Saturday, November 7, 2009
Loi Krathong -- the lantern festival, similar to the festival of lights. But actually I went in expecting a solemn respectful holiday where people put candles in the lake. It was more like the NC State Fair on campus, packed with people, food, games, booths, and students trying to sell things. Some pictures can be viewed here
Wednesday, November 4, 2009
pictures for the past couple posts
Some pictures to accompany --
Train to Malaysia
Penang by Ferry
Mosque
School Bus
Tea Plantation in Malaysia, terraced farming
Koh Phangan on a boat on the way to Hat Leung
My incredible sunburn because I didn't ask Matt to rub sunscreen on my back
Waterfall (lack thereof) on Phangan
Koh Tao
During the day lots of fishing boats come and kill the corals
At a small waterfall in Khao Sok wearing "leechsocks"
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| From Oct 14, 2009 |
Train to Malaysia
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| From Oct 14, 2009 |
Penang by Ferry
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| From Oct 14, 2009 |
Mosque
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| From Oct 14, 2009 |
School Bus
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| From Oct 14, 2009 |
Tea Plantation in Malaysia, terraced farming
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| From Oct 14, 2009 |
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| From Oct 14, 2009 |
Koh Phangan on a boat on the way to Hat Leung
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| From Oct 14, 2009 |
My incredible sunburn because I didn't ask Matt to rub sunscreen on my back
 |
| From Oct 14, 2009 |
Waterfall (lack thereof) on Phangan
 |
| From Oct 14, 2009 |
Koh Tao
 |
| From Oct 14, 2009 |
During the day lots of fishing boats come and kill the corals
 |
| From Oct 14, 2009 |
At a small waterfall in Khao Sok wearing "leechsocks"
 |
| From Oct 14, 2009 |
 |
| From Oct 14, 2009 |
 |
| From Oct 14, 2009 |
After Koh Pangan, we headed to Koh Tao, which provided us with incredible snorkeling. Even after going to the US Virgin Islands for a week, the marine life there was indescribable with words. So, we stayed there for a couple days and then left to go to Khao Sok National Park. We took a ferry to Surat Thani and our friend Tom from JGSEE came to meet us. It happened to be some Buddhist Holiday so the normally tranquil town of Surat Thani was bustling with decorations and festive floats. Monks sprayed water for good luck and we ate some food by the river. One of our dishes was fried frog. It tasted like chicken, but a little chewier. If I wasn’t told it was frog, I wouldn’t have noticed a difference.
We went to Khao Sok, it was nice there were some waterfalls and we went on a short hike the first day. We made great friends with the bungalow owners and he took us on a tubing trip for a great discount. We ate all our meals at this restaurant outside the park entrance that was moderately priced compared to the exorbitant prices for food in the tourist area. The only catch was it took the lady about one hour to prepare our food each time, so by the second day we asked for her phone number and we called ahead and placed an order. It was pretty funny, but worth the savings. After Khao Sok we took a bus to Phuket Island, tourist capital of Thailand. The bus was good because only in Thailand can you get some fried chicken served right to you without leaving your seat. Street vendors come on the bus at random stops and sell all sorts of snacks, food, and drinks, which makes your bus ride that much more comfortable. But actually this bus took a long time and we blew a tire in the middle of the ride, which set our arrival back by two hours. I used the bathroom at this nice lady’s house and she gave me two huge pieces of papaya for free. It was delicious.
When we arrived at Phuket we were immediately accosted by all sorts of tourist agents clamoring for our hotel booking. We stayed the first night at a touristy beach, went to some bars for Tom’s birthday, and then the next day Tom and Christina left to go to Singapore. Ricker, Matt, and I went to a less touristy beach, Hat Kata and Ricker surfed while I relaxed and swam a bit. After two days there, I returned back to Bangkok with Matt and finished our travel session. Although JGSEE would pay for us to fly up north the next week.
We went to Khao Sok, it was nice there were some waterfalls and we went on a short hike the first day. We made great friends with the bungalow owners and he took us on a tubing trip for a great discount. We ate all our meals at this restaurant outside the park entrance that was moderately priced compared to the exorbitant prices for food in the tourist area. The only catch was it took the lady about one hour to prepare our food each time, so by the second day we asked for her phone number and we called ahead and placed an order. It was pretty funny, but worth the savings. After Khao Sok we took a bus to Phuket Island, tourist capital of Thailand. The bus was good because only in Thailand can you get some fried chicken served right to you without leaving your seat. Street vendors come on the bus at random stops and sell all sorts of snacks, food, and drinks, which makes your bus ride that much more comfortable. But actually this bus took a long time and we blew a tire in the middle of the ride, which set our arrival back by two hours. I used the bathroom at this nice lady’s house and she gave me two huge pieces of papaya for free. It was delicious.
When we arrived at Phuket we were immediately accosted by all sorts of tourist agents clamoring for our hotel booking. We stayed the first night at a touristy beach, went to some bars for Tom’s birthday, and then the next day Tom and Christina left to go to Singapore. Ricker, Matt, and I went to a less touristy beach, Hat Kata and Ricker surfed while I relaxed and swam a bit. After two days there, I returned back to Bangkok with Matt and finished our travel session. Although JGSEE would pay for us to fly up north the next week.
In Ipoh, the Malaysian businessmen gave us a lot of beer before our Thai-bound overnight journey. The VIP bus did not, however, contain a bathroom. Much to our dismay, the bus driver refused to stop for the first hour, whereupon our kidneys were screaming in pain like five-year-olds on a road trip. Fidgeting nonstop, it only took but a second for us to jump off the bus, semi-coherent, and relieve ourselves at the first bathroom break.
We proceeded to get swindled in Hat Yai, when buying our tickets to Koh Phangan. I left my ATM card in the machine following the ride, took a shower at the travel agency, and then we paid for an express ferry ticket that didn’t exist. Some other travel company shuttled us off to another location and put us on a four-hour long ferry that sucked the vivacity out of our tropical island destination. We were unaware of the ferry’s duration until I asked the lady selling snacks for 1000% markups. I lost about $10 for all that it was worth.
Upon arrival at “party island,” we actually managed to find a decent, cheap bungalow in under 20 minutes, record breaking time. Considering the overwhelming anxiety spewing from the mouths of fellow passengers on the ferry of getting a room, we soon realized it was all talk. Exhausted from transportation, I ate a large portion of chicken fried rice and fell asleep. The morning provided some interesting surprises.
Our bungalow, situated on Haad Rin West (Sunset Beach), lay in the heart of mini-Tel Aviv. Every single passerby was chatting away in Hebrew. This baffled me. Signs for restaurants, shops, and advertisements were written in Thai, Hebrew, then English. Eventually, some Israeli asking me a question simply mistook us for fellow countrymen. Embarrassed, he quickly realized his mistake, but I spurted back some Hebrew. This was great and we started hanging out for a little while. When he found out we were from America, he became ecstatic. And then he asked if we had ever been to North Carolina. Shocked, I struggled to explain that I was from Raleigh. He loves North Carolina, especially I-40, and he even knew some local radio stations. I don’t really like I-40 or the radio stations, but this was incredible. He worked as a driver for the Dead Sea Scrolls when they came last year, and knew the area perfectly. When I told him I went to UNC, he knew exit 273A. Small world.
We took off from the developed part of the island in the morning, arriving at Koh Ma, apparently the spot to snorkel. A bit skeptical at first simply because we wanted to go to Bottle Beach, which I had read was the best beach, we compromised on Koh Ma because it was about half the distance. Taking the advice of the cab driver turned out to be a fantastic decision. The beach was really nice, but there was good food, cheap snorkeling gear, and an incredible reef just a five-minute swim offshore. The contrast between the reefs on St. John in the US Virgin Islands and in Thailand was sharp. Spilling with life, my mind experienced a visual overload. Remarkable.
The Full Moon Party is basically this place where thousands of inebriated people dance on the beach.
After recovering from the party, we went to see the waterfalls of Koh Phangan. At the first waterfall, there was no water. We expected to find water at the larger, more prominent waterfall only to be greeted by a ranger smiling and confirming, mai mee nam, (there is no water). Using our imaginations of the steep sloped rock formations bursting at the seams with water, the waterfalls were fantastic.
Koh Phangan provided all sorts of entertainment, besides the island’s drunken stupor, only in Thailand could you wake up hearing Thai, Hebrew, get breakfast and get offered two menus: The Thai menu and Israeli menu.
We proceeded to get swindled in Hat Yai, when buying our tickets to Koh Phangan. I left my ATM card in the machine following the ride, took a shower at the travel agency, and then we paid for an express ferry ticket that didn’t exist. Some other travel company shuttled us off to another location and put us on a four-hour long ferry that sucked the vivacity out of our tropical island destination. We were unaware of the ferry’s duration until I asked the lady selling snacks for 1000% markups. I lost about $10 for all that it was worth.
Upon arrival at “party island,” we actually managed to find a decent, cheap bungalow in under 20 minutes, record breaking time. Considering the overwhelming anxiety spewing from the mouths of fellow passengers on the ferry of getting a room, we soon realized it was all talk. Exhausted from transportation, I ate a large portion of chicken fried rice and fell asleep. The morning provided some interesting surprises.
Our bungalow, situated on Haad Rin West (Sunset Beach), lay in the heart of mini-Tel Aviv. Every single passerby was chatting away in Hebrew. This baffled me. Signs for restaurants, shops, and advertisements were written in Thai, Hebrew, then English. Eventually, some Israeli asking me a question simply mistook us for fellow countrymen. Embarrassed, he quickly realized his mistake, but I spurted back some Hebrew. This was great and we started hanging out for a little while. When he found out we were from America, he became ecstatic. And then he asked if we had ever been to North Carolina. Shocked, I struggled to explain that I was from Raleigh. He loves North Carolina, especially I-40, and he even knew some local radio stations. I don’t really like I-40 or the radio stations, but this was incredible. He worked as a driver for the Dead Sea Scrolls when they came last year, and knew the area perfectly. When I told him I went to UNC, he knew exit 273A. Small world.
We took off from the developed part of the island in the morning, arriving at Koh Ma, apparently the spot to snorkel. A bit skeptical at first simply because we wanted to go to Bottle Beach, which I had read was the best beach, we compromised on Koh Ma because it was about half the distance. Taking the advice of the cab driver turned out to be a fantastic decision. The beach was really nice, but there was good food, cheap snorkeling gear, and an incredible reef just a five-minute swim offshore. The contrast between the reefs on St. John in the US Virgin Islands and in Thailand was sharp. Spilling with life, my mind experienced a visual overload. Remarkable.
The Full Moon Party is basically this place where thousands of inebriated people dance on the beach.
After recovering from the party, we went to see the waterfalls of Koh Phangan. At the first waterfall, there was no water. We expected to find water at the larger, more prominent waterfall only to be greeted by a ranger smiling and confirming, mai mee nam, (there is no water). Using our imaginations of the steep sloped rock formations bursting at the seams with water, the waterfalls were fantastic.
Koh Phangan provided all sorts of entertainment, besides the island’s drunken stupor, only in Thailand could you wake up hearing Thai, Hebrew, get breakfast and get offered two menus: The Thai menu and Israeli menu.
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