Karanda Scenic Railway - Cairns, Australia

I arrived in Cairns a couple of days early. That is before the other members of the overland group and decided to check out Cairns by myself. I signed up for an excursion called "Cairns in a Day". As the name implies the excursion integrates the highlight of Cairns into a day's outing, which began with a scenic train ride to the rainforest village of Karanda.

Skyrail – Cairns, Australia

After arriving in Karanda on the scenic railway, we boarded the Sky Rail. The gondolas rose above the rainforest canopy of the Barron Gorge National Park, which is the natural rooftop of the rainforest. It protects the forest floor from rain, wind and sun and acts as a blanket trapping humidity, and as a solar panel harnessing the sun's energy for growth. Likewise, it supports many plants, such as ferns, and orchids, as well as vast array of fruit and flowers which provide food for numerous rainforest birds and animals. The gondolas stopped at designated points along the route, where we had the opportunity to dismount and walk under the rainforest canopy.

Scuba Diving – Osprey V – Cairns, Australia

After the Sky Rail ride we boarded a helicopter which transported us to the dive boat that was located 55K (35 miles) off the coast of Cairns. (The picture in the top left quadrant is a view the reef from the helicopter.) After boarding the dive boat things started to became rushed. I had to download my lunch and immediately suited-up for a dive. The equipment manager handed me a mask which I didn't realize would not clear until I got underwater. Similarly, equipment manager insisted I wear 6 kilos of weights instead of the 3 kilos I typically wear. Since, I didn't have time to plead my case, plus I'm not all that experienced of a diver and I assumed the equipment manager knew more about his equipment than I did, I acquiesce and jumped in with the six kilos, which turned out to be too much. I had to swim vertically instead of horizontally. The only way I could offset the excess weight around my waist was to inflate my buoyancy vest. In spite of the less than an optimal dive conditions, it still was my first dive on the Great Barrier Reef and the coral and fish were truly astounding, that is what I could see through the blurry mask. Most spectacular was a massive Maori Wrasse and a giant clam, both approximately a meter and a half in length

Helicopter on the Landing Pad - Cairns, Australia

Update – Cairns, Australia

I just arrived in Australia, but I feel like I'm back in the U.S. Many of the retail outlets and franchise restaurants are identical to those in the U.S. - Target, Woolworths, ReMax Reality, Footlocker, Athletes Feet., McDonalds, Domino Pizza, etc. I'm once again able to read and pronounce the street names. I'm back to drinking beer from six packs. The countries previously visited consume beer in 750ml bottles. The downside of Australia's familiarities, however, is the cost. The cost of living in Australia seems to be just as expensive as the U.S., and for me, it's enhanced by the weak U.S. dollar relative to the Australian dollar. A can of Coke cost as much as US$2.40 and a movie cost US$11.50. Books cost approximately 30% - 50% more than they do in the U.S. I don't know why they were so expensive, but I didn't buy any.

More Scuba Diving – Ko Tao, Thailand

More bubbles coming out of my head...

Scuba Diving – Ko Tao, Thailand

I started to get bored after 3 weeks in Chiang Mai and decided it was time for a change. Scuba diving was on my mind. Originally, I was lead to believe it wasn't diving season in Thailand, and excluded diving from my original schedule. The guide books indicated that the dive season starts in mid-November after the monsoons subside. The monsoons affect the underwater visibility. Later I learned that the monsoons subside in mid-November on the West Coast of Thailand and it was fine to dive on the East Coast of Thailand in the Gulf of Thailand prior to November. Anyway to make a long story short, I decided to go diving. I flew to Ko Samui (Ko Tao doesn't have an airport), connected with a dive master, Adam, and we motorboated over to Ko Tao. On arrival I learned it had been raining for four days prior to my arrival. Nevertheless, I proceeded to dive. For two of the five dives that I completed, the water visibility wasn't the best. During one of the dives, for a brief moments, I could barely see Adam, the dive instructor. However, the underwater visibility on the other three dives was fine. We saw a sea turtle, moray eels, clown fish, parrot fish, a spotted ray, puffer fish, and angel fish, just to name a few.

In the end, I was glad I did make to trip south to dive. My only other real diving experience was in the Red Sea where I completed my advance open water training. During the training I wasn't exactly relaxed, partially because I was concentrating on completing the training exercises correctly, I also was part of a larger group of divers, and I didn�t have a lot of experience diving. This time because it was only the two of us, and the object of the dives was purely pleasure, I was able to relax and thoroughly enjoy the dive. My air intake efficiency improved significantly. I can't wait to get to the Great Barrier Reef in Australia in a couple of day for more diving.

Underwater Photos - Ko Tao, Thailand

Chiang Mai Thai Cookery School - Chiang Mai, Bangkok

During the morning session, on first day, we reviewed the ingredients used in preparing Thai food (i.e. lemon grass, kaffir lime leaves, galangal, etc.) On the second day, we learned how to make green curry paste from the raw ingredients and on the third day we visited a local market. During the visit we identified and discussed various types of Thai vegetables and fruits. In the afternoon, each day, we learned how to prepare six Thai dishes - my favorites of the eighteen dishes we learned to prepare were Gaeng Kheo Wan Gai (Chicken in Green Curry), Phad Thai, Tom Yum Soup, Laab Gai (Minced Chicken Salad) and Som Tam (Papaya Salad). The food was plentiful. We could eat as much as we liked. There was no need to eat breakfast prior to class or dinner in the evening.

In the States, the Thai food often tastes a slightly different from the food Thai food prepared in Thailand. Originally, I thought the food was altered to accommodate the Western palette. This is probably not the case, however, as was pointed out in class. A more likely explanation is that some of the ingredients used in Thai cooking in Thailand is unavailable for use, or is cost prohibited, in Thai restaurants abroad. For example, cane sugar is often substituted for palm sugar, lime juice for kaffir lime leaves, ginger for galangal, etc. Authentic ingredients afford the authentic Thai taste.

Thai Massage Class – Chiang Mai, Thailand

A Thai massage focuses on the body's energy lines and pressure points. It's a lot different from the oil massages in India and the bath massages in Turkish. If anyone wants to learn about Thai massage I would highly recommend this school. The staff is extremely friendly and professional, and very accommodating. They arranged for each student's picked-up from their guesthouse in the morning and returned in the evening. They also provided a lunch and loose fitting clean clothes daily. The only caveat is that to become proficient in Thai massage one must enrollment in the ten or a twenty week course, the one week course is not sufficient. I don't think anyone who only took the one week course could give a Thai Massage without using the manual for reference.

Personal Ramblings

Some personal observations from the past seven months of traveling and reading…

“One World” – In the mid-1980s, after participating in various exchange programs (Kenya, Thailand, and Poland) I was enamored with the concept of “One World”. “One World” centers on the belief that people are basically the same throughout the world - they want to be happy, live in peace, raise families, and lead productive lives. What make them different are generally not innate but learned differences - learned through their own culture, traditions and religion beliefs. Overtime these learned differences between countries and their cultures tend to shrink and merge – facilitated by such things as cheap travel costs, information technology, the internet, TV and movies, cultural awareness and education . The result is a single culture or “One World”.

After this trip I still believe in the concept of “One World” (a.k.a. “globalization” in economic parlance), albeit, this trip made me realize that the reality of a single culture is a lot further away than I previously surmised - decades, even centuries away. There are a lot of uneducated, poor, immobile people in the world that still maintain their own culture, tradition and value systems.

Population and Environment – Sitting on the truck, driving through country after country, city after city, village after village - seeing people, after people, after people - I repeatedly pondered - how many people can the earth sustain? There are a lot of people who live on this earth. Another pondering after seeing plentiful evidence of air pollution and water pollution, and piles of garbage was - how much more can the environment sustain?

Syria and Iran – Originally, mostly based on western news reports, I thought that the Syrians and Iranians might be unreceptive or possibly even cold towards western tourist, in particularly American tourist, me. This was clearly not the case. The Syrians and Iranians that I encountered were extremely friendly and very helpful. It seemed to be part of their culture. Albeit, many Iranians were also quick to distinguish between American people and American politics. They made it a point to say they liked American people, but not American policies. I think the opposite is also true for most Americans. Additionally, some Iranians expressed fear that American would occupy Iran, similar to Iraq. They feared for themselves and their families. A legitimate yet weighty fear to live under. At the other extreme, there was one Iranian who supported recent American government actions because it rid Iran of two of its worst enemies the Taliban to the north and Saddam Hussein to the south.

Concubines and Slaves – Until this trip, I must admit I was a little naïve, I never realized what a major role multiple wives, concubines and slaves played in the history of the world. For example, I would marvel at the great monuments from previous civilizations - like the Egyptian Pyramids, Taj Mahal, Ankor Wat, Great Wall of China, Percepolis - and ponder how they were built without modern day construction equipment – the answer is easy slaves.

Today, the concept of multiple wives, concubines or slaves seems so appalling and inconceivable that they were so common just a few hundred years ago. I wonder what cultural institutions are in place today that in a few hundred years from now civilizations will look back and be appalled?

Borders – Another ‘back-of-the-truck” pondering centered on country borders. The historical function and necessity of borders is clear, yet the characterizations of borders seem so arbitrary and limiting. Many borders are often defined by natural boundaries or were defined historically and never changed. Are these good reasons to retain the same borders? Possibly so for the lack of a better way to define boundaries, however, the definition of what a country’s border implies is somewhat outdated. My guess is that individual country borders will ultimately be deemphasized and more emphasize placed on geographic regional borders. This is not an original pondering, but an extension of conventional wisdom. The trip has made it a bit more pronounced in my eyes.

A good example is the EU. Citizens of the EU can freely travel, live, or seek employment in any country within the EU regardless of their country of origin. The “United” States of America is based on the same concept, except instead of countries the founding parents decided on states. The concept is the same; the nomenclature is slightly different. Southeast Asia countries could also benefit by some regional mobility, as would the Middle East. Nevertheless, it would be harder to realize in the Middle East because of the ownership of oil resources defined by borders.