Sex, Monkeys and Blue Pills

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In case some of you didn't notice, 2 days ago was Valentines day. We didn't mention it but we did celebrate it. I think somewhere in between the ferry ride and the bus we were able to slip in a few I love yous and kisses. Hey when you're in paradise, its hard to pick only one day to be all lovey dovey.

This morning we decided that we wanted to move to the other side of the island to be nearer the airport as we were planning on flying back up to Bangkok soon. We had planned on doing some more exploring and perhaps a trip out to Koh Tao and Koh Phangnan.

Kinnaree Resort

As is the norm in Thailand, we no sooner got to the main road when a a song thaew stopped to pick us up. Not sure where we wanted to stay and not having the foresight to find a place the day before, we asked the driver to drop us off at the end of strip of guesthouses that lined Bophut beach. It was quite early as we trudged along checking out guest houses. We finally decided upon Kinnaree Resort. We were going to pass this one up but we spied some really nice bungalows through the older open air restaurant. Upon inspection, we knew we found home for the next couple of days.

The owners ushered us down a tiled walkway between small white bungalows that each had two rooms. Each had a nice little porch which led into a tiled room. Large king size bed, air conditioning, a fridge and to Candace's pleasure a separate shower from the rest of the bathroom. We had heard that the beach on this side of the Island is rather dismal. We found it to be very calm and very nice. Our fellow travelers, all over 50 where out on the deck sunning themselves. In the distance, we could see the activity at the pier.
No party scene going on here, at least not after 20:00. We figured we would have to keep it down as we like roll in around 2:00 in the morning. Peaceful sleeps coming up!

We quickly planned our day out over another American breakfast deciding to go back to Tesco Lotus to check out the hardware store , explore some more of the Island, visit Big Buddha and perhaps find the elusive monkey theater we could not find yesterday.

Tesco Lotus and Ace Hardware

Our latest scooter ripped along pretty good and we were on the other side of the island in no time. Candace wanted donuts from the Dunkin' Donuts shop in Tesco so we walked the mall checking out the stores while she devoured 3 donuts. We were really impressed with the service in both the grocery store and the hardware store. At the Ace Hardware, the salesmen had us sold on a particular shower for our non-existent villa we had just supposedly just bought but we decided to perhaps instead buy a humongous rice cooker. You never know when you need to have 10 liters of perfectly cooked rice. We then changed our minds and went for lunch. The sales guy was unbelievably pleasant throughout the whole ordeal. I think North America could take a page or two out of Tesco's customer service manual.
All in all, a mall here is the same as a mall there.

Monkey Theatre

We finally found the monkey theater after browsing some neat out of the way shops while cruising around on the scooter. Candace was immediately taken in by the baby macaque tied up in the front. We were quickly ushered to an amphitheater with another couple where a man was setting up some props.
For the next 45 minutes, we were entertained by the a male and female macaque doing trained acts to Thai volume music (Thai volume being equal to rock concert levels). Both monkeys strummed toy guitars while Elvis tunes were played. They lifted weights and twirled fire sticks. We were then given the opportunity to see how the monkeys are used to harvest coconuts. Pretty interesting.

The owner invited us to look around at the other animals on display and asked if we would like to buy fruit to feed them. He asked us several times what we thought of the performance and what he could do to make it better. He walked around with us cage to cage, telling what each animal was, explaining the difference between the monkeys, how old they were and where they came from. He was very informative.
We saw several other macaques and I was treated to having a python draped over my legs for a photo op.

On our way out, we stopped to play with the baby macaque and a lone gibbon. The gibbon was really spooky the way it wrapped its arms around you and stared deeply into your eyes. The baby macaques were really cute and one was riding around on the back of the owners dog. Interesting to note that 4 out of 5 monkeys preferred cucumbers over bananas.

Seeing and getting to play with monkeys has been the best part of our time here and was one of our main goals when coming here. I'm sure that it is probably very wrong on some level but it made us want to help protect monkeys even more now that we've made a connection with them.

I finally was able to get Candace out of the theater after checking her bag to make sure she didn't try and take one of the monkeys and we made our way over to Big Buddha beach where we had planned to check out the .......Big Buddha.

Big Buddha

And big it is. We climbed the steps up, did the touristy thing by taking pictures from every angle and then lit joss sticks and made an offering. I was surprised how many Thais were actually there as opposed to tourists. Of course there was a small village of stalls which we decided to visit for some lunch and souvenir shopping. We had a most memorable time haggling with one shop owner in particular. Every time we would decline the price he offered, he would give a new price including another nick-knack or carving we found to be quite exceptional. We ended up buying quite a few items from him as we found his price was what we were willing to pay and the quality of the products was really good.

We finished our day touring off by parking down by Chaweng Beach again and going for supper and people watching. We booked a snorkeling tour of Koh Tao and Koh Nang Yuan leaving the next morning, found an internet cafe and booked plane tickets back to Bangkok and hid in a shop selling ripped cd and dvds when a 5 minute downpour came out of nowhere.
It was amazing how quick and efficient shop owners were in covering up their merchandise by extending canopies or sheets of plastic out. I think the tourists were worried they were going to melt as they scattered so quickly. Of course there are always those few punters that feel the need to capitalize on the chance to have a free shower and a splash their mates.
This has been the 2nd rain shower we have encountered in Thailand. The first was a brief misting as we came across to Samui on the ferry.

Sex trade in Thailand

We had two experiences today that grossed us out. The first being quite serious and indicative to Thailand. The second being just plain weird.

While walking through Chaweng, it is very common to see old white guys picking up Thai hookers. We witnessed a older white couple with a really young Thai girl sitting at a restaurant, the lady stroking the young girls hand. I don't care if you want to buy your sex but get someone of age. We didn't say anything and maybe we should have. Very hard to have any balls in that situation and stand up. One of the truly sad things happening in this country that no one seems to care about.

The other experience was back in our guesthouse. We were staying at a guesthouse with the over 50 set so it was quiet as everyone had already turned in hours before. As we lay there talking, out of no where, we could hear the couple next door apparently making up for lost time on valentines day. Ewwwwwww. Candace and I started to snicker and then burst out laughing. Seems like someone got into the little blue pills.

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Photos

Jason Samui
I couldn't help but buy a store while we were there. Had it named after me.

Close
The little walkway to the beach

Elephants
Some random shots around the island

Metal Shop
This shop made all sorts of cool things with metal pieces.

Comments

[choosetravel]

http://choose.travel/
Great journey! How long is it continuous?

[Chocolatemonkee]

This journey was only for 2 weeks. We're going back to South East Asia in February to hang out again.

[marianna]

Blog Praise
Nice.....one... exactly.... cheers