samui - boat tours and treacherous hikes, day 14

From vietnam / thailand trip

waking early again, but it's always for a good cause. i'm lucky no one is traveling with me, sometimes i think i have the sleeping patterns of grandparents, minus the fact i stay out all night. on to the boat tour up north in the national park. i set up with burmese peter. the aussies from dinner are in the van and i get the cherished front seat again (another motif on this trip). i promptly pass out and wake up on the dock where we are shepherded on the barge. a german girl named nele sits next to us and we get partnered to kayak together. she speaks 5 languages and is 19; wtf is up with our school system?? first off, sea kayaking for only an hour or so and our german guide tries her darnedest to sound as interested informing us about the history as someone answering the thirteenth 'why' asked by a persistent 4 year old. she deftly cruises at breakneck speeds that nele and i actually have to work to keep up and i feel bad for everyone else. we dart in and out of a cave and along the edge of the cliffs. we pull up to the shore and hike up the first steep stairway up to the green lagoon. pictures to follow.

From vietnam / thailand trip

we slowly descend after i fail to find a way down to the lagoon and are informed we can't swim in the lagoon because fish breed there. we have a quick dip to cool off, then it's back to the boat for the lunch. it is very meh, unfortunamente. then it's off to another island which apparently has a difficult hike to an amazing viewpoint of all the islands. the disapproving german guide strongly advises against hiking it in sandals but nele and i disregard her. she wasn't kidding either. the hike is supposed to take 45 min up and 45 down. thoroughly dripping in sweat and partially rock climbing as well as clinging to the guiding rope for dear life, we make it to the final shear craggy cliff below the lookout. somehow the rock has worn down to resemble blades of prehistoric axes. we make it to the top and relish the view, not wanting to imagine how the decent will be. there are tons and tons of Germans and nele gets back to her native tongue for a moment. i fantasize about having a kite and flying down. there is the minute possibly that could add to the danger seeing as i've never hanglided before.

From vietnam / thailand trip

 
the decent is a nightmare and despite my sandals slipping off so many times i lost count, i only fell once gashing my elbow with the pseudo axe face of the cliff. climbing backwards is painfully slow and there are many people in shoes almost running down the hill. the insect noise inspires me a bit, but it's probably an hour in total for the decent and our cooloff period is cut short as the boar is headed back. we head back and to cheweng beach to lounge for a bit before the mosquitoes bleed us dry. The attempt to meet up with the Aussie ladies almost doesn't happen due to a misunderstanding about betelnut's ( a restaurant ) name. but we find them eventually and have a nice dinner as do the skitos. it's goodbye to nele and off to bed for yours truly, tomorrow i will witness the madness brought on by the full moon and hopefully see no werewolves.

- written on my ipod so apologies for weird formatting. will edit on return.

updates

sorry for the lack of updates recently. time flew by as i had commutes. i'm off to bangkok today and then back to seattle. i will hopefully find some time to write in bangkok tonight and i will fatefully finish the trip's journal even if it's back in the states when i do. koh samui, phuket, koh phi phi and bangkok all to be elaborated on shortly.

-the author

samui - meeting a resort mogul, day 13

another early flight, but upon landing in samui, i realize it's worth it. the airport is luxurous and open air. when i arrive at cheweng resort, i'm greeted by a very nice staff and shown a room which in comparison to my chiang mai experience, i start laughing. mostly due to how incredibly decadent it is.

From vietnam / thailand trip

i could post more photos, but you can also look at my picasa page. i think they messed up and gave me the honeymoon suite. fortunately it was close to my 29th anniversary living with myself and a good reason to celebrate. the man behind all of this is p'somporn, who is a relative to a friend who jay introduced me to. on top of the awesome pad, which included a pool and a great restaurant, i also got the full tour of all his resorts including his new one. he has researched different styles of architecture from all over the world and it definitely shows. the new resort is going to be so swank, he will set the tone for the rest of the luxury resorts on the island.

From vietnam / thailand trip

after seeing p'somporn's new resort, i head back to the cheweng resort and go for a dip in the water. i meet some aussies and we decide to meet up at the rasta bar that night. i wonder more up and down the beach, grabbing dinner on the main drag at a restaurant called the aussie bbq or something. the service was abysmal, it took them almost an hour to make my meal, a seafood pad thai. the waiter keeps telling me 5 more minutes and my mango shake is decimated by the time my food comes. some aussie ladies sat down next to me, i commented that i hope they weren't hungry. they laughed, but in fairness it took 45 minutes for the salads they ordered. they are going on a trip to the wilderness reserve and i found out they purchased it from a man named peter just up the road. i ask for the check several times and send scathing looks in a vain attempt to speed up the billing process. island time. i buy the tour from peter, who is a burmese who fled and has lost a lot of his family; mostly due to illness, but still it's a grim situation. i thank him and skidattle to the rasta bar.

this whole trip has not been the most pleasant for a man traveling alone. the aussies had told me this bar is past a bunch of shady clubs and i would have to deal with women hassling me. it's not as bad as chiang mai though where one actually jumped on me like a monkey, i just kept walking and assuring her i wasn't going to buy her a drink. she finally got the point and let go. anyway, they assume the darkest of a man alone at night and it was a true pain to get to the rasta bar. there is a live band and the club is absolutely, utterly empty. so empty the band is playing songs directly to me and my clapping echoes solitary appreciation. i'm close to finishing this beer and the aussies are nowhere to be seen. all i can think is i'm truly sad for this band, who, minus the drummer is giving it a pretty good effort for a gigantic empty house and pondering exit strategies. could i look like i'm going to the bathroom and just leave? should i applaud and walk out? should i get up in the middle of the song and leave or would they announce my flight? fortunately, the aussies show up and i have a couple of drinks with them. they ordered some popcorn, which took the place of some salgados and i realized i was getting torn up by mosquitoes. those bastards are horrible over here. i bid the couple goodnight and walk past the redlight district home. tomorrow, the island tour awaits me.

chiang mai - water and elephants, day 12

the hangover is the worst so far on the trip. i ponder how much i could pay the guide to not take me to the mountains when a firm rap is upon my prison cell door. i made this bed, i'm going to lie in it. as i climb in the back of the pickup truck, i wonder how kind the roads will be.

i try not to pay attention to the swaying car and the bad road and meet my compadres. there are 2 from good ol' america, 2 brits, 1 girl from hong kong and 4 koreans. as everyone knows my nature, i still managed to talk my head off with a hangover. the hour and a half drive was pretty rough, but the payoff was coming. i was paired with the girl from hong kong for the elephant ride which was amazingly rough, we sat on a rice bag and had a rail that wasn't attached to hold onto as the elephant trod up and down a mountain mind you. i would say our elephant definitely had a personality though, he stopped whenever he pleased and i would pass him bananas that he would take and toss aside. ingrate. it was definitely a memorable experience though.

From vietnam / thailand trip

then it was on to the hike up to the waterfall. a windy road along the stream where most fear to tread. sometimes you would skip over stepping stones across the stream. other times there were a couple of bamboo logs tied to eachother, which i prayed wouldn't break under the strain of my weight. they didn't. another great payoff and excellent cool down, i went in and sat under the waterfall for a while, getting my own version of a swedish massage. on to whiter water: white water rafting.

From vietnam / thailand trip

i got placed in the whiter person raft although i was feeling bad i wasn't with the girl from hong kong, because she didn't know how to swim. but that wasn't going to happen, right? after an extremely brief and detailed speech in broken english about how to handle oars, rapids and commands they gave me a helmet too small for my big dome, stuck a paddle in my arms and plunked me onto the raft. it was intense and we took on quite a bit of water, but we weren't prepared for what happened to the other raft. as we came around a bend, we saw their raft flipped over and the poor hong kong girl clutching a rock for dear life. our guide pulled aside and deftly swam across the rapids to help the other guide recover the oars and help her out of the water. but where were the koreans? apparently when it flipped they didn't stick around to help the poor girl out and left her there. assholes.

we finished the rest of the trip on the raft and went on to bamboo floating which they also call bamboo submarines. quite an odd feeling sinking in the water on a swaying bamboo raft lazily going down the river. all i could think was, 'where is my beer?'. it was almost time to wrap up the trip and we had a visit to a tribes village in the mountain. it literally was 5 minutes so i didn't get much information at all. they did have a few pigs though.

i returned back to the hostel to meet ken, a old coworker of my father's and we had a great chat walking though the night market. he has quite a bit of insight into the banking woes, like dad, but also has firm experience within international banking, so i was quite interested in what he had to say. ken preached about thailand and how it's great to retire there, i can see his life is quite comfortable and he seems very happy. his wife gia was very nice too, although we didn't have much time to chat. obligatory photo:

From vietnam / thailand trip

after that, i went to bed as i flew out of chiang mai at 6 in the morning.
(the airport)

From vietnam / thailand trip

onward and southward to koh samui, where the full moon lurks and i learn to live like a king.

chiang mai - what wat is what, day 11

i woke early and took a tuk tuk to the first wat i planned on checking out. turns out it was under construction so i tried to walk to the famous wat chiang man. since i'm directionally challenged, i had no clue where i was going and got fantastically lost. i did however spy breakfast in a back alley, which was turned out the best pad thai i've had in my life.

From vietnam / thailand trip

i got a thai iced tea with it and i was energized even in the thai heat. then i moseyed my way over to wat chiang man, which was pretty damn impressive for my first wat. it's thought to be the oldest wat in the city and is massive. there is definitely a holy feeling walking in a wat, and i think it's enhanced by me taking off my shoes. here are a couple of photos:

From vietnam / thailand trip

From vietnam / thailand trip

the amount of detail in all of these thai wats is staggering. everything is handmade, obviously, and no small detail is spared. like most experiences/sights/sounds i've taken in, it's difficult to capture and demonstrate the ornate and spiritual feel of these temples. i'm pretty agnostic, but walking into a wat, i feel like i'm having a small out of body moment. religion has always been the struggle between the concept of self versus a greater force, the wat amplifies the chasm.

i follow the lonely planet's lead, and head to the women's prison for my first thai massage. all the masseuses are prisoners, but they are working to save for when they are released. it was an amazing massage and blew the massages i got in vietnam away. thai massages are more like deep tissue, but with more elements of aided stretches. i exited the 'spa' feeling as good as new and happy that i didn't witness a shanking or prison break.

on to the next wat, which is one of the most visited wats in chiang mai, wat phra singh. it is similar to wat chiang man, but has a 'lion buddha'. as i'm here, a man approaches and asks me about my trip offering advice for when i get to the south. he is the second man to recommend a certain thai travel agency and warns me i should book ahead. i don't linger because he mentions they close soon and as i'm stepping out of the wat, a lady stops me and says 'you know that's a scam, right?' turns out estela is on holiday from the states and is originally from brazil. she and her husband, yves, have witnessed many of these scams executed and have even thwarted a couple, although they were threatened. it starts raining and we look for a bar to grab a beer. we rendezvous with lars at the local watering hole, i play some uke and we meet some more americans, lauren and eddie. knocking back the rice whiskey, which somehow resembles cachasa to me, we start the evening out strong, munching on some falafal from a nearby stand. lauren, eddie and myself head off to the night market and the rest of the night is fuzzy.

wat phra singh:

From vietnam / thailand trip

premayhem:

From vietnam / thailand trip

bangkok - travel day to chiang mai, day 10

after the late night in hcmc, it was difficult to wake up early and leave.

i had a rough day of traveling ahead of me, mostly because of the insane 7 hour wait in bangkok airport. getting into thailand went well enough, but the customs line is so much longer than vietnam and took forever.
i then spent part of the day rearranging my plane tickets so i would be in koh samui for the full moon party and spend less time in phuket, which people have been badmouthing this whole trip.

all in all, it wasn't as miserable as it could have been and i got into chiang mai around 7 and situated in my hostel where i had a prison cell type room, (although it was $4 a night). tell me you disagree:

From vietnam / thailand trip

but it wasn't lights out for me right after checking in. i went to a internet cafe, met a really nice guy named lars and then headed out to the night market. i tuktuk'ed over to the night market and took a look around. i'm not really buying much at all on this trip, so i didn't buy anything but pillows i had promised to jay and fernanda. i had some regrettably bad thai food for my first night and met a lovely french couple. i then headed back after a failed attempt to find the blues club lars had spoke highly of. since i was running on no sleep, i didn't have a difficult time passing out on the mattress that apparently the incredible hulk smashed.

tomorrow, what wat?

ho chi min city - set to 'suffragette city', day 9

my body has kept up with my early morning routine over here. i wake and beat the call again.

it's off to the bus station where the cyclo tries to hustle me. those cheeky bastards. i meet marc, a frenchman, who gives me advice and we travel together to the airport. he is enroute to hcmc too. he speaks pretty decent english and we chat in broken strange sentences.

ho chi minh city, i really only have 1 day to see, so i figure i'm going to hit the road hard. marc is tagging along and it's good to have some insight, even if i understand every other word. we grab lunch, where i have a very lovely roast duck in a claypot. we then walk to the market, which is another thing sharing a very similar feel to brazil for me. once we get inside the market, the sound of a million hammers banging some mad rhythm sound above us. monsoon season; so much for taking in the city. we snag a taxi back to the hotel and it dawns on me, i may not even get to see reunification palace which was the one thing i wanted to take in. i dejectedly walk up to the room and take a nap.

here is a pot of live crabs from the market

From vietnam / thailand trip

after a powernap, i decide to peek outside. it's not raining at the moment, so i pounce on a taxi and we speed off to the palace.

reunification palace is monstrously huge. open corridors and entertainment rooms for receiving guests. everything is so meticulous and detailed. you walk up 3 floors, gorging yourself with pristine relics which don't look like they would be out of place today. although really, really expensive stuff doesn't seem to age to me. look at my bentley, for example. reunification palace was the last vestige we and the south vietnamese had, and ho chi minh handed the keys over decades ago. it is a colossus of military forte, outdated broadcasting gear, and war rooms on top of grandiose halls. i tried to capture it's feel in photos, but i'm not sure they will do justice.

From vietnam / thailand trip

From vietnam / thailand trip

i walk home purchasing my tropical fav, coconut water and see a familiar logo. i flash the 'hook 'em' sign and it's relayed. loyd, this guy really loves the horns, i got a photo for you.

From vietnam / thailand trip

back at the hotel, i run into to more english girls. i can never discern aussie/english accents, so i always start off on the wrong foot. they laugh it off and we grab dinner. i wasn't planning on going out, but they persuade me and we head off with an aussie to the ostentatious apocalypse now club. revered for it's diverse crowd and frequent fights, it was highly recommended in my lonely planet.

we grab drinks and head to the dance floor, which is planned worse then the big dig. diners sit at fixed tables in front of the dj and with how crowded it is, you are bumping against the diners. we back out and run into another group of travelers. not wanting to sound like the typical dumb american, i introduce myself in portugese to the group wherein i meet suzannah, a lovely english girl, who is on an extended holiday. we start chatting and grab a drink, then head to the dance floor where i floor her with my timberlake executed moves. in honesty, i am bringing sexy back. i swear, i'm even starting to like the new j lo song. this may necessitate a full hand slap to the face when i get stateside, but it's infectious on the dance floor.

we retreat from the dance floor back to the open air courtyard and continue talking. then i almost become part of the allure of apocalypse now. a loose lipped aussie approaches, apparently adopting (alliteration) the might over mind theory to woo the beautiful suzannah. he takes me for the obstacle. he lays his knuckles on my cheek and growls, 'you know, you're a real weasel.' i look him in the eye and reply ' i'm glad you are voicing your opinion,' removing his fist. he replaces it and reiterates his venomous words. i inform him it's the last time his fist touch me and suzannah tells him to get lost. he leaves shaking his head in frustration. who wouldn't want to talk to a d-bag like that? it's a near miss to a skirmish and what would have been an uncomfortable exit.

all in all, it's a fantastic night and wraps up my vietnam trip.
tomorrow i learn to talk thai.