March Madness

March 1st. This normally signals the beginning of the end to winter. The first day of spring is at the end of the month which brings hope to all. This March 1st was like none other I have experienced before. I have spent the last week and half sampling Thai beaches and asking myself, "oh wait, am I backpacking or at a beach resort?" I also continuously forget the day of the week so when I realized it was March, I was quite astonished.

Please note: this lifestyle is not as easy as it seems. First comes the fact that I sweat so much here I feel like a walking sauna. I take a shower, feel good for approximately 7 seconds, and then start sweating profusely again. Second, sunscreen is honestly quite expensive and it takes a lot of it on a daily basis to ensure I tan properly instead of looking like Larry the Lobster. And third, my day involves a lot of math and attempting to understand the metric system. No matter how many times I experience it, I still get confused.

The other day (we are currently at Railey beach, an island off the coast of Krabi, Thailand) we decided to walk to a different beach for a sunset beer. "800 meters!" I exclaim, "Good, that's not too far."

Jordan suggests I might be wrong.

I quickly thought of the distance equal to 32 swimming pools and said, "hmmm -- yes, you may be correct."

Our 800 meter stroll turned into a vertical hike as we climbed our way through a jungle. We were relieved to reach the downhill portion until the thought hit us that the downhill part was in fact a lot steeper than the uphill part. Oy vey for the climb back!

We came out of the jungle to make our way to the beach and treated ourselves to not one but two (!!) sunset beers. We kept commenting that there must be an easier way back from this particularly secluded beach, and then we finally realized that with low tide there was a different way back! A path had emerged at the end of the beach and we noticed plenty of travelers frolicking across the rocks.

As the sun was almost completely out of the sky, we began hopping over rocks to make our return. Turns out it was a good thing we left when we did, because slowly the path along the shore ceased to exist and we found ourselves climbing through caves and up rock scrambles. As sunlight faded and the tide rose, we couldn't help but laugh at our "easier way."

Needless to say, every day is an adventure and even though Jordan's flip flop broke twice and I received a bit of a cut on my hand from the jagged rocks, we made it safe and sound to the next beach. We have since moved sunset beers to beaches accessible by clear paths and solid ground.

To continue our frolick through southeast Asia, tomorrow we fly out to Sumatra. This will make life even more difficult as we decide things like "Which volcano should I hike today?" or "Should we take 1 or 2 million rupiahs out of the ATM?" Because yes, Indonesia's currency is approximately 9,000 rupiah to 1 dollar. I look forward to saving receipts for meals that cost hundreds of thousands of rupiah.

Thailand was a wonderful break from the craziness that is India, and I have to admit -- I am positively loving my tan. I feel like a lady of leisure again (yes, okay, maybe I qualified for that in India but it didn't quite feel like it). I am very glad we have the northern part of Thailand to look forward to at the end of our trip and cannot believe that by the time we get back we will have been to at least 4 different countries.

In order to add to the adventure element, we have also started to reach out to different connections about volunteer opportunities. Sumatra, Java, Bali, Cambodia, Vietnam, Laos, Northern Thailand -- if you have any ideas for us, the more the merrier. During the planning stages of this journey, Jordan and I discussed seeking out service endeavors, and as we near the end of our "Thai-cation" we are officially in planning mode. So once again, reach out if you have any ideas or even just people you think we should meet.

Cheers to another country, volcanoes, new food, new languages, new people and more adventures!