Catching the sun in Beijing. 

Me standing outside of my apartment in China.

Starting Over

Boats are still stranded on shore two months after the tsunami hit Thailand's southwest. Over seven hundred locals have been set up in temporary shelters on the mainland in and around Krabi. Tourists/volunteers like us are helping to change the tide for these devastated communities that typically thrive off of tourism as their main source of income. Recently the Star Tribune newspaper featured Thailand in an article of the Travel section where the US state department made a statement that the island of Phi Phi had no accommodations at this point in time and would not be hosting tourists any time soon. That's news to us, especially since we just returned from a stay there. For information on how to donate money, view rebuilding projects in action, or personally help on Phi Phi Island, visit this website: www.hiphiphi.com

Ionic Spray is Euphoric

Taking time to relax and pose for a picture after a trek into a jungle north of Chiang Mai, Thailand. Climbing over hillsides thick with vegetation, crossing rickety bamboo and cable suspension bridges, riding an elephant more pokey than me, soaking our feet on a bamboo raft while being splashed by laughing locals, and visiting rustic Hmong and Karen hill-tribe villages proved to be a day of adventure. Navigating our way through the villages was indeed a humbling experience. Many of the stereotypes fit these homes: no electricity, running water, or screens...thatched roof-tops, dirt floors, and chicken scratching all about. In the Hmong village a motorcycle and a pick-up truck caught my eye throwing me off for a moment at which point I realized there was another means of visiting this secluded area besides the narrow pathway dotted with sweet smelling lychee and logan berry orchards, towering teak trees, and huge termite mounds.

Two Guys with Big Ears

Exploring the very Buddhist country of Thailand...
Just outside the southern city of Krabi Kim and I hiked up a hill, I think of it as a mountain, but that's only my point of view, to enjoy a wonderful vista of the land below, light some incense, relax, and take a few photos. There are various reports of the number of steps up the "hill." One stated it as 1270, another at 1293, and I counted 1285, depending upon what steps you take to the top, for there are technically three tops at the top. Several times we stopped on our way up this steep trek. Yes, there are stairs the entire way, however, each step can be up to a foot and a half high and only eight inches wide. Because of that sidestepping is in order and fortunately a handrail parallels the walk past every switchback the entire length up the hillside. At the top you can see rubber tree, banana tree, and a numerous amount of different species of palm plantations below stretching beyond the horizon. You cannot see it in the picture, though there are a few antennas up there and for good reason as it is one of the highest spots around. Even Buddhist Monks have to make money somehow. At the bottom were we in for a surprise. A group of monkeys were playing and grooming each other on the stoop of the fifteenth step. They approached and then mirrored us by stared right back with, I'm assuming, the same amount of amusement.

Sawatee

Hello everyone. This is Nate. Yes, I am copying my wife Kim and making a blog. She has encouraged me although I've been hesitant and while in China I could not have started one if I wanted to - but now maybe some of you will actually check out both of our websites. Our time spent in China from August - January flew by and though we will soon return to our teaching posts at Zhanjiang Normal College located in Guangdong province, we are stretching out our traveling as best we can. It's been so much fun to jump from Cantonese culture to Hong Kongese culture to Korean culture to Indian culture to Thai culture. I wish we could keep on exploring more but I am content with what we have seen thus far.