Adventures In Thailand

ONE NIGHT IN BANGKOK MAKES A HARD MAN HUMBLE

Had an amazing 9 days in Thailand. Only problem being that they were too short. We packed so much into them but still didn't see and do everything we wanted to. This is going to be a very long post, so you might want to a get a cup of coffee and snack or something.

We started out in Bangkok for two nights and a day. Arrived the first night in the early evening and checked into our moderately priced, moderately nice guest house. Here are some pictures I snapped on the way from the airport.

We wandered around for a while to get our bearings and ate some gorgeous food. Sampled Thai "whiskey" which is actually rum, and very delicious. And cheap.

This is a picture of some baby buddhas that decorated the bar we were at. This became our favourite hang out while we were in Bangkok.

We ended up at a bar that had a live band and sheesha pipes.

Being the adventurous soul I am, I decided to try a puff or two. (It's only flavoured tobacco.)

Found it quite inoffensive, but certainly not something I will do on a regular basis. It was nice to be around some live music though. Not something I've seen a lot of in Korea. Unless you count Boney M of course.

After that we went to see the "Ping Pong Show." For the sake of my more "delicate" readers, I'm not going to get into details about that...but for those of you who know what I'm talking about... Yeah, not an experience I would recommend. I consider myself to be very far from prudish, but I was shocked and horrified with that experience. Shaun seemed to look at it as research or something, and enjoyed it far more than I did. (Luckily, or sadly, there were no cameras allowed.)

The next day we spent sight seeing and eating. Food is so so cheap there, and so delicious. We probably ate 6 meals every day.

First stop was the Royal Palace. There we saw the Emerald Buddha which is actually made of jade. (This is not my photo. No cameras allowed inside the temple.)

We wandered around the grounds for hours looking at the amazing decorations on the buildings. I took about 100 pictures. Here are some of the best ones.

After the Grand Palace we stopped for lunch and our favourite drink, guava shake. I'd never tried guava before, but both Shaun and I were in love with these drinks. While in Bangkok we had one probably about every hour if we could manage it.

Our second stop was Wat Pho, another Temple, where lives the Reclining Buddha. It is 46 metres long and 15 metres high and decorated with gold plating. This was probably the best part of the day for me, maybe because it was such a surprise. I had never heard of the Reclining Buddha and was expecting a normal-sized statue. Imagine my surprise when we walked into the temple and I saw this massive gold Buddha. I was truly awe-inspiring.

The feet are inlaid with scenes in mother of pearl.

Also in the Temple you can buy a cup of tiny coins that you take and drop into a row of black metal pots. We weren't sure what the exact point of it was, but chose to believe it was for good luck or something along those lines. We made a wish while we did it, just in case. I've since looked into it and I guess it's just a local custom that is "supposed to be auspicious and bring merit" and good way for the Temple to raise funds. So we were pretty much right. Here is a picture of me dropping the coins in the buckets.

I took this picture out on the grounds of the temple. It also houses the largest collection of Buddha images in Thailand.

Next stop was Wat Arun, or the Temple of the Dawn. It's around 85 metres high and decorated with bits of porcelain which had previously been used as ballast by boats coming to Bangkok from China.

It's incredibly beautiful both from across the river it sits beside, and up close. You can climb up a set of deadly steep stairs to about two-thirds of the way up

which gives you a pretty nice view of Bangkok and of the temple grounds. We stayed up there for a while enjoying the sunshine and the view.

After our steep climb we were famished, so took the ferry back across the river and ate a quick bite at a restaurant on the river. The waitress was exceedingly rude to us, but seemed to having a jolly time with another table of somewhat more rich-looking tourists. Perhaps she hates backpackers....But the food was good, of course, and we enjoyed watching some local children swimming in the river.

After our lunch we took off to the Weekend Market, the biggest most famous market in Bangkok. Sadly we got there only about an hour before closing, but we still managed to part with some money. I bought a really cool pair of embroidered shoes and some Buddha paintings which I think were hand-made originals, as all of them were slightly different.

After our shopping trip we were both exhausted to made our way back to our guest house and then out for more food and some more Thai whisky. We didn't do anything too exciting that night, just sat around and talked about how great the day was and debated everything under the sun. Retired far too late considering we had to be up at 7 the next morning to catch our bus to Ko Chang.

MINI BUS HELL

Day 3, Monday, found us squeezed into a mini bus with 9 other people on our way to Ko Chang, one of the largest island in Thailand, where we planned to spend the bulk of our holiday. Things were fine, the air con worked, the seats were relatively comfortable, we had entertainment in the form of a strange (we think) American girl who was regaling her friend with her thoughts on the lyrics to many songs by the Killers. (Her favourite was Number 2.)

About 2 hours after we set out we stopped at a restaurant off the free-way for snack and toilet and when we were all piling back into the van the driver told us that we were supposed to wait here for another bus that would come soon. So we unloaded our luggage and sat down to wait. And the bus did not come soon. Maybe 45 minutes later two huge gaudily decorated buses pulled up. We still weren't sure if these were our buses, as we had paid budget prices for our tickets, and these buses looked very luxurious. They were indeed the ones we were waiting for, so after they finished their 20 minutes stop we climbed aboard and discovered that its true that you cannot judge a book by its cover, or a bus by it fancy paint job. The only seats left were ones that had been bolted in behind the original seat where a door used to be. So we had, by my calculation, exactly 3 inches of leg room, and no air con vent. And to top it all off, there were ants living in the wall that seemed very interested in me. Maybe those were the budget price seats...

At last we made it to the port and were preparing to board the ferry when we were ushered to a car and had our bags loaded into the back and they drove away with us. I guess our budget fair tickets were for another ferry 10 minutes down the road. A ferry that looked more like a fishing boat. But certainly had more character than the huge car ferry we originally thought was for us.

Here is a picture of the sun setting over Ko Chang and the shrine to Buddha at the front of the ferry boat.

After a lovely boat ride and a cramped ride in the back of a pick-up truck, or "share taxi", we arrived at Lonely Beach and rented a hut that was to be our home for the next for days. Now doesn't "a bamboo hut on a beach in Thailand" sound like perhaps the most wonderful thing you could experience? Think again. I'm sure it would have been if our hut had had more than an inch-thick smelly mat to sleep on and had not been infested with horrible biting ants. I can handle roughing it, but ant bites are not something I relish. Never-the-less it was certainly cheap (around $3 a night) and did have a lot of character.

The best part was the shower. I wish I had a picture of it, but did not have the prescence of mind to snap one. It was a big pool of rain water inside a stone hut with a little basin that you used to scoop water from the pool to pour over yourself. Very refreshing on a hot day. Not so nice in the chilly evening. But still somehow wonderfully satisfying.

Here are some pictures of our surroundings while on Ko Chang.

SHANDA GOES SCUBA DIVING

Our second day on Ko Chang we went SCUBA diving. The day started at 8 am when we were picked up by the dive company's pick-up truck. It seems to be the preferred way of mass-transporting people there...just shove them in the back of a truck.

The boat-ride out to the dive spot was very long, so Patrick, our dive instructor, used that time to give us the low-down on what we'd need to know. I was a little nervous. Equipment and me don't really get along. My nerves did not diminish as we got dressed in our gear. And then as soon as we jumped in the water, I lost my weight belt and Patrick had to dive down to get it. This did not seem a good sign to me, and my jitters increased. We finally got my re-weighted and then swam over to the buoys where we were to do our training exercises before going down for the actual dive.

Now for those of you who don't know, I have had ear problems my whole life. And when SCUBA diving it is very important to nuetralize the pressure in your ears or else you can burst your eardrum. I had a lot of trouble getting my ears to pop and thus was getting very frightened and freaked out. I kept making Patrick take me back to the surface because I couldn't control the panic. But eventually I managed to keep myself calm, and before I knew it Patrick was pointing down and lo and behold, my flippers were touching sand! And once I got down there among the fish and coral, I was fine. All thoughts of worrying about my ears went out the window, and I relaxed and just enjoyed the wonder around me.

This is one of the islands we swam around while diving.

We saw so many fish, none of which I know the names of unfortunately. And it was amazing to watch the clam-like creatures and little bottle-brush-like animals closing up and hiding as we swam over. The best was when we swam through/beside/with a school of fish. I could have reached out and touched one if I hadn't signed a contract that said I wouldn't interfere with the wildlife.

After the first dive we ate lunch and then swam around the boat and out to an island where there were hermit crabs on the sand and a big swing in a palm tree. Our second dive went much more smoothly than the first, although my ears still did not behave as I would have liked them too. Patrick coaxed an eel out from under a rock and we saw more exotic fish and some anemones that were flowing with the current and had little fish hiding in them.

I've always wanted to try SCUBA diving, and now that I have I think I will do it again. It was possibly the most relaxing thing I have ever done in my life. Nothing to do but breathe, kick your feet a little, and look at amazing sealife. Our day of diving definately rates very high on the list of the best days of my life.

INDULGENCE "O", ACTIVITY "X"

Our second day on the island we were both pooped from too many light nights and early mornings so we decided to allow ourselves a day of indulgence. We sat on the wooden deck of our "lodge" and ate all morning and read and drank fruit shakes. In the afternoon we headed to the beach and swam in the waves, then went for bbq chicken supper and took a bottle of Ko Chang wine to the beach. I was falling asleep on the beach so went home early. I slept in the hammock that night, away from the biting ants, and was awoken by a huge thunderstorm in the night. But I was warm and cozy wrapped in my hammock under the bamboo roof of the porch, so got an excellent view of the lighting and rain without getting wet.

RAMBO THE ELEPHANT AND TREETOP TARZAN

After our day of indulgence we were ready for some activity. So we signed up for an elephant trek in the jungle. They picked us up in the usual pick-up truck and as we pulled up to the elephant huts we looked over and saw a large bull elephant named Rambo running out toward us. We climbed a small tower to then climb on his back. Well actually, onto a seat that was strapped to his back. The trek took us through rainforest, a pomelo orchard

and a rubber tree plantation.

The "driver" of the elephant picked one of the pomelos for us to taste. It's like a huge green grapefruit, but with a lot less sourness. A lot les flavour in general actually. But still very delicious.

We stopped at a mountain stream for a dip and to give Rambo a break and drink.

Shaun go to ride directly on his back for the return journey, and he (Rambo that is) kept walking straight into the pomelo trees and lifting his trunk. We finally figured out, with much grunting from the trainer, that he wanted Shaun to pick on and feed it to him, which he did with much delight. I have to admit, I was jealous. But when we were almost back I got to climb down on his back as well, so I was happy. Though it wasn't a very comfortable ride as I was sitting right on his shoulder blades.

After the trek was over we went to a Treetop Adventure park. I was expecting lovely wooden bridges to ramble on through the treetops. Instead it was zip cords and rope ladders and things to climb and fall off of. Which I did about 5 minutes in. And that was enough to make me decide it was not my cup of tea so I went back to the club house and waited for Shaun to finish. And I have nothing to show for experience but bruises on all my apendages.

TATTOO AND BANG BAO (OR THE TALE OF TWO INCOMPETANT KAYAKERS)

Friday, our last day on Ko Chang, I had an appointment in the morning to get a tattoo. So I left Shaun sleeping, his only task being to wake up early enough to check out of the hut, and headed to the tattoo hut. Now when I say hut, I mean just that. Yes, I got a tattoo in a hut on an island in Thailand. At least it wasn't made of bamboo.

It was done in the traditional way, with needles attached to a stick of bamboo. So it's much gentler than with a gun so it heals faster, but also takes a lot longer. I was there for around 4 hours and the tattoo itself took about 3. But it was really amazing experience to watch such a beautiful peice of art emerging. And the detail they can accomplish with the bamboo is amazing compared to the conventional gun method.

Here's the finished product. Notice also the many ant bites.

After the tattoo was finished we took a truck to Bang Bao, a village built in a bay, most of which extends off a long pier. I wanted to go there for the shopping and the seafood, not to mention the view. We figured it would be a great place to spend our last night. And we were right. We found a really nice guest house for a really good price. Had a bite to eat and then rented a kayak to paddle out to the end of the bay where we were told we could see monkeys in the evening.

When we set out it was a wonderful evening. Sunny and calm. We paddled around the point and up and down the shore. We managed to see one monkey even, so we were happy. When we got bored with monkey hunting, we decided to try to paddle across to the other side of the bay to a beach where we could go for a quick swim. When we got about half way there, however, the wind picked up considerably (the locals had been predicting a storm would be settling in ever since we got to the island, so we shouldn't have been surprised.) I knew that if we just kept paddling we'd eventually make it to the other side and it would be foolish to try to paddly directly into the oncoming wind and waves to get back to the pier. Shaun did not see it this way, however, and began to panic and regale me with tales of British people who drown in Thailand every year. So I agreed to turn around, which, as I knew, was easier said than done. He managed to get going in the direction of the pier, but I was not so lucky. And next thing I knew I was out in the middle of the bay all by myself. Being the resourceful young woman I am, I knew it would futile to try to follow where Shaun was leading, so I turned around and made for the beach that was our original goal. I made it there fine, granted quite exhausted, and wandered into an "exclusive resort" that was situated along the beach. I must have a looked a fright, soaking wet from the rain that had started to fall and from jumping in the water once I got close to shore. But some nice people at the resort helped me and gave a motor-bike ride back to town. Shaun meantime had made it back to the pier and sent help after me. We must have met on the road.

So it was an adventure anyway. I seem to be really good at getting into those. Shaun's still convinced we almost died, but I know I've got more moxy than to let a little wind take me out. ;)

After our "near death experience" we decided some sustinance was needed. And as we were sitting on the lovely deck of our guest house having a drink, an amazing storm blew in. We had to move in off the deck because the wind was blowing the rain in horizontal sheets under the roof. It also closed all the shops I wanted to shop in, much to my disappointment. But we managed to find a lovely seafood restaurant.

I ordered a whole fish, fresh off the boat, and it was the most delicious thing I've ever eaten. Very meaty and not too fishy, just nicely flavoured. And the sauce! It was just the right amout of flavour to compliment the fish without overpowering it. I also had a spicy soup with fresh prawns. The whole thing was incredible.

Here is the view from the deck of our guesthouse at night.

Here it is in the morning.

The deck had these really cool tables. The floor was cut out and overtop was a low glass table. You sat on the deck and dangles your feet over the water. At night, when the water is clear, you can see a statue in the water. The guest house was called Buddha view. I think that's why.

HOME AGAIN HOME AGAIN

The next day we got back on a mini-bus, this time for the whole journey, and back to Bangkok. I got a massage and then we had supper and I finally got my shopping fix. I bought lots of jewellery and 11 pairs of fisherman pants! I figure those should last me a few years at least. And an amazing pair of handmade leather boots.

We had another amazing supper and a few drinks. Nearly ended up back at the ping pong show thanks to a shady taxi driver. Then it was up early to get to the airport. Arrived home at about 11, stayed awake long enough for a quick phone call home and to but all my wet clothes in the wash, then crashed.

We had a really great time. We came home relxed, though exhausted. I'm still catching up on sleep. I only wish it could have been longer. 9 days wasn't nearly enough to experience Thailand. There were so many other things we would have liked to do!!!

I took 8 albums of photos. Here are the links if you want to check them out:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=55478&l=95a4e&id=890700076

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=55529&l=09b41&id=890700076

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=55532&l=9e1fe&id=890700076

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=55560&l=57f30&id=890700076

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=55561&l=c8500&id=890700076

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=55563&l=fda2a&id=890700076

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=55836&l=3a358&id=890700076

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=56083&l=1340f&id=890700076