Watching Field Hockey

Saturday we went to Newport News to watch Skidmore College play in the NCAA semi finals.  My old college roommate's daughter is a freshman on the team and has been a starter all season.  Her name is Kelly and she is #9 in the photo.  They played Bowdoin and unfortunately lost, but it was a lot of fun to watch and see my old roommate Larry and his wife Mary.  They live a small town in the Adirondacks in upstate New York and love skiing but also sail.  Hopefully, we can get them on our boat, either here in the US or in Thailand one day.

Today, we are headed back to the YMCA for a workout and then we'll start getting ready for a few days in Fredericksburg for Thanksgiving.  We're looking forward to seeing my brother Mike and his two dogs Pete and Liz.  Its the first time we will have actually seen the dogs in person and should be fun.

Starting to turn cold!

I think, no I know, winter is on the way!  Last night we had two heaters going and this morning it was 68F in the cabin.  That's fine but it was only about 40F outside and we know it will only get worse.  The forecast for the next few days shows highs of only the upper 50's, and after that who knows.  The good news is in about two months we will be back in Thailand and out of the cold.

In the meantime, we still haven't decided what to do with the boat while we are gone.  The choices are to leave it in the water here at the marina again or to pull it just before we leave and leave it on the hard for six months.  As with everything with a boat, there are trade-offs with both options.

Today, we are back on the boat after a trip to West Virginia last week to visit Dusty's sister Sandy and all the family up there.  We stayed at the lodge at Tygart Lake State Park which was very nice and not too far away.  The choices for lodging are pretty scarce in that part of the state so we felt lucky.  The area has been hit very hard by the recession and a lot of businesses that we in operation a year or so ago when were last up have now closed.  There is a lot of natural beauty but its a tough place to work and live.

Update time

Well as many of you already know, we have been back aboard "Whisper" since the 1st of September.  Unfortunately, its just Dusty and I sans Chewy and Poco.  We had to leave the birds in Thailand with our friends since the rules to bring the back into the U.S. are so stringent.  At a cost of about $1,000 per bird, we could have brought them back but they would have had to spend the first 30 days in quarantine in one of only three facilities ... Miami, New York or Los Angles, so we decided it was best for all that they stay behind.  We miss the terribly but they are in good hands and doing fine.

We are here through the holiday but will be going back to Krabi on January 18.  Right now it seems like a long time but I'm sure the time will fly.  Its hard to believe we already been here almost two months.

Wat Tham Seua

A couple weeks ago Dusty and I finally made it to the top of Wat Tham Seua, the famous Buddhist monastery and temple in Krabi. Most of the monastery is at the bottom of the mountain or karst as they are called here including the caves, temples, housing and administrative buildings. But at the top of the karst is a group of statues and shrines that are just magnificent, and to get there you have to climb 1,237 steep steps. Definitely not for the faint of heart or anyone out of shape. It took us about an hour and a half with plenty of stops for water and rest ... remember its still in the mid-80's to 90 every day and very humid. As you can see from these photos, the view from up there is pretty spectacular. In the first photo you are looking out toward Krabi Town and the ocean. You can see some of the resort islands including the famous Phi Phi Island in the distance. In the second photo, our house is about two miles away and if it wasn't for the karst on the right side in the second picture you would be able to see it, but it's hidden from view unfortunately. We are in that little valley you see behind the three Buddha statues.

A Fish Pedicure?

A couple days ago we went to a festival down in Krabi Town, and one of the businesses that had a booth was doing "fish pedicures". The way it works is you put your feet in this tank of fish for anywhere from 15 minutes to an hour, and the fish clean the dead skin and other junk off your feet. The fish are around an inch long and are a type of carp I think. They don't have teeth so there is no biting to worry about. They are suckers and they produce just a tingling sort of feeling. It was very relaxing and after 15 minutes my feet never felt so clean, even the calluses from my running were gone! I highly recommend it if you ever get a chance to get one. I saw on the internet where some specialty shops in the US have been doing it for a couple years and the going price was $35 for 15 minutes. We paid $1.85!

Sunday we started out for Wat Tham Seua (Tiger Cave Temple) but decided to stop first at Phanom Bencha Mountain Resort. It's a private resort just outside Khao Phanom Bencha National Park and not far from us. The resort was so interesting and beautiful we ended up spending a lot of time walking around the grounds, and never got to Wat Tham Seua. But there is always tomorrow when you live here and are retired. We are going to try and get to the wat later this week. The picture you see is one of several ponds, all connected by a mountain stream, and the restaurant is on the left. In the center is a small island and while we were there, a rather large python could be seen in one of the trees. While we were watching it, a water monitor lizard dropped from the tree and into the water then swam right over to us. I think it was very relieved to escape the python. There are more pictures of the resort on our Facebook site.

Our resident tree frog ("bpaat" in Thai) Francoise, has been pretty active lately. He has moved off the outside window frame and now seems to like being just inside the window. That's fine with us but we had to put a stopper in the window so it doesn't get slammed shut by the wind when it kicks up like it can when a monsoon storm blows through. We've seen many a geko get squashed in the windows that way and we'd hate to see that happen to Francoise.

We're Legal!

We've all been driving around Krabi without Thai licenses and on Wednesday we finally went and took the tests. Fortunately, we all pasted but it wasn't easy. In Thailand you need a doctor's medical certificate saying you are basically healthy just to take the tests, and we had gotten them about a month ago. Well, they are only good for 30 days so we had to get on with it. There are some ways to just exchange a foreign license for a Thai license but we weren't able to swing that so it was take the test or continue to drive illegally. We were all nervous about the test because it's not easy and it had been a long, long time since any of us and taken a driving test. The written part was in the morning and consisted of 30 questions of which you had to get 23 or more correct. We did get an English version, but the translations were not the best and the questions were tricky. Dusty and I flunked the first time through, but unknown to us going in, they give you a second chance and we both passed. Athan was luckier and pasted on the first try but just barely with 23. Next came the driving part which was in the afternoon. The test had three parts. First, you pulled up to a curb. Sounds simple but the front tires had to be on this 6" wide line that was perpendicular to the curb and the left side tires (they drive on the left here like in Great Britain) had to be on a yellow line that's 25 cm (about 10 inches) from the curb. Next, you drive up this lane marked with poles on each side for about 5 car lengths, stop and back back out. Dusty messed this one up and hit the last pole, but they gave her a re-do and she did fine. Then finally, you have to parallel park. Again, not so hard since we've been doing it all our life except everything is reversed. Your car steering wheel is on the right and you are parting on the left. But we had all practiced and did fine. It was an entire day at the DMV and a bit stressful, even for Sakorn who had to watch all of us hoping we didn't screw up too bad, but in the end we were all kind of proud of ourselves.