Saturday, May 17, 2008

Hat Sichon, Southern Gulf Thailand

Anna's entry:
I am writing this blog on the beach of Hat Sichon located on the Eastern coastline of the Gulf of Thailand. I am looking at the tranquil bay in front of me surrounded by the coconut palm trees in the South, and the distant blue mountains in the North. Today is May 16th, 2008 - the so called low season on the coast. We seem to be the only tourists in the entire Hat Sichon, so anywhere we walk we get the sincere attention from the locals, friendly smiles and waving hands. I can't tell you how refreshing it is NOT to see any tourists around us, especially the Western ones. This part of Thailand was chosen specifically for that purpose - to get away from the crowds of Westerners. Yes, it feels good.... I think I can relate now to the celebrities choosing isolated islands and beaches to experience isolation in paradise...

We arrived last night. Our bus from Songkhla dropped us off on the highway at the entrance to town. We started walking with our big backpacks towards Hat Sichon getting a lot of curious looks from locals not accustomed to seeing foreigners around here. Some kids began shouting "hello!" to us, and adults waiving to us. A truck loaded with waiving people went buy in the other direction, and then a few minutes it turned around, caught up with us, and offered us a ride to the beach. We offered money for an unexpected ride, but the driver said no. It is possible that the place he dropped us off at (at our request) gave him something, but nevertheless, it was nice not to walk a few kilometers in the afternoon tropical heat.

This morning we walked along the beach for a breakfast at a local restaurant also located right on the water. Similar to last night, we were the only visitors, so we got a special treatment... After breakfast, I put snorkeling gear on, and literally walked to the Gulf of Thailand from the restaurant, while Rob was chatting with a Thai restaurant manager on the shore. Then we walked along the coast back to our place (also located on the beach), where we settled for an afternoon for more swimming, reading, trip planning, listening to science programs on the new MP3 player that Rob acquired in our previous stop in Hat Yai with a help of a local boy, who knew the right place to get MP3 at a reasonable local price, not "farang" (foreigner) price.

This afternoon a short downpour rain came with thunder and lightning, but about an hour later it was all over. We settled in the wooden constructed terrace over-looking the bay under the palm trees contemplating about our next few days; later that evening we went for a dip in the ocean right under the moon light. Yes, life has been good so far... We needed this low-key break without any annoying foreign (western) tourists; just the locals and us, surrounded by palm trees, mountains, and the Gulf of Thailand...


Hat Yai and Songkhla, Southern Thailand

Anna's entry:
HAT YAI
We returned from Malaysia to Thailand by the same train route back to Hat Yai, Southern Thailand. Train ride was about five hours, no one spoke English, but smiles and gestures were universal. This was the first time I tried quail eggs, and some crazy fruit looking like a hairy nut and tasting like a strawberry... As I mentioned in my previous Thailand entries, Lower Southern Gulf provinces, also known as Muslim Deep South, gained a reputation for being dangerous areas (because of the Muslim separatist activities and bombings a few years ago). Therefore, very few tourists come here these days, which is fine with us, it is great to be away from the western crowds, and get an authentic welcoming treatment. Rob and I enjoy dealing with a Muslim part of population - I don't like generalizations, but Muslims seem to be more honest and more genuine to us compared to other local groups. We almost always get a local price (instead of over-charged foreigner price), and overall we feel we are treated very well by them. So, when we returned back to Hat Yai, we went to the same restaurant we visited about a month ago, run by a local Muslim family. Similarly to our last visit here, we got great service, good food, and very good price. Despite of Hat Yai's reputation to be the most dangerous location to visit, we liked it. We didn't have any problems crossing it twice, and have only positive memories.




SONGKHLA
Songkhla 'the great city on two seas' hasn't experienced any of the Muslim separatist violence plaguing nearby Hat Yai, but it's still catching the same bad press. That was a good news for us - westerners are scared away from visiting this great city, which makes it more genuine place to visit, not-spoilt and over-run by tourists. This is exactly the reason for choosing Songkhla as a stop over - get back to the authentic local Thai hospitality. We were not disappointed - locals don't get to see many "farang" (foreigners) around here, which is reflected in their attitude. The place we were recommended to stay at was the nicest family run house. In the morning, the lady owner offered us fresh mangos and bananas from her brother's village, coffee, tea, etc. She made sure we felt at home and were taken care of. While walking around town, we received a lot of smiles, hello!'s, waving hands, etc. In one of the streets, a wedding was starting, we were motioned in, and were presented with local sweet treats, and invited back later when the orchestra would be playing. We did come back later, and were presented with a big bottle of beer, a bride's relative sat down with us, and then a bride and a groom asked to take pictures with us. Nothing like that in other parts of Thailand we visited a month ago - places are over-run by western tourists so much, that locals would not even dream about inviting a stranger foreigner to the wedding!
Rob and I also walked along the eastern coast of the city (Hat Samila) facing the Gulf of Thailand. This is where the symbol of the city is located - the statue of a bronze mermaid sitting on the rocks and squeezing water from her hair. Apparently, you can rub her breasts for good luck, so her breasts are really shiny. Yes, I rubbed them too, of course. :)
To "redeem" my breast-rubbing sins we stopped by at a local Buddhist temple, which actually turned out to be also a monastery. Being the only foreigners there, and probably in a long while, we got some curious looks and smiles, and a young boy appeared shortly with fresh water saying "I give you water". It was a very sweet gesture. We walked around the shrines, and in one of them we stumbled upon a huge golden statue of reclining Buddha - I would guess probably good 10 meters long (about 30 feet), maybe more.
In the morning of departure Rob and I went to the top of the hill with the Royal Pagoda as a center piece, views were fantastic - you could see the 360° panorama of the city from there. Unfortunately, it was a relatively short visit for us, we had a bus to catch that morning to our next stop, Hat Sichon, on the Gulf of Thailand.

Thailand - Part II

We are back to Thailand, and on our way to Cambodia!



Kota Bharu, Malaysia

Anna's entry:
Well, we finally completed our Malaysia part of adventure. We returned to our initial point, Kota Bharu. Actually, our travel course brought us back here for the third time. We went back to the same place, run by the same family. "Room 301, right?" they said with a smile when they saw us again entering. People running hotel were nice young couple. Apparently, they bought this hotel by themselves several years ago, to pay it off they were the only full time (24 hours) employees; they slept in a tiny closet behind the front desk so they could rent all rooms available. The hotel, they told us, would be paid off in about two years. Yes - by working hard and having low standards, by the age of 30 they would be the owners of a three-story cute hotel. No credit crunch on their part, and their attitude and friendliness was in no way affected by 24 hour work.

Kota Bharu was our first and last point on the Malaysian journey. The unplanned detour to Malaysia turned out to be a success. Perhentian Kecil Island has become my favorite exotic island, the modern architecture of Kuala Lampur has been the most interesting, and gentle attitude of Malaysians made me feel welcomed. I would love to come back here again. Thinking Malaysia Borneo would be in order for the next time...

Taman Negara Rain Forrest, Malaysia

Anna's entry:
The jungle of Taman Negara is 130 million years old. We decided to include it on our itinerary for some variety. We have heard that the "jungle trekking" is somewhat hyped and exaggerated, so we kept our expectations of wild life encounter low - instead we wanted to enjoy a getaway up in the hills, and get some long needed fresh air... To get there, we took a so called "jungle train" from Kota Bharu to Jerantut for about 8 hours, and then a bus from Jerantut to the village of Taman Negara. We found a nice and cheap place to stay at - the owner, a very laid-back Malay guy with a life slogan "life is simple just enjoy it", was very easy going, and let us chose the room of our choice. We settled in a great room over-looking the jungle, one wall was made out of two large sliding doors, which converted into a huge window from the floor to the ceiling over-looking the trees. The room's walls were hand painted in various bright colors, so it felt very cheerful and yet peaceful. Through the large window we could watch the striking lightning show followed by a short rain downpour that seemed to have been a nature occurrence every night were were there. In the morning we would be waken-up by a Muslim singing from a mosque located near buy - it reminded us of the exotic location we were at.
Taman Negara rain forest located right across the river from the village. It took only a couple of minutes to cross the river, and we did a couple of days of light hiking. We decided to forgo an intense three day hike, and instead took our own pace. One on of these hikes we included a canopy walk - it is a hanging bridge made out of bamboo and rope about 30-50 meters up in the air. For some reason, I did not experience any fear walking on that hanging canopy, and sometimes even run back and forth for extra fun. I did see, however, a few tourists that were terrified, so I guess it depends on each person. The views were nice, and on one of the canopy walk paths we sat down right above the jungle trees tops, and had our picnic lunch that we brought with us - what can be a more exotic location for picnic, right? When we walked back after a day of hike, I noticed that one part of my pants behind the knee was wet. I didn't think much of it - we sweat all the time in this hot tropical temperatures. However, when we got back to our room and I took my pants off, I realized, that the blood was pouring behind my knee. There it was - one nasty black leech sucking my blood. Rob pulled that sucker out of my skin, but the tiny wound kept bleeding. It took several hours before it finally stopped. Later on I found out that many people get those leeches while hiking in Taman Negara. One guy told me he got about four of them on various parts of the body, but feet and knees seem to be the favorite parts for the leeches. Compared to the nasty things liking my company, Rob seemed to be enjoyed by more adorable creatures - butterflies. One one of our hikes through the forest several small butterflies kept landing on Rob's hands, nose, ears. Some would stay on him for a long time, and would not want to part. Though I must say, that at the end Rob also had a "pleasure" of being visited by a small leech. Luckily, we noticed pretty quickly that a sock developed a mysterious bleeding wound, so we put an end to that quickly.
After several days in Taman Negara, it was time for us to return back to Jerantut, and then back to Kota Bharu by a jungle train.






Kuala Lampur, Malaysia

Anna's entry:
As I mentioned earlier, the purpose of coming to Kuala Lumpur was a re-union with our former college friend Bee Ling, who we used to study with back in the U.S. We have not seen her for about 12 years, and it was great to meet again. So many things have happened over these years, we had so much to catch up on. Besides Bee Ling, we also had a great opportunity to re-unite with another college friend Ling Phong, who also lives in the KL area. We spent a lot of hours together, talked a lot, Bee Ling took us to taste various Chinese and Malay cuisine, and we did a lot of outings together. I did not expect Kuala Lumpur to be so modern! We also discovered a lot of cultural intricacies in population of Malaysia. The population consists of three major groups - Malays (i.e. Muslims), Chinese, and Indians. The government and religion are heavily intertwined, in many ways religion actually governs. When in Malaysia, we heard a story on BBC about a Muslim widow going through the courts with a petition to be allowed to leave the Muslim religion group. The judge, for the first time in the history, approved her petition; however, now the appeal was sent to the Federal Court to over-turn the decision, and make the widow stay a practicing Muslim. OK, whatever... I must add however, we were told that Malays/Muslims apparently are given a preferential treatment in Malaysia in certain aspects (i.e. education, work, etc.), so some Chinese and Indians are converting into Muslim faith for that practical purpose. Seems complicated, doesn't it? In today's world, Muslims seem to be getting a bad press, in various parts of the world they have been charged with a violent way of thinking. I am not in expert in that, however, I tend to think that the political leaders are to blame for using the extremes; average Muslim person on the street we've encountered is polite, helpful, and a pleasure to be doing business with. So, let's leave it at that.
Back to Kuala Lumpur... Bee Ling took us to an interesting place, a natural phenomena known as a "fire fly river". At night thousands of fire flies are coming to the river, attracted by trees covering the river banks. Fire flies flash light (via bioluminescence) in order to attract each other, creating a "Christmas lights" effects all over the banks of the river. We took a boat along the river to observe that, it was indeed a very unusual phenomena.
On another outing, we went to a fortress, inhabited by hundred of monkeys. You know how people come to city squares to feed pigeons, well, here in KL, people come to feed monkeys. Monkeys were everywhere, they wanted attention, they wanted food. At one instance Rob opened his backpack to reach for camera batteries, and a second later a monkey, thinking that food was coming, crawled up his body, and comfortably positioned itself on Rob's head. It did not want to leave Rob's head, so I had to give it a gentle push. Local people were a little confused, why we would not feed the monkey - little knowing about the rabies and some risks associated with that. As much as I disapprove of people's involvement in ruining the wild monkeys, I must admit it was a cute photo opportunity of watching local kids and parents interact with the monkeys, and making it one big family picnic...
We explored KL for several days. I loved the city architecture - so diverse, modern, and yet intricate. Some skyscrapers were decorated with the Muslim ornaments; buildings' architecture was very imaginative, for instance, one skyscraper was designed in a shape of a giant half-rolled newspaper, very different. But, there were a few seemingly architectural copies as well, like a creative imitation of former Twin Towers of New York, CN Tower of Toronto or Space Needle of Seattle. Could all be coincidental though. KL also has gorgeous mosques and temples. One of them was a Blue mosque surrounded by peaceful gardens. I enjoyed it very much.
After four days in KL, it was time for us to say good-buy to our friends Bee Ling and Ling Phong. After KL, we will be heading out to the jungles of Taman Negara national Park.





Perhentian Islands, Malaysia

Anna's entry:
Pulau Perhentian Kecil island has undoubtedly become my most memorable island experience in the entire journey through South East Asia. The images and feeling about this striking island will for ever stay in my mind. Before I go into specifics, I have to give a brief description of the experience getting there...
After staying a few days on mainland in Kota Bharu, we took a bus to the coast in Kuala Besut, from where we would take a boat to the Pulau Perhentian islands located about 21 km off the coast in the South China Sea. We arrived early to arrange a boat, and had to take a speed boat, which was the only option at that time. We shared the boat with a couple of Russians from Moscow, a girl from Malaysia, and her friend from the Caribbean. About a third way from the coast, strong winds came creating big waves, it started pouring, and we realized we were in the middle of rain storm. In addition, our speed boat captain realized that the boat ran out of fuel, so we had to refuel it right in the middle of all of it (luckily he had a supply of gas stored in a tank); we got back on track bouncing like crazy from one wave to another, sometimes literally flying on the high speed over the waves. Rob figured out how to save our butts (literally) from all that bouncing, by suggesting that we would pretend as if we were riding a horse, and standing half way on his feet. Well, it worked for a short time "riding" that way, but with all the waves, pouring rain, and being soaked through from all sides, I just couldn't "ride a horse" for so many kilometers. Eventually we reached the Kecil Island. We chose to stay in an isolated part of the island called Chalets de Lagoon. Because of the storm, we couldn't land on the beach, so we were sent a small boat, which we had to transfer to from our speed boat among the rocking waves. In that boat we met two other travelers - Jeremy from France and Phally from Cambodia - that meeting would lead us later on to more adventures in Cambodia, where we would reunite again... We eventually reached the beach, but because of turbulent waves, we had to jump in the water (in the boots and clothing) in order to disembark. Luckily, our backpacks, camera equipment, and other essentials stayed dry and safe, and thankfully did not go for a dip in the ocean... The rain and wind storm persisted for the rest of the day, we settled in the room at Chalets de Lagoon, the only lodging available, in a small bay on the northeastern side of the island. Our room was right on the beach with window over-looking the ocean, we watched the rest of the rain storm, and listened to the wind pounding against our wooden window, and finally could start enjoying the island, once the rain storm stops....
The storm stopped next morning, and we began exploring the island. It was so refreshing to be located in the remote part of the island, without loud bars, without obnoxious travelers, without ignorant drunk backpackers. Indeed, this place attracted people truly interested in the natural beauty and island isolated way of life. Early in the morning, Rob and I would take a walk through the jungle to the other side of the island, where a small picturesque bay and white sand beach were located. We would come here every morning, and snorkel with reef sharks - just the two of us. We encountered quite a few black tip sharks - since this was an isolated hidden bay, the aquatic life luckily was more or less undisturbed - I hope it will stay like this, for that reason I am avoiding revealing the name of that bay. When not snorkeling, I would lay on my back in the turquoise-blue waters, with tropical fish and corals somewhere below me, surrounded by the jungle right above me, and white sand coastal line; the tropical trees whispers and birds signing were the only sounds in the air... The natural beauty was striking. The exotic surroundings felt like a paradise, it was my version of paradise, and a true soul meditation...
On other island exploration walks we would frequently encounter large monitor lizards, they were shy animals, but the size of them (some of a size of a small crocodile). and scary look constantly reminded us of the exotic location of the island.
There is so much more to write about, however, I have to stop at this point, let's leave some of it for future writings...




Malaysia - spontaneous journey

Anna's entry:
Malaysia was not in the initial plans of our journey through South East Asia. However, while traveling in the Southern Thailand, we were able to reconnect with our Malaysian friend from college, who lives in Kuala Lumpur. We have not seen each other for about 12 years, so we decided to have a reunion in Malaysia, and include a few stop-overs on the way to the capital. Some of these en pronto stop-overs and encounters lead to more adventures later on in Cambodia, and turned out to be one of the best highlights in our journey through South East Asia...



Hat Yai, Southern Thailand

Anna's entry:
Hat Yai was a stop-over while on our way to Malaysia. We debated whether to avoid this part of Thailand due to the violent events in last years, but ultimately decided to take that direction. This area known as Muslim Deep South witnessed several separatist movements and terror acts for the past six years, therefore tourists steer clearly away from the area for some time. Hat Yai has reestablished its security, and no major events have occurred for the past two years, however, the bad reputation still persists. After having completed the research, we decided to charter our ways through the area, which would make it the most direct way for us to reach the border with Malaysia. When we reached Hat Yai, we quickly realized that the bad rumors are an over-exaggeration of the current situation; it is actually a modern, safe, easy going town, and at least in our case we did not experienced any difficulties or unsafe situations of any kind. We would actually return to Hat Yai after our journey in Malaysia, and there will be a special entry dedicated to this town later on in this blog...



My View - The worst part of traveling are other travelers [Rob´s Thailand Entry (#2)]

You got to go there!!!! ..... It's awesome!!! ..... You just gotta' do it!!!! ..... It's the greatest!!!!!


These are the typical replies from other travelers regarding virtually anything they themselves have experienced. And oh boy.....do we run into moron travelers in Thailand.

My first memorable encounter with nonsensical recommendations was in Nicaragua when inquiring about the green coconut water drink sold there. I'd been curious for some time about trying it, but when I saw a group of westerners drinking one, I decided to inquire about the taste. "Oh, it's the greatest!" I was told. "Definitely get one, you'll love it!". OK, these people were from a similar background from myself in terms of food flavors, so I decided to give it a try.

Naturally, I realize that we all have different tastes and don't all like the same things, but if someone asked me about the coconut water, I'd reply something like "Well, I like it (or not), but it is probably an acquired taste, and not everyone cares for it", not one that it is the greatest experience in one's life. I only bring this up because the reality of the 'awesome' coconut water was like drinking liquid ass. Why didn't the others tell me the truth, which was that the taste was like you took some grass clippings, soaked them in water, and added some salt? That's about what it tasted like and that's what I would have told them (or maybe even offered to let them try mine). That is an answer that I could use and make decisions on.

Just this experience and I'd never mention it. Unfortunately, it was the first in a long string of nonsense from morons that want to demonstrate how cool and open-minded they are. Time and time again, inquiries about how something is (food, going to a place, etc.) is always met with ravenous enthusiasm, only to be dreadfully disappointing later. I'm not asking Chinese people about how their salted pickled eggs taste, Thais about their bitter bamboo oxy-acetylene curries, Guatemalans about their quesos (which received rave reviews from travelers- basically a cracker with shredded cabbage, a little [and I mean a LITTLE] cheese, and cucumber on top), I'm querying WESTERNERS, the one's that like pizza, Mexican food, junk food, etc.- you get the idea. I know the locals like their stuff, that's why I (used to) ask westerners- we all sort-of grew up on the same tastes. Again, this point alone- wouldn't mention it, but there's more....

Similarly is the emphatic insistence on doing anything they themselves have already done. The first memorable example was in Costa Rica. There was a nearby island off-shore from where we were standing, and we were contemplating swimming there to check out the marine life. We encountered someone swimming back, so took the opportunity to check how things were. As you can predict, we got out there and wondered if we were in the same place. Didn't see anything of mention! In addition, it was a fair distance to swim, the wave action beat us up a bit to go ashore, we kept an eye out for currents that might take us out to sea. In short, huge disappointment and total waste of time, all to be avoided by dropping the BS and telling things like they are.

Similarly, we were trying to get information about a somewhat pricey diving excursion in Thailand. We were asking in Koh Tao where we did about 6 dives, trying to use that as a base-line for comparison. The concept is very simple (so I thought), it costs about USD$20 per dive in Koh Tao, and about $40 in this other place. Can someone tell me (in their opinion), is the diving experience twice as good? Divemasters and other experts could only tell us "You just have to go do it man!", "You just gotta' go!!". That information helps very little as we try to base everything of value. Furthermore, this was no small amount of money- the $40/dive is in a package of between 9-14 dives (the site is remote and it wouldn't be good value to go so far and not fill up on diving). Maybe my question was too complex, let me try this one: "If you had $40 dollars to spend on diving, would YOU take two dives here or one dive there?". Forget it, that notion seems beyond diving experts. For the record, I experienced both diving locations and could report the following to my own questions (based upon my experience and opinion). The value received from the more expensive diving place was worth more than twice the cheaper location. Was it worth the $375/person spent diving? Yes, but just barely, one time.

Next topic of irritation is the EXTREME self-centeredness of travelers. Doesn't matter how late it is, any time is a good time to make noise. Not important noise like a fire or emergency, just to talk about how great something was, or beer, etc., is more than enough reason to wake up anyone.

Asking for advise or information is usually useless as they typically know very little of schedules, pricing, general information (except that everything is so great), etc. Nine times out of ten, anytime a practical inquiry is made from a traveler about anything that they should know at least something about reveals that we already know more and end up educating them about their ignorance and/or mis-information. Oddly, rarely is the knowledge transfer (from us to them) even appreciated.

Then there is the irritation. Under some circumstances, we can tolerate smoke- for example if a friend or someone we respect smokes. Other than that, it is extremely irritating to us. It seems that 90% of the travelers must smoke (all the time, everywhere). They wouldn't dare light-up in a restaurant in their home country, but feel fully entitled to sit down next to us while we eat and smoke.
Pricing is another great one. Locals try to rip off western travelers quite often with ridiculous prices, mis-information, dodge shenanigans, etc. but mostly with the pricing. So a tout approaches one of these morons, quotes some absurd price, and the traveler says "Uh, OK" and off they go. Try competing against that. Why bargain with us with such easy pickings around?

Another point of irritation. We all enter a town and struggle to orient ourselves. There is usually a learning curve at every new town. Why is it so hard to imagine that someone getting off a bus with a large backpack probably doesn't know where they are going? If they are staring at a guidebook map could they possibly be disorientated? Can these people not remember that was them a couple of days ago and offer to help? We all go to the same places, just point in the right direction to start? No, that seems waaaayyyyy too difficult. Not that they are mean, I just think so self focused that since they are not not lost at the moment, who cares that someone else might be? We try to aid someone who could obviously use a direction. They seem overwhelmed at the generous offering. It's nothing for us to say some hotel is that way, and means so much to someone standing in a busy road with a huge pack trying to make sense of their map. But rarely is such helpfulness EVER returned.

Another favorite is the traveler notion about being ripped off. "It's OK (or even good) that the locals rip us off, because they're poor". While a matter of opinion, I DON'T think it is OK to have an agreement for one price and be charged another (especially during times of need), regardless of how 'poor' someone is. I think it is of very poor taste and speaks volumes of the person's character that does it. We've met some very poor and honest sellers, and we've rewarded them with return business and referrals. Of course in the traveler's world, it's all for themselves. Let's not stick together against hostile/dishonest locals, just get ours and let others suffer. The locals work collectively against us at times, but we can't be bothered with such activities, just rip us off and carry on (after all, it's good/OK).

Dumb, irrigating, self-focused, and worthless. That is the typical traveler.
We have met some very interesting people in our travels, but many times they are aloof at first. We strongly suspect that is from their unpleasant experiences with travelers, and we are guilty until proven innocent. We too have our prejudices when encountering travelers and tend to keep to ourselves. That helps some, but not completely. As you can tell at this point, we've had enough of (most) travelers (and we've met other's that echo our complaints).

Phang-Nga, Andaman Coast, Thailand

Anna's entry:
Some guide books make reference to the Phang-Nga province of Thailand as Eden of the Ocean, implying that the natural beauty is absolutely stunning. It may be a little bit of over-exaggeration, since there are a lot of beautiful places around the world, however, Phang-Nga is a very unusual place indeed. No wonder, that a James Bond movie production (Man with a Golden Gun) was shot in the very Phang-Nga province – since that time one of the numerous islands has been called a James Bond island by locals.
Phang-Nga is a very dreamy place in my opinion, surrounded by the ocean, vertical islands, forests, and waterfalls. One day, we took a long-tail boat to explore the province, and some remote islands. I think the islands’ structure is what makes the scenery so unusual... They arise in the middle of oceans like invisible rocky giants, many meters up, surrounded by the ocean and clouds from all sides. Some islands have the arches and caves, and it is possible to get through them. The visual picture is very unusual, and yes, stunning too. We also stopped at one of the fishing villages, entirely built on stilts – every building, road, square, school, house, temples are built on stilts – this is why they call it a floating village.
On another day, Rob and I decided to explore a near-by Manora National park. We had read that there were a number of picturesque waterfalls in the area, plus the admission to the park was free, so it made it more appealing. We chose to forego the tuk-tuk drivers (we dislike them), and were able to figure out how to get half-way to the park by a public transportation, and then walked about 4 km. We were glad we did – we passed through small villages, and rubber tree plantations, locals were not used to seeing outsiders walking around (especially foreigners, who never seem to bother getting to places without a use of taxis); so we were given a nice welcome by local ladies and children. Eventually, we reached the park, and began our hike. It was hot, and humid (about 40C), but it was nice to walk among the giant tress and waterfalls. Frequently, we had to walk on a narrow bamboo hand-made bridge to cross the stream, and added some flare of adventure. We reached the end of the trail crowned by a large cave, and began walking back. We decided to take a dip in one of the waterfall on the way back, locals have a legend that at night a princess nymph come here to bathe naked, so we decided to follow her example. We found a nice swimming area, the water was refreshingly cold, and since there was no one in sight, and it would take a long time to dry our clothes in such humidity, we went bathing just like that princess does. It felt very liberating I must admit – to bathe in the middle of the forest, waterfall water running, birds singing, butterflies flying around... A few minutes after we exited the waterfall swimming area, we heard the voices of a few local guys approaching the area (they were on the way to have a picnic in isolation too), so good thing we exited the water when we did – it would have been a little bit embarrassing to be found swimming naked in the transparent waterfall pool... :)
I think the picturesque scenery of Phang-Nga will stay in my mind for a while – dreamy ocean, vertical islands, floating villages, and waterfalls... It is almost too good to be real...







My View - I LOVE Thai food [Rob´s Thailand Entry (#1)]

Note: This entry is a bit of a rag on other travelers that we've met (which is the subject of another blog entry). Travelers have become one of the major annoyances during our trip. This also refers to our experiences in the parts of Thailand we visited. Perhaps other locations are different.


How many times have I heard this from Westerners: "I LOVE Thai food!!"? Admittedly, I too used to say something similar, though liking (as opposed to loving) 'Thai' food. I forgive people that have not been to Thailand that make such a claim, but take some issue with westerners that have been there.

Anna and I ate THAI food. Let me tell you about REAL Thai food- the food that Thai people eat. Per my western palate, at best, it is OK. Not great, not something to love, basically OK. This is at best. At worst, it's inedible. Before you all yell at me, let me share my supporting evidence and conclusions.

Our first place of staying where we ate 'real' Thai food was on the island of Koh Tao. Lots of (what I think were) high-priced restaurants, all advertising 'Thai food'. I know they advertised this because I could read it. It was all in English. The Thai language is a mystery of curvy hieroglyphs impenetrable to all without purposeful study. Instead of being ripped off in these restaurants, we gravitated to this grocery store that had several large pots of food cooking. The lady that ran the store cooked the food herself and barely spoke enough English to tell the prices. A bag of 'curry' was about USD$0.70. We sampled several pots, got some egg rolls, some fried sate things, rice, and the total came to about $2-3 for both of us to eat. While other locals came to buy food from her, westerners would sometimes come and immediately turn away in disgust. We ate all our meals from her, which she appreciated and respected, and treated us very well (a refreshing change from the mostly-indifferent Thais), after all, we typically bought 3-4 times more food than the locals did (we were hungry after diving and it was a popular place with the locals). Some dishes were OK, some we simply couldn't eat. The worst of what I could eat was full of bitter bamboo shoots, insanely hot round chilies (one bag was a full one-third chilies- I measured it), and grease. I threw that one up the next day. Call it Thai food, call it what you want, but THIS IS THE FOOD THAI PEOPLE EAT. Not the westerners, not on English menus, not in restaurants advertising 'Thai food' (along with pizza and burgers). We sampled her food twice daily (lunch and supper). We liked the fried things and a couple of the curries were OK to good (per our palate). The rest is what I'd describe as curried @ss. OK, so that was one data point, what about others?

The next data point was also where we did our first scuba diving (in Thailand). The scuba company was western, but typically the boats were owned by local families, and seemed to serve as a home also. One day between dives, I began to smell something dead. Real dead and smelly. Simultaneously, the Thai crew was opening some cans of something and preparing their lunch. It seemed the suspicions were correct, the smell was likely their lunch as western-residents (like the scuba crew) told me that the 'fish paste' has the odor described. I seem to recall several similar instances over the days.


Additionally, we passed through other towns, and poked our heads in numerous cafeterias, stalls, etc. We've seen many pots of 'god-knows-what' cooking inside. Big piles of some unidentifiable internal parts of some animals sitting around. Other things that honestly smelled like manure nearby. We gave most of those places a pass, besides no one there would be able to understand us anyway.
Another data point was during our live-aboard diving. Again, we had a Thai crew, only this time they also were in charge of preparing our meals. When we were finished with our first supper, I was horrified to see the tasty left-overs thrown overboard. The crew (lady) cooked up some 'Thai' food for us, tofu, chicken, coconut milk, veggies, spices, etc. and rice, all tossed. I pleaded with our western scuba crew that maybe the Thai family (boatman and family) would like this food. I was informed that 'they might eat the rice, but they won't touch the food they make for us (similar to what you might get in a western Thai restaurant), and we DON'T want to even think about the food they eat'. Another data point.

Finally, we met up with some Germans that 'love' Thai food, but was looking for cheap authentic eats. We took them to a night market, where similarly to us, also liked the fried things (egg rolls, sate, etc.). Several vendors had anywhere between 6 to 10 big pots of 'Thai' food. We steered them to a few to sample that we thought they might like, and after the Germans sampled some, selected one with rice. After about 5 or 10 bites, they proclaimed that the food was too hot and they couldn't finish it. I did however, it was a bit spicy, but not as much as some. It was OK, and certainly edible. Not great, but would satisfy hunger. Basically the same food we have eaten throughout Thailand- Thai food! But Westerners DON'T love it, in fact, they refuse to eat it. (BTW- I had a similar impression of 'Chinese Food' after visiting Taiwan. It will sustain life, but nothing to eat for pleasure beyond not feeling hungry anymore.)

My final conclusions are: Westerners DON'T love Thai food, at least not the food the Thai's eat. They love the westernized watered-down facsimile of Thai food, the stuff the Thais refuse. That's the food served in restaurants with English menus, English speaking staff, and pizza/spaghetti/Mexican also available (same for real vs. fake Chinese food). So (particularly Western TRAVELERS), stop giving me the 'stink-eye' when I honestly say that I'm not too wild about Thai food. Don't show me how 'open' you are to new food and how much you 'love' everything. We ate the 'real deal', the curried a$$ described above, and it's definitely an acquired taste one has to grow up with to fully appreciate.

Similan Islands, Indian Ocean, Thailand

Anna's entry:
Renowned by divers the world over, beautiful uninhabited Similan Islands lay 70 km offshore Thailand, in the Indian Ocean. Diving around Similan Islands was a major reason for us coming to Southern Thailand. With major global climate changes occurring in today's world, Rob and I decided to prioritize seeing the nature and wild life before it is completely gone.
We took a night boat from our previous point Ko Tao Island across the Gulf of Thailand, then a bus from Chumphon (East coast) across the peninsula to Khao Lak (West coast). From Khao Lak the only way to get to Similan Islands is by speed-boat (not enough time to explore islands and lacking adventure), or by three-day live-aboards diving boat (more expensive alternative, but more adventurous diving exploration). We decided to choose the latter, and found the diving company that offered type of a diving boat we were looking for. We didn't want luxury cabins, we wanted good diving, good crew, and pleasant diving companions. We got just that - there were only six of us and two diving instructors, a captain, deck hand, and a cook. The other four people in our group were French, who moved to Thailand two years ago. We had a great team of similar minded individuals, environmentally conscious diving instructors, and easy going crew. The boat was pretty small, no individual cabins - the divers and instructors slept side by side on the open deck, mattresses on the floor covered in impeccable clean sheets and pillows. At night the generator would be turned off, and we could here the sound of waves, and wind caressing the palm trees somewhere on the island rocky shores; the boat would be landed right in the middle of the ocean, between the islands, and a beautiful starry sky would be right above us unspoiled by the light pollution... Fresh meals would be cooked for us throughout the day, and sea turtles would come to the boat throughout the day to check if there are any treats for them as well. We had several dives a day, including two night dives. When we were not diving, Rob and I would just jump off the boat into the ocean and snorkel, or swim to the isolated beach. The natural beauty looked and felt like a paradise...
The diving itself was different. Prior to Similan Islands, Rob and I dived in the Caribbean - around the Roatan Island, Honduras; and in the Gulf of Thailand, around Ko Tao Island. Those were easy dives. Similan Islands were definitely more advanced and demanded a bigger challenge. On our first dive, the currents were pretty strong - it required a lot of work to swim against it (or even stay in the same position), the dives were deeper, required more air consumption, and more concentration. We also had a great reward right on the first dive - a huge manta-ray tracked us down, and kept swimming right above our heads as if inviting us to join in. With about 3 meters (9 feet) in wings span, it was a beautiful graceful marine animal - it was fantastic to watch it and being accepted by it. On other dives we saw hundreds of aquatic species, just a few to mention: giant moray eels, barracudas, blue fin travellies, lion fish, Napoleon wrath, scorpion fish, clown fish, sea turtles, pipefish, stingray, groupers, frog fish, unicorn fish, leopard blenny, shrimp, crab, octopus, and many many others to save on the writing space. This was also our first time for the night dives - we jumped off the boat in complete darkness with torches (submergible flash lights), it felt different, aquatic life and coral colors were different, and somehow the night dive wasn't as scary as I had thought it would be. I was actually quite comfortable with it - my diving buddy (Rob) and our great diving instructor John were giving me a high level of confidence and support. We were very fortunate with John - originally from UK, by now he had completed over 4,000 dives, he had a good disposition, was very approachable and supportive. John - if you happen to read this blog, we will always remember diving with you in the Similians!
We returned back to the main-land after a few days, and stayed in Khao Lak to catch up on some practical matters. Khao Lak was majorly affected of tsunami 2001, but it seems to have recovered by now. We stayed in a very tranquil place, offering free internet. We used Skype for calling, and were able to catch up with our dear friends back in the US, Russia and Europe.








Ko Tao Island, Gulf of Thailand

Anna's entry:

Located off the East coast, in the Gulf of Thailand, this beautiful island (except for annoying western travelers looking to party that we unfortunately encountered again) is surrounded by crystal clear waters and coral reefs. We came to Ko Tao for a purpose of a refresher scuba diving training - we have not dived in about two years after our certification in Roatan Island, Honduras. We planned a diving adventure to the uninhabited Similan Islands afterwards, so we felt that a refresher dive would be handy before then.
Well, Rob's refresher dive went just fine, mine deserves a special mention.

Let's see... We were assigned to a laid-back diving master James who was originally from New York. We went out on the boat, prepared our scuba equipment, put our tanks on with the rest of scuba equipment, started walking to the edge of the boat to prepare for a jump, and then BOOM! One of the hoses supplying air from the tank exploded, causing the loud escaping air noise, and turning the heads towards me from everyone on the boat. Our instructor James ran towards me, and took the tank off me. He gave me a new tank, we jumped off the boat, and began submerging. A couple of minutes later I realized that I can not submerge, this time a hose of my BCD (buoyancy control device) came off, and my BCD jacket was completely out of order. James, the instructor, and I ascended and swam back to the boat. This time, with more of a concern on his face, James handed me a different BCD, probably in hopes that that would be the end of mishaps. Or, so both of us hoped... I submerged without any issues, but during the dive, I pulled out yet another hose from my new BCD, and had no choice but finish my dive early. Luckily, I am a professionally trained swimmer, so I managed to swim to the boat without any air in my BCD, with a heavy loaded air tank and weights around my waist. This time James was not looking as calm - he could not believe that three consecutive equipment failures could happen to the same person within the first 30 minutes of the dive, or at least he had not had witnessed anything like it for all his diving career. This time, another instructor put a heavy duty seal-ring over my hose, two guys pulled the hose opposite directions and told me "see, you can't break it even if you wanted to!". "OK," I said. "Let's hope so". Fortunately for me, that was the end of the mishaps, and I must say how grateful I am that it was James who was my instructor. His sense of calm, and nurturing nature helped me to get a great refresher course. We continued diving with James, I think he knew that I needed to regain my diving confidence, so he included some special challenges during the dives - like going through narrow cave tunnels. His training helped me a lot with my sense of improved buoyancy, which later on came in handy during deeper and more advanced dives at the Similan Islands. James, if you happen to read this blog - Thank You!

Besides fun dives, Rob and I decided to explore Ko Tao island for some snorkeling opportunities. We found a bay that we heard had some reef sharks. We also got a great suggestion what time of the day to go there. One early morning, we finally found that bay. We got there early, put our wet suits and snorkeling gear on, and shortly after exploring the water we saw them. Several black-tip and white-tip sharks, about ten of them, maybe more. They were shy elegant creatures, it was the first time we saw them in the wild. Later on that morning several tour boats showed up in the bay, dozens of loud people jumped of the boat, which naturally scared the sharks away. This is one of the reasons that Rob and I carry our own equipment, and try to snorkel independently, it gives us a lot better chance to avoid the crowds, and most importantly have an undisturbed encounter with the aquatic life and nature.

I also would like to dedicate a part of the Ko Tao blog to a local lady who we purchased ALL our meals from. You see, having too many westerners on the island, creates too many over-priced restaurants, lots of which are not authentic. Rob and I decided to find something different, away from the crowds. We wondered around the village, and stumbled upon a grocery store that also had a table with several steaming pots. We approached a lady behind the table and asked if we could sample the pots contents. She told us "its hot, very hot, you eat hot?" We tried her creations, some we really liked, some were a little too authentic - curious internal body parts of pork, or beef, or chicken (I am not sure which animal) were swimming in the solution of numerous chili heads, intestines, and poignant bamboo shoots (I-know-it-all westerners - do not tell me how much you love Thai food, until you try the real thing, your opinion does not count, or at least not until then). Anyway, that old cookin' lady became our main food source for the entire stay on the island. As soon as we would appear, she would wait for us with a sampling spoon, telling us which dish she has just made, she would have us sample for free her new creations, and once in a while spill a secret, which dish was older so we would not buy it. Her husband got to like us too, and they both would discount food for us, or add a couple of mangoes as a free food gift. On our last night on the island, we came to say good-buy to the lady loaded up with our big backpacks. The lady was sad to see us go, that night she ran out of our favorite spring rolls, so she put some oranges and big carrots for us (for free) to take with on our night boat in case we get hungry.

We took a night boat back to Chumphon, crossing the Gulf of Thailand for the second time back to the mainland.




Arrival-Bangkok

Anna's entry:

As soon as we landed in Bangkok after our night flight from Mumbai, India, we went into a complete state of reverse culture shock. We left the very modern Bangkok International Airport, and realized we were no longer in chaos of India - Thai roads were perfect, every car was staying it its delegated lane, there were no cows on the streets, no fires burning on side of the road, no goats jumping on the roofs, no people squatting along the highway... Rob and I looked at each other and said "Thailand will probably be dull". After four months of absolute insanity of India, which we didn't plan to, but fell in love with, modern rich Thailand was a shocker for us. India made us challenge our emotions and thoughts every day, Thailand however, seemed normal and predictable. But, we were here, we decided to open our hearts to a new experience, trying to block our skepticism at least for the moment. We decided to dedicate our first month in Thailand to its Southern part with a focus on the country's natural beauty, and our main reason for going there was scuba diving.

We had a few days in Bangkok, however, before continuing South. The first days were not very happy ones, especially for Rob. He got sicker than a dog, was throwing up, extreme weakness, diarrhea, you name it. So, he stayed in bed for several days trying to recover, and I went on short walks around Bangkok trying to get familiar with surroundings. We stayed in the backpacker district called Banglamphu. Anyone who is feeling sick of seeing crowds of westerners - don't come here, or at least stay away from Khao San Road! There are thousands of westerners here, they are everywhere, there is no escape... If I didn't see the Royal Palace and Thai language, I would think we were in Florida during Spring break. But, if your goal coming to Thailand is only to party, drink, smoke, and have easy sex, this is your place. Rob and I are out of the above mentioned focus groups, so that part of Bangkok was really dull for us. The only aspect that we could relate to after months of traveling in India was a craving for a quick western food fix, pizza in particular, so we headed out to Siam Square with major Western food chain establishments. It was Rob's Birth Day, he somewhat had recovered from his illness by that time, so we ordered two big western pizzas, and a substantial jar of pop. We got out feel, and were ready to head out from Bangkok for more interesting things to see and do.
















Thailand - Part I

Anna's entry:
I must confess, I am really behind on my blog entries. I am actually writing this entry about a month latter (by now we have already completed our Malaysia adventure), I will try however, to the best of my memory ability restore the passed events... Rob will enter his critical thinking commentaries as well.