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.

Days 131-134 – June 11-14, 2008

Wednesday

Today was another day spent mostly studying. By the time I stopped tonight, I had pretty much caught up to where I had wanted to be, though, so at least I got some stuff done. I watched the end of the Celtics game in the basement this morning and then went to the post office to mail out a package of some things that I won’t be able to take in my luggage home. I came here with full, overweight suitcases, and have bought some things and expect to buy more in Thailand, so there is no way I will get everything home unless I do this. I was really expensive, though, and cost $150 to ship my 7.6 kg box to the US! I picked up another box while I was there, as I still expect to have more stuff to send back. I did laundry for what should be the last time, continued planning hotels in Thailand with Emily, and hung around with some friends. I also unfortunately had to go to the football practice this evening to pay the coach for the chocolates that I was supposed to sell. I fully expected not to have to give him the money and still can’t believe he remembered that I had received a box. Three of the Penn State guys left today and Shelley is leaving tomorrow, as people are starting to finish exams and head out. Some of the Loyola people are also leaving tomorrow, too. After I finished my work for the night, I went upstairs to hang out with a few of the people who will be going home in the coming days. It seems like every semester, no matter whether I’m at Miami or now here in Australia, I never get my exams done early and am always having to study while most other people are done. It definitely makes it hard to concentrate.

Thursday

I got up today and went back to studying some more. I will definitely be glad when this final is over! Emily came over and we booked our final Thai hotel, so that is all set now. We then went to the mall to get some last-minute supplies for our trip from the “chemist”. While at the mall, I got a haircut at the same place I went to last time. I told her not to cut it as short, but I think she did anyway. When I got back to Howitt, I checked the mail and found a package slip in my box. Somehow, the camera had arrived a day early, which was great news. It was a big relief to get the camera and not have to worry about something else, and now I will have some time to mess around with it before the trip. I didn’t really want to start setting the camera up tonight because I could spend hours doing that, and chose to study for the rest of the night instead. While taking a snack break in the kitchen, I talked to a kid on my floor, Zack from Hong Kong, who apparently goes to Thailand every year, and he gave me some advice on places to go in Bangkok, which is good because Emily and I pretty much have no idea what to do when we get there.

Friday

I woke up and did a quick review of my notes but didn’t feel like doing too much studying. I figured that I had done enough in the past few days, and I probably wasn’t going to suddenly learn anything that I didn’t already know at this point. I got a ride to the 2:30 test with some friends from class. Except for the finals I took before the exam period started, all the regular exams at Monash are all held at the Caulfield Racecourse, which is next to another Monash campus. They sit hundreds of students from all different classes on three different levels of the building, and everyone takes their test at the same time. It is a pretty weird setup. The economics test itself wasn’t too bad and I think it did alright. About halfway through, I got up to go to the bathroom and one of the examiners asked if I had a cell phone. They had made announcements before the testing began to turn all phones off, so mine was off but I had it in my pocket still since I hadn’t brought a bag or anything. I said I did have a phone and gave it to him. At this point, he seemed pretty surprised and started telling me about how you can’t have phones on your body during the exam and he would have to take it and I could pick it up after the exam ended from a table in the middle of the room. When I stopped there on my way out after I finished writing the exam, I had to sign a form saying that I had a phone in the exam room and notified me that I might receive a $100 fine. I think that is pretty ridiculous, especially considering I willingly offered the phone to the guy and it was off the whole time. Anyway, after the exam I came back to Howitt and got ready for dinner. I felt so relieved to be done with all my exams and school-related responsibilities. Some of us still had our bottles of wine from Tasmania, so we planned to go to a BYO Thai restaurant in Oakleigh before everyone leaves to go back home. I think there were about seven of us who went, and everyone brought their own bottle. The food was really good, and we stayed there until the place closed. We came back, hung around for a little, made some dim sims, and went to bed.

Saturday

The plan for today had been to get up and go to the Queen Victoria Market at 10:00, but too many people slept in and we didn’t end up leaving until around 11:00 or so. I hadn’t been to the market since O-Week back in February, but I had meaning to get back, so it worked out that people were going today. There was some good food there and delicious freshly made doughnuts, and after walking around for a little, Eric and I came back to Monash. I still had a lot to do before Thailand tomorrow, so I needed some time to get that done. (I took some random pictures today with my camera and added a new album to webshots.) When I came back to Howitt, I brought my fridge over to the girl who wanted to buy it from me. She is also an international student but is here for a full year and decided she would need her own fridge for the second semester. It worked out for me because I knew her and didn’t need to try hard to find a buyer. After that, I went to work on organising my stuff for tomorrow and trying to pack. That took a lot of time, and I took a break in the middle to make dinner with Ciara, Emily, and Messi. Since some people had stayed in the city all day and had gone out in St. Kilda, Ciara and I left Halls to meet up with them when I finally finished getting everything ready. It took us over an hour with public transportation to get there, and by the time we did, they were all tired and we left like 30 minutes later. We hopped on a tram into the city and got the Night Rider back to Monash. I said goodbye to some people and came back to my room to give out the food that I won’t have a chance to eat. Although, I’m coming back to Australia for at least a day after Thailand, pretty much everyone I’m friends with will have already left, except for a few people, making tonight the last time I’ll see most of them. Goodbyes like this are weird because these are people that I have spent a lot of time with and gotten close to as international students but it’s unlikely that I’ll see most of them ever again. I had a lot of fun with everyone this semester, but I guess it has to end sometime. With this being the end of the semester and of my time studying abroad, I think the best way to describe the feeling is that I’m sad to be leaving but excited to be returning home. I think one of the aspects that made this experience so fun was that I understood all along that this would only be for a limited time period. I’m now looking forward to going to Thailand tomorrow. My current plan is to return to Australia on the 23^rd, but I might push that back till the 26^th if I decide that I still want to stay. Emily and I will be going to Bangkok, Koh Samui, and Phuket during the time we are there. We don’t really have too much planned for most of the days and also don’t have much clue what to expect, but I am really excited to go to Asia, even if it’s only for a week and a half. I have been thinking about a trip to Thailand since before Spring Break, so it’s crazy that it’s actually here, and I’m expecting a great time. I don’t know if I will have a chance to write anything up after Thailand, but my flight home is on the 28^th, so in two weeks from today, I’ll be back home in Connecticut!

Days 127-130 – June 7-10, 2008

Saturday

For most of the day, I went down to the basement and watched some episodes of the Office in the projector room. I had dinner at Nando’s then came back to get ready to go into the city for Skye’s birthday. We went to a club called the Loft in downtown Melbourne. Skye and James had set up two different guest lists, and at this place, if you get 10 people who show up for each guest list you create, they give you a $100 voucher for drinks. So we were able to cash in on that. A funny thing I’ve noticed in Australia clubs is that the Soulja Boy dance is somehow still big here. Every time it is played in a club or somewhere, people go crazy, and it has been this way since February, even though the song had long since passed in the US even before I left. If I had known it would remain such a hit, I could have learned the dance when I first got here and looked so cool at every club. Also, one thing I wanted to point out that I’m not sure if I’ve mentioned before is that they actually don’t really drink Fosters in Australia. That’s right. It’s all just some big marketing scam. And light beer here means lower alcoholic content, not lower calorie the way it does in the US. Light beer in the US would be called dry or extra dry in Australia. That might be why everyone here thinks normal American beers like Bud Light or Miller Light are so girly. We stayed out late and left around 3:00, stopping at Hungry Jack’s and then taking the Night Rider back to Monash. When I got on, the driver asked if I was paying concession or full. After getting caught without a concession card a few days ago and not wanting to risk it again, I told him I wanted to pay the full ticket price, but he responded saying, “You’re a concession tonight” and gave me the cheaper ticket. A bunch of people in front of me had been concession, so I think he just didn’t want to change the input on the ticket processor, and it worked out for me.

Sunday

I was really tired today and didn’t get up until 1:00 in the afternoon. I went to Pinewood to go to Subway and Coles with Eric, Bindi, and Lauren. Afterwards, I came back to my room and started to study for my test on Friday. I don’t want to study so early, but the professor is testing on all the information from the semester and there is no way to review it all if I don’t start now. Also, the internet was going crazy throughout halls today and kept cutting out for everyone, so that gave me less to do besides studying. I decided I had done enough after a few hours and watched some episodes of Arrested Development with Ciara, with other people joining us as it went on. I studied a little more and then went to bed.

Monday

With this being my last full week in Australia and having yet to go to a zoo and see some real Australian wildlife other than kangaroos, I organised a trip to Healesville Sanctuary for today. Healesville is about an hour or so away from Monash but is supposedly one of the best zoos in the area. The group I was going with was Harry, Eric, Katie, and Katie’s friend who is visiting. The weather was a little cloudy and cool, and on the drive up it rained periodically. We got there and the first animals we saw were koalas. Four months after arriving, I finally got to see a live koala. They were really cute and lazy-looking, just sitting in trees, being blown around in the wind. I was a little disappointed that we couldn’t hold them, but the lady at the information desk said that they usually only do that in Queensland and New South Wales, where it is warmer. I did get to touch a few stuffed animals, though. We saw some other cool animals, such as emus, wallabies, kangaroos, and dingos. I was pretty interested to see a wombat, but the only one they had was sleeping and wouldn’t get out of its little hay lair. I think it was the cold weather that kept him inside. Also, they only had a couple Tasmanian devils on display, so I was glad I had gotten the full effect when I saw them in Tassie. Strangely, there was also a wine and cheese tasting going on at the sanctuary while we were there. We had decided to go on a Monday because we expected it to be less crowded, not realising that the Monday we chose happened to be the same day as the Queen’s Birthday, a public holiday. One bad thing that happened on the trip was that towards the beginning of our walk around, my camera pretty much decided to stop working. I think it had something to do with all the sand that got into it from Surfers Paradise, but today it finally became a problem. It is also like two and a half years old. The pictures it took weren’t in focus at all unless it was on 3x zoom, and even then, it wasn’t great. This is bad timing, considering I’m leaving for Thailand on Sunday. We got lunch and some really good homemade ice cream on the way back from Healesville. When I got to my room, the internet was still being difficult, so I tried to study for a little but really couldn’t concentrate. I tried to look for a new camera online, but as most of my friends who had gotten new cameras during the semester said, they are ridiculously expensive here. It is about $150 cheaper to buy a camera in the US and ship it here than to buy the same camera in Australia. I finally got in touch with my mom, who got a camera and shipped it as fast as they could, with an expected arrival of 5:00 pm on Friday. Hopefully that is an accurate estimate. Since we still had the rental car until 10:00 am tomorrow, we decided to drive to the city and hang out there. Eric, Ciara, Michelle, and I took the car downtown at around 11:00. We were surprised at how dead it was, even for a Monday night. There were very few people out and about. We went to McDonald’s then tried to go into a bar, where they turned us away because Eric was wearing shorts. We tried to find Adam S. who had gone to the city to meet some friends he met in Cairns, but his text messages were too ambiguous. We ended up driving around looking for a bar called “Wang Chung tonight” that didn’t actually exist, based on his ridiculous texts that made little to no sense. Despite not actually going anywhere, we still had a great time taking the car out and getting lost throughout downtown Melbourne and its never-ceasing “No Right Turn” intersections.

Tuesday

I actually did some productive studying today. It is just so much material that I’m pretty overwhelmed, but I’m trying to not let it stress me out too much. I went to the Campus Centre to pick up a big box from the post office so I can mail some stuff home and also closed my Westpac bank account that I never ended up putting money in. I reviewed a little more and then Emily came over to book some of our hotels in Thailand. Michelle made a huge Italian dinner of salad, bread, mushrooms, and pasta and meatballs for a big group of us. Afterwards, I did some more studying and went for a run later in the night.