Thailand

Thailand thus far has consisted of a few days in and around Bangkok and more than a week on different tropical islands that truly are a paradise. After arriving in Bangkok on the bus from hell, we basically got the first room we could find, shortly followed by the coldest beers as well. We ended up staying with a girl from Belgium who was on the same bus as she was going to be in Bangkok for the same amount of time as us before returning home. The next day the 3 of us rented a tuk tuk (which is basically a carriage pulled by a motorbike) for the day to go around and see some sights of the city. The driver knew good spots to go, and the cost was only 30 Thai Baht, which is the equivalent of about $1 USD. The only catch with the whole thing was that after a couple of stops at what we wanted to see he took us to a few places that gave him free petrol coupons for bringing tourists in. After stopping at a suit factory first, and a travel agency later in the day we declined to go anywhere else except the sights we wanted to see. He then told us they give him free fuel, and since it was costing us a combined $1 for his services for half a day, we decided one more stop wouldn’t hurt. The main things that we saw were religious Buddhist temples and statues. There was the Giant Buddha, which stood 45 meters tall and was a solid gold color. There was also the sleeping Buddha, which was probably just as tall, but was lying on his side. We walked up the 450 steps to the top of the golden temple which provided great 360 degree views of the city, and it is a big and hectic city too. The final stop was at the Grand Palace, and Grand is used lightly to describe it, as it was enormous, and the details around all the design elements and colors was remarkable.

The following day Jon and I took a bus up to Kanchanaburi to see the bridge over River Kwai, and some museums and memorials talking about the history of that. The museums were very well done, and it was interesting to learn about the history of that POW camp and the bridge. We actually walked across it, and a train happened to be coming by when we first stepped onto the tracks. There was a couple feet of room to stand off to the side, but most of the space was on rotting wood and rusted iron being the only thing between you and the river below. Looking back it was a good thing that I got shot in the leg with a nail gun while working construction and got that tetanus shot, because I felt like my jaw was locking up, and I was getting tetanus by just looking at parts of the bridge. You could definitely tell we were in Thailand on the nights when we were just walking around some of the bar and market areas because numerous people came up to us showing a list of about 15-20 different sex show categories we could choose from. The sex industry is huge in Thailand, and since I’m not sure how old the youngest reader of this may be, or how young the oldest reader is for that matter, I won’t go into any of the details of the shows…most of them were quite funny though.

We jumped on a plane from Bangkok to Phuket next where we only spent one night before taking the first ferry over to Phi Phi Island where we stayed for the next 4 nights. I was awe struck by the beauty of this island and the ones surrounding it to. The first thing you notice upon approaching the land was the sharp limestone cliffs with lush green vegetation on top that cut straight down into bright turquoise water that is crystal clear. It simply was a sight that cannot be described how beautiful these islands were. While staying on Phi Phi Island (pronounced Pee Pee) we lounged around on the beach for the majority of the time while also renting a sea kayak to explore other parts of the island from the water. The highlight of this was going to Monkey Beach…yes I know, more monkeys! This beach was maybe a kilometer around the corner from the main beach and was inhabited by wild monkeys, so we played with monkeys, again. This island was hit pretty hard by the tsunami in 2004, and virtually every building there today had to be rebuilt after it struck. There were several pictures showing the damage, and it was pretty sobering to see that everything we’re looking at now was completely flattened a few years before. There were also signs directing you to the tsunami evacuation route which led us up step stairs to the highest point on the island which was also a viewpoint, and the view was excellent. We had to hike up there twice to soak it in, and it is definitely a view that I would not get tired looking at. Our last full day there we took a water taxi over to the other Phi Phi island; there is Ko Phi Phi Don, and Ko Phi Phi Le. Phi Phi Lei is where one of the most beautiful beaches is located in Maya Bay. In 2000 they shot a movie here, ironically called The Beach with Leonardo DiCaprio, and it is a very famous destination for backpackers worldwide to visit. Needless to say we were not disappointed with the beauty of it.

The next island we stayed at is Ko Lanta, and that is still where we’re at right now before heading back to Phuket tomorrow to catch a flight from there to Singapore to connect there before going to Perth, Australia. Ko Lanta is much quieter and laid back then Ko Phi Phi, and it’s been nice to relax on the beach here and have a lot of space to ourselves. It’s not as scenic as Ko Phi Phi, although the picture of the sunset below is from here, so maybe my standards have gone up a little. It’s hard to believe that our SE Asian portion of the trip is almost over. I think out of habit I’ll still be ducking while walking through doors (they don’t build em very tall here) and I’ll definitely miss the $2 meals of authentic Thai food.