Malaysia!!

After a long journey from Thailand we’ve settled into our new lives on a small set of islands in the South China Sea. We are on the Pulau Perhentian Islands located about 45mins via speedboat from the mainland (see the map). We stayed in a private lagoon for the past 6 days and recently moved to another small island for some change. It’s truly beautiful here. The water holds perfect clarity and dances through various blues and greens, rich and full in tone, as the sun shifts during the day. The beaches are also lovely. The sand is soft and a welcome delight to the bare foot – sticking just enough to make a light, white sandal that can only be cleaned by a swift dunk in the bucket. The climate is much different than Thailand, it is far less humid and the monsoons are just around the corner. This is important as if you do not leave before the monsoons start, you will be stuck here for about a month b/c no boat can cross the 10m swells that come during that time.
Mother Nature has offered many spectacles during our stay. We have felt wind currents so completely in control that all sound was subdued, left in silence, as the wind howled in irritation at the island’s hindrance to its ocean paths. Clouds have bellowed in the sky, dark, thunderous creatures, monstrous in their size and strength. They hover above, a maddened reflection of opposites to the tranquility and peace of the sea below. We have witnessed them collide, roaring and cracking in such vivid displays of power that one might imagine planets and stars are created in such ways. Sound has no meaningful way of describing the deafening boom that is not just heard but thoroughly felt after the lightening tears at the sky. Even the spirits of the sea are alive as we’ve seen numerous barracuda soaring briefly above the surface in hot pursuit of some little fish. On one of my dive trips, I watched one such chase involving three massive leaps before the little fish was either caught or the barracuda broke chase. The jungle, filled from earth to leaf with life, has a way of reminding us that it is indeed a beautiful and inspiring gift. It also reminds us that life has no meaning without death and that to accept one is to accept the other. We set off through the jungle and it was morbidly hot – a slight foretelling of what was to come. We came across a huge monitor lizard that had been mortally injured. We discussed thoroughly but simply cannot explain the injuries we saw and the lizards state. It was about 6ft long and weighed around 70-80lbs. We thought it dead until I examined it closer and saw that it was instead incapacitated with the jungle already infiltrating its body. Covered in ants and various other creatures that were taking its life as their own, its eyes blinked helplessly and watched us. It stirred, but was well beyond being able to move its body. I ended his misery and moved him off the trail and into the bush so he could return to the jungle. It was a hard thing to do and I was very glad Tara was with me. I realize that I am not a hunter of big things but a watcher and admirer.
Tara and I have gone snorkeling and have enjoyed playing in the water at sunset. It’s spectacularly perfect. I have been diving many times and have done my first shipwreck dive! It was quite the experience. Tomorrow we plan on doing some more snorkelling around the island and will explore one of the beaches that's just a hike away. Our food lasted a full span of meals for 7 days!! We were quite proud of that, and just today we visited the Fisherman’s market to restock for the rest of our stay.

We will also be leaving the island a bit sooner than planned b/c my Mom will be in Singapore for work. The world is so small! It’s an eleven hour bus ride from our current spot and we’ll be leaving on the morning of the 28th or 29th. After that who knows? We hope everybody is enjoying adventures of your own back home and we miss you all!
Jonathan and Tara

Last Days inThailand - FIXED!

Oh sure there are the stars beyond that glimmer in every hue
With skies that stretch out lazily in the deepest shades of blue
Who watch below the emerald seas as vast as the mind can soar
Where sitting gently the whitened clouds whisper ancient lore
From which they pour Thy silver rain down gently to the earth
Whose eager soils soaked in browns are nourished for new birth
And thus the golden ways of old repeat under the sun
And what has always ended will, as always, have just begun.

We are on our way out of Thailand and it is a complex amazement at how time will go, unheedingly, at whatever pace it wantonly desires. Time can so torrentially drag the heart into a lost feeling of finiteness that it’s no wonder the more we experience it the more we find it in distaste. It affects everything we can sense – sight, taste, smell, sound, touch. If you disagree – I invite you to buy a piece of fruit, make it your favorite for added effect. Place it in your bedroom where you can use each of your senses to examine it daily. What a beautiful piece of fruit! On the 20th day (perhaps *much* sooner if you’re in a tropical place like…oh I dunno Thailand?) if there is anything left other than a piece of semi-gelatinous-vomit-inducing-bio-matter you have either cheated and used your refrigerator or have found fruit grown from the spring in Tuck Everlasting. I’d say the former is infinitely more likely. But the latter provokes something beautiful and suggests we are not entirely bound to time’s rule. I think it suggests that things outside of our 5 senses are beyond the capacity to be governed by time!! The heart, the soul, the imagination ( and even if you believe the heart and soul are ephemeral, you must believe that the imagination is infinite) are our true un-doings of time. With them we can create and perceive a world where time is truly not in control. Time is not the ender of things but is rather the baron of initiation, a gentle reminder that in this wild, wild ride called life, things never truly end but instead are just constantly beginning!
…And so while our stay in Thailand has been wonderful and we’re a bit heavy hearted to move on, we know it’s time to go…um yeah that and our visa’s are expiring too =p. We did so many things!!! I’m guessing most of you will realize of which internet was not among them. We are sorry for being out of touch for so long!!! Our visa expiration was fast approaching and we had much planning to do on where to next venture. Plus, the one internet shop on our side that has power at night was closed for many days (up until we left) which made things that much harder. We are both doing well and are in good health. Both tsunami and plane crash have left us to our peace – thank you for all your concern! Back to the wrap up - our days were spent with lots of climbing, reading, cooking, and hanging out. I lead my first set of 5.10d’s which felt really good!! Tara took a lot of pics and I made a college out of them below. The ones where I am clipping draws I’m lead climbing. There are also a few top roping pics. I must say that I’ve never enjoyed cooking so much in my entire life! We cook one meal a day on our little burner and it is by far the best food I’ve eaten since my home cooked meals with my Mom or Tara’s family. Tara not only knows what’s goes well with what– but when we start eating the nurse part of her kicks in and our meals are often filled with a mini-biology lecture ^__^ I’ve come to agree with her that it is impossible to use too much garlic and onion for flavor! We are both feeling really strong. We’ve also been learning a lot about trigger points b/c Tara hurt her left wrist climbing. It’s a fascinating subject and I’ve had several of the massages done before but have never tried to learn about it. It’s based on the concept of referred pain and provides area maps to treat trigger points (a constriction in the muscle) depending on what area is bothering you. If any of you have upcoming surgeries for shoulder’s, wrists, knees or whatever else look into this first!
We finally decided that we’ll be heading down to Malaysia. There is clean water, good snorkeling and great climbing there. That’s it for now – we’ll post more soon!.

Jonathan and Tara

Last Days in Thailand

Oh sure there are the stars beyond that glimmer in every hue
With skies that stretch out lazily in the deepest shades of blue
Who watch below the emerald seas as vast as the mind can soar
Where sitting gently the whitened clouds whisper ancient lore
From which they pour Thy silver rain down gently to the earth
Whose eager soils soaked in browns are nourished for new birth
And thus the golden ways of old repeat under the sun
And what has always ended will, as always, have just begun.

We are on our way out of Thailand and it is a complex amazement at how time will go, unheedingly, at whatever pace it wantonly desires. Time can so torrentially drag the heart into a lost feeling of finiteness that it’s no wonder the more we experience it the more we find it in distaste. It affects everything we can sense – sight, taste, smell, sound, touch. If you disagree – I invite you to buy a piece of fruit, make it your favorite for added effect. Place it in your bedroom where you can use each of your senses to examine it daily. What a beautiful piece of fruit! On the 20th day (perhaps *much* sooner if you’re in a tropical place like…oh I dunno Thailand?) if there is anything left other than a piece of semi-gelatinous-vomit-inducing-bio-matter you have either cheated and used your refrigerator or have found fruit grown from the spring in Tuck Everlasting. I’d say the former is infinitely more likely. But the latter provokes something beautiful and suggests we are not entirely bound to time’s rule. I think it suggests that things outside of our 5 senses are beyond the capacity to be governed by time!! The heart, the soul, the imagination ( and even if you believe the heart and soul are ephemeral, you must believe that the imagination is infinite) are our true un-doings of time. With them we can create and perceive a world where time is truly not in control. Time is not the ender of things but is rather the baron of initiation, a gentle reminder that in this wild, wild ride called life, things never truly end but instead are just constantly beginning!
…And so while our stay in Thailand has been wonderful and we’re a bit heavy hearted to move on, we know it’s time to go…um yeah that and our visa’s are expiring too =p. We did so many things!!! I’m guessing most of you will realize of which internet was not among them. We are sorry for being out of touch for so long!!! Our visa expiration was fast approaching and we had much planning to do on where to next venture. Plus, the one internet shop on our side that has power at night was closed for many days (up until we left) which made things that much harder. We are both doing well and are in good health. Both tsunami and plane crash have left us to our peace – thank you for all your concern! Back to the wrap up - our days were spent with lots of climbing, reading, cooking, and hanging out. I lead my first set of 5.10d’s which felt really good!! Tara took a lot of pics and I made a college out of them below. The ones where I am clipping draws I’m lead climbing. There are also a few top roping pics. I must say that I’ve never enjoyed cooking so much in my entire life! We cook one meal a day on our little burner and it is by far the best food I’ve eaten since my home cooked meals with my Mom or Tara’s family. Tara not only knows what’s goes well with what– but when we start eating the nurse part of her kicks in and our meals are often filled with a mini-biology lecture ^__^ I’ve come to agree with her that it is impossible to use too much garlic and onion for flavor! We are both feeling really strong. We’ve also been learning a lot about trigger points b/c Tara hurt her left wrist climbing. It’s a fascinating subject and I’ve had several of the massages done before but have never tried to learn about it. It’s based on the concept of referred pain and provides area maps to treat trigger points (a constriction in the muscle) depending on what area is bothering you. If any of you have upcoming surgeries for shoulder’s, wrists, knees or whatever else look into this first!
We finally decided that we’ll be heading down to Malaysia. There is clean water, good snorkeling and great climbing there. That’s it for now – we’ll post more soon!.

Jonathan and Tara

Update is soon to come!

Jonathan and I are working on our summary blog of Thailand and will hopefully have it finished and posted later this week. We are headed to Malaysia this coming weekend! Sorry to keep everyone in suspense!
Tara and Jonathan

TARA'S FIRST CLIMB!!!

She made it up not one, but TWO climbs WHOO-HOO!! It was quite a feat and both myself and our new friends were really excited. Her first climb is chronicled in the collage above and you can see from start to finish how she progressed. It's a 25m climb and very tricky in some spots. It's called the Groove tube ladies and gentleman - and at the top your hard effort is rewarded with a sit in a little (natural) steeple with a view of the beach, cliffs, ocean and horizon...truly worthy of a painter's brush. By far the trickiest spot is the start. You have to overcome about a 5m bulge of rock (and an intimidating bulge too!). Spotters usually stand behind you b/c if you slip you'll deck (aka splat) due to the flex in the rope. After a few tries she made it up this and steadily made her way to the sky. From the start the meat of the climb begins...the tube. As you climb higher you become more enclosed in the rock, it's like a giant termite, drunk from too much seawater, burrowed through the wall in half tilt. The pictures can be deceiving but make no mistake, the last several meters bring on a small feeling of claustrophobia as you become enclosed by almost 270 degrees of rock! This creates a very intimate climb, you're tired and it is as though the wall is not a wall but some giant stagnant beast slowly devouring you with it's craggy arms...and then just at the right moment you pop out of the tube and there is one last ledge to negotiate before the top. If you look at the 2nd to last picture in the collage you can see her little head sticking over the ledge and she's waving to the camera...and yes if you look closely she was smiling (make sure to click the picture to bring up the larger image!). Would you guess she is afraid of heights?! I wouldn't! I was very proud and in that moment my smile was as big as hers. She did it. ^_^ Beginners luck some might say...perhaps a need to prove that she could indeed do it. Well, I think it was something different. I believe that she not only cherished the moment and realized what she accomplished (this was evident in her 10min sit at the top!) with a sense of pride, but she actually took to the rock. I saw it in her eyes, the way she settled at the bottom - exhausted, exhilarated and best of all eager to try again. She completed her second climb about an hour later when we hiked over to a spot called Melting Wall (called so, b/c it is only climbable only after the sun has gone over the ridgeline in late afternoon). That night we hardly chewed our food.

Jonathan and Tara

P.S. My scabies are almost completely gone. After a series of washes and creams that stung like the dickens I've found much relief. I expect to be completely clear in a day or two.

P.P.S Thank you to everyone who left suggestions for cooking. We just finished our second market day (which was not as good as the first since we opted for the afternoon market which is considerably smaller and with less selection) and are looking forward to trying them!