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Published: November 18th 2008
A note from the author: For those of you who live in the west, and complain about bad drivers hogging the road, and cutting you off on your way to work. PLEASE COME TO ASIA. For though I, and I am sure many of you, have seen some accidents and close calls on our highways, they pale in comparison to the roads of asia. For here is where the adrenaline junkies of the world have congregated to test their muster. On any given trip throughout Canada i usually see, possibly one close call from point A to point B. Yet here, a 4-6 hour journey will allow you to watch HUNDREDS of close calls, many of which seem to directly involve your own vehicle. For it seems that only the most suicidal can be picked as bus drivers.... hurray for us backpackers! But frankly this would concern me little if not for three things that make the situation worse. The first is the roads, which actually make the roads of Toronto seem flawless. When a vehicle has to slow down to 15 km/s an hour to drive over a section of highway, something needs to be done. Second, every car and
vehicle is overloaded with people, many of which sit in the flatbed of pickup trucks. I once counted 17 people in the back of a ford...suffice it to say i was somewhat concerned for their safety. And lastly no vehicles have seatbelts... some seatbelts have even been recently removed. Maybe the automotive industry is telling them something they are not telling us. All this coupled with the drivers need to take their vehicle as fast as they can, and you have all that is required to put fear into the heart of all passengers....my rant is now complete.
Oct 14th /2008
After years of hearing about this place from backpackers around the world, Alex and I finally made it to Ko Phangan. Now what is so special about this place, you may ask? Well only the biggest party on the planet (not actually the biggest party on the planet). Dubbed "the full moon party" this little shin-dig happens but once a month and covers an entire beach.
As we were staying on the other side of the island, we first heard the party before we ever saw it. This was due to the fact that we made
our way to the party by boat rather then tuk-tuk (taxi) . But as we rounded the bend a beautiful sight presented itself. With strobe lights flashing, fireworks exploding, dance parties underway, and dozens of fire dancers working up a sweat, we realized that this would be a special night. For more then a mile venders where hocking their drinks and selling glow in the dark body paint. Drinks themselves, came in the form of Buckets...which are the greatest, and worst, drink you will ever have. The drink is actually served in a bucket and usually includes 1)mickey of your favorite booze 2) several cans of coke or sprite 3) several "super strong" red bulls. Though great at the time they, like so many other drinks, are far from perfect come morning.
The main attractions for most backpackers here, were created primarily for drunks. Because I am reasonably confident no one would try them if they were sober. The first is the skipping rope....well its not actually a rope but a 20 foot long piece of cloth....oh and its soaked in gasoline and set alight. Now with a bucket in hand I felt no obligation to try this but
simply to watch, and boy was I glad I did. This fireball eventually hit nearly everyone who tried it. Whether that was on the legs, exposed torso's, or sometimes even in peoples faces. Few people were spared... yet there was a never ending supply of guys and girls to try it... so I, along with hundreds of onlookers were thoroughly entertained. The next event I actually did try, but failed miserably at. With boxing gear on, your mission was to balance yourself on a heavily lacquered log several feet above the ground. Once on you had to fight the person in front of you, with hilarious results. Alex punched me off every time and few of our friends did much better. I guess I don’t have the fighting spirit. By 7 am the next morning, the party was coming to an end for some as I ended up finding Alex and a few other of my friends, passed out in the sand. Suffice it to say, fun was had by all.
Oct 20th/2008
For those of you who are not in the know...Thailand is amazing. In many respects, one of the most beautiful countries in the world. And when
it comes to snorkling...it really has few equals. So for little over a week, we (Alex, Michael, Trever and Steve) stayed on what many believe to be the best place in Thailand. That of the island of Ko Phi Phi. This little jewel is surrounded by endless coral reefs in water warm enough to be considered a bath. Our highlight came when we rented a 30 foot sailboat, which included a captain, who would take us to all the best spots on the islands surrounding our hostel. Unlike many of the other tours, that tried to cram in as many activities as possible in a day, this one allowed us to pick and choose where we wanted to go, and how long we wished to stay there. This was great as we found the greatest snorkling spot I have ever been to. With Bananas in hand we went about feeding hundreds and hundreds of hungry fish, which was a blast. But my old friend Michael was up to his usual tricks, and smooshed a banana on my back when I wasn’t looking. A few seconds later tons of little mouths were biting my back and I had to quickly swim
away, much to the amusement of everyone else. We were even taken over to the picturesque beach from the movie, "the beach", which I must admit is the greatest beach in the world. Nestled on all sides by shear cliffs, this beach was covered in the finest sand i have ever walked on. Yet even here we were able to find beer, at a tiny beer store, which only made for an even more perfect climate of relaxation....not that we needed any help. By the end of the day, Bob our captain, even allowed us to sail his ship, right as the sun was setting over Ko Phi Phi.....jealous much?haha
November 3rd/2008
A day which will live in infamy. The travelers bible for many is a book called "Lonely Planet". Without it many travelers would be lost and starving throughout this great world. Filled not only with things to do and places to stay...this book also carries useful information which surprisingly comes in handy more times then you would think. Take today for instance. We had been making our way up into Laos by slow boat...which is basically like the regular long boats of Thailand, only bigger....and sadly slower,
when troubled reared its head. Our first day up the river had been great, each person given a seat and plenty of room for their luggage. But sadly, as had happened countless times before on this trip, the locals were trying to screw "the dumb backpackers". After a stop over in a local town, the two boats which had taken a couple hundred of us up the river, strangely became one. Hmmm... I thought... I can see the boat I took yesterday moored up to shore...and hmmmm I can see the boat that took the other people tied up to shore... But strangely the locals couldn't. They wanted to fit 250 people on a boat made for 150. Now these boats don’t have the best safety record... Michael on his previous trip here had seen the aftermath of one of the boats that had sunk... so non of us were too pleased to try and sit on the floor, or on the bow of the ship for 9 hours. So know what we did? we revolted... yes this was actually the advice of Lonely Planet. We each took the revolt from different angles... Some refused to get on the overloaded
boat... others pleaded with the captains of other boats... still others tried yelling at the tour operators, demanding to be given proper service. I just took the message of Ghondi and tried passive resistance, by not doing anything the Captains said. 1 1/2 hour later... guess what? a boat just for us magically appeared.... AMAZING!...cause it was moored there all along... funny that. Anyways we got our individual seats back and even a few beers to boot. Canada 1...Loas 0
November 6th/2008
After several days of travel we, a group now consisting of 14 awesome people, had made our way to one of the coolest party places I have ever been to, or even imagined existed. The town is called Vang Vieng, and if prohibition ever occurred in this country.... this place would go the way of the Dodo. The town itself is very strange... but really great if you want to just do nothing. In it is little more then a strip of restaurants serving the exact same menu...the EXACT same. But in order to show some variety each restaurant has a tv playing a different episode of the tv show Friends, or an episode of Family Guy...no
joke. This came in handy some mornings as we rolled out of bed a little worse for wear... but it got annoying fast. Yet the real jewel of this town, and the reason I am talking about this place, lay on the water. With a rented inner tube in hand, you would float down a slow moving river stretching 4 kilometers. And what lay down this stretch of river? Why bars of course! For every few hundred meters a man standing on the shore would throw you a rope and haul you into their bar. On top of that each bar had a crazy stunt you could try, from huge swings over the water, to slides and flying foxes... all of which provided the crowds with hours of hilarity. To say that this place is more fun then Las Vegas would be a huge understatement.... months could be spent here... but you probably would return in a body bag...haha
Well though I have so much more to tell.. it will have to wait for another day.
Catch you on the flip side
Ryan
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Mary
non-member comment
You lucky thing
Hi Ryan, Not sure if you remember but when you were working here at PwC, I added my name to your travelblog. Anyway, glad to be receiving it, I now have a great urgency to go to Asia again. You are obviously having a bloody ball, this blog is awesome. Ciao and keep sending stuff. Mary (and everyone else here that I forward these blogs to)