samui/koh panang or don't fight the feeling or fullmoontitus, day 15

i woke up early and was finally able to enjoy the buffet put on by p'somporn's resort. it was largely bacon and pad thai with a helping of bacon. i need all the energy i can muster for tonight as many people party all night and wake to greet the sunrise in the morning. this ain't my first rodeo though, cowboy. i've done carnival in rio and if i can do that, this should be a walk in the park on a segway.

i spend most of the day wondering around cheweng, which is a real touristy spot. dozens and dozens of shops run alog both sides of the road. they all sell the same things for about the same price, although that's always flexible and no doubt comes with the 'white tax'. massage parlors are almost every other space and the running joke of their pronunciation of 'massaaaage' brought me many laughs. i walk into the wrong shop and asked for a price and am handed a subtle menu which includes such packages as 'massage and sex' for 2500 bhat, i quickly make a break for the door. the strange thing is prostitution is illegal, yet these shops flat out slate it on a menu. i walk to a legitimate massage parlor and get a thai massage for 6 bucks. some people think it's rough, but I enjoy deep tissue massage, so it's right up my alley.

From vietnam / thailand trip

i make my way back to cheweng beach resort and take my first stroll up and down the beach. the sand is quite lovely, very powdery and light. i go for a swim but there are jellyfish everywhere and i freak out quite a bit after getting stung in brazil. i soak up some sun on the patio and chat with the aussie couple, who are headed to see the insanity that is full moon on koh panang, too. brad kicks my ass in ping pong. running into multitudes of aussies, i've had numerous conversations and find so many elements about their society interesting. they have a minimum wage for age brackets, so as you get older you make more aaaand their minimum wage starts at about 10 an hour, i hear. it's very expensive to live down there though and i've heard that a lot of people in my age bracket have drug problems. due to their main source of income coming from tourism, they are highly dependent as many countries about safety and perception of their image. apparently oprah has helped them with the image and advertising, perhaps she did it for some kangaroos and to have the opera house unofficially dubbed the oprah house? time to get ready for the ball cinderella! i walk across to the 7-11, (yes, they are everywhere) and grab some native redbull to artificially pump me up for the party.

From vietnam / thailand trip

 
i've chartered a speedboat with some others to koh panang. i meet some moon rapture buddies outside of the resort and our bus pulls up a little late. we head north to said speed boat and join with more party goers. there are a couple of dudes from germany, one brazilian, one dutch, and two aussies. i always relish any chance i get to speak portugese and i start chatting with gabi from sao paulo and her friend vanessa from holland. we get off the boat and pay the entrance fee, which is probably to keep the beaches clean, and we receive bright colored bracelets with a palm tree and what resembles a booze bucket. we walk through the town which seems to be bursting at the seams and get some food. my kee mao almost burns the roof off, they made the assumption I could handle the heat since i ordered something off the regular menu. we walk down to the beach where all the action will go down. it's sparsely inhabited, but people are spilling out in droves. it's hard to imagine ten thousand people getting crunked and bumping uglies on the beach during my full moon. yes, i do mean my full moon, i bought it off a dude selling pills on the beach for 500 bhat. we search where to buy buckets of booze, which are the ceremonial flaggon for this celebration and there are a plethora of stands with entertaining signs mostly selling the potency of their products with swear words and movie lines. we decide the same same, but different stand is the best and grab redbull and bacardi buckets. night is falling like a curtain at the end of a show, in a moth-ish fashion we head towards the brightest light which happens to be the flaming jump rope (later I'm told the clinics on the island sponsor these). in the spirit or spirits of adventure i decide to try it. i've seen enough people fail and get scalded but nothing serious yet. i ready myself and some local runs before me and jumps in. since the rope arches up towards the hurlers, i decide to wait until he leaves before jumping in. he leaves and i rush in, the burning braid brushing against my foot on my first jump, but i figured it out after that and got about 7 jumps before it got my foot again. partially due to my excellent training in school, i immediately drop to the sand and do my stop, drop and roll. i survived! proof below:



which was better than some other stories i heard: one guys hair caught on fire and another's groin ignited, that's gotta hurt. we went down a slide, which was considerably less dangerous. then on to the beachy dance floors, with their strange black light obelisks floating eerily in the air. there were platforms to dance on and the rest of the night was more of a blur to me. i lost track of my new friends and made it back to the speedboat around 3am. i return to my room around 4am and crash, exhausted, in a heap on the bed. i howled at the moon, spilling booze from my bucket whilst dancing up a storm and braved a flaming jump rope. i'm positive the reflection of the moon lay in my eyes as my lids closed.

From vietnam / thailand trip

From vietnam / thailand trip

From vietnam / thailand trip

From vietnam / thailand trip

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?