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JANUARY
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2004: DECEMBER NOVEMBER OCTOBER SEPTEMBER AUGUST JULY JUNE |
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Map of Thailand |
Monday, January 31, 2005 - HAD YUAN to KO SAMUI to SURATTHANI to HAT YAI, THAILAND -
Sunday, January 30, 2005 - HAD YUAN, THAILAND - I got a lot of writing done at every bar/restaurant/cantina on Had Yuan. Finished Hemingway's Farewell to Arms. Man, what an ending. Relaxed and settled in to my stool at the Bamboo Hut bar. I found Kerouac's On the Road on their bookshelf and read the lengthy and excellent Foreward written by Ann Charters. Exchanged Farewell to Arms for Fitzgerald's Great Gatsby. High time I give that book another try...
Saturday, January 29, 2005 - HAD SADET to HAD RIN to HAD YUAN, THAILAND - After another satisfying breakfast of mueslix, fruit and yoghurt and some fried eggs, toast and coffee, I packed up and headed down to the beach to wait for a boat. I wanted to get one or two kilometers down the coast, towards Had Yuan and Had Rin. There were lots of boats that came through, and I didn't think that it would be too difficult to hitch a ride on one of them. I waited most of the day for a ride, which must be the best unsuccessful hitchhiking I've ever done, but in the end I couldn't get a ride. One longboat driver wanted 400. I was willing to go to 300, which was still very high for the 15 minute ride. Finally I ordered a chicken sandwich and a water and started hiking out, just as I'd done on Ao Thong a few days earlier. It was a nice walk - I wasn't complaining - though I was damn hot and sweating from head to toe again. I didn't get a ride, but I met two very nice Thai women a few hundred meters from the turn-off on the main road. They were going to a Saturday night dinner at a friend's house in town. The younger woman, in her fifties, was wearing a nice red dress. They reminded me of two black women walking to get the bus in Savannah, Georgia. I've never been to Georgia, but the way they slowly made their way down the dirt road - wearing their nicest dress for the event of the week - made me think of that. She told me that pork, fish and chicken was on the menu tonight. I got some good travel beta from her, and she told me that I could jump in her sâwngthâew with her and her friend. The back of the pick-up was filled with sandbags, empty bottles of coke, sprite and fanta and an old TV. I made some room and hopped in, happy to have a fast ride in to town. The ride was only costing me 50 baht, which was the locals price. We raced up and down the hills of Ko Pha-Ngan. I ate Werther's Originals and savored the butterscotchy goodness. The women looked back at me from inside the cab and smiled. The sun descended on to the horizon, and I was off to another locale. I got off at the 7-11, bought two pens, then got another taxi to Had Rin. I inquired about a longboat, and yes, there was on leaving in a few minutes after the 7:20 ferry from Samui arrived. I bought a bottle of Sangsom, some sunglasses, a large bottle of Chang, a veggie sandwich and some Mexican BBQ potato chips. I hopped on the longboat at 7:30 with a bunch of other farang and we headed into the dark waters, rounding Leela Beach and the Lighthouse and eventually arriving at the first beach past Had Rin, Had Yuan. I paid my 150 baht and walked to the northern end of the beach to Bamboo Hut, the bungalows that Andy and Vic had recommended to me in Pai. I got a nice bungalow for 350 and enjoyed a nice long, albeit cold shower, then headed to the restaurant for some spring rolls and liquados. I had a red bull vodka and some beers and talked at length with Tree, the Thai-Rastafari guy working the bar/restaurant. Bamboo Hut has a beautiful open-air restaurant and bar, and plays excellent trip-hop, hip-hop, trance and eclectica. I tried to leave the bar to go down to the beach, but Tree stopped me, as I'd seen him stop many people throughout the night -
"Where you going?!".
"Down to the beach," I replied.
"Be careful man!" he said.
"Why?" I asked.
"You might miss beautiful girl here," he said.
"There's only girls with their boyfriends," I replied.
He scanned the restaurant and found a girl sitting by herself reading out of some kind of binder. She sensed her watching me as I descended down the granite stairs to the wooden walkway to the beach. Apparently there was a large party the night before, a party that always occurs five days after the full-moon party, so I'd timed Had Yuan poorly. I couldn't find any activity anywhere, so I returned to Bamboo Hut and closed out the place with Tree.
Friday, January 28, 2005 - HAD SADET, THAILAND - Today was spent doing very, very little. I had breakfast on the sun deck, then began a cycle between the beach, the water, and my hammock. See Slow Your Roll, Playa for the complete story.
Thursday, January 27, 2005 - AO THONG NAI PAN YAI to HAD SADET, THAILAND - I bid a fond farewell to Scott, Pauline, Aaron and David and packed up my things. I ate some breakfast at Dann's Coffee Shop, picked up my laundry, then started hiking up the hill that heads in to the interior. It's a nice feeling to leave a place hitchhiking, knowing that you are not going to return. I knew that I'd probably get picked up, but even if I didn't, I could walk the ten kilometers to Had Sadet. Except that it was very hot, and I had no water. I was sweating prodigiously, but got picked up by a pick-up after hiking for twenty minutes. They took me to the turn-off for Had Sadet, and I started walking down, stopping at a waterfall (there was no falling water, only water cascading through some rocks. For some reason most of the recent Kings of Thailand have visited this stream). I got picked up by a guy on a motorbike and made my way down the two kilometers to Had Sadet. It was gorgeous, a 200 meter or so strip of white sand beach, light-blue water, some bungalows and restaurants on the beach and few people swimming. It was a good way to start the solo travels. I checked in to Silver Cliffs resort and got a nice bungalow overlooking the bay for 150 baht a night. There was a very comfortable hammock and I eased in to my afternoon. I ate a good curry meal at the Silver Cliff cantina, on the deck overlooking the bay and valley, then layed on the beach for a while. At night I ate at another restaurant - Paa - that had a similar view overlooking the bay, then returned to Silver Cliff for a chocolate pancake and some reading and writing.
Wednesday, January 26, 2005 - AO THONG NAI PAN YAI, THAILAND - I woke and talked myself into a run. There weren't too many places to run, so I went to the end of the road, turned around when it dead-ended and then ran the other direction and turned around when it began ascending into the jungle. I headed down to the beach and ran the length three or four times. It's nice to run barefoot, then go for a swim. I sat with Pauline, David and Aaron and had some breakfast - coffee, eggs and toast while we discussed our lofty goals for the day. I was inclined to lie on the beach for a little while, then read a bit of Hemingway's Farewell to Arms, then maybe take a nap. I followed this plan quite well. In the afternoon Scott rounded up the troops to rent kayaks and go explore the next beach - Ao Thong Nai Pan Yai. We rented three singles and a double and all five of us headed out. We got sidetracked halfway there when we stopped for a joint sub-committee meeting on some rocks. We climbed a wooden walkway to Panviman Resort and went swimming in their idyllic swimming pool. The edge of the pool looked out over the bay. We got some lunch and drinks there, as we felt ever so slightly bad about making the stealth kayak approach to swim in their pool, then disappear. Also we were hungry and thirsty. I had an excellent fried fish in curry. We kayaked back after a beer.
That night we went to a bar off the beach. It was excellent. They sampled Paul Oakenfold's Live in Havana, which I haven't heard anywhere I haven't influenced its inclusion. We all chilled and talked with some Irish laddies and played Jenga. It was my first time, and I fared quite well. It's another mental game that I usually have no patience for. We eventually went down to the beach and tried to get back to the Panviman pool. We were confident there was a trail through the hills, but when we climbed through the bungalows, we almost got into a fight with some European guy complaining about the noise. We didn't really almost, he wasn't about to come out of his bungalow. It would have been more interesting if he did though. We returned to the beach, finished the Sangsom and I did some wind sprints in the surf.
Tuesday, January 25, 2005 - KO PHA-NGAN to AO THONG NAI PAN YAI, THAILAND -
I rose at 11:23 and inquired with bungalow #61 about the check-out situation. "We've got a late check-out," David replied. That was fine by me. I returned to the bed I was sharing with Scott. It was wet.
At 3 or 3:30 we all started to get up. Apparently Pauline, David and Aaron had not gotten to bed until close to ten am, as Pauline and David did not have a key to their bungalow (it was a complicated morning). We all moved slowly down to the Lighthouse Bungalows and Restaurant. Scott and I had eaten dinner here the night before and returned for the good vibrations. We settled in to a large "American Breakfast" - bacon, eggs, toast and coffee. David and Aaron arrived shortly after us, ordered up two Americans as well. Pauline was the straggler, feeling something fierce. We had a slow, reflective 4pm breakfast, reflecting on the intricacies of the previous evening.
Back at the bungalows we all hit the travel wall. We couldn't figure out what we wanted to do or where we wanted to go. We were faced with the dilemna of trying to check-out of our bungalows at 5:30pm, and we were all more or less split on where we wanted to go. Most of us didn't care, as long as we left this spot. We motivated out and got a sâwngthâew from Had Rin, through the interior of the island to Ao Thong Nai Pan Yai. It was a great ride, one of those travel moments where you're flying through the jungle at dusk, good conversation, psyched to be traveling even though thirty minutes ago you loathed everything about it. We pulled in to Central Cottages and treated ourselves to some creature comforts. I got a TWO bed room with Scott for 1200 - complete with satellite TV, hot water and an airconditioner. I didn't care about these, but the bed was next level. It's been a while since I've slept with a comforter (that means I have to sleep with the aircon on all night). We ate a mediocre meal at their restaurant and slept well.
Monday, January 24, 2005 - KO TAO to KO PHA-NGAN, THAILAND -
I woke early, bought some coffee and supplies at 7-11, bread at the bakery, then walked the mile and a half to the Ko Tao Ferry terminal. I made the ferry with a minute to spare, or so, never the one to waste time waiting for my transportation to depart. The ride was vicissitudinal, to put it simply, but I it was nice to laze in the sun on top of the boat and listen to people speak in other languages. There are worse things you could be doing at 9:30 in the morning than laying on top of a boat in the Gulf of Thailand, heading to the biggest beach party in the world.
I got into Thong Sala on Ko Pha-Ngan around 11:30, then hopped on a songthaews to Had Rin Nai. My original plan was to get accommodation for six others in Hat Yuan, but after waiting for an hour for the boat taxi to Hat Yuan, I decided to look in town. Everything was predictable full, but then I caught a motorbike ride over a hill to Had Leela. From phangan.info Had Seekantang, also known as Had Leela, is located on the western tip of the Had Rin peninsula, about 15 minutes walk from the town centre. ItŐs a long white sand beach that is fairly thin in places and has a rugged appeal. There are mangrove trees dotted along the coastline and several old and new resorts are set back in the palms. Due to its secluded location, the beach was popular with nudists in the early days, and the Rajneesh Cult used to own it. There is still bit of the old Pha Ngan vibe in some of the bungalow resorts and you can get far away from the maddening crowd in Had Rin, whilst still being able to pop in for a midnight visit to 7-Eleven.
I got three bungalows for 400 baht, which should serve us fairly well. It's very close to the beach, and I'm sure when the Full Moon Party ends at midnight or 12:30 (at the latest) we'll get a good 8 hours here. They aren't the nicest bungalows, but c'est la vie, we won't be sleeping in them very long.
I killed some time by getting some pad thai at the little beachside bungalow restaurant, went for a swim, then lied on the sand for a bit. I watched an incredible sunset from the Lighthouse rocks, then returned back to get some writing done, imbibe a few cervezas and wait for the crew.
They showed up around 8pm and after a rest and some dinner at the Lighthouse, we headed for Had Rin. It was a pretty sweet party. 8,000 people or so. I got tackled at one point and regained consciousness underwater. It was surreal. If you want to read about the full moon party, click on this here line.
Sunday, January 23, 2005 - KO TAO, THAILAND - I roused around 10am, walked to the bakery and bought three rolls of farmer's bread, a block of white new zealand cheddar and a cup of coffee. I have been in serious cheese withdrawal for months now, so it was a welcome surprise to find a quality block next to my bungalow. The coffee was excellent as well. I got my journal caught up a bit and plotted out a few articles for the Priv. The full moon party is tomorrow in Ko Phagnan, so I made plans to get their early and secure accomodation for the crew. I went down to the beach and found a table situated a foot or so from the light blue water undulated up and down the white sand beach. Undulating? My assistant Brian will have to fact check that. I got more writing down, surprising myself at how I can write for an hour and only be another 45 minutes along in my traveling chronology. Verbosity is a stinky cologne. I'm waiting for the afternoon to turn to evening, so I can get out on a low tide beach and get a run in. Then its another downbeat night laying on the beach at The Dry Bar. I'm trying to get an article up on the Priv, but Internet Cafe donations have not been arriving with any frequency at Privileged Life Inc. Ltd. HQ. Next report - full moon party. Hasta...
Saturday, January 22, 2005 - KO TAO, THAILAND - I got up at 9:30 this morning, shortly after Scott departed for his course. I tried to go for a run on the beach, but the tide was at it's absolute peak and there was no room to run on the beach. I got an eggs and bacon breakfast in town, then returned back to get my gear in order for my two dives. I headed out around 1pm and went to two dive spots - White Rock and Twins. The dives were decent - 50 minutes and 46 minutes, but not phenomenal. I saw a wealth of underwater flora and fauna, but visibility was limited to 8 meters. It was nice to get wet again (you didn't know I liked to get wet, did you?). On Ko Phagnan after the Full Moon Party I would like to continue with my Rescue Diver Certification. We'll see what the price and time is like. Ko Phagnan seems like the quintessential chill-out island though.
Back on land, I met up with David, Aaron and Pauline at the Dry Bar. We sat and drank liquados in after-sunset hour, then convened the group to head into town for some pizza. An exausted Scott slept soundly. We found an excellent Italian restaurant - Marra - and ordered up two calzones and two pizzas, garlic-mozzerella bread and lots of beer. Mmmmm, pizza. We headed back to the bungalows and chatted a bit. I beelined for the Dry Bar to absorb it for a few more minutes, but everyone else wanted to stay closer to their bed. They've been doing a lot of diving and early mornings getting their Open Water cert, so I cut them some slack. It was a defining moment in Thailand to take a few paces to from my bungalow to a suhweet beachside bar, order up a thai red bull-vodka, look up and see a female DJ spin excellent downbeat trance. It was some of the best trance I've heard in a while. Maybe it was the ambience that made it so good. I walked a few more paces past sunken candles into warm ankle-deep water. I looked out over the bay at the long boats, fishing boats, dive boats, then up to a sky punctuated with hundreds of stars - hundreds more than shanghai or los angeles or even san francisco during most of its marine-layer nights. I found a mat, layed back and basked in the scenario. This is a vacation...
Friday, January 21, 2005 - KO TAO, THAILAND - I slept until 4pm, enjoying a rare rest day and happy that I had the opportunity to sleep off the sickness. Scott came in throughout and wondered why I was being so uncharacteristically lazy. At 4pm I got up, showered, walked down to the beach, then went to check Internet. At a costly 2 baht a minute I did not stay long. I missed sunset, but I think I'll have the opportunity to see a few more in the coming weeks and months. I joined them on the beach at the same beachside bar, and apparently just missed the cops busting someone who was smoking pot. It's supposed to be a 50,000 baht ($1250) fine, but they just took the weed, presumably to smoke later. We walked down to the north end to a nice, upscale restaurant. It was a beautiful open-air wooden restaurant. We ordered drinks and lots of fresh seafood - bull shit shrimp (that's what it says on the menu), fried calamari, prawns and some New Zealand beef. Scott and I split a very large beef skewer. We sat and talked for three hours until 11pm or so. We had a gorgeous view over the bay. The weather was perfect and conversation worldly. It was a great way to spend a night off the liquados. We walked back and turned in. I read a bit in Hemingway's Farewell to Arms, then slept well for 10 hours...
Thursday, January 20, 2005 - BANGKOK to KO SAMUI to KO TAO, THAILAND - A long day of traveling. I didn't get much sleep on the bus. Right before the rest stop I took a valium to knock me out, which worked a bit. The seat in front of me was reclined as far as it would go, which left me one position to try and fall asleep in. I'm too damn tall to get any sleep on buses. We arrived in Bangkok at ten minutes to six. Sandra, the Dutch girl and I, walked down Khao San. She was looking for a room, I was trying to track down Scott at the Nana Inn. Scott wasn't in Nana, so we got her a room a bit south of Khao San on a street I hadn't been on - but looks like a cheap option - and continued on to the United Traveler Connection. Sandra introduced me to this place - they'll store your luggage 3 days for free, then only 10 baht after that. They allow 9 baht per minute calls to the States and free internet for 30 minutes. I'm not sure how they make money, but Adam Smith's model does not necessarily apply to Thailand. I checked my email and learned that Scott had gone to the airport and flown to Ko Samui. He told me to go to the airport and get a ticket - he'd pay for it. I wasn't eager to continue traveling, but it was raining outside and the controls had already been set for the heart of the sun. I emailed him back to tell him I was headed to the airport, then transferred all my gear from one bag to the next. I waited till 8am to check it, then bid Sandra a happy travels. I negotiated a 200 baht ride to the airport and promptly fell asleep. At the airport I bought a ticket for 4:50 pm, but was advised to try my luck with standby. I went to the standby counter and was immediately issued a ticket for a plane that began boarding two minutes earlier. I rushed through security and tried to check in, but had a few extra minutes, which allowed me to raid the Bangkok Airways courtesy counter - free coffee, espresso, bananas, muffins and gooey Thailand delites. I ate and drank as much as I could in the few minutes I had, then boarded a bus to the plane. I was hoping for a third world puddle-jumper, but Bangkok Airways is not bad. They promptly served a strange Asian breakfast and coffee. We landed in Ko Samui 45 minutes later. I figured out how to book onward passage to Ko Tao, where I was supposed to meet up with Scott. I was not happy about paying the 550 baht for the boat ride over, but the lady assured me that that was as cheap as I could get over there. I was 100% sure that the Thais do not pay 550 baht to get to Ko Tao. I caught their shuttle to the pier, then tried to get online to tell Scott I'd be arriving. As I was walking down the street, a small car stopped and Scott got out. All-low matey! I didn't need to check Internet. He was on the same boat going over as me. He'd met up with some New Yorkers and spent the night with them at a resort. We all boarded the ferry and got a seat below. At Ko Phagnan, only an hour or so out of Ko Samui, we went up to get some air and sun. It was a nice ride over to Ko Tao - the haze made it look like we were in open ocean with no land visible. After a few hours we arrived in Ko Tao. The New Yorkers - David, Aaron and Pauline - had a reservation at Big Blue Resort - a dive and accomodation outfit. We tagged along with them, as did two Bostonians we'd met. These Americans were more than I've met up to this point. We took a pick-up over to Hat Sai Ri and checked in to our resort. All of them were getting their Open Water certification, and their class began in a few minutes at 4pm. They quickly ate some food, then began an intro lecture. I checked in to my room and took a much needed nap.
A little after sunset I showered and joined them down on the beach. They were at a beachside bar, one with mats and pillows on the beach. A DJ spun good trance. We ordered some drinks, then Scott and Aaron made a run to 7-11 to procure some rum, whisky and coke. We sapped on this until the DJ came down and said something like - Look, I know you're on a budget, but if you're going to be drinking at our bar, we need you to actually be drinking from our bar. Understood. We ordered a round from there, then headed down the beach to another club. I was losing steam, a combination of street-meat meals, traveling, insufficient sleep and a recurring sickness. After a few hours I was exhausted - the same ailments I'd experienced right before I took off for Thailand. It lasted 4 days or so then, but I think I have a handle on it now. We had some drinks there and I had some interesting conversation with Pauline. She moved from Moscow when she was two to New York. By the time she was 13 she'd sampled nearly every drug and lost her virginity. I likened her experience to the movie Kids, and she said it was right on. She'd hung out a lot in Washington Square and gotten in to much too much trouble at too early an age. I guess its all relative though. She's 20 years old and about to graduate college with a degree in Philosophy. Smart girl. We walked home around 2am and I fell into my bed, not to get out for 14 hours...
Wednesday, January 19, 2005 - CHANG MAI to BANGKOK, THAILAND - I don't have a watch, so whenever I am in my room and need to know the time, I have to look at one of my cameras. This morning I didn't trust either of them. There seemed to be lots of voices and people mucking about, but when I checked the time it was 6:13am. Maybe they were coming home, or leaving for somewhere. I put in ear plugs, and soon it was 9:33am. I opted against a cooking class, as I expect to be back in Chang Mai again and would like to take a 3 day course. Thai food is the bomb explosive. I headed out around 11am and dined on a breakfast of mueslix with yoghurt and fruit, coffee, and a Thai omellette. On to Wat Chian Man. They had a lot of information on Buddhism there, and I wrote a lot down in my little black book. I walked on the post office, then continued to Wat U Mong Klang Wiang, Chedi Luang and Wat Phan Tao. After such I rough day I decided I owed it to myself to get a $2.50 massage at Wat Si Koet. It was a little rough, but it was nice to relax for an hour. It was nice to get considering I have to spend the night on a bus tonight. The bus ride wasn't too bad. I got picked up at 6:30 with three Swedish girls, got a seat on a bus, and a nice well-traveled Dutch girl sat next to me for the ride. We talked for three and a half hours, then I dazed until our 1am stop. It had been six hours since we departed; everyone was anxious to load up on uppers, downers, screamers, laughers...
Tuesday, January 18, 2005 - PAI to CHANG MAI, THAILAND - I woke around 8:30, had a cold shower and roused Scott in his bungalow. I headed to the river to get breakfast - my third visit to this place - and dined on Mueslix with fruit and yoghurt, coffee, a bacon omellette and a croissant. It's nice to have nice breakfasts again. Scott and I chatted with a girl from Italy who had come up from Ko Phi Phi. Not only was she there when the tsunami hit, she was swimming, and barely made it to shore when the water retreated. She sounded like she had cheated death, and was very happy to be sitting at that outdoor cafe. Four people on that beach died, she said. Scott and I hustled to our van for the drive into Chang Mai. I scored the front seat to myself, which set me up for a very nice drive through the mountains. I had a nice coffee high and was thinking good thoughts.
Monday, January 17, 2005 - PAI, THAILAND - Scott and I thought we were leaving Pai today. I had another nice breakfast at the same restaurant as yesterday, then checked email. Scott's lady was on Y! Messenger, so I sat him down for a chat with her. I guess that eased his mind as he decided not to hurry out of town. We all had a relaxing day. I would have liked to have gone with Raf and Jen to the caves this morning, but I thought I'd be taking off. I sat on the bamboo deck writing and reading and lazing in the sun. Tis a hard knocks life, for me. Scott, Andy and Jules came by and I joined them for some shopping. Scott purchased many a local textiles, I perused a gem shop. Scott and I declined a dinner invitation with the Brits, and went to our hotel's restaurant for dinner. We arrived around 7:30, right as Collateral was starting. Everyone had just put in their order, apparently, so it took about 45 minutes for our local dishes to arrive. I drank some ginger tea with herbal whisky. I stayed near the end of the meal, then headed home to write and read a bit more. Slept well in my $2.50 bamboo hut...
Sunday, January 16, 2005 - PAI, THAILAND - It's been a good day. I got up and had a large breakfast and two cups of coffee in an open air banana-thatched roof cafe next to the river, then sat in the sun and wrote in my journal. I could write for hours here, just describing the usual events of the night before, regardless of what night that is. Around 1pm I hopped on a motorbike with Tim, the Thai guide I met Saturday night at a fireside party. Scott and an Argentian friend, and Vic and Andy - the british couple we met on the train to Chang Mai - followed Tim and I up to a waterfall. I jumped into the water off rocks and ate spring rolls for lunch. We continued on for a beautiful 15 minute ride to the hot springs. The riverside hot springs got as hot as 80 degrees celcius, and there was a sign advising people not to boil eggs. Sadly, there were egg shells discarded nearby. We lazed in the hot springs for an hour or so, then headed back towards Pai. We passed lots of elephants on the ride back. On the ride back Tim told me about life in the Thai army. Apparently its not uncommon to have to eat another soldier to fight starvation and lose vision in one of your eyes because of Burmese bombs. I think I need more on this story, for the sake of my loyal readers. I got dropped off at my bungalow and napped, then showered. I tried to rouse Scott from a slumber, but he wanted to rest through dinner. I met up with Andy and Vic, and Raf and Jen at the teahouse. We drank some herbal tea cut with some herbal whisky. Delicious. We sauntered on to find a restaurant and settled on Shanti Shanti, an Israeli restaurant with a bad bathroom, acceptable red curry and no aluminum foil. The British say al loo min ee um, while americans say uh loo min um. The Brits even spell it differently. It's their language, so as usual, I'll let sleeping dogs lie. Conversely, a cat was on my lap for most of the dinner and was rewarded with tender morsels of red curry chicken. After dinner I ran back to get Scott. He needed a few minutes to rise from his deep sleep, but we eventually joined up with the Brits at Satan 50. We walked over to Tim's and spent a few minutes there, before returning to the fireside chats at the Riverside Lodge. No one got as ooc as in previous sessions, and we sat around smoking small Burmese cigars and drinking Chang. I walked Tim home agani and was rewarded with a blanket to get me through the night.
Saturday, January 15, 2005 - CHANG MAI to PAI, THAILAND - Scott and I met two interesting couples on the train. Raf and his girlfriend Jen have been living in Bangkok, making that their home base, traveling and partying until the money runs out. The other couple was their friends from England, Andy and his girlfriend Vic. They were drinking Songsam and anything else they could get their hands on. We stayed up later than we should have, annoying everyone else on the train. I slept reasonably well, though I was about 4 inches too long for my berth. We were supposed to get into Chang Mai at 08:55am, so I did not check a clock and just expected to get woken up. At 11:25 I made it out of my berth, the last on in the train to wake-up. The lady below me was relieved that she could finally convert her bed into a seat and table. We arrived Chang Mai around noon, and Scott and I impulsively decided to join the four of them to Pai, a small town near the Burmese border. We hopped in a tuk-tuk limo and rode to the train station, bought tickets, then settled into a nice breakfast at the Carlsberg restaurant next door. The bus ride wasn't too bad. Scott and I played music off his iPod - we bought speakers on Khao San Rd. We stopped halfway to load up on butter toffee peanuts and spring rolls.
Friday, January 14, 2005 - AYATHAYA and LOPBURI, THAILAND - I didn't sleep too well - the street traffic picked up around 4am, and around 7am pick-ups began cruising Ayathaya broadcasting political messages. I saw the same thing in Central America, and thought it must not be very effective there. At 7 in the morning, I will be sure not to vote for anyone campaigning through a pick-up blaring loud propaganda. Scott and I got some breakfast around 9:30 - coffee, scrambled eggs, toast and fruit (watermelon, pineapple and oranges), then showered and headed out. We payed our two and a half cents and got a ferry across the river to the train station. We were able to book tickets to Lopburi at 1pm, and Lopburi to Chang Mai tonight at 10:17pm. We talked to some tuk-tuk drivers and found one who could take us to Wat Phanan Choeng in the SW corner of town. This wat was constructed in the early 14th century and contains a 19 meter sitting Buddha. The scale was daunting. The entire complex was impressive - we were happy that we made it there today. I ate fried tofu at one of the stands and Scott bought a carved and burnt stick for $0.50 to whack the monkeys that we would be seeing later today. We headed back to the train station a bit before one pm, got our bags and jumped on the train. It was packed - we had to stand - but the company was good. A few stops later we got seats and got to take in the scenery passing us by. After an hour or so we arrived in Lopburi. We walked through the market, just like Ayathaya, then into town. We found a hotel and dropped our bags off there. Phra Narai Ratchaniwet was right across the street, and we toured the old Kings compound. There was a great museum with old prehistoric artifacts, including skeletal remains of human ancestors dating back 4,000 years. We continued a tour of the city until we found what we were looking for - San Phra Kan and Prang Sam Yot. Both of these sites had hundreds of monkeys running, climbing, eating peanuts, preening and engaging in acts of sexual reproduction. In only a few acres, there must have been at least a thousand monkeys. They had taken over this neighborhood and climbed all over the buildings and begged for food. Apparently they bite people sometimes and you have to get rabies shots. These monkeys have overrun the town in part due to Buddhist discouragement of killing animals, and some locals believe that these monkeys are the children of Hindu god Kala. Scott and I didn't kill any of them, but we took a lot of pictures. At the second site, we gained access to the inside of the ruins and were able to watch the monkeys from behind barred gates. The monkeys scurried up to the gates in anticipation of a tasty morsel, but Scott, ever the trickster, gave a monkey a cigarette. The monkey smelled it, broke it and tried to eat it. Scott then proferred a light, which made the monkey squint. Scott was wielding his monkey-whacking stick, and fortunately did not have to use it. Kala would not have been happy.
Thursday, January 13, 2005 - BANGKOK and AYATHAYA, THAILAND - Scott has recovered now after a stay in the palatial (very relatively speaking) Vienang Hotel. We ate a large buffet breakfast that should take us into Ayathaya. I picked up my shorts, which have been waiting for me at the streetside mercenary sewing machine lady for a week, then came to work a bit on my site. DECEMBER is finally updated, now on to January. The lengths I go to to expose the nefarious details of my adventuringisms to my loyal fan base.
Wednesday, January 12, 2005 - BANGKOK and AYATHAYA, THAILAND -
Tuesday, January 11, 2005 - KO SAMET and BANGKOK -
Monday, January 10, 2005 - KO SAMET, THAILAND -
Sunday, January 9, 2005 - BANGKOK and KO SAMET, THAILAND
Saturday, January 8, 2005 - BANGKOK, THAILAND -
Friday, January 7, 2005 - KO CHANG and BANGKOK, THAILAND -
Thursday, January 6, 2005 - KO CHANG, THAILAND -
Wednesday, January 5, 2005 - BANGKOK and KO CHANG, THAILAND -
Tuesday, January 4, 2005 - BANGKOK, THAILAND - Khao San Rd is ground zero for the international backpacker scene. I arrived into Bangkok on Saturday night, feeling something fierce. I've been exploring the City with Andy "Daddy" Varcak, and I like what I see. I think I can get used to a few months down here. Chris is on his way, one way or another, and the arrival of Scott will ring in a new era in international jet-setting. A site update will occur in the near future, more pressing concerns require my immediate attention...
Monday, January 3, 2005 - BANGKOK, THAILAND - Andy and I headed over to Wat Phra Kaew and the Grand Palace, but we were told it was closed until later. A helpful Bangkoker got us a government tuk-tuk and recommended a route through the city to see the best temples and wats. We saw Rat Ratchathiwat, Wat Benchamabophit, Golden Mount and Wat Pho. Somewhere in the process Andy spent 5 weeks of worth of travel money on some Armani suits. Wat Pho was very impressive. It is the oldest and largest Wat in Bangkok and features the largest reclining Buddha. There are dozens of wihaans and chedis. A herbal massage school is based there, and Andy and I tried to get massages. We didn't want to wait for 30 minutes, so we exited the wat and found another massage locale next door. We had a nice hour massage, then caught a boat taxi 5 stops up to Banglamphu. We stayed on Rambutri - one block over from Khao San, but didn't leave the area at night. Chris still hadn't arrived, but he is expected in Wednesday morning.
Sunday, January 2, 2005 - BANGKOK, THAILAND - I woke feeling a little bit better, but still couldn't eat. This wouldn't change for the next few days. We cabbed over to Khao San Rd, as Andy determined that this neighborhood was bunk and we should at least case the legendary backpacker mecca of Khao San. It was bustling, even at one in the afternoon, but we found the Khao San Palace, right in the middle of te block. We got a room and dropped our bags, then headed out. We checked out the wat at the end of Khao San Rd - Wat Chana Songkhram - and wandered around the neighborhood. We didn't want to stray far, as we planned to go to the fights at Sanam Muay Ratchadamnoen that night.
Saturday, January 1, 2005 - SHANGHAI, CHINA and BANGKOK, THAILAND - I woke up sick and exhausted. I began the unenviable task of cleaning and packing and made slow progress. I realized that the apartment was not going to be very clean for the new tenant, but it was presentable, and there was beer in the fridge for him. So it goes. Chris, Andy and I grabbed a cab to Amy's place and dropped off some bags. We made tentative plans, and we left as quickly as we came. We had a quick breakfast at Rendezvous - I couldn't eat anything - and got on the bus for the airport. Andy and I checked in, Chris tried to deal with his ticket home and his ticket to Thailand.
We got into Chang Mai around 2pm and tried to check into Gap's Guesthouse. No luck. This triggered an unfortunate turn of events that took us to two more hotels, two travel agencies, and finally the airport. Scott was done, and wanted to to return home. The original plan was for him to fly down to Ko Samui, and I'd meet him a day later, but he'd had enough negotiating with tuk-tuk drivers, heat, bad beds, and me, probably. I left him at the airport and caught a tuk-tuk back into town. I met Andy, a Brit, who had his passport stolen in Ko Samui. He didn't seem too bothered by it. He took me to his guesthouse, Nice Place II (don't know if there is/was a I) and I got a room for 200 baht. I got out of there quickly and walked to the Night Market for a cheap meal of fried prawns, beef, chicken and squid on a stick and some pineapple to cool my mouth down. Not bad, not good. I have an unhealthy desire to see how far I can take things with street food. I caught a tuk-tuk to the Night Bazaar, which is easily one of the best markets I've ever been to. I really wish that I had some money, a)to buy a house and b) to buy cool things for my house at markets like these. C'est la vie. I'll be back, I told myself. I walked home, through the cobblestone streets of Chang Mai, passing little bars and cooking schools...
We arrived in Pai around 5:30 and met up with Damian, their contact here. He walked us to the bungalows he'd rented for us, right on the river. They were perfect, just what you envision. We showered quickly, then walked into the little bustling backpacker town. He showed us to Satang 50, a bar serving Herbal Whisky and Old Thai Whiskey. They had an arrangement with the herbal tea stand next door. For $0.25 you can buy a bamboo shoot filled with lemongrass, herbal, or ginger tea, then add some honey and the sweet herbal tea. We had a few cups, met up with more people, then walked over to the tattoo parlor. Damian knew the girl getting a tattoo of a blossoming lotus flower with Thai script around it. We walked to Mellow Yellow and tried to get dinner, but they'd stopped serving. We settled for Sambuca shots. The attractive British bartender insisted we do it the proper way - a coffee bean dropped in, the shot lit, then we licked our palms and slapped them down on the shot. The flame is extinguished and the shot sticks to your hand. Tasty. We continued on to Tina's, I think, and had a nice Western meal. I had my first cheeseburger in months, Chang beer and a bacon salad. We returned to Mellow Yellow for another shot and beer, but our travel-weary bodies were slumped into the pillows. Raf started to fall asleep. We all left, made it back to our bungalows on the river, but I noticed a campfire on one of the bamboo decks alongside the river. Go make friends - Scott said, so I did, and everyone followed. We met Tim, a Thai girl from Pai, two Danish girls, and people came and went for the next few hours. Raf and his girlfriend were three sheets to the wind, which seems like it happens a lot with them. She is from Scotland, he is from England, and they have a dynamic relationship. He tried to push her down the stairs, she tried to push him in the fire, then she took off her shoe and hit him on the head - a very symbolic gesture in Thailand where the foot is the lowest part of the body, and the head is the highest part - physically but spiritually as well. It was a cold night, and I walked Pai home and got a blanket from her. I slept well.
We walked aimlessly around the city - I ate a sausage filled with rice and glass noodles, Scott looked for more disposable clothing, and eventually we made it to the White House Garden Restaurant. Across the street were grips of people playing basketball in front of a ruins, people jazzercising, and four acrobatic guys playing takra, a game similar to volleyball, but played with the feet using a wicker ball the size of a softball. They would have beaten me, I am confident. We dined on some Chinese style food and talked about love, life and the pursuit of happiness. We now have an hour and a half until our train ride to Chang Mai, so tis time to buy beer, tender morsels and perhaps some water so Scott doesn't have to brush his teeth with Thai water...
We went by the post office, where I managed to lose my $2.50 Oakley sunglasses, then caught a tuk-tuk to the main train station. We bought two tickets to Ayatthuya, about 80 kilometers north of Bangkok. Total price, $0.75. Not sure how they make any money in this country. We had a nice hour and a half train ride, most of which was Bangkok. At least the train does not get stuck in traffic. We got out around 3:30 and walked towards the river. I bought some BBQ bananas with a creme drizzle (kluay khaek - Indian-style bananas), then we hopped on a ferry across the river. At the other side, we payed 2 baht each for the ride. Scott said why even bother collecting the $0.05. It was half price on the ride back across the river. We walked south down Thanon U Khlong to the Baan Khun Phra Guesthouse. It is a beautiful two story 80-year-old teak house formerly known as Reuan Doem. They told us they did not have any rooms, which left us a little dismayed, given the dernier cri of the establishment, but as we began to leave they told us they had a room. It was like we were bargaining and they finally accepted our price; though we weren't about to try to bargain them down from the $8 they wanted for our double-bed room. It was very nice - the most stylish room we've stayed in. Scott wanted to dismantle the entire house and ship it back to the States (though he later went on record stating the house wasn't up to code).
We headed out and starting walking to some of the ruins. Ayuthaya served as the Siamese capital (Thailand was first called Siam) from 1350 to 1767, so there are a wealth of ruins and temples all over the city. We walked through the market, making a lunch out of BBQ chicken, pineapple, and a fry stand that set us up with fried potatoes, dough, tofu, eggplant and another vegetable of indeterminable origin. We soon met a tuk-tuk driver who wanted to take us around to the sites. We've encountered this before, and didn't want to get scammed by paying too much for a cursory tour of the city. On the other hand, the sites were too spread out for us to find on foot or even bike. We offered 200 baht ($5) for three and a half hours, but he wouldn't take it. Half a block later he caught up with us and we jumped in. He first took us to Wat Yai Chai Mongkhon, which was a huge stupa, maybe 150 meters high. It was sunset, so we got some good shots of the incandescent sky. After this point we were limited to sites that were lit up, but Ayathaya is a good city for this. We continued on to Phu Khao Thong Temple (Golden Mount Chedi), then Wat Mongkhon Bophit and Wat Phra Si Sanphet, then Wat Chai Wattanaram, then Wat Phra Mahathat, and finally Wat Ratburana. The sites were lit up spectaculary, as you all will witness later this summer when the pictures are posted. At 8:20 or so were got deposited back at our hotel on the river. We showered and ate a delicious meal of coconut curry soup, red curry soup, and spicy chicken with rice. We washed this down with some Chang beers and some of the best water either of us have drank in recent memory. The restaurant associated with the hotel rocks. The food was great and they have tables right above the river. We both got attacked by mosquitos, but that is to be expected. We got kicked out at 10:20, as the wait staff wanted to go home, and headed upstairs. We met a young guy from Vancouver named Armando who has spent a month in Thailand, all of it in Bangkok. Midnight came quickly and we all retired.
We ate some pad thai on the street, then got a tuk-tuk to the stadium. We were excited, not knowing what to expect beyond what we'd seen in the Jean-Claude Van DAMMAGE movies we'd seen where he travels to Thailand to avenge his friends deaths. This wasn't quite a kumite, but it was still impressive. We paid $500 for the third tier tickets and watched a few rounds. It is a very intriguing style of fighting - just as much kicking as punching. The stretcher came into the ring after some stunning KOs, but wasn't used. Andy was able to sneak into the ringside area, so he got me and I hustled down. We had a great view of the fighters. One of them, who couldn't have been more than 14 years old, was looking damn fearful. He got his ass kicked the first round, worse the second round, and didn't want to go back in the third round. He didn't have much of a choice, and got dropped within 8 seconds.
We stayed until the last of the ten fights, 10:15 or so, and the place cleared out instantly. It wasn't like what I imagine a fight in the states to be like, but this is Thailand. We headed back to Khao San and drank at a few bars, though things close up at 1am there now.
I went in and out of consciousness on the flight, and in a momentary lapse of reason I left my iPod on my seat when I left the plane. Not to be seen again. Andy and I went through customs, got our bags and walked down the road a bit to get a taxi --> apparently they're cheaper outside of the airport. We cabbed into Sukhumuwit and tried to check into the Honey Hotel, but they were full. We went next door and got a room for 800 baht. I fell down face-first onto the bed and would not get up for 12 hours. Andy went out and found a hip-hop club, some dinner, and a massage.
