Orchids and Elephants

Some folks have commented that last week’s post was a little gory and maybe poked a bit at Asian medicine, or at least at people who are not really trained to be Asian medics but play them in their daily routine. To end the story, my back is doing much better and no longer has road rash. Mom and I are in Chiang Mai, Thailand on the third stop of the trip. So this week I will address two topics that everyone loves – orchids and elephants.

There is a lot of misconception floating around about orchids. Maybe it is all my misconception but it seems to also afflict some people who run Starbuck’s in Singapore. First, many people don’t know the orchid is the official flower of Singapore. Furthermore, Singapore has a great botanical garden where you can see lots of orchids (for a small fee) and even go running (for free). It’s located right by my friend Jae’s house so I did both while we were staying with her. By the way, she is a great hostess and we had an excellent time!! Anyway, Starbucks is featuring banana drinks as their drink of the month for May, and they had some trivia on their chalkboard stating that orchids and bananas are from the same family. If that’s true, I can’t scare up any information on it. I did learn that the banana is related to the bird of paradise, the city flower of Los Angeles, CA - so maybe someone just got confused (http://www.huntington.org/BotanicalDiv/Posters/Civilization.htm). Perhaps one of you blog enthusiasts with some time on your hands can clear the matter up.

I always thought the orchid was the national flower of Thailand, because like everywhere you go here they give you orchids, and there are a gazillion orchid farms. In fact, the national flower is the ratchaphruek, a yellow cluster-shaped flower which grows by the side of the road. According to the ASEAN organization on National Flowers (http://www.aseansec.org/18203.htm#Thailand), the Thai people regard its yellow hue as the color of Buddhism and the color of glory. We have not seen any because the ratchaphruek is at the tail end of the season, which starts in February. But we will keep looking. We visited an orchid farm in Chiang Mai and saw these amazing orchids pictured here.

Regarding elephants, they are also found here in Chiang Mai as well as a number of other places. This was my second visit to the Chiang Dao Elephant Camp, and I was dismayed to learn that the elephant population here is not doing so well. Most Thai elephants are in captivity and their population has declined to one quarter of its former size in

the last 11 years. In 2007 there is a quite a baby boom going on, which bodes well. We met a 13 month old elephant named Sticky Rice at Chiang Dao, so this must be true. Most babies are at the Royal Elephant Center in Ayutthaya and Lampang's Thai Elephant Conservation Centre. Lampang was the birthplace of the first test tube elephant on March 7. 2007!!

http://www.chiangmai-chiangrai.com/test-tube-jumbo.htmljumbo.html

Wikipedia has a lot to say about elephants. Of course they are mammals, and they are the largest land animals alive today. The elephant's gestation period is 22 months, the longest of any land animal. At birth it is common for an elephant calf to weigh 265 lbs! An elephant may live as long as 70 years, sometimes longer. Elephants are symbols of wisdom in Asian cultures, and are famed for their exceptional memory and high intelligence. We agreed, after seeing the elephant show, where the elephants even paint a picture! We also got to ride up and down a big hill on one, which Mom says was not very comfortable. But she did enjoy feeding her elephant a banana.

The First 2 Days: Chinese Medicine at Work

Well, we made it to Hong Kong just fine despite the fact that a 14 hour flight is really long, and even longer in coach. We've already been busy seeing the sites, more on that later. The most interesting thing that happened to me by far was my run in with Chinese medicine with less than 24 hours on the ground.

Let me start by saying, I do believe in alternative medicines even though I have not yet let my sister, Laurel, do biofeedback on me. I also believe in getting massages after long plane rides, especially if they are good quality massages for reasonable amounts of money. So when our hotel referred us to the TCM Beauty Clinic on Tin Hau Street in Causeway Bay, I was psyched. Mom booked a 45 minute massage and I booked a 30 minute deep tissue massage and a facial. And it could all be had for about half what we'd pay at home! It was too good to be true - and in fact, it was.

My massage therapist and esthetician was Sandy Lee, the proprietor of the establishment. This was not the kind of massage you ease into - Sandy immediately went to work on my upper back and neck - kneading, pulling, prodding, you name it. In between my yelps of pain, she proceeded to outline for me all the ways in which my body is messed up and in need of major amounts of Chinese medicine. But great news - she would be more than happy to provide whatever is needed. She was definitely perceptive and noticed I can't fully straighten my arms (note to my trainer Mark Harris: if you're reading this you are vindicated). The massage ended with her placing about 10 things along my back and shoulders that felt like giant potato chip clips - but were actually suction cups the size of a can of Red Bull. She then left me sitting like that for about 20 minutes. Sandy warned me I would be bruised today and she was not kidding. I won't be wearing any backless shirts soon, my back looks like a game of Twister.


Then we moved onto the facial, which was better. It still involved a lot of kneading in painful places, which she assured me was very good for my chi or whatever. The last 30 minutes involved a lavender steam mask on my face which was quite relaxing. Having already been left under the suction cups and being in somewhat of a jetlagged state, I started to wonder if maybe this was one of those operations where they sedate you and harvest one of your kidneys. The only reason I did not start to panic at this thought was Sandy did not have much nice to say about the perceived condition of my kidneys and as such I was pretty sure she did not want them.


As odd as it sounds, I did feel about 100 times better at the end of the whole thing. Sandy sent me home with $100HKD of herbs (US $13) which I was supposed to take and come back to see her the next day. She is even willing to ship the herbs all over the world for just US $55 a month! Once I sprung free I realized the preposterousness of all this, and I am happy to say I won't be going back to the TCM Clinic even though the end result of yesterday, less the bruises, was good.


And I am drinking a tea with Chinese herbs, for inspiration, as I write this post.

Looking Healthy After our Massages & Facials

Halfway Around the World

A while back, I decided that a good way to decompress as I start my year off would be to leave the country and go halfway around the world for two months. As I've spoken to many friends and family members in the last couple of weeks, a lot of the questions overlap. Therefore, today's post will take the form of a PR Q&A.

Q. Why did you decide to go to southeast Asia, and why are you going at one of the hottest times of the year?
A. The large number of Dell expats currently inhabiting Singapore makes it a great base for Asian travel. Hopefully no one will get sick of me. Regarding the weather, it's summer in Texas so it's not like I'm missing anything.

Q. Are you going by yourself?
A. I will only really be by myself for about 2 days when I travel into Vietnam. My mom, Carolyn, is traveling over with me and will be there for two weeks. Then I'll meet Lisa Howe in Cambodia and Sharon Francia will meet us in Bangkok, Thailand. Sharon and I will spend about a week checking out some spas for quality control. Then it's back to Singapore where I have a couple of weeks of down time. The last frontier is a two week bike trip through Vietnam.

Q. Where are you taking your mom?
A. We will be visiting Hong Kong, Singapore and Thailand. Here is a sample of some of the places we are staying (wicked!):
http://www.lhotelcausewaybayhv.com/intro.php
http://www.puripunn.com/
http://www.lebua.com/
In Singapore, Jae Borgard was nice enough to invite us to stay with her, which will be loads of fun!

Q. That sounds cool. What's next?
A. Lisa and I are going to visit Angkor Wat in Siem Reap, Cambodia. I'm sure there is going to be some eating and drinking too. This place was recommended by Steve and Janet Gluskoter:
http://www.hoteldelapaixangkor.com/
We'll fly back to Bangkok and meet Sharon at the Four Seasons for a couple of days of much needed R&R. We will hear the best four words in the English language, "Welcome to Four Seasons!" Thanks to Randy Huey for suggesting this spot.
http://www.fourseasons.com/bangkok/

Q. We really want to hear about the spas. Where are you going with Sharon, and are there metrics to evaluate the quality of each?
A. We have decided to focus on the Phuket, Thailand and Bali, Indonesia areas because of their status as Spa Capitals of the Universe. We have not developed our metrics yet, but you can be sure we are all over that action item and the results will be the topic of a future post.

http://www.starwoodhotels.com/lemeridien/property/overview/index.html?propertyID=1847
http://www.starwoodhotels.com/luxury/property/overview/index.html?propertyID=277&back=-1

Q. Then you go back to Singapore. What are you going to do for almost two weeks?
A. Luckily, Singapore's national pastimes are shopping and eating, which are two of my favorite things to do. I will catch up with friends and generally do what I do here in Austin - be very busy doing almost nothing.

Q. What about this bike trip? Who's running it and where does it go?
A. The trip is run by World Expeditions, an Aussie outfit. Apparently if you are Australian, you can run a bike trip for about a third as much as if you are an American company. Wicked. I've always wanted to see Vietnam and traveling the country by bike gets rave reviews. We meet in Hanoi (I'll be there for a whole day on my own first, ooooh) and end up on Ho Chi Minh City. To see the detail you can go to http://www.worldexpeditions.com/index.php?section=trips&id=68.

Q. Have you been reading anything in preparation for your visit to Vietnam?
A. I reread Up Country by Nelson DeMille. Great read and well worth all 700 pages, it has some good maps too.

Q. Are you flying business class?
A. Are you crazy? I am not getting a paycheck anymore. This trip is all about coach and budget carriers, which lucky for me are plentiful in southeast Asia.

Q. When do you leave and when will you be back?
A. Wheels up is Monday morning, May 14 and wheels down is late late on July 7.

Adios friends! Please visit the blog often!

Raccoons vs. Possums: Which is a Worse Pest?

Many of you who have known me for a while know that I have been dealing with an opossum problem at my house for quite some time. I live in an old house with pier and beam, and the nasty little critters have a habit of finding their way under my house with their fleas. The flea eggs then hatch and create an industrial infestation here in the house. This is must plain ugly and tends to get me in a bad mood.

One of the things I have done since I don't work now (!) is get the crawl space of the house sealed up. There are like 20 bricks now blocking the entryway, but it would not shock me if the little varmints figure out how to move them.

I've had raccoons in the yard, too. We had some visitors last fall - a mama and baby - who had a great meal on some cat food. Unlike the possums, they did not stick around. The other night it was poring torrential rain, and my mom had been over for dinner. When I drove her home and dropped her off, who should go running off her port but a huge raccoon! Maybe the one from last fall just went down the road to the other Miller's house...



Anyway, this got me to thinking about which of these varmints is a worse problem to have. I did a little research, and the answer hands down is raccoons. According the the Wildlife Rescue League, raccoons are carnivores and weigh anywhere from 12 to 35 pounds! They can unlock doors and get into trash cans and other mischief.Worse, raccoons are one of the few mammals that can descend tree trunks head first. Everyone knows that raccoons often get rabies which can be passed on to people. And, the little devils can even swim. You can red more about raccoons at http://fohn.net/raccoon-pictures-facts/raccoon-facts.html.

In contrast, the possum has a few useful traits and is generally a more loved animal. As a case in point, there is a National Opossum Society (http://www.opossum.org/), but no such similar organization for raccoons. Why is this the case? One possible reason is that possums are the only marsupial in North America! Who does not love an animal with a pouch? The gestation period for possums is only 11-13 weeks, and when the babies are born, all 20 of the litter can fit in a teaspoon. Then they get on into the mother's pouch where they develop and grow into big possums. Hmm. Possums also eat just about anything including roaches, rats, beetles, slugs and snails, so some people consider them helpful around the house. Most interestingly, they have thumbs on their feet!

I have not been able to get any photos of the possums in my yard, nor have I bothered to treat them for fleas. I'm still not convinced they are cute, but at least the raccoons are gone for now.

Places in Austin I Never Knew About Before

This week's post is dedicated to places in Austin that I have been discovering since I have not been working. As an aside, I am still giddy about all my free time, for anyone who is wondering. I have been finding endless amusement telling people at cocktail parties that I don't work. I don't think they see nearly the same novelty in this that I do, but that's OK.

It's April in Texas which means one thing: bluebonnets. It turns out that Camp Mabry, the National Guard base near my house, has a fantastic collection of bluebonnets! There's a great public recreational track at Camp Mabry, which I had previously only experienced in the pitch black dark when I would run at some crazy early hour before work. Now that I don't work (heh heh) I get to go in daylight - and who knew there were so many wildflowers! I got these photos about a week past their peak, but I think you'll get the idea.

For better or worse, I have also been playing golf with my mom, Carolyn. We played Riverside Golf Course in Austin which is a very nice public course, and an excellent value. I would not suggest playing Riverside the day after a big rain, because it's a lot more like a river than something beside a river. You can check it out at http://www.riverside-gc.com/golf/proto/riverside-gc/. Carolyn and I were desperately needing a lesson, and she gave me one for Easter. That meant we got to go to the Chuck Cook golf academy at Barton Creek! Riverside is OK but there's just no compare to this place, it is all class: http://www.bartoncreek.com/chuck_cook_golf_academy.asp.

It's not all fun and games not working. It turned out my 1994 Ford Explorer was in need of a tune-up after the trip to LaGrange. Someone recommended Dodd's Service Center at 43rd and Guadalupe, and it was a real find. They did not try and rip me off, and the car is running great. One of the most interesting things about Dodd's is that they have no website and no sign on the building. Also, they had a fire back in 1996. I figured I'd give them a plug here on the blog. You can reach them at 512-453-3535.

On the way home from Dodd's, I walked through Central Park, located between Guadalupe and Lamar north of 38th Street. I've only been to Central Market like 100 times, but had no idea this place was there! It is a really nice park complete with ducks and a pond, not to mention a running trail. If you are thinking about swimming in the pond, that's unfortunately forbidden. Bummer.

I've been thinking about ways to keep the brain working, and have decided to do some more serious writing. That may be the topic of a future post. This week, I went to the library to take out some books on recent business topics which I'm interested in for this particular project. I have never been to the main branch of the Austin library and it is a nice place. Best of all, I got to take out as many books as I wanted for FREE! I guess I had a library card when I first moved here 12 years ago, and I discovered I owed them $2.40 in late fees. It is a good thing they do not charge interest. In any case, it is worth a trip to the John Henry Faulk Library at 8th and Guadalupe.

The last place I've been spending some time is a place I had actually been to before, but it is so prime that I could not resist talking about it. Yes, it's the Lake Austin Spa Resort located (you guessed it) on lovely Lake Austin. The best thing about Lake Austin is they have a fantastic pool, and lots of comfy chairs where you can sit and read or nap all afternoon. The food is good too, and healthy. I would stay away from the kressnopita in favor of the golden gazpacho and lettuce wraps. Lake Austin really brings a whole new meaning to relaxation and I think I need to make it back once more before I take off for Asia. Fore more on the spa, visit http://www.lakehousespa.com/.

Yes, that's right - we are 16 days away and counting from the Big Trip. Look for a post on the latest itinerary soon.

Hiking the Smokies

Me & Dad

This week, rather than simply doing nothing, I have been visiting east Tennessee - home of my dad, Mike Miller, and his wife Pam. My dad is a serious hiker who about a year ago completed hiking all 900 miles of trails in the Smoky Mountains. We hiked almost 20 miles this week and I have the blisters to prove it. Despite the fact that the weather was not great over the weekend, it ended up being a beautiful couple of days. Here are some photos I took with my cool new camera! Check out the serious water crossing (I passed on this one).

The Smokies are a very special place to me and my family because my grandparents had a summer home there in a place called Elkmont - near where we were hiking. My dad and his brothers spent most of their summers there. Elkmont is a community that existed prior to the creation of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park in 1934. This park now attracts more than 9 million visitors per year and is the most visited of all the national parks. The families who lived in Elkmont when the park was created were granted a lease from the government which expired in 1992. You can read more about the history of Elkmont on this site: http://www.imagesbuilder.com/gsmnp/elkmont.html.

Anyway, the real shame is not that the houses had to be given back, because everyone knew that was going to happen - but that they are still there 15 years later. Believe it or not, the US Government has not been able to figure out what to do with all these houses. It got so bad that in 2005, the National Trust for Historic Preservation placed Elkmont on their list of the Eleven Most Endangered Places (http://www.nationaltrust.org/11Most/list.asp?i=156). We saw our old house this week, and very sadly it has continued to fall into a state of disrepair (it was a really cool house). There is some indication that certain homes are going to be restored - if they are in fact salvageable at this point. In the right hand picture, you can see where some new wood frame has been laid over a decaying roof. We are not sure what the deal is on this, but I'll post more when I hear. That's all for this week...

My Grandparents' House

New Roof?

The Gretchen 2.0 Kickoff Party

Well, it's been over a week since

the Gretchen 2.0 Kickoff party, and I guess most of us have recovered. It was a great day in LaGrange, TX and I could not be more grateful to everyone who came out. A very big thanks to Mike and Corey, our hosts, and Mike's aunt Bonnie Farmer for all they did to get ready. Thanks also to Sharon and Susan for all the hard work setting up, sending the invitations and getting food and drinks! There are many, many more people to thank for all the contributions and gifts, too many to list.

It turned out to be beautiful day in LaGrange, but before the party we were not sure the weather was going to cooperate. In fact, at 3AM that morning there was a storm unlike any I have ever experienced in Texas, at least in the past year. We were pretty sure that if the party went on, we might miss it because we we were going to be blown away by a tornado. In fact, LaGrange received almost 4 inches of rain that night vs. Austin and Bastrop which got less than 1-1/2 inches. We awoke in the morning relieved to see the tent standing, but unfortunately it was surrounded by some water activity resembling the Mekong Delta. I was pretty sure people would be mud wrestling by the end of the day - which was either going to be a hoot or a bad visual. But after 4 trips to LaGrange Tractor and Feed, and about 20 bags of wood chips, the sun hit the ground and it was all almost dry by afternoon.

The party also included the latest tour stop for the band, The Gretchen Miller Project, formerly known as Five Married Guys and a Single Guy. They are Andrew Bowins, Dean Kline, Vance Morton, Marco Pena, Lee Sellers and Mary Kay Hyde. Greg Kettler was the Roadie of the Day, and we could not have pulled it off without him. The band allowed rogue singers to join them onstage, which I do not think helped in getting future gigs, though Nina Pena and the young Pearsons are showing promise.

There are a lot more pictures of the party, and you can see them and post yours at gretchen2dot0.dell.shutterfly.com.

I'm starting to think about topics for future posts. I know from my Blog Mentoring Session with Richard Binhammer that I need to post regularly, at least once a week. Upcoming posts will include "Planning your Southeast Asia Trip Using Discount Websites" and "How to Be Very Busy Doing Nothing At All." Please post yours!