Bangkok. Early November. Barely a ripple of breeze moved under a blazing tropical sun. It had been a profoundly wet rainy season in Southeast Asia. From this exotic Siamese setting we stepped into the first stop on our new life plan. Land cruising. From our arid Arizona getaway last October we'd perused daily reports of countrywide flooding in Thailand. We kept scurrying to revise plans in attempts to avoid flooded areas. Frustrated with the constant plan changes we finally settled on doing what we've done best for the bulk of 10 years sea cruising- play it by ear.

Once in Bangkok river activities such as longtail boat travel, the floating market, as well as the famously expansive 'Weekend Market' had to be scratched off our tenuous itinerary due to high water. But visits to the Grand Palace, the National Museum and other such cultural treasures unaffected by floodwaters kept us happily enthralled for 3 brilliant days.

Flooding was even worse further north, so our bailout plan to explore Chiang Mai and the hill tribes first was quickly canned. Instead Ken found a good deal on a one-week car rental with which we could scout out the SW finger of the country in hopes of finding a perfect winter hideaway. It seems we're always heading further south! And, in the hopes of quelling our deep desire to return to the sea, we thought it wise to center this first year's search for a community near saltwater.

It is quite a thrill driving from the wrong side of the car on the wrong side of the road guided by freeway signs that read like chicken scratch but we made it safely out of Bangkok. Hua Hin, a beach town on the western shore of the Gulf of Thailand was first on our radar, however, we found it inundated with flood refugees. Apartments were high priced and scarce. And we met backpackers at our guesthouse that had just escaped Koh Samui due to excessive rain and heavy flooding. That tempting little island in the Gulf of Thailand was next to get scratched off our list. It was beginning to look like we'd be forced to settle in tourist-ridden, overly promoted Phuket.

Combing through our guidebook we spied an interesting possibility in Krabi Province...the small town of Ao Nang. As extraordinary good luck, and some perfectly aligned planets, would have it on our very first day in town we stumbled across the best place to hold out for 5 months. Timing is everything! A spanking new accommodation outside of Ao Nang, had just opened for business and was accepting a few long-term guests to occupy several of their one-bedroom villas.

Perched on a hilltop overlooking a stunning vista of limestone karsts the resort is sweet and small. With only 8 breezy bungalows Leelawadee Garden is an extremely peaceful place. A few kilometers from Ao Nang in one direction and a few more to Krabi Town in the other we had two entirely different worlds at our fingertips. For an Andaman Sea fix and anything tourist oriented we popped down to beachy Ao Nang. For a more authentic Thai experience we'd head to the larger, more commercially bustling riverside town of Krabi.

The first order of business was to loose the rental car. In the Latin countries we've visited by boat, and otherwise, we've had the advantage of getting around using cheap and plentiful public transportation. Rural Thailand is different. Bangkok's SkyTrain and subway system is phenomenal. But the Guatemalan chicken bus-that moves hordes of the populace to and from every corner of that country is almost nonexistent in Thailand. Here a pitiful selection of long distance buses pale by comparison. Locally you are relegated to hop in the back of pick-ups or hire a tuk-tuk. We resorted to getting around the way the vast majority of Thais do-on a motor scooter. Ken took to that scooter like it was a dry sea dinghy and had the time of his life riding around like a local. Born to be wild, for 5 glorious months he was hell on 2 wheels. Regrettably it took me a tad longer to get comfortable with riding in such a vulnerable manner, without a gentle sea beneath to catch me if we fell-which we didn't, but less fortunate others did.

Without the relentless boat "issues du jour" to contend with you may wonder how we've filled our days. Basically we haven't had to fill them. Rather they've filled us with a strange contentment. No boat bottoms to scrub. No engines to putter with, teak to oil, or fridge to defrost. No poring over weather sites waiting for the infamous weather-window before a passage. We have little concern for what direction the wind will be blowing.

Before settling in Ao Nang we hadn't stayed in any given location for longer than 2 months in ten years!! That could have translated into boredom for a couple of rolling stones. But we managed, as we usually do, to find some fulfilling ways to enrich our Thai experience. Our days were full.

Situated 2 hours from the Malaysian border Krabi Province hosts a rather large Muslim population. Nearly sixty percent of the locals in this part of Thailand practice Islam as opposed to Buddhism, the predominant religion. There are a multitude of mosques within a 20 km radius of the resort and before sunrise we would sometimes awake to hear the haunting early morning call to prayer. If we missed it at 5:30 we'd get to hear it replayed mid-morning, early afternoon, and so on throughout the day.

We both undertook some serious daily workout routines in order to counteract the effects of copious amounts of cold beer, good food and idle relaxation. Mornings were set aside for the necessary. Ken alternated beach walks with a grueling walk up the stairs of a nearby Krabi wat. 1,200 steep and irregular steps built into a 600m high limestone karst led him up to a Buddha statue with commanding views of the surrounding area. He had to work his way up gradually that first week in temps often tipping into the nineties, but eventually breezed up in under 18 minutes. I tried to do it once. I only made it a quarter of the way up and never tried it again! But Ken found the novelty of the task, passing monks and monkeys on the stairs, both exhilarating and unique. And he had an excuse to hop on the scooter.

For my part I pumped up and down the steep hills surrounding our place every morning on an old 6speed bicycle. My daily peddling took me around forests of rubber trees and fields of pineapples clustered amid rural homes and was either preceded with or followed by a floor workout.

When we each returned from our respective workouts we rewarded ourselves with a vigorous swim in the 100 SQM infinity pool. Most often we had the pool to ourselves and we took a minimum of 3-4 dips/day. It beat the heck out of using the air conditioner and was a highly effective way to wean from the frequent jumps off the boat into the ocean in years past.

Interspersed with more pool time our afternoons were spent reading and messing around on the Internet or shopping in Krabi or Ao Nang for whatever our needs dictated. Every now and then we'd wander off to the beach to watch the sunset. There were no nightly happy hours, though, which is our single shared regret. No longer being able to mingle with other cruisers is an unhappy result of selling Polaris and becoming landlubbers.

Our kitchen was equipped with a mid-sized refrigerator/freezer and a 2 burner electric stovetop. From this modest setting we experimented with a multitude of our favorite Thai dishes using fresh ingredients from local markets. Mealtimes were often an exotic adventure as we tried items that aren't readily available in the states. Partridge, wild boar, duck, and frog legs are examples of food easily procured in Asia. And with Bo's help, one of resort's triage of owners, I learned to make many savory Thai delights.

Life was good but came with a price in the creepy crawly currency of critters that shared our serene Garden of Eden. Scorpions the size of salad plates and slithering, deadly snakes add a certain edginess to rural Thai life. Knock wood, the most eye-opening snake sightings at the resort weren't at or in our villa-except for the Laotian Wolf Snake found dead right off our deck-a gift from the resort cat, Som Lei. However, the owner that lives onsite has killed a king cobra in her kitchen, a Malaysian pit viper outside the lobby and numerous other slithery creatures about the property. Once a family of tree snakes climbed the electric pole at the bottom of the driveway and caused the power to blow with an astonishing blast. We saw snakes, alive or dead, daily.

Mostly we were left to contend with the occasional mosquito, temporary infestations of ants (nature's clean-up crews and Ken's favorite science project), gigantic wasps desperate to build nests in our draperies, pocket doors and closets, and gaggles of geckos. We've lived in many tropical locales onboard Polaris but realize now just how isolated we were from that aspect of tropical living. We never had to worry about critters before except for the horrendous mosquito clouds that attacked us in Florida's Little Shark River and the inescapable no-see-ums amongst the mangrove islands around Belize and Honduras. Living up close with scores of tropical creatures was a daily challenge of which I'm not sure we ever grew accustomed.

Late afternoons often brought a rain shower or two and many days we were treated to a fantastic tropical thunderstorm. The rains diminished in both fury and frequency after mid-January but the dry season still mustered an occasional deluge. Another glaring difference between boat life and land life...usually rainstorms at anchor come with sudden wind shifts. It wasn't uncommon for the big gusts to stir up some pretty big rollers in an otherwise placid anchorage. How many sleepless nights did we have on Polaris taking turns on anchor watch in order to assure our hook would hold tight and keep us off a reef during a storm? Countless. It is with considerable relief that we are able to experience these thunderstorms from the security of a house built on solid ground. It could huff and puff all it wanted and not disturb a wink of our night's rest.

We usually capped our day with another gastronomic journey into Thai cooking later catching up with our favorite shows downloaded off the Internet. We didn't have a TV, by choice, but used Ken's laptop for our entertainment needs. Without a sea breeze and with doors closed at night to keep out hordes of insects we usually flipped on the AC for a couple hours and literally chilled out watching a mini-series, movie, or other TV drama.

Often we'd go for a late night swim ending the day with the ultimate cool down...floating on our backs in the dreamy pool staring up at the star strewn heavens!

Five months flew by and before you knew it we were making plans for our last weeks in Thailand. Luckily our departure was timed after the country's biggest holiday...Songkran. This 3day lollapalooza can best be described as the worlds largest water fight! Folks travel far and wide to partake in family gatherings that center on water. In the more traditional enclaves this is the time to get your elders to absolve you of the wrongs you've committed towards them finalized by a baptismal-like water blessing from the forgiving parent/grandparent. However in many parts of Thailand that tradition has morphed into a nationwide water fight! Children of all ages take to the streets by foot or by vehicle and merrily soak each other using water guns, hoses stretched from homes or businesses, or simply buckets. Some water has paint added, some has ice, and some folks finish the soaking with a douse of powder. It is wild, it is funny and it is a refreshingly non-commercial family celebration. It can be dangerous only when revelers begin to dump massive amounts of water on passing motor scooters. Accidents are plentiful. Indeed in this small country over 600 traffic fatalities occurred between April 13-15, although most of those we're likely caused by the normally aggressive and unsafe Thai driving style coupled with the massive amount of road congestion as Thai's traveled to be with their families.

Several days after things calmed down we bid our farewells to the owners of the resort who had practically become our family. We packed all our stuff into 3 suitcases, 2 backpacks and several totes and got back into the same rental car that took us south from Bangkok last November.

Our northbound journey included stops at Khao Lak-further north along the Andaman Coast; Khao Sok National Park-the oldest rainforest in the world; the UNESCO World Heritage Historical Park in Ayuthaya; Khao Yai National Park-the largest monsoonal forest in the world and another world heritage site; finally alighting in Thailand's second largest city, Chiang Mai.

Determined not to spend our final days in Thailand as common tourists we sought out the unusual and managed to score on several counts. Chiang Mai is nothing short of a Wat strewn wonder. Within the crumbled walls of the old city and beyond one can wander for days and see literally hundreds of unique Buddhist temples. Doi Suthep is the 1676meter Mountain viewed from the balcony of our Guesthouse. Near its summit is one of the north's most sacred temples. Lit up like a ghostly UFO at night Wat Phrathat Doi Suthep tempted us to visit. We rented a motor scooter to travel to this mountainside wonder-the most impressive Wat we've seen in SE Asia.

Neither words nor pictures can capture the beauty of this holy place. We are lucky to be among the foreign tourists that take the time to find their way up the mountain to discover the 300 steps leading up to this marvel. I won't take the time to expound on the particulars of this Wat. However if you're hungry for more details log onto this site: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wat_Phrathat_Doi_Suthep

Chiang Mai travel agencies offer tour after tour after tour of various Elephant Camps where you can spend the day feeding and riding elephants or learning how to become a mahout-an elephant trainer. Like there's a big call for those outside the country. We were thirsty for a richer experience. At Angkor Wat (see snippets titled "Angkor Wat, Cambodia" for more on that adventure) we found ourselves inside a ruined temple with a couple wearing t-shirts announcing they had volunteered at the Elephant Nature Park. We had to have details and engaged them in a conversation to hear the story of this amazing rescued elephant reserve near Chiang Mai.

After our Cambodian encounter with the volunteers we had found the park's website and saved it under our favorites for future reference. Once up north we contacted them for a trip up to their facility as day-guests.

Our day at the park probably tops both of our lists as the highlight of our visit to this amazing country. Which is saying a lot, as there have been a plethora of highlights! It was an extraordinary close encounter with mostly domesticated elephants no longer useful or wanted. Thailand outlawed logging in 1989 and many of its domesticated elephants were released into the wild where they no longer knew how to fend in a habitat they had helped to destroy. In 1995 a saint among Thai women came to the rescue. Lek (meaning small in Thai) is the daughter of a hill tribe shaman who has nurtured her love of elephants since childhood. Over the years, with the help of local and foreign volunteers, she has created a haven for retired elephants to live out there lives without chains, mistreatment, or stress.

Many of the rescued arrive with life threatening injuries. We met a blind elephant with one of the most compelling stories. As a logging worker she had given birth to her babe in the middle of her workday. The baby died falling out of her womb and down the mountain as Mom was forced to continue working. Her grief led to her refusal to work, which led to her mahout hitting her in her eyes with his hook! Heartbreaking mistreatment stories like these run rampant in this place called elephant heaven. We met an elephant with a partial leg that had stepped on a landmine in Burma; one with displaced hips; one that had killed 2 mahouts on separate occasions; one who'd been forced to beg on the streets of Bangkok amid the chaos to earn money for his handlers. And we got to meet a couple of 3yearolds born at the park who will never have to face the brutal will-breaking ritual the others were forced to endure early in their lives.

During our 5 hour visit not only did we feed many of the 35 residents treats (indeed the kitchen is a big storage area with bin after bin of watermelons, cucumbers, corn, pumpkin, banana etc), we wandered down in the river to help bathe them, and freely wandered among them in their unfettered home. We even got to meet Lek who came out to say hello to her friends. Preaching training using love instead of hooks these gentle creatures, some previously violent, are now putty in her hands. She is like the pied piper of the jungle. An elephant whisperer. When she is near the elephants come lumbering over to greet her so great is their love of this savior. She sat under a group of the massive beasts and we witnessed their mutual tenderness.

We could go on for pages about the wonders of our experience but will give those of a you who want to learn more the Nature Park's website instead: http://www.elephantnaturepark.org/aboutus.htm

All in all, our first boat-free foray into living outside the US was as close to perfect as we could have hoped. And that has left us with one very big concern. How will we ever replicate our Thai experience next year and the year after that and the year after that? We have been cradled by a super friendly, insanely honest populace, bathed in both blissful temps and refreshing pools, been stuffed with vibrantly healthy food, pampered with incredibly affordable body treatments, and housed in brand new digs with eye-popping views. And we were just a hop and a skip away from many other beguiling Asian destinations with flights costing less than what it costs to fly between Portland and Phoenix. Like the golden slipper that slipped effortlessly onto Cinderella's foot, Thailand slipped into our new lifestyle with ease and perfection. Indeed it has been a 6month fairy tale.

Whenever we find ourselves at the end of a journey together Ken and I always get excited trying to figure out where our next adventure should take us. This year is no different. Our short list for next "season" is Sri Lanka, India, Vietnam, Myanmar, and Brazil. Ken seems to think he needs to have a motor scooter as his main mode of transportation from henceforth. I would be much more content to hop on a chicken bus. Perhaps next year's locale will offer us opportunities to give back in the form of volunteering. Our separate desires will be considered and reconsidered and quite likely be affected by family situations in the states as well as other current events. Cruising has taught us to make our plans in Jell-O, always allowing for the unexpected. We'll let you know this fall where our next land cruise will take us.