How does one know when they have been in Thailand to the point of comfort. Well here's what I think...
This morning I'm sitting on the toilet contemplating life and why cockroaches love to hang out behind the toilet, important, deep things of that nature when out of no where a rat (and I"m talking a real full sized rat) walks across the floor in front of me. He stopped, stood up on his back legs, looked at me and then continued on. The thing is, it didn't surprise me at all. In fact the only reaction I had other then raising one eyebrow was, "Huh, where do you live around here?". Not a scream. Not a holy $%@*! Nothing other then, "Huh". It occurred to me soon after that this must mean that I'm becoming fully comfortable with life over here, to the point where things like this just don't surprise me anymore.
Just thought I would share...
Sunday, January 27, 2008
Friday, January 25, 2008
Back in Bangkok...
Well this is the first time that I have made a post in quite a few days. We have been traveling down south in the islands this whole time and trying to find an internet connection that is a reasonable price and cheap is a hard thing to do down there. We were on the island of Koh Phi Phi like I told about in my last post and then headed over to Tonsai which is really famous for its rock climbing. Actally to be fair Railey the beach just adjacent to Tonsai is really famous and Tonsai isn't which makes it really nice cause not as many people know about it or bother to go there. From Railey you just have to take a longtail boat for about a 30 second ride around the corner and you're there, stuck in between some of the most beautiful and amazing cliffs I've ever seen. Coming from the climbers perspective this place is paradise with fantastic limestone for multi pitch, sport climbing, and deep water soloing. There is so much rock there that most of it hasn't even been explored yet for good climbing routes. We found a really cool hut back up in the jungle for a great price and threw down there for three days. The mosquitos (or mozzies as our UK counterparts call them) were a little rough back in the jungle but our bed (yes singular for Gray and I again) had a mosquito net over it to keep them off. For some reason I didn't get bit at night but Gray got torn apart...go figure. The first day I met a couple of guys who wanted to do a little deep water solo climbing with me so we got a boat to drive us around for the day and hit up some really good cliffs. Theres nothing like climbing up above the water 30-40 feet or so and then trying to go for a hold, miss it, and fall flailing back into crystal clear warm water.
The rest of the time in Tonsai we rented kayaks and explored the little islands and inlets around the area, did some more good climbing and generally just hung out in this sweet climbing community. I really love finding this little, out of the way places but I know that the more people that hear about how great they are, the more people will try to go there which would ruin the vibe. At this paticular place there had been talk of some big resort coming in cause its such a good place but hopefuly something like that wouldn't happen. I'm crossing my fingers...
After Tonsai we all headed over to Koh Samui and Koh Phangan where we hung out for the full moon. I'm not going to elaborate on this part of the trip but for those of you who want to know details check in with me later...it was a blast. To be brief, the full moon attracts about 30,000 people from all over the globe (mostly Euros and Aussies) to Koh Phangan for celebration and merriment (and thats about all I'll say).
Yesterday our group broke up a bit cause two of people traveling with us are doing some diving on Koh Tao and then going to Sinapore, (we're planning on a reunion in Vietnam) so the group is down to six. We jumped on a boat from Koh Phangan to Chumpon, which is back on the mainland, for a horrific, four hour ride. The seas were so rough that about half the boat was loosing their lunches over the side the entire ride. At one point I nearly missed being hit in the head by a wall of half eaten Pad Thai (I'm only guessing) from the deck above. Fortuneatly Gray and I have enough sea legs in us that we weren't too bothered by it and actually caught some sleep but for others it was pretty bad. Once in Chumpon we caught a bus for the ten hour ride into Bangkok, arriving at 4:30 this morning.
The plan is to be here for the next two days and then Sunday night we're taking the train up north to Chaing Mai. At this point since our plans have already changed so much (we had planned on being north about a week and a half ago) we're really playing everything by ear. When you're staying at a guesthouse or hostel you just meet people and start discussing where everyone is going. Someone might through out an idea of going here or there and if you're up for it you just go. I tend to like it that way...Well thats all for now. Hope to hear back from some of you. If anyone wants to get a hold of me personally the best way is emailing me at ian.schlieder@gmail.com. Hope everyone is doing well and just remember its about 85 degrees over here...
The rest of the time in Tonsai we rented kayaks and explored the little islands and inlets around the area, did some more good climbing and generally just hung out in this sweet climbing community. I really love finding this little, out of the way places but I know that the more people that hear about how great they are, the more people will try to go there which would ruin the vibe. At this paticular place there had been talk of some big resort coming in cause its such a good place but hopefuly something like that wouldn't happen. I'm crossing my fingers...
After Tonsai we all headed over to Koh Samui and Koh Phangan where we hung out for the full moon. I'm not going to elaborate on this part of the trip but for those of you who want to know details check in with me later...it was a blast. To be brief, the full moon attracts about 30,000 people from all over the globe (mostly Euros and Aussies) to Koh Phangan for celebration and merriment (and thats about all I'll say).
Yesterday our group broke up a bit cause two of people traveling with us are doing some diving on Koh Tao and then going to Sinapore, (we're planning on a reunion in Vietnam) so the group is down to six. We jumped on a boat from Koh Phangan to Chumpon, which is back on the mainland, for a horrific, four hour ride. The seas were so rough that about half the boat was loosing their lunches over the side the entire ride. At one point I nearly missed being hit in the head by a wall of half eaten Pad Thai (I'm only guessing) from the deck above. Fortuneatly Gray and I have enough sea legs in us that we weren't too bothered by it and actually caught some sleep but for others it was pretty bad. Once in Chumpon we caught a bus for the ten hour ride into Bangkok, arriving at 4:30 this morning.
The plan is to be here for the next two days and then Sunday night we're taking the train up north to Chaing Mai. At this point since our plans have already changed so much (we had planned on being north about a week and a half ago) we're really playing everything by ear. When you're staying at a guesthouse or hostel you just meet people and start discussing where everyone is going. Someone might through out an idea of going here or there and if you're up for it you just go. I tend to like it that way...Well thats all for now. Hope to hear back from some of you. If anyone wants to get a hold of me personally the best way is emailing me at ian.schlieder@gmail.com. Hope everyone is doing well and just remember its about 85 degrees over here...
Monday, January 14, 2008
My home at the moment
Koh Pi Pi Lei
Koh Pi Pi Don
Wat Po in Bangkok
"The Venice of the East": A canal in Bangkok
Looking out over BangkokThese are only a few of the pictures I had time to upload. I"ve taken about 500 pictures so far so as soon as I can get to a fast enough connection then I'll dump them all on Photobucket. Things are still great. We're pushing off the Island tomorrow for Ton Sai...taking a few few of the Brits and Aussies with us. We have formed a little band and the seven of us will probably stay together for the next week or so. Should be good times. Its been crazy that we were only planning on staying here on the Island for a day but instead we are on our fourth or something. Way too good...its the beauty of traveling with the only plan being that there is none. Loving it. Cheers!
P.S. Sorry that the pics are a bit small...the quality is great though (thanks Dad again for the camera its the best thing I got at the moment) and as soon as I can upload them all you all can see the real deal.
Sunday, January 13, 2008
Entry Number 2
I am in Paradise. There is no place that I have ever been that compares to where I am now. No place this beautiful or just so amazing. At the moment I'm out on the island of Koh Pi Pi. Its a pretty small island just south of the Southern Thai penisula. Its actually one of the places that got hit the hardest when the Tsunami came a little while back. But it has been rebuilt is as spectacular as ever. I honestly cannot think of another place like this. If any of you have ever read the book or seen the movie "the Beach" this is EXACTLY that ( I know it sounds nuts, but it really is). This place has it all. White sand. Warm, crystal clear water. Snorkeling. Rock climbing. Diving. The list goes on. There is a great international backpacker scene here too...mostly people from Europe and the UK. Its pretty brillent passing the time with all of them and trying to figure out each others jokes and slang and what not. The Germans and Austrians seem to have the hardest go at it cause they don't speak much english but we're helping them along.
The funniest thing happened when we first checked into the hostel. There is one other American guy that is staying there and it happens that he went to Whitman College in Walla Walla, WA. Once that all came out, the three of us had a good laugh reminicing about the town, nights and the Green Lantern and what not.
Before I just go on blabbing about how great this place is and how I might just end up getting lost down here in the islands for some time, let me back up to the ride down from Bangkok.
We hopped on the train out of Hua Lampong train station in Bangkok, little knowing what we were going to be in for. We had bought the cheapest ticket that we saw which ended up being in the third class car. In Thailand, most of the long rail routes have three different classes on their trains. On this paticular train the breakdown was like this: First is with a sleeper car and AC, second with seats kinda like an airplane that lay all the way down (they got AC too) and then the third are just regular seats that dont fold down and no AC but a bunch of rickety fans that move the hot air around the car. Most of the people in the first two classes are travelers that can afford the extra money (mind you for the 14 hour trip it only cost us 12 bucks and to get the first class ammenities its only 4 bucks more). In our class it felt like we were riding on the bottom decks of the Titanic with the "common" people. It was great. They were so nice and all acted like they had barely ever seen a white person before (many of these travellers are from the hill tribes and the country so it might be true). The kids all stared wide eyed and the adults try to share their food and home made whiskey or anything else they have which they think would make you more comfortable. Grayson ate some of these cured meats (who knows what type) and it ended up making him puke for pretty much the entire trip which gave me a good laugh as well. The trip was really long but on these trains they don't care what really happens so you can walk around and even sit on the steps of the cars out in the open air and just watch the Thai night country side fly on by. It was a pretty great experience. When we arrived in Surat Thani we took a bus down to Krabi which is a mostly Muslim town (had some great middle eastern food from a Muslim lady who was extremely nice) down on the ocean and then took a boat over to Koh Pi Pi. We were actually planning on going to Railey first to do some climbing there but ended up at the wrong pier to leave from so we went to Koh Pi Pi instead. I'm pretty glad we did. The climbing here is fantastic and apparently from the other climbers I've been hanging out with they say that its way less crowded then Railey anyhow. Tomorrow I think I'm going to climb Tonsai tower which is a four pitch climb which goes to the highest point on the island so you can see all around. I've also done some good deep water solo stuff where all you got to do is throw out 200 baht (about 7 bucks) which gets you a longtail boat for the entire day and they take you out to whichever cliffs you want you you just climb right off the boat. For those of you who don't know deep water soloing its rock climbing where you don't climb with ropes or anything but your shoes, and when you get to the top or fall you just fall into the water below these straight cliffs with perfectly deep water (mom don't worry its completely safe).
Anyhow this is getting a bit long so I'll sign off for now...keep you posted again soon. I'm having a bit of trouble with getting the pictures on the web for you all but hopefully it will be soon. Also I"ve been out in the sun all day snorkeling (saw a shark) so if there are alot of gramatical errors or parts don't make sense in this post don't hold it against me. Cheers!
The funniest thing happened when we first checked into the hostel. There is one other American guy that is staying there and it happens that he went to Whitman College in Walla Walla, WA. Once that all came out, the three of us had a good laugh reminicing about the town, nights and the Green Lantern and what not.
Before I just go on blabbing about how great this place is and how I might just end up getting lost down here in the islands for some time, let me back up to the ride down from Bangkok.
We hopped on the train out of Hua Lampong train station in Bangkok, little knowing what we were going to be in for. We had bought the cheapest ticket that we saw which ended up being in the third class car. In Thailand, most of the long rail routes have three different classes on their trains. On this paticular train the breakdown was like this: First is with a sleeper car and AC, second with seats kinda like an airplane that lay all the way down (they got AC too) and then the third are just regular seats that dont fold down and no AC but a bunch of rickety fans that move the hot air around the car. Most of the people in the first two classes are travelers that can afford the extra money (mind you for the 14 hour trip it only cost us 12 bucks and to get the first class ammenities its only 4 bucks more). In our class it felt like we were riding on the bottom decks of the Titanic with the "common" people. It was great. They were so nice and all acted like they had barely ever seen a white person before (many of these travellers are from the hill tribes and the country so it might be true). The kids all stared wide eyed and the adults try to share their food and home made whiskey or anything else they have which they think would make you more comfortable. Grayson ate some of these cured meats (who knows what type) and it ended up making him puke for pretty much the entire trip which gave me a good laugh as well. The trip was really long but on these trains they don't care what really happens so you can walk around and even sit on the steps of the cars out in the open air and just watch the Thai night country side fly on by. It was a pretty great experience. When we arrived in Surat Thani we took a bus down to Krabi which is a mostly Muslim town (had some great middle eastern food from a Muslim lady who was extremely nice) down on the ocean and then took a boat over to Koh Pi Pi. We were actually planning on going to Railey first to do some climbing there but ended up at the wrong pier to leave from so we went to Koh Pi Pi instead. I'm pretty glad we did. The climbing here is fantastic and apparently from the other climbers I've been hanging out with they say that its way less crowded then Railey anyhow. Tomorrow I think I'm going to climb Tonsai tower which is a four pitch climb which goes to the highest point on the island so you can see all around. I've also done some good deep water solo stuff where all you got to do is throw out 200 baht (about 7 bucks) which gets you a longtail boat for the entire day and they take you out to whichever cliffs you want you you just climb right off the boat. For those of you who don't know deep water soloing its rock climbing where you don't climb with ropes or anything but your shoes, and when you get to the top or fall you just fall into the water below these straight cliffs with perfectly deep water (mom don't worry its completely safe).
Anyhow this is getting a bit long so I'll sign off for now...keep you posted again soon. I'm having a bit of trouble with getting the pictures on the web for you all but hopefully it will be soon. Also I"ve been out in the sun all day snorkeling (saw a shark) so if there are alot of gramatical errors or parts don't make sense in this post don't hold it against me. Cheers!
Tuesday, January 8, 2008
The eagle has landed, the fleas are on the dog...
Sawatdii from Thailand! We have finally made it to the land of smiles after what seemed like quite the arduous journey here. When we got to the San Fran airport we found that our plane was going to be delayed about four to five hours which would mean that our connection in Beijing would be missed. The flight to China was pretty uneventful but when we got to China all the fun began. We rolled in around 10:30 local time which meant that our flight to Bangkok wouldn't be able to leave until the next day. Air China told us they would would put everyone into a hotel for the night which was fine by us by not by some of the other people on the flight. At one point a large amount of yelling ensued by a fellow Chinese flyer who eventually punched one of the Air China workers causing him to leave the airport by stecher (talk about easy going). We were put on a bus which sat at the airport for about a hour and a half not running in the 32 degree weather, but finally were taken to a hotel somewhere in Beijing. Not knowing where the hell you are in China is a great experince! Once we got checked in it was 3:30AM and were told to be ready to leave back to the airport at 5 so we could figure out flights to Thailand. So after about an hour of sleep we were back at the airport where we got a flight transfer through Thai Airways into Bangkok. We arrived in Bangkok around 11 AM local time but our bags did not. We contacted Air Asia and they said they were still in China but would send them on the next flight down which was scheduled to get in at 6 PM. So we waited. Thankfully after alot of nail bitting and a little prayer they did arrive and we were able to leave the airport. The highlight of all of this is that now we can at least say we have "been" to China.
Thailand truely is an amazing place. If any of you end up coming here at anytime be prepared to be treated like a king. Everyone is so happy and helpful and unlike places like Mexico you don't feel like you're getting screwed everytime you turn around. We learned that you have to be a bit savvy when it comes to the tuk tuk drivers (they are these sweet little three wheeled go-kart things that will take you just about anywhere for 20 Bhat (60 cents)) because they will try to con you into taking you on a tour all over the city but will in reality take you to numerous gem shops and suit tailors where they will get a commission if you buy anything. It really pays to be a cheap ass though because they didn't get dime from Gray or I and once we realized what the gimick was all about we just smiled and left.
We told the taxi driver from the airport to drop us off at Khao San Rd (the backpackers ghetto) and we would find our way from there. Walking down that street with a full back pack on without a clue where you're going or where you're going to stay quite the mind warp. The road at night is pretty cool though filled with street vendors, little food carts (which do have amazing...CHEAP...food), 7-11s, and guesthouses/pubs. We eventually walked down this little soi (lane/alley) which was pretty dark and dingey, only about three feet wide, but at the end was this little guesthouse called Barn Thai which we thought we would check out. It seems like a great deal to us when we found out that it was only 300 Baht a night (9 bucks) for the both of us. Granted we are staying in a room about 12 x 12 with one double bed (yes we are sharing) and thankfully a fan. Its clean though and they are cold showers and toilets (no paper, but a hose like you would find at your sink to get the job done :) ).
This morning at five I got up, let Gray sleep, and decided to do some of my own exploring. I made my way down to the river, the Mae Nam Chao Phraya, which is where a ton of the local commerce is done with little bamboo rafts taking food to the markets, longtail boats and larger express boats which are like river busses. I jumped on one not really knowing where it was heading but eventually figured it out and jumped off at the Royal Palace and the Wat Phra Kaew probably the most famous temple in Thailand. Both are closed today because one of the princesses died a week ago so they are having a huge cerimony for about a week. I met a Bhuddist monk who strangely enough was from Wisconsin but had moved over here to serve. He explained to me that every morning the monks go down to the markets and the people will give them food where upon he says a prayer of blessing for them for their day. The food is given to the homeless people in that area. Talk about a sweet welfare system. Ended up talking to him for about a half hour...really nice guy...weird though to see a six foot five white monk but at least he spoke English!
Well thats about all the adventure that I have the time (or the Bhat) to report. For those of you who actually made it this far thanks for reading and I will try to post again soon. You can post comments to this blog and I would love to hear from you too! These next few months are going to probably be the most educational of my life because there is so much to learn about people just being in this so very different culture.
Laa Kawn! (Goodbye)
P.S. We will be probably leaving Bangkok in about another day or so and then heading down south to the islands and the beaches. There is some sicko deep water solo climbing down there and I'm going to have to partake!
Thailand truely is an amazing place. If any of you end up coming here at anytime be prepared to be treated like a king. Everyone is so happy and helpful and unlike places like Mexico you don't feel like you're getting screwed everytime you turn around. We learned that you have to be a bit savvy when it comes to the tuk tuk drivers (they are these sweet little three wheeled go-kart things that will take you just about anywhere for 20 Bhat (60 cents)) because they will try to con you into taking you on a tour all over the city but will in reality take you to numerous gem shops and suit tailors where they will get a commission if you buy anything. It really pays to be a cheap ass though because they didn't get dime from Gray or I and once we realized what the gimick was all about we just smiled and left.
We told the taxi driver from the airport to drop us off at Khao San Rd (the backpackers ghetto) and we would find our way from there. Walking down that street with a full back pack on without a clue where you're going or where you're going to stay quite the mind warp. The road at night is pretty cool though filled with street vendors, little food carts (which do have amazing...CHEAP...food), 7-11s, and guesthouses/pubs. We eventually walked down this little soi (lane/alley) which was pretty dark and dingey, only about three feet wide, but at the end was this little guesthouse called Barn Thai which we thought we would check out. It seems like a great deal to us when we found out that it was only 300 Baht a night (9 bucks) for the both of us. Granted we are staying in a room about 12 x 12 with one double bed (yes we are sharing) and thankfully a fan. Its clean though and they are cold showers and toilets (no paper, but a hose like you would find at your sink to get the job done :) ).
This morning at five I got up, let Gray sleep, and decided to do some of my own exploring. I made my way down to the river, the Mae Nam Chao Phraya, which is where a ton of the local commerce is done with little bamboo rafts taking food to the markets, longtail boats and larger express boats which are like river busses. I jumped on one not really knowing where it was heading but eventually figured it out and jumped off at the Royal Palace and the Wat Phra Kaew probably the most famous temple in Thailand. Both are closed today because one of the princesses died a week ago so they are having a huge cerimony for about a week. I met a Bhuddist monk who strangely enough was from Wisconsin but had moved over here to serve. He explained to me that every morning the monks go down to the markets and the people will give them food where upon he says a prayer of blessing for them for their day. The food is given to the homeless people in that area. Talk about a sweet welfare system. Ended up talking to him for about a half hour...really nice guy...weird though to see a six foot five white monk but at least he spoke English!
Well thats about all the adventure that I have the time (or the Bhat) to report. For those of you who actually made it this far thanks for reading and I will try to post again soon. You can post comments to this blog and I would love to hear from you too! These next few months are going to probably be the most educational of my life because there is so much to learn about people just being in this so very different culture.
Laa Kawn! (Goodbye)
P.S. We will be probably leaving Bangkok in about another day or so and then heading down south to the islands and the beaches. There is some sicko deep water solo climbing down there and I'm going to have to partake!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
