Day 115-116: Transit to Bangkok and last day in Southeast Asia

We realized only after we booked our 5:10 am flight that if we made the journey from Cambodia to the airport in one day, we had only left ourselves a 2.5 hour flight to try to power nap and rally for the next day. As a result, we decided to transit to Bangkok the day before our flight. Now, we've heard horror stories about the border crossing from Cambodia to Thailand from Siem Reap. We met multiple people who have said it was so horrible and took them so long that they would rather have flown. Backpackers saying this! It must be hard core! 

Pallavi did some research on the best ways to do this crossing. It involved taking a bus to the border, then a few more details about the immigration crossing, and then a bus or a train to Bangkok. I looked up bus and train schedules. Well, I swear I did... But attention to detail isn't my strong suit.

The key to the crossing is to get there early. Immigration can take between one and four hours. Our options were to leave at 6 am or 8 am. The 8 am bus reached at 11:30, which we thought would be too close to catch our1:00 train. 

Our day thus began with a 5:30 pickup. While in the van, Pallavi asks for the train time. 1:55I reply. That's right. Attention to detail deficient Sarah had missed that critical 55 minutes! That means when we arrived at customs at 9 am and cleared everything by10 am that we could have taken the 8 am bus instead! 

Immigration was so easy and organised. We don't know what these people were on about. It was a shorter queue than we've waited in in Melbourne airport and just as organised. It was too easy. That's how we ended up at the train station at 11:30, playing the ukulele a bit for some locals, and killing another 2.5 hour for the train. 

When the train finally came, it was almost a completely different and more comfortable experience than it had been when we went to that awful town of Ayutthaya. It was cool, smelled like a rainy hot summer day in the country side, wasn't crowded, and was only 40 minutes late. However, did food we wanted to eat  come in the evening following our mango and chili snack?  No!! We spent another train ride starving our way into Bangkok. 

We had wanted to say somewhere with good accessibility to the airport but couldn't find anything easily within our budget, so we just went to Khao San road, where we had stayed before. We found a hotel in a quieter area, dropped our bags, found our favourite place to eat in that area, and went to sleep! 

We decided to spend our last day in Southeast Asia with our friend Vikki, who we had travelled with for a bit in Indonesia (Pallavi's haggling partner in crime), who was in Bangkok. She convinced us to come to her hostel in Sikomvit with the info that it's just a 10-15 minute walk to the airport link train. 

So we asked what bus went to the area and where we could find it. Once we got on, we showed the address to the conductor who was stumped! It took her, the driver, and two other local women a few minutes to figure out where we needed to get off. An hour and a half later we get off! We asked somebody else where to next. They said the next road, and take a cab. Where the heck is this place??? We turn the corner and take another bus. We got off and must have asked a few more people before, two hours later, we made it to Vikki's hostel. 

We had such a nice visit. It was great to 'start' and end our trip with her. It felt like the perfect bookends. Then, in a mad 'did you want to take the train? It stops in 45 minutes at midnight' dash, we said goodbye and made it the very short distance to the airport link. 

Back to the real world in India just for a little bit for a much needed bad backpacker break.

Sent from my iPhone

Day 71-73: Chiang Rai

Being an ethical tourist really puts the kabosh on activities in Thailand. Well, actually Pallavi is the real ethical tourist. I totally would have done it if she hadn't told me better.

We went further north to the small town of Chiang Rai. It's surrounded by wildlife reserves, elephant conservation centres, tigers, and hill tribes. It's also two hours to the nearest border crossing with Laos. We thought it'd be the perfect last stop in Thailand. We'll go see some hill tribes and wildlife, get a Thai massage, and say our goodbyes.

The elephant conservation centers, which only allow tourists to act as temporary caretakers (feed, bathe, clean up crap) for semi-wild elephants, were booked out. Every other wildlife tour always involved some sort of 'circus' element.

Exhibit A: Take care of an elephant and then have an elephant ride/trek out to the wild. Uhh... doesn't sound like rehabilitation to me. I mean, I get it. It's a ride on an elephant. Pretty cool. However, that's not conservation. No elephants for us.

Exhibit B: Go and have your pic taken next to a tiger. I have friends who have done this activity, but I know what happened to Sigfield & Roy. We don't believe sitting next to a wild tiger is safe, and we don't believe in drugging the tiger to make sitting next to it safe. So no tigers for us.

Then there are the hill tribes. We started looking up where we could go to visit the 'long neck' tribe. We could not believe the number of articles that advised us not only to not visit the long neck, but also not to visit any of the hill tribes whatsoever. The hill tribes no longer really dress in traditional clothes unless it's for a special festival. The hill tribes you can go on tours to visit have 'signed up,' and put on the traditional clothes as part of the 'show.' Participants include the 'long neck' tribe, whose traditional clothes actually cause physical pain to its women. Not only that, but most of these tribes only get a fraction of the proceeds from the tour. There are NPOs trying to change that, having tribe people 'sign up,' but getting all of the proceeds from tourists who come to their village. However, it is still just a 'show.'

Let's say you decide to forget the tour agents and the NPO villages and then just try to find these hill tribes on your own. You might find a hill tribe living in a traditional way; however, most people would not be dressed traditionally. Not only that, but you've basically rocked up to their village without invitation as a spectator and the people don't profit from it. I know we use people for tourism all of the time - look at the Amish. However, Amish villages are usually near a town and has a store - which indicates the village is open to people visiting it. Plus, most people who visit the Amish at least go and buy some yummy baked good from their store, so the people get some income from it. Not the case with hill tribes. So no hill tribes for us.

Instead, we took it easy.One thing we love about Thailand is that it feels like no matter where you go or the size of the town, the culture is always on display. For example, in Krabi town, our hotel was right across from a night market with a stage that had hours of cultural performances (including one that we can't get out of our head). Even Chiang Rai's baby night market had 2 stages with multiple performers who performed every night!

We also went to Chiang Rai's White Temple. Going to Chiang Rai and not seeing this temple would be like going to Barcelona and not seeing anything by Gaudi. This temple is like Frozen meets Dante's Inferno meets Gaudi meets Buddhism. Seriously. The temple itself looks like it is dripping in icicles covered in frosting. It's much more modern than Gaudi, but has his same over-the-top architectural style. Only these artists really takes the demonification of consumerism and personal possession to a level I have not seen in Buddhism. You pass something that looks like the bad scene in Little Mermaid when Arial is going to see Ursula and she has to pass that whole bed of just hands reaching up in torment (in my head that's how I think it is) in order to cross the entrance bridge. Outside of the temple, there are hanging carved heads of movie characters like Gollum, Wolverine, Malificent, etc. Once you get into the temple, there is a beautiful scene that wraps the entire interior. You start at the back of the temple with images of Hollywood characters, 9/11, bombs, etc. all wrapped in flames going into the mouth of a Devil-like creature, except a few souls on various boat-like vessels who are floating towards the Buddha at the front of the temple. Heavy stuff, but super cool.

Finally, I got a Thai massage. It was like 4 months of stress got the crap massaged out of it. It made me wonder if I shouldn't just take a massage class sometime. I already give (might I say) decent back rubs. Why not make some money out of it? I'll contemplate a bit more. However, Thai massages are a full work out for the masseuse, what with using their feet and legs in addition to their hands. I loved it. I've gotta go find another country known for massages as we travel along so I can know when to look forward to my next one.

Tomorrow, Laos!

Day 67-70: Chiang Mai

Finally, a chance to rest! We have finally made it to Thailand's north, to the city of Chiang Mai. I expected a mix of old medieval-style city and quiet hill station. I did not expect this town to be the Bangkok of the north!

We arrived and just have taken it easy. Exploring the Night Bazaar, doing laundry, watching the rest of The Mindy Project (note to others: season 1 is really funny, season 2 is decently funny, and season 3 is a bit more serious than we'd prefer), and relaxing.

We only stepped out to explore the city for the Sunday Walking market. This is a market unlike any other we've encountered. This market takes over the entire old city.

The architecture here is really like no other we've seen. It's a bit like LOTR Rohan. This area of Thailand was under the "Lanna Kingdom." What does that mean? Uhh.... look, something shiny!

The structures are all built in teak rather than in stone. It's way more 'woodsy' in it's appearance; however, I'd say it's actually more beautiful. As we came across various temples, the temples all had small wind chimes hanging off every one of their rooftops' awnings. We also found an amazing crumbling stone-built 13th century temple that was incredibly different from what we saw in Sukhothai. It had stone dragons guarding 4 of the paved over steep stairwells up to the Buddha at the top. A crumbled stone spire rose from the top of the Buddhas, crested only by the filling moon. To top it off, we came at such a time that all of the child-monks were passing by. When I say child-monk, I mean Buddhists monks under the age of 18. At least 30 of them crossed us while we were at the temple. Man, when I was under 18, all I could care about were the physical things of this world: butterscotch pudding, cartoons (as seen by my 3rd grade calendar, where every Saturday had 'Cartoon Day' clearly labeled on it), and weird stupid girl problems. I certainly wasn't contemplating letting go of the physical and searching for Nirvana - unless you mean the band.

We then high-tailed it out of the old city, with some small shopping interruptions. The city became absolutely chaotic! It was filled with hill-tribe people selling things; street performers and beggars in the middle of the narrow lane ways, and throngs of people creating walking rage in every direction. There were so many people that we got into a full sweat. Never have I been at a place where the temperature was warmer at night than it was during the day.

Cool town and just a bit more to go before we leave Thailand.

Day 65-66: Sukhothai

We have somehow made it this far through Thailand without visiting any famous temples. In a land where Buddhism is everywhere, the absence of these famous temples in our adventure is really surprising. My desire to see 'ancient' Thai cities and temples only increased after our horrible trip to Ayutthaya, where we departed having seen nothing but deceit!

The city of Sukhothai is very similar to Ayutthaya. The main difference is, as far as I have poorly understood and re-twisted my daily Wikipedia history lesson, that the Khmer empire had a seat of power in Sukhothai whereas it didn't in Ayutthaya. Other than that, the two seem to be sister cities. Both were founded roughly around the same time in the 13th century. Both formed the foundation of the country of Thailand. Both have some pretty cool ruins. Same, same but different.

Sukhothai is a much  nicer city than Ayutthaya. The ruins are quite spread out, so you can opt to rent a bike to see them more effectively. I have no idea what happened to my bike riding skills but I completely got smoked on the bicycle by Pallavi. This bicycle defeat didn't just come while we were at the ruins. It came also both nights we were there, when we borrowed bicycles from our guesthouse to bike down the street to get dinner. As I was riding the bicycle, which looked like something straight from my Grandma's 1960s cupboard, I kept thinking, it's not me, it's got to be the bike. No, it's not the bike, Sarah. Okay self, well, maybe it's that the seat's too low, so I can't get effective momentum to propel myself at great speed. No, it's not the seat, Sarah. Okay, I've gotten more pathetic in my bike riding since my old POS bike (may she rest in peace) from college. It's just as sad a story as that.

The ruins were different from ones I'd seen in the past. Like many old cities, the religious structures were the only remnants; however, I'd never seen so many Buddhas. The main temple must have had a minimum of 5 Buddhas and there must have been at least 6 temples in the main area alone (there were at least 3 areas). The Buddha adds just a different mystic to the ruins. Plus, as Pallavi added, where did people live among so many temples?

Ancient temples in Thailand. Check.

Day 63-64: Mae Sot & Visa Run

We have been on a ticking clock ever since we arrived in Thailand. Thailand recently has changed a lot of its border policies. Americans happily get a 30 day visa on arrival by both land and by air. Australians get only a 15 day visa on arrival by land and a 30 day visa by air. Most backpackers subject to these 15 day visas conduct at least one "visa run," exiting Thailand into one of its neighboring countries and then returning back to Thailand with a new 15 day visa on the same day. We knew these visa limitations prior to deciding our mode of transport into Thailand, and decided travelling by land was the more economical and doing a visa run was the more economical option for us.

Lonely Planet outlines all of the various visa run options and, after some research, we decided that the visa run that suited our schedule and timing best was the one that exists on the border of Mae Sot, Thailand and Myawaddy, Myanmar.

We arrived in Mae Sot after travelling on an overnight bus and figured we'd just get this visa thing done and over with, then go and sleep in a hotel. First things first though, let's go and find a hotel to dump all of our stuff at. The internet had told us to just walk about 1 km and then you'll start finding places. Pallavi had wanted to book a place the night before and I figured we'd just wing it. Mistake! We walked and we walked and we walked. No places to be found. We found a map and tried to ask a local tuk tuk driver - who didn't speak even a bit of English. No place to be found. We walked and we walked and we walked....we must have walked 3 kms (in my head it was farther, but I'm dramatic) before we finally just took a place up.

Up until now, we really have been spoiled with being able to use English to get around. Most people speak just enough English for us to function. Simple things like 'how much?' or 'room?' seems to work. Not here in Mae Sot! It took us taking out monetary notes and fake counting them to the bus driver for him to show us a 100 baht note to indicate how much we needed to pay per ticket. At the hotel, in what I think was my finest charades moment, it took mimicking the sound of the drill that was working outside of our drill and disturbing our sleep and pointing to my watch, to get them to tell me 5:00 p.m. was the time that drill would finish (and then they kindly moved us to a different room). Okay, maybe that one was complicated, but getting the room also involved a bit of holding up fingers, indicting people, and making some hand gestures towards money to get a price. If you want authentic non-touristy Thailand, Mae Sot is certainly it.

We got ourselves sorted and Pallavi became the only non-Burmese/non-Thai person in the immigration queue at the border. It costs $10 USD for a one-day temporary visitor permit to the town of Myawaddy, so we decided I would stay in Thailand and Pallavi would cross over for 90 minutes or so and then return. I waited and people watched. This area was quite an active border crossing. Lots of Burmese people, wearing traditional clothing, walked by selling all sorts of new foods. People passing each other things through the mesh fence separating non-mans land between immigration and Thailand. You can see  the fog-covered mountains of Myanmar in the background of the teak-built homes.

The people here seem to wear some sort of 'mud' on their face. Pallavi says they wear a similar mud pack sort of thing in India to help protect the skin from the sun. Apparently it is quite good for the skin. We hadn't seen it anywhere else in Thailand, but we see it everywhere here! Men, women, children, and adults. I'm completely fascinated. I think I might need some 'mud' on my face too! I already stand out, why not stand out a bit more.

Pallavi made it back from her adventure, which involved the Thai immigration almost not letting her leave the country even though her visa was over that day and somehow walking over 2 kms in Myawaddy to see the sights and still having time both to have a coconut water and to have a tea in just 90 minutes. She also apparently saw lots of blatant people smuggling across the river as well. Nothing like a good adventure.

New visa acquired, we slept the whole rest of the time. Now we have a bit of time to slow down and go and explore Northern Thailand. 

Days 61-62: The Bridge Over the River Kwai, Hellfire Pass & Kanchanaburi

There is so much emphasis on the WWII Pacific Theatre; however, I don't feel like we as Americans put as much emphasis on the atrocities that occurred in Asia as we do on the ones that occurred in Europe. Yes, I can agree that you can't visually see the impact of the WWII here like you can in Germany or in the UK. You don't see shell-shocked buildings or remade stain-glassed windows. Pallavi and I have both done different German concentration camps. Now was our chance to head out to Kanchanaburi, the location of the Bridge Over the River Kwai and of Hellfire Pass.

Less than 2 hours outside of Bangkok, it's hard to believe so many POWs and locals slaved under such extreme and horrible conditions to try to build this Thai-Burma railway. We arrived in Kanchanaburi and walked from our place to the Bridge. We had been told this walk was 3 kms. 5 kms later with a sun about to set, we finally made it to the Bridge. During that 5 km walk, all I could think was that I would never have made it as a POW. This walk seemed difficult and it was 6 p.m. at night. How could I have ever cut through solid rock at 2 p.m., in the sun, on minimal food and sleep (see yesterday's post about starving without energy while just sitting on a train)? Just another reason why I would not make a great Survivor contestant. I might be stubborn as, but I'm a bit precious when it comes to my basic needs.

The Bridge Over the River Kwai is not as big as I thought it'd be. It's not as high above the water. The metal skeleton is not as high. However, as I looked at it, against the setting sun, a Bodhisattva statue peaking over the top of it from a temple on the shore behind it, I felt a profound sense of sadness. This place shouldn't be one of Hollywood style tourism, with people selling things on all sides, and a restaurant overlooking the bridge. At least, it didn't feel that way to me. It should be a place for quiet reflection. There are only a few trains per day, so the bridge is open for you to walk on and across. About halfway across the bridge, the tourists dropped off. We had the entire bridge to ourselves. On the other half of the bridge, it's quiet and serene. It probably has not changed since 1945. We sat for about an hour just looking at the bridge in mostly quiet before deciding to leave.

We knew we didn't want to walk the 5 kms back, so we waited for a mini-bus right in front of an ambulance station. We waited for a good 20 minutes before one of the EMTs asked our destination and told us that the mini-bus didn't run at that time of night. She then called out to another EMT about to drive his Rescue vehicle off and he said he'd take us to the bus station. Rescue rescued us!

The next day we went to Hellfire Pass. If you haven't seen the movie The Railway Man I highly recommend it both as a film and to learn more about Hellfire Pass. Long story short, the Japanese used some odd 60K POWs and 200K locals to cut through the mountain basically by hand (with a bit of help from explosives) on 2 bowls of rice per day, working 18-24 hours per day, to help lay the railway line. Hellfire Pass is one of the biggest mountainsides they cut through. It's called Hellfire Pass both because the high death toil (46%) and for how it looked when lit up at night. After the war, the English dug up some odd kms of track at the end of the line to prevent some other not nice thing from happening, including the track that went through Hellfire Pass. The Australian government has built a memorial museum here as they had the largest POW casualty rate here of any Allied country.

Walking through Hellfire Pass feels like walking with ghosts. To channel Derek from Most Haunted, you feel the residual energy of sadness, lost hope, and desperation throughout the pass. It feels like, if you listen, you can still hear the sounds of men working. As you walk, you pass bits of track, railway ties, and other bits of iron poking out of the cliff where its owner had left it. There are mostly Australian flags tucked in little hand holds in the cliff as tributes to the fallen. As much as POWs 'own' the tragedies of Hellfire Pass, in reality, of the 100K people who died here, POWs made up only 10K of them. 90K locals died! It's unbelievable. As we wrapped up and tried to walk up the 100 stairs to the top of the memorial, again we both recognized that we'd never had made it as POWs. We can't even walk up the nicely made stairs to the top at 4:30 p.m., in the shade, with the sun setting.

Tourism is a funny thing as too much can destroy a place; however, I think everybody who is in Thailand should make the journey to come here. It's an incredibly moving reminder of our past. 

Day 60: Ayutthaya

Ayutthaya is a crap town! We thought we would take a day trip up to Ayutthaya from Bangkok to see its water market. Thai water markets are meant to be absolutely photographically amazing. As per yesterday's experience at the Artist's Village, historically Thai people moved and traded along the various canals and waterways. Thus, the water market.

Not only are the water markets great for trade, but it also makes for great James Bond action sequences. If you've seen the movie Man with the Golden Gun, you may remember a scene involving a water market. That James Bond action sequence took place in one of Bangkok's water markets.

However. the problem with finding the right water market to go to is three-fold:

1. Most water markets only take place on weekends or, if they are open on a weekday, they are only open between 7-10 a.m.. We are on a bit of a timeline at present, so sticking around until Saturday-Sunday isn't really an option. Also, 7-10 a.m. is just painful when you add in the fact we are staying on a crowded party area in Bangkok and the sounds of bad 80s cover bands do not make for effective lullabies. 
2. Most of the most colorful and crowded markets are about 90kms outside of Bangkok. Also, the more colorful the market, the more touristy (and inauthentic) the market.
3. The authentic markets that are nearby aren't very colourful. There are 7 boats instead of a multitude of boats. 

After hours of searching, we decided that the market that fit the criteria of a) open on weekends, b) not as touristy, and c) not as far was Ayutthaya. Ayutthaya is about a 2.5 hour train ride away. The train costs a whopping 50 cents. I had wanted to go to Ayutthaya initially because it is the original seat of the Kingdom of Thailand. Prior to Ayutthaya's founding in the 14th century, what is now Thailand was primarily ruled by the Cambodian Khmers. As Ayutthaya and its leaders strengthened, they captured more land and founded Thailand. Ancient palaces and temples, all surrounded by a water and a floating market to boot! Sounds pretty cool, right?

Wrong! After we got off what felt like the slowest train ever, we were immediately met with the kinds of Thai people we had been warned about. Tuk Tuk drivers wanting astronomical costs to take us to the water village. Information people telling us that there is no mini-bus to take us to the water village when we know there is one, etc.

We decided screw them, we'll just walk the 3-4 kms to the water village. After a hot walk, we finally got to the water village and..... it was a fake! We had been duped. It was a replica of a water village - and not the kind that is even trying to fake you out into thinking it was real. We were so disappointed by the entire experience that we decided to get the next train out of town. No exploration of ruins. Nothing. We saw some ruins on the overpriced tuk tuk we took back to the train and called it a day.

Oh, did I mention we didn't eat anything during this entire day either! Okay, one half of a sandwich for breakfast. By the time we reached Bangkok at 5 p.m., we were hangry, exhausted, hot, sweaty, AND disappointed. We know travel is a bit hit and miss - but missing is darn frustrating.

(PS - I did make up for the food with super yummy dinner + dessert. I was basically an eating monster.)

Day 59: The Artist's House, Bangkok

Everybody had warned us against Thai people. They told us that Thai people try to take advantage of you as a tourist. Other than the questionable tuk tuk scam(?), we have found Thai people to be some of the most lovely, helpful, go-out-of-the-way people we've met. I would say I haven't met a people like them outside of the Irish. 

Our Bangkok plan was a little thwarted when we decided to not go to the Grand Palace or any of the other main temples here. The Grand Palace is very near to where we are staying, so we can see it from across the park. It is really quite grand (from what we can see). The grounds are a minimum of 16 city blocks. Thai style gold gilded rooftops filled with ornamentation peak out from above the boundary wall. However, when we read the description and looked at online pictures, the Grand Palace didn't seem worth the $20 entry. Neither did any of the accessory temples for whatever fees they charged. 

We sat around trying to find what we wanted to spend our time and money on instead. Bangkok is filled with activities, it's just hard to find the right one. We found it. We happened upon some article about a place called The Artist's House. It's tucked away in a quiet neighborhood in Bangkok, along a canal, where people live as they have lived for the past few hundred years. Judging by the lack of information on how to get their by public transportation, this seemed like a place that most backpackers and tourists don't visit. Plus, they have a traditional Thai puppet show performance at 2 p.m. The time when we made our decision to go here: 12:00 p.m. 

We went to try to find the bus. I happily went to where I thought the bus stand stood (without confirmation or asking). We happily got on the bus and, after 10 minutes, I thought something didn't seem quite right. I asked the bus driver for our intended station - he, and every other person on the bus, told us to get off and get on the same bus number headed in the opposite direction. Well, no way would we make the puppet show now! So stupid! 

We got on the correct bus and asked for our intended station. The conductor said he'd tell us when. As we traveled, the woman behind us asked for our station. We told her. When we reached the station, the conductor, the entire bus, and specifically, the woman behind us, told us to get off. The woman got off as well, and asked where we were going next. We told her in our best bad Thai. She not only figured out where we wanted to go, but she pulled over another mini bus, told the driver where to take us, and told us the price. Then she happily went on her way. 

We stayed on the mini bus, again asked somebody in bad Thai where we wanted to go, and that person also helped u get off at the right place. 

Finally, puppet show missed, but finally there, we came up and over a canal, into a quiet area, bordered by conjoined wooden houses. You just walked from one wooden house to another. As we walked, we passed locals feeding the fattest, most active catfish I have ever seen. A minimum of 50 catfish surfaced, gasping with mustached mouths at the food tossed towards them. I, of course, looked for fisherman and saw none! Why not? Not sure. 

As we went along, we passed artists' house after artists' house, until we came to the one for which we had come. We had missed the puppet show, but one of the puppeteers still had a puppet on his hand for practice. From what I could see, Thai puppetry is a mix of dance and puppets. The puppeteer moves so gracefully, even without the puppet. Each step is choreographed from head to toe. It was amazing to watch. The puppets are about 3-4 feet tall. Slim with rods to control the movements. They are held much like Jim Henson's muppets (only without any hand up the back to control the mouth movement). I'm so glad we caught this guy's practice. 

We then explored a bit more, took lots of pictures, and enjoyed the quiet and calm. This place has no tourists. People speak only broken basic English (at best). As we explored we came across a Buddhist temple, filled with monks. Sitting around. Reading a book. Sweeping the streets. Nobody else there. There is also a floating market that occurs in this area (probably on weekends, as it was empty when we arrived). 

I didn't want to leave. Absolutely magical day in Bangkok. Exactly what we didn't know we wanted. Anybody can go and everybody has gone to the Palace. Very few have made it here. 

Day 58: Bangkok

We arrived in Bangkok at 6:30 a.m. to a city unlike what we had expected; however, as the day progressed, it turned out to be exactly like I had expected.

I was expecting Bangkok to be more like Jakarta - filled with high rises and skyscrapers. It is not. Bangkok is surprisingly accessible. It is a city filled with Buddhist temples, palaces, rivers, and open green spaces.

We couldn't check in to our hotel until 12, so we had breakfast, and decided that, as it was hot outside, 9 a.m., and we were a bit tired and inappropriately dressed to go into the grand palaces (which requires pants that cover your knees and shirts that cover your elbows), that we would go to the national museum. As we went along, the following things happened: 

1. A friendly man asked us where we were going. When we said we were going to a museum, he said that it was closed until 1 p.m.. He then recommended a few other free temples that we could go to. He also recommended we go to the ferry, where we could take a ferry tour. You know me and free. I'm all about it, so it seemed like a decent plan. 
2. Conveniently, a tuk tuk pulled up and the man went over and told him where we wanted to go.
3. He told us it would cost us 20 baht. Seemed good - but I seemed to recall something I had read earlier..... no tuk tuk costs just 10 baht a person. Watch for scams! Too late. We were in the tuk tuk. 
4. We went to temple #1. Temple of the Standing Buddha. We went in and poked around. It seemed alright, but nothing really that great. Whatever. Win some, lose some. We went back to the tuk tuk. 
5. We went to temple #2.Temple of the Lucky Buddha. This temple seemed closed, but we stalked a few other tourists who seemed to have a guide who took them to the back. We didn't bother going in to the temple area (I'm tired of taking my shoes off). We went back to the tuk tuk. 
6. We decided we didn't want to go to the ferry. We'd just go back to the hotel. 
7. The tuk tuk asked if we wanted to stop by the tourist information centre. We said no. Then he asked if it was alright if he stopped for himself. We said, sure no problem. 
8. The tuk tuk stopped at the tourist information centre and suggested we get out. We asked if he was getting off. He said no, he stopped for us. We went in and discovered it was a tour booking centre filled with very unhelpful people. We asked if the national museum was closed. One guy said no, it's open every day.
9. We got back in the tuk tuk and asked him to drop us off. By now, I feel very uneasy about the whole thing and a bit nervous that this thing is a scam. When we got to our road, I just asked the tuk tuk to pull over, even though we had wanted to get to the national museum after that.

End of story. We then went to the national museum, which didn't pan out because I had misread the cost. We went back to the hotel, checked in, and while Pallavi slept, I looked up tuk tuk scams. 

Events #1 through #5 were identical in all circumstances! I then read in Lonely Planet that, in addition to no tuk tuks are for 10 baht per person, also don't believe anybody who tells you something is closed! 

I conveyed my findings to Pallavi when she woke up; however, as she reasonably asked, what was the scam then? We weren't asked for money. We weren't taken anywhere we didn't agree to go (except the info centre, where they barely even answered our one question, let alone try to get money from us). How could we have been scammed? 

If this was a scam, it was the worst scam! We came out of it with just a 20 baht tuk tuk ride and a questionable tale to tell. What do you think? Scam or no scam? 

Speaking of tales, Pallavi has not allowed me my unhealthy quantity of coffees per day. This change in caffeination is mostly healthy, but a girl sometimes just wants a nice sweet hot beverage that just happens to have caffeine in it! After we ate dinner last night, a man came by with roasted scorpions on sticks. I have always claimed that I could probably complete all of the eating challenges. Here was my chance! I asked Pallavi what she would give me if I ate a scorpion. She said, "I don't know. What do you want?" I thought about it. Last time we did this back and forth I asked for too little, so I decided to ask "for you to not give me any grief anytime I want coffee or beer for the rest of the trip." Pallavi thought about it and said, "the rest of the trip is a really long time. How about until India." Sounds like a deal to me! Much to Pallavi's surprise, I called the scorpion man over. After a bit of negotiation (which I could have done better at), I had my scorpion, we took the obligatory before photos, and I ate it! It was delicious! It didn't taste insect-y at all! No claws. No shells. Just yumminess. It also had a meatiness to it which, along with the charred BBQ, was quite delightful! 

Next, we decided to go and try to find Bangkok's legendary ladyboys. They have this whole ladyboy culture, their attitude towards which is incredibly liberal. To have a ladyboy is considered lucky! We went down towards a district where they are notorious... the gaybourhood of Bangkok! We sat down at a bar that was having its birthday celebration. We made friends, we danced on stage to 'Hava Nagila' with an awesome transgendered singer (seriously - she was good!), I lost a beer drinking competition (and let my ND MBA compatriots down in the process), and finally made it home. It was an absolute ball and the best drag show I've ever seen.

Tuk Tuk scams, scorpions, and ladyboy drag shows. It was exactly what I had expected from Bangkok. 

Day 55-57: Koh Tao, Thailand & Transit to Bangkok

Another few days just relaxing on a beach. We changed locations from our splurge hotel and went back to reality, at bungalow accommodation right on the beach.

By the way, Mom, thanks for all of the 'sounds like that go bump in the night' tent checks we did in Girl Scouts. When we were growing up, every year, twice a year, we'd go camping with the Girl Scouts. And, ever year, twice a year, one of us (who we all know, but shall remain nameless), spooked at every night time sound. As such, every year, twice a year, my Mom would walk around the perma tent, doing her best to imitate squirrels, wind, falling acorns, etc. That's how I felt when I started to hear all of the unfamiliar Thai forest creatures! I'm guessing we just were hearing toads and geckos, but how would I know? It only kept me up a little bit.......

This beach had great snorkeling, but not nearly as good as it was in Indonesia. Indo spoiled us too soon in our journey! I only wish the actual beach at this place was better! Coral makes for great snorkeling but for painful beaches.

Our island timing is unfortunate! We don't feel like we've really experienced Thai beaches because, as its monsoon season, all of the islands on the Andaman sea are closed! We also are racing monsoon across all of Thailand, Cambodia, Laos, and Vietnam, so we can't even just chill on a beach on the mainland. Plus, this island is suppose to be one of the cheapest places in the world to learn how to scuba dive, which we were seriously considering; however, Pallavi's cold made the decision for us to not learn how to dive... next time diving school... next time......

Hopefully we'll be able to do a bit more beach life in Cambodia.

We decided to leave Koh Tao and head over to Bangkok. It's a mostly straightforward journey. Ferry to the train station and then take an overnight train to Bangkok. Except when, in order to get to your platform, you have to cross through the train standing in front of you!

All of the foreigners waiting for our train had the same look of shock when the answer to our question, how do we get to platform 2, was a pointed arm at the open door of the train standing in front of us. I have never seen people move their luggage so quickly as we did through that train. I did too! Man, those 15 kg bags moved up the stairs and down the stairs almost by themselves! I did NOT want to be the one stuck in some bad movie montage with one bag down on platform 2 and another bag to go when the train we were crossing through started to move. (Pallavi apparently thought, eh, this train goes to Bangkok too, worse case). I may be dramatic, but I am not made for drama!

Overnight train done, bring it on Bangkok. 

Day 53-54: Koh Tao - Island Paradise

It's been an entire country since we last took out our swim suits. We passed on several potentially beautiful and amazing beach experiences in Malaysia because we wanted to make sure we had a beach experience in Thailand. This island of Koh Tao is it.

In my head, a Thai beach experience looks much like Bridget Jones' experience in her 2nd adventure with Hugh Grant. The bungalow on the beach. Cocktails. Warm, perfect water. Some sort of flames (candles or beach performance).

We've decided to splurge for 2 days and get a nice place here before we go back to our normal backpacker life. So resort it is! Is it a bungalow? No. Are there cocktails? Yes. Is the water pretty much perfect temp? Yes. No flames yet - but I think we'll have a few more days.

I am practicing all of the things that my friend Kim taught me. Sit on the beach chair under the sun umbrella. Swim. Drink. Repeat. It helps cultivate the perfect non sunburn - of which I am still terrified. I am afraid I saw into my future when I saw all of the sunburned, mosquito bitten white tourists getting onto our boat while we were getting off of it. I know it cannot be helped. I will sunburn. It is my fate. The only goal is to make sure it's only a sun kiss that'll fade into the sunset within 24 hours.

So far - so great, so much fun, and so relaxing. We'll change to another resort tomorrow and see if we can see if Koh Tao is better for snorkeling than Indo.

Day 50-52: Krabi, Thailand

It it finally time for us to start racing the monsoon and get ourselves to Thailand. I am absolutely dreading monsoon, which starts in its full raining glory in July. I am failing my Girl Scout motto. I am not prepared. I do not have what I need to survive monsoon. Let's just review all of the stuff I do NOT have: 

• Umbrella. I lived in Ireland for crying out loud and I don't have an umbrella? Too much to carry. 
• Poncho. Nobody can make a poncho look cool. Then again, looking like a wet, bedraggled kitten when it pours also is a hard look to rock. 
• Floater Sandles. These are those rough and tumble kind of sandles. The kind that people in Portland or Seattle wear. Rugged. Unattractive. Provides good arch support in a hiking situation. Can support a hiking situation. We had wanted to buy these in Melbourne, but the price wasn't right. We tried getting them overseas from India, but my shoe size (ginormous) is apparently too big for the Indian stores to stock. We have looked for them everywhere here, but we have yet to find them. All in all - I'm stuck with flipflops - which are a recipe for disaster. Or my Toms, which also aren't the best for a flood situation. 
• Backpack Rain Covers. That's right - it pours, our stuff gets water logged. For some reason, Pallavi does not support my continued suggestion to just use garbage bags. Something about them not being attractive. In my opinion, garbage backs are a bit trashy, but functional. 

No sooner do we arrive in Thailand, waiting for our next bus to take us to Krabi then it starts to monsoon rain outside. Not actual monsoon season - but meaning when it rains so hard you think its a monsoon. What did that mean for us in our ill equipped state? No lunch! It was our only break in our trip to get food and it was raining too hard for me to face running across the street to go and get something. Good thing I've got cookies! Cookies are a completely reasonable lunch - if I was Cookie Monster. 

It's a tough time of year to be heading up to Thailand. We decided to head towards Krabi Town, in the province of Krabi. Unfortunately, all of the beautiful islands to our west on the Andaman, are closed because of the upcoming monsoon. That means some of the beaches are too. 

Tragically, Pallavi continues to feel a bit under the weather, so we haven't had a chance to explore much of Krabi Town. We've just been taking it easy so far. 

Tomorrow we do head over to Koh Tao, which is meant to have some amazing snorkeling. We are way overdue for some beach bumming time. 

Things we've noticed about Thailand so far: 

• cheaper than Malaysia
• feels a bit more congested than Malaysia
• more tourists! (we got spoiled in Indo & on Borneo with the lack of tourism)
• feels more tropical - more forests, hotter temp
• yummier more interesting food

We'll see how much we like Thailand vs. how much we want to risk being here in monsoon. Still up in the air.