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Published: February 19th 2007
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Waterfall in the dry season
Very beautiful but lacking something...Oh yeah! Water Sorry about the delay on blogs. While the internet was out the powers that be decided that travelblog.org contained material that was too sensitive to show to the Chinese public. Sometimes they make me wonder. Anyway, It's back up and working now for awhile at least. I'll try and get as many postings and pictures up as possible while it's not considered "culturally sensitive".
After our classes let out in mid February Erin and I headed of to Thailand for a few weeks of vacation from the weather here. In the winter it's alot like the midwest. Erin's father has an apartment in Bangkok that he let us stay at. That was really nice because the trip didn't wear on us quite as much as it would have if we'd been staying at youth hostels and hotels the entire time. The first few days there we just relaxed and enjoyed the weather. At that time it was about 90 degrees and sunny all the time. It was wonderful. The food there is amazing and very cheap. The people there are really friendly aswell. We had a blast.
After a week or so of hanging out
Small Problem
The road was washed out and so they replaced it...kinda in Bangkok Erin and I took a few day trip down to an island named Koh Chang. It's a small island a few hours south of Bangkok. We spent the first night at a really bad hotel that promised alot but gave us nothing. We were told that we would have a hot tub attached to our room (we didn't request that but it was the only room they had left). It turned out that they had built a bath tub into the patio with rusty, cold water taps only. I don't mind not having a hot tub in my room. I would have stayed on a blanket on the beach and been perfectly happy but if we were paying for it then we figured it better work. We were also told that it was a quiet resort. Apparently they had forgotten about the 26 families from Germany walking around the pool in speedos with a gaggle of children in toe. Anyway, they decided not to do anything about the problems with the room so we moved to another hotel. This one was perfect. And it was cheaper than the first one! So, we ended up renting a scooter and
setting out onto the island. After about 10 minutes with this scooter we realized we might need a bit more power to get around the hills. We traded it in for a proper motorcycle and set back out. We ended up covering the entire island. We saw two waterfalls, hiked a dried up river bed, and saw parts of the interior of the island that even the locals don't ever see. It was amazing. That night the hotel had organized a Valentines day dinner so we ate there. The food was really good and, again, the Thai people are the nicest on the planet. It's the perfect place to be. It's a beach bum's paradise.
After leaving the island we met Erin's dad about half way to Bangkok and headed off in the direction of a town called Putaya. This place was...interesting. It really is a must see if you go to Thailand but it's a bit seedy. Lots of bars and tourist traps. I got the feeling that the navy may have docked there for awhile. But the food was good and like I said it was something that you couldn't miss.
After Putaya we
made our way back to Bangkok. Erin and I spent most of our time playing pool. We found a really nice pool hall, something that is a bit hard to find in China. Along with pool we also did some sight seeing. Erin's dad took us to two Muay Thai (Thai boxing) events. They were really interesting. Each of the fighters had a five minute dance he would perform before the fight and then it would kick off. Some of the fighters were amazing. It was really impressive to see these guys go at it for ten minutes of relentless fighting that made them look like arch enemies and then after the fight see them in the hall way afterwards chatting like they were old friends. I think it really shows the Thai spirit. Aside from the boxing we also went and saw the Palace and temples associated with it. It was a very beautiful place but there were too many tourists. In one of the temples that housed a famous statue of the Budda people were supposed to stay silent, pay hommage, and then leave. Most of the tourist were talking on cell phones, taking pictures, and making jokes.
Mountain View
Erin standing on the point in Koh Chang It was really disgraceful. But the Budda was very impressive.
Two days before we left we made our way with Erin's dad to the sea side to a town called Hua Hin. This is where the King and Queen spend their off time. It was a very relaxed (in comparrison with most of Asia) town with good food and even nicer people. We only had enough time to spend one night here and then it was back to Bangkok. On our way back though we stopped to see a monkey village. They were every where and very used to people feeding them. The locals who took care of them sell baskets of bananas to feed to them. They were very cute but a bit grabby. One or two in particular had realized that by taking the basket altogether they could get alot more bananas than the others. They did this by sneeking up on you and trying to spill the basket everywhere instead of waiting like the others. Erin's dad lost his first basket to these monkey theives. I had two try to take mine but I saw them just before they made a grab for it and
We're Bad!
Us on the bike in Koh Chang we ended up having a pretty serious tug of war over the fruit. It was a really fun day.
After some more really good food we boarded the plane and made our way back to China. It was oddly comfortable landing in Central China and feeling a sense of ralaxation that we were home again. School started a week later and we got back into our old schedule. It was a really nice trip and we plan on going there again soon.
Hope everthing is good with everyone at home. I will try and write again soon.
Joe
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Mom
non-member comment
So fun to read about your adventure
Thailand looks absolutely beautiful and it seems like you're having a wonderful time. I'm really glad you included Erin's pictures -- you two look great. Miss you tons and look forward to seeing you both soon. Love, Mom