Aaron Scheidies :: What a Guy! What a Year!

Well.... Let me start this entire Journal Entry section of my Thailand trip by saying that Aaron was a wonderful travel companion!

For those who don’t know how this trip came about... Aaron Scheidies was asked to speak at the Young Presidents Organization family conference in Phuket. The reason they selected him is because they thought his story would be interesting for both adults and kids at this event. Because Aaron is blind, he requires a guide for a trip like this. Aaron is one of our C•Different Athletes — here is his write-up:

Aaron, at 24 years has overcome more obstacles already than many conquer in a lifespan. Born with a hereditary eye condition that slowly deteriorates his central vision, Aaron now has 10% of the vision of a fully sighted person. After battling through hard times in his early teens, Aaron found the sport of triathlon and turned his life around.

Beginning with sprint distance triathlon and continuing up the triathlon pyramid, Aaron is now a three time triathlon World Champion and has traveled around the world competing in over 70 triathlon races. In 2005, Aaron teamed up with four other blind individuals and their athlete guides through the C•Different Foundation and traveled to Coeur d'Alene, Idaho. There, they conquered the world's most grueling triathlon event: the Ironman, which consists of a 2.4 mile swim, 112 mile bike and a 26.2 mile run. Aaron, along with the rest of the CDF athletes, became the first blind athletes to complete the Ironman.

Just as Aaron is a multi-dimensional athlete, he also excels in all aspects of life. In college at Michigan State U Aaron had a perfect 4.0 GPA. He is a leader with in the community there, serving as president of the MSU Triathlon Club. Aaron volunteered over 100 hours of his time, helping other students with disabilities; and was later inducted into the Athletes with Disabilities Hall of Fame. He graduated with a BS in Kinesiology from MSU and is currently enrolled at the University of Washington where he plans to earn a Doctorate of Physical Therapy.

In 2005 Aaron added modeling to his resume. He has been featured in a 2005 Levi's national ad campaign. His likeness has appeared in GQ, Esquire and Men's Health magazines. Aaron was also recently named the 2006 USAT PC Athlete of the Year.

Aaron and his story are being featured in the documentary film Victory Over Darkness.
Click or more about Aaron and other C•Different Athletes.

Thailand :: Bangkok

We rode in two double decker planes to get here! That was a first for me. Our flight was 14 hours from LAX to Taipai. We were lucky enough to have a whole row of 4 seats to ourselves (Aaron hogging three of them for most of the flight). From Taipai it was about 5 more hours will we got into Bangkok. We left LA on Friday afternoon and arrived in Bangkok at 1am on Saturday night... not an easy adjustment!


Sunday morning, Christmas Eve. We got up today at 7am and got ready in our awesome shower before heading down to an outstanding breakfast spread in the hotels main restaurant. Fresh fruit, tasty soups, American styles of breakfast eats as well as Asian. The coffee, in particular, was just what we needed to get the day off to the right start.

Off to a great start, we grabbed our backpacks and headed out into the city with the plan to first get some local currency and then to grab the SkyTrain to the Chatuckak Market, which is one of the 1001 Things to See Before You Die according to the Thailand pages in my book from Karen Ma (thank you karen).

As we were questioning our direction, a Bangkok Professor came upon us and started a conversation. He was waiting of his wife to finish her workout. He turned out to be a lifesaver x10. He gave us all the local ins-and-outs and put us in a Tuk Tuk who took us from this and that place all over the city for 2 dollars (we gave him 10) before he finally dropped us off at the train where we headed to the market.

The market..... 30 acres of stall style shopping with a park adjacent to it. Clothing (used, new, clever, dirty, tops/bottoms, fancy/casual.... Food (restaurants, fruits, juice, bugs -- yes, worms, grubs and fried grasshoppers)... Decorations (furniture, pillows, silks of all types, glassware)..... Artwork (statues, paintings, sculpture of all types).... Animals (bunnies, puppies, squirrels, gerbils, headgehogs, mice, birds of all types, turtles, both land and sea turtles and alligator snappers), Fish (both saltwater and freshwater).... It was insane and smart and interesting and outrageous and amazing and horrifying. There were street performers doing their thing in the alleyways of the market too. Talk about overstimulation, and this is also a place where you might develop claustrophobia easily — constantly bumping into everyone.

Then, we headed back home. All we'd eaten all day was juice, because we were not sure about the market food (very sketchy).

It felt soooo good to be finally off our feet when we got home... Also, we got pretty dehydrated walking around because finding a bathroom was like looking for a needle in a haystack, so we weren't drinking as much as we should have been. We were starving and opted to throw our (many) bags down and head to the hotel Thai place. They greeted us warmly and wished us a merry christmas while lighting a candle/wreath marking the holiday. Then, they brought us a complimentary eggnog with amaretto cocktail. The meal was wonderful (the Thai sure know how to make Thai food!!).
I was feeling the affects of the time change and long day, we decided to take advantage of the ridiculously cheap massages down our street — so, we headed to this delightful little massage hut, and signed up for $5 one hour massages, which turned out to be GREAT!!!! Thai massage can be intense (as opposed to swedish, which puts you to sleep) but mine was so good I almost went to sleep right there with this woman pounding on me. Afterwards, they served us tasty tea before we left. Awesome!!! We slept like babies...

Thailand :: Bangkok, Temples, Floating Markets & the Zoo

Today is christmas day here (what better time to visit a Buddist Temple?). Very different from home, where the streets get quiet on the major holidays. Here, things are crazy hustle & bustle. One local explained to Aaron that Thai are mostly Buddhist first and then Christian.

We had our lovely little routine breakfast again today (amazing fruit and coffee), and then went down for our taxi to the Grand Palace, which I read in our tourist book opens at 8:30am. When we arrived to the area we were greeted by a local tourist guide fellow who explained to us that the temple is closed for a buddhist ceremony until 1pm. I also had read in my tourist book that this is a popular scam to redirect tourist traffic to local vendors via tuk tuk — yet, we totally fell for this hook-line & sinker! We ended up seeing a few nice temples we would not have seen otherwise, but we realize now that of course it was a total scam!

We finally made it to the Grand Palace and, boy, it was everything we’d imagined it would be and more. Just majestic and ornate and lovely/lovely. We took wayyyy too many photos and had a great time exploring all around.

On our way to the Reclining Buddha (the largest indoor Buddha in Thailand) we came across too other visitors bureau helpers who tried to tell us that the exhibit was closed. Of course, we were keen to their tricks, finally. Of course, this makes us suspicious of the nice fellow who helped us on the first day we were here now.... I guess we'll never know.

After the Reclining Buddha (huge and amazing) we headed by taxi to check out the Oriental Hotel, which is also listed in my 1001 places to see before you die. What a lovely spot it is! Jasmine hung on strands from the tall ceiling and the smell of fresh flowers is amazing!! Its located right on this crazy polluted choppy looking river (Chao Phraya River) and boasts famous guests such as Joseph Conrad (1888). We were tired and hungry and the guests there were a little stuffy (and the food was expensive), so we didn't stick around — but I'm glad we checked it out.

From there we headed to Siam Paragon shopping mall to grab food & browse around. Sooooo much light! Like Vegas, a mall meant to turn you around so you could never find your way out. Aaron picked up a pair of neat-o italian jeans that make our trip there worth while.

The NEXT day... we spent at the famous FLOATING MARKET and then the Samphran Elephant Grounds and Zoo, before heading to the Airport for Phuket. I forgot to write about this day during my trip, but it was one of my favorite days...

The Floating Market was beautiful & it was great to be in a greener environment (vs. the dirty city of Bangkok). At the ZOO, we got to see tigers, elephants, crocs and monkeys!

Thailand :: Phi Phi islands + my b-day
Today is my 33rd birthday. We woke up at 6:30a so we could have a nice breakfast before leaving for the Phi Phi islands.
We took a truck to the launch area for our days trip. We shared a ride with a French girl named Sophie who was traveling alone. Then we picked up two more soon-to-be-friends, Jana and Marco were from Brazil, before heading to the boat to load up.

The sky was hazy all morning, and maybe that turned out to be a blessing because when you are island-hopping there are few places to hide from the sun.

Along the way to our first stop we saw many limestone islands or rock formations jutting out of the water — extremely picturesque. The first island we explored was Bamboo Island. It had a large beach area with some of the softest sand my feet have ever felt! As the five of us trudged alone (we kinda became a fivesome for the rest of the day) I spotted a sea eel hunting in the crystal clear shallows by the beach. The yellow spotted eel was about 3 feet long, maybe more, and as I was describing it to Aaron (who was wading in the shallows) he insisted on walking toward it because he wanted to get a look! Sure enough, he walked within literally a foot of the creature, and then I finally convinced him to take a big step up and out of the water. My photos will have to be enough for him.

From there we took the boat on over to Monkey Beach. Low and behold, there were monkeys on the beach!!! They were doing monkey things — climbing around in the trees, picking things off each other, playing with each other, running around in the sand — it was quite cool and somewhat astonishing to see! They were not tame, per sey, but you could feed them.

From that spot we zoomed over for some snorkeling and swimming. This was so much fun in the warm water! The fish were so bright and colorful and big and small and fat and skinny. You name it. The reefs were huge and healthy looking (more so than any I've ever seen). The sea urchins had needle spines that appeared to be at least 24 inches long. there were sea slugs and sea cucumbers and just every kind of reef life. At one point I got kinda freaked out because I could not find Aaron who had swum off and disappeared. I ran to the boat to ditch my snorkel gear and grab my goggles so I could go swimming and find him, but just about after I did that he showed up with the same idea (time for goggles), and sure enough he had been lost among the snorkelers and had been approaching boats asking the people, "is this my boat?"....

After that we boated around a bit more, and then headed for Koh Phi Phi for lunch — this is a beautiful place. You can see where it was affected by the tsunami. Palm trees are being nurtured back to health, and there are bald spots on the land. There is also and exhibit showing some before and after photos as well as photos of people who went missing. Heartbreaking. The 26th was the 2 year anniversary of that tragedy.

Lunch was consumed in haste as we were all very hungry and the food was good. After we ate, we trudged around town, stopping here and there so that one of the five of us could look at this or that. We all were feeling tired from the heat, having eaten, and having been on the go already for half the day.

We left Phi Phi and made one more snorkel stop before heading home. Aaron went in solo this time and promised to stay near the boat. He said afterwards that the tiny little minnows (thousands of them I could see) would nip you if you sat still in the water. Yikes!!

On the way back home it began to rain. The boat ride is about 30 minutes if you are going full-steam-ahead, but we could do that because it was very choppy. I felt like the boat was playing crack-the-egg with me (like you do on a trampoline). It was awesome though, I didn't mind the chop, I just wish it didn't rain because that stung our faces. At least it was warm — and, that ended up being the only time it rained during our whole trip!

When we got back to the hotel I was greeted by the hostess with a “Happy Birthday” greeting! Aaron had arranged for flowers to be delivered to our room and for everyone to know it was my special day. It was really sweet! So, after we got cleaned up again we headed back up to meet our new buddies for dinner.

We went with Sophie to Ao Phra Nang for dinner. The town is more touristy than here in Krabi City. We found Jana and Marco and they had picked up another new friend. We all trudged down the street looking for a nice spot to have dinner. We were all very tired from the full day on the water. We got a nice table on the water and had a wonder meal and a liz-birthday and to new friends cheers.

Afterwards, we walked up the street looking for the bus tickets office and a nice bar for a drink. By this time, I felt like I could fall asleep standing up — so instead of the drink, we walked Jana and Marco back to their bungalow before heading out to the street for a taxi. Getting a taxi back to our hotel was much more challenging than getting one to an naung. For too much money, anyone would take us home, but everyone wanted big money, and Sophie would negotiate for cheap. We finally found a suitable ride, and we were all nodding off in the back of the truck on the way home.

Thailand :: Kayacking in Krabi

Friday morning we woke up again at 6:30a for our 8a transfer to go kayacking through mangrove forests. We again got amazingly lucky and met some really fun people to spend the day with. Craig and Jena from England, Guillaume (who we nicknamed Frenchie) from Paris, Aiden from Ireland and Sean from Canada. We had some great laughs on the long truck ride out into the jungle. Craig and Jena were just here from India, and they regaled us with tales from that portion of their trip. Frenchie explained to us that he'd been told our guide was a ladyboy (a boy missing his parts) and we got into all kinds of conversation over that. Aiden had graduated from UT, and over lunch showed us his shotgun shell scars from where his little friend had shot him by accident when they were 12 — and we all marveled that Sean was only 19 ys old and on such an amazing -year long- trip to see the world.

When we arrived at the kayacking base camp we got ready to get wet and then went on down to find our boats. I was charmed to notice all these little mud gobies (not sure what they were) who were hauling themselves out of the water onto land with their gills. Fishes walking on land! So nifty!

Our group of about 20 kayaks headed to the mud flats first. There we hopped out of the boats and enjoyed walking around the low tide area — star fish were plentiful, as were tiny little crabs about the size of your picky nail. We also saw thousands of red crabs the size of your thumbnail who looked like moving carpets over the dull mud colored flats. Aarron got pinched by a few crabs and was happy.

We climbed back into the kayaks and headed to a beach littered with monkeys of all sizes from baby to large-and-in-charge. They ran up onto the boats and begged for pieces of fresh pineapple from us. They didn't grab at our offering, but politely took them from our hands. They were not as polite to each other though. It was wonderful.

From there we headed into the channel between the tall limestone rock. Natures true magisty is apparent here (I felt the same way when snorkeling). Amazing. Monkeys took watch in the trees above as we negotiated the area at low tide. Inside this area we had our little fruit snack (everywhere you go there is fresh pineapple and watermelon), and then gave some to the monkeys.

Aaron and I were the first kayak on the first half of the trip, but the last to leave the area for the return because we were too busy with the monkeys. We decided to maximize the upperbody workout and see how many we could pass on the way back to camp. It was a good laugh, and we passed about 60% of the other kayakers as we headed back to camp.



We lounged around at lunch for a long time, getting to know our new buddies. In the end, Frenchie joined us for dinner at our hotel that night, and ended up taking Aaron out for boys-night-out in Krabi Town. They trekked here and there for a few hours and had a great time.


.... This morning we arrived at the JW Marriott for the business end of this trip. Its astonishingly beautiful and luxurious here — we feel like we are on Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous! Statue elephant trunks spew water into the pool and there are massaging jet beds for swimmers to enjoy. The beachfront is almost deserted it is so private! Staff cater to “needs” that don't exist — bringing you ice water spritzers, ice towels, slices of watermelon (with the rinds cut off)..... Outstanding!!

JW Marriott Phuket & the YPO Conference

This hotel is just so nice. I think the nicest I've ever stayed at. Dinner reservations are required for the restaurants here. At 6pm they do a sunset firedance show with traditional thai dancing girls walking on the far side of the fire dancers. The whole show is performed over an infinity pool that is the central area of the resort.

When you arrive at you table for dinner, there is a sign there welcoming you by name. Last night we ate at The Grill, and our table said “Mr. Oakes”. Everything in this country is geared toward the man to pay and be in charge. If Aaron and I are standing there with luggage, they take his luggage; if I hand over payment, they hand him the change or the bill to sign..... It’s more funny than anything, but sometimes we laugh and say, “Are you kidding??!!”

Anyway, back to the JW — this morning Aaron and I went out for a run on the beach (not together, he is too fast for me) but we both happened on three elephants taking a bath in the ocean at the same time (they were being cleaned by their trainers). It was soooo wonderful to see and I am so very sorry I didn't have my camera with me to capture it! They were dunking their heads and coming up and shaking out their ears. I can't be sure they were enjoying it, but I like to think that they were.

After the run we got ready for our day with the YPO. We checked in and did a media check for Aaron's speech. It looks like things should go smoothly. Then, we enjoyed the most amazing breakfast at one of the restaurants — the spread included every sort of food you could imagine. I had waffles with berries and chocolate syrup and fried noodles. Aaron had passion fruit, pancakes and stir fry noodles.

We took a walk after breakfast around the resort — checking out the different pools. There is the main one which is the longest and accented in shades of orange and yellow, and the blue pool which is all done in shades of blue and with gray towels. The blue pool has a swim up bar under a waterfall. Then, there is a pool all done in taupe and browns.

That afternoon we attended a conference session by Michael McManus who was the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agent whose story was told in the Johnny Depp movie Blow. He scared the room with his stats and videos on drug use and drug users, telling very interesting and scary stories about his experiences with drug culture.

After that, we spent some time at the blue pool — it was very peaceful and perfect outside. Hot, but not roasting — and the loungers were super comfy. We saw over to the pool bar for a mai tai and a pina colada and then soaked up some sun. Also, we’ve been talking basically non-stop for many days now about Aaron’s speech.... practicing... going over what he’ll say...

Following our escape at the pool, we cleaned up and re-joined the conference activities. This time we attended an amazing Self Healing seminar. Dr. Jaime Licauco took us through self-healing visualization exercises. Everyone in the class was interesting and interested.

It’s New Years Day too >> and everyone was getting excited about the nights festivities. They planned an enormous feast on the beach for us as well as all kinds of entertainment like puppet shows, music, a performance band, kids games & activities and finally a big fireworks show to mark the final moments of 2006. Aaron and I browsed all there was to see and made ice cream concoctions right there on the beach, and lounged in gigantic loungers before sipping a glass of champagne on the beach under the fireworks. I recalled that spending New Years on a warm tropical beach under the open sky and fireworks had been something I always wanted to do — and that moment lived up to all expectations in the white soft sands of Phuket and the Andaman Sea.

After Midnight rang in, we lazily headed back to our room. I feel asleep about 1, while Aaron stayed awake working on this speech until about 2. We had our final day and most important day ahead of us still.

Game day. 6:30a was the wake-up call. Aaron went for a swim in the huge resort pool and I tweaked the presentation. I was really nervous now, while Aaron seemed calmer than he'd been about the event. We had a quick breakfast and two cups of coffee each (not great for my nerves) and then headed to the keynote conference hall. Everything seemed in place, and people were milling around and happy to meet us.

Aaron did an amazing job! The audience seemed riveted and the presentation slides and two dvd's we showed went over great. Aaron spoke while I forwarded the slides and gave the queues to the audio/visual crew for the dvd's. It went very smoothly! And, man was I relieved when it was over!!!

We hung around for the next two speakers, had some lunch, had a massage on the beach, and then ran off for an elephant jungle trek! The day was jam packed — when we got back to the hotel, we changed into as close as all-white as we could for the all-white party on the beach.

We sat on these indian style platforms that were decorated with white cushions and draped in white linens and enjoyed indian foods and conversation with our fellow guests (a family from New Jersey). It was marvelous. Then, we were asked to write our hopes and dreams on a slip of paper with a ribbon attached to tie to a thai lantern and to release into the sky. Very cool effect with the fire lit white lanterns heading into the nights sky.

Wow. What a trip and what an adventure. We went to bed happy and excited and sad that the roller coaster was about to come to a stop. We had a 4:15a wake-up call.... And, then, by 5am, we were on our way back home: Phuket to Bangkok to Taipei to LA (and then aaron to Seattle).