End of the Road

I had time for 3 more adventures in Railey Beach, Krabi and the surrounding area, and now I am just an hour away from heading to the Krabi airport for a short flight to Bangkok followed shortly thereafter by a 17 hour trek across the globe back to New York City.

After getting dropped off by the ferry from Ko Lanta at Railey Beach, I had an apparently short hike (probably 100 meters) to Ton Sai Beach where I was staying, which is right next to Railey, but separated by an ominous cliff that either requires a tough climb or a longtail boat during high tide, or a wade through the ocean during low tide. Luckily it was low tide, so with my large backpack and all, I was able to wade through the sea, over a bunch of rocks, and arrived safely at Ton Sai - mission accomplished - this trek back and forth was made several times (and I always refused to take the long tail) over the last several days, and was especially difficult during the darkness of night when the tide was high. Dark free climbing - gotta love it.

On my first day in Railey, I signed up for a half day Kayak trip, and what a trip it was. Just imagine kayaking on the North Fork of Long Island - except you are now surrounded by gigantic cliffs, mangrove forests, caves, and many many narrow passageways that required near perfect kayak navigation skills. Throw in the occasional monitor lizard, cobra (yes, those scary poisonous snakes, Kingfisher birds, tons of spider crabs, and upon further contemplation, the only thing this trip has in common with rowing through Long Island was the kayak itself. Oh, and I didn't even mention the monkeys - which were everywhere and quite aggressive. These monkeys took full advantage of he ability to laziness transport through the jungle by hopping onto the front of your kayak for a free lift. When I first saw a large group of them upon first entering the Mangroves, I opened my waterproof Oceansack bag that was provided for my use and removed my can of cashews in order to get my camera. As it turned out, taking out cashews in front of a group of monkeys is apparently not too bright of an idea, as I immediately had 3 monkeys jump onto my kayak and begin reaching for my nuts. I quickly put my camera and nuts back in my sack, and a monkey hand instantly reached his hand into my sack going right after my nuts! I was able to close the bag, and savage my nuts and camera - only to have a group of monkeys bear their teeth at me! Luckily, I was able to scare off the monkeys by waving my paddle in the air above their heads (a trick the kayak guide told us prior to departing). So, I avoided that crisis rabies-free with my nuts safely back in their sack where they stayed for the remainder of the expedition.

That night was Christmas Eve and parties were planned all throughout the beach. Xmas eve coincided with the Full Moon - which is typically enough of a reason to party in Thailand, so now we had 2 reasons - reason enough to party twice as hard as any other ordinary night in Thailand, which if you are in Thailand, you already have reason to celebrate. My resort had all sorts of activities planned - banquet buffet dinner, fireworks, fire shows, one of those ridiculous Thai cover bands that I love so much that sing American rock songs with the wrong words in Thai accents, and even a magic show. The magic show was doubly entertaining, with a bunch of fairly tame slight of hand trips, until it was time for the grand finale! - which required a volunteer from the audience. Obviously, I raised my hand (while jumping up and down on my chair), and was chosen. I was escorted onto stage by the superhotThai assistant dressed in a sexy Christmas eve outfit, and I was instructed to tie myself to the assistance with rope, chain, lock and key. Of course, I embellished this act by acting like a dirty old man who couldn't be happier about be tied to a hot girl, and got lots of laughs from the audience. After we were suitably attached to one another, we were placed under a curtain out of view, and the Thai assistance somehow untangled, untied, and unlocked herself from me (boo!), asked me to take off my shirt, which she then put on, and we were reviewed to the audience to much laughter and applause! After this, I danced and partied the night away, and slept to 2 PM the next day, and then got some more sun.

Which leads us to today - my last and final in Thailand, and my last and final adventure - rock climbing! Railey Beach is world renowned as one of the top places in the world to climb due to the great abundance of climbs, beautiful scenery, and lively beach scene. Many famous rock climbers often come to this area of Thailand. So, I tried my hands at climbing, and made it to the top of the three medium ranked climbs that we attempted with only minor cuts and bruises! It was all in good fun, and a great concluding adventure.
So, there we have it, I have successful completed my journey and now only the long travel home awaits me. I managed to do this pretty much exactly as I had planned, completing all my objectives, without injury, sickness, major delays or unplanned detours, or the lose of any personal artifacts - which is actually pretty rare considering the amount of stories I have heard about food poisoning, motorbike accidents, and other travel horror stories. Mission accomplished - case closed. I'll have more time to reflect on the journey home, but for now, I am happy and content and actually ready to get back to reality. I'm craving a juicy steak (the beef in Thailand is rough, chewy, and always overcooked), real coffee (powdered Instant Coffee is the typical standard here), and some NBA action (Soccer is the only sport I could find on TV) , so I would much appreciate it if these things can be arranged for me upon my return. Love you all and thanks for reading. While I don't promise it, I may post another entry or so with reflections upon my return to America.

The Underwater Adventures Continue

SCUBA SCUBA SCUBA - Hooked! I am now officially certified as an ADVANCED Open Water Diver. Imagine this if you will. You take a scuba boat out about 2.5 hours from the Ko Lanta and stop - you look around, and there is no sight of land in any and all directions - yet you climb down to the boat's lower level - gear up - and jump into the turbulent oceanic waters. You inflate your BCD to stay on the surface despite the large waves that attempt to carry you away - you plunge your mask into the water to orientate yourself with your surroundings, but see nothing but deep blue color surrounding you. You look around to your fellow divers and buddy and signal to begin your descend. Luckily there is a reference line in the water that is anchored to the ocean floor that you hold onto so you aren't carried away. For the first 5 to 10 meters, the current is so strong that you literally are holding onto the line with your hands as the rest of your body is carried horizontally with the waves. You think to yourself - what have I gotten myself into - let's just stretch this scuba idea and ascend to the safety of the boat - afterall, this is only my 7th time diving ever. Yet, you gather your composure and continue onwards - at about 12 meters the current begins to die down and you no longer need to hold onto the line to control your descend - you look down and you see it - hazy at first - but there certainly is a large sunken mass about about 16 meters below you - as you continue to sink - the mass becomes clearer and clearer - its a ship wreck. Now the current is practically non-existent and the visibility clears up as you lower yourself to the stern of the ship. There is 100 feet of water separating you and the breathable air that is somewhere above you.

This is the Kickcruiser wreck - its a vehicle ferry boat that sank in 1997 transporting people from Phuket to Phi Phi - while everybody was saved after the ship hit a rock, the ship slowly sank and settled about 2 kilometers and several hours later. The ship is huge - at least 250 feet long and 80 feet wide - its covered in developing coral and surrounded by fish - and not just the typical small reef fish that live in the traditionally reef - but large schooling tuna and barracuda (with shimmering big teeth). There is a big eyed Travelly that is just floating there, motionless, about 5 feet in front of you. This thing is the size of a large car tire - with an eye starring at you that is about the size of a silver dollar coin. A nurse shark, about 4 feet long, swims by along the ocean floor.

Your divemaster signals to begin perimetering the boat and you follow - the entire wooden side is absolutely covered in coral and surrounded by thousands of tiny yellow fish - you see a window in the boat and peer in - it takes your eyes a minute to adjust to the darkness, but you see more fish swimming around inside. As you continue your journey, you notice that the entire back haul of the ship has caved in, creating dangerous caves and other hazards. You follow your divemaster through one of these entry-ways, navigating through several large beams of wood, ensuring not to disturb the beautiful, yet poisoness Lionfish. The reality of what you are doing hits you, as you continue exploring the beauty of what mankind lost and nature has taken over. The wreck is now the playground to millions of fish - and you realize the power of nature.

Your final stop is the exposed toilets in the ship - even 100 feet underwater, you still maintain your sense of humor as you take turns hovering over the toilets pretending to crap. After you have disposed of your mock waste, you begin your ascend, and 8 minutes later (including another safety stop at 5 meters where you once again hang onto the rope for your life), the dive is over just 40 minutes after it has begun.

So, that is my poetic description of a dive. And today, was just as remarkable - diving at Hin Duang and Hin Maung, which both are giant sea walls that descend over 70 meters into the sea, and are frequent homes to Manta Rays and Whale Sharks. After dive 1, dispute all the beauty of the coral and reef fish, we were disappointed not to have encounter any rays or sharks - but just after I got out of the sea, there is a frantic as other divers just breaking surface signal that there is a manta in the water - you see it from the boat about 2 meters deep - since your dive is complete, you can't descend again, so you strip off your tank, BCD, regulator, and wet suit, but keep your mask, snorkel, and fins, jump back in and watch the ray, with a 10 foot wingspan for several minutes. And that's just dive one. The second dive (2 hours later after lunch) contained more and more fish, and several leopard sharks! It's amazing to think that a week ago, I was learning how to breathe underwater for the first time ever in a swimming pool, and now I have dove at the one of the best sites in the world that is reserved only for advanced open water divers, like myself!

And now my adventures are nearly over, I have one last destination - Railey Beach in Krabi for 4 days/3 nights for some rock climbing, kayaking, relaxation, and partying prior to getting a quick flight back to Bangkok in time for my nighttime flight on the 27th. I'll keep you all posted. But, now its time to relish my last night in Ko Lanta with all the friends I have made here diving and otherwise before heading out tomorrow.

PADI Open Water Diver

Hooked - SCUBA SCUBA SCUBA - I am now officially certified as a PADI Open Water Diver. I can dive anywhere in the world up to 18 meters. I passed the course, taking a final exam at the end which was similar though much easier than the CPA exam - (broken into 5 sections where you get instruction, watch the official PADI video, and then take a test) - also, I completed 4 Open Water Dives over the past 2 days at a reef (Ko Haa) about an hour boatride from Ko Lanta, which were all amazing. Diving in a range from 6 to 16 meters (20 to 60 feet) coral reefs are incredible - there is so much colorful life swimming and sationary around you - we saw all sorts of crazy reef fish, huge corals, eels, etc. It's so amazing to look around at the underwater world around you - but the diving is amazing. You learn how to remain completely neutral in teh water - just suspended there - only controlled by your breathe - breathe in - you slowly begin to rise due to air in your lungs - breathe out - and you slowly descend now that the air is gone. Perfect bouyancy. And moving underwater is crazy - you learn to control your breathe so you rise when you want to just hoovering over the reef and descending when you want to. There is so much that goes into it - the science of breathing, bouyancy, movement, the physiology of the pressure, volume, density of your body as you dive, the nature of all the amazing marine life around you, and even the math involved of calculating and planning your dive to ensure that the amount of nitrogen in your body is always within an acccepable limit based on how deep you dive, how long you dive, and how much surface time elapses between dives. I am totally hooked and can't wait to get in the water again. I also purchased an incredible DVD that has both above ground action shots from the boat preparing for our dives today, and underwater shots of us in the water with all the amazing things around us. You'll all have to check it out in another 9 days.

So, the diving continues after a one day break tomorrow - as I begin the 3 day advanced course where I can dive at deeper depths, do more adventure dives, and learn skills like underwater photography and fish identification. I'll get to dive the sites with the potential for whale shark, leopard shark, and manta ray sitings like Hin Dueng and Hin Muang, and also go wreck diving at the King-cruiser site - I also get to learn to do deeper dives and get certified to go up to 30 meters (100 feet!)

So the plan is this - chill out on Lanta tomorrow, then do the 3 day advanced course followed by 3 days in Railey Beach, Krabi, then head back to Bangkok for my evening flight on the 26th. Time is such a strange concept - on one hand, I can't believe my trip is coming to an end as when I look back, everything has gone so quickly, but on the other hand, it feels so long ago that I was back home. I have done so many amazing things and gone to some unbelievable places - and really, everything has gone down smoothly and even somewhat on schedule. But I still got 9 days to go - so who knows what is still left in store for me.

Island Life

I am now on Koh Lanta and just completed a grueling 5 hours in the classroom and 4 hours in the pool during Day 1 of my 3 day PADI Open Water dive course. But as is now customary, let's back up a few days in order to ensure that all my adventures have been properly documented complete with visuals.

Here are my pictures of me posing with ladyboys after the Simon Cabaret show on Phuket.

And here I am doing my best arms spread ladyboy impression. Don't I look feminine?

My half-day adventure tour around Ko Phi Phi ROCKED!

We spedboat all around the island and surrounding islands to all the bays, alcoves, cliffs, and beaches stopping for the occasional snorkeling opportunity or cliff-jumping site. I did a few cliff jumps from 8 meters (roughly 25 feet) and then 15 m (about 48 feet). You had to do a bit of climbing to get up to the jump sites, and unfortunately, I was so pumped up with adrenaline prior to leaping off the boat that I forgot to pass my camera on to get them taped. I also could not bring my camera with me in the water because as you may or may not know, bringing an electronic device into a body of water may cause irreversible damage. But, let me assure you all that what lay below the surface of Ko Phi Phi was coral and fish. I saw these species with my own eyes and you will just have to take my word for it that they were colorful and swam using their own efforts without the use of any electronic currents or batteries. The best was when the tour guide tossed some pieces of white bread into the water around you and you were suddenly swimming amidst a school (that is the proper nomenclature) of clown, angel, trigger, dragon, sprout, devil, hydrangea, infinity, pine, spore, robin and rainbow fish. I am unsure if all of those aforementioned specie names are the proper nomenclature as I am no longer the reef fish expert that I may or may not have been during the adolescent years.

After these adventures, we provided to monkey beach - which contains exactly what the name implies - a beach full of MONKEYS (I'm sure Hilary is getting more and more excited as she reads this). The jungle comes right up to the beach, and monkeys are everywhere. There is a stand that sells bananas, so these monkeys are certainly used to human interaction. In fact, you will soon be approached by several monkeys as they spot the bright yellow goodness in your hand, and I had my first banana stolen out of my hand within seconds. Being a monkey myself, I put my second purchased banana in my backpack out of view, and sat down on a large rock to enjoy it myself. But wouldn't you know - monkeys aren't very good at sharing and soon I had a primate companion join me on my perch, who literally ripped half the banana out of my hand. I still had some left, so we were able to enjoy together - just monkey and me sitting on a rock eating banana in the sun.

After monkey beach, we continued around the island finding all sorts of giant rock formations extruding from the turquoise depths, eventually finding ourselves at Ko Phi Phi Ley, which is a smaller uninhabited island that is only accessible by day trips, and also happens to be the spot where in The Beach (starring one Leandro Barbosa - I mean DiCaprio) was filmed, in a location called Maya Bay - which is a beautiful little beach in which words do not do justice - so I won't even try. Imagine crystal clear topaz waters peacefully spilling onto a white sand beach surrounded by jagged cliffs backed up onto a jungle background - that's Maya Bay - the perfect imagination of anybody's beachside daydreams that happen when sitting in a windowless office cube doing the 9 to 5 - it's what desktop wallpaper is made for. After our visit, we watched the sunset prior to continuing back to Phi Phi Don (the main island).

The next morning, I awoke to climb up hundreds of stairs and hundreds of meters of uphill sidewalk in order to get up to Phi Phi viewpoint in order to look down from above and take in the island. The island is shaped like a giant H, and was absolutely devastated by the tsunami 3 years ago - the majority of the development is on the crossbar of the H, which is probably only 100 meters in width and all at sea-level, so its easy to imagine just how bad the waves destroyed the island as they came from both sides. Still, seeing the island now, you never would have noticed that all the buildings had been rebuilt in the past couple years.

After descending, I hopped on a fairy and headed off to Lanta, where I arrived last night, promptly signed up for my scuba course, and began that today. Practicing in the pool with a hot Swedish instructor who just happened to spend 4 years in DC as a real estate agent prior to beginning her travels and settling as a dive master in Lanta, I learned the basics of breathing underwater, and navigating weightlessly throughout the water. Remember to always keep breathing with long deep breathes and to always watch out for your buddy - which is certainly easier when your buddy is a hot Swedish girl. The best way to describe it is it is like sky-diving with the floating sensation. Tomorrow, we take our lessons into the ocean for 2 dives - Can't wait - so with that, I now grab some more delicious Thai cuisine and head off to bed exhausted and excited for more adventure!

Phuck It

I arrived at the Chiang Mai airport on Tuesday about 25 minutes prior to my scheduled flight departure to Phuket, after spending the past hour driving all throughout the city to drop off other people on my minibus from Pai, despite the pleas of the other passengers and myself to the laid-back deaf-eared driver that I had a flight to catch and I should be dropped off first. Thankfully, the airport was empty and I was literally sitting at my gate - through security and with ticket in hand about 3 minutes after walking into the airport - about 10 minutes before the start of boarding - enough time to grab a snack and use the facilities.

After spending the past several weeks amongst the backpacking community, arriving at a huge resort complete with 4 pools (including pool bars/waterfalls/waterslides), about 10 bars, 5 restaurants, tennis course, putting greens, a luxurious spa, and who knows what else was a bit of culture shock. The place probably had over 1000 rooms amongst the 4 different stories of the resort. Being a Silver Hilton member, I was given the grand treatment - even a free update to a better room - and treated like a King. The place was probably at 10% capacity and there was literally more hotel employees wandering the campus than all the non-english speaking couples and families, and myself. The place was relaxing, and I just chilled, read, and relaxed, but I didn't find anybody of interest to chat up, so I decided to leave after only 2 days, instead of the planned 3.

Phuket is a giant mess of concrete with no real character - even worse - Patong beach is the ubercenter for old fat balding man to pick up and pay for 20 year old Thai prostitutes. It's disgusting to watch these womanizers with a silly grin on their face peacock around with their arm candy. Still, I did have fun messing around with some of the bar girls when I went out one night by leading them that I was interested only to walk away when they thought they had won me over to pay for them. I just finished reading "The Game" which is a hilarious story about PUAs (pick-up artists) and I practiced running some of the silly routines on these girls in the bar. Good times. I also went to Simon Cabaret, which was probably one of the most hilarious experiences of my life. Its a transvestite show with probably 50 actors?/actresses? (lets just call them performers) wearing elaborate costumes with huge feathery hats and tails, with crazy sets like jungle, china, the streets of NYC, etc, lip-singing (poorly) and dancing to Broadway songs and other pop hits. This thing was hilarious and I literally just sat there with my jaw open in shocked disbelief at the hilarity that lay before me.

So that was Phuket, it had some cheesy fun, but was not particularly the scene that I was looking for. So, I said Phuck it, and moved on to Ko Phi Phi island. I arrived here yesterday, and the place is absolutely stunning and also thankfully dominated by young travelers looking to party and have a good time. The drink of choice are buckets (literally buckets that children would fill with sand on a beach) - which contains a mixture of hang-over inducing Thai Whiskey (which is basically rum), red bull (there red bull is much more sugary and without carbonation), and coke. These things keep you going all night - and I hang out with a Canadian couple, a fun two-set of UK girls, and an Aussie girl. Good times. Now, I am leaving in approximately 12 minutes for an afternoon on Phi Phi of snorkeling and cliff jumping. Sound be fun, and I'll keep you all posted of my adventures and misadventures.

Pictures to follow.

The Adventures Continue in the North of Thailand

Hello friends, family, and other readers of the blog which details my famous adventures throughout Southeast Asia. I have just returned back to Pai after a 2 day trekking adventure into the northern Thai wilderness. More on that later, but first lasts back up a few days so I can properly detail all of my prior, yet undocumented adventures. Going back on a daily basis, I can't think of a single day that I have gotten here that I haven't done something new or different and exciting. It's like a daily smorgasbord of new experiences. Having slightly lost track of days (I know today is Monday), I believe that it was Friday in which I rode an elephant bareback in a river. Between getting sprayed with water, thrown off bucking bronco style, and being lifted into the air via the trunk, it was certainly a worthwhile, though sore (you think that riding a horse is bad, just imagine how your anus feels after 2 hours on an elephant! - I can now relate to prison inmates more intimately) experience. Here are some of the photo evidence.


I go from dry to wet after a millisecond after this picture was taken

The elephant (Noh - the 48 year old beast) is helping to cool me off


Yeeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaaahhhhh-Hahhhhh! Now I got the hang of this!

So, that was elephant riding. Saturday was a well deserved lazy day - I signed up for my trek - hang out in a hammock for 3 straight hours in the afternoon, went to the Pai Hot Springs and Spa, ate an actual hamburger from an actual American restaurateur, and got an early night sleep.

And Sunday morning the trek began. Drove an hour north to Sappong with a group of 2 UK girls, a Canadian guy, a young Austrian couple, and an older German gentleman. Our guide Somesack (at least that is how it is spelt phonetically) took us trekking 18 kilometers over mountains, through rivers (not over them - literally wading through them), inside deep jungle bush, past farmland, and finally up and down another mountain or three over the course of 6 hours on Day 1. We were graciously welcomed by a kindly Lua hill tribe village who cooked for us, and gave us a cold hard floor to sleep on in an electricity-less hut surrounded by dogs, pigs, and chickens outside - of both the adult and baby variety. It was all in good fun, and thank god that I am physically fit - the same couldn't be said about our older German gentleman who clearly did not know what he was getting himself into. On day two (which coincidentally also happens to be today) we trekked all the way back to our starting location using a different route - which coincidentally also happened to be probably half the distance as day 1 and minus the mountain routes - hmmm - why didn't we just go that way yesterday I thought.

Upon arriving back in Sappong, a giant cave, complete with all the cavely essentials that you require a cave to have - hidden passageways, those dangly rock formulas which have a proper scientific name which currently escapes me, bats, Buddhist monks, abandoned coffins, about a hundred vacationing Thais, ancient drawings, and an underground river awaited us - in which we took Bamboo rafts all the way through. While the trek was fun, the cave at the end was clearly the highlight of trek.

Trailside View
Walking past girl herding water buffalo

Outside where I slept last night

On a raft approaching the exit to the cave

Playing dead next to a cave coffin alongside two Thai girls


Now, I have just returned to Pai - completely filthy, smelly, dirty, gross, and in desperate need of a hot shower but without a guesthouse at around 6 PM. In the 2.5 weeks that I have been here, I would say that I have quickly adapted to the backpacker culture. Despite the state that I am in, the first place, a lovely little village of bungalows surrounding a garden asked 1200 baht for a room. Considering that many of the places in Pai are around 200 to 400 baht, I walked away to seek cheaper shelter elsewhere... only to find that the next three less expensive, though also lovely, places were already full. Then realizing that I needed a shower and place to unload my pack, I realized that turning down a super-nice place to stay because it cost a whooping $36/night was insane. So, I turned around and checked back in.

So, now I have one last night in Pai - prior to taking an early morning minibus tomorrow back to Chiang Mai - where I have a 1 PM flight all the way down south to Phuket to spend the final 2 weeks of my travels island hopping around the Andaman Sea. I have a 5 star Hilton, booked using points, waiting for me - I half-way considered waiting to shower until I arrived there - walking in past startled couples and hotel employees - only to go to my room to shower and shave to return to the lobby to thankful individuals - but I figured another night sans shower was not worth 3 minutes of glee.

Till next time...

Pai Not

On Wednesday morning in Chiang Mai, I visited Wat Doi Surthep, or the temple of the hill, its a bit of a trek to get up there (though I spurgled and hired a private driver for $5 roundtrip instead of taking the $2 roundtrip bus), but has an amazing view of Chiang Mai from behind the temple after driving up a mountain for 8 kilometers than ascending 312 stairs. Inside the temple, I was blessed by a monk as he splashed me with water and tied a string around my wrist. I took a 2pm bus to Pai, which entails 3 hours of zig-zagging through mountains and valleys passing ever so closely to the edge of cliffs. The views are stunning and you never how what lies around the next bend (is it a truck or a view) - the drive to Pai is a fitting precursor to what awaits you at your destination.

After rushing from A to B to C, and not staying in the same place for more than 2 nights, I have finally found a place to settle and relax for more than a quick in and out visit. There are many cliches to describe my current locale - Pai, Thailand - Paiadise, Pai in the Sky, A little slice of Pai, etc. The scenery here is absolutely stunning - its like being in the middle of a fairytale. Pictures don't do this place justice, but they will at least give you a sense of what I am dealing with as I look around in every which direction.

The place is quint, but rapidly growing with the sort of places that would attract any earthly hippie-type - art galleries, cofffee shops, vintage clothing stores, raggae and jazz clubs, etc - with of course the obligatory internet cafes, massage parlors, and 7-11s - which are staples of anything that you would find in Thailand. Even long-haired hipped out Thais come here for holiday.

When I got here on Wednesday night, the town was slightly dead - you see, unlike holidays in the states which are more or less an excuse to party, holidays in Thailand are the opposite, people stay are home, all stores are closed, and alcohol is not sold anywhere. So, my first experience walking through the one main stretch in Pai was slightly misleading. But yesterday the adventures began - my bamboo hut (pictured below), is at a placed called Family Hut, which just happens to have a great group of travelers staying for days or weeks on end mixing it up in the common area each night before heading into town.

I got to meet many of these fine folk in the morning, who advised me to rent a motorbike and explore the surrounding areas a bit. I biked past hot springs, elephants (I stopped to feed them bananas and to arrange an elephant ride for this afternoon), waterfalls, and through all the stunning landscapes.

In the evenning, I chilled on the patio with the people from my guesthouse swapping travel stories and listening to guitar prior to heading out to a Reggae bar and then to the afterhours bar.

Travelling is a way of life for so many of these people. They work to save money to travel, and then travel until they need to save up again. When they find a place they like, they stay for as long as they want without worry that they have someplace else they need to get to or see. It's such a fabulous and laid-back lifestyle that it certainly makes me question my own motivations in the rat race of America. In the two weeks of my trip thus far, I have spent time questioning just what I am trying to accomplish by sitting in a cubicle for 8 hours a day, 5 days a week, 52 weeks a year. Travellers are so happy, full of life, and laid back, and while everybody welcomes anybody and everybody without the slighest reservation or hestitation, I personally feel that I am an outsider as can't afford many of the luxuries (despite having a higher budget) that they can afford with the ability to stay longer, leave whenever, and go anywhere in the world that tickles their fancy. The more I contemplate, the more the question changes from "Why would I leave such a great situation and career in America to take to the road?" to "Pai shouldn't I?"

Thai Cooking

Today I did a full-day Thai cooking course in Chiang Mai. It was good fun all around, and was truly an international crowd with people from Brazil, Italy, Canada, Israel, Ireland, Spain, US (me!), Venezuela, France, and New Zealand all mincing, chopping, frying, flipping, mashing, and eating everything in sight. I made Pad Thai, Spring Rolls, Red Curry Chicken, Morning Glory stir-fry, Tom Yum Soup, and Mango Sticky Rice throughout the day and it was great. We first stopped at the local market to pick up all the many many ingredients (so many spices!), and head to our kitchen equipped with personal work stations and Woks for all! I am now an expert Thai chef as my graduate certificate indicates. And don't worry, I have my recipe book, so I shall cook Thai for whomever is interested upon my return stateside.

Last night I went over to Chiang Mai University and mixed it up with the local University students at this chilled out bar/lounge with a live Thai band. I played pool and bought drinks for my new friends and was the life of the party. Chiang Mai is a fairly laid back city and my guesthouse (which costs $5/night is awesome with a very cool sitting area to lounge and swap tales with fellow travelers). There are so many people that just travel for months on end without a job, but also without a care or worry in the world. These are the type of people that I admire most.

Tomorrow is a very important day. It is the King's birthday and everybody should wear yellow in honor of his eightieth. So, I plan on hanging around Chiang Mai in the morning to take it all in, and then hop a bus to get out to Pai, about 3 hours west for some laid back relaxation followed by some hardcore trekking involving elephant rides, bamboo rafts, and an overnight in a hilltribe village.

Just letting the good times roll...

Vegetables in the market



Moments after tossing my stir-fry into the Wok. The flames weren't captured in this photo by the video is much better!

Behind the driver's seat of a tuk-tuk just moments ago right outside this internet cafe!

Cambodia Picture Samplings

Here are only a small sample of the many excellent pictures from Cambodia.

Little girl holding up a snake inside a metal bowl with a wooden paddle on a river in Cambodia.
Demon carving in Angkor.

Little girl looking at me from behind a basket and scarf stand.

Carvings on the wall inside Angkor Wat.


Monks hanging out in front of Angkor Wat.

One of the hundreds of smiling faces looking down at Angkor Thom.

Kids playing marbles in a little market by Angkor Thom.

Fig Tree suffocating a temple

AMAZING ANGKOR

Jeremy has survived Cambodia, and is now back in Thailand. Or should I say, Cambodia has survived Jeremy.


One of the most thrilling aspects of travelling that I have found is changing plans last minute - on the busride back to Bangkok from Kanchuriburi, our obnoxious driver made a 30 minute stop to load all sorts of boxes of who-knows-what onto the top of our minibus, pulled over to investigate what we orginally thought was a flat tire, and ended up getting stuck in the horrendous Bangkok traffic, and thereby arriving too late in Bangkok for Erik and I to make our Friday night flight to Cambodia - but, I don't stress, I just call up the airline and get our flights easily changed to Saturday morning, giving us one more night in Bangkok in which we preceded to tear apart the city starting with Indian food by our guesthouse, Jager bombs on Khao San Road followed by an all-night disco club experience at a club in which Sam, our hilarious British tag-along and Laura, another Brit who we made friends with on the minibus (who just finished 2 months teaching in Cambodia) found ourselves amongst a throng of hardcore partying Thais.



Anyway, we stayed up all night and left immediately for the airport without a wink of sleep arriving in a foreign country with no guidebook, no hotel booked, and not having read or researched a single lick about Cambodia. STRANGER IN A STRANGE LAND! Still, we arranged for a private driver Mr. Dara for $25 a day to graciously show us around the eye-opening, inspirational, awe-inspiring Khmer temples of Camodia, built over a thousand years ago in mostly limestone with some extremely detailed stone carvings. Within a 20 square meter area, there are so many magnificent temples, that you almost obtain a been-there done-that attitude towards one of the new seven wonders of the world after seeing 4 or 5 of them. The craziest thing about the temples is that there are no boundaries, you literally can climb, explore, sit, stand, run, walk through and all over all of them. The whole time I'm thinking that these temples can make for one hell of a setting for a game of hide and seek with all the hidden rooms, dark passageways, huge rooms, and steep inclines. Angkor Wat is the most famous and largest temple, but Angkor Thom with over 200 eerily smiling faces staring down at you from all angles, and "the jungle temple" which is overrun by the forest, complete with a huge fig tree literally tearing the temple apart as it grows through, up, over, and around the masonry were my favorites. That temple was made famous when Angela Jolie filmed Tomb Raider there.

But besides the temple, the people of Cambodia really intrigued me. Just an hour plane hop from Bangkok, it is amazing how different the scenery, way of life, and most of all the people of Cambodia are from their former enemies and current friends of Thailand. The poverty level is so high and the area of Siem Reap, where Angkor Wat is located has source of income is from tourism - so walking by the temples, you get swarmed by children and other people looking for hand-outs and trying to hawk scarfs, books, and other merchandise. Its heart-wrenching, especially driving through the country and seeing the structures and living conditions, but at the same time, everybody seems happy as they go about their every-day routine. Apart from the temples, we did a boat ride through a village of people who live directly on the lake, and I had my camera snapping away as I took it all in.

Unfortunately, I left my memory stick in my guesthouse here in Chiang Mai, so I will have to wait until later to post them, but I got some real keepers for sure. To add insult to injury though, I completely and utterly spoiled myself last night at this super ridiculously nice hotel in Cambodia. We heard how nice this hotel was, so went there for a few drinks from one of the nicest and most interesting drink menus I have ever seen, then to go get an amazing hour massage from this ultra ritzy spa, only to return to the same hotel for an 8 course tasting menu meal complete with wine pairings where we sat on this swinging chair/table sofa-thing. Upon finishing the meal around midnight, both Erik and I literally fell asleep on the swing and had to woken up by the waiter probably 20 minutes later. The whole evening cost about $70, which probably is enough to feed an entire Cambodia family for a month, which is both disgusting yet makes me realize just how lucky I have it. I most have done something truly deserving in a past life.

It was great travelling with Erik as we got along well, and he is so laid back, but I am also happy to be on my own again (Erik jumped on a flight to Phuket at the Bangkok airport this morning upon returning from Siem Reap and I took a flight to Chiang Mai, after a week of travelling with a companion. I have a week up North now before I head down to the islands, which is right on track with my planned itinerary. Between Bangkok, Kanchaniburi, and Siem Reap, I just can't believe I have only been here a week - I have done more amazing things in a single week than I have done in the past 3 years. Travelling is absolutely incredible and thought of having to go back to slaving away in an office is pretty hard to think about right now, but luckily, I don't have to as my trip is only 25% in, and there surely are so so many more adventures that await me. Though, I can only envision returning home at the end of December to immediately begin planning the next exit.

Bless you all and thanks for reading. Pictures to come later.

Kanchanaburi

Wow - I don't even know where to begin - the past few days have been completely out of this world. This country is absolutely amazing. Too many story-telling moments have happened over the past couple days that it would take me nearly the entire day to describe them all - so, let me just describe the highlights.

Bicycling through a HUGE Thai festival/carnival - There was this huge Thai carnival right by the River Kwai that bigger than any festival that i have ever seen - it must have covered at least one square mile with 3 or 4 very very long rows with food vendors, carnival games, beer stalls, amusement rides - of course everything is very Thai and the place is absolutely packed with Thais. We had rented a bicycle and we rode all throughout the midway on the bikes ducking and dodging people, people laughing and pointing at us saying something to the affect i'm sure of "look at the silly Westerners on bicycles!" - We stopped to chat with some thai college kids from the local university - ate a grasshopper from the guy selling insects, drank some beers while listening to a Thai band cover "Wonderful Tonight (I serve that WonderfulTonight and Hotel California are the only two American songs that Thais know - I have heard each one at least a dozen times), feed some peanuts to an elephant, and moved. I felt so free just riding through these crowds - absolutely amazing.

There is a festival going over the bridge - complete with fireworks and lasers and a retelling of the whole Kwai story. Got some great snaps of the bridge, which I walked over right before the show started.

Yesterday, we did a tour where we went to Erawan Waterfalls in the morning. There are a series of 7 tiers to the falls, each about 200 to 500 meters apart. Some of you can swim in, and the hike to get from one to the next was great fun climbing through the trees and rocks and roots of the Jungle with a few monkeys sprinkled along the the way. One of the falls has this big rock that you can slide down. Then in the afternoon, we went to the Tiger Temple. A large group of Buddhist monks take care of tigers. They had three 4 month old cubs that you can play with. Yes, I was playing with a tiger cub, wrestling, picking him up, etc. Then there is this big canyon with adult tigers where you can get your picture taken with all 5 of them. Some of the pictures that I have are amazing. Catch these out!!




We met this very cool English guy, Sam, who does the sound and lighting for productions on cruise ships, so we basically just travels around on ships and takes breaks to travel a bit - he flew down after a cruise ended in Hong Kong for a week in Thailand before starting a new job doing the sound for Cirque De Soliel! Anyway, Erik, Sam and myself did some bar hopping and then went to this huge Thai disco which was absolutely packed. We ended up going there with the Thai girls who rented us our bikes the day before. We had bottle service for about $5. Incredible. Though, I am a bit hungover this morning.


I'm still in Kanchanaburi, though I have to get back to Bangkok this afternoon in order to get my flight to Cambodia. I can't even describe how fun I am having - travelling is more fun than I can ever imagine. Stay tuned for an Angkor Wat entry, probably on Sunday or Monday!

Cell Phone

One other thing - have a Thailand cell phone. To reach me from the USA, call 001-66-845466833. I think that should work - otherwise - I can also make calls for only 9 baht a minute to the USA (like a quarter per minute).

Escape from Khao San Road, Escape from Bangkok, Escape from Thailand

The first thing that I have done each day so far in Thailand is wake up and get out of bed. Yesterday, upon doing exactly that, I made the decision that I had enough of Khao San Road and its unethanic ways. Not ready to quite leave Bangkok, I transferred myself and my belongings to a ritzy 5 star hotel on the other side of the City, the Unico Grande, located off Silom Road, near the Bangkok financial district, and many of the other areas frequented by real life Thai people. Erik Drieding, who I have have thus far neglected to mention is also traveling throughout Thailand was staying there in his attempt to sleep off Jet Lag. The day was spent walking throughout the city, finding lunch at a market set hidden among the many sois (side streets) of Bangkok. Erik and I were the only Farangs there, so it was wonderful to be walking amongst an entirely untouristy area mixing with the locals, pointing to random foods labeled only in Thai, and eating whatever came my way. Thereafter, we wandered through Lumpini Park, made the decision to get out of this polluted, noisy, trafficed city. Not that I haven’t liked Bangkok, but there is only so much one can take. I have seen my share of the city, and it’s time to get out.

But, prior to doing so, I had one hell of an adventure last night trying to find Vertigo, an open air bar on the top floor of one of Bangkok's latest buildings. First we went to go see some Muay Kickboxing but got there a bit late, and ended up walking around Luam Saleen night bazaar instead. Then we wanted to go to Vertigo, but the problem was that I didn't have my guidebook and couldn't remember the name of the Hotel that the bar was on. We asked a bunch of tuk-tuk drivers and other Thais (there were hardly any tourists around), who didn't know or more likely wouldn't tell us the location, though finally we thought we had the address, only to be taken to some seevy red-light district area by a deceiving tuk-tuk driver, in which we found an internet cafe and looked up the locations amongst a group of Thai whores who were emailing their sugar daddies asking to send more money. Good times. We finally got there around midnight, and it was well worth finding a posh bar with good martinis, and taking photos of the skyline... then we went back to the Red Light district area, Patpong.

Hanging out with Erik yesterday, was a welcome change of pace from traveling alone. We both are fairly laid back, have similar travel interests, and are within similar budgets, so its pretty cool to have a travel companion. Erik was deadset on going to see Angkor Wat in Cambodia, and I am certainly intrigued, so we looked into the Visa situation, found it was relatively easy to obtain a visa upon arrival (all we needed was a few passport photos which we obtained), and booked a ticket to Siem Reap for Friday and returning on Monday. Considering I am leaving Bangkok today earlier than orginally I thought I might, and I added 2 more days to my trip, making this inpromptu adventure to one of the greatest ruins (Indiana Jones style) EVER seems like a smart move - especially since I know nothing about it - which is the complete opposite of how I planned for Thailand.

Anyway, I am heading over to the bus station now with Erik to go 2 hours west to Kanchaniburi for a few days to see the Tiger Temple, Bridge over the River Kwai, Eragon Waterfalls, and more! Then I return to Bangkok to get my Friday evenning flight to Cambodia. When I fly back to Bangkok on Monday, I just booked a flight to get up to Chiang Mai instead of taking a train since I will be at the airport anyway. I love the freedom of being able to change plans and make travel reservations on a whime while I am here deciding where to go and what to do. I think all my planning of an iterniary was a bit much, I may wouldn't be surprised if more changes are to come. Incidentally, that is when Erik and I will part ways since he is heading to the islands first and then has some cool sounding elephant ecological project he is doing for a week.
So, yesterday I got off Khao San, today I get out of Bangkok, and Friday, I get out of Thailand for a few days at least.

Check out some pictures from yesterday:


View from Vertigo - this is probably only about 1/8 of Bangkok - this city is huge - it goes on forever!

Night Bazaar - even on a Tuesday night, thousands of Thais are out and able shopping, eating, listening to music, and drink beer at the night bazaar.

View of Bangkok from Lumpini Park, which is the big public park in Bangkok.

Buddhas Buddhas Everywhere

I arose fresh and early this morning for my first full day on the other side of the world, despite hanging out at a bar on Khao San Road much later than planned last night chatting it up with a German girl, French girl, and a Canadian guy listing to a Thai band cover the likes of Neil Young, Simon and Garfunkel, the Eagles, and James Taylor. Here is my new french friend, Hannah, who is leaving tomorrow to after two months scuba diving in Bali.

I ate breakfast at the hotel, and hailed a tuk-tuk, a three wheeled open air taxi like contraption, and drove a short distance to the Grand Palace, which is this huge complex with a ton of temples, statues, and monuments erected by famous kings over the past thousands of years. I got a ticket, this personal audio guide device, and spent an hour touring the grounds and taking photos with tons of other snap-happy sightseers.

The big attraction at the Grand Palace is the Emerald Buddha, a very small (60 cm) Emerald statue of the Buddha which is absolutely sacred. Wars have literally been fought over this thing over the past 700 years. You enter the temple where it is housed after first removing your shoes, promising not to take any photos and you sit down inside making sure not to point your toes at the Buddha - doing so is the utmost sign of disrespect. I sat amongst a large group of Thai teenagers who were all there waing and bowing at the statue. Needless to say, I also bowed. There also are a ton of other structures inside the palace, and many many ornate statues in the shapes of demons, ghouls, and these strange hybrid half-human half-animal things. There is this one monument which a bunch of demons are positioned to look like they are holding it up. So, all the Asian tourists take turns also pretending to hold up the building. This seemed like a prime photo opt, so I also joined the fun.

After my time at the Palace, I walked over to the Wat Pho, home of the reclining Buddha. This whole area in Bangkok is like the National Mall where all the biggest and most popular monuments are located within walking distance. Anyway, at the Pho, there is this gigantic reclining Buddha, which is apparently somehow a symbol related to entering Nirvana, that is at least 3 million times larger than the more prestigious Emerald Buddha. You are allowed to photograph this Buddha.

Also at Wat Pho, there is the most prestigious massage school in Bangkok where they teach the traditional Thai massage techniques. You can even get massages from the students in training, so I opted for the 30 minute session. This massage was definitely more professional than the one yesterday (to answer your questions in the comment section), and it hurt!

After my massage, I was approached by a storming stampede of school children, who together, with there teacher, were looking for a foreigner to help teach them English. They had a bunch of questions (What is your name? Do you like Thailand? Where are you from?, etc), that they asked me. Then I asked them to teach me some Thai. I still can't pronounce or remember any of the things they taught me, but they all wanted to shake my hand. Here is a picture of a group of them running towards me.

Anyway, these whole festivities lasted from around 9 am to noon. I decided that the ride over was so short, I can easily find my way back to Khao San Road while walking. Well, my sense of direction failed me, and I ended up having to hail another tuk tuk after wandering about for 30 minutes or so in the complete wrong direction. Not a big lose, they only cost about 40 baht ($1.50). This afternoon has been chill, I hang out by the roof-top pool, finished "Water for Elephants", and took a nap. Tonight, I am going to venture out to experience nightlife outside Khao San Road - though the travel-friendly atmosphere here is certainly welcoming and feels secure.

Jeremy is all smiles in the land of smiles.