Night Hike

Let's travel back in time together. The last time we heard about the adventures of Ben and Hannah they were in the largest national park in Thailand looking for elephants...

Tom, our tracker/guide who had a large mysterious scar across his face, told us we'd have our best chance of finding elephants at night. There was only one problem -- Tom left all the flashlights except one back in Phetchaburi. So yeah, we were going to hike into the jungle with ONE flashlight. The last time I went on a night hike was back in Camp Airy in Thurmont, Maryland circa 1993. That trip left me with a scar on my arm and left Jeremy Bier with a lifelong fear of hiking. But that's a story for another time.

So we followed Tom down a pitch black road. The first thing that we saw was this sign:

Yeah, not exactly the thing you want to see when hiking at night. Hannah and I started to joke about this ridiculous little adventure we were on and I can only assume our giggles scared away all the big animals. Over the next hour all we saw was more elephant poop and the biggest millipede I've ever seen. The things was like a small snake.

After our fruitless adventure we got back to camp and stared at the spectacular stars for a little while. Hannah and I were the last ones to go to our tent and the waiting paid off. Out of the corner of my eye I saw an animal. PAY DIRT!!!!

It turned out to be a porcupine.

Finally Hannah and I went to our tents where we preceded to freeze our asses off for the next six hours until breakfast.
(PICTURE: Hannah and I in our tent)

Swearing In

Swearing in can have two meanings when it comes to politics:

1. When a politician puts his hand on a religious book and takes an oath.

2. When Vice President Dick Cheney swears at a US Senator while in Congress.

Here's pictures from yesterday of the first kind of swearing in:


Congratulations again, Dad! Thanks for appointing me the Livingston Ambassador to Vietnam!

HAIL TO THE CHIEF!

Everyone in the world knows that politically this is a HUGE month. There is a monumental swearing in of a politician who many hope can change the world. There are high expectations for this politician. Can he help mend the country? Steer the economy back on track? Bring pride back to America? Help working class families? Make our education system the envy of the world once again? Help curb global warming? etc. etc. Oh, and this month Obama is getting sworn in too. Wait, did you think I was talking about Obama? I'm talking about the even bigger politician getting sworn in this month -- my dad. Yes, and when I say "bigger" I'm not just talking about waist size.

Today in Livingston, New Jersey my father became mayor. As a kid I was always proud of my dad for his community service. Back then he was on the Board of Education which meant two things:
1. My teachers were scared of me and probably gave me better grades than I deserved.
2. My dad was constantly involved in making our community a better place.

Well, for the next year (the mayor in our town is a yearly rotating position between the elected town council members) my dad will be the man in Livingston. Frankly, I couldn't be prouder of my dad. I always feel that in life parents always brag about their kids. Well, I'm fortunate enough that I always get to brag about my dad. I love you, dad!

(PICTURE: This is the picture we would have taken if I could have come to his black-tie swearing in party...if my dad had a party)

For those of you who couldn't get in to the sold out swearing in, here's a copy of his speech:

I’m honored to be standing here as your new mayor and I wish all of you a happy and healthy new year. In keeping with my promise to my wife and friends, my speech today will be short and if you remember how I ran the Board of Ed meetings, you know I like to get right to the point. When Eileen and I began house hunting over 32 years ago, it wasn’t in Livingston but we soon realized that this town offered more than any other, two swimming pools, great schools, and a diverse population. The fact that my in-laws, Cele and Leo Zucker, lived here was the icing on the cake and I love cake. Little did I dream that someday I’d be mayor of my new town? A few thank you are in order. The town employees have again done an outstanding job in 2008. Your dedication is not overlooked by our town council and Michele Meade who praises your professionalism. You keep the gears well oiled and polished. Our volunteers on the Fire Department and Fist Aide Squad are ready to roll on the ding of a bell, night and day, hot or cold, whenever needed. Our town committee members deserve our esteem and special thanks. All of you bring the spirit of Livingston into the limelight. I’d also like to thank our town council members, outgoing mayor Gary Schneiderman for overseeing the ground breaking for our new municipal complex and for the completion of the highly visible new street signs which benefit not only our residents but our visitors, and especially, my wife tells me, the home health care professional making visits. And lucky you, Gary, the Livingston High School Football Team won the State Championship under your term, although you had nothing to do with it, it brought to light the strong community pride that brought out 6000 people to the Meadowlands on Livingston bleachers. By the way, on January 15th there will be a community celebration honoring the team when the athletic facility at the High School is dedicated. And Arlene Johnson for bringing our attention to the trails and the greening of the community, to Rudy for mailing us technologically savvy with email blasting for urgent messages to our residents. And to Steve for his quick legal mind and unparalleled sense of humor. Above all, I’d like to tell you how fortunate we are to have Michele Meade as town manager. When we attend the convention for municipal government in Atlantic City, everyone sings her praises. During the past two years, Michelle has negotiated the police contract, begun a profitable recycling plan and pursued the purchase of equipment so our town employees can do jobs that were previously outsourced. She has hired a purchasing manager and set up a Human resource Department for the betterment of our employees. A few goals for 2009: 1. Continue and conclude the property re-evaluation mandated by Essex County, 2. Keep our municipal complex on schedule and within budget, 3. Work towards making Livingston more and more green, 4. Continue to encourage shared services with the Board of Ed and surrounding communities, 5. Continue our history of fiscal responsibility in these difficult financial times. I foresee that Livingston will continue to be one of the most desirable communities to raise our families and then stay on to enjoy our retirement.

Happy New Year!

I hope everyone has a happy and healthy new year! Have fun tonight but also be safe. Take a taxi or have a reliable designated driver!

Man, I can't believe it's going to be 2009 tomorrow!

Searching For Elephants

Kaeng Krachan National Park is considered the best place in Thailand for bird watchers. Because it was theweekend, dozens of bird watchers were camped at our campsite.

Tom, our tracker/guide, talked with the head of a group in Thai about where to look for elephants. Choke's wife, who was coming along on her first trip, gasped at whatever they were saying. Choke told us the man said where the elephants were.

After breakfast we ventured into the jungle. After walking for less than ten minutes we heard some trees rustling in the distance. No, it wasn't elephants. It was langur monkeys. The monkeys were jumping from tree to tree as we watched. After having our fill of monkeys for the moment -- we would see dozens throughout the weekend -- we continued our trek. We were looking for the largest animal in the forest but kept encountering some of the smallest species:

(PICTURE: A beautiful chiccata that we were told is good luck if found.)

(PICTURE: A pretty freaky looking spider.)

I'd like to take a moment and say how proud I am of my sister. When we were kids you would often hear a blood curdling scream come from Hannah's room, "SPIDER!!!" Hannah was petrified of spiders, especially daddy long legs. Now here we were, in the middle of the jungle and Hannah was searching for spiders! Man, times have changed.

We continued our trek through the jungle following various trails of elephant poo and tracks. Along the way we saw a bunch of cool birds, monkeys, giant squirrels and other things but unfortunately, we couldn't find the elephants.


One quick anecdote: In another case of me trying to be a good big brother, I held a large tree branch back at one point so Hannah could pass and not have to step into a a creek. About ten seconds after she passed I felt a tingling sensation in my hair. I ran my fingers through my hair and saw hundreds of tiny black ants crawling on my hand. Apparently I had held back a tree COVERED in ants and they all conveniently jumped onto my scalp. I got most of the ants out with the help of Choke in a minute or two. Yeah, I said "most of the ants." For the next few hours I was continuing to pull more ants out. For those of you who are counting that's twice I've gotten the bad end of the stick for trying to help my sister!!!

An Often Overlooked City

Lonely Planet called the city of Phetchaburi, "An often overlooked city." Hannah and I didn't want to overlook it so we had the bus to Bangkok drop us off.

Hannah and I were the only people to get off the bus which meant around 50+ people were indeed overlooking the city. I have to admit, it's kind of an easy city to miss if you're not looking for it. When the bus door opened up and Hannah and I jumped off, we quickly realized we had no idea where we were. Hannah, who I have appointed in charge of the guide book, quickly got her bearings and pointed us in the direction to the one guest house mentioned in the book.

After walking through the city for about thirty minutes -- and turning down various taxi drivers -- we arrived at the riverside guest house. Immediately we were greeted by a man with a scar across his face who spoke about ten words of English. Eight of the words he spoke though were, "You go trekking in jungle with me tomorrow?" There are only two things that could make a man with a scar across his face scarier: 1) If he carried around a big machete. 2) If his English translator's name was CHOKE. Hey, Mom and Dad, I'd like to introduce you to our new friend Tom:

(PICTURE: Once again, a smile can be disarming.)

The reason that Phetchaburi attracted Hannah and I is that it is located near Kaeng Krachan, the largest national park in Thailand. Hannah and I really wanted to go for a jungle trek but the prices in the book were a little above our budget. Luckily, Tom had already signed up two Germans for the trek which meant the total cost was cut in half.

The next morning we all piled into the back of a pick-up truck and headed to the park to look for wild elephants, monkeys, leopards and other animals, insects and birds.

(PICTURE: The Germans and Choke, our translator.)





(PICTURE: Hannah and I in the back of the pick-up truck.)

Immediately upon entering the park we saw a crab-eating mongoose run across the road. This is ironic because when we were children I used to call Hannah, "Silly Mongoose." Why? I don't know. Another thing I didn't know -- what a mongoose looked like.

A few minutes later while driving we all spotted a giant pile of dung on the side of the road. Tom immediately stopped the truck and jumped out. His excitement for big piles of shit couldn't be contained. I guess that comes with the territory of being a tracker. The poo belonged to a herd of elephants...and we were going to find them.

(PICTURE: Hannah was pumped to see elephant doody.)

Bathroom Signs

Hannah is on a big kick taking pictures of bathroom signs in different countries. Here's one sign that we saw at a rest stop that I think could work in any country: