Just a quick check in from the beautiful island of Koh Samui. So much has happened and so many memories made but it's all quickly coming to an end. After getting back from Cambodia and spending one more crazy night in Bangkok (of which I may post a funny video) the 3 of us headed south to Krabi Town. We opted to fly down which only cost us about $90 Canadian and saved us almost 15 hours travel time. We thought it was well worth it and although I do miss that night train down it made it so much easier. Once we got to Krabi we headed straight for the Chan Cha Lay which is a great little guest house run by some fantastic women. Very clean and a room to myself was only 200 baht ($6.75) with a shared bathroom which I don't mind. Dave got his own room with air conditioning for 250 baht ( I think) and Tom got one of the rooms out the back with an open air shower and a lumpy bed for 400 baht ($13.50). We checked in and immediately headed out to rent some mopeds. The funnest and one of the least expensive enjoyments I have in Thailand are the mopeds. Enough so that I tell myself every time I get home that I'm going to buy one. Soooo much fun. Anyway, since we flew down a little later in the day it was about 7pm by the time we got mopeds. Still enough time to give Dave and Tom a little tour of our little area. We went down to the night market by the pier for some really cheap food. Dave, Tom and I ate our meals and had a beer each and the bill only came to 240 baht ($8.10). One of the many reasons I keep coming back. From there it was just cruising around for a bit, exploring a great little night market in town, before we ended the night at a small Reggae bar for some more beers and then across the street for foot massages for each of us. 250 baht ($8.45) each for an hour massage that threatened to put us each to sleep. Great way to end the first night.
On our second day in Krabi we went for lunch at an Italian Pizzeria which was great after days of Thai and Cambodian food. Dave had a huge Calzone while I had pizza... delicious. We headed from there out on our mopeds to visit a beach with some gastropod fossils and Ao Nang beach to do some swimming. About a 20 minute ride on the mopeds through some rubber tree plantations and rocky spires jutting randomly out of the ground... just beautiful. The fossils were a bust because they were charging the enormous price of 200 baht and we just weren't having it (sarcasm). It's funny how cheap we become around here; 200 baht is really nothing but in relation to my living expenses it's still a nights accommodations. Dave and I turned down a painting in Cambodia that would have cost us only $8 US but seemed too pricey at the time. Live and learn I guess. Regardless, the fossils are not much to see anyway so we moved on. Ao Nang beach is beautiful as always and the swimming was fantastic. We floated around while drinking our beers we bought at 7-11 and just enjoyed the sights and sounds. Just what we were looking for when we headed south and were needing to get out some of the tension of the busy last week. There are lots of new places that have popped up in the last year but a lot is still the same same it's always been around Ao Nang. We wandered the causeway along the beach and did a little shopping before deciding to book a boat tour of 5 islands for the next day. The infamous boat tour... more on that later. We headed back to the guest house where we met a pretty Venezuelan girl named Maria, who goes to school in Australia. She had just checked into the Chan Cha Lay while on a little vacation and was meeting with her American friend Briana in a couple of days. We parked the mopeds for the night and the 4 of us headed out for some dinner and drinks. From this point on in Krabi everything just kinda blends one day into the next. We met a cool kid from the States named Ryan who had been in Thailand for a year teaching, and was heading home shortly. He was just making the most of his last days in Thailand and was just bopping around for a bit like us. The five of us hung out until Briana showed up and then for a short time it was the 6 of us. Just massages, beers, mopeds, more beers and a little pot we had found... just a fantastic time with great people.
The one standout event from Krabi was our fantastic/scary boat tour. Only 900 baht ($30) each and we got to see 5 islands including Maya Bay from the movie The Beach. Since meeting Maria the night before, and because Briana hadn't arrived yet, she decided to go along with us on the tour. We were picked up at 8 am from our Guest House and after picking up some more people were taken out to Ao Nang. By 9 am about 23 of us were loaded onto a big touring speed boat with a couple huge outboard motors. The weather had taken a turn and our guide warned us that the seas would be a little rough and we may not get to see all of the planned stops we had been booked for. Not really a problem for the 4 of us since we were excited to see anything and do some serious snorkeling wherever they wanted to drop us in the water. The exciting/scary part didn't take very long to start. The 4 of us decided the best vantage point would be at the front of the boat. Big Mistake!! With the huge waves we were hitting we were tossed around and banged up pretty good. Not dangerous enough for us to want to make our way to the back of the boat, not that there was room any more, but scary enough to make us hold on for dear life. At one point along the journey a girl from Malaysia (didn't get her name) and a girl from Austria, Yulia, joined us at the front. Yulia was great because she screamed at every wave and we laughed while the Malaysian girl just closed her eyes and held on tight. At one point I cracked heads with the Malaysian girl and although we never acknowledged it I ended up with a minor black eye. One of the many wounds received at the front of the boat. We took a serious beating that day but everything became worth it once we started hitting those pristine white sand beaches and floating amongst the multicoloured fishes. The tour guides brought along some bread for the fish and while we were swimming they would toss it around us so we were practically swarmed, getting nipped at and bumped against by the fish. Simply amazing. The rain came in a points but when you're floating in the ocean it just adds to the sensation. I cannot of course do justice to the sights and sounds of the day but suffice it to say I have never experienced anything like it. At some points feeling just exactly right and where I'm supposed to be in the universe and at other points it was so awe inspiring that we didn't say anything and just tried to soak in every moment. Picture a small opening to emerald green waters nestled in a small 400 meter wide bay surrounded by walls of rock shooting up hundreds of feet into the blue sky and then the rain starting to roll in over the tops of the rock down on us before we could even see the clouds float in. We jumped gleefully off the side of the boat into paradise. Life really does seem perfect at moments like this. We never did get to see Maya Bay, the waters too rough on that side of Phi Phi Lay island. 5 times in Thailand and many times on Phi Phi island and still I have yet to see Maya Bay... All the more reason to come back again I'd say. For some reason a lot of the people on the boat weren't spending much time in the water. Maybe it was the waves making some people sick and a couple of people had been stung by Sea Urchin but for a few of us die hards we were out of the boat and into the water every time it stopped. For as long as they'd let us float and dive. We would have made the day last forever at that point we were having so much fun but eventually it did have to end. From 8 in the morning until 4 in the afternoon we enjoyed this great adventure. We were hurt and exhausted but exhilarated by the experience. I said it before and I'll say it again. The closest we get to being kids again is the adventure and exploring we do while we travel. I'll take that feeling any day. We headed back to Krabi and spent the next couple days fitting in as much as we possibly could. Early days, late nights and many memories.
Dave, Tom and I went from Krabi to Tonsai Beach and onto the next part of our adventure at about the 12 day mark of the trip. I'll get into Tonsai on my next post but believe me when I say it was one of the high points of the trip for me and I know for Dave too. Ryan from Krabi was heading there the same day as us so I'll tell you about the great times the 4 of us had. Hope you're enjoying reading about everything we've done and I hope to post some pictures in the near future. For now it's back to life on Samui... moped my friend, lets ride.
Monday, October 03, 2011
Thursday, September 29, 2011
Bangkok to Siem Reap, Cambodia and back again.
Ahh Thailand. Depends who you are of course but myself I find it very hard to find things to complain about around here. As long as you follow the very simple rule of patience this place a freakin cake walk. There are some things that you have to deal with, like the massage ladies, that make it a little harder but have fun with it and again, have patience. The reason I'm saying this is because just outside of our World Inn hotel is a little booth where the ladies who work out of our hotel gather. Going in and out of our hotel you would think the ladies would realize that Dave and I weren't interested. And yet every time we would have to go through the usual banter and rebuffing... every time. Not to mention when they grab your hand and won't let go or block your path, but they're always nice and fun to jest with. Of course we could always try not being so cheap and get a place a little more expensive without the ladies but it is what it is. Well is seems the man who was in the room next to Dave and I (we've nicknamed him Ol' Slappity Slap) must have given in to a couple of them because we had the misfortune of being woken up early by the lot of them around 6am. It's a weird thing when you are woken up by slapping noises and not knowing where it's coming from... especially when you're sharing a room. Dave and I had planned on an early morning anyway to make our way to Cambodia and this just helped us get up and out even earlier. Having been to Bangkok many times and especially the last couple trips here, Dave and I have gotten pretty good at the local transit system. So we hopped on the BTS Skytrain and headed for the end of the line, the Mo Chit station. From there is was a quick taxi to the Northern Bangkok bus station for an 8am bus to the Thai/Cambodian border. We arrived just in time to grab a seat and after 5 minutes we were on the way. The bus ride isn't much to talk about except for what seemed like random police road blocks to check the Thai people for their passports or immigrant cards. Occasionally pulling people off but mostly just poking around. When we got to the Thai border we were dropped off at a shop trying to sell us Cambodian Visas for about 1500 baht ($45) which is weird because this is a municipal bus and yet it's still part of the system to scam travelers. We declined the Visas and started walking to the border crossing. There was a little confusion because we didn't have photos for our Visas which some people had but it turned out not to be a problem. We're not sure if it's because we were Canadian or just another way to get money out of unsuspecting travelers but either way we sailed on through. The Visa cost us 900 baht ($30) each and was pretty straight forward. Once done with that we headed into the no mans land. The area between borders that is littered with garbage, dirty children carrying smaller dirtier children and all kinds of human riff raff. How they are allowed to exists between borders is beyond me but there it was. Shortly after we crossed from Thailand into no mans land we noticed a young man was trailing us. He started to offer advice on getting through the Cambodian border and although the process is straight forward helped anyway. He had credentials which he said was his government issued ID for helping tourists but we were sure it was just another scam. He really just offers advice we don't need and tries to get us to travel with his bus company. Since they are all basically the same depending on the transport you wish to take we decided we would just follow along and made the most of it. We bought our bus tickets for 300 baht ($10) each and tipped the man enough for him to set up a ride for us when we arrived in Siem Reap. The bus ride was pretty uneventful except for the obligatory stop at a random family's restaurant to eat whether we wanted to or not. Again part of the system to get us to spend money locally. On arrival in Siem reap we were met by a Mr. Ly who was holding up a sign that said Mr. Josh on it. Kinda cool and so much better than trying to arrange a ride upon arrival. We were quickly out of the "Bus Station" as they were closing the gate so the rest of the passengers couldn't leave without making a deal with all the local Tuk Tuk and moped drivers. Originally Dave and I had a couple of guest houses in Siem Reap we wanted to check out but considering the time we actually arrived we decided to just let Mr. Ly take us to the guest house he worked out of. It was called the Green Town guest house and for $10 US it had hot water and a TV (which we never used) which was nice. We agreed to the room and put our stuff away. We went with Mr. Ly to the night market for a couple of rain ponchos in case it threatened to rain the next day and then made plans for him to pick us up at 5:20am the next morning. We wanted a full day at Ankor Wat including the sunrise and sunset so it was relatively early to bed. As we woke to the alarm at 5am the next morning all we could hear was a thunderous rain storm. Good thing we had bought the ponchos but poor Mr. Ly was stuck riding his moped while Dave and I were being towed along behind in the Tuk Tuk. He had lowered the rain guards on it so we were nice and dry for the 10 minute ride. Miraculously though when we arrived at the gates to Ankor the rain instantly disappeared. We took it as an auspicious sign and put away our ponchos and rolled up the rain guards. The clouds were still hanging around so we didn't get the sunrise over Ankor Wat that we had hoped for but all things considered it was a great start to the day. I won't go into too much detail about Ankor for the simple fact that words just wouldn't do it justice. But I'll give you a few highlights. We spent the first couple hours at Ankor Wat which was stunning as always except they were doing some restoration work which meant we couldn't get into some parts and other parts were blocked from view. Either way impressive as always. At about 8am we moved on to Ankor Thom which is a huge complex housing many different temples including Ankor Thom City and the famous Bayon Temple which has the spires with huge faces on all 4 sides. Mr. Ly took us for some breakfast within the Ankor Thom sight and then we left him there to do some exploring. It really is an extraordinary place. By now the sun was out in full force although a little overcast. Dave and I were drinking water as fast as we could but were literally sweating it out faster than we could replenish it. After about four hours of climbing temples and just wandering around in awe we were exhausted. Completely exhausted... we almost called it quits for the day. But we met back up with Mr. Ly, inhaled some more water and decided to press on. We had made a deal with Mr. Ly that because we only had one day for Ankor we would cram a three day tour into that one day. Which meant that after Ankor Thom we headed outside the main temple complex to about 35 miles away to go see the Banteay Srei complex. The trip out was just what we needed. It gave us time to rest and replenish and of course the countryside was amazing. Rice fields sprinkled with palm trees and the odd stone spire just sprouting out of the ground. Banteay Srei was the oldest of the temples we saw by about 200 years bringing it in around the 11th century. We took our time and wandered a few quiet paths around the temple before heading back to find Mr. Ly. Dave and I have had a few early days that we've crammed some activities into so when we saw that it was only noon and we had done so much it was a bit of a relief. We had lots to see still and plenty of time to do it. Mr. Ly took us back to the main temple area where we could sit around and have some lunch before moving on to our final two temples. One of the things to deal with around Ankor is all of the children running around selling things. As soon as we arrived for lunch, like anywhere we stop, the kids come out of everywhere. I had one young thing trying desperately to sell me any of the little trinkets she had. I have a really hard time saying no to all these kids since they insist the money is so they can go to school, but since I had already bought books on Ankor, postcards and other trinkets years before and a few bracelets and fridge magnets earlier in the day I had to turn her down... repeatedly... for abut 5 minutes. She just would not give up. For some reason they don't bug Dave at all. I must have sucker written all over me because they seem to zero in on me in no time. We got through lunch and moved on to the next temple. With all the rain that fell before we arrived the path to the temple was flooded but besides the adventure of it the water was very refreshing. The temple was a man made aqueduct which was cool but with the flooding there wasn't much to see. The path up to the temple seemed to be the highlight. We took some pictures and enjoyed the water for a bit before moving on to the last temple, which was huge. We were inside looking around for maybe 10 minutes when a young boy around ten came up and introduced himself in perfect English. This brilliant little man spends his mornings in school and then comes to this temple to show farang (white people) around in the hopes of a tip. Well he earned his 1000 baht ($30) tip in spectacular fashion. He knew everything about that temple and spit out facts at us faster than we could take it in. He also took us climbing onto certain parts of the temple, which we never would have found on our own, to take some incredible pictures. We handed over one of our DSLR cameras so he could get a pic of Dave and I and he started snapping away, telling us where to stand and whether or not he liked the photo he would make us pose again so he could get a better shot. Fantastic kid. At the end he shook our hands and we handed over the tip. We laughed as he proceeded to shout and show it off to the other kids, showing his age for once. Dave and I took some more photos and then noticed him trucking off down the dirt road practically skipping. His job done for the day as he had apparently made enough money. It was getting close to 4 o'clock and everything was pretty quiet as most people had finished for the day. There is one old temple there at the top of a tall hill and if you time it right you can climb up there and watch the sun set with everyone else while sitting around the temple. Dave and I were exhauseted from the day though and decided to head back to the bungalow. As we passed the hill to the temple we could see a few stragglers like us and tons of buses dropping off the wealthy tourists to watch the sunset. There was a steady stream of them heading up the long steep hill. It is a spectacular sunset from up there, which I've had the fortune of seeing before but we just didn't have the energy. As it turned out we had lucked out big time. By the time we got back to our bungalow, about 15 minutes away, and the sun was about to set, the weather changed dramatically. The rain came down in a torrent and what little light was left had vanished. All we could think about was all of those people stuck up on that hill in the dark and pouring rain trying to make they're way down a rocky dirt trail. We realized how lucky we were not just in having a day without any rain but also getting out of there just in time to avoid any potential dangers on that hill. Either way, we had our perfect day out at Ankor and retired to our guest house for the night. We made arrangements for Mr. Ly to come back to get us the next day at 10am for some more exploring around Siem Reap and then headed off to shower and have a big dinner. The rest of that night we just relaxed, watched the rain and checked out emails. The next day Dave and I were a little worn out so we decided just to let Mr. Ly show us around a bit. Of course like everything in Cambodia with the tourists there are certain places he would like to take us. Cambodian owned places instead of the foreign owned which was just fine with Dave and I. First we went out for a nice lunch and then off to a Cambodian massage parlor to try and work out some of the stiffness from the day before. Well I wanted a head, neck and shoulder massage and Dave wanted a foot massage because his sandals had done a number on him the day before. After some stunted communications on what we each wanted they walked us both to the back and put us in a little room where we were told to change into some pajamas. We did so and then the girls proceeded to beat the crap out of us for the next hour. Kneading, poking, cracking, stretching and somehow the ol' cheek spread which is more than slightly uncomfortable. I assume they were trained and this was just the Cambodian style but I was feeling sore after and David had a stiffer back than before we arrived. And to top it off Dave never did get his foot massage. After that kinda strange experience we were again content to just let Mr. Ly lead the way so he took us to a War Museum. There they had pretty much what you would expect. Old military equipment and firearms, explosives and booby traps. As sad as most of the displays are it was our tour guide, younger than the both Dave and I, who showed us around and explained things to us the way his side, who battled against the Khmer Rouge, survived and fought. I don't remember his name but when his parents were killed at 13 he joined the fight against the government. Somehow we hadn't noticed but when he was showing us how he used to defused mines we realized he was missing three fingers on his left hand. He explained that when he was defusing a bomb the detonator had gone off in his hand and although not completely blown off his fingers they were so severely damaged that the field medic had three fellow soldiers hold him down as he used a wire to saw them the rest of the way off. His side didn't have any pain killers or meds for surgery. Then our guide explained how when his friend was defusing a clamour mine and was blown in half our guide was standing behind him and his body was now littered with ball bearings... pinching his skin and showing us a few still stuck in his body. I even have a picture of myself holding our guides AR13 rifle that he used during the war. All in all a sobering reminder of what Cambodia has gone through in the recent past. We headed from there back to the guest house to freshen up before meeting back up with Mr. Ly to finish the night with a buffet dinner and some traditional Cambodian style dancing. The food was great and plentiful and the dancing was lots of fun to watch. Most white people I've seen in the same place in a while which seemed strange but lots of fun. We made a short trip to the night market for a little more poking around but then it was off to the guest house for the rest of our last night in Cambodia. While there we heard about some flooding and a dam break at Ankor that stranded some 300 tourists out at Banteay Srei. They had to be picked up by the military and again it made us realize how lucky we were to have our day turn out so great at Ankor. Mr. Ly arranged for us to get an early taxi the next day which was great because that meant we could have it for just the two of us and fly back to the border in under 2 hours. We thanked Mr. Ly and paid him about $45 US for the two days he drove us around. The next morning we were up early, into the taxi and back at the Cambodian border town Poi Pet in no time. We flew through the border, hopped on the closest bus and made it back to the World Inn hotel by mid afternoon. Much better timing that the trip there. We put our bags back in the same room we had previous and went just across the street for a beer. A single beer... we seem to say that a lot around here. Just one beer. Never seems to go that way. Well it is what it is I guess, the start of another crazy night. This was on Friday night and we were leaving for Krabi Town the next day. More adventures for the next post.
As I sit in a quiet little internet cafe on Tonsai beach I realize how incredibly long it has taken for me to write this post. Off and on for about 7 days now alternating between computers I can find and my phone if I can get WiFi. In the mean time so much has happened that I still need to post about. It seems most of our days are early mornings filled with things to do and then late nights. I'm exhausted and sore. If this post seems a little convoluted or has spelling errors I apologize but we will be heading to our final stop of Koh Samui soon and I'll have access to a more consistent internet feed. I'll try to post smaller more frequent posts. I feel I'm writing these in a style more for myself anyway I guess but I'll try to get to the highlights faster. Like the boat tour that beat up the lot of us but was stunning and exciting all the same. And the smoking pot in the Small World bar while singing along to No Woman, No Cry surrounded by fantastic people on Tonsai. Life doesn't get much better than it has been these last couple of weeks. Tomorrow we have our last day here with more exploring planned. I'll share it all later.
As I sit in a quiet little internet cafe on Tonsai beach I realize how incredibly long it has taken for me to write this post. Off and on for about 7 days now alternating between computers I can find and my phone if I can get WiFi. In the mean time so much has happened that I still need to post about. It seems most of our days are early mornings filled with things to do and then late nights. I'm exhausted and sore. If this post seems a little convoluted or has spelling errors I apologize but we will be heading to our final stop of Koh Samui soon and I'll have access to a more consistent internet feed. I'll try to post smaller more frequent posts. I feel I'm writing these in a style more for myself anyway I guess but I'll try to get to the highlights faster. Like the boat tour that beat up the lot of us but was stunning and exciting all the same. And the smoking pot in the Small World bar while singing along to No Woman, No Cry surrounded by fantastic people on Tonsai. Life doesn't get much better than it has been these last couple of weeks. Tomorrow we have our last day here with more exploring planned. I'll share it all later.
Wednesday, September 21, 2011
So where should I start? With how I finally started packing at about 2am the morning of our flight? The approximately 1 1/2 hours of sleep I got? Or maybe I should just skip ahead to the flight itself and the tedium of 18 hours in transit?? The problem I seem to have when I write my posts is that I'm never sure of just how much or how little I should include. I have in the past been accused of writing a short novel but seeing as how we are only on day 4 of our adventures I don't think there will be any real danger of that. So with that in mind I will try to get in the major details without running on and on.
The flights themselves? Great seats, horrible food. That about sums it up for me. We had tons of leg room behind the bulkhead which made the first leg of the trip much more enjoyable than usual but the food was bad enough that Dave ate all mine for me. There is something even about the smell of airplane food I just can't stand. The layover in Hong Kong was perfectly timed though. We got to our departure gate just as they were starting to board and then it was on to Thailand. After a quick two hours in the air we were met at the airport by Tommys buddy, James, who had recently moved to Bangkok. Great guy and he made it easy for us to make plans for the next week or so because Dave and I had wanted to head to Cambodia to see Ankor Wat and Tommy just wasn't interested. That of course meant they could catch up and hang out while we did our thing; more on that later. So we get to Bangkok and James is there to meet us and right away thing differ from how I usually go about things. First and foremost I would class myself as a budget backpacker. That means I try to stretch my dollars as far as I possibly can. Transport and accommodations on the cheap side so when something fun or exciting comes up it's a no brainer. All of this means that when I leave the airport I grab the cheapest transport and head for the cheapest part of town which is Kao San Rd. On this occasion we opted for limousine service (SUV) to the Sukumvit area of Bangkok. It's still a touristy part of Bankok but on the more upscale side. We dropped James and Tom off at James place with plans to meet up later and then the driver was "supposed" to take us to a nice affordable guest house. Apparently to him that meant gouge us another 700 baht ($21) on transport and drop us at a 2900 baht ($95) a night hotel. In context that 700 baht is usually what Dave and I spend on a room for two nights on Kao San Rd. Unfortunately it wasn't totally unexpected. Needless to to say we weren't impressed but too damn tired to venture out with our backpacks in search of something better. So we headed to the room for a quick shower before heading out for the night. Did I mention for 2900 baht we only got one bed? Yup, one bed. Oh well. Feeling a little fresher and with clean clothes we headed for an English pub called Strikers on Nana Rd. Cool little place and Tom and James were already waiting with beers in hand. We sat around till late and got quite a good buzz going before deciding we would move on to the next place. Not sure how much detail I should go into here for the sake of any ladies reading but please keep in mind that just because something sounds a little dirty doesn't necessarily mean anything dirty happened. Besides, 4 boys out on the town in Bangkok... With that in mind we headed off to a part of Nana Rd that I can't seem to remember the name of. I'll call it Nana Plaza. It's a short narrow alley that leads to a large U shaped building about 4 or 5 stories filled with bars sporting names such as Lollipops, Spankys, Girls Girls Girls... You get the gist. James wanted to take us to a place he likes called the Blow Job Bar but it was closed along with a few of the other bars. It was then that we realized how late it had gotten. In the Sukumvit area and I think Bankok in general most pubs and bars close at 2am. So without any luck we headed off in search of someplace late to close and found it at the Hillary Bar. Just in time to grab one more beer as they were closing up. This is where James and Tommy called it a night and with plans to meet back at Strikers at 5pm the next day they headed off. Probably a good idea but with minimal sleep in the last 24 hours Dave and I decided to go in search of a little more fun. All along the streets in Sukumvit, like in Kao San, there are venders and hawkers selling there wares during the day but in the evening these folks are replaced by people with portable bars on carts and little stools and tables. Dave and I picked one that looked like the folks were having fun and preceded to join in. We drank, puffed on a hookah and chatted with an old Irish dude for a while. These people with the little bars must love me because the more drunk I get the more friendly I am so I try to invite and involve any passing stranger that looks willing. So when I yelled at a couple of younger guys and got there attention they turned back and decided to join us. Turned out it was a couple of good ol' Canadian boys. I'll post a couple pictures at the bottom. *The ladies in the pictures are just there to keep us company while we drink for all yous guys thinking otherwise. Things get a little fuzzy here as I did something I don't usually do which is shots... lots of shots. We started with the easy stuff but it gradually got worse. For me at least. Side note: first time I ever got drunk was on Vodka, haven't touched it since. Vodka shots and lots more beers later we were having the times of our lives. This is in part why we're here of course. Doing things we wouldn't get a chance to do back home. Making the most of every minute we're here. Dave and Chris decided to call it a night though as the sun started coming up so off they headed for there respective hotels. I wasn't tired or excited about sharing a bed with Dave so me and the other kid Matt decided to look for something to do. I say kid but I'm not sure of his age, just that he was younger. We headed off a little (lot) drunk on the BTS Skytrain (Bangkok Transit System) to the giant 7 story mall called MBK. Not sure what our plan was but maybe because of the state we were in we failed to consider the time of day and the mall was closed. Whatcha gonna do? We headed back to a little place across from where Matt was staying and had breakfast and waited for Bangkok to wake up. Eventually we sobered and I booked Dave and I into the World Inn where Matt and Chris were staying. Only 800 baht ($27) and had hot water and a TV. Two things I'm not used to in a guest house here. By this time it was 11am and close to check out time. I parted ways with Matt and headed back to the hotel to get Dave. Unfortunately for Dave he was fucked. I didn't have to witness any puking but I heard there was a fair amount. Since we had a little time till checkout I grabbed my belongings and left Dave to sleep a bit longer with the name of the new guest house on the desk. Leaden with bags I headed back towards the World Inn. Only, I was fuzzy on where it was. There are lots of streets here called Soi which are just long dead end roads surrounded by buildings. They all look very similar and with no sleep, heavy bags and the hot noon sun it seemed like forever till I found the place. I passed the same cop 3 times while looking, sweating profussly walking slower and slower. Wonderfully, I eventually found the place, turns out it was at Soi 7-1. I dropped my bags by the closest bed and passed out. Not much later Dave showed up looking like death and passed out as well. I only had a few hours sleep before I had to get up to meet James and Tommy back at Strikers. This was when I had planned to arrange transport for Dave and I to go to Cambodia and get quotes on flights down to Krabi Town. Unfortunately Dave was convinced he couldn't find his wallet and passport. In the condition he was in it was up to me to head back to the old hotel and search the room we had. Nothing. I looked everywhere but I couldn't find either. Daves wallet actually holds his passport too, so I asked the lady at the front desk to keep and eye out and headed back to Nana. I met up with the boys at Strikers, told them about the situation and said I'd meet back with them in a bit. I headed to an internet cafe a little further down Nana Rd. and grabbed a little bit to eat but couldn't get much down and checked www.asiaair.com for flights to Krabi. Only 1580 baht ($53) which is a great deal. Until we could find Daves passport though we couldn't board any flights or cross any borders. I joined Tommy and James for a couple beer and then headed back to the World Inn at around 7pm. Luckily Dave was a little more coherent and had searched his backpack and found his wallet and Passport. Whew!! What a relief. With all plans for our early morning departure to Cambodia a go I left Dave to sleep a little longer and joined back up with Tom and James for some pool and more beers. They were refreshed from the sleep they had the night before but I was still a little rough. Around 11pm they headed off to look for some fun and I headed back to the room to check on Dave. He was feeling some what better so we went for a wander to grab Dave some food and check out the area a little more. We went to bed relatively early on our second night in Bangkok. All things concidered it had been a great beginning to the trip for me. I was lacking sleep, a little dehydrated and with very little food in me I was feeling surprisingly well. Dave of course was having a great time too with only a few sore stomach muscles from hurling but doing pretty good.
I think I'll stop it there. I'll pick up on the next post with our adventures in getting across the Cambodian border and our visit to Ankor Wat. So far the only pictures I have access too are the ones on my iPhone but I'll try to post more later when possible. Until then ciao for now...
The flights themselves? Great seats, horrible food. That about sums it up for me. We had tons of leg room behind the bulkhead which made the first leg of the trip much more enjoyable than usual but the food was bad enough that Dave ate all mine for me. There is something even about the smell of airplane food I just can't stand. The layover in Hong Kong was perfectly timed though. We got to our departure gate just as they were starting to board and then it was on to Thailand. After a quick two hours in the air we were met at the airport by Tommys buddy, James, who had recently moved to Bangkok. Great guy and he made it easy for us to make plans for the next week or so because Dave and I had wanted to head to Cambodia to see Ankor Wat and Tommy just wasn't interested. That of course meant they could catch up and hang out while we did our thing; more on that later. So we get to Bangkok and James is there to meet us and right away thing differ from how I usually go about things. First and foremost I would class myself as a budget backpacker. That means I try to stretch my dollars as far as I possibly can. Transport and accommodations on the cheap side so when something fun or exciting comes up it's a no brainer. All of this means that when I leave the airport I grab the cheapest transport and head for the cheapest part of town which is Kao San Rd. On this occasion we opted for limousine service (SUV) to the Sukumvit area of Bangkok. It's still a touristy part of Bankok but on the more upscale side. We dropped James and Tom off at James place with plans to meet up later and then the driver was "supposed" to take us to a nice affordable guest house. Apparently to him that meant gouge us another 700 baht ($21) on transport and drop us at a 2900 baht ($95) a night hotel. In context that 700 baht is usually what Dave and I spend on a room for two nights on Kao San Rd. Unfortunately it wasn't totally unexpected. Needless to to say we weren't impressed but too damn tired to venture out with our backpacks in search of something better. So we headed to the room for a quick shower before heading out for the night. Did I mention for 2900 baht we only got one bed? Yup, one bed. Oh well. Feeling a little fresher and with clean clothes we headed for an English pub called Strikers on Nana Rd. Cool little place and Tom and James were already waiting with beers in hand. We sat around till late and got quite a good buzz going before deciding we would move on to the next place. Not sure how much detail I should go into here for the sake of any ladies reading but please keep in mind that just because something sounds a little dirty doesn't necessarily mean anything dirty happened. Besides, 4 boys out on the town in Bangkok... With that in mind we headed off to a part of Nana Rd that I can't seem to remember the name of. I'll call it Nana Plaza. It's a short narrow alley that leads to a large U shaped building about 4 or 5 stories filled with bars sporting names such as Lollipops, Spankys, Girls Girls Girls... You get the gist. James wanted to take us to a place he likes called the Blow Job Bar but it was closed along with a few of the other bars. It was then that we realized how late it had gotten. In the Sukumvit area and I think Bankok in general most pubs and bars close at 2am. So without any luck we headed off in search of someplace late to close and found it at the Hillary Bar. Just in time to grab one more beer as they were closing up. This is where James and Tommy called it a night and with plans to meet back at Strikers at 5pm the next day they headed off. Probably a good idea but with minimal sleep in the last 24 hours Dave and I decided to go in search of a little more fun. All along the streets in Sukumvit, like in Kao San, there are venders and hawkers selling there wares during the day but in the evening these folks are replaced by people with portable bars on carts and little stools and tables. Dave and I picked one that looked like the folks were having fun and preceded to join in. We drank, puffed on a hookah and chatted with an old Irish dude for a while. These people with the little bars must love me because the more drunk I get the more friendly I am so I try to invite and involve any passing stranger that looks willing. So when I yelled at a couple of younger guys and got there attention they turned back and decided to join us. Turned out it was a couple of good ol' Canadian boys. I'll post a couple pictures at the bottom. *The ladies in the pictures are just there to keep us company while we drink for all yous guys thinking otherwise. Things get a little fuzzy here as I did something I don't usually do which is shots... lots of shots. We started with the easy stuff but it gradually got worse. For me at least. Side note: first time I ever got drunk was on Vodka, haven't touched it since. Vodka shots and lots more beers later we were having the times of our lives. This is in part why we're here of course. Doing things we wouldn't get a chance to do back home. Making the most of every minute we're here. Dave and Chris decided to call it a night though as the sun started coming up so off they headed for there respective hotels. I wasn't tired or excited about sharing a bed with Dave so me and the other kid Matt decided to look for something to do. I say kid but I'm not sure of his age, just that he was younger. We headed off a little (lot) drunk on the BTS Skytrain (Bangkok Transit System) to the giant 7 story mall called MBK. Not sure what our plan was but maybe because of the state we were in we failed to consider the time of day and the mall was closed. Whatcha gonna do? We headed back to a little place across from where Matt was staying and had breakfast and waited for Bangkok to wake up. Eventually we sobered and I booked Dave and I into the World Inn where Matt and Chris were staying. Only 800 baht ($27) and had hot water and a TV. Two things I'm not used to in a guest house here. By this time it was 11am and close to check out time. I parted ways with Matt and headed back to the hotel to get Dave. Unfortunately for Dave he was fucked. I didn't have to witness any puking but I heard there was a fair amount. Since we had a little time till checkout I grabbed my belongings and left Dave to sleep a bit longer with the name of the new guest house on the desk. Leaden with bags I headed back towards the World Inn. Only, I was fuzzy on where it was. There are lots of streets here called Soi which are just long dead end roads surrounded by buildings. They all look very similar and with no sleep, heavy bags and the hot noon sun it seemed like forever till I found the place. I passed the same cop 3 times while looking, sweating profussly walking slower and slower. Wonderfully, I eventually found the place, turns out it was at Soi 7-1. I dropped my bags by the closest bed and passed out. Not much later Dave showed up looking like death and passed out as well. I only had a few hours sleep before I had to get up to meet James and Tommy back at Strikers. This was when I had planned to arrange transport for Dave and I to go to Cambodia and get quotes on flights down to Krabi Town. Unfortunately Dave was convinced he couldn't find his wallet and passport. In the condition he was in it was up to me to head back to the old hotel and search the room we had. Nothing. I looked everywhere but I couldn't find either. Daves wallet actually holds his passport too, so I asked the lady at the front desk to keep and eye out and headed back to Nana. I met up with the boys at Strikers, told them about the situation and said I'd meet back with them in a bit. I headed to an internet cafe a little further down Nana Rd. and grabbed a little bit to eat but couldn't get much down and checked www.asiaair.com for flights to Krabi. Only 1580 baht ($53) which is a great deal. Until we could find Daves passport though we couldn't board any flights or cross any borders. I joined Tommy and James for a couple beer and then headed back to the World Inn at around 7pm. Luckily Dave was a little more coherent and had searched his backpack and found his wallet and Passport. Whew!! What a relief. With all plans for our early morning departure to Cambodia a go I left Dave to sleep a little longer and joined back up with Tom and James for some pool and more beers. They were refreshed from the sleep they had the night before but I was still a little rough. Around 11pm they headed off to look for some fun and I headed back to the room to check on Dave. He was feeling some what better so we went for a wander to grab Dave some food and check out the area a little more. We went to bed relatively early on our second night in Bangkok. All things concidered it had been a great beginning to the trip for me. I was lacking sleep, a little dehydrated and with very little food in me I was feeling surprisingly well. Dave of course was having a great time too with only a few sore stomach muscles from hurling but doing pretty good.
I think I'll stop it there. I'll pick up on the next post with our adventures in getting across the Cambodian border and our visit to Ankor Wat. So far the only pictures I have access too are the ones on my iPhone but I'll try to post more later when possible. Until then ciao for now...
Tuesday, September 13, 2011
Hey everyone, I haven't had time yet to sit and write out a post but I do have a little something I had written up the day before we left. I had meant to post it but just got too busy. I'll try to write something new soon but it's going to be extremely busy still for the next 3 or 4 days. I thought I could write updates from my iPhone but Blogger doesn't seem to like it...
Written the 16th of Sept
Well, I'm worn out and tired. Too much work and the monotony of day to day living... I need change and I desperately need to refresh the body, mind and spirit! There is nothing, as far as I'm concerned, that does that quite like traveling. Of course any time away from work is nice but putting on the backpack and standing in the airport terminal waiting to go somewhere is probably my favorite feeling. That and the feeling you get when it dawns on you where in the world you are as something extraordinary happens. Like watching the sun set over the island of Phi Phi from a tree house bungalow that overhangs the white sand beach of Ko Jum.
It's been months since my last post which is usually par for the course with this blog but if you've been following it also means that if I'm making a post then a much needed vacation is soon to follow. On the 17th of September I'll once again be heading off to Thailand and Cambodia for a 22 day get-a-way. My brother Dave and I had a great time last year and he'll be coming along with a buddy from work, Tom. This is Toms first trip to Thailand and his farthest and longest trip I think so I'll be trying my best to make it memorable. If anyone out there wants a picture of something or have any questions about where we're going and what we're doing then ask away. Until the first real post from from the other side of the globe...Tuesday, October 26, 2010
Well as you might suspect Dave and I have settled into the life here on Samui but it is now rapidly coming to an end. We decided to skip the Full Moon Party which sounds like it was a good decision since by all accounts it was a pretty tame event this time around. We've met some great people from the Bar Ice and have spent most of our time at our bungalow or with the people from there. We will be flying up to Bangkok on the 28th and then we should have some time to catch up on our blogs and hopefully load some photos. Hope everything is good at home. Looking forward to Halloween but not going back to work. We will savour our last couple days in paradise and try not to think about having to go home but it's hard. We've been trying to think of what kind of business to open to so we can stay but its obviously a pipe dream for now. One day...
Thursday, October 21, 2010
Just a quick update. Things are fantastic here as expected. The weather has been really nice, hot and sunny every day. We spend most of the days cruising around on our mopeds exploring the island and most nights we find a fun place to have some drinks. Lost Dave last night but found a great bar called Murray Bar with a live band that was really really good. Danced the night away with some new friends. Not sure what is on the agenda for tonight but I'm sure it will be fun. I was planning on continuing my blog post from the other day today but managed to sleep till 5pm. Must have needed to catch up. Dave is having a shower so I don't really have time for a big post. There is still the whole wedding weekend to tell about but I already know that there is no way I could possibly do it justice in words. I have pics and video but it has proven to be near impossible finding a computer that I can work with to upload them. The connections here are just to slow. Here is one though of breakfast at our bungalow.
Dave is back from having his shower now. That should be an intication of how long it took just to put up this one photo. When I have time I'll post about the wedding and try to do it justice. I think we have decided not to do the Full Moon Party but we have been invited to a private party that night so we'll be having fun none the less. Until then, ciao for now.
Tuesday, October 19, 2010
Thailand Day 2 - 8
It's 3:23 am here, I've had a few wobbly pops and after a little searching I've found a 24hr internet cafe to finally do a blog post. Somehow I have to write a blog that will encompass the last 7 days and yet still be short enough not to bore anyone nor too long as to scare anyone away from trying to read it. How do you do that? Also, unfortunately, the computers are very slow and the card reader won't work so I can't upload any photos. My writing style is my own though I guess so I figure I'll just write it how it comes out and if people want to read they will. From day 2 in Bangkok till now is has been so hectic and yet so fantastic I want to make sure I don't miss anything. What to include and what to leave out? My brother has had his iPhone 4 with him the whole time, so with WiFi he can just upload whenever he wants which is fantastic for him but frustrating for me. So before I begin a reminder to check out Daves blog as well, ddthailand.wordpress.com.
With the way I left off the last blog it should be no surprise that I was feeling somewhat haggard when I woke up a little late in the day. I really didn't want to acknowledge Dave when he finally roused me and demanded that I get up but I figured I should just start getting used to it. I reluctantly got dressed and in a slight fog we headed off in the direction of Kao San Rd. The only real duty we had that day was to pick up our tickets for the journey south to Koh Samui. Somewhere in the haze of our previous days adventure we had the clarity of mind to arranged for our tickets on the night train down to Surat Thani. When we got to the Sawadee Guest House to pick up our tickets though we were informed that the train was sold out for the next two days and if we wanted to head south we would have to pay for the last available first class tickets on the train leaving that evening. I was a little wary we were being conned but with the wedding in only a few day we couldn't afford to take the risk. We bought the tickets at almost 2000 baht ($75) each and after Dave found a pair of sandals to buy we headed back to our room to pack our things. We took a Tuk Tuk over to the Lamphong train station and with a little time to spare we had a nice big lunch of KFC. Luckily for us though we headed for our train platform a little early and when we couldn't find our train car decided to ask one of the platform managers for help. Apparently the last guy to offer help had given us the wrong platform number and by a matter of mere minutes before our train left we were in our private little state room. The train ride was mostly at night so obviously there wasn't a whole hell of a lot to see out there. We ate, played games and then around 9pm folded down the beds to relax and read and try to get some sleep. We got a little but only a couple of hours really. The train was supposed to get to Surat Thani by 4:30am but by 5:30am we were still on the move and getting worried. The train steward had told us that he would come knock on our door with about 20 minutes left before our stop but when I went to check on the guy he was still asleep in his little quarters. I wasn't the only one wondering what was happening though because there were also a couple Thai people looking out the doors of there cabins checking to see what was going on. Finally one of them went to wake the steward and ask him when we would be arriving. It was then that we found out we would be two hours late and that he would still come and inform us before the train arrived. When we finally did arrive at around 7am we were almost immediately transferred onto one of the most horrid buses I've ever been on. The back door stair well was permanently closed off and had been turned into a repository for old pop cans and whatever else people felt like tossing down there. There was only Dave and I and four Japanese girls on the bus. One had on a shirt that said "State of Frolida" which we thought was funny. As the bus driver pulled away he turned on the air conditioner and it spat out some dusty, foggy weird shit which we all tried to shy away from but really, where could we go. So we headed off on a stinky, loud somewhat dangerous looking bus towards the pier and the ferry to Koh Samui.
There is one thing that always seems to happen to me here and you would think that by now I would learn. Whenever I go on my first ferry trip from the mainland to Koh Samui I always head for the upper deck to find a nice place to lie down and relax. Well with the boat cruising along and the wind blowing over the water feeling wonderful against the heat of the day I always block out the fact that the sun is just beating down on us. So naturally I burnt to a crisp. At least I got it out of the way early on I guess. The ferry ride is a little over an hour and the taxi van into Chaweng is another 30 - 40 minutes. We decided that we would just get dropped off near Chaweng, head for the beach and then check into whatever Bungalows it looks like we can afford. Luckily for us we didn't have to look long. After walking for about half a mile down the beautiful white sand beach with our big ol' backpacks we found the Marine Bungalows. 500 Baht ($9 each) a night for a shared room by the beach and just off the main tourist section of Chaweng. We were there and we were loving it... We dropped our gear in the room, rented mopeds from the front desk for 200baht each ($6:50) and spent the rest of the day just looking around Chaweng and trying to track down the FC Villa.
I'll leave off there for now cause it's getting late and quite frankly my buzz has worn off and I need to sleep. Tomorrow I'll try to find a better computer where I can update some more and although two of our cameras have broken so far we have some great pictures I would like upload and share. Off to bed for me so goodnight from Samui.
It's 3:23 am here, I've had a few wobbly pops and after a little searching I've found a 24hr internet cafe to finally do a blog post. Somehow I have to write a blog that will encompass the last 7 days and yet still be short enough not to bore anyone nor too long as to scare anyone away from trying to read it. How do you do that? Also, unfortunately, the computers are very slow and the card reader won't work so I can't upload any photos. My writing style is my own though I guess so I figure I'll just write it how it comes out and if people want to read they will. From day 2 in Bangkok till now is has been so hectic and yet so fantastic I want to make sure I don't miss anything. What to include and what to leave out? My brother has had his iPhone 4 with him the whole time, so with WiFi he can just upload whenever he wants which is fantastic for him but frustrating for me. So before I begin a reminder to check out Daves blog as well, ddthailand.wordpress.com.
With the way I left off the last blog it should be no surprise that I was feeling somewhat haggard when I woke up a little late in the day. I really didn't want to acknowledge Dave when he finally roused me and demanded that I get up but I figured I should just start getting used to it. I reluctantly got dressed and in a slight fog we headed off in the direction of Kao San Rd. The only real duty we had that day was to pick up our tickets for the journey south to Koh Samui. Somewhere in the haze of our previous days adventure we had the clarity of mind to arranged for our tickets on the night train down to Surat Thani. When we got to the Sawadee Guest House to pick up our tickets though we were informed that the train was sold out for the next two days and if we wanted to head south we would have to pay for the last available first class tickets on the train leaving that evening. I was a little wary we were being conned but with the wedding in only a few day we couldn't afford to take the risk. We bought the tickets at almost 2000 baht ($75) each and after Dave found a pair of sandals to buy we headed back to our room to pack our things. We took a Tuk Tuk over to the Lamphong train station and with a little time to spare we had a nice big lunch of KFC. Luckily for us though we headed for our train platform a little early and when we couldn't find our train car decided to ask one of the platform managers for help. Apparently the last guy to offer help had given us the wrong platform number and by a matter of mere minutes before our train left we were in our private little state room. The train ride was mostly at night so obviously there wasn't a whole hell of a lot to see out there. We ate, played games and then around 9pm folded down the beds to relax and read and try to get some sleep. We got a little but only a couple of hours really. The train was supposed to get to Surat Thani by 4:30am but by 5:30am we were still on the move and getting worried. The train steward had told us that he would come knock on our door with about 20 minutes left before our stop but when I went to check on the guy he was still asleep in his little quarters. I wasn't the only one wondering what was happening though because there were also a couple Thai people looking out the doors of there cabins checking to see what was going on. Finally one of them went to wake the steward and ask him when we would be arriving. It was then that we found out we would be two hours late and that he would still come and inform us before the train arrived. When we finally did arrive at around 7am we were almost immediately transferred onto one of the most horrid buses I've ever been on. The back door stair well was permanently closed off and had been turned into a repository for old pop cans and whatever else people felt like tossing down there. There was only Dave and I and four Japanese girls on the bus. One had on a shirt that said "State of Frolida" which we thought was funny. As the bus driver pulled away he turned on the air conditioner and it spat out some dusty, foggy weird shit which we all tried to shy away from but really, where could we go. So we headed off on a stinky, loud somewhat dangerous looking bus towards the pier and the ferry to Koh Samui.
There is one thing that always seems to happen to me here and you would think that by now I would learn. Whenever I go on my first ferry trip from the mainland to Koh Samui I always head for the upper deck to find a nice place to lie down and relax. Well with the boat cruising along and the wind blowing over the water feeling wonderful against the heat of the day I always block out the fact that the sun is just beating down on us. So naturally I burnt to a crisp. At least I got it out of the way early on I guess. The ferry ride is a little over an hour and the taxi van into Chaweng is another 30 - 40 minutes. We decided that we would just get dropped off near Chaweng, head for the beach and then check into whatever Bungalows it looks like we can afford. Luckily for us we didn't have to look long. After walking for about half a mile down the beautiful white sand beach with our big ol' backpacks we found the Marine Bungalows. 500 Baht ($9 each) a night for a shared room by the beach and just off the main tourist section of Chaweng. We were there and we were loving it... We dropped our gear in the room, rented mopeds from the front desk for 200baht each ($6:50) and spent the rest of the day just looking around Chaweng and trying to track down the FC Villa.
I'll leave off there for now cause it's getting late and quite frankly my buzz has worn off and I need to sleep. Tomorrow I'll try to find a better computer where I can update some more and although two of our cameras have broken so far we have some great pictures I would like upload and share. Off to bed for me so goodnight from Samui.
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