Later I found out they were part the Biorock Coral Restoration project. The Biorock method uses safe low-voltage electrical currents to grow natural limestone rock out of the sea on steel structures of any size or shape. This provides the nursery for the birth of baby coral.

These coral grow faster, better withstand stress, and better recover from physical damage. Within a few years, coral reefs grown with the Biorock method can revive and turn eroding beaches into growing beaches with improved water quality.

Over fifty-six Biorock coral nursery structures were installed since June 2000 in Permuteran, a village in northwest Bali, Indonesia. With a total length of 500 meters situated in an area of 2 hectares, this is the largest Biorock coral reef nursery and restoration project worldwide, exceeding the combined sizes of all other projects in the Pacific, Caribbean, and Indian Ocean.

Of the 793 species of coral in the world, Indonesia, consisting of more than 17,500 islands, has over 581 species in its waters. Indonesia’s coral reefs cover more than 85,700 square kilometers, equal to 14% of the world’s coral reef area. Unfortunately only 6% are in healthy condition due to damage caused by destructive fishing methods, uncontrolled tourism, weather, and pollution.

Damaged coral reefs take years to recover naturally. Because of these rapidly increasing global stresses, many coral reefs cannot recover naturally, as they could in the past.

Bali’s coral reefs have been severely damaged in recent years due to bombs and cyanide used by farmers, abnormally high water temperatures linked to global warming, and stresses such as anchor and diver damage, reef harvesting, dredging, and increase storm wave intensity.

If not for the Biorock project, today many of Bali’s coral reefs would be jeopardy and not the thriving underwater paradises enjoyed by so many.

Thank you Biorock for creating such a gorgeous waterscape in Bali.

I truly enjoyed snorkeling in your creation. The brilliant colors and diversity in fish and coral were truly spectacular. Gratitude to your efforts in helping to restore beauty and balance to the waters in Bali!

To support the wonderful efforts of Biorock, sponsor a baby coral by going to http://biorockbali.webs.com/

(What a cute idea to have a baby coral planted for you with your name attached, with a picture of your coral sent to you after a year of growth!)

For more information on this project, go to the  Global Coral Reef Alliance.

“No problem,” I thought. “If I stay out of the swimming holes, I’ll be fine.” I figured they would be at least six inches long so easy to spot and avoid.

Friendly park wildlife

My friend, Sabrina, and I had come to Khao Sok because the lodge we picked was within walking distance from a national park full of waterfalls and wildlife. We’d wanted to hike in Thailand for weeks now but hadn’t found an easy way to get to places without paying for a tour or renting a motorbike.

So after breakfast and a pep/prep talk by Ian, we set out to hike in Khao Sok National Park. I was counting on some dips in waterfalls and careful immersion in the swimming holes so wore water booties, shorts, and a shirt over a swim suit.

We had a map of all of the waterfalls and swimming holes, and the farthest was about 7 kilometers (a bit over 4 miles) so seemed like an easy afternoon walk.

It had rained most of the night before so we walked through some mud and puddles while enjoying the shade of the trees. The scenery was very much as claimed, like something out of Avatar, with vines and tall canopies of trees amidst the strange calls of critters of maybe birds, insects, or larger animals. The signs claimed there even said there was wild elephants and tigers in this park!

About half an hour into our hike, Sabrina happened to look down at the crocs she was wearing and saw a little wiggly worm hanging off of her pants above the shoe. Yelling “leech!,” she knocked it off. Then we stared in horror at the culprit bouncing around on the ground.

After that I quickly checked my feet. Nothing wiggling on them. Whew!

However, that did not last long. During one of our periodic leech checks, I was horrified to see numerous little worms trying to burrow into my booties. And then when I checked my ankle, I found one leech attached! After whacking at it repeatedly with a piece of bark, it finally released and slithered away. I then had to give up on the bark and smack the remaining little guys off of my booties!

Here’s a video of the partially fed vampire leech! (Pardon the bouncy video. I was still recovering from my leech trauma so not feeling too steady! We wanted to shoot a video showing a leech actually sucking on one of us, but just couldn’t do it! Could you?)

We did find that the leeches fell off if we sprayed them with DEET so we then sprayed our feet and legs liberally with DEET, hoping this would keep them off us!  This might have helped marginally but they did continue to show up on my booties. We did find that it was less creepy checking and removing them from each other than on ourselves!

Sabrina’s crocs fared much better since the little blood-suckers couldn’t stick to them so we thought she’d escaped being a blood donor.

Exhausted from the continual leech check and removal, we decided to take a break  with a cool dip in river, of course after checking the water for leeches. That’s when I noticed an expanding three-inch red spot on Sabrina’s pants and soon found that she had been leeched, and leeched badly! Apparently they drop off when they are full so this one had already gone its merry way, but left a wound that bled profusely for over an hour. (Leeches insert an anticoagulant into the wound so it doesn’t clot while they are feeding. Thus the holes always bleed a lot.)

At that point, we decided to turn around and head back as fast as we could. We bashed off a few more leeches on the way, including one that tried to bite Sabrina when she removed it by the tail. (At dinner, our Internet leech research said during leech removal it was best to pinch it off at the head. Ick!)

Day two leech-wear!

The next day we tried again to hike the park, this time I wore running shoes, socks, pants, and hair bands around the bottom of the pants. Sabrina wore all of her socks (three pairs) and her crocs. No leeches were in sight on this gorgeous sunny day so hiked along happily, thinking there were no leeches at this end of the park.

Soon the rain came and poured hard for over 10 minutes. We still felt safe since we had seen no leeches – yet. That feeling did not last long. Apparently the rain brought them up, like earthworms, to the surface. Suddenly they were all over our feet and we were smacking them off each other! (I may have flung one onto my elbow since later I found a bleeding hole there, though no wiggly blood sucker!) The leeches seemed very single-minded, reaching out and stepping forward each time, searching for food, drawn by the warmth of living creatures with blood. (See the video of this determined leech, carefully traveling along looking to reach out and touch someone.)

That’s when we decided it was time to turn around and head back the way we came. We managed to return to our lodge without any more leech attacks.

With a feeling of relief, we reached our bungalow, happy to be back and out of leech territory. Unfortunately we hadn’t counted on hitchhikers.

Inside my shoe I found one squished leech and another lively one on top of my sock. Sabrina whacked it repeatedly till it finally stopped moving. It started moving again later so she smacked it dead this time and knocked it off the porch (since it was grossing her out). Very resilient buggers, perhaps because they don’t have any bones to break.

We enjoyed our hikes in Khao Sok but really feel we’d given enough of ourselves there. So we left a day early, relieved and hoping we had left all of the leeches behind.

We had gotten more wildlife than we’d hoped for, and not of the kind we wanted.

How do you feel about hiking among leeches? Would you do it?

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• Creepy Crawlies – Khao Sok, Thailand (travelpod.com)

So we emerged in the hot sun of Koh Pha Ngan, this island paradise in Thailand, and were immediately swarmed by questions such as “where are you going?” and “where are you from?” Most were songtaew (Thai taxis in the form of open-air trucks) drivers looking to charge us a bundle to take us to our resort, which was on the north end of the island away from most of the tourists and nightlife.

They wanted 150 Baht (about $5) for the ride. That seemed really high since we had just paid 550 Baht of travel (5 hours!) to get to this island.

So we refused all offers and dragged our luggage many blocks looking hoping for a bus or cheaper ride.

As walked from one street to the next, we noticed that this one woman seemed to really want to “help” us. We’d go around a corner and there she would be jabbering about her brother being part of our resort so our ride would be free at 150 Baht each (around $5 a piece), and how hard this trip would be on her truck due to the many hills. She showed up three times on three different streets and just wouldn’t seem to take “no” for an answer.

Finally we thought we had gotten lucky after seeing a van with our resort name on it. No such luck! Unfortunately our stalker got to the driver first, so he ignored our frantic waves and drove away.

Now we were even more determined not to hire her for anything! But she wasn’t done with us yet! We soon found stalker woman was heading off all taxis up the street so none of them would stop for us. Geez!

Seemed like we’d been black-balled by her!

Finally we flagged down a nice couple in a songtaew and paid them the $150 Baht to the resort, which was actually about 30 minutes away up and down many hills. We didn’t save any money after that adventure, but were so happy to get to our destination where we found our own almost private beach with palm trees, warm water, and ocean breezes!

Not sure how to avoid being blackballed again in Thailand, but guess that’s what can happen to a stranger in a stranger land!

“Where you from?” I was asked repeatedly while in Bali and Thailand for the last two months. Strangely enough, my two friends (two obviously not Asian types who, like me, were from America) rarely got asked this question.

“Japan?” “Korea?” “Thailand?” the guesses came. “Nepal?” “Peru?” came more guesses everywhere I went! (Strange how very few guessed Chinese!)

People seemed fascinated that I looked Asian, but  had an American accent and acted like a tourist. For some reason, the concept of an Asian-American seemed so foreign.

Where did this mysterious Asian come from?! That seemed to be the burning question in almost everyone’s mind!

Eventually they would nod in understanding if I felt sorry enough for their puzzlement and told them that my parents were Chinese.

“Ah, Chinese!” they would say, as a their foreheads smoothed out and they happily sighed with relief from having solved this modern mystery.

Unfortunately, my patience wore off so I left some still wondering about my origins. (They shouldn’t feel so bad since even my parents think I look like a Korean!)

What do you think? Where do I look like I’m from?

Well, it looked harmless enough and I didn’t see teeth like on a piranha or shark so why not?

Seems like this is the new thing on islands around the world. I saw this offered first in the Dominican Republic and now here in Thailand. Some go by the name of “Dr. Fish” and in Thailand can cost from around $2 to $7 for 15 minutes of “cleaning.” I’ve also seen this packaged as part of a tour.

We were lucky to find the low-season price of 60 Baht ($2) for 15 minutes in the Krabi Night Market. Of course, we tried to bargain for an even better price, but failed. (Later we found out what a deal we’d gotten, as it was a lot more everywhere else in Thailand!)

After rinsing off our feet, we gingerly placed them into our own private glass-walled aquarium. Before we even submerged our feet, the fish were eagerly swarming to the top of the water!

Fish soon nibbled between our toes, at our heels, at our legs, and pretty much everywhere that was underwater. Kind of tickly, but not painful in the least bit! The most popular spot seemed to be my friend’s right heel! They pretty much swarmed there non-stop!

Afterwards we were shocked to find that the tough skin on our heels was actually gone and our feet and legs felt softer! Much easier on the skin than those pedicures where they scrape a ton of dead skin off with those rough boards!

We looked on the web to find out more about this fish pedicure experience. Here’s what we found:

“These fish have no teeth, use their powerful sucking lips to suck away dead skin, which can stimulate acupuncture point and modulate nervous system to relax your body and releases your fatigue.”

Also:

“Garra rufa live and breed in the outdoor pools of some Turkish spas, where they feed on the skin of patients with psoriasis. The fish only consume the affected and dead areas of the skin, leaving the healthy skin to grow… (From the Wikipedia)

Wow! I needed to get some of these installed in an aquarium at home! Sounded cheaper than spa treatments and visits to dermatologists!

Unfortunately, then I read this:

For treatment of skin diseases, aquarium specimens are not well suited as the skin-feeding behavior fully manifests only under conditions where the food supply is somewhat scarce and unpredictable.

A few weeks later we saw a place that offered a full-body fish experience, with only your head sticking out of the water! Yikes! I’m not sure if I’d trust my body to hungry fish whose food supply is somewhat scarce and unpredictable!

How about you? Would you do submerge your body into an aquarium full of flesh-eating fish?

Unfortunately I was very wrong! Even my friend, the exercise addict, started dragging and complaining a quarter of the way up. We had picked the hottest day of our time in Thailand to climb these steps and they were a real challenge. Armed with the bottle of water provided by the tour guide (that should have warned us!), we trudged up the steps, which varied in width, length, and steepness. Some flights of steps, more like ladders, requiring hugging the banister to climb up!

We were thankful for the few toilet stops spaced along the way, but not for the obvious reasons. Using the bucket of water for “flushing” the toilet to drench ourselves, we cooled off, but only briefly since it was so hot that our clothes dried almost immediately.

So up and up we went!

Each time we thought we were near the top, we found yet another flight of steps! All markers along the way were in Thai so no way to tell how close we were to our destination!

At the top about 45 grueling minutes later, we emerged to the sight of golden Buddhas and an altar, including Ganesha and two other figures.

The breath-taking views made it well worth the climb, though the antennas next to the Buddha just seemed out of place!

See for yourself!

On the way down, I passed many monkeys and blissfully laughed at the screams of the nearby Japanese girls. Later I found out that the monkeys love to take shiny objects and have been known to bite! (Lucky me to still have my camera!) They seemed so cute at the time, especially the mother and baby monkey. Don’t they seem harmless to you?

What a strange mix of the modern and the ancient, the civilized and the wild!

My legs finally recovered after a week, but the memories will live on for a long time!

These three-wheeled open-aired taxis are a common way to get around in Thailand. We tried one of these motorized rickshaws after finally arriving in Bangkok after 20+ hours of travel, followed by a few hours of confusion navigating out of the airport to take the railway to our overnight home in Khao San.

I made the mistake of getting in one without agreeing to a price so probably got charged double for this error. Being tired and feeling overwhelmed by the traffic, I thought I could negotiate after I got in the vehicle. Unfortunately he started moving forward very quickly, partially perhaps because he was being chased and chastised by an official on the street. I suspected later that it was because the official was trying to keep us from being ripped off. Instead, we took the excuse that the fare was twice as high as the estimate given at the airport because of really bad traffic.

So we zipped down many side alleys, dodged bigger vehicles, hung on to ourselves and our luggage, and eventually arrived at our destination. In total we only spent under $7 and were too tired to care by then, but knew better than to give the guy a tip!

We later learned that most taxis (the real kind, though in Bangkok often hot pink for some reason) have a meter that helps keep them honest.

Within a week we found that tuk tuk drivers often quote one number and then try to charge you for much more after you reach your destination, making it seem as if you misunderstood the charge or acting like you’re trying to cheat him. One driver glared, scowled, and muttered at us in Thai for over 10 minutes before giving up since we weren’t paying him any more than we heard.

Riding a tuk tuk can be a risk to the wallet, especially if you’re not a good negotiator or don’t have a good idea of the going rate to your destination.

So go for a ride in a tuk tuk, but don’t be taken for a ride by a tuk tuk.

On my way to Southeast Asia, for the first time I noticed the impact cell phones has had on airports. Now a proud owner of a smartphone, I was among the many looking to charge my phone for one more time before boarding a plane. To my delight I found that most airports now have free charging stations!

I had just suspended my cell phone service (to avoid unintentional exorbinant roaming charges) and was going with the idea of using Wi-fi to connect to the Internet, with hopes of finding lots of free Wi-fi in airports at the least. As a smartphone addict, I was visualizing this method would work as well as promised by a friend. (So far it has worked great! Thank you Los Angeles and Taiwan airports for the free Wi-fi, and to my friend for the Wi-fi and smartphone idea!)

At the Los Angeles airport, Samsung-sponsored plug stations were scattered around various boarding gates. (My friend almost left her phone plugged into the charging column, as we got in the boarding line shortly after midnight. Convenient charging, but not if you leave your phone and fly away!)

We were on EVA Air, my first flight with this airline. What an impressive menu (chosen when you book) and individual seat-back selections of a variety of movies, television shows, and more. (If can’t sleep on a plane, you will find lots to keep you occupied for a while!)

Two of my meals came with the coolest lime plastic utensils. We liked them so much we kept a pair as a souvenir. These have since come in handy during our travels. (We did not, however, keep the flossing tool that came with each meal.)

I had ordered the special seafood meal, so I was served earlier than most three times (on two flights). Most amusing was the one shrimp I found in my seafood breakfast (otherwise I dug around and found nothing remotely resembling seafood in there). Overall my seafood meals were good (especially the one shrimp), though my friend’s Hindu vegetarian meals seemed a bit more consistently in theme.

We arrived at Taipei, Taiwan over 13 hours later. With a three-hour layover, we had a bit of time to spare. Though bleary eyed, we the Internet addicts immediately found computers and IPads for use for free so happily checked in with family and friends. We were further impressed by the charging stations, boxes with locks – also a free service! The airport even had a small lending library with the only request that you return the book back to the library while you are in the airport.

I was confused by the SOS next to the toilet in the airport. Now that was taking care of travelers a bit too much perhaps? I guess it’s good to know that if I need help while using the toilet, I can easily press the emergency button and be taken care of shortly after that. (Anyone used one of these? If so, let me know how that went for you.)

After boarding another plane, we finally arrived in Bangkok about 22 hours later, including the two-hour drive to the Los Angeles airport.

Returning to the subject of toilets, I now needed help with Thai toilets. After a few days, I finally figured out the spray nozzle next to Thai toilets. I believe that these are often replacements for toilet paper, but how do you use one without blasting the toilet, the floor, and surrounding areas with water and residual unmentionable materials? And then when you’re all wet, what do you do next if there’s no toilet paper around to dry off with? Hopping up and down (like I’ve done when on hikes) doesn’t seem wise here!

And then there are the squat toilets used in Asia, including Thailand. I get the general posture needed to use the toilet (hence the name “squat toilet”), but it’s still a real learning experience. For example, my friend was puzzled by what to do if you have to do number 2 in one of these and the buckets of water aren’t do the trick in washing things down. And how do you keep your long skirt or pants from eagerly soaking up any spare water around the toilet while trying not to miss the target and things going where you don’t them to go (like on our leg, outside the toilet, …). And which way do you face? And if you bring your own toilet paper (since many toilets don’t come with this), do you bag it and carry to the nearest trash since the system will clog if you throw it in the toilet? Sometimes it’s just not clear! (I am sparing you of a picture of this, as these are easily found online if you really still don’t get the picture.)

Anyone have squat or Thai toilet suggestions or techniques that have worked best for you?

One more question for you trivia buffs. Why do Americans ask for a restroom or a bathroom when most public facilities are not set up for resting or don’t usually have a bath? In China, these facilities are called hand-washing facilities; in Thailand they are simply labeled toilets.

Traveling internationally is always so eye-opening. So many questions about so many basics!

I’d be most grateful if you send your advice and share your travel experience (especially on toilets) here!

(Stay tuned for more travel queries and stories, as we travel for over two months in Southeast Asia!)

Kayaking at Bor Thor - caves and mangroves!

Sawadee! It’s June and we’re in Southeast Asia in southern Thailand at a cool place called Krabi. So far my friend Sabrina and I have been in Thailand for almost a week, beginning with a ride to Los Angeles, a long 13-plus hour flight to Taipei, and shorter flight to Bangkok, followed by wandering around in the confusing multi-floor airport (maybe the jet lag didn’t help), a ride on the railway, and a ride in a tuk tuk  (a tricycle rickshaw of sorts) to our home for the night (in the Khao San area, where you can get your 1 kilogram of laundry done for about a dollar!). Almost 24 hours later we were finally able to crash at our air-conditioned room at Queen Suriya’s Castle in the Khao San area.

The next day after one taxi, railway, plane, and bus (last one of the day!) later, we arrived after dark at our resort in Krabi, the Aonang Cliff View Resort, happy to be done traveling around for a while!

It’s the beginning of monsoon season here so we’ve had rain every day, with awesome downpours coming with hardly any notice. Despite the rain, we’re having no problem having fun. So far we’ve gone kayaking at Bor Thor (full-day tour under $30!), gotten two Thai massages ($7 for an hour!), eaten yummy meals (under $5), gone to the Night Market (meals for $1!), and taken a long tail boat ride in turbulent waters (and collided with an anchored boat)! That boat was suppose to take us snorkeling at four islands but was canceled due to weather after a few hours of being sprayed with salt water and bouncing up and down on the ocean! (Was a fun ride, though wish we could have gone snorkeling!)

Join me on my hodge-podge photo montage of our journeys! Stay tuned for detailed stories on these pictures and more, as we travel around Thailand and Bali for over two months! (I promise when I’m less jet lagged I’ll label more pictures and tell you more!)

Says Sugawara to CNN, “I knew if I didn’t save my boat, my island would be isolated and in trouble.”

As he passed the fishermaen’s abalone boats, Sugawara waved good-bye, apologizing that he couldn’t save them all, though he had no way of knowing if he’d even be able to save himself from nature’s devastating fury.

When the first wave rolled towards him, Sugawara was stunned by the magnitude of this wave. Many times he’d encountered 16 foot waves but this one was at least four times that size.

“My feeling at this moment is indescribable,” he told CNN. “I talked to my boat and said you’ve been with me 42 years. If we live or die, then we’ll be together. Then I pushed on full throttle.”

Sugawara described what happened next: “The wave was like a mountain. I started climbing and when I got to the top, the wave started breaking. Time and time again I knew I had to break free. Finally I closed my eyes and felt dizzy. When I opened them, I could see the horizon again, so I knew I’d made it.”

Others from Oshima attempted the same incredible feat in their boats, but none are known to have survived. Eventually Sugawara found himself carefully navigating back to his devastated island in total darkness with the fires raging in the town of Kesunnuma three miles away as his only guide.

From that day on and for twenty days, Sugawara and Sunflower made hourly trips to the mainland. According to CNN, the pair were the only salvation to the mainland for the first two weeks following the catastrophe. Without them, Oshima would have been completely cut off. Sugawara doesn’t ask his passengers for money if they have none. For those who can afford to chip in, he only asked for $3.50 for fuel.

Tadaomi Sasahara, owner of Oshima’s supermarket, told CNN that he gave away all the food in his store. Islanders, he said, shared what food they had in their homes with each other. Sasahara now makes runs to the mainland with Sugawara and Sunflower.

“Everyone used to look out for themselves on this island,” he told CNN. “But after this, the whole community is now helping each other.”

From great tragedy often comes great heroism, and Sugawara and Sunflower will certainly be remembered among the heroes of what was one of Japan’s darkest hours.

How do you face unexpected tragedy when it strikes? Will you face it head on and help others, or will you complain or run away? Let’s all be inspired by this brave and selfless fisherman to think of the common good instead of ourselves!

This video is from CNN, broadcast Sunday, April 3, 2011.