More Small Islands, White Sands, Motorcycles, and Pad Thai

After being out of the loop for a while, it's time for a recap.

We left Mysore, India, where we were dancing and doing yoga in early November. From there we partied it up in Goa at a few of their all-night clubs. We survived a tropical cyclone along the West coast of India on our last night there, complete with flooding, dripping cabana roof and bamboo thatch flying every which way. In the middle of all that rain and wind, we found out that Free's best friend Tik and his wife Kate are now proud parents of a new little girl. Kate pulled through a 24 hour labor to bring Lila into the world. We found out about the good news amidst many sobs and laughter in a small phone booth in a dirt parking lot. We hope to celebrate with the new parents amidst more appropriate conditions as soon as possible.

From Goa we flew to Chennai on the East coast of India and caught a rather harrowing express bus ride to Pondicherri. "Pondi" was colonized by the French back in the day and has some lingering vestiges of French architecture and gravity fed sewer systems. Outside Pondi we visited with a friend at Auroville, an intentional community started by a Guru and his chief disciple back in the 60's. We saw a modern temple in the shape of a golden orb called matrimandir. It was one of the most splendid locations either of us have ever explored, we found tranquility defined. After a couple more days staying just off the breakwater in an old French villa, we headed back to Chennai to visit with some family friends.

We only had a quick visit in Chennai, but had a chance to pick up some artifacts to remember India by and make ready for our flight to Thailand. It was wonderful to stay with Kartik's family and continue to add to the litany of inside information I'm collecting on the boy.

Our flight to Thailand went smoothly. We arrived in the early morning in Bangkok and almost immediately considered retiring there down the line. What a fun and spectacular city. We stayed in a hip touristy area near the main river and partied the nights away, enjoying Pad Thai and friendly folks wherever we turned. One highlight was visiting the best rooftop bar in the world and having a few drinks at elevation overlooking the cityscape. We were pretty relaxed about any plans to get to the beaches and finally got our act together whence Free had some down time with his 3rd ingrown toenail of the trip??!

We caught the train to southern Thailand from Bangkok and were almost caught unaware by the calm and cleanliness following our trains in India. Imagine free food and reclining chairs after scams and benches, it was a bit of a switch. We took a bus to the West coast of Thailand and caught a quick sleep before the ferry in the morning to Ko Lanta Island.

Once on the island we rented a motor scooter and started to check out the island. This required Free to get over his long held belief that motorcycles are the devil, he is still wrestling with this while topping 70 kph on the downhills. On a recommendation from a friend who had visited here before, we went to the southern tip of the island to find out about staying in a tree house overlooking the water. We found our treehouse and booked for a couple nights. Then the drama began.

We were awakened by a tree shrew digging through our trash in the middle of the night. This led Jo to start squawking and imagining the various pains of being eaten alive by rats. The morning was a vast improvement with 5am wakeup from a gaggle of roosters competing for loudest crowing. Throw in some husband and wife navigational bickering in a tandem kayak, and you've got a beach front vacation on no sleep. In truth there was a secluded beach and midnight swims along with fun roller coaster type scooter rides through the hills.

We are now well slept and in the more settled Northern part of the island and loving our little beach front cabana with accompanying bar and restaurant on the white sands. Our shack must have been built illegally close to the beach, as we can't see any other structure as close to the waves as ours. It's amazing. The Cognac, Chivas, and Gin drinks are flowing nicely and the running, Thai massage and yoga on the beach are providing the antidotes to our nightly libations.

Next we are off to more deserted islands and then the potential of a raucous full moon part in a few days. From there we head North to the Thai jungles to start our volunteering at an elephant sanctuary.

We have begun to anticipate our return to America and are both excited and anxious. The future will hold for now while we burn the present at both ends.