Thailand...Ehh..I should have went to Myanmar lol

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Well my last stop on my Asia tour has taken me to the ultra tourist hotspot.......this blog will be about the 3 places I visited in Thailand....



Bangkok,



I arrived in Bangkok after a wild and confrontational minibus ride from the border of Cambodia. With respect to the blogs and misguided info on the changes to the G-7 land border agreement in regards to whether it is still in effect for us to get 30 days by land or reverted back to the 15 days it once was....it is indeed still in effect and passport holders of the G-7 countries are permitted 30 days visa free from land borders into Thailand. Back to the confrontation part, I met a guy from Australia who was also a teacher, a bit older than me and pretty cool, we shared many of the same ideals and views about different topics, anyway our bus was full to the max with all foreigners and the minivan driver took it upon himself to drive pretty wildly blowing down the road at over 100 weaving in and out of traffic crazily to the point where people, myself included were getting slammed against the window. At one point the Ozzie got fed up and walked, stumbled to the front and told the driver to slow it down a bit to which the driver became irritated and slowed down to a crawl, literally there were bicycles keeping pace with us. After a few giggles and 20 or so minutes the driver said something smart ass which I couldn't hear fully because I had my headphones in, and the Ozzie flew up to the front telling the guy "you just wait until we stop in Bangkok" the driver veered off to the side of the road and slammed the breaks on and commenced to arguing tough guy style with the Ozzy, but didn't look like he wanted any part of him , more of a show for his partner in the front seat. Most of us just giggled and laughed about it, the Aussie was steaming though lol. So about 9 hours later we arrived in Bangkok and got dropped off on Koh San Road which was a mess of hippie dreadlocked youth mixed with fat old balding westerners. We stopped to get a beer after such a long trip and chatted a bit about our plans, he was heading to China again to work and I was on my month vacation before heading to Moscow to start my new contract there. We wished each other luck and went our separate ways as he needed to get another uni degree made there and I was booked at Siam Guesthouse in phiathai . I arrived at the guesthouse and checked in and met some cool people over some beers and traded stories. I was only booked for 1 night there, but ended up staying 4. It's located on a back alley street close to a food street which I was definitely excited about And it didn't disappoint!!



Pattaya,



I planned to stay in Pattaya only because it was about halfway in between the island of Koh Chang that I was going to, I had time so I booked a bed at Backpacker time guesthouse for a few days. I was able to just walk down to the monument station in Bangkok and get a minivan ticket for 100 Baht to Pattaya, which was pretty easy and cheap, I got dropped off somewhere in the middle of Pattaya of course at a moto taxi stand which I had the address to the hostel and asked the manager how much to there, she said 70 Baht which was doable and I hopped on the bike with a driver who was a terrible driver by the way, after getting lost a few times and stopping to ask people where it was, we arrived at the hostel and he demanded 120 Baht, I said no call your boss with ( and I pointed) the cell in your shirt pocket, he conveniently giggled as to say " I no speak English" so I had already gave him 100 expecting my change and I was getting heated at the sheer stupidness of robbing someone who just gave you some work and he proceeded to speed off while I was looking in the opposite direction. The first time in a long time where I literally had my hand clinched and was ready to knock his head off for the extortion attempt. Here I've noticed more than other countries I will say, the emphasis of deceiving when it comes to money, point being make sure you have correct change when you agree upon a service Or item. I entered the hostel and explained to the French guy working there what just happened and he just said " 120?" You're lucky, usually they try to charge 200-250. I couldn't do anything except shake my head in disgust. I got settled in when the acting manager showed up, a beautiful Thai woman with brown skin and tattoos, that definitely made me feel a bit better Lol. It's really a chilled out place away from the main part of the city, but an easy 10 Baht truck taxi ride to anywhere downtown, I was on the prowl for a GOOD massage (not a rub and tug) and found one at the bottom of the street I was staying on. A really great oil massage for 300 Baht an hour. I ended up going there twice with the same masseuse and I felt like a million bucks after which I highly recommend for those interested in real massage. I toured downtown and the beach for a few hours and I have to say I wasn't too impressed, it's mostly filled with old fat westerners there for the sex tourism and 50 something's walking hand in hand with 20 something's. It's not my style, but as long as there's a market for it you're going to see it As you do in most other countries that are developing. I made a wrong turn up a street that is filled with bars, massage parlors, go go clubs etc etc and it was just weird, a lot of older Thai women in tight clothing yelling at the whities walking by along with the numerous lady boys trying to fake you out lol which I'm sorry but if you have been tricked by a lady boy before believing they were a real girl....you're an idiot lol because I could tell from far away....the mounds of makeup usually is a tell tale sign lol And if you still can't tell, the deep voiced cat calls to you or the missing mounds of the upper torso should be a dead giveaway lmao. Anyway I just relaxed in Pattaya for 3 days and was able to get my minibus ticket to Koh Chang for 650 which I thought was a good deal and included the ferry, but apparently again, there's price gauging going on and you can get them for less in other places.



Koh Chang,



I left Pattaya around 7am as it was a 4 hour ride which turned out to be more like 6. We arrived at the ferry and were quickly ushered to the sellers of which I got a young lady who was just simply an asshole about it, demanding I buy this and this and this and then when I question something you simply walk away? Really? I'm bringing your company business and probably some commission for you and that's how you want to handle it? I refused to work with her as she came up 5 minutes later and asked "you buy you buy?" I gave the Obligatory " getthefuckouttahere" and waved my hand for her to leave, moved on to the next lady and got the same treatment, Asia I swear ..never again I keep saying lol. Apparently there is no transportation other than the van you rode to the ferry with which I found out was a lie, since there are no blogs or updated info on these types of things you can either grin and bear it or take your chances. I just chose to take it in the ass with no ky as I have since I came to Thailand, they charged me 200 Baht to bring me to lonely beach where I'm staying, BUT ended up dropping me at the side of the road in white sand beach which again, I was ready to get into fisticuffs with another shark driver. I waited..and waited...and waited for a taxi to come along and after 25 minutes or so one did, I rode it for another 20 minutes or so and got dropped off at my place. He asked for 150 Baht which I thought was reasonable given how far I was when he picked me up, gauged again, it should have been 100 Baht for the entire trip from the port to the lodging.....I also got hosed on the return open ticket to Bangkok when I leave, I paid 700 Baht and after speaking with some German girls her they got theirs for 400 with the ferry included, again no information and I didn't want to take a chance to pass on 700 and get over here and it's 8-900 here. I'm stating all of this info so that people who decide to come here they know what's going on and not in the dark as I was. The beach here is ok, it's not phi phi , not abundantly blue or clear not dirty either, a bit wavy but nice. You have to walk down to where Siam huts is located and walk through their shithole to get to the sand beach, it's about a 1000 meters from where I'm staying so not too long. It lives up to the name lonely beach because there were maybe 10 people on it, which was actually very nice to be honest. My time ended at the beach as I enjoyed one last cloudy and drizzly day at Little Eden bungalows. There are actually tons of places for cabins and bungalows there in Koh Chang so don't worry about booking something ahead of time especially in the rainy season when it's close to a ghost town there. My only advice for anyone planning or wanting to go to the island is DO NOT buy a return ticket to Bangkok or Pattaya or wherever at the port side before crossing, Malibu travel will lie and gauge you as I learned the hard way. there are taxi's on the other side which I was told there weren't and DO NOT pay the 200 Baht to stay on your minivan to get dropped off at White sand beach, take a shared minivan on the other side there are plenty and will cost you much less, for example had I done that it would have costed me 100 baht total to go from the arrival point to lonely beach which is a good 45 minute ride instead of paying 350 which I got hosed twice.



I am back in Bangkok now at the original hostel I stayed at close to victory monument enjoying the great curries and atmosphere for a few more days before I fly out to Europe. Overall my experiences here in Asia have been, well....not that good, I think it's more of either you love Asia when you come here or you hate it....I have already stated my opinion a few times in my blogs and looking forward to getting out of here. The only Asian country I would POSSIBLY visit in the future is the Philippines because I have some great friends I taught with that live there...and of course the beaches lol. So with that I hope everyone is doing good and seeing some amazing shit wherever you are! Synopsis of my Asian experience below.....



*Blue ribbon award for my favorite country in Asia: Cambodia (landslide victory)

*Vietnam and Thailand tie for the the bottom of the list of all the countries I've traveled to for different reasons.

*Best food award goes to: Thailand by far

*Cheapest country: Vietnam

*Most expensive country: Thailand (surprise right?) lol

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Comments

[D MJ Binkley]

Wow
I love this photo

[El Eterno Caminante]

Thanks guys!
How's everything your way? Thanks for the comment I really appreciate it, yea I love my ipad when taking pics I just set the timer and run lol