Enter the Land of Smiles

We made it to Thailand - the Land of Smiles! We spent an absurd amount of time on cramped buses to get to the town of Krabi, which is famous for karst formations and gorgeous beaches. The second we crossed the border we were greeted with a new language, signs in totally different Thai characters, and the realization that we had not learned how to say "thank you" in their language yet. We are taking a rest day today (we bought a little travel chess set and are slightly addicted) and plan on heading out to explore the beaches and islands around Krabi tomorrow.

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On a different note - I've been wanting to write a little blurb about things that I (Julie) miss and don't miss from home. This is not meant to be a sob story, but rather an entertaining account of things we take for granted at home and that make traveling so interesting and fun here.

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I miss having toilet paper readily available - we have to carry our own everywhere. Most people just use water (which is provided either in a tub with a bowl to scoop it out with OR as a hose) but I can't get into walking around with a wet bum all day. I bet the locals have some way of drying off that I haven't picked up on yet. Western guesthouses tend to provide Western toilets (rather than the squat toilets found public bathrooms) and TP, but not all the time. I don't care if I have a squat toilet or a Western toilet - but I do admit to liking toilet paper.

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I miss eating with my left hand (yup - I'm a leftie). Jay laughs at me a lot when we eat. The rule of the East is to eat with your right hand and complete other business (with no toilet paper) with your left hand. So, in an effort to to be more like the locals, I eat with my right hand. I have almost mastered the fork, not quite so with the spoon, and I am pathetic with chop sticks.

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I miss and don't miss the news.

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I was looking forward to NOT seeing big ol' American companies, but I knew they would be here and they are. If you were a fast food junkie you would be in heaven here. McDonald's, Starbucks, KFC, even Pizza Hut are all out in full force for tourists that want to feel at home and for locals that want to feel American. Ugh. I wish they were not here and I scowl every time I see this type of globalization. What is nice, however, is that unlike homogeneous American towns (every town has Walmart, CVS, Dunkin' Dounts, etc.), each town here tends to be quite different from one another.

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Phones. Man, I miss the simple old American payphone. A rare beast in America these days - but they are super common around SE Asia. We tried using them many times in Malaysia - unsuccessfully. Yesterday I gave the Thai payphone a shot and failed as well. I think we failed in Thailand because we are silly foreigners. For example, yesterday I fruitlessly tried three phones and many different amounts of money....only to watch a beautiful Thai woman walk up to the phone, put in some coins (I would love to know the amount) and start chatting. Erghhhh. In Malaysia we got frustrated, then we decided this must be a funny joke, and then we got frustrated again. We did not feel as dumb in Malaysia though - it appears locals experience the same problems there. We watched one guy (while we were in Kuala Lumpur) try each phone we tried and every time the payphone spat the coins back out at him. We understood his pain.

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I miss my family and friends a lot.

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I guess that's it for now - there really isn't THAT much that I truly miss aside from friends and family. And the things that I miss make this part of the world seem that much more foreign and awesome. I'll leave you with a few pics from Penang (Malaysia) - a city filled with yummy food and ornate temples.

Khoo Kongsi - heritage temple belonging to the Khoo clan that came in 1850 from China - this place was by far the most ornate and GORGEOUS temple we saw in Malaysia. The murals on the wall were very impressive - this photo below is just an example of the many pics we took. The rest can be found in Jay's album.