Hungry for more Pai?

 Bradley giving the coils a try.  His neck was just too big.

 She was so lovely.  My coils just tied on- hers were completely real.  I looked all the way around.  She is also a singer and plays the guitar- we bought her CD and will be rocking that music in America.  I had reservations about their quality of life but she was so truly happy to be.

 This is a little six year old girl that I was playing games with.  She loved to laugh and had such a twinkle in her eye.  Perhaps a little young for eye makeup, but who am I to judge?

 I frequently find the elderly women to be the most beautiful in any culture.  Their faces tell such a story and I couldn't help but wonder what she was thinking about as she gazed off towards the village.

 This little girl watched me for awhile and then just jumped on me and gave me a hug.  She had decided I was worthy of love.  Her mom tried to pull her away but I stopped her as I couldn't let her go- she had my heart.  She also decided Brad could have a hug too.  I felt such a pure love for her and wish her the brightest future.

 Our little hut in the country.  I will look back at this with the fondest of memories.  Yes, that is a deck on the roof.

Lighting the traditional lanterns for good luck and taking away the bad luck.  They drifted off into the night.

 I think I see some cave creatures!!!

 Well, this is just uplifting.  This one is for you Jody.... we thought you would love it.

More cave formations!

A piece of PAI

We recently traveled to the sleepy mountain town of Pai, Thailand.  It's a mere 740 curves (or something like that) for four hours by mini bus from Chiang Mai.  I had to take a Dramamine to get through the car ride while Brad, freak of nature, read the entire way.  We spent our five days in Pai doing a variety of things- riding bikes around the town, strolling the daily evening market, eating tons of delicious food (grilled veggies on the street, yum yum), taking shots of wheat grass, drinking unreasonable amounts of fruit smoothies, and more.  We stayed at a lovely place in the country, aptly called Countryside Resort, and had our own little adobe bungalow amongst the sunflowers and the cows in the fields.  To be fair, I guess we did share it with many ants since those seem to be a theme for our trip throughout Thailand.  The place was lovely and we enjoyed our evening bike rides throughout the country roads to get home.  Mostly we just took time to relax and enjoy life at a slower pace for a few days which was greatly needed, considering the extreme smoke pollution was affecting my lungs greatly at this point.  Due to the vast amount of slash and burn farming in the north the air becomes extremely dense and polluted with smoke, which is extremely sad and depressing for those who live here and those who want to see the sunset!  Boo hiss to slash and burn farming. My lungs do not appreciate it.

One day we took a taxi to the nearby waterfall and Chinese Village. At the waterfall we met a hilarious Ex-pat (term for white man who now lives in Thailand) who followed us around and told us his life story- I was more interested in Sausage, his miniature poodle that had no fear and hopped around from rock to rock.  This guy has travelled around a bit, earned a ton of money in the stock market, and has been to every concert you can name.  We continue to meet the wackiest people while traveling and you just have to take in the good with the bad, although he was mostly good and just really wanted some friends while he smoked his little joint by the waterfall (don't worry mom, I declined.  As Brad put it, knows where that mouth has been?!)

My favorite day, however, involved a twelve hour trip in a minivan with a couple from Belgium and four Thai people visiting from Chiang Mai.  We went to Mai Hong Son, a town near Burma (Myanmar) and visited some beautiful temples and ate a lovely breakfast.  Then we went to see the "Long Neck" Karen (Kayan) village, which is something I have always wanted to see ever since I saw pictures as a young child at the Field Museum in Chicago.  There is a bronze bust statue of a Karen person with the rings around their neck and I always thought there was something so exotically beautiful about it.  I got to actually meet these lovely women and take photos for myself.  Some people argue that it is "touristy" and I can absolutely see how they might get that impression but let's be real here- this is 2012 people.  There is no area of Thailand and no tribe of people that have not been touched by what we call western culture- and let's face it, we all want a bit of electricity.  There are no tribes accessible by road that live as they did fifty years ago.  You have to hike out into the jungle for that shit.  You do have to pay admission to get into the village and many refer to it as the people zoo, yet I choose to look at the more positive side of things.  These women and families sell goods and quite frankly I am happy to buy a scarf if that means that they are going to be able to support themselves and still continue to live a life where they can feed their kids and not become migrant workers or go into the sex trade.  So, although they might be "touristy", I really enjoyed myself and getting to take a peek into their world for a day.  The bronze rings are never taken off and more rings are added with the passing years.  The neck is not actually elongated, but rather the collar bone is pushed down creating more room for the rings.  Mythology states that these rings were protection from the bites of tigers but the more common and plausible explanation is that long necks are considered a sign of wealth and beauty.  I cannot imagine what it would be like to wear these coils all day and night and in the heat of the tropics.  Originally it was children born on the Wednesday of a full moon who were destined to wear the coils but due to tourism more youngsters now wear the coils and have chosen to continue to the lifestyle.  There is also a sect of Karen that gauges their ears and continues to progress with age, which we also were able to see.  Some women choose to eventually take off their brass coils due to political issues with immigration and the government and it will be interesting to see what the future holds for this culture.  

We then went on to two different caves.  Fish cave near Mae Hong Son is really an underwater tributary that comes from the mountain and feeds these amazing giant blue brook carp.  There is a temple built into the little cave and for many Thai people it is a holy place.  The fish swim freely and there were hundreds of them, all living amongst the nature.  Very interesting, but nothing compared to the next cave, called Lod Cave.

watch the cave swifts flying around in circles and then coming into the cave for the night.  It was like watching an episode of Planet Earth, only real. 

Back in Chiang Mai now, happy to be here but wishing for a bite of that lovely Pai once again.  Someday Pai we will meet again. I was trying to post some photos, but technology refuses to work with me right now.  Try later... xoxo

Science Corner with Prof. Paterson

Welcome to the Science Corner with your gracious host Brad Paterson

(Note: If you start to nod off within the first section you may skip ahead in the reading)

So Ashley was a witness to an intense swarm event that I am slightly jealous about. She said the swarm materialized out of the dark and it was overwhelming. I did however see the aftermath of that night the next morning. Cars and the ground near light sources were corvered with long translucent wings uniform in size. but there were no bug corpses to be found. I had to get an answer. Termites. You're saying, "they don't have wings Brad," special individuals do. Did you know that termites evolved onto this planet 250 million years ago from a large cockroach type insect that scurried around trying not to be stepped on by the dinosaurs? And yes termites do share the Isoptera order with praying mantids as you were probably guessing. Being around so long they have learned that nests built of such high numbers of individuals consume much resources. In order to perpetuate their existence, similar in aim only to our humble homo sapien species bumbling around trying to do the same, they evolved a clever type of reproductive group that flies far away from the original nest so as not to compete with its creator nest for resources. They emerge and swarm by the thousands on warm days after the rain when the soil is moist for burrowing with nuttin by sex on their 'minds'. Once reprodution is complete they shed their wings and scurry off this mortal coil as it were.
One might ask the question "how come termites even other bugs areattracted to light?" That's a great question that no one knows. This behavior has been labeled phototaxis or attraction to light. It is quite strange that being evolved from cockroaches, who display negative phototactic behavior, these crazy termites swarm the lights here in Chiang Mai. All I can say is that there are many possible theories, one being that their navigation systems may have evolved for travel using the sun or moon and their evolution has not caught up with our fancy fake lights. It also may be an escape centered activity in regards to light and dark areas on the ground.  Also termites swarm in the day so they may be confused. They may stay at light sources because, as you humans may have experienced, there is a temoprary blindness when moving from light to dark and vis versa, some bugs have a much slower light to dark adapting mechanism than dark to light so they become locked in a never ending cycle of blinding themselves. Dont trust anyone who says they know including me.

Mosquitoes! I have settled into a reluctant acceptance to their constant annoyance. Being faced with the frickin' energy they steal from me and Ashley trying to swat them, spot them, chase them, outsmart them (which is impossible but one still tries), itch their bites, put on mosquito repelent, and wash it off I can't help but become facinated with them. I have learned some things about these stupid ubiquitous Mother F$@kers that I will now share with you in the second portion of this the Science Corner blog.
Over 3500 species of mosquitos have been identified. Females are the ones who suck blood not males because they need the nutrients to make eggs with the proteins and sugars they extract from the blood. Their need for blood in order to reproduce puts them in direct danger so thats why they are so crafty at dodging attack. If you miss once they literally disappear. Its either a Klingon cloaking device from Star Trek or they drop out of the air and attach underneath something matching their color exactly. They locate their target by detecting mainly carbon dioxide optically and by smell. The saliva left behind after the bite, which is an anti coagulant, is what causes the itching. Dragonflies are massive killers of mosquitos so give em props next time you see one. For the most part it had become apparent that mosquitoes don't come out until certain parts of the day mainly morning and evening. It is the anopheles species of these punks that carry malaria and they only come out at night. Its weird now I can sense when the magic hour is going to occur. Right as the sun goes down a hush falls over humanity and the mosquitoes are awoke from their lazy ass existence and drop off their resting places in search of my ankles. The light is perfect for making them downright invisible and they don't care whether I'm at a good part in the book or not. Before I know it they have stolen all of my attention and I have to move or put on some repelent. It's the inconsiderate demeanor that's the most troubling really.

I hope you have gathered some super useful information that can be directly used in your everyday lives from the Science Corner with you host Brad Paterson. Take it easy watch out for swarms and magic hours......

It's the...high of the tiger

I have really been wanting to play with a baby tiger.  I have gone back and forth with the idea, worried that the tigers were drugged or mistreated, but after reading reviews I decided to try out the Tiger Kingdom of Chiang Mai.  Turned out I liked playing with these tigers even more than I enjoyed the Taj Mahal.  We splurged (again) and went for all three age groups of tigers.  Adults, five month olds, and two month olds.  Enjoy!

 This was absolutely terrifying!  These are the adult tigers and they are huge!  When we first walked in, one of them sized us up and starting walking right towards us.  You have to approach them from behind so that they do not feel intimidated/aggressive.

 Please just keep chewing your ball.

 They like their tummies scratched, like most cats.

 I'm getting a little braver at this point.

 It loved Brad. 

 Laying on a Tiger- just another Tuesday.  Not drugged, just sleepy!

What do tigers dream about when they take a little tiger snooze?

Don't you worry your pretty tiger head I'm gonna get you back down into your little tiger bed.

  The handlers all appeared to have great respect for these amazing creatures and the tigers obviously recognized them.

 Hell yes I want to feed a five month old tiger with a bottle! 

 These buddies were very sweet and not nearly as scary.  They liked to play!

 Which one is cuter?  Tie!

 I'm almost crying with happiness here.  I am holding a two month old baby tiger. 

 It's tiny claws are still pretty sharp!

 It was trying to bite me and sit on my neck.  It can do anything it wants, it's that cute.

I cannot even begin to describe the cuteness of tiger cubs.

I'm high on tigers.

Photos from Laos!

 The view from above Luang Prabang, Laos

 The sunset above a mountain in Vang Vieng, Laos

 One view from the hot air balloon!  It cannot even begin to capture the beauty. The river seen below is the river we tubed on the previous day.

 In the balloon!  I look like a five year old on Christmas.

 A shot of a few monks playing the drum.  I loved the moment I captured here.

 Long story.... this was supposed to be a gift, but turns out you cannot transpot Lao whiskey or snakes and scorpions across the border or in the mail.  We had to turn around and sell it back to the woman we bought it from for half the price.  Sorry Atom, no snake juice for you. Brad is glum about this.

The monks recieving their morning Alms in Laos.

 Eating the street food buffet. For $10,000 kip ($1.25) all you can eat vegetarian on the street. 

 Children at the Hmong village (mentioned in a previous blog).  This just about sums it up- please stop breaking my heart.

 Stealing a smile at the Hmong village.  I adore this picture. His kind heart is why I love Brad so much.

 One of the waterfalls (the main one) at Klong Si.  If you look at the top of the main big waterfall where another little waterfall meets it, that is where I swam.  See photo below....

Yes! Life dream complete! I swam under one waterfall and on top of another big one! I just had to be sure to not get swept over the edge of the big one :-)

 One of the many swimming holes at the waterfalls

The flying squirrel! 

Street food!

As I sit drinking my carrot, spinach, beet, ginger and lime smoothie (don't knock it till you try it's very healthy) it suddenly occurred to me that I haven't written about some of my favorite foods here in Asia, which is primarily Thailand and Laos as I was weary of India's street food. Here's some of my winners so far- just pull up a stool at your favorite street side stand and enjoy!
1. Fruit shakes! I will miss the life of fresh fruit and veggie shakes everyday. Imagine any fruit and you can get it blended into a cool treat. New faves include anything with beets (you hear that Erica?), passion fruit, mango/banana/pineapple, lemon and peppermint, and the good old mystery bag of mixed fruits. Dislikes- dragon fruit juice and red papaya.
-There is also fresh squeezed juice of any flavor sold all over the streets. I might never drink American orange juice again.
2. Rotee. Oh, thin little street pancake, I live for you. It is a small ball of dough flattened and then filled with goodness (bananas and chocolate, lemon juice and sugar, coffee flavor, even crab and ketchup for the adventurous) and then it's folded into a square and fried on a wok like pan. Also commonly known as a banana pancake round these parts. I have been eating them nonstop- I prefer sweet rotees over the savory. Current fave- lemon sugar and condensed milk.
3. Noodles noodles noodles! Homemade pad Thai from a cart for a dollar- hell yes! Pad see yew (wide noodles with soy sauce and egg)- scrumptious. Brad has taken a shining to noodle soup which is light broth with noodles, sprouts, herbs, egg, and whatever else you want to toss in. Unlike the people here I cannot get down on noodle soup for breakfast.
4. Dim sum...yum yum. I don't always know what's inside of those various steamed dumplings but it's usually a tasty treat! My rule- if the cart (or person) is busy then i will try it out. I still hate shrimp though and it's never pleasant when those little dried shrimps they love so much over here are in my dumpling. Boo.
5. Laap. This is a Lao specialty. Minced meat (beef, chicken, whatevs) mixed with shallots, sprouts, garlic, and mint and then fried. Throw a few other spices in and you have laap (or lap as I have also seen it spelled). I still don't eat a lot of meat but it was really tasty.
6. Tom Sam, or green papaya salad. Good god I love this stuff. Shreds of green papaya, carrot, tomatoes all raw tossed in some amazing citrusy spicy vinegarette and topped with peanuts and sometimes tofu. It's outrageously fresh and oh so good, as long as you don't get it "Thai" spicy. Then you pay. If you like to cook get adventurous and try to make this easy dish!
7. Puffies. I made up this name. It's a super crispy tiny looking pancake folded in half and filled with some creamy marshmallow fluff kind of stuff and toasted coconut. I'm now eating one of those... Mmmm puffies.
8. Quails eggs. These tiny eggs are a delight. Cooked in a pan with tiny bite sized pockets it's the perfect bite of protein. Sometimes they scramble them and add seafood to make little delightful balls of savory yummyness.
9. Random sausages. At the market we tried these grilled balls of meat- it looked like a mini bratwurst but when you bit down the flavor just exploded! Thailand and Laos loves their encased meats, almost as much as they love "sausage" (aka hotdogs). Order sausage for breakfast and you get a hotdog. Sometimes if you are lucky, it's even deep fried. As if they aren't already bad enough...
10. Mango and sticky rice. Quintessential dessert drizzled in coconut milk. A hit every time. Also strangely good is sticky rice on a stick dipped in egg and grilled.
11. Curries. I have really begun to appreciate the spice of a curry! Panang, red curry, and massman are a few that get a big thumbs up. I LOVE red curry (the coconut milk is a great compliment to the spice) with pineapple and veggies. I have yet to try the green curry but I will soon.

I have so many more foods to share so I will have a street food edition #2 in the near future. I didn't even go into the amazing Indian food we ate as most of that was restaurant related. I long for papad, malai kofta, chai paneer, and fresh lassies. Again, a whole other blog.

Before I go, a few things I will not be eating: bugs, rat jerky, pig knuckles, grilled chicken feet, skewered frogs (or frog soup), snakes blood or anything starting with snake, pig snouts, buffalo skin, liver, tendons, and giant grubs.

But hey, to each their own. I'm hungry again and off to get a snack.

Morning market madness!

Welcome to the mystical morning market of Laos. No king spoopers or Hyvee here- just some good old fashioned street market fun. See if you can spot the giant grubs and grilled frogs- they were fresh out of rat jerky. That's not a joke either.