Trekking in Sikkim

(Written on May 9)
Araya’s most excellent adventure in Asia is now drawing to a close. I’m sitting in my comfortable room in the fine old Hotel Tashi Gang in the tiny town of Yuksom high in the Himalayas, contemplating this Journey of Discovery over the last 8 months. A light rain has just started to fall giving nourishment to this lusciously green semi-tropical landscape. Here in Sikkim, along with other “hill stations” at this altitude, we find bananas, bamboo, figs and philodendron growing along side pines and cedars. Giant rhododendrons and magnolias grow shorter as the air thins in the higher elevations eventually giving way to tiny bushes and then tundra. I love this place! Sikkim is a former autonomous Himalayan kingdom and now a proud state in northern India bordered on the west by Nepal, on the north by Tibet and on the east by Bhutan.
It is one of the few places in India where you can stroll down the middle of the road unconcerned about traffic, noise, crime, pollution or anything else for that matter. This is a village small enough that you can sit in a café in the center of town watching the traffic wiz by at the rate of about one vehicle every 15 or 20 minutes, and that’s at rush hour!

The light rain has turned into a raging windstorm blowing leaves, dust and anything else that’s not nailed down on a horizontal trajectory. The power has gone out and lightening and thunder abound. I’m glad I’m safe and dry in my sturdy hotel. I pity the many trekkers up in the mountains who are finding themselves without shelter from this storm.

Speaking of trekking, I spent an amazing 8 days climbing high into the Himalayas to almost spitting distance of Khangchendzonga, the highest mountain in India, and the third highest peak in the world! The whole experience was quite thrilling and totally exhilarating.

In order to trek in Sikkim, you have to go in a group with a guide, so I first went to Darjeeling in West Bengal to make arrangements. I inquired at several trekking agencies, and none had one going in the near future that I could join. So I left them my phone number in case someone else in my position came along. I must be doing something right in this world, because the very next day Luis, a 35-year-old environmental lawyer from Madrid was looking for exactly the trek I wanted leaving the very next day. The agent put all the pieces together, and off we went to Sikkim. It began with a day’s journey down the (once again) steep windy pitted road leading from Darjeeling at 2134 meters/ 7000 feet down to 1300 meters/4265 ft to the town of Jorethang, just into the state of Sikkim. We stopped there for lunch and to pick up provisions for the trek. Like an idiot, I had thought I could do this trek in my Keen hiking sandals that I have worn every day for the past 8+ months. In Jorethang, I came to my senses and did what every hiker knows is the stupidest thing ever – I bought the very first pair of hiking shoes I saw the day before an 8 day trek into rugged terrain! But once again, luck was on my side. The shoes were great, no problems for the whole trek! I never even took my Keens out of my pack. Another great purchase Luis and I both made the day before the trek started was a set of hiking poles for each of us. It took about 10 steps to get used to using them, and I don’t see how I could have made it without them.

So much for the preliminaries. After spending the night in Yuksom at 1780 meters/5840 ft, we started out on Day 1 with our entourage – one guide, Puspa, one cook, Shor, one “kitchen boy,” Prem, one yakman, Mama, and two djoos (a cross between a cow and a yak that can handle low to high elevations) to carry all our stuff. After 16 kilometers, about 10 miles and 1270 meters/ 4167 ft net elevation gain, we landed at Tsokha, a tiny Tibetan hamlet perched on a knoll overlooking the many valleys stretched out below. Lunch, dinner and all the meals we ravenously devoured on all the days of the trek consisted of 4 – 6 courses of delicious freshly cooked food. I requested plenty of fruits and veggies, and they complied.


Now our crew is used to scampering up and down these mountains every day. Luis had been training for this trek for the past 2 – 3 months. I, on the other hand, have been a relative couch potato doing no more than some occasional yoga and assorted walks around towns. Quite surprisingly to me, I made it through every day of this rigorous trek, albeit at a snail’s pace, finishing very tired but otherwise in excellent condition.

Day 2 we climbed another 975 meters/ 3200 ft in dense fog to Dzongri consisting of a few trekkers’ huts, an outhouse, and some flat tent sites. Day 3, we took an “acclimatization” day. Dzongri, at 4025 meters/13205 ft, was totally socked in with marauding clouds and fog, so we did a little yoga in the hut and huddled in our tents trying to stay warm.

Day 4, Puspa woke us early, pre-dawn, so we could climb to a nearby lookout point for a sunrise view of the Khangchendzonga range! Thank God for these early morning sightings of these magnificent peaks because it was that image that drew me, like a very powerful magnet, higher and higher, ever nearer to them. After breakfast, we continued onward and upward “Arriba! Arriba!” to Thangsing, at a slightly lower elevation. On day 5, I was totally beat from a night with out sleep. We learned that the cooking hut at our next expected destination campsite had blown over in the last storm, and we would not be able to stay there. That would mean adding another 10 – 12 km to the hardest day of the trek. Luis wasn’t willing to accept this add-on to an already killer day, so after breakfast, he, Puspa and Prem headed to Lamanie to access the damage and see if they could repair the hut enough for one night’s stay. They could and they did! Even though it was by far our easiest trekking day of only 7 km/ 4 miles, and 200 meters/650 ft, it was the hardest day for me due to my lack of sleep – not to mention the rain that accompanied us along the way. We got into our tents, soaking wet. Mercifully, I slept for a bit until Puspa urged us out of our warm cocoons about a half hour before sunset. The rain had stopped, the clouds lifted, and we found ourselves amidst a most magnificent sight, huge mountains all around us, close enough to touch, causing our spirits to soar! Even though we were freezing, we danced around, took photos and, as the sun was setting, retired into my tent where we were served dinner in the dark.



Day 6, the culmination of our journey, the final trek up to Goecha La, at 4500 meters/ 14764 ft, a ridge just in front of the Khangchendzonga Range, touching the glaciers emerging from its caress. Luis and Puspa went ahead and I continued alone at my own slow but steady pace. I found myself being drawn up and up by the magnetism of Khangchendzonga and by the spirit of my intrepid trekking sister Margo urging me upward from her place in heaven. I found myself talking out loud to Margo, to the birds, to God. It was totally exhilarating. After spending a couple of hours at the first viewpoint, waiting for Luis and Puspa who had continued on to the ultimate viewpoint at 4940 meters/ 16207 ft, we all headed back down, in the rain, to Lamanie where lunch awaited us. After lunch, we continued down past Thangsing to a farther trekking hut by the gorgeous river in whose valley we had now followed directly out of the glacier from which it was born. We were cold, soaked, exhausted and very happy!




Day 7 Reluctantly leaving the high mountains and high elevations behind, we re-entered the forests growing larger with each descending meter. Back to the rhodies which had grown shorter and shorter and finally disappeared at the higher elevations, back to the magnolias. And then it started to rain again. My tired pace picked up along the narrow steep trail. It was slippery, muddy and even treacherous as we crossed over landslides, one of which had obviously just recently happened. By the time we got to Tsokha, the sun had come out and the towns of Darjeeling and Yuksom whence we came were in view across the valleys in the distance. Day 8, we retraced our steps of the first day, ever lower and across 3 suspension bridges and finally to our hotel in Yuksom and a very welcome HOT SHOWER! How strange in only 48 hours to come from tundra at 4500 meters to bananas and bamboo and lush semi-tropical vegetation at 1850 meters. A truly amazing experience of a lifetime. Of course one of the most amazing parts for me was that I made it! As difficult as this trek was, I would have to say it was not nearly as hard for me as sitting for 10 days in the Vipassana Retreat!

Thanks to my terrific trekking partner, Luis, thanks to our guide Puspa and the rest of the crew, thanks to my parents for giving me good genes and to me for staying healthy and fit, and thanks to God for creating this astoundingly beautiful world. I’m also eternally grateful to have had the great good fortune to be matched up with Luis. We were extremely compatible, sharing our sensibilities, our enthusiasm, our love of being just where we were. Luis’ English is perfecto, but I did take the opportunity to communicate with him in Spanish for extended periods of time, which I was able to do, again, much to my surprise! Over the ten days we were together, we became very close, sharing this grand adventure, a friendship that will last for decades to come and an experience never to be forgotten.

Heading Home

Just a quickie to let you know that I had an amazing Himalayan trek followed by 5 serene days in the tiny Sikkimese town of Yuksom. I'm in Siliguri now heading to the airport tomorrow morning for Delhi, and then on to NYC, arriving on Wednesday morning!!! I've got a great post all about the trek which I will add when I have a better connection. So watch for it!
Bye India...

Northern India

I am still alive and well in India. I arrived in Darjeeling a couple of days ago to escape the overwhelming heat of the rest of India. It’s lovely here, cool and refreshing. I’ve finally got my energy back instead of melting into the heat of the land.

I last left you as I was about to begin my 10-day Vipassana Retreat, otherwise known as Meditation Boot Camp. Imagine sitting in meditation for TEN hours each day from 4:30 A.M. to 9 P.M., plus sitting for meals, and an additional hour and a half of video instruction from “Guruji.” We were also silent for the entire time, not even being allowed to have eye contact with anyone. It was difficult, to say the least. There was audible silence, but not inside my very active mind. During that active mind time, I composed many a brilliant entry to this blog, but by the time the retreat was over and my mind had gradually settled down, I went more inward and felt less inclined to share my experience with you all. Maybe some day I’ll resurrect it and write about the experience. Suffice it to say that I enjoyed both watching the mind activity and the silence when it finally came to me. And I can now easily sit totally still for an hour or more at a time!

By the time we were allowed to talk again, all the women immediately connected with each other based on our shared experience, comparing impressions. I made an especially good connection with my roommate, a lovely French/Spanish woman named Mathilde. Many of us from the retreat all went to Rishikesh together at the end of the retreat. I was thrilled to fill up on fresh raw fruits and vegetables there after the mush that was our fare for the past 10 days.

Very briefly... after a few days in Rishikesh, "the Yoga Capital of the World," I headed to the hill station of Musoori with Stanley, a friend I had met in Auroville. It was freezing there, but a refreshing change. From there I went to Haridwar, a holy pilgrimage city which I hated because of the noise, congestion and filth. So I retreated to Aurovalley, another Sri Aurobindo and Mother Ashram half way between Rishikesh and Haridwar. What an oasis of quiet, calm, beauty, peacefulness! I did yoga and meditation twice a day and read and rested, worked in the garden and met some very good people.

As Passover approached, I realized that I was near a Jewish (Chabad) community in Rishikesh, so I left the peace and quiet of Aurovalley to try to join their seder. By the time I got there, it was pouring rain, not just outside, but all over the seder tables -- no place to sit, all Israelis, chaos. So I left and had a good palak paneer in a restaurant nearby. So much for my attempt to connect with the Jewish holiday.

I got sick in Rishikesh, so ended up staying in my hotel room there for several days while I recovered. Then back to the haven of Aurovalley. I was planning to spend about 4 days in Varanasi, but because I got sick, I changed my plans and ended up with only 4 hours there in between trains on the way to Darjeeling. Boy, was I glad I made that decision. Four hours was plenty in that congested, steamy holy city. And the temperature there was over 42 degrees Celsius!

Just today, I arranged to go on a trek to Sikkim, leaving tomorrow morning. I'll be trekking with a nice Spanish man, a guide, a porter, a cook, and a yak for 9 days from Yuksom at over 1,800 meters to Dzongri at 4,550 meters/13,221 feet, and hopefully up to Gocha La at 4,940 meters, over 16,000 feet! Himalayas, here comes Araya! Wish me luck!

Agra and Dharamsala

Just a quick update from the last couple of weeks. The train to Agra from Chennai was really a surprise -- clean, comfortable, bordering on luxurious. It was not only comfortable, but I had 2 very interesting cabin mates, both Indian men who gave me lots of good information about tigers, children's camps, and world philosophy. The train even arrived early! My guest house in Agra was lovely, good breakfasts and fine people. I toured the Taj Mahal both from across the river at sunset, where I rode a camel!!!, and the official inside visit at dawn the next day. In addition I visited Itimad-Ud-Daulah, known as the "Baby Taj" and Akbar's Mausoleum in Sikandra. All very impressive and worthwhile. Agra is a busy crazy Indian city that I enjoyed visiting, and two days was enough.

So I jumped on a train heading north to Pathankot where I got on a bicycle rickshaw to the bus station for a 4-hour wild ride up to Dharamsala and beyond to McLeod Ganj, the home of the Dalai Lama and the Tibetian community-in-exile. I love it here. Cool crisp air to breathe!!! What a relief!!! Spectacular snow-capped Himalayan peaks almost close enough to touch! No bugs!!! Excellent food! Tibetian culture, and lots of Kashmiris. And best of all, I've met some great people. On my first morning, having breakfast on the rooftop of my hotel, Pink House, I met Lakshme, a Canadian woman, with whom I've been paling around ever since. In our yoga class we also met several others, and we formed a lovely pack of fun-loving traveler-seekers. We've hiked to lakes, shopped like crazy, listened to the Dalai Lama speak in his home temple, and mostly ate and talked about everything. Great people, a great experience. I've loved soaking up all the ambiance of Tibet, meeting the people from both Tibet and Kashmir (who are here because there is so little work in Kashmir), and being in this atmosphere of spirituality and meditation and fun! I feel very happy!

And now, after a week in McLeod Ganj, I'm leaving... Tomorrow I'm taking an overnight bus to Dehra Dun where I'll be starting a 10-day Vipassana Meditation course. See www.dhamma.org to find out what it's all about. I'll be resurfacing on March 24th and will let you know how it was.

Until then, I'll leave you with the mantra/affirmation that has been keeping me in a joyous state ever since, and even before I left Auroville:

I am traveling through (India and) all of life's journey with
ease and grace and joy,
courage and faith,
compassion and love.
I am always safe.

And so it is!

Pictures will come later. In the meantime just visualize me at the Taj Mahal on a camel and amid Himalayan peaks in exotic, exciting India!

More on Auroville

See www.Auroville.org for more about Auroville, Mother, and Sri Aurobindo.

Auroville is a grand experiment where a diverse mix of people from all over the world are joining together in sharing a spiritual vision of living together in peace. What a concept! Forty years ago, this bit of South India near Pondicherry in Tamil Nadu was a barren plateau, all its topsoil having long ago been washed into the sea. The first group of dedicated pioneers came here following Mother’s vision and began building dyke-type barriers to retain the water, planting trees, and sharing in the toils of starting a community from scratch. Today, Auroville is a lush shady forest with several organic farms, many different communities living sustainably with wind and solar power, about 2,200 devoted members and many short- and long-term guests and visitors. Auroville encourages people to live their dreams, and nurture their creativity. Many Aurovilians have begun industries that are quite successful – textiles, clothing, jewelry, alternate energy sources (I ride my rented electric power-assisted bicycle), organic food products, etc.

I came here to experience living in this grand experiment, and to work with Anandi to launch her vision of starting a live/raw food restaurant in Auroville. We are trying out various recipes using local ingredients and seeing what works and what doesn’t. Anandi nurtured and grew KOFPU (Kottakarai Organic Foods Processing Unit) for the past 15 years. KOFPU produces and sells many organic products from Brahmi balls, to Ragi cookies, to Rose Petal Kombucha, to Spirulina spaghetti, to pesto and marinara sauces, skin and hair products, and much more. Now her colleague, Sami and about ten Tamil workers continue this efficient process, using both primitive and modern techniques. I continually marvel at how they are able to use every bit of all the ingredients, wasting not a drop, and leaving very little to dispose of. Anandi’s main interest now is in introducing raw foods to Auroville and India. For me, one big perk of working here is enjoying sharing in the preparation of and eating delicious raw lunches and other dishes each day. The biggest perk of all is in knowing Anandi. She is a delight, a ball of energy with an infectious deep spiritual joy that emanates from her every pore. It has been a real joy to work/play with her these past four to five weeks.

I’ve gotten to know many people from all over the world, mostly Europeans who are also delving deep into the Auroville vision. When I’m not working, I spend my days going to the Matrimandir or one of its petals to meditate, always receiving there amazing and precise answers from my inner guides to my burning questions. I’ve also taken several classes including yoga, Being Well, and Open Space dancing. There are frequent films, plays, seminars, workshops, puppet shows, etc, mostly offered free of charge.

Now, I’m planning to leave Auroville. It’s getting way too hot for me in South India! I didn't find anyone to travel with, at least for the first part of my journey, so on Sunday, I’ll be taking a train for about 38 hours to Agra to see the Taj Mahal. After that, I plan to go to Corbett Tiger Reserve, Haridwar and Rishikesh, and then to a 10-day Vipassina Retreat in DehraDun, and maybe to Dharmasala after that. That’s my plan for now, subject to change at any moment. Hopefully, I will also be spending some good amount of time in the much neglected Northeast states with a friend I met here in Auroville. I decided not to go to Bhutan this time around. I plan to be in New York by mid-May to take a road trip through New England with Lily upon the completion of her junior year of college. Then back to Seattle in early June…

I'm posting some random photos below of my time in India so far. You'll see Anandi and me at the KOFPU stand at the Farmers' Market, some KOFPU staff at work, my little bungalow and electric bike, me in my Indian clothes, and several shots of the exquisite temples, bas reliefs and statues at Mamalampuram, between Chennai and Pondicherry.

I probably won't be adding to my blog for a while, so don't worry about me. Just send me blessings for safe travels and wonderful adventures. I'll do the same for you!

Auroville

I’ve been in India for about 2 and a half weeks now. It still doesn’t feel much like India, because I’m staying in Auroville, a 40 year old experiment in seeing how people from all over the world of all different religions, philosophies, colors, etc. can live together in peace. I urge you to visit the website at www.auroville.org to read about this amazing place. I plan to stay here for 6 weeks total, leaving when the weather gets really hot at the end of February. (For me, it’s plenty hot already, in the 80’s and 90’s every day.) One real joy for me is working with an angel named Anandi who runs an organic foods production center. She’s also planning to open a raw food restaurant soon, so I’m here helping her develop recipes, and prepare raw meals for people who are already coming to eat in this tasty and healthful way. I feel blessed to be working with Anandi, a beautiful Tamil woman who has lived in Auroville for the past 17 years, and seems to know everyone. We’re soul sisters! This is Anandi in the foreground at the Matrimandir, the spiritual center of Auroville.

After traveling with Lily and Emily, I've found that I much prefer to travel with someone, sooooooo I’m looking for someone to travel through northern India in March and/or tour Bhutan in April. If you’re interested, let me know!

A Month in SE Asia with Lily (and Emily for three weeks)

On the 18th of December at about 11 p.m., Lily touched down at Bangkok airport. Just visualize a very excited mom and daughter jumping up and down and embracing like crazy – a very un-Thai welcome, but one that we couldn’t resist after a 4 months’ separation. I was so thrilled to see her shining face again! Even though we talk regularly on the phone, nothing replaces being together in person.

Early the next morning, we flew to Luang Prabang, the former royal capital of Laos. We stayed in a simple bungalow on the outskirts of town in a very quiet country setting. At first, Lily freaked out during her withdrawal from all the noise and stimulation of the city into the quiet and lack of stimulation at this guest house. So we quickly headed into town and began exploring. Luang Prabang sits at the confluence of the Nam Khan and the Mekong River, much wider here than when I last saw it during my massage in Chiang Saen in Northern Thailand. We roamed around for a while and then began some serious shopping at the night market – lots of beautiful handicrafts, jewelry, art and clothing offered by the hill tribe people. By the time we got back to our country guest house, Lily was ready to appreciate the quiet and solitude there. We spent the next couple of days exploring this beautiful old colonial capital, shopping, and eating some very tasty Lao food. The best meal was at Tamarind, sitting outside opposite an ornate Buddhist temple listening to monks chanting their evening prayers. Notice this monk checking Lily out as she crossed the river...

We grew to love Luang Prabang and would have stayed longer if we hadn't had plans to meet Emily, Lily’s good buddy from Sarah Lawrence, in Vientiane, Laos's current capital, the next evening. Getting there was a real adventure. Lily wasn’t feeling well to begin with, but the ten-hour bus ride would have made anyone sick. I was holding on to the contents of my stomach the whole way. The first half of the trip between Laos’s two major cities passed through steep mountainous terrain dotted with small villages straddling narrow ridges along the way. The bus only broke down twice. During one of these interludes, I made Lily get out of the bus to breathe some fresh air। She felt so badly that she lay down on the street only having to jump up quickly to avoid an oncoming bus running over her long hair!
So finally we got out of the mountains, and I saw a straight road ahead thinking a smooth ride was coming up. But it was almost worse with major road construction the whole rest of the way creating a very bumpy ride. Anyway, we finally got to Vientiane, found a nice hotel, and had a happy reunion with Emily.
I’m glad we loved Luang Prabang so much, because I really didn’t like Vientiane. The city was crumbling, the people were pushy, the market was uninteresting - not very pleasant for me. The girls liked it well enough, but after a day, we were all ready to move on.
But we did catch this gorgeous sunset over the Mekong River as we were eating dinner on our last night in Vientiane. To spare you from all the travel details, I’ll mention only the highlights of our month together. Just know that in between these highlights were some very long bus rides including frequent breakdowns and/or unexpected stopovers in out of the way places. It seems that on both Lao and Cambodian buses, extra men come along for the ride just to make repairs whenever the bus breaks down.

Heading south from Vientiane, we wanted to glide through Kong Lor cave in the Phu Hin Bun National Protected Area. To quote from Lonely Planet: “Imagine a river disappearing at the edge of a monolithic limestone mountain and running 7 km through a pitch-black, winding cave … up to 100m wide in some places and almost as high.” It took over two and a half hours to go by longtail boat to the far end of the cave, out the other side and return. We all loved the experience. What I enjoyed equally as well was staying in the nearby tiny village of Ban Na Hin with cows and goats, geese and pigs all roaming the dusty streets, a sweet market filled with friendly people, and a surprisingly good restaurant where we took all our meals.

From there we continued south to Si Phan Don. This is an area of 4000 islands (again from Lonely Planet) “where the Mekong fans out forming an intricate network of channels, rocks, sandbars and islets 14km wide.” We found a couple of very basic bungalows hanging over the banks of the Mekong for 2 dollars a night. The electricity came on only from 6 – 9:30 p.m. The guest house and attached restaurant where we took all our meals was run by a welcoming couple known to all as Mama and Papa. They took care of us as loving parents would including preparing some of the best food we ate on our entire trip. We spent our days reading in hammocks, biking to a beautiful waterfall, and attempting to see the rare Irrawaddy dolphins. Alas they were hiding when we went looking for them. One day we went to watch a boat race and festival in the nearby village of Ban Nakasang. It was crazily packed with lots of drunken and otherwise intoxicated villagers singing, smoking and sampling the abundant food offerings everywhere in this carnival atmosphere.

Leaving Laos, we bussed to Cambodia with a brief stop just before leaving Laos to see Kon Phapheng Falls, the largest, by volume, waterfalls in SE Asia. After an overnight stop along the way, we reached Siem Reap on New Year’s Eve. Most every guest house was booked, so we settled for a crummy, but adequate and cheap room for the three of us. We were all so beat, that after a celebratory dinner in the heart of town, we went to bed early only to be awakened at midnight by all the noises of celebrating the new year. I was somewhat concerned about traveling with two twenty-year-olds, thinking that they would want to party all the time, but it turned out that we all had the same rhythm which meant early to bed and early to rise. During the whole month together we consumed a grand total of maybe 4 beers among us! Party animals we were not!

For the next 2 days we hired a guide and driver to show us the many temples and monuments of which Angkor Wat is the best known, dating from the 12th century. My favorite was Ta Prohm, the one with the roots of giant trees entangled in the monumental sculptures. Art and nature intertwined to create a breathtaking sight! We climbed up the steep staircases to the top of some temples and wove through the narrow passageways of others. It was exhausting and exhilarating at the same time. At night we wandered through the market and tasted some good Cambodian specialties. I was the more adventurous eater. Emily and Lily stuck mostly to veggies with fried rice or noodles for the entire month.

Another highlight for me came on the boat trip from Siem Reap up the Tonle Sap and then down the Stung Sangker River to Battambang, Cambodia’s second largest city. The trip which was supposed to take six hours, took almost ten because of the low level of water in the river during this dry season. (You Seattleites may not be able to relate to this, but the last time I saw rain was on November 8 in when I first arrived in Bangkok.) The boat was packed with many of us sitting in the open on the top deck. That was fine in the morning when there was cloud cover, but it got pretty intense during midday. We passed by many floating villages and saw a multitude of exotic birds as we sailed through the wetlands. Small canoe-type crafts shuttled some passengers to and from boat, often piloted by small children. It was great to see how people subsist completely surrounded by water.

By the time we got to Battambang, Lily was feeling pretty sick. Not wanting to deal with any serious illness in Cambodia, and with the advice of a Cambodian nurse we met there, we left the next day and took two taxis to get to Trat in Thailand, changing taxis at the border. Trat is on the southern border of Thailand and Cambodia. We settled in a very Thai hotel right next to the market, one of the most varied of all that I had seen in Thailand. I must say I was very happy to get back to Thailand after being in Cambodia. Seeing only Siem Reap, and a bit of Battambang, we had a pretty distorted view of what others tell me is a beautiful and fascinating country. Aside from the river trip and the amazing archeological sites, I can’t say I really liked Cambodia, and I was feeling pulled to get back to the relative ease of Thailand. Having already spent two months in Thailand, it was familiar to me, and much more comfortable. I took Lily to a private clinic the next morning where the doctor said she had some kind of infection. She was given several types of medicines which, along with the clinic visit cost us about 25 dollars US, high by Thai standards.

We decided the best place to rest and recover was at The Souk on Koh Chang, a large island in the Gulf of Thailand. The Souk was recommended to us by Liesbeth, the woman I stayed with in Ban ThaTon on the Burmese border in Thailand. As luck would have it, she had just been at the Souk for the past week and left just hours before we arrived! So sorry we missed seeing her at the other end of Thailand! We all loved staying at the Souk on Koh Chang! With all the non-stop traveling through Laos and Cambodia, we really needed the rest. Soon after we arrived, Emily got whatever Lily had, and soon after, I too succumbed. But if we had to be sick, we were in the most beautiful place to recover. Our bungalow was maybe 20 meters from the beach, with only a palm tree in between. We sat in hammocks, read, slept, and walked between our bungalow and the restaurant. The food was delicious, and the proprietors, Ed and Oh took very good care of us. By the end of the week, we finally got up enough energy to go ride some elephants. We even swam with them!

Yes, as we sat bareback on the elephant’s neck, they waded and dove into the waters of a decent sized pond. Of course we got soaked and laughed a lot. It was great fun.

By that time, Emily needed to get to Bangkok for her flight back to New York. The girls talked me into going a day early so they could do some serious shopping at the famous Chatuchak Weekend Market. Luckily for me, they had each other, so I was spared from going there again. We stayed near Siam Square, so we also got the opposite shopping experience in several glitzy new vertical malls.


The day after Emily left, Lily and I headed down to another beautiful island on the other side of the Gulf of Thailand, Koh Tao, known as one of the best places to scuba dive. To get there, we took a 2-hour ferry ride in a storm over very rough seas. I got very seasick, while Lily wasn’t even phased. Lily had gotten her first scuba certification in Mexico when she was 13, but now wanted to go to the next level. We stayed at Black Tip Dive Resort on a secluded beach on “the other side of the island.” While Lily took her two day course, I mostly hung out and took some walks up the steep hillside surrounding the cove. It was very windy – a storm that we brought with us from Koh Chang, so the diving and snorkeling weren’t as good as they could have been. And after hearing the very sad news about a dear friend dying while snorkeling in Mexico just a week before, I must admit that I was a bit spooked about snorkeling on Koh Tao.

As our time together was drawing to a close, we went back to Bangkok. Lily still hadn’t had enough shopping, so we headed back to the weekend market. This time I joyfully accompanied her. It was a bittersweet last day together, savoring each minute. The next morning, January 19, we went to the airport together, shared our last hugs, and then Lily flew off to New York, and I flew to Chennai, India.