Thailand

  Bangkok, Thailand
Friday, October 5, 2007

Thailand was good and bad. I had a good time but I also got scammed quite a bit. I stayed a couple days in Bangkok, headed down to Koh Phangan and Koh Samui  for 1.5 weeks and came back to Bangkok for a few days. I plan to return later to spend more time seeing the rest of Thailand.

In Bangkok, I found wats (temples), canals, cheap markets, Thai massage and Khao San Road.

The Palace was quite nice:

Palace, fancy

Palace 1

Funny Statue

Wat ARun was nice:

Wat Arun 1

For a second, I mistakenly thought the taxi driver was calling my a loon on my way here! He repeated what I said "Temple of Dawn" then "What a loon!" Only he was actually saying the Thai name "Wat ARun" (wat ay-roon)!

Wat Arun and City

Wat Arun 2

Wat Arun 3

Wat Arun 4

Trippy Statue

Some of their statues are quite trippy. This fine gentleman here has a lizard snout, bird-claw feet and boobs. I also liked the bird-bottom, top-less woman top, angel-winged ones. I wasn't allowed to take pictures inside the palace museum of this bird-angel-woman. Later in India, I also found a Shiva with the right side of his/her body a man and the left side a woman! (representing the unity of the sexes?)

Canal 1

I took a canal ride. It reminded me of Venice only with Palm trees. Children even swam in that nasty brown water! I paid too much for it (bargained 1500B down to 1000B, should have paid 300B) but oh well. I got the whole boat to myself! The ride was quite pleasant.

Canal 2

Canal 3

Wat Arun is in the background here:

Canal 4

Fantasies Store, big Market

They have this huge open-air market in Bangkok. You can get lost in it. It is a maze of stalls. They are often grouped in themes together. For example, tons of fish of different types in clear plastic bags (sometimes a huge bag with many fish) and fish supplies. Furniture stalls also were there. The standard T-shirt and food stalls were there. It was big but I wasn't that impressed. A tourist info gave out maps and I had walked from end to end already. I got a coconut to drink from but decided not to buy any junk to mail home.

The Tuk-tuks leaving all refused to put their meter on citing "traffic jam" and didn't want to take me to Khao San Road. It was closing time for the market so they knew they could gouge everybody leaving all at once. So I got together with 2 other girls and we gave the driver a high price for the Tuk-tuk. It's quite possible I could have got a lower price by walking a few blocks away from the market. There was no traffic jam. However there often are terrible jams during rush hour in Bangkok. The Metro/Skytrain don't go into the old city because they don't want to disturb the Wats.

Tasty bugs in the market:

Bugs Yum Yum

My first experience of Bangkok was getting scammed a bit. A friendly tout at the airport tried to sell me a taxi and hotel. I refused the hotel and walked away. I was trying to figure out how to get a phone card or use the phone when she came back and lent me her cell phone to call my cheap hotel. Then she convinced me to get the taxi through her for 800, saying it would cost that much normally including the road toll prices. I later found out that I should have paid 300-400. Oh well.

I wandered out my first day there and a friendly, helpful English-speaking guy told me about which tourist sites to see and gave me a super-low price on a Tuk-tuk 30 Baht (~$0.90) for the whole day, even waiting for me at each stop. Then the driver could not speak English well and "misunderstood" me. Every second stop was a kick-back stop where he got a gas coupon if I bought something. The first stop was a travel shop where I quite happily booked my train and bungaloes for the next week (and got way overcharged in retrospect). $500 seemed quite reasonable but in retrospect she probably got $280 of that as profit. The driver got angry at me for not buying a suit or gems at the suit shop and gem shop. The gem shop was actually quite nice to browse. There were tons of gems all over the place and I wandered through an isle where they were being ground. He did take me to the Reclining Buddha at least. Finally I ordered him to take me to the palace, not his next kickback stop. He told me the palace was already closed ~2:30pm. Luckily, the travel booking agency woman told me about this scam and the true closing time. So I told him to take me anyways. On the way, he mentioned that it *might* still be open. Also, he told me this was the last stop then and that I should pay much more since he wasn't getting a kick-back! I did not. He had wasted a major part of my day. For some reason, they sell gems and knock-off Armani/etc suits practically every block in Bangkok!

Khao San Road

Khao San Road attracts a lot of backpackers. It is busy and lively. It has cheap places to stay, especially a little ways away from the road. However it is rather touristy with lots of vendors, a few fast food places and bars. I didn't love it but it was ok. Once you know where to look, there are cheap places to stay and cheap 24h Internet. Here it is:

I'm not big into massage that hurts and Thai massage does somewhat. But I had to try it since I'm in Thailand and it's $5 CDN for an hour. It was ok. They cracked a bunch of my joints and stretched me a bit. They massaged my back and legs in a soothing, pleasant way for part of it. They even offer lessons and certification in Thai massage but I'd rather learn a more soothing massage technique if I did learn one.

Alleyway Living Room

People living on the street is much more common in Thailand (and India) than in Canada. Enterprising people and families live on the street. A major segment of the population does. They set up shanti towns using sticks, tarps, string, stones, etc. For their roof, they usually used some sort of corrugated shingle-ish material. Stronger than shingle, kind of like steel but scratchable. Maybe fiber mixed with some heat-resistant material. Ashphault shingles would melt here. In Bangkok, it was more common for people to extend their small rooms in a building out into the alley. Some families had their living room in the alley. They'd have their TV and chairs out and they'd hang out there in the evenings. Here was one like that!:

Enterprising Vendor

They have tons of street vendors in Thailand. This woman vendor impressed me with her practical motorbike-pulled set-up:

A table, chairs, stove and food supplies all in her motorbike trailer!

The Thais all celebrate their beloved king. There are statues, monuments and paintings celebrating him all over the city. I read that many Thai people put up a picture of him in their apartments. There is a yellow shirt with the royal emblem on it which is quite popular. Sometimes 1/3 of the crowd is yellow-shirted. I was tempted to get one myself! They don't look too bad and it appeals to me in a ridiculous sort of way! One neat thing about the Thai kings is that they seem to value getting university degrees eg PhD medicine from Harvard. And if anyone in any way insults this amazing king, it is a criminal offense. Even if you stamp on a coin you drop to stop it spinning, you can be arrested (the money all has pictures of the king on it).

Hail the King!

Here is a picture of three paintings of the king in a row, from a side-street. I don't know why they needed all three!

I headed down to Koh Phangan and Koh Samui for 1.5 weeks. They were alright. I can see why some people fall in love with them. The beaches are fairly nice, it can be somewhat cheap (being that it is Thailand), the atmosphere is relaxed and the parties are fun.

I stayed at a "resort" which was a set of bungalos on a beach a 25 minute taxi from the main beach. This is where I stayed:

Power Beach Resort 1

Power Beach Resort 2

It cost about 500 Baht per day (~$14). I had to book a few days leading up to the Full Moon or else I wasn't allowed to book it. The bungalo included a fan (rather necessary in these temperatures), a bathroom with a shower. The shower sprays right onto the bathroom floor! (see picture below) The toilet looked American except it lacked a flush. I had to fill a plastic pan of water at this beside-toilet water basin and pour it in! The pan needed to be bigger for this to do the job properly. (the one in the picture was an American toilet in my Samui bungalo and does have a flush)

Toilet Showers

The Had Rin beach was nicer than my beach. It has fine, pale sand and no occasional rocks as you wade out (I think; my resort beach did have a few rocks). Most beaches are a bit shallow for swimming (2-3 feet) here but I heard a beach on the North of the island was deeper (Bottle Beach). Here is the Had Rin beach:

Had Rin Beach, Phanang

Here is the skyline from the beach:

Had Rin skyline

The big party is on the night of the Full Moon. Tons of backpackers and tourists get drunk and dance on the sand. DJs play from buildings/stages away from the beach. Vendors sell plastic buckets with a mickey of alcohol, a coke and a red bull mixed together ($4-$11 depending on which type of alcohol you pick). Here is the famous Full Moon party:

Full Moon Party 1

Full Moon Party 2

Full Moon Party 3

I met some nice friends from Germany who were staying in the bungalo next to me. (see picture below) The bungalos were a good place to meet people.

My German Friends on Phanang

I also met some fun Irish backpackers there, also. We had a fire on the beach and burned palm fronds and bamboo. There were 4 guitars! And those Irish can drink! Three of them had come through Russia, Mongolia and China.

I stayed in a similar set-up at Samui. This is the beach where I stayed:

Sumui

I rented a motorbike on both Phangan and Samui. It is $7/day plus a dollar or two for gas. Some taxi rides can cost that much. I discovered some hidden down sides however. Two boys breaked suddenly in front of me and I just barely managed to stop in time. I slightly cut my shin which got squished between the two almost stopped motorcycles. It was more than a minor cut but not enough for stiches. I kept it clean and disinfected and did not let myself swim for 4 days (salty water in wound = ouch). Which was annoying when staying at a beach! Also, I slightly scratched the bike (separate incident) and they charged me $100 to replace the slightly scratched parts. I don't know why they do that! Almost every motorcycle rental place seems to. They gave a lame argument why and it was hard to argue when their English was poor and my Thai non-existent. The fact that they make a lot of money on replacement parts is probably the real reason. They had my passport so I couldn't just leave a reasonable amount and walk out. I at least bargained it down a little. He showed me a pile of 20 slightly scratched fenders and said something like "See, I always do it. I have to do it. That's what we do!" Every rental place asks for your passport. So I kind of recommend not renting a motorcycle there. You can bargain cheap taxi rates (if you know how much it should be) and pool with people especially if you're just going to/from Had Rin. For other destinations on the island, it makes more sense. Another problem is that you don't want to drive a motorcycle after drinking so you have to taxi to/from the Full Moon party anyways.

I had an unexpected adventure on this one day in Samui. I drove around the island on my motorbike. I was about to turn around and stop driving since I was just about broke and my bank card had been denied at the last bank machine. I was almost broke and couldn't afford more gas! But I discovered an ATM that did work and was quite joyful. The machine that denied me assumed I had a chequing account and did not ask my if it was a Savings account (which it is). I had not foreseen this problem and should have switched to a chequing account in retrospect. Samui is a bit bigger than Phangan and has a big Tesco grocery mart. I happily went to Tesco with my precious money to buy some tasty food to sustain me. I was very impressed with their rice selection:

Rice Selection Magnifique!

But they had no granola cereal of any kind (only museli), Nature Valley granola bars were very expensive and bread was not nearly as popular as in Canada. They did have bread but it's one of the few places where I've found bread in Thailand and they only had a 2-3 kinds (Wonderbread-types as well as French baguettes). They had tons of milk/soymilk tetra packs however! I like my cereal. Pad Thai can be cheap ($1-$2 including meat, vegetables and a tasty sauce from a restaurent or street vendor) but I can't stick it in my backpack and eat it over the course of 3 days! I did find some bread. I also had to buy lots of water since the local water is not safe.

After I stopped at the shopping mart, I turned around to go home and drop off my food. Somehow I ended up going in the wrong direction. Since I was near-by, I stopped off at the Big Buddha beach and ate a small picnic. Then I turned around and headed back home. But somehow, I ended up going in the wrong direction. I now got into that accident I mentioned earlier, bruising my shin. I continued for a couple minutes before I stopped to suspiciously check that I was headed in the right direction, still. I discovered that my shin was bruised worse that I thought and was bleeding into my black pants! I know that blood needs to be washed out immediately with cold water or it stains. So I used a little bit of my drinking water to rinse out my pants, shoe and sock as best I could. I slipped into an unoccupied auto mechanic shop and changed into my swimsuit so that my pants did not rub against the wound. So now I had on a rather dressy shirt and a swimsuit. I put a kleenex in my sock to catch any blood dribbling down my leg. I really needed to head back now! I continued on.

But then, I saw a sign for the waterfall! The waterfall was even farther on the exact opposite side of the island to my bungalo! Well, since I was here, I might as well check out the waterfall. I could even possibly rinse my pants there. So I walked around the base of the waterfall area but it was a lame waterfall there. There were paths leading up farther. I walked across this bridge and into the forest. I was almost there, I thought. There were huge man-sized boulders so I climbed over them. I was carrying my groceries and still dressed in a swimsuit, dressy shirt and motorcycle helment. Just a bit farther.

45min later, I decided that there was not that much more here. Just a lot of enormous boulders. So I washed my pants and started climbing back down. My grip on the rocks was reasonably good. I was in a bit of a tough spot to climb down from. I spotted a small boulder just sticking out of a small pond that I needed to get across. I stepped on it and..SPLOOSH! It was a lot more slippery than the other rocks! I was almost up to my waist in water! I yanked my money belt up quickly! If my cash, passport and bank cards got wet, that could be bad news! My camera and other stuff was in my backpack. I climbed out bedraggled. Soaked running shoes. My wound was cleaned. With possibly unclean water, I was not sure. The water at the bottom was nasty but it was better here, about the houses and children swimming. Now my wet shoes had poor grip so I took them off and tied them to my backpack. I climbed down a little and saw a woman. I asked here to take a picture of me:

Waterfall Expedition Ridiculous

You can see my cut here. It had stopped bleeding and was freshly rinsed. It is not that bad. I climbed down and washed my wound with soap. I felt a bit silly walking past people like this. Then, I noticed a sign next to a path on the other side of the bridge. "Waterfall" Dammit! I wasn't very well marked. Especially for non-Thai people. Well, I might as well do it while I'm here. See a bit better view of the waterfall. I probably will never come back here. So I started hiking. It can't be much farther. Nope, not much farther. Well, I've hiked this far, I might as well keep going. Gee, I'm rather starved. And exhausted. And a bit irritable. This is a rather funny situation. Really, it's good exercise and a nice hike. If I weren't starved, exhausted and irritable. A couple hours later, I got to the top. It really is a nice waterfall. I needed to walk through a pool of water at the top and since my running shoes were already soaked, I didn't even bother taking them off. And here is the wonderous waterfall:

Waterfall on Samui

So I hiked down and rode toward home. Road signs in the South of the island are much better than in the North. I didn't make one mistake. I completed my circuit around the whole island (the road runs along the outside of the island in a complete circle, not passing through the center of the island - I think it was a bit mountainous in the center).

But just before reaching my bungalo, I ran into some friendly Canadians. They invited me over to their place. Well, why not? So I was there for 5 or 6 hours! They had a nice place. Some interesting people. A couple philosophical Englishmen. A couple beers (not too much, I have to ride my bike home). Free Internet. I de-spywared their computer and checked my mail for a few hours. I cleaned and disinfected my wound as soon as I got there, of course. I rode home in the dark. It turns out that my headlight is broken! The forest path to their complex was pitch black and had puddles and potholes! Most of the way was lit by streetlights thankfully. So overall, it was a pretty interesting day. My feet were all wrinkled from the soaked shoes. I never thought about that.

On the islands, I swam a bit, sat on the beach a bunch, explored and partied a bit. Beaches involve a lot of reading and thinking. I am not especially into sunbathing and "working on my tan". Tanned arms and face just from walking around is good enough for me.

And on Oct 1, I flew to India...