Tuesday, December 1st, 2009

Mt. Rainier

Departure day. How I talked Mike and Matt into joining me for an international race involving dozens of hours of flying is still somewhat of a mystery (a bigger mystery still, of course, is why our wives are kind enough to allow us these crazy adventures on occasion). Perhaps it was my tales of incredible Thai food, Thai massages on the beach, tropical drinks, plentiful scuba diving opportunities, or perhaps it was simply the allure of a world-renowned and challenging triathlon on a tropical island on the other side of the world. Either way, at the moment Mike is making his way to KCI while Matt is making his way to the airport in Albuquerque for our flights that will converge in Seattle this evening, the stop-over necessitated by the early flight from Seattle to Bangkok tomorrow morning.

Mike made it to the airport in Kansas City just in time to have a quick pint at the Mexican restaurant in the Southwest terminal before boarding. A couple more pints later and we were descending past the snow-capped peak of Mt. Rainier as the sun set over the Pacific. We hung out at airport bar until Matt's flight landed and grabbed the hotel shuttle to the Ramada Suites SeaTac. Unassuming place, but conveniently located near the airport and had, interestingly, a Chinese restaurant, the "Ginger Palace", located in the lobby.

Pike's Brewery, Seattle

We grabbed a cab and headed downtown and went to Elliot's Oyster House for dinner on the recommendation of a friend. The recommendation, as it turned out, was a good one. While Mike shies away from sea animals that live in shells, Matt and I aren't bound by such dietary fears and as such took the waiter's suggestion and ordered up a platter of oysters bearing names such as "Intertidal Beach", "Subtidal Beach", "Rack and Bag", and "Bag to Beach". I'm not sure what any of that means, and lacking a discerning oyster palette they all tasted similar, albeit really darn good. I followed up the oysters with an incredible scallop dish - grilled scallops served over a bacon-studded risotto with a crab cream sauce. Definitely not a light meal nor a really good way to start out a trip revolving around a triathlon.

After dinner we wandered the streets of Seattle until we found the infamous Pike's Brewery and proceeded to sample some of their local brews, hit the Ginger Palace in the lobby for a snack and a Tsing Tao, and called it a night.

Wednesday, December 2nd, 2009

Seattle to Seoul to Bangkok

Today is the painful day - nearly 18 hours of flying and a stop in Seoul, Korea before we land in Bangkok - at 11:00 pm tomorrow! Talk about losing a day. Of course, the long flight won't be made any easier after a few too many IPAs last night. But that always seems to happen when a group of friends reunites for a trip; you tend to go a little overboard on the first night.

After a recovery breakfast of omelets, toast, and coffee at, you guessed it, the Ginger Palace, we chilled out for a couple of hours before heading back over to the airport to catch our flight. After some discussion with the Korean Air ticketing agents regarding our rather large bike cases, and an unsuccessful attempt and wooing them with a few words of Korean in an effort to get upgraded to first class, we were checked in and ready to fly. Mike, being a strong believer in medicinal aids on long flights, hit the airport bar for a Bloody Mary and shortly thereafter convinced the rest of the team to do the same. Shortly thereafter we boarded what would be our home for the next 11.5 hours until we changed planes in Korea. Without looking at a map you would think that Korea is close to Thailand, but believe it or not you still have another six hours of flying to reach Bangkok once you board your connecting flight in Seoul.

In-flight entertainment

In reality, the flights aren't as bad as they sound. At least not for me. Sure, I got numerous dirty looks and listened to Mike and Matt whine about the flight as the day and night progressed onboard, but international flights certainly aren't as bad as they used to be. At least not on certain airlines. Point in case, we're flying Korean Air and onboard we have a team of at least a couple dozen attractive, attentive, accommodating, and smiling flight attendants. This isn't your run of the mill US airline where you run the risk of getting a dirty look from the flight attendent for asking for a cup of water (I apologize if I'm generalizing...just speaking from a few specific experiences); our flight attendants came by hourly with drinks, hot towels, food, newspapers, and whatever else you needed. They really do have service down to an art form and it certainly helps make a painfully long flight a bit less painful. Toss in the personal video monitors with a library of TV and movies, a few books, and the free wine and beer and it's actually not a horrible way to spend a few hours. Or a day and a half, as the case may be.

Thursday, December 3rd, 2009

The rest of Wednesday night and on into Thursday (which happens rather quickly as you cross the International Date Line) went by in a blur. Before we knew it we were touching down at Seoul's impressive new airport at Incheon. The array of high-end shopping (I counted no fewer than half a dozen Gucci and Burberry stores), cultural displays, and restaurants is astounding. They even have a lounge upstairs with showers, beds, masseuses, and internet access to help soothe travelers saddled with long layovers. We opted for the food and drink stand near our connecting gate, have a couple of Korean "Hite" beers, and before we knew it we were back on another flight bound for Bangkok. Unfortunately, while still presided over by another smiling and efficient flight crew, this flight did not have the personal video monitors that we had on the previous flight and so the next six hours weren't nearly as comfortable as the flight to Seoul had been.

Coach Cabin

A short (not really) six hours later we were touching down at yet another relatively new airport, Bangkok's Suvarnabhumi International Airport. Like Incheon in Seoul, Suvarnabhumi is a modern, if a bit sterile, marvel. Shopping, dining, and relaxation opportunities abound - as does the walking. The walk from the international gates to the baggage claim area seems like it goes on for miles. And miles. When you finally do reach the baggage claim area everybody rushes to grab a wheeled cart and then quickly pushes those carts right up to the baggage carousel so you can't even get to your bags. Why they haven't painted a red line around the carousel a few feet back that prevents this type of behavior like they have done in Tokyo and other cities is beyond me.

We managed to get our bags off the carousel, eventually found our bikes which, thankfully, made the entire journey to Bangkok intact, and grabbed the shuttle to the Novotel Suvarnabhumi Airport Hotel. Just as at the old Bangkok airport, Don Muang, a hotel was built just adjacent to the new airport that caters to transit passengers and business clients. Unlike the old Amari hotel at Don Muang, it's not a simple tunnel from the baggage claim area that connects the hotel to the airport and you have to actually hop on a shuttle bus (or make a long walk, something that didn't seem appealing with bike cases and after 18+ hours of flying). The Novotel is a large, clean, and convenient option for people like us who have a flight to catch the next morning.

"Small" beer at the Novotel Suvarnabhumi

Already the "land of smiles" moniker was in full-force; rare is it in Thailand that you're greeted by someone who doesn't immediately smile and offer the traditional Thai greeting, or a "wai", with palms pressed together and a friendly "Sawadee Kha" (hello) (or "Sawadee Khrap", if from a male). As I checked in with the smiling receptionists at the Novotel Matt and Mike made a bee-line for the bar and the bathroom, respectively, and by the time I was checked in a "large" beer had been delivered to their table. And by large, I mean large. Seriously - it was a tower of Singha beer - a giant, yellow, plastic "personal tap" that contained at least 10 beers. Now don't get me wrong, I like Singha, I was happy to be in Thailand, and, quite frankly, my body clock was telling me that it was noon rather than midnight, but I think the wait staff at the bar was a little taken aback by the three foreigners who, after flying for 18 hours, were ordering the largest beer on the menu at 12:30 in the morning. I did mention that we made this journey to compete in a triathlon, right?

Friday, December 4th, 2009

Despite last night's "large" Singha and the international flight-induced exhaustion we were all awake before 4:00 am. And the jetlag begins. Fortunately, we only had to wait a "short" two hours before the restaurant downstairs opened for breakfast. Breakfast in a Thai hotel is always an eye-opener the first time you experience it. Catering to local and international travelers, a Thai breakfast buffet usually has a station cooking up custom eggs, omelets, and pancakes, for westerners, another station with a variety of raw fish for the Japanese, rice soup and pad thai for the locals, cold cuts for, well, I'm not sure who the cold cuts are for, and a large bread station complete with my favorite - chocolate croissants - a tribute, perhaps, to some of the early French influence in Thailand or perhaps it's simply a shout-out to all the Parisians on holiday in Southeast Asia?

"Breakfast" at the swim-up bar

At any rate, with our stomachs full and our bloodstreams sufficiently caffeinated we wandered around to burn some time before our 11:00 am flight to Phuket. We decided to check out the pool and were utterly surprised to find a beautiful oasis of a pool nestled in the middle of a lush garden outside. And what does my tired eye spy at the far side of the pool? Yes, that is a swim-up bar. For those of you who know my secrete desire to write a coffee table book about the world's best swim-up bars, you might be laughing at the odds of finding a swim-up bar at an airport hotel. But I kid you not - this one ranks right up there with others in more tropical settings. As luck would have it, and in catering to other jet-lagged travelers, the bar opens at 6:00 am. You heard correctly. To my credit, I was just there to take a look before getting ready to go back to the airport. Unfortunately Mike was having none of it and before you could say Pad Thai he was in a bathing suit and swimming laps while his Bloody Mary was being prepared. Did I mention that it is 7:30 in the morning?

A couple of hours later we were back at the airport and checking in with Thai Airways for our short flight to Phuket. Another hour and a half later our wheels were nearly skimming the w,aters of the Andaman Sea as we made a low approach to the Phuket airport. Shortly thereafter we were passing rubber plantations and small villages and pulling into the Laguna Phuket resort complex that will be our home for the next five days.

Since we're landing in Phuket it's probably a good time to get this out of the way for those of you snickering or scratching your head: Phuket is pronounced "poo-ket" and in no way rhymes with, well, what you might be thinking. That settled, I return you to our story.

Triathlon welcome sign - Phuket Airport

The Laguna Phuket resort is an interesting resort. Built on top of an abandoned tin mine, the Laguna complex covers over 1000 acres and sits on an idyllic eight-kilometer stretch of beach. The resort is comprised of six luxury resorts and villas, a golf course, and over 30 restaurants and bars. Carolyn and I were here in 2001, just three years before this same area was hit by the tsunami in 2004. Fortunately the Laguna complex was partially shielded and didn't suffer damage like other parts of the island and looking at the resort now you wouldn't know that anything had ever happened.

The entire Laguna complex is a sponsor of the race and the associated events are held at several of the hotels in the complex so you can't beat the location if you are participating in the race. The Dusit is a beautiful hotel and keeps with the local architecture. No structures higher than the palm trees are allowed in the resort and as such the landscape isn't marred by any skyscrapers or commercial-looking buildings. When you stroll up the walkway into the Dust's lobby you are greeted by the sounds of birds in the trees, waterfalls, and a girl dressed in traditional attire playing traditional Thai music a "Khim", which is sort of like a mix between a lap harp and a hammer dulcimer.

Entrance - Dusit Laguna

We were promptly ushered into the reception area, seated on a couch, and served some sort of tropical cocktail while the receptionist explained where everything was located in the resort before eventually escorting us to our room. Just walking among the palm trees, listening the waterfall and the Khim music in the background, and getting a first glimpse of the ocean were just about enough to push the pains of the long flight behind. I think I even finally glimpsed a smile on Mike and Matt's face as the painful day and a half spent in coach receded into the back of their minds. By the way, I did mention that we're on a tropical island in Thailand, right?

Of course, it wasn't until an hour later when we found our way to the massage tables on the beach and I was twisted up like a Bavarian pretzel and had an 80lb Thai woman standing on my back that I really came to peace with all the travel thus far. Laying under the umbrellas, listening to the waves crashing on the beach, birds chirping in the trees, and the half dozen Thai masseuses chatting to each other in their hypnotizing language is enough to find the silver lining on even the most painful of travel itineraries. This is why we had traveled 9000 miles carrying bike cases, scuba gear, and suitcases. Or was it the race? I'm not sure at this point, but at the moment my arms are twisted in a knot over my head and I'm having a hard time focusing on a race that starts in less than 48 hours.

Massage tables on the beach

Massage is a way of life in Thailand and it seems you can't walk 100 feet without bumping into another massage parlor (and I'm talking about the "normal" ones here, not the "other" kind, though there are those as well if you look in the right spots). At the Dusit the massage tables are conveniently located roughly halfway between our room and the beach - you can't beat that. Phuket has become a bit more commercialized since the last time I was here and the dollar has taken a hit against the baht, but even so, a massage on the beach still only runs you about $15/hour, which is still a bargain and quickly puts it on the daily to-do list. The last time I was here they cost half that much, and if you head down the beach or into town you can certainly find places that still offer $7 massages, but really, when you're getting a massage on the beach while listening to the ocean can you really complain about the downfall of the dollar that led to "expensive" $15 massages on the beach?

The rest of the afternoon was spent relaxing on the beach, in the pool, and in the ocean. We enjoyed a few cold Singhas from our chaise lounges, snacked on spring rolls and satay by the pool, and watched Matt become the unfortunate first to figure out precisely where the jellyfish and sea lice were congregating offshore. Ouch.

Meet the Pros Cocktail Hour

After a few hours of lounging and a quick shower we headed to the beach for the "Meet the Pros" cocktail hour conveniently hosted on the beach at the Casuarina Hut, a mere 200 feet from our room. We were among the first to arrive but the food and drinks were already flowing. Multiple food stations were setup on the beach along with a bar, a movie screen, and tiki torches. Unfortunately, five minutes after we arrived a storm shower moved in and they decided to move the entire event inside the Casuarina Hut restaurant.

Despite the weather setback we enjoyed some cold drinks, some good food, and talked to a few of the other athletes. We struck up a conversation with a nice couple from Canada who had been here all week training in the heat. In fact, nearly everyone we talked to had been here for several days acclimating to the heat and training on the course. Um...should we have done that? At any rate, it wasn't until they introduced the pro's that we realized that the couple that we had been talking to was none other than Tereza Macel and her husband Chris who, as it turns out, is in sales and training for Cervelo. Tereza, if you recall, just this year won Ironman Canada, Ironman USA/Lake Placid, and took fourth at the Ironman World Championship in Kona - not a bad year I'd say.

Mike & Dave with Chris Bastie Tereza Macel, and Belinda Granger

Of course, you can hopefully forgive our ignorance when we don't immediately recognize the pros because when we see them at other races they are miles ahead of us and when we see them on TV they are covered in helmets, sunglasses, sponsor logos, and Chamois Butt'r. Nonetheless, all foot-in-mouth aside, Chris and Tereza are a genuine and outgoing couple and it was nice to meet them and get their insight into the course that we will tackle on Sunday. Of course, I loved hearing Tereza tell Mike how steep the hills are on the bike course and confirming that she and Mike would be riding the same cassette. The fact that she had the 12th fastest bike ride - overall, male and female - at the very hilly Ironman Lake Placid was not lost on Mike. Accepting the fact that he would surely be walking much of the bike course, he ordered another drink. Other pro athletes in attendance this year are last year's champions, Richie Cunningham and Belinda Granger, Beijing Olympic gold medallist Jan Frodeno, and a number of others from various countries.

After the cocktail hour wound down we walked down the beach to a great restaurant called Lotus. Sitting right on the sand with a beautiful view of the ocean, Lotus is known for their fresh, locally-caught tiger prawns and seafood and so without further adieu, I ordered up one of the Andaman's finest decked out in a red curry sauce. And disappointed I was not - the prawn that I received was the size of a small lobster. I kid you not - it was huge, and the spicy red curry sauce with which it was covered was phenomenal. Total cost? 110 baht...or roughly $3.50 USD. The midi-track-backed singer crooning out Thai-inflected versions of Sheryl Crowe and Neil Diamond songs was free, as was the view. Now you're starting to get the picture why I like this place so much.

Giant tiger prawns in red curry at Lotus

On the walk back to the hotel we stopped by one of the many beach shack/bars, many of which appear to have been constructed earlier that same day. The bartender handed us a drink menu - he literally had nearly 100 tropical drinks on his menu. There wasn't a sign on the place, but when asked he told us that he called his bar the "Wave Bar". I could grow to like this place. Of course it was Friday night and we'll be racing in 36 hours so our survival instincts eventually took over and we called it an early night and started in on the Gatorade chasers and sent a few emails back home to check up on what Carolyn and the kids were up to.

Saturday, December 5th, 2009

First morning in Phuket. Wow, did I just say that?

Sunrise at the Dusit

Breakfast was followed by chilling on the beach with a book. Early morning is the best time on this beach since we're facing west across the Andaman Sea and Indian Ocean and the sun is rising behind us to the east. It's shady and cool and a great time to read, people-watch, and just relax. Or try to relax, in Mike's case, as he paced and anxiously awaited the arrival of the team of masseuses who don't show up until 10:30 each morning. One day in Thailand and the daily pattern has begun. But can you blame him?

Bike Mechanic Station

Before I joined the guys on the beach I had to address a small equipment problem. Actually two, but with Mike's help we got my headset issues fixed. However, upon assembling my bike it became apparent that one of my tires was having a valve problem and wouldn't hold air. It worked fine before leaving the States but despite all my usual tricks to free what appeared to be a stuck valve, nothing seemed to work. Fortunately the race had provided a mechanic and so I tossed Mike's wheel onto my bike and rode to the mechanic's station while carrying my defective wheel. After some entertaining curse words in Thai, the mechanic was finally able to get my tubular tire off of my race rim and sure enough, the valve on the tire was bad. He was able to replace the valve and tested it for leaks...but submerging it in a nearby koi pond. Once again I'm able to say, "huh, now that's something you don't see at home." With a fully-functional tire I headed back to the hotel and joined Mike and Matt on the beach.

After the daily massage we wandered down the beach to the Laguna Beach Resort hotel where race registration was taking place. There were quite a few triathletes staying here as evidenced by the crowd as we made our way through the grounds in search of the registration booth. Packet-pickup was on par with other events; we picked up our race numbers, timing chips, t-shirt, event tickets, and a nice, silk-screened bag to put everything in. In fact, our race number was silk screened onto fabric too, not something you see much back home.

Lunch at the Babylon Beach Club

I also picked up some new goggles since I forgot to pack mine, Mike and Matt bought some nice Phuket Triathlon tech shirts, and then we wandered back out to the beach in search of a lunch spot. There are a number of restaurants right on the beach, literally built up onto bamboo stick platforms, most of which serve Thai food and seafood. We settled on the Babylon Beach Club, a name Mike recognized from his Phuket guide book and also recommended by my friend John. Serving both Thai and Italian food, Babylon sat directly on a nice stretch of the beach. The food was great - I had some really good (and spicy) beef in red curry accompanied by a cold Singha. As with most restaurants along this beach, the prices are almost ridiculous for such a good meal. Despite a rise in prices locally and the decline of the dollar against the baht, a great meal can still be had for less than $10USD. If you're a Thai food-lover like me you can't get enough of the fresh, local ingredients and seafood and that exquisite blend of herbs and spices used in Thai cooking. It makes the thought of something like a Big Mac back home just downright silly.

After lunch we spent the afternoon relaxing on the beach and downing multiple bottles of Gatorade in preparation for tomorrow's race. At 5:00 we headed over to the Sheraton for the pre-race briefing and for the first time realized just how many people were competing in this race; the room was packed. For the next 30 minutes our race director, Roman, went over the rules and instructions for the race. No major issues other than the heat, jellyfish, and possible traffic on some of the roads - piece of cake, right?

After the briefing we caught the shuttle boat from the Sheraton to the Laguna Beach Resort where the pasta dinner was getting underway. A nice selection of pasta, chicken, and Thai dishes was laid out. We sat with a group of athletes from Hong Kong and one guy from California. Not having ever seen the bike course I almost choked on my green curry when one of the girls from Hong Kong went into a 10 minute diatribe on how hard the hills were on the bike course. "It was so hard last year that I almost cried". Awesome. This is going to be great.

After dinner, a little more midi-based duet singing from the dinner's live entertainment, and a few more comments from the race staff, we wandered up the beach and grabbed a beer at one of the beach shacks before heading back to the hotel. Mike had plans to hit the bar, "We're not sitting in the room in Thailand on a Saturday night!" Five seconds later he was on his back snoring. Seriously? Matt and I had a good laugh out of that one but given that we have a race in eight hours, probably a good plan.

Sunday, December 6th, 2009

Setting up in transition

Race day. Once again, no alarm clock needed. We were wide awake by 4:30. Thankfully the generous staff at the Dusit had risen early as well and the breakfast buffet was up and running at 4:00 am to help the athletes fuel up prior to the race. I did my best to cut back on the daily gluttonous consumption of all the wonderful foods and kept it to a reasonable pre-race intake.

A bit more Gatorade, bags packed, bike checked, and soon it was time to walk over to the transition area. The sun was just starting to rise as we checked in at transition, got our bikes and gear setup, and hopped on the ferry boats that took us across the lagoon to the beach. Matt took pictures while we took a quick warm-up swim and then we sat on the beach and waited for the race to start. While I took in the view and scanned the beach bars/restaurants to see where we should go after the race, Mike paced the beach and scoped out the best line to the first buoy while pondering the drag coefficient of the pockets on his tri jerseys. Priorities, priorities.

The start area for the Phuket Triathlon is gorgeous - the sun was rising behind us to the east, providing a beautiful orange glow out onto the Andaman Sea where we would be swimming shortly. There are people from dozens of countries anxiously waiting on the beach as the race staff gets into place. Divers from the Thai Royal Navy were heading into the water with dive gear, doctors and nurses from the Phuket Hospital were on standby, and boats carrying race staff were out on the water ensuring that the buoys didn't drift off course in the current. It was a really professional scene, on par with any of the other big races that I've done.

Getting ready for the start

As 7:00 approached the race director managed to get us all lined up, more or less, on the beach as the pros filtered to the front. Jan Frodeno was standing right beside me and I figured that I really didn't need to start the race beside the Olympic Gold Medallist so I backed up a few rows. I was wearing a new Garmin Forerunner 310XT that Garmin had kindly loaned me to test during this race so I double-checked that I had it setup to record in "multisport" mode where it would time my swim, bike, and run segments as well as my transitions.

The horn went off and roughly 900 athletes made their way into the water as a Huey helicopter floated overhead and a TV news crew caught the action from the beach. The first 50 yards or so was a cluster of people trying to run in the shallow water, trying to swim, or a combination of both as people tried to figure out which method was more efficient. My goal on the swim, considering my less than stellar training, was to simply swim at a reasonable aerobic pace where I only had to breathe every third stroke rather than go anaerobic and risk wearing myself out before the bike leg. So that's exactly what I did and it felt great.

Swim start

I wound up in a pretty large group and it didn't let up until nearly 500 meters later at the first turn. It was as crowded as an Ironman start for a while with arms flailing and people swimming up and over your back as you did the same to people in front of you. I zig-zagged a bit to try to find some clear water but it wasn't until the first turn when I finally secured some open water in front of me. It was also about this time that I felt the first sting of the sea lice or some other water-borne creature on my face and arms. Ouch.

As I rounded the second buoy and headed back toward the beach navigation became a bit tougher since we were swimming directly into the sun. It was hard to see the shore but I had more open water than on the way out so I wasn't complaining. At one point I grabbed someone in front of me only to realize that it wasn't actually a person, but rather a basketball-sized jellyfish that I managed to drag down the side of my body. Ouch. Again.

Another couple hundred yards and I was out of the water and running over the beach for the second part of this unique two body of water swim. I caught a glimpse of Matt shooting pictures as I came over the sand and then he was gone as I dove into the green waters of the lagoon. Now I don't know if you've ever gone from swimming in salt water to immediately transitioning to fresh water, but it was a drastic difference. It was murky, at least 5-10 degrees warmer than the ocean, and seemingly impossible to make forward progress with any amount of speed. On a positive note, however, the fresh water quickly helped reduce the sting from the jellyfish so it wasn't all bad.

Swim-to-bike transition

Another 500 meters of swimming in the crowd and I was climbing up a ramp and running toward transition. Once again I saw Matt cheering us on and shooting pictures - he had managed to walk around the lagoon faster than I swam across it but I looked down and noted that my Forerunner read roughly 35 minutes so all in all not a bad 1800 meter swim for me.

I quickly put on my cycling shoes, helmet, sunglasses, snapped the Forerunner off the wrist band and onto the bike mount (which, I must say, is much more intuitive, secure, and easier to use than the older quick-release unit), ran out of transition, mounted my bike and I was off. We rode out through the village near the entrance to the Laguna complex and shortly thereafter we were winding through fields and smaller villages. I knew that the first 6-7Km were flat so I took advantage of this time to relax, get some liquids down, and prepare for the coming hills.

As it turns out, you can't prepare for the coming hills. At least not easily if you've never seen them before. In fact, it's a darn good thing that we didn't do a training ride on the hills because if I had seen them, I may not have started the race at all. OK, that might be an exaggeration, but the steepness of the hills was not. The first hill took me by surprise when I found myself in my granny gear, standing, and struggling to maintain 4 mph up a hill that had in excess of a 16% grade. Within a few hundred meters my heart rate pegged in the red - it didn't feel good. I saw a few people walking their bikes up the first hill - definitely not a good sign.

Matt's hammock while we were out on the bike course

After standing in the saddle for what seemed like forever the hill finally started to taper off, then flatten, and I had about 60 seconds to get my heart rate back down before I saw the next beast. Here we go again. Within seconds I was back up and out of the saddle and cranking away in the granny gear and shoveling coal into the lungs. Someone gave this section of the course the nickname "The Tiger's Back" because there are apparently five hills in a row. And they were right; after the second one we hit yet another nasty hill and it was just as tough as the previous hills. On a positive note, as we got higher and higher up the mountain the view out to the sea got better and better. And I was here to sightsee, right? Yes, I was, and so I inhaled the beautiful view out over the Andaman Sea from high atop the cliffs and the tiny beaches down below. Of course, I had to put my head back down and focus on steering and braking as we started back down the steep hills. The race directors had designated the first big descent a "yellow flag" area where you're required to to sit up with hands close to your brakes, keep your speed under control, and avoid passing where possible. It was a really steep descent and I probably smoked the brakes for most of it.

As we came out of the fourth hill and screamed downhill into Naithon Beach we had a great view of the beach and the vendors starting to get their booths setup for the day. We had to navigate a few speed bumps here and there as we passed through town and eventually hit the bottom of the next hill. And this one was a doozy - it started out steep, then leveled off a bit, and then started back up again. I remember thinking, "well, I can stand and knock this one out too and hopefully I won't blow up". It wasn't until I rounded a corner and saw that this hill went on seemingly forever that I didn't think that I was going to be able to climb this one on my bike. Sure enough, about two thirds of the way up my heart had reached its limit and it was time to pull the ripcord. I joined at least half a dozen others who hopped off their bikes and walked to the top. Humbling, yes, but also the only option that was going to leave me enough juice to finish this race. Interestingly enough, while I was standing in the granny gear I was crawling up the hill at about 3.5 mph. When I hopped off and walked I was still averaging about 2.8 mph uphill but with a heart rate of 140 instead of the 190+ that I hit when standing on the bike. Smart call? I'd say so.

I reached the top and hopped back on for the toboggan ride back down the mountain and continued to enjoy the scenery. We circled through another village where farmers and fishermen were waiving and children were smiling and cheering us on - it was great. At some point I recall someone telling us that the hills were done but I thought it a little ironic since I was, at that time, still biking uphill. Oh well, I knew that the worst was behind me and despite the hills taking a major toll on my body I knew that I could easily get through the bike leg before the time cutoff.

At one point we hit a piece of road with two way traffic (officials had kept the roads to this point amazingly clear of any traffic); we were biking north toward the airport while other bikers were coming back south on the same side of the road. It took some mental work to remember that you drive on the left side of the road here, and so while I'm used to keeping to the right on my bike to allow passers to my left, I had to concentrate on staying left so faster bikers could pass on my right. It's easier said than done. Eventually I made my way around the turnaround and joined those heading back south toward transition. Even though the hills were officially done we still navigated a few ups and downs but thankfully nothing like the hills early in the course. We passed through some rubber plantations and I was thankful for the shade from the trees. Several times we passed through villages where the school children were all out in their uniforms cheering us on and banging those thunder stick noise-makers together. Combined with the small children smiling and waving along the course it was really touching - I waved to all of them, high-five several, and tossed my water bottles to a couple of them for souvenirs.

We rode on the main highway for a while where the police had directed all traffic to one side of the highway and gave the other side to the racers. Eventually we passed through the Cherng Talay area outside the Laguna resort, which was entertaining because the staff of many of the businesses, including each of the village's multiple massage parlors, were out on the street in matching uniforms and cheering us on. That's definitely not something you see at the races back home.

Mike - bike-to-run transition

Shortly thereafter I rode through the entrance to the Laguna resort and dismounted outside of transition. Once again Matt was there cheering me on and I changed into running shoes, grabbed the Forerunner and snapped it back onto my wrist, put on a visor, and headed out onto the run course. He mumbled something about picking up the pace and that Mike was nearly done with the race. By this time it was hot. Normally I'd say Africa hot, but after this race I think that I can safely use the term "Thai hot", which can apply equally to food or to the weather. The bike leg had taken its toll and I certainly wasn't expecting to win any land speed records on this run, but I thought that I'd at least be able to maintain a respectable pace.

Apparently that thought was a little over-optimistic, which became clear as I struggled to maintain sub-10-minute miles under the Thai sun. But like I said, I'm here to "finish" the race and enjoy every minute of my time in Thailand so that's what I did. I said "sawadee" (hello) or "khob khun khrap" (thank you) to every volunteer, spectator, and kid out on that course, and enjoyed the scenery on the run course.

The run course was interesting, winding in and around the Laguna complex, across a couple of holes on the golf course, on gravel paths, and on the roads leading through the resort complex. The support was wonderful - every two kilometers there was Gatorade, water, Coke, ice, and ice-cold sponges. I drank everything I could and made ample use of the sponges to keep cool, shoving them into my jersey, shorts, and visor at every opportunity.

As I finished the first loop I saw Mike and Matt - Mike had already finished the race and I still had another full six kilometers to go. He waved his finger in the air indicating that I was keeping him from the massage tent and Mai Tais so I picked up the pace. Actually, I didn't pick up the pace. In fact, if I could see the splits I suspect that the second loop was considerably slower than the first. Nonetheless, four or five more ice sponge stations later (those little gems quickly became my unit of measure on the run - "just three more ice sponges and I'll be done!") I had the finish chute in sight. I also had Mike and Matt in sight and Mike had something in his hand that I couldn't quite make out.

Mike trying to hand me a refreshment just shy of the finish chute

As I passed him he started chasing me down, trying to hand me a giant bottle of Singha. "Come on, you know you want it!" he said. I was wise enough to ignore the gesture. At least for another 200 meters. I picked up the pace as I hit the finish chute, which was carpeted and lined with potted palm trees. At least a hundred spectators, many wearing the same uniforms, lined the finish chute and cheered me on across the finish line, a mere four hours after starting this race. I got a medal, inhaled a bottle of water, and was quickly met by Mike and Matt with, you guessed it, the large Singha. But hey, Singha is a sponsor of this race so you have to support the sponsors, right?

The finishers continued to come for another two hours. In fact, the day's oldest competitor, who I believe was 74, finished in just over six hours. Germany's Jan Frodeno, the 2008 Beijing Olympic gold medalist, took top honors and set a new course record while Radka Vodickova from the Czechk Republic took top honors on the women's side. Mike managed to put down an impressive 3:17 finish, enough to take 31st in our age group, particularly impressive considering that he never even unpacked his bike since returning from Ironman Arizona a couple of weeks ago.

Finishers!

All-in-all it was a great race, equal parts exotic and challenging. There's a reason that some of the world's top pros come back to this race year after year and after being here for a few days and surviving that course I can see why. Next year should be even more interesting; the Laguna Phuket Triathlon will take place on Sunday, November 28th and then a week later the Ironman 70.3 Asia-Pacific World Championship will be held on precisely the same (albeit, a bit longer) course. That should be an incredible week in Phuket, particularly for those brave enough to do both races.

But back to important items; with the race behind me and trip to the medical tent avoided, it's time to grab some satay at the pool cafe, hit the massage table and grab a chaise lounge for an afternoon of recovery before gearing up for tonight's award banquet.

I think I fell asleep in a chaise lounge for part of the afternoon. Before I knew it, it was time to shower and head to the awards banquet. As we had come to expect with the events surrounding this race, the awards banquet was a grand affair. Officials had set up a giant tent right on the beach in front of the Sheraton. With the panels rolled up you could see the sun set over the Andaman as they kicked off the evening with a cocktail hour outside before moving into the tent for the main event. We spent some time talking with Chris and Tereza, some of the race officials, and other athletes before heading into the tent for dinner.

Awards banquet

This was no ordinary post-race dinner; two gigantic buffets of incredible Thai food were set up in front of an open fire pit where cooks were roasting chicken, fish, octopus, squid, and more. I loaded up on salad, spring rolls, tom kha gai soup, roasted fish, grilled octopus, green curry, pad thai - it was hard not to over-indulge. The over-indulgence continued through desert; they had a giant desert bar setup with exotic pastries from seemingly all over the world as well as an ice cream bar. Again, no attempts to avoid over-indulgence here. Heck, we finished a race for which we had traveled 9000 miles, right? Might as well celebrate in style.

As people started to deteriorate into food comas, race officials started the awards ceremony and worked their way through overall and age group awards. We eventually wandered out onto the beach and stopped by to see our new friend at the Wave Bar for a couple of tropical drinks. We made it through a few more on his menu and, amazingly, he can make equally good Pina Coladas, Mai Tais, Blue Hawaiians, and Mudslides, and other drinks of varying tropical colors. It became somewhat of a test - can he really make a good Mojito from this stick hut on the beach? The answer always seemed to be yes - this guy can make anything.

"Wave Bar"

After our empirical test of the cocktail-making abilities of the local beach vendors, Mike was still feeling the effects of the hot race (even though he spent an hour less than me on the same course) and called it a night, while Matt and I headed out of the complex to the Cherng Talay area to play some pool and say hi to a couple of people on behalf of my friend John who had traveled to this area multiple times. We stopped in at Toto's to say hi to "Mr. A", stopped by the Siam Supper Club to check out the "post-post race party", stopped by Just Relax to say hi to John's wife's friend Net, and stopped by BB's Pub to play a little pool. BB's turned out to be a great place to shoot pool and darts and, though quiet, had a nice mix of locals, ex-pats, and the occasional tourist who was adventurous enough to wander outside of the Laguna complex. The drinks were cold, the wait staff entertaining, and I can see why John made this a regular hangout during his travels here. But it has been a long day and it's time to call it a night, but we promised the staff that we'd be back tomorrow night.

Monday, December 7th, 2009

A kiss from Li Li, the elephant who wandered the hotel grounds

Today is our first day in Thailand with absolutely nothing on the agenda. Well, almost nothing. The breakfast buffet is due for a visit, of course, as are the massage tables and those chaise lounges on the beach that now have our names on them.

And that is pretty much what we did all day - relax on the beach, wander down to Lotus for another fantastic lunch of fresh tiger prawns and curry, and sit in the cool waters of the pool.

Our plan for the evening was to catch a cab down to Patong, one of the larger towns on the island and the central hub of Phuket's nightlife. I like the quiet resort and beach at the Laguna complex but no first-timer's trip to Phuket is complete without witnessing the circus that is Bangla Road in Phuket's underbelly of Patong and I knew that Mike and Matt needed to see it at least once while we're here.

The Reggae Bar

Before we set out to Patong we wandered down the beach to the Reggae Bar for sunset. The Reggae Bar is great a beach shack - not only was it set high up on sticks and logs, but the high steps leading up to its terrace bowed downward when you climbed them, giving you the feeling that this place could go down at any minute. That said, it is a great spot to catch the sunset over Bang Tao Bay and enjoy a cold drink. Bob Marley's greatest hits collection was playing in the background (I suspect that the same play list loops over and over and over), the chairs had been spray-painted the colors of the Jamaican flag, and there was even a pair of woven Jamaican hats, complete with dreadlocks, that you could use to take a really tacky picture should you so desire. In the back was a tailor shop and at one point the proprietor emerged to see if he could make us some custom suits. Unfortunately we didn't have enough time left in Phuket otherwise I might have taken him up on his offer to make a custom suit, two shirts, and two ties for $99.

After leaving the Reggae Bar we headed out to the resort entrance to grab a cab to Patong. The ride to Patong was pretty similar to most drives in this country; four lanes of cars and mopeds trying to cram into a two-lane road. It's quite disconcerting to westerners but these people all seem to take it in stride and reportedly have fewer accidents than you might expect. At least that's what I was thinking until we saw our first crash of the evening; a women on a moped had been side-swiped by a car and was laying in the middle of the road. Our cab driver pulled over and he and a few others stayed with her while they called an ambulance. She eventually seemed to regain consciousness and as we set out toward Patong once again we passed an ambulance coming in the opposite direction.

After passing through Kamala Beach and winding up and down a few more roads we eventually descended into the chaotic downtown of Patong. Our driver dropped us off at one end of the infamous Bangla Road and we wandered down the road in search of the Savoey Seafood restaurant that someone had recommended. I'm not sure how to describe Bangla Road - it's full of bars, a Muay Thai stadium, strip clubs, massage parlors, souvenir shops, jewelry shops, and just about anything else one might need while on holiday in Thailand. It's a bit like a circus - people trying to steer you into, well, "shows", of one type or another, men with snakes or lizards taking money to take your picture with the snake, men dressed as women (known locally as the Katoeys, or Ladyboys), and a curious mix of foreigners trying to take it all in through wide eyes. One of our first sites upon turning onto Bangla Road was an older American man wearing a black t-shirt with bold white lettering - "I Hate My Wife." This place definitely caters to that crowd.

Fresh seafood - Saveoy

But first things first - I've learned this many days into the trip that if I don't get Mike and Matt fed in a timely matter they go into the danger zone and I risk a beating so we quickly found Savoey and settled in for another Thai meal. Savoey is a pretty big operation; out front there is a fresh fish market where you can pick out your dinner and there are multiple dining rooms, some inside and some outside. It was sprinkling as we reached Patong so we opted for the indoor dining room and quickly dove into a giant platter of spring rolls. I had another hankering for some red curry so I went with the fresh shrimp and red curry which turned out to be the hottest curry I had tasted thus far on the trip. And I mean scorching hot - beer, water, coke - none of it would dull the pain. Unfortunately the dish was so darn good that I couldn't stop eating it so I took the pain in stride and polished off the entire platter. I'm sure that I'll pay for this later tonight, but for now I'm a happy camper.

After dinner we grabbed three stools out on the deck on the front patio of Scruffy Murphy's Pub. It's a great spot to people-watch and catch the circus that is Bangla Road at night. The "marketing" girls/touts working at the bar across the street repeatedly tried to coax us into their bar and would occasionally get scolded by the Murphy's staff for trying to steal their customers.

Patong

We left Murhpy's in search of a place called "Two Black Sheep" which reportedly had live music beginning with an acoustic set and then a full band. Mike and I hadn't played an acoustic set together in several months and we were hoping to sit in with some local musicians. Unfortunately when we finally arrived at the Sheep (after once again making it through the gauntlet that is Bangla Road) we found out that the band wasn't going on until several hours later. But there was a nice mix of locals and westerners and the bar seemed friendly enough (despite having a humorous drink menu with R-rated drink names) so we had a couple of drinks before wandering back down Bangla, grabbing a beer and getting creamed in a round of Connect 4 with the waitress (really, an engineer and two lawyers can't beat the waitress in a seemingly simple game of Connect 4?). We eventually grabbed a cab back to the Laguna complex. And by cab, I mean a truck with some benches and a cover bolted onto the back. There were times when I thought that we'd get bumped and Mike would roll right off the back onto the hood of the car behind us.

We had the driver drop us off at BB's near the Laguna complex and played a few rounds of pool with our new-found friends at BB's before eventually calling it a night - early day tomorrow - diving in the Phi Phi islands.

Tuesday, December 8th, 2009

Yup, still in Thailand - no need for an alarm clock since we were awake before 6:00 am despite somewhat of a late night last night. Oh well, no complaints here - just more time to hit the breakfast buffet before the van picks us up to head to the boat. The van driver picked us up right on time and then we proceeded to hit most of the towns along the west coast of Phuket to pick up additional passengers. We had a woman from San Diego who had traveled to Southeast Asia with a running group to compete in the Angkor Wat Marathon. Unfortunately she wound up with a stress fracture and could only run the 5K and today she would be diving with one fin. Should be interesting. We had another couple from Australia, a couple from Japan, and a few others of unknown European origin.

Boat ride to the Phi Phi islands

The drive from our hotel to the pier at Chalong Bay seemed to take forever with all the stops but eventually we pulled up to the pier where dozens of tourists were boarding boats of all sizes. We were met by our dive-master to be, Dave "The Legend" Webb, who was an Englishman from London. He said that he was excited to be diving with us since this was his first dive in seven weeks. I asked why he hadn't been diving to which he replied, "Oh, I got bent. Yeah mate, got the bends and spent 36 hours in the hyperbaric chamber." Awesome - we're about to dive into the Andaman Sea with a dive master who spent the last seven weeks recovering from a scuba diving accident. The adventure continues.

We climbed aboard the Offspray, grateful that our boat was small, fast, and wholly unlike the giant cattle cars that were loading divers nearby. I've never been a fan of diving with 60 other people and so we specifically sought out a local dive operator who dove in small groups and used a fast boat. Our trip to the Phi Phi islands would take a mere hour while the larger boats could take up to three hours to reach the same dive spots. Of course, that's not to say that the outbound trip out to Phi Phi was entirely pleasant. In fact, this morning the swells were extremely high and the ride rough. The rainy season in this part of the world just ended last month and so as the winds shift the seas occasionally throw a rough patch at you and this morning happened to be one of them. The boat was bouncing over four-foot swells, occasionally bringing the props out of the water and so the captain would back off on the throttles and then jam them down again as we settled into the next trough. I'm not one to get seasick but given last night's curry and cocktails and these swells I quickly accepted the offer of Dramamine from Dave. At least I think it was Dramamine. I didn't start seeing space monkeys or anything, and I never got sick, so it either worked medicinally or from a placebo effect. Either way I didn't complain.

Phi Phi islands

Eventually the Phi Phi islands came into view, and if you've ever seen the Leonardo DiCaprio film, "The Beach", you'll recognize these islands immediately. Sketchy screen writing and alleged environmental crimes during filming aside, the islands really are beautiful. They jut straight up into the sky from the ocean, like rock towers floating in a turquoise sea. Hidden among the folds of these rock towers are bays and beaches unseen from the open ocean. One such spot, Maya Bay, was the setting for The Beach. Later we are going to visit some of these hidden gems but at the moment we're pulling up to the southernmost of the Phi Phi islands, Koh Bida Nok, for our first dive.

Koh Bida Nok and its sister island, Koh Bida Nai, are tiny little towers of rock that jut up out of the reef into the sky. Scuba divers and rock climbers alike love these islands for the ample adventurous opportunities both above and below the water. Our goal was fairly simple and didn't include any rock ascents; follow our intrepid dive master Dave into the depths and return safely to the boat. Our start was a bit rocky as Mike's regulator sprung a leak, then he broke a fin, but finally geared up in fully-functional equipment we took the plunge off the back of the boat.

As we joined our group and started the descent the visibility was pretty good. Not great, but good. We descended through schools of jack and other fish and dropped to about 30 feet before gathering our six divers together near the bottom. We slowly started down the wall that dropped away from the island and leveled out around 60 feet. There were tons of fish swimming around the reef, countless starfish, and sea urchins everywhere. The reef itself seemed to be suffering some of the bleaching effect that we've seen in other parts of the world, but in general it was in pretty good shape. Some of the starfish were incredible, bright shades of blue, green, yellow, and orange - I've never seen starfish as brightly colored as these. I saw the quintessential "Finding Nemo" scene numerous times; a clown fish swimming in and out of a sea anemone.

Baby Leopard shark

It wasn't long before we came across a baby leopard shark. Of course, at first I thought somebody said that it was a tiger shark, which, as the shark second only to the great white in the number of attacks on humans, would have been a bit more scary. Fortunately leopard sharks are essentially harmless and this one seemed quite content to lazily swim around in circles and play hide and seek with the silly human invaders. A few more starfish, clown fish, and schools of jack and we were ready to surface. It wasn't until we surfaced that I realized that we had nearly circumnavigated the entire tiny island.

After everyone was on board from the first dive the captain took us to a tiny little beach in Pileh cove, one of the beautiful hidden crevasses on Phi Phi Don that leads to secluded coves and beaches and crystal clear water. While we relaxed on the beach the crew set out a nice picnic lunch of salad, pasta, bread, and lunch meats and cheeses. It was a great lunch and we had fun talking to the other divers while we took in the incredible scenery. I could see rock climbing protective pieces bolted into the rock high above us - apparently this was a frequently climbed rock face - but it almost seemed to lean outward and I was content to sit on the sand and enjoy my lunch rather than trying to scale it.

Pileh Cove

After lunch we hopped back onboard the Offspray and the crew took us to the Viking Cave, named after the ancient drawings that roughly resemble Viking ships that adorn its walls. A group of men live here during the breeding season year-round and build elaborate bamboo ladders to collect the tiny nests of swifts. The nests are made from a mixture of seaweed and and saliva from the swifts and have been used Chinese cooking for over 400 years. The nests continue to be in high demand (and demand a steep price) as people claim to receive various health benefits by consuming the soup made from these nests. Our dive master claimed that only the nests that do not have eggs in them are harvested so as to not impact the breeding cycle...I'm not sure if that's true or not, but either way - I don't think I'll be eating any bird's nest soup on this trip.

We also made a quick stop at a beach called "Monkey Beach". Years ago a pair of monkeys were brought to Phi Phi Don and trained to get the coconuts out of the palm trees on the island. At some point as more people moved to the island and labor became cheap and/or other methods of harvesting the coconuts proliferated, the services of monkeys were no longer needed and they were released to an uninhabited part of the island. Their numbers grew and though they never seem to visit the town on the island, they do come down to the beach hoping for the occasional handout of bananas and fruit when people dock there. As we pulled up onto the beach half a dozen monkeys emerged from the trees and I handed a tiny banana to one of them who promptly climbed up on a rock and dug in. We snapped a few pictures and pulled out from the beach just as a larger tourist boat pulled up and the tourists jumped from the boat proceeded to throw fruit up into the trees at the monkeys and try to hand them their coke bottles all the while snapping pictures. This must be the boat full of environmentally "sensitive" tourists.

Monkey Beach

After our visit to Monkey Beach we headed south to Koh Bida Nai for our second dive. As we floated in the water waiting for the rest of our team to gather for the descent we had the opportunity to get to know Dave a bit more. Dave had come to Thailand four years ago from London, thinking that he would tire of it after some time. "No way", he said, "I still fall in love at least twice a day here". Of course now he's actually dating someone in particular, though her father is involved in the local government and, as he puts it, "I have to be extra nice to her or her dad might make me disappear. Or at the very least I could fall asleep in Phuket one night and wake up in Heathrow!" Dave was quite the character; I'd tell you the rest of his epic movie-worthy comments but as this write-up will likely be on a PG-rated website I'll save those for the unrated version.

The second dive was very similar to the first - lots of coral, starfish, clown fish, and sea urchins. We saw a seahorse lazing among the corral as soon as we descended to the reef. After a while a few barracuda appeared overhead, circling to see what we were up to. We saw another leopard shark and also followed a sea turtle for a bit, playfully swimming around the walls along the reef. At one point I kept an eye on Matt's dive buddy, the woman from California with one fin, as she angled off after a sea turtle. Now I've been diving with Matt when he's lost his dive buddy before (usually his overly-understanding wife, Lisa) so I felt somewhat obligated to keep an additional set of eyes on his dive buddy. Fortunately, one fin and all, she eventually re-joined the group. Lost diving buddy crisis averted. This time. Shortly thereafter Mike and I were running a little low on air so we both ascended to the boat with one of our dive masters while Matt continued along the reef with Dave "The Legend".

Matt taking in the scenery

When he eventually surfaced Matt was breathless as he climbed onto the boat - apparently they had come across a banded sea krait. The krait is one of the most poisonous snakes in the world with a venom that is roughly 10 times as poisonous as that of a rattlesnake. They have a flat, vertical tail to help them swim, and thankfully they feed mainly on smaller creatures and have a relatively small mouth that would make a direct bite on a human difficult. Nonetheless, while Matt gave the krait wide berth our fearless (or senseless?) dive master coaxed it out from the rocks and snapped a head-on photo of the thing. Nice.

With the second dive behind us it was time to head back to Phuket. Thankfully the ride home was significantly more comfortable than the ride out - the water was calmer and as with most return trips after diving, a slight nitrogen narcosis evoked a mellow mood that made the scenic ride home quite enjoyable. Back on shore we unloaded equipment, thanked our dive masters and crew, and picked up some cold Singhas for the long van ride back to the hotel. This is always one of the fun parts about diving, the telling of tales over cold drinks and I could tell that Matt's run-in with a sea krait would be a lasting memory of his dives in Thailand.

Banded Sea Krait

It was our last night in Phuket and we had a craving for some comfort food so we decided to head out of the resort to Cherng Talay to get some pizza at Toto's. Mr. "A" was working tonight so we got to chat with him about about John and Orn. As with everyone we had met in Thailand, A was an outgoing guy, always smiling, and doing everything he could to make our stay pleasant. We ordered up some drinks and dined on some really good pizza. John had suggested this place to me if we were in the mood for pizza and it didn't disappoint. I love Thai food and had eaten it a dozen times since we arrived, but a nice big pizza after a day of diving was just what the doctor ordered.

After dinner we swung by Just Relax to say hi to Orn's friend Net and then hit BB's for some darts, pool, and, karaoke. Yes, karaoke. When we arrived there was a group of older Englishmen who were cranking out off-key versions of, well, I'm not even sure that I recognized the songs at the time. So we played pool and darts and enjoyed the comical singing. Our friends behind the bar were gracious as ever and joined us for some darts and eventually convinced us that we needed to take over the karaoke mic.

Karaoke

This karaoke, mind you, isn't like what you're used to back in the States. Normally you get a full-blown backing track with drums, guitar, backing vocals, etc. This karaoke was made of Casio-keyboard-sounding tracks and so vocals become exponentially more important than when you have a full soundtrack to hide your vocals. Of course, the thin crowd at BB's didn't really care about your singing ability and, considering what we had just listened to, we certainly were going to be among the better singers in the bar so we dove in head first and fired up the mic. I can't tell you what songs we sang because the bar staff never let us quit - the microphone was passed around and solos were sung, duets were sung, group songs were sung, some in English, some in Thai - it was pretty entertaining. The owner bought us a round of drinks with the understanding that we "had" to stay until closing so we hung out and chatted with the ex-pats and bar staff and had fun watching others attempt to sing. I even have some video of the normally-reserved Mike belting out a some tune or another...and that video is currently up for grabs to the highest bidder who is in no way affiliated with the Missouri or Kansas Bar Associations.

BB's Pub

Eventually our sanity took over and we called it a night - tomorrow morning we have to fly back to Bangkok and we needed energy for a 12-hour tour of the city before Mike and Matt have to board their flight back to the States.

Wednesday, December 9th, 2009

A little slow-moving this morning. Not sure that the karaoke was a good idea. Or was it the Singhas and other assorted refreshments? Either way we were all moving slowly, albeit finally sleeping in past 6:00. Perfect - Mike and Matt's last day in Thailand and our body clocks were finally starting to adjust to local time. Oh well, plenty of time to feed at the breakfast buffet before the van was to pick us up for the trip to the airport.

With stomachs full, suitcases packed, and farewells bid to the beach, the pool, the buffet, and the massage tent, we climbed aboard the van, and eventually onto our short flight from Phuket back to Bangkok. Upon reaching Bangkok and grabbing a cab to head downtown to my hotel we realized that our views of the city wouldn't be so great today - smog had taken over and the skyline was hard to pick out. Visibility in Bangkok can vary wildly from day to day and it looks as though we picked an inversion day to see the city.

Water taxi, Bangkok

We got to the Sheraton Royal Orchid, a great hotel right on the Cho Praya river, where I would stay tonight after Mike and Matt left for the airport (and where my brother would be arriving later tonight). We checked in, dropped off bags and cleaned up, and then set out to see the sites. Matt was approaching his Defcon 4 hunger level again so our first plan of attack was to find some food. Unfortunately there isn't much near the hotel so we decided to hop on a water taxi and take it up to the Grand Palace in the hopes of finding something near there to eat. The ride up-river on the ferry boat gave us a nice glimpse of the city, of life along the city's waterways, and of Wat Arun, or the "Temple of the Dawn", as we docked near Wat Pho. We got off the boat and wandered the nearby streets in search of food. More comfort food was the call and so we started walking through stalls and stalls of freshly grilled, albeit, unidentifiable, meats, in the search for a McDonalds or Burger King. And we walked. And walked. Apparently this neighborhood had no western comfort food. That is, until we stumbled upon a Pizza Hut take out facility. Score. I think we each devoured an entire pizza and liter of coke as the warning meter on Matt's hungermometer dropped back into the green zone so I was safe for the moment.

Tuk Tuk, Bangkok

After eating we walked outside and flagged down a tuk tuk, another "must-do" for the adventurous traveler when in Bangkok. A tuk tuk is basically a three-wheeled motorcycle with a seat on the back large enough to seat three people. Well, almost; three large westerners aren't exactly what they had in mind when they designed these and it was a struggle to fit all twelves limbs into the thing. We were dropped at the entrance to Wat Pho, paid our admission fee, and wandered the grounds before entering the Temple of the Reclining Buddha. Wat Pho is one of the largest and oldest wats in Bangkok. It contains over 1000 Buddha images as well as one of the largest single Buddha images, the Reclining Buddha. There are several prangs, or tall, tower-like structures on the grounds that are covered in thousands of small pieces of tile and mirror. A number of these are currently undergoing restoration and we saw a worker carefully replacing tiny individual tiles and mirrored pieces on one of the towers. There must be millions of these pieces covering the temples, prangs, and other structures.

Wat Pho

Wat Pho was actually built nearly 200 years before Bangkok became the capitol of Thailand, then known as Siam. It was also the first university in Thailand and specialized in teaching traditional Thai massage. You can actually still get a massage here - 250 baht (roughly $7.50 USD) for an hour-long massage - or even learn the art of Thai massage in this, the original Thai massage teaching institution. A lesson in Thai massage in the original Thai massage teaching institution - sorta like getting a lesson in Greek Architecture in the Acropolis I suppose.

After wandering the grounds we took off our shoes and entered the temple of the Reclining Buddha. Even if you've seen it before, it is still an impressive site. At over 150 feet long and 50 feet high, the golden Buddha is a stunning sight. The eyes and the soles of the feet are decorated in mother of pearl inlay that is incredibly detailed; the inlay on the feet reportedly depicts the more than 100 characteristics of the Buddha. Having seen it twice now it's still an awe-inspiring scene as you wander down one side of the Buddha and up the other.

Giant Reclining Buddha, Wat Pho

After leaving Wat Pho we decided to walk the circumference of the Grand Palace. We knew that the last tour of the day had already departed and we couldn't get in but we wanted to at least see it from outside the walls. There's a routine scam here where the cab drivers will tell you that the palace is closed and ask you if you want to see the "Emerald Buddha" and then they wind up taking you to their cousin's gem store. However, we verified with our hotel that the Palace, did, in fact, close at 3:30 so we just wandered the perimeter and stole glances of the buildings within through the security gates. We decided to grab another tuk tuk back to the hotel to clean up before heading out for dinner, a choice that we regretted a few blocks later when it was evident that our driver didn't know where he was going. He had to stop and get help a few times and then we wound up stuck in rush-hour traffic and inhaling exhaust fumes. The water taxi would have been much quicker, but hey, all part of the adventure, right?

Back at the hotel we showered (i.e., washed the grey soot off our bodies) and grabbed a drink on the beautiful terrace bar, "Sambal", on the river at the Royal Orchid while we figured out our plans for the evening. We had about six hours until Mike and Matt had to fly home so we decided to go grab some dinner and hit the night market at Patpong to do some shopping. Patpong is the infamous spot in Bangkok made famous in countless movies and where a raging night market, complete with fake Gucci's, Louis Vuitton's, and Rolex's, sits side-by-side with some of the city's most notorious adult entertainment venues. I'm not sure if the market arose to give people interested in seeing the seedier side of Bangkok night life an excuse to visit Patpong or the adult venues sprung up in response to all the tourists hitting the night market. Either way, if you want to grab a beer, a Rolex, and a dance or ridiculous show, it's the place to go.

Scary Tuk Tuk ride

We grabbed dinner at a caf� at the outskirts of the market, another round of really good spring rolls, some pad Thai, and some spicy chicken wrapped in banana leaves - good stuff. After that we started in on the bargaining with all the watch vendors. Mike scored a couple of really good deals on a Tag Heuer and an Omega while Matt picked up a couple of watches for himself and Lisa. We fended off touts left and right who continually shoved a "menu" (some simple text, others, uh, "pictorial") in our face, attempting to get us into one of the dozens of bars along the street. One apparently had a music show and we barely made it to the top of the steps before being presented with a bill for drinks for the entire bar. And the musical act was not what you'd think. Despite the name of the bar, the show is definitely not "Super". Lesson learned. Within 60 seconds we ran for the relative comfort of the street and instead headed into a street-side bar with a live band and enjoyed a cold drink before grabbing a cab back to the Royal Orchid.

Night market at Patpong

My brother Doug and and Robbie were supposed to be landing in Bangkok about now, on their way home from Burma, and we were going to hook up at the hotel for a drink with everyone before sending Mike and Matt off to the airport. Unfortunately, when we returned to the hotel and got in touch with Doug we found out that he had come down with a serious case of food poisoning just before the flight from Burma to Bangkok and was out of commission for the night. Mike and Matt finished packing up their gear and we hit the lobby bar for a farewell drink before I eventually shoveled them into a cab and sent them off to the Bangkok airport for their long flight home. I was bummed to see them go after an entertaining week together in Thailand and not really jealous about their spending the next 20 hours on airplanes, but I know that they were looking forward to getting home and recuperating. Bon Voyage boys!

Thursday, December 10th, 2009

I woke up to a beautiful view from the 17th floor of the Royal Orchid of the sun rising over Bangkok. Yesterday's smog appears to have cleared out and the view is gorgeous; I can see all the way up the river to Wat Arun, Wat Pho, and the Grand Palace. On my phone are a couple of entertaining emails (with subject lines such as "Bastard!" and "This Flight Sucks!") from Mike and Matt who apparently had a rough flight to Seoul and a delayed departure for LA but are now presumably resting (somewhat) comfortably somewhere over the Pacific.

Pad Thai at the airport

I met Doug and Robbie in the lobby of the Royal Orchid; thankfully Doug's food poisoning had passed and we grabbed a cab to the airport to catch our flight up to Khon Kaen where my Uncle Dave and Aunt Daeng live. Doug brought me up to speed on their travels through Burma over a great plate of pad Thai at the airport while we waited for our flight to board.

After a quick one-hour flight to Khon Kaen were touched down and found my aunt and uncle waiting for us outside the terminal. I haven't seen Dave and Daeng since the last time that I was in Thailand in 2001 and they don't appear to have changed a bit. The Thai climate is treating them well. We headed back to their house where we relaxed and caught up for a bit and got acquainted with their three dogs. As it turned out it happened to be the last day of the annual Khon Kaen silk festival so we decided to head over to the festival and check it out.

Daeng, picking out some crispy grasshoppers

We spent some time wandering the always interesting fresh food market that was setup as part of the silk festival. From fresh fruit, to vegetables, to dried squid on a stick to just about every kind of local animal, the market had it all. One thing that I learned the last time I was in Thailand and wandering the markets with Daeng is that you should never, ever, point to anything or ask what it is if you aren't fully ready to eat it. Unfortunately I had forgotten that little tip since the last time that I was here and it was only a matter of minutes before I was commenting on a freshly cooked batch of crispy grasshoppers and before I knew it she had purchased a bag of them. Yum. Something to look forward to later tonight.

As we passed more stalls filled with various critters I kept my mouth shut and just smiled. We did try numerous local fruits, pastries, and snacks and picked up several bags for later tonight. The people of Khon Kaen aren't as accustomed to seeing westerners as are the people in Bangkok, Phuket, and other tourist-driven areas of Thailand and so a number of times Daeng had to explain to a laughing local just who we were. It didn't help that the tarps strung over the market were intended to shade people who were no taller than five foot six. The three "farangs" (foreigners) stooping and making their way through the market was no doubt an entertaining site.

Wandering the food stalls

In addition to all the wonderful fresh food stalls there were countless booths offering beautiful, locally made silk. The designs and colors were incredible - iridescent elephants, plaid patterns, and shimmering metallic-looking yellows, reds, greens, and blues. Much of the silk produced in Thailand comes from this region and the silk produced here is beautiful and we took advantage of it and picked up a few pieces.

We spent a little more time browsing the silk stalls, taking in a few more stops at the food stalls, and eventually headed toward Central Plaza, the brand new shopping mall that opened in Khon Kaen last week. The difference between the market and the mall was among the more dramatic contrasts that I've seen recently. One minute we're browsing food stalls with people in sandals and t-shirts buying dried grasshoppers for fifty cents, the next minute we're inside of a billion-dollar shopping mall with cosmetic saleswomen decked out in the latest fashions and make up and watching a multi-million dollar robotic dinosaur welcome people to the new mall. It was a shock to the senses to say the least. According to my Uncle Dave this mall had been in the planning stages for years and is drawing people from all over northeastern Thailand just to see the building itself. Whether or not the economic reality of this part of the country is such that the mall can survive is another story, but the people of Kohn Kaen definitely love their new hip urban hangout.

Squid on a stick?

We opted for one of the new sushi restaurants in the mall and had some great sushi and sashimi. After stuffing ourselves we headed back to Dave and Daeng's where we relaxed, caught up, and had a chance to talk to them about life in Khon Kaen. Unfortunately, Daeng didn't forget about the little treats that she had brought home from the market and before I knew it, she had laid out a nice plate of crispy grasshoppers.

Now don't get me wrong, this is not a dish that Dave and Daeng serve at their house nor one that the vast majority of Thais eat on a regular basis. However, in some parts of Thailand other animals or sources of protein are sufficiently scarce that people will find ways to leverage just about any source of protein that can be found locally. However, when her crazy nephews come to visit and up for trying one of the more interesting local snacks Daeng never hesitates to put us on the spot. And, of course, we're not ones to turn down the hospitality or a challenge and so before you could say pad Thai, Doug and I had quickly scarfed down one of the crispy critters, legs and all.

Crispy grasshoppers!

Friday, December 11th, 2009

Today Daeng graciously agreed to take us out to visit the village where she grew up and introduce us to some of her family, something that I didn't get to do the last time I was here and I was excited for the opportunity. After a great breakfast we set out toward her her village as she told us about growing up in the village and her family. When I asked how many cousins she had in the village she replied, "All of them!" Most of the people in her village of Nong Khun are related to her in some way; how do you keep track of that?

Doug with the colorful dragon fruit

On the way to Nong Khun we stopped and picked up some fresh grilled chicken; her sister was going to cook Tom Yum and payapa salad for us so we picked up a few ingredients along the way. We also stopped at the market in Phu Wiang, a larger town near her village, to get some ingredients at the market. Here we picked up some incredible fresh fruit - rambutans, longans, mangosteens, dragon fruit and even the infamous durien. A durien is a giant fruit, shapped somewhat like a pinneapple, but with a taste almost like over-ripe bannanas. The smell of a durien can be so strong that you'll see signs outside of buildings that say "No Duriens". The rambutans, mangosteens, and longans, on the other hand, are incredible tropical fruits and I wished that we could get these back home. Although Daeng did manage to sneak a small bag of crickets into the mix (that we successfully avoided), we did manage to avoid some of the more interesting local wildlife for sale and so with arms full of bags of fruit and incredients we set out for Nong Khun.

Despite this being one of the poorest areas in Thailand the village of Nong Khun was clean and well-kept. The streets were clear, they had a school and a temple, and children were riding bycicles and playing in the quiet streets. We went to Daeng's sister's house, which is a more modern style house compared to the raised Thai style that is prevalent here. Next door is a Thai style dwelling where Daeng's grandmother, a wily 95-year-old woman, lives with some other relatives. How many of the others on the street are directly related, I'm not sure, but as we walked the streets Daeng seemed to know everybody.

We were also greeted by the precocious 6-year-old Da La, Daeng's niece. Da La reminded me of my own daughter Eliza and, I suppose, technically they are cousins in some long-distance, in-law type of way. We'll have to get those two girls together one of these days either in Thailand or in Kansas. We met Daeng's mom and sister and watched as her sister expertly prepared Tom Yum; the smell of lemongrass and coconut milk coming from the pot was heavenly. We walked over and met Daeng's grandma and wandered the streets, little Da La occasionally pulling fruits from the trees and coaxing us into trying them.

Daeng's Grandma

The meal that Daeng's sister had prepared was incredible. Spicy papaya salad, incredible tom yum soup, grilled chicken, and plenty of fresh fruits. We ate on the floor with Daeng and her mother and neice while Thai soap operas played in the background. They had just recently acquired a TV and satellite in the village and Daeng's mom came to her sister's house from the farm regularly to get caught up on Thai TV and soap operahs. Of course, having TV in the village has also changed the way that the children see the rest of the world. It has had a dramatic effect on the number of childdren that stay in their village to help on the family farm versus those who leave for Bangkok or other large cities in search of work, money, or Brittany Spears.

After lunch we walked from the village out to the family farm where Daeng's family has been growing sticky rice and corn for many years. She explained that the farmers here are basically subsistance farmers, growing enough rice to feed the family for a year at a time. The men and women will usually also do other odd jobs to help bring additional income to the family. The rice harvest had just finished recently and the fields were dry as we walked through the fields where Daeng picked rice as a child. They were just starting to plant corn for the next season and so with a little instruction Doug hopped out into the field and started planting corn (he's supposed to return in three months to help pick it!)

Doug and I with Daeng's mom, dad, sister, and neice

After roaming around in the fields we went back to the small house on the farm and sat with Daeng's mom and dad (Dad had a TV and satellite dish too!). Daeng's mom pulled out a flat, round, bamboo container and set it on my lap. When she pulled the top off I almost jumped as I saw that it was filled with hundreds of worms. Silkworms, as it turns out. Daeng's mom raises the worms from larvae, and when they eventually form a cocoon and the worm flies away as a moth, she boils the cocoons, pulls the tiny threads off of the outside of the cocoon, winds them into a silk thread, and then uses a loom to creat beautiful pieces of silk that are so closely associated with this region of Thailand. I was in awe; I've certianly read about how silk is produced and I've seen it for sale, but to see how it is goes from "bug to silk" by Daeng's mom who has been doing this the same way for decades was incredibly fascinating. To top it off Daeng's mom presented us each with a beatiful piece of silk that she had made - each piece took approximately a month to create on the loom. It was an incredibly touching gesture and given the effort that goes into making this piece of silk it is something that we'll treasure.

Doug and I with Dave & Daeng

We said our goodbyes to the family and left the farm, but not before stopping at yet another cousin's house where they pulled coconuts out of the trees and lopped off the tops so we could drink some fresh coconut juice. After that we headed back into Khon Kaen and spent the rest of the evening visiting with Dave and Daeng over a nice dinner (no grasshoppers tonight).

Saturday, December 12th, 2009

This morning we had a lazy morning of eathing breakfast, hanging out in the yard and checking out Daeng's growing collection of orchids, playing with the dogs, and taking the tuk tuk for a spin around the neighborhood.

Doug driving the tuk tuk

We said our goodbyes, boarded another flight, and before we knew it were strolling through the Bangkok airport yet again and grabbing a cab back downtown to the Royal Orchid. I, unfortunately, had to fly home at midnight tonight; Doug and Robbie still had one more day of relaxation in Bangkok after which Doug was heading to Tokyo for one day to visit a friend and go on a Japanese food frenzy on the way back to New York City.

All of us had had enough sightseeing and constant movement for a while so we made the unanimous decision to enjoy the great pool deck at the hotel. We grabbed some chaise lounges, watched the water taxis, rice barges,

Lunch on the Royal Orchid pool deck

We changed and grabbed some appetizers in the new outdoor bar, "Sambal", that's a mere one-week old addition to the Royal Orchid. Sambal has this Balinese theme going on with comfortable couches and chairs under a giant tree providing an incredible view of the river. They also have a great menu of appetizers and cocktails and it wasn't long before I had to try one of my favorite Thai fruits, the mangosteen, in a drink, and it certainly didn't dissapoint.

Unfortunately it was my turn to be dissapointed as Doug and Robbie headed to Lempini stadium to catch a Muay Thai match while I was forced to gather up my luggage and grab a cab to the airport for the long flight home.

Sunday, December 13th, 2009

Last night in Bangkok

Actually, my flight didn't take off from Bangkok until 12:05 am so technically it's already Sunday as I board the first of four flights home that will deliver me to Kansas City this same day. We had a full day and so the flights were going to be exhausting, much like, I'm sure, Mike and Matt's long flights were just two days ago. Judging by the plethora of threatening emails that I'd received from them this wasn't going to be fun.

I unfortunately had an extra stop in Japan on the way home, just to make the flight a bit more interesting. The flights were a blur; six hours to Seoul and a bowl of nice, spicy Bi Bim Bap, unload in Seoul, a nice cold treat from Smoohtie King, another two hours of flying before unloading in Tokyo, some great sushi and a cold milkshake at McDonalds, another 10 hours before unloading at LAX, and a nice, hot Starbucks to wake up before final leg to Kansas City. Nearly 20 hours of flying, an entire notebook filled with the musings above that you just suffered through, and perhaps a couple of hours of sleep tossed in along with one or two bad movies.

So I've been asked, was the race worth all of the travel that was involved? My answer: absolutely yes. That is, as long as you can look at a trip such as this as more than just the race itself. Don't get me wrong, the race itself is a fantastic race, well-organized, challenging, and beautiful and it's easily apparent why so many of the world's best triathletes make this race a regular addition to their race schedule. But to board an airplane for 20 hours you need to be interested in the destination itself and not just the handful of hours (or more) that you're going to spend participating in the race. To a large extent for me, the longer the flight, the larger the step out of your home comfort zone and the greater the opportunity to see and learn things about people and places that you can't see and learn at home. Thailand is a beautiful country with incredible cultural treasures, some of the friendliest people on earth, and a mouth-watering abundance of incredible, fresh food that is hard to match elsewhere around the world. Throw in a world class triathlon, some great scuba diving, a visit with family abroad, some new friends, and a complete avoidance of the emergency room and I'm chalking this trip up as a great success and one that I'd happily undertake again in the future. But now it's time to make up for being gone for the past 10 days with Carolyn and the kids who have been patiently awaiting my return. Until next time...

Welcome Home Daddy!