interim blog

ann and dabney wrote a really long blog entry on paper while they were in northern thailand last week, but it's in the hut up the hill (which they have called home for the past three days) and they are too sweaty to go retrieve it. so this will have to do.

after three long weeks, ann and dabney finally left manila for bangkok. although excited about thailand, they were mostly happy to just leave the van with ann's family in it. they heard from ann's sister that the family took another long drive south of manila, and a & d were SO happy they got on a flight that day instead of joining them. it sounded brutal.

having seen a lot of bangkok's famous sites (grand palace, wat pho, jim thompson's house) during their 2004 trip, they felt at leisure to wander around, return to some of their favorite places, and find some new ones.

they spent the first weekend doing (very) early x-mas shopping at chatuchak market. the market is great in that there are a lot of different things that you don't see at the normal tourist stalls around the city - they wish boston had something similar to give small businesses a chance to sell their goods (ahem, like mogo), without the huge overhead. if they could have bought about 50 t-shirts there, they would have. as it was, their bags and wallets only allowed them four really cute ones. should ann and dabney ever decide to become buyers, or own a store themselves, they would head straight to thailand.

besides the hospitality, gorgeous scenery, food, ice coffee, and fruit shakes, ann and dabney's favorite thing about thailand in general is undoubtedly the thai massage. only half way through their stay they'd already had three, one of which was two hours long. ahh, the sweet release. dabney cried afterwards, as she tends to do.

they then headed to chiang mai, part of northern thailand. sadly, it was no less hot there and a & d spent their days in pools of sweat while walking around and guzzling icy drinks. in such a traditional old city, it was interesting that there is so much modern design cropping up, mostly in the form of shops. in additional to the usual cluster of wats and museums, they also took a half-day trip outside the city to visit makers of silk, lacquer and jewelry. as crafty people themselves, it was interesting if not touristy.

ann and dabney are now in the south, on the lovely island of koh lanta. the fact that it's off-season, and a less popular destination, makes them one of the few people staying here. they've alternated their time between the pool and the ocean, which isn't a bad way to spend one's days. today though they decided to take some time out from the sun altogether, as yesterday both of them wound up a little to red for their liking (and believe them, it takes a lot of sun to get ann an actual red color. usually she progresses straight from tan to ashy grey to black.)

tomorrow, they are thinking about renting a motorbike and exploring the rest of the island, if only to feel the wind on their faces and to give ann a shot of nostalgia in her arm for her long lost scooter.