The buttons on the left lead to our 2001 logs

Summary: 2001 found us in Southern Thailand, living in a Mission Hospital and helping refugees from Burma. We returned to the USA and circumnavigated it, and flew back to Asia and explored remote eastern Indonesia before flying back to Thailand after 9/11. Because of travel dangers at the time, we canceled Nepal for the time being and headed back to California and Arizona.

Details: Near the end of 2001 we took a break and headed to southern Thailand to enjoy the year’s end holidays on Rai Lai Beach in Krabi Province. What a great decision! Check out the photo gallery for fabulous shots of the amazing islands projecting as shafts of vertical rock hundreds of feet high.

Our return to Kanchaburi (home of the famous Bridge Over the River Kwai) was followed by our relocation to the Kwai River Hospital in Thailand’s western mountains. It was a decision that changed the expedition -- and us. It wasn’t long before we were volunteering our meager skills wherever we could, badgering friends and family members for money to help us build isolation wards at the hospital, and joining hospital staff in medical visits to remote hill tribe villages where residents had never before seen a doctor.

Our time there was cut short when Don’s father suffered a medical emergency in Arizona, USA. An important benefit and reason for being gypsies is our ability to pick up and take of if necessary, so we immediately returned to America. On an emergency basis, we grabbed as many of our things as we could carry and headed for the Bangkok airport from Huay Malai, Kanchanaburi (quite a feat in itself), arriving in Arizona two long, days later.

We were relieved and happy that Don’s dad became healthier and more stable. When that became clear, we ‘stayed nearby’ and took an extensive driving trip around the United States. Then we returning to Asia, this time intending to remain overseas a full year. We went to the mission hospital to volunteer as we could before taking a break from the mission and flying to Bali, our launch pad to explore eastern Indonesia for several months. We traveled as do the natives on ferryboats and crowded bimo microbuses, hopping from island to island until we reached our easternmost destination, the island of Alor and the town of Kalabahi.

We were on a remote island when terrorists attacked America and we found it difficult to depart Indonesia quickly when we learned that Muslim extremists were taking Americans hostage. After eight tense days we made our way back to Thailand, intending to continue on to Nepal. Unfortunately, as the world focused on America’s impending military action in Afghanistan, Maoists in Nepal stepped up it’s attacks on government facilities in Kathmandu.

If you have comments or questions, feel free to contact us at: mail[at]twogypsies[dot]com.