Arusha, Tanzania.  I never knew when these shocking moments would hit. At around ten that morning, I groggily stumbled out of bed and into the bathroom: a crucial part of my daily routine. The shower always represented a place to unwind, relax, and mentally prepare myself for the upcoming day, and in Arusha, Tanzania specifically, the nozzle represented no danger what so ever, however today I was in for a rude awakening. I falsely felt a sense of safety as I took a luxuriously hot shower.  As I thoroughly rinsed the remainder of shampoo from my hair and finished up, I reached down for the metallic lever to switch the shower off.  As soon as my hands made contact:  ZAP!  Volts of galvanizing electricity violently made their way through every fiber of my body.  As you probably know: wet person plus electricity equals not good. I shook up and down with my hair standing on end like a cartoon character.  In the midst of this involuntary spasm, my hand bumped against the lever once again and doubled the pain, and doubled my distrust in showers from now on. Ever since that experience, I now do a little poke test on metallic levers with the tip of my index finger prior to dampening myself. I stepped into that bathroom a tired, naive, and unprepared zombie, but left a shocked piece of toast who couldn’t feel more awake.

Yangshuo, China.  We entered the substantially sized grocery store with an equally big grocery list: eggs, fruit, vegetables, milk, and the other usual items needed to accommodate the maximum impact family.  My mom and I looked around puzzled.  Neither of us could read Chinese, but by first glance everything appeared wrapped in shiny, vivaciously colored, plastic wrappers.  We circled the store while scrutinizing the merchandize; the entire “supermarket” contained nothing more than various packages of gummies, candy bars, and other highly processed goods.  Just to be clear: this isn’t some random candy store, our house manager specifically told us that this is the supermarket.  We walked in to that store expecting to leave with food, but left with a full grocery list and a greater gratefulness for the supermarket a short walk from our house back home that carries dairy, meat, fruit, vegetables, and everything else.

Ubud, Bali. The inconsistency of plugs frustrated me from day one.  Why does everybody insist on using different shapes?  We carry a bag of adaptors with us at all times because you never know if the plugs in the next country will be shaped like a guy with a surprised face (the US plug), a sad face (Australia), a mad face (Tanzania), or any other expression you can think of.  In Bali, the outlets only accept double pronged, cylindrical plugs.  As I fiddled with various adaptors seeing which one would fit into the holes like solving some jigsaw puzzle, my hands frequently made contact with the metal prongs. Sure enough:  ZAP!  I successfully tapped into the electricity, inaccessible with United States plugs, with my hand. Albeit, the shock did not hurt as much as the shower escapade in Arusha, but that is not saying much.  I plugged in with a mild perturbation of using adaptors to charge my iPad, but unplugged my body with a mild fear of using adaptors to charge my iPad.

Bagamoyo, Tanzania. I anxiously awaited with my hand under the shower nozzle for the water to turn from freezing cold to an amiable temperature. Thirty seconds went by, then a minute, then three: the water pressure began to dwindle and the temperature stayed at a constant fifty degrees (Fahrenheit). I finally just stepped in and took the excruciatingly cold water like a man, but only for another minute or so, because after that, the water went from a drizzle to a drip-drip-nothing. That was the second worst shower of my entire life. I turned the shower on expecting hot water and the pressure of at least a squirt gun, but the cold stream shortly died out along with my misconception that showers are only warm and soothing.

Koh Tao, Thailand. Fizz stood a favorite restaurant of mine in Koh Tao, Thailand until the third visit. We all fell in love with the cafe ever since the first night: eating healthy, delicious, pomegranate salad and watching the exotic sunset with the tropical Thai beach in the foreground. The second time at Fizz, we lounged in beanbags on the soft sand, sipped on extravagant cocktails (virgin of course), and listened to their DJ lay down some original drumbeats. The third visit to Fizz, I planned on sitting in the corner, eating some fresh lunch, and working on Biology while my family walked around the island… but not everything goes according to plan. I unpacked my bag at the table and plugged in my rubber, white power cord into the outlet nearby  (a US plug, I couldn’t believe it.)  I nonchalantly picked up the end of the charger to begin charging my device and ZAP!  The doohicky that magnetizes itself inside the computer sent a volatile shock throughout my whole body. I somehow plugged the possessed cord in, but my whole body shuttered and a tingle went up and down my spine. I stared at my dad and started stammering, “Dad, DuDad, Dad!”

He stopped walking away, “What’s the matter?”

“The stupid cord shocked me when I picked it up!”

He responded with, “Did you touch the end of it?”

“Yes,” I tentatively replied.

“That happens to me all of the time, it’s fine.” He seemed unconcerned.

I touched my index finger to the smooth, metallic trackpad and ZAP!  Again.  Now, I not only felt scared and shocked, but angry at Dad who convinced me to shock myself again.  I frantically looked up at him and blurted out, “It shocked me again! It really hurt.”  He walked over (at a pretty slow pace I might add) and touched the computer: ZAP!  Sweet revenge. “Let’s find a different cafe,” he suggested with an anxious look in his eye. I walked into Fizz expecting to get a tranquil view, a healthy plate of salad, and a good amount of work done, but left with the bottle of water I ordered and a newfangled cautiousness when handling my power cord.

Zanzibar, Tanzania. Zanzibar opened my eyes in many ways, but perhaps the most significant shocker occurred when my grandfather, dad, brother, and I visited Kingey’s home… our driver from Crazy Mzungos.  We made our way out of a small street market and turned onto a bumpy, dirt road.  Houses, comprised of scrap metal, cardboard, and cement surrounded us, along with a herd of stray cows, palm trees, and a group of local kids playing soccer with a scrappy ball of trash.  Everything looked dirty and exasperated by the oppressive heat.  We parked the car outside of a tiny cement compound with no windows, and walked in through the door frame (there was no door.)  Inside sat three women, one elderly and two middle aged, as well as two small kids who looked three or four years old. They greeted us with big smiles and said hello in Swahilli, “Jambo.”  I scanned the room: no lights, no furniture (besides two plastic stools and palm leaf mats) and nothing to entertain themselves but each other. They had so little, but still seemed so joyous. I walked into Kingey’s home hot, tired, and longing for a cool pool, but I left shocked and grateful for what I already had.

Wiring in Yangshuo, China where we had the best WIFI in Asia!

Over my lifetime, I have had the fortune of traveling through Thailand several times. Each and every time, it is simply awesome. But Cliff and I were trying really hard not to repeat destinations from our Around The World 2001 so we “Xed” it off the list early on.  Then, Ryan said he would be in Thailand for a semester, so we joyously added the country to our line up because we had a great excuse to revisit

On this trip to Thailand, we spent time in Bangkok, Chiang Mai, Koh Tao and Koh Samui. Each place is very different and wonderful in its own way. As we sat around and brainstormed our learnings from our jaunt through the country, this is what we came up with:

1) NIGHTLIFE. As Yve wrote about in her blogpost, the country comes alive at night. If you don’t venture out and experience night markets and street food, you are missing a significant part of Thailand’s culture. For those of you who are night owls, this is the place for you!!!

Foot massages are at every night market! It is a great way to kick back and watch the world go by

2) MORE PEOPLE SHOULD CONSIDER SENDING THEIR KIDS TO A SEMESTER ABROAD FOR HIGH SCHOOL. Visiting Ryan at PREM and taking a tour of the facilities we were in awe. Granted Ryan would have a blast anywhere he landed, but PREM is a very special place. Spending time with him touring the campus, meeting his classmates and hearing about the program was invigorating! I didn’t even really know programs like that were available for high school students but now I am trying to convince Yve and Otto to follow in his footsteps

Ryan giving us a tour of PREM’s art building!

3) SENSE OF DESIGN. Generally speaking, the people of Thailand live modestly without a lot of frills. Yet, as you tour the country, you would swear every person must be a landscape architect or graphic designer. Everything is done with a sense of design and style that makes Thailand sparkle. From the way carrots are cut for everyday salads, to the way potted plants are arranged on a windowsill, Thailand bewilders travelers with simple elegance! It is no wonder that “Thai-style” is a something people strive to replicate!

Spring rolls…yum!

Utensils hung at a home that has an outside kitchen.

4) WATER FIGHT! Every April for 3 days, the country of Thailand morphs into a gigantic water fight! The Songkran Festival begins on April 13th every year…Cliff’s birthday!  Locals talk about how you can’t accomplish anything during those days because even little old ladies will come out of a back alley and soak you with a huge bucket of water.  Although we got to have a water fight with elephants (which was INCREDIBLE!), we were bummed to be missing Songkran 2014 but will definitely keep it on the list for future travels.  We look forward to seeing pics from Ryan

5) THAILAND SHOULD BE ON EVERY AROUND THE WORLD ITINERARY! For all the reasons above,  Thailand should make the cut on everyone’s list! Yes it is changing and yes it is becoming more “western” but it is still incredible and each and every time we visit, we learn new things! You can guarantee that Cliff and I will include it in every future  itinerary from now forward and we won’t feel guilty about it

Cheers to Thailand!

THE NEGATIVE EDGE!  Not “I miss our pool” but “I miss the negative edge..” …we knew right then and there that we were in trouble! Wescott had caught the Negative Edge Disease  This disease is incurable.  You live life constantly in pursuit of any pool with a negative edge. We had been lucky enough to own a house with a negative edge pool in Austin and now, a decade later, we still talk about how cool that pool was and how, someday, we will need to build another one

In Koh Tao, we serendipitously found ourselves at a hotel that had a negative edge pool, hanging over a cliff, and looking west over the Gulf of Thailand toward sunset.  It was spectacular!  The biggest danger was that the view was so hypnotic, it was tempting to just stay at the pool all day and never venture to the beach. Fortunately, we found the motivation to explore because Koh Tao is an amazing island!!!  We definitely wish we had more time but we are glad we stumbled upon such a wonderful spot in Thailand.

Cliff and Otto hanging out in the pool during happy hour

View from our room!

Sunset from the pool!

Of course Jones had to do a tour of our hotel and the pool so here it is!

Everyone’s got someone that they can truly be themselves around.  For some people it is their dog, for others, their mom. For me, I have Ryan Delis Jones.

Ever since first-grade, Ryan and I have known each other because we were on the same soccer team.  Apart we’re both okay guys, me more than him, but together we’re simply idiots! The perfect kind of weirdos.  Anyone can act stupid, but when you have another person supporting your stupidity no matter what you do, then it becomes a movement!

Discard every last bit of conventional wisdom and preconceived ideas you may have about us….we are absolutely off the deep end! Now, whether that’s good or bad, we simply don’t care because we don’t turn around to check who’s watching. We don’t let peoples judgment even phase us. If anything, we laugh right back at them until the situation is so awkward and they feel so uncomfortable that they begin to question our mental stability.

When I say “weirdo,” I know that everyone interprets that word differently.  It might sound a bit off-putting, but let me remind you that many people would have considered Steve Jobs a weirdo when he was in high school.  Now, I am not saying that either of us are likely to be the next Steve Jobs, but let’s just say we cover all ends of the weirdo spectrum. We have done everything from starting a company (not really in the slightest) to jumping off cliffs. Ryan always preaches “Friends don’t let friends do stupid things alone!” and believe me, I take advantage of that 100%.  His motto is our excuse for doing something that our parents wouldn’t approve of.

While Ryan is usually the test dummy for our biggest moments of crazy, I happily take the credit afterward. On the flipside, he has a passion for stealing my ideas, or as he likes to call them “his ideas.”  Case in point, my family decides to go on a trip around the world and somehow Ryan ends up spending a semester in Chiang Mai, Thailand the exact same year. This is actually perfect, because we all know that no Sharples trip would be complete without Ryan for part of it.  My parents fondly refer to Ryan as “their sixth child” and he often accompanies us on family vacations.  In addition, we also have an odd affinity to people with the last name Jones, and have met the majority of them on this trip already… (Steff, where are you? Just because you changed your last name to “Craig” doesn’t mean your getting out of this!)

Once it was confirmed that Ryan was going to be in Chiang Mai at PREM for half of this year, my parents changed our entire itinerary around the world to meet him. This resulted in us cutting Myanmar short by a week…thanks a lot Ryan!

Some highlights from Chiang Mai and with Ryan include:

1) Sneaking out of PREM and going on a run through the rice patty fields and mountains

2) Sharing a hotel room and watching The Silver Linings Playbook more times than I would like to say in this blog post

3) Watching a guy almost get beaten to death during a graphic Muay Thai fight.

4) Getting upstaged by a seventy year-old lady who had way more muscle than we did for crushing herbs into curry sauce

5) Losing a water fight to five elephants

It was a bummer to say good-bye in Chiang Mai, but we will see each other once again in the land of Bali.

(PS: I can’t really take credit for this whole blog post, it was a collaboration between the two of us. Ryan contributed the majority of the poorly written sentences and bad jokes, I added the rest.)

As I swam through the underwater paradise, my mouth started to become dry from the crisp oxygen I was breathing. From time to time, I was going down to the coral, and would wave my hands over the feathery anemones. You know how in the movie Avatar, Jake goes out on his first day and finds these weird looking plants that shoot back into the ground right as he touches them? Well it was kind of exactly like that.

It was very peaceful under there. I tried to figure out what it would be like to be a fish, swimming free in the clear-as-day water; having colorful and oddly shaped coral everywhere you look; and having neon dance parties in the nighttime….it seemed like a pretty good gig

This experience inspired me to get my diving certification in Bali, so I can dive in the Great Barrier Reef!

Compared to neighboring islands, Koh Tao has fortunately not been built-up too much and overrun with mega 5-star resorts and Starbucks. Yet, with it being the island of scuba diving and snorkeling, there’s still numerous backpackers/tourists visiting each day. Though I’d say its a win since not only is there amazing dive spots, but more importantly there’s mat bars!

“Don’t get confused… they are not bars owned by people named Matt ;)” – Mom (she had too much sun―or is it still the mojito??)

I was skeptical at first on how this could be considered fun, but it turned out that a mat on the sand with a comfy beanbag chair proved to be just the thing. Our second home on Koh Tao (the first being our hotel’s negative edge swimming pool) was the mat bar at Fizz. We went there almost every night, either eating in their outdoor restaurant or lounging on the sand… and usually we ended up doing both. But who would want to do anything else?! With a perfect view looking straight out at the sunset, we would sit, watching as the sky turned dark and the beach become set ablaze by tiki torches and fire dancers. Maybe it’s more easy than Koh Tao. Maybe when they say “a simple life” they actually mean mat bars.

Typical scene before sunset!

A panorama from the beanbags

This was the view from the front row of beanbags at Fizz. They built fire pits out of sand!

These are the fire dancers that came out to entertain everyone after the sun was down!

This is how you mack banana spying rolles.  You need a frozen spying rolle shell then you need to cut it in four then cut the banana in four then put the banana on the plater then rolle it in the shell then cook it then you can put choclit and candies milk.

This is the spying rolle shell

This is me cutting the banana

This is what they look like after they are rolled

Wee cooked them for me

They only took 5 minutes to cook

Yve put choclit and candies milk on hers

This is the funky eggplant we put in the papaya salad

This is me and my friend from Hong Kong making papaya salad

We had to use a mortar and pestle a lot!

We made our own curry paste and the lady from Hong Kong was a “mortar and pestle ninja” so she helped everyone do theirs

Everyone in our class (except mom who took the picture!)

I rode with wescott
And our elephant  was pretty nicf.

I liked when he laid down in the water of the river.  Their trunks are liike nozes and can hold Stuff.

He put watar in his trunk and sprayed water all over us.

Here’s everyone ready to ride elephants!

We had to get a ton of bananas to feed the elephants a treat!

Tuckie and Ryan feeding the elephants!

Dad splashing his elephant…don’t worry, the elephant got him back GOOD!

WATERFIGHT!!!!!!!!!…Elephants won

Otto and his elephant!

Wescott and me with our elephant we named Philip 2.0…Philip 1.0 was our camel in the Sahara Desert

We didn’t want our day to end…riding elephants bareback is super fun!!!

PARENTS NOTE:  You can actually do a 30-day retreat at Thai Elephant Home where you work with the elephants and ride them everyday!  We all read the book Modoc before we went to Chiang Mai because Roger at Island Books recommended it…Thank you Roger!  It is simply an awesome true story about an elephant that would make anyone want to do the 30-day program or move to Chiang Mai altogether

If you really want to get the most out of your stay, you may as well just sleep the whole day and wake up in the evening because in Chiang Mai, it’s all about the nightlife! We were baffled at how different the city looked in the daylight. Driving down streets that looked just the same as the next one over, we would come to realize it was the exact road that last night supplied everything from live music, to a plethora of pendants and clothing, to some of the best street food. As we were literally in the middle of the Night Bazaar (one of the bigger night markets that opens every night) we had a good excuse to stay out all night and spend plenty of time absorbing the whole scene, yet like every place we’ve been before it wasn’t long enough!

Part of the night bazaar that’s right across the street from our hotel

Ryan and Wescott at the sunday night market: Ryan got to accompany us on all our late night excursions

Mushrooms wrapped in bacon = the best things ever!

Just pick your desired cup of fruit and she’ll blend it right there!

shop and eat, shop and eat!

The saturday night market had fried octopus balls… don’t worry its not that kind of ball

Ryan had never had a foot massage before and by the time we left he had had four!

Any old corner street, though at night it is completely transformed and flooded with vendors