Today I find myself back in smelly, polluted Bangkok. After the full moon party I took a ferry to Ko Samui, the #1 island in Thailand for tourism. I stayed the night in Samui at a nice little place next to the beach. Highlights of my time in Samui are a nice walk up the beach, watching the moon rise, and then getting lost trying to find my bungalow. After finding my bungalow I managed to become overwhelmed with some sort of sickness. I couldn't eat for about a day. All I did was drink water and hope to keep myself hydrated. I think I had something that Carina had. She seemed to have some sort of sore throat when we were in Hat Rin. I had the sore throat, a high temperature, and almost no energy. With no energy I went to bed really early that night on Samui.
The next day I would catch a flight from Samui to Bangkok. My flight didn't leave till 5:20 pm so I had lots of time to kill. Unfortunately I still felt sick, so I spent the vast majority of my day laying down on the beach in the shade. Even though I didn't feel very good, it was still very relaxing being on the beach.
Around 3:30 pm I picked up my bags and headed for the airport. Getting there was sort of a hassle as the taxi drivers wanted to charge me 3x the going rate. The rate should be 50 baht in the pickup taxi. They were all wanting 150-200 baht because I was by myself. In the end I payed 100 baht to ride in a nice A/C taxi. I had to bargin a lot to get it. The A/C was worth the extra 50 baht.
Check in at the airport was fairly smooth execept for paying the departure tax. I had payed the departure tax but no one stamped my ticket. The error was correct fairly easily and I made it onto my flight.
The plane was late, and took longer than expected. I also felt like I was going to die while onboard. My temperature must of been like 103-104 at this point. Amazingly once I steped off the airplane I felt almost normal again. Strange how that is.
I stayed in Khao San again. Today I will be going to Chang Mai. Its a 12 hour bus ride and leaves later today at 6 pm. I really hate overnight buses, but it is cheap and the only flight puts me in late at night today. It also costs like 10x more for the flight. Taking the flight doesn't really seem worth it.
Ok, more updates when I get to Chang Mai.
More Bangkok pictures ....
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Giant Swing
So last night was the monthly full moon party on the island of Ko Phangan. The night started out with Mark, Carina, and me buying a Thai Whiskey bucket. For about $4 you get a pint of Whiskey, a can of coke, and a bottle of Thai Red Bull. The bucket keeps you going for hours upon hours.
With the bucket in hand we ventured down to the beach were there were thousands of people starting to get the festivies going. We wandered the beach for some time till we found a tent playing some nice downtempo house. No need to start at 140 bpm. We have to make it to sunrise. That is our goal.
So the night progresses on and we move from tent to tent. The music changes from House, to Drum and Base, to Trance, to R&B, to Jungle. They have it all. The one thing I did notice was that at sunrise all you can hear is techno. Even the R&B clubs change over. Sunrise is the climax of the party. Nothing is more fun than seeing the sun rise on the beach while grooving out to your favorate tune.
So as I have hinted we made it to sunrise and a little bit past. The full moon party was a success once again. Even with a tropical storm passing over the day before, the Thais show how to party once again.
Now I am tired, sore, and wet. My throat is sore and I need some sleep. Tommorow I will head to the nation of Laos. I have been told that life in Laos is like what it once was 100 years ago. Few cars and lots of bicycles are some of the highlights. I can wait to see it. Thailand is fun, but Laos should prove to be the highlight of my trip.
Until then!
Todd
Fishing Boat off of Ko Phangan 1
Fishing Boat off of Ko Phangan 2
Fishing Boat off of Ko Phangan 3
Mark
Fishing Boat off of Ko Phangan 4
Mark and Carina
Mark and Carina (closeup)
Me
So I started another jouney to SE Asia a few days ago. I intend on picking up where I left off on year ago. My jouney will be 3 weeks traveling through Thailand and Laos followed by 1 week of work in Penang, Malaysia.
On Saturday November 20th I left Portland bright and early (6:45 am) for San Francisco. After about a 5 hour layover in SFO, I departed for Seoul, South Korea. In Seoul I had a 2 hour layover so I made the most of it and got some yummie noodle soup. Yum! From Seoul I then landed in Bangkok, Thailand. The jouney took about 36 hours.
Arriving in Bangkok I collected my lugguage and took a taxi to Khao San Rd. My friend had told me that she was going to stay in a guest house about 20 minutes north of Khao San so I made the journey at 2 am to find this guesthouse. After walking around for about 40 minutes I finally found it. The only problem was that it was closed. So I opted for the next best thing and got a room at the guest house next door. Being that it was like 2:45 am when I got there, I went to sleep.
The next day I woke up bright and early (7 am). I think all the time zone shifting or the warm weather brought me out of my sleep coma that I'd been in while in Portland. I got some breakfast, surfed the internet, and then left a note for Carina telling her to meet me at noon.
Bridge
Canal
Park
Close up of bridge
Well noon came and she didn't show up. Where was she? So I went back and checked my email. Turns out she was still up north and wouldn't be in till tommorow. Ok, problem solved. Time to explore Bangkok.
What that in mind I went to Wat Pho. I'd been to Wat Pho before, but this time I saw a little bit more. Wat Pho is suppost to have the best Thai massage school in Thailand.
Wat Pho 1
Wat Pho 2
Wat Pho 3
Wat Pho 4
Wat Pho 5
Wat Pho 6
Wat Pho 7
Wat Pho 8
Wat Pho 9
Wat Pho 10
Wat Pho 11
Wat Pho 12
Wat Pho 13
Wat Pho 14
Wat Pho 15
Wat Pho 16
After gazing and the wonderous Wat Pho for an hour or two I returned back to my guest house. There the owners treated me to some spicy food (oh man, was it good). The treat was spicy beef with sticky rice and fish curry with sticky rice. Together with a Beer Chang, it was quite a meal. :)
Being tired from the days travels I realy didn't do much that night. I just ended up walking around Khao San most of the night.
The next day I awoke to Carina and some of her friends knocking on my door. Being 8 am I was slightly disturbed. But it was good to see an old friend. With us both still being tired we napped till noon.
At noon we ventured out to the Grand Palace. The Grand Palace is the King's palace. It is used for cerimonies and various royal functions. Upon arriving at the palace we were told we had to enter through another door about 5-10 minutes away. We finally got to that entrance only to be told we had to go to yet another entrance. A few minutes later we join a mass heard of people impatiently waiting to get in. After waiting for about 30 minutes in the blistering heat next to a busy street full of polluting tuk-tuks and buses we finally get in.
The Grand Palace is something else. The architecture is Grand in every ounce of the word. It was simply amazing. Imagine huge buildings colored in bright gold, and other various colors. Each building having hand crafted designs everywhere and on everything.
Grand Palace 1
Grand Palace 2
Grand Palace 3
Grand Palace 4
Grand Palace 5
Grand Palace 6
Grand Palace 7
Grand Palace 8
The wait was well worth it. And for our troubles they weren't charging the normal admittance fee of 200 baht ($5 USD).
After the grand palace we took a boat ferry up the river back to Khao San. Back in Khao San we got a drink. While drinking and chatting we ran into someone Carina had met earlier in her travels. Now our group of two was four. With four souls ready to take on Beer Chang we started our blurry jouney into the intoxicated.
Khao San Road at night 1
Khao San Road at night 2
Group Picture 1
Group Picture 2
Once we hit cruise control on our jouney we tried out some dance clubs. Not being the music the others liked (it was baic hip-hop, r&b) we went back to some guys guest house. Being tired I simply passed out to awaken later by Carina saying "Todd, lets go!""
The next day came early for me. I got up at 5am to pack and check out. I had a 6 am ride to the airport where I would catch a plane to Ko Samui. After waiting 30 minutes for the stupid airport bus to come, I finally got on board. It didn't do much good because a garbage truck snuck around us and blocked us for about 10 minutes. Its 6:40 and I'm suppost to be at the airport in 40 minutes. Good luck.
Well we finally made it to the airport at 7:30. Ten minutes after my required check in time. At this point I race to the check in counter which ended up being 1/2 mile away. In the end I made it and arrived in Ko Samui.
From Samui I caught a ferry to Ko Phangn. Once in Ko Phangn I made it to the bungalows I stayed in 1 year ago.
Once the room was taken care of, I went for a long walk up the beach. On my walk I collected a ton of seashells to send home.
So that leaves me at now. Showered, feed and ready to see Ko Phangan at night once again!