Dave & Jo Lynne's Travel Page

Monday, 14 April 2008

Location: Stratham, NH, USA

Our time in the village deserves its own MasterCard list:

# nights sharing a twin bed - 26
# students taught at BeungKumKu School - 140
# field trips taken - 2
# Buddhist funerals - 1
# Thai elections - 2
# visits to walk-in medical clinic - 1
# sightseeing trips with family and friends - 7
distance to nearest town that shows on a map - 15km (Non Thai)
- 17km (Dan KhunTod)
# potholes along roads to/from NonJaDee - so many!!
# times we laughed 'til we cried trying to communicate - countless
# of extended family in NonJaDee - who's counting?
(there are 9 houses in the family 'compound' alone)
diversity of Nong and Bem's Thai food - immeasurable... soooo good

Thailand & the village - from the inside looking out - PRICELESS!!!

It gives new meaning to the expression - It takes a village to raise a child!

Monday, 14 April 2008

Location: Stratham, NH, USA

We have been home a month and spring has still not arrived in New Hampshire! In between unpacking from our trip, sorting through our pictures, going through the two boxes of mail that had accumulated in our absence, the usual catch-up after being away from home for an extended time, making peace with the IRS and spending 4 days in New York City over Easter/Mandy's birthday, we have been trying to put our trip into perspective.

Upon our return, one of the first things we heard was, “You must be so happy to be back home.” While it’s nice to be back, “appreciative” might better describe our feelings. We are appreciative of many things, including:

1 - Family and friends.
2 - Good health.
3 - U.S. passports.
4 - The ability to speak English enabling us to communicate, at some level, with people anywhere in the world.
5 - New “family” and friends in Southeast Asia.
6 - A better understanding of the Global Village.
7 - Opportunities. Having seen hard working people with virtually no options to better themselves made us realize the good fortune we have of being born in a place where birthright doesn‘t dictate a life of suffering.

While we appreciate our many blessings we can’t help but see our life a little differently than before. Chicken or beef? Red or white? Elliptical or treadmill? CD or FM? Drive or take the train? Sweater or sweatshirt? Home Depot or Lowe’s? These choices seem pretty insignificant compared to choices like: Old clothes or no clothes? Do we eat that cup of rice today and not eat tomorrow, or do we use half the cup of rice today and half tomorrow and be hungry both days? We can‘t afford clothes for the kids, so who goes naked? If we sell one of our children to the sex trade we’ll be able to feed the rest of the family for six months. Who do we sell?

Six months in Nepal in the early 1970’s was a life altering experience for both of us. This trip to Southeast Asia was a good mid-course correction. It made us better appreciate our life but it also made us realize the options and choices we so often see as important don’t matter at all.

So - in summary, here's our MasterCard ad list:

# of weeks/days - 9+/66
# miles flown - 25,434
# airlines - 5
# flight segments - 14
Extra days the luggage spent in Dubai in January - 2
Domestic baggage limit per passenger - 15 kg
Excess baggage charges - $300+
# books delivered to Thailand and Cambodia - 20
# tours - 1 (8 days - Vietnam)
# nights in a hotel - 26
# nights with fighting roosters crowing at 3 a.m. - 2
# nights at friend's homes - 6
# nights on a junk - 1
# nights on planes - 4
longest stretch without sleeping in a bed - 72 hours
# different modes of transportation (including elephant) - 11
# temples toured - who was counting??
# new friends - countless

Appreciation for the far reaches of the Global Village - PRICELESS!

Monday, 17 March 2008

Location: Stratham, NH, USA

For the first time that we can remember, neither of us saw the takeoff of our flight as we left Dubai. Emirates Airlines apparently feels the need for additional security in that, in addition to the security checkpoint one must go through to get onto the departure concourses, Emirates requires an additional (identical) security check to enter the departure gate lounge. On Sunday night, the computers were down so the security checkpoint consisted of hand inspection of every piece of carry-on luggage. Needless to say, our departure was delayed!

Once we got to our seats (bulkhead seats, yea!!), we both fell asleep and didn't wake up until the first round of meal service. At that point, we woke up only enough to say "no, thanks" and to get our carry-on luggage down from the overhead bin to go under our feet - which makes sleeping in coach a bit more comfortable. Having been up two straight days, we managed to get 4-6 hours of sleep before the stomach clock went off. A movie, breakfast, a "jog" or two up and down the aisles to keep the circulation going and we were ready to be on the ground. Air traffic controllers in the NYC area had other ideas and we were on approach for a very long time.

Finally on the ground at 9:15 a.m., it became apparent we weren't going to be able to make our rescheduled Delta flight at 10:20 - "mai bpen rai" - Our luggage (all three pieces) came through from Dubai and we emerged from customs more than a bit bleary-eyed and travel weary - so much so that it took a "Mom, Dad" for us to look around and discover that Mandy was among the anxious and joyous faces on the rail awaiting family and friends!

After being in wonderful, efficient and spacious airports all over Southeast Asia, JFK is a rude awakening and it took us 45 minutes from the time we picked up our luggage until we transferred, by Airtrain, to the domestic Delta check-in area one terminal away! By now, our flight to Boston was in the air and we were stuck trying to get on the afternoon flight without having to buy same day tickets. Once we got all that sorted out, we headed off on foot (forget the AirTrain!) in search of lunch where we had a chance to catch up with Mandy.

Finally en route to Boston on the 2:30 p.m. flight, we arrived at Boston's Logan Airport with all checked luggage and all carry-on luggage intact!!! We caught the 4:50 p.m. bus to Newburyport where Jo Lynne's parents met us to take us the last 15 miles home. By the time we opened the door to the house about 6:30 p.m., we had been up for three days!

Needless to say, we made short work of dinner and headed to bed - Jo Lynne's birthday will be a catch up day as we unpack suitcases, do laundry and see what we can do about the virus that is standing between us and uploading some of our pictures to this website. Stay tuned......... we'll update soon!!!

Sunday, 16 March 2008

Location: Dubai, United Arab Emirates

Our flight from Kuala Lumpur arrived into Dubai about 5:00 a.m., so it was still dark as we were bused from some god-forsaken far reaches of the Dubai airport (which really isn't all that big) to the Arrival Hall. By not pulling up to a jetway, we didn't have the access to the Arrival Hall internet or Hotel (with day rooms), so we were forced to catnap inside Arrival Hall security until the tour desks open. Having had our plans aborted during our first stopover here in January, we were determined to do two things - a city sites tour and ride a camel.

Tours selected, we headed for the coffee shop to await the tour pick-up. About 8:30, we met up with our tour group (4 German girls, three Indian men and us) and set out to see the sites of Dubai - Dubai Creek, the Museum (which is a cool replica of an Arabian fort with underground museum showing dioramas of life, crafts and history of the U.A.E.), the gold souks, past the construction site of the Burj Dubai (the tallest building in the world), out to Jumeirah to see the Jumeirah mosque, the Burj Al Arab (the world's only 7-star hotel where you can't even get into the lobby without a reservation to either stay or eat there and tea is 250 durhams - about $80!) with a stop at the beach so we could put our feet in the Gulf of Arabia (and pick up a few shells for souvenirs - our only!) We dropped most of the tour off at The Mall of The Emirates before returning to the airport to drop off one of the German girls for her 2:45 p.m. flight.

Between tours, we had time for lunch at a non-tourist mall although American fast food chains were in evidence. About 2:30, we headed out to pick up the three German girls from our morning tour - this time in a Land Cruiser 4x4!! As we got in, David commented - 'hey, this even has a rollbar' - never realizing why that would be important! It took us about an hour to get out of Dubai to the desert - along roads that were tree-lined (with water pipes to each tree) and well-lighted with overhead street lights (to help find ones way back to Dubai in a sandstorm?). We stopped at a roadside tourist trap - man, have they perfected Marketing 101!!!! to use the restroom and deflate the tires - before heading out "dune bashing". Coming from an area of the country where ATV's are prohibited from our sand dunes along the ocean, our travel-weary brains didn't really register what all this was about. By the top of the third dune which was followed by a sharp left turn just before the world dropped away (and the 4x4 followed), we were beginning to realize what we were in for. Picture skiing the Rocky Mountains on about a 45-60 degree slope.......... in a 4x4!!! Add to that the fact that the sand is constantly on the move and what was a track from the Land Cruiser ahead of you is now a shifting moving surface with no tracks. Picture further, if you will, this is done at breakneck speed (because otherwise, the Land Cruiser would sink into the sand and not have any traction to kick itself out). Jo Lynne's stomach is still somewhere around the top of the fourth dune - right before the hard left turn into nothing........... until a bone crunching bounce onto the dunes seeming hundreds of feet directly below. David's stomach held on until maybe the sixth or seventh dune.......... but by the time the count hit 12, we apparently were both white and the hand signals went out to the leader to ratchet the difficulty down a few notches.

We stopped for about 30 minutes for those who could stand steadily to try sandboarding, but we "old folks" - man, did we feel like extreme sports flunkies - tried to stabilze, especially when we realized that while we could see the tarred road, we were still several dunes and much distance from it! The group (about 5 Land Cruisers) took the "easy road" back to the air hoses- right!!!! There was a break while the vehicles cooled down a bit then we were off again to try to catch the sunset from the top of some dunes about 5 minutes down the tarred highway. The desert in the fading light is spectacular; the shadows are amazing and the sunset impressive.

Our dinner spot was at a "camp" - a large expanse of sand surrounded by wooden stockades. Inside, there was ample seating (on cushions on rugs on the sand around a raised platform covered with hand-knotted rugs) for the folks from the many tour groups. Our camel ride before dinner wasn't all that long and our camel had a real "tude", nipping and biting at the camel ahead of him through the basket muzzle - but it was a camel ride, nonetheless. Dinner was wonderful - grilled lamb kabobs and lamb chops, chicken kabobs and grilled chicken along with Middle Eastern unleavened bread, taboule, hummus, and salad - but served in segregated lines!! As the stars emerged close enough to touch, the evening entertainment was a belly dancer that had muscles and muscle control one didn't know was possible!!!

We were back at the airport by about 9:30, more than a little travel weary after only 2-3 hours of sleep on the flight from Kuala Lumpur! With our baggage checked all the way to JFK, our check-in at the airport was quick and easy. We pulled an Extreme Superhero (an Asian Donald Trump type show - really, really bad!) change in the restrooms so that we didn't fly in the clothes we'd be in since KL and had worn while riding a camel. Amazing how one can trick oneself into feeling better with a small washcloth, a little warm water on the washcloth and a patch of clean (dry) floor in a restroom cubicle.

Our 13+ hour flight from Dubai to JFK was delayed due to a computer problem in Dubai where you not only go through security to get onto the departure concourse, but you go through another round of security to get into the gate boarding area (at least for Emirates Airlines!!). With the computers being down, the gate security was a hand-check of all carry-on luggage for everyone on our Boeing 777-300!!

Neither of us saw the takeoff as we were already asleep and were able to get about 4 hours of sleep on board. We were late into JFK and as we stood in line at 9:30 a.m. for Passport Control, it was obvious we were not going to make our Delta flight back to Boston. As we emerged from Customs, bleary-eyed and semi-comatose, we heard this voice call "Mom, Dad" and there was Mandy at the rail to welcome us home. Good thing we missed our 10:20 flight to Boston as we had time to visit with her over an early lunch.

Rescheduled on the 2:30 flight to Boston, we arrived to no snow on the ground but a clear, windy day in the Hub. In the heat of Siem Reap, Jo Lynne had promised to not complain about being cold......... but it was nippy with the wind blowing off the water! By the time our bags came down the carousel - yup, all three bags arrived! - we had only a few minutes before the scheduled departure of the bus to Portsmouth, NH. Jo Lynne's folks met us in Newburyport to provide transport the final miles of our trip. They brought dinner and stayed to have it with us but we were less than great company as the impact of being up for three days straight began to hit us hard. Before they got to I-95, we were in bed, fast asleep!!!

Sunday, 16 March 2008

Location: Dubai, United Arab Emirates

We have been to the desert on a horse - oh wait, don't know if the horses had names or not - and we don't know whether the camels had names either - but....... WE HAVE RIDDEN OUR CAMEL!!! - and that is a story that will have to wait until we get stateside. We're in Dubai at the airport getting ready to board - so JFK and St. Patrick's Day.......here we come!!