Hello all! Sorry it's been so long! Life in Phuket has become more chaotic even as it has mellowed out. I've been feeling a bit guilty about not writing more often (and especially about leaving the Chiang Mai post unfinished) but it's always more fun living life than writing about it.
However, I just returned from my first real vacation- 24 days in Thailand and Cambodia- and even though I was too busy exploring and enjoying to write detailed journal entries, I did try to write down the best thing and worst thing that happened each day to put my travels into perspective. This post is an exact copy of what I wrote during my travels and you will probably find references to things, places, and events that you may not be familiar with. I'm sorry, originally I wrote this only for me and I did not go back and provide any explanations. If you have questions let me know. Also, forgive the massive run on sentences and overuse of comma's and hyphens. Putting words on paper at the end of the day is hard enough without making it elegant.
7/4: Koh Lak/ Similan Islands
Miracle of a day, woke up in a bungalow on the beach, shared half a bottle of wine with Isaac, swam and had breakfast before catching an uncatchable bus with no timetables or bus stop within 5 mins. Finding an awesome hostel run by a friendly family and hiking in the national park before dark. All with no planning whatsoever.
9/4: Khao Sak NP
Hiked for 8hrs through tropical rainforest on barely marked trails. Aimed to stop at at least 5 of the 6 waterfalls but only saw 3. Maybe more because some of the ‘waterfalls’ were more like rapids. I missed 2 of the 3 originally because I just thought it was rough river. Saw many lizards, snakes, and giant spiders. Got back before a huge thunderstorm.
10/4 Travel Khao Sak—Nathom Pathom—Kanchanaburi
11/4 Erawan NP
12/4 Kanchanaburi
Rented a rusty mountain bike and explored Kanchanaburi. 5
hours of cycling in 39 degrees (100 F) and humidity with no real plan. Visited
a cave Wat, shared a magnificent view of the river and mountains with a huge
fat Buddha statue and giggling locals, walked the bridge over the River
Kwai and saw where over 115,000 Allied POW’s and locals died constructing the
railroad, and was given a guided tour of a wat with a zoo by a Thai ice cream
vendor who only spoke Thai.
- Khao San shutting down at 11pm and having to relocate to RCA (an hour’s taxi ride across the city).
-Being exhausted after 2 nights with -3 hrs of sleep and not finding a taxi who knew where my new
However, I just returned from my first real vacation- 24 days in Thailand and Cambodia- and even though I was too busy exploring and enjoying to write detailed journal entries, I did try to write down the best thing and worst thing that happened each day to put my travels into perspective. This post is an exact copy of what I wrote during my travels and you will probably find references to things, places, and events that you may not be familiar with. I'm sorry, originally I wrote this only for me and I did not go back and provide any explanations. If you have questions let me know. Also, forgive the massive run on sentences and overuse of comma's and hyphens. Putting words on paper at the end of the day is hard enough without making it elegant.
7/4: Koh Lak/ Similan Islands
Dove in the Similan Islands one of the top dive sites in the world. Crystal clear water and perfect visibility for 25m. Gorgeous reef colors, abundant wildlife, and my first genuine swim throughs.
* Swimming through a hole formed between fallen granite boulders covered in beautiful hued soft corals and into a warm current. Floating warmly past a parrotfish half my size and a school of 1,000+ Feusia. Being part of a lifesize aquarium.
- Freezing and being a 30 minute motorbike ride from our hostel when it started raining that night.
8/4: Khao Sak NP
+ Hiking 8K through a spectacular national rainforest along a river
- Was bitten by 2 leeches and my ankles didn’t stop bleeding profusely for hours
· Swimming in a pool beneath a small waterfall with a 360 degree panorama of towering green mountains, huge boulders worn smooth by time, and a beautiful river. The only thing visible outside of the walls of mountains was a tiny patch of blue sky and puffy white clouds floating through the open top of the canopy. It was like being in the bottom of a jar with the sky as a lid.
· Sat on the roots of an enormous tree. The roots stood out from the soil 4ft in parts and stretched and wound for 20ft above the ground. It was a natural playground. Even made a friend there who I walked with for a while.
-Epic fail at finding waterfalls. Felt like an idiot not being able to find marked trails during the dry season.
10/4 Travel Khao Sak—Nathom Pathom—Kanchanaburi
13+ hrs on buses, trains, motobikes and more buses. Started with a morning run in the mist shrouded mountains in Khao Sak then bused to Surat Thani to catch a 9hr train to Nakhon Pathom. Saw the largest chedi in the world and made it to Kanchanaburi just as my hostel closed for the night. 10 bhat mixed drinks at street stalls all night!
*watching a gorgeous sunset from between 2 train cars on a rickety and rocking platform that was cascaded in falling water every time the train jerked. The train was part of ‘death railway’ and the views from the open windows in the bathroom while listening to “ Wonderwall’ by Oasis was also a strange but oddly enjoyable.
- getting ripped off by a motorbike taxi from Nathom Pathom to KC. Only 30b but I was angry at myself for not arguing an obviously ridiculous price.
Got up early to catch a 2hr bus to Erawan NP. Bought 15b Khao man gui on the way and waited until I got to the first tier of the waterfall to eat it on a bamboo table. It was the best khao man gui I've ever had and I ate it in between two small waterfalls and was joined by 2 monkeys who were after my delicious food! The hiking was easy and incredible. The 2nd tier of the waterfall was 30ft of cascading water with a clear blue pool beneath that was so pristine that you could determine the species of fish swimming below. The last tier was the best. Very secluded because the trail stops before it and you must scramble up the last leg. The most beautiful water I have ever seen. Wedged in between green mountains lay a pristine pool of milky blue water that was somehow also clear, shafts of sunlight landing on the waterfall, warming the rocks around it. Swimming behind the falls to watch the water drip from the rocky undercrop and send splashes of water so high that I couldn’t tell what droplets were coming up and which were going down. All the rocks were white and worn smooth and round over time. I found a perfect white, smooth rock that fit my body perfectly and lay there for an hour, watching butterflies dance across the surface of the water. One of my favorite places in Thailand and one of my favorite days ever. Had many free ‘fish massages’ and the water was cold but always refreshing.
·
While the 7th tier was my personal paradise came to life, perfect in every way, the other major highlight of the day was sitting underneath a 40ft fall watching as 40+ fish nibbled my feet. It took hours to get accustomed to the sensation but by the time afternoon light filtered through the jungle canopy I appreciated the attention. I gave up counting at 40 because by then the camouflaged fish were making it impossible to see more than my ankles as the rest appeared to be moving rock! A gentle breeze blew across my skin sending water droplets flying forward. As water crashed over head and fishies cleaned my feet I glanced to my right and over the blue water was a rainbow formed on the mist. Spectacular.
- Globert called to tell me there had been 2 earthquakes in Phuket today and the island is under a tsunami warning
12/4 Kanchanaburi
(Bridge over the River Kwai)
(Countryside)
* deciding to follow an ice cream vendors avid pointing down a mountain to what I was interpreting to have pretty scenery and some type of horned animals. Though it was the opposite direction of my map and hostel I went anyway . The vendor had waited for me 2K down the road. He pointed to a wat, introduced me to my first female monk and fed a popsicle to a bear in a cage. The bear seemed hot so he turned on the sprinkler and it stood up on its hind legs to play in it. I also petted some Thai deer, saw crocodiles, tons of tropical birds, peacocks, and lizards, learning their Thai names and the whole time trying out my broken Thai with limited success. I turned down a ride in the sidecar of the ice cream vendors bike with my bike back to Kanchanaburi and instead rode up a mountain, drenched in sweat, to eventually get back to the city.
(My ice cream vendor/tour guide and a bear) (The Wat with the zoo)
-Timing my day perfectly-down to the minute only
to sit in the scalding heat for an hour waiting for my very delayed bus to Bangkok . Also arriving in
Bangkok pre-Songkran at
night with my large backpack and no idea where to go and getting drenched
by super soakers and fighting through a crowd of early celebrators every time I tried to stop and look for a
street sign. Welcome to Songkran!
13/4 Bangkok- Songkran!
Woke up at 6am to watch the sunrise, find shortcuts and buy
a super soaker and dry bag from the thousands piled high by street vendors.
Everything was covered in plastic in preparation for the Thai New Year/ nation
wide water war. ATM’s, registers and drawers in 7-11’s, and taxi seats were all
covered entirely in plastic. Huge blocks of ice were peddled around on the back
of motorbikes and dumped into huge bins of water. Met up with Teddy around 9am
and was already soaked head to toe and covered in talcum powder. Stages were
set up for dancers- EVERYONE, babies, little kids, street vendors, adults were
100% into the water fight. Even cops and cop cars were covered in gooey talcum
powder and handprints. Camera lenses and video recordes were covered in tight plastic wrap and I was interviewed
by a reported for local T.V. Even when we stepped off the street to eat the
water fight continued in the restaurants. It’s the only time you’ll see
hords of people eating lunch soaking wet with massive water guns on the
table, prepared to battle while they munch. Its perfectly acceptable to be on public transportation and inside buildings because everyone, everywhere is celebrating.
· The whole day! Thousands of happy people just
having fun. Getting soaking wet and staying that way all day in incredible
heat. Squirting everyone and doing nothing but water fight from morning til you drop at night. Walking
through a street of foam and having
random gooey hands gently (usually) swipe wet talcum across my face. Not seeing
a sad, angry, or confused face all day. Dancing in the street outside a club
in RCA with hundreds of Thai’s after all of the other clubs had shut down but a
DJ refused to stop the party.
- Khao San shutting down at 11pm and having to relocate to RCA (an hour’s taxi ride across the city).
14/4 Bangkok- Songkran Day 2
More Songkran- this time I spent most of my time in the
roads surrounding Khao San where talc coated the streets in grey goo and I
was covered in talc of grey, green, pink, and purple by hundreds of hands
accompanied by smiling eyes and 'im sorry,’ ‘excuse my,’ or ‘happy new year!’ Asking people to spray me in the face with icy water to get the talc off, only to be covered again within minutes.
· Spending
the afternoon dancing in the talc covered streets as an awesome DJ played. Some
boys carried signs advertising free hugs and girls danced wildly without a care
in the world. Being the only foreigner there and not minding at all that I was
being crushed by people and that it would take me 30 mins to push my way
through the crowd if I ever decided to leave.
Partying with Teddy and his friends at Route 66.
Thousands of people crammed into a massive club. Raised stages, shows, large
screens, and contests taking place 30ft above our heads. Ice water being dumped
from the high stages and being shot, poured, and thrown from all directions.
Dancing soaking wet, surrounded with people in the midst of bubbles and foam.
(Route 66- outside section)
(4am dinner/breakfast after Route 66)
- Freezing in a taxi stuck in traffic for an hour
soaking wet. Got to speak Thai with the driver the whole time though and felt
like my speaking skill took a considerable leap forward in the hour of one on
one conversation and lack of anything else to do.
15/4 Bangkok
* Selling my water gun to a
Japanese girl who was getting massivly overcharged, plus I made half my
money
back.
hostel was for 40
minutes
No comments:
Post a Comment