HAPY Farmers of Spaceship Earth

We decided that instead of taking a tour to Ao Thalane, we would get ourselves there and just pay to rent kayaks. Our ride there was long! The ride was supposed to take us forty-five minutes but wound up taking us an hour and a bit. Our guide got us prepped and we took off. In order to get to the mangrove forest you have to cross the open water. We crossed the ocean and made it into the forest. The beginning of the tour starts with these lagoons that are surrounded by gigantic mountains. The rock face is so intricate and you can see exactly where the water gets up to at high tide. We saw a few monkeys jumping down the cliffs and drinking from the water. After about fifteen minutes we hit the mangrove forest. The trees were literally growing from the water. The roots were taller than us and all woven together. It felt like a picture of Jurassic Park. On our way out it started drizzling but it seemed like we would be fine and our guide didn't seem to be worried so we all continued...

We started off the day going to Hong Lagoon. It was really nice (packed) but nice. They don't allow snorkeling there anymore because it is frequently visited by stingray. Our second stop was to the beach that was connected to another beach by a small strip. We ate lunch here and made a few friends. Out last stop was Hong Island. The water was stunning and we went snorkeling. We saw the most beautiful rainbow fish EVER!

Fruity: The stand where we went to buy smoothies everyday was owned by a couple. On Sunday, their child, who told us her name was Fruity, was there because there isn't school on Sundays. This child was amazing. The entire time we have been in Thailand communicating with locals has been extremely difficult. The English here is horrible and we have had many frustrating interactions. Fruity came out from behind the booth and started speaking perfect English. She was seven years old and knew words like seahorse, and shadow. She knew to tell us that we wouldn't understand how to say her brother's name because it was a Thai name. I asked her how she knew so much English and she said she learned everything on YouTube. Incredible! The best English we have encountered from a local so far has been from this 7 year old girl named Fruity.

What an amazing day! We booked the day through an Israeli company so our boat was full of Israelis. Our guide for the day told us we were going to be making four stops: snorkeling, kayaking, hiking, and finally a beach chill. We pulled up the the snorkeling area - there were a ton of other boats there as well - and jumped in. At first, it didn't really look like much, a few striped blue fish here and there but that was all. However, after a while, our eyes adjusted and we could see a whole underwater world. There were yellow and black fish, big green and blue fish, schools of tiny little baby fish. It was a really eye-opening experience for us. We got to the hiking spot and it was a hike that went straight up. The guides were calling the things we were climbing up stairs, but in all actuality they were ladders. Thale Nai lagoon is completely cut off from people. As you watch the crystal clear water shimmer in the sun, knowing you can't go into it is a complete bummer. We hiked...

We decided we need to rent a scooter because Yehuda couldn't get around on his foot and we wanted to experience the island. Yehuda drove us to a place called Overlap Stone. It was honestly spectacular, we've never seen anything like it. The view from that spot was stunning. We then drove to Grandmother and Grandfather Rock. They were huge rocks on the beach and everyone was walking on them taking pictures. We got the best vegan coconut ice cream there. It was absolutely delicious! And, we even ate it out of a coconut! We checked out Lamia Beach to see the vibe but didn't think it was any better than the beaches near our hotel so we decided to head back.

We arrived in Koh Samui and spent shabbat at the Bet Chabad. There were over 300 people at our meal and there was even a second seating. We met a few really cool people and wound up spending most of our shabbat with them. During the week we hung by the pool and relaxed, we went to the gym, and we had a really great time overall.

After what felt like too much time in Nepal, we finally made in to Bangkok. We spent a few days in the city, visiting some malls, going to market places, and even seeing Avatar in theaters. We spent our nights at chabad eating delicious food and lighting our chanuka candles.

Things just weren't going right for us in Kathmandu. I got a stomach bug our first night. Yehuda hurt his foot. We both got respiratory stuff. We were stuck! We decided we couldn't go to India for our yoga retreat because of Yehuda's foot so we had to change our plans and reschedule. Where will we go next?

Our driver DK was amazing! He kept us entertained all day long and was great company. The first place he took us to was Budhanath Temple. It was a round temple with lots of different things to spin all around it. There were some shops in the area and we got a really good lesson on the different types of gurus and manifestations that are part of the culture. After that, we headed over to Pashupatinath which is an area in Nepal where you can view a cremation. They have two possibilities, one is a public burning and one is inside and is electric. Dk told is it wasn't worth it for us to spend money on an entrance fee so he took us to a road where we were able to see them decorating a body for the electric cremation. Our next stop for the day was Durbar Square in Bhaktapur. It was a very cute little area with some nice restaurants, shops and lots of interesting buildings. Many of the buildings were destroyed during the earthquake and you can see how hard they're working on restorat...

Time in Nepal is a very interesting concept. Napalese people seem to think time goes by quickly, or atleast things move quickly. Take us humans for example, when a Nepalese person says a hike will take an hour, they assume humans move quickly, thus they will get to their destination quickly. That was never the case for us on this trip. We heard about Sarangkot... we heard it was easy, it was only a 2-3 hour walk. But, somehow, Yehuda and I managed to turn it into a 4.5 hour walk. It took us forever! We walked from our hotel all the way up to the top. The view was nice but sadly it was a little foggy the day we chose to do it. We also happened to have gotten harassed by a dog on our path which totally bugged me out and made the experience a difficult one for me.

While in Kathmandu I was looking at a pair of earrings and I asked the shop owner how much they were. He replied that they were 150 rupees and I told him I'd be back for them. The next day when I went to the shop, there was a different person standing and I asked how much, he told me they were 600 rupees! I was so confused, I said, "how can they be 600 rupees today when they were 150 yesterday?" The shop attendant told me that I must have been mistaken and not pointed out the specific earrings I had wanted to the guy yesterday. These were indeed 600. (I knew that the man from the day before had pointed to all the earrings on one side and said these are all 150 and on the other side they were all 200). Either way, I decided not to fight and left the store. I went back again the next day and it was the original man. I asked him how much they were and he said 150.... ahhhh! I told him about the person from the day before and he called him over and told me it was his little ...