Final Weekend Getaway to Tirana

As our countdown to departure continues, I decided it would be prudent to try and get out of Kosovo one last time in August. And my friends Tim and Kat (and little Sam) Schad from DC, along with Belle-air gave me the perfect excuse. This airline just started delivering the 35 minute flight between our two cities for a mere 117 euro return. Considering I could land on Friday night and return Sunday evening it was the perfect weekend getaway. This all is of course if you actually put the correct dates on your ticket and don't have to purchase a new full-fair 1 way ticket to return home when you thought you were...

Pranvera opted to stay home to continue catching up with friends and family before we leave Kosovo. So 'flying solo' I was lucky enough to run into one of her co-workers from Tirana on the plane whose son picked her up and drove me as well to meet Kat waiting at the US Embassy. As we quickly learned, this was not specific enough of a landmark to rendezvous since this happens to one of the largest complexes I have seen with the blast fence covering well over a normal city block. As I waited at one gate and Kat at another (with my cell phone not working) we eventually thought the same thing and started walking toward each other at the same time (did we both get trained at Thunderbird or what).
.

Wonderful to see her and then meet Tim and the baby at their wonderful 10th floor apartment right next to the meeting point. For our first night we quickly found ourselves at a pub catching up on all that has happened since with saw them last in Lake Ohrid Macedonia where we celebrated my Bday and Kosovo Independence. We then wandered to their work colleagues bday party and enjoyed a low key evening of free finger food and drinks.

Saturday we headed all the way up the coast (2.5 hours) to hang out on the beach for the day (Velipojo) in a desperate attempt to escape the city heat. An added incentive for our destination was the fact that one of my yoga students from Kosovo lives in Tirana and had opened up a sailing school there for the summer. So we were taking him up on the invitation to enjoy the day playing with his boats. As I am (appropriately) learning, having a 2 year old slows things down a bit. So it wasn't until after Sam's nap at 10:30 that we were able to roll in a highly overpriced old ghetto VW rental to weave our way through the typical stupid, reckless and slow driving of Albanians (just like in Kosovo).

We arrived in time to sprint to the closest restaurant and get some much needed beers, fresh fish, pork ribs and plenty of french fries for Sam. The beach was quite wide but with so many people, trash, blackish sand and floating trash I immediately appreciated the heavenly beaches of Thailand I had just enjoyed. We walked out to the water to try and spot my friends boats but due to the high wind conditions non were actually in the water making our rendezvous a bit of a challenge. But after several inaudible phone chats we located him and finally parked ourselves on the beach.

Sam was in the water before we had the umbrella's up. My friend Ilir insisted on a welcome drink which we grabbed at their closest beach pub. Not before too long was I in the water with my friend suiting up to windsurf for the first time in 10 years. Funny enough after a couple of reminders and being given the beginner board and sail, I got up on my first attempt and raced all the way out to sea, with Ilir far behind. When I could no longer make out the details on shore I thought it was time to head back. Since coming about is so hard I just dropped the sail, went for a nice swim and turn the board around to head back. Funny thing is that since this was my left (and weaker) side, it took about a dozen attempts to get myself back up and a couple more falls to figure out how to steer the boat in the direction I needed to go. With my back screaming, my mouth full of salt water, I finally made only to be convince by Ilir I had gotten the hang of it and we went back out for one more tact. It was a great blast and certainly something I would rather now wait 10 more years to do.

Back on shore with applauds from the peanut gallery it was Tim and Kat's turn to hit the water. So they fired up the fast 2 man catamaran hobbiecat and give each a tour well out to sea to get in the full spirit of the day. Even little Sam joined them later in the 2 man kayak as they paddled around the shoreline. All and all a wonderful day to have fun in the sun with old and new friends.

Our two hour return trip left us with enough energy to pick up some fantastic hickory sauce cheeseburgers and onion rings and stuff ourselves silly on the sofa with some fine beer and bad Albanian TV. Didn't take too long before it was lights out for everyone...

Sunday we slowly rallied the troops after several mugs of nice coffee and some Tim special omelette's. Sam was ready to go in the backpack this time as we headed slightly out of Tirana to the gondola that was going to whisk us all the way up this massive mountain for a perfect windy and crisp, sunny Sunday of hiking and a long lazy lunch overlooking Tirana in its entirety. Fortunately Tim and Kat had done this before so we jumped into a free shuttle to head to this wonderful restaurant which had the perfect, low impact hiking trail that we enjoyed for a couple hours. With Sam in backpack we enjoyed the long walk, extremely fresh air followed by a traditional lamb and beef/yogurt meal with the obligatory beers.

With no particular rush we enjoyed our time up in the hills, the wonderful views from the high speed Austrian gondola and weaving our way back through a much less congested sleepy Sunday city with most its inhabitants out at the beach still. The new road to the new airport was a quick and pleasant way out of the city to head back to Pristina in time for a rendezvous with Pranvera and a late supper. The Balkans certainly have their advantages and I believe I can safely say I have maximized my two years out here to explore them to their fullest.

Underwater Adventure of Koh Tao (Part V)

Somewhat ironic that our 1 taxi ride and 1 ferryboat adventure to get to this island only 2 hours away took about as long as the 7 different modes of transportation we took to get to the last island. At least it was more relaxing with just a lot of waiting around rather than running and negotiating all the prices. As our boat approached the smallest of the developed islands in the region know as Turtle Island, I was shocked at the massive development of most the coastline that we could see. 10 years ago most places were scattered around and bamboo bungalows littered the beach. Now there we full resorts, concrete bungalows and a ton of shops, bars, restaurants not to mention the Dive Centers. This island exists for not what is on the island but rather what is below it. The coral and marine life, combined with the water conditions makes this one of the most famous and cheapest places to dive in the world. It is also where I got my certification 10 years ago. Seeing that Pranvera enjoys the water so much we thought it would be great to get her certified (4 day course) and then for us to spend the remaining couple days of our honeymoon underwater.

.

Unlike the rest of Thailand which was mostly 'off season', Koh Tao was fully ON. To the point that we spent 2 hours walking from place to place to try and not find a shitty bungalow that was targeting the cheap backpack divers but a nicely cleaned and affordable beach side place we could enjoy our last week. After I has given up on this vision Pranvera returned to a nice place that didn't have anything that night and convinced them to not only discount an amazing room that fit my vision but put us up the first night in a place that had construction going on but allowed us to move the next day. It was perfect and certainly gave us the padding to just chill out watching movies when we wanted while looking at the beach (or actually strolling down to it). The other thing about the island is as perfect as the beach looks where we stayed (next to her diving school) the beach was too shallow to actually swim. And once you walked way out to get past your knees it became rock. And then just sitting or splashing in the shallow reminded us of a bathtub so we opted mostly for the pool or going out on the dive boats to go deep.

.

While settling into the island I actually thought it would be the easiest of all our locations since an old American friend of mine has been living on the island for 3 years with her family and we were counting on their local expertise and connections to get our bearings. Although we met with her husband who is also a dive instructor to get his suggestions as it turns out my friend Tracy was stuck in the US and we would miss her entirely. Too bad but we were at least able to follow her advice on some great places to eat, drink and practice yoga. While Pranvera was in class so was i with a fantastic teacher doing his daily advanced classes for 2 hours. Followed by a fresh fruit shake and a 1 euro Thai dish. The afternoons for me were a combination of reading, walking, hanging out or beach time.

.

I actually crashed Pranvera's pool instructions just as a refresher for myself before I did my first dive in 2 years. Fortunately she was the only student at the time (before the Full Moon Party wave brought hundreds of students) so Lorenzo was happy to teach us both and have me photograph her first underwater experience. When the day finally came for her open water dive I was on the boat and did my first fun dive with a father-son team and I partnered with the dive master. Funniest of all was the fact that we ran into them underwater but she was so focused on her instructions (and that all divers look the same) she did not acknowledge me till the second dive where her new partner freaked out and had to return to the boat. Pranvera just loved it!!! It was so fun to see her totally get into this new sport and do quite well on the exam and practical test (they had to make sure she slowed down and didn't go to deep). I on the other hand was enjoying all the wonderfully colorful fish and coral and becoming isolated in the underwater world again. Wonderful practice for all the yoga breathing as well.

.

As much as we loved the food at Sanctuary, it was fun to pick a new place to test each night...winning with some and losing with others. The big thing with our beach was for all the guest houses to set up tables and chairs and cart out huge grills and tables full of fresh seafood for BBQ. They threw in a token baked potato or corn as well. But somehow they seemed to just overcook the fish too much and didn't clean any of the insides out. So we opted for our other fish adventures to come from the nicer places. We usually tried to stop into one of the more stylish beach bars for a sunset cocktail or a nightcap. Great music, fire twirlers and tons of people to watch. Not to mention we never wore shoes, often I no shirt and had very light island wear otherwise.

.

The day after Pranvera completed her course we took a break from diving and hired a kayak to head out to an island we could swim and snorkel on. About an hour paddle and just a perfect beach but full of other tourists out there with motor boats. However upon our arrival a local come up to try and charge us each 2 euro for arriving on the island. We, we said we didn't have any money and were shocked someone 'owned' the beach and wanted us to pay to swim. So we ignored them and enjoyed some soft sand and some ok coral within which we snorkeled. When we were ready to leave we realized they had stolen our paddles so we couldn't return without paying them. Pissed off I snuck back up to their bar and stole the paddles back. Pretty funny to see me running to the boat telling Pranvera to push off not knowing what I had done. Well we got away clean and added a little extra adventure to our trip.

.

The final day we buddied up to do two fun dives around 16 and 18 meters deep. We had such a great time chasing one another and pointing out the funny fish and amazing coral. We even had time to do some underwater dancing much to the confusion of our dive master...until they realized we were on honeymoon. We certainly look forward to doing this on future trips.

.

Our final departure was one to be remembered as about 300 enthusiastic tourists boarded a catermeran ferryboat for a 2 hour gut wrenching on very rough and stormy waters. The night before had been non-stop winds which had mostly died by the time we boarded but we felt the aftermath none the less. We happened to get outdoor seats in the middle of the back of the boat which was mildly sheltered from the spray soaking everyone around us. Everyone turning green and pucking into whatever they could grab. Someone Pranvera and I just held onto one another, tried to joke about the departure and to look forward to our final couple nights in Bangkok.

.

Finally surviving the ride we boarded a bus for the final 5 hour segment of the trip. Luckily it deposited into Koh San Road (backpacker area) where we had already decided we wanted to stay. Somehow we were able walk no more than 5 minutes, step inside a very sterile yet nice hotel to get a very affordable matchbox room to hold us over for our final 2 nights. Freshly showered but tired and starting to fight off a cold, we just walked the streets, got some food and drink and rested well (still rocking a bit from the boat).

.

Our last day in Bangkok involved a final bowt of shopping for gifts and making our way back to the shopping center to see the IMAX version of Dark Night. After 30 minutes in our taxi moving less than 1 km, we realized this may not happen. Fortunately we were able to jump out, make our way to the water taxi and have it race us in the polluted water right to one of shopping centers where we walked to the theatre to see a fantastic film on one of the largest screens in the world. This was followed by a wonderful fresh seafood dinner outside the mall with our own homemade waterfall, palm trees and teekie torches. A wonderful touch to a wonderful holiday.

.

Our over packed shuttle raced us to Thailand's wonderful international airport where we had plenty of time to wait and shop before catching an almost empty flight back to Istanbul a somewhat painful overnight in Istanbul until returning to our beloved Pristina that night morning. 30 days and 300 stories. A lifetime of memories and us recognizing the blessing we had to enjoy each other uninterrupted for this time before our lives and all the enormous changes envelop us over the next several months.

Our Remote Santuary on Koh Phangan (Part IV)

From our sailboat to a longtail boat to a city bus to a VIP bus to a non AC VIP bus to a ferry to a taxi (overpriced) to a private longtail taxi boat, we arrived all in 1 day to The Sanctuary, our week long meditation and yoga retreat center nestled in the jungle on a private beach on Koh Phangan (yes the island famous for the all night Full Moon Rave parties). Fortunately our beach was a 15 minute boat ride away from the chaos of the drunken party scammers and the full on tourist scene of the young backpackers out to party.

.

The Sanctuary was just that. A self contained 'resort' where all the guest stayed in a customized bamboo cabin up on the hill in the jungle and had access to the meditation and yoga rooms, spa, wellness center for fasting and the main restaurant bar rest house that served some of the most amazing meals and fresh fruits. Unfortunately the jungleness of our cabin which happened to be the furthest hike from the beach was a little more nature than Pranvera was prepared for. Upon our early evening arrival having been exhausted from our long travel, we sat in the new room to be welcomed by the larges gecko (lizard) I had seen, a bat flying in and out of the open wall overlooking the jungle valley and several rats which politely scurried their way out of the room once we moved in. Of course I know we were in the jungle but didn't realize to this extent. Much to Pranvera's credit she was determined to overcome her uncomfortableness and raced into our mosquito net bed each night to stay protected from any unwelcome visitors. Regardless, our place was very nice with a kitchen and an eating deck which hung us 20 feet in the air looking all the way down the jungle valley towards the beach. We enjoyed the hammock inside and would have said it was the most remote, quietest place we stayed but once the insects got going with the birds, the wake-up call was louder than any garbage truck working outside my window. Who would have thought?

.

Now the beach was something else. The most perfect swimming beach we came across the whole trip. Pranvera loves the sea was in and out at least a dozen time each day taking long swims all the way out to the middle of our bay just to enjoy the very warm water, beautiful scenery looking back on our island or sun bathing out on the floating dive platform. The invisible jellyfish (or sea lice) loved giving her a little sting mostly on the right wrist. Never failing even when she tried to outsmart them wearing a bandanna on it. It was here I finally got back into my yoga after almost 2 years of only teaching classes, not taking them. I was able to do an 8am class each morning with different teachers and then added an afternoon class on some days or went to another studio where a teacher I liked taught strict (and advanced level) Ashtanga classes. My body had no idea what I was getting it into but it loved it and I felt like I had found my center again, not to mention picking up many news tunes and tips I will share when I begin my final month of classes back in Kosovo.
.

Of course we had to sample the spa so we both received the most heavenly full body scrub and wrap detox including smearing our body with a rough gingerbread type mix, baking in a plastic sheet with fresh oils and cucumber on our faces and then to be cooled down with a honey yogurt spread before washing and being lathered with a peppermint lotion. I think the hardest part was to avoid wanting to eat myself...I can only imagine the torture for anyone of the fasters we met to actually do this treatment...The massages were also wonderful and much classier than the standard cheap beach versions you could get everywhere.
.

Each day seemed to blend into the next and we got to know some of the other guests and staff. It was a true honeymoon full of long swims, wonderful sunsets, amazing beachside meals and plenty of time to read and sunbath. We mixed things up after a couple days of doing nothing (but yoga) by attending a drumming circle, doing a killer difficult hike over the mountain on the island to go to a neighboring beach for shopping, dinner and the chance for Pranvera to get her Bow Derrick braids. What we were told to be a 1.5 hour trail walk was a 3+ hour hike up over sun drenched slippery dirt roads to went up at angles you can't build roads in the west. And they never ended. But determined to reach our iced coffees we carried on until reaching the other side where a fork in the road left us clueless as to how to complete the journey. Low and behold the only local we ran into the entire trek came along at that moment on a scooter to point us the right way. The last stretch required us to duck into the thick of the jungle on a thin trail which wound its way down the mountainside finally dropping us beach side. Gulping our drinks we had enough daylight to shop around, relax and then find a nice seafood place which was showing the first movie we caught on our honeymoon--the new Sex in the City. It was great fun to dine on fresh seafood and enjoy the big screen projection. The only trouble was that once the movie ended a tropical downpour was drenching the island. After waiting a half hour for it to lighten we had to make our way to the beach and hire a boat to take us back in the wind, rain and dark to our beach. Of course no problem but let's just say we didn't stay dry for long.
.

Our little community even had its own weekly version of the full moon party that we heard from 11pm (when we left to attend) till 9 am the next morning (we were asleep well before that time). One of the mornings I hired a jet ski that was owned by locals down the beach so we could race around the shoreline for a half hour at some unbelievable speeds. It was so much fun we couldn't stop our screaming...and Pranvera even had a chance to try and toss me from the backside as she rocked us through the waves. On one of the last days we discovered an easy trail to the neighboring beach which was much larger and more developed but with some new fantastic places for us to eat. So high above the water on rock-top we sat with fruit juice and fresh coconuts to marvel at the ice blue waters and white sand beaches. We savored the dusk period as the sun slowly began to set and we felt blessed that I had remembered the flashlight to get us back over the hill in the dark.
.

A perfect getaway to clean our mind, body and spirit which prepared us well to hit the fully commercialized island of Koh Tao to get our fill of underwater activity and nightly dinner and drinking sessions.

Island Cruising from Phuket to Phi Phi (Part III)

Our fist class private sleeper cabin cost more than our hotel room in Bangkok so we assumed it would be a very nice and comfortable way to see the landscape and make our way back to Bangkok well rested. In reality, the room and train were at least 40 years old and well used. Yes we each had our own bunk with beddings and a private door we could close but you wanted to touch as few things as possible. Once Pranvera awoke from a nap we ventured 5 cars back to the dining car where all the open windows allowing various flying objects to enter randomly but to give one that very old school feeling of traveling back in time. Our set menu was tasty and the ice-cold beer even better. Not to mention the range of local and many tourist characters we came across. Pleasantly by the time we returned to our cabin the beds had been made for us to sleep in and we cozied up to one another to enjoy the jolting rock of the car till another early morning arrival. In a slight daze we emerged to jump straight in a taxi and race all the way across Bangkok to arrive at the Southern Bus Terminal and try and find a VIP heading the 12 hours to Phuket. Low and behold one was leaving within the half-hour. A seriously uneventful day but allowing us to make serious progress in our books. With my new friend Mr Ipod along, we arrived in just the nick of time to navigate our way around a new city and find a place to stay before we headed to our boat that next afternoon.

Fortunately now being with my wife and 10 years of experience to add from when I was venturing in Thailand last, we opted in enter the first nice (and large) hotel we came across to negotiate a fair price and drop our bags and get a shower in no time. A pleasant change when I’m sure I would have investigated several cheap backer places only to select a rather simple yet dirty place to bed just for one night. It’s nice to not even want to go there anymore. As the saying goes I guess, been there and done that…

We weren’t too fond of the city itself since it seemed to lack any personality or sights worth seeing. So we just wandered about doing internet and shopping of grocery goods so that we could cook some meals for ourselves on the boat. The grocery store was a welcome surprise, especially since I was able to purchase Oreo cookies for our journey. Everything was working according to plan except I was unable to reach on any phone number or by email the owner of the boat we were to meet that afternoon. Assuming he would somehow find us we finally negotiate a taxi to the town he said he was harbored and we dumped our gear at a nice beachfront café bar and started to ask around if anyone knew him. Suddenly my phone began to ring and it was him saying he had dropped his cell phone in the water but gotten my number from the email. Within 5 minutes our Dutch castaway was with us enjoying a beer and stories of island living for the past 11 years. You could kind of tell since he didn’t seem completely there.

None the less he carted us and our bags to the beach with his moto-scooter and side cart. Before we realized it we were speeding across the beautiful bay by ourselves in a dingy on the way to unload our gear and settle into our 30 foot private catermeran sailboat. Although it technically had all the amenities of a bathroom, kitchen and 2 bedrooms, it was as if they had been shrunk to child size. Perfect for our 3 day adventure but no more. As it turned out due to the heat and claustrophobic feeling of the beds, we slept up on deck under the main canopy. It was perfect except for the night it stormed or when we actually wanted darkness or silence to sleep late into the morning (not). Ironic that for a honeymoon which I thought would be nothing but sleeping in and stuffing ourselves on large meals we were up everyday by 7ish or so (not to mention my wife cannot sleep in anyway).

But the boat was perfect. For the first night we had it all to ourselves to swim around anytime we felt like it, enjoying wine and playing ‘house’ with no one else anywhere (or so we thought till another boat he hires received 2 families, with a 6 month old to also sleep in the harbor the first night—luckily we were unable to hear the crying). We ventured to shore that night in the motorized dingy to join our Captain to have a wonderful ‘island priced’ meal and plan our 3 day adventure. We mapped out the islands we wanted to visit and targeted certain ports to dock which would allow to go ashore for dinner and experience a bit of the island nightlife. Perfect in theory until you factored in the fact that the wind wouldn’t provide the speed that was needed, a couple storms suggested we head other directions, the ports were so packed with other boats and general activity that it never had that same remote feeling as we did the first night and last but not least our Thai skipper was a lazy pain in the ass who did not want to take us where we wanted to go and complained the whole way about the boat, the wind, decided to use the motor for large segments and was always around us (can’t go too far away on a 30 ft. boat). Since this was a new experience for the both of us we never could have anticipated these issues so we just made the most out of snorkeling and swimming almost whenever we wanted, taking the kayak out for little adventures to get to shore and part ways with our Skipper.

Day one was excellent with the novelty of being on the boat and the water seeing all the distant unique rock formations and arriving on a remote private beach for a fresh fruit shake, romantic swim and walk on the beach. That night we didn’t make it as far as expected so we docked at see near an exclusive resort beach with no other boats around. Although the meal at the resort was extremely expensive and of course upset our skipper since he wanted a much cheaper dish somewhere close to town where there were doing construction right on the beach. But for us it was a wonderful sunset walk, beautiful resort to check out and an excellent island fresh seafood dish. The paddle back to the boat always ensured we got a little wet but part of the adventure.

Day 2 and 3 were a collection of many unnamed islands including a beautiful national park with perfect white sand beaches, ice blue water and a huge lizard dragon walking on the sand. Not to mention all kinds of exotic colorful birds flying from tree to tree. The unrelenting sun on the boat caused us to take shelter in the deckside cabin for a number of hours but still plenty of time to read, nap or jump off the back of the boat to cool down. Although this is a little bit exaggerated since the water temperature averaged 28C. Almost like a bathtub with a current…

Our first night was on the famous tourist island of Koh Phi Phi where we were able to do our first snorkel adventure. A bit cloudy from all the boats and winds but still a fun way to spend our happy hour. We docked among a ton of other boats and were unfortunately assaulted by the music and lights of the party island but we were able to partake in a little bit of it with a nice seafood dinner, a visit to all the tons of shops and to check out the bar scene a bit. Unfortunately we felt obligated to return to our boat on the earlier side since we in fact had to paddle our kayak from the beach to the boat in darkness. And then the winds and the rains were so strong that night we didn’t get much sleep. Our final night and port was spend in Railay Beach Krabie the rock climbing capital of southeast Asia and a place I had been to 10 years back. We started off by kayaking around the bay and beaches to orient ourselves and gaze up the amazing cliffs, even seeing some climbers. But the protected bay we needed to dock in had one of the worse high/low tide drifts which forced us to drag our kayak across a half mile of mud and rock before we could paddle our way back to the boat to sleep. Fortunately we had a couple cocktails in us before then and had enjoyed an average meal at an overpriced resort restaurant. A good reminder why I had opted for us not to make this place one of our destinations but rather just a stop over.

Before we had set upon our cruise, we had opted to pay an extra fee to allow us to get off the boat in this port rather than return all the way to where we started on add many hours of travel to our next island on the opposite coast. Although this should have been a simple no brainer our skipper insisted he could not sail to the boat to the dock and we needed to pay for another boat to pick us up and shuttle us there. Fortunately for cell phones we reached the owner and he agreed that the skipper pay for this ‘necessary’ additional transportation which involved a simple fast ride in a traditional Thai long-tail boat. Certainly all and all a fun unique experience but one we won’t do again unless on a bigger boat and with a Captain that we could tolerate.

Northern Adventures of Chang Mai (Part II)

In Thailand, a bus ride is never just a bus ride. Instead of getting caught up in one of the many travel scams of using a travel agent to purchase your bus ticket at an inflated price and jamming you into an overcrowded tourist bus to take you anyway, we opted to do as the locals and take a long taxi ride to the Northern Bus Terminal and get a ‘nicer’ VIP bus to Chang Mai. Once at the station with our backpacks and obvious tourist appearance, everyone wants to claim they have the ticket for you. Once we finally sorted through the correct one we found out we had to wait a half hour so they could confirm we had the last 2 seats on the bus (literally). Fortunately this travel luck stayed with us for most the trip not only getting many last seats but often times arriving right when the bus, boat, train, shuttle or whatever was leaving.

As we mounted the stairs of the double decker bus to slide into the oversized plush, fully reclinable seats, we thought we were in for a smooth sleepable night. We were even given water and some sweets throughout the journey. If only they weren’t blaring very loud Thai music and videos all night, turning on the lights each time we pulled into a food station and if the AC vent wasn’t dripping cold water onto Pranvera for most the night. Fortunately our hotel had sent a car to retrieve our exhausted bodies at our 6am arrival in order to shuttle us through an empty city which has developed so much I couldn’t recognize anything from 10 years back. And once we entered into the jungle like grounds of our boutique quest house we thought we had found our Northern paradise. The photos speak for themselves but the custom carved wood, old style batik design and wonderful tapestry took our breath away. Everything with an open air design, fresh fruit and juices each time we returned to the hotel, a small pool just to relax and refresh and a killer sized canopy bed and luxury bathroom with hot tub. But of course with our luck there happened to be a large construction site right across the street that greeted us with banging each morning at 8 and rattled our senses till 6 at night. Although we did spend a fair amount of time there (Pranvera was feeling ill for a number of days), it reminded us that we were still in the middle a one of Thailand’s largest cities.

Recognizing the fact that we were on honeymoon we actually almost didn’t leave the hotel or our room for the first day or two. It was such a nice feeling to not have the ‘obligation’ to site see and exhaust ourselves doing everything we could. Since I had in fact been there I suggested some of the better sites and adventures to partake in once we left the confines of our room. This included a run around the entire walled old city, exploration of the various and beautiful religious sites, stuffing our faces at different food carts and open aired cafes. Taking time pushing through the renowned Night Market, visiting a culture dinner and show, and taking a full day adventure trek in the villages. I think we would both agree although a bit programmed, it was a highlight of our stay. We we collected early one morning with a handful of other tourists and shuttled back and forth among several vans until we all headed out to the countryside to do the token elephant trek, jungle walk, swim in the waterfall and white water raft trip. About as much time was spent in the car either driving or waiting as the actual adventure but once we got on our elephant and held on tight, we were nothing but smiles. Especially when I asked our guide for a photo and instead of just turning around from the elephant’s head, he jumped off and ran a ways back to get full image. To Pranvera’s discomfort this left us without a driver and our hungry friend continue to walk wherever he wanted ripping up bushes and trees to eat. Once we returned to our creek he trudged up the hill with surprising grace and steadiness despite the fact that he was many times the size of where we needed to walk. Intermittent rain kept us pleasantly cooled and we enjoyed a jungle ‘Pad Thai’ in a bamboo hut while the bulk of the rain fell. After which we balanced our way among rice fields to make it back to the ran for our hike. Which I will certainly say was the tourist version of them driving up the big hill, dropping us at the top of a trail to walk only down to an empty village and thru to a waterfall which luckily was only used by us at the moment. It was perfectly refreshing way to cool day and play around till the van arrived to carry us to the final part of the day.

This river must see at least 500 tourists a day in both rubber and bamboo rafts floating in various states of inebriation and many more shades of sunburn red. Since Pranvera wasn’t feeling too well, she opted out for a shoreline nap while I went with my team to wait over a half hour to realize they dropped us in the wrong spot for the boats. By the time be made it to the right one we got the remaining raft, helmets and guide who was clueless on how to properly get us down the river (this opinion is coming from a former rafting guide himself). Not to mention this guy did not speak any English so I took it upon myself to issue the calls to my other paddlers in order to prevent us from tipping. All and all it was a Class III river with only 4 rough sections and nothing too exciting. But a beautiful way to see the jungle from the water and cool down all the same.

Back in town we found a couple favorite places to get fantastic food which we returned to several times. We visited a couple of the massively overpriced spas and hotels to see how the over half might travel these parts and we were even enough happier about our selection. But, we opted to leave Chang Mai a day early on the overnight train to eventually connect to an all day bus to make it to the once Tsunami devastated city of Phuket in order to board a private boat for 4 days. But before then, a train ride is never just a train ride in Thailand.

The Land of Smiles: Thailand Honeymoon (Part I)

All the photos can be seen at

http://www.kodakgallery.com/Slideshow.jsp?UV=232673260935_912131913603&mode=fromsite&collid=13301266503.582733113603.1217671326697&conn_speed=1

Two months after our wedding and after the completion of my contract in Kosovo, PV and I finally headed off for one month of pampering and adventure in the wonderful country of Thailand. Having traveled there extensively 10 years ago I was at least able to propose a well rounded itinerary to maximize our time and experiences throughout the large and diverse country. Better yet, I was armed with the know-how to get around the place and recognize that most people happily lie to your face (with a smile) when you are trying to figure out the best way to do anything or travel anywhere.

Our journey to Bangkok allowed us to thoroughly explore every shop within the Istanbul airport over our 9 hour layover. And another 10 hour flight to boot we arrived relatively exhausted but ready to begin the long awaited for honeymoon. Our first adventure involved taking the local but all the way into the city instead of the drastically overpriced shuttles. Upon driving I was immediately reminded of how the highway system and even subway is all built above ground. Literally a concrete network of transportation shadows the streets, noise and pollution of the city. Even skyways have enabled you to walk for miles above the city. This is the only way to cross over their massive surface streets and carrying a large backpack with all you belonging in the Bangkok humidity is certainly an exercise. The 3 block walk to our hotel from the bus stop had us humping up and over these as Pranvera absorbed the sights and smells (yuck) of Thailand for the first time. Our simple hotel was located in the shopping district of the city which is one mega mall after the other. Although it was very nice at first to grab a Starbucks and see all the modernization that Kosovo does not have, the awe wore off after the first night and encouraged us into the old city and the Royal Palace for the next couple days of sightseeing.

The city is so congested that one of the only, and best kept secrets among tourists, is the water taxi. Much to Pranvera’s dismay we essentially rocked down a sewage canal with some of the foul water spraying on us…but nothing a scream and sanitary napkin couldn’t fix. Upon arriving in the old city we explored a number of Buddhist Watts, Pagoda’s and other religious locations. Our overpriced tour of the Royal Palace required the both of us to rent additional clothes as to not bear unnecessary skin in the Royal quarters. Although I had seen all this 10 years back, it is still a marvel of craftsmanship and a cultural icon and necessity for Bangkok. We then made our way up to Koh San Road which is the famous backpacker hangout district. With more bars, clothing stands, restaurants that one can imagine. All extremely cheap, especially the 30 minute foot massage we had. The dollar is still relatively strong in Thailand so many meals only cost 3-4 euros, along with a freshly made fruit shake. Pranvera took to ‘Thai spicy’ right away and never looked back loading almost every meal with fish sauce and fresh chillies or chilly powder. Of course the seafood is always fresh and the traditional noodle and rice dishes fantastically flavorful. Of course some of the most rewarding dining experience were inhaled right on the street sitting on a little plastic chair wiping the perspiration from my forehead. Other than indulging in late and long dinners with fancy cocktails, we were usually too exhausted to hit the nightlife although we both got countless offers to see strip shows in the famous Pat Pong red light district of Bangkok.

However, we did connect with an old friend of mine who presently runs his own yoga studio. After surviving one of his 2 hour classes (and one of the first classes I have attended not teaching in almost 2 years) he and his new wife took us out to a fancy ‘mall’ restaurant where we caught up and joked about how we had met each other 10 years ago in Thailand. He just never really left.

Knowing how overwhelming (in every way) Bangkok is, we only spent 3 days before taking an overnight bus to our first honeymoon retreat…Chang Mai.