On the beach

We got to go someplace nice and warm for New Year's Eve. The beaches of southern Thailand are world-famous, and we wanted to see them for ourselves, so we flew down to Ao Nang, a resort town on the coast of the Andaman Sea. We weren't disappointed.

We spent a few days relaxing on the beach at Ao Nang and nearby Railay. Everything we saw was postcard-perfect. The weather was balmy and warm, and the sky was blue (mostly.) Little wonder that we were surrounded by hordes of other American and European tourists everywhere we went.

There were gigantic limestone cliffs everywhere. This was the view from our balcony at our resort.









And this was the view from our boat when we went out snorkeling.











You know that one tank in the aquarium that's filled with brightly colored tropical fish, and you kinda wish you could reach out and touch them? That's what snorkeling here was like. Josh even got to touch a little fish once, when it bit him.






It only rained once. Naturally, this time was when we were out at sea on a kayak and had absolutely no way to prevent ourselves from getting completely soaked to the skin. I don't know if it's possible to tell from this picture just how drenched Mackenzie is.













We also got some gorgeous sunsets over the water.

One night in Bangkok and the world's your oyster...

Though we spent two nights there, just to be safe. We wanted to go someplace warmer after our escapades in Korea, and Bangkok is well-known to be a tourist destination: very friendly and approachable for Westerners. Plus, Thai food is Josh's favorite.

Here we are at the Bangkok Grand Palace, the seat of power of the King of Thailand. The King apparently likes to show off his bling, because all the buildings are completely covered in gold, silver, fake jewels, and other sparkly things. Mackenzie loved it.








Next to the Royal Palace was Wat Pho, a gigantic Buddhist temple and the home of the world's largest reclining Buddha. (I like big Buddhas and I cannot lie.)

















We took a water taxi across the Chao Phraya River in order to visit Wat Arun, another temple - visible in the background here.

















We walked up the steps of Wat Arun. It was pretty steep.














We went to the Jim Thompson House. Jim Thompson was an American architect (also a Princeton Tiger - Class of 1928!) who moved to Thailand after World War II. He went into business, revitalizing the Thai silk industry, and then disappeared mysteriously in 1967. Even the Princeton Annual Giving campaign couldn't find him. He left behind a huge house that he'd built for himself, combining American and Thai architectural styles.











There are certain practices that would be incredibly illegal in the US but are perfectly normal in Bangkok. Such as an open-air restaurant & bar on the roof of a skyscraper. This place had only a chest-high railing separating us and our drinks from a 62-story drop. There was no net (we checked.) But the weather was great, and the view was magnificent. The bar was called "Moon Bar" and the adjoining restaurant was aptly named "Vertigo", which coincidentally is also what Mackenzie's T-shirt said. Here's a 360° panoramic video:

Christmas in Jeju

Mishi told us we ought to go on an adventure tour in South Korea. She told us about an island called Jeju-do, known as "Korea's Hawaii", a wonderful vacation destination where the weather was always warm and pleasant.

Not quite always, evidently.

But we had a good time with our little tour of Jeju. For three days, we traveled around with a whole bunch of other English speakers from around the world (generally English teachers, like Mishi) and had a bunch of wacky adventures. I mean, like, a LOT of wacky adventures. This trip was nonstop wacky adventures. I didn't know it was possible to cram so much wacky adventure into three days, or onto a relatively small island in the East China Sea.

DAY ONE: We visited the Trick Art Museum, a museum full of wall paintings designed for us to insert ourselves into the middle of them for funny photo-ops (pictures here.) We went horseback riding, and we hiked Sunrise Mountain, a small peak on the east side of the island (pictures here.) In the evening we had a nice Christmas dinner (though it was Korean food so not quite the Christmas dinner you might expect) along with a white elephant gift exchange and a bunch of karaoke (pictures here.) Thanks Mishi for putting up all these pictures!

DAY TWO: We visited a Chinese circus, which featured a lot of people balancing carefully on top of other people, and also people driving motorcycles around inside a metal sphere. We visited a green tea farm and museum, which was kind of less than ideal because snow was falling on all the green tea plants, but whatever. We went on another short hike, and we walked through a botanical garden.

Josh carrying green tea, green tea lattes, green tea ice cream, green tea cake, and wearing a green shirt.

















They do this every time they get to the top of a mountain. I don't know why.










Merry Christmas!













DAY THREE: We walked along the cliffs on the southern side of Jeju island and saw some cool rock formations. Check it out:
































Lastly, we went to LoveLand, a very strange and amusing tourist site dedicated to human sexuality in all its forms. It consists mostly of a bunch of erotic outdoor sculptures. None of our pictures from here are G-rated, but if you do an image search for "Jeju LoveLand" you'll get the idea.

I'm a Seoul Man

Our friend Mishi is currently spending a year teaching English in South Korea. Her family couldn't visit her, so she had no choice but to spend Christmas alone. Until Mackenzie had the idea that we could go visit her in South Korea! We were already nearby in India, so why not?

It was a grand idea, but we discovered two small problems. First of all, India isn't actually right next to South Korea (it turns out Asia is a big continent.) Our plan to ride elephants all the way from Kerala to Seoul had to be scrapped. Second of all: Seoul is COLD. Its latitude and climate is about the same as New York - not the most wonderful place to be for Christmas, and quite a shock after Kerala. On top of that, South Korea was in the midst of a cold snap when we arrived. So our trip looked like this:



Nevertheless, we vowed to fight through the snow and the freezing wind and do some touristy stuff in Seoul.



Here, from Mishi's blog, are a bunch more pictures of our exploits in Seoul (as well as some from our ensuing trip to Jeju Island... but more of that in the next post!)
http://www.therestofmylifesofar.net/2011/01/very-jeju-christmas-first-day.html

Dr. Paulose's Amazing Tour of Wonders!

Our friend Jayson Paulose is a native of Kerala, and he came home for Christmas on the 21st. We had to visit him (he insisted) and see his neighborhood and his house. So we did.

As we observed before, there's a lot of religious diversity in Kerala. Jayson's family is Syrian Orthodox - a branch of Christianity reputed to have been founded in the 1st century by St. Thomas, when he came to India. Mackenzie was happy to see a Christmas tree in the Paulose household.

Jayson's father is a business school professor, but he moonlights as a tour guide in his spare time. Dr. Paulose showed us around the backwaters of Kerala and brought us to a dozen churches, synagogues, mosques, and Hindu temples, explaining the religious and historical significance of each.

Here's the Church of St. Thomas Kottekkavu - founded by Thomas himself, not far from where he first made landfall.

Here's the Chennamangalam synagogue, the second-oldest synagogue in the British Commonwealth (the oldest is the one on Jew Street that we saw yesterday.) All of the funding for restoration came from American Jews.

Our driving route happened to take us past a local Hindu temple ceremony. There were three elephants in full battle regalia, with guys standing on them, and a bunch of other guys beating drums in a circle. Photo-op!

Dr. Paulose also took us to Cherai Beach, one of the nicest beaches in India. The December weather was balmy and the waters of the Arabian Sea were warm. Jayson wrote "wheee" in the sand.

Jayson insisted we had to try dosas (a South Indian street food.) They were delicious!

Jayson is sad because his juice box came without a little straw.

Kerala: God's Own Country

France has the Riviera. Mexico has Cancun. The United States has California (this was obviously written by Josh. --Mackenzie). And India has Kerala: a place of great natural beauty, relaxing beaches, and balmy weather. Pretty much the best place to spend the shortest days of the year.

Our hotel in Kochi had two separate buildings, on opposite sides of a lazy river. So we had to take a boat ride just to get from the front desk to our room.

Many spices, including black pepper, are native to Kerala. This has brought traders here for millennia and made Kerala into a rich state. When Christopher Columbus sailed across the Atlantic Ocean, he was hoping to land here and open up a trade route; when he met Native Americans, he called them "Indians" because he thought he was in Kerala.

Another explorer, who did a better job of getting where he was going, was Vasco da Gama. Da Gama sailed to Kerala from Portugal in 1498 and established a Portuguese colony here. He died in Kochi and was entombed in St. Francis Church - which we visited.

Chinese fishing nets on the beach at Fort Kochi.

Because Kerala has been a trading center for so long, many people have settled here from far away - and they've brought their religions with them. Kochi is the site of the oldest synagogue in the British Commonwealth. It's in a neighborhood called Jew Town. On Jew Street. (Josh felt right at home. --Mackenzie)

There are also lots of Christians in Kerala. They have their own creative ways of decorating for Christmas. This courtyard, featuring a huge Indian-style Christmas tree, is where we had dinner. (I ate some delicious fresh fish... maybe it was caught in one of those Chinese fishing nets.)

More Delhi tourism

Our friends Tim and Nicole happen to be visiting India for some weddings. So of course we had to meet up with them in Delhi and do touristy stuff.


Humayun's Tomb. This is the final resting place of Humayun, a Mughal emperor in the 16th century, and it was the architectural inspiration for Humayun's great-grandson, Shah Jahan, who built the Taj Mahal in Agra.


Mackenzie just has to do that little touristy wave wherever we go.


The mall is ALWAYS crowded around here.


The famous Baha'i "Lotus Temple". Unfortunately we arrived after it closed (great timing) so this is as close as we got.

Next stop: Kerala!