Back to Santa Cruz

Well, we have been back for a few days now. I feel like I am not quite caught up yet. The cool thing is that it is spring now! The garden looks great. Ornamental cherries, quinces and peaches are in full bloom. Even the tulips came up, and a few are getting ready to flower.

Elephant Trekking and Wat Phrae

The following morning we went for an elephant ride. The company came to pick us up at the hotel and drove us to the farm. We climbed on a high platform to get on the elephant. As soon as the elephant approached us I gave it some trail mix. The elephant would then bug us for more for the remaining time we stayed there.
Two people got on each elephant on a special bench, while the drove sat on their necks. We went to walk around the rubber tree plantation. Elephants walk really slowly! Or maybe just these ones did! It is amazing though how they can walk in narrow and steep paths.
After a while the driver got off and let us "drive". It was pretty trilling!
Once we got off we got the feed the elephants cucumbers. It turns out that one elephant really likes ice cream and I got to feed it, directly in its mouth!! (I guess that the ice cream is too cold to be grabbed by the trunk.) The elephant even spit out the stick when it was done!! Hilarious!
Finally we got to see some elephants (mom and daughter) bathing. They seemed to enjoy it a great deal.

Krabi Town Via Rai Leh, part 2

Well, as my last internet card run out I had to do this in 2 parts.
The second day in Railay was nice. I decided to not do the climbing afterall, even though that was something I had planned since before the trip. I thought that would leave no time to explore around, and plus, I did want to sleep in!
We wanted to explore the hiden Princess Lagoon andcheck out the view point. As I already meantioned, the hike was more of a climb. I initially was to scared to go down vertical rock wall holding on to a rope. thinking,-if my feet sli I will probably let go of the rope as well!-. Well, I finally mastered my fears, and it was so worthed!! Oh, I should also meantioned that we saw the Princess Cave on the first day and that was memorable, as the offerings to the princess were hundreds of wooden dicks of all sizes and colors. The cave was on a beach that had the most amazing sand I have ever felt. I wanted to keep touching it, it felt like silk.
The second day we finally got ready to leave for Kraby town, thankfully somebody from the hotel gave us a hand with the luggage, my back was still too sunburned to carry my backpack.
We took a longtail boat to Krabi. As a taxi service, the boat owners wait untill there are anough people to fill the boat, 10 usually. It did not take long. We went by some nice beaches, and entered a wide river. Krabi lies at the edge of thei river not more than 1/2 mile up from the ocean. From the boat we were able to see our hotel and realize that it was a walking distance from the hotel.
That night we did not do much...after resting we walked to a nearby nightmarket, a collection of foodstands at the edge of the river. The market had a very nice ambience, many tourists and locals were enjoing themselves there. By the way, it is amazing how many food stands there are here in Thailand, it seems that Thai people eat out a lot.
We met some cool people that night; they were visiting from Northern Europe. We ended up chatting for hours and drinking lots of Singha. We also had some misterious food, balls and sausages on sticks that were fried up on demand. Whatever they were, yum! I also finally got to taste the black glutinous rice pudding I have seen many times in cookbooks. It was quite good.

Krabi Town, via Rai Leh Beach

Well, this has been our second day in Krabi. And it has been another very full day! We arrived yesterday afternoon after spending one night in Rai Leh (Railay). After the relaxed and mellow atmosphere of Koh Yao Noi, Railay was very intense. The beach front and all of the available land is covered in resorts and bars, and the beach was jam-packed with tourists! Nevertheless we had a good ,time there. After arriving on my b-day we explored and had some great food. We spent the evening chilling out at the stone bar. The DJ was spinning some trance music, and the atmosphere was really awesome on the high spot on the hill next to a vertical rock wall.
The following day we had an amazing hike/climb to a hidden lagoon in the rock.

Bangkok, Day 1

Siamo arrivati ieri a Bangkok dopo un lungo viaggio e senza problemi. Oggi abbiamo avuto una giornata pienissima. Abbiamo visitato un paio di tempi fantastici e il palazzo reale. Poi siamo andati a un mercato gigante. Domani mattina andiamo a visitare un mercato galleggiante (dove tutte le bancarelle sono barche) e poi di sera partiamo per Siam Reap in Cambogia.

Squash and Asparagus Farfalle

Came up with a simple new recipe today...gotta write it down before I forget...I just sauteed 1/2 inch butternut squash cubes with shallots, then added asparagus, milk and pecorino and voila! i got dinner for tomorrow! I will be able to eat on campus a couple hours before yoga...

Opera and Tapas in San Jose

Went out last (Friday) night to see the SJD opera, the Rigoletto by Verdi. It was great, except the ending pissed me off!! Why does the good guy always die and the jerk live? Like in real life Sandro said...

Before dinner we went to Picasso Restaurant on Santa Clara, downtown San Jose. I went by it a few times and always wanted to try it. What a let down! I cannot believe the wait and the prices, and for what! My roasted golden beets with basil etc. turned out to be canned red beets with garlic and nothing else. The chicken and jamon croquettes had the texture of baby food...tasted like oil only; andfpinally the piquillos stuffed with seafood, other than the mushy texture once again, did not taste very fresh. This place was voted best tapas place in San Jose?!?! It must be the only one...oh wait..there are 2!!! Imagine how bad the other one is...
http://www.yelp.com/c/sanjose/tapas