Travel Tips

Today is our first full day in Thailand. We woke up early this morning and ate our free breakfast downstairs at the restaurant. A big single pancake and two cups of coffee accompianied by a tv blasting the BBC reporting the Iraqi war. Shortly after we headed to the skytrain (a train 50feet high off the ground train system that runs through the center of the city) and to the Chatuchak weekend market. The market is, from what I hear last, 15,000 stalls selling anything and everything from , baby hedgehogs to $5 jeans to totem poles. There was also cock fighting which we walked away from quickly. And also deep fried baby birds being sold next to deep fried locusts and other varios insects.

I ate my first full meal too. Not anything too adeventurous but something I could easily point to green papaya salad, and a some yummy spicy,sour, coconutty soup noodles, and then of course, had diarreah.

With that said my time on the internet is about to run out. I'll continue this later....

Two days later:

Yesterday we headed out to the otherside of town to the infamous Ko San Rd area. We've been trying to avoid this area but also wanted to see what it was all about. The actual road was exactly what we expected, very geared towards backpackers, or rather should I say shoppers. There's alot of pushy vendors, which was something we didn't even see at the large market. Thngs were more expensive. Off the main strip however, we found a cute neighborhood and trekked back to it today to stay. The room at $16 is nice, simple,clean,and with hot water and A/C, a total luxury.

Yester ..day after Ko San Road we got off a random stop off the skytrain. Now I have to say no other city I've ever been to can even remotly compare to the insanity of what I'm fully immersed in at the moment. It's a million times crazier than NYC. There are like several million people living in this city and I'm comvinced everyone owns atleast 2 cars, 3 scooters and tuk tuk.No one pays attention to the street lights or even to pedestrians for that fact. Smog laws are not enforced and everyone blows a whistle. I haven't even been to the part of the city where elephants wear flashing red lights on their butts and are used like taxis. That's tomorrow.

Tonight we hung out at a beer garden next door to our guest house in hopes of finding other travellers to talk to. That we did. I invited a man psychic scorpio named William (pronounced Hgilliam) from Holland. He's an unemployed skipper living off what he made to travel SE Asia. We had a few beers and then he was off down south to the Phi Phi islands. We then unsuccessfully tried to strike up converstaion with two drunk Englishmen gossiping about trash magazines. With our own cheap buzz at it's prime we decided to get some food. I haven't really had any street food because my stomach has been in the pits, so tonight I went for it and got a gigantic plate of pad thai for about 70 cents. Amazing.

Tomorrow I HAVE to get my shots, and then it's off to the temples and Chinatown and the theives market. Apparently the theives market is a market in which stuff that was stolen from other tourists is sold to other tourists. Normally I wouldn't support this but I hear they have really cheap battery chargers there (sorry dad the one you gave me is entirely way too heavy). We went to an electronic mall yesterday that was 5 stories high and they were trying to sell their battery chargers for $30. Ridiculous. You can only haggle so low you know? So yes I think that's it for now because I need to actually sleep tonight.

Before I delve into that subject, let me start off this blog on a positive note.

We've met some really great people so far on this trip. They've all been "professional travellers" or expats. They're all eager to meet other travellers and tell fantastic stories of their travles so far and stories of their home countries. We have yet to meet any Americans. They don't like to make eye contact. Oh well it's only been a few days and each day brings a new person into our lives. Let me get on with the story:

After a long day of dealing with the hospital for vacinations and trudging around Chinatown at the Theives market, we came back to our little neighborhood nestled under a plethora of luscious fruit trees for an evening beer. While resting our achy feet we met a Finnish expat who taught us so much about life here. He lives about an hour north of Bangkok and is staying here for a few days while his wife works. We got into talking about class, gender, and politics in general. (Oh by the way thanks president bush for making it impossible for me to ever visit any muslim countries with ease) When the topic of tattoos came up. Now ever since I arrived here every single guy has been staring obsessivly at me. Matt the sweet boy that he is said it was just because I was beautiful, but please. I asked our new friend, Seppo, and he said the reason was because the only women who are tattooed in Thailand are the ones who have either been to jail, or are bar hookers. He said they're probably looking at me like I'm an American jailhouse prostitute. Great. Oh well. It's a big colorful fish on my arm they can think what they want. However today I'm still going to test the theory and buy a long sleeve shirt (need one for the temples anyway) and see what happens.

After a long night with Seppo, I woke up to the harmonious sound of chanting monks in one of the nearby temples. I went down stairs and ate some yummy basil fried rice while Matt sleeps off his hangover. It's another sunny beautiful day and we'll spend it up north at the temples with some elephants, finally. I can't complain, I love life right now.

I don't know if it's a Western custom to cover your mouth, but here, everyone that needs to WILL sneeze or cough on you. And there's no avoiding it because this city is a giant walking school of sardines. There's no space, there's always someone there squished up against you, walking with you, crossing your path, stepping on your feet, hacking loogies all over your face. I really like it here, but I can't breathe! I now can't wait to leave for the islands the day after tomorrow. By then I hope our colds will be gone. Today I'm so out of it that I'm spending all day on the internet.

Yesterday after having another long night with some fun German doctors Matt and I went to our first movie here at the cineplex downtown. It was crazy. You get assigned seating in plush leather seats. Before the movie starts you have to stand while the national anthem plays to a slideshow of the King. Right after the King montage is over the screen expands another 5 feet in each direction making the biggest screen I've ever watched a movie on. All for under $5. Pretty cool.

Today Matt slept in so I had breakfast down the street by myself. An uninvited person drinking beer at 9am decided to sit with me and keep me company while I wolfed down a shredded pork omelet. Apparently he's an anarchist from London who's squatting in an abandoned mansion outside Bangkok. He just came back from Cambodia doing interviews with mass murderers from the Khmer Rouge. Back home he's a children's fiction novelist. We talked a bit about the killings in Burma. I don't know how big of a deal it is in the States so here's a link: http://www.witness.org/index.php?option=com_rightsalert&Itemid=178&task=view&alert_id=53

Wheather or not he was telling the truth I found myself pleasently amused at his animation and excitement for life. After I finished my omelette I wished him well and joined Matty P. for his breakfast.

Tomorrrow is cheap entertainment, if that's what you want to call it. For a little over a dollar we're going to the serial killer museums, where they actually have whole serial killers perserved in tanks. Along with siamese babies and pickeled organs and massive parasitic worms, you can't go wrong for less than $2 at a museum.Right?

Sincerely,

Amused at life.

Right now We're existing on an isthmus called Ko Railay. It's a jungle / beach. Mosquitos aren't bad. We stay in a creaky bungalow at the base of a limestone valley called Highland Bungalows. Roosters wake us up each morning. Monkeys throw things at our heads. The water is out of a Scope commercial and the sand is pure white. A butterfly landed on Matts head today and the only thing we have to worry about is: What on earth is eating our soap? Not one but three packages of soap were found in the corner of our bungalow with teeth marks that look really sharp. Today it rained for the first time, all day. We woke up to roosters, walked down to the beach, went for a quick swim and then it poured unrelentlessly. We took cover under a limestone cliff for hours and Matt got talked into being massaged by a sea gypsy. We sat amongst the rest of the sea gypsys' family while I pondered about life. I miss my family and friends and I wish they could be here to experience this. Life everyday is an adventure. I feel like David Attenborough living like Robinson & Caruso. We'll be here for a few more days then it's off to the Vegetarian festival in Phuket. I can't wait. I lost my sunglasses the second day here and I hope to replace them there.. :)
2 days later....
Matt and I took a very strenuous hike to a lagoon hidden deep in a limestone cliff. It took us nearly an hour of pullng ourselves up ropes and sliding down muddy rocky terrain to get to view the lagoon, but alas we could not reach it because we were not equipped with rock climbing gear. There will be pictures to come.
Yesterday I had the fortune of witnessing a troop of crab eating macaques (monkies) hanging out and playing in the trees, on the beach, before it started raining again.
Today I ate barracuda. Could someone tell me if that's on the safe list please? It was delicious and I'd love to have it again if it's enviromently safe.
Tomorrow is our last day in Railay. We hope to go sea kayaking if the weather permits. I'll continue this later.

So after a 3 hour ride from Krabi we finally arrived to Phuket. Aside from staying in a room that seems to not have had human contact for 30 years, we're happy. Let me describe to you our "home" first. Yesterday Matt and I arrived to Phuket and shared the bus ride with a couple of young folks from S. Africa and England. We walked around the area for a bit looking for a place to stay when out of what seemed nowhere appeared a gigantic communist looking building. The inside parlor had been turned into a museum of safes from the 1800's. These safes were for all the money being made from rubber plantations and tin mining. The commercial banks at the time simply did not have enough room for all the money coming in and therefore needed all these safes Sounds like a good problem to have! Anyway just for kicks we ask how much the rates are because it's looks pretty fancy inside. After she told us 280 baht for the "rooms out back" we eagirly paid up for the first night. So we go to the building out back, very reminicinet of the buildings we saw in Budapest built during Communist rule. Colorless, rectangle,uniformity blahlessness. Needless to say that the inside of the reception area was totally misleading Well as long as there was'nt another swarm of ants crawling on me I didn't care where I slept. The inside of the building is 5 stories of large empty halls with broken green tile and fingerprint stained walls. It reminds me of an abondoned mental hospital and we're the crazy patients at the end of the creepy corridor. Our bathroom is a scene straight out of the movie Seven. Last night I took a shower and as I peered around the bathroom at all the dry rot and broken walls and dead insects I could'nt help but feel like a squatter in this old abandoned hospital. I had to laugh I was staying at Resident Evil. Oh well, it's a bed with no ants or cockroaches in it, and Matty is as happy as a clam and that makes me happy.

Last night as we walked around to check out this new town we stopped for a bathroom break at a place that looked like it had western toilets. Don't get me wrong I'm getting better at using the squat toilets but I'm still ending up with soggy underwear and it's not from pee, I'll let you use your own imagination for that one! So I take advantage of the western toilets when they're available. Anyway we ended up staying for a beer and meeting the owner. She's a sweet gal named Nan. We talked to her for hours, and woke up again this morning and hung out with her for another several hours. She's very entertaining. She's invited us to have dinner "local style" up on a view point over looking the city and sea with her friends. Her friends are an older English couple living in Phuket training in a form of Filipino martial arts.

After a long morning with Nan, Matt and I walked around and explored the Vegetarian festival. It's a festival that happens on the 9th month of the Lunar year, for 9 days. There's hundreds of vegetarian food stalls, and everyone dresses in white and eats vegetarian to cleanse away bad spirits. Tomorrow the actual parade starts. Many people go into a trance and are supposedly posessed by spirits. They pierce their backs with large meat hooks and pull big carts while in this trance. Some of them slice themselves up and hack at their tongues with axes all for sacrafices to various spirits and gods. These rituals are a spin off of the original Hindu rituals that take place in Malaysia every year. But keep note that this particualr event here in Phuket is celebrated mostly by very devout Chinese Taoist.

So yes those are the plans for tomorrow. Right now I think we're going to snack on some of that delicious looking vendor food and have some fun with fireworks before our "date" this evening. I promise to post more pictures soon!

So the day before yesterday the skies in Railay were clear blue and sunny. The water was calm and you could see the coral very clearly below you. So for around $15 we rented a kayak for 3 hours. We get in and start paddling. 10 minuets into paddling we arrive between to limestone cliffs and I we have to pull over because of my severe motion sickness. Crap I can't sea kayak. Boooo. I tossed my eggs and coffee and ruined the adventure for Matt. We paddled to the closest beach where I almost puked again and I passed out in the sun for 2 hours while Matt snorkeled. We got severly sunburned and had to sleep nearly motionless that night while ants crawled on our faces. That was a poopy night, but the next day we got to leave for Phuket so things really were'nt that bad. The end.