Goodbye Thailand

Published on Aug. 13, 2006 in Thailand

Today was another fine, beautiful day. We woke up around 8:00 to catch the autobus to the airport; however the lady informed us that the 10:00 (which we needed for our 1:15 flight) was all full. Surely due to some hidden signal, the taxi drivers immediately swooped in: "airport? me give you ride. good fare. fast. where you go? airport?" While Taxis are inexpensive, we are both pretty cheap. We decided to take the boat taxi (13baht, 30cents) down the Chao Praya River to the Central terminal. A quick ride on the Skytrain, a transfer at Siam station, and we soon arrived at Hua Lamphong (railway station). The station has a great information staff. An interesting revelation I had is the need to lower my defenses to trust what somebody says. But, both Yan-Shih and I agreed, the information people were, informative. The lady informed us that the train didn't run durning mid-day, and the only other train we could take was an express train, and that was about 200baht per person. As I stated before, we are pretty cheap, so we at some food, and walked out to the buses. Bus 29 was just around the corner, and we jumped on.

The image many would have in their head when I say "bus" is of a modern "the wheels on he bus go round and round" bus. But, while the wheels on the bus go round and round, that is about it. We took the 8baht fan bus (and I was the only white person on it). The floors were made of wood, and all the windows rolled down. Needless to say, it was quite a ride. We somehow made it out to the bus stations, and jumped off the bus.

An amusing tid-bit to complete the story: after we get off the bus, a taxi was near the off ramp. The taxi driver yelled "me take you to airport." Hey, bro, we just got off a freaking city bus, why would we take the taxi across the expressway? Rhetorical question.

Check-in and boarding went fine, as has been my experience on this side of the world. We had our bags sniffed by a drug-puppy-dog, but that wasn't an issue, of course. My wisdom teeth will be coming out shortly, but I didn't even bring the prescribed pain medication into Thailand.

On our flight we helped a guy, Jose (I think), from Spain. He met a Taiwanese girl while studying in England, and this was only his second time coming to Taiwan. After customs we met his girlfriend's parents, and they confidently live in the same neighborhood as I do. We may meet up for dinner sometime in the end of August.

And lastly, we helped a guy from Japan on the bus find his Hotel. Well, Yan-Shih did, cause I sure don't speak an ounce of Japanese.

Back to Bangkok

Published on Aug. 11, 2006 in Thailand

Today is Yan-Shih's birthday. A little depressing that we spent the first part on a bus. Normally I can sleep anywhere, and while I slept quite a bit on the bus, I still couldn't get comfortable. Eventually we arrived in Bangkok, and made our way to Khaosan road (where a lot of backpacker types hang out).

One thing that I find highly amusing is my girlfriend's ability to be marveled by night markets and general bizarres. Karl Marx once said, "religion is the opiate of the masses," for my girlfriend, her opiate must be markets. Even supermarkets.

Finally we made our way to the Lamphu House, which was highly recommended by various people online. When we arrived at 8:30am every room was full, but since checkout was at 11:30, we decided to wait. We had a nice breakfast (I had more curry, which was more Thai style than Indian style, but good nonetheless), and read some more. The character development in War and Peace was initially dizzying, but now is addicting.

Around 10:30am or so the room was made available, and we situated ourselves. We both took showers, brushed teeth, and went out. We rode the "boat taxi" for the first time, and walked around the Wat Phra Kaeo (Grand Palace). Across the street we stopped at some bar and had a pitcher of Singha, and ate some grub. Yan-Shih got tipsy, which was humorous as usual.

Another boat taxi and we went to the Central Station, and got off at Nana station. This area (called Sukhumvit, I think) is where I had my suit tailored, and after one last fitting, a coffee and long talks at the shop down the street, my suit fit perfectly, and we departed. Carrying my suit back to the hotel we took some more showers, and went shopping through the various markets located near our guesthouse.

Bargaining is an art here; and not being white helps. I swear, there is a Standardized White Person Tax added to all products. Since I'm pretty shit at bargaining anyways, I only bought two shirts (which is basically all I wanted to buy). We eventually realized we needed to save some money for the ride out to the airport, and headed back to the guesthouse. A little more reading, and we both passed out.

A Flash Flood

Published on Aug. 10, 2006 in Thailand

We awoke quite early, and after breakfast (at a restaurant+mechanic store by the river) jumped on a truck-style taxi (wood floors, people just sort of pile in on either side). The taxi took us to Old Town, where we started to walk around the ruins. I am amazed that there is so much tourism in Chiang Mai, but not that much here. The monuments, or maybe I should call them ruins, are amazing.

A few hours passed before we took shelter from the sun. I tried to read my book, however the power to read was overcome by the ability to nap.

We then walked back to the parking lot and jumped onto another truck-taxi, just in time for the rain. And did it rain! We were lucky and beat the storm to downtown, but needed to exchange money before the banks closed. Immediately after exchanging money we ran to the guesthouse, and even though it was a mere block and a half away, were completely soaked. The rain didn't stop either, and for the next 30 or 45 minutes, hard rain pelted the guesthouse. Water levels kept rising, soon the curb was under water, then the first step of the house next door. Since we were preparing to depart, I boldly asked "so, how do you feel about swimming to the bus stop?"

Luckily the rain stopped, and the water magically disappeared. We spent an hour walking to the bus stop (just to see how long it took, and the sights along the way). Since we arrived early, way early, we spent the next few hours reading. At 10:40pm we boarded our bus for Bangkok, and said goodbye to Sukhothai.

Sore Sore Sore

Published on Aug. 9, 2006 in Thailand

Sore is the word for today. We woke up and rolled out of bed, somehow checked out, and took a tuk-tuk to Chiang Dao. Since we were just meeting Sean and Pink there, we only wandered around briefly, not fully experiencing the expansive park. While the national park/meditation area was somewhat "run down," it still had a certain charm, a subconscious beauty that the eye cannot view. Shortly Sean and Pink arrived, happily saving us from being eaten by mosquitoes, which were abundant due to the large ponds located throughout the park. And we know how much I love mosquitoes.

We walked down the street to a breakfast place, and had some yum breakfast. I had a pancake, which came rolled instead of flat, and some eggs, bacon -- the usual American breakfast. After a long conversation, we went back up the road to a massage place. All four of us changed into huge, comfy pants, and had a Thai style massage. Pink fell asleep. Sean kept asking if we were doing ok. I was trying to hide the pain (primarily because of the hiking from the previous day, but also because, well, I don't think Thai style massages are supposed to be "make you happy feel go lucky" style massages). And Yan-Shih looked as though she was about to cry. Despite this though, my 99baht had an excellet ROI: I left feeling rejuvenated and young-er.

Since we were in the hills, we somehow needed to get down to the main street. Four people, one scooter. Nope, not going to happen. So Sean took Yan-Shih and Pink (at the same time!) somehow down the road, then came back and I got on. I think people must have been highly amused by two white dudes cruising on a small scooter down a back road.

Yan-Shih and I jumped in a taxi thing and cruised to the bus station. Unknown to us, the next bus left at 1:30. It was 1:20, and we were about 200baht short. We ran to the ATM, where I withdrew a few thousand baht, then ran to get some food. I bought some type of fish dried chip things and some water; meanwhile, Yan-Shih purchased the tickets. We ran to the bus, where the door closed immediately after we got on, and like the bad kids we were, we sat in the very last row.

The five hour bus ride was a breeze. We read some more War and Peace, and took some naps. Diving into childom, we poked each other over and over for a few miles. The sun was just going to sleep when we arrived.

The taxi and tuk-tuk drivers in Sukhothai operate a highly competitive transportation ring. The second we got off the bus, the drivers swarmed us, bees around honey. To strengthen our bargaining power we teamed with a few English girls, and were successful to diminish the price of a tuk-tuk into town to only 20 baht. They went their way, and we continued our's.

We stopped at the Thai Guest House; a large slightly dilapidated house, converted into three or four rooms with a balcony. We paid, and were led up to our room. Our room, in my opinion, was one of the lowest class rooms I have ever stayed in (and I've been to some pretty crappy hostels). At the same time though, there was an invisible aura surrounding this dilapidated house. We went to pillage some food.

A short walk and we were in yet another nigh market, ordering food from some vendor on the street. We both had a rice+soup+meat mix, which was pretty yum. To complete the evening I ordered some type of desert, a thicker crepe-style pancake with chocolate on the inside. Subsequent bliss occurred, and dinner was complete.

Upon arriving back at the guest house, we walked up the steep steps and heard familiar voices; a group of people, two girls and one guy, were talking in Chinese on the balcony. We quickly realized they were from Taiwan, and proceeded to talk for a while. Well, that's a lie. I said a few broken sentences in Chinese, and Yan-Shih talked for a while. Sitting on the sofa near us was a guy from Germany, soon heading to Chiang Mai. Since we were just there, we donated our maps and tips to him, so he was quite grateful.

The last significant observation we made before bed was the abundance of geckos ... everywhere. On the wall across the small alleyway, on the ceiling of the balcony, on the ceiling in the hallway: there were geckos spread everywhere.

Sleep came quickly.

What Goes Up, Must Come Down

Published on Aug. 8, 2006 in Thailand

The start of today was like any other day: a "cookoo cookoo" noise. In my normal, Taipai County life, my phone in alarm mode goes "cookoo cookoo." Alternatively, my girlfriend, when really bored, wakes me up by pushing me and saying "kookoooo kookooo." But today was slightly different: there was 30 cookoo's, and they were real. I slept wonderful in Lahu, the weather acceptable, and no construction. Yan-Shih and I were the first people to leave the sleeping quarters, and made our way into the main hut, where our guide was starting to boil water. The three of us sat down and chatted, enjoying nice cups of coffee. Food finally came, we ate, and went on the trail.

The previous day was five hours of up, today was three hours of down. Honestly, I prefer the up to the down. Continually on the verge of slipping, I felt much more in control than most people -- especially considering I had my adventure shoes (a pair of Keens). One of the highlights of our trip down was stopping at a huge waterfall. This waterfall, as you can see by the pictures, was the perfect height where it would provide a back massage.The guide jumped in, and I soon jumped after him. I was the first to step out, and took a few photos of people.

We hit the trail shortly afterwards, and hiked and hiked. A few small villages we along the road, and eventually we came out at the elephant reserve. This reserve is a place where, apparently, elephants are sent whom can't survive in the wild. We went to a little hut, put our gear in the back of a truck, and walked up to a large, slightly waving, ramp -- and climbed on elephants.

Indeed, this was a unique experience. The elephants were so used to the routine, so used that they could know what would happen next. We purchased some banana (like, 50b each). After a few minutes we started to feed our elephant (and the baby one that joined us). A march up the road and trail back to the camp, we disembarked, and got on the white-water rafts. The river was a class 3 at best, and should have been rafted in an innertube with a beer in hant. However, we had no beer or inner tubs, so no-can-do.

Nothing too excited, but we did enjoy our ride down. Inside our raft was a couple from Sweden -- however they weren't that talkative.

After about an hour we pulled out of the river, and set in on bamboo rafts. Yan-Shih really liked this, but I think it sounds cooler than it really is. Then again, I'm guessing not that many people have gone bamboo rafting, so I should feel special.

We finished shortly, and disembarked for dinner. A quick, freezing, shower, and we started eating. After dinner, we said g'bye to our guides, and got int he truck. The road was bumpy, curvy and with large pot-holes. Our cramped truck-taxi was pretty quiet, most people didn't talk. There were two guys from San Francisco, and we chatted. One of the guys had just come back from India, so Yan-Shih and I listened to the stories he could tell. While the stories had an undertone of misery, that misery intrigues us; I'm sure we'll go at some point.

We dropped people off one-by-one, and walked to another hostel. The smaller two person rooms were all taken, so we had to take a "deluxe" room -- but at under $10/night, for the room, we could't complain.

The last time we talked with Sean we decided to meet for dinner. Since we didn't really know where to meet them, they just suggested a little market near the edge of old town -- coincidently two blocks from our hostel. There is a certain liveliness in Chiang Mai, partially fuelled by the lively night markets. Sean and his girlfriend (Pink) were easy to find (actually, Sean spotted me). A quick meal, and we then jumped in a taxi.

With Sean following us, we departed for a little bar nooked off any foreign-infested street. The bar was humble, but beautiful. One of the most notable aspects of this bar was the cheerfullness of people. Unlike some of the bars in the U.S., which seem to have a particular dreary, this bar was lively but peaceful.

Sean and I split some beer, Pink and Yan-Shih ordered some cocktails. Soon I needed to go to the bathroom. The bathroom was actually inside the associated house to the bar, and luckily I had the general experience to know that I should take my shoes off.

After talking for a while, and much teasing of Kelvin, in multiple languages, we departed back to our guesthouse. Exhausted, we slipped into sleep the second we hit the bed.