two4deroad

Ancient saying: Man who go through airport turnstile sideways goin to ... Bangkok In the fulness of time, when the moon was in the third phase of the second crescent, we sneaked into Bangkok. It was at the crack of dawn on some random day in the year 2551. That's right! 2551 B.E. And, herein, lies the reason for the tardy updating of our blog: we had to time-travel 500+ years into the future. If you believe that, well, we've got some prime real estate to sell you on Mars. The 'time difference' is because Thai years are counted as the Buddhist era (B.E.) which started 543 years earlier than the Christian era. Anyway, back to the story. Our intention was to tiptoe into the Thai capital without disturbing any of its 64 million residents. Well, ... read more

The city of Sukhotai (meaning ‘Dawn of Happiness’) was, up until 1238, a part of the Angkorian (Khmer) Empire when two ambitious Thai princes, Phor Khun Pha Muang of Muang Rad and Phor Khun Bang Klang Thao of Muang Banyang, rallied together to oust them. Sukhotai became the capital and official start of the Thai nation and Phor Khun Bang Klang Thao, the first king. After changing hands a few times, the kingdom finally passed down to King Ramkhamhaeng, the Great. He, one of Thailand’s greatest warrior-kings, expanded Sukhotai far and wide even opening up direct political relations with China and visiting Emperor Kublai Khan, grandson of the (in)famous Genghis Khan. Ramkhamhaeng brought accomplished Chinese artisans back to Sukhotai to teach the locals the fine art of exquisite pottery making and he unified the various writing ... read more

A sugar-coated, milky-smooth voice, coming out of bright-red, lipstick-plastered lips of the bus' male steward, whispered delicately in Vibert's ear. In a language he couldn't understand. At Midnight! This was Vibert's dream. He shot upright from his recliner seat, his panicked eyes struggling to adjust in the harsh white glare of the bus' florescent lights. Shanna eyed him curiously. Over the public intercom flowed the sugar-coated, milky-smooth voice, coming out of bright-red, lipstick-plastered lips of the bus' male steward. It was midnight and, apparently, we were stopping for 'dinner'. "Rats", said Vibert (or something more Caribbean-ish). He had just fallen asleep. We had departed Krabi many, many ago before and he had found it difficult to fall asleep. 'Dinner' break took a better part of an hour and five hours later, we arrived at our stop. ... read more

The options were simple: a tent or a sparse, over-priced room. We chose the tent (surpriseeeeeeee). A short walk from Koh Tarutao’s ranger station revealed 4 more tents set up under the shade of a few trees in a designated camping area. We chose to ignore the designated area (surpriseeee) choosing instead to pitch tent amidst a cluster of trees a good way upwind. Like seasoned troopers, we laid out the tent, fitted the ‘rafters’ and carefully tied down. Then we strung up our hammocks and stood back surveying our handiwork and thinking “…brilliant”. And ‘brilliant’ it was. We were set up just off the edge of a long, curving white sand beach. The entrance of our abode opened up to luscious views and cooling winds from the turquoise Andaman Sea. A sizeable piece of driftwood ... read more

The mainland of Malaysia receded in the backwash of the ferry as we settled in for the 30-minute ride. This would be peanuts compared to the 4 hours bus ride we had just completed from Cameron Highlands to the pier at Lumut. Our destination was Pangkor Island (Pulau Pangkor) - a small, green enclave off Malaysia's west coast. The concrete dock led to a reception room which, in turn, led outside to the parking lot. And in the parking lot was a most unexpected sight: a fleet of pink (yes, pink) mini-buses turned taxis. The driver quoted a fare for the 10-minute drive that was equal to the fare for the 30-minute boat ride and we had no choice but to pay. There was no bargaining with the Pink Posse. Th first night we spent in ... read more