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we did something crazy last year this time.  we got married then 3 weeks later we moved to africa.  supposedly the “big” events in adult life are marriage, moving, starting a new job, and going back to school.  we did 3 out of 4 in less than a month.  all worked out great, though, and i’d say june 2006 was probably one of the best months ever.  it ranks right up there with may-june 2000 when syzygy won a national championship, i graduated from carleton, and i “met” phil.  so now it’s june 2007 and we’re one year into both marriage and africa and things are moving along swimmingly (did i really just say swimmingly?)….

june 3, 2007 (year one, marriage): according to lonely planet thailand, khao sok national park, which is halfway between the andaman sea and the gulf of thailand in the middle of the malay peninsula, is “well worth going out of your way to visit.”  the lonely planet description was good enough for us to be convinced to make the side trip.  our first glitch in traveling came when we got off the plane in surat thani (1.5 hours drive to khao sok) and our arranged transport to khao sok didn’t show.  my bargaining skills kicked in – i have at least one thing to show after a year in africa – and we got a personal taxi to drive us the distance for 60% of the price of what the lodge would’ve charge us.  double bonus: he picked us back up 2 days later to return us to surat thani where we caught the ferry to koh tao, again for the same bargain price.

as evidenced by the numerous closed tourist places (internet cafes, resorts, cash exchanges) that were closed, khao sok must have its share of tourists during the high season.  granted there’s only one road leading into the national park so there can’t be that many tourists, but enough.  low season, though, there’s nobody.  we pretty much had the place to ourselves.  we stayed at khao sok rainforest resort.  good food, friendly staff, and a super location right along the river.  our mountainside bungalow was tucked into thick trees and had a view of both the river and the mountains across the narrow valley.

khao sok is known for its rainforests, rugged mountains, and waterfalls.  we took advantage of all three with a daylong hike along a river that took us up and thru just about every part of the forest and alongside a river with plenty o’ waterfalls.  the trail was exactly what we wish we had in kampala – wide, well-maintained, away from city congestion, perfect for phil’s trail running.  as you get further and further into the forest (and away from the hiker traffic i assume is around during the high season), the trail narrows and climbs more.  lots of good jungle vegetation.  khao sok and an adjacent wildlife sanctuary are the only home to the bua phut (wild lotus), which is the largest flower in the world (80cm at maturity!). that’s just an fyi, though, since i can’t say that we saw one.  our final destination was a great swimming hole about 7km in from the trailhead.  cool, refreshing, a little eerie swimming thru water surrounded by dark cliffs when you can’t see the bottom.  thailand really is full of the iconic romantic spots…this time it was a calm pool with small waterfalls both above and below tucked into the isolation of a mountainous jungle.  anyway, we hiked, we swam, we had a lunch of ginger nuts and water (yep, C&L, gingernuts imported direct from UG), and we hiked back.

i finished the day with a thai foot massage, which unbeknownst to me includes the feet all the way up to the knees.  felt good on the feet, not so good on the bruised and beat up shins i perpetually have as a result of my unfailing ability to walk into things.  reminded me a lot of the time mimi and i got pedicures in vegas right after a multi-day backpacking trip in kings canyon national park.  the pedicurist didn’t really know what to do with my ragged feet and dead toenails, remnants from various ultimate tournaments.  back to the point, though, thumbs up for the thai foot massage.

june 26, 2007 (year one, africa): preparing to leave the u.s., i made multiple (six total) trips to goodwill with a fully-loaded ford explorer as we emptied out our apartment of 3+ years.  we had the opportunity to be minimalists and we went for it purging ourselves of everything unnecessary.  whatever was left we strategically jammed into a storage unit in downtown minneapolis.  the whole packing and purging and moving ordeal took the better part of the time between the wedding and the 26th and still we were up for 28 hours straight by the time my mom dropped us at MSP with our 8 bags of luggage.

we had absolutely no idea what we were doing a year ago.  we landed in africa without a clue.  i’d been in africa a total of a month, phil had never been. then, plop – here we are for 3 years.  what?!  a year later and we’re surviving happily.  we have two cats (one jungle, one town, both africats), we live in a fantastic house, we play ultimate and have lots of ultimate friends (just like home!), i still like my job, i finally know what i do for a job, i still work from home, phil’s still entertaining himself (usually as a photographer but most lately as a budding web programmer), and the weather is still perfect.  i still don’t speak luganda, i still haven’t been to the north, and we haven’t saved nearly as much as we’d planned (all the money went into traveling wanderlust, although, imo not such a bad place to sink money), and still no kids (supposedly africa is the place to procreate, so says all our expat friends).  in our year we’ve compelled four family members, three friends, and zero enemies to travel to africa to visit us.  we’ve already got two more family and one more friend on the docket for early year two, which leaves our schedule and our guest bedroom plenty empty for anyone itching to get to africa to experience firsthand this ideal lifestyle we’re always talking about.  do i have any takers?