There were rumors circulating that the world’s largest tree frog was recently discovered in the Highlands of Costa Rica. Measuring over 18 inches long and tipping the scales at over 2 pounds, this individual was identified by a foremost biologist as an aberration of the red-eyed tree frog (Agalychnis callidryas) which inhabit the rainforests of Central America. The giant tree frog was sighted living in the bromeliad garden at Hotel Bougainvillea, located in the suburbs of San Jose, Costa Rica’s Capital City. Normally individuals of this species of tree frogs are no more than 2 inches long.

A nocturnal species, these tree frogs are characterized by large bulging eyes that enable them to see in the dark. As with all tree frogs, sticky pads on their toes help these small creatures hang onto slippery leaves and climb trees. During the day, they sleep on bright green leaves which afford them a certain degree of camouflage from potential predators. At night, the red-eyed tree frogs are prolific hunters of the rainforest where they feast on variety of small insects- grasshoppers, flies and moths are their favorite foods. I can imagine that this giant individual at the Bougainvillea gardens has a voracious appetite.

Intrigued by this new discovery, I stayed at Hotel Bougainvillea for 3 nights on my most recent visit to Costa Rica, hoping to catch a glimpse of this giant frog. It wasn’t until my last day there that I happened to stumble upon ‘The Giant’ while strolling through the hotel’s magnificent tropical gardens. The frog was lying quietly among the bromeliads getting ready for his daytime siesta. I affectionately named the frog, Federico as I took several pictures of him before leaving San Jose.

P.S. If you go inside the gift shop at Hotel Bougainvillea, you will find some of Federico’s cousins for sale. They make good pets and are very cuddly!

I am a frequent traveler to THAILAND. When traveling outside of Bangkok, I often stay at a local guesthouse rather than a conventional hotel. Besides saving some monies, staying in a guesthouse allows me to sample the local flavor and it is a more conducive environment for meeting fellow travelers. In addition, the informal, carefree ambiance of most guesthouses suits my personality better than the somewhat stiff and fabricated environment of many traditional hotels. Guesthouses are usually small family run affairs – ranging from no frills hostels with simple dormitory like accommodations and shared bathroom facilities (popular with the young backpacker crowd) to the luxury “boutiquish” affair with amenities comparable to a small hotel (popular with the older crowd and families). As they say different strokes for different folks!

In Bangkok, the greatest number of guesthouses and hostels are located on or near Khao San Road. Affectionately known as the tourist ghetto of Bangkok, Khao San Road is a real magnet for the young backpacker crowd from Europe. Throbbing with activity night and day, Khao San Road swarms with cafes, inexpensive restaurants, bars, Internet shops and massage parlors. Lining the sidewalks are numerous street vendors offering anything from colorful tattoos to hair braiding. A real carnival scene to the say the least! While Khao San Road has the greatest selection of guesthouses by far, you can also find some quality guesthouses in the less busy and quieter neighborhoods of Bangkok as well.

I believe that the absolute rock bottom rate for simple accommodations with shared bathrooms in a Bangkok Guesthouse is about $4-5USD, although if you stay in a guesthouse which has shared sleeping quarters, the cost is probably less. For the young tourists-backpackers from Europe who are traveling around Thailand and Southeast Asia for 1 month or more, it definitely makes senses to stay in guesthouses for most of the journey in order to stretch out the monies.

Travelfish, an authoritative online guide for the independent traveler to Southeast Asia, is an excellent source of information on guesthouses and offbeat accommodations in Bangkok and Thailand in general. Just recently, Travelfish published a wonderful article on the top 10 guesthouses in Bangkok. If you’re a backpacker or a flashpacker, or an independent traveler like myself, this article is a must read!

Tomorrow is the start of my 2 1/2 week adventure in COSTA RICA. If you’d like to follow my journey, I suggest that you subscribe to my RSS feed.

I have decided to share MY TRAVEL ITINERARY TO COSTA RICA, March 25 - April 10, to all the faithful readers of Calypso Island Chronicles who would like to follow my trip. Please note: Even though I will be spending most of my time in Costa Rica in places “off the beaten track”, away from the established eco-tourist traps and away from San Jose, Costa Rica’s capital city, I will be able to update Calypso Island Chronicles on a regular basis as all of the hotels (excluding La Luna Azul) have free WIFI. Such is progress!

If you’d like to comment or critique my itinerary, please feel free to do so!

Map of Costa Rica
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• March 25-28 HEREDIA (SAN JOSE) Bougainvillea Hotel

Pick up Car, March 27

**Driving to the Caribbean Lowlands and around the Central Valley**

• March 28-29 SARAPIQUI (Caribbean Lowlands ) - Hotel Ara Ambigua
• March 29-April 2 TURRIALBA VALLEY– Guayabo Lodge
• April 2-4 OROSI VALLEY- Hotel Rio Perlas

Dropoff car in SJO-Fly to Nosara, April 4

• April 4-8 OSTIONAL (Nicoya Peninsula) – La Luna Azul

Pickup Car at Nosara Airport April 4
Dropoff car at Nosara April 8 and Fly to San Jose…

• April 8-10 SAN JOSE - Palm Tree House

For more information on locales

Sarapiqui
Turrialba Valley
Orosi Valley
Nosara

COSTA RICA TOURIST OFFICE

COSTA RICA here I come. One week from now, I will be returning to Costa Rica, a destination that I have already visited 7 times. Traveling far and wide, I have been very fortunate to explore most of this small mountainous country of only 19,700 square miles. Blessed with an abundance of natural beauty - from the lush tropical rainforests, wild jungles and towering volcanoes of the interior to beaches of every hue and color along both Costa Rica’s famed Pacific Coast and her less traveled (but more exotic) Caribbean Coast - Costa Rica is one of the premier travel destinations for natural history enthusiasts.

I admit that I am sort of traveler who avoids the tourist traps and the most commercialized resort areas. Every time I visit a destination (Costa Rica included), I make an effort to explore some new places-off the beaten track - which haven’t been overrun by the tourist crowd. On three of my trips, I have even rented a car so I could drive around the countryside at my own pace. That in itself is quite a feat considering the terrible condition of the roads of Costa Rica’s rural interior – many of the roads need resurfacing and often deteriorate into a rough-hewn dirt track. Of course, the roads in Costa Rica are world famous for her potholes of various sizes and shapes.

On my upcoming trip to Costa Rica, I will be traveling to three relatively untouristed locales – Turrialba Valley/Guayabo, Orosi Valley and Ostional Beach along Costa Rica’s North Pacific Coast. While these places receive their share of daytrippers and of travelers just passing through, they are still relatively off the beaten track - just the way I like it!

Turrialba and Orosi Valley are located about 90 minutes-2 hours southeast of San Jose. Turrialba is primarily known as the starting point for many of Costa Rica’s popular river rafting expeditions and Guayabo, which is located in Turrialba Valley, is Costa Rica’s largest archaeological site. Guayabo pales in comparison to the world class ruins of the Maya who flourished in Belize, Guatemala and Mexico’s Yucatan peninsula. Towering over the verdant green landscape is Turrialba Volcano.

The quiet village of Ostional is located about 5 miles north of Nosara, a popular beach resort in Costa Rica’s Nicoya Peninsula. The neighboring Ostional Wildlife Refuge is one of the most important nesting sites of the Olive Ridley Turtles

P.S. I will be blogging daily from Costa Rica, March 25-April 10. If you would like to follow my adventure, I suggest that you subscribe to my RSS feed.

COSTA RICA is one of my favorite travel destinations. After an absence of 4 years, I will be returning to COSTA RICA on March 25 for 2-½ weeks - it will be my eighth visit to COSTA RICA, which I have affectionately nicknamed PuraVida Land

I have rarely received any negative reports from any of my customers who I have sent to COSTA RICA. Not too long ago, a customer of mine from Switzerland submitted a critique of his travel arrangements on his November ‘08 trip to Costa Rica. I also asked him to list the highlights of his trip as well.

The customer was a volcano enthusiast and was interested in an itinerary which featured excursions to a variety of volcanoes - with a few minor adjustments, Calypso Island Tour’s Volcano Explorer package was exactly what the doctor ordered as it included excursions to two of the most important volcanoes in Costa Rica - Arenal Volcano and Rincon de La Vieja as well as a four day interval at Ocotal Beach, one of Costa Rica’s better Pacific Coast beaches. Not surprisingly, the customer had a wonderful experience and his satisfaction rating was very high! Here are some excerpts from his critique:

The Costa Rica trip was good to excellent, but actually a bit too easy for us!! (We are used to do a lot of organizing when we are traveling on our own).

Regarding the hotels - You wish that we make some comments about all the individual hotels. That’s not easy because they were all so wonderful. We therefore have only some really minor things hardly worth mentioning.

In San Jose …The Grano de Oro is special indeed, as all guidebooks say. Just the breakfast there is rather for people who are on a diet. The Bougainvillea (in Heredia) is a must because of its splendid garden, despite the fact that the location is not really convenient. They seem to have abandoned their shuttle service into downtown San Jose.

The Arenal Observatory Lodge is definitely a good location, provided the
weather is good, and it’s primarily for people who like to do some hikes on
their own. We walked up to Cerro Chato, a good hike, but only for people
used to do some “work”.

The Hacienda Guachipilin (near Rincon de La Vieja National Park) is a good place as well, just a bit too far away from the park for those without their own vehicle.

The Ocotal Beach Resort is superb. Less so their restaurant, they have too many items on the menu that we would call fancy things, and which were not very filling. Other guests must have felt the same, because the restaurant was virtually empty in the evenings. But the breakfast is excellent there, the terrace is wonderful and so is the wildlife around the hotel!

Highlights? Certainly the Rio Celeste Park, but also the sunsets at Ocotal Resort, the garden of the Bougainvillea hotel and the flight in the little airplane from Liberia to San Jose. And there are two further things which should not be forgotten, despite that they are not part of the original trip: The Jade museum in San Jose and the La Paz Waterfall and Gardens near Poas Volcano

PURA VIDA

Mae Pun Din, Po Tum San (Mae Pundin for short) has to be one of the most unique places to stay in Chiang Mai. In English, it means ‘Mom enjoys clay works while Dad prefers working in the garden’. Located just off the highway in Chiang Mai’s Mae Rim district, Mae Pundin is an easy 20-minute drive to the famous night bazaar. Owned by a Thai couple in their early 70’s - Chaleo & her husband Anong - this rather eclectic homestay/guesthouse and art gallery offers both terracotta pottery workshops and Thai cooking classes.

Surrounded by lush tropical gardens, the centerpiece of Mae Pundin is a very lovely teak house built in the traditional Lanna style of Northern Thailand. Scattered throughout the
gardens are clay figurines of many types of animals - elephants, birds, pigs, frogs, dogs and monkeys as well as some clay representations of the Buddha. It seems that the pig is the owner’s favorite animal as they are more figurines and representations of pigs than any other animal in her garden and art studio. My favorite is a female monkey swinging from the branch of a tree carrying her baby. Looks so real!

A very bubbly and cheerful lady, Chaleo is an accomplished artist and has developed quite a reputation over the years. Mae Pundin has been featured in several very prominent Thai house and garden magazines and has been host to a number of rather famous people including the Princess Mother, one of most revered persons in Thai history and mother of Thailand’s King. While the Princess Mother stayed at Mae Pundin, she modeled for Chaleo - situated on a small wooden table on the 2nd floor of the teak house is a very lifelike clay bust of her. According to Chaleo, the King’s niece is also a regular visitor to Mae Pundin. Inviting me into her colorful open-air studio, the first thing I happened to notice were the many unusual brightly painted caricatures carved into the wall. Besides the many smiling piglike figures (her favorite, of course), there is an outstanding representation of Chaleo and her husband. (See picture at top) Scattered throughout the small studio are some examples of her fine work.

Mae Pundin offers a special package, which features a pottery workshop and cooking classes at a very affordable 1200 Baht per day per person including all meals. As far as accommodations go, there is a choice of six rooms - four rooms at the lower garden level and two rooms upstairs in the teak house, all of which are available at 600 baht per day including breakfast. My preference would be one of the two large very comfortable rooms located upstairs in the teak house. Looking out onto a large living area complete with a library, TV and DVD player, these rooms share one large bathroom but are very cool and mosquito free (compared to the rooms at the garden level) – the large beds have their own mosquito net just in case. The living room is decorated tastefully with watercolor prints, artifacts and relics of the Lanna culture. I give Mae Pundin a big thumbs up!

THAILAND UNDISCOVERED refers to the small, sleepy towns and villages (and out of the way places) in Thailand’s rural countryside. Far away from the craziness of Bangkok and the popular tourist meccas of Chiang Mai and Phuket, it is a side of Thailand that few tourists have visited. However this particular traveler prefers to travel off the beaten track - call me the intrepid traveler if you will!

On my most recent trip, I journeyed to Nan Province and the small mountain resort of Phu Lang Ka in Northern Thailand. Located in the northeastern half of the Golden Triangle, this region of Thailand is rich with history and natural beauty – from the mist covered valley at Phu Lang Ka to the unusual earth pillars at Sao Din in Nan Province. In addition, there a number of hilltribes that populate this rural region - from the Yao (Mien), Hmong and Khamu to the very primitive Mlabri, a nomadic forest tribe more commonly known as Spirits of the Yellow Leaf, found only in the mountains of Nan. Most importantly, this is part of Thailand which has yet to be overrun by the tourist crowd. It is truly Thailand undiscovered!

Want to learn more about Nan and Phu Lang Ka?
See my fascinating video (available in high definition)!

It’s very simple – People in Thailand love to smile. I have traveled all around Thailand with my camera and I find people very receptive to have their picture taken. In fact, some ladies and kids have run after me to take their picture. I guess they love to have their picture taken, because it gives them a chance to smile. While smiling for their photograph, many Thai people will often give a “V sign” with the forefinger and middle finger of their right hand. I am guessing that this little gesture means peace or victory; I don’t know which!

Funny thing, while I was taking a picture of Yao Man and his 2-year-old boy at Phu Lang Lodge in Northern Thailand, both of them simultaneously gave me the “peace or victory” sign as they flashed their award winning smiles. Like son like father, I guess.

Thailand is truly the Land of Smiles!

While I was a guest at Phu Lang Ka Lodge in Northern Thailand this past November, I was invited by the owner of the lodge (Kevan) to attend a special memorial tribute by the Yao and Hmong hilltribes to the belated Princess Galyani, the King of Thailand’s elder sister. Universally loved by the people of Thailand, she died on January 2, 2008 after a long struggle with cancer. Among the Hilltribes in particular, Princess Galyani was considered a very special lady – she was revered for her acts of kindness and for her many contributions towards their welfare.

This Special Hilltribe tribute took place at the community school at the nearby village of Pong in Phayao Province on November 21. Organized by the director of the school and his staff, this tribute drew Hmong and Yao from the outlying villages and communities. The director of the school coincidentally happened to be Kevan, the owner of Phu Lang Ka Lodge as well as the President of the Yao people of Thailand. The tribute at the small village of Pong in upcountry Thailand was quite different than the lavish funeral and cremation ceremony that was staged in Bangkok a couple of days before. Watched by many Thai people on TV, over 100,000 people attended the official Funeral ceremony for Princess Galyani.

Sharing the large grassy field of the community school, the Hmong and Yao conducted their own independent tribute/memorial to Princess Galyani – the Yao were congregated on the north end of the field while the Hmong were on the south end. I guess separate tributes were allowed for the Yao and Hmong because they have a different set of traditions and customs regarding the afterlife and rituals for the dead. In addition, this allowed the Hmong and Yao to conduct their tributes in their own tribal language. Looking around me, I noticed that the most of the people in attendance were outfitted in their own traditional tribal dress - the women in particular wore some very exotic and colorful outfits.

I spent most of time on the Yao side of the field, where Kevan introduced me to some Yao dignitaries who had immigrated from Phayao to the USA. One of his friends, who was now living in Salem, Oregon, explained to me some of the unique Yao customs and traditions pertaining to death and the afterlife.

Motioning to a group of people who were pounding away at something at a nearby table, he said - these people are making imitation silver coins (spiritual monies) from paper which will be used to pay the Toll keeper at Heaven’s Gate for the Princess’s entrance to the other side. Pointing to another group of people, they are making gold bars which will offered to the spirits to insure the Princess has a comfortable existence in the afterlife. The newly minted silver coins and gold bars are then fed to a burning fire to finish the transaction with the spirits/gods. In Yao culture, he explained, a man’s worth is not measured by his material wealth but by his spiritual wealth.

The Special Hilltribe Tribute to Princess Galyani really opened up my mind - it is an experience that I will never forget.