Koh Phangan and After-Thailand Plans

Sewatdeeka! Sorry it's been so long, I've had a long two weeks.

First, I went to Koh Phangan (pronounced Ko-Pan-yang) for a week to go to a full moon party. Wikipedia it if you must. From what I hear, it's one of the biggest parties in the world, and 15,000 people pile onto this beach called Haad Rin on the south of the island to drink buckets of booze and dance all night to djs who fly in from all over the world. Should have been awesome, but I didn't get to go.

The actual full moon was on Friday so I left Tuesday night on an overnight train to arrive in Koh Phangan by Wednesday at noon. I left a little bit earlier than a lot of my friends because I had to be back a bit early, too, for a midterm Monday. The train was amazing. I went with my friends Jake, Katie, Shelley and Sophie on a sleeper, which meant that instead of the grueling bus seats I couldn't tolerate before, I got an actual bed. It was 400 percent better than the bus, especially since it was only about 200 baht, or $6, more. What a deal.

When we got to Koh Phangan we got one piece of bad news after the other. Fortunately, in the spirit of Thailand and mai pben rai and the fact that things always seem to work out, they did. First, we found out that our bungalow, which we had felt so lucky to be able to book for 12 people, was on such a secluded beach that once we got there we wouldn't be able to travel to Haad Rin... the whole point of our trip. Although beautiful, the beach our bungalow is on, Bottle Beach, is only accessible by ferry or an hour-long hike. If we had wanted to travel into Haad Rin for the night we wouldn't have been able to get back until the next day.

Once we found out about the inaccessibility of our bungalow, we followed another group of Thammasat kids to "J. Seaview," a bungalow buried deep in the jungle:


Our second piece of bad news was the that full moon party was postponed until Sunday night. Friday was an election day in Thailand, and not just on elections days, but on entire elections weekends, the king orders that it's illegal to sell alcohol. The island kept that fact mum I'm assuming so as not to dissuade any tourists from coming to the island. In fact, they probably made more money than usual because most people who came for the party on Friday stayed through Sunday.

No matter, we did as best we could and went out every night we were there. In preparation for the full moon party, the beaches were humming with people from everywhere. Neon lights lined the beach, and buckets in hand, everyone crowded in circles to watch the most talented fire spinners I've ever seen. This one guy was tossing his cord of fire probably 50 feet in the air and then catching it by the unlit tail. I told my friend Brad I felt like I was at home, but really I don't know anyone who can do that.

My favorite night was the night of the full moon, Friday night. We all hoped that something would be happening, so we painted ourselves with body paint our house-mom (the owner of the bungalow) happened to have. Kyle, one of the guys on the trip, played guitar and sang while we painted. It was really wonderful.

Meris painting me:

Other than those nights out, we spent our days lazing around the beach. Twice in a row we tried to ferry to Bottle Beach - the secluded beach on the north side of the island we had thought we would stay at - and twice we were told that the waves were too choppy for a longboat to make it. Imagine if we had stayed there! We wouldn't have been able to leave.

This is the beach we stayed at instead. Shelley catching a frisbee Jake so wisely invested in:

One of the beaches on Koh Phangan, which means "long shore" or something:

From left: Jake, Andy, Sophie, Katie, Shelley

At the risk of sounding absolutely like an ignorant American (I still am), Thailand is BIG! I never thought it was until I got here, and realized that even though a lot of countries are smaller than the US, that doesn't mean that traveling through them doesn't take a while. Traveling to the southern island in Thailand by bus or train usually takes around 17 hours, which was longer than my flight from Seattle to Taipei. And yet, I'm willing to do it every weekend, just to see all of what I won't have an opportunity to see again for a very long time.

Being here has made me realize how small the world really is. Not in terms of people (although I did meet a Thai girl, Foil, who lived in my Houston neighborhood for a year when she did an exchange in high school) but in terms of actual distance. What seemed so exotic to me before now seems possible, and I want to see them. It's got me thinking more and more about seriously doing the Peace Corps, or at the very least traveling until I go absolutely broke.

I met a girl named Shelley (in a picture above) who doesn't go to Thammasat but is staying with us here in my condo through an indirect connection. Her story (and I could get this a bit wrong) is that she was in school, not really caring about it, when she heard about couchsurfing.com. Couchsurfing.com - check it out - is this nonprofit that links people up with other people around the world who want to travel. Basically, if you sign up for the sight I think you're obligated to offer your couch at some point (although you get to meet the person online beforehand and say if you want them to stay or not), and in exchange you're linked to thousands of people offering you their couches. So she found out about this, made an appointment with a travel agent who got her somewhere around 8 flights for close to $1200, dropped out of school and left three weeks later. She's racking up some debt, but I can't imagine that it wouldn't be worth it. She just spent 4 months in Europe and will spend another four in Asia before she heads back.

The point is, this kind of travel is entirely possible. Europeans seem to understand that, and I see them goddamn everywhere. But I NEVER see Americans - how strange! I really want to break free of that cultural norm of only ever getting to see our North-American counterparts and Europe.

Thailand is incredible, for more reasons than just its full moon parties and 33 baht to the dollar exchange rate.

Nung, Sang, Saam, See, Ha, Hok, Jet, Pbet, Cow, Sip...

I learned my Thai numbers today! This is a big step, because now I'll be better able to bargain... I can at least pretend I know a little more Thai than I do. I can't believe I went this long without learning them.

Spending another weekend in Bangkok, but this time just because I'm heading out to Koh Phangan Tuesday for the full moon party Friday night. This time I'm traveling by train in a sleeper, thank god... it's twice as much, but I think it's be four times as worth it. Meris also got me a backpacker's backpack for 200 baht ($6), so I don't have to travel quite as lightly as usual! Today is an optimistic day.

First Bangkok Weekend

I finally stayed in Bangkok for a weekend. Thursday was Chinese New Year (happy year of the rat!) and, in a twisted coincidence, I saw my first Thai rats. Meris, her friend Fernando, Charity and I all walked around Chinatown for a while before holing up in a Chinese restaurant. We were all exhausted - made more so by our many courses of dim sum - so we didn't ask for the check for nearly three hours. (In Thailand, I've found, you have to be the one to take that initiative. It's not like in America, where the server practically pushes you out the door once you've taken your last bite.) When we got out we realized it had been raining. I have no idea for how long or how hard, because by then the rain had stopped, but the streets were positively flooded. I'm really surprised, because Thailand has a monsoon season (that I fortunately get to miss), and I would think the drainage system would be more adequate than this:

As we walked along what little was left of the sidewalk, we soon discovered that the flooding had driven thousands of cockroaches and rats out of their homes, and they were now walking right alongside us. They were almost impossible to avoid because the sidewalks were so crowded, and Fernando even had a roach crawl up the back of his leg. Ew! I kept thinking they would slide off the awnings and into my hair. Needless to say, the crowds were dissipating, and we left.

Meris, before the rain with Chinese New Year noisemaker:

Friday I finally did my first touristy Bangkok thing and went to Wat Pho, a temple that's so close it's pathetic that it took me six weeks to get there. It was absolutely stunning. In one of the rooms is a golden statue of a reclining Buddha who is actually so big he's impossible to view all at once:


To give some perspective:

To be honest, that part was a little touristy, even though we went at practically closing time, but it was so beautiful I don't even care.

The other parts of the temple were my favorite. One room had a much smaller Buddha, but was actually being used by monks to worship. They were all sitting before the Buddha, chanting in unison. It was so relaxing. This might sound silly, but when I was in there, just kneeling and listening to the monks chant, I felt really at ease. I think I'm going to go back and let sitting there be a stress aid for me. (Not that I think Thailand, land of smiles, will ever get stressful.)

That night we found out about a modern dance show performed in a park near Thammasat, so we headed that way. We put bets on when the show would actually start (supposed to start at 7 p.m., but taking Thai time into account). I think it actually started about 45 minutes late. It was a perfect, breezy night. Afterwards I took a break from going out and got a Thai massage instead. I have been really scared of getting them. Thai massages are supposed to really work your joints and muscles, and can really hurt, but after the awful 11-hour bus rides to and from Koh Samui, my muscles had never fully recovered, so I was ready to be pulled and prodded. As it turns out, it was nothing except a bit more vigorous normal massage, and I think that's the sort of massage I'm going to get all the time now. (Muahaha, that's right, all the time; they only cost $10.)

Modern dance show:

The next day, Saturday, everyone left for the Tiger Temple. Since I had already gone I opted out and went to the JJ market, aka the Chatachuk Weekend Market, that has the cheapest and largest selection of clothes. I had a ton of fun, and met up with two Thai friends who bargained for me (made things a lot easier). I ended up spending about $25 for three dresses and a shirt. What a cheap way to get my shopping fix! I looooove Thai prices.

That night we went to a club on Thong Lor, Santika. We got there a bit late, of course, (it's really hard to move eight people anywhere quickly), and because of that we couldn't find a spot on the floor. We headed upstairs, and spent the whole night overlooking the rest of the club. I really liked it, because we had a fantastic view of the band, and it gave us tons of room to dance. I think dancing is my favorite thing to do here, and too often I find myself stepping out of my heels to make it easier. (It's really gross the next day, when my feet are black.)

Sunday we tried so hard to get a lot done. First, dressed in our school uniforms (so that we could get in for free), we tried to get into the Grand Palace. Again, it's really lame that it took me six weeks to get there. From what I can tell, the place is beyond magnificent. When we got there, though, our Thammasat i.d.s weren't good enough because they weren't laminated, so we were turned away and told to by tickets. We opted to go another time with a Thai student, since everyone else who has done that has had no problems.

Us after we were shunned from the palace; from left we have Andy, Mat, Meris, Jake, me and Fernando:

Our next stop was this amazing Thai restaurant within walking distance from the palace. We had been there once before and really wanted to take Fernando. We walked... and walked... and walked. And when we finally found the place, in congruence with our luck of the day, it was closed.

Finally, we decided to cut our losses and check out Wat Arun, another temple down the river. We split up into two taxis. When my taxi was getting close, however, I got a call from Andy saying the temple was closed. Of course it was. We headed home, tired and really much less cranky than we should have been from all of that traveling for no reason. My taxi had a lot of trouble explaining to the driver that we were no longer going to Wat Arun, and could we please go to Pata Pinklao. He didn't understand, but in the fashion of most Thais was much too nice about it. When we finally got home he actually tried to charge us less for the taxi than it was. He thought the mistake was his. The best part is, when we later Google imaged Wat Arun, Fernando (from the taxi that said the temple was closed) told us that's not where they had been. In all likelihood, Wat Arun had been open the whole time, and Andy and Fernando had just been at the wrong place. Mai pben rai.

Lastly - and I don't know why I've failed to mention this - I've now eaten both a bug (I think it was a cricket) and dried squid. There's a video of me eating the bug, but I'm having trouble uploading it, so I'll leave you with this:

Look appetizing? It tastes like squid jerky.

Shoutout

Thank you, Jean, for my Softly Scented Natural Choice Flushable Moist Wipes! Best present I could ask for.

Past Three Weekends

I've finally gotten enough sleep to write about the last three weeks here.

Well, they've been eventful. Three weekends ago 12 of us exchangers headed south to Pattaya. I saw a very different side of Pattaya than when I first landed in Thailand, though, because instead of staying with the Cummins in their condo I stayed in a motel. At $9 a night it was the most expensive motel I've stayed in thus far, with the exception of the very first one I stayed in when I landed in Bangkok. (But hey, you expect to get ripped off for your first few weeks in another country.) We spent the first entire night on Walking Street, Pattaya's version of Austin's 6th Street, and I didn't drink at all because everything was so expensive. I think the town is really touristy, and in all of my experiences so far, when I leave Bangkok, the prices for everything double. But I danced until 5 a.m. and had one of the best nights I've had in Thailand. The boys of our group made it even longer than I did, and I learned the next morning, when I had an incredibly hard time getting them moving, that they watched the sunrise on the beach and - how classically American - had eaten McDonald's for breakfast.

Side note: Ronald McDonald looks like this:

The next day we ferried to an island off the coast of Pattaya and spent the day in the clearest water I've seen since I went on a cruise to Mexico. It was a little crowded, but that's expected in such a touristy city so close to Bangkok. That night I introduced all 12 of my friends to the Cummins who, forever gracious, treated us to an incredible meal of lobster, jumbo prawns, fried rice, and crab at a seafood restaurant set on the water. Since we're all used to eating street food that costs a dollar or less, this was the best meal most of us have had in Thailand. I love my Thailand family so much!

Ferry to the island; from left we have Marney, Brad, Jon, Brian, Annelise, and Natalia:

The Cummins at dinner with all of us:

The weekend after I left with just three other boys for Kanchanaburi, my first trek north. North has no significance in terms of weather, though, and it was just as sweltering hot as anywhere else I've been. We spent the first night hanging out in the small town, and Brian and Jon successfully found two Danish girls to mack on. Thank goodness for Brad, who has a girlfriend, because without him, I would have been that girl who makes all her guy friends look a little more legitimate while they spend the weekend trying to hit on other girls. No thank you. Brad and I, at least, stuck together in that sense, and I actually ended up becoming friends with Christine and Julia, the two Danes. When they stop by Bangkok in March they're going to stay with me.

We had planned to go to Kanchanaburi to see the bridge over the river Kwai, to see the Tiger Temple, and to see a famed waterfalls nearby. We ended up accomplishing one of those tasks, because we also ended up meeting one of the most hospitable people I've ever met, a Thai biker named Saen (pronounced San). When he told us that his biker gang, Tanousri, was going to a biker gang reggae festival, we ditched our plans and spent the day with him. It was out of this world. We rented a car (that Saen drove) to drive about half an hour outside of Kanchanaburi to this festival. We were the only farang by far, which I thought was the coolest part of the experience. It truly was not a tourist event. Bikers look a little bit like I would expect them to in the United States. They wear black leather and bandanas, but they also combined their clothing with Western wear. A lot of them wore cowboy hats and boots. If that's traditional biker wear, I guess I'm out of it. We ended up staying at this concert/festival for more than seven hours, which was too long for me, but probably worth it to get to experience the weirdest part of Thailand I've seen yet.

We did, however, make it to the Tiger Temple. Here is a photo to prove it:

This past weekend we went to Koh Samui, Thailand's second largest island way the hell down south. To get there we took an 11-hour overnight bus ride (in which I slept barely a wink), another hour bus ride, and an hour ferry ride. With wait time our one-way travel took about 17 hours. Oh boy the bus ride was miserable. There was something wrong with the bathroom, and almost the entire night it emitted such a rank stench of urine that my breath was actually shortened. After about five hours of this one of the bus staff sprayed the toilet. I tried to convince him to just let me hold the spray, since I was sitting just above the bathroom, but what got translated was that I just wanted him to spray more. I laughed when he sprayed even the stairs, but I didn't stop him.

James got 10,000 baht (or $300) stolen from him because he left his bag unattended. He borrowed 8,000 more from Meris and I guess spent it, because he had to borrow 2,000 again the next day. She also had to cover his 14,000 baht medical bill when he jumped on a taxi and the taxi cab driver beat him up. James thought he had internal bleeding and checked himself into the hospital. We think he was kept in there for a bad hangover.

Prior to that, though, the beach was great!