Recap of our Philippines adventure!

We have now been home, back in Alpena MI, for 7 months and I thought its as high time to update this blog :)  

The news about the super typhoon that just hit the Philippines has brought our time spent there to the forefront of my mind.  It also makes me realize how short or unexpected life can be at times.

3 months gave us time to really learn the sport of kiteboarding and fall in love with it.  

White beach, is on the other side of the island from where we kite board.  This is where we watch the sunset.

Leah Jumping in front of our kite school, Isla. 

Here is our one picture from or Secco Island trip.  The boat Theo is using to play is a typical fishing boat.  Secco Island is a small sand island with crazy high winds.  Our kite lines broke on the first day of our 3 day trip which was a big bummer.  We also found out that we are not sailors.  Theo did great while Rob and Leah and to work hard to sleep and eat on board the catamaran (not pictured). 

Above is Rob executing a nice high jump off Balabog beach.

Our family looking over the island of Boracay on one of our last days.

We survived the flight!

We have made it to paradise!

The baby's passport has arrived!

It has been an nice 2 years living the American dream. We bought a home fixed it up moved in and had a baby! Now Theodore is ready for travel so we have purchased our tickets to the Philipines! Theo still gets a free ticket till he is two so we plan the return trip when he is 21 months old. Our plan is 90 days enjoying the windy isle of Boracay. Yes we have already been there but just have to go back. We will be leaving Dec 1st and plan on missing most of the Michigan winter, which we have mixed feelings about. We will miss the snow but love the mangoes.

Pictures to come!

Epi-Blog

Sitting on our plane in Beijing a couple of weeks ago ( 6 ), we saw the dog come out of the luggage hold.  Patiently we remained, watching the dog in his little dog house.  Then the pilot came on and ended the wait.  "The engine is not going to lift this plane, so welcome to Beijing one more day." We were put up in the most luxurious hotel of our entire trip.  A very nice way to say good bye to Asia.

We ended, just as we began, delayed a bit. (first time was San Fran. for a couple of days)  We made it back after a no sleep flight, and promptly began jet lag.  Or I did (Rob), Leah was too busy flying ( on the Trapeze ) to get jet lag.

The comforts of home and family.  We saw anyone within drive distance and got to help my parents move a fraction of their stuff (they have tons of it ), into there new place in Kentucky.  I also got to use a plumber's snake on my brother in laws septic ( that was some smell ).  Leah caught up with tons of friends and did some training, ( a couple of minutes ) with a crazy Aussie on the Trapeze.

Why did we come back?????  Well... it was time.  The money was running low and we could have only lasted a few more months.  The darn Chinese visa was near impossible to get.  And, our favorite job (Alpena Michigan), had an opening in Sept. for a physical therapist.

So here we are.  It is fall up north and the trees are changing.  Leah is back into pottery, gymnastics, and trying to keep her dinner down.  Is she still sick from Nepal?  Is it that dang Dengue fever again??   Nope, one month with comfort and being clean and we are carrying around a raspberry sized collection of cells that promises to change our lives in about 9 months.  

So... travel may slow down a bit from here, but don't worry we have plans to get back to Asia soon, just not for this trip.  Thanks for checking the blog.  For you travel friends out there, thanks for the good times and great meals.  For everyone else, have fun and see you next blog.

Rob and Leah and CC (collection of cells) Stafford

PS By Christmas we will have an uploaded U-tube video to summarize our trip.

Gobi Desert

After 5 minutes talking to a tour guide we were booked for 5 days and 4 nights in the Gobi desert.  So easy to book and we were ready for our luxury tour.  We were going to be cooked for and drivin all around, but we soon realize that even this tour would be hard. Every day we drove for 10 hours over bumps and lumps of dirt, averaging 120 miles a day.  The vastness of the country is really brought into perspective as the hours go by and go by and go by.

Suprise! Tomorrow we board our plane back to the USA!

Horsing around in Mongolia

It has been a long time folks. 30 days on the trail and no contact with the English speaking world, much less the internet, but what a time we had.

Above is the traditional house (ger) Mongolian familys live in. 

Day 1: Leah still sick but game for a few hours travel. We went to our first local home and had our first milk tea (we, I mean Leah, tried a bit and a sip was enough ). Three hours then back to the tent at MS guest house. I name my horse Petrol, because he never runs out of gas, the smelly kind. Leah names her horse Chomper, because he bites at other horses, grass, or anything that annoys him.

Day 2: After we pack all our stuff see pic,We leave the guest house and head north along Khovsgol lake for 3-4 hours. Our instructions before leaving: 1) don’t stand behind the horse, they kick 2) always get on the horse from the left side 3) don’t eat, change clothing, or take pictures while riding (we will break all of these rules many times) 4) oh, and don’t give your guide anything to drink.

Day 3: We start visiting gers during our travel (tent home made of felt). The guide is given a bottle of vodka. Hmmmmm this might not be a good idea. We spend the night at Bataar’s sister’s home.

Day 4: A word about our guide: his name is Bataar (although this is not his real name but he answers to it so we use it), 58 years living on the lake, 7 kids, working as a guild for 10 years, English poor but better then our Mongolian, drinks milk tea by the litter, smokes constantly, smiles constantly with one front tooth missing, completely unprepared for life in Mongolia (no food, no warm clothing, holes in clothing he does have)

Day 6: Into the pass: FLIES millions of flies. In your noses, eyes , ears. In your horses nose, ears. Ahhhhhhh I am going crazy. Then comes the rain, the mud, and some very hard riding. This is a day of high adventure, something you see in the movies.

Day 7: Short trip today, taking rest. Beautiful, all around, the sky, the river, the day. (cooking our dinner in the pic)

Day 8: made it to town (about 50 homes), first hot shower since we left.

Day10: Caught is a storm: it starts to hail on us as we ride. We make it to a Ger and stay for hours before heading to Bataar’s relative’s home. More on Bataar: he is related to everyone, and custom demands that we stop constantly to say hi and drink tea. I am beginning to hate the sight of a Ger, Leah is starting to love it. The milk tea is growing on her.

Day 12: A horse is not a car! This seems obvious, but it took Leah and I a long time to figure it out. The horse doesn’t always go, stop, turn, or anything else for that matter, when you want it. Sometimes a horse jumps for no reason. Sometimes a horse will start into a gallop, for no reason. One time, Leah’s horse tried to sit down and roll over in a sand pile with her still on. Defiantly not a car.

Day 14: We get a dog. His name is Tourist (I named him), he has been following us for 2 days. During this time he has killed 3-4 prairie dogs/ground squirrels.

Day 15: Tourist eats an entire rabbit, and we enter a second pass, and get hit by a second storm. This one soaks us, and there are no Gers to run to for warmth. At one point the mud is so deep that Bataar’s horse sinks in it like quick sand and Bataar falls off. Through the rain I hear “lets not go that way.” Once at camp cold and wet, Bataar and I get a fire going with wet wood, and dinner never tasted so sweet. Leah stays in the tent trying to get warm.                           Above pic: bow and arrow target

Day 16: Rest day: Riding now for over two weeks. My horse’s name is perfect. Petrol, always over eats, he has tons of gas, and is scared outside of groups. Petrol’s favorite place in the world is with his friends, and with his head up the Pack Horse’s butt. No joke, it is the only place Pet is truly happy. If I try to ride out front, within 100 meters he starts crying and trying to turn, if you let him turn. The head always goes up the butt of Pack Horse. Chomper, loves to be in front, and sulks if in the back, he also still likes to bite, especially the dog.

Day 20: out of the pass and into Kankh, we take 2 days off and stay in a tourist ger with hot showers.

Day 22: In the Mongolian culture it is rude to turn down a drink. Bataar shows up to work drunk, he can barely stand or talk, but somehow he can ride a horse. We decide to stay a day while he sobers up. Leah spends the day working with Chomper, I try and force food, and none vodka based liquids into Bataar. ( yes I, Leah, went into town for chocolate all by myself. I could have walked it in 45 min but I decided to try my hand and riding there. It took over an hour to get to town, but it was good bonding time with my horse. The problem was leaving the other horses. He knew which way he wanted to go and it was certainly not the way I wanted to go. So in the end I had to get off and pull him toward town.)

Day 23: Work with Chomper has paid off. Today we gallop, trot, and canter for hours.

Day 25: We are much better riders. We trot at least 30 minutes a day, and often leave Bataar behind with pack horse. Our days are getting longer in the saddle. Today was our longest day at 7.5 hours. We reached the hot springs and are clean again. But the night was so cold we had frost on the tent and Leah was contemplating getting up at 3 a.m. for another dip in the hot springs…. We waited till 6:30.

Day 29: Bataar’s home: we spend the night in the Ger and get new horses. Leah got to try her hand and milking a cow. (I have a whole new respect for milk. After 10 min I had maybe ½ cup of milk and I was done.)

Day 30: New horses, WOW. A tired horse is like a Honda civic, a fresh horse is like a Indy Car. Leah’s horse was pregnant but still managed to run for an hour. My new horse wasn’t as fast but loved to follow. We end our trip Galloping into Hatgal, tying up our horses, and looking like proper Mongolians wearing our Deels (Mongolian riding coat).

Summary: 30 days of solitude is amazing. But it takes a little bit to get used to, by day two I, Leah, was ready to be done. I thought what is the next 28 days going to bring that I haven’t already experienced in the last 48. Horse riding is monotonous and very slow. Yes, it is a beautiful lake but…. I am glad we kept going because I was able to experience the slowing of time. Our goals were different somehow. Only food, water, and firewood really mattered. We were able to experience the unbelievable hospitality of Mongolias. We show up totally unannounced, soaking wet, and hungry into their house. With a smile they help us out of our wet cloths, hang them to dry, add firewood to the fire, and feed us bread, cream and of course milk tea. It is amazing, the Mongolians in the country side are so poor yet willing to share everything. One hopelessly cold snowy night we spent the night in a random family’s 250 square foot ger. If felt like a camp fire sleep over. There were 8 of us all sleeping on the floor, even the owner’s of the ger didn’t have beds. I also was able to see really how little we need in life to survive, and survive with a smile.

Quotes:

 "Sure, you can eat in a ger... if you want to DIE" ... Tourist

"House is house, tent is tent" Bataar (always trying to get us to find a ger to sleep in for the night)

"I pee for half hour" Bataar (after many hours of milk tea drinking)

Something is wrong with the horses foot so Bataar uses his swiss Army knife to remove dirt, fecal matter, and whatever else is on a horse's foot to find the problem.  Minutes later Rob is trying to cut bread with a spoon and Bataar offers him his knife.  "you just used that on the horses foot." Rob says. Bataar thinks then says "small knife" as he unfolds the 'clean' knife.

The good, the bad, and the ugly

Welcome to the great country of Mongolia!  Leah and I arrived dead tired from the overnight flight to arrive in the middle of the biggest, manliest, festival of the year.  That would be the Nandam festival.  A 2-3 day event, crafted around the three manly sports.  Horse racing (done with 5 year olds), archery (with old world bows at 75 meters), and wrestling.  The wresting was what we ended up watching for hours.  Why hours?  Well, there are no weight classes, there are no time limits, and you have to fight everyone to win.  These guys are mostly sumo wrestler size, they wear spedo outfits, and there arms are covered, to win: just throw the other guy to the ground.  Very cool and very Mongolian.  (the guys in the swimsuits are there to kick some butt, however they have to dance before and after the match, or at least the winner must dance)

That was the good, but that night the bad happened.  Leah caught something in Thailand, most likely a small case of Dengue fever, and was flat on her back.  Totally unable to do anything except drink water, eat a bit, and sleep.  But don't worry folks, it has been almost four days of R&R and she is doing great, with the fever gone.  Just weak.

As for the Ugly, check out the picture of me, wearing my Del (Leah doesn't think I am Ugly but it goes with the story).  The Del is the traditional, Mongolian riding coat, and Leah and I both had them made up.  So you will all be seeing lots of them in the future.

As for the future, we are away for connection for at least the next 30 days.  Then expect stories with lots of horses in them.

Millionaires at last!  Leah in bed with 2.5 million Togrog, or just under 2 thousand US dollars.  No ATM in the mountains folks, so we carry around 3 inches of cash, just in case.

Two worlds

I see Rob get into the lonely taxi and my heart sinks a little as he leaves me on the sidewalk in Bangkok. However, soon my eyes clear up and I am FREE!! Only myself to lead and command. I first take a wonderful 2 hour massage and have a yummy lunch. Soon I will board a bus and head down to the tropical paradise of Koh Tao. Everyday, I fly on the trapeze and swim in the ocean with the fish. We rent mountain bikes and I feel like a grade school kid going to my friends house after school. Soon I realize that I miss Rob but I will persevere and enjoy myself. Loving the trapeze I get stronger every day. (soon I hope I can get the video of me flying) The 4th of july comes and we set fireworks off from the roof with wine in our hands. On the last day we head to the caberate and watch the ladyboys sing and dance. (In Bangkok there are three genders, boy, girl, and ladyboy.  i.e. Both people in the first picture are boys)  I thought I would try a skill on the pole! The next day I'm back on the train and up to Bangkok to be reunited with my mindful husband who I know is my favorite travel buddy.

Now to Rob:
You remember the course, 10 days, 10-11 hours a day meditation, no talking, no eating after noon, no problems. Vipassana meditation course number 3, my second 10 day course. Just for fun, lets walk through those days, with some slight exaggeration.
Day 1: "Superman"

I am now an "old student," sitting in the front 3 rows and trying to set the example for the first timers. The center is beautiful, with manicured areas and tons of trees, some in full flower. My room is small, but is all mine, except for the small table and an electric fan. Today I rock the Dharma, and stay still, for almost the entire 10.5 hours. It is good to be back. EGO GROWS!

Day 2: "Mom's fault"

Before Mom (Janet French) left us, she kindly noted a large infected wound on my left heel, and tried to give me antibiotic ointment, and tried to council me in proper wound care. Well she wasn't insistent enough, and should have forced me. As a result of her neglect of her 31 year old son in law. I took off the bandage today that I had left on the last few days. The odor or rot and death hit the walls. I look around, realize I am alone, and then bend close to examine the brown and yellow growth that is now my wound. There is no doubt, the leg must come off, I begin sharpening a steel spoon and fork, I don't know if I can make it. Before this I try soap, let's hope it works. Oh yea, meditation is going well, then I kick a step going to the bathroom and loose my toe nail. Karma sticks some days. EGO shrinks

Day 3 "saved"

The Dharma servers have Betadine! This stuff kills everything except people. I dump as much as a can on the infection and try not to picture myself and my peg leg, during meditation. EGO stays even today.

Day 4 "free flow"

The free flow, is the heroin of meditation. You are warned about it, and you yearn for it. When it comes, "Whatever you do, don't start craving it." Today I have NO pain, my body is on fire with sensation. Wonderful, oh wonderful, oh wonderful. EGO GROWS

Day 5 "signs of trouble"

The free flow, is now a trickle, the pain is coming back, but I cling to the sinking boat. If only I would let go, but I don't. Wonderful! Less worry about the leg, seems the meds work, it is healing. EGO, still growing

Day 6 "shattered"

Today, is the first day of payment. The flow is gone, I couldn't feel my face if you kicked it. My pain is erupting in the mind. I want to quit, I want to run, I want, I want, what I really want is the free flow, but it is gone. Sadness... This day turns it around, somewhere in my silent pains, some sanity starts coming back. EGO Crushed!

Day 7 "staring to build"

I am crawling into the hall, head low, toe hurts, torn skin, but more honest with myself. Superman is gone today, only Rob remains. Today I get to know him more than anytime in the last 8 years of my life. Last time it was like this, was my day leaving the hospital, hardly able to see. Ego, what ego

Day 8 "falling in love"

The honesty of yesterday continues today. I know longer need to run, I can sit again, the physical pain is purely mental and continues to dominate me, and I am okay. Ego, staying honest

Day 9 "the war is over"

The communion of today is amazing. There is no battle, only effort, only learning. It took three courses, and 6 months of daily meditation to come to this place. The experience is worth a life time. Oh yea the foot is healed, sorry Mom it wasn't your fault. Ego, still there but...

Day 10 "talking"

We can talk today! Tomorrow it is back to Leah and Bangkok, my focus is solid, I still need this time to heal up and prepare for the world outside these walls. New friends, that I had only met 9 days ago briefly, are waking up a bit today as well. We have lots to say, but how can you tell anyone what the grand canyon looks like, You can't, they have to go themselves. Ego, something I can work with

Day 11 " Thank you "

A big thank you to all our family, all our friends, all our teachers, all those people that have made this trip possible for the two of us! We still have at least 2 months travel to go, so stay tuned in. Tonight we fly to Mongolia!

Hot Women, and me

Traveling: ferry boat, bus, trains, planes, and always just me, and two beautiful blond women.  How does one get this lucky you might ask.  Simple, marry one of them, then invite her mother to travel with you.  Janet is still with us and she is tough.  We run her, swim her, and walk her, and most evenings end with me asleep and the ladies still out doing something.  What are the somethings we have been doing since our last blog you might ask.

Goodbye Koh Tao: we did it, we left with both our Advanced Open Water SCUBA certification and took the ferry/bus to Krabi.  There we enjoyed a street stall dinner and didn't get ill (last time we fell ill was March I think so lets keep it that way!).  From Krabi we jumped a morning Ferry to Koh Phi Phi ( the pic below, check out the Man with the Golden Gun, or The Beach for films made on the island). We snorkeled for the first time in a week, seeing sea snakes, fish, and a turtle. 

Then a quick ferry to Phucket, were Janet got her first Thai massage, we all three got tipsy, and we watched 100 dancers and 15 (or so) elephants dance on stage. 








Hello Singapore: In an effort to head off another visa run to Burma (not that we didn't love it)  We next hopped a plane to Singapore.  We moved into "little India" and are spending our days, eating, and ducking out of the rain (Monsoon season is going on).  Yesterday was the zoo, but not just any zoo, the zoo that all zoo's should strive to be.  It is big and getting bigger, with lots of room for the animals to enjoy, and many of the animals able to roam free range. There was even a Tropical crop exhibit.  Check out the picture with me and the wild pineapple!

Looking back over this blog, you may note that it was lots of travel.  It was!  But so much fun, and so easy with these two amazing ladies to travel with.  Sadly Janet leaves in 4 days, but we have lots to do back in Bangkok, so stay tuned.

Give me back my passport

So we get to the boarder. Standing in Thailand, Burma (Myanmar) is just over that stretch of river. A guy in jeans and a T-shirt takes our passports and ten bucks, then tells us to get on the boat. So let me get this straight, we are going to Myanmar without a passport? Yep, welcome to "a visa run." You start by running out of time on your Thai visa. Next you pay 50 US dollars and spend the night "sleeping" on "the night boat." Wake up, get in a mini bus and head to the boarder. Where the random looking man takes your money and your passport and you head to Myanmar for a visit. Our visit was about 30 minutes in a boat and 10 minutes at immigration. You are offered cigarettes, whiskey, and of course opium. Back in Thailand you get a stamp and YEAHHH you have 15 days before you have to do it again.

But prior to all this madness, tons of stuff happened as you shall soon see and read.


The baby elephant performing a show for just the 4 of us!

We went on a tour of the Samui Archipelago. This Archipelago is made of up 3 inhabited Islands, Ko Tao, Ko Pang yang, and Ko Samui. Plus a Marine National park with lots of small islands sticking up out of the sea like "crocodile teeth" says Lonely Planet. So we systematically tour the islands one by one. Ko Tao is where we have spent the bulk of our time and where we are currently, getting our SCUBA open water and advanced certifications. After 4 days of Snorkeling the four of us, Mom, Jill, Rob, and I head for the larger Island of Ko Pang yang.

We went elephant trekking and took a day trip to the Marine National Park. All was going well until we made the horrible mistake of renting motor bikes. Rob and I were on one while Jill and mom on the other. We made a wrong turn down a road under partial construction and lots of sand. Never a good combination. And yes mom and Jill ended up on the pavement. A few bloody scrapes and a big bruise later we were ready to return the bikes. We should have know it was a bad sign when we filled our tanks with gasoline from a Vodka bottle.  But we weren't good at listening to signs!

On our next island Ko Samui we took a wonderful cooking class and the 4 of us made enough food to feed at least 16 people. Not sure how they expected us to eat it all. We learned to make our own curry paste and we got really comfortable pounding the chillies since it took almost 10 min to get them to the correct consistancy! By now it was time to say good bye to Jill and the remaining three headed back to Ko Tao. (we miss you Jill)

"Under the sea.  Under the sea.  Darling it's better, down were it's wetter, take it from meeeee..." You know the song, sing along.  Four days, one visa run, and 5 dives later, we are now PADI certified divers.  Today we stayed 30-60 feet under water for over an hour, and got to spend quality time with a baby turtle (about the size of a truck tire).  Still want more?  Us too, we start the advanced course tomorrow at 7:30 AM.  But that will have to wait for our next blog.

Indiana invades Thailand

We now have two lovely new traveling companions to share our adventure with. My mom, Janet, who saved the day and brought us a camera, and Jill, our neighbor.

We started off with a world wind one day tour of Bangkok. The tension in the air that we experienced last time in Bangkok is gone and the city is getting back to normal, shops are open and the people are smiling. We started our day off with the Grand Palace. Our tour guide said that normally in one day there are 1500 visitors and since the distress in Bangkok only about 200 are coming a day. So we had the place practically to ourselves. Our guide was a spunky little woman in a full flannel long sleeve shirt and cameo pants. (Keep in mind it is near 100 degrees out) We are still not sure how she didn't overheat, but she was cheery even with sweat dripping down her face. She was not alone in that though. We were all working hard to stay cool. The Grand Palace itself was beautiful with gold plated temples and amazing ceramic tiles for rooftops and decoration. In the end we were able to see the prize possession, the Emerald Buddha, carved out of one piece of Jade. The prince changes the cloths of the two foot tall green statue in accordance with the season. This used to be the King's job but the Buddha is on a high ornate pyramid and he is now too old to climb the latter to get to the Buddha. We saw the Buddha in his hot weather attire, each outfit cost an incredible amount of money since it is made out of gold. We were not allowed to take a picture of this so you will have to use your imagination.

After the Grand palace we took our own private speed boat down the canals of Bangkok or as some say the Asian Venice. There were not any grand sites to be seen, just every day living and houses along the canal. It was a different view of the city and it was fun to be so up close and intimate with the way of life.

Next we climbed practically vertical steps up a beautifully carved and decorated spike called Wat Poh.

Then off to the reclining Buddha which we all four agree was our favorite site. The Buddha is so large it can only be really appreciated in real life. However, we did snap some photos so you can try to take it the scope of it all.

We all hopped on a night train to head down back to Koh Tao and cool off in the water.

We are in front of one of the best diving places in the world. It is called the Japanese Garden. It is a small island, Nang Yuan, that has a sand bar connecting two rocky outcrops. We will be here for the next few weeks so expect more ocean going tales.

Rob says: Send HELP, these ladies are kicking our butts. The wake up at 6-7 AM and keep going until 10-11 at night. Janet and Jill are truely amazing and are teaching Leah and I what it is to be tough. Sadly, only 5 days remain then Jill goes home (and we can sleep). In the 5 days we have been together so far, we have seen more, done more, and been more places, then Leah and I did in 6 weeks.

Here is a short clip of our canal ride in Bangkok.