Home Sweet Home

We made it! The final leg of our epic journey included attempting to sleep in the gigantic Bangkok International Airport (along with hundreds of others). We flew into BKK From Chiang Mai at 10pm and our flight home via Tokyo left at 6am the next morning so why get a room when you can sleep on metal benches for a few hours... Next time we invest in the United Club airport lounge membership to really get the most out of our layovers... Anyway, we made our flight to Tokyo and then onto LA where we cleared customs and immigration. We must say that the US has the least organized and least staffed immigration, security and customs so it took a while. We flew into Monterey on one of the usual small prop planes with great views of Big Sur and the Monterey Peninsula. Ah, there's no place like home!  It's amazing to travel to gorgeous places and then return home to a beautiful spot.  We have been recovering from the jet lag and residual food poisoning and should be ready to head back to work on Monday (for Gil at least)...

We had so much fun and just looked at our 500 + pics that we took and realized how much we experienced and feel so fortunate to have been able to take this time together for our honeymoon. We are still in awe of the amazing sights , beautiful people, and rich experiences we had.  Thank you for your support and time sharing our adventures!  We consider our family and community our truest riches!

til next time Siam,

Gil and Cristina

"Getting to know you..."

Just as in the "King and I" musical, our trip to the Siam Kingdom has been filled with getting to know all about the citizens. After our day cooking Thai style, we donned our new silk threads and took a tuk-tuk to the trendy place at Riverside Bar and Restaurant! This city is an international city, and at the Riverside, both Thai and "farang" (westerner in Thai) sit together and buy drinks, laughing and listening to the incredibly talented cover band. We watched from our intimate table in the corner outside by the river folks from every corner of this world come together and eat. A Thai girl was falling head over heels in love with her classmate who must have been from Australia or Britain. It is customary to purchase the whole bottle of spirits at this bar, along with whatever mixers you want. There's a small table where this is all kept next to your table, and magically, cute Thai boys and girls come and mix up another one of your favorite drinks before you can ask... until your bottle is gone... and you order another one. We're talking the 750 ml bottles, not your room mini-bar fare.
After soaking this all in, and having a few drinks ourselves, ordering only by the glass though, we took our tuk-tuk to our favorite local street bar. The Chillout Bar is literally down the block from our SK Guesthouse on Soi 9. You sit on the street, either at the bar or across the street with traffice flying by, listening to great tunes from BuddhaBar, Thievery Corp., and other Chill albums. The bar owners are a brother and sister team! P-Boy, the older brother, sat with us, practicing his English for when his Australian girlfriend returns in April. His beautiful sister, Nas, attracting EVERY farang boy walking or tuk-tuking by, just smiled and mixes up the drinks. So we had a great night hanging out with them and their friends, Toby and San, learning about Thai culture and life, their likes and prejudices, dreams and realities. We'll be returning tonight to sit and talk to P-Boy some more. It's been our nightly regular spot since arriving in Chiang Mai.

Ciao for now!

Cooking in Chiang Mai

Yesterday, we had an experience that will stay with us for the rest of our lives!
We attended the Thai Farm Cooking School on recommendation from Tim and Christi. We first went shopping in a real, no tourists, thai market; complete with bags of frogs, eels, every friut and vegetable available grown locally and traditionally used, over 20 different types of rice, and every possible soya product imaginable! Wow! The smells and colors could not be captured on film! Our cute and spunky Thai teacher, "Happy," patiently explained how to navigate the market. She taught us about the rices and their individual uses, how to purchase coconut milk and cream, and, of course, the wide variety of cooking oils and sauces!
From the market, we, along with 3 other couples and one other German woman, went to a working organic farm. It was beautiful! We strolled through the herb garden and identified all the herbs we would be using in our creations. They practice some of the sustainable agricultural practices we recognized from our Permaculture training.
"Happy" had a great command of the English language, and after our slow stroll, she told us, "Time to work!" And work we did. We got busy making first our curry pastes, completely from scratch. Gil made a medium spicy green, and Cris got busy making a medium to spicy yellow paste in our pistle and mortar. Lots of pounding til Happy said OK. Then into the outdoor airy kitchen to create our vegetarian Curry dishes.
At this point we had to face out new nemisis "Tofu". After our bad Soy product experience we came eye to eye, or something like that, with the vegetable protien material that had left us weak and drained not to mention extracting more than a few pounds of flesh from our bodies. We both rose to the ocassion and would not be kept down by this simple bean past material and not only scalded but actually ate a bit of our old friend on our road to tofu recovery...
After a quick curry creation we moved onto soups where we each made different Tom soups. Our strategy was to select different dishes so that combined we would be able to open a roving Thai food cart and take Cannery Row by storm...
We went on to cook, wok, saute; Tofu with cashew nuts, basil tofu, Pad Thai, Spring rolls and of course banana and mango desserts!
We had a fabulous time sharing the kitchen with our new friends from London, Germany and some nice folks from the States. We had more food than we knew what to do with, but it was about learning to cook that day. We had a nice to-go package Thai style so all our meals were prepared by us yesterday!

Spectacular day,we highly recommend Thai Farm Cooking School!

Some little thoughts...

Wow! We can't believe we're on the last days of our trip. We really could easily have added another month or two to our travels. And in meeting and hearing how the Europeans travel like this once a year, we're starting to think that we might try to emulate their system, and go on holiday every year, if possible, for a chunk of time.

What we are going to miss from this side of the world...
their fruit shakes! - Anyone from C's family can tell you that she is not into fruit... at all. There are only a handful of fruits that I like. But on this trip, I've eaten more fruit this month than in the last ten years of my life!
Huge smiles!- People are friendly, and curious about the fellow humans around them. We are both going to be chatting up strangers on the street more. Amazingly friendly! And curious... They want to know more intimate details than what most US folks get into after months of knowing someone.
Weather- traveling where it's been warm is wonderful!

And with this, we also recommit to opening our minds and hearts to different cultures and languages.

okay... enough on this.... more stories and tons of picutres to share...

We left our hearts in Siem Reap

Another quick entry.... we promise to update you all in more detail in the next few days.

So Thailand is beautiful, but we fell in love with Cambodia!
The people, the place, the spirit, the food!
We're definitely going back.

Snap shot: Ancient temples galore, a sleepy little town, sweetest people on Earth who have had a rough history, Balloon sunset ride, sunrise at Angkor Wat, amazing food- complete with a gourmet vegetarian restaurant that would make any San Franciscan proud for under $15 complete meal, appetizers, drinks...

Wow!
Back in Thailand, and looking forward to finishing our trip in the north where we hear the people are sweet and friendly.

Thai cooking school at an organic farm tomorrow! Yes, of course, we were advised about a working organic farm hosting cooking classes... say no more!

We are both going to be speaking a lot about what we saw in Cambodia: land mines and Khmer Rouge has left many with disabilities, orphaned or worse...

much love, Cris and Gil, having the best honeymoon of our lives....(shhhh- yes we know we don't have anything else to compare it to....)

Pattong after diving

So we experienced diving in the Similan Islands! Amazing! Lion fish, sea snakes, barracuda, sharks, tons and tons of schooling fish you usually see in exhibit tanks, amazing colors of corals! And what three day live aboard wouldn't be complete without a little Bangkok Belly... or Bad Tofu Belly! UGH! We missed a few dives due to the empty-ing of our entire systems... let's be polite and leave it at that! Bad Tofu! Oh it was bad. Diving was great, and the Thai staff are fabulous- so helpful and courteous. Two thumbs up for Scuba Cat.... just no tofu....
But we're okay now, and had our first American dinner since our arrival to this beaultiful country two weeks ago.

We're off to Siem Reap, Cambodia to see the temples of Angkor Wat. Sorry this is short. We're tired and a little sun-kissed and just getting our land legs back.

We miss you all as we head for adventures in the north.

much love, Gil and Cris

Our wild ride to Phuket

Well, we had an early start from our lovely beach bungalow in Haad Yao. Our taxi driver overslept and we nearly missed the ferry (our first leg of a long journey). Once we hit the mainland, Surat Thani, we were picked up by a nice airconditioned bus... That didn't last long, and soon we found ourselves in the a small parking lot near a river with 40 other travelers herded off our nice bus and onto pickup trucks with bench seats on the back. From there we went to another transfer station and into a crowded minivan with the promise of a drop off at the doorstep of our hotel in Phuket (pronounced "Poo-ket"). 5 hours later we arrive at the dive shop that we will be diving with for the next few days in the Similan Island National Park. Oh did we mention that there was one pee stop and one feeble food stop. Feeling kind of like we went for a ride, or were taken for one... we arrived around 6pm 5 hours after our scheduled arrival time. I guess that is just traveling in Thailand for ya'...

We miss our island getaway and look forward to diving.

For now,

Gil

"mooo" we were cattle today! post pix later... love, cris

a few details about island life

It's HOT! But a nice breeze... we've seen some pretty amazing things so far- little things- like how the locals recycle plastic bottles by turning them into beach lanterns. Great idea! And how you greet everyone, even if you're not really interested in chatting or buying anything from them. We have a great happy hour spot, where our adorable Thai man knows what we typically like: a honeydew shake, pineapple shake and a delicious rum drink. Not too many Americans traveling here, mostly Europeans and Australians.

The Thai food is incredible. And they do try their hand in English pub and American food, which causes us to smile. Like Onion Ringe and Potato Jackets.

I met a sweet lady selling wears, and she laughs at us who come to make ourselves dark in the sun, in Thai, light skin is a sign of wealth and beauty.

We light a skylatern last night... with prayers of peace and sustainability for this island. A lot of seafood being harvested, and coral walking done at night... yikes!

We're getting a good base tan- but wearing SPF 50 and 30, hats and sun glasses.

My hair is growing out, and I look like an 80's punk rocker. I'll cut it when I return to California before starting school.

Gil has a good thai fisherman's pant collection going, which I love wearing out at night.

Snorkling has been pretty good on the outer reef. We're seeing colorful fish and sea creatures.

It's nice to just dive right into a warm ocean to cool off!~

Well time to go, it's noon and hot here. Time to go to the beach!

love, Cristina

slight change of plans

Okay, so Thailand is amazing! We're in love with it! Cost of living is easy, and we actually could find jobs easily here... so.... After hearing that the local Koh PhaNgan Animal Shelter was closed due to lack of staff, we have decided to stay on in Haad Yao (our favorite white sandy beach) and commute to ThangSala by motor scooter, about a 15-20 minute commute going about 35 mph. Gil is going to head back to the States at the end of February, gather up what we need, and start the kitties' travel plans- quarantine, vaccines, what-not. Cristina will be heading into the States later on in March. We are very excited about our new future. Here's a picture of one of the dogs we are already adopting.

Wish us luck!

We just wanted to see who was logging into the blog and paying attention... We have had a fantastic week here on Koh PhaNgan and will be heading to the west coast on Sunday to dive out of Phuket. From there we will book the rest of our trip up north... and maybe east... and then, home, really! We were just kidding about staying here. Gil has a good job in the States, and Cristina has herb school to go to...

This island has been very relaxing and allowed us to really feel like we were on a honeymoon without a care in the world.

Cheers, Cris and Gil

from jungle to sandy beaches

From Khao Sok, we went to Surat Thani town, which is a city, not a town! We were going to take the night ferry over to Koh Phangan. We were warned that the ferry is a bit of a "party scene" itself! We showed up at 3ish to the pier, and they were loading everything onto this boat except livestock! We weren't really sure how this was going to work, but we bought tickets for 400 baht a piece which is $10 each. The boat was to leave dock at 11 pm, so that was our sleeping accommodation as well as transport. We hung out on a bus stop in front of a library just down from the pier... and had the city unfold in front of us! We saw things that we'll have to tell you about in person! We watched the night market set up, and went for a bite to eat. By the time we walked back to the pier, it was packed with every language imaginable! And the best part was they oversold the "matress" space. We watched with slight amusement when two people had purchased the same space. Luckily, we kept our pads.

We arrived on the island just as the sun was rising. When we got off the boat with a hundred other people, the taxis were yelling "Haad Rin, Haad Rin!" Which is the site of the Full Moon Party. Suckers, we were, we went! Yikes! By 8:30 am we knew this wasn't the place for us! So, we hailed another taxi- a small pick up truck with benches in the bed. He took us to Haad Yao- paradise!

We've been spending the last two days snorkling, laying on white sandy beaches, drinking fruit smoothies and eating like... well Thais... lots of fruit, rice and vegetables! YUM! We're going to call this place home for another two or three days. And yes, we are going to take taxis with the hundreds of beachgoers here on Tuesday night to Haad Rin to partake in the Full Moon Madness!

Until next post...

we love you!

Jungle trip

Khao Sok was absolutely amazing!!!!

We took the night train... it was interesting to say the least. We had an adventure getting to our adventure in the jungle. Good adventure!

Khoa Sok is a must if you come to Thailand! We first spent the night at Art's Jungle Treehouse on the river. We stayed in a Treehouse! where macaque monkeys came down from the hills, crossed the river and actually broke into our neighbors house! Hee, hee! Food was incredible! We now can say we've had spicy Thai food.

While at Art's, we went on an elephant ride. Yes, elephant ride! Our little girl was hillarious. She had spunk! They were treated well, no scars or cuts, and each had their own handler, and the best part was that the elephants spoke Thai! Our little one wanted to cool down a bit while we were crossing a river and she almost sprayed us in the process!

From there we took a longtail boat to a floating bungalow on the Chiaw Lam (sp?) Lake. Lik, our boat driver and Aah, our guide, were sweet and made the experience! Lik, a small young man, always! was up to no good... and Aah spoke perfect English and knew the place well! We saw Gibbons, langurs (monkeys) and more monkeys, as well as Hornbills, egrets, kingfishers and sea hawks. We swam in the lake and literally slept on it! Our bungalow was floating on bamboo in about 40 meters of water! The village spanned between two small islands. Wow! We miss it already... but wait, we're in white sandy beach paradise.... more on that in following post!

We also met up with some traveling Scots...

First Day in Bangkok!

Wow...
We made it! After spending 18+ hours on a plane and then some more time in airports... we arrived early! in Bangkok at 10:30 pm last night!
After our taxi dropped us off at Khoa Sohn Road, we found a "nice" guest house- no bedbugs... called Cozy Thai House two streets from the craziness of Khoa Sohn.
Today we had a great time being driven in circles by tuk-tuk drivers who just wanted to show us where to buy things like jewelry. We did have a chance to check out several temples and saw many buddhas. We touched to Standing Buddha's foot which is open to tourists today as part of somebirthday celebration- not sure if it's Buddha's, the King's or what...
We're taking the Night train tonight to SaratThani to get to the National Park of Khoa Sok.
We're going to be in the jungle for the next three days which I'm sure does NOT include internet...
We'll be in touch when we get to the beach of Ko PhaNgnan...
We're taking tons of pictures and are having a great time! I'm (Cris) LOVING this hot weather!
We'll add pictures later.... sorry...to keep you hanging
lots of love, Cristina and Gil

5 hours and counting...

In true Falcone/Amarillas fashion we have just finished packing (1am) and Cristina is vacuuming while we finish laundry and dishes... We picked up prescriptions, made copies of documents, tested out pack wire safety mesh, ate pizza, looked online one last time (til we hit internet cafe's) and will get a few hours of sleep in, maybe...

Thank you to everyone who encouraged us to take this incredible journey. We are so excited to be spending this time together sharing this amazing experience. We will let you know how things go.

Until next time...

lots of love,

Gil and Cristina

One week and counting...

We are counting down the days as we prepare for our Honeymoon in Thailand! We will be gone for the entire month of February and look forward to adventuring, relaxing, diving and learning about this beautiful country and its people.  We will try to post when we can and fell free to post responses here so we know the real world still exists outside of white sand beaches and crystal blue water

We will also be monitoring email gilandcris@gmail.com while on the trip when it is possible

Cheers,

G & C