Final Destination for 2008

2/17/2008

After Australia we flew into Auckland, New Zealand. The city of Auckland is big and busy with plenty of tall buildings. The one attraction we went to see before driving out of the city to our hotel was the Sky Tower. The Auckland Sky Tower is the tallest in the southern hemisphere. It is 328 meters tall which is over 1,000 feet. If you are brave enough you can actually jump from a platform at 220 meters and fall at 85 kilometers per hour onto an inflated bulls-eye below. Unfortunately, it is weather depending and the ride was closed for the day.

“Auckland is the only city in the world built on an active field of volcanoes. The youngest and largest is Rangitoto, which erupted out of the sea about 600 years ago. Many of Auckland’s volcanic cones can be seen from Sky Tower’s observation decks.” ~from the Sky Tower brochure.

After the Sky Tower, we drove out of Auckland for at least an hour. Our next attraction was the glow worm caves!  Once you have climbed down far enough into the cave, to escape the daylight, you can see millions of tiny blue lights on the ceiling. Those lights are the glow-worms. There’s water flowing through the lower portion of the cave so our tour included a boat ride. We sat in the boat drifting peacefully through this dream-world of tiny blue specks. I didn’t know glow-worms were a real life creature until we pulled into the parking lot of the attraction. Anyone who wants to learn more about these amazing little creatures can visit: http://www.environmentalgraffiti.com/animals/news-deadly-glow-worms-new-zealand  

Our next stop was the Maori Cultural Center. The Maori people are natives to New Zealand. This visitor’s destination was built around geothermal geysers with plenty of bubbling mud. We watched the mud bubble up like boiling water and we saw some steam and water sprays from the geyser but we were not able to see any exceptionally large eruptions of water. Nonetheless, we still enjoyed the cultural center. There is a lot of information about the Maori people and wildlife and it is presented in an easy to understand, entertaining manner.

Our hotel was in Rotorua. It was about a 3 and a half hour drive from Auckland to the hotel. I noticed that New Zealand looks a lot like Oregon. The biggest difference was driving on the left side of the road. Otherwise, as far as looks go, it’s pleasantly green just like home.

The first thing we did when we woke up in Rotorua was go to the sheep show. I was not particularly excited for this little excursion. For some reason, a sheep show didn’t sound that fun to me but once we got there I really liked it. It was very interesting. We saw 19 very different breeds of sheep. We were able to watch demonstrations where sheep dogs would herd the sheep without ANY barking or biting. I even got to bottle-feed a baby lamb.

At another stop, down the road from the sheep show, I got to ride in a zorb. I changed into some shorts and t-shirt that could get wet. I was driven up a really big hill in a van. Then, I crawled into a super-duper-sized inflated sphere. A staff member at the top of the hill tossed a bucket of water into the center sphere with me (just the water, not the bucket). Once the staff member taps three times on the outside of the sphere you take four steps forward and……Whoosh! Down the hill I flew while in the very center of this giant, clear beach ball thing. The water makes it so you slide around the inside of the ball. This is supposed to enhance the ride. I was bouncing and sliding and flipping out of control! It was one of the most fun things I have ever done! I took three trips down the hill.

After my zorb-ing adventure, We went to the luge. This luge was bigger and better than the one in Singapore. It had three different tracks to choose from. The tracks were much larger and had things like tunnels and places where your cart turns sideways. We tried all three tracks.

The last stop of the day was the wildlife park. We were hoping to hold some lion cubs but the cubs had grown since the advertising we saw. They were now too big for people to hold. They did let us touch them.

Before going to bed, we went to dinner and a Maori cultural show. Jim was chosen from the audience to act as their chief by accepting the gift of a fern. I learned a poi dance and Jim learned a warrior dance. The Maori Warriors would stick their tongues out and bulge their eyes to try to scare the enemy away and prevent an actual battle. It was pretty funny to watch Jim try to imitate the proper face during the warrior dance.

Putting my best face forward!

That fabulous chin tattoo is the real deal!

Yesterday, we flew to Tahiti. We crossed the International Dateline so we actually got there the day before we left. Tahiti is a French island so that is the language here.

At the beach on Tahiti.

Today we borrowed a kayak from the hotel and paddled around the ocean a little bit. I think we are just relaxing for the rest of today. We can’t really do anything else anyway because everything on Tahiti is closed on Sunday. The only thing we found open was the grocery store. Even the hotel gift shop is closed. Oh well, I guess we will just have to lay by the pool or play in the warm ocean water. Darn!

For one reason or another, I never finished the journal. I guess I was so busy relaxing in Tahiti I just couldn’t get to my journal. We stayed in Tahiti for a couple of days before boarding the Tahitian Princess cruise ship. The ship stopped at several Polynesian and Cook Islands. It was my first ever cruise and I loved every bit of it! I love eating whenever I want. I love formal nights. I love shopping. I love excursions at the different stops. I just love cruising! This ship was especially nice for a couple because it only held 620 passengers. This means less waiting for elevators and I also feel like you get more personal attention on cruises like this. I have since taken a larger cruise and I definitely like the intimacy of the smaller vessel.

On the cruise we were, of course, assigned table mates. We had a table of six. There were us, and two sisters with their husbands. The other two couples were from Boston. We got along so well that Jim and I have visited them at least twice in Boston since the cruise.

Once the ship came back to Tahiti we had a few more days to enjoy the island. We took a jungle tour and road around the very rugged mountainside. Our guide stopped at various locations, a waterfall, some different plants of interest and a restaurant. The restaurant was particularly interesting because it was so deep into the jungle covered hills of Tahiti. It’s crazy to think that they even have electricity out there!

Tahitian Waterfall.

After Tahiti we flew to Rarotonga. We did more relaxing and a bit of drinking. There happened to be a few Australians there who made friends with Jim. They got to talking and playing cards and began to throw back the tropical drinks. A few mini umbrellas later and we were both a bit toasty so it was early bed time for us a couple different times. Our tiny little resort was right on the ocean. It was so relaxed and fun there. I wish I had written about it when it happened because I would think I could have done a better job at capturing how fun our short stay there was. One thing that I remember from Rarotonga was that they had issues with people dying from coconuts falling of the trees. You have to be careful when going for walks around the island.

Well, that concludes the trip. The first time I ever left American soil was a pretty epic journey for me. I learned a lot about travel and Jim. I’m glad we were crazy enough to do it!

One more Tahitian sunset please. Thank you.

Please do not alter photos in any way. Please only borrow photos for PERSONAL use and please ALWAYS give Dana R. Atwood credit for the pictures you use. Thanks!

Just to keep things moving....

Hey Everybody!

Some of you may be just joining so, before I get ahead of myself with more posts, I want to explain exactly what has been going on here.

Four years ago I met my soul mate. We dated for one month before leaving the country on a two and a half month vacation. People thought we were crazy...and just so you know....we are!

Anyway, we finally got married December 10th, 2011 in Portland, Oregon after two babies and a lot more travelling.

When we went on that first trip I kept a travel journal. You see, I had NEVER left the country before. EVER! No Mexico. No Canada. Nothing! The first place this awesome man dropped me in was Laos. I figured I should keep track of all these "new to me" experiences. So I did.

Now, four years later, we are taking another mega trip. This time it's for our honeymoon and we have our two babies with us. Again....crazy people!

I am keeping a journal for this trip that we are on right now but I thought first I should post my old journal. You see, I think it's pretty cool that I kept track of what was happening at the beginning of my relationship with my husband. So, I want to do our love story justice by starting at the beginning.

That is why when you read my blogs they are from four years ago even though I posted them recently. If you want to see the entire story I suggest you start at my oldest post and work your way up to the present.

I don't plan on making my entire blog about just travel for all eternity. This is just my blog's current project. My blog is about being me. I have gone through a lot of changes, as we all have, and our experiences shape who we are. Traveling just happens to be a lot of these experiences.

I hope you enjoy this little project because I have had so much fun looking back in time. We are so lucky that we have the Internet and other resources so that we can take people on these journeys with us.

Lots of Love!

~Dana R. Atwood

Out of the dark...Chiang Mai part two and beyond.

Part Two

Many of us have a favorite animal. Myself, I am particularly fond of elephants. I was a little concerned that we would get to the elephant park and find that the pacaderms were being mistreated. To my delight, I found no such thing. (I have heard these rumors and maybe some are true. I personally saw no harm come to any elephant during my visit to the park.) Each elephant spends its life with one trainer. The trainer cares for it just like a beloved pet. Many of the elephants appear to love the attention. They will bow to people with or without command. They love to be pet and played with. I was fortunate enough to frolic around with several of these gentle and super smart giants. So much fun!

I LOVE elephants!

Our next stop was Perth, Australia. Pert was quite a change from Asia! It is a wealthy city with beautiful white sand beaches. We spent one day biking around a natural attraction known as Rottsnest Island. We took a ferry to get to the island and once there, we rented a couple bikes for a self-guided tour. It was over 100° F so when we found a stretch of secluded beach and skinny dipped in the ocean, it felt fantastic! When we got out of the water, we sun-bathed in a similar fashion. Topless tanning is not uncommon here. In fact, after a little bit, a couple of ladies joined this stretch of white sand and did the exact same thing.

A light house on Rottsnest Island.

Another lovely view from our bike ride on Rottsnest Island.

Enjoying the water in the 100+ weather. Photo by J.A. Atwood.

One more view before we leave the island.

The next day was spent at the zoo and wine tasting. The main things we wanted to see at the zoo were kangaroos and koalas. We were not disappointed! The kangaroos were so cute I kind of felt bad for trying some kangaroo meat in Bangkok a couple nights before.

Sleepy koala at the zoo.

For wine tasting we drove out to the Swan Valley wine region. This was kind of a rare experience. Most of the wineries we visited do not export anything to America. Wine tasting was fun and yummy.

We love wine! Photo by J.A. Atwood.

We ended our night with a lovely dinner in the city since the next day was Valentine’s Day and we would be spending it in-flight.

Next stop is Auckland, New Zealand.

Side note: The Prime Minister of Australia apologized to the Aboriginal people yesterday for mistreatment by white Australians.

Please do not alter photos in any way. Please only borrow photos for PERSONAL use and please ALWAYS give Dana R. Atwood credit for the pictures you use. Thanks!

Into the dark...Chiang Mai part one

2/14/2008

It’s Valentine’s Day and I have now been out of the dark for about a week. It has taken me a while to open up this journal again. I think the writer’s block has hit me because I’m not sure how to describe the things I “saw” in the dark.

We arrived at Tao Garden Wellness Retreat early so we would have a full day to explore our surroundings before the lights went out.

Let me interject some information here. This is what the Tao Garden web-site says about the darkness retreat: The higher Inner Alchemy Formulas, which traditionally were practiced in caves,
are taught in a complete darkness environment, which has been specially created to facilitate the teaching and practice of higher level Taoist Alchemical Meditation.
During the darkness retreat you will have completely free from any external light source or food consumption and we will be use Pi gu Healing Taoist / Chinese herb also Juices & Sesame, Herbal Detox Teas and Fruits will be provided to you for 3 time per day.

Also, it should be noted that I had never done ANY study of the Tao prior to this retreat and therefore had zero business being at this particular function. Ok…now we can get back to the journal.

The point of this wellness retreat is for those practicing the Tao to find an extraordinary resource to delve deeper into their spiritual education and for those who practice less often to find a relaxing and peaceful atmosphere. Here, you can also find treatments aimed at making you spiritually whole and healthy. What were my treatments on the first day? Colon hydrotherapy and abdominal massage called Chi Ne Tsang. The massage is supposed to release toxins in your system. These toxins can help make you sick and cause abdominal pain. Once the toxins are released it is up to the patient to drink a lot of water to flush those toxins out of your system rather than re-absorbing them into your body. The massage itself was terribly painful and oddly emotional. I shed tears for both reasons but afterwards I felt incredible and even walked with better posture! According to Tao Garden, toxins can be trapped in the abdomen from stress and/or negative memories. Although I didn’t study the Tao, I definitely think there may be something to this school of thought.

As far as the colon hydrotherapy goes, it’s everything you probably heard it is. It’s a great way to clear any “blockages” in your colon and it can also reveal parasites or other serious problems that should be addressed. The average person may actually need two to three treatments to clean the entire colon. I did one treatment before the darkroom and two after.

I also tried “cupping” on the first day. Cupping is an attempt to extract toxins from your body using suction. I didn’t notice any extraordinary results (if any) myself.

The founder of Tao Garden is Mantak Chia. He is very passionate about spreading the Tao to everyone he can. One of the things Master Chia does to help others with their practice is he puts on workshops and seminars. These events are put on in various places around the world and sometimes they are at Tao Garden. The “darkroom” was one of these. The idea is that being in complete darkness takes away outside distractions and gives people a unique opportunity to search themselves spiritually. Master Chia told me “when you are in the dark, you have nowhere else to look except inside yourself”. It was also suggested to me that God himself IS darkness. To support this idea the first sentence in the Bible is referenced: “In the beginning there was darkness”. Some Taoists believe that being in the dark may give you a chance to “meet your maker”.

The darkroom:

We stepped into a simple two-story building. The center on the bottom floor was a common area and the center on top was open to the bottom like a loft might be. Around all four sides of the building (top and bottom) were the rooms (condos). It reminded me of a college dormitory. Mats covered the floor of the common area. The mats would be used for meditation and classes while in the dark program. Once you chose your mat you had to remember exactly where it was so you could get there in the dark. My mat was 4^th in from the right and second from the top. J

Our room was upstairs. It had a bed, a dinning set (small w two chairs), night stands and a coffee table that was pushed up against a wall. I imagine they did that so we wouldn’t trip over it when the lights went out. Everything was against at least one wall. We also had our own bathroom. Our first night was used to explore our surroundings before the lights were turned out. At 11pm the next night, the breakers were switched to off. The windows and doors of the building were covered from the outside with some kind of thick, black material. The (plastic maybe?) was held in place by a bamboo frame that was “built” around the building and the black material. The entire program lasts four weeks but we only signed up for one of those four weeks.

Meals were delivered to the building by staff members using night vision goggles. Each individual meal was in a plastic bag. Each item was in it’s own Tupperware container. The first day and a half we were on a papaya fast. They said papaya cleans out your digestive system so, we ate papaya…in complete blackness. For the first day and a half, every meal was papaya with a side of papaya. I used to kind of like papaya. That’s not really the case now. After the papaya, we had vegetarian meals with ingredients that I will never be able to confirm thanks to my lack of sight and familiarity with what grows in Thailand. Most of it tasted awful. (I actually did not eat papaya for at least two years after this.)

To be honest, I was nervous that I might find something out about myself that could be devastating or life-changing. Fear turned into anticipation and anticipation turned into disappointment. Since I cannot say that I had any extraordinary experiences or visions, my time spent in the dark was just that…time spent in the dark.

I passed the time with sleep. A lot of sleep. (that was actually nice) I would also press my ear against the sliding glass door, to the balcony (that, of course, we could not use), in our room. The noises from the outside world were satisfying. (Another Taoist “Master” who was not in the darkroom would play some kind of instrument I could not identify at the time. Turns out it was a stringed piece called a "gu-qing". Whenever I heard him play I was comforted.)

On the third day I managed to smuggle in some chocolate. I used the phone in our room to call the reception desk. I begged them to bring me something sweet. A few minutes and 100 baht later (Thai currency), a staff member with night-vision goggles came to our room with some miniature candy bars. Jim and I eagerly sat down at our table and ripped the packaging off of the chocolate pieces. Suddenly, we saw the first speck of lovely white colored light in three days! It came from the packaging! The static electricity from the foil wrappers sparked as we tore it open. Most people have never seen this (if any) because most people don’t go to the back of the deepest cave they can find before turning off their flashlights for a few days and most people don’t go in the dark room and order chocolate! We found extreme pleasure in the sparks from the candies. We didn’t just think it was “cool”, we thought this was light the first ever Independence Day celebration in history! But BETTER! We tried to stay quiet but we were giggling like school children (or crazy prisoners…you choose) as we sat at our little table enjoying our smuggled goods.

So, the truth is, I hated the dark room. I never wanted to go in the first place and I never want to return.

When we finally left, it was night time on day four. You can only leave at night so your eyes don’t get damaged from sudden sun-light. For the first 30 minutes of sight everything looked strange. It was either tilted or just plain abstract. Even the smallest amount of light gave me a headache that night. The day after that we continued our colonics and the day after that we went to see the elephants!

For another description from the same darkroom (different year) you can read In The Image of God by W. Xavier Staub. His experience was considerably more colorful. He is VERY dramatic. (Laughing.)

This piece from my journal holds so much in it that I will save the other half (yes, there’s more) or another post.

I also want people to know that I have recommended this retreat to people who have been studying the Tao and wish to go farther. I have since learned more about Tao learning and understand that this retreat can be very beneficial for those who are genuinely interested. I also tell them how much I hated it though. :-D

Please do not alter photos in any way. Please only borrow photos for PERSONAL use and please ALWAYS give Dana R. Atwood credit for the pictures you use. Thanks!

So, you like my photos....(IMPORTANT!)

Hey everybody!
So far, having a blog has been a lot of fun! I really hope everyone who reads it loves it because I love posting it!
Also, I have put a lot of thought into whether or not I should share certain pictures on my blog. I know that putting pictures on the automatically makes them vulnerable but at the same time I don't want to keep them from my readers.
I think I need to add the pictures to complete the story. So, here's the bottom line. I'm going to use the honor system here. I don't mind if someone wants to use one of my photos for PERSONAL use but please do not alter them in any way and please give me credit. Just a little "photo by Dana R. Atwood" would do the trick. Anything that let's your audience know that it's not your hand that clicked the little button on the camera. Thank you so much for complying. As long as everyone plays by the rules then I can keep my blog public and continue to upload photos. Again....PERSONAL use and GIVE ME SOME CREDIT. The law is on my side but who wants to have to run to the law? Yeah...me neither.
Be fair. Be respectful.

Thanks again Everyone! Your page-views mean a lot to me.

~Dana R Atwood

Bali...before.

Hi everybody! I am actually posting my Bali experience from four years ago and right now I am...on Bali! Also, a disclaimer: Most of the information I put in my journal is from the people I meet at that location so if something is not accurate, I apologize. Sometimes I will google it but not always. So, let me take you to Bali...four years ago...

2/2/2008

Bali-wow! What an experience! Once we arrived at the airport it was already almost 8pm and we had (at least) a two hour car ride before we reached the villas we would be staying at. We were on the quiet side of the island. It was the side with villages instead of towns or cities. The first night we just went to bed because 10pm was now late for us. When you stay in places that get sun very early in the morning you find yourself waking up at 5am for no good reason. That makes 10pm late.

The next morning we quickly realized that there was no internet, no television and no phone. We didn’t even have conditioner but our villa was fantastic and the island looked, smelled and sounded amazing. So, it was easy to forget about things like tv.

We were staying in a fishing village called Amed. Our hotel was called Apa Kabar Villas. They made us feel so at home, I would compare the experience to staying at your grandma’s house. The staff becomes your little family for the week. Food in Bali is very healthy. There’s always steamed vegetables and, of course, fresh fish. There is no beef in Balinese cooking. Most Balinese practice Hindu and therefore the cow is holy and not to be eaten.

Most of this portion of the trip was for relaxation but we did partake in a couple of rigorous activities. The first was going to the temple of a thousand steps. At this point we had been to several temples with 300 steps or more and we figured 1,000 would be a bit of a challenge but still manageable. We took a local man with us to help guide us around and we used motor-scooters for our transportation. We got to the bottom of the mountain and learned that because we were using scooters we could take a road that was closed to cars. This road would take us past several hundred steps to the next platform. We decided it was a good idea and we were right! The climb was great! I like a good workout and this was definitely a workout. The steps are not like the stairs in your house. They are uneven, sometimes falling apart and they can be steep.

My hot wheels in Bali! Look how cool I am! Photo by J.A. Atwood.

There were, of course, monkeys everywhere. It was very warm and damp since we were climbing a mountain in the middle of a rainforest. Once we finally reached the top, we had to wear sarongs before we were allowed on the actual temple grounds. Now, my apologies to any Hindus out there, but I did not think there was anything particularly great about this temple. Maybe I didn’t catch any of the beauty we had heard about because I am not Hindu. Or maybe it was because the fog was thick that day and blocked the view from the top of the mountain. To me, the whole thing just looked like a bunch of small wooden platforms with one large platform. On the platforms there were statues draped in cloth. Not to mention, the dogs roaming around up there are a little freaky. Not like the ones you see roaming around the towns. These ones appear to be more on the aggressive side. Not my cup of kibble.

Some school children in Bali.

I was still glad we went. The walk through the rainforest and the difficult climb were good experiences. When we decided to head back down, we counted the steps. It was 1,769 stair steps from the second platform! Wow! We triple counted. There are definitely more than a thousand steps. Talk about false advertising! There are probably more than a thousand monkeys too!

The next couple of days were spent snorkeling and scuba diving. One of our two dive sites was the USS Liberty. It was carrying supplies when it was hit by a Japanese submarine in 1942. This was an extraordinary experience. Not only did we see all kinds of fish and wildlife, but we got to poke around a sunken ship!

There are so many great things about Bali. I could use the rest of my journal to describe all of the different people we met, little restaurants we ate at, the place where you buy fish and late night Connect Four tournaments with the girls working at the hotel. Instead of going on forever, I will just say that we had a fabulous time in Bali and met a lot of wonderful people.

A Balinese boy band warms up.

Their tour bus.

Next stop is Chiang Mai, Thailand!

Please do not alter photos in any way. Please only borrow photos for PERSONAL use and please ALWAYS give Dana R. Atwood credit for the pictures you use. Thanks!

Wild Asia!

1/23/2008

Our second day in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia was spent touring. We toured all day! We went to the Batu Caves and saw a bunch of monkeys. We went to the pewter factory and saw the world’s largest beer mug. We went to the Kuala Lumpur tower. It’s the world’s third largest communications tower. The Space Needle doesn’t even come close to being in the top 20! We rode the elevator to the top to check out the 360 degree view. After all of the touring we ate at the Hard Rock café.

Stairs to the Batu Caves.

A Hindu girls carries offerings up to the Batu caves.

The world's largest beer stein is made of pewter. Photo by J.A. Atwood.

Sporting my local band tee at the Hard Rock. Photo by J.A. Atwood.

Yesterday, we lounged by the pool, went to the butterfly park and then the bird park. The butterfly park was fantastic! There were all sorts of butterflies just fluttering around me and some would even rest on top of me! Some were tiny while others were as big as birds! I spent an hour and a half following the butterflies around with my camera.

The bird park in Malaysia is the world’s largest! It was kind of scary at first because there are a lot of birds flying around you and walking next to you. Some birds were in cages but a lot were not! Some of them were very large too! At the bird park, I got to feed an eagle and I was able to hold owls, eagles, toucans and other species that I can’t even name! At this point I was more comfortable and decided I wanted to touch all of the birds! One of the owls kept trying to eat my park bracelet!

At the bird park! Photo by J.A. Atwood.

On one of the nature trails in the bird park, there was a guy smoking something out of a pipe I had never seen before. That was weird. Jim said it was probably opium. Eww.

As we walked down the road from the bird park we saw a lot of monkeys running around. Some of them were eating packets of chili sauce. The kind you might get from Taco Bell. They would open the sauce packet, suck out the contents and toss the empty packaging on the ground. It was not attractive. Someone should fine those monkeys! We also saw two monkeys mating. Again…not attractive. They should get a room…or at least a banana leaf!

Today, we left Kuala Lumpur for Singapore, Singapore!

1/26/2008

Our first full day in Singapore was spent at Underwater World. It is an aquarium where the main exhibit is the glass tunnels. You walk through the tunnels and the fish swim all around the glass. So, while the tunnels allow guests to walk along the bottom of the tanks while staying dry, we chose to get wet. We signed up to swim with the sharks! We were put into full SCUBA gear and given a quick lesson on how to use it before hopping into the tank. It was one of the greatest experiences in my entire life!!! We got to pet eagle rays and even hold some of the sharks! Hold the sharks! The sharks were actually kind of cuddly! They let us pet, hug and hold them. The eagle rays kept following us around because they wanted us to rub their bellies. We saw and pet other creatures but those were my favorites. Once you are in the tank you are like a celebrity. Everyone walking through the tunnels kept taking our pictures and blowing kisses and stuff like that. In the end I would have liked to do a little less posing and more fish petting but I still had a great time!

Ready to hug sharks! Photo by J.A. Atwood.

In the tank! Photo by J.A. Atwood.

I should probably suggest to my readers that you don’t cuddle up to wild sharks. The sharks we played with were captive and used to human contact. Not to mention, we were under the constant supervision of the staff.

After the sharks, I cuddled snakes! Photo by J.A. Atwood.

After the sharks it was time to relax with a different kind of fish at Fish Reflexology. Here, you can spend 20 minutes with your feet in a pool of fish that eat dead skin. They also leave enzymes on your feet that are supposed to keep the skin healthy. It tickled A LOT but I was satisfied with the results. All that touring can give you rough feet. These fish can help you smooth things over. After putting your feet in the tank the staff gives you a foot massage before sending you on your way. I never thought I would actually want an animal nibbling on me. Turns out I was wrong!

Yesterday we did our dolphin swim. The dolphins we swam with were pink dolphins. They are born grey and then turn pink as they mature. We learned hand signals and made the dolphins do tricks. One of the dolphins painted a picture. It was a very fun experience.

Petting a pink dolphin. Photo by J.A. Atwood.

After that we went to the luge and sky-ride. For the luge part of it, you sit on this little go-kart like thing (no motor) and just roll down the track. Fast. At the end a big ski lift takes you back up and that’s the sky-ride part. Their tag-line is “once is not enough”. They were right! We went down three times!

Today we are leaving Singapore for Bali, Indonesia.


Please do not alter photos in any way. Please only borrow photos for PERSONAL use and please ALWAYS give Dana R. Atwood credit for the pictures you use. Thanks!

Being in Bangkok!

1/18/2008

Before leaving Laos for Thailand, we participated in Alms one last time. Then, while Jim got ready for the day, I visited the market. A commonly vended item in Laos is a little cage housing one or two small birds. You are supposed to buy the birds and set them free for good luck. Personally, I believe they clip the wings so that they are easy to catch and re-sell. This morning, as I wandered through the market, I saw an owl. For only $3 U.S. you could buy this magnificent bird and set it free for good luck. Unfortunately, I think the owl is probably no different than the finches and has probably had its wings clipped. I REALLY wanted to buy the owl and bring it home to Jo-Anne but I think having an owl would have made the rest of my international travels pretty much impossible.

Bangkok is a very busy city. I was warned to “watch myself” in Bangkok. Maybe those warnings were fair because as soon as we stepped out of the airport a big group of locals swarm you and try to get you to take their taxi. They shout at you that they have the lowest fair. They try to get pushy with you. Taking your luggage or stopping you from walking any further. Many of the cars are unmarked. We didn’t take any of those cars. Instead we got a ticket from the taxi stand at the airport and used the taxi they sent us in. It is a similar scene at the mall. This time when we got into a taxi and asked him to use his meter he refused and then when we tried to get out we saw that he had locked the doors! We got very loud and made a scene so he let us out. Other than that, Bangkok is just fine. Our hotel is very nice and I got to sing karaoke.

Karaoke here is nothing like the karaoke at home. Here, when you sit at a table you have to order food and drinks in order to get a turn on the mic. You sit at the table, while they pass the mic around to all the participants at the other tables, waiting your turn. When it is your turn, you stay at your table while you sing. Around the edges of the main room are small, private rooms. You and your friends can rent one of these little rooms and have your own little karaoke party. This seems to be the popular way to go at the place we went to. Personally, this whole sit at your table thing is not my style. But, I sang three songs anyway. J

1/19/2008

Today we lounged by the pool and took a city tour. Our tour guide spoke very good English. She took us to some temples and the grand palace. My favorite temple was the temple of the Emerald Buddha. The Emerald Buddha is carved out of a single piece of jade. The statue is about two feet tall and about 1 ½ feet across the lap. There are actually three of them but only one is displayed in the temple at a time according to the season. The Emerald Buddha is supposed to be the most sacred Buddha of all. You must be quiet when in the temple. You must also dress respectfully and you may not take pictures. Even though I had already seen so many temples and so many shrines to Buddha and I was pretty much all Buddha’d out…I was still glad we made time for this one last statue. The significance and the beauty of this statue was pretty impressive.

In Bangkok we saw MANY different temples with Buddhas. This one is made of gold!

Ornamental details cover the outside of the temple for the "Emerald Buddha".

The "Emerald Buddha" is in a complex of several temples. Each one is very ornate.

After the tour we went to get a genuine Thai massage. If you are a shy individual then this treatment is not for you. It is a message for the entire body. I did not realize so when she started on my chest it was a little awkward at first. But I just relaxed and went with it. After all the cracking, rubbing, hot compression and stretching, I felt better than ever! Those tough yet tiny girls know what they are doing!

1/20/2008

Today we left Bangkok for Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. KL is one of the largest cities in the world with one of the world’s tallest buildings. So far, all we did today was rest and relax. We also unpacked and we are doing laundry. Not very exciting but we are tired from all the walking and stair-climbing in the hot weather. We might go out and enjoy a little night-life this evening but otherwise, we are saving the tours for tomorrow.

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