Phuket - Why We Should Have Just Flown to Singapore, w/ Token Nice Day at the Beach

April 9

The night bus got us in to Phuket in the morning. The nice hostel in town was out of air con rooms, so we checked in next door. We wandered Phuket town for a bit and then Mary got whiny and decided to go to bed, while Josh explored the town. Then we spent an unpleasant evening in Patong: the transport we took cost 10x the expected rate, and Patong is a tourist cesspool. Neither of which we expected ahead of time. And then our bed sucked. :(

April 10

Amid desires to *leave* (city, country, continent, maybe even the whole trip) immediately, we decided to go snorkeling on Kata beach. This time, we managed our transport well (mainly going during the day on public buses), and arrived with a few hours to explore. After a false start (bad fit on Josh's mask), we got out into the water and saw some coral, starfish, sea urchins, and tropical fish. Overall, it wasn't great snorkeling, with rather cloudy water, but as a first trip for Josh and a first in 10+ years for Mary (who was too chicken as a child to do much anyway), it wasn't bad. After a while the water started getting really dirty and we turned back. We were pooped when we returned to shore, as the tide was pulling us the wrong way, so it's just as well there wasn't more to see.

Afterwards, we decided to play in the water and walk the beach. We swam and body surfed and enjoyed the sun. We returned on public transit, but not before walking around the shops and buying some pineapple.

When we got back, we discovered that our sunscreen had utterly failed to do its job. Ouch!

April 11-13

The next day was a rest day, followed by 2 days of travel. We missed the overnight train in Hat Yai after waking up for a 5:30 bus to ensure plenty of time for the connection. Turned out even though we were catching the train in Thailand, the time was listed in Malaysian time on the website. We would have gotten there in time anyway, but we tried to navigate the 2km from the bus station to the train station on foot by the sun--not a great way to navigate at midday this close to the equator. Instead we took a minibus to Georgetown (Penang) for the night. In the morning we wandered around Panang trying to figure out the long distance buses before catching one to Kuala Lumpur in the early afternoon. Right now, we're about to leave on a bus to Singapore from Kuala Lumpur, as soon as the bus ahead of us gets out of the way (regular long distance bus station is closed for renovations). Malaysia has looked very pretty and transit has been ok so far, if a little pricey and confusing (there doesn't seem to be a public system, just a bunch of competing operators with no incentive to give you the full picture of options or be honest with you about departure time--it seems all buses are scheduled to leave at "now" o'clock if you ask for the next one). It looks like it deserves a return visit at some point.

Ferry Ride Away From Penang from Misc

Looking back at the past week, we're wondering why we didn't just spend the money for the flight from Siem Reap to Singapore. Oh well. Hopefully we will still be able to check into the hostel we have reserved for tonight when we arrive sometime in the middle of the night.

Bangkok - Killing Time

Let's start by saying, we were only in Bangkok for 1 day this time, and while the fighting did reach a couple areas we visited, we got out of town before it started. Barely. Was it scary? Not at all, we had no idea the shit was about to hit the fan.

We slept late before enjoying a relaxing Khao San street breakfast, then attempted to sell some stuff we're tired of hauling around to the second hand dealers. Surprisingly, we managed to get 20 bhat each (~60 cents) for the two pairs of flip flops we got in India for $1 and $2. Nobody wanted our 2002 Rough Guide to Cambodia, which wasn't a surprise. More surprising was that no one would touch our very nice 2010 map of Laos, and the best offer we got for our Nancy Chandler Chiang Mai map was 10 bhat. Nancy Chandler sells for 210 bhat new (more in the US), and ours was in very good shape. We'll be bringing the maps home so we can offer them to traveling friends someday.

First up, we took a bus to the Southern Bus Terminal where we booked an overnight bus to Phuket for the evening and deposited our luggage. The bus terminal was inside a proper mall and we went up to the top floor to eat at the food court, which seemed to specialize in Muslim-Thai oriented restaurants. Josh, remembering that his favorite Thai dish, Massaman Curry, comes precisely from this fusion, ordered it. It was a little different than we were used to, but very good.

Next we took a bus to the river then a boat express down the river and then a cross-river ferry to Wat Arun, the Temple of the Dawn, which was very pretty. Though we decided it wasn't worth 50 bhat per person to actually go inside the walls where we could have viewed it a little better if we wanted to stand in the direct sun.

From Bangkok

From Bangkok

On the return ferry ride Josh had a misstep climbing aboard and banged up his knee and shin pretty bad. We got him some ice though, and he's on the mend just fine.

We then took the river express down to almost its southern extreme, where we got off and explored the Oriental Hotel briefly on our way to the Skytrain station. It was a really upscale hotel and inside and nearby we found lots of upscale souvenir shops.

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For all the recommendations we got to take a ride on the Skytrain, it didn't seem that special. Oh, sure, a great way to get around, but we didn't really care to go anywhere in went. We got off to change trains at Siam Square and asked at the information there about a bus to the Southern Bus Terminal and were told that area was full of protesters and we shouldn't take it--the roads might be closed. Instead they directed us up to Victory Monument to catch the 515 bus, which had been our original plan, formulated after seeing a half dozen of them pass us earlier while we were waiting at the long distance bus station for a bus to Wat Arun or back to Khao San.

Victory Monument wasn't that exciting, but a busy market and many bus stops surrounded it.

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We walked a slow couple blocks to Peace Park where we watched the fountain for longer than we should have.

From Bangkok

Note, it seems that putting fish and turtles in the fountain is not allowed, in case any of you were inspired to come to Bangkok and do that.

From Bangkok

We had a stressful bus ride back to the terminal for our bus, but managed to get some more Massaman Curry to go and not miss our connection. Though it would have been awfully close if they'd left on time.

Chiang Rai - Cave Temples

After a rough start to the day, we rented bikes and visited three interesting temples on the edge of town and outside of town (inside caves).

The first was Wat Phrat That Doi Chom Thong, which was up a long steep flight of stairs from the road. The temple itself wasn't that exciting, though the nature themed murals were nice. What was pretty cool was the pole dancing dragon and the phallic collection of stones around the lak muang, which is evidently a representation of the Buddhist layout of the universe. Not sure what exactly that has to say about the Buddhist outlook on the world...

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Next stop was Tham Tu Pu, our first real cave temple of the trip. It was pretty cool, starting with the approach. Ever seen those pictures of Southern China with the impossibly flat plain and the steep cylindrical hills rising from it? Well, we're a day away from being spitting distance to China, and to that very part of China too, if I don't miss my guess, because that's what it looked like. Up some stairs in the hillside was a cave, and in the cave were a few Buddha figures. And many bats. The main Buddha was well illuminated with natural light from a side opening, but around the back we found another small shrine that we had to use our flashlights to explore. It had a small Buddha figure and some nice rock formations.

Oh, and watch out for the crying Buddha's. Don't blink or they might get you! (Random Doctor Who reference...)

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Further up the road we visited Buddha Cave, a large cavern with lots of figures in it, which just failed to have the romance of Tham Tu Pu. However, there were a few cats, one of them jealously guarding a recent kill (a lizard!) from the others. Walking around the grounds a little, we discovered that we were along the river and a very popular swimming spot for the locals. There were these great little hits built on stilts over the water, for eating in or swimming from. We stopped in for a soda. We took a back way out of the park that took us along the water for a bit.

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Back in town, we dropped in at Dusit Island, a place we'd looked for yesterday, and discovered it was a fancy resort. Back in town, we stopped off again at the wat from yesterday with the nice murals for another look and some photos. Wish I knew the stories behind all these.

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Chiang Rai - Sick Day and Some Wats

Woke up not feeling so great. Still/again. Mary continues to suffer from a head cold, and Josh is finding his appetite lacking. After finding that we still felt lousy after breakfast, we went back to the hotel for a rest day. There was much reading, attempting to nap, and figuring out how to browse the eBay mobile site from the Kindles (Kindle + eBay could be a dangerous combination).

In the evening we went out walking and discovered yet another cool wat that wasn't in Lonely Planet. Seriously guys, get with the program. I liked the red background, the white stupa, the zodiac signs under the windows, and the "street signs" with sayings on them. It looks like there was some construction or restoration going on inside.

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Then we walked down to the river and found a bridge under construction, but nothing like a nice waterfront park or anything. Unless you like seeing folks living in tents--nice tents from an outdoor store, I think they were for the construction workers--and untamed jungle.

On the way back we stopped at one of the big famous wats, which had a small (around 5 monks and 3 women) service going on with everyone singing and stuff. Which was really beautiful, except I wanted to walk around and look closely at the exceptional murals on the walls. Somehow, that didn't seem appropriate. Maybe we will drop by another day.

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On the way back from there, we found ourselves in the Market (the regular Market, not the Night Market), which had the regular array of raw food materials we are used to, plus a nice array of street food. So we got dinner... and breakfast.

We also passed by the clock tower, which was nicely lit up, as you can see.

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Chiang Mai - Shopping, to Chiang Rai - Night Market

Enjoyed our waffles from the night before, checked out of our hotel, and hit the streets for a little shopping. Still looking for that superzoom lens for the camera, and still thinking about a netbook. And, because of our little mishap yesterday at Flight of the Gibbon, in desperate need for a replacement lens cap.

We went to the electronics mall and found a zoom lens that we decided against, since it wasn't quite what we were looking for. We also found a Sony P-Series Vaio "Lifestyle PC", which is the netbook Mary has been kicking herself for not buying before we left the States. It was the first time she got to see one in person, and now she is kicking herself even more. Didn't buy that one since it was rather expensive, but may buy one off eBay and have it shipped to us in Singapore.

Next we went to the bus station and discovered that even though two buses were leaving to Chiang Rai in the next half hour, it was going to be two hours until the next Chiang Rai bus that wasn't sold out. So it was already dark when we got in at 8pm at the new bus station, which seems to be newer than the latest edition of Lonely Planet Thailand.

We'd been warned of this station by a fellow passenger (who got off a few stops before us), and told to take the mini-bus to town for 10 Bhat. However, the minibus that was taking passengers didn't seem to want us. We asked about down town, and in response he talked to the tuk-tuk drivers standing behind us and drove away. So, we decided to walk to town. It only looked like 3 km on the map, and after a suspicious exchange like that, we really didn't want to take a tuk-tuk, even more than normal. However, the map failed to indicate which side of the road the bus station was on, so we had to ask directions. When we did, the guy insisted that we try the mini-bus again, pointing out the dark ones that didn't look like they were going anywhere any time soon. He said it would be 10 Bhat each, and not to take a tuk-tuk because they charge 100-200 Bhat, and not to walk because it's 8 km. So we found a driver, got in a mini-bus, waited for the next regional bus to arrive and went to town.

What all this leaves me wondering is: why do we have so many lawyer jokes, and no jokes about tuk-tuk drivers. So I'm working on one. I think it will start something like this: "A rabbi, a lawyer, and a tuk-tuk driver walk into a bar..." still working on the punch line.

Checked in to a nice budget hotel near the Night Market, then went out for some smoothies and to enjoy the live music. Pretty much every town seems to have a Night Market, but this is special in its music. There was one area with a stage and a band playing oldies in English, but all the tables under the pavilion in front were owned by a restaurant that didn't serve the drinks we wanted. Elsewhere we found another stage with another set of tables surrounded by many vendor stands, about half of which were selling tempura. The music here was similar, except with Thai lyrics and tunes we don't know. The most incredible thing is that they have this Night Market every single night. Awesome.

Chiang Mai - Flight of the Gibbon

Today we did the Flight of the Gibbon canopy zip-line tour, one of those fancy expensive tourist day trip things that we never ever do. I think it was something like 18 segments of zip-line covering about a kilometer. It was slightly terrifying at first, but also a blast. Not surprisingly, it had virtually no educational value whatsoever, but it was a good time and our guide was funny. "Don't worry, it's very safe. We hook you in with two high quality carabineers made in China..."

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After the zip-lining we hiked up and small beautiful waterfall that just seemed a little bit too perfect, too "exactly what we expected but have failed to find so far" to be 100% believable as real. But anyway, it was basically your perfect little jungle waterfall, and I decided not to look too close.

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They fed us and then we vanned back in Chiang Mai, where we checked into a new hotel next door from where we had been staying, then hit the Sunday Walking Street for more waffles, this time getting a few for tomorrow's breakfast too.

Chiang Mai - Wats and Stuff

We are in Chiang Mai, which is a pretty big tourist town. Our first stops were a couple conveniently located big famous wats, that honestly look a lot like all the other wats we've seen. Though they had some nice dragons at the entrance, and one of them had a replica of the emerald Buddha we saw in Bangkok, this one that we could get close to and photograph.

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Next we dropped in at the Chiang Mai Arts and Culture Center, which is supposed to be a really good museum, won awards and all that. However, we were really disappointed. It seemed like most of the captions were really hard to read for lack of light, glare, or such, if they existed at all. And as a museum with few artifacts and grainy photographs, captions seemed important. Ugh.

After that, we were feeling pretty jaded and Mary was feeling kind of under the weather, so we wandered around a bit more then sat and watched the children feeding pigeons in a park while we waited for it to be late enough for the Saturday Walking Street to get underway. The Saturday (and Sunday) Walking Streets are once-per-week extra big night markets, and they close down the street to cars for it.

On the way we happened by this totally amazing wat, which appeared to be made of silver. Upon a little investigation, we discovered that this wat is still under construction and we got to see a bunch of monks pounding away on aluminum sheets for it. Aside from the big sign out front saying that women aren't allowed inside (it's an ordination hall), it was really awesome. And I am once again disappointed in Lonely Planet Thailand for leading us so poorly. Why is it directing us to wats that look the same as all the others we've already seen when there's cool stuff like this to see, that doesn't even get mentioned?

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The walking street was pretty nice. It was a little unreal when the national anthem came on right at 6pm and suddenly everyone was frozen in place as if someone had stopped time. Seriously, it was just like that. We stopped too, as soon as we figured it out. We'd been told ahead of time that they would play the national anthem and we would be expected to stand still for it, but I totally didn't understand what that meant until it happened.

At one point a white guy with a European-sounding accent walked up to us and asked us if we spoke English. We confirmed that we did, and he immediately asked us if we were interested in doing some Buddhist meditation. We said no, because we aren't. And he asked us if we wanted to see some stuff off the beaten track. We said no again and moved on quickly. The guy was obviously selling something. It was weird. But the guidebook did mention that there are con artists who come to Thailand from the West to rip off tourists, and warns against trusting anyone just because they are white or speak with an accent like home. Trust me, being so far from home, it gets tempting. Though not as much here as in India.

We also, after stuffing ourselves on some mediocre food, found the most delicious-smelling waffles, and for only 20 bhat. Anything like an American breakfast in a restaurant runs you like 4x that at least. So we split one--chocolate with cashews--even though we were both full. Mmmm good...

By this point Mary was completely beat and went back to the hotel and found herself too tired to even go out for a Thai massage, instead putzing around on the unlimited free wifi at the hotel. Meanwhile Josh explored the night market and browsed camera lenses and netbooks. And picked out some earrings to give to Mary for their "4 and 3/4s" anniversary.

After Josh got back, we went out for a late night snack, and ended up having a long chat with some other Americans who were arguing amongst themselves about whether or not firms should want to avoid hiring women because they might have babies. Which then turned into 20 questions when they found out we'd just spent 5 weeks in India. While we are hesitant to have dealings with folks like the white guy we met at the Night Market, it’s become a great joy to have a conversation with native English speakers. Life's little pleasures.

After we finally went to bed, Mary was up half the night continuing to feel generally lousy (though not specifically lousy in any one area). Ugh. This resulted in a late start the next morning, and by the time we went down stairs at 11am, we were told that actually we couldn't keep our room another night because it was reserved. And the hotel was completely booked, but they did offer to store our bags for us. So we packed up and headed out, by this point feeling pretty negative and miserable. Well, at least Mary was feeling that way. After some food we decided to screw the budget and see if we could get in on the Flight of the Gibbon tour in the afternoon. Answer: yes. Be ready in 5 minutes.