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Published: January 11th 2009
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Where to begin...? We've been in Thailand for only a week now and already we've done so much!!
The journey from cozy, comfortable, sheltered Poi'pu Kai to Bangkok can only be described by one word - HELLISH. We had to spend the night in the Honolulu airport before catching our 11 hour flight to Taipei and I think it's safe to say that HNL airport is by far the worst airport to have to spend the night in. All of the chairs have armrests which make lying down impossible, so our choice of beds was limited to the floor, the cement slabs that barely passed as benches and carpeted luggage carts. We chose the latter.
Our layover in Taipei was brief and we arrived in Bangkok just before 5 pm. Tyler's lovely cousin, Cassie, met us at a nearby subway station and took us back to her apartment where we finally got a good night's sleep. I believe we fell asleep at around 7:30 pm and didn't stir til 9 or 10 the next morning.
Our first day in Bangkok was incredible...and might not have been so had it not been for Tyler almost hitting his head on a low-hung awning
lining the sidewalk! In trying to avoid it, he almost ran over a little Thai lady and her friend. They didn't really seem to mind and were more concerned with Tyler's poor head. They ended up striking up a conversation with us - asking where we were from, how long we were in town, and the like. And it was thanks to this cute pair that we discovered that our first day in the city was the last day of a seven-day Buddhist holiday, and in celebration of this holiday, the government had organized tourism promotion discounts throughout the city. We had been on our way to Khao San Road, the backpacking district, just to see what it was all about but these ladies steered us away from there, encouraging us to head there later that night for the night market. They dragged us over to a street map posted on a telephone pole and pointed out all of the wats (Buddhist temples) that we should visit in the meantime. They told us that admission to the temples was free during the seven-day holiday and that we must go that day, as it was the last day. They also told
us that the government tuk-tuks (for those of you who don't know what a tuk-tuk is, Tyler offers an interesting description: three-wheeled suicide machines) could be rented out for the day for only 10 baht ($0.30 CAN). They hailed a tuk-tuk for us and sent us on our way... Our first stop was the tourist information center (the ladies had also mentioned that this day was the last day that bus/plane/train tickets were on sale and because we were planning to head south at some point soon, we decided that booking a bus ticket would be a good idea. At the tourist center, we spent a lovely hour with P.K., our Thai travel agent, who booked us a VIP bus ticket (similar to a double-decker Greyhound) to Ko Pha-ngan. Afterwards, our tuk-tuk driver took us on a tour of several wats, where we met and conversed with many interesting people, including a Thai school teacher who spouted off for quite some time on the Thai textile industry. This little chat inspired Tyler to visit a Thai tailor (Image Collection) where he was fitted for the Hugo Boss suit he'd been lusting after since our summertime visit to Harry Rosen. The
suit that Mr. Rosen would have sold for over $3,000 now belongs to Tyler for a mere $300.
Our day's adventure came to an end when our sweet little tul-tuk driver then took us to the pier where we caught a boat, and then another boat, and then a taxi back to Cassie's.
Our second day was perhaps less eventful and much more North American-ized. We spent the morning exploring more temples (Tyler dragged me to the top of a very, very, very tall wat with very steep, ladder-like stairs! Mom, you would have died!) and then hit the Thai mall in the afternoon for a cinematic adventure. Similar to my experience in Dubai this summer, the theatre here had only 20 seats - Lay-Z-Boy recliners - and to-your-seat popcorn service. This theatre, however, one-upped Dubai by providing blankets, pillows and access to a complimentary pre-movie lounge complete with massage chairs and free snacks! For the most part, we've been pretty adventurous when it has come to sampling Thai food, but in keeping with the theme of the afternoon, we decided to take a break from Thai and we had...pizza in a cone. Yes, you read right. Pizza in a
cone. One thing we noticed while we were sitting in the food court of the mall eating our cones o'pizza was that there are very few overweight Thais (Tyler counted 3 - thank you Tyler). The portion sizes are much smaller than in North America, and although much of the food is fried, it seems much healthier. Tyler is happy because he's convinced his "winter coat" will be shed in no time!
Our last day in Bangkok was spent doing laundry and lounging by the pool at Cassie's apartment complex. Later that night we caught our bus to Surit Thani where we would then catch a ferry to Ko Pha-ngan. Ty was really excited when we first boarded the bus because we got to sit in the top front seats of the double-decker bus. We couldn't figure out how we had gotten so lucky as to end up with such prime seats on a full bus...and then we realized that these front seats would cost us our leg room. No leg room for a 10 hour bus ride is unpleasant. So when we got to Surit Thani at 5 am...we shared a nice, cool, crisp, refreshing Thai beer. The ferry
ride to the island was equally unpleasant and quite unnerving as we weren't really sure if, given how many people they herded on board, the vessel was going to stay afloat for the entire ride. We were very much relieved to arrive on the island in one piece...well, two pieces I guess. Our accomodations (which had been arranged by P.K.) weren't exactly as we expected...or maybe we just didn't know what to expect. But after awhile we warmed up to our little bamboo hut, which is about 30 steps from the water's edge, has air-conditioning, Thai TV, and a hot shower. All these things we take for granted at home are highly valued in such cheap accomodations over here. Our only complaint is that the bed reminds us an awful lot of the luggage carts in the Honolulu airport...
Our reason for coming to Ko Pha-ngan was to attend the infamous Full-Moon party...and Tyler & I agree that it absolutely lived up to its notoriety. It was unlike anything I have ever seen before and I'm afraid I can't do it much justice with words alone, but plainly put, it was a kilometer-long stretch of sandy beach littered with around
30,000 party-going tourists from around the world. There were 7 different DJs playing seven kinds of music and as we wandered down the beach, it was like walking from one club to another. To the Thais selling drugs on the beach, apparently Tyler looks like someone who really, really likes ecstasy. Who knew?? No one else we were with had the drug pushed on them like he did, and he got offered it almost a dozen times. And of course my druken advice was very helpful to him: "Tyler, stop looking like you love ecstasy!!" We attended the party with a group of Kiwi teachers and some Aussies that we had met earlier in the day. I won't say what we spent the day doing with them, because our mothers will be reading this, but I'll give you a hint: it rhymes with schmotorcycles...(It was safe and we wore helmets, so Joanne, Cindi, grab another glass of red and take a deep breath. )
Anyway, that's all for now. We're spending a couple more days in Ko Pha-ngan and then heading to Ko Tao (one island over) to get our scuba diving certifications. We're hoping to meet up with Bryan
there as well, which will guarantee many good stories!
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dave mann
non-member comment
short shorts
tell will i LOVE his short shorts!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!