I know a lot of people either dream of going to Thailand or the ones who have been there rave about it. We were the same prior to us visiting the country as it is far away from the US and the long journey itself makes it seem exotic and wonderful. However, once we saw Thailand and spent about a month or so in the country, really didn't care for it. Shocking, but I found the country full of tourists, yes it was discovered a long time ago, not the smiling Thais that everyone talks about, maybe because we are brown and in SE Asia fair skin goes a lot further, and horrible customer service at the tourist offices in Bangkok.
Also, the food wasn't that great, it seemed like it was catered for tourists and it was hard to find anything authentic. We had far better food in Cambodia. About the only thing that was great about Thailand and maybe worth exploring more were the beaches and the islands such as Koh Tao and Koh Pha Ngan, these I admit were amazing. My opinion, if you go to Thailand, go for the island beaches only.
Showing posts with label thailand. Show all posts
Showing posts with label thailand. Show all posts
Beautiful Thailand Beaches
As soon as we returned to Thailand from the visa run got an evening bus to Chumpon and ate dinner at the market before departing. We caught a swangthaw to the closed bus station but found out that we could hail a passing bus, so after waiting 5 minutes got on the way and arrived in Chumpon two hours later. At the guest house, the owner was awfully pushy about selling us a boat ticket, being tired ignored her and went to bed only to learn the next day that she was being helpful as the ferry to our destination only leaves once a day. Chumpon is a quiet town, so after spending a night booked ourselves a ride on a slow cargo boat to Koh Tao on a night departure. The boat ride took about 6 hours, which we slept in the comforts of our shared cabin, which luckily we arrived early enough to secure couple of beds.
Koh Phangan was beautiful with blue green waters, mountains, and jungle surroundings. Our time was mostly spent on Haad Grud, Haad Salad, Haad Yao, and a short trip to Bottle Beach. We came back to Koh Tao and finished up our time before flying out from Bangkok to Nepal by taking a snorkeling trip, the highlight of which was swimming with Black Tip Reef Sharks. The stops on the way included Shark Bay, Aowleuk, Hin Wong Bay, Mango Bay, and Nang Yuan.
Koh Phangan was beautiful with blue green waters, mountains, and jungle surroundings. Our time was mostly spent on Haad Grud, Haad Salad, Haad Yao, and a short trip to Bottle Beach. We came back to Koh Tao and finished up our time before flying out from Bangkok to Nepal by taking a snorkeling trip, the highlight of which was swimming with Black Tip Reef Sharks. The stops on the way included Shark Bay, Aowleuk, Hin Wong Bay, Mango Bay, and Nang Yuan.
Myanmar Visa Run
A visa run involves going to a neighboring country in this case Myanmar being the closest and the one we've heard many good things from other travelers, decided to cross over there by ferry. Before though we had to figure out a few things and of course eat breakfast. We arrived at Ranong just before day break and walked in the semi-darkness to the morning market to get delicious hot coffee and donuts to dunk. We got hot sweet rice and other tasty treats before setting out on our task. The first thing we needed was to confirm the cost of the visa and then convert it to dollars as the only acceptable method. We walked to a hotel but they didn't know, so we decided to wait it out a bit until the banks opened. Afterwards walking towards the pier came to another hotel, which did confirm the price and so went to a bank to convert the currency but they wouldn't do it so after hunting for another one got the required $20 per person for the visa fee. We walked back to the hotel to retrieve out big bag and went looking for the swangthaw to take us to the immigration pier. Walking on the road, spotted the #6 swangthaw, negotiated the fare, and got going for the 30 minute ride.
As soon as we got to the pier, were surrounded by touts to take us to the other side, many of which were overpriced, so after going through the Thai immigration formalities found a cheaper boat for the 45 min crossing to Myanmar. Our little boat took off in bobbing seas with us clutching out things and excited to see another country. On the Myanmar side, we handed over our passports to the captains son, a 12 year old who held our documents on open seas and we prayed that he wouldn't slip or fall. With out papers checked and proceeding on arrived on Myanmars shore, disembarked, and found a country completely different from the one left behind shortly. Saw both men and women walking in sarongs, lots of tea shops, men chewing on Betel nuts, men on boats fishing, and a general sense of calm and life moving slowly. As soon as we entered, a man approached us and took us to the immigration authorities who asked for the money. We gave over the money along with our passports and held our breaths as the officer inspected our $20 dollar bills. If the bills have even the slightest tear, are old, crumpled, the authorities won't accept them and will send you back. Gladly ours was accepted and we were presented with a 14 day stay with the restriction of not going further than 3 km. They held onto our passports, took our haggard pictures, and gave us temporary identification cards.
Upon exiting, the man who had helped us was Ali, who then took us on his motorbike to a nearby hotel as we opted to at least stay one night and explore the area. We checked in and found a country full of extremely hospitable people with quick smiles and delicious food.
Walking back to the pier along the beautiful blue green waters of the Andaman, found a Burmese restaurant with ready samosas at the table along with good chicken filled patties and ate them with cups full of hot green tea. While eating a man by the name of Mohammed came by introduced himself and told us of how he heard of two Americans in the area. He was extremely friendly and told us of good places to eat Pakistani food. He works as a driver, has a son but his wife has passed away, and has worked in Malaysia, Thailand, and the Philippines. He's 34 years old, has 8 brothers, and parents that live in Yangon. He is the driver tonight for a wedding, so invited us to attend and we eagerly accepted.
Earlier, ran into Ali again and chatted with him and found out that he was married at the age of 14, has 2 kids, is himself Bengali but married to a Burmese woman. We were also ticked at the fact about speaking Urdu to the locals as many speak it as they have settled here from surrounding countries. We were invited to sit down and drink tea with Ali, another man of the same age, who is Pakistani who offered to pay for our drinks.
We haven't properly slept or showered, so walked back to the hotel to take a rest before coming back out to attend the wedding. Walking back out later after a hearty dinner with lots of complimentary food, walked past the wedding with music, decorations, and general merriment. Spotting Ali, discussed the political situation, which talking in Urdu felt safer as the authorities are never far away. Mohammed invited us to come in to the wedding reception and sat us down in front of a mountain of dessert with ice cream, coconut pudding, and sweet bread. He even brought over the bride/groom for us to take pictures. I even saw the videographer shooting us, while eating and grinning from ear to ear.
It was a full day, so thanked our friends and walked back to the hotel to sleep with the sounds of croaking frogs and men chatting outside.
We've just arrived and already feel like we have made friends, even strangers such as when walking to our hotel offered us food when we walked by his street stall for free. Next day, I attended the Friday prayers at the nearby mosque and sat down for tea, when Ali came by with his 96 year old father and wife and decided to join us. Being a Friday, it's his day to relax so told us more about his family and learned that he never attended school but is making sure his son is. His father spoke English and was able to converse with him a little bit. Despite being deaf in one ear and blind in one eye, he seems very fit and rides with his son on his motorcycle. Time flies and it was time for us to go back to Thailand so Ali again paid for the drinks and arranged for our boat back. I got our bag from the hotel and we ran towards the pier to catch the boat before the Thai immigration closed. Got back our passports, said our hasty goodbyes, and got on the boat to head back. We arrived on the Thai side 15 minutes before closing, got the visa extension, and rejoiced for our time well spent.
As soon as we got to the pier, were surrounded by touts to take us to the other side, many of which were overpriced, so after going through the Thai immigration formalities found a cheaper boat for the 45 min crossing to Myanmar. Our little boat took off in bobbing seas with us clutching out things and excited to see another country. On the Myanmar side, we handed over our passports to the captains son, a 12 year old who held our documents on open seas and we prayed that he wouldn't slip or fall. With out papers checked and proceeding on arrived on Myanmars shore, disembarked, and found a country completely different from the one left behind shortly. Saw both men and women walking in sarongs, lots of tea shops, men chewing on Betel nuts, men on boats fishing, and a general sense of calm and life moving slowly. As soon as we entered, a man approached us and took us to the immigration authorities who asked for the money. We gave over the money along with our passports and held our breaths as the officer inspected our $20 dollar bills. If the bills have even the slightest tear, are old, crumpled, the authorities won't accept them and will send you back. Gladly ours was accepted and we were presented with a 14 day stay with the restriction of not going further than 3 km. They held onto our passports, took our haggard pictures, and gave us temporary identification cards.
Upon exiting, the man who had helped us was Ali, who then took us on his motorbike to a nearby hotel as we opted to at least stay one night and explore the area. We checked in and found a country full of extremely hospitable people with quick smiles and delicious food.
Walking back to the pier along the beautiful blue green waters of the Andaman, found a Burmese restaurant with ready samosas at the table along with good chicken filled patties and ate them with cups full of hot green tea. While eating a man by the name of Mohammed came by introduced himself and told us of how he heard of two Americans in the area. He was extremely friendly and told us of good places to eat Pakistani food. He works as a driver, has a son but his wife has passed away, and has worked in Malaysia, Thailand, and the Philippines. He's 34 years old, has 8 brothers, and parents that live in Yangon. He is the driver tonight for a wedding, so invited us to attend and we eagerly accepted.
Earlier, ran into Ali again and chatted with him and found out that he was married at the age of 14, has 2 kids, is himself Bengali but married to a Burmese woman. We were also ticked at the fact about speaking Urdu to the locals as many speak it as they have settled here from surrounding countries. We were invited to sit down and drink tea with Ali, another man of the same age, who is Pakistani who offered to pay for our drinks.
We haven't properly slept or showered, so walked back to the hotel to take a rest before coming back out to attend the wedding. Walking back out later after a hearty dinner with lots of complimentary food, walked past the wedding with music, decorations, and general merriment. Spotting Ali, discussed the political situation, which talking in Urdu felt safer as the authorities are never far away. Mohammed invited us to come in to the wedding reception and sat us down in front of a mountain of dessert with ice cream, coconut pudding, and sweet bread. He even brought over the bride/groom for us to take pictures. I even saw the videographer shooting us, while eating and grinning from ear to ear.
It was a full day, so thanked our friends and walked back to the hotel to sleep with the sounds of croaking frogs and men chatting outside.
We've just arrived and already feel like we have made friends, even strangers such as when walking to our hotel offered us food when we walked by his street stall for free. Next day, I attended the Friday prayers at the nearby mosque and sat down for tea, when Ali came by with his 96 year old father and wife and decided to join us. Being a Friday, it's his day to relax so told us more about his family and learned that he never attended school but is making sure his son is. His father spoke English and was able to converse with him a little bit. Despite being deaf in one ear and blind in one eye, he seems very fit and rides with his son on his motorcycle. Time flies and it was time for us to go back to Thailand so Ali again paid for the drinks and arranged for our boat back. I got our bag from the hotel and we ran towards the pier to catch the boat before the Thai immigration closed. Got back our passports, said our hasty goodbyes, and got on the boat to head back. We arrived on the Thai side 15 minutes before closing, got the visa extension, and rejoiced for our time well spent.
The Shock of Bangkok
There are big cities and then there is Bangkok, a mass of malls, huge streets, lots of noisy traffic, crowds, and to top it off tropical heat and humidity. We arrived early in the morning to Kao San Road, which even at that hour was partying with bars in full swing and street revelry, complete with a Thai man break dancing on the street. Walking past him and looking for places to stay, we were continuously turned away as it was too early for checkout. We did arrive at 5 in the morning!
My bag was feeling heavy so we found a hotel lobby and put out heads down for a while to work out the sleeps from our eyes and to kill some time. After a while got going on and after visiting more hotels and different side streets found a dingy little place after looking for two hours. Another thing about Bangkok is that it's expensive. It was still early, so we slept for a bit and after breakfast headed out to Chinatown, which in my opinion makes up the cultural heart of any big city. Finding the right bus took a while, perhaps in the stifling heat we weren't thinking correctly and wasted two hours standing on the wrong side of the street. The place is getting ready for the Chinese New Years so lots of lanterns were up for the celebrations. The highlights included the Golden Buddha, made entirely out of solid gold at 5.5 tons! There was also a huge covered markets with lots of clothes, daily household items, and kitschy souvenirs but also had some good street food of spicy Mango salad, spice covered Pineapple, and fried Banana with Coconut. The market continued on to an Indian area with lots of restaurants and more street food, when I spotted a pan (betel nut with leave, spices, and sweets) stand and got a huge one that I could barely fit into my mouth. We came back to our backpacker area with Thais singing American tunes at bars and after eating some street Pad Thai called it a night.
Its amazing that even after just a few days you get to know the surroundings and so the next day took us out to Jim Thompsons house, an American entrepreneur who in the 1960s introduced Thai silk to the West. We had far better luck with the local buses this time and the beautiful house that's tastefully decorated is now a foundation after the man himself mysteriously disappeared in 1967 in the Cameron Highlands, while on a picnic. Theories on his disappearance abound and many think he was abducted, eaten by tigers, or taken out by the CIA. No clue has ever been found. The remainder of our time was spent visiting a few temples, riding the Chaopraya Ferry, and watching the partying that takes place nightly on Kao San Road and the surrounding streets.
We go next from here to Ranong, a coastal town on the Andaman Sea to do a visa run to Myanmar to extend our Thai visa for another 15 days.
My bag was feeling heavy so we found a hotel lobby and put out heads down for a while to work out the sleeps from our eyes and to kill some time. After a while got going on and after visiting more hotels and different side streets found a dingy little place after looking for two hours. Another thing about Bangkok is that it's expensive. It was still early, so we slept for a bit and after breakfast headed out to Chinatown, which in my opinion makes up the cultural heart of any big city. Finding the right bus took a while, perhaps in the stifling heat we weren't thinking correctly and wasted two hours standing on the wrong side of the street. The place is getting ready for the Chinese New Years so lots of lanterns were up for the celebrations. The highlights included the Golden Buddha, made entirely out of solid gold at 5.5 tons! There was also a huge covered markets with lots of clothes, daily household items, and kitschy souvenirs but also had some good street food of spicy Mango salad, spice covered Pineapple, and fried Banana with Coconut. The market continued on to an Indian area with lots of restaurants and more street food, when I spotted a pan (betel nut with leave, spices, and sweets) stand and got a huge one that I could barely fit into my mouth. We came back to our backpacker area with Thais singing American tunes at bars and after eating some street Pad Thai called it a night.
Its amazing that even after just a few days you get to know the surroundings and so the next day took us out to Jim Thompsons house, an American entrepreneur who in the 1960s introduced Thai silk to the West. We had far better luck with the local buses this time and the beautiful house that's tastefully decorated is now a foundation after the man himself mysteriously disappeared in 1967 in the Cameron Highlands, while on a picnic. Theories on his disappearance abound and many think he was abducted, eaten by tigers, or taken out by the CIA. No clue has ever been found. The remainder of our time was spent visiting a few temples, riding the Chaopraya Ferry, and watching the partying that takes place nightly on Kao San Road and the surrounding streets.
We go next from here to Ranong, a coastal town on the Andaman Sea to do a visa run to Myanmar to extend our Thai visa for another 15 days.
Lord of the Elephants
The highlights of Northern Thailand like it's neighbor Laos include trekking, village home stays, and elephant riding. We entered Thailand in the north at Huay Xai and immediately got a taste of the delicious cuisine when my wife spotted a vendor selling huge spring rolls and Coconut filled pastries at the bus station to Chiang Rai. We stayed a few days in Chiang Rai but didn't find it to be too special, a quiet place ideal for trekking, which we weren't interested in.
We moved on after a few days to Chiang Mai, about a 3 hour bus ride, which was bigger, more restaurants but also more crowds. The frustration in getting around for us were that we don't really ride motorbikes and with the heavy traffic wouldn't have been a good option anyway. The other way to get around is by swangthaw, which are efficient but expensive. Our time was thus spent inside the city visiting art galleries, eating, visiting the night market, and walking around the walled city. We looked into a few treks that included elephant riding or training as a mahout which interested both of us but again the price was a factor so we opted to instead visit the Elephant Research Center and took a local bus out there after asking around. The Center is a large area and has a large number of elephants that are taken in as either being injured by poachers for their ivory or as out of work animals from the logging industry. Many of the elephants bare scars from their abuse and the Center has a hospital to treat them, which aren't released back into the wild but are instead used to give rides to tourists and put on shows, a far better life then the one they endured. We arrived from our bus journey just in time for such a show, which was amazing with the animals showing their skills and strength in moving logs with their feet and lifting them with their trunks. The elephants played instruments and even participated in pachyderm art when the mahouts brought out easels, brush, and colors and the animals began drawing with their trunks other elephants and flowers in amazing details.
We stuck around afterwards to feed the elephants by hand and they greedily would extend their wet trunk ends to grab the goods. We took a short walk to a nursery, which held a mother and her tiny baby. I had a packet of peanuts, which they ate but the mother seemed to be getting restless so we moved on to give them their space and peace. The mahouts tell you to never fully trust an elephant as many of them have killed humans.
As the Center closed and walking back to the road, we hailed down the local bus from the side of the highway and arrived back into town. One can't walk a few meters without seeing signs for Thai massages, so had to get one, which I describe as gloriously painful but effective in loosening one up. We laid ourselves down on straw mats with posters of idyllic nature scenery and she got to working. My messes used her elbows and knees on my back, which while painful were good for working out soreness and a good way to close off the day.
We moved on after a few days to Chiang Mai, about a 3 hour bus ride, which was bigger, more restaurants but also more crowds. The frustration in getting around for us were that we don't really ride motorbikes and with the heavy traffic wouldn't have been a good option anyway. The other way to get around is by swangthaw, which are efficient but expensive. Our time was thus spent inside the city visiting art galleries, eating, visiting the night market, and walking around the walled city. We looked into a few treks that included elephant riding or training as a mahout which interested both of us but again the price was a factor so we opted to instead visit the Elephant Research Center and took a local bus out there after asking around. The Center is a large area and has a large number of elephants that are taken in as either being injured by poachers for their ivory or as out of work animals from the logging industry. Many of the elephants bare scars from their abuse and the Center has a hospital to treat them, which aren't released back into the wild but are instead used to give rides to tourists and put on shows, a far better life then the one they endured. We arrived from our bus journey just in time for such a show, which was amazing with the animals showing their skills and strength in moving logs with their feet and lifting them with their trunks. The elephants played instruments and even participated in pachyderm art when the mahouts brought out easels, brush, and colors and the animals began drawing with their trunks other elephants and flowers in amazing details.
We stuck around afterwards to feed the elephants by hand and they greedily would extend their wet trunk ends to grab the goods. We took a short walk to a nursery, which held a mother and her tiny baby. I had a packet of peanuts, which they ate but the mother seemed to be getting restless so we moved on to give them their space and peace. The mahouts tell you to never fully trust an elephant as many of them have killed humans.
As the Center closed and walking back to the road, we hailed down the local bus from the side of the highway and arrived back into town. One can't walk a few meters without seeing signs for Thai massages, so had to get one, which I describe as gloriously painful but effective in loosening one up. We laid ourselves down on straw mats with posters of idyllic nature scenery and she got to working. My messes used her elbows and knees on my back, which while painful were good for working out soreness and a good way to close off the day.
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