Days 135-146 – June 15-26, 2008 (Thailand 3)

Day 6 – Koh Samui to Phuket

We had to wake up before 6:00 am today to make our 8:00 flight to Phuket. Unbelievably tired, we somehow managed to get up and ready. However, there was no one working at the reception desk at the time, and we not only needed a cab but also still had to pay for the drinks we had charged to the room during our stay. I saw a security guard and tried to explain our situation. He didn’t speak much English but with the help of the cook, called us a cab. We left without having to pay for the rest of our bill. The cab ride to the airport was quick and we were a little early to our check-in. One strange thing I’ve noticed about cabs here is that they rarely play the radio and don’t usually attempt speaking to us, so it is just awkward silence unless Emily and I are talking to each other. The flight to Phuket was ridiculously short – only about 40 minutes. We flew in this tiny, crazily-painted plane, and Emily and I were seated in the front row. We met this weird old guy on the plane who kept trying to talk to us. (We randomly saw the same guy a few days later when we were walking around Bangkok on Emily’s last night.) This flight had a lot of mosquitoes flying around inside the plane for some reason, but on the positive side, we were served another meal. We were met at the Phuket airport by a driver from our next hotel, the Boomerang Village Cottages in Kata Beach, which was on the other side of the island. On the ride, we took a little detour to a local university to pick up the driver’s daughter. This was pretty unexpected and the driver made no comment about it before, during, or after. It took us an hour to get to the hotel, but it is unknown how long it might have taken if we weren’t acting as a school bus. The hotel we were at was nice, and we were treated to a fruit drink upon arrival. Our room was really sweet and big and was decorated with all types of Thai sculptures and paintings. The bathroom was strange once again, and the shower was not separated from the toilet, but a curtain separated both of them from the sink. We also had a huge king bed and were also given an additional bed in the middle of the room that made it hard to walk around. So much bedding. We were getting picked up for our elephant trekking at 1:30, so we rested in the room for a bit. While there, I changed by return flight to the 26^th. It ended up costing $200, but by the time I learned it was so much, I couldn’t really change my mind back. The hotel was owned by a group of Italians, and the only food they made before dinnertime was pizza, so we had that for lunch. The pickup man came and got up and took us to the Siam Safari location, where we paid and were separated into groups. When everyone arrived, they brought us about 10 minutes away to the elephant spot. The first thing we did when we got there was watch a little show of baby elephants. The baby elephants were really cute and did tricks such as painting, dancing, and giving us kisses. Afterwards, they brought everyone over to the real elephants. We were given a brief overview, and the big elephant that was used as the feature was the one that Emily and I got to ride on. She was massive and weighed around 3 tons. We didn’t actually get to sit on the elephant and ride bareback and were instead on a little seat on her back. We had a 45 minute ride through the trees and it was a lot of fun. Our guide was great and definitely made the experience more enjoyable. At one point, the guide reached into the trees, snatched out a lizard, and stuffed it in his mouth. He then tried to get us to do the same, as if it was somehow sanitary. After unsuccessfully trying to convince us, he put it back in his mouth, this time folded so both its tail and head were sticking out of his mouth. Much to our surprise, we met a quite a few Aussies on our elephant trekking, after Emily and I both noticed their absence in all places before Phuket. But I do remember hearing that Phuket is a popular tourist destination from Australia, while other parts of the country are not as much. All in all, the elephant riding was a great time, and we chilled around the room for a few hours afterwards. Our plan for the rest of the night was to go into Phuket Town and meet up with Fox and her friend Jenna, who had arrived that night. Emily and I figured we would just eat when we got there and only had a bruschetta snack in the restaurant. We were ready to leave around 7:30, but our cab didn’t come until 8:00. And this guy also stopped to pick up a woman who was probably his wife along the way. We got to Talang Guesthouse, where they were staying, and Emily and I went to a convenience store to buy some beer and headed up to their room. Their room consisted of 2 beds and a bathroom but had only fans and no AC and cost 300 baht total ($10) for the night. We hung around there for a little and then moved to a local Thai restaurant down the block that had live music. This place was legit Thai, and none of the staff spoke English. Fox’s Thai was not great, but she somehow managed to order us food and drinks. We had a few noodle dishes and a couple soups. The food was pretty spicy, especially the soup, and it was made even more so by Fox dumping hot pepper all over it. We left there and went to a local bar, where a Thai man and woman were singing “Crazy in Love” by Beyonce and Jay-Z over the instrumental. This was pretty funny to watch, especially since the guy had the timing and pace of the song all wrong and even said the wrong words a bunch of times. But it didn’t really matter because basically no one there spoke English anyway. The bar was packed with Thai people. One Tom Selleck-looking Caucasian guy started talking to Jenna while Emily was being hit on by a Thai man. We left there around the time this started happening to try and find a place that Fox and Jenna had apparently been to before. We quickly got lost but ended up at a club. I went to the bathroom when we got there, and while I was peeing, a bathroom attendant threw a hot towel on the back of my neck. When I was done and started to walk away from the urinal, he grabbed me and cracked my neck, my back, and gave me a massage. It was the best cracking I’ve ever had and well worth the 20 baht ($0.67) tip I gave him. I came out and Fox was getting a table and buying a bottle. A bottle of Johnny Walker Black Label and 3 bottles of Coke was 800 baht (~$26.00!). We drank our cocktails and then decided it would be a fun idea to just dump all our drinks into the ice bucket and share, like a Full Moon bucket. Looking back on this, it was pretty gross, but it seemed great at the time. There wasn’t much of a dance floor at this Thai club, and makeshift tables like the one we had were set up everywhere. There was a chubby Thai guy with dyed blond hair dancing near us, and the girls were all taking photos with him because he looked so ridiculous. He kinda reminded me of Bizarre from D12. At one point I was dancing, and he grabbed me and had me dancing next to him. It was pretty funny, and since I felt like he wasn’t going to try any moves on me, I wasn’t overly creeped out. But we did decide that it was time to leave soon after. We started walking, looking for our way back. Emily and I thought one way, but Fox and Jenna said another way and that’s the way we went. We kept walking the wrong way for a while and eventually asked a guy on a motorbike who was offering rides for directions. He pointed in what we all knew was the wrong direction, and we refused to believe him. Somehow while walking, a stray dog joined our crew. I was convinced he had rabies, but Jenna and Fox claimed he didn’t. Anyway, this dog followed us all the way back to Talang Guesthouse. When we were getting close to Talang, the same driver who had been on a motorbike 5 minutes ago pulled up next to us in a car and tried to get all 4 of us in, still contending that we were going the wrong way. We got back to their room, and Emily called the cab driver who had brought us. When he dropped us off earlier in the night, he had offered to return to get us, and within a few minutes, he was back. We got to our hotel room and went to sleep around 2:00 am. The room was incredibly hot when we came in, and the AC did not work as well as it should have.

Day 7 – Phuket

In order to make our 8:15 am pickup for today’s tour of the Phi Phi Islands, we were forced to get up at 7:00, tired and slightly hungover. We ate breakfast at the hotel – it was pretty good, and they even had precooked fried eggs and a variety of fruits. A van came just as we had finished eating, already full of people. It took us to a pier in Chalong called “Tourist Pier” where we were divided into groups and sat and waited for everyone else to come. They were trying to get us to rent flippers for 100 baht to use while snorkeling, but Emily and I thought that they weren’t too necessary and declined. They were really pushing hard for them, though. The group on our speedboat consisted of about 30 or so people from all over the world: a Japanese couple in matching outfits, an Indian family wearing all long sleeves, 2 guys from Denmark, 3 giggling little Asian girls, and many others. Emily and I sat on the inside of the boat for the hour trip out to the islands. The water seemed calm, and there were a lot of nice views on the way. The green islands kinda reminded me of those in the Whitsundays, but this seemed more tropical. We turned into Maya Bay, where they filmed some of the movie “The Beach”, for our first stop. It was gorgeous. Maya Bay was a secluded little cove lined with green rocks and contained the bluest water I have ever seen. Whenever the sun was shining, the place looked absolutely beautiful. We stayed there for about 40 minutes and spent that time exploring, taking pictures, and swimming. The beach was loaded with tourists and speedboats, and it would have been nice to stay longer, but I’m sure it is a very popular and busy spot for any tour of the islands. We boarded again, and this time, Emily and I opted for seats in the uncovered front section of the boat. The decision worked out well because this part of the tour brought us to places where we couldn’t get off and just had to view from onboard. With the front being the only uncovered portion, all the other passengers kept trying to come up to our section as we went to places such as James Bond Bay, Monkey Beach, and Viking Cove. The next place we could get off at was a snorkel location, and we jumped into the water with the masks that they had provided for us. Obviously, this wasn’t too impressive compared to the Great Barrier Reef, but it was still some nice snorkeling. However, here, people seem to have little respect for the reef and wildlife. People were actually catching fish in plastic bags and picking up coral and shells from the seafloor. Quite a different from my snorkeling experiences Australia, especially considering this disregard for nature was happening on a bunch of different tours and the guides not only didn’t seem to mind – they were the ones handing out plastic bags! Back on the boat, we were served Pepsi and bananas. Next was lunch and they brought us to the main Phi Phi island. This was the only Phi Phi island with hotels or anything on it, and our lunch buffet was served at a resort. The food was good and more than enough to fill me up. We had some time to sit on the beach enjoying the island scenery and take silly pictures. There was a pool that had a sign reading “No Swimming Chemical Treatment” and looked really green and gross near the food, and some crazy lady was sitting on the edge of the pool, taking pictures with her feet dangling in it. I hope she just couldn’t read English. As our boat left this island, our guide warned us that the next 45 minutes would be extra rough, and this would be felt mainly be the front of the boat (where we were still sitting). The next ride definitely brought us through some choppy water, and we really felt each wave as the boat bounced around and usually came down pretty hard, but it was a lot of fun. It felt like I was on a huge wave runner. There was an Indian guy across from us who was having a terrible time, though. At one point, Emily saw him grab his balls and grimace after coming down from a big wave, as if he had just crushed them. The whole rest of the way, he looked really uncomfortable and kept making hilariously pained expressions on his face. The next island we went to had many beach chairs and umbrellas set up, along with some little shops near the beach. We got a pair of seats for 150 baht ($5), and I relaxed in the shade for most of the 2 hours that we were there. I went to use the toilets at one point, but they tried to say there was a 20 baht charge, so I obviously just peed in the ocean instead. How dumb do they think people are? The water was really warm here (even before the pee), and, again, people were catching fish and taking coral. Our guide had set up a table with free fruit and drinks for everyone on our boat. Towards the end of the 2 hours, the sky started to become dark and gray, and it started pouring rain for about 5 minutes. Luckily, we saw this coming and ran into one of the shops to hide. I was pretty sleepy on the ride back to the Tourist Pier and tried to take a short nap. The same van that picked us up that morning brought us back to our hotel (we were first again!), driving like a maniac and passing whenever it was not at all appropriate. We sat around for a little while and then got ready for dinner. There was supposed to be a really good restaurant called the Boathouse in Kata Beach, so we took a short cab ride there. It turned out to be surprisingly expensive (normal Western prices), so we decided to check out some of the places we had passed by on the taxi in. Even in this area of Thailand, there were dozens of Indian salesmen trying to talk to us and lure us into suit shops. We chose a Thai place and ate a decent meal with reasonable prices. The cab ride here had been pretty quick, and with not much else to do, we figured we would just walk back. Along the way, we stopped at a place with computers and internet access for about an hour, and I also found a mobile phone store where I bought a 150 baht refill. We didn’t have much trouble finding our way back to the Boomerang Village, although we were caught in wind/dust and rain storms during our journey. When we came back to the room, we just relaxed and watched some American movies with Thai subtitles on TV then got to bed before midnight.

Day 8 – Phuket to Bangkok

After getting to bed so early last night, I woke up around 8:00 am today. The blinds in the room did a terrible job of keeping light out, and I was woken up without the alarm. Emily woke up shortly after, and we hung around the room for a little and eventually went to breakfast. Once again, we were the only people eating. We had a nice breakfast then came back and watched “You, Me, and Dupree” while getting ready to leave. We thought about renting motorbikes for this morning but were too lazy and didn’t really follow-through with any plans for today. The flight we had originally booked back to Bangkok was for 10:00 am, but Bangkok Airways decided to change it to 1:50 pm a few weeks ago. We checked out and the Italians at the hotel gave us a cute little DVD package to take with us. They also called us a cab, which unfortunately did not have any family members to pick up en route. It would have been a nice end to our trip to Phuket. He did take us a different way than the first driver, and we made it to the airport in about 45 minutes. This airport had an x-ray machine for checked luggage right when you first entered the airport even before getting your boarding pass, and after checking in, we went through security and I got a snack at Burger King (my first American meal since getting to Thailand a week ago.) The flight itself was fine and only took about an hour. At one point while they were serving meals and about to give us water and hot tea, the plane hit some major turbulence, and a big mess ensued. The stewardess had a tray full of tea that spilled everywhere, and she somehow managed to throw tea all over the ceiling, where it dripped down for the next few minutes. It was pretty hilarious, and we were glad we hadn’t hit that area a minute later after we had been served. The girls in the row next to us were soaked and had to change seats. In Bangkok, we split a cab from the airport with 2 Korean girls who coincidentally were going to the same hotel as us. The driver put on these weird black gloves to drive with and then overcharged us the meter rate when we arrived, yet tried to act like he was giving us a deal. When we protested, he claimed some bogus charges. The hotel we were staying at would be the meeting point for Emily’s tour and is also apparently the tour company’s home base because they have an office here and we also saw other tours meeting in the lobby when we arrived. We checked in and came up to our room, which was definitely the least classy of all our hotels in Thailand. There was a pair of sandals in the bathroom next to the shower, as if having everyone share the sandals would be any cleaner than just going barefoot. (We later learned that they were to be used because the shower drained poorly and would leave the bathroom flooded for a short while after it was used.) But there was nothing really wrong with this hotel – I think we had just been pretty spoiled lately. It was in a backpackers region of Bangkok, meaning there were a lot of internet cafes, tourists, and food vendors. We walked around the streets near our hotel and saw a lot of strange foods on carts as we made our way to Khaosan Road, a popular street in Bangkok. I don’t think cars are allowed to drive down Khaosan and everyone just was walking in the road. There were a lot of clothes shops, bars, and restaurants along the short street, in addition to many people. On our way back to the hotel, we got a little lost. A Thai man speaking perfect English must have sensed this and came over to talk to us for a few minutes. He kept telling us about some program for students he was involved with and asking how long we would be in Thailand for but eventually said goodbye and walked away. He never tried to get us to buy or do anything and left both of us confused as to his hidden motives which surely existed. Emily and I got back to the hotel to plan our next few days. We booked a trip to the Tiger Temple for tomorrow, and I extended the room so I could just stay in it until my new flight out. When it started getting dark, we headed back to Khaosan Road. We had to be up at 6:00 am tomorrow for our tour, so we didn’t really want to venture too far tonight. The street was a lot more bustling and busy at night than during the daytime, full of bring lights and more vendors. I noticed that it was pretty much full of Westerners – possibly mostly backpackers. Hawkers were frying up pad thai, selling sweet corn, and offering ping pong shows as we strolled down the street. People here seemed to be less pushy and aggressive than in other sections of the city, but they did hand out more flyers. We settled on a Thai restaurant, where the food was quick but not very good. I tried a Beerlao for the fist time. My order of favorites would have to be Chang, Tiger, Beerlao, and Singha. We did some shopping on Khaosan and each got a few shirts for cheaper than we had paid on the southern islands. I also got another chocolate banana pancake that was smaller and not as good as the one of Samui. We eventually were ready to go back and went to the hotel for bed.

Days 135-146 – June 15-26, 2008 (Thailand 2)

Day 3 – Bangkok to Koh Samui

Today’s wakeup was at the early time of 6:45 am. I got ready and went downstairs to meet Emily for breakfast, who had already been up since 6:15 and was waiting on the computer. We ate, packed up the room, and checked out of the hotel to get to the airport for our flight to Koh Samui (koh is the Thai word for island). The metered cab that we took cost just over 200 baht, meaning that we had paid over double the true price for the unmetered cab we got when we first arrived. We hustled to checkin, with it quickly approaching the 60 minute deadline for our 9:30 departure. The first security checkpoint into the terminal didn’t check anything except for our tickets, and we thought that domestic flights in Thailand were pretty relaxed as far as security. But we later realized that each individual gate had its own metal detectors and security personnel that inspect you. The flight was not too crowded, and we were even served a meal and hot tea on the 50 minute trip with Bangkok Airways. As we descended into Samui Airport, we passed Koh Phangan (the island where the Full Moon Party is) and both islands appeared green, hilly, and tropical, slightly reminding me of Queensland in Australia. We got off the plane and took little buses from the airstrip area to the real airport and baggage claim. The airport was really nice and mostly outdoors. The bathrooms were out of control and even contained fishtanks. We met the driver who had been sent by the hotel we would be staying at for the night, the Best Western Bayview Samui Resort. The ride was about 25-30 minutes, and we passed through a busy street lined with shops that caught our attention. This place appears to be much more touristy than even the touristy sections of Bangkok. A lot of visitors here rent motorbikes, and there are many places selling gas in glass bottles along the road. I actually saw one sign advertising gas that read “Gas Soline”. Our hotel was not right on the beach but was up an incredibly steep driveway, giving us an amazing view of the bay. The hotel was quite nice with some cool architecture and designs, and we were given free juice when we arrived. The hotel was really dead when we got there, though, and by the end of the day, we had seen maybe about 6 couples, max. Our room was nice, as well. Each of our beds was bigger than both combined from the last hotel. We had a sweet balcony and even a window in the bathroom that would allow you to look out the balcony if you were in the tub. We hung around the room and figured out a gameplan for the day, deciding to go back into town instead of to the beach due to the cloudy weather. We took the 5 minute trip from the hotel’s van for 300 baht total, which cost more than our 35 minute cab ride to the airport earlier, proof of this place was more of a ripoff for tourists. The driver dropped up near Chaweng Beach, and we had a bit of a walk to get to the beginning of the street that we’d driven through earlier. We decided to just head straight for the beginning markets right away and just work our way back down the road. At the beginning of the walk, about five different guys in dress shirts came over to us, shook my hand, and started making small talk. I happened to be wearing a Miami shirt, which gave them some great conversation starters, as they threw in Americanisms such as “My brother!”, “What’s up, man?”, and “Yoo”. These men were all salesmen for tailors and eventually cut to the chase and tried to sell me a suit. This got to be pretty annoying after the first few, and Emily and I considered pretending to speak Italian to avoid wasting time talking to them. This street seemed to have fewer of the stationary food vendors that had been overcrowding the streets of Bangkok and instead had more mobile ones, selling meat, fruit, and pancakes. We got to the beginning of the markets and dove right in, buying some shirts from the first few places we stopped at. We soon realized that everywhere had the exact same clothes in the same colors, and it was just a matter of bargaining your way to the best prices. And if one place wasn’t willing to give it to you for the price you wanted, you could probably find the same thing next door. In addition to Thai shirts, they had a lot of Ed Hardy, Lacoste, and Polo shirts and Diesel jeans. I didn’t really want any of those and focused my efforts on the Thai beer shirts and tank tops. I also bought a disposable camera for the Full Moon tomorrow, not wanting to risk my new digital with all the sand, and I found some think-soled sandals to wear there, too. I think by the end of the day, I got pretty comfortable with the bargaining and was able to negotiate the prices to about where I wanted them. I don’t actually know if they were good prices in absolute terms, but I was able to knock a decent amount off the initial asking price and bought things for what I considered to be reasonable. Everything was cheap enough to begin with anyway, though. The weather turned sunny later in the afternoon, and it was really how as we were walking around. There were a lot of pharmacies on the street, and it became clear that not everyone here understood the concept of the 12-hour clock. Some of the pharmacies had signs saying “Opening Hours 10:00 am – 12:00 pm”. They clearly meant to write “12:00 am” but must not know how to write that after being accustomed to only the 24-hour clock. After a few hours, I decided enough was enough and I was done shopping, with there still being markets to check out in Bangkok. There were a lot of Italian restaurants here, something I didn’t see many of in Bangkok. It must be for the European tourists that come to Samui. At the end of the day, we went for some fruit shakes and then came back to the hotel. We went swimming in the pool and felt like we owned the place due to the lack of any other visible guests around. It was almost like we had rented out the hotel all for ourselves. We stayed in the pool for about an hour then came back to shower and get ready for dinner. Although you aren’t supposed to use the tap water here, Emily has repeatedly forgotten that. So far on the trip, almost everytime she is brushing the teeth, I hear her yell from the bathroom, “Ahh, I did it again!” a few minutes after she’s gone in. The only restaurant within walking distance from our hotel was really expensive, so we chose to stay and eat at the hotel. There were only two older couples eating when we got there. I ordered a coconut shake that was absolutely delicious and came served in a real coconut. The dinner was pretty good, and there were fireworks being let off across the bay. A few of the fireworks turned into drifting bright green lights that just floated high into the sky. It was a little strange. After dinner, we used the internet in the hotel and relaxed around the room before eventually getting to bed.

Day 4 – Koh Samui and Koh Phangan

We woke up today and went upstairs for the free breakfast. We had gone to bed pretty early last night and had a nice long sleep, not expecting to get much tonight. The breakfast today was pretty good, and the hotel served breads, fruits, and omelettes. This was my first omelette in a long time, and I noticed that they make them funny over here. Instead of being flat, the eggs are rolled into the shape of a cigar or something. After eating, we hung around the room and then went for a swim in the pool. While we had seen some other people at breakfast, the pool was empty again and we still had our own private mansion. We watched some Asian pop music videos in the room and then checked out. We would be going to another hotel in Koh Samui that we tried to book for all three nights but only had availability for two. We asked the lady at the front desk to get us a cab, and when she asked where we would be going, we had to awkwardly tell her that we were leaving for a different hotel. The hotel’s driver who had taken us around yesterday brought us across the island to our new place. The Waterfront Bophut was a really beautiful hotel. It was right on the beach with an amazing view of Koh Phangan and other nearby islands. The water right outside the hotel was too shallow to swim in, but it still looked a nice blue color. The separate guest rooms were set up in a U shape around the property, with a pool, an outdoor bar, beach chairs, hammocks, and palm trees contained within. Our room wasn’t ready yet, but they gave us free drinks and sat us in the reception area for a little while. It was all open-air, and a thermometer on the wall said it was around 90°F. We soon decided to go walk around the Bophut area and get something to eat. This area was much less developed and crowded than Chaweng was. It didn’t really have any American stores like 7/11 or McDonald’s, but it did have a lot of non-chain European restaurants. We found an Indian place that looked good and ate there. Once again, we were the only people eating at a restaurant. I don’t really mind being here at an off-peak time. It is a lot nicer not to have to wait at crowded places or deal with long lines, and the rates at hotels are cheaper. It’s not like having massive crowds during the high season would be making my trip any better, and the weather so far has been great. The Indian food was quite filling, and we went back to the hotel to find our room ready and our bags already inside. The room was really nice. They had spread those pink and white flowers that were everywhere in Hawaii all over the room. The shower was a little strange, though. It was just an extension of the bathroom and didn’t have a curtain or door but just a short piece of wall jutting out. We relaxed around the hotel and enjoyed the views for most of the afternoon. With nothing else to do, we got pina coladas from the bar and sat in the heat drinking them. Earlier that afternoon, we had booked a roundtrip speedboat to Koh Phangan for the party that night. We could return any time we wanted from 1:00 am-8:00 am and had scheduled a 6:00 pm departure from Koh Samui. A taxi was supposed to pick us up from our hotel at 5:30, and by 5:50, it still hadn’t come yet. Emily went inside to see what the deal was, and they told her that this always happens and it was probably on its way. A few minutes later, a truck with a covered back and seats along each side showed up. There were six other people inside, some of whom were complaining that they were supposed to be on the 5:00 boat. We were taken to a dock that conveniently also had a bar, where about 25 other people were waiting for the boat to board. We both got a beer and sat to wait. After about 20 minutes, the speedboat was ready to go. We were all given lanyards to show we had paid, which would be used as our tickets back to Koh Samui at the end of the night. The boat ride over was quick – maybe only about 20-30 minutes. A lot of the other people on the speedboat seemed older than us (mid-20s through mid-30s?), but it was almost exclusively tourists rather than locals. We got to the island and followed the crowd down the streets. Haad Rin (where the Full Moon Party actually takes place) is not right near the dock and you have to travel through a small town to get there. There were tons of people walking around everywhere. Locals had set up tables all throughout the bars and restaurants, selling buckets. Buckets are the main drink to get at a Full Moon Party, and those on display featured a small bottle of alcohol, one or two types of mixers, and possibly a lime. There were many different combinations, and you could chose whichever type you wanted and try to negotiate the price down from what is listed. They make the mixture for you and give you the bucket of liquid and ice with many straws. After Emily and I walked around for a bit, we eventually found our way to the beach. We got on the sand and saw a decent-sized crowd stretching far down the coastline in both directions, despite it being pretty early. On the beach plastic tables and chairs were scattered for people to sit, and other areas had big rugs spread out on the sand. From the water to the end of the sand was not too far, and set up at the back of the beach were dozens of stands selling buckets. It was pretty crazy to see so many vendors selling the same thing, all competing for the money of partying travelers. Many of the stands had bright lights to attract attention, and all had names, usually those of the people who were running them. Quite a few also had signs saying “Love You Long Time.” As we walked past, everyone was screaming for us, holding out their hands and trying to reel us in. We settled on a guy named Peter, who gave us a bucket of 3 Red Bulls, vodka, and a lime for 200 baht, a price we had negotiated down from 250. (I’m sure you get what you pay for though, and a cheaper price probably just means less alcohol.) It was a little sketchy how he just mixed it behind the counter without us really able to see, but that’s just how it is around here. And it really wouldn’t be in his interest to drug us because then we wouldn’t buy any more from him. We took the bucket to an open table and sat down. We were probably given ten straws in the bucket for some reason, and we stayed there until it was finished. Once we were done, we walked back over to the streets for some dinner. Neither of us was too hungry, but it was well past dinnertime and we knew it would be a good idea to eat. We found a place nearby that had Thai food and ate there. I went upstairs to use the bathroom (which they were charging 10 baht for non-customers to use) and the room I went into had nothing in it but a big bucket. No real toilet. Emily told me later that the other rooms did have toilets, though. When we first got to the restaurant, the Simpson’s movie was on the TV’s, and by the time we left, they were showing the new Indiana Jones. Nearly all of the restaurants we walked by in Koh Phangan had signs out front listing the movies being shown throughout the night and times. It must be a big draw here, for some reason. We finished our meals and headed back to the beach, which was now much more crowded. The full moon was shining brightly over the water, and there were some really sketchy taxi boats along the coast, while their owners were up on the street trying to pick up drunk passengers. Emily and I walked the beach to check the whole scene out. There were many food vendors, bucket vendors, fluorescent tattoo painters, firedancers, and even a few cops. There were also raised platforms to dance on here and there, and everyone was having a great time. The rest of the night included the following: sitting and watching a bunch of sweet firedancing, 3 more buckets from Peter and Jenny of varying strengths and prices (none above 200 bath, though), stage dancing, walking around, having a lot of fun, a big sign reading “AMAZING THAILAND” with two elephants that was intentionally torched and set ablaze, fireworks, a variety of music, very hot weather, and overall craziness. There really were a lot of people there, and after a while, the beach was loaded with heads. Emily and I also got some fluorescent paint tattoos during the night. I got a dragon on my arm, and she got flowers on her face. We each brought disposable cameras to avoid risking our digitals, which turned out to be a good decision because we both got pretty sandy. The pictures suffered, but it was worth it not to have to buy a new camera. We eventually were ready to go back and got some pizza before heading to the pier. There were long lines for the speedboats, but we cut one and managed to be the last two people to make it on a boat. When we returned to the Bophut pier, they started loading people into taxis based on where on Samui they would be going. Somehow Emily and I were they only two people for Bophut, so we had to wait for a bit. Soon, it was just us and about 15 Thai drivers and finally one offered to take us back to the Waterfront. I went directly to sleep when we got back, getting my side of the bed incredibly sandy in the process. Overall, I had a pretty great time at the Full Moon Party. It was just so crazy, and I can see why everyone hypes it up so much. The party was just a lot of people going wild together – people from all different parts of the world. It was definitely unlike any party I have ever been to (and probably ever will go to) in my life, and I’m amazed that it happens every month. Definitely glad I got a chance to experience it during my short trip to Thailand.

Day 5 – Koh Samui

Emily woke me up around 9:15 today to get breakfast before it closed at 10:00. Somehow, she had already been up for hours. We got the free hotel breakfast that included fried eggs and then walked to a convenience store to buy some snacks and drinks. I felt pretty silly because I still had my fluorescent tattoo from the night before on my arm, but the hotel staff thought it was great. Our next move was to the beach. It was hot and sunny once again, so we definitely wanted to get in some ocean time. The water was pretty warm, almost to the point of not even being refreshing. Almost. We had to walk a little ways down from the hotel to get to the deeper, swimmable water, but the ocean floor here was full of mud instead of sand. It was all squishy and weird, and every once in a while, I would step on something that definitely wasn’t mud. But after a while, the mud felt kinda nice. After we had enough of the water, we decided to get some food at a place along the beach. I got a really good coconut flavored chicken curry. We also each got fruit shakes, something that I really enjoy here. It seems like every restaurant serves fruit juice shakes, and they are all so exotic/good/refreshing. The fruit taste is usually really strong, too. While we were eating, these mangy, sick-looking cats kept hanging around near us. It only got worse when I accidentally dropped a potato on the floor. The swarmed and then just decided to post up near my chair for a while. They were really freaking us out, and we somehow scared them enough to leave as the meal was finishing. I spent the rest of the afternoon sleeping in a hammock at the hotel. We later got ready and went back to Chaweng for the night. Emily had suggested going to a cabaret show featuring ladyboys, and there was one every night along the main street. We got there around dinnertime and walked the streets to find somewhere to eat. The tailor salesmen were in full force tonight. There seemed to be more of them than last time and they were pretty aggressive. I was not the least bit interested in wasting any more time talking to them and was just walking by, usually not even acknowledging them any longer. I told one guy that I didn’t want to buy anything as I made my way past him and he yelled back “I just want to talk.” That clearly was not true. Another thing that I noticed is that cabs just drive down the street and beep at you when you are on the sidewalk, as if their beep will make you realize you need a ride. (Sidenote: A lot of the cabs in Bangkok are a bright pink.) At night here, all the seafood restaurants had fresh seafood on display in big boats of ice in front of the stores. There were lobsters, fish, crabs, and more. Not only did it stink up the area around the restaurant, but I still don’t see how that could be sanitary, especially in this heat and with so many cars with heavy exhaust fumes passing by. We settled on a place that was having a special of spring rolls, pad thai chicken, and a fruit shake for only 200 bath (~$6.67). That was a great deal, especially considering pad thai on its own was 150 baht on the regular menu. Towards the end of the meal, a single, middle-aged Caucasian man came and sat down at a table alone. By this point in the trip, whenever I see something like that, my immediate thought is that this man is in Thailand for prostitutes, and Emily admitted she also thought the same. After dinner, we walked down the street and bought some amazing pancakes from a street vendor for under $1 each. Mine was banana chocolate, and it was delicious. We kept walking and came across a little boy holding a monkey on the street while people took pictures. Turning away to continue going down, some guy tried to throw an iguana into my arms, but I had to Matrix my body out of the way. He was trying to get my to hold it so he could then charge me. Down there road, there was another man holding a monkey. Craziness. We had nothing left to do for about an hour when the show was to be starting, so we decided to get massages. Massage parlors are about as common as tailors here, but the women working them are not nearly as aggressive. We went for Thai massages, which are full body, instead of foot massages, which are also a specialty here. It was only 150 baht for a half hour, and afterwards, I felt really good. Relaxed and loose, Emily and I went to the cabaret show. Everyone in the show was a man, but many had had operations to fully become women. There was a lot of singing, dancing, and weird things going on, but it was fun. They did impersonations of popular singers such as Britney Spears, Cher, Tina Turner, and Celine Dion. The best part was that it was free. After the show, we took a cab back to our hotel to go to sleep.

Days 135-146 – June 15-26, 2008 (Thailand 1)

I had a really incredible time on my trip to Thailand over the last 12 days. It was my first time in a country that does not speak English and is not Western, which made for an unforgettable experience. Thailand was unlike anywhere I have ever been, and I wished I could have spent so much more time in the country. But the short trip I had was great nonetheless, as Emily and I were able to travel throughout Thailand and take advantage of as much as we could. While I was there, I kept a journal to log my travels, and the blog is just a typed-up version of that. I also added my photos to the third webshots link on the side of the blog page.

Day 1 – Melbourne to Bangkok

I got up this morning around 8:30 to a phone call from Emily and got ready. Eric came down for breakfast, then we went around to Harry’s and Adam’s rooms to say goodbye, as all three of them will be gone by the time I return. At around 10:15, Emily and I got into a cab headed for the airport. We noticed there were many couples of older white men and young Asian women in line for our flight to Thailand. The plane was scheduled to leave around 1:10, but we were still sitting at the gate until nearly 2:00 due to some maintenance issues. For some reason, Emily and I were seated in aisle seats next to each other rather than the pair that I remember us booking. The guy who was sitting next to me in the window seat did not get up for the entire flight. Nine hours later, we were in Bangkok, on what seemed like a relatively quick flight. With the three hour time change, it was around 8:00 pm when we arrived. Throughout the airport, most of the signs were written in Thai with English underneath. The Thai alphabet is pretty sweet-looking. Clearing customs here was pretty relaxed, and we didn’t have to fill out a declaration sheet and literally walked right through. When we got past that, we were bombarded with women asking us if we needed hotels, taxis, and everything else. I had heard that they do this here, but it was still wild. I felt like a movie star the way all the people were lined up outside of the ropes, waiting for me to come out so they could attack me with offers. We needed a cab to our hotel, and after I few tries, we found a woman who would negotiate with us for a 500 baht taxi to our hotel. (30 baht is about 1 US dollar, so the 500 baht taxi was around $17 between the two of us.) We had been told repeatedly beforehand to insist on getting metered taxis, especially from the airport, but we naively chose not to follow that advice. The cab we got into was pretty much just some guy’s car and had no cab markings or anything on it. Trying to communicate with this guy was a major culture shock that really welcomed us to Thailand. Although the woman who we negotiated with spoke English and had informed the driver of our hotel information, he apparently did not remember, because he was trying to figure out where it was from us, and we obviously had no idea except for the street name in English. Neither he nor we could effectively say what we wanted, and he had to call the hotel to find out its location. At the same time he was calling the hotel and speaking Thai, he was attempting to read the English print-out I had given him and speed through a Bangkok highway. It seemed a little dangerous, but we would learn that everyone drives dangerously around here. A few observations along the drive: many motorbikes on the roads; they drive on the left here, like Australia; they are pretty much all terrible drivers and don’t follow rules of the road; the local streets were really busy for a Sunday night; and there were street vendors set up everywhere. Our hotel was not too close to downtown, but it was still in a pretty busy section of Bangkok. The hotel itself was really nice inside and the staff was polite and spoke English well. Tonight in Bangkok was incredibly humid, and when we got into our room, the AC was not on. (We later found out that in Thailand, none of our hotel rooms had the AC on all the time, and you had to put the room key in a slot to activate it. It made the rooms get pretty warm when you were gone for a long period of time.) The room was nice, but we both noticed how stiff the beds were, something else that I had been warned about all over Thailand. Our room was stocked with two free bottles of water because you can’t drink the tap water in this country. Thailand is the first country that I’ve been to like that, and it will be interesting to see how well I can remember not to drink from the tap. We both cleaned ourselves up, got changed, and headed out to explore the area. We just started walking down the main road, checking out the vendors. Vendors lined the street, and all of them had different types of food just sitting out on grills or plate things, waiting for someone to come and buy. It is so strange to see so much food just out in the open like that. There’s no way it’s sanitary, especially considering the fact that the same people handle the money and the food. We also noticed McDonald’s, KFC, and Swensen’s on the road, as well as many Pepsi and Coke signs, some of which were in Thai and some in English. It is funny to see American companies’ names written in Thai. Everywhere on the street were random stray cats and dogs, and Emily and I started to regret not getting the rabies shots. We had intended to get pad Thai as our first meal but saw nothing that resembled it on the street. We also had no idea what any of the food actually was since we couldn’t read the Thai signs. Eventually, Emily made the decision that we would try to order from the place we were presently standing in front of by pointing at food. This proved to be unsuccessful, and luckily, a woman who also spoke English happened to be walking by at the time, saw us struggling, and gave them an order in Thai. We didn’t really know what any of the meat was, so we weren’t sure what she had ordered, but we were just happy to have something. The meal consisted of three kinds of unknown meat, rice, and sauce, and it tasted pretty good. (We never again saw meat that resembled what we ate that night, but we’re pretty sure one of the meats was pork. The other two – who knows.) Thai people don’t usually use knives with meals, and we were only given a fork and spoon to eat with. The whole meal cost 60 baht ($2) total for both plates. We then went to 7/11 (which are everywhere in Thailand) and bought a 1.5 L water for 14 baht (about $0.50). With it still being pretty early in the night and activity still going on throughout the street, we decided to keep walking aimless around. We probably saw no more than five other non-Asians the whole night, which was surprising, considering Bangkok was supposed to be a top tourist destination. (We later learned that we were in a non-touristy section of the city and would find much more white people and English speaking on the rest of the trip.) It was weird to be in the minority, and people kept staring at us. It was a strange feeling, and Emily also thought that they were amazed at how tall I saw. But it was pretty cool for us to be able to say whatever we wanted and have no one around us understand. We continued walking and saw some more weird things. One vendor was selling eggs on a skewer on a grill and the grocery store had some crazy fruits. Most stores said they didn’t close until 24:00, which was very different from Australia, where places close unreasonably early. At this point, I was still hungry but could not figure out what any of the other foods I saw were. I settled on a vendor who looked like she was selling chicken and got a kabob and a packed of rice for 20 baht. The “chicken” skewer turned out to be what seemed like just a rib cage, and I couldn’t get much meat off. Emily suggested that it was probably rat. It is so odd to be in a place where everything is so cheap, especially (again) after coming from Australia, where things are particularly expensive. We went to an internet café that cost us 10 baht, and as we walked in, some guy in the computer right next to the clear glass door was watching porn. Afterwards, we came back to the hotel, planned tomorrow’s adventure, and got ready for bed. This place is really interesting. It is hard/strange not being able to communicate with anyone, and it’s a weird feeling being stared at as the obvious foreigner, yet I do like the atmosphere. It has a really cool, vibrant feel to it, but the Asian culture does make for quite an adjustment.

Day 2 - Bangkok

We woke up early today around 7:30, got ready, and went downstairs for the free continental breakfast. We were the only people in there, but the food was pretty good. They had some cinnamon rolls, apple turnovers, toast, and other Western breakfast foods. There was also a fruit bowl with grapes, apples, and oranges with green skin (which are apparently the norm in Thailand). Thailand has quite a lot of exotic fruits, and Emily and I have no idea what most of them are. The whole time we were eating, the workers were just standing there watching us. It’s not like they were waiting on us or anything – all the food was just out waiting for us to take it. The whole situation was a little awkward and would be a theme for today’s meals. After breakfast, we hopped on the SkyTrain into the city. We had gotten a “One Day in Bangkok” itinerary off WikiTravel and planned to pretty much follow that around to see many temples. Thailand is 90% Buddhist, so there are a lot of nice temples in Bangkok. The train was crowded, and we were some of the only white people on it. A lot of the people were wearing yellow shirts, and we even saw a few monks on the train, too. It must be weird for Thai people how so many things in the city are written in both Thai and English. From street signs to restaurant menus, a lot of things have English translations, and Emily and I were wondering if they get angry at the fact that outsiders have such influence. We got off the SkyTrain and started looking for the dock, where the itinerary told us to get on a water taxi to move downtown. Unfortunately, we were inept at reading the directions and found ourselves lost. As we were looking at our map on a side street, a Thai man speaking surprisingly good English came over to offer some advice. This man was tall – he was taller than me and I am taller than most Thai people walking around. He gave us some direction and then said he could take us in his tuk tuk for 20 baht. We accepted, on the condition that we also stop to get me a sim card along the way for my cell phone. I had no idea where I would be able to find one on my own and was less than confident in my ability to communicate with a vendor after last night’s fiasco. He brought us to a place where I got a sim for 50 baht and bought some minutes at 2 baht/minute. Pretty cheap. We then continued out trip. It was hot and humid today, and although it was not very sunny out, I was still sweating quite a bit. We were caught in traffic, too, and motorbikes kept weaving in and out and speeding by while we sat in the heat without any wind action. Thailand also has motortaxis, which seem kinda sketchy to me, but don’t seem like such a bad way to travel. On the way to the dock, our driver brought us to some jewelry place. Apparently, the drivers get a commission if their passengers buy something and even receive free gas vouchers if they stay for a certain amount of time. We obviously had no intention of buying anything and didn’t stay long. The streets of Bangkok have a distinct smell of food, dirt, and other things that is quite unique and strong as you drive through. We soon arrived at the dock, paid the driver, and went off the find the water taxi. As we were getting onto the dock, a boat was there but left before we made the move to get on. We waited a few more minutes and quickly jumped on the next boat before it could leave without us. The water in the canal was a disgusting brown and the buildings along it were very broken-down and dirty. It was tricky to avoid being hit in the face with splashing water as the taxi went down the river. The ride cost 20 baht for both of us (~$0.67), and we got off at the last stop, ready to see some temples. We walked from the dock onto the street and took out a map to figure out where we were going. Bad move. A man immediately came over and advised us on which temples to see, times they would be closed with monks praying, and told us about some promotion going on today. (We later realized that all of this was a lie.) Apparently, today was like Buddha Day or something (lie) and was the reason everyone was wearing yellow – we had seen them all marching in a parade during our tuk tuk ride. Supposedly, the government subsidized all the state tuk tuks and made it so 20 baht would get passengers a trip to many of the major temples throughout the city. (Lies.) The driver would wait at each temple and be like a personal chauffer for the day. That sounded great to us. (We were idiots.) We soon found a driver and we were off. Ironically, the tuk tuk drivers seem to speak better English than most of the other people we have met here, including this morning’s hotel staff who had trouble understanding us. We first went to the Standing Buddha, which included a massive gold Buddha statue. The architecture on the buildings was amazing and involved many different colors and some really nice craftsmanship. The gold, red, blue, and other color designs were beautiful and unlike anything I had seen before. Our next temple was called the Lucky Buddha. There, we started talking to a random Thai man who was praying when we walked in and told us about the temples and then began raving about a particular fashion company in Bangkok. (We were set up.) Our driver next took us to the tailor that the man in the temple had been talking about. Here, they would hand-make suits and shirts for you. I didn’t really want anything, but Emily got a shirt, meaning she would have to return to the shop after her tour to pick it up. The guy really wanted me to purchase a suit, though. Our driver took us to a jewelry store next, and we humored them for a few minutes and left. We tried to go to another temple, but monks were going to be praying for about another hour, so we moved on to the Marble Temple. This place was also really nice and included a lot of Buddha statues, nice buildings, and monks walking around everywhere. It is weird to travel with only two people to a place like this because unless you continuously ask strangers, all the pictures are solo shots. We got out of the temple and found our driver buying some mystery meat that was literally hanging like string off a vendor’s cart. The next stop was another tailor, and after about 45 minutes, the guy convinced me to buy a shirt for 1000 baht ($33). I didn’t really need a shirt, but I figured that it couldn’t hurt to get one that was made to fit me perfectly, especially for so cheap. We then went to another jewelry store, but Emily and I were tired of all this and left quickly. Driving through the city, there are some nice statues and monuments scattered along the road. There are also many photos of the king all over the place and some have the slogan “Long Live the King” underneath. Our last stop was the Grand Palace, and this is where our personal chauffer left us. It was great to have him take us around, especially for such a cheap price. (We ended up paying for it in shirts.) People really do drive crazy here, though. They pass in risky situations, use the opposite side of the road if no cars are coming at the moment, and follow closely. It also seems like a disadvantage to have a real car, as smaller tuk tuks or motorbikes just sneak their way around. It was now sunny out, and we were getting hungry as it approached 3:00. Both Emily and I had noticed that the heat really made us have less of an appetite during the days we were in Thailand. On the way to the Grand Palace, some guy in a suit with a sun umbrella near one of the entrances told us that we wouldn’t be allowed in because I had shorts on and we both were wearing sandals. We had heard that there were free changes of clothes available, but we figured he was telling the truth, and being hungry, crossed the street to eat lunch. (We had been warned against people like this but for some reason did not listen.) We found a restaurant that looked cheap and ate there. Emily accidentally ordered a drink that came with ice and, not wanting to risk sickness, fell back on a Sprite after taking only one sip. (We later found out that the ice seems to be ok and is not a big problem.) They drink everything with straws here and drinks are often served with more than one. We had even been given two straws in our bag when we bought a bottle of water from 7/11 the night before. The whole meal was about 160 baht (~$5), and we then attempted to try our luck at the Grand Palace again. This time, however, we realized that we could have gotten in earlier and the changing rooms did, in fact, exist. The guy in the suit had lied in an attempt to steer us elsewhere. Unfortunately, at this point, the temple really was closed for the day. We figured we would just go to Wat Pho (wat is the Thai word for temple and is in a lot of temple names), which contained the Reclining Buddha and was just about a 1 km walk. Before leaving the Grand Palace, the security guard there was trying to sell us a ferry boat ride. We declined his offer and kept moving. It seems like everyone here has ulterior motives, and their suggestions are purely self-interested. All along the walk, we kept having tuk tuk and taxi drivers approach us, trying to get us to ride with them. We were especially vulnerable anytime we took out a map and looked lost. It was a funny contrast to Australia, where you sometimes can’t even find a cab when you want one. On our way over to Wat Pho, more people tried to stop us, insisting that it was closed. But after a day like today, we knew better and didn’t pay any attention to them. Wat Pho was massive, with so many different structures, buildings, and statues spread over the sprawling grounds. This might have been my favorite temple of the day, as it had particularly nice architecture and really detailed designs. There were also some funny-looking statues all over the place. After some aimless walking around, we made it to the Reclining Buddha. Most of the temples require you to take your shoes off to enter, and this was no exception. The statue was amazing. It was huge and definitely one of the coolest things I saw all day. While we were inside, it started to downpour outside. The rain did not seem to be letting up even after we had done a few extra laps of the Buddha, so we sat in front of the temple for a bit, figuring out our next move. While we were looking at our map, an old Thai man came over and gave us the first genuine, selfless advice we had received all day. He told about places to go, the best ways to get around, and pointed out where we could go to buy sex. But he made sure to warn us of getting overcharged the first time. That was nice of him. As the rain slowed, we decided to make a run for it. We found our way over to the pier, where we could get on a water taxi that would take us near the train station. Once we were down the river, we picked up the SkyTrain to Silom Road, where we would be going for dinner. Zack from my floor had recommended a restaurant called the Blue Elephant as being the best he had been to in Thailand, so we decided to check it out. Unfortunately, the rain picked back up, and it was a torrential downpour again when we got off the train. We waited for it to let up a bit, and when it looked like it had, we went for it. Luckily, I noticed the restaurant’s sign right off the station, as we were not really sure where it was on Silom and were not in the mood to be searching for it in the rain. We ran as fast as we could but still got pretty wet. When we walked in the door of the Blue Elephant, it was like the whole staff was standing there waiting for us. We were told that the restaurant wouldn’t be opening for another 20 minutes, but we could wait in the bar. So we went upstairs and tried our first Thai beers, which tasted good and were more similar to American than Australian beers. They also gave us a basket of chips that were shrimp flavored with spice, and they were surprisingly decent. A few minutes before our table was ready, they came over and gave me these ridiculous sweat pants to wear over my shorts in the dining room. We were seated and given complimentary fruit juice and a platter of duck spring roll, fish wrapped in seaweed, and some unknown food on a spoon. I was willing to try everything except the fish/seaweed. For dinner, we each got a soup and split lemongrass chicken and pad Thai entrees. The soup I ordered, Tom Yam Goong, had three elephants next to its name, meaning that it was the highest level of spice they offered, and I asked for it that way, wanting to test out some real Thai food. It turned out to be ridiculously spicy but still tasted good, and I was glad I went for it. My nose was running and my eyes were watering by the end, though. Our entrees were also delicious and quite filling, although I honestly thought that the pad Thai was similar to how it does when ordered outside of Thailand. It was still great, though. We were both stuffed, but we still went for a Thai fruit medley for dessert and ate a few fruits that we had never seen before. (A couple of them turned out to be dragon fruit and rose apple.) As with breakfast, the waiters strangely just stood and watched us for most of the meal. I was glad my back was to them. The bill was about 2,500 baht (~$80), well worth it. (This turned out to be by far the most expensive meal we had. I don’t think any other check came out to half of this.) We left the restaurant and got back on the SkyTrain to check out a night market that Zack had recommended that was on our way back to our hotel on Sukhumvit Road. We got off at Sala Deang Station and found a street with a lot of bright lights that seemed busy. On our way off the stairs from the train, some guy opened his hand in our direction revealing a piece of paper reading “Sex. DVD.” We walked around this street for a little, noticing prostitutes, ladyboys, and many pharmacies that advertised giving drugs without prescriptions. After a while, we got back on the SkyTrain and went back to our hotel, preparing to leave Bangkok tomorrow for the island of Koh Samui.