Chris and Jenny in Thailand

Thailand Trip Blog

2008-05-05T11:57:00.000+07:00

This is our travel blog from our trip to southeast Asia in early 2008. We took some time in the morning a few times a week to upload photos and let our families and friends know what we were up to, and here are those posts. Let this be a record of our travels and maybe someone somewhere will benefit from our experience. Enjoy!

Farewell Southeast Asia

2008-04-04T02:22:00.008+07:00

We're back in the US now after our last couple of days in Bangkok. The train ride back was longer than our flight time, almost 24 hours, but we actually got two whole beds to sleep in and plenty of sitting room so it was infinitely more bearable. The funny part is, this ride was barely more than a round trip train ride to NYC from Trenton. A great deal, especially with the train-station food service; that is, the vendors coming on to the trains with their cold fried chicken and sticky rice. As hungry as were come morning, it was delicious. They also had cold balut which was odd, as I hadn't seen it before in Thailand; I wonder if there's a sizable Philippino population in southern Thailand? Sadly I never saw it freshly prepared, so I didn't get to try it. Jenny probably prefers it that way.

This time around just lounging around the neighborhood proved to be a lot of fun, and most of all tons cheaper than it was the first time. It was a great way to wrap up our trip. Every weeknight in Banglamphu Park made for great people-watching, between the pre-sunset aerobics and children and families just playing together. Oddly there also seemed to be a lot of white people practicing for the circus for some reason. Perhaps juggling was just the fashionable thing to do while we were there? It seemed everyone and there mother was there in the evening, probably since the park is such a well-located respite from the horrible air throughout the city. Plus it's right on the water which keeps things cool, even if it does stink a bit.

To make sure we got to the airport early enough we woke up way before the sun and hustled 6km to make the first bus from the Victory Monument to the airport. Cabs could make that sort of thing a lot easier but we really were on our last few dollars. Jenny was miserable and we were both sweaty but we got to the bus and had no issues reaching Suvarnabhumi in time. In fact, we were super early and our long walk was pretty much entirely unnecessary. I'll just consider it time well-spent exercising. The Air Japan flight had great on-demand movie selection, the American Airlines flight absolutely did not, and my flip flop survived all the hiking for two months only to snap on the plane on the way home. I had to brave the very last leg of the (fucking freezing) trip home with it duct-taped to my foot, but I was just happy to be off the plane at that point.

And now we're home again. We've traded the heat for the cold and we already miss everything. The food, the people, the culture, the squat toilets. Still, we're very excited to be back with people we know and especially with our animals.

So what now? South America? Back to finish southeast Asia? Maybe eventually. First things first, gotta get jobs and maybe a gym membership. I lost a lot of weight over there.

Maurice loved his hoodie.

The Usual

2008-03-31T13:15:00.106+07:00

We're coming to the end of our time in Malaysia, with our tickets purchased and ready for our train trip back to Bangkok. There's still a lot to do here but as far as tourists go we are very lucky to be able to spend this much time in one place, getting into the city's flow and getting to know its people. For our last days we've tried to do as much as we could without spending, with only a splurge for the War Museum.

DDR

This whole time in SE Asia, I figured I'd see plenty of DDR and could embarrass myself for fun whenever the chance arose, but it's actually been really tough. All of the mall arcades have this newer Konamix game where you dance using your feet and your hands between these sensors both at waist height and over your head and it's complete madness. I didn't even have the courage to try it, it looked so impenetrable. I will say one thing though, it looks a lot less like a seizure and a lot more like dancing than DDR. When I finally found a regular Dance Dance it was in the crappiest crap mall(in Butterworth, the place where the train goes so you can get to Penang), and it was only half in English so I couldn't figure out how to raise the difficulty from Easy to make it at all entertaining. Very disappointing, and uncomfortable on top of it all since we had just hiked up to the lighthouse the day before.

The Usual

We've really gotten comfortable in this city. We've come to know the streets and the buses and locations, and now we even know the people. It's comforting that we now have a "usual" at the coffee shop, a local coffee for me and a white coffee for Jenny. The proprietor was saddened to hear that we were going to be leaving soon, and we were sad to report it. Right down the street the "curry puff guy," as we call him, also knows us and seems to never ever have the tuna puffs when we stop in. At least he always has those delicious semolina cookies, which I find are a great morning snack after coffee. Finally of course there is the Indian place at which we eat nearly every night. I'm going to miss all of these places. They've become familiar.

We passed this puppy pretty much daily. He was very friendly.

A sign for the Songkran festival at a Buddhist Temple, which is a time for elbowing women in the face and making them spill their water.

Speaking of the usual, we're really going to miss the food here. Apart from a really disappointing century egg(I think it was over-cured?) and durian ice cream(puke), every day has brought some new exciting food item for me to try. Most recently we walked to an old bakery for roti bengalli, a very chewy and light white bread, sold by the slice from giant loaves which we smeared with local coconut jam. Then there is this chinese noodle shop right around the corner from our guesthouse which we discovered way too late in our visit. As much fun as all the noodle dishes there are, my favorite thing is the choice of rice porridges for breakfast, particularly anchovies and peanuts porridge. Even eating the same old thing can be really fun, like how the other day Jenny was out of dry clothing and we couldn't go out to eat... so I brought the standard indian home and we ate off of newspaper on the floor, with our hands, out of bowls made from halved water bottles. It was a very MacGuyver moment.

Botanic Gardens

After some (lots of) waiting, we managed to catch the infrequent bus 102 to the Botanic Gardens. We made an attempt to find the waterfall at the gardens, which seemed fairly straightforward from the map at the entrance... two hours later, we had succeeded only in finding a very large set of stairs that definitely did not lead to the waterfall. Jenny pooped out after about an hour and we turned around so Jenny could limp back to the bus stop. It turned out that the staircase of doom actually led to the top of Penang Hill, which we had wanted to visit via funicular railway and instead went halfway up by foot trying to find a waterfall. To make ourselves feel better after that failed waterfall expedition, we got mangoes(which a monkey stole) and ice cream next to the bus stop. Durian ice cream. It was the worst thing I've ever tasted in my life. Could not finish it. The real shame is, it was sharing the cone with some decent purple yam ice cream but that had become tainted by the evil that was durian. I would later get to have the fruit fresh which, while not delicious, was at least inoffensive. But godamn that ice cream was vile.

The bus continued to be an issue since it never actually came to go home, but as another testament to the kindness of strangers in southeast Asia the parking lot attendant was just getting off of his shift and said he could drop us off on his way home. It turned out we were totally out of his way, but he was happy to do it and make conversation on the way. What a totally decent dude.

War Museum

Our last hurrah in Penang was probably the most expensive attraction we visited our entire trip. It was the Penang War Museum at Batu Maung, all the way on the southeast corner of the island. They really have a great thing going there. It's an old British colonial fort atop Batu Maung hill which had been deserted for decades. The story was that the locals considered it haunted and it was pretty much a no-man's-land except for a population of homeless drug addicts. A few years ago someone bought it and he and his wife cleared out all the jungle and set up a paintball field and voila, they had a museum. They really didn't have to do much to make it interesting, it was great just to explore all around the bunkers and tunnels. That alone would have been worth the price of admission. I got to crawl through escape hatches and find bats in all the corners, and there was all kinds of stuff to climb on and views of the water from the watch tower. How can static, boring displays compete with that? We came back filthy and tired, but it was just a great time seeing all that stuff just like it was nearly a century ago.

Jenny in the Soldiers Quarters

View up from the bottom of the ammo chute

A view down to the ammo depot which unfortunately was closed off... Jenny wouldn't let me explore :(

A diagram of the booby traps used around the fort, next to a sign telling you not to cross the rope because of the booby traps. Won't see that at home

Ammo holes

This is actually in the paintball area. A shame to exploit history for something as goofy as paintball but hot damn that would be fun

A painting by POWs kept here by the Japanese when they took over

That's what I hear

That little doorway on the left was about hip-high and contained bats. It went all around the building underground and was scary as shit between the bats and darkness

Next up, a stop in Thailand and then a trip home.

Monkey Sex

2008-03-17T18:30:00.086+07:00

We had a particularly satisfying day recently. We rose early, got coffee and noodles(Jenny has recently mastered the noodle-spoon soup-ingestion technique), and took a bus to Penang National Park. Just past Batu Ferringi and taking up the whole north-western tip of the island is the smallest national park in the world, a wonderful collection of hiking trails and beaches where we spent a long day but could spend several more just exploring. Best of all, it was free! The office hands you a map of the trails when you arrive with some spiel about the park and conservation and then you're on your way. All around the beginning of the hike are boat operators, trying to get you to ride their boats around to the most common destination, "Monkey Beach," which would skip an hour or so hike there on foot. And really, where would the fun be in that. We set off around 11:00am for the light house on top of the mountain at the very tip of the island, around 8km round trip.

The first leg of the trail ran close to some rocky beaches which allowed for some fun exploration en route to the first destination, a research complex situated on a beach. After here was where the hiking really got fun, and where we ran into a family of monkeys just hanging out on and around the trail... and we'll have to let the video below speak for itself.

Monkey Sex!

Looking for creatures in the rocks

Surveying for monkeys

Then we reached Monkey Beach, a nice strip of white sand so named for all the monkeys that inhabit the forest at the edge, waiting to steal your stuff if you leave it unattended. The water was piss-warm and not as muddy as Batu Ferringi, all in all a decent way to cool off.

Mother-monkey fussing

As we walked down the beach towards our next destination, we made a friend. We named him beach dog, and after I stopped to horse around with him he came with us for the whole hike to the light house, which Jenny barely made herself.

Puppy!

So when we finally reached the light house, we saw a big "OPEN" sign on the gate. But any sense of relief was lost when we saw the on the sign in much smaller letters that it had been closed for more than an hour. Cursing the girl at the desk who forgot to mention this tidbit, I took the best picture I could of the view from next to the light house and we started back down. It didn't feel like a waste, since we at least accomplished something in the hike, but Jenny was on death's doorstep and didn't want to hear a word. Once we came back down B.D. wasted no time cooling off in the water and going to lay down under a familiar tree. We were relieved that he stayed there and avoided breaking our hearts by following us all the way to the bus stop.

The best I could do

Fucking light house

With all the tough uphill climbing behind us, it was only 2 hours hiking back to the beginning. We just marched straight back, except for an encounter with some monkey bridge guards. It was around 5:30pm when we finished. Below is a great action shot of a monkey screaming at me when I stuck a camera in his face.

Sentries

Monkey scavenging a coconut

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

I cheated with the camera's color settings, but this was actually a red tree

It's two days later and we're still pretty sore and still very sun-burned, but it was a great time and we can't wait to go back and hike a couple of the other trails if we can. And all this in flip-flops.

Whoops We Ran Out of Money

2008-03-17T10:19:00.114+07:00

The Frugal Tourist

When we found out we wouldn't be receiving as much as expected from our rent deposit we had to work out a new game plan. Considering our financial predicament, any attractions or activities that cost more than a couple Ringit(around $0.33=RM1) were out so we pretty much had to dedicate our daily budget to sleeping and eating. Surprisingly, we're probably having more fun now that we have stricter rules in place than we had before. Never again will we pay half of our day's expenditure for a disappointing Palace visit or take a cab anywhere. Another positive is that we are forced to walk everywhere, so we're keeping in shape while getting plenty of sun. Penang is really the perfect place for this, since the bus can get you around the whole island for around RM5.00 and most things that we want to do(especially the food) are right in the neighborhood where we're staying, Georgetown.

The best idea for free fun here was the Heritage Walking Trail. There's a non-touty tourist office by the pier which has plenty of brochures that came in handy, but especially useful was the Heritage Trail. It outlines two tours of Georgetown covering all the major historical and cultural landmarks, most of which are free and many of which let you walk right in. We've already dedicated three days to the first tour and we're still only about 2/3 of the way done. Some were just Colonial official buildings not really worth entering but of special note were the Cornwallis Light House, the Penang State Museum, and Kapitan Keling Mosque.

The Cornwallis light house sits on the edge of Fort Cornwallis, an important relic of the colonial era, overlooking the whole corner of Georgetown and a great view of the sea(right). There was a sign-in book and a sleeping security guard, so although we were most likely allowed to go up we snuck past and quietly made our way to the top of the light house. The view was fantastic and when we got back down the security guard was up and about the yard, but we were able to go Mission Impossible and sneak behind him as he washed his face on the side of the building. You can make an adventure of anything if you put your mind to it.

View from the Light House

A neat shot of the Court House, part of the Heritage Trail

Our other two favorite Heritage Trail landmarks were more time consuming. The museum took a whole afternoon, and for only RM1 each. There were plenty of very interesting displays, especially the room outlining, chronologically, the arrival of the different immigrant populations here in the city. The next day we reached Kapitan Keling Mosque(right) which had a sign welcoming visitors to the Islamic Information Center and wound up spending hours there. The fella inside told us to help ourselves to the wall full of literature, which we did and then led us in for a tour of the mosque and an outline of Islam and the prayers that were about to take place. We were seated in the back observing the afternoon prayers, plenty of people seeming amused that we were there, and when that ended we witnessed a Muslim wedding. Hell, we're in their wedding photos and video. It amuses us to no end that they'll be looking at that tape ten years from now and see the two of us in the back wearing borrowed modest robes, looking lost and out of place. As for the literature, it all had a certain slant, but what religious literature wouldn't?

Food

It's become apparent that we've pretty much come to Malaysia only to eat Indian food and drink local coffee. Especially the coffee. I've been writing down details on everything we've ingested and really can't wait to post a culinary wrap-up later once we get home since there's just so much information there. Every day is an adventure trying new food items, and part of the reason we're getting so much more out of it here than in Thailand is that there's English writing on everything and everyone speaks it. Chinese, Indian and Malay food all comes together here in Penang and it's a wonderful mix. A highlight of every day has been breakfast, when we've visited PEACE AND JOY Coffee Shop and had whatever bowl of noodles looked interesting from one of the vendors surrounding it. A note on the coffee: it's so fucking good. The local coffee is different from what we have at home mainly because the beans, instead of being roasted dry, are toasted in butter and sugar. They then proceed to sweeten it in the cup with sweetened condensed milk and more sugar. When it arrives at the table it is thick and syrupy and black as night, and when you stir it the milk works its way in from the bottom to give it a swirly chocolatey color. I'm probably devoting too much space to just describing coffee, but it's been a revelation for me as I could never find coffee at home palatable. Another variant, called "white coffee," is similar to the local type but toasted without sugar, and frothed with normal milk rather than condensed. It's thinner and a bit more bitter, and Jenny prefers it.

Next time, monkeys.

I Want to Live in Penang

2008-03-11T18:55:00.113+07:00

Well, we're in Malaysia, on Pulau Penang. First impressions are that it's much cleaner than BKK(particularly the air), a lot hotter, and everyone smokes clove cigarettes. This is the heavy, sticky heat we were expecting to encounter in SE Asia. It's about time to step it up to 3 showers a day and buy another bottle of talcum powder(for freshy). Of course it was difficult to buy anything on our first day here since the banks were closed for a holiday and every ATM was completely empty. Add to that a locked card from trying to withdraw too many times and you have a great start to our Penang visit. It was all cleared up by the next day but we had to skip a meal and Jenny's heart skipped a few beats in the interim. On the bright side however the necessary call to the bank had us finally purchase Skype credit which is a ton cheaper than any land-line phone or international card, and I recommend it to anyone calling overseas.

With the failure that was our visit to Ko Phangan still lingering in our minds and the sweat soaking through our shirts, one of the first things we wanted to do was visit the beach and cool off. We grabbed a bus to Batu Ferringhi, the only problem being that we couldn't tell when to get off. We took a pretty good guess however and we turned out to be only 100m from a public beach entrance. Batu Ferringhi is the area along the beachy north shore of the island where one can find all the overpriced resorts and hotels, but the beach is free for everyone to use. And they do use it. Tons of touts were all about trying to get the unsuspecting tourists to rent their jet skis or go horseback-riding, but they weren't as persistent as they were in other places and it was easy to enjoy ourselves. The sand is a normal yellow and the water is slightly muddy so it wasn't the white-sand paradise we were seeking in southern Thailand, but the water was a great temperature and there was sun on the beach. The only other thing we needed was a frisbee, which I finally regretted leaving at home.

Ahoy

Not a lot of opportunities for shirtlessness, so we remain pale

We seem to find ourselves at the large mall here just about daily, either to take a break from the sun and heat or just because it's right next to the bus station and dirt-mall(right) which, while dirty, has well priced salted fruits of which I cannot get enough. Apart from just walking around looking at what's for sale, there's a great movie theater on the top floor with movies as cheap as $1.50 at the right time of day. We've seen three while here, and I give my recommendation to Vantage Point. There was one point against the theater, and I'll quote directly from my notes:

Fucking movies let out into the fucking parking garage so you need to go all around and down to the fucking mall to use the restroom. Fucking retarded.

Other than that, no problems.

One stop at the mall coincided with an attempted trip to the tropical fruit farm which fell on its face. After the one bus brought us out past the beaches we proceeded to wait forever for the next one which would never come. It did come in the other direction, but didn't even think about stopping. We are completely convinced that an ill-intentioned taxi driver sabotaged our bus plans and I can only cross my fingers that someone screws him in return in the near future. Luckily for us, the bus stop was directly in front of the Penang Butterfly Farm with it's giant rhino beetle statue at the door. It cost the same as our original destination so we went for it and actually made a good time of the rest of the afternoon. Ninety percent of the farm was exhibits within the butterfly sanctuary area where the pretty little bugs swarm around you as you walk. Off to the side are a number of reptile displays and a small air conditioned viewing room where a great video titled "Insects of the Rainforests" played on a loop. It was definitely worth the fee and we got a ton of great butterfly and animal pictures. Here is a portion of that ton:

They put out pineapple slices to draw the butterflies

Monkey cups! "Carnivorous" plants that monkeys often drink from thanks to their cup shape

I loved this sign suggesting that visitors don't steal the flowers

Big turtle guy

After the butterfly sanctuary it was an easy trip back home to Georgetown for a refreshing Shandy(for Jenny) and some dinner. That dinner was particularly rewarding: we got a satay vendor's secret family sauce recipe and tried the abomination of dessert that is ABC. It was great to talk to the vendor who actually seemed really happy that someone loved his peanut sauce enough to ask what was in it and he eagerly shared his recipe which boiled down to peanuts and red beans. Now I know how I'll be making my peanut sauce in the future. Jenny really liked those satay sticks, especially in contrast to her hatred of ABC. Let me sum up that dessert: shaved ice, ice cream, red beans, creamed corn, flavored syrup, sweetened green pea noodles, and seaweed jelly. As for my review, it was not unpleasant, with all the elements being separately used in sweets all the time. It wasn't great though. Probably wouldn't bother with it again.

And that was our last day in Malaysia with money.

New Frontiers

2008-03-09T20:32:00.037+07:00

The last thing we did in BKK before heading south was visit the Siriraj Medical Museum, hidden away in a far-off building on the end of the Hospital property. This place was gruesome, apart from the room dedicated to the deeds of King Rama IX which was actually a very informative look at how Thais see their constitutional monarch. After that though, the whole place was bones, skeletons, crime scene photos and preserved fetuses in various stages of development. It's actually really taxing to see it all and we somehow felt exhausted emerging from the small air conditioned area afterwards. The babies barely look real, preserved as they are, and it's made more disturbing by the shrine that we realized surrounded around each one where Thais would leave small coins and packages of candy as a sort of offering to the child that could have been or only briefly was.

From that downer we pretty much tried to make our way to the tropical paradise of the islands in the Gulf of Thailand, Ko Samui and Ko Phangan. Unfortunately once we got there we learned that it was raining. Heavily. And it would be raining consistently until after our Thai visas ran out. thus it was that we stayed exactly one night in a guest house on the beach which actually had some of the best food that we've had in Thailand, all cooked by the Thai co-owner and her sister. The menu even says they'd be happy to let guests help cook their own meal or observe the process which sounds like a blast, but we didn't really have enough time there. So there was the food and the twenty minutes of sunshine(right), but otherwise we were actually pretty miserable traveling to and staying on the islands. Next time we'll be checking the weather.

First thing in the morning we grabbed another ferry back to the mainland and proceeded to mill around the train station in Phunpin for about 12 hours waiting to ride a train halfway to Malaysia in 3rd class. Nothing better was available and we didn't want to stay in that city so we just put up, but you just know that whoever designed those train-cars and seats did it with malice. At least before that extended session of discomfort we managed to occupy ourselves playing flash games at an internet cafe and walking slowly around the evening market which was full of tasty things. There was great people-watching in the station also, from parents bathing children in large buckets on the platform to the armed military units waving their guns all over the place. Muzzle discipline, indeed. The most interesting thing was the train-side food service that we saw every time a train stopped in the station. Vendors jumped up and ran to sell their food and drink through the windows to passengers in 3rd class(and of course all the trash goes on the floor of the car when done). Inevitably there would always be one vendor caught running alongside the train to finish his last transaction.

That was our last impression of Thailand, on that third class train car. It was dirty and overcrowded and no one seemed to actually pay attention to what seats were on their tickets since none of the numbers on the seats were legible anymore. A few folks slept on mats on the floor in between seats which was probably more comfortable than the seat, except for the filth. We managed to get a 2nd class seat on a train about halfway through in Hat Yai and promptly went the hell to sleep even though it was already well into daylight.

To wrap it up, here's a few extra photos from trains and platforms and maybe other places too:

Some children merrymaking at the train station

Me merrymaking in Jenny's ear

Sleeping 2nd-class style

We Were Wrong About Bangkok

2008-03-04T15:00:00.154+07:00

...It's actually a pretty nice place to visit now that we have our heads on straight. It was a smooth ride back from Kanchanaburi except for the horribly smelly Dutch hippies that sat in front of us, carrying their lice. Dropped off near Khao San we managed to find the River Guest House about an hour later tucked down some twisty side streets near Rama VIII Bridge, which was a real sight. And what a difference a few blocks makes: we are completely separated from all the noise and chaos of backpacker central, with the added benefit of rooms as cheap as any other city we've visited outside of the capitol. The cutest little grandma runs the place, and they keep the front gate locked after 3pm to ward off the unsavory types from down the road. When we arrived it was after three, and after ringing the buzzer we hear her from above and over the roof came a key on a fishing line. Once we had unlocked the door she reeled it back in and came down inside to greet us. It would really set the theme for our time in that place, and apart from the dogs and roosters every morning at sun-up we would sleep well.

Our fire extinguisher at the guest house, which doubles as a plant waterer

Rama VIII Bridge

An elephant near the Grand Palace

More elephants on a bridge over a canal somewhere

A corner in Banghlamphu in the evening, near our guest house

For the first couple of days in BKK we played around with public transportation and went to a couple of tourist spots. The malls in Siam Square are huge and all right next to each other on the two sides of Rama I, the equally huge and busy main road in central Bangkok. There's even an aquarium and accompanying IMAX theater in the basement of one, and plenty of movie theaters throughout all of them. We came to really like the MBK mall, which felt the most like home and was cheapest. There are plenty of western movies playing with Thai subtitles, and even plenty of Thai movies playing with English subs. We saw Jumper by the way, which was totally awesome and worth doing for the equivalent of $3US.

Leaving Siam Square, there were still endless shopping possibilities. We took the SkyTrain to the Victory Monument(right), surrounded by a huge traffic circle lined with street markets of food, clothes and everything else. It was here that we found a pretty neat Jazz/Blues bar called Saxophone which apparently has live music nightly. We caught the tail end of a Thai guy playing engrish acoustic covers of bluesy Dylan and Beatles songs, followed by a talented blues cover band which Jenny absolutely loved. and how could she not, they started their set with Sweet Home Chicago. Unfortunately drinks were very expensive there, but we considered it payment for the live music. It's a lot better than the bunch of blind people always singing at the markets. Speaking of which, we took a bus to Jatujak Weekend Market which was full of both Thais and farang shopping for deals on everything under the sun. The place covers 35 acres and even with our detailed map we could barely keep track of where we were. It was a madhouse, especially for someone who is already having trouble fitting down normal hallways. Apart from the overpriced food there was a lot of deal-making, and we came home with a shirt for the dog, a jade piggy and some cute salt/pepper shakers. Not a lot but it was a fun experience partaking in the madness and our first successful BKK bus trip. There would not be many more.

Bangkok traffic at the giant roundabout

Much more successful than our attempts at bus travel was the river taxi, which is a wonderful way to move around the city. While there isn't much mass transit on the canals that are left in the city, moving up and down the Chao Phraya is a really cheap and pleasant way to travel. That is, unless you pick the wrong spot like Jenny and eat a wave from a passing boat. But aside from getting wet once, it's a good time. There's shade and a cool breeze from the water, rather than sweating on a bus with car exhaust filling your nose and we wish the river went to more places of interest so we could take it everywhere. One of my favorite things here in BKK is the markets surrounding the less touristy docks. There's all kinds of great local food items, seafood and produce that I haven't really seen anywhere else. The best we've seen was Pier 15 which not only had rows and rows of buckets with all kinds of eels and fish, but also little baby turtles crawling around which I haven't seen before. I'm not sure how they're generally prepared but I'm going to be keeping an eye out now. Then right on the end of the pier were vendors selling bags of stale bread and crusts. Wondering why Thais would need to make such massive amounts of breadcrumbs, we saw the throngs of (mostly cat-)fish all flopping around right beneath the dock, going crazy for the bits of bread people threw in. Really, it was a great way to kill 15 minutes waiting for the boat to get there. The way I reason it, there are so many fish there only because you'd have to be crazy to eat anything from the horribly polluted water of that river. Welcome to southeast Asia, where there is no concern for the environment at all.

Crazy damn fishes

Buddhist Temples

Luckily the river taxis run right down from our guest house to the Phra Nakhon district, which seems to be pretty much the Mecca of Theravada Buddhism. We made the obligatory visit to the Grand Palace for way too much money to see the emerald Buddha and some coins. Really, I'm sorry to say it but we're not knowledgeable enough about the history or significance of anything there to make seeing the place worth half of our normal daily expenditure. As obligatory as the visit to the Palace and Temple was the run-in with well-dressed English-speaking men trying to scam us into going somewhere else, telling us the Palace is closed, which kind of taints the experience. Much more interesting however was Wat Po right down the street, home to the largest reclining Buddha in Thailand and the most Buddha figures of any one temple. That was something to look at. There was a lot of really neat architecture and Chinese-derived statues besides the huuuuuge 50m-long Buddha laying down in his own hall. Also for those with the disposable income there is a massage school on the temple grounds, where you can let students practice on you for twice as much as you would anywhere else. But if you consider it a donation to the temple or school, perhaps it would seem like a good idea.

Just Reclinging Buddha being Reclining Buddha, panorama style

For a sense of scale

More Buddha

Don't know who this is. Cthulu? Davey Jones?

An artist touching up a wall at Wat Po

Chedis at Wat Po

Hey there

A diagram of something

A Buddha for every day of the week. We gave to Tuesday-Buddha

A macro shot of some ginormous wall painting

Chinatown is Chinatown is Chinatown

Really the last thing we did here was take the river taxis(right) to go exploring the markets in Chinatown, and that was a good time just to feel like we were back in New York, because I'm pretty sure Chinatown is the same no matter what country it's in: Dim sum, noodles, restaurant equipment, tools, massage and bad air quality. I've been watching massage prices everywhere we've been and Bangkok is often double the prices we saw in Kanchanaburi, but Chinatown is there with the good deal just like home. We happened upon a mall and upon entry decided to go for some foot massage and it was a great time. They brought us tea and a blanket, washed our feet(filthy from walking in BKK!), and then rubbed us with some lotions and stuff for an hour before finishing with a quick shoulder, neck and head rub. Of course there was more tea at the end, and then we were on our way to dinner a few blocks away. I hadn't thought of it beforehand but we wound up walking down a Soi which seemed to have nothing but shark-fin and bird's-nest (bird spit) restaurants, both of these Chinese delicacies which I've never had the opportunity to eat since they're very expensive back home. Lucky for me bird's nests come from Thailand, where I happen to be staying. I had a small bowl of hot bird's nest soup for something like $3US and it was memorable more for trying something special than for the taste sensations. To give a review though, it tasted like a sweetened, oaty minced-vermicelli soup. Pleasant but not ground-breaking, although it's supposed to raise my libido, which is always a plus.

So we were wrong about Bangkok. There's a ton to do that we didn't write about once you're comfortable dodging touts and scam artists, like eat bugs on Khao San(the grubs were the only tasty one)(right), visit the National Library(could not find any English books but it's a nice break from the heat) and even get a full-service haircut and shave for like 5 bucks(my face is so smooooth). We'll be sad to say goodbye in a couple of days, but our tourist visas run out soon and we need to head south to make it to Malaysia for our next adventure.

The Elusive Giant Tree

2008-02-27T18:55:00.104+07:00

It feels like it's been a while since we've been on the internet, though I'm sure it's only been a few days. There was a noticeable lack of access in the mountains of Sangkhlaburi where we've been since the weekend. Before that we had a couple of very active days to wrap up our visit to Kanchanaburi, where we finally made some friends as everyone was moving on. We met three Aussie men with great senses of humor on vacation from their wives back home followed by a handful of young people from everywhere that enjoyed rum. Now that we've become so comfortable with our surroundings and daily necessities, we're having a better time meeting people and sharing experiences. One couple, an Irishman and a girl from California, had pretty much traveled the entire world on their way to southeast Asia and had a lot to say. Another Irishman shaved my head for me. He did a horrible job, but hey it was free.

We did some more motorbike riding to see some attractions in the area. Now that we're
comfortable riding and with the local roads it's nice to be able to just hop on and go someplace. It was a good 80km out to get to Hellfire Pass, site of a free museum and hiking trail down to the actual pass itself. The museum was small but full of information and a small room with benches acted as a mini theater showing a short documentary on the pass and the Death Railway. The hike down to the Pass was around 5km and it was an awesome sight considering how it was dug out. So not only did we see the free museum and trail, but on the way back stopped at the waterfall Soi Yak Noi which was free to enter. We were unprepared to come here so we didn't have our bathing suits, but I figured since all the Germans were running around in their Speedos I could just swim in my underpants and no one could complain. The ride back to town had us frightened we would run out of gas, but we made it, watching a really great red sunset over the mountains.

Jenny in Hellfire Pass

Me in Hellfire Pass

Outside Soi Yak Noi

Me in my Unterhosen

The next morning we still had the bike for a few hours so we tried to find something we saw on the map: the Giant Tree. We had no idea what the Giant Tree was, and we still don't, but we figured it would be a good way to kill a few hours. We spent the whole morning riding on the beautiful back roads around Kanchanaburi, never quite finding the Tree. We did see a sign for the "Giant Monkey Pod Tree," which may or may not be related, but that only led us to what may have been a military installation. So really nothing was accomplished other than some sunburn but the sights along those roads really felt like Thailand.

Finally leaving Kanchanaburi, we got on the air-con bus to Sangkhlaburi, around 200km away in
the mountains. It was about half-again as much as the normal bus, but I couldn't stand sitting in those tiny seats for five hours, especially since we couldn't find any english-language newspapers to occupy us. Even on the nicer bus, the ride was scary when it wasn't plain nauseating, winding up the mountain roads without ever seeming to slow down. The bus dropped us off on a corner in Sangkhlaburi which we would later learn was not the bus stop, as seems to happen to so often here. One kilometer later in the dark we found P Guest House, which we had called ahead to hold a room, and hit the sack.

All in all we found Sangkhlaburi to be a nice place but there definitely wasn't as much to do as Kan'. After our two days we pretty much felt we had exhausted our options. Up to that point however it was a really good time, just hanging out, riding motorbike and swimming in the lake. The guest house had really great views of the lake which was beautiful at night and was a great place to just sit. It was fun to just sit and watch the lights from the Mon village across the water and the brightly lit Mon pagoda which we would visit later. That's pretty much the list of attractions in Sangkhlaburi right there: the lake and the couple of temples. En route to the other side of the lake by foot though you run into what they claim to be the world's longest wooden bridge(1.5km) and you're reminded why the rest of the world doesn't use wood for bridges of that size. It was pretty creaky and scary, with boards all over the place covering holes.

One thing that was a nice part of visiting Sangkhlaburi was the hospitality. Everyone seemed much more friendly than anywhere else we've visited so far. The children especially seemed to love saying "Hello!" and waving to us. One Burmese man in the Mon village across the bridge was making us banana pancakes at his cart, and actually invited us to eat inside his home and sit in his only chairs. He then proceeded to give us water from his fridge. It was really odd but a very nice experience. At another point, we ordered some tea in what was pretty much a Thai family's home and then proceeded to sit on their couch all night and watch Escape from Alcatraz. We experienced further niceness at the temples around the Mon village, including the Pagoda which was not nearly as cool in daylight but had pretty bad-ass statues outside. We wished we knew more about Buddhism really just to know what the statues represented, but I figure we can pick up a book or something as we go along.

Our last adventure in Sangkhlaburi was our motorbike ride to Three Pagodas Pass, the (closed to tourists!) border between Thailand and Burma. Pretty disappointing. Apart from three very small pagodas, bland food and some Burmese jewelry there was nothing to do or look at. On the way back, however, we tried to follow a sign to a waterfall and wound up taking a back road like 15km off to the side to what we suspect was another border crossing into Burma. We didn't actually ask the locals on the sides with AK-47s where we actually were, but that's the best guess we can muster. Jenny made us turn around but I'm sure there was an adventure ahead.

Mon Bridge

A kitty in heat that we befriended

Jenny on the dock

Lake Sam Sob sunset

The next day we took some time to figure out where the bus would pick up, ate really good fried chicken and pretty good red bean paste doughnuts for breakfast, and had a ride back to Kan' in the rain. We looked forward to the 2-3km walk in the rain to the guest house, where we'd wait for the next day and our trip back to Bangkok.

Skype and Comments

2008-02-23T11:44:00.003+07:00

On days that we use the internet, it will generally fall between 8pm-12am EST which is in the morning for us over here. Our friends should get Skype,whether or not they actually have webcams, to communicate with us during those times when we show up. Our Skype name is derMoerder83. Aside from that, please leave comments on our blog because that is our main connection to things back home. Thanks and we miss you guys.

And so we feel like we're actually sharing something, here is a picture of Jenny lounging in nature that we forgot to add to the Erawan Falls post:

I draw map to froting market

2008-02-20T23:02:00.104+07:00

Tidbits

Good news, we're all set against malaria now! Prescription antibiotics(and who knows what else) are available over the counter here and we picked up our supply of doxycycline that should last us for the rest of our trip. As a bonus it also prevents tick born diseases and typhus and maybe a few other nasty things. After that we spent the day doing nothing, just riding bikes around the area and visiting the markets. We also found the local TAT(Tourist Authority of Thailand) office which, while they want nothing more than to rip off tourists in Bangkok, were more than helpful here. Apart from trying to sell me a map that we didn't need for 50 baht it was a very worthwhile visit. The kind old guy behind the counter even said "I draw map to froting market" and handed us a hand-drawn map of the bus route. The real punchline: the map actually had the engrish "froting market" written on it. How could you not love this place?

Some of the best food we've found here has been by accident, just walking/rolling around the roads. You can tell it's just the front room of someone's house with chairs in it, and they keep the wok out front with steaming pots of rice and various curries. It's really obvious that these are a family thing and they are always so nice to us as we try to figure out how to order. The young daughter of the family told Jenny she was beautiful and me that I was "han-SOOME" after we ate. Our day was greatly brightened by the unexpected compliment. On another food-related note, I've come to really like coffee here. They put so much damn sugar in it that it's difficult not to!

Tigers, Rawr

The latest opportunity for excessive picture-taking, which are really the best things for this blog, was visiting the Tiger Temple, Wat Phalaung Ta Bua around 45km away from downtown where we're staying. We looked up the bus info and hopped on, pointing out our destination on a sign to the driver. The first thing you notice when doing this sort of thing is that you're the only farang on the bus, and second is that it's always unclear where to get off. Luckily for us the lady who collected the fares gestured for us to get off where we needed to and pointed down a long, quiet road of farms. Not really knowing how far it would be we got off and it was only about 15 minutes in the midday sun before we arrived.

Once there we had to dodge all the tour group vans and buses. It's good to know that we're saving so much by using the local buses and walking a lot. There were lots of Aussies at the temple... I'm starting to see how different nationalities concentrating around certain tourist attractions. I guess Aussies like tigers. The big cats are only out for some four hours daily and we arrived on the tail end of their time in the "Tiger Canyon" so the line we were in to take photos with them was getting really long. The basic photo line, that is. The "basic photos" were free, petting the tigers' backs. The "special photo" though, where you lay down with the kitties and they put their head in your lap, was 1000 baht.

Either way, there was a lot of handling. Volunteers surrounded you with the tigers, and guided you through the canyon by hand to sit with each cat for some 20 seconds. My volunteer seemed to have a crush on me, holding my arm and resting her head on my shoulder like we were on a date. I heard the girls joking in Thai, and I wondered if Jenny would get the same treatment. There was only one monk to be seen, and he was pushing around the big cat that would put his head in your lap for the special photo. It was a little bit of a disappointment that the whole thing was so pricey and touristy, but we still got some great photos and memories from the temple, and maybe even more from the bus trip and hike from the highway. The area of the temple besides the canyon was interesting to see too. Lots of boar, rooster, peacock and other things roaming around being fairly friendly. An ox came and walked along side us on the road when we entered and he did not mind being pet.

On the way out we had a seat on the highway waiting for the bus to happen by. A van full of students from Singapore picked us up and we chatted through the ride with some Canadians who all had thoughts to share on the countries we intend to visit. The driver explained to us in bits of english and through hand-gestures that it's hard to catch the bus off of the highway and it tends to pass by too quickly before you can flag it down. What he actually said though, was "CHOOOOO" and mimicked the bus flying by, and people running after it. When we got home we dropped our things and sat in the courtyard where we get to see this sunset every evening.

"That Dog is a Ridgeback"

2008-02-19T14:28:00.148+07:00

Local Things

Traffic was frightening in Bangkok, not so in Kanchanaburi. We rented a motorbike for 150 baht and just zipped around town for the day. Getting used to accelerating and braking on that thing in flip-flops was a challenge, as was driving on the left side of the road, but by the end of the day we had not died and actually kind of got the hang of it. While Kan isn't really so big, it's a bit much for Jenny to walk everywhere so she enjoyed the restful travel. We visited the markets and the mall and saw the floating restaurants along the river, plus had the fun of riding a motorbike for the first time, so it was a good day.

The mall there looked just like any western mall, except for the lack of English. Right at the entrance was a KFC, after all. 99 baht value meals! It's a wonder that sort of thing can survive with Muslim women frying chicken for a fraction of the price directly in front of the place on a street cart, but I guess one doesn't really have any other options for biscuits and coleslaw. The mall also included 10 baht karaoke booths (very popular with the kids after school, right) and a supermarket which is handy to have around, even if peanut butter is the same price as it is in the states. :(

This isn't interesting really, but let's test out video uploading anyway.

The markets right next door, in comparison, were a wonderful site. Produce, fish and meat all lined up unrefrigerated on wooden and metal tables, right out for everyone to see. The pork vendor, with piles of heads, feet and unnameable other cuts right next to the seafood vendor with whole frogs, rice paddy rats(I'm told they're better than chicken), eels and live snapper. If only we had a kitchen! I know I won't be able to get things like the rat in the states, and I wish I could play with it while I'm here. Even so, there is plenty of fresh fruit to eat every morning now that we found a lock-back knife to dissect things.

Even more than cutting fruit, I've needed the knife just to cut through the rubber bands that they tie around bags here. Everything here is served in bags. I think the laws require vendors to return empty glass bottles, but whatever the reason when you buy a soda it is poured into a plastic bag with ice and a straw. Same for milk tea(my new favorite beverage, "chah yen") and most food items. Environmentally it's probably a great idea with the bags producing so much less garbage than bigger packaging would. Unfortunately there's never any place to throw garbage away in Bangkok, but we're having slightly better luck here in Kanchanaburi. It was kind of funny at first to see everyone riding around on motorbikes with bags of soda or tea hanging off the left handle but they don't exactly fit into a cup holder.

Death Railway

We ditched the motorbike for rickety, single-gear brakeless bicycles on another day, to make Jenny sore just after she was beginning to get used to all the walking. We used these to run the course of all the "Death Railway" tourist locations: the Allied War Cemetery, the Death Railway Museum and then the actual Bridge over the River Kwai, and in that order in an attempt to make the trip to the bridge as interesting as possible since it is really unremarkable to look at without the history. While the cemetery was pretty and a wonderful gesture from the Thai people, there wasn't more to it than a quick walk-through. Right next to here was the museum which was really wonderful for its size. A series of great professional exhibits explained the history chronologically, moving on to exhibits concerning the atrocities inflicted upon the POWs pressed into labor. A few dioramas were very interesting to look at and there was also a short documentary including interviews with survivors of the camps, showing on a television in a reproduction of the huts where POWs might have stayed. Ending the viewing of the museum on a happy note, a coupon for free coffee or tea in the air-conditioned café is given with admission so everyone leaves refreshed.

The area around the bridge was overrun with Japanese tourists and surrounded by over-priced kitschy merchandise and street food. Probably the most touristy thing we've seen since we got to the area. The bridge itself was just wood and metal over some water, and all we really got out of it was a good shot of Jenny with the sunset (above). The first thing we noticed when we walked on the bridge was how easy it would be to fall off if hit by a stray Japanese elbow. There are no guardrails or anything, and I'm sure people fall into the water from time to time. Not the sort of thing you see in the States. Little things like that remind you you're in a different place, in case you forgot.
On the way back, we rode past a big fat happy pug in front of someone's house. It made me sad.

Since we got out of Bangkok and life slowed down to a manageable pace we've been finding different ways of living frugally. First, bandannas are to be used as wash cloths and placed wet on the head. Second, shower time doubles as laundry time. Third, meals are to be purchased at the night market. Things get going there around 19:00 and it's just our luck that it coincides with dinner time. One half is everything from t-shirts to the knife I bought to bunnies in skirts(right), and the other is all kinds of food and beverage vendors selling everything for Thai prices. We both get full meals with dessert and beverages (grass jelly!) for a pittance and even pick up something not-terribly-perishable to eat for breakfast. I've developed a relationship with the lady who makes the green papaya salad where I gesture for more chiles and she makes a face like she smells something bad. Then I eat it in bed at the guest house the next morning, and later in the day my poop is full of peanuts and undigested chile skins, which look like blood and gets you worried at first. Watch out.

Speaking of the guest house, we already said we loved this place, but we mean it even more now. They have a "VDO" selection (engrish for video) where whoever comes by first can pick movies to be shown at night from a catalog of VCDs. They are invariably crappy bootlegs with Thai subtitles, and variably decent to watch. We've already seen a few films that we had missed before while sitting for a beer and water or while eating dinner. Seriously, 50 baht for dinner and two movies is a great deal, even if one of them is "The Selena Incident". Most recently we scheduled a viewing of "Wild Hogs" in Joe's honor, to get us in the mood for traveling at home. I'd still rather be here, but it doesn't sound like a bad idea at all.

Taking as Long as Possible

2008-02-17T12:21:00.116+07:00

Kanchanaburi

What a relief.

That was our first thought once we got to Kanchanaburi. At right is our room with private bath and Jenny settling in. Hell, there's even an armoir. Sort of. My favorite part is the bucket and bowl next to the toilet for manual flushing and how I keep finding other people's poop in my toilet due to shitty plumbing. I feel good about that last bit because I know if I find other people's poop, that means someone is finding mine.

The Jolly Frog where we're staying is full of backpackers, so we haven't escaped the tourist areas. But it's full of them for a reason. There's a great view of the river from the courtyard (below) and the area is littered with lawn chairs and hammocks hanging on palm trees(right). Another tree in the yard also appears to hold bunches of tamarind seed pods. Do they grow on trees or is it something else entirely? It's that question that keeps me from just digging in, since who knows what could happen.
[edit]I looked on Wikipedia and it does indeed grow on trees. Tonight I will put trust in the wisdom of the internet and eat some![/edit]

The view of the river from our courtyard

It's also easier here than in Bangkok to get away from the other farang. They seem to stick more to the area around the guest houses and tour group things. In our own first adventure in the area, we took a local bus from Kanchanaburi to Erawan National Park. Remembering the bus number and communicating through hand gestures with the guy behind the ticket window got us what we needed and we met a sweet middle-aged Thai couple with their extra friendly puppy sharing our bench. None of us understood a word the others were saying but we communicated effectively (I think) that we had a dog too and showed them his picture.

Erawan Falls

The bus ride was super uncomfortable, with the world's hardest seats. Unfortunately for me I'm a bit taller than your average Thai so there really wasn't room for my legs, and unfortunately for Jenny my lack of legroom forced here nearly out the window. The ride was over after a mere 1.5hrs and we took a hike into the park(Jungle!), towards the waterfalls. The park was beautiful, with all kinds of unfamiliar flora and fun steep hiking routes that got to the same place eventually as the wussy ones. With our lunch packed and cheap-o flip-flops we hiked around 1.5km over variably steep and rocky terrain to take some pictures and do some swimming.

The water was beautiful, clear and cold and since we were there so early it wasn't yet crowded with hairy European tourists. Jenny was the first to make it in, lasting about 2 minutes before something bit her feet and she got out. We couldn't figure out what it was. The fish seemed friendly enough, and swam away from my hands when I tried to get them to bite me. I told her she was being a wuss and we climbed up to a higher tier to see if maybe the fish were friendlier. This time I went in and something bit me too. Hard. A bunch of times. I took a closer look and swimming around with the tinier fish were these little shrimp-looking crustaceans with tiny pincers. Territorial fuckers didn't want us splashing around in their sandy river bottom. I don't know if this is a seasonal thing, but we didn't read word one about it in any guide book or website. We'll be sending an email on the matter to Lonely Planet and maybe we can receive credit for contributing to the next edition.

Around the fifth tier of seven Jenny was winded and we retreated to the bottom to eat our lunch: bologna and cheese. Neither of us have probably had that since we were twelve years old, and in Thailand of all places. In the hurry to get to the bus that morning though, there weren't many other options at the 7-11 that wouldn't be gross in the heat by the time we ate it. At least we had the Thai snack of Ovaltine peanuts to make us feel like we were experiencing local cuisine.

Another observation about Thailand: lots of things don't make any sense. As a whole group of farangs waited for the 3:00 bus back to Kan city in front of the bus, the driver of the actual 3:00 bus walked right past us to where he was parked on the completely wrong side of the parking lot and just took off. As a result the 4:00 bus was packed to the brim and we were immediately surrounded by at least four different languages which was just plain fun to observe. Anything to make me forget about how uncomfortable the seat was. And there was the positive point of meeting Luke and Holly, an English couple who turned us on to Elephants and Friends which we're trying to work out monetarily. Read that website and tell me your heart doesn't melt.

One of the tiers of the waterfall where Jenny was attacked by crustaceans

The pose that you always see in pictures of Erawan Falls

Victory!

I am paaaaaaale

The rocks had a built in waterslide

Everything was beautiful here

A panorama shot of a wonderful spot we found a bit off the beaten path

Local Things

Since our last blog entry we have also had the pleasure to experience our first Thai massages. My most extensive experience thus far had been Chinese massage in Manhattan, which I received daily after class at the FCI. This was a completely different experience, seeming more like yoga than massage. First we stepped into the air conditioned room(those are always a relief) and changed into these huge comfortable pants that tie around the waist. Laying on a mat with a pillow, my feet sticking completely out from the bottom and my arms over on the mats to my sides, a small Thai woman began to use her entire bodyweight to bend me and twist me. Something we noticed quickly here is that Thais giggle when something is embarrassing or awkward, aside from being so good-natured in general. The whole hour of massage saw everyone laughing together as she tried to bend me, at one point jumping onto my back with her whole body to stretch my hamstrings. At one point she used her bodyweight to press down on major arteries in my legs and arms for as long as a minute, gently releasing the pressure once the pulse stopped resulting in a really neat warming sensation as the blood flowed back and she rubbed the area. On the way out they said in English "See you tomorrow!" which is fine by me.

On the way home we were to meet a really interesting local artist and fall asleep early after all our fun at the Falls. The artist spoke some English and was selling his very attractive large paintings for the equivalent of ~30bux but we're not sure about the costs to ship it home. We'll try to make it happen though. It would be a wonderful reminder of our trip here.

There is so much more that we experience than we have time to write up here, and so many more pictures. We're already having the time of our lives and we've barely been here a week. It's very exciting and we can't wait to see what we do next, because we don't really know any better than you do. Looking forward to sharing trips to the markets and stories of riding motorbikes on the left side of the road.

All Roads Lead to Bangkok

2008-02-15T14:45:00.006+07:00

25 hours from JFK airport to Bangkok. It was cold and long and uncomfortable and if not for stolen airplane blankets I do not know how we would have survived. I must say, the Japanese airline food certainly seemed exotic to someone who has only flown as far as Chicago before.

Immediately ripped off on an overpriced taxi to Bangkok from the airport, we went straight to Khao San Rd, sort of a backpacker central. Everyone I've talked to said to avoid the area(or Bangkok in general) and we wished we had listened. It was dirty and loud and the only Thai people there were selling things to the farangs. Too filthy and tired from travel, we took the first reasonably-priced room we could find at the Green House right off of Khao San. While the small, bare room and shared shower made us feel like we were in prison, the place actually had a really good free breakfast and fun common areas. Had we not been so shell-shocked figuring out Bangkok we may actually have met some people, perhaps at the arcade-machine Guitar Hero or in front of the big-screen TV playing bootleg Thai-subbed American movies.

We must have walked 30 miles our first day in Bangkok, from Khao San to Siam Square and everywhere in between. The city became much more palatable once we were in between the heavily touristed areas and got to see real neighborhoods like Chinatown. There was much street food eaten, and it's amazing the meals you can have for less than a dollar here. The first thing that struck us was the fresh-squeezed orange juice, available at every corner and putting Tropicana to shame. It was almost like orange syrup, and it was fucking good. Another high point was the vendors grilling a million different proteins and serving them in a plastic bag tossed in sweet chile sauce.

Notes about Bangkok... There are stray dogs and cats all about the place, but they're more well-mannered than any house-trained dog I've ever known. People feed them scraps and none of them looked emaciated, though there was plenty of mange. As much as I wanted to cuddle them, I didn't want lice. The traffic is crazy, as in there are no traffic laws in effect that I could observe. There are invisible lanes between all other lanes on the road that everyone uses as they please, with tuk-tuks and motorbikes buzzing in between cars and buses. It's a wonder that we didn't see a single accident or vehicular manslaughter the whole time we were walking around. Pictured at right is where we had to cross the street to get to a park where a handful of Thai children played naked in a fountain. There was no street light or stop sign or anything, and we found that the best way to cross safely was to just wait for a Thai to cross the road and let them run interference. Lord knows how the elderly get around the city. Lastly, people in Bangkok sleep everywhere. In the park, on a bench, on the ground, in the street, in a garbage basket(right), in their cars and on their bikes.

We set up a bus ride to Kanchaniburi province to the west of Bangkok for our third day here, eager to get out of Bangkok because it smells like pee and is way too expensive. There's plenty of temples and culture to absorb but there will be time for that later if we even have the cash to be in the city. Thanks to Larry we called ahead to a guest house on our cell phone and we boarded the bus(van) on a relatively quiet side street(right) to laid-back Kanchaniburi at 9am.

Leaving

2008-02-12T14:56:00.001+07:00

Some months ago, we saw Hostel and decided we needed to travel. After considering a European tour, we realized we didn't have the money to spend any decent time there. Plus, February is way too fucking cold.

Now today we leave the US for southeast Asia carrying only one bag each and a few changes of underpants. We've also got 8gb of photo storage and no real plans or money. This will be totally awesome.

First Post

2008-01-27T14:51:00.002+07:00

Large SD cards are on the way so we can take lots of pictures when we're there. We are looking forward to our trip. This is a test.

To test image uploading, here is an image of someone nefariously concocting worm stew.