Vacation From the M.P. - the Andaman Sea

---

Goodbye, For Now, to Vietnam

We returned late from Mue Ni, on the Vietnamese quiet bus ride. We stayed the night at Madame Cuc’s, of course, but skipped the free meal and instead went for what has become our go to “we miss home” meal. For most travelers it is cheeseburgers and french-fries or pizza, or worse, McDonald’s. For us, it is Indian food. When we are having our fill of SE Asian food, we find the local Indian joint and chow down. This was no exception. After our headache inducing bus ride and our gut busting Indian dinner we called it an early night and said our goodbyes to Uncle Ho and Saigon.

In the morning, we made our way back to Hanoi for our last night in the country. Now that we are accustomed to Hanoi, we knew to take the Vietnam Airlines shuttle from the airport, which dropped us off a few blocks from Rad’s house and only cost us $2 a person. It was a good deal, but the shuttle bus was pretty full when we arrived and the driver assured us that we could fit. The van had four rows with room for two to three people on each bench, plus a fold down seat at the end of each row. The van was filled with Vietnamese and I am sure the last Vietnamese man to board was thrilled to see the westerners make their way to the van. He had one of the fold down “jump” seats and had to move into the last row of the van, with a cramped four people on the bench seat. Eric took our orange day back and put it between his legs and squeezed into the jump seat on the third row. I took the jump seat on the second row. Neither of us had a lot of leg room. On top of that, Eric took my backpack and held it on his lap. I had our small back pack on my lap, a suitcase, and a briefcase to my right, pinning my legs into place. The guy sitting in front of me had Eric’s backpack pretty much in his lap. I am sure we were quite popular in that van with our large bags. Good thing it was only about an hour ride into the city. And, to top it off, the guy sitting in my row against the other window started getting sick half way. At least he had a plastic bag with him. We made several stops before our final destination and each one meant that people were departing from the third and fourth row, meaning Eric and I and all of the extra bags had to get out and then pack back in. Luckily, no loud Vietnamese music was planning and we arrived fairly unharmed, although Eric insisted I lather up with Purel as soon as we got out because of the guy getting sick next to me. This, I guess, is the downside of being budget conscious travelers.

After running some errands in Hanoi (including applying for another visa to return to Vietnam in late August!), and picking up some snacks from the local bakery, we had our last meal with Rad and his friend Nate in Hanoi. We spent a few minutes chatting with Rad’s son, Hung, who appeared disappointed we were only staying for one night. We told him we would be back in the fall though, and told him we would be taking over his room when we return. He was not thrilled about that one, particularly when Rad mentioned later that he does not understand the kidding us Americans do. For that night although Rad suggested his favorite Italian restaurant, we requested Vietnamese for our last meal in the country. We returned to our beer garden at the end of the street, suggesting to Rad and Nate that we go for a beer and if we want to move on, no problem. We were stunned to hear that neither of them had been there before. Well, after a few beers and snacks, Rad ordered a full round of food. They were both pretty impressed with the food and thanked us for showing them a new restaurant. After dinner, and after saying goodbye to my server, Mai, we went for a walk to get ice cream near the lake. It was a perfect end to our month in Vietnam.

Domestication in Phuket

In the morning we flew from Hanoi to Bangkok and onto Phuket, Thailand. We had a two bedroom condo for the week on the north tip of the island, in Mai Khao. The beach area is fairly pristine there, which is shocking in Phuket, which has been overrun by tourists. The resort bordered a national park known for turtle breeding. We were staying at the Marriot, and the condo had a kitchen. From what we heard the resort was very nice but not near anything - it was pretty isolated. We read that the best bet was to go to the local supermarket and stock up, but that task would not be easy. The hotel was offering us a taxi to the local Tesco supermarket for $45. Or, for $30 we could take the shuttle bus in the morning to Phuket Town, but we would need to stay in town until the next shuttle bus, six hours later. Or, we could rent a car for a day for about $55. These all seemed a little extravagant. So, while waiting for our room we wandered around the resort and found the deli, which we were assured would have everything we needed to stock our little kitchen, and it did, at highway robbery prices. As we contemplated what to do our room became available and the bellman drove us in his little golf cart to the room. I asked him about the taxi stand at the end of the service road to the hotel and whether it was any cheaper than what the hotel offers. Unfortunately, it was same same. He asked us where we wanted to go. Then, we figured out his side gig. The bellman, Pooh, drives a taxi on his days off from the resort. He offered to take us to the Tesco, but could not go until his shift was over, after 7pm. Alternatively, he offered to find a friend to drive us, or if he could not, he offered us his car. All for a price - and a promise to keep secret. “How much would you pay?” was how he phrased it. We struck a bargain and about 30 minutes later Pooh showed up at our door and escorted us to his car and a driver to take us to Tesco and wait until we finished our shopping. The trip to Tesco still seemed expensive, but was cheaper than what the hotel offered, so we were on our way.

The Tesco was about forty five minutes away with all of the Friday night traffic. It was a monstrosity - more of a cross between a Super Target and a Costco. We had a shopping list put together of items to make some recipes, but for the most part we winged it. And, we did not realize how long we were in there - almost 1 ½ hours of shopping. I think it took us so long because we were unfamiliar with the foods and packaging, had to find items with English descriptions on the shelves, and sometimes had to bring out the calculator to determine how much something was. In the end, we planned to make seven full meals, plus we had some fancy ramen noodles, breakfast foods, snacks, and fruits and veggies. We spent $57 on food and $41 on three cases of beer and a bottle of whisky (seemed a bit much for the week, but it was cheaper to have too much rather than too little). And, considering a sandwich at the hotel deli cost about $10, this was a steal. We filled our cart to the brim with food. It was easily the best deal on the island, even if you consider how much it cost to hire the driver to take us out there.

After being on the go for more than three months, it was nice to be domesticated for a week. We had a small washer and dryer and did laundry almost every day. We made diced pork and eggplant, spicy Penang curry, and various stir fries with veggies and rice or glass noodles. We had cereal and yogurt in the morning and pots of green tea throughout the day. We enjoyed beers on the balcony listening to the sounds of the tropical forest that surrounded us. We even did the dishes. It was certainly a nice, relaxing, domesticated break.

During the day, we went to the pool and vegged out, walked the grounds, and strolled along the beach. The resort was surrounded by a national park and the grounds were protected. That meant no beach chairs on the beach, unfortunately, but it also meant the beach was pristine. The water was also rough because we were in Thailand during the wet season. It rained every day for at least a few minutes and the currents and wave were strong. But, the water was a light turquoise blue that I have never seen before. It was truly stunning. We spent our first three nights repeating this behavior - wake, breakfast, swim, nap, lunch and beer, swim, nap, dinner and beer - until our visitor arrived.

Our first visitor

So, our two bedroom condo was supposed to be shared with two friends who had to cancel their trip to see us (sorry guys, we missed you!). We did not want to let it go to waste, so after emailing everyone on this side of the world to see if they wanted to join us, and after posting an open invite on facebook, I sent a joking email about three weeks ago to Kelly - “If you are free, why don’t you meet us in Phuket, Thailand.” Her initial thought was sure, let me see if I can move a hearing. Then, it was “is Phuket pronounced fuk-it.” After telling her it was “poo” and not “fuk”, she rearranged her hearing and booked a flight to meet us. The day before she arrived, Eric admitted he was excited to have someone new to talk to. We have been doing pretty well meeting single serving friends along the way, and spending time with people like Rad and Sonja has been great. After spending time in Mue Ni, however, where the resort barely had any other guests, let along English speaking ones, we were looking for fresh blood, and Kelly was it.

We introduced Kelly to our routine as soon as she arrived in the morning. We spent time at the pool and walked the beach. Then, for our exercise for the day, we rented bicycles from the resort to ride to one of the local restaurants nearby. I had a list of things Kelly had to do during her first trip to Asia including Thai massage, see elephants, visit a Buddhist temple, drink Singha and Chang beer, and eat local food outside of the hotel. We accomplished two items on our first day. The map was a bit confusing, and hand drawn, not to scale, but we rode around a star shaped lake, got a little lost, introduced Kelly to a good tropical sweat, and saw some water buffalo. We stopped for lunch at one of the roadside places Eric and I saw on the way to the Tesco. It was not as “local” or rustic as I had imagined, but there were no menus so that was a start. The owner did not speak much English, but we managed to order “3 chicken” not knowing what to expect. We received three dishes of simple chicken fried rice, but it was darn good. We also ordered three beers, and the owner left the restaurant, walked next door to another shop, and returned with three Singhas. So, local food and Singha beer were checked off the list. As we finished our meal, a woman was driving by on a moto with a side car filled with rambutan fruit. We bought a bundle of the red fruit with green spikes mostly because it looked cool. We had never eaten it before. We chowed down on it when we returned to the hotel. You slice the fruit open and inside are a gelatinous, clear, soft, and sweet fruit, with a seed like a raw almond in the middle. Pretty cool.

Eric cooked our first meal for Kelly, which was totally tasty and probably more spicy that Kelly was accustomed to, and after dark we did the totally classy move of bringing a plastic bag with ice and several cans of Chang beer outside to the pool area facing the palm trees and the beach. We spent the evening drinking totally cheap beers outside under the stars. We also saw a large wild cat in the distance. He was in the brush, but under a light. He was staring right at us. We were not close enough to see exactly what he was, but he seemed way bigger than our Tobi cat, and she is pretty big. I am not sure if bobcats inhabit Phuket Island, but I was happy he kept his distance.

Monkeys, Elephants, 007, and Pooh

After our trip to Tesco, we met with Pooh about some tours in the area. Pooh is from an area called Phang-Nga, just north of Phuket, across the bridge on the mainland. Their claim to fame is an island referred to as James Bond Island, because it was featured in the film “The Man with the Golden Gun.” Pooh said he could drive us out there, arrange for a boat, and see some other sights to make a day trip. It was way cheaper than booking through the hotel, so we fled the resort for some action Tuesday morning. One of my requests was to take Kelly to a Buddhist temple. We stopped a short ride from the hotel to a new temple that has taken some time to build, but is not quite finished. They were in the process of building a giant sitting Buddha while were there. It was really a perfect exhibit of Thai architecture with bright red and gold paint with sparkling glass inlay, complete with a sleeping dog on the steps.

Elephant Massage

Our next stop was at an elephant park for a quick little trek. Because Eric and I did a trek last time we were in Thailand, this was really just for Kelly’s benefit. So, Eric bowed out gracefully to become the photographer of the experience, and within a few minutes our chariot arrived. Kelly and I boarded a spotted elephant and a small rope was pulled across our waist. Pooh was kind enough to point out that it was our “safety belt” Thai style. We chose the shorter fifteen minute trek because after about ten minutes of rocking back and forth on an elephant the novelty starts to wear off. We were on our way when the elephant promptly stopped in his tracks and no prodding by the driver, the mahout, would make him continue. I thought, “this will be a disaster.” We realized as we turned around and saw the bubbling water in the spring we were traversing that he was just peeing. And peeing and peeing. After one of the longest and most voluminous urinations I have seen, he started up right away. As we continued on our way the mahout handed us a rainbow umbrella to shade us from the sun. It was a thoughtful gesture, but made me feel like an imperialist westerner with a parasol. Once we made our way into the shade I kindly returned the umbrella. Our ride was short, but certainly long enough, with just enough climbs up and down hills to make us nervous of our safety harness. But, we returned unharmed, although with some sore rears.

After, Pooh steered us towards the elephant show, which feature two elephants performing various tricks. They started by eating the bananas that people purchased as their admission to the show. The greedy little things were not happy, however, with the single bananas that people fed them. They nosed around the bleachers and found the baskets of bananas and tried to grab the entire bunch, and they succeeded with Kelly who, rightfully so, let the giant animal have his way with her. After, the elephants grabbed the empty baskets with their trunks and returned them to the banana stand. It was adorable. They preformed various tricks for us including playing the harmonica, dancing, sitting on their rear, etc. This is when I realized our elephant trek was by a female elephant. During the show, one of the performers needed to go to the bathroom, so he excused himself to the side and took a little pee break. Well, the emcee commented that the male elephants do inded have five legs sometimes, which was demonstrated during his bathroom break. Wow is all I can say about that.

For their final performance, they asked for volunteers. The emcee was trying to encourage some young woman at the end of the bleachers to volunteer but they would have none of it. As I remembered my no fear slogan, I found myself raising my hand, not sure for what I was volunteering. As it started to drizzle, the mahout led me to the performance ring and had me lay down on a foam mat face down. They placed a light blanket on my back and announced it was time for the elephant massage. Next thing I knew the elephant was sucking in my hair and patting my head with his trunk. Then he moved the trunk to my legs, sucking there. While he moved his trunk up and down my body he used his right leg to step on, or massage, my rear. At the time I was concerned merely about the amount of elephant snot in my hair, feeling pretty sandy and grimy when I stood up. Several hours later, in the car, I realized I took “no fear” a bit too far. I was putting a lot of trust into a mahout and a huge animal. If he flinched or went crazy from a camera flash, I could have been squashed like an ant. After I safely returned to my seat, two other women volunteered and then the emcee asked for a male volunteer. The guy who volunteered, and I use that word lightly, lay on his back face up with the blanket across his body. First, the elephant massaged his face with his trunk; I am sure laying a nasty layer of elephant snot on the guys face - yuck. Then, the elephant stepped on his stomach and used his trunk to sneak under the blanket towards the package below. The emcee noted this was a “special Thai banana massage.” Cute, happy ending humor travels through all Asian countries. I was very happy to rinse my face and arms and to try to comb the snot from my hair. I could not wait to take a swim.

When Monkeys Attack

Eric and I just celebrated twelve years of being together. We have been married almost eight years. Despite that, I learned something new about Eric during our time in Thailand. I learned that he really, I mean really, does not like monkeys. All the times we have been to the zoo I always want to head straight for the primate house. Eric never wants to go, but humors me. Now I know why.

The next stop on our tour was the “Monkey Temple.” I am never sure whether this means there were sculptures of monkeys on the temple or live monkeys hanging around until we arrive and learned it was the latter (which is why I plan on skipping the snake temple in Malaysia). Pooh warned us as we approached that, if we were lucky, the monkey would come out to see us. It seems in the past, monkeys lived on the mountain atop the temple, which is housed inside a cave. Occasionally the monkeys would surface below, a sign of good luck. After an influx of tourists over the years, though, the monkeys know there is food to be had below, so they are crawling all over the area. There is no way to visit the monkey temple without seeing monkeys.

Pooh pulled his car right up to the entrance, and as we got out of the car, monkeys immediately starting jumping from the tree branches onto the car, leaving their muddy foot prints along the way. As we entered the area outside the temple, Pooh bought a bunch of bananas for us to feed to the monkeys. Eric took control of the bananas and started to carefully drop a banana to a monkey. They immediately started fighting each other for the food. Eric quickly tried to get rid of the bananas by throwing them to the monkeys who seemed to be approaching from all directions. Eric was wearing bright yellow swim trunks and when his back was turned a monkey must have thought his shorts were a giant banana because he grabbed at Eric, who immediately jumped about three feet in the air. After a few more grabs and attacks, Eric abandoned the last of the bananas and turned to Kelly and me to say, “I really hate monkeys - little disease carriers.” I never knew. Pooh offered to buy another bunch of bananas and we said no thanks, seeing how aggressive these little buggers were (although Eric had another name for them). And, by the way, anyone who says that there is no evolutionary relationship between primates and humans has never actually seen a monkey or an ape in the wild. The way the monkeys were interacting with one another, walking on two legs, and using their human like fingers was amazing. Also, several monkeys had their little babies with them, and they were holding them like a human mother and protecting them from harm.

The inside of the temple was pretty interesting. It gave us a chance to share our knowledge of Buddhism with Kelly. The inside of the temple had a large gold reclining Buddha (my Buddha) and several other smaller Buddhas, showing which ones were for which day of the week. Each person has their own Buddha to worship based on the day of the week they were born. At the end of the temple area we climbed out of the first chamber to see some more caves. Pooh was giving an offering to Buddha so we were unsure what we were supposed to see in the other cave. It was dark, with little signage, but a lot of smell. We could hear the bats in the top of the cave and could definitely smell the guano, or the bat poop. Eric was the first to descend into the cave and did not see much. I followed behind with Kelly in tow, but Eric could not see what was in there because it was so dark, so we returned to the temple and extricated ourselves from the excrement smell. Yuck.

After we left the temple, Pooh bought some more fruit, this time for human consumption. He bought a bag of mangosteen, which were also new to us. They are dark red in color on the outside, and when you crack it open, the inside is dark pink and bitter. The good part is the core, which is white and fleshy and totally sweet. I think we much preferred the mangosteen to the rambutan. But, we ate quickly as the monkeys started to swarm again smelling the sweet fruit. We carefully entered the car without a monkey joining us and were speeding off to our next destination.

007 and the Muslim Village

We wound our way through a small village and stopped near the water to arrange for a boat. We then made our way with some snacks of fresh coconut juice for the ladies, some Chang beers for the guys, and some fantastic fried bananas for the boat ride. We boarded a yellow and blue long boat with a powerfully loud engine to explore the bay. Ao Phang-Nga is a bay of mangrove forests, limestone cliffs, and about 120 islands. Although on this day it was fairly overcast, the scenery was beautiful. The boat ride was fun, even if a little noisy, making conversation difficult. We wound our way through many of the islands to get to our destination - an island now referred to as James Bond Island. The island was originally named Ko Tapu, or Nail Island, but has its current name because of the movie filmed on the island.

We timed our visit perfectly, as Pooh noted it is usually filled with tourists. There were some, but we had the beach more or less to ourselves and avoided the trail of tourists that climb the steps for photos. The nail island was pretty cool, but I wondered how long it would last before erosion caused the thing to tip over. The best part was the other side of the island, a small stretch of golden beach overlooking the bay. There was a security guard from the national park, and a wooden dock extending into the water, but nothing else. Before it was ruined, we quickly disrobed and went for a swim (I spent the first few minutes rinsing the elephant snot from my hair). It was a peaceful and beautiful swim, for about fifteen minutes, at which time a nasty speed boat pulled into the cove, ran aground on the sand, and let out its passengers to see the island. Rats. But, it was pure bliss for those fifteen minutes. It was the kind of emptiness you dream about in touristy, tropical areas. As we climbed the steps back to the boat, a large long boat, filled to the brim with tourists arrived and took over the place. It was perfect timing.

Another element of pristine timing was our arrival for lunch at the Muslim floating village. Just as the captain pulled the boat up to the dock it started to drizzle. By the time we sat at a table just a minute later the skies opened up and we experienced what most people think of when they hear of tropical rainstorms. It was a wonderful combination of the pelting rain in the water, the drops dinging on the metal roof, and the wind blowing the rain almost horizontal. After ordering, we just watched and listened to the rain wondering how we would take our boat back to the dock. Our worry ended though, as our food arrived, and we became preoccupied with more important things. We had black pepper and garlic prawns, pork fried rice, and a fantastic sweet and spicy whole snapper with red chili sauce. We even got greedy and ordered a round of black pepper and garlic squid after the fish, but quickly realized it was too much for us. As much as the bill was a bit high being in an area really meant to draw in the tourists, the food was fantastic. We walked a bit through the village when done, but it was still raining and we called it a day. We went back to the dock and back to the boat all pretty exhausted from the trip.

But, we were not too exhausted to make one more stop. On the way out from the resort we saw a series of wood and bamboo shacks on the side of the road facing the ocean. We asked Pooh if he would join us for a scenic beverage - beers on a picnic table right on the water. Pooh showed us pictures on his mobile of his cute little girl and talked about his family history in northern Thailand, close to the Lao border. He noted that the north has much more culture than Phuket, but his family moved there about thirty years ago, shortly after he was born. I agreed with Pooh, noting that of all areas in Thailand it seems that Phuket, and other resort areas, are long on beauty but short on culture. The culture is more manufactured for the tourists than natural. That is why this entry is also short on culture. Despite the lack of culture, this was one of those moments when we realized life does not get much better than this. The rain stopped, the dark clouds cleared, we talked and enjoyed the sound of the waves and the view over the turquoise waters. It was perfection.
All in all it was a successful trip - Kelly saw a temple, rode an elephant, saw a monkey attack Eric, smelled bat poop, took a long boat ride, ate fresh seafood during a rain storm, tried coconut juice, and swam in a beautiful bay. Kelly was impressed with all the fun she could pack into a short amount of time.

Lazy Day and Partying Thai Style

Our schedule for the following day was a rough one - swim, nap, massage, drink. Again, it’s a tough life vacationing from the M.P. Kelly and I had a massage on the beach and spent the day lounging at the pool. Around sunset though we classed up the joint one more time, bringing a plastic bag of ice and cans of beer and a couple of beach towels down to the beach for sunset. Although the sunset was not spectacular because of the clouds, we had a ton of fun. As the tide started to roll in, Kelly and Eric were afraid the water would reach us and the towels, which to them was, irrationally, the worst thing that could happen. So, they started to build a dam in front of them, encouraging me to do the same. I was just too cool for dam building and they were concerned mine would not hold (some very un-politically correct New Orleans levee comments were made, we were drinking after all). They came over to reinforce my dam like a couple of children. I totally made fun of them for it, of course, although the last wave to attack us did not make it through their dams. It did breach mine, but not my towel, so I was redeemed. After we watched what sunset the sky offered us, we returned to the condo to make dinner, which of course involved spicy food and more beers.

After dinner we ventured from our room like normal resort goers. Based on a suggestion from some new friends from North Carolina, we made our way to the main lobby bar to listen to the band play at night. Katie told us the band was Burmese and we were considering whether to go to Burma/Myanmar. I wanted to chat up the band for some information. Well, we arrived and ordered some fancy cocktails, and the band started to play. The bandleader, a la Ricky Ricardo, asked for requests and came to greet us at our table. He informed us they were Balinese, but Burmese, even though Burma is only an hour away, and Bali is much further. We could not think of a request, other than Kelly’s interest in keeping with her Jersey heritage, requesting Bon Jovi. The band started with a little Elvis number and asked us to get up and dance. Well, after many beers and a mojito, I joined them doing my best Elvis impression, something that was a cross between the twist and the famous Elvis hip wiggle. No Fear. I made Kelly join me, and Eric pretended not to know who we were. After, they played a little new Bon Jovi, and honored our request for Hotel California, of course, which is played everywhere on this side of the world. We thought it a good time to call it a night due to lack of sobriety and said good evening to the band. Of course, I had a little chat with them first and Ricky Ricardo gave me his wife’s and his mobile numbers for her to welcome us to Bali when we arrive in July. Nice.

Despite our lack of sobriety we decided it was the perfect night for some night swimming. The resort has three pools, and I had been in all three, but Kelly and Eric had not had the pleasure. We started with our usual pool, which was an infinity pool, but also housed the pool bar. We felt like we were being watched, and we were, by a security guard. I could not imagine there being rules against night swimming in an area where it seems anything goes. And, we were keeping quiet. Regardless, every time he neared we became uber silent and the three of us hid close to the wall and behind the bushes. Eric did a great Martin Sheen ala Apocalypse Now impression, raising from the water with a sinister look in his eye. Eventually, we decided to call it a night because the guard was really putting a damper on our fun. We realized, though, that he was keeping an eye on the bar, not on us, so we decided to move onto the main pool. The main pool was fun, but very very deep, until you got to the pool slide, which had incredibly shallow water. Then, while we were out, we decided to make the rounds to the third and final pool, which also had some deep water, which meant Eric and Kelly could do competing cannonballs and can openers. I even did a cannonball with Eric, in which we displaced about half the water. I have to say, it was totally fun behaving like complete children for an evening, pool hopping and playing in the sand. Children, though, generally do not drink as much as we did. Finally, we called it a night because we had a big day ahead of us in the morning.

---

Photos

Lazy Days
A tough life indeed.

Kelly's First Local Meal
And first Singha Beer

Rambutan
How do I eat this without poking my eye out?

Buddha Being Born
This is the first time I have seen a temple under construction.

Kelly's First Temple
It is like Kelly's first steps, or Kelly's first tooth!

Elephant Trek
We are all tied in with our "safety belt"

Elephant Taking a Wizz
Look at his legs out to the side and the waterfall between his legs. Altough, I think this is a girl.

Tropical Princesses
We look so very dainty as we rock left and right on the elephant's back.

Greedy Bugger
Look at Kelly's face as the elephant grabbed the entire bunch. She was not about to get in his way.

Sitting Elephant
Sitting seems pretty easy to do, but it is a lot of weight to move into that position.

Elephant Massage
And snot in my hair.

Evolution?
I mean look at the little guys hands?

Opposable Thumbs?
Now, you would not think one of these little guys would attack big Eric, but one of the larger ones did.

Eric and the Ladies
On our longboat ride.

Pooh and Chang
Sipping a well deserved Chang beer.

Our Tranquil Beach
This was right before our swim and the stupid speed boat that interrupted us.

The Look Says it All
Singha and the Beach - Perfect together