Something About Thailand

Note: I asked Alexa to come up with a title for this post - you can see above what she decided on.

After a couple days exploring Bangkok, Alexa and I decided to get out of the big city and head west, to Kanchanaburi. Kanchanaburi has its place in history for being the location of the "Bridge Over the River Kwai" and a city along the Thai/Burma Railway - AKA the "Death Railway" built by POWs during WWII, but it's also an incredibly charming little town and has some beautiful surrounding scenery.

We caught an early afternoon train from Bangkok. While we were waiting for the train, we met Patt and Ady, also traveling to Kanchanaburi. Patt is a young Thai woman who has lived all over the world, and Ady is a young English guy who is traveling with her. In a style we would soon get used to, Patt asked if we had booked accommodation, and when I said that we hadn't, she informed me that we would all team up to look for a place to stay.

The train ride was mostly uneventful. We chatted briefly with an older Thai man, mostly about how large the United States is, and how we are lucky not to be Indian. When we arrived in Kanchanaburi, we quickly found a nice place to stay - our bungalow right next to Ady and Patt's.

In the evening, Alexa and I went out looking for a place to eat dinner. We ran into Ady and Patt. Patt informed us where we should eat dinner, dragged us there, and then instructed us what to order. (She may sound bossy - she is - but she was quite endearing and the fact that she is about 4 feet tall made the whole thing more hilarious.)

We ate at a restaurant called "Mangosteen", which also doubles as a book shop. Alexa enjoyed her iced Thai tea while we read a travel book:

After dinner, we met up with Ady and Patt for some pool at a nearby bar and soon met Roman, a Russian guy who was also traveling in Thailand. We all went out to a "club" afterwards - although really it was just a tiny little bar with loud music playing and flashing lights. We stayed out quite late and enjoyed all sorts of quality music, and decided that the next day, we would rent motor bikes and explore the surrounding countryside.

The next morning (okay, afternoon), we rented our bikes and set out for a national park with some of the most gorgeous waterfalls in Thailand. We stopped for lunch at a tiny roadside restaurant along the way - having Patt with us opened a lot of doors since she speaks Thai. The scenery along the road was beautiful but I was too busy hanging on to take any pictures.

The waterfalls have several "tiers", so visitors climb up and up to see each level. This is the first level:

The second level had a lot of people and a sign that said, "BEWARE OF FIERCE MONKEYS" so we didn't pause there long and continued to the third level:

The pool at the base of the waterfall was perfect for swimming. A little cold, but fine once you got in, and a little more than five feet deep - I could stand with my head out of the water if I was on tiptoe in most parts of the pool. The fish were very friendly and nibbly - a sensation Alexa and I were used to from our time at the fish spa, but Ady nearly had a heart attack about the whole thing.

We swam at this pool for quite a while, and then attempted to head further up. Unfortunately, we were soon turned back by a park ranger type person, who said that it was going to rain and the park would be shutting soon. We got sent back down, where Roman decided to go for one last swim and play behind the level two waterfall. Alexa and I kept watch against FIERCE MONKEYS.

It was a long day of swimming, hiking and motorbiking, and by the time we got home, we were all quite tired. We went to a night market for dinner, and then everyone was happy to make it an early night.

The next day, Alexa and I got up and went to go see the famous Bridge Over the River Kwai. It's not that great, and the movie that makes it famous wasn't even filmed in Thailand. (It was filmed in Sri Lanka.) Still, here's the bridge:

Near the bridge is a museum which has exhibits both on Thai history and the history of the railway. The museum was interesting - the exhibits weren't really that good or well maintained, but there was a wealth of information written on the walls which made for some interesting reading, both to learn about the actual history and to try to understand the Thai perspective on WWII.

The day was the hottest one we have had recently, so we laid low during the afternoon - reading, resting, and getting laundry done.

In the evening, we met up with our usual gang (Patt, Ady, Roman) and went out for dinner. We ate at a restaurant called "The Jolly Frog" and learned all about high quality Thai customer service (NOT). By the end of the meal we were carefully rationing our water because we had given up hope of ever getting more. After eating, we went back down to the bridge to see it lit up at night, and to have a drink on a floating bar!

Standing on the bridge at night:

The next day, it was time to head back to Bangkok. We were sitting in the reception area of our guest house when the skies opened and soaked everything with a torrential downpour:

The train was running on "Thai time" - although the timetable said it would be arriving at 2:44 PM, it did not arrive until nearly 5:00. We played poker for bahts on the train platform until Patt ran out of money and announced the game was over. We sat in the very last car so we had a great view out the back:

We didn't arrive in Bangkok until nearly 9:00, and hurried to our hostel. Or tried to - as we were driving along, our cab driver suddenly announced that he had to pull over, and then proceeded to get out and tighten the lug nuts on the back two wheels of the car. He turned off the meter while he did this, so it didn't seem to be a scam but was just kind of confusing.

We checked into the hostel and then decided that we should go out for Saturday night drinks. We had explored the Khao San Road and Patpong areas of Bangkok earlier in the week, so decided to go to Sukhumvit, the swankiest part of town. Stupidly, I didn't bring my guidebook, so once we got off the metro, we wandered around, hoping a nice bar would just sort of appear. It didn't. We found out later that we were one street away from the happenin' night life, but we gave up too soon.

Enticed by what looked like a rooftop bar, we wandered into a really nice Sheraton, but were soon thwarted by a bellhop and realized there was no rooftop bar. Determined to find somewhere good, we got off the elevator and walked down the stairs, and went to the concierge to ask where we could go for a drink, neglecting to mention that we were not guests of the hotel. He recommended a bar called "LongTable", and sent us on our way with directions - the 25th floor of a nearby building.

We got our wish for swankiness at this place! I tried to take a picture but it didn't really work out:

The bar is a trendy place which has a great view over Bangkok. Here is a much better picture of the view, and the inside of the bar. We got some expensive drinks and sipped them while people-watching and gazing out over Bangkok. We stole the coasters.

Leaving LongTable, we went to one more bar in the nearby area, and then headed home. We got up early today (or tried to - I am still in my pajamas - oops!) to go to the weekend market! More pictures to come!

Favorite Penang and Thailand Pictures (Thus Far)

Following the unfortunate demise of the card reader which is incorporated into my computer, I finally got an external card reader and so am able to upload some pictures! I've got a LOT of pictures to share, so I chose some of my favorites and added some short descriptions! Enjoy!

The first one is from my last destination in Malaysia - Penang. Penang, aka Georgetown, was the colonial capital of Malaysia - it is an island off the very Northwest coast. Here's the view leaving the Butterworth harbor on the ferry to cross over to Penang:

 [click any photo to enlarge]

While in Georgetown, a friend and I decided to see how many places of worship from major world religions we could visit in a single day. (The answer? Five: Christianity (two churches, one Catholic and one Anglican), Hinduism, Islam, Buddhism, and Chinese ancestor worship (three Chinese temples). Why is there no synagogue in this town!?) We had the most fun at a Chinese temple where the dragons were dancing to prepare for Chinese New Year. (This is the explanation we got from a bystander.)

We arrived just before the dragon celebration was to start, and soon the whole temple was full of these giant, fuzzy dragons dancing all over the place to loud drums, while the air was thick with incense smoke. These two boys did NOT expect the dragons to suddenly turn around and face them - the younger one was terrified but the older one held him in place. Notice the full grown man trying to slink away.

Each dragon was composed of two people - a head/front legs, and a hindquarters. The temple was very full of people, dragons and altars, so there were a couple people like the man in the yellow polo shirt in the picture below. Their job was to wrangle the dragons in the correct direction. He often had to nudge a hindquarters over to make room for others, and he would tug at the dragons when it was time to move to a different part of the temple. He handled the dragons the way I am used to handling horses, which really made me forget that there were people in the costumes!

Another Chinese temple across town, this one much quieter. Very beautiful:

This is from a Chinese clan house in Georgetown - it's the front porch. The level of ornateness and intricacy is astounding:

From Malaysia into Thailand. Here are boats which are gathered to take us from Ao Nang to Rai Lay Beach. Even though it is on mainland Thailand (not an island), Rai Lay is only accessible by boat thanks to some giant cliffs. When you catch a longtail boat, you have to wade out in the water to climb in - I got paranoid and held my bag above my head even though the water was never more than waist deep.

A view from Rai Lay:

This next picture is one of my favorite pictures of all time. Two Thai boys were pulling in their boat at sunset, and I love the silhouette of the boys, the boat and the rocks against the soft colors of the ocean and sky as the sun went down. This was on Ko Lanta.

The view from the front porch of our bungalow on Ko Lanta, just after sunset:

Here is the cat who lived in the bungalow!! The cat is not dead! She was just really, really secure in her ownership of the bed.

Before sunset at Khao Lak:

The next two photos are of our idyllic beach (Hat Yao) on Koh Phangan. The water was very shallow and warm - you could wade out in the water for 50 feet and still have it be only thigh-deep.

Not too crowded here, either!

From Koh Phangan, time to leave lazy beaches and travel North to Bangkok! The Grand Palace complex is incredible and sparkles to such a degree that photographs can hardly do it justice!

Love this guy:

More Grand Palace:

You would look stressed, too, if you were holding up an entire building!

The next two are also some of my favorite pictures I've ever taken - elegant sculptures inside the Grand Palace:

Buddhist temple near the river in Bangkok:

Now Alexa and I are in Kanchanaburi! We will write more about our time here soon, but here's a teaser just to get you excited/jealous:

That's our new Russian friend, Roman, swimming in a lagoon at the base of a gorgeous waterfall. Today was waterfall day!!

Adventures in Bangkok!

We have been having a lot of fun in Bangkok over the past few days! Alexa arrived on the evening of the 20th, and our time together got off to a very exciting start...

I met her at the airport and we went back to our guest house where we sat talking and catching up for a long time. Finally, we decided it was time for bed, and turned out the lights. A few minutes later, Alexa said, "I don't mean to be paranoid, but I think I feel something biting me." Having had one previous encounter with bed bugs, I leaped out of bed and turned on the light so we could inspect the bed and sure enough... bugs everywhere!! NOOOOOO!!! We pulled all our stuff as far from the bed as possible (after my last bed bug run-in, I have a strict "no backpacks on the bed" policy so luckily there wasn't much near the bed), and then sat huddled in a corner of the room, trying to decide what to do. At this point, it was around 2:30 AM. We found more bugs along the baseboards of the wall, both living and dead, and decided we couldn't even sleep on the floor. We also did not want our stuff in that room any longer - more time there meant more possibility of bites and bugs getting into our bags.

We scribbled a note to the guest house ("BEDBUGS EVERYWHERE!!"), hoisted our backpacks on, and set off into Bangkok to try to find somewhere else to stay. It was about 3:00 AM and the city was mostly quiet. Of course, Bangkok is a city that "never sleeps", so we passed a lot of vendors setting up stalls with fresh produce for the morning markets, and there were still plenty of cars, taxis, and tuk tuks driving around - it's pretty much rush hour 24 hours a day! We walked towards Khao San Road which is the "backpacker ghetto" of Bangkok - I figured there would be some hotels there with 24 hour reception. After walking for a while, we saw a hotel with the sign lit up and decided to see if they had any space. The guy at the desk did not seem remotely surprised that two foreign women would wander in looking for a room at 3:30 in the morning, and soon we were in a basic but clean room. No bed bugs here!!

After recovering from THAT incident, we have had a fun couple days here in Bangkok. Yesterday, our unique treat for the day was going to a "fish spa" - putting our feet in a tank of water with fish who nibbled away all the dead skin. At first, we didn't think we were going to be able to handle keeping our feet in the water - those fish tickled SO MUCH!! As soon as you put your feet in the tank, they would dart over and start nibbling, trying to wedge their way between toes and anywhere else they could find space. After a while, we got used to the sensation and let the fish do their job. Our feet felt softer right after we pulled them out, but we were skeptical and thought that maybe it was just because they had been soaking in water for a while. Still, when we felt our feet later in the evening, we did have to admit that the fish had done a good job!

Other activities have included boat rides, visiting Buddhist temples, going to the Grand Palace, checking out Jim Thompson's house, eating plenty of food from street vendors, and wandering through various market places. Today's to-do list includes: finding an SD card reader at a computer store (thanks for the suggestion, Grandpa!) and taking the train up to Kanchanaburi!

Recent Highlights

A couple days ago, I decided to write a nice long post and sat down with the computer only to discover... that my SD card reader (how I get my pictures off my camera) is not working. I'm taking an "ignore the problem and maybe it will go away" approach to solving this, but sadly no pictures for now. Still, here are some fun things that have been going on in my life:

• PACKERS WIN THE SUPER BOWL!!! If you think that I would miss the Super Bowl just because I was on a small island off the coast of Thailand, you are incorrect. I woke up at 5:45 - approximately 5 hours earlier than I am usually out of bed these days - and walked to a sports bar which had advertised that they would be showing the Super Bowl. There was a small crowd of other Americans there, mostly college guys, all of whom were for some reason cheering for Pittsburgh. I did befriend a girl from Eau Claire who turned up in an Aaron Rodgers jersey. It was an exciting start to the day, although I wound up needing a long nap in the afternoon, especially since I had been up until 1 AM watching Liverpool v. Chelsea with my British friend.
• My bungalow has a cat! The first morning in my bungalow, I heard meowing outside and opened the door, and in darted a cat! She jumped up on the bed and went to sleep - it seems that this is her routine no matter who is in the bungalow. I don't know how the owner knew to give me the cat bungalow but I am excited about this. I have a cute picture of the cat passed out on the bed but GAR, can't upload it.
• I have successfully avoided getting sunburned, which is impressive given how much time I spend in the sun. It's been a diligent operation of constant sunscreen application - I'm telling you all this so that you can adjust your expectations for how tan I will be upon returning home. Yes, I am living on a tropical island. No, my skin cannot be described as anything other than "pasty".
• Upcoming plans: Soon I will be traveling to Ko Phangan, on the East coast, for the Half Moon Party and a few more days of relaxation. On the 20th, Alexa will be coming to join me and I will meet her in Bangkok!!! Very excited about this, and her arrival will likely spur me into "doing things" rather than having days like yesterday, where my sole accomplishment for the day was going to a used book store and getting a new book.

Hopefully my card reader will magically repair itself soon and I can share with you some of the gorgeous pictures of my life right now!!

Worst Blogger Ever

Many apologies for the lack of posts for the past week. I am, in fact, still alive and doing well. I went from the Cameron Highlands to Georgetown/Penang, and have since crossed into Thailand and am currently in Krabi, Thailand. Unfortunately, internet is much less plentiful here  (I'm currently at an internet cafe), so I can't post pictures or write long entries. In the next few days, we'll be leaving to go island hop around for a while - those of you who just got stuck in the blizzard in the Midwest, feel free to Google image search "Ko Phi Phi" and then cry for a little while. When I get a better internet connection, I'll have lots of pictures to post and stories to tell!!