles up straight through the rocks in the mountain to start the stream.  Reversing course, we went downstream to see the waterfall we had been promised.  We gingerly climbed down steps that looked like Bart Simpson had made them for his tree-house and immediately could feel the cool spray of the water blowing towards us.  Since it comes straight out of the mountain, the water is quite clean and we intended on going for a swim..... until we dipped our toes in and were reminded of what a lake in Minnesota feels like in early June.  Cooling off with the spray in our face was just fine.

We wrapped up the afternoon with lunch at one of the many open air cafes in the area and then it was back down the mountain for the bumpy ride towards Siem Reap.  It had been a long, but rewarding day, and the warmer pool at our hotel was calling.  That and a power nap.  The next day was spent shopping, snacking and catching a ride in a tuk-tuk.  Hopefully not our last visit to Cambodia, but if it was, at least we made sure to find Batman!

1/22/2014 - The day a monkey stole Christmas - part 2

Helen of course had been strolling through the forest like the pied piper.  She probably could have opened up her bag and taken some new friends home with her. I wasn't about to let one hop on my shoulder, but standing in front of a moss covered statute seemed easy enough.  Half wondering if a fur covered bullet was going to use my head as a trampoline, we still managed to get a decent photo. Sarah stepped up to the plate next and success!  I mean, it should be since as previously mentioned, she's been on the lookout for these guys for going on 18 months now. The ruckus started however, when she got down from the ledge and found herself a little too close to two brothers tussling over a banana.

I don't know who was more startled, Sarah, myself or the little guy who now found himself staring up at someone significantly bigger than himself.  Sure enough he latched his little fingers onto her ankle and when she hurriedly backed away there was some monkey mouth to person ankle contact.  This is where the two diverging stories occurred.  If you were to interview the person involved in the incident they would tell you that they got a little nip on their ankle that barely broke the skin.  If you were to interview the mammal with a tail it would likely tell you that it was tired from all these people being around, was yawning and then someone dragged their foot along its mouth.  Then he had to go steal a banana from someone, just to get rid of the taste of person.  This of course was mine and Helen's take on the story, feel free to come to your own conclusions.

After having lunch next to a rice paddy and picking up some souvenirs we found ourselves next to the pool a few hours later, enjoying fresh coconuts and marveling at the ant colony that would show up to drink the sugar water that came with your coconut.  I'm not just talking about a few ants, I'm talking about enough to possible carry the whole coconut away if they put their minds to it.


Of course by now a thought had been percolating for awhile in someone's head and the decision was made to make the trek back to Ubud to see the resident physician.  Luckily we had seen the clinic to stop in on our way back to the hotel.  After answering a few questions about when she had gotten bit, if the monkey seemed sick (it did not) we found out that simply washing the "wound" with soap and water cuts down on your risk of getting sick, but since there was a 5% chance of still turning into Old Yeller (this of course assumes the monkey itself was unwell) we opted for the rabies shots, one in each arm.  Turns out the medical facilities in Indonesia are pretty good, clean and efficient.  We also learned that someone gets bit about 4 times a day, so I think they always have a ready vaccine supply on hand.

Talk about an adventure - a day that started out with a variety of egg dishes, fresh squeezed juice and local coffee ended up at the Ubud clinic.  As we sat in the open air restaurant for Christmas dinner, dining on local Indonesian dishes we could all have a good laugh about the ordeal.  Of course some of us may have been chuckling from the get go, but all's well that ends well.  The rest of the time in Bali was spent on cheap massages, Bintang Beer, fresh made ice cream and lounging at the pool.  Not a bad place to spend Christmas at all...... especially since we'll never forget where we were on Christmas in 2013.

1/20/2014 - The day a monkey stole Christmas - part 1

Its never really possible to get your fill of Thai beaches and food, but the time had arrived to trade in the sun and sea in Thailand for the rice paddys, hillsides and muddy brown rivers of Bali.  We landed in what turned out to be a bit of a monsoon, but were quickly squeezing into a 4 wheel drive vehicle for the hour long trek to Ubud.  Its probably a good thing it was dark and rainy on the way up there because the road seemed to be more suited to a single elephant walking up it.... not cars driving on both sides.

The adventure of getting there is always part of the experience and before we knew it we were checking into the Sri Ratih Cottages for the rest of the week.  Nice place, lush landscaping, but the outdoor bathrooms in the rooms were pretty freaking cool.  Not the first night with the rain pouring in, but there is something very primitive and back to nature taking a shower outside when you're getting ready (I mean, there were walls and everything, effectively no ceiling, but still).  Sarah didn't even seem to mind the "yucky" lizards as much when they were in an outdoor bathroom instead of an indoor one.

After a hearty breakfast with some dark, rich Balinese coffee we trundled off down the same narrow and winding road to explore Ubud.  This involved crossing a deep ravine and tumbling river on what seemed like a sturdy bridge and hiking up a hill with vines hanging down to our heads.  Over the river and through the woods if you will, indulge me, it was Christmas after all.  At the top of the hill the town of Ubud came into view.  Mostly shops, restaurants, hotels, but no tall buildings and just a laid back small town vibe.  Trinkety souvenirs were high on the to-do list, but mission #1 was a visit to the Sacred Monkey Forest.  Our hotel had given us the standard directions of left, right, left, right right to get there.  If that makes sense to you, you're more intuitive than I am.  Anyway, after feeling like we had been walking for an hour and seemingly no closer to hordes of monkeys we finally did the unthinkable and asked for directions from the tourist police.  His hilarious response, "The Sacred Monkey Forest is on Monkey Forest Road."  Yes, we felt dumb and yes, we had all walked past Monkey Forest Road and all missed the sign.  At least we were on the right path now.

10 minutes later we were at the end of Monkey Forest Road and sure enough, monkeys were everywhere. We had been warned about not having any jewelry, drinks or food on us and it became immediately clear why.  Some people had put fruit in their pockets that they had purchased to feed the little critters and instead they had little furry friends following them around, snatching the food straight from their pockets.  For the past 18 months we had been looking for monkeys everywhere we had been, even joking about when they would drop by our condo and now there were more monkeys than people.  It did have a hint of a Planet of the Apes movie, at one point you felt like they might start talking and make us work for them.  At least there was no sign of the head of the Statue of Liberty anywhere.

After walking around for an hour and blowing through multiple MBs of memory on our cameras we decided on our way out to take a few photos of everyone right next to the little guys.  Lots of other people were letting them climb all over them, sit on their shoulders, dig through their hair, etc. so it only seemed right. This decision was about to touch off one of the longer running jokes of the trip, come to think of it, its still ongoing and make the Christmas of 2013 one for the record books........

1/18/2014 - Phi Phi Islands

Arggg.  After one day of sleeping in and then relaxing by the beach, the cursed alarm was going off when it was still dark outside.  Come to think of it, it was going off before I usually wake up for work.  This didn't seem to be a problem for our still slightly jet-lagged compadres, but it caused me to do the half awake shuffle to the front of the hotel.  The minibus was waiting to take us to the marina so we could spend the day filled with island hopping, snorkeling and swimming in secluded coves. Seemed like I was going to need more energy than I currently had so I did the first rationale thought that popped into my head - fell asleep immediately before we hit the bumpy road to the docks.

30 minutes later I woke up to the smell of salt air, a little bit of fish and was that more pipe smoke?  Our "captain" for the day looked like he was cut straight from the pages of a whaling periodical in the 19th century.  The Aussie accent and the smoke added to the intrigue.  After grabbing our fins and snorkel masks we boarded the speed boat for the one hour journey to the Phi Phi islands.  The first mate, who was Thai, informed us we would be having chicken and donuts for breakfast, which would be ready shortly.  Usually I can tell when these guys are joking, and maybe I was still half asleep, but sure enough, grilled chicken and donuts started to be passed around.  I took a donut first, but it wasn't long before it was followed up with some chicken.  Surprisingly a pretty good combination, maybe KFC and Dunkin Donuts need to join forces.

We had been promised a relatively smooth ride, but the wind and waves had other intentions.  About half way across the channel we were all soaking wet from head to toe.  To top it off, one of the motors shut down because the fuel line had gotten pinched. The crew made jokes though and watching everyone scurry around without falling in was pretty entertaining.  At one point a pocket knife was produced, but not needed. I was half waiting for some chewing gum, duct tape and paper clips to be used next, these guys were like Asian McGyvers. Soon we were off again on one prop and still in time to beat most of the crowds to "The Beach" from the movie "The Beach."  Wow, it was worth the trip, your own secluded cove with amazingly blue water.  We did a quick hike from one side of the island to the other so we could all dry off and then it was back to the now fully functioning boat.

Next stop was our own private swimming hole with some flying leaps off the front of the boat.  It was kind of like a cauldron, only a few feet deep on the sides, but then over 40 feet in the middle.  After that, the hunt for Nemo was on in our first snorkeling adventure.  Alas, no clownfish were found, but the crew loved throwing bananas into the water and watching all the tropical fish swarm, piranha style around it.  One minute there was a full banana in the water, the next minute, whoosh, gone.  It was almost like a magic trick.

All this swimming was starting to wear us out, but luckily we arrived at the next island for lunch under a thatched hut on the beach.  No donuts and chicken this time, but some more great Thai curry's with the always popular french fries on the side.  Full and happy, we sprawled on some beach chairs for awhile to rest our sea legs.  The rest of the afternoon was more snorkeling and more beach hopping with a slightly less bumpy ride on the way back.  Or as the captain called it, our free butt massage.  Before we knew it, we were back in the minibus, the ladies were dreaming about their next real massage and I was just plain dreaming again.  Perfect day.

1/1/2014 - Mullers Take Manhattan (erm Asia)

Happy New Year!  We rang it in like we always do, a few glasses of champagne followed by me waking Sarah up at midnight from her nap on the couch to wish her a happy new year.  Wow, 2013 was a doozy. Was just flipping back through our travel pics and it appears we have circumnavigated the region in the past 12 months.  Luckily, we had more visitors at the end of the year to keep us going and tomorrow we're heading back to Cambodia.  Before we channel our inner Indiana Jones again, need to begin the recap of the past few weeks.  A combination of too much relaxation and only public internet in Bali and Phuket sunk the ship on the live updates.  I'm bowing my head in shame as I type this, I can do better.

I missed out on the first few days of Asia shenanigans as I was wrapping up some loose ends in Penang before jetting off (make that propellering off) to meet the family in Phuket.  In between trying chicken rice and becoming addicted to sugar cane juice, the two sisters found some time to send me a few photos doing one of the things they do best, acting goofy together.  Apparently jet lag was not going to be a problem, however, I won't include the photo of a nameless individual taking a nap on the couch at the restaurant approximately 30 minutes after this.

Everyone beat me to Phuket by about 2 hours, prop planes, although having the benefit of a much smoother ride tend to travel a touch slower. After a taxi ride from one end of the island to another, I was rewarded with a great view of the bay coming around a corner as well as two sisters waving maniacally at me as they had spotted my head poking out of the back seat.  I was just in time as we witnessed the first of multiple picturesque sunsets followed by our new favorite restaurant, right next to the hotel.  A feast of classic Thai dishes followed, pad thai, massaman curry, pineapple fried rice, spring rolls and cashew chicken with a few large bottles of Singha. Somehow it was less than $10 a person, hooray for Thailand!

We were staying at the Kantary Bay Resort and the proximity to delicious cheap food and a killer view was only the beginning of the perks.  Their sister resort with a private beach was on the other side of Cape Panwa, so after breakfast we hopped in an over-sized pick-up truck with bench seats in the back for a 3 minute ride over the hill.  Upon arrival we discovered we had one more ride ahead of us, a mini-cable car that took you down the hill to the water.  It had a Mercedes logo on the front, so it was totally safe. Trust me.  2 slow minutes passed by as we were lowered down the hill and then we disembarked and saw the waves.

The beach became our home for 2 of the next three days.  400 meters of white sand, palm trees and beach chairs that we only had to share with the normal cast of characters you find on a beach in Thailand.  The new one to add to the list this time was an elderly couple smoking a pipe and drinking cans of Chang beer.  The pipe smell turned out to fit in well with the sea air and after a few coconuts and other beverages it was full on relax mode. 

Day #2 in Thailand would find us bouncing around on a boat bound for the Phi Phi islands.  Would it or won't it be a 3 hour tour?  Stay tuned.