(Chiang Mai August 21- August 24)
I love Chiang Mai. Chiang Mai might possibly be my Philadelphia. It's a tiny city compared to Bangkok, yet the next largest city in Thailand. The center of the city is surrounded by an unkempt wall and canal, with gates serving as entrances into the city center. There are temples all over the city that are easy to walk to, and everyone you greet along the way is smiling and welcoming. It's a very easy pace to manage, and totally walkable, which I am always a fan of. Our first night was a bit of a blur after our long journey there. I am lucky enough to have family friends just outside the city, Pong and Charin. They picked us up from the airport and welcomed their new kids for the week into their house. I had forgotten how goofy Pong really is, until he said, Oh you got to see your uncle Dtaw in Bangkok? Does he dress like man or woman these days?
I stayed up with them for a bit that night, helping Charin peel eggs for their restaurant, and catching up with family affairs. I helped them set up their cute restaurant in the morning before Jillian, Kayleigh and I went off to "rock the city", as Charin instructed. Charin's restaurant is simple; she cooks whatever she wants (this morning it was chicken basil, chicken lemongrass, vegetables with tofu, soy eggs or fried eggs, and other delicious looking dishes), and sells the dishes at room temperature for 30 to 40 bhat from 8AM to 2PM. I think she enjoys doing it, and her Thai food is great. One afternoon, I helped her make curry paste! I mashed up galanga, lime, chili peppers, lemongrass, and other secret ingredients to make a homemade curry paste! Very cool.
After our breakfast at Charin's, we set out to rock Chiang Mai. Thai iced coffee in hand, we visited some local shops with handmade fabrics, clothing, jewelry, everything, then went on our own temple tour. At one temple, a tuk-tuk driver stopped us and asked where we were from. He looked at Jillian and I, and said Italy, Spain? We said no, not Europe. Canada? No but close. Oh…Switzerland?! We laughed, where do you think Canada is? We’re from the United States. Funny that he guessed Canada and Switzerland before America, and made me feel a bit better about how terrible Americans are at geography.
On our temple tour, we saw Wat Phan Tao, Wat Chiang Man, and Wat Phra Singh, then walked outside the city to see Wat Suan Dok. Lots of temples, lots of pictures. Though Wat Phra Singh is supposed to be the most impressive, I liked Wat Suan Dok the best. It may have been the stray dogs lounging on the sides of the temples, or the white chedi making a sea of what looked like a cemetery. I guess it is a cemetery, since the chedi contain the ashes of the Lanna royal family members, or something like that. It's really beautiful with sunset lighting and mountains in the background. Supposedly you can see Doi Suthep in the hills, but the clouds were starting to take over the sky at that point. Our day in Chiang Mai ended with fettucini with pasta sauce. Not what you were expecting, was it? Neither was I, but Charin was more than happy to cook Italian for us, with roasted garlic and chili peppers on the side, of course.
The following morning, Jillian, Kayleigh and I were to start our adventure with a hill tribe outside of Chiang Mai. We got three days and two nights to stay with people from the Karen Village. It sounded a little fake and touristy, but it was the most exciting trip package they had. Also on the tour were Sylvia and Eduardo (from Barcelona), Andrew (Ukrainian living in France), and Ryosuke (from Tokyo!) Ryosuke let me practice my Japanese on him about as much as I would have let people practice their English on me while I was in Japan, which was not much at all. But it was fun to try, and I think he did respond to me once in Japanese. And Andrew was funny. He was incredibly tall and had a very adventuresome spirit. For some reason, he really liked to talk to me about deep topics. He started with tourism, saying he felt the trip wasn't really staying in a village with hill tribe people. It's set up for tourists, so the things they do aren't what they would have done in their everyday lives. Then we went on to talk about religion, global warming and how it’s affecting Bangkok, and organic agriculture. All my favorite topics!
The best part though was the people we stayed with. It was apparently brothers from a family of 10, though I think they just all called each other brother. The stories about these guys are endless. Joe and Ken picked us up and drove us an hour or two up into the mountains. We started with an elephant ride, which you would think I would have loved because of my obsession with elephants, but I found it to be abusive and lame. Our stupid mahout had a very pointy blade thing he was hitting the elephant with, and it was nauseating. This is where Andrew started talking to me about tourism, and how fake the elephant tour was. He made a good point; the elephants wouldn’t be abused this way if tourists didn’t ask to ride the elephants. After that we started the two day hike to their village. Ken led the way, and told us about his monkeys. He used to have two pet monkeys that would climb in the palm trees and knock down coconuts. One day, Ken tried to give his monkeys water. But they didn’t want water. So he gave them Coca Cola, but they didn’t want that either. So he gave them Chang, the beer of Thailand, and they drank the whole can. This made his monkeys giddy, and they climbed up in the trees. He heard a thud, thud, and looked around for the coconuts. But there were no coconuts! Oh, but he saw his monkeys, they had fallen from the palm tree cause they were drunk! We all laughed, sounded like a typical hill tribe story. Then Ken’s face suddenly changed, and he said “then the next day, they were dead…..good BBQ though!”
His brother, Joe, was just as nutty. Joe definitely couldn’t speak English as well as his brothers, though not from lack of trying. Joe would try really hard to speak to us, so hard that it looked like he was in pain from thinking too hard. When we asked him a question, like Joe when do we go to see the elephants? He would catch maybe one word. “Elephant? No…y-yeah! Elephant!” The best was our second day of hiking, he told his brother Som to stop walking. Som looked back and asked what was wrong. Joe looked like he had seen a ghost, he was so terrified. He pointed up into the tree, and stammered “c-c-ca-caterpillar” Yes Joe, we’ve seen hundreds of caterpillars. I’ll give him credit though, it was a slightly larger caterpillar. And that was the second person Jillian fell in love with over the trip. The first was our scuba instructor.
And then there was Som. He spoke the best English and usually led our treks, and was the most inviting because he spoke the best English, but Som had a dark side. He was very hostile sometimes, and for some reason it was so comical. Maybe it’s because he was kind of short. The first night, we just hiked to a “camp” which is just a bamboo hut for sleeping and one for cooking. We hadn’t met Som until we got to the camp. He came out of the cooking hut, and looks at me and says “Huey Kow?” I had never heard those Thai words before. He kept repeating it, each time more angry, so I just started counting in Thai. That’s all I really knew how to do. He looked at me and said, you don’t speak Thai? Huey Kow! You hungry? Ohh, I said. Yes. Gin Kow. I don’t know why he thought I could speak Thai. But for some reason Som liked me, and hated me. After our dinner of not spicy curry with potatoes and vegetables, he told me to come into the cooking hut for real Thai fish. So I went in, and they had Tom Yum Pla! Why were they holding out on us?! So he served me a bowl of soup, and poured me a cup of something from his water bottle. I figured it wasn’t water because he wouldn’t tell me what exactly what it was. “It’s jungle juice”. It was rice whisky. One by one, the rest of the tour group came into the hut to see what I was up to, and Som showed us the corniest hill tribe games, usually involving playing with sticks. And as we all tried to fit into the hut, he’d make each newcomer try his jungle juice. “You like you’re jungle juice Som, don’t you? “ I asked. “I don’t like jungle juice! Jungle juice likes me”. Oh yeah, that’s also the night that Som said he’s single. No wife Som? Nope, no wife. Then later he says he has a girlfriend. We told him, you know if you have a girlfriend that means you’re not single. He said, Oh! They’re not the same? Oh, I am single. Then the next day we met his wife. Som! I thought you said you were single? If you have a wife, then you are married, not single! He laughed, yes single! I have wife and two kids! His wife was beautiful too. That poor woman. Her husband is crazy.
The second day with our nutty tour guides was spent mostly hiking. We stopped at a waterfall to go for a dip, walked through rice paddies, tons and tons of rice paddies (my obsession with agriculture continually growing worse…the patterns are just so cool!) and had package ramen noodles for lunch in a cute little village with lots of cute pet pigs. I might have to have a pet pig when I’m living in Sukothai. This was the day where my love/hate relationship with Som really began to develop. First at lunch he told me that I was gonna have to find a pig for dinner. We had all opted for the pig roast, we just all had to pay a little extra. So he hands me a “stick” (it was more like a club) and says,
You! You kill pig for dinner.
Som…how am I going to kill a pig?
You kill pig with stick.
Okay Som.
Then as we were continuing our hike to his village he kept tripping me, or pretending to push me into the river, swatting or poking at my feet with his stick (this is really all my fault for choosing to hike next to him. I should have retreated to the back and talked to Andrew about politics). I forget what I did to deserve this comment, I think I tried to trip him, but he pointed his finger at me and said “I kill you” “What Som? You kill me?” “Later, I push you into waterfall” He half smiled, then glared and walled away. Little angry man. I don’t know why I enjoyed his company so much.
That evening, as promised, the village prepared a pig roast for us. Som and Ken sought out for a pig and killed it with a stick. It was cool (and a little sickening) to watch them prepare the whole thing. They washed her off, then burned off the skin, washed her again, cut her open, took out her guts, then put her over the fire, rotisserie style. That was quite possibly the most amazing thing I’ve ever eaten. The pig skin was so crisp and juicy, and the meat cooked to perfection. All it needed was a dip in prick nam pla, and we were in heaven. The villagers must love when the foreigners opt for the pig BBQ- they get a huge feast and a ton of money.
That night was hysterical, mostly because of Joe. Some villagers came over with their instruments and played some American on guitar, and some Thai songs on their instruments. But then we spent the rest of the night talking about lady boys, Thailand’s third gender. Joe’s brothers like to call him lady boy, and he always just giggles, and repeats lady boy. Never denies anything, but doesn’t quite get it either. Sylvia and Eduardo told us how they have a lady boy taking them up to Chiang Rai for a tour the next day, and if Joe wanted a lady boy, maybe they could work something out. Apparently their tour guide, Nadia, has plans to go to Korea to get the surgery to make her a woman because it’s cheaper there than in Thailand. Joe was intensely listening to this conversation, but all he got out of it was Korea. He just stammered “Ka-K-Korea”… then looked at Ryosuke and asked, “K-Korea?” “No no no”, said Ryosuke. “Japanese”. Everyone had a good laugh at that. Then Ken started to tell us about our itinerary for the next day, and meanwhile Joe is standing behind Ryosuke and Andrew, and puts his arms around their shoulders. “What are you doing Joe?” He just giggled, and his brothers just pointed at him saying lady boy.
The huts here were on stilts and were made from wood so were more structurally sound than our huts at the camp. Inside we just sleeping pads, blankets and a sort of pillow thing. The coolest part about sleeping there are the mosquito nets. For some reason I love mosquito nets, they make me feel so regal, oddly enough. I hope I have a mosquito net in Sukothai, along with my pet pig. I woke up a bit early in the morning, so I went down to see what Som, Joe and Ken were up to. The village was a little strange because in addition to the little hut for us, there were only two other little huts for I think Som, Ken and Joe. The rest of the village, maybe about a total of 50 people, were down the hill, so we didn’t get to see their dwellings or interact with them much. Som had just gotten back from taking his daughter to school. It takes her two hours to get to school. He takes her on the motorbike about half way I think, to where she can get another ride or maybe walks the rest. Joe came and sat with me while I was writing my journal. He asked me (kind of) about teaching English in Sukothai. He asked me about it often throughout the few days. And by asking I mean, he’d say “you teach English?” Our conversation never got much further than me telling him where I’ll be living and how long I’ll be there, and he’d point to what direction Sukothai was in. He communicated to me (I think) that he’d come visit me in Sukothai. And that he will teach me Thai. I think he wanted me to help him with his English, which I told him I would do. But honestly, Joe, I think there is no hope. Poor kid. He tries so hard. Jillian walked with him for most of that day, and spent probably about an hour talking about the place where he maybe sometimes lives in Chiang Mai, where he maybe lives with his maybe boyfriend, maybe friend. Oh Joe. One impressive thing that Joe told me was about the fish population in the river. We stopped at a waterfall on our way back down the hill, and I swam over to a rock along the waterfall. Joe came and sat next to me, and in his broken English managed to say “6 kilometers…no fishing….fish eggs…you fish here, no more fish babies.” So I think he was telling me that this 6 kilometers of the rivers is where fish lay their eggs, and fishing is prohibited or the fish population will decline. Something like that.
It was sad to leave the Lampu village, though we didn’t really get to know it. We hiked back down the hill and took a silly little bamboo raft down the river for a bit. It sounds fun, but it was actually just kind of awkward, touristy, and unnecessary. Then they drove us back down to Chiang Mai. Joe tried to give me his phone number so I can call him when I’m in Sukothai. I think that’s what he was trying to do. So I gave him my cell phone to enter his number, and he looked at it, thought really hard, pushed a couple numbers, then erased them, then gave the phone back to me. I think he just forgot his phone number. Too bad. I was hoping to one day see all of them again.
Monday, August 29, 2011
Ko Pha Ngan
(August 18-August 21)
After three days on the beaches of Ko Pha Ngan, it’s really difficult to leave. Ko Pha Ngan is an interesting island. It’s stuck between Ko Tao, the small “rustic” island that is in the top ten places in the world for scuba, and Ko Samui, the largest island of the archipelago that attracts many families and is full of activity. Ko Pha Ngan, in contrast, is known for its desolate beaches with long strips of sand with hardly a soul to populate them. That is, of course, between the raving parties that now happen four times a month. The Full Moon party has brought this island fame among tourists (partying tourists), so much so that there’s no longer just a Full Moon Party, but a half moon party and a no moon party, so the party animals no longer have to wait a month to go crazy, but can now do it every week. But still the Full Moon party is the biggest and best of them all, attracting tens of thousands of tourists for an all night drugged out party. So anyway, we missed the Full Moon Party by a few days, and left just before the Half Moon party, so the island was ours.
A quick ferry from Ko Tao, and a lucky welcoming from a nearby resort, we easily made our way to a cheap bungalow on the beach with quite possibly the coolest hosts on the island. The wife was Thai and the husband from Sweden. The wife’s name is Mai, and I never got the husband’s name so I’ll just call him Jakob. =) Jakob was super friendly with all the guests that came in. He started talking to us right away, asking what we were doing, how long we were staying, saying three nights surely wasn’t long enough. Our first day we just hung out on the beach, had dinner at the resort and watched Rambo I and II. They have an open common area where they cook food and watch movies every night. For the first time since the south, the food was comparable to Dad’s. Fried rice, green curry, masaman curry, chicken basil, they had all my favorites.
Our first full day there was one of those perfect days. We slept in, had a late breakfast of fried eggs, fruit and coffee. Then we rented motorbikes! Something I never thought I’d do. I’ll let you know now before I tell you how fun it was that none of us got injured in any way, which was somewhat surprising, considering all the foreigners we’ve been seeing with ankles and elbows bandaged up. So after a quick scooter lesson from Mai, we were on our way to explore the desolate island. Ko Pha Ngan supposedly has a bunch of waterfalls to see, but every attempt we made (which were few) led us to waterfalls with no water. Watching our route on our map was kind of like a cartoon. We would reach a dead end, or start biking up this really steep hill and realize that we would have to eventually bike back down, or just take every wrong turn possible. But it was great because we were on no time limit and didn’t really have an agenda except to have dinner on the west coast so we can catch the sunset. We finally ended up on this really great beach, which was surprisingly crowded with families, on the north end of the island. After climbing the rocks, soaking in the seawater, and laying in the sun, we settled down with some fruit shakes and hit the road on our cool little motorbikes in search of a good spot for dinner. As we got back on the main road, we realized that there was a massive storm heading right for us! The sky behind us was bright blue and we were heading straight into scary black clouds. We had to ditch our sunset plan (even though we saw the perfect bar on the beach on the way) and find anything under cover to wait out this storm. I feel like we biked for a very long time before we found a little town. It was strange because all the places we were passing were wide open but were pitch black. Then I realized the island had lost power and there were people in the restaurants under candlelight. Though it seemed like the storm should have hit us already, we managed to find a candlelit restaurant to take cover in before it started to pour. It was a beautiful storm that passed, as we enjoyed fried rice and Chang beer until the storm subsided and we could bike home.
The only other item on our Ko Pha Ngan agenda was to visit the Ang Thon National Marine Park. A 41 island archipelago, this park is only visited by day trips from Ko Pha Ngan and Ko Samui for snorkeling and kayaking. The three of us went with Jakob and his two friends. We thought these two guys were close friends of Jakob and helped him run the place. We later found out these friends were two German tourists who came to the Full Moon Party last month and never left. So they have now been in Ko Pha Ngan for a full month and two full moon parties, without ever finishing their plans to see the northern parts of Thailand. So the six of us had a grand time kayaking around the national park. They tour provided a pretty great lunch of masaman curry, mixed vegetables and pad thai, and the coolest tour guide ever, Eggy. Every stop along our tour, Eggy would declare, “Wake up everyone, we’re here!” even though we were all awake already. As we left the boat each time, he’d throw our shoes out of the boat, and yell “second hand shoes, 10 bhat!” I wonder if he uses the same jokes for every tour group, but I found it funny every time. The snorkeling to be honest was a little overrated, but we also did just get scuba certified in one of the top 10 scuba locations in the world, so it’s a little easy to be unimpressed. Kayaking around the islands was really cool. A lot of the islands had caves you could kayak under, and beaches to stop in and go for a swim in the freakishly turquoise water. A break for fresh espresso Thai iced coffee, and we were on our way back to Ko Pha Ngan, where Eggy told us to get off his boat so he can go see his boyfriend. He also told us he has a second job as a fire dancer for the Full Moon Party, and we should stick around for the next party to see him. Not surprising.
That night, back on our paradise resort, we packed our things to get ready for a trip to the north, had some satay and quail eggs at the night market down the street, and hung out with our new friends; the Germans. We stayed up with them and learned a Thai card game, Kang. The game is really simple, and there is seemingly little strategy involved, but Jillian and I managed to lose at least 100 bhat playing for a couple hours, so we had to call it quits early. It was sad to leave our little paradise island, but I’m excited to see Chiang Mai and the north, though it involved a lot to get there. We decided to fly from Phuket to Chiang Mai, but getting to Phuket from Ko Pha Ngan was a nightmare. The ferry to the mainland was fine, but the bus was a mess. Mai arranged the whole thing for us, and gave us great advice: “just don’t fall asleep, follow where people tell you to go, and if you’re scared, ask questions”. With that advice, we tried to get the bus from Don Sok to Phuket, an easy ride. Well first they put me on a bus separate from Jillian and Kayleigh. I ended up in some strange no name area before even making it to Suratthani. I asked if I could wait for my friends there, and some guy comes up to me and was like, oh I know you! You’re friends are safe in Phuket! Just get on this bus. And sure enough, it was the guy who separated us in Don Sok. I was thinking, really sir? My friends are safe in Phuket already? That seemed highly improbable, since it was only 45 minutes later and Phuket was at least another 4 hours. But I got on a bus, and found them waiting in Suratthani, and we eventually got onto a scam bus that we had to pay extra for, took longer, but did take us straight to the airport where we can fly straight to Chiang Mai, no obstacles. So though we did have a rough ending to our dream vacation in Ko Pha Ngan, I think Chiang Mai will be fun, where elephants and jungle await.
After three days on the beaches of Ko Pha Ngan, it’s really difficult to leave. Ko Pha Ngan is an interesting island. It’s stuck between Ko Tao, the small “rustic” island that is in the top ten places in the world for scuba, and Ko Samui, the largest island of the archipelago that attracts many families and is full of activity. Ko Pha Ngan, in contrast, is known for its desolate beaches with long strips of sand with hardly a soul to populate them. That is, of course, between the raving parties that now happen four times a month. The Full Moon party has brought this island fame among tourists (partying tourists), so much so that there’s no longer just a Full Moon Party, but a half moon party and a no moon party, so the party animals no longer have to wait a month to go crazy, but can now do it every week. But still the Full Moon party is the biggest and best of them all, attracting tens of thousands of tourists for an all night drugged out party. So anyway, we missed the Full Moon Party by a few days, and left just before the Half Moon party, so the island was ours.
A quick ferry from Ko Tao, and a lucky welcoming from a nearby resort, we easily made our way to a cheap bungalow on the beach with quite possibly the coolest hosts on the island. The wife was Thai and the husband from Sweden. The wife’s name is Mai, and I never got the husband’s name so I’ll just call him Jakob. =) Jakob was super friendly with all the guests that came in. He started talking to us right away, asking what we were doing, how long we were staying, saying three nights surely wasn’t long enough. Our first day we just hung out on the beach, had dinner at the resort and watched Rambo I and II. They have an open common area where they cook food and watch movies every night. For the first time since the south, the food was comparable to Dad’s. Fried rice, green curry, masaman curry, chicken basil, they had all my favorites.
Our first full day there was one of those perfect days. We slept in, had a late breakfast of fried eggs, fruit and coffee. Then we rented motorbikes! Something I never thought I’d do. I’ll let you know now before I tell you how fun it was that none of us got injured in any way, which was somewhat surprising, considering all the foreigners we’ve been seeing with ankles and elbows bandaged up. So after a quick scooter lesson from Mai, we were on our way to explore the desolate island. Ko Pha Ngan supposedly has a bunch of waterfalls to see, but every attempt we made (which were few) led us to waterfalls with no water. Watching our route on our map was kind of like a cartoon. We would reach a dead end, or start biking up this really steep hill and realize that we would have to eventually bike back down, or just take every wrong turn possible. But it was great because we were on no time limit and didn’t really have an agenda except to have dinner on the west coast so we can catch the sunset. We finally ended up on this really great beach, which was surprisingly crowded with families, on the north end of the island. After climbing the rocks, soaking in the seawater, and laying in the sun, we settled down with some fruit shakes and hit the road on our cool little motorbikes in search of a good spot for dinner. As we got back on the main road, we realized that there was a massive storm heading right for us! The sky behind us was bright blue and we were heading straight into scary black clouds. We had to ditch our sunset plan (even though we saw the perfect bar on the beach on the way) and find anything under cover to wait out this storm. I feel like we biked for a very long time before we found a little town. It was strange because all the places we were passing were wide open but were pitch black. Then I realized the island had lost power and there were people in the restaurants under candlelight. Though it seemed like the storm should have hit us already, we managed to find a candlelit restaurant to take cover in before it started to pour. It was a beautiful storm that passed, as we enjoyed fried rice and Chang beer until the storm subsided and we could bike home.
The only other item on our Ko Pha Ngan agenda was to visit the Ang Thon National Marine Park. A 41 island archipelago, this park is only visited by day trips from Ko Pha Ngan and Ko Samui for snorkeling and kayaking. The three of us went with Jakob and his two friends. We thought these two guys were close friends of Jakob and helped him run the place. We later found out these friends were two German tourists who came to the Full Moon Party last month and never left. So they have now been in Ko Pha Ngan for a full month and two full moon parties, without ever finishing their plans to see the northern parts of Thailand. So the six of us had a grand time kayaking around the national park. They tour provided a pretty great lunch of masaman curry, mixed vegetables and pad thai, and the coolest tour guide ever, Eggy. Every stop along our tour, Eggy would declare, “Wake up everyone, we’re here!” even though we were all awake already. As we left the boat each time, he’d throw our shoes out of the boat, and yell “second hand shoes, 10 bhat!” I wonder if he uses the same jokes for every tour group, but I found it funny every time. The snorkeling to be honest was a little overrated, but we also did just get scuba certified in one of the top 10 scuba locations in the world, so it’s a little easy to be unimpressed. Kayaking around the islands was really cool. A lot of the islands had caves you could kayak under, and beaches to stop in and go for a swim in the freakishly turquoise water. A break for fresh espresso Thai iced coffee, and we were on our way back to Ko Pha Ngan, where Eggy told us to get off his boat so he can go see his boyfriend. He also told us he has a second job as a fire dancer for the Full Moon Party, and we should stick around for the next party to see him. Not surprising.
That night, back on our paradise resort, we packed our things to get ready for a trip to the north, had some satay and quail eggs at the night market down the street, and hung out with our new friends; the Germans. We stayed up with them and learned a Thai card game, Kang. The game is really simple, and there is seemingly little strategy involved, but Jillian and I managed to lose at least 100 bhat playing for a couple hours, so we had to call it quits early. It was sad to leave our little paradise island, but I’m excited to see Chiang Mai and the north, though it involved a lot to get there. We decided to fly from Phuket to Chiang Mai, but getting to Phuket from Ko Pha Ngan was a nightmare. The ferry to the mainland was fine, but the bus was a mess. Mai arranged the whole thing for us, and gave us great advice: “just don’t fall asleep, follow where people tell you to go, and if you’re scared, ask questions”. With that advice, we tried to get the bus from Don Sok to Phuket, an easy ride. Well first they put me on a bus separate from Jillian and Kayleigh. I ended up in some strange no name area before even making it to Suratthani. I asked if I could wait for my friends there, and some guy comes up to me and was like, oh I know you! You’re friends are safe in Phuket! Just get on this bus. And sure enough, it was the guy who separated us in Don Sok. I was thinking, really sir? My friends are safe in Phuket already? That seemed highly improbable, since it was only 45 minutes later and Phuket was at least another 4 hours. But I got on a bus, and found them waiting in Suratthani, and we eventually got onto a scam bus that we had to pay extra for, took longer, but did take us straight to the airport where we can fly straight to Chiang Mai, no obstacles. So though we did have a rough ending to our dream vacation in Ko Pha Ngan, I think Chiang Mai will be fun, where elephants and jungle await.
Wednesday, August 17, 2011
3 days on Ko Tao
The train from Bangkok was a dream. Every stop, vendors flood the train with goodies: soda, beer, rice with chicken basil, soup, popcorn, smoothies, fresh fruit, coconut ice cream, dried fish, and so many things I wouldn’t be able to describe. One of the many times I wish my dad was with me, so he could explain every food passing by, and load Rosie and I with snacks. If only I were a kid again. The train did last a little too long. There were ants crawling all over me by the end, there were too many people dying in my book that I had to stop reading it, and it got dark out so I couldn’t watch the farms of palm trees, rice paddies and coffee pass by anymore. We finally got off at Chumpon at exactly 9:15. I think the three of us had the same thought…more punctual that Philly’s trains!
At our arrival in Chumpon, we were greeted by two teenagers who were supposed to take us to the guesthouse we would be staying in. Though I deliberately told them there were three of us with large backpacker backpacks, the two teenagers arrived on their two motorbikes. So Jillian and I climbed onto the back of the two motorbikes, promising (crossing our fingers) that one would come back for Kayleigh. Goofballs didn’t tell us the guesthouse was around the corner from the train station, and we could have walked through the cool night market on the way to the house. But they did go back to get Kayleigh, and we stayed in this adorable room in this adorable house for 250 bhat, so no complaints. I wish I could have taken pictures or noticed more about the house, but we just got there, ate a quick dinner (Pad Thai) at the night market, went to bed and woke up and rushed out of the house at 6 to catch the taxi to the pier. When I checked in and told them we were taking the ferry in the morning to Ko Tao, the teenager guy said okay, I’ll call the taxi, it will be here at 6. I thought that was odd, since it was 9 km away and the ferry left at 7, but I took that since I wouldn’t have been able to call a taxi myself. We woke up to this large vehicle outside that looked like one of those tour buses an amusement park that sits 16 on benches facing each other. We thought, this for the three of us and another trio at the guest house? Very cool. Though we soon realized, this taxi was picking up everyone in Chumpon that was going to Ko Tao. So our taxi for 16 ended up being smushed for 25, with a couple people hanging off the back. One cramped taxi ride, and a two and a half hour ferry ride in a very intense morning sun later (I may never get rid of that tanline…) we made it to Ko Tao. Okay, I’ll tell this story even though it’s embarrassing. As we were getting onto the ferry, some guy handed me a map that said “Turtle Island”. So Jillian and I opened the map and were looking at all the attractions on Ko Tao, and I kept saying, where is this Turtle Island, I want to see turtles. And I really hope there were tourists on this boat that could understand what we were saying and were laughing at us, because my scuba instructor later told me that Tao means turtle in Thai. Jillian and I burst out laughing when he told us. What stupid tourists we are. You would think that all the statues of turtles that we say before that that said “Ko Tao” on it would have made us realize.
Our first day in Ko Tao, we dove right into our scuba diving lessons. We have to watch these orientation videos that have really cheesey messages like, “Fact: Did you know that people who scuba dive have more fun than other people” and “Fact: Did you know scuba is spelled SCUBA”? Seriously, who are these videos targeted for? But we only have to watch 5 hours of these silly things, some classroom instructions, and four dives off Ko Tao with our instructor, and I am scuba certified for life!! Plus this certification program includes accommodations in the most adorable bungalow I have ever seen in my adult life. Much better than the backpackers dorm we were looking into, for about the same price! We’re in a little village of adorable bungalows, all with little front porches facing the walkway, and a two minute walk to the beach…not quite close enough to hear the waves which is just far enough to not have to hear the nighttime crowd.
The food here is rubbish (our scuba instructor is English, and having to listen to him for hours everyday is making us catch onto his expressions) and very westernized. A lot of coffee shops and bakerys, Italian, and Mexican. The Thai food has been okay. When I was in Bangkok, it was comparable to my dad’s. But here, it’s just lame. I actually feel like I’m in Hawaii. Noone really speaks Thai, its just a bunch of tourists looking to get scuba certified (guilty), and living an island life. Which is really great, especially if you have an adorable bungalow close to the beach with your best friends from college. But don’t be fooled, it’s not Thailand. We’re heading to Ko Pha Ngon after this scuba extravaganza to relax. Its supposedly much more desolate, minus the Full Moon Parties, which we (thankfully) just missed. By the way, I’m very impressed with how motorbikes can weave and basically follow no laws in Bangkok. Here, a lot of the people on motorbikes are not Thai, and really suck at this lawless thing. It’s much more scary walking along the sidewalks with white people on motorbikes. Who said Asians were bad drivers?
We had our first dive on Monday afternoon. Both Jillian and Kayleigh were having issues with their regulators trying to breathe underwater without having anxiety, and my body decided to (gentlemen, close your eyes) menstruate on the boat on the way to the dive (my poor instructor; he was in the middle of telling us how to prepare all our gear, and I’m running back and forth to the bathroom, trying to explain I was having a girl emergency. He gave me a blank, unconcerned look, which I mistakenly took for I should elaborate on what’s wrong, until he finally just barked, “okay, go!”) so we were not in the best of sorts.
4 dives later, we were scuba certified. Weird that it’s that easy. I am not certified to dive anywhere in the world as deep as 18 meters. Really?! So Jillian and I can go diving in Bali and New Zealand unsupervised. That sounds like a terrible idea, but very exciting and that is indeed what we intend to do. Diving was really cool though. Though we didn’t see any whale sharks or sea turtles, we saw plenty of parrotfish, moray eels, barracudas, sting rays, and other things I couldn’t really identify. My favorite part was watching the bubbles: we were with a few groups of divers, and would see them in the distance and their exhale bubbles floating up to the top in the crystal blue water was really amazing. But, after 3 days straight of scuba with only time for 6 hours of sleep in between, I’m pretty scuba-ed out. We had to get up this morning (Wednesday, Day 4) for a 6:00 AM dive. But then we had the rest of the afternoon off to sit on the beach, get some fruit smoothies, and check out the local shops.
We treated our diver instructor, Jimbo, to dinner tonight at a really nice seafood restaurant. It was probably the most expensive meal we’ve had to pay for, which was about $10 a plate for fresh barracuda, tuna steak and bubbles and squeak. Have you ever heard of bubbles and squeak?! It’s kind of the coolest thing I’ve ever heard of. It’s a British dish that uses leftover vegetables to make a vegetable mashed potato thing. It was pretty fantastic, more so than the tuna steak.
We’ve spent 3 days on this island, and though it really is one big tourist trap, it’s starting to grow on me. Even though three quarters of the island are European, and the Thai food is just okay, I do like just walking a half block to the beach, walking to diving class, going out all day on the boat to see some really great fish. I don’t know if I can handle anymore loud bars with American pop music. Tomorrow we leave for Ko Pha Ngan, supposedly a very quiet island that is infamous for the full moon party (basically an all night drug fest). Luckily we missed the full moon (it was a crappy night- too cloudy and rainy to see the moon!) so the island is left to the hermits and is a nice getaway for seclusion and beach bumming, which is what we intend to do.
At our arrival in Chumpon, we were greeted by two teenagers who were supposed to take us to the guesthouse we would be staying in. Though I deliberately told them there were three of us with large backpacker backpacks, the two teenagers arrived on their two motorbikes. So Jillian and I climbed onto the back of the two motorbikes, promising (crossing our fingers) that one would come back for Kayleigh. Goofballs didn’t tell us the guesthouse was around the corner from the train station, and we could have walked through the cool night market on the way to the house. But they did go back to get Kayleigh, and we stayed in this adorable room in this adorable house for 250 bhat, so no complaints. I wish I could have taken pictures or noticed more about the house, but we just got there, ate a quick dinner (Pad Thai) at the night market, went to bed and woke up and rushed out of the house at 6 to catch the taxi to the pier. When I checked in and told them we were taking the ferry in the morning to Ko Tao, the teenager guy said okay, I’ll call the taxi, it will be here at 6. I thought that was odd, since it was 9 km away and the ferry left at 7, but I took that since I wouldn’t have been able to call a taxi myself. We woke up to this large vehicle outside that looked like one of those tour buses an amusement park that sits 16 on benches facing each other. We thought, this for the three of us and another trio at the guest house? Very cool. Though we soon realized, this taxi was picking up everyone in Chumpon that was going to Ko Tao. So our taxi for 16 ended up being smushed for 25, with a couple people hanging off the back. One cramped taxi ride, and a two and a half hour ferry ride in a very intense morning sun later (I may never get rid of that tanline…) we made it to Ko Tao. Okay, I’ll tell this story even though it’s embarrassing. As we were getting onto the ferry, some guy handed me a map that said “Turtle Island”. So Jillian and I opened the map and were looking at all the attractions on Ko Tao, and I kept saying, where is this Turtle Island, I want to see turtles. And I really hope there were tourists on this boat that could understand what we were saying and were laughing at us, because my scuba instructor later told me that Tao means turtle in Thai. Jillian and I burst out laughing when he told us. What stupid tourists we are. You would think that all the statues of turtles that we say before that that said “Ko Tao” on it would have made us realize.
Our first day in Ko Tao, we dove right into our scuba diving lessons. We have to watch these orientation videos that have really cheesey messages like, “Fact: Did you know that people who scuba dive have more fun than other people” and “Fact: Did you know scuba is spelled SCUBA”? Seriously, who are these videos targeted for? But we only have to watch 5 hours of these silly things, some classroom instructions, and four dives off Ko Tao with our instructor, and I am scuba certified for life!! Plus this certification program includes accommodations in the most adorable bungalow I have ever seen in my adult life. Much better than the backpackers dorm we were looking into, for about the same price! We’re in a little village of adorable bungalows, all with little front porches facing the walkway, and a two minute walk to the beach…not quite close enough to hear the waves which is just far enough to not have to hear the nighttime crowd.
The food here is rubbish (our scuba instructor is English, and having to listen to him for hours everyday is making us catch onto his expressions) and very westernized. A lot of coffee shops and bakerys, Italian, and Mexican. The Thai food has been okay. When I was in Bangkok, it was comparable to my dad’s. But here, it’s just lame. I actually feel like I’m in Hawaii. Noone really speaks Thai, its just a bunch of tourists looking to get scuba certified (guilty), and living an island life. Which is really great, especially if you have an adorable bungalow close to the beach with your best friends from college. But don’t be fooled, it’s not Thailand. We’re heading to Ko Pha Ngon after this scuba extravaganza to relax. Its supposedly much more desolate, minus the Full Moon Parties, which we (thankfully) just missed. By the way, I’m very impressed with how motorbikes can weave and basically follow no laws in Bangkok. Here, a lot of the people on motorbikes are not Thai, and really suck at this lawless thing. It’s much more scary walking along the sidewalks with white people on motorbikes. Who said Asians were bad drivers?
We had our first dive on Monday afternoon. Both Jillian and Kayleigh were having issues with their regulators trying to breathe underwater without having anxiety, and my body decided to (gentlemen, close your eyes) menstruate on the boat on the way to the dive (my poor instructor; he was in the middle of telling us how to prepare all our gear, and I’m running back and forth to the bathroom, trying to explain I was having a girl emergency. He gave me a blank, unconcerned look, which I mistakenly took for I should elaborate on what’s wrong, until he finally just barked, “okay, go!”) so we were not in the best of sorts.
4 dives later, we were scuba certified. Weird that it’s that easy. I am not certified to dive anywhere in the world as deep as 18 meters. Really?! So Jillian and I can go diving in Bali and New Zealand unsupervised. That sounds like a terrible idea, but very exciting and that is indeed what we intend to do. Diving was really cool though. Though we didn’t see any whale sharks or sea turtles, we saw plenty of parrotfish, moray eels, barracudas, sting rays, and other things I couldn’t really identify. My favorite part was watching the bubbles: we were with a few groups of divers, and would see them in the distance and their exhale bubbles floating up to the top in the crystal blue water was really amazing. But, after 3 days straight of scuba with only time for 6 hours of sleep in between, I’m pretty scuba-ed out. We had to get up this morning (Wednesday, Day 4) for a 6:00 AM dive. But then we had the rest of the afternoon off to sit on the beach, get some fruit smoothies, and check out the local shops.
We treated our diver instructor, Jimbo, to dinner tonight at a really nice seafood restaurant. It was probably the most expensive meal we’ve had to pay for, which was about $10 a plate for fresh barracuda, tuna steak and bubbles and squeak. Have you ever heard of bubbles and squeak?! It’s kind of the coolest thing I’ve ever heard of. It’s a British dish that uses leftover vegetables to make a vegetable mashed potato thing. It was pretty fantastic, more so than the tuna steak.
We’ve spent 3 days on this island, and though it really is one big tourist trap, it’s starting to grow on me. Even though three quarters of the island are European, and the Thai food is just okay, I do like just walking a half block to the beach, walking to diving class, going out all day on the boat to see some really great fish. I don’t know if I can handle anymore loud bars with American pop music. Tomorrow we leave for Ko Pha Ngan, supposedly a very quiet island that is infamous for the full moon party (basically an all night drug fest). Luckily we missed the full moon (it was a crappy night- too cloudy and rainy to see the moon!) so the island is left to the hermits and is a nice getaway for seclusion and beach bumming, which is what we intend to do.
Friday, August 12, 2011
Happy Mother's Day
Today (August 12th) is her Majesty the Queen's birthday, and therefore Mother's Day. So Happy Mother's Day Mommy! =)
Bangkok, after three days, remains a puzzle. With no lines running into Central Bangkok, taxi's and tuk-tuk's that will rip off any foreigner like me that doesn't like to (or know how to properly) barter, and unwalkable distances to all the fun stuff, this city is really hard to manage! Unlike any city I've been in really. BUT all that doesn't really matter, because the FOOD is AMAZING.
Uncle Fung has been spoiling me, quite a bit. We usually meet Uncle Fung and Uncle Dtaw for dinner, each time our table overflowing with food. My first night, A-fung took me and A-Dtaw to seafood (Tom Yum Pla, grilled fish, crab, fried rice). This first night, I learned that with A-Fung, "everything can do", cause A-Fung knows and has connections to everyone in Bangkok (to which he says, no no no, just half of Bangkok), as he lists the hotels he knows the owners of (including our fancy schmancy hotel), and almost every restaurant we will go to will give us a complimentary dish for A-Fung.
Late that night, my roommate Kayleigh came into BKK. On poor Kayleigh's first real day in Thailand she had to meet ALL of my family here, most of whom I haven't seen in 20 years, and can't remember any of the names of. But we did get spoiled with some delicious lunch: catfish salad, roast chicken, sticky rice, papaya salad, omelet, pork skins. A dream come true, pretty much. My Dad's cousin was really goofy. He kept scolding Kayleigh for not eating with her hands enough. He showed us his house, and all the fake animals in his backyard. His "zoo". He points at the deer, and says, "your Dad's zoo is better. You have real deer!" But we don't have fake zebras.
After lunch, Dtaw took us to IT, a huge store with five floors of technology stuff. Computers, TVs, cameras, flashdrives, keyboards, extension cords, laptop covers, anything you can imagine dealing with anything that will plug in. It was really intense. Maybe I shouldn't be sharing this secret, but there were a lot of monks in the store! I had no idea that monks liked computers. Anyway, I really don't know why Dtaw took us there. Kayleigh and I asked if there was somewhere we can go that had bookbags or purses, and this is where he took us. I guess it's cause he needed a flashdrive, so we spent an hour wandering around this superstore waiting for him. It worked out quite nicely; Kayleigh found a North Face bag for like 10 bucks, and I got a nice day bag for 5$.
That night, A-fung took us out to a Japanese steakhouse. I had gone to one of these in Japan once, but there it's called Korean BBQ. I wonder what they call it in Korea. They bring out a bunch of raw beef and we cook it at the table on a built-in grill. I was a little skeptical cause most of the beef came out still frozen, but A-fung seemed unconcerned, so I trusted A-fung since he eats there 3 times a week and, of course, knows the owner. A-fung pretty much never eats at home. He hasn't had a dinner at home in over 20 years. As soon as we slow down eating, he piles more food on the grill, and says, why aren't you eating? We say we're full, and he says nooo, eat more! Every night with A-Fung, this is what happens.
That night, Kayleigh and I picked up our other roommate Jillian from the airport. So Thursday is when our real adventure with the three of us began. I kind of planned a loose agenda, which we actually accidentally followed for the most part. Of course I thought it'd be a good idea to walk to Central Bangkok from the hotel, which of course was not a good idea. It took us two hours to just get to the train station to buy tickets to Chumphon (where we will be going Saturday). But along the way, we started walking along train tracks on this small non-existent road that led us through a very poor neighborhood. The path along the tracks ended, so we were weaving our way through these people's yards till we could find a main road. We must have been somewhat close to the train station when a tuk-tuk driver pulled over and yelled 20 Bhat! I'll take you where you want for 20 Bhat! And when he kept persisting, Jillian yelled, no zero bhat! He laughed and kept up, okay zero bhat! let's go! But we just ignored him and kept walking. After we made it to the train station, I gave up on my walking idea, and we decided to just take a cab. And of course, the tuk-tuk driver we saw earlier ends up at the train station, sees us and starts yelling zero bhat! zero! We asked him if he could take us to Wat Arun. He says, okay you take a boat, 1000 bhat. All three on the boat to Wat Arun, 1000 bhat. This wasn't really what we wanted, but I guess Wat Arun was too far since it’s across the Chao Phraya River, so he takes us to a pier where there are tourists getting ripped off for a boat tour. When I tried to pay him, he said no, zero bhat. I laughed and asked again how much, and he said no, zero bhat. How do these guys make money!? That was like a 20 minute ride. He really took us there for free, but I guess has some hook up with the rip off boat people. They tried to charge us 2000 bhat for a boat tour to Wat Arun, Wat Pho and Wat Phra Kaew. I accidentally bargained down to 1500, which was still more than I wanted to pay. I think you can get express ferries for 50 bhat. But it was still really cool. We had a long boat to ourselves, and our driver was awesome. The first place he took us to was a snake farm. This was definitely not part of the deal. I told him we didn't want to go to a snake farm, we want to go to Wat Arun, so he skipped all the other tourist spots to take us there. Along the way, we had two market boats come up to us. The first one was just a bunch of do-dads we had no interest in, so we just bought our driver a beer. Then a boat that was making food came up cause our driver wanted lunch. They were making almost like a fried omelet with oyster and flour which made it fluffy, and put it over bean sprouts. So of course we got one too to try, it was amazing! With a sweet and sour sauce on top! So good. I think our driver was really excited we were trying it. He came over and showed us how to put the sauce on and made sure we all had chopsticks.
So we went to Wat Arun, then to Wat Pho. They're temples along the Chao Phraya River, which by the way is really gross. I had asked our driver if the seafood in our lunch had come from the river, and he just laughed and said no. I don’t think he knew what I was asking, but I pretended they were not. The river looks like the Delaware when it’s been flooding north of us, which is hopefully also the case for the Chao Phraya, but I have a feeling it’s not just churned up from floods but is more from all the diesel that gets poured in there from the long boats such as the one we were riding. Anyway, the temples of course were beautiful (we didn't pay to go in either, it was cool just to walk along the grounds outside the main temple). Wat Arun is actually an Indian temple I guess, it looks totally different than the Thai Temple's we've been seeing. With both temples, the attention to detail is amazing, and were incredibly ornate, as are many Thai things. One thing was a bit disappointing about the temples (maybe because we didn't pay to go inside) was that there were no English descriptions of when then Temple was built, what it signifies, or anything about the history of it. Though my retention on any of that stuff really sucks, it would have been nice to learn at the time. Wat Phra Kaew, supposedly the most impressive of the three temples, had closed by the time we got to it, probably because I got distracted with a huge street market between the two temples. In my opinion that market is just as impressive as the temples. I love looking at what people are selling and how they set up. The food part is the coolest. There's just a bunch of tables and chairs and if you sit by the stand that has beef noodle soup, someone will bring you a bowl of soup! magic. And when Kayleigh asked for Fanta, even though he didn't have it, he took a bottle of coke to the neighboring stand, and exchanged a Coke for a Fanta. I love stuff like that.
The next thing on my agenda was to take Jillian to a rooftop bar, but the weather impeded that plan as a huge storm came barreling through. We grabbed a cab, and got caught in the infamous Bangkok traffic on the way home. That night, A-Fung said sushi. So we had sushi. And a lot of it. I didn’t even try to pace myself that night. I ate too quickly, and to A-Fung’s disapproval, quit way to early and sipped green tea to pretend like I was still consuming something. As A-Dtaw inquired about American pop, I watched A-Fung in his food coma try to pay attention, but with absolutely no understanding. Out of nowhere, he perked up, and looked and me and said, Karaoke? Okay, let’s go. And so we did Karaoke at Karaoke City across the street. “The best in the world”, says A-Fung, “because Thailand is the world!” And it actually was a lot cooler than the ones I went to in Japan. Kayleigh was dead tired, I think Jillian was kind of into it, but A-Fung and A-Dtaw had a blast. They knew more American songs then we did, though A-Fung often pretended he didn’t know the words, pushing us to sing these English songs we’d never heard of. Before we left, A-Fung walked with me to show me where the bathroom was, and said, Karaoke is very fun in Thailand. But don’t come here with any boys. Only cousins. No boys. In Sukothai, you can drink. But not with other boys. Okay? Okay Uncle Fung. I hope Uncle Fung visits me in Sukothai.
The following day in Bangkok, Mother’s day, was less of a success. We overslept, and missed our hotel’s free breakfast feast, which was unreluctantly replaced with beef noodle soap and Thai iced coffee from the street market underneath the expressway around the corner from our hotel (don’t worry, it’s been over 12 hours, and I haven’t gotten sick). Best breakfast in the world. Because Thailand is the world. Since it was the queen’s birthday, the royal palace was closed, which I had really wanted to see. The temple across the street and a nearby museum were open, so we got to get some of our touristy things in. Then the rest of the afternoon was spent trying to get taxi’s and tuk-tuk’s to get us to several destinations without ripping us off or taking to us to the wrong place. This involved: going into two stores for a tuk-tuk driver so he can get free gas, and getting kicked out of one for browsing, fighting with a lot of taxi drivers about price, and getting stuck in a lot of Mother’s day traffic in the middle of Ko Ratanakoin, the old royal district, where there were parades and food carts galore. After a lot of walking and getting lost, we finally gave up when a taxi driver took us to the Sky Mall instead of the Sky Bar. All we needed was a drink on the top of a skyscraper, and we couldn’t seem to get there. So we walked back to the hotel, after of course, getting lost again. And not a fun kind of lost either, cause I was hungry. Quite a frustrating day. But A-Fung saved us with crab curry. Accompanied with tom yum pla, sea bass, cabbage and Chinese greens, grilled shrimp, and ginko beans for dessert. I was sad it was our last night with A-Fung and A-Dtaw; they were a nice comfort in the mayhem of this city I don’t quite understand yet, but I’m also excited to head south tomorrow. So as the Queen’s birthday comes to a close, we are ready to take a break from Bangkok and go see some fishes! Tomorrow, we leave for Chumpon, and take a ferry to Ko Tao to get scuba certified! 4 nights in Ko Tao, 3 in Ko Samui, then north to Chaing Mai!
Bangkok, after three days, remains a puzzle. With no lines running into Central Bangkok, taxi's and tuk-tuk's that will rip off any foreigner like me that doesn't like to (or know how to properly) barter, and unwalkable distances to all the fun stuff, this city is really hard to manage! Unlike any city I've been in really. BUT all that doesn't really matter, because the FOOD is AMAZING.
Uncle Fung has been spoiling me, quite a bit. We usually meet Uncle Fung and Uncle Dtaw for dinner, each time our table overflowing with food. My first night, A-fung took me and A-Dtaw to seafood (Tom Yum Pla, grilled fish, crab, fried rice). This first night, I learned that with A-Fung, "everything can do", cause A-Fung knows and has connections to everyone in Bangkok (to which he says, no no no, just half of Bangkok), as he lists the hotels he knows the owners of (including our fancy schmancy hotel), and almost every restaurant we will go to will give us a complimentary dish for A-Fung.
Late that night, my roommate Kayleigh came into BKK. On poor Kayleigh's first real day in Thailand she had to meet ALL of my family here, most of whom I haven't seen in 20 years, and can't remember any of the names of. But we did get spoiled with some delicious lunch: catfish salad, roast chicken, sticky rice, papaya salad, omelet, pork skins. A dream come true, pretty much. My Dad's cousin was really goofy. He kept scolding Kayleigh for not eating with her hands enough. He showed us his house, and all the fake animals in his backyard. His "zoo". He points at the deer, and says, "your Dad's zoo is better. You have real deer!" But we don't have fake zebras.
After lunch, Dtaw took us to IT, a huge store with five floors of technology stuff. Computers, TVs, cameras, flashdrives, keyboards, extension cords, laptop covers, anything you can imagine dealing with anything that will plug in. It was really intense. Maybe I shouldn't be sharing this secret, but there were a lot of monks in the store! I had no idea that monks liked computers. Anyway, I really don't know why Dtaw took us there. Kayleigh and I asked if there was somewhere we can go that had bookbags or purses, and this is where he took us. I guess it's cause he needed a flashdrive, so we spent an hour wandering around this superstore waiting for him. It worked out quite nicely; Kayleigh found a North Face bag for like 10 bucks, and I got a nice day bag for 5$.
That night, A-fung took us out to a Japanese steakhouse. I had gone to one of these in Japan once, but there it's called Korean BBQ. I wonder what they call it in Korea. They bring out a bunch of raw beef and we cook it at the table on a built-in grill. I was a little skeptical cause most of the beef came out still frozen, but A-fung seemed unconcerned, so I trusted A-fung since he eats there 3 times a week and, of course, knows the owner. A-fung pretty much never eats at home. He hasn't had a dinner at home in over 20 years. As soon as we slow down eating, he piles more food on the grill, and says, why aren't you eating? We say we're full, and he says nooo, eat more! Every night with A-Fung, this is what happens.
That night, Kayleigh and I picked up our other roommate Jillian from the airport. So Thursday is when our real adventure with the three of us began. I kind of planned a loose agenda, which we actually accidentally followed for the most part. Of course I thought it'd be a good idea to walk to Central Bangkok from the hotel, which of course was not a good idea. It took us two hours to just get to the train station to buy tickets to Chumphon (where we will be going Saturday). But along the way, we started walking along train tracks on this small non-existent road that led us through a very poor neighborhood. The path along the tracks ended, so we were weaving our way through these people's yards till we could find a main road. We must have been somewhat close to the train station when a tuk-tuk driver pulled over and yelled 20 Bhat! I'll take you where you want for 20 Bhat! And when he kept persisting, Jillian yelled, no zero bhat! He laughed and kept up, okay zero bhat! let's go! But we just ignored him and kept walking. After we made it to the train station, I gave up on my walking idea, and we decided to just take a cab. And of course, the tuk-tuk driver we saw earlier ends up at the train station, sees us and starts yelling zero bhat! zero! We asked him if he could take us to Wat Arun. He says, okay you take a boat, 1000 bhat. All three on the boat to Wat Arun, 1000 bhat. This wasn't really what we wanted, but I guess Wat Arun was too far since it’s across the Chao Phraya River, so he takes us to a pier where there are tourists getting ripped off for a boat tour. When I tried to pay him, he said no, zero bhat. I laughed and asked again how much, and he said no, zero bhat. How do these guys make money!? That was like a 20 minute ride. He really took us there for free, but I guess has some hook up with the rip off boat people. They tried to charge us 2000 bhat for a boat tour to Wat Arun, Wat Pho and Wat Phra Kaew. I accidentally bargained down to 1500, which was still more than I wanted to pay. I think you can get express ferries for 50 bhat. But it was still really cool. We had a long boat to ourselves, and our driver was awesome. The first place he took us to was a snake farm. This was definitely not part of the deal. I told him we didn't want to go to a snake farm, we want to go to Wat Arun, so he skipped all the other tourist spots to take us there. Along the way, we had two market boats come up to us. The first one was just a bunch of do-dads we had no interest in, so we just bought our driver a beer. Then a boat that was making food came up cause our driver wanted lunch. They were making almost like a fried omelet with oyster and flour which made it fluffy, and put it over bean sprouts. So of course we got one too to try, it was amazing! With a sweet and sour sauce on top! So good. I think our driver was really excited we were trying it. He came over and showed us how to put the sauce on and made sure we all had chopsticks.
So we went to Wat Arun, then to Wat Pho. They're temples along the Chao Phraya River, which by the way is really gross. I had asked our driver if the seafood in our lunch had come from the river, and he just laughed and said no. I don’t think he knew what I was asking, but I pretended they were not. The river looks like the Delaware when it’s been flooding north of us, which is hopefully also the case for the Chao Phraya, but I have a feeling it’s not just churned up from floods but is more from all the diesel that gets poured in there from the long boats such as the one we were riding. Anyway, the temples of course were beautiful (we didn't pay to go in either, it was cool just to walk along the grounds outside the main temple). Wat Arun is actually an Indian temple I guess, it looks totally different than the Thai Temple's we've been seeing. With both temples, the attention to detail is amazing, and were incredibly ornate, as are many Thai things. One thing was a bit disappointing about the temples (maybe because we didn't pay to go inside) was that there were no English descriptions of when then Temple was built, what it signifies, or anything about the history of it. Though my retention on any of that stuff really sucks, it would have been nice to learn at the time. Wat Phra Kaew, supposedly the most impressive of the three temples, had closed by the time we got to it, probably because I got distracted with a huge street market between the two temples. In my opinion that market is just as impressive as the temples. I love looking at what people are selling and how they set up. The food part is the coolest. There's just a bunch of tables and chairs and if you sit by the stand that has beef noodle soup, someone will bring you a bowl of soup! magic. And when Kayleigh asked for Fanta, even though he didn't have it, he took a bottle of coke to the neighboring stand, and exchanged a Coke for a Fanta. I love stuff like that.
The next thing on my agenda was to take Jillian to a rooftop bar, but the weather impeded that plan as a huge storm came barreling through. We grabbed a cab, and got caught in the infamous Bangkok traffic on the way home. That night, A-Fung said sushi. So we had sushi. And a lot of it. I didn’t even try to pace myself that night. I ate too quickly, and to A-Fung’s disapproval, quit way to early and sipped green tea to pretend like I was still consuming something. As A-Dtaw inquired about American pop, I watched A-Fung in his food coma try to pay attention, but with absolutely no understanding. Out of nowhere, he perked up, and looked and me and said, Karaoke? Okay, let’s go. And so we did Karaoke at Karaoke City across the street. “The best in the world”, says A-Fung, “because Thailand is the world!” And it actually was a lot cooler than the ones I went to in Japan. Kayleigh was dead tired, I think Jillian was kind of into it, but A-Fung and A-Dtaw had a blast. They knew more American songs then we did, though A-Fung often pretended he didn’t know the words, pushing us to sing these English songs we’d never heard of. Before we left, A-Fung walked with me to show me where the bathroom was, and said, Karaoke is very fun in Thailand. But don’t come here with any boys. Only cousins. No boys. In Sukothai, you can drink. But not with other boys. Okay? Okay Uncle Fung. I hope Uncle Fung visits me in Sukothai.
The following day in Bangkok, Mother’s day, was less of a success. We overslept, and missed our hotel’s free breakfast feast, which was unreluctantly replaced with beef noodle soap and Thai iced coffee from the street market underneath the expressway around the corner from our hotel (don’t worry, it’s been over 12 hours, and I haven’t gotten sick). Best breakfast in the world. Because Thailand is the world. Since it was the queen’s birthday, the royal palace was closed, which I had really wanted to see. The temple across the street and a nearby museum were open, so we got to get some of our touristy things in. Then the rest of the afternoon was spent trying to get taxi’s and tuk-tuk’s to get us to several destinations without ripping us off or taking to us to the wrong place. This involved: going into two stores for a tuk-tuk driver so he can get free gas, and getting kicked out of one for browsing, fighting with a lot of taxi drivers about price, and getting stuck in a lot of Mother’s day traffic in the middle of Ko Ratanakoin, the old royal district, where there were parades and food carts galore. After a lot of walking and getting lost, we finally gave up when a taxi driver took us to the Sky Mall instead of the Sky Bar. All we needed was a drink on the top of a skyscraper, and we couldn’t seem to get there. So we walked back to the hotel, after of course, getting lost again. And not a fun kind of lost either, cause I was hungry. Quite a frustrating day. But A-Fung saved us with crab curry. Accompanied with tom yum pla, sea bass, cabbage and Chinese greens, grilled shrimp, and ginko beans for dessert. I was sad it was our last night with A-Fung and A-Dtaw; they were a nice comfort in the mayhem of this city I don’t quite understand yet, but I’m also excited to head south tomorrow. So as the Queen’s birthday comes to a close, we are ready to take a break from Bangkok and go see some fishes! Tomorrow, we leave for Chumpon, and take a ferry to Ko Tao to get scuba certified! 4 nights in Ko Tao, 3 in Ko Samui, then north to Chaing Mai!
Tuesday, August 9, 2011
Begin Adventure
After a week with Auntie Kristin camping in a volcanic national park, swimming in a lake after exploring the inside of a collapsed volcano, climbing through lava tunnels, a home cooked Thai meal (beef salad, shrimp lemongrass soup, Laotian style pork basil and sauteed baby bok choi), followed by Sunday brunch at Thai Temple with Amy and Blake, accompanied by a long, well-deserved nap on Amy's couch, and a short stroll along Embarcadero, closing with Scott Pilgrim vs. the World (great movie!) and my final meal in America: Italian!, I think I am ready for Bangkok!
A 12 hour flight to Taiwan (where I was "accidentally" swapped by the flight attendant to sit in the American section with a lot of leg room, so much easier to sleep!) and 5 hour flight to BKK later, I have finally reached my father's first home. I pinki promise I will enjoy it more this time than last time I visited, 20 years ago. So my year plus long adventure begins: A few weeks in Thailand, a week in Cambodia, a week in Bali, and then a month in New Zealand, until my year long grant to teach English begins. I will have the month of October in Bangkok, then start teaching in November in Sawankhalok in Sukothai province. Gosh that seems so far away. Let's see if I survive the coming adventures first.
Enter Uncle Dtaw, my father's gay brother, and Uncle Fung, who is not really an uncle, but is Uncle Tham's best friend from 1st grade. My caretakers for my time in Bangkok, and the sweetest gentlemen I have maybe ever encountered. They have graciously left me this one hour break to rest and freshen up (or write in this blog!) after a delicious Chinese style lunch with way to much food! Two full chickens, beef with eggs, tom yum koong, thin noodles with squid, and bitter melon greens. Plenty of leftovers for my roommate, Kayleigh, when she gets in late tonight.
The city of Bangkok has been a blur so far. Toooo much to handle. Luckily, Uncle Dtaw and Uncle Fung have my time completely occupied, so I don't have to think about how to conquer this city till my roommates get here. And now off for seafood BBQ with my two "uncles". Food pictures to come.
A 12 hour flight to Taiwan (where I was "accidentally" swapped by the flight attendant to sit in the American section with a lot of leg room, so much easier to sleep!) and 5 hour flight to BKK later, I have finally reached my father's first home. I pinki promise I will enjoy it more this time than last time I visited, 20 years ago. So my year plus long adventure begins: A few weeks in Thailand, a week in Cambodia, a week in Bali, and then a month in New Zealand, until my year long grant to teach English begins. I will have the month of October in Bangkok, then start teaching in November in Sawankhalok in Sukothai province. Gosh that seems so far away. Let's see if I survive the coming adventures first.
Enter Uncle Dtaw, my father's gay brother, and Uncle Fung, who is not really an uncle, but is Uncle Tham's best friend from 1st grade. My caretakers for my time in Bangkok, and the sweetest gentlemen I have maybe ever encountered. They have graciously left me this one hour break to rest and freshen up (or write in this blog!) after a delicious Chinese style lunch with way to much food! Two full chickens, beef with eggs, tom yum koong, thin noodles with squid, and bitter melon greens. Plenty of leftovers for my roommate, Kayleigh, when she gets in late tonight.
The city of Bangkok has been a blur so far. Toooo much to handle. Luckily, Uncle Dtaw and Uncle Fung have my time completely occupied, so I don't have to think about how to conquer this city till my roommates get here. And now off for seafood BBQ with my two "uncles". Food pictures to come.
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