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.

Arrival

And Jeremy has arrived - Thailand will never be the same. I am here.

For documentary purposes, here is a picture of what I looked like prior to leaving.



After 17 hours locked away in a flying metal compartment, in which the sky transformed from light to dark to light to dark again - I finally stepped foot in Bangkok and the adventure has officially begun at approximately 4:30 PM local time. You know how at sporting events, they sometimes do those dizzy bat contests in which the participant first (optional) chugs a can of beer, then places there hand down on a bat, and spins round and round in circles, only to then attempt to run a straight line. That is kind of what Jet Lag is like. Having thought that getting limited sleep on Friday night (approx 3 hours) would lead to an easily time sleeping on the plane - well, that turned out to be somewhat of a poor idea afterall. While I slept intermittenly on a plane (roughly 3 different naps ranging from 30 minutes to 2 hours), I did not sleep as long as I would have planned, and I began to get a bit delirious in the final few hours. To further escalate the pyschedelic state, I listened to Dark Side of Moon two times over prior to landing.

However, upon landing in Bangkok - I got my second wind, and I had an easy time going through immigration, grabbing a Red Bull (maybe that was the source of the second wind?), and hailing a cab to Khao San Road - the backpacker capital of the world. I checked into the D&D Inn - which coincidental is smack dab in the middle of the backpacker world capital, locked up my stuff in my smallish hotel room, and began to explore. Khao San Road has just about everything you could ever need - guest houses, bars, internet cafes, street vendors, jewelry and tattoo parlors and massage parlors. I grabbed a Pineapple-Mango-Passionfruit smoothie, and sat down for a bit to take it all in. While relaxing, I was approached by at least 10 people ranging from the age of 4 through 65 with offers of hats, lighters, massages, tattoos, stuffed animal monkeys, and paintings for sale. I ignored most of them, but then decided that getting my eyebrow pierced and a tattoo on my upper back would help me fit in more. So, here is a picture of what I look like now - approximately 2.5 hours after arriving.

No - just kidding. I didn't manipulate my body in any way, shape, or form. That is actually a picture of Khao San Road, with my gueshouse, D&D Inn prominately displayed amongst the chaos. I didn't follow the tattoo guys, instead I took up the offer of the cute Thai massuese, figuring that getting a traditional Thai massage (1 hour for 250 baht ($10) seemed like a reasonable idea after sitting prone on the plane for 17 hours - so I accomplied my gracious thai hostess to Charlie's Massage, in which I was then twisted, prodded, poked, and bent for one whole glorious hour.


So, there you have it. I have made it safely to Thailand - all worriers can breathe a sigh of relief, and everything so far is just groovy. And with that, I now plan on doing one more venture up and down this road, and then finally crashing in a real bed for the first time in nearly 3 days. It is now 9:15 PM. Plan tomorrow is to explore Bangkok itself, and not just the area where all the backpacker tourist hang out.

Ready

This is my last entry prior to the exit from my reality, and the start of my long-awaited adventure.

I guess it is fitting to reflect upon my current mindset and try to describe just what I am thinking and feeling just prior to departure. Am I excited? Nervous? Anxious? The truth is that if I was to use just one world to describe my emotion it is that I am simply ready. Ready to actual see, hear, touch, taste, and smell everything that awaits. Ready to begin. Ready to realize the adventure that I have so intimated researched, planned, and awaited over the past 5 months. I feel as if I have spent so much time reading about Thailand – about the places that I plan on visiting – about the culture – the people – the tourism – the activities – the hotels – the modes of transportation – that it is as if I have already been experienced without actually experiencing. It’s as if I am already a returning visitor who knows so much about the country and everything that awaits. But I know as soon as I step off the plane, that all of that goes out the window, and I will find myself alone in a very strange land. And I am ready for that and I am at peace.

It’s reasonable to assume that with all this preparation, and especially with the 18 entries that I have written and published since this all began last May, that I am expecting that this journey will change me in some way – that I will be awoken to something deep inside myself, and that I will have some giant epiphany about life, and more specifically, my place within it. But that is not the case at all. I truly have no expectations. In actuality, I am very much happy with where I am in life – and the path that I am on. During the past several months, I have really established myself in my career with my current job, and I have no qualms with returning from my trip and continuing on with my career and future. As far as the trip, my only expectation is having an absolute blast and taking full advantage of the time away from my familiar surroundings and breaking apart from my regular routine. I have an open-mind, and I greatly look forward to filling that mind with the excitement that travel and new learning will bring. I want to meet the locals, learn about their outlook and how they see themselves and the world – and also I want to discuss the take on life that my fellow travelers will bring. I want to learn about Buddhism, mediation, freedom, expression, and exploration. But mainly, I just plan on having fun – trying new things – not saying “no”, and returning home with a ton of stories, new friends, and an overall memorable and unforgettable experience.

So, that is it in a nutshell. I’m good to good, set to jet, and ready to rock. Bring it on.

East Coast, West Coast, East Coast, Far East

In anticipation for my forthcoming travels, I have decided to do a little travel sneak-peak in my last and final week prior to the departure. I am currently 30,000 feet high above the great smoky state of Tennessee (though, by the time I complete this entry, I might very well be above Oklahoma or Texas) in route to California for the old in-and-out audit excursion in Palm Desert California, one of the premier retirement destinations in the United States! I have 2 days of some fun and exciting interim risk assessment audit procedures for my client prior to returning directly to Connecticut for Thanksgiving with the fam. Preferably, it would have worked best to do this business visit in December, but due to my trip, we have to squeeze it in this week. Regardless, I figure criss-crossing our country would be the perfect primer for spending a month criss-crossing a different country.

In case you were curious on what location I plan on sleeping in over the next week, here is a detailed schedule:

Saturday November 17 – Washington DC
Sunday November 18 – Palm Desert CA
Monday November 19 – Palm Desert CA
Tuesday November 20 – Palm Desert CA
Wednesday November 21 – Trumbull CT
Thursday November 22 – Trumbull CT
Friday November 23 – New York City, NY
Saturday November 24 – Thai Airways (en route)
Sunday November 25 – Bangkok, TH

For the most astute and faithful Next Exit blog readers out there, you may notice something in the above list that may cause you to scratch your head, clear your throat, and wonder out loud – “Well, that is funny – I always thought that Jeremy was leaving on the Monday after Thanksgiving Nov 26 – but the list above appears to indicate that Jeremy leaves on Saturday November 24.” Well, you if thought that, then you will receive 3 points and one silver star your keen observation, because you are exactly right. Originally, I was planning on leaving on the Monday after Thanksgiving, as my Cathay Pacific airways ticket indicated. However, I no longer have a ticket to travel on Cathay Pacific, as I cancelled it, and purchased myself a ticket on Thai Airline, which just happens to depart 2 days earlier.

You see, over the past week, I began thinking… Why should I wait around a whole 4 days once my “Paid Time Off” officially begins before I leave? Wouldn’t having an extra 2 days in Thailand be just radical? 2 more days in Thailand? Why wouldn’t a want that? And as the thought process continued, I began to take proactive measures to see if I could change my flight. The first thing that I did was call Cathay Pacific only to learn that my ticket was extremely restricted and I could not change the flight without first cancelling the ticket minus a $100 penalty, and then repurchasing the ticket at the current price of $1150. For a total difference of roughly $400. At first, I wasn’t sure if such unnecessary spending was really smart, but then the more I got to think about all the fun I could have with 2 additional days, my mind began to rationalize the increase. But, before I made any decisions, I did some due diligence, as any forward thinking, ambitious, high brain powered, handsome boy would do - I checked the costs of other airlines, and to my great astonishment, I find a flight on Thai Airlines for only $1050. (On a completely unrelated side note, the Southwest Airlines steward just handed me a delicious snack-pack, and I am currently having an extremely difficult time opening my Slim Jim). The best part about the Thai Airways flight is it is direct from JFK to Bangkok – a total of 17 hours of flight time – the longest possible non-stop flight offered by any commercial jetliner. Additionally, I would no longer have a 3 hour stopover in Hong Kong, and I would arrive in Thailand at 5 PM instead of midnight. So, I decided that such a change would be in my better interests, so I made the big switch-a-roo at a rough expense of $300. I can further justify the increase by switching to a non-stop flight which is significantly better than stopovers in foreign lands. I now depart on Saturday, 2 days earlier than originally planned, and still return on December 26.

I am now eating one of those handisnack cracker and cheese things with the little red plastic spreading utensil. I haven’t had one of these in ages. Whe are on the discussion of the color "red", I also have a moderately sized red and gray Northface backpack which is nearly stuffed to capacity with the belongings I plan on bringing with me to Thailand. My backpack is in DC, in which I trust my brother will remember to bring up with him to Connecticut when he travels on Thursday morning. The contents of the pack, to the best of my memory, include the following:

Large Pack
Cargo Shorts – 2 Pair – One Khaki and One Camo (new)
Bathing Suits – 2 Pair – Camo and Red Flowered Board Shorts
Jeans – 1 Pair – Lightweight
Cargo Zip-off Travel Pants – yet to be obtained
T-Shirts (5) – Black City Sports, Blue City Sports, Tan “You Are Here”, Lion, Plain Yellow
Collared Shirts (4) – White Linen (new), White Polo, Blue Underarmour, White/Black North-face (new)
Long Shelf Shirt (1) - North Face pullover
Underwear (5) – Silky Patagonia Boxers (new)
Socks (5) – “Smart Wool” ankle socks (new)
Sandals – One Pair Chacos (new)
Shoes – One Pair Vasque Hiking Shoes (new)
Waterbottle – Black Sigg Aluminum 1 Liter (new)

Small Pack
1 Guidebook – Lonely Planet Thailand
1 Reading Book – Yet to be determined
1 Supercool Itinerary Booklet with all my confirmations that I put together
1 Camera – Digital Elph 6 megapixel in a case with a 1 GIG and a 2 GIG memory card, and a memory card reader for easy transfer of pictures to computer
1 IPOD – Complete with 8,000 songs
1 Pair Sunglasses – Ray Bans (new)
Drugs – Malaria Medicine and Cipro that I obtained when I went to the travel clinic for immunizations
Toiletries – Including sunblock and bug spray
Passport and Yellowcard Vaccination Thing
Wallet – potentially need to obtain a new one
Travel Pouch – want to obtain a new one
Lock for my Backpack – Need to obtain one
Hat – Need to purchase a new one

My pack is pretty full right now with all of that stuff – perhaps I should ditch a few things, such as the jeans (I would probably only wear once when going out in Bangkok), one of the bath suits, and a few shirts. Also for clarification and full disclosure purposes, please note that some of these items are not currently in the actual pack, as I have some of these with me right now, but they will be placed in the back prior to my departure. I think I did a pretty good job remembering this list despite not having my pack in front of me, but if there is anything thing that you believe I should also bring or do not think is necessary, I welcome your input. Two points and one Bronze Star for each suggestion.

Black Holes and Revelations

So, I will be arriving in Bangkok in approximately 2 weeks. It's amazing that I started planning for this trip nearly 5 months ago, and now my departure is less than 2 weeks away. Despite being lazy in chronographing my planning by updating this blog, I can say that I believe I have covered all my basises, and I am completely ready for departure. I have keep meaning to provide a list of everything that I have done involving health (I got vaccinated!), money (I set up a special checking account), shopping (purchasing clothes, being gifted a backpack, etc), considering my camera, passports, figuring out an easy way to transfer pictures to these pages from Internet cafes, nailing down my itinerary, etc. But, I don't think such an update is necessary. Believe me, I think I have considered everything and things are properly planned, so I will spare you all the gory details, unless there is some great demand to know that I got vaccinated for Typhoid and that I purchased a new memory card for my camera.


One thing which I just discovered today which I am psyched about is that one of my favorite bands, Muse, is performing in Bangkok on Nov 28, which is my first full day in Thailand! So, I went ahead and bought two tickets about 30 seconds after I saw an article that they were playing there. I do realize that I am going to Thailand by myself and that it only takes a single ticket to get admited into a concert, however I bought 2 on a whime figuring that i can either sell one or give one away. At the very least, its a good way to make a new friend! Anyway, I found tickets on thaiticketmaster.com and purchased them. The site was kind of confusing because it was in both Thai and English, but I was able to navigate successfully through the site in order to purchase tickets. Of course, prior to entering my credit card information and hitting submit, it did not provide any information regarding how to pick up or where my tickets that I purchased wiull be sent. And then when I received the confirmation, it was all in THAI - which I do not know how to read. So, my first language barrier has occurred prior to even my arrival in Thailand. If anybody out there can read Thai, I would greatly appreciate a translation so you can let me know where to pick up my tickets, not that I will be able to find said location anyway.