Ready to go and counting

For someone who usually just tosses things into a bag at the last minute, the Thailand excursion has been the most carefully planned and packed adventure of my life right down to the grey tape and binoculars. A gift to bonny was an Ipod which I have loaded with great music for my flight, a book by Cheri Huber, and some hypnosis tapes to try and Zzz during the flight. I have several gig of picture space so expect a slide show upon my return.

My grandmother was born when Lincoln was President and I always thought she had see so many changes. As a traveller, the Internet has made venturing out so much easier and hopefully has eliminated much of the "sorry I spent time doing that". If you want to know about something or get a "natives" opinion, just go to a forum and ask.

But enough, to quote a neighbor, can you ever say something without a long story. I will try.

I will start changing my body clock as much as I am able about seven days ahead of the 17 hr flight day. 17hrs on the 17th. The tentative plans and highlights are: 2 nights in Bangkok, 3 nights in Chiang Mai (Ayurveda Treatments and Cooking Class) then 1/22 on to Chiang Dao until the return to Bangkok on 2/3.

In Chiang Dao, we will celebrate the Lisu New Year, Elephants (I will spend two days an a night with the rescued elephants. Check out the website and you will see why http://www.elephantnaturepark.org. , lots of yoga, caves and I hope to raft and trek. Most of all this will be some good R&R. The area is in the northern part of Thailand and the village is small. I will be staying at a lodge that could be quite self contained but we will go to town daily for our yoga.

Sounds like we will be walking 2k twice a day to and fro class. From what I have read, the food is very good and varied so it will not be all Thai unless I eat from the vendors in town. I have been given the opportunity to have a single room and so I hope to expand my meditation practice and get back on track.

We will fly back to Bangkok and stay there a few days before we go on to Cambodia for two nights. I have located a place to stay upon my return when I will be by myself. I am arranging for more cooking classes in Bangkok and a day spa. On the weekend I will minibus to Hau Hin for the beach time and will rent a Vespa to travel into a few of the parks south of Bangkok. During my eight days, I hope to work in a boat trip to the old capital and then It will be back to NYC on 2/15.

I am using my time at home to practice my blogging and will try to keep my writing short.

I will be using bonnywithy@hotmail.com as my mailbag. b.