Ko Phi Phi Le

Ko hopping

So haven't had much internet access the past week, but it has been wonderful to get away from city life for a while. We started our ko ("island") tour in Ao Nang Beach, Krabi where the weather was surprisingly nice (sunny days, cool nights). The beach at Ao Nang was ok, but kind of ordinary so we decided to go to one of the supposed "best beaches in Thailand" called Railay Beach. Wow were they right! We took a long tail boat (kind of like a large canoe with what looks like a car engine attached to the back) to the beach and it was the most amazingly beautiful white sand and clear WARM (like bath temp) water. It was a paradise beach and it was mostly empty, which was awesome! This area is filled with karst limestone hills that jut out of the water everywhere and we took a nice kayak ride around the little bay and between the cliffs. The water was so clear we could see straight to the bottom! Also forgot about the equatorial rays and got a little sunburned- oopsy!

Next we took a ferry ride to Ko Phi Phi Don and stayed in these nice beach bungalows on a private little beach(Ao Koh Toh Beach). The beach was nice, but not as warm and it was quite rocky. But it was a quaint private little place (the only hotel on the beach) only accessible by long tail. Oh and there was only electricity available from 6pm to 6am- so different from other places we stayed. While we were there we took a day trip to Ko Phi Phi Le (google this to see pics), which is the smaller island famous for its beautiful secluded beach which was the set for the film "The Beach." We took another long tail to the island in stormy weather and when we got there we saw no beach! But our boat driver pointed to a ladder going over a rocky ledge and we jumped in the water and swam to the ladder. First it led to a little cove, then we walked through a small jungle path (no one lives here btw) to Maya Beach. It really was one of the most beautiful beaches I have ever seen and even in the stormy weather, that made large waves in the otherwise calm cove, it was so gorgeous I found it hard to peel my eyes away. After that we went snorkeling in a lagoon on the island, which was also incredible and we saw a ton of tropical fish (which were not that afraid as you approached them), and sadly lots of dead coral. Later that day we climbed a long jungle path to a viewpoint of the entire island and the surrounding area. It was absolutely amazing (wish I could post pics)! We hiked over to the other side where the port is and walked around the town, had some delicious street food and got "The Beach" so we could watch it. :) That night was clear and beautiful and you could see lots of stars above and lightning over the see in the distance.

The next day was non-stop rain. Welcome to monsoon season in Thailand! Despite this, we foolishly decided to take the ferry to Phuket island. It was by far the worst 2 hr boat ride I have ever been on. I can handle sea sickness pretty well, but this was a true test. The boat was rocking back and forth the entire time and people all around us were sick. It was a long ride and when we finally got to Phuket we passed out in the taxi to the Marriott Phuket Beach Club. This place is amazing (and could not be more opposite from where we have been staying)! We have a whole little villa to ourselves with two bedrooms, 2 baths, a kitchen, and washer/dryer (the best of it all!)- thanks to mom and dad's timeshare points! Luckily we were staying in such a nice resort because it rained incessantly the next 2 days. That didn't stop us from exploring the beach and swimming in the many pools though. It is nice to have a week of relaxation. We also got to cook a Thai meal in our little kitchen! Today we went to Patong beach (about an hour away from our hotel), which was again, beautiful, but FULL of tourists. I like our little Hat Mai Khao beach at our resort. We are starting to look pretty tan and thinking about going to another ko after this. :)

Sorry no pics to post. Of course internet is very expensive in the hotel so we haven't had a chance to post any yet. Perhaps soon...

Angkor what?

We spent our second day in Siem Reap exploring more temples and decided not to bike this time! We rented a tuk tuk for $20 for the whole day and he took us to some of the more distant temples- Banteay Srei and Banteay Samre- both of which were built in the 11th century and were quite different from previous temples. We also visited the Angkor Butterfly Centre, which was amazing, and we were taught how farmers make money here by selling cocoons to the center, which they send to butterfly centers all over the world. Then we went to the Land Mine Museum, which was an interesting and sad experience. The museum is owned by a former child soldier in the Khmer Rouge, who laid thousands of land mines throughout Cambodia and is now working to clear and deactivate the mines (and bombs) which are still maiming Cambodians today. I did not know of any of this and I learned so much about the tragedy of Cambodian history. In case you too didn't know, in the 1970's, during the Vietnam war, the US bombed a large area of Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam to disrupt the weapons' trail the Vietnamese were using in those countries- many of those still-active bombs still exist in the jungle today. Also, shortly after (and influenced by the Americans involvement) a revolutionary group known as the Khmer Rouge took power, led by a vicious man named Pol Pot. Throughout the next few years land mines were laid (specifically used to injure and not kill its victims because this was much more expensive for the enemy) and a social experiment involving torture and murder took place and was responsible for the deaths of 2 million Cambodians. It is such a sad story and I can tell there is still an air of sadness that lingers here.

After this, we went for a rest at the guesthouse and then went to the Old Market in Siem Reap to buy some souvenirs. After a few minutes a torrential downpour started and we quickly found a restaurant for dinner, then took a carriage-transformed tuk tuk (to protect from the rain) back and found that the power was out at our guesthouse. Luckily we had a generator, which lasted about 20 mins and then it was lights out. Went to bed with nothing else much to do and fell asleep to sounds of the Cambodian monsoon thunderstorm.

Next morning we woke up at 4:30am to watch the sunrise at Angkor Wat. It was quite beautiful and really peaceful to see the sun burn off the morning mists and to hear the surrounding jungle come alive. Then we went on another grand tour of more temples (via tuk tuk). My favorite was Preah Khan, which was very long, consisted of moss covered columns and sculptures and looked magical in the morning mist (pics to come). We saw at least 6 temples after that, including the famous Ta Prohm, which was left at the mercy of the jungle (by the French) to show how the temples looked when they were first discovered in the early 1900's. Spindly roots from the silk cotton and fig trees make their way through every possible crevice like veins, causing entire stone galleries to collapse. Then we headed back to Siem Reap and went to the night market to watch a documentary called the Pol Pot Regime- very anti- American movie that told more about the rise of the Khmer Rouge and how our involvement in the Vietnam War influenced it, yikes. It was interesting, but knowing how the Cambodians feel about America makes me a little more reluctant to identify myself as such. Then we went out to a few bars on "Pub Street" (including the famous Angkor What?) and watched some traditional aspara dancing.

After a full day of traveling yesterday, we are finally on the beach and it is beautiful down here! :)

Cambodia

We arrived in Siem Reap, Cambodia after a very long journey (1 hr flight to Bangkok at 8am, then waiting at bus station for 3 hours, then 4.5 hr bus ride to Cambodian border- where we were thankfully met by a representative from our guesthouse who made the would-be sketchy process easy, then 3 hour taxi ride to Siem Reap). It is so different here than Thailand- besides the language (they speak Khmer) and food, it also seems a little more "third world"than Thailand. There is a lot more begging and even more attention paid to foreigners. Low season seems even more obvious here as there is only one other person staying in our guesthouse and hardly any foreigners on the streets. I love our little guesthouse (called Two Dragons)- it is run by an American man who is very helpful, and the little restaurant attached is decent and cheap!

Today we rented bikes ($1 for the whole day) and biked about 3km to the Angkor temples. We saw two areas of temples, which were really impressive of course. We felt like we were exploring the temples like Indiana Jones! There is so much history here that we didn't know about. Most of the temples were built during the 12th and 13th centuries and built out of sandstone, so it is amazing how much detail there is in the wall reliefs. Angkor Wat was of course incredible and HUGE!! It took us the entire afternoon to walk around the grounds. We should have seen more temples, but the heat slowed us down. It is very very hot here and we feel like we are melting everytime we step outside. We paid for a "pricey" meal at the only restaurant here purely just so we could sit in an A/C room for a bit.

Cambodia is really strange in that the official currency is US Dollars- go figure. They also speak much better English here, but everything is a bit pricier here than Thailand. Tomorrow we will explore some more temples and maybe visit the Land Mine Museum. Still can't upload pics, because our internet access here is limited. Send me cool thoughts...

I love Chiang Mai

I love Chiang Mai! It is so peaceful here and we love our little guesthouse. We spent our second day here on a trekking tour, which consisted of elephant riding for about 45 minutes through the jungle. Amazing! A little scary to be on such a big animal so high from the ground. At one point one of the ties to our saddle seat came off the elephant and our elephant driver panicked a little (I could tell he was trying not to freak us out) and had to climb to the elephant's rear end and re-tie us on, yikes! We rode a mama elephant and her little rebelious baby followed us the whole time. Next we trekked through the jungle and through rice fields (very muddy!) to a waterfall. Unfortunately the water was very muddy because of the rain, so we did not get in the water, but it was a nice scene nonetheless. Then we went to a small hill tribe village where people who immigrated from Burma lived. They dressed in traditional colorful woven clothes and different people wear different colors according to their status. For example, single women wear white tops and married women wear colored tops. Next we had lunch in the village (stir fry vegetables, curry chicken with potatoes, and fresh pineapple for dessert). Then we went to a river and got on very long (probably about 15 feet long) bamboo rafts, which were basically bamboo poles tied together and steered by smaller bamboo poles. It was very relaxing, but our guide insisted on teasing us and splashing us repeating "no wet, no fun." It was a very fun day and the people in our tour group were so friendly (we were the only Americans, the rest were Dutch and French).

After this we were exhausted and muddy and sweaty so we came back, took a nap and showered, then went with some friends from the guesthouse to a bar nearby to listen to live music. It was open mic night so our friend Will (British) played his guitar and sang, which was amazing!

The next day we decided to take a Thai cooking class, which was another awesome experience! We started at 9:30am with a market tour, in which the chef taught us how and what to buy at the local market. Then we went to the cooking school outside of the city (called Chiang Mai Thai Cookery School, owned by a world famous Thai chef). We each had a little station with a stove and wok and for each meal we watched a demonstration, made the dish ourselves, and then ate them. We cooked 6 meals in all: Chicken in coconut milk, Thick Noodles with pork in thick sauce, Red Curry with Fish, Sweet and Sour Vegetable, Papaya Salad, and Steamed Banana Cake. We were stuffed by the end and everything was delicious! We definitely learned a lot, and got a free cookbook anyway in case we forget! When we got back we relaxed a little, then went to the Chiang Mai Night Market, which was huge and amazing (lots of clothes, carvings and jewelry), but kinda expensive (for Thai standards) so we didn't buy much.

Today we decided we love Chiang Mai so much that we wanted to spend an extra day here. We spent all morning trying to book a flight back to Bangkok due to trouble with using our credit card on the internet. We will fly back tomorrow, and even booking one day in advance the price was still about $60, so cheap! Then we went to another (much cheaper) market and got some souvenirs and then got a 1 hour Thai foot massage for 130 Baht (about $4!!). It was AMAZING! Now we are relaxing at the guesthouse for a while and may go swimming later. Next we head to Cambodia (Angkor Wat)!!

Chiang Mai

We spent our last day in Bangkok shopping in the modern and "upscale" area called Siam Square. There are tons of shopping malls and modernized internet cafes and a HUGE food court. Then we headed to the train station and got on the overnight triain to Chiang Mai (Northern Thailand). It was such an amazing experience! First, we get dinner in our little booth (2nd class) then ask the security guard to make up our bunk beds. The booth on the bottom flattens out and the top booth comes down from the ceiling. It was actually quite comfortable!! The rocking of the train was really soothing and it was a pretty smooth and quiet 14 hr ride to Chiang Mai. The bathrooms in the train consisted of a squat toilet with the hole leading right outside to the train tracks below! In the morning we watched the sun rise in our cozy bunks and had some coffee.

At about 10:30am we arrived at our hostel, A Little Bird Guesthouse, which is very quaint and much less modern than LubD. We have a 4 bed girls dorm here and it is not air conditioned (yikes!), but there are fans and little resting areas with mats and pillows and the staff is very friendly (plus it is literally $2.50 a night to stay here)! Today we visited the wats of the old city (there are 4 major ones- Wat Phra Singh, Wat Chedi Luang, Wat Phan Tao (my fave), & Wat Chiang Man). Chiang Mai is VERY different from Bangkok not only in the style but in the pace- much more laid back and friendly and very clean and nice cafes everywhere. Tomorrow we are going on a tour, possibly elephant riding and bamboo rafting. :)

Pics of the temples until I post pics:
http://www.chiangmai.bangkok.com/attractions/temples.htm

Thailand

Temple Hopping

Yesterday afternoon we walked to Lamphini Park in central Bangkok and it was so beautiful and peaceful, like a little oasis in the big city. We sat beneath the palms and watched a ton of Thai people participating in multiple outdoor aerobics classes. We also saw a Monitor lizard (?) attempt to swallow an entire catfish. At 6pm the national anthem plays and security guards in the park blow their whistle to signal you to STOP what you are doing and honor the anthem. Literally EVERY single person in the park froze at this time and sang along. It was a neat sight. After that we were exhausted and felt like we hadn't slept in a day (which was kinda true cuz of the time difference) so we had a banana and went to bed.

Today we woke up quite early and took the skytrain (like BART) and water taxi to the Grand Palace. First we visited Wat Pho, which houses a HUGE (45 meters long!) reclining gold-plated Buddha. It was so impressive! One thing that was surprising is that you have to take your shoes off to enter any temple and you also must be wearing long sleeves and pants (ah so hot!) as a sign of respect. The temples are very beautiful, decorated with many colorful tiles and pieces of glass so they sparkle in the sunlight.

Next we visited Wat Phra Kaew, which is even larger with many colorful temples and more golden buddhas and a mural that wraps around the entire complex. There were soooo many people here and it was so so hot that by the end we just had to sit in the shade and cool down for a bit. The Grand Palace is beautiful as well and is one the King's homes used for special ceremonies. After this, we had some yummy lunch and thai tea at a real restaurant with ceiling fans (ahhh). Then we took the cross river taxi to Wat Arun, which was perhaps the most simple (but still very interesting) wat. Then we got a Thai massage (1/2 hr for about $7), which was quite different from any massage I have had before. There was lots of cracking and bending, and it was rough but I felt very relaxed by the end. Next we had a couple of beers at a bar that looked over the river and Wat Arun and waited for sunset for it to light up. Definitely worth it! Then we took the river taxi back to the hostel and took a much needed shower and nap. Now we are going to watch the World Cup Final (at our hostel), it is at 1:30AM here!

Here is a link of the wats until I post pics:

http://www.bangkok.com/attraction-temple/

Arrived in Bangkok!

We arrived in Bangkok this morning after a short sleep, in a transit motel in Taipei last night. It was a long flight to Taiwan, a little over 12 hours, but I managed to sleep a little on the plane (and also watched 3 movies!). It is a 12 hour time difference here so our sleep schedule is very off! But we have managed to stay awake so far today, so hopefully we will sleep well tonight.

It is very warm here (95 deg) and humid just as we suspected. Bangkok is very interesting so far. Pretty chaotic and terrible traffic, with tuk tuks (little motorized carts) and motos zooming in and out of lanes! Took about 20 mins to go 1.5 miles to the train station, however it only cost us $1 each! Our hostel is nice and seems very clean. We are staying in a 10 bed female dorm room and have a bathroom designated for women only. We can also lock all our stuff up and there is laundry and internet access.

We already feel slightly overwhelmed by the chaos in Bangkok and by being hustled around between tuk tuk drivers and taxis. We also feel as though we are being scammed every time we try to negotiate a price, and already a taxi took us to an "independent" train ticket office when we clearly stated we wanted to go to the actual train station to buy tickets. Speaking English here is not easy!! We definitely stand out here and it reminds me of travelling in Ghana in that we cannot go outside for a second without drawing attention. The buildings here are mostly broken down and decrepit looking, with an occasional gilded temple looking building in between. The terrain is definitely a tropical beauty though! We are now about to venture out again into the heat. Tomorrow we will see the Grand Palace and some temples, then off to the north!

Off to Thailand

In 2 days I will set out for 4 week adventure in Thailand! I will be exploring the Northern part of the country first then will continue to the islands in the South. Hope I can put up some pics along the way! :)