Blogs from Southern Thailand, Thailand, Asia - page 13

Aranyaprathet (Thailand) - Penang (Malaysia): 7th - 28th Feb 2013 Distance covered so far (since 20 Dec): 4735 km In some of our earlier blog entries we showed off about the challenges we faced from cycling through Laos, Vietnam and Cambodia. However, we have found that our fantastic trip down the Thai peninsular (i.e. the bit that looks like an elephant's trunk) with all its beaches and seaside towns has left us little hardship to boast about, but plenty of 'gloatable' times instead. Much like swimming in chocolate, Thailand has been rather pleasurable, gluttonous at times, and resulted in us being quite brown. We’ve still covered some big miles, but on this stage our ‘off-the-bike’ days have incorporated Scuba diving (Ko Tao), climbing (Krabi), and eating pancakes on the beach (everywhere). So, a few lists about ... read more

I am now writing this blog two weeks after I actually did all of this because I have been quite busy with midterms and papers (shocking, I know). Preface: Tanner is my cousin (my dad's older brothers son). He is 25 and is in his last week of serving two years as a Peace Corps volunteer in Thailand. I was lucky enough to have my study abroad here over lap his Peace Corps service. I have been looking forward to this weekend since arriving in Thailand! Tanner happened to be coming up to Bangkok for a post Peace Corps health check up and asked if I would want to go back to his village with him after his stay in Bangkok. The timing couldn't have been better for me, after a month and a half without ... read more

Canon 60D test shooting... read more

After a rather lengthy 7h sequence of taxi, ferry, sawngthaew, local bus, and lastly motorcyle ride, I finally marked my return to the Land of Smiles with my arrival in Hat Yai, the fourth-largest city in the country, and arguably the commercial heart of the Southern provinces. As a major transport hub, Hat Yai sees hordes of tourists and businessmen from neighbouring Malaysia daily, and walking around the downtown area, it almost seems like I hear more of the Malaysian-Chinese dialects (Mandarin, Hokkien, Teochew and Cantonese) being spoken than Thai itself! On several occasions I was greeted by vendors in those dialects, rather than Thai. Quite clearly the Chinese diaspora has had a significant influence here over the years. Yet this didn't come as a particular surprise to me. I'd known my Chinese grandparents had a ... read more

Onto our fourth week in Thailand and I think we would agree hands down that it was our best yet. It sounds cheesy but I'll say it anyway- The bad days and the waiting game of 12 hour bus/coach/boat journeys are all worth it for the good days and the amazing things that you can be a part of out here. When you're 6 hours into a 12 hour journey, you've exhausted your itunes library and the smelly man next to you is trying to snuggle into your shoulder, all can seem a little bleak. When the bags are put down, you've got a room and you head out to explore the new however, that period is disregarded in an instant and you forget it ever happened. With a few days of rest and recovery under ... read more