We awoke in Phuket to the lovely noise of construction at 8am. Nothing like a good nights sleep after a horrible journey the day before...oh wait. Also, John , Stu and I didnt realize just how bad we were sunburned from the boat ride the day before, until that morning. It wasnt good. Because of the sunburn John did not wanna go to the beach that morning with me and Stu. Whatever, me and Stu went anyway and I slowly realized how good of a choice John had made. It was hottttt. Like 95 F hot. And the clouds which I had hated the previous days were nowhere in sight. I was attempting to hide from the sun in the water but it didnt work too well.
After about an hour or 2 in the sun I realized the ginger needed to flee the beach for the comfort of shade. So I left Stu and headed back to the hotel where we were staying. As I was walking back to our hotel I realized just how touristy Phuket, especially Patong Beach (area we stayed) was. Dont get me wrong, I like touristy types of areas. But sometimes they can be too touristy. That afternoon John, Stu, and I tried to imagine what the area we were staying in was like before tourism had become the focal point of their economy. Im sure it was just as beautiful, but probably much more peaceful.
The whole time we were on the islands we had hoped to be able to take a pic of the sun setting over the water. Clearly with nonstop rain and clouds that wasnt possible. With a clear sky in Phuket we finally had our chance. However, Patong Beach didnt seem like a perfect location. So we asked the people at reception if there was a nice beach nearby that was a little more secluded. There was but it was not within walking distance and getting a cab seemed pointless. Thankfully in many places in Thailand people can rent mopeds as long as they have a drivers license. Also it costs around $6 a day to rent a moped. Not not sweet. John decided he was gonna be old and not come so it was just me and Stu. Unfortunately Stu didnt have a drivers license with him so I would have to be the driver. Yes folks, I was going to drive a moped for maybe the 2nd time in my life. Luckily I was given very in depth instructions in perfect English...oh wait. I will quote (as well as I can remember) the instructions. "On...off...go...stop" Okkkkkkkkkkkkk. With that, we decided to head out, with not the best directions ever, in hopes of finding a beach where we could get photos of the sun set.
Lets just say Stu probably lost about 10 lbs from sweating and nervousness, just on the way to the beach. We were driving thru some mountains with skinny roads that had cars flying by us. Did i almost end our lives 4 or more times? Sure. Would I do it again? Oh hells yea. I would say that by the time we were coming back my driving skills had improved dramatically. I now see why people who drive motorcycles love it. The rush was something I havent felt since skydiving wit MC.
Anyway, what I thought would just be a relaxing day at the beach turned into one of the more thrilling experiences in Thailand.
Wednesday, February 23, 2011
Thursday, February 17, 2011
Day 8, Travel day, FML
Of course the day we decide to finally leave the islands the weather is gorgeous. I dont think there was even a cloud in the sky. We had a long day of travel ahead of us because our next destination was Phuket, the Southwestern tip of Thailand. The boat was supposed to leave the island around 1230pm. Thankfully everything is delayed in Thailand so when we arrived at the port at 1245, they were still boarding for the trip. We then had about a 2 hr boat ride to the mainland where we then boarded a bus for an hour to a meeting spot for all the people traveling to Phuket.
By this time it was close to 4pm, and no one in our group was feeling that much better. Oh and to make things better we all got burnt to a crisp on the boat. Yay. We then were piled into a van and drove another 4 hours to Phuket. We had reservations for Phuket, however there were some stupid girls who did not. It wouldnt have been a problem but we were staying about 30 mins south of where these girls wanted to stay. So instead of dropping us off and then finding them a place to stay, the driver drove around for nearly 2 hrs trying to find these stupid girls a place that was acceptable. Wouldnt have been a problem but the girls were super picky about where they wanted to stay.
We finally arrived to our hotel around midnite. I think if we had the choice to redo that day we definitely would.
By this time it was close to 4pm, and no one in our group was feeling that much better. Oh and to make things better we all got burnt to a crisp on the boat. Yay. We then were piled into a van and drove another 4 hours to Phuket. We had reservations for Phuket, however there were some stupid girls who did not. It wouldnt have been a problem but we were staying about 30 mins south of where these girls wanted to stay. So instead of dropping us off and then finding them a place to stay, the driver drove around for nearly 2 hrs trying to find these stupid girls a place that was acceptable. Wouldnt have been a problem but the girls were super picky about where they wanted to stay.
We finally arrived to our hotel around midnite. I think if we had the choice to redo that day we definitely would.
Wednesday, February 16, 2011
Wait the Half Moon party isnt on the beach??
Day 3 in tropical island paradise had the same weather as day 1 and 2. F%$@#^&*^%ing rain. Ya im a ginger but I would enjoy a lil sun now and then!! Anyway the lovely buckets from the night before caused an earth shattering hangover that pretty much lasted all day. We went for lunch and happened to run into some South African girls we know, Mary, Delia, and Marguerite. We went storm swimming with them in the ocean/sea/whatever type of water it was. Slightly helped the hangover but not much.
We didnt do much during the day because the weather was crap but again by night time it was nice again, seriously. Anyway, we decided to head back for naps and were gonna meet up with the girls at a nearby bar so we could prepare for the Half Moon party, which apparently was in the jungle, not on the beach. Lame. So we arrived at the bar a lil later then the time we said and for some reason John was in a panic. Apparently he didnt realize we were meeting girls so on time is actually an hour after the designated time. Eventually we saw the girls walk by on the street below. However, they just waved at us and kept walking. Confused? Ya we were too. As the story goes, Mary went to pet one of the many mangy homeless dogs that populate Thailand. Smart? Not exactly. The lovable creature bit her finger so she had to find a doctor and get rabies shots. Not exactly the best start to a night.
The girls finally arrived about an hour later and we decided to go get some body paint for the half moon party and head to our hostel to pregame and paint ourselves up. After about 2 hrs or so of body painting and drinking, we headed off to the party. We all clamored into the back of this tiny van like vehicle, which was similar to tuk tuks but a lil bigger. I must admit I was disappointed that we wouldnt be partyin on the beach for the half moon party, but we still had a blast.
Our rockin body paint obvi looked sweet as hell under the neon/black lights. Baby Stuart and I decided to split a bucket of booze. Good idea. We thought they made em strong on the beach but those were weak to the half moon party. John was the first casualty of the night. I saw him randomly stumbling down the hill and thought it would be a good idea to run after him to see if he was alright. He had enough and was going home with or without us. I ran back to see if Stu was ready to leave as well, I didnt care too much at this point. Stu replies to me, "Man, I just wanna dance," while doing a lil dance gesture and waving his hands in the air. He convinced me. So with that we split ways with John, not realizing how bad of a choice that would eventually be.
Stu and I got our dance on for another hour or 2 but the buckets finally caught up to us, especially Stu. I happened to notice at one point that Stus 'dancing' consists of passing out against a wall. I realized it was time to go. So Stu, Mary, and myself retired early around 430am or so. We got another van thingy back to where we were staying but it dropped us off at a common meeting place in our area, not the actual hostel. This wasnt good because both Stu and I were fading quickly. A few times I attempted to give Stu a piggy back ride while he whispered sweet nothings into my ear, and Id like to emphasize the nothings portion. Stu didnt grasp the 2 way street concept of the piggy back ride, ya gotta hold on Stu.
Somehow we made it back to our hostel after wandering for who knows how long. Only one problem tho, John had the key to get into the hostel and he was most likely passed out at this point. I tried yelling up to him to no avail. And honestly I just yanked on the door until it woke up the owners of the hostel and they eventually let us in. Oddly enough John was nowhere to be found. Dead, murdered, jail, lost, I didnt care too much and just wanted to sleep. Man am I a good friend or what?
Ill take a quick break from the story to mention something I forgot. When we were on Koh Samui and our driver was taking a piss on the side of the road, John took out his camera to take a picture of the guy. He then left it in the back of the van to never see it again. Stu happened to have 2 cameras, cuz hes soooooooo rich, and was nice enough to let John borrow the other one. Story resumes...
John comes stumbling in maybe about 20 mins after we get back to the hostel. He doesnt look pleased at this point, and rightfully so. Apparently after we went our separate ways he got into one of the cabs that can hold up to 10 people. Normally when leavin the half moon party they would wait for the cabs to be full before they would leave, but John ran into the wrong Thai cab driver. Long story short the guy stole Stu's 2nd camera that John had borrowed. Then the guy dropped John off in the middle of nowhere. Not a good night for John to say the least, but hey at least he wasnt killed. And the Half Moon party was really fun, I think that made up for it...
We didnt do much during the day because the weather was crap but again by night time it was nice again, seriously. Anyway, we decided to head back for naps and were gonna meet up with the girls at a nearby bar so we could prepare for the Half Moon party, which apparently was in the jungle, not on the beach. Lame. So we arrived at the bar a lil later then the time we said and for some reason John was in a panic. Apparently he didnt realize we were meeting girls so on time is actually an hour after the designated time. Eventually we saw the girls walk by on the street below. However, they just waved at us and kept walking. Confused? Ya we were too. As the story goes, Mary went to pet one of the many mangy homeless dogs that populate Thailand. Smart? Not exactly. The lovable creature bit her finger so she had to find a doctor and get rabies shots. Not exactly the best start to a night.
The girls finally arrived about an hour later and we decided to go get some body paint for the half moon party and head to our hostel to pregame and paint ourselves up. After about 2 hrs or so of body painting and drinking, we headed off to the party. We all clamored into the back of this tiny van like vehicle, which was similar to tuk tuks but a lil bigger. I must admit I was disappointed that we wouldnt be partyin on the beach for the half moon party, but we still had a blast.
Our rockin body paint obvi looked sweet as hell under the neon/black lights. Baby Stuart and I decided to split a bucket of booze. Good idea. We thought they made em strong on the beach but those were weak to the half moon party. John was the first casualty of the night. I saw him randomly stumbling down the hill and thought it would be a good idea to run after him to see if he was alright. He had enough and was going home with or without us. I ran back to see if Stu was ready to leave as well, I didnt care too much at this point. Stu replies to me, "Man, I just wanna dance," while doing a lil dance gesture and waving his hands in the air. He convinced me. So with that we split ways with John, not realizing how bad of a choice that would eventually be.
Stu and I got our dance on for another hour or 2 but the buckets finally caught up to us, especially Stu. I happened to notice at one point that Stus 'dancing' consists of passing out against a wall. I realized it was time to go. So Stu, Mary, and myself retired early around 430am or so. We got another van thingy back to where we were staying but it dropped us off at a common meeting place in our area, not the actual hostel. This wasnt good because both Stu and I were fading quickly. A few times I attempted to give Stu a piggy back ride while he whispered sweet nothings into my ear, and Id like to emphasize the nothings portion. Stu didnt grasp the 2 way street concept of the piggy back ride, ya gotta hold on Stu.
Somehow we made it back to our hostel after wandering for who knows how long. Only one problem tho, John had the key to get into the hostel and he was most likely passed out at this point. I tried yelling up to him to no avail. And honestly I just yanked on the door until it woke up the owners of the hostel and they eventually let us in. Oddly enough John was nowhere to be found. Dead, murdered, jail, lost, I didnt care too much and just wanted to sleep. Man am I a good friend or what?
Ill take a quick break from the story to mention something I forgot. When we were on Koh Samui and our driver was taking a piss on the side of the road, John took out his camera to take a picture of the guy. He then left it in the back of the van to never see it again. Stu happened to have 2 cameras, cuz hes soooooooo rich, and was nice enough to let John borrow the other one. Story resumes...
John comes stumbling in maybe about 20 mins after we get back to the hostel. He doesnt look pleased at this point, and rightfully so. Apparently after we went our separate ways he got into one of the cabs that can hold up to 10 people. Normally when leavin the half moon party they would wait for the cabs to be full before they would leave, but John ran into the wrong Thai cab driver. Long story short the guy stole Stu's 2nd camera that John had borrowed. Then the guy dropped John off in the middle of nowhere. Not a good night for John to say the least, but hey at least he wasnt killed. And the Half Moon party was really fun, I think that made up for it...
Tuesday, February 15, 2011
Koh Phangan
As much as we enjoyed Koh Samui, we had an upcoming date with a half moon party so we left Koh Samui the next day for Koh Phangan. Koh Phangan was a smaller island that was another hr or so boat ride to. We arrived and headed to a small peninsula on the southeastern tip of the island. The peninsula was very skinny and from where we were stayin it was about a 10 min walk either direction to the beach. The 2 beaches were sunrise and sunset beach, pretty self explanatory.
Apparently the evil ginger in me communicated with God and made it rain for a 2nd straight day that we were on a tropical paradise. I now know why people hate gingers. Fortunately once the sun went down the rain stopped...seriously.
Anyway we decide to have dinner on a beach front hotel. I would imagine something such as that would cost around $20 or so minimum in 'Merica. However, this is Thailand. I believe it was a lil expensive for Thailand and we paid around $3-4. After dinner, the beach was pretty quiet and not a whole lot was goin on so we headed about a block or so off the beach to a nearby bar.
Around 10pm or so we decided to try the beach again to see if anything was happenin, and amazingness (new word I made up) followed. They had what were called 'buckets' for sale at all of these different places along the beach. And the name pretty much describes them. Small buckets, that you would use to build sand castles back in the day, filled with ur fav mixed drink. The booze was cheap and plentiful on the beach, we also decided to smoke some delicious hookah. That wasnt even the most exciting part of the night either. There was a live fire show being performed by Thai men on the beach. Basically they swing around long poles that are in flames. Its pretty exciting to watch and they were only about 10 feet, tops, away from us. AND then they had these long chains with balls on the end that they would light on fire and they would swing those around. It was really cool stuff to watch. Oh and ya after that we were spitting fire, nbd. You could drink kerosene and then they had lit fire poles that you could spit at to make it look like you were spitting fire. Really (insert favorite swear word) sweet.
Sitting there in my drunkness, on a beach in Thailand, watching a fire show, it hit me; Im currently living in a dream world. If someone told me a year ago what Id be doin I wouldnt have believed it. Sometimes I gotta sit back and think about how crazy these past 3-4 months have been. Experiences that hopefully I will never forget!!
Apparently the evil ginger in me communicated with God and made it rain for a 2nd straight day that we were on a tropical paradise. I now know why people hate gingers. Fortunately once the sun went down the rain stopped...seriously.
Anyway we decide to have dinner on a beach front hotel. I would imagine something such as that would cost around $20 or so minimum in 'Merica. However, this is Thailand. I believe it was a lil expensive for Thailand and we paid around $3-4. After dinner, the beach was pretty quiet and not a whole lot was goin on so we headed about a block or so off the beach to a nearby bar.
Around 10pm or so we decided to try the beach again to see if anything was happenin, and amazingness (new word I made up) followed. They had what were called 'buckets' for sale at all of these different places along the beach. And the name pretty much describes them. Small buckets, that you would use to build sand castles back in the day, filled with ur fav mixed drink. The booze was cheap and plentiful on the beach, we also decided to smoke some delicious hookah. That wasnt even the most exciting part of the night either. There was a live fire show being performed by Thai men on the beach. Basically they swing around long poles that are in flames. Its pretty exciting to watch and they were only about 10 feet, tops, away from us. AND then they had these long chains with balls on the end that they would light on fire and they would swing those around. It was really cool stuff to watch. Oh and ya after that we were spitting fire, nbd. You could drink kerosene and then they had lit fire poles that you could spit at to make it look like you were spitting fire. Really (insert favorite swear word) sweet.
Sitting there in my drunkness, on a beach in Thailand, watching a fire show, it hit me; Im currently living in a dream world. If someone told me a year ago what Id be doin I wouldnt have believed it. Sometimes I gotta sit back and think about how crazy these past 3-4 months have been. Experiences that hopefully I will never forget!!
Monday, February 14, 2011
Koh Samui
The trip from Bangkok to Koh Samui was about 15 total hrs but it was well worth it. Our trip started on a bus, switched to a boat, and then to a small van. There was a 3 way tie for which one was the worst to travel on. The bus sucked cuz it was overnite, and im not good at sleeping on buses. The boat sucked because I can get seasick if there are really big waves, fortunately for me there were. And the van once we got to the island was just very cramped and the driver randomly stopped 3 times. The first time he ran into some store to drop something off, clearly was necessary. The next 2 were a lil more interesting. He pulled over in what appeared to be the middle of nowhere to pee, twice. Ok i understand ya gotta pee man but the trip was maybe like 45 mins max. I feel like i only pee that many times when Im drunk. So maybe we had a drunk guy driving us around, really wouldnt surprise me for Thailand.
Regardless the resort we stayed at was right on a secluded beach with only a few other hotels. So pretty much we had the beach all to ourselves. There was one tiny problem tho, it rained. All day. The ginger side of me was happy because I didnt have to hide from the sun but still rain sucks when ur at a beach. We still went into the water and tried to enjoy the beach but it wasnt as exciting with rain.
One of our friends from EPIK orientation happened to be staying on the island as well with one of her friends so we decided to meet up with them for dinner and drinks. We ended up heading to a 'girly bar' area. Basically girly bars are bars with only women bartenders who happen to also be hookers.
Since im on the topic of hookers I guess ill tell ya about the prostitution scene in Thailand. Mainly because its IMPOSSIBLE to avoid in Thailand and its interesting. Ok so anywhere, and i mean ANYWHERE you go in Thailand you will see old men with Thai women half their age, or less. The thing is you dont just see this at nite. Its all the time. So pretty much what old creepy guys do when they come to Thailand is 'rent' girlfriends for a day, week, month, however long they want. The men then go shopping, out for dinner, to the beach, sightseeing, you name it with their new 'girlfriends.' Weird, ya i know.
Anyway we had a good time that nite gettin drunk at the girly bars surrounded by hookers.
Regardless the resort we stayed at was right on a secluded beach with only a few other hotels. So pretty much we had the beach all to ourselves. There was one tiny problem tho, it rained. All day. The ginger side of me was happy because I didnt have to hide from the sun but still rain sucks when ur at a beach. We still went into the water and tried to enjoy the beach but it wasnt as exciting with rain.
One of our friends from EPIK orientation happened to be staying on the island as well with one of her friends so we decided to meet up with them for dinner and drinks. We ended up heading to a 'girly bar' area. Basically girly bars are bars with only women bartenders who happen to also be hookers.
Since im on the topic of hookers I guess ill tell ya about the prostitution scene in Thailand. Mainly because its IMPOSSIBLE to avoid in Thailand and its interesting. Ok so anywhere, and i mean ANYWHERE you go in Thailand you will see old men with Thai women half their age, or less. The thing is you dont just see this at nite. Its all the time. So pretty much what old creepy guys do when they come to Thailand is 'rent' girlfriends for a day, week, month, however long they want. The men then go shopping, out for dinner, to the beach, sightseeing, you name it with their new 'girlfriends.' Weird, ya i know.
Anyway we had a good time that nite gettin drunk at the girly bars surrounded by hookers.
Overnite trip number 1/ Day 4
Day 4 started with an early wake up, 7am. Wouldnt have been bad but we had been out drinkin some Chang beer the nite before. We would later learn the term 'Changover' instead of hangover from a Thai tour guide. How true it is. Hangovers are one thing but changovers feel even worse. Not quite as bad as soju hangovers, possibly the worst in the world. Enough about drinking, we had to wake up early because we were heading to the famous floating market about an hour or so outside of Bangkok. Its exactly what it sounds like, a market that is floating.
So before we got to the market we stopped to get on a long tail boat (google it) to take us to the market, its not necessary to take one but it was cool. We were told before we got on to keep or hands inside the boat because of the snakes and other creatures that were in the river. Ok easy enough to follow those directions. However, they never said what we should do if the boat tips over and we all go into the river. Because I would say that came close to happening at least 3 times on the way to the floating market.
Oh well, all part of the fun i guess. So we arrived at the floating market only to realize we had walked right into another tourist trap. We soon realized that because tourism is the number 1 economy of Thailand, everything that is somewhat exciting to visit has been transformed into a tourist destination. This has positives and negatives. Positives - people speak English. Negative - really never experienced Thailand how the Thai people do.
Even with the floating market being a tourist trap it was really cool to go to and see. Apparently about 20 or so years ago it was actually used as a market for the Thai people, I guess we just missed out on that...
After the floating market we visited Johns favorite animal, the snake. Our tour group stopped at a cobra show and John was less than thrilled. Stu and I happened to enjoy it tho, so thats all that matters. But ya the show was really cool. It was basically snakes 'fighting' thai guys. I clearly would not have wanted to be one of the guys 'fighting' the snakes, but really enjoyed the performance they put on for us. We then left for Bangkok and our wonderful overnite bus awaited us.
And by wonderful I mean completely awful. We left the bus terminal around 8ish, supposed to leave around 7pm but everything in Thailand is naturally delayed, pretty sure its a law actually... Regardless we were headed to the islands on the East coast and i couldnt have been more excited. We eventually arrived at this random meeting area around 4am where the people on our bus would split into smaller groups depending on where your final stop was. From there we took another bus and then a boat to our 2nd destination...Koh Samui.
So before we got to the market we stopped to get on a long tail boat (google it) to take us to the market, its not necessary to take one but it was cool. We were told before we got on to keep or hands inside the boat because of the snakes and other creatures that were in the river. Ok easy enough to follow those directions. However, they never said what we should do if the boat tips over and we all go into the river. Because I would say that came close to happening at least 3 times on the way to the floating market.
Oh well, all part of the fun i guess. So we arrived at the floating market only to realize we had walked right into another tourist trap. We soon realized that because tourism is the number 1 economy of Thailand, everything that is somewhat exciting to visit has been transformed into a tourist destination. This has positives and negatives. Positives - people speak English. Negative - really never experienced Thailand how the Thai people do.
Even with the floating market being a tourist trap it was really cool to go to and see. Apparently about 20 or so years ago it was actually used as a market for the Thai people, I guess we just missed out on that...
After the floating market we visited Johns favorite animal, the snake. Our tour group stopped at a cobra show and John was less than thrilled. Stu and I happened to enjoy it tho, so thats all that matters. But ya the show was really cool. It was basically snakes 'fighting' thai guys. I clearly would not have wanted to be one of the guys 'fighting' the snakes, but really enjoyed the performance they put on for us. We then left for Bangkok and our wonderful overnite bus awaited us.
And by wonderful I mean completely awful. We left the bus terminal around 8ish, supposed to leave around 7pm but everything in Thailand is naturally delayed, pretty sure its a law actually... Regardless we were headed to the islands on the East coast and i couldnt have been more excited. We eventually arrived at this random meeting area around 4am where the people on our bus would split into smaller groups depending on where your final stop was. From there we took another bus and then a boat to our 2nd destination...Koh Samui.
Sunday, February 13, 2011
Day 3 < Day 2
Day 3 started out with the usual theme, a hangover. We finally dragged ourselves out of bed around 10am or so and got dressed to hit the grand palace, which was about a 20 or so min walk. The grand palace, however, has a dress code. So we had to wear pants and couldnt wear sandals. Bein that it was close to 90 degrees F by 10am, it was gonna be a hot day. So we ventured off in the direction towards the palace. Along the way we became a little confused by the directions. 'Fortunately' there was a 'teacher' that stopped to 'help' us. He claimed that the palace was closed for the day, BUT he knew of a cool boat ride that we could take along the river. At the time we had no idea that this guy was trying to scam us. We didnt do the boat ride thing but realized later on that telling tourists something is closed for the day, but they know of something else to do is a common way to scam tourists into doin stuff they might not normally. Dont get me wrong, I loved the Thai people and found most of them helpful and willing to provide you with info. Unfortunately there were others as well who seemed to have a different motive. Welcome to the real world Brady.
Never realizing that the palace was most likely opened we decided to head to a huge weekend market elsewhere in the city. When the cab driver dropped us off on the street we didnt think much of the market. It just looked like one side of the road lined with small stalls selling stuff. Little did we know that we were just on the outside of the market area. We walked a little ways and found one of the entrances, from there we slowly realized how big the place actually was. Lemme put it this way, we walked around for about 2 plus hrs and maybe covered half of the area...it was big yo.
Stu had a Lonely Planet travel book which we used throughout most of our trip for suggestions of things to do around Thailand. For the most part it was very helpful to us...this time is one of the times it was not.
Basically they recommended we go to this tall building in the center of Bangkok that had a restaurant on the roof, and you could watch the sunset and then the lights of the city come on. Sounds pretty cool right? Well it shoulda been but unfortunately they had a dress code. No sandals (I was wearing a pair) no sleeveless shirts (wearing a bball jersey) no shorts (and of course I was wearing shorts) Fortunately this was easily overcame because they had clothes we could 'rent.' We would have done so until we saw the menu. Lemme just say the food was slightly out of our price range, by like $100.
We ended up just gettin a cab back to our place and heading out to Ko San Road for a 3rd straight nite of boozing and people watching. Of course it was a good time, only problem was we had to wake up early the next day for our next adventure...
Never realizing that the palace was most likely opened we decided to head to a huge weekend market elsewhere in the city. When the cab driver dropped us off on the street we didnt think much of the market. It just looked like one side of the road lined with small stalls selling stuff. Little did we know that we were just on the outside of the market area. We walked a little ways and found one of the entrances, from there we slowly realized how big the place actually was. Lemme put it this way, we walked around for about 2 plus hrs and maybe covered half of the area...it was big yo.
Stu had a Lonely Planet travel book which we used throughout most of our trip for suggestions of things to do around Thailand. For the most part it was very helpful to us...this time is one of the times it was not.
Basically they recommended we go to this tall building in the center of Bangkok that had a restaurant on the roof, and you could watch the sunset and then the lights of the city come on. Sounds pretty cool right? Well it shoulda been but unfortunately they had a dress code. No sandals (I was wearing a pair) no sleeveless shirts (wearing a bball jersey) no shorts (and of course I was wearing shorts) Fortunately this was easily overcame because they had clothes we could 'rent.' We would have done so until we saw the menu. Lemme just say the food was slightly out of our price range, by like $100.
We ended up just gettin a cab back to our place and heading out to Ko San Road for a 3rd straight nite of boozing and people watching. Of course it was a good time, only problem was we had to wake up early the next day for our next adventure...
Monday, February 7, 2011
Temples, Budha, Tuk Tuks, and naked children
Day 2 started off with a hangover, something which I would soon realize was goin to be an ongoing theme for this vacation. With our first full day in Thailand we decided to hit up some temples in the area. However, we werent totally sure where they were or how exactly to get to them. So with just a map in hand we headed towards what we believed was the right way. Shortly after we left we stopped to look at this travel agency, because we were goin to be in Thailand for 18 days and had only planned 5 total nights and 1 flight to Chiang Mai from Phuket. Outside of that we had nothing planned, no hostels booked, or any transportation to the other cities around Thailand.
Amazingly this nice older woman stopped us to ask my height, obvi, then she inquired more into who we were and what we were doing in Thailand. She ended up being extremely helpful and told us 3 different temples that we should visit that day and finally a tourist agency that was approved by the Thai govt. Apparently it was also a big buddhist holiday so the temples would be free and we would be able to get a tuk tuk, a small 3 wheeled taxi for super cheap that day. (Just google 'tuk tuk' and you will understand)
So with that we flagged down a tuk tuk who would drive us around all day, even stay outside the temples we visited. The temples were all pretty cool, and there was even one that was built on this mountain in the middle of the city. Its known as the Golden Mount and there is a temple at the top and then from there you can climb a staircase even higher to go to this large golden cone type thing on the top, and around that is an area for people to walk around the outside of it. Side note: There are many things that I have experienced since I left home that really are hard to describe with words and pictures, this is one such example. There are many things that I feel I can only talk with other people who experienced them as well because it can be hard to grasp them without actually being there. However, that doesnt mean that I wont try my best to describe them to you.
Anyway after the temples we stopped at the tourist agency not really knowing what to expect, were they goin to try and scam us for all our money cuz we were stupid tourists our were they actually goin to be helpful. Fortunately it was the latter of the 2. We ended up booking travel to other places around the country, 2 trips, and the rest of our nights at hostels/hotels. It ended up being very cheap and we feel like we got a great deal out of it.
Finally to end our day the tuk tuk man drove us to a local mall so we could wander around and check out the deals of the day. It only cost us 10 baht each but we gave him around 150 baht i think because he was very nice. The conversion rate is about 30 baht to a dollar. So basically to have this guy drive us around the city for around 5 hrs we paid him about 5 bucks. Not not sweet. Anyway the mall was like any mall you would see, however there was very interesting thing that happened when we were there. A naked child ran by us. Yes, in a crowded mall there was a naked boy around the age of 4 or so that was running around. No one seemed too shocked. Asia is a pedophiles dream I guess, in 2 days we saw a little girl pee and a naked boy running around.
Anyway we ended the day with some amazing Thai food and some Chang and Tiger (the 2 main beers in Thailand) Overall it was a good day, mostly because I didnt have to use my AK.
Amazingly this nice older woman stopped us to ask my height, obvi, then she inquired more into who we were and what we were doing in Thailand. She ended up being extremely helpful and told us 3 different temples that we should visit that day and finally a tourist agency that was approved by the Thai govt. Apparently it was also a big buddhist holiday so the temples would be free and we would be able to get a tuk tuk, a small 3 wheeled taxi for super cheap that day. (Just google 'tuk tuk' and you will understand)
So with that we flagged down a tuk tuk who would drive us around all day, even stay outside the temples we visited. The temples were all pretty cool, and there was even one that was built on this mountain in the middle of the city. Its known as the Golden Mount and there is a temple at the top and then from there you can climb a staircase even higher to go to this large golden cone type thing on the top, and around that is an area for people to walk around the outside of it. Side note: There are many things that I have experienced since I left home that really are hard to describe with words and pictures, this is one such example. There are many things that I feel I can only talk with other people who experienced them as well because it can be hard to grasp them without actually being there. However, that doesnt mean that I wont try my best to describe them to you.
Anyway after the temples we stopped at the tourist agency not really knowing what to expect, were they goin to try and scam us for all our money cuz we were stupid tourists our were they actually goin to be helpful. Fortunately it was the latter of the 2. We ended up booking travel to other places around the country, 2 trips, and the rest of our nights at hostels/hotels. It ended up being very cheap and we feel like we got a great deal out of it.
Finally to end our day the tuk tuk man drove us to a local mall so we could wander around and check out the deals of the day. It only cost us 10 baht each but we gave him around 150 baht i think because he was very nice. The conversion rate is about 30 baht to a dollar. So basically to have this guy drive us around the city for around 5 hrs we paid him about 5 bucks. Not not sweet. Anyway the mall was like any mall you would see, however there was very interesting thing that happened when we were there. A naked child ran by us. Yes, in a crowded mall there was a naked boy around the age of 4 or so that was running around. No one seemed too shocked. Asia is a pedophiles dream I guess, in 2 days we saw a little girl pee and a naked boy running around.
Anyway we ended the day with some amazing Thai food and some Chang and Tiger (the 2 main beers in Thailand) Overall it was a good day, mostly because I didnt have to use my AK.
Day 1, Flight Delay and Bangkok
I would first like to re-state the parting words my mom gave me as I was about to head to Thailand, "Now remember youre in a different country so dont do anything too crazy." I love you mom but you may need a geography lesson, South Korea isnt a part of the US. Anyway with that knowledge bomb I was off to Thailand. But as somebody once said "Getting there is half the fun." I wouldnt say that we had fun but it was quite an interesting trip to Thailand. We had a pretty early flight out of Korea, and I found out from my co teacher that there is a jimjilbong in the airport. So with only one other terrible jimjilbong experience we decided to stay there the night before. I still cant understand why Koreans love it to be so hot when they sleep because it had to have been at least 80 degrees or more in the sleeping area.
Anyway we flew to Shanghai and when we arrived we easily found our terminal. On the way to our gate we noticed what could only be described as wtf. Basically there was a woman holding a bag and her young daughter was peeing in this bag. Now maybe this doesnt sound too crazy but there was a bathroom within about 50 or less feet. So obviously there is no way that the girl could have made it there in that amount of time. Although it is curious that the mom was able to pull out a bag in that time for the girl...
Anyway we ended up being delayed cuz of bad weather, no me gusta. We finally arrived in Bangkok, Thailand around 730 or 8 when we should have arrived closer to 4. We then had to go through customs at the Thai airport. There were many people waiting in line and the youngest member of our trio, Baby Stu, realized that he forgot his ipod in the airplane. So as Stu went off looking for his ipod me and John met a new friend in line. Some russian guy who had to finish a bottle of tequila before he went through customs, and being the 2 closest people we were the obvious candidates for the job. We had a pretty deep convo, it involved saying about one word or so and then taking a pull til the bottle was empty...COLLEGE!!!!
We arrived at our hostel around 9 or 10 and then headed out to try Thai food for the first time in my life. Lemme just say that I used to be extremely picky about the food that I would eat, even to the point where I wouldnt eat green popsicles when I was younger cuz i didnt like green foods, ya i was that kid. I am now a lover of Thai food, I thought I loved Korean food but Thai food is on another level...its soooooooooo good!! Also everything in Thailand is super cheap, even compared to Korea which is cheap. I think we paid about 2 dollars for that meal, we would soon find out that $2 was more than we should pay for a meal.
After the meal we headed out to Koh San Road, its basically the most touristy area in Bangkok and also it is just one long road with a bunch of souvenir shops during the day and bars at night. So ya it was pretty cool. Although it was a little bit weird because there were so many tourists. Im used to Korea where I maybe see 5 non-Koreans a day. Thailand, however, is very different in this aspect because there economy revolves around tourism. Which also means that even people with not very high level jobs can understand and speak basic English, which is great.
Anyway we had a big day ahead of us so we only got slightly wasted that night, I think...
Anyway we flew to Shanghai and when we arrived we easily found our terminal. On the way to our gate we noticed what could only be described as wtf. Basically there was a woman holding a bag and her young daughter was peeing in this bag. Now maybe this doesnt sound too crazy but there was a bathroom within about 50 or less feet. So obviously there is no way that the girl could have made it there in that amount of time. Although it is curious that the mom was able to pull out a bag in that time for the girl...
Anyway we ended up being delayed cuz of bad weather, no me gusta. We finally arrived in Bangkok, Thailand around 730 or 8 when we should have arrived closer to 4. We then had to go through customs at the Thai airport. There were many people waiting in line and the youngest member of our trio, Baby Stu, realized that he forgot his ipod in the airplane. So as Stu went off looking for his ipod me and John met a new friend in line. Some russian guy who had to finish a bottle of tequila before he went through customs, and being the 2 closest people we were the obvious candidates for the job. We had a pretty deep convo, it involved saying about one word or so and then taking a pull til the bottle was empty...COLLEGE!!!!
We arrived at our hostel around 9 or 10 and then headed out to try Thai food for the first time in my life. Lemme just say that I used to be extremely picky about the food that I would eat, even to the point where I wouldnt eat green popsicles when I was younger cuz i didnt like green foods, ya i was that kid. I am now a lover of Thai food, I thought I loved Korean food but Thai food is on another level...its soooooooooo good!! Also everything in Thailand is super cheap, even compared to Korea which is cheap. I think we paid about 2 dollars for that meal, we would soon find out that $2 was more than we should pay for a meal.
After the meal we headed out to Koh San Road, its basically the most touristy area in Bangkok and also it is just one long road with a bunch of souvenir shops during the day and bars at night. So ya it was pretty cool. Although it was a little bit weird because there were so many tourists. Im used to Korea where I maybe see 5 non-Koreans a day. Thailand, however, is very different in this aspect because there economy revolves around tourism. Which also means that even people with not very high level jobs can understand and speak basic English, which is great.
Anyway we had a big day ahead of us so we only got slightly wasted that night, I think...
Sunday, February 6, 2011
Thailand... the land of Thais
Hello to all my adoring fans...um i mean ginger worshipers...wait ahhh hey everyone who doesnt get to travel all over the world...crap i just lost about half my blog followers
Anyway, I did and saw so much over the past 2 and a half weeks that I plan on breaking down my blog day by day as best i can remember, I swear the booze had nothing to do with my memory loss...
Fortunately my 2 buddies Stu and John were with me and collectively I think we remember most of the journey.
I traveled all over the country in those 17 or so days and must say that it was truly a once in a lifetime experience and would highly recommend anyone who ever has the chance to go to Thailand, the land of Thais.
Anyway, I did and saw so much over the past 2 and a half weeks that I plan on breaking down my blog day by day as best i can remember, I swear the booze had nothing to do with my memory loss...
Fortunately my 2 buddies Stu and John were with me and collectively I think we remember most of the journey.
I traveled all over the country in those 17 or so days and must say that it was truly a once in a lifetime experience and would highly recommend anyone who ever has the chance to go to Thailand, the land of Thais.
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