Listening: Left my soul there, down by the sea.
What's my problem? I stretched my ear drum.
As I said before, I was in Koh Tao getting my PADI certification. Two mornings ago, I passed my PADI exam and got certified. Not an hour later, I was out on the boat with my friend Doris (who has an Advanced Open Water certification that allows her to go to 30 meters) on our way out to Twins and the Japanese Gardens dive sites again. I have to say, doing fun dives is much more... fun than doing the dives for open water training. You see more and you get to really look around much more.
Our divemaster for those two dives was Paco, a skinny guy from Barcelona who wears a bright blue, custom made wetsuit that has the Rolling Stones lips on the front of it. He brought us to this sandy patch where there was a circle of rocks on the ocean floor. In the middle of these rocks was a bit of coral, no bigger than the size of a basketball, and a family of clown fish. Divers who are in the know find a rock on the ocean floor and add it to the circle surrounding the clown fish. No divers enter the circle, because this family of clown fish are the only ones in the area, and the divers want them to stay. It's kind of a bit of conservation while still having fun and diving.
The next morning, Doris and I decided to go on the morning dives to Chumpon Pinnacle and to Green Rock. Paco told us that is was some of the best diving in Koh Tao. And it was. Even though my group, which consisted of Chris, the divemaster, myself, and two Japanese kids who spoke VERY little English. As Chris was giving the briefing, she noticed that the Japanese folks weren't understanding much. So, together, we broke it down the best we could to them.
Once down to our maximum depth of eighteen meters, we saw all sorts of fish and sea aenemone. I think that the coolest things that we saw were a grouper the size of a tower PC, and a rather large school of baracuda.
On the second dive, though, I went down to twelve meters, tried to equalize my internal pressure, and felt a little pop. After that, my ear drum felt like someone was stabbing it with an ice pick. I signaled to Chris that I was having a problem with my equalization, so we went back up to eight meters. It still wasn't doing much good, until I went back up to five meters. Then, it started to feel better, but was still sore. We tried to go back down, but again, the pain started. From there, we decided to resurface and talk it over. On the surface, it was still sore, so I decided to abort the dive and let them go on without me.
It was sad that my last dive on Koh Tao, this time around (note: I said this time around)had to be aborted, but at least I learned from my training that aborting was the right thing to do.
Back on the boat, it was just me and the crew. I plugging in my iPod and took a nap up on the sundeck. It was brilliant, as Brits would say. I have some nice color in my skin and maybe a touch of sunburn in a few places. I still have the farmer's tan, but it's better than the pale state that I have been in over the past eight or ten years.
I can't stress to anyone enough, that if you go to Koh Tao and want to dive or learn to dive, you should go to Easy Divers. The staff there is amazing. They deal with so many people every day, but they limit the numbers of people with each divemaster or instructor. There's the manager there, Jude, who is a crazy mother fucker. He's a tall, thin, Thai guy who smokes like a chimney (as 90% of the divemasters do), but he remembers every single person's name, where they're from, where they've been, if they've had any problems, everything. He's just a funny, great, good guy.
At three yesterday afternoon, I caught the boat back to Samui. I was greeted by the crew of Goi, Lucky and his partners Chai and Paul. They were already into dinner when I got back. It was the full moon out, so it was really quite nice having dinner on the restaurant's veranda. Normally on the full moon, there is a big party on Koh Phangan, the world famous Full Moon Parties on Hat Rin beach. Since it happened to be a public holiday today, the party has been moved to today. So, tonight, Chai has gotten his friend to take us on his yacht to Koh Phangan, where I'll meet up with my friends from Koh Tao and we'll party the night away.
In other news, I have been thinking about what I'm going to do next winter after I get finished with American Seasons. Since my friend Lianne won't be doing the wedding ceremony in South Africa, I'm free to save my money for something else. Since I have come to Koh Samui and Koh Tao and think that it's just paradise, I might try to come back in different capacities.
I have found out from a number of the dive instructors that a lot of them don't have work visas, and that they're paid under the table. I think that this would mean that other service related jobs may have people who don't have work visas. Maybe I could come to Samui and cook at a resort here. There are a number of western kitchens. I could also do what Jude wants me to do and go for my Advanced Open Water certification and my divemaster certification. If I go for the divemaster, I can take as long as I want to complete it and all of the dives are for free/included in the price of the certification. I could live simply on the island of Koh Tao and dive every day.
Anyhow, I have to go now. It's time to grab lunch. Hope all is well with everyone else. I'm sorry about no pictures. The uploading is slow.
Monday, February 9, 2009
Saturday, February 7, 2009
Day 9: Just Not Enough Time & Money
Listening: Stepping through brilliant shades, all the color you bring... This time, this time, this time, is whatever I want it to mean.
What's my problem? I really don't want to leave tomorrow.
So here I am, back at the computer for a little bit, trying to upload some pictures for you guys. All of the internet connections on this rock are as slow as whale shit. It's not a bad thing though. Aside from not being able to upload my pictures at break neck speed, I can blog and check my e-mail with relative ease.
Anyhow, I'm on Koh Tao still. This is supposed to be my last night on the island, and it's killing me.
It took a lot for me to get here. At first, they didn't have any openings for the four day, three night Beginner Open Water PADI certification. So I ended up taking a three day, two night Beginner Open Water PADI certification. They were supposed to pick me up at the Samui Beverly Hills Boutique Resort at seven in the morning, but they never showed. Goi called them up and got the agent on the phone. She said that the van to pick me up broke down, and I would need to get a taxi, which she would pay for, to the pier. I get to the pier, and the agent is nowhere to be found. Eventually, she shows up and drives me another fifteen minutes to another pier, where I catch a ride on a charter speed boat to Koh Tao. There was supposed to be someone at the pier to pick me up, but no one showed up. So, I called the agent again. Eventually, someone showed up, and I went to the dive shop to fill out paperwork, get checked into the bungalow and start my training.
My bungalow is definitely a budget accomodation. There's no hot water, and the toilet is... manual. There's a faucet and a bucket next to the toilet, if you get the picture. The bed is hard as a rock, and there really aren't any linens besides the pillowcases and the fitted sheet. It's unfortunate that I decided to leave my hostel sheet in Samui with Goi and Lucky. Oh yeah. I left the bulk of my gear back on Samui with Goi and Lucky while I just brought my daypack. It's worked out pretty nicely so far.
After dropping my crap, I spent the next hour watching a video and going through the textbook with an instructor. By one in the afternoon that day, I was already in my SCUBA gear and in the water. Fear not, we started off in shallow waters where, even on our knees, our heads were inches below the surface. We did a number of skills training, and then headed back to the boat. After another half hour ride, we went back into the water for an open water dive to practice some of the skills that we learned.
I have to say that learning to SCUBA was a million times easier than I thought it would be. Breathing through the regulator feels more normal than breathing through a snorkle to me. To a few in the class, they felt just the opposite.
Today was, again, classroom stuff in the morning followed by a shallow water dive and a deep water dive.
*had to log off and it's now the next evening*
It was a lot of fun. We went to a the Japanese Gardens dive spot. We saw a seal puffer fish and part o the hard coral field looked like a field of HUGE red leaf lettuce.
Today (the real today now), we finished out our PADI training with two more open water dives. We started out at Southwest Pinnacle, which was gorgeous. There were tons of different soft coral. I saw a bunch of black and white striped sea urchin, and a number of giant sea clams.
This was our deepest dive of our PADI training course. We went down to our certification limit of eighteen meters. Toi be honest, one you get past ten meters the pressure equalization was much easier.
The second dive of the day was at the White Rock dive site. Upon descent, we did a few last skills training and then proceeded to swim around the coral. There were all sorts of wildlife. There were banded sea snakes, cuttlefish and trigger fish. I think I saw a grouper too. Funny thing, the underwater sign language for grouper was to extend your hands as if you're honking someone's tits, because the Aussies pronounce the word grouper to sound like "groper."
After that dive we were supposed to check certification and so on and so forth, but I opted to go out on the afternoon boat with my friend Doris for a couple more dives. The two other people who graduated with me opted to not dive, but I've caught the bug. I went on two more dives today, and I'm going on two more dives tomorrow morning before I catch the three o'clock boat back to Koh Samui.
Anyways, I have to go again. I am 100% certified now and I need some sleep.
What's my problem? I really don't want to leave tomorrow.
So here I am, back at the computer for a little bit, trying to upload some pictures for you guys. All of the internet connections on this rock are as slow as whale shit. It's not a bad thing though. Aside from not being able to upload my pictures at break neck speed, I can blog and check my e-mail with relative ease.
Anyhow, I'm on Koh Tao still. This is supposed to be my last night on the island, and it's killing me.
It took a lot for me to get here. At first, they didn't have any openings for the four day, three night Beginner Open Water PADI certification. So I ended up taking a three day, two night Beginner Open Water PADI certification. They were supposed to pick me up at the Samui Beverly Hills Boutique Resort at seven in the morning, but they never showed. Goi called them up and got the agent on the phone. She said that the van to pick me up broke down, and I would need to get a taxi, which she would pay for, to the pier. I get to the pier, and the agent is nowhere to be found. Eventually, she shows up and drives me another fifteen minutes to another pier, where I catch a ride on a charter speed boat to Koh Tao. There was supposed to be someone at the pier to pick me up, but no one showed up. So, I called the agent again. Eventually, someone showed up, and I went to the dive shop to fill out paperwork, get checked into the bungalow and start my training.
My bungalow is definitely a budget accomodation. There's no hot water, and the toilet is... manual. There's a faucet and a bucket next to the toilet, if you get the picture. The bed is hard as a rock, and there really aren't any linens besides the pillowcases and the fitted sheet. It's unfortunate that I decided to leave my hostel sheet in Samui with Goi and Lucky. Oh yeah. I left the bulk of my gear back on Samui with Goi and Lucky while I just brought my daypack. It's worked out pretty nicely so far.
After dropping my crap, I spent the next hour watching a video and going through the textbook with an instructor. By one in the afternoon that day, I was already in my SCUBA gear and in the water. Fear not, we started off in shallow waters where, even on our knees, our heads were inches below the surface. We did a number of skills training, and then headed back to the boat. After another half hour ride, we went back into the water for an open water dive to practice some of the skills that we learned.
I have to say that learning to SCUBA was a million times easier than I thought it would be. Breathing through the regulator feels more normal than breathing through a snorkle to me. To a few in the class, they felt just the opposite.
Today was, again, classroom stuff in the morning followed by a shallow water dive and a deep water dive.
*had to log off and it's now the next evening*
It was a lot of fun. We went to a the Japanese Gardens dive spot. We saw a seal puffer fish and part o the hard coral field looked like a field of HUGE red leaf lettuce.
Today (the real today now), we finished out our PADI training with two more open water dives. We started out at Southwest Pinnacle, which was gorgeous. There were tons of different soft coral. I saw a bunch of black and white striped sea urchin, and a number of giant sea clams.
This was our deepest dive of our PADI training course. We went down to our certification limit of eighteen meters. Toi be honest, one you get past ten meters the pressure equalization was much easier.
The second dive of the day was at the White Rock dive site. Upon descent, we did a few last skills training and then proceeded to swim around the coral. There were all sorts of wildlife. There were banded sea snakes, cuttlefish and trigger fish. I think I saw a grouper too. Funny thing, the underwater sign language for grouper was to extend your hands as if you're honking someone's tits, because the Aussies pronounce the word grouper to sound like "groper."
After that dive we were supposed to check certification and so on and so forth, but I opted to go out on the afternoon boat with my friend Doris for a couple more dives. The two other people who graduated with me opted to not dive, but I've caught the bug. I went on two more dives today, and I'm going on two more dives tomorrow morning before I catch the three o'clock boat back to Koh Samui.
Anyways, I have to go again. I am 100% certified now and I need some sleep.
Friday, February 6, 2009
Day 9: Paradiso
Listening: Here you go way to fast. Don't slow down you're gonna crash. You don't know what's been going down. You've been running all over town.
What's my problem? I don't know if two months will be enough.
Just a quick blog here, as I have to be back at the dive shop in about fifteen minutes.
Koh Samui was crazy. I spent a day riding a scooter once around the island, getting lost many times along the way. I tried to find five different waterfalls, and successfully only found two. I got dinged for ten and twenty Baht here and there for parking or admission to things, which was kind of a bummer. It's quite amazing how ten and twenty Baht increments can add up to hundreds of baht over a day.
Well, the scootering was fun, but I could tell it was really dangerous. It wasn't until after the day ended that I read in a tourism magazine that Koh Samui has the highest number of car crashes in the kingdom, or something of the likes. So, I don't think I'll do that again. It was hard enough driving on the "wrong" side of the road, let alone trying to figure out what's going on in the minds of craaaaazy Thai drivers.
I went to a fish market with Lucky and his partners, who are all kind of foodies. There was amazing fish available, including parrot fish. I'll get more into that another time.
Yesterday, I started my PADI training course. I have the hottest instructor ever. She's from Oz and looks like she's a hapa. She's totally tan, and just hot. I mean hot. Did I mention that she's hot? Like, yeah. So she's a dive instructor, and she tends bar for Muai Thai matches. She also used to do Muai Thai back in the day too. She's yuuuuummmmmy. And she thinks I'm a natural diver. Woot.
I've done pretty well thus far. Yesterday, my mask was kind of fuct, but I pushed through. Out of the five people who started the course, two have already dropped out, and one was having some pressure difficulties. She's staying on though. So our group is my hot dive instructor, Kathy, Marcus, the Swede, Marta, the Pole, and me. It's a nice little group. An American from Alabama and a Brazilian washed out. It was kind of sad.
Anyhow, I have to go. I'll try to update more when I hit Samui again. Also, for Paul, Here's the link to Lucky's resort: Samui Beverly Hills
What's my problem? I don't know if two months will be enough.
Just a quick blog here, as I have to be back at the dive shop in about fifteen minutes.
Koh Samui was crazy. I spent a day riding a scooter once around the island, getting lost many times along the way. I tried to find five different waterfalls, and successfully only found two. I got dinged for ten and twenty Baht here and there for parking or admission to things, which was kind of a bummer. It's quite amazing how ten and twenty Baht increments can add up to hundreds of baht over a day.
Well, the scootering was fun, but I could tell it was really dangerous. It wasn't until after the day ended that I read in a tourism magazine that Koh Samui has the highest number of car crashes in the kingdom, or something of the likes. So, I don't think I'll do that again. It was hard enough driving on the "wrong" side of the road, let alone trying to figure out what's going on in the minds of craaaaazy Thai drivers.
I went to a fish market with Lucky and his partners, who are all kind of foodies. There was amazing fish available, including parrot fish. I'll get more into that another time.
Yesterday, I started my PADI training course. I have the hottest instructor ever. She's from Oz and looks like she's a hapa. She's totally tan, and just hot. I mean hot. Did I mention that she's hot? Like, yeah. So she's a dive instructor, and she tends bar for Muai Thai matches. She also used to do Muai Thai back in the day too. She's yuuuuummmmmy. And she thinks I'm a natural diver. Woot.
I've done pretty well thus far. Yesterday, my mask was kind of fuct, but I pushed through. Out of the five people who started the course, two have already dropped out, and one was having some pressure difficulties. She's staying on though. So our group is my hot dive instructor, Kathy, Marcus, the Swede, Marta, the Pole, and me. It's a nice little group. An American from Alabama and a Brazilian washed out. It was kind of sad.
Anyhow, I have to go. I'll try to update more when I hit Samui again. Also, for Paul, Here's the link to Lucky's resort: Samui Beverly Hills
Tuesday, February 3, 2009
Day 6: Flashpacker!
Listening: In my dreams I'm jealous all the time. As I wake I'm going out of my mind, going out of my mind.
What's my problem? So I won't see the west coast of Thailand
I'm soft and weak. I stayed in a hotel in Bangkok for $50 a night for the first four nights of my trip. A flashpacker is the word to discribe such people. As is the word to describe people who fly from place to place instead of taking the land routes of bus. Hell, you may even be considered a flashpacker if you take a nice sleeper train.
Two days ago, I hung out with Cara again, as well as another girl from London, a girl from Norway, and a girl from Australia. All very cool chicks. We were a bit disorganized for most of the day. I spent the first half of the day still exploring the Sukhumvit area of town, as Cara had to do some more admin stuff and wanted to meet me after lunch.
Lunch and dinner were both fiascos. Both meals, someone wanted to sit down at a proper restaurant instead of feasting off of the street, and we paid the price on several accounts. The food was definitely more expensive, definitely lacking in flavor, and the service was definitely sub par. I was disappointed. The food wasn't even worth taking pictures of.
As I have found out that regular sit down restaurants in Bangkok are tough to come by. I'm sure that there are a lot in the more luxurious areas of town or even near Khao San Road, but everywhere else, they're few, far between, and crappy as hell. Suck it up and eat out of a plastic bag. Suck it up and eat at random street vendors.
My general summation of Bangkok is the following. It's a wonderfully depraved, dirty city with a lot to offer for those who have an open mind. The food is wonderful, and the people are nice. If you're made uncomfortable by poverty and dirt, you best not spend too much time there, or spend your time in the higher end neighborhoods such as the area around Siam station. I, personally, loved browsing through the street vendors' stands looking at tees and weaponry. Some may find it droll.
I'll be passing through Bangkok again on the way back from the islands. Goi wants to spend time with her friends, and I want to see the old capitol and the floating market before heading to Chiang Mai. I'll also be flying out of Bangkok on my way out of the mainland, so I plan on taking some cooking courses at that time and buying everything that I wanted to pick up on those first few days in southeast Asia.
Yesterday morning, Goi and her friend, Lucky, who is also from Nantucket via Thailand, picked me up at five in the morning and we made the eight hour car ride down to Surat Thani where we would catch the ferry to Ko Samui.
I was told by Goi, that Lucky owned a resort on Ko Samui. I expected a quaint little place with a few rooms and, maybe, a nice view. I was wrong. His resort is AMAZING. It's reasonably big, maybe fifteen or twenty units. It's beautiful. It's placed on a cliff with some freestanding units and some with units joined together. There's an infinity pool, a huge restaurant, that I can attest to, cooks fantastic, tasty food. It's a dream. It's perhaps one of the nicest places that I have every stayed. It has a view to rival that of the cliffs of Cinque Terre, Italy, the comfort to rival that of Disney World. It's simply amazing.
I think that the most troubling part of all of this is that Lucky isn't letting me pay for anything. I feel a bit bad about it. I was telling Goi, who was equally stunned by the resort, that we have to do something nice for him. I have no idea what to do though. I mean, the guy is at home here. He's at home on Nantucket. I tried to pay for gas. No dice. I tried to pay for dinner. No dice. He did let me pay for the scooter I'm riding around the island on. WOOT!
Speaking of that, I'm riding around on a scooter on the "wrong" side of the road. To put my parents at ease, there are hundreds of scooters on the road and they all pay very good attention to them. I can go as slow as I want to and no one bats and eyelash. They simply pass me on the right. Yes, mom. I'm wearing a helmet. Yes, mom. I'm watching where I'm going and paying attention to traffic.
Tomorrow, Lucky's partner has arranged for me to go on a scuba diving package to get my PADI certification. PADI is a world recognized certification course for scuba divers. I will be approved to dive up to 18 meters, I think. It is a life long certification, and I can take it anywhere I want to dive. It's a four day, three night course over in Ko Tao. I'm super psyched. I had a number of things on my "courses to take while in Asia" list, and this was, most definitely number two on the list. It is second to cooking courses, of course.
I am so excited. Life is good. Anyhow, here's some more pics for you.
Pig face in Thailand
The scooter Linh should get
Best public toilet of 2006
Sticky rice cooked in bamboo
Forget "no dogs..." "NO DURIAN!"
The view from Lucky's resort's restaurant at night
Hoot, pimpin' as always
The pool
The units
A flower
A food
A fruit
What's my problem? So I won't see the west coast of Thailand
I'm soft and weak. I stayed in a hotel in Bangkok for $50 a night for the first four nights of my trip. A flashpacker is the word to discribe such people. As is the word to describe people who fly from place to place instead of taking the land routes of bus. Hell, you may even be considered a flashpacker if you take a nice sleeper train.
Two days ago, I hung out with Cara again, as well as another girl from London, a girl from Norway, and a girl from Australia. All very cool chicks. We were a bit disorganized for most of the day. I spent the first half of the day still exploring the Sukhumvit area of town, as Cara had to do some more admin stuff and wanted to meet me after lunch.
Lunch and dinner were both fiascos. Both meals, someone wanted to sit down at a proper restaurant instead of feasting off of the street, and we paid the price on several accounts. The food was definitely more expensive, definitely lacking in flavor, and the service was definitely sub par. I was disappointed. The food wasn't even worth taking pictures of.
As I have found out that regular sit down restaurants in Bangkok are tough to come by. I'm sure that there are a lot in the more luxurious areas of town or even near Khao San Road, but everywhere else, they're few, far between, and crappy as hell. Suck it up and eat out of a plastic bag. Suck it up and eat at random street vendors.
My general summation of Bangkok is the following. It's a wonderfully depraved, dirty city with a lot to offer for those who have an open mind. The food is wonderful, and the people are nice. If you're made uncomfortable by poverty and dirt, you best not spend too much time there, or spend your time in the higher end neighborhoods such as the area around Siam station. I, personally, loved browsing through the street vendors' stands looking at tees and weaponry. Some may find it droll.
I'll be passing through Bangkok again on the way back from the islands. Goi wants to spend time with her friends, and I want to see the old capitol and the floating market before heading to Chiang Mai. I'll also be flying out of Bangkok on my way out of the mainland, so I plan on taking some cooking courses at that time and buying everything that I wanted to pick up on those first few days in southeast Asia.
Yesterday morning, Goi and her friend, Lucky, who is also from Nantucket via Thailand, picked me up at five in the morning and we made the eight hour car ride down to Surat Thani where we would catch the ferry to Ko Samui.
I was told by Goi, that Lucky owned a resort on Ko Samui. I expected a quaint little place with a few rooms and, maybe, a nice view. I was wrong. His resort is AMAZING. It's reasonably big, maybe fifteen or twenty units. It's beautiful. It's placed on a cliff with some freestanding units and some with units joined together. There's an infinity pool, a huge restaurant, that I can attest to, cooks fantastic, tasty food. It's a dream. It's perhaps one of the nicest places that I have every stayed. It has a view to rival that of the cliffs of Cinque Terre, Italy, the comfort to rival that of Disney World. It's simply amazing.
I think that the most troubling part of all of this is that Lucky isn't letting me pay for anything. I feel a bit bad about it. I was telling Goi, who was equally stunned by the resort, that we have to do something nice for him. I have no idea what to do though. I mean, the guy is at home here. He's at home on Nantucket. I tried to pay for gas. No dice. I tried to pay for dinner. No dice. He did let me pay for the scooter I'm riding around the island on. WOOT!
Speaking of that, I'm riding around on a scooter on the "wrong" side of the road. To put my parents at ease, there are hundreds of scooters on the road and they all pay very good attention to them. I can go as slow as I want to and no one bats and eyelash. They simply pass me on the right. Yes, mom. I'm wearing a helmet. Yes, mom. I'm watching where I'm going and paying attention to traffic.
Tomorrow, Lucky's partner has arranged for me to go on a scuba diving package to get my PADI certification. PADI is a world recognized certification course for scuba divers. I will be approved to dive up to 18 meters, I think. It is a life long certification, and I can take it anywhere I want to dive. It's a four day, three night course over in Ko Tao. I'm super psyched. I had a number of things on my "courses to take while in Asia" list, and this was, most definitely number two on the list. It is second to cooking courses, of course.
I am so excited. Life is good. Anyhow, here's some more pics for you.
Pig face in Thailand
The scooter Linh should get
Best public toilet of 2006
Sticky rice cooked in bamboo
Forget "no dogs..." "NO DURIAN!"
The view from Lucky's resort's restaurant at night
Hoot, pimpin' as always
The pool
The units
A flower
A food
A fruit
Sunday, February 1, 2009
Day 3: Wat's Going On?
Listening: It's a perfect day for doing the unstuck, for dancing like you can't hear the beat and you don't give a further thought to things like feet. Let's get happy!
What's my problem? Wats, my problem.
Day three was kind of crazy. I woke up crazy early after my friend Goi finally called me up to let me know what was happening. On the other end of things, my friend Cara woke up late and had to do some admin stuff for the rest of her trip, so we ended up not hanging out all day. By the time I finished my blogging and such, it was noon. I ended walking around the Nana area for a while, just getting lost.
By the time I figured out that I should have some direction, it was two o'clock. I decided to hit up the path that I had planned on going on the night before. Get on the skytrain. Transfer at Siam. Take it to the end of the line at Saphan Taksin, and catch a boat upriver to the Khao San area, where there are a lot of monuments and wats. A wat is a Buddhist temple/monastery.
After I got off the skytrain, there was Wat Yannawa. It has several temples inside of it. In addition, it has this big temple in the shape of a Junk boat. It was my first wat, and not being a practicing, devout Buddhist, I had no clue what to do. There are candles, incense, little sheets of gold leaf, cups of sticks. I had no clue what to do, so I just played follow the leader. Apparently there was some sort of school production going on in the middle of the wat. I had no clue whether I should have been there or not. When I got to the wat, I think that I was the only foreigner there. Luckily, later on, there were others who showed up.
In one of the more major parts of the wat was a giant room filled with Buddhist relics. They're pretty much the same as Christian relics, but they believe that after the body of a Buddha is cremated, parts of his body are scattered throughout the globe and manifest itself in rocks and things. I watched the believers put up their hands to these rocks, or gravel or orbs as if they were warming their hands to a fire. It was an interesting thing to watch.
What's tough it knowing what I should be doing. I don't feel that I should be taking pictures, not only because of the signs posted, but because of the intrusion. But, in a way, I want to. I don't know if I should be doing the same things or if I should just let them do their thing. I don't know the rituals, and I'm not a believer. What should I do? I just try to fade into the background.
After seeing the relics, I sat down at a cart and had some noodles with some pork which is a lot like Chinese BBQ pork. The ladies (think lunchlady, not girl grabbing my cock) around the cart who were either cooking or eating talked with me the best they could. We actually had a very good conversation about where I was from, what I did for work, what I should be putting in my dish, etc. After I slurped down the noodles, the cook asked if I wanted more. I pointed to another lady's dish and said I wanted what she was having. It looked like it was more fried noodles than just boiled. Hers also had a dark sauce to it, which, for some reason, I didn't get. It was all delicious. They were amazed by how I liked my food spicy.
From there, it was a bit of a fiasco getting on the river bus. First, I ended up just crossing the river. Not what I wanted to do. Then I got on an express boat that didn't stop everywhere, so I had to transfer boats. Finally, I got back on the right side of the river, and proceeded to get lost. It doesn't help that there are so many wats around, and not all of them are on the map. I went into one that had nothing written in English anywhere. As a matter of fact, finding English anywhere is a challenge unless you're in the most touristy of tourist areas. But I got lost and ended up finding myself near the Grand Palace and Wat Po. Unfortunately, Wat Po was closed for the day, so I didn't get to go in and see the giant reclining Buddha. I figure I'll do that today when Cara calls me up.
As far as the Khao San Road area, I'm pretty happy I'm not staying there. It's a lot of westerners. In fact, there are so many westerners there that they outnumber the Asians. It's kind of messed up. Though some of the restaurants and bars look really nice (nice being comfortable and fun, not bougie), it's all westerners paging through their Lonely Planets.
Speaking of brand names, the consumerism here is out of control. Everywhere you look, there are streets lined with stands selling anything from food to tee shirts to boxer shorts to weaponry. That's right, I said weaponry. There are all sorts of really awesome knives and things like brass knuckles. I'm tempted to buy an automatic switchblade that's labeled as Nato surplus and a butterfly knife with an index finger hole. And to be honest, brass knucks would be cool to have too. I'm sure I'll end up buying some tee shirts and some boxing shorts eventually, once I get my consumerism on.
Anyhow, I got back to my room at around seven in the evening and I was zonked. I texted Cara to see if she wanted to grab dinner, but I fell asleep before she got back to me. By the time I woke up, it was half past ten, and I decided to just stay in and sleep for the night. The heat and the humidity had gotten to me. It was good though. I needed to do a little laundry (which still hasn't dried overnight), and get a bit of rest.
So, today, I'm hanging out with Cara, who just texted me, and tomorrow morning at five in the morning, I will be going with Goi and her friend down south to the islands. Hopefully I'll be able to get my scuba on. And yet again, I will leave you with some images.
The protest that my friends and I found ourselves in the middle of
One end of Khao San Road
Beer is Fucking Good!
The Democracy Monument
Hello Kitty bus for Linh
Wat Yannawa
Mmmm... noodles.
Cruising down the river
Like the MBTA, but different
What's my problem? Wats, my problem.
Day three was kind of crazy. I woke up crazy early after my friend Goi finally called me up to let me know what was happening. On the other end of things, my friend Cara woke up late and had to do some admin stuff for the rest of her trip, so we ended up not hanging out all day. By the time I finished my blogging and such, it was noon. I ended walking around the Nana area for a while, just getting lost.
By the time I figured out that I should have some direction, it was two o'clock. I decided to hit up the path that I had planned on going on the night before. Get on the skytrain. Transfer at Siam. Take it to the end of the line at Saphan Taksin, and catch a boat upriver to the Khao San area, where there are a lot of monuments and wats. A wat is a Buddhist temple/monastery.
After I got off the skytrain, there was Wat Yannawa. It has several temples inside of it. In addition, it has this big temple in the shape of a Junk boat. It was my first wat, and not being a practicing, devout Buddhist, I had no clue what to do. There are candles, incense, little sheets of gold leaf, cups of sticks. I had no clue what to do, so I just played follow the leader. Apparently there was some sort of school production going on in the middle of the wat. I had no clue whether I should have been there or not. When I got to the wat, I think that I was the only foreigner there. Luckily, later on, there were others who showed up.
In one of the more major parts of the wat was a giant room filled with Buddhist relics. They're pretty much the same as Christian relics, but they believe that after the body of a Buddha is cremated, parts of his body are scattered throughout the globe and manifest itself in rocks and things. I watched the believers put up their hands to these rocks, or gravel or orbs as if they were warming their hands to a fire. It was an interesting thing to watch.
What's tough it knowing what I should be doing. I don't feel that I should be taking pictures, not only because of the signs posted, but because of the intrusion. But, in a way, I want to. I don't know if I should be doing the same things or if I should just let them do their thing. I don't know the rituals, and I'm not a believer. What should I do? I just try to fade into the background.
After seeing the relics, I sat down at a cart and had some noodles with some pork which is a lot like Chinese BBQ pork. The ladies (think lunchlady, not girl grabbing my cock) around the cart who were either cooking or eating talked with me the best they could. We actually had a very good conversation about where I was from, what I did for work, what I should be putting in my dish, etc. After I slurped down the noodles, the cook asked if I wanted more. I pointed to another lady's dish and said I wanted what she was having. It looked like it was more fried noodles than just boiled. Hers also had a dark sauce to it, which, for some reason, I didn't get. It was all delicious. They were amazed by how I liked my food spicy.
From there, it was a bit of a fiasco getting on the river bus. First, I ended up just crossing the river. Not what I wanted to do. Then I got on an express boat that didn't stop everywhere, so I had to transfer boats. Finally, I got back on the right side of the river, and proceeded to get lost. It doesn't help that there are so many wats around, and not all of them are on the map. I went into one that had nothing written in English anywhere. As a matter of fact, finding English anywhere is a challenge unless you're in the most touristy of tourist areas. But I got lost and ended up finding myself near the Grand Palace and Wat Po. Unfortunately, Wat Po was closed for the day, so I didn't get to go in and see the giant reclining Buddha. I figure I'll do that today when Cara calls me up.
As far as the Khao San Road area, I'm pretty happy I'm not staying there. It's a lot of westerners. In fact, there are so many westerners there that they outnumber the Asians. It's kind of messed up. Though some of the restaurants and bars look really nice (nice being comfortable and fun, not bougie), it's all westerners paging through their Lonely Planets.
Speaking of brand names, the consumerism here is out of control. Everywhere you look, there are streets lined with stands selling anything from food to tee shirts to boxer shorts to weaponry. That's right, I said weaponry. There are all sorts of really awesome knives and things like brass knuckles. I'm tempted to buy an automatic switchblade that's labeled as Nato surplus and a butterfly knife with an index finger hole. And to be honest, brass knucks would be cool to have too. I'm sure I'll end up buying some tee shirts and some boxing shorts eventually, once I get my consumerism on.
Anyhow, I got back to my room at around seven in the evening and I was zonked. I texted Cara to see if she wanted to grab dinner, but I fell asleep before she got back to me. By the time I woke up, it was half past ten, and I decided to just stay in and sleep for the night. The heat and the humidity had gotten to me. It was good though. I needed to do a little laundry (which still hasn't dried overnight), and get a bit of rest.
So, today, I'm hanging out with Cara, who just texted me, and tomorrow morning at five in the morning, I will be going with Goi and her friend down south to the islands. Hopefully I'll be able to get my scuba on. And yet again, I will leave you with some images.
The protest that my friends and I found ourselves in the middle of
One end of Khao San Road
Beer is Fucking Good!
The Democracy Monument
Hello Kitty bus for Linh
Wat Yannawa
Mmmm... noodles.
Cruising down the river
Like the MBTA, but different
Saturday, January 31, 2009
Day 2: I Will NOT Pay 190 Baht For a Tee
Listening: Everybody come and play. Throw every last care away. Let's go to the mall... Today.
What's my problem? I'm a cheap mofugga
Yesterday, I met up with my friend Cara at her hostel around noon, and we, along with a kid from upstate New York named Dan, went to the weekend market near Mo Chit. Umm... holy shit. Umm... really... holy shit. The place was huge. The place was packed. There was crap for miles and miles (figuratively). The large majority of the stands sold crap such as tee shirts, bags, belts, military surplus, bug zappers and so on and so forth. There were restaurant stalls and bar stalls, along with a variety of snack stalls ranging from fresh fruit (including jackfruit, rambutan, fresh tamarind, mangosteen, along with run of the mill strawberries, pineapple, mango, papaya and the such) to grilled sausages, stuff that looked like Chinese roast pork and char siu (Chinese BBQ pork), and deep fried wonderfulness.
Cara was a champ. She walked out of that market with a couple of dresses and a bag. Dan and I walked out with nothing. I almost bought a white v-neck tee shirt with a black and white koi fish coming over the shoulder, but the dude wanted 190 baht (just shy of $6) for it. He wouldn't budge, so I smiled and walked away. I needed the 190 baht more than I needed a tee shirt. It was a cool tee though. I'm still on the lookout for it.
For lunch at the weekend market, we sat at a restaurant stall that was heavily populated by Thai folk. It was funny. We saw the place within the first five minutes of getting to the weekend market, and I remarked, "That place is full, and not full of westerners. It might be a good place to have lunch." We walked around for a couple of hours and ended up back there to nosh. The food was fantastic. We had deep fried chicken hip, spicy pork liver salad, spicy bamboo shoot salad, sticky rice and some rice noodles. To top it all off, we beat the heat with a few frosty Shinghas. Everything was delicious. I'm still expecting for food to be spicier than it has been, but it has all been really good. It completely changes my mind about Thai food. The Thai food in Boston can kiss my travlin' ass.
The thing that I was most intrigued about in the weekend market were the popsicle sellers. It was so simple but really quite ingenius. They had a metal cylinder, about the size of a large bamboo steamer that had another metal piece holding metal tubes, much like test tubes suspended in it. They would fill the test tubes with fruit flavored liquids, fill the drum part with ice, water and rock salt and would spin the piece holding the test tubes so that the icy water beneath them would freeze the contents of the tubes. It was fantastic. I want one of them... badly. I would hang out in Harvard Square and sell popsicles.
It pained me to look at some of the stalls and know that I couldn't eat or drink what they were offering. It was clear that they were using local water and ice to make frosty concoctions. They all looked really yummy. At one of the bar stands, a group of teens were drinking alcoholic slushies. I know I can get that stuff in the states, but could I really get it in the flavor of rambutan or red tea?
After the weekend market, we headed over to the Siam area to pick up a phone for Cara. She didn't have her phone unlocked and needed one. I expected us to see some for sale at the weekend market, but no dice. The mall that we went to was really upscale. She bought a cheap little Nokia, and I lusted after a Samsung. I may go back and get it before I leave southeast Asia. It was seeeeeexy.
Dan was really only in town for the day, as he would be going to teach English in Nong Kai. So he bounced out of town at Five o'clock. For dinner, Cara and I, along with two other people, Ed and Stacy, went to Khao San Road for some dinner. It took us forever to get there because our cabbie thought that we said some other San Road, which was on the other end of town. There was a huge demonstration in one of the parks protesting the government, so seas of red shirt clad people were clogging the streets. When we finally got there, the major topic of discussion was the question of "Is our server a chick or... a dude...."
It was a weird night for me. I was already sleepy by the time we headed out for dinner around eight. The sleepiness was compounded by the two Singhas I had with dinner, so by the time we got back to the Sukhumvit area, I was zonked. They went to the "pink bus to get a drink, while I went to find the pisser. By the time I got back, ten minutes later, the "pink bus" was closing up and they were sans drink. It was half past one by that time, so I figured it was time to go home.
Anyways, it's getting late in the day. I should be getting on to meet Cara. I'll leave you with some pics though.
First meal in Asia... in the Hong Kong airport
Meet Hoot. Here's the two of us in the relax lounge in Hong Kong's airport.
They had a Muji To Go in Hong Kong's airport. It took all of my strength not to start shopping.
Hoot big pimpin' in Bangkok
A woman selling fresh jackfruit
Grilled prawns
Spicy stir fried Thai watercress, spicy stir fried wild boar & sticky rice
Halfway through lunch
Popsicle machine
Fresh tamarind
Dan and Cara
What's my problem? I'm a cheap mofugga
Yesterday, I met up with my friend Cara at her hostel around noon, and we, along with a kid from upstate New York named Dan, went to the weekend market near Mo Chit. Umm... holy shit. Umm... really... holy shit. The place was huge. The place was packed. There was crap for miles and miles (figuratively). The large majority of the stands sold crap such as tee shirts, bags, belts, military surplus, bug zappers and so on and so forth. There were restaurant stalls and bar stalls, along with a variety of snack stalls ranging from fresh fruit (including jackfruit, rambutan, fresh tamarind, mangosteen, along with run of the mill strawberries, pineapple, mango, papaya and the such) to grilled sausages, stuff that looked like Chinese roast pork and char siu (Chinese BBQ pork), and deep fried wonderfulness.
Cara was a champ. She walked out of that market with a couple of dresses and a bag. Dan and I walked out with nothing. I almost bought a white v-neck tee shirt with a black and white koi fish coming over the shoulder, but the dude wanted 190 baht (just shy of $6) for it. He wouldn't budge, so I smiled and walked away. I needed the 190 baht more than I needed a tee shirt. It was a cool tee though. I'm still on the lookout for it.
For lunch at the weekend market, we sat at a restaurant stall that was heavily populated by Thai folk. It was funny. We saw the place within the first five minutes of getting to the weekend market, and I remarked, "That place is full, and not full of westerners. It might be a good place to have lunch." We walked around for a couple of hours and ended up back there to nosh. The food was fantastic. We had deep fried chicken hip, spicy pork liver salad, spicy bamboo shoot salad, sticky rice and some rice noodles. To top it all off, we beat the heat with a few frosty Shinghas. Everything was delicious. I'm still expecting for food to be spicier than it has been, but it has all been really good. It completely changes my mind about Thai food. The Thai food in Boston can kiss my travlin' ass.
The thing that I was most intrigued about in the weekend market were the popsicle sellers. It was so simple but really quite ingenius. They had a metal cylinder, about the size of a large bamboo steamer that had another metal piece holding metal tubes, much like test tubes suspended in it. They would fill the test tubes with fruit flavored liquids, fill the drum part with ice, water and rock salt and would spin the piece holding the test tubes so that the icy water beneath them would freeze the contents of the tubes. It was fantastic. I want one of them... badly. I would hang out in Harvard Square and sell popsicles.
It pained me to look at some of the stalls and know that I couldn't eat or drink what they were offering. It was clear that they were using local water and ice to make frosty concoctions. They all looked really yummy. At one of the bar stands, a group of teens were drinking alcoholic slushies. I know I can get that stuff in the states, but could I really get it in the flavor of rambutan or red tea?
After the weekend market, we headed over to the Siam area to pick up a phone for Cara. She didn't have her phone unlocked and needed one. I expected us to see some for sale at the weekend market, but no dice. The mall that we went to was really upscale. She bought a cheap little Nokia, and I lusted after a Samsung. I may go back and get it before I leave southeast Asia. It was seeeeeexy.
Dan was really only in town for the day, as he would be going to teach English in Nong Kai. So he bounced out of town at Five o'clock. For dinner, Cara and I, along with two other people, Ed and Stacy, went to Khao San Road for some dinner. It took us forever to get there because our cabbie thought that we said some other San Road, which was on the other end of town. There was a huge demonstration in one of the parks protesting the government, so seas of red shirt clad people were clogging the streets. When we finally got there, the major topic of discussion was the question of "Is our server a chick or... a dude...."
It was a weird night for me. I was already sleepy by the time we headed out for dinner around eight. The sleepiness was compounded by the two Singhas I had with dinner, so by the time we got back to the Sukhumvit area, I was zonked. They went to the "pink bus to get a drink, while I went to find the pisser. By the time I got back, ten minutes later, the "pink bus" was closing up and they were sans drink. It was half past one by that time, so I figured it was time to go home.
Anyways, it's getting late in the day. I should be getting on to meet Cara. I'll leave you with some pics though.
First meal in Asia... in the Hong Kong airport
Meet Hoot. Here's the two of us in the relax lounge in Hong Kong's airport.
They had a Muji To Go in Hong Kong's airport. It took all of my strength not to start shopping.
Hoot big pimpin' in Bangkok
A woman selling fresh jackfruit
Grilled prawns
Spicy stir fried Thai watercress, spicy stir fried wild boar & sticky rice
Halfway through lunch
Popsicle machine
Fresh tamarind
Dan and Cara
Friday, January 30, 2009
Day 2: Been Here 12 Hours And Someone Has Already Touched My Package
Listening: One night in Bangkok and the world's your oyster. The bars are temples but the pearls ain't free
What's my problem? People are touching my penis.
Well, I made it to Bangkok. My luggage arrived about six hours after I did and was sent to the hotel.
I met a great friend on the plane. Her name is Cara and she's from the UK. I'm going to meet her for lunch right now.
I'm also waiting formy friend Goi to call me. I tried to call her, but her phone number wasn't in service. Thank goodness we both e-mail.
In the entertaining point of the first twelve hours, my crotch was grabbed as I walked down the sidewalk last night. This has only happened once in my life before and that was by a gypsy prostitute in Prague. It's a totally fuct feeling when someone you don't know is grabbing your unit. I can now totally see why girls don't like random guys grabbing their asses. Well, I could see that before. I just never experienced it first hand.
Also, I was told yesterday that Citizens Bank sold me reallyn old 1000 baht notes that no one will accept. I'm going to have to go to the bank today and get them changed. Not happy about that, but, hey, it's an adventure.
By the way, Bankok is a very dirty, smelly, congested city, but it has kick ass street food. Last night, Cara and I split some spicy wild boar, spicy thai watercress, and roasted prawns. These prawns were the best shell fish I have ever had in my entire life. So simple. It was literally just grilled over charcoal, so it got that nice carbon flavor, and was served with limes to juice over them and some chili sauce. It was heaven at a tin table with plastic, dollar store chairs. If you can stand the dirtiness, you need to be here.
What's my problem? People are touching my penis.
Well, I made it to Bangkok. My luggage arrived about six hours after I did and was sent to the hotel.
I met a great friend on the plane. Her name is Cara and she's from the UK. I'm going to meet her for lunch right now.
I'm also waiting formy friend Goi to call me. I tried to call her, but her phone number wasn't in service. Thank goodness we both e-mail.
In the entertaining point of the first twelve hours, my crotch was grabbed as I walked down the sidewalk last night. This has only happened once in my life before and that was by a gypsy prostitute in Prague. It's a totally fuct feeling when someone you don't know is grabbing your unit. I can now totally see why girls don't like random guys grabbing their asses. Well, I could see that before. I just never experienced it first hand.
Also, I was told yesterday that Citizens Bank sold me reallyn old 1000 baht notes that no one will accept. I'm going to have to go to the bank today and get them changed. Not happy about that, but, hey, it's an adventure.
By the way, Bankok is a very dirty, smelly, congested city, but it has kick ass street food. Last night, Cara and I split some spicy wild boar, spicy thai watercress, and roasted prawns. These prawns were the best shell fish I have ever had in my entire life. So simple. It was literally just grilled over charcoal, so it got that nice carbon flavor, and was served with limes to juice over them and some chili sauce. It was heaven at a tin table with plastic, dollar store chairs. If you can stand the dirtiness, you need to be here.
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