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Published: January 20th 2009
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Sawatdee kap khong peuan (Warm greeting my friends),
So there are 61 pics included in this blog that were painstakingly uploaded via a very slow internet connection. Check them out, or at least tell me that you've enjoyed them 😊 Just click on the word "next" at bottom of page to view 2nd and 3rd pages of pictures.
Instead of ending with one, I'll begin this entry with a quote from a great humanist, Walt Whitman, I just received from my friend Bodhi . . .
"Dismiss whatever insults your own soul
And your very flesh shall be a great poem
Not only in its words, but in the silent lines
Of its lips and face
And between the lashes of your eyes
And in every motion and joint of your body."
- Walt Whitman
With the conclusion of the holiday and tourist seasons here at the Koh Ra Ecolodge, Heather and I found ourselves with some free time to do a bit of traveling in southern Thailand. We caught seats on a comfortable bus (why don't more American's ride buses? So easy, so cheap, think of the petro we'd save as a nation) and headed 5
hours south to a popular tourist destination on the Andaman Coast called Krabi. Krabi, as the pictures hopefully will attest, has magnificent topography - mind-blowing limestone formations that seemingly arise straight up from the clear blue waves. Limestone used to be the sea floor itself, parts of which were a massive coral reef stretching from Australia to China. Krabi is also a mecca for rock-climbers the world over, as the shape of the limestone rock is very conducive for finding finger and toe-holds.
Heather and I hired a Thai guide named Ip to take us climbing. One needs a guide (especially inexperienced climbers like us) to put up the top rope (the rope that catches those that follow should they, I mean when they, fall). As perilous as the photos may look, rock climbing is a safe sport (statistically safer than navigating big city traffic, I'm sure). Climbers wear a safety harness, ropes are high strength, fished through multiple bolts drilled/glued into rock. When you do fall though, it is such an adrenaline rush! Even though the mind knows the body logically is safe, when you slip, or reach for a handhold and can't quite make it, some deep-seated
primordial fear grabs you! You only fall a few feet, at most, swing to and fro a bit on the rope, regain your composure, and try again. We had one other climber in our group, a tall, lanky, wiry Swede named Anders who had been climbing weekly for 9 years. He would make things look so simple from the ground, until I would get 50 or so feet up in the air and become totally perplexed as to how to proceed. In some ways it truly is a mental exercise in problem-solving.
Heather and I also spent a day visiting Wat Tham Sua (Tiger Cave Temple). We rented a motorbike (and helmets Moms 😊 and headed north of Krabitown. Wat Tham Sua is a functioning Buddhist monastery with monks and nuns that also welcomes lots of Thai and falang (western) visitors. Much of the complex is built within caves, and apparently there used to be tigers that roamed the surrounding jungle (which sadly, has almost entirely been cut and planted with palm and rubber plantations). They had multiple exhibits with human and animal skeletons (including a whale skull) on display as reminders that we occupy these bodies for just
From within cave above Ao Phra Nang
What a photographer this guy is, he captures all the elements, stalagtites, crystal clear water, limestone spire, hot wife :) a fleeting moment in the vastness of time. The highlight (quite literally) of Wat Tham Sua was climbing 1237 steep steps to the top of the temple perched in the clouds atop of a tremendous limestone spire. I was also impressed by the Hindu and Chinese imagery sharing space with Buddhist relics throughout Wat Tham Sua. As I understand it, the Buddha taught that other pathways, so long as the fruits produced by the journey are compassion and peace, are equally valid to his own. As a result, Buddhism is not inherently exclusive of other religious philosophies.
Other pics . . . Heather and I also spent one day sea kayaking around the island Mu Koh Hong ("Island Room"). Really sweet tidal action, there is shallow lagoon in the center of the island that empties and fills with the tides. We spent one day hiking down existing ropes to a lagoon nestled in karst. Oh and the last pics are of us opening up our presents from my most wonderful brother and sister-in-law. Thanks again Heath and Lacy for the Red Seal, books, reading lights . . . did I mention the Red Seal? That's huge, enjoying a pinch
Limestone formations
The limestone is uplifted reef, Ao Phra Nang at the moment. THANKS!!!
We hope you are each healthy and happy in this new year, in this moment. We miss you all, and look forward to getting back to the states in May-June. In April we may fly to Kathmandu to do a 3 week trek in the Himalayas, visiting the many villages nestled in the foothills, with Kim and Awe, weather permitting, and assuming we have paid work lined up 😊
Thought I'd conclude with a selection of quotes from America's own champion of non-violent resistance . . .
"Ten thousand fools proclaim themselves into obscurity, while one wise man forgets himself into immortality."
"The hope of a secure and livable world lies with disciplined nonconformists who are dedicated to justice, peace and brotherhood."
"Our scientific power has outrun our spiritual power. We have guided missiles and misguided men."
~ Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Strength to Love, 1963, US black civil rights leader & clergyman (1929 - 1968)
Until out paths cross again, much love, Jarod and Heather
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Heather
non-member comment
Thanks...
...for sharing! (and for the kiss) (maybe?) ~Happy Inauguration Day!~ Love You Guys!!!