Sawat Dii,
Hello everyone. Day 2 in Thailand. It has been great so far. Steve and I woke up at 7:30 am on Wednesday, got the last of our immunizations and headed for the airport. 24 hours later we arrived in Bangkok.We are having a great time and love not being on a schedule. The weather is hot, high 80's. Everything is dirt cheap. There are a lot of old white men with young Thai girlfriends. All the food is painfully spicy and requires pepto bismol at every meal, but we are adjusting. We have been staying in cheap hotels in the downtown area, eating cheap food from street vendors (the Pad Thai tastes different than the kind in SF), getting 2 hour massages for $15 (1 hr on feet, 1 hour body), and meeting friendly people everywhere we go. Last night we sat ringside for Muay thai boxing. Today we are headed for Khao San, the back packer district, and tomorrow we head for beautiful beaches of Ko Samui.
Sawat Dii,
It has only been ten days, but it feels like lifetimes. I feel like we are living in a fantasy. We have been to three island paradises. First we got to Samui and stayed at Big Buddha beach. We woke up at 1:30am and took a speed boat to Ko Phangnan for the Full moon party. Thousands of people (mostly Swedes, Dutch, Germans, Israelis, Brittish, Canadians, French and Australians) decended on the beach to party until the sunrise. Then we went back and moved to Lamai beach. This is the less touristy area of Samui. For 3 days we lived on the beach in a bungalow, getting massages on the beach (there is a canopied massage station every 100 feet), eating and drinking on the beach, meeting people, and swiiming in the hot sun- high 80s. The Thai people are the friendliest I've ever met. Everywhere we go we try to talk to the people working in the restaurants and shops and hotels. We also seem to meet a few new Europeans every day or two. Hardly any Americans. The food is fantastic here. We eat eggs for breakfast, and traditional Thai food the rest of the time. I think I may have eaten a few too may banana fritters. After Samui we went to Ko Tao. This island is famous for snorkeling and scuba. Everyoen on the island rides mopeds. We both had some moped adventures, but we survived the off-roading with only minor cutsa and major bruises. Initially we had a hard time getting a good place. The first place we went to had live chickens running around, so in order to avoid bird flu we made a quick getaway. Eventually we found a great private beach called Ow Luk, with a bare bones bungalows (no air conditioning, hot water, or sheets- but it did have mosquito nets, spiders, ants, and one of our neighbors had a snake) Geckos and dogs are everywhere. We spent most of our time in an outdoor patio restaurant that was on the mountain overlooking the ocean, lying on traingular pillows and watching as nude French women took over the beach below. The snorkeling was amazing, the water was as clear as bathwater, the beaches framed by lush green mountains and palm trees. We kayaked out to shark island, but by the time we got there all the other boats and people were gone so we decided not to swim with the sharks alone. We took a snorkeling boat around the island and stopped at 4 other beautiful beaches. Lots off exotic sea creatures with bright colors and interesting shapes. This place is amazing. Anyway, we are taking the nightboat to the mainland and after a day in Ao Nang (famous for water caves) will be headed for Ko Phi Phi which was where they shot the movie, "The Beach". We decided to skip Laos and Cambodia this time, because for sure we will come back. We wanted to choose a few nice places and stay for a while so we didn't have to carry backpacks around looking for new accomodations. We will visit Chang mai and the return to Bangkok before we come home.
Sawat Dii,
Hello everyone. We are nearing the end of our trip. It is hard for us to imagine going back to reality, because this trip has been like a dream. We feel like we are leaving the garden of Eden. Aside from all the natural beauty and calm, it will be weird to not be surrounded by people who are just will smile and want to talk to you if you make even a just brief eye contact. It's also going to be hard changing the lifestyle. At home when I would turn on the tv, here I would jump in the ocean or get a massage. Anyway, we're still here and trying to enjoy it until we have to go.Since the last email, we took the night boat from Ko Tao (Turtle Island) to Surat Thani on the mainland. We thought we would save money and time by travelling overnight (9pm to 5am), but didn't realize that we would be travelling as cargo. The inside looked like the a diagram of a slaveship to America that I saw in a history textbook back in highschool. There were two lanes of thin mattress with numbers on the wall one foot apart, with about a hundred people packed in like sardines. As soon as we got in the lights went out. We told our fellow passengers that everyone would have work and a new master when they got to America. When we arrived we had to take a bus from Surat Thani to Krabi so we could get to the beach town of Ao Nang then take a ferry to the rock climbers mecca of Railey Beach. The bus was another adventure. It took at least three hours with the driver going at least 100 mph and swerving around people in front of him. There were 7 other very tired passengers. Half way to Krabi someone in the back woke up and shouted "The driver is asleep! Wake up the driver!" Anyway, we made it to Ao Nang alive and it was a 10 minute ferry to Railey.On Railey we took an all day boat tour with snorkeling at various islands. Some of them had caves and coral labyrinths. There were schools of brightly colored fish, eels, and other underwater life. I came within 20 feet of a 3 foot black-tip reef shark. Very scary to see but perfectly harmless. We met a lot of people from Holland, Sweden, and England on the boat. Fish ate banana from my toes and we saw the phosphorescent algae release light at night. The ocean looked like stars in the sky. We watched giant bats fly overhead by the hundreds from Chicken Island at sunset and had Massaman curry for dinner. We took a 2 hour boat to Ko Phi Phi. This was the isalnd that was most damaged by the tsunami, but they were pretty much back to normal by the time we got there. A lot of new developmnent and overrun with toursists, but very beautiful. This place is the scuba mecca, but since we a snorkelers we went on another boat tour to see all the surrounding islands and snorkel for 30 minutes at each one. We kayaked to Monkey Island, and snorkeled at all the placed where they shot the movie "The Beach" on Phi Phi leh. On this tour and the last the thing you notice is that the islands are giant rocks with trees, and the rest of the beaches look like the ones from Apocolypse Now. At night we got massages and watched the fire shows, where people twirl batons and chains lit at the end. There was also a bar where tourists in the audience would kickbox each other. We decided not to fly to Chang Mai because it would be too rushed. We'll do that next time. I got food poisoning and We came back to Railey. Steve did rockclimbing for the first time. I was impressed. He went up about 9 stories. I am spending the last few days lounging around on a hammock, reading, and vistin with all the new people I met. Last night we went to an outdoor bar and watched fireshows and people climbing palm trees barefoot. Steve is going back to Phi Phi to take the 1 day scuba lesson. Tomorrow is the last day and then we boat to Phuket to fly back to Bangkok and then back home.
Hello everyone. Day 2 in Thailand. It has been great so far. Steve and I woke up at 7:30 am on Wednesday, got the last of our immunizations and headed for the airport. 24 hours later we arrived in Bangkok.We are having a great time and love not being on a schedule. The weather is hot, high 80's. Everything is dirt cheap. There are a lot of old white men with young Thai girlfriends. All the food is painfully spicy and requires pepto bismol at every meal, but we are adjusting. We have been staying in cheap hotels in the downtown area, eating cheap food from street vendors (the Pad Thai tastes different than the kind in SF), getting 2 hour massages for $15 (1 hr on feet, 1 hour body), and meeting friendly people everywhere we go. Last night we sat ringside for Muay thai boxing. Today we are headed for Khao San, the back packer district, and tomorrow we head for beautiful beaches of Ko Samui.
Sawat Dii,
It has only been ten days, but it feels like lifetimes. I feel like we are living in a fantasy. We have been to three island paradises. First we got to Samui and stayed at Big Buddha beach. We woke up at 1:30am and took a speed boat to Ko Phangnan for the Full moon party. Thousands of people (mostly Swedes, Dutch, Germans, Israelis, Brittish, Canadians, French and Australians) decended on the beach to party until the sunrise. Then we went back and moved to Lamai beach. This is the less touristy area of Samui. For 3 days we lived on the beach in a bungalow, getting massages on the beach (there is a canopied massage station every 100 feet), eating and drinking on the beach, meeting people, and swiiming in the hot sun- high 80s. The Thai people are the friendliest I've ever met. Everywhere we go we try to talk to the people working in the restaurants and shops and hotels. We also seem to meet a few new Europeans every day or two. Hardly any Americans. The food is fantastic here. We eat eggs for breakfast, and traditional Thai food the rest of the time. I think I may have eaten a few too may banana fritters. After Samui we went to Ko Tao. This island is famous for snorkeling and scuba. Everyoen on the island rides mopeds. We both had some moped adventures, but we survived the off-roading with only minor cutsa and major bruises. Initially we had a hard time getting a good place. The first place we went to had live chickens running around, so in order to avoid bird flu we made a quick getaway. Eventually we found a great private beach called Ow Luk, with a bare bones bungalows (no air conditioning, hot water, or sheets- but it did have mosquito nets, spiders, ants, and one of our neighbors had a snake) Geckos and dogs are everywhere. We spent most of our time in an outdoor patio restaurant that was on the mountain overlooking the ocean, lying on traingular pillows and watching as nude French women took over the beach below. The snorkeling was amazing, the water was as clear as bathwater, the beaches framed by lush green mountains and palm trees. We kayaked out to shark island, but by the time we got there all the other boats and people were gone so we decided not to swim with the sharks alone. We took a snorkeling boat around the island and stopped at 4 other beautiful beaches. Lots off exotic sea creatures with bright colors and interesting shapes. This place is amazing. Anyway, we are taking the nightboat to the mainland and after a day in Ao Nang (famous for water caves) will be headed for Ko Phi Phi which was where they shot the movie, "The Beach". We decided to skip Laos and Cambodia this time, because for sure we will come back. We wanted to choose a few nice places and stay for a while so we didn't have to carry backpacks around looking for new accomodations. We will visit Chang mai and the return to Bangkok before we come home.
Sawat Dii,
Hello everyone. We are nearing the end of our trip. It is hard for us to imagine going back to reality, because this trip has been like a dream. We feel like we are leaving the garden of Eden. Aside from all the natural beauty and calm, it will be weird to not be surrounded by people who are just will smile and want to talk to you if you make even a just brief eye contact. It's also going to be hard changing the lifestyle. At home when I would turn on the tv, here I would jump in the ocean or get a massage. Anyway, we're still here and trying to enjoy it until we have to go.Since the last email, we took the night boat from Ko Tao (Turtle Island) to Surat Thani on the mainland. We thought we would save money and time by travelling overnight (9pm to 5am), but didn't realize that we would be travelling as cargo. The inside looked like the a diagram of a slaveship to America that I saw in a history textbook back in highschool. There were two lanes of thin mattress with numbers on the wall one foot apart, with about a hundred people packed in like sardines. As soon as we got in the lights went out. We told our fellow passengers that everyone would have work and a new master when they got to America. When we arrived we had to take a bus from Surat Thani to Krabi so we could get to the beach town of Ao Nang then take a ferry to the rock climbers mecca of Railey Beach. The bus was another adventure. It took at least three hours with the driver going at least 100 mph and swerving around people in front of him. There were 7 other very tired passengers. Half way to Krabi someone in the back woke up and shouted "The driver is asleep! Wake up the driver!" Anyway, we made it to Ao Nang alive and it was a 10 minute ferry to Railey.On Railey we took an all day boat tour with snorkeling at various islands. Some of them had caves and coral labyrinths. There were schools of brightly colored fish, eels, and other underwater life. I came within 20 feet of a 3 foot black-tip reef shark. Very scary to see but perfectly harmless. We met a lot of people from Holland, Sweden, and England on the boat. Fish ate banana from my toes and we saw the phosphorescent algae release light at night. The ocean looked like stars in the sky. We watched giant bats fly overhead by the hundreds from Chicken Island at sunset and had Massaman curry for dinner. We took a 2 hour boat to Ko Phi Phi. This was the isalnd that was most damaged by the tsunami, but they were pretty much back to normal by the time we got there. A lot of new developmnent and overrun with toursists, but very beautiful. This place is the scuba mecca, but since we a snorkelers we went on another boat tour to see all the surrounding islands and snorkel for 30 minutes at each one. We kayaked to Monkey Island, and snorkeled at all the placed where they shot the movie "The Beach" on Phi Phi leh. On this tour and the last the thing you notice is that the islands are giant rocks with trees, and the rest of the beaches look like the ones from Apocolypse Now. At night we got massages and watched the fire shows, where people twirl batons and chains lit at the end. There was also a bar where tourists in the audience would kickbox each other. We decided not to fly to Chang Mai because it would be too rushed. We'll do that next time. I got food poisoning and We came back to Railey. Steve did rockclimbing for the first time. I was impressed. He went up about 9 stories. I am spending the last few days lounging around on a hammock, reading, and vistin with all the new people I met. Last night we went to an outdoor bar and watched fireshows and people climbing palm trees barefoot. Steve is going back to Phi Phi to take the 1 day scuba lesson. Tomorrow is the last day and then we boat to Phuket to fly back to Bangkok and then back home.
posted by Steve at 11:21 AM
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