My day
5 hours. 142 km. 1 boat. 1 pony-cart. 2 van rides. 2 rides in the back of pickup trucks. 1 van had 810,794 km on the odometer, and from the looks of it, the odometer stopped running somewhere around 1986. 1 van, which I would have said had 10 seats, at one point had 24 people in it. For a while it was so full that we couldn't close the door. During that ride I was being interviewed by all the passengers through the one woman on board who spoke English. Her English wasn't very good. On one of the pickup trucks, the driver stopped, reached under the dashboard, twisted some wires together and music came on. From an mp3 player. The other pickup truck's engine died 4 times, and took 20-30 seconds to start each time. This all cost
me about 6 dollars.
The place I'm staying has Internet, which it gets by plugging a cell phone into the computer. Tethering, I suppose is the term.
At dinner at a restaurant they played a dire straits album.
Oh, and the sand on the beach here is about the consistency of dippin' dots. You sink down to the ankle every step, it's like walking through knee-high snow.
I think susan Sarandon said it best -- physical exhaustion can be spiritually exhilarating.
Saturday 9 May 2009
Friday 24 April 2009
I'm in Bali. Flew in a couple days ago.
This pasted in from an email I just wrote:
Went out and surfed for an hour and a half or so. rented from some random guy on the beach (there are about 100 such guys on the beach), 5 dollars or so for 2 hours, he gave me a couple tips and sent me on my way (would have been happy to teach me for a price), after 30 minutes or so I felt like I was going to throw up I was so exhausted and had swallowed so much water. took a 15 minute break, went out for another 45, taking it easier, and nearly killing myself.
Surfing is like skiing would be, if you had to walk uphill while people pelted you with snowballs. at least that's how you have to start. to practice getting in the wave and standing up, you have to be in the shallows, where the waves have already broken, and just get them as they go by, trying standing, fall off, go out again, try again, maybe stand up for a few seconds, fall off, try again. the problem with this, is that you are either standing in chest deep water, or on the board, going out as wave after wave comes by (already broken, torrent of whitewater), this is relatively fine when you're on your own, but horrible when you have a 9 foot surf board that you have to get through these waves, over and over again. After 30 minutes of this, I was basically just completely dead. so I laid on the beach, got a drink, took 15 minutes or so, but I'd paid for 2 hours of this, so damned if I was going to stop now.
The thing is, all the good surfers go out once, sit on their boards past where all but the biggest waves break, and wait for their ride. then if they don't get it perfectly, they pull up and paddle 5 feet back to where they were. So only when they get a good ride to they have to face what I just faced. I decided I was going to do that, except without the waves. so I just paddled out once, laid and sat on my board for 20 or 30 minutes, out past the waves. it was nice, pleasant, took some time getting the feel and balance of the board, still fell off 10 times just sitting on it in the calm, so it was still a learning experience. the I decided I'd try taking wave, got a big one, just as I'm getting into it, my board is suddenly gone from under me, I'm alone and just crash down the wave and get, using the words of the guy who rented me the board, "laundered". basically I felt like i was going to be bent in half backwards, and probably wasn't that far from it. After that I sat out on the board a bit longer, then went in and took a few smaller waves, got a few pretty decent waves, felt pretty good about myself, brought my board up and laid on the sand for an hour or so.
Good times.
If I didn't hurt so many places, I might have gone out again this afternoon, as horribly as I did, and as awful as I felt after a while, it is addicting. I'm leaving this town tomorrow though, and from the looks of it, there's not really any other spots on bali where an idiot like me can surf without killing himself. If I had the right group of people around and some more time, I could see staying here for a couple of weeks and surfing, but I'm alone, and when I'm alone I just have to move on, wander the earth, searching for somewhere a little more beautiful. It's a heck of a beach here, it really is. huge beach, good sand, good surf (I found a good spot and went body surfing for an hour tonight), but it ain't beautiful. Going to another island tomorrow. Nusa Lembongan.
This pasted in from an email I just wrote:
Went out and surfed for an hour and a half or so. rented from some random guy on the beach (there are about 100 such guys on the beach), 5 dollars or so for 2 hours, he gave me a couple tips and sent me on my way (would have been happy to teach me for a price), after 30 minutes or so I felt like I was going to throw up I was so exhausted and had swallowed so much water. took a 15 minute break, went out for another 45, taking it easier, and nearly killing myself.
Surfing is like skiing would be, if you had to walk uphill while people pelted you with snowballs. at least that's how you have to start. to practice getting in the wave and standing up, you have to be in the shallows, where the waves have already broken, and just get them as they go by, trying standing, fall off, go out again, try again, maybe stand up for a few seconds, fall off, try again. the problem with this, is that you are either standing in chest deep water, or on the board, going out as wave after wave comes by (already broken, torrent of whitewater), this is relatively fine when you're on your own, but horrible when you have a 9 foot surf board that you have to get through these waves, over and over again. After 30 minutes of this, I was basically just completely dead. so I laid on the beach, got a drink, took 15 minutes or so, but I'd paid for 2 hours of this, so damned if I was going to stop now.
The thing is, all the good surfers go out once, sit on their boards past where all but the biggest waves break, and wait for their ride. then if they don't get it perfectly, they pull up and paddle 5 feet back to where they were. So only when they get a good ride to they have to face what I just faced. I decided I was going to do that, except without the waves. so I just paddled out once, laid and sat on my board for 20 or 30 minutes, out past the waves. it was nice, pleasant, took some time getting the feel and balance of the board, still fell off 10 times just sitting on it in the calm, so it was still a learning experience. the I decided I'd try taking wave, got a big one, just as I'm getting into it, my board is suddenly gone from under me, I'm alone and just crash down the wave and get, using the words of the guy who rented me the board, "laundered". basically I felt like i was going to be bent in half backwards, and probably wasn't that far from it. After that I sat out on the board a bit longer, then went in and took a few smaller waves, got a few pretty decent waves, felt pretty good about myself, brought my board up and laid on the sand for an hour or so.
Good times.
If I didn't hurt so many places, I might have gone out again this afternoon, as horribly as I did, and as awful as I felt after a while, it is addicting. I'm leaving this town tomorrow though, and from the looks of it, there's not really any other spots on bali where an idiot like me can surf without killing himself. If I had the right group of people around and some more time, I could see staying here for a couple of weeks and surfing, but I'm alone, and when I'm alone I just have to move on, wander the earth, searching for somewhere a little more beautiful. It's a heck of a beach here, it really is. huge beach, good sand, good surf (I found a good spot and went body surfing for an hour tonight), but it ain't beautiful. Going to another island tomorrow. Nusa Lembongan.
Sunday 19 April 2009
The mighty Durian
I have finally eaten the mighty durian. This means nothing to you, of course, but for me it's a big deal. 10 years ago, I read a newspaper article about the durian. Apparently there's this fruit, called the durian, it looks weird, it smells pretty terrible, some hotels ban it. it doesn't travel well at all, and it pretty much only available in malaysia and indonesia, where it is considered a delicacy. the mighty durian, king of all the fruits. and me, 15 years old, I thought to myself, this is exactly what I should be doing with my life. Going out and trying things like durians. Well now I do. booyah.
Also, I got hit on by a middle aged indian man today. So there's that.
Also, I got hit on by a middle aged indian man today. So there's that.
Sunday 12 April 2009
Truly Asia
Alright, some quick updates on my life, I managed to get out of
Thailand a few days before a state of emergency was declared in
Bangkok. Great country, Thailand. People protest until the military
overthrows the government and installs a new one. Then a few months
later the other side tries the same thing to try to get the old one
back. Or at least that's my interpretation based on the 2 minutes I
spent researching the situation.
Anyway, on to Malaysia. Nice place, Malaysia. More developed, fewer
tourists. Or at least fewer white tourists. I'm in the cameron
highlands now, which is clearly a tourist town, but not that many
white people. Malay tourists, some folks down from Singapore. I feel
like the white people who are here are mostly expats down from KL for
a quick holiday.
Anyway, I got a flight out of kuala lumpur on April 22nd down to Bali
for a few weeks. So I don't have much time in Malaysia, though I'm
coming back for a couple days at the end before flying from KL to
London. Still deciding how I'll spend my time here. Maybe I'll write a
"philosophy of travel" post on that later today.
Thailand a few days before a state of emergency was declared in
Bangkok. Great country, Thailand. People protest until the military
overthrows the government and installs a new one. Then a few months
later the other side tries the same thing to try to get the old one
back. Or at least that's my interpretation based on the 2 minutes I
spent researching the situation.
Anyway, on to Malaysia. Nice place, Malaysia. More developed, fewer
tourists. Or at least fewer white tourists. I'm in the cameron
highlands now, which is clearly a tourist town, but not that many
white people. Malay tourists, some folks down from Singapore. I feel
like the white people who are here are mostly expats down from KL for
a quick holiday.
Anyway, I got a flight out of kuala lumpur on April 22nd down to Bali
for a few weeks. So I don't have much time in Malaysia, though I'm
coming back for a couple days at the end before flying from KL to
London. Still deciding how I'll spend my time here. Maybe I'll write a
"philosophy of travel" post on that later today.
Tuesday 7 April 2009
I think it's about time I do a bit of writing on the philosophy of travel. not in a general sense, or an ethical sense, just in the sense of what I think about traveling. In general. Specifically, I'm going to write a series of posts on why I travel (or at least I say it'll be a series, but really I'll write the things I actually want to write about first, then quickly fizzle out). Here we go with part 1, which I'll call:
The part where I do whatever the ***k I want.
Let me describe to a great day I had a few weeks back. I woke up in Chiang Mai, in Northern Thailand. I thought to myself, I'm tired of this town, let's move on. So I got up, packed my bag, paid for my room and walked away. An hour or so later, I'd walked to the bus station in Chiang Mai. I was going to Laos, and my guidebook said I could take a bus to Chiang Rai, where they had buses to Chiang Khong, where I could cross the border. Sounded simple enough. I get to the bus station, look around, a random guy sitting down asks me where I'm going, I say Chiang Rai, he says "I think they're the only ones who go there, points to a desk selling tickets". I thank him, stand in line for 10 minutes, and get a ticket (133 baht) for a bus leaving in 5 minutes. I get on and go. 4 hours later, I'm in Chiang Rai. I walk off the bus, look across the bus station parking lot, and there is a bus sitting there that says Chiang Khong on it. I walk on to the bus, sit down, a lady walks up to me, writes 65 on her hand, I hand her 65 baht. I lean out the window and buy some chips, sticky rice, pork and a coke from some lady who had all these things hanging from a pole. 3 bone-rattling, nauseating, scorchingly hot hours later, I was in Chiang Khong, where I paid a guy 20 baht to drive me to the border on his scooter. I checked out of thailand, I hopped on a small boat for 40 baht, I paid Laos $36 and walked into town. spent 20 minutes or so deciding between the 10 guesthouses in town, then enjoyed a Beer-Lao and plate of fried noodles while watching a mediocre sunset over the Mekong. I slept on a mattress on the floor that night, and paid about $3.50 for it.
So what's the point of that story? Why was that a great day? Because I woke up, decided to do something, and did exactly that. With no plans, no real idea if it would work, only vague instructions from a 5 year old guide book. It's really impossible to overstate the satisfaction of that. That's why travel is great, because you can decide to do whatever you feel like doing, and often actually do manage it.
It doesn't always work out like that. I woke up this morning and was going to buy a ticket to take the train to malaysia tomorrow. No dice. sold out. Maybe I should have planned further ahead, but what's the satisfaction in that. You have to be fully prepared to accept the consequences, make any compromise, bear any burden. It's a small price to pay for total freedom. So tomorrow, I'm going to wake up, go to the bus station and see about getting myself to malaysia. Maybe I'll get there, maybe I'll end up sleeping on the side of the road midway down thailand. maybe I'll end up right back here, a complete failure. I can live with all 3 of those. That's travel.
The part where I do whatever the ***k I want.
Let me describe to a great day I had a few weeks back. I woke up in Chiang Mai, in Northern Thailand. I thought to myself, I'm tired of this town, let's move on. So I got up, packed my bag, paid for my room and walked away. An hour or so later, I'd walked to the bus station in Chiang Mai. I was going to Laos, and my guidebook said I could take a bus to Chiang Rai, where they had buses to Chiang Khong, where I could cross the border. Sounded simple enough. I get to the bus station, look around, a random guy sitting down asks me where I'm going, I say Chiang Rai, he says "I think they're the only ones who go there, points to a desk selling tickets". I thank him, stand in line for 10 minutes, and get a ticket (133 baht) for a bus leaving in 5 minutes. I get on and go. 4 hours later, I'm in Chiang Rai. I walk off the bus, look across the bus station parking lot, and there is a bus sitting there that says Chiang Khong on it. I walk on to the bus, sit down, a lady walks up to me, writes 65 on her hand, I hand her 65 baht. I lean out the window and buy some chips, sticky rice, pork and a coke from some lady who had all these things hanging from a pole. 3 bone-rattling, nauseating, scorchingly hot hours later, I was in Chiang Khong, where I paid a guy 20 baht to drive me to the border on his scooter. I checked out of thailand, I hopped on a small boat for 40 baht, I paid Laos $36 and walked into town. spent 20 minutes or so deciding between the 10 guesthouses in town, then enjoyed a Beer-Lao and plate of fried noodles while watching a mediocre sunset over the Mekong. I slept on a mattress on the floor that night, and paid about $3.50 for it.
So what's the point of that story? Why was that a great day? Because I woke up, decided to do something, and did exactly that. With no plans, no real idea if it would work, only vague instructions from a 5 year old guide book. It's really impossible to overstate the satisfaction of that. That's why travel is great, because you can decide to do whatever you feel like doing, and often actually do manage it.
It doesn't always work out like that. I woke up this morning and was going to buy a ticket to take the train to malaysia tomorrow. No dice. sold out. Maybe I should have planned further ahead, but what's the satisfaction in that. You have to be fully prepared to accept the consequences, make any compromise, bear any burden. It's a small price to pay for total freedom. So tomorrow, I'm going to wake up, go to the bus station and see about getting myself to malaysia. Maybe I'll get there, maybe I'll end up sleeping on the side of the road midway down thailand. maybe I'll end up right back here, a complete failure. I can live with all 3 of those. That's travel.
Monday 6 April 2009
things they don't tell you about southeast asia in the guidebook:
Your know in the cartoon where the sun comes up, the first ray of sun
hits the rooster, who then crows once? well here's what really
happens. The rooster starts crowing at about 4am, and doesn't stop
until 10 or so. There is a rooster directly outside your window no
matter where you are staying, be it a city of 15 million people, or an
island that has 2 dozen people living off of cashews. On the plus
side, eating chicken is more fun now that you hate them.
There are stray dogs everywhere. I'm going to start a charity that
just goes around the world and neuters dogs. wouldn't that be fun?
wouldn't everyone support that? on the plus side, they're all very
friendly and I haven't heard of anyone with rabies yet.
Every traveler is wearing one of 5 t-shirts. They sell more than 5
t-shirts over here, but only 5 would anyone buy (yes yes, you'll see
the occasional lunatic you decided it was a good idea to buy that
"Coma Sutra" t-shirt, complete with 5 stick figure drawings, but it's
pretty rare). Most people stick to asian beer t-shirts, and same
same... but different. I'm currently wearing the most innocuos of the
5 t-shirts: a coca-cola t-shirt, but in thai script. when you refuse
to carry more that 2 t-shirts, eventually you're going to buy a
t-shirt over here. it was only 4 dollars.
The more touristy a place is, the more the locals have developed ways
to make money off of you in every way possible. After a while in
thailand, you are truly shocked when someone asks you where you're
going, you tell them, and then they give you walking directions. what?
you don't want to drive me in your friend's tuk-tuk for 40 baht?
you're just being nice? what the hell? On the other hand, very few
people are trying to actually scam you, it happens, but is usually
pretty obvious. if someone says they'll take you somewhere for 100
baht, then they'll do it. they're just trying to make a living.
In other news, I'm going to malaysia in a day or two.
hits the rooster, who then crows once? well here's what really
happens. The rooster starts crowing at about 4am, and doesn't stop
until 10 or so. There is a rooster directly outside your window no
matter where you are staying, be it a city of 15 million people, or an
island that has 2 dozen people living off of cashews. On the plus
side, eating chicken is more fun now that you hate them.
There are stray dogs everywhere. I'm going to start a charity that
just goes around the world and neuters dogs. wouldn't that be fun?
wouldn't everyone support that? on the plus side, they're all very
friendly and I haven't heard of anyone with rabies yet.
Every traveler is wearing one of 5 t-shirts. They sell more than 5
t-shirts over here, but only 5 would anyone buy (yes yes, you'll see
the occasional lunatic you decided it was a good idea to buy that
"Coma Sutra" t-shirt, complete with 5 stick figure drawings, but it's
pretty rare). Most people stick to asian beer t-shirts, and same
same... but different. I'm currently wearing the most innocuos of the
5 t-shirts: a coca-cola t-shirt, but in thai script. when you refuse
to carry more that 2 t-shirts, eventually you're going to buy a
t-shirt over here. it was only 4 dollars.
The more touristy a place is, the more the locals have developed ways
to make money off of you in every way possible. After a while in
thailand, you are truly shocked when someone asks you where you're
going, you tell them, and then they give you walking directions. what?
you don't want to drive me in your friend's tuk-tuk for 40 baht?
you're just being nice? what the hell? On the other hand, very few
people are trying to actually scam you, it happens, but is usually
pretty obvious. if someone says they'll take you somewhere for 100
baht, then they'll do it. they're just trying to make a living.
In other news, I'm going to malaysia in a day or two.
Tuesday 31 March 2009
So I've been out of touch for a while, wasn't up to much for a while, just floated around northern thailand for 10 days or so, got sick though and wasn't able to do all the stuff I wanted though, didn't get to take a cooking class, which would have been fun. I moved on though, on to Lao, which is lovely. took a two day boat down the Mekong, which was oustanding. If you ever get a chance to take a boat down a river, do it. trust me.
I'm in Vang Vieng now, which is really strange. really nice river that you can float down in a tube, mountains, caves, cool stuff, but then there's just an insane party scene, tons of strung-out hippies. all the people working at the bars are just working for free drugs, and look like it. It's partly a really cool place that I could see spending a week in, and partly it just scares me and I want to get out of here. I haven't actually been tubing, but from what I hear, it's basically devolved into a few insane bars on the river that you go to and get trashed, swim between
them and injure yourself on ropeswings. the two scots and englishman who I'm staying with are into actually getting tubes and going 10 km down the river with a couple of beers though, so hopefully we'll do that today. maybe go back to some caves tomorrow, went to some yesterday with some american folks I found, we went about a quarter mile into a cave before we decided to turn back, I'd love to go back prepared with water and food and just go as far as possible in the cave. Like I said, cool place, but absolutely terrifying, some of these people here. not because I think I could ever become like them. just looking at them is scary. I think my waiter yesterday was gary busey's son, you know, the one in starship troopers.
in any case, I'll probably be out of laos in a few days, and either on to cambodia, or straight down to malaysia, with a couple day stop in bangkok either way (you can't really get to cambodia without going through bangkok. you can't get anywhere without going through bangkok). I'd kind of like to go back to koh tao for a bit, know a few people who will be there, but I've decided I'm not going to be that
kind of traveler, I need to move on. so malaysia for a bit, maybe cambodia for a bit (I'd really like to see angkor wat, the rest, I'll see how much time I end up with) , definitely 3-4 weeks in indonesia though.
I've been traveling with people and splitting rooms with people in Laos the thing about laos is there's only like 4 places that people travel to, so you just see the same people over and over again, so pretty soon you know everyone, but I'm getting pretty tired of it. I'm gonna need to break free and be on my own again for a while. I like being able to do exactly what I want when I want to. it's nice, for a while.
I'm in Vang Vieng now, which is really strange. really nice river that you can float down in a tube, mountains, caves, cool stuff, but then there's just an insane party scene, tons of strung-out hippies. all the people working at the bars are just working for free drugs, and look like it. It's partly a really cool place that I could see spending a week in, and partly it just scares me and I want to get out of here. I haven't actually been tubing, but from what I hear, it's basically devolved into a few insane bars on the river that you go to and get trashed, swim between
them and injure yourself on ropeswings. the two scots and englishman who I'm staying with are into actually getting tubes and going 10 km down the river with a couple of beers though, so hopefully we'll do that today. maybe go back to some caves tomorrow, went to some yesterday with some american folks I found, we went about a quarter mile into a cave before we decided to turn back, I'd love to go back prepared with water and food and just go as far as possible in the cave. Like I said, cool place, but absolutely terrifying, some of these people here. not because I think I could ever become like them. just looking at them is scary. I think my waiter yesterday was gary busey's son, you know, the one in starship troopers.
in any case, I'll probably be out of laos in a few days, and either on to cambodia, or straight down to malaysia, with a couple day stop in bangkok either way (you can't really get to cambodia without going through bangkok. you can't get anywhere without going through bangkok). I'd kind of like to go back to koh tao for a bit, know a few people who will be there, but I've decided I'm not going to be that
kind of traveler, I need to move on. so malaysia for a bit, maybe cambodia for a bit (I'd really like to see angkor wat, the rest, I'll see how much time I end up with) , definitely 3-4 weeks in indonesia though.
I've been traveling with people and splitting rooms with people in Laos the thing about laos is there's only like 4 places that people travel to, so you just see the same people over and over again, so pretty soon you know everyone, but I'm getting pretty tired of it. I'm gonna need to break free and be on my own again for a while. I like being able to do exactly what I want when I want to. it's nice, for a while.
Sunday 15 March 2009
I could see how someone could go crazy out here. How quickly life could just become an insane drug-fueled hedonistic party. I've been in thailand for a month or so now, and I've been living on about $20 a day. Not at all a strict budget for thailand, but not an extravagant one either. buys me a decent room, decent food, and an occasional beer and travel. $20 dollars a day. sounds reasonable, right? doesn't sound crazy or that cheap or completely ridiculous. But here's what puts it in perspective for me. $3,000. That's what it would cost to live in southeast asia for 3 months a year. Live pretty well in southeast asia. 1,000 for a roundtrip ticket here, 2,000 for 3 months living here. I've met people who do this every year, and I can't blame them. There's a canadian guy, aged 30 or so, who gets a 60 day visa and spends 50 of those days laying on a quiet beach on the west coast.
I'm not sure I could do that. I'm not sure I could do any of it. But if you found the right group of people, this could easily be your life. spend 9 or 6 or 3 months in the US working some whatever job, spend 3 or 6 or 9 months in southeast asia doing whatever it is you want to do, sleep on a beach, swim, snorkel, surf, party. I ran into the Canadian guy on the street in Bangkok today (back after 43 days on the beach, going back to Winnipeg tomorrow), and I told him I was probably gonna go up to Laos this week. He said "go to Vang Vieng, it's a good time... if you like smoking pot and doing mushrooms."
I can see how people could go crazy out here. Who needs ambition, when this exists?
I'm not sure I could do that. I'm not sure I could do any of it. But if you found the right group of people, this could easily be your life. spend 9 or 6 or 3 months in the US working some whatever job, spend 3 or 6 or 9 months in southeast asia doing whatever it is you want to do, sleep on a beach, swim, snorkel, surf, party. I ran into the Canadian guy on the street in Bangkok today (back after 43 days on the beach, going back to Winnipeg tomorrow), and I told him I was probably gonna go up to Laos this week. He said "go to Vang Vieng, it's a good time... if you like smoking pot and doing mushrooms."
I can see how people could go crazy out here. Who needs ambition, when this exists?
Friday 13 March 2009
On the road again, in a way
My friends have all left me. Enter Stage 2.
Kyle and Cassidy left for Beijjing a couple of days ago, so I'm alone for a while. We'll see how that works out. Since I've been alone I went to Burma for a few minutes, I handed them 10 dollars, they stamped me into the country, he passed my passport to the man sitting next to him, who stamped me out of the country. All very seriously looking and Junta-like. The whole ordeal took about 3 hours, most of which was spent on a small boat on a river, the Welschman behind me got soaked by a wave during the trip, but I just got a pleasant seaspraying.
Then it was on to Bangkok, where I am now. After a border crossing and a nine hour busride yesterday, I'm pretty well just taking today off, wandering the streets a little bit. I switched to a new hotel this morning, promising myself that whatever I could save on the room, I would spend on the internet uploading photos to flickr. Since I had a fairly nice, slightly overpriced room last night (which I found at 1130pm), it wasn't hard to save enough to be on the internet for a long time today, this is hour 3 of 6. intersprese this with wandering around shops, idly haggling with merchants for things you will never buy (I take a somewhat perverse pleasure in this, and it's good practice. move down their price 5 or 10 dollars for something, then tell them tomorrow.) Kyle discovered the phrase "tomorrow" as the perfect alternative to no. If you say no, they try to offer a lower price, or something else better, or whatever, if you say 'tomorrow', it's universally understood that you will not, under any circumstances, buy what they're offering. It's brilliant.
Anyway, speaking of photos being uploaded, I have all my pictures up on flickr, the link of which I'll give shortly. First the warning though, this is what I'm using for my photo backup and/or primary storage for my photos taken on the trip. As such, there are way too many pictures on there than you actually want to see. So prepare to be annoyed when there are suddenly 100 pictures of the same sunset. They're mine, and I haven't decided what I'll do with them, or which one is the best yet, so just deal with it, this is the price you pay if you want to see my pictures. Maybe I'll put a few onto blog entries, or go through and tag some for general viewing, but for now, this is it.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/35730196@N06/
As for the plan, I'm gonna stay in Bangkok a couple more days, weekend market tomorrow, then move up north a day or two at a town, no overnight trains or anything, just nice easy moves of a few hour train rides, see the country, see a new town, eventually going to Laos for a week or two, possibly cambodia from there, haven't decided yet, depends on what's going on.
Kyle and Cassidy left for Beijjing a couple of days ago, so I'm alone for a while. We'll see how that works out. Since I've been alone I went to Burma for a few minutes, I handed them 10 dollars, they stamped me into the country, he passed my passport to the man sitting next to him, who stamped me out of the country. All very seriously looking and Junta-like. The whole ordeal took about 3 hours, most of which was spent on a small boat on a river, the Welschman behind me got soaked by a wave during the trip, but I just got a pleasant seaspraying.
Then it was on to Bangkok, where I am now. After a border crossing and a nine hour busride yesterday, I'm pretty well just taking today off, wandering the streets a little bit. I switched to a new hotel this morning, promising myself that whatever I could save on the room, I would spend on the internet uploading photos to flickr. Since I had a fairly nice, slightly overpriced room last night (which I found at 1130pm), it wasn't hard to save enough to be on the internet for a long time today, this is hour 3 of 6. intersprese this with wandering around shops, idly haggling with merchants for things you will never buy (I take a somewhat perverse pleasure in this, and it's good practice. move down their price 5 or 10 dollars for something, then tell them tomorrow.) Kyle discovered the phrase "tomorrow" as the perfect alternative to no. If you say no, they try to offer a lower price, or something else better, or whatever, if you say 'tomorrow', it's universally understood that you will not, under any circumstances, buy what they're offering. It's brilliant.
Anyway, speaking of photos being uploaded, I have all my pictures up on flickr, the link of which I'll give shortly. First the warning though, this is what I'm using for my photo backup and/or primary storage for my photos taken on the trip. As such, there are way too many pictures on there than you actually want to see. So prepare to be annoyed when there are suddenly 100 pictures of the same sunset. They're mine, and I haven't decided what I'll do with them, or which one is the best yet, so just deal with it, this is the price you pay if you want to see my pictures. Maybe I'll put a few onto blog entries, or go through and tag some for general viewing, but for now, this is it.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/35730196@N06/
As for the plan, I'm gonna stay in Bangkok a couple more days, weekend market tomorrow, then move up north a day or two at a town, no overnight trains or anything, just nice easy moves of a few hour train rides, see the country, see a new town, eventually going to Laos for a week or two, possibly cambodia from there, haven't decided yet, depends on what's going on.
Friday 6 March 2009
Krabi is a nice town, you have to go through it to get to a few islands and beaches, so the area around the pier is touristed up a little with white people coming through. But moving away from that it's just a normal midsized city. They have a pretty good sized food market during the day (at least they did on Friday) which was about a third fruits and vegetables and fresh stuff. (half stuff I know, half stuff I'm totally unfamiliar with) then a third food stalls selling random pieces of food, fried chicken, egg rolls, fish, all sorts of things, then another third of half restaurant places. They'll just have one or two dishes (or 10 or 20 differnt curries to put on rice, or various things to that effect) and have 3-4 tables. All in all for lunch there I spent 2 dollars and got a large plate of sliced fruits with sugar/chili powder for dipping, fried chicken thigh,sun dried salted beef on sticky rice, deep fried rice noodles, and a hunk of chicken on a stick covered in curry sauce. It's bit quite as big and it doesn't have the same variety of things as the borough market in london, but nearly everything is amazing and exotic. At the night market for dinner (which is just a dozen or so of the minirestaurant type stalls and another half dozen food stalls) I had a plate of fried mussels which was absolutely fantastic. That was 40 baht a little over a dollar. And for 12 more baht I got a banana shake which I've become obsessed with. I'm curious to see how good a banana shake I can make with the horrible American bananas. The real secret to the banana shake, as with all thai sweets, is sweetened condensed milk.
I think my new project will be to take pictures of everything I ever eat. that'd be a heck of a blog, eh?
I think my new project will be to take pictures of everything I ever eat. that'd be a heck of a blog, eh?
Thursday 5 March 2009
Most people just buy a joint bus or train ticket from travel agents, who worry about all the time tables for you. We just go and don't worry about it. It's actually usually about the same price, but our way is a lot more fun and requires no advance planning. Last night we missed the last bus to Krabi from Ranong, so we took a bus that got us most of the way there, and were waiting for another bus that some random guy at a 7-11 said he thought came at 10 pm. we're waiting at a bus stop with 30 thai military guys (which is to say 30 18 year old kids), and this guy starts offering to take us to Krabi in his pickup truck for 900 baht. after a half hour or so, kyle gets him down to 300 baht (9 dollars or so), and we hop in and go. 70 miles later, we're there. I was a little worried the whole time that this guy was gonna rob us, particularly because 300 baht wouldnt pay for gas to krabi and back, but he seemed pretty nice, and he didn't. fantastic stuff. Then we end up in the seediest hotel last night, only paying 250 baht for the 3 of us though, so what the hell. today we managed to get into this fantastic hostel though, free internet, clean, nice bathrooms, cable tv (the first I've seen in thailand) for 270 baht for 3 people. less than 3 dollars per person per night. thailand, baby, thailand.
Wednesday 4 March 2009
Where should I go next?
For the last 3 weeks I've been traveling with a friend from high
school and her husband, for the last week I've been traveling also
with a French guy named corto. He left today on his way to Malaysia.
He could practically be there by now. He's the first real traveler
I've met, he's been out 6 months and was in turkey Syria Iran Pakistan
and Bangladesh before coming here. Pretty legit. Her moved on now and
next week my friends fly to china and I'm alone. I'm sort of looking
forward to being alone, but haven't decided where to go.
It gets real hot on the mainland starting end of march to April, then
the monsoons come. So I figure I gotta do some inland stuff in the
small window I have till that happens. So my plan now, and this
changes daily, is to cross into burma for a couple of days just to
renew my Thai visa for 14 more days. Take a week or two to move up
through Thailand to Laos then spend a week or two in Laos. There are
some river ferries (like 2 days to a week long) that sound really cool
in Laos. Then toward April 1. Who knows gulf islands of Thailand for a
bit maybe then on to Malaysia. And or Indonesia. This will all
probably change tomorrow, but I'm just trying to give an idea of what
I'm thinking in terms of.
school and her husband, for the last week I've been traveling also
with a French guy named corto. He left today on his way to Malaysia.
He could practically be there by now. He's the first real traveler
I've met, he's been out 6 months and was in turkey Syria Iran Pakistan
and Bangladesh before coming here. Pretty legit. Her moved on now and
next week my friends fly to china and I'm alone. I'm sort of looking
forward to being alone, but haven't decided where to go.
It gets real hot on the mainland starting end of march to April, then
the monsoons come. So I figure I gotta do some inland stuff in the
small window I have till that happens. So my plan now, and this
changes daily, is to cross into burma for a couple of days just to
renew my Thai visa for 14 more days. Take a week or two to move up
through Thailand to Laos then spend a week or two in Laos. There are
some river ferries (like 2 days to a week long) that sound really cool
in Laos. Then toward April 1. Who knows gulf islands of Thailand for a
bit maybe then on to Malaysia. And or Indonesia. This will all
probably change tomorrow, but I'm just trying to give an idea of what
I'm thinking in terms of.
Re: So I'm gonna do a thing where I review places I've been and things I've done. Just for my own benefit mostly, but hopefully they'll give you a bit of a sense for life over here so far.
> So I'm gonna do a thing where I review places I've been and things
> I've done. Just for my own benefit mostly, but hopefully they'll
> give you a bit of a sense for life over here so far.
>
> Koh Tao-- this place is pretty fantastic if you ask me. Very
> touristy, of course, but that goes without saying. One side of the
> island is ridiculous. Shop after shop selling tourist crap, bars
> showing rugby on tv, English bookstore upon English bookstore. Then
> there are 5 or 6 beautiful little bays perfectly secluded with one
> or two little resort places each. A little expensive over there, but
> a beautiful spot to hike to and spend an afternoon snorkeling and
> lazing about. Then there was our bay which was in between. Big bay,
> but not very nice to swim in, lots of restaurants and stores to
> choose between, but no tv bars or obnoxiousness. Nice cheap places
> to stay and easy access to everything else.
> Overall koh Tao was great, I recommend it, you can easily spend a
> couple of weeks there andnot get bored, even if you don't do any
> scuba diving, which I didn't do, but I've heard it's fantastic.
> There's at least some chance that I'm going to go back there and get
> my scuba certification and do a bit of diving. It's a bit expensive,
> but it's cheaper than it would be most anywhere else.
> Oh and if you go I highly recommend the night boat. It's 11 pm to
> 5am and they just shove you in a room with matresses on the floor
> and off you go. I slept pretty well.
> Koh Chang- there are two koh chang's one is in the gulf of Thailand
> near Cambodia and is a big resort island because it's so close to
> Bangkok. This is the other one. It was so chill. Just a mile or so
> stretch of sand with some little bungalow places along the way. If
> you go, go to sunset bungalows. Good food, good library of books,
> pretty cheap. I split a room with a frenchman who was real legit.
> We'd all just sit around swimming and reading all day. You'd just
> order food whenever you felt like it, since you spent all day in
> sunset's restaurant anyway then we'd play volleyball for a couple of
> hours towards sunset (with most everyone else from the beach,
> Germans all) and play card till the electricity went out. They only
> had electricity from sunset to eleven or so. The one time I used the
> Internet I walked a half a mile down the beach, waded a shoulder
> deep river, went up to a bartender and said "Internet?" he said "5
> minutes" shouted to the guy next Door "Internet" that guy shouted
> down 50 yards down the beach. A little while later I heard a
> generator start. A little while after that, I had the Internet.
>
> I've done. Just for my own benefit mostly, but hopefully they'll
> give you a bit of a sense for life over here so far.
>
> Koh Tao-- this place is pretty fantastic if you ask me. Very
> touristy, of course, but that goes without saying. One side of the
> island is ridiculous. Shop after shop selling tourist crap, bars
> showing rugby on tv, English bookstore upon English bookstore. Then
> there are 5 or 6 beautiful little bays perfectly secluded with one
> or two little resort places each. A little expensive over there, but
> a beautiful spot to hike to and spend an afternoon snorkeling and
> lazing about. Then there was our bay which was in between. Big bay,
> but not very nice to swim in, lots of restaurants and stores to
> choose between, but no tv bars or obnoxiousness. Nice cheap places
> to stay and easy access to everything else.
> Overall koh Tao was great, I recommend it, you can easily spend a
> couple of weeks there andnot get bored, even if you don't do any
> scuba diving, which I didn't do, but I've heard it's fantastic.
> There's at least some chance that I'm going to go back there and get
> my scuba certification and do a bit of diving. It's a bit expensive,
> but it's cheaper than it would be most anywhere else.
> Oh and if you go I highly recommend the night boat. It's 11 pm to
> 5am and they just shove you in a room with matresses on the floor
> and off you go. I slept pretty well.
> Koh Chang- there are two koh chang's one is in the gulf of Thailand
> near Cambodia and is a big resort island because it's so close to
> Bangkok. This is the other one. It was so chill. Just a mile or so
> stretch of sand with some little bungalow places along the way. If
> you go, go to sunset bungalows. Good food, good library of books,
> pretty cheap. I split a room with a frenchman who was real legit.
> We'd all just sit around swimming and reading all day. You'd just
> order food whenever you felt like it, since you spent all day in
> sunset's restaurant anyway then we'd play volleyball for a couple of
> hours towards sunset (with most everyone else from the beach,
> Germans all) and play card till the electricity went out. They only
> had electricity from sunset to eleven or so. The one time I used the
> Internet I walked a half a mile down the beach, waded a shoulder
> deep river, went up to a bartender and said "Internet?" he said "5
> minutes" shouted to the guy next Door "Internet" that guy shouted
> down 50 yards down the beach. A little while later I heard a
> generator start. A little while after that, I had the Internet.
>
Tuesday 24 February 2009
"So I'm finally on the move again. We took the night ferry off of koh tao last night, which was pretty great, 11pm to 5am, 9 dollars, and juts crammed into a room with a bunch of mattresses on the floor. I probably got 3 hours sleep. Then hopped on a bus for Ranong on the west coast, 3 bucks, and now I'm sitting around waiting for kyle and cassidy to come back from their run to the burmese border to get there visas updated, I still have a few more weeks before I'll have to run to burma, but I'm curious to see how it goes for them. Hopefully we can get out of here on a ferry for some islands in the Andaman sea today, but I think the last ferry leaves at noon, so it'll probably be close, my guess is the visa thing will take them 3 hours or so, so if we get there it'll be just in time. not the end of the world though if we stay here, at least this is a legit town with legit thai people and more importantly legit thai food. After 10 days in koh tao, I'm kind of sick of the 5 thai dishes that tourist restaurants have decided are westerner appropriate. These islands on the west coast are supposed to be less touristy though, so who knows."
Saturday 21 February 2009
Sat, Feb 21, 2009 at 9:22 AM
"The more time I spend on this island,
the more I think that I could just stay here forever.If I had the
right group of people I definitely could. Just hike over to a random
beach every day, swim, snorkel, read. It's the life, man. But
we're moving on, they gotta extend their thai visas by running over to
burma for a day, then we'll probably go to the west coast. They're
flying to china on 11 march, and after that I can't decide what I want
to do. It's either extend my visa for another couple of weeks and go
up northern thailand and do some trekking while the weather's still
good, go over to cambodia and wander around there for a while, or head
down south to malaysia (and if I do that, I'm figuring I'll just keep
going south forever, until I hit bali a couple months from now.) I
need to research the weather some.
Oh, and we finally jumped off that rock into the ocean. nearly died
trying too. we couldn't figure out how to climb it and the first time
I went the hard way, and almost fell off climbing, which would have
sent me onto a rock 10 feet below, but then adrenaline kicked in and I
stopped worrying about cutting my hands and feet and I shot up the
thing. cut up my hands pretty good too, but ended up going off 3
times, once we discovered the easy way up."
"The more time I spend on this island,
the more I think that I could just stay here forever.If I had the
right group of people I definitely could. Just hike over to a random
beach every day, swim, snorkel, read. It's the life, man. But
we're moving on, they gotta extend their thai visas by running over to
burma for a day, then we'll probably go to the west coast. They're
flying to china on 11 march, and after that I can't decide what I want
to do. It's either extend my visa for another couple of weeks and go
up northern thailand and do some trekking while the weather's still
good, go over to cambodia and wander around there for a while, or head
down south to malaysia (and if I do that, I'm figuring I'll just keep
going south forever, until I hit bali a couple months from now.) I
need to research the weather some.
Oh, and we finally jumped off that rock into the ocean. nearly died
trying too. we couldn't figure out how to climb it and the first time
I went the hard way, and almost fell off climbing, which would have
sent me onto a rock 10 feet below, but then adrenaline kicked in and I
stopped worrying about cutting my hands and feet and I shot up the
thing. cut up my hands pretty good too, but ended up going off 3
times, once we discovered the easy way up."
pictures
Sat, Feb 21, 2009 at 9:02 AM
"I haven't managed to get pictures up yet, but kyle put his and some of
mine up the other day
http://picasaweb.google.com/Kyle.Henderson/KohTao#
the second half or so of that album I'm there, and some of those are
pictures I took."
"I haven't managed to get pictures up yet, but kyle put his and some of
mine up the other day
http://picasaweb.google.com/Kyle.Henderson/KohTao#
the second half or so of that album I'm there, and some of those are
pictures I took."
Koh Tao
Tue, Feb 17, 2009 at 1:43 PM
"So I'm on Koh Tao, which is pretty ridiculous on a lot of levels.
unbelievably touristy, like, jersey shore-esque stuff. but some of the
beaches and stuff are pretty ridiculous, I've spent the last few days
hiking around going to various beaches, doing some snorkeling, trying
as hard as humanly possible not to get sunburned and failing anyway,
as I knew I would. We even found a big rock in one bay that you can
jump off of. We didn't do it yet, because it was kind of a bitch to
climb up and the only way was this really dodgy looking rope. So we
ruled against it, but then as we were packing up to leave, we saw a
few people climb up and jump off, so we all agreed that if we did
nothing else with our time here, we would not leave this island until
we jumped off the rock (it was probably 25-40 feet, depending on where
you jump from). Then yesterday we rented a kayak (7 bucks for 5 hours,
3 person kayak), and went to this bay that was totally perfect, like
something out of a movie. kayak into this bay with perfect clear blue
water, couple of restaurants overlooking the water, european tourists
laying around topless, 5 dive boats ended up showing up, but it was
still beautiful. We went out to a party last night with some swedish
DJ, apparently he's really big, because thousands of swedes suddenly
descended on the island from nowhere. It was pretty ridiculous, but
too loud and insane to really enjoy if you weren't trashed. Anyway, I'm
taking today off, trying to get over the sunburn (which isn't too bad,
but could use a couple of days rest) and trying to give my legs a
rest.
Oh, and we haven't met a single other american on the island. We
occasionally hear someone who might be, but they always end up being
canadian."
"So I'm on Koh Tao, which is pretty ridiculous on a lot of levels.
unbelievably touristy, like, jersey shore-esque stuff. but some of the
beaches and stuff are pretty ridiculous, I've spent the last few days
hiking around going to various beaches, doing some snorkeling, trying
as hard as humanly possible not to get sunburned and failing anyway,
as I knew I would. We even found a big rock in one bay that you can
jump off of. We didn't do it yet, because it was kind of a bitch to
climb up and the only way was this really dodgy looking rope. So we
ruled against it, but then as we were packing up to leave, we saw a
few people climb up and jump off, so we all agreed that if we did
nothing else with our time here, we would not leave this island until
we jumped off the rock (it was probably 25-40 feet, depending on where
you jump from). Then yesterday we rented a kayak (7 bucks for 5 hours,
3 person kayak), and went to this bay that was totally perfect, like
something out of a movie. kayak into this bay with perfect clear blue
water, couple of restaurants overlooking the water, european tourists
laying around topless, 5 dive boats ended up showing up, but it was
still beautiful. We went out to a party last night with some swedish
DJ, apparently he's really big, because thousands of swedes suddenly
descended on the island from nowhere. It was pretty ridiculous, but
too loud and insane to really enjoy if you weren't trashed. Anyway, I'm
taking today off, trying to get over the sunburn (which isn't too bad,
but could use a couple of days rest) and trying to give my legs a
rest.
Oh, and we haven't met a single other american on the island. We
occasionally hear someone who might be, but they always end up being
canadian."
So I pretty much only write when I'm doing the actually 'traveling', not the hanging out on beaches and hiking and snorkeling etc. that I've been doing the last week or so. So since I don't feel like actually writing something fresh about what I've been up to here on Ko Tao, I'm going to just paste and edit random paragraphs from emails I've sent. It may or may not make sense in the strict sense, but you should at least get a general sense of what's up.
Thu, Feb 12, 2009 at 2:28 PM
"I've been walking around bangkok without agenda for the last couple of
hours, it's totally insane. not sure if I love it or hate it, though
I'd probably need a month to have any idea how to get around or find
anything. and then there's the khao san road, which is basically hell
on earth as far as I can see. Just crazy looking white people as far
as the eye can see. not in a good way. I'm trying to get my cell phone
unlocked, and I haven't managed to do it, so I'm getting sort of
bitter. anyway, I'm taking the night train out tonight, and should be
on an island by noon tomorrow. Also, I've slept about 2 hours since I
left home. I have absolutely no idea how long ago that was. I don't
even know how to ballpark it. basically I'm only awake because I
refuse to eat anything. I read somewhere that fasting fucks up your
internal clock, your body thinks it needs food and stays awake until
you can find it. So I'm gonna stuff my face before I board my train at
530 and hopefully fall asleep. I have no idea though. I could hardly
sleep at all last night, and that was after 30 straight hours awake.
11 hour jetlag is a bitch.
whatever, island by noon tomorrow."
Thu, Feb 12, 2009 at 2:28 PM
"I've been walking around bangkok without agenda for the last couple of
hours, it's totally insane. not sure if I love it or hate it, though
I'd probably need a month to have any idea how to get around or find
anything. and then there's the khao san road, which is basically hell
on earth as far as I can see. Just crazy looking white people as far
as the eye can see. not in a good way. I'm trying to get my cell phone
unlocked, and I haven't managed to do it, so I'm getting sort of
bitter. anyway, I'm taking the night train out tonight, and should be
on an island by noon tomorrow. Also, I've slept about 2 hours since I
left home. I have absolutely no idea how long ago that was. I don't
even know how to ballpark it. basically I'm only awake because I
refuse to eat anything. I read somewhere that fasting fucks up your
internal clock, your body thinks it needs food and stays awake until
you can find it. So I'm gonna stuff my face before I board my train at
530 and hopefully fall asleep. I have no idea though. I could hardly
sleep at all last night, and that was after 30 straight hours awake.
11 hour jetlag is a bitch.
whatever, island by noon tomorrow."
The Waiting Game
February 13th 3:44 am
If you'd asked me to picture my life now five years ago, this probably would have been it. I'm sitting in a train station at 3:45 in the morning reading lonesome dove. Some crazy man convinced me they I should wait in front of his shop until my ferry leaves in a few hours. So it's just me and a few Thais sitting around. There's also a lady selling the most delicious rice congee. I may just need to get another bowl before I leave. It cost 20 baht, but I can live with the expense for something so exquisite.
If you'd asked me to picture my life now five years ago, this probably would have been it. I'm sitting in a train station at 3:45 in the morning reading lonesome dove. Some crazy man convinced me they I should wait in front of his shop until my ferry leaves in a few hours. So it's just me and a few Thais sitting around. There's also a lady selling the most delicious rice congee. I may just need to get another bowl before I leave. It cost 20 baht, but I can live with the expense for something so exquisite.
Day one: Bangkok
February 12th 4:12pm
Day one: Bangkok
The first thing you need to know is that my jetlag plan failed completely. I got about an hour of sleep last night. Which brings me up to about two hours since I left home. God knows how long ago that was. I've lost the ability to think that hard. But that wasn't going to stop me from exploring Bangkok some. So I walked around aimlessly for a couple of hours. Ate a few things from street vendors, which seem to be by far the best thing about this town. I paid about 30 cents for a small meal of some sort of fries rice balls and cabbage. I paid the same for a green coconut to drink and a bag of pineapple. Two hours of that (with all my stuff) left me pretty dazed and drenched in sweat. Since I'm incapable of navigating right now, I just flagged down a cab and had it take me back to the train station in it's (poorly) air-conditioned glory. The city is complete chaos, having never been out if the first world before, I have absolutely nothing to compare it to that makes any sense. The driving is crazy, the walking is crazy, the whole freaking system is crazy. If there was a system, and believe me, there isn't. Oh god, I'm so tired I'm not putting commas in the proper places.
Anyway, I'm on a train from 530 pm to 230 am. I do have a bed of some kind on the train. What happens at 230am when I arrive at chumphon. We'll cross that bridge when we come to it.
Oh, I forgot the best part about the train station. They have a giant tv screen and have been showing Thai music videos for the last half hour. Imagine watching a soap opera with the sound off. Then listening to bad Thai pop at the same time. It's like a dream!!!
Day one: Bangkok
The first thing you need to know is that my jetlag plan failed completely. I got about an hour of sleep last night. Which brings me up to about two hours since I left home. God knows how long ago that was. I've lost the ability to think that hard. But that wasn't going to stop me from exploring Bangkok some. So I walked around aimlessly for a couple of hours. Ate a few things from street vendors, which seem to be by far the best thing about this town. I paid about 30 cents for a small meal of some sort of fries rice balls and cabbage. I paid the same for a green coconut to drink and a bag of pineapple. Two hours of that (with all my stuff) left me pretty dazed and drenched in sweat. Since I'm incapable of navigating right now, I just flagged down a cab and had it take me back to the train station in it's (poorly) air-conditioned glory. The city is complete chaos, having never been out if the first world before, I have absolutely nothing to compare it to that makes any sense. The driving is crazy, the walking is crazy, the whole freaking system is crazy. If there was a system, and believe me, there isn't. Oh god, I'm so tired I'm not putting commas in the proper places.
Anyway, I'm on a train from 530 pm to 230 am. I do have a bed of some kind on the train. What happens at 230am when I arrive at chumphon. We'll cross that bridge when we come to it.
Oh, I forgot the best part about the train station. They have a giant tv screen and have been showing Thai music videos for the last half hour. Imagine watching a soap opera with the sound off. Then listening to bad Thai pop at the same time. It's like a dream!!!
Running Diary
So I do most of my writing on my ipod, but then I can't really post it until I get some free wifi somewhere, which is spotty in thailand. Anyway, I just got it for the first time today, so I'm gonna post some of my backlog of stuff. starting now.
February 10th-11th
10:23 Chicago time
I'm going to attempt to write a running diary of my day. Just a few notes every once in a while to mark how it's going, since I've never been on an airplane so long. Plus the time change thing this direction is a little crazy for me. It's 1023 am and my flight leaves at noon. For Tokyo.
3:50 am Tokyo time
I've switched my watch to Tokyo time, since it makes no sense at all. 15 hours ahead. 9 hours behind and plus a day. No idea what's better to think of. In any case I'll only me there for 3 hours or so. The tv screen says it's less than 6 thousand miles away. I'm not sure I believe that. We'll also apparently be 45 minutes early. I love the feeling of being on an airplane at the start of something long. All the worries of your past life are gone, and no worries have begun yet for your next life. The time change adds something nice to it. It's as if this time doesn't exist at all. As if you don't exist at all. If you think I'm getting philosophical now, wait till the 7 hour flight to Bangkok.
4:58 am Tokyo time
I just finished my first meal. We get two, both of which are being called lunch. I don't know, maybe I should have waited till the middle of the flight to change my watch. Or maybe estimate the time where I am at every moment.
I've been trying to figure out the guy next to me fir a while. My first guess was that he was a retired army guy going over to visit some of his old haunts. I don't think he's quite old enough to be ww2 or Korea and probably too old for 'nam. He's also not particularly friendly. A 70 year old guy traveling to Asia alone,,, you worry that this is the guy who is gonna be talking to you the whole flight. Not this guy though, not a word. So who is he? He's dressed for warm weather. Not Tokyo or Korea. So maybe Bangkok like me, maybe hong kong or Singapore. So I have only one theory left, and the more I think about it and look at this guy, the more I'm creeped out and think it's true. I'm sure there is some perfectly innocent explanation for the guy, but i'm gonna go ahead and refer to him as 'the sex tourist' till I find one.
8:03 am Tokyo time
A couple of entries ago I talked about time on planes existing outside of the world. I think my explanation for that earlier is really only part of it. Maybe the bigger explanation is that being on a plane is really mostly about survival. You're stuck here with no control. No way out, no control over the movie, I can't even go to the bathroom until this sex tourist wakes up. So you focus on survival. How long will my book hold my interest until my mind starts to wander? Can I actually sit here and watch city of ember for two hours? Is this guy next to me even alive? These are the cares you have on a twelve hour plane ride. There's not much room to worry about the past or the future.
10:29 Tokyo time
Well the sex tourist just went to the bathroom finally, which meant I got to go too. So I got to get up and stretch a bit. Worked some of the kinks out, but i'd sat it's about fifty/fifty my back holds up today. I've been looking out the window a lot and watching the flight monitor when they show it. Passed through Canada and Alaska, both of which were pretty spectacular, particularly because I've been to both enough that I was able to follow along decently without the screen. Then we passed what must be the northern pacific. Which means, I guess, that these mountains I'm seeing now are Siberia. Mountains beyond mountains. Mountains I've never seen. Continents I've never seen. It's a good feeling for someone like me.
4:09 pm Tokyo time
I'm in f*****g japan. Not really, it's just the airport, I'm not gonna count it or anything, but still. Japan. Going through security here was fantastic. Imagine airport security as you know, but with twice as many people and the people are exquisitely polite, wearing white gloves, and are Japanese. Oh, and the sex tourist just got wheeled up to the Gate here where I'm waiting for my flight to Bangkok.
8:38 Bangkok time
So let's talk jetlag. There are two basic theories for jet lag. One, any sleep is good sleep, so for at least the first few days just sleep whenever you can get any. I've used it, it's slow, but painless if you've got the time. Two, what I'm going with now. Just stay up, at all costs till it's "bedtime" where you are. I could sleep now on the flight I've gotten about twenty minutes in 24 hours I could use it, but every minute I sleep now is one I will lie awake I'm bed later. It's a risk, I my well lie awake in bed anyway. But I won't sleep, I can't. There's two sleeping people between me and the bathroom. And I really have to go. That'll keep ya movin.
1159 pm Bangkok time
I have arrived. In more ways than one. Smooth as silk just standing waiting for my ride.
February 10th-11th
10:23 Chicago time
I'm going to attempt to write a running diary of my day. Just a few notes every once in a while to mark how it's going, since I've never been on an airplane so long. Plus the time change thing this direction is a little crazy for me. It's 1023 am and my flight leaves at noon. For Tokyo.
3:50 am Tokyo time
I've switched my watch to Tokyo time, since it makes no sense at all. 15 hours ahead. 9 hours behind and plus a day. No idea what's better to think of. In any case I'll only me there for 3 hours or so. The tv screen says it's less than 6 thousand miles away. I'm not sure I believe that. We'll also apparently be 45 minutes early. I love the feeling of being on an airplane at the start of something long. All the worries of your past life are gone, and no worries have begun yet for your next life. The time change adds something nice to it. It's as if this time doesn't exist at all. As if you don't exist at all. If you think I'm getting philosophical now, wait till the 7 hour flight to Bangkok.
4:58 am Tokyo time
I just finished my first meal. We get two, both of which are being called lunch. I don't know, maybe I should have waited till the middle of the flight to change my watch. Or maybe estimate the time where I am at every moment.
I've been trying to figure out the guy next to me fir a while. My first guess was that he was a retired army guy going over to visit some of his old haunts. I don't think he's quite old enough to be ww2 or Korea and probably too old for 'nam. He's also not particularly friendly. A 70 year old guy traveling to Asia alone,,, you worry that this is the guy who is gonna be talking to you the whole flight. Not this guy though, not a word. So who is he? He's dressed for warm weather. Not Tokyo or Korea. So maybe Bangkok like me, maybe hong kong or Singapore. So I have only one theory left, and the more I think about it and look at this guy, the more I'm creeped out and think it's true. I'm sure there is some perfectly innocent explanation for the guy, but i'm gonna go ahead and refer to him as 'the sex tourist' till I find one.
8:03 am Tokyo time
A couple of entries ago I talked about time on planes existing outside of the world. I think my explanation for that earlier is really only part of it. Maybe the bigger explanation is that being on a plane is really mostly about survival. You're stuck here with no control. No way out, no control over the movie, I can't even go to the bathroom until this sex tourist wakes up. So you focus on survival. How long will my book hold my interest until my mind starts to wander? Can I actually sit here and watch city of ember for two hours? Is this guy next to me even alive? These are the cares you have on a twelve hour plane ride. There's not much room to worry about the past or the future.
10:29 Tokyo time
Well the sex tourist just went to the bathroom finally, which meant I got to go too. So I got to get up and stretch a bit. Worked some of the kinks out, but i'd sat it's about fifty/fifty my back holds up today. I've been looking out the window a lot and watching the flight monitor when they show it. Passed through Canada and Alaska, both of which were pretty spectacular, particularly because I've been to both enough that I was able to follow along decently without the screen. Then we passed what must be the northern pacific. Which means, I guess, that these mountains I'm seeing now are Siberia. Mountains beyond mountains. Mountains I've never seen. Continents I've never seen. It's a good feeling for someone like me.
4:09 pm Tokyo time
I'm in f*****g japan. Not really, it's just the airport, I'm not gonna count it or anything, but still. Japan. Going through security here was fantastic. Imagine airport security as you know, but with twice as many people and the people are exquisitely polite, wearing white gloves, and are Japanese. Oh, and the sex tourist just got wheeled up to the Gate here where I'm waiting for my flight to Bangkok.
8:38 Bangkok time
So let's talk jetlag. There are two basic theories for jet lag. One, any sleep is good sleep, so for at least the first few days just sleep whenever you can get any. I've used it, it's slow, but painless if you've got the time. Two, what I'm going with now. Just stay up, at all costs till it's "bedtime" where you are. I could sleep now on the flight I've gotten about twenty minutes in 24 hours I could use it, but every minute I sleep now is one I will lie awake I'm bed later. It's a risk, I my well lie awake in bed anyway. But I won't sleep, I can't. There's two sleeping people between me and the bathroom. And I really have to go. That'll keep ya movin.
1159 pm Bangkok time
I have arrived. In more ways than one. Smooth as silk just standing waiting for my ride.
Sunday 8 February 2009
Soon
I'm leaving soon. I don't really have anything else to report. I just test packed. Managed to get everything in my bag, if barely. much of that stuff is consumable, toiletries and such, in any case, and nearly all of that stuff is disposable if I want to lighten up. Only 23 pounds of stuff though. Not bad for 6 months or so, if all goes according to plan.
I fly out on Tuesday at noon chicago time. Arrive in Tokyo at 4pm the next day (although the sun will never set on me during that flight) Then I leave Tokyo for Bangkok at 630. So I will arrive in Thailand at 1145 on Wednesday night. Maybe then I'll have something to report.
I fly out on Tuesday at noon chicago time. Arrive in Tokyo at 4pm the next day (although the sun will never set on me during that flight) Then I leave Tokyo for Bangkok at 630. So I will arrive in Thailand at 1145 on Wednesday night. Maybe then I'll have something to report.
Friday 30 January 2009
Plans
I'm flying into Bangkok late on February 11th (arrive 11:45pm). I'm probably gonna stay there for a few days, getting de-jetlagged and enjoying the insanity that is Bangkok. Then I'm gonna go down and meet a friend of mine from high school somewhere. Possibly Ko Tao. If you're reading this from the states anywhere right now, I think you can appreciate that all I want to do in the short term is swim in warm waters and lay on a beach somewhere for a while. Everything else comes later. So I'll be traveling with my friend and her husband for a while, who knows how long. I only get 30 days in Thailand, then I have to move on. I'm pretty much just planning to float around between countries (Thailand, Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam, Burma, Malaysia, Indonesia, etc.) avoiding visa restrictions. I have no idea where I'll go or what I'll do, but I figure I'll run into lots of people who have been lots of places and have lots of suggestions for what to do. My friend from college may come and join me at some point if he manages to get himself fired or quits. Then I'm thinking I'll go towards europe in the summertime. Some of my friends are gonna be there and I have this dream of camping out at various festivals and events. 2 weeks at Wimbledon camping out. Some music festivals. Just spend a couple months like this. This is a dream I've had for a while. Then I'm gonna come home I guess.
Wednesday 21 January 2009
Lying in a hammock in my cousins dorm room in north carolina, I've decided I need to start work on a new blog to set up for my upcoming trip. It's not Gonna be a big deal, I'm not gonna try to make it thorough or amusing.
Most travel blogs suck. It's just going to be a vehicle by which you can vaguely keep up with where I am and what I'm doing and a place for
me to tell any interesting stories if they happen. That way it prevents me from telling the same story a dozen times and then
forgetting who I've told it to. This way I just write it and assume >everyone in the world has read it and I can't tell it any more.
Prevents me from having interesting stories instead of just being interesting. Although I'm currently neither so I don't know why I'm
worrying about it.
I guess the main reason is so I won't gave to give the same answers to
the same questions over and over again.
Just once, consigliere.
Most travel blogs suck. It's just going to be a vehicle by which you can vaguely keep up with where I am and what I'm doing and a place for
me to tell any interesting stories if they happen. That way it prevents me from telling the same story a dozen times and then
forgetting who I've told it to. This way I just write it and assume >everyone in the world has read it and I can't tell it any more.
Prevents me from having interesting stories instead of just being interesting. Although I'm currently neither so I don't know why I'm
worrying about it.
I guess the main reason is so I won't gave to give the same answers to
the same questions over and over again.
Just once, consigliere.
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