Tardy Toeshoes

"Are you sure you not ladyboy?"

Sun, 20 May 2012 00:53:11 -0400

“Are you sure you not ladyboy?”

- Duccio

Koh Phangan - Day 1 - Exploring

Mon, 14 May 2012 05:38:12 -0400

Let m start out by apologizing for not updating this more frequently. It has ben a hectic experience getting here and what has happened since as well. no worries though, you’ll get to read all about it. So back to the story.

I arrived on Koh Phangan after a long harrowing trip from Bangkok, a 12 hour overnight train, 3 hour bus and after a 3 hour wait, a 3 hour ferry. Needless to say when I arrived, I was exhausted. As soon as I stepped off the ferry I was greeted by chaos. About a hundred cab drivers, and when I say cab, don’t think of what that means in North America because that would be a pipe dream. No, here a cab means a pick up truck, sometimes with an extra frame around the bed that luggage can be strapped to or passengers can cling to for dear life. Each of these cabbies is eagerly yelling “Taxi, Taxi!!!” in a desperate attempt to get the debarking travellers attention and hopefully score a fare. As in Bangkok, I would soon discover this to be the norm around here. I, at this point having had a pretty good boat ride despite a rain shower, am pretty tired and find the closest, least annoying taxi to my resort, known as Beer Bungalow beach resort on Sunrise beach, about half way between Thongsala where the pier is and Haad Rin, where the full moon party is to take place. I arrive much quicker than expected, and grab my bags and head toward reception.

It is about 6 in the evening, and I see only a couple of other travelers in the hotel, all of whom seem just as exhausted as I feel. As the receptionist looks over my booking I take in my resort. I will apologize from now for not having taken any pictures of it, as I never really got in the mode to want to catalogue it, but it’s not a bad or overly ugly place, but obviously not the islands finest accommodations either. I am assigned bungalow number 1, right on the beach, which seems like a stroke of good luck, and quickly cross th3 30-40 foot distance between reception and my bungalow. Inside, I’m greeted by a fairly modest room, with a bed, a shelving unit, a night stand with mirror and a bathroom. The bathroom is what I have come to know as a wet room, where the shower is installed in a wall and the entire room is sealed off to make it watertight, so you basically shower next to the toilet. This is not a new experience to me as I’ve seen the same thing in Europe before. I quickly take a shower and then head back out, anxious to meet some of my fellow travelers. As I exit, I notice a guy, obviously European who looks like he too is just taking in the entire place, so I go say hi, as he’s the only other person around at this point. This is Duccio, an Italian who is here on vacation from his life in Australia. (I know, another Italian, right?) As we talk, I realize we are both kind of doing the same thing here, going it solo, so we decide to hang out for the night, and he informs me of a pool party that is going on that sounds like it could be interesting, taking place at the Coral Bungalows resort, and we decide that this will be where we head for the night. We decide it’s a good idea to relax for a bit beforehand, so I head back to my room and pass out for a few hours before we head off.

Duccio knocks on my door a few hours later letting me know it’s time to start heading towards the pool party. On the way out, we run into a couple, Stephan and Jessica, fellow Canadians, who let us know that we should ring our bathing suits to the pool party because they just came from there and came back to change, so we quickly change and hit the road. Now, it’s important to say that not much is actually walking distance from my hotel, but there are 2 main ways to get around on Koh Phangan. The first is by taxi, which will run about 100 THB a trip to most places, and the second is by scooter, which one can rent from many of the islands various outlets for the going rate of 150 THB a day. For now though, Duccio has rented one, so I hop on the back and we make or way to the pool party. Coral Bungalows seems like a decent place, not too far from our hotel and on the way to Haad Rin, but my god, roads in that that area are all hills and turns, so care MUST be excercised on these roads. I notice that there are many people on scooters, both locals and tourists, and it seems to be the preferred mode of travel in this area. Anyway, we part the scooter in an already full scooter lot, one of the very many on this island, and head towards the party.

The party is pretty decent. The music is pretty good, and a fair amount of people are there, either dancing on the deck, in the pool or just sitting on the sidelines, enjoying some drinks. Now, if you don’t already know, one of the things that Koh Phangan is known for are their buckets. What is a bucket? Well, it’s exactly that, a plastic toy beach bucket, filled with ice, liquor and mix, usually with a bunch of straws that people walkk around with and seem to be the drink of choice. I decide to stick to beer for now, attempting to easy myself into this party lifestyle, and after being warned about the issues of buckets by a few friends and fellow travelers(rip off, watered down alcohol, possibility of being drugged) I’m happy with this choice. As the party continues, I introduce myself to a bunch of people and we al party into the night, and I rotate from group to group. I find this group of people that all seem to be really into the party and we hang. Duccio seems to be doing the same, though I suspect his heavily accented english is a bit of a damper on his ability to blend in, as most of the travelers are native english speakers. The party gos from a wild ordeal with people doing all kinds of crazy stuff, jumping/pushing each other into the pool, throwing buckets full of drinks into the air on the crowd and so on to a much more lame affair after a couple of hours, where the crowd has thinned out and people seem much less into the whole thing. I’m told by a group of fellow partygoers that this is because the party to be at is at the beach at Haad Rin. Duccio and I agree that this should then be our next stop and we head out in that direction.

We arrive in Haad Rin for the first time, and I’m greeted by a beach that, while not too large and can be traversed in under 10 minutes on foot, is geared towards parties. There are stages set up as well as temporary bars set up along the beach, where the somewhat modest crowd is partying in full swing. I am certainly no exception and the night turns into a blur of dancing, buckets and good times all around. Duccio and I get separated over the course of the night, and when I’m eventually ready to go home, he’s nowhere to be found, so I (literally) hop in the back of a taxi, and make it back to the hotel and pass out.

Day 4 - Somewhere between Bangkok and Surathani - Travel within travel (inception!)

Mon, 14 May 2012 03:03:26 -0400

A night on the train isn’t so bad. One thing I haven’t addressed too much is the crippling heat in Thailand. The temperature regularly is above 32 degrees C, and it feels just plain hot. Most days, if you’re out and about, there is no way around it. In Bangkok, this usually means dealing with sweaty clothes mere minutes after stepping out of your hotel, sometimes even at night. The night train, however, was actually kind of chilly, since I was in an air conditioned sleeper car. It was a pretty pleasant experience overall, with lots to see along the way, mostly the poverty stricken countryside of southern Thailand. Most people were respectful of the fact that there are people sleeping on the train, but we are going to one of the biggest parties in the country, and the young travelers were getting in the mood, drinking and walking up and down the train in an attempt to find their friends and the like. There are also many people who get on at stations to sell food, again, walking up and down the train offering their foodstuffs to anyone interested in the morning.

When people start to wake, around 6 I think (Thai people in general seem to be very early risers, more on this later) the train gets a bit more noisy, and the attendants come to convert the bunks back into seats. I take this opportunity to converse a bit with some fellow travelers, and realize that many of us are on the same boat, so to speak. We have the opportunity, for the first time to come to a or a few countries where we have no idea how life is lived or how things are done, and are for the most part all out of our element. Many of the people I speak with seem to traveling for much longer than I, 3 months being the average, but going as long as a year in some cases, and going to many different countries. I don’t really have a set itinerary, and have yet to decide the scope of my trip, but hearing more stories on increases my travel lust, but not my budget. In any event, the often slow moving train makes many stops, some at stations and some just for what seems like no reason, but I assume it’s to change switches on the tracks, or just to clear them when necessary. In any event, the train was a pleasurable experience that ends by me and some other travelers beginning to wonder when and where our station actually is going to show up.

When we finally arrive in Surathani, we are then greeted with a complete zoo of a platform, with loads of backpackers acting just as bewildered as I feel at that moment, filing out towards the parking lot. At some point, my Thai mom appears, I give her a hug and a kiss on the cheek and tell her Sawat dee kap, and that I hope to see her again. She wishes me well, and I make my way out to the parking lot to find my bus with the others. In case I haven’t mentioned it, while my travels are random while here, I have tried to arrange it so that they parallel those of a friend of mine, Tanya, from law school. Tanya is traveling with her sister and a few friends, and due to difficulties communicating as a traveler in Thailand, we haven’t spoken beyond some very basic Facebook messages. While looking for my bus, I actually spot her for the first time, and walk up and surprise her with a hug. We only speak briefly, and buses are leaving, but agree that we will find each other again later. A few moments later, her group is on their bus and I’m putting my bag on mine and boarding the hour long trip to Don Sak pier.

This bus ride is relatively painless, and I use the time to listen to some music and keep to myself a bit. When we arrive at the pier, don’t ask me why, but our tour operator drops our group off at an entrance about 3 or 4 km from the actual entrance, and then we have to get on these smaller open air ferry busses to get to the pier. While I thought this was the norm of some sort, when we eventually get dropped off at the pier after a 30 minute wait, I realize that it’s just us that are subject to this odd practice. Go figure. Anyway, we get to the pier at about 9:30 or 10 am, and have to wait for the the 1:30 pm ferry to Koh Phangan. Myself and some travelers enters the restaurant area of the pier and deposit our bags and take in our situation. At least there is a convenience store and restaurant here. At this point I find Tanya and Tina (her twin sister) again and we hang out for a bit, grab some food, and I drink my two Heineken tall boys over ice to cool myself off, something I would usually scoff at, but in this case, it’s just the thing to cool off and kill the time. They tell me about their group, which is quite large, and travels up until this point until it comes time to board the ferry.

The ferry in this case is quite large, and we have the choice of sitting inside or out. I opt for out, wanting to listen to some music on the speaker this time and enjoy the air of the open ocean. This proves to be a great plan for the most part, and of course, I go about making more friends and enjoying the 3 hour ride. There is even a shop on the ferry, where one can buy beer, food and snacks should they feel the need. It begins to rain after about an hour, and most people head to the indoor part of the ferry, and I eventually settle for simply moving my bags inside and continuing to enjoy the outdoors until the rain eventually proves to be too much even for me. The day has stretched into one of mostly travel, and inside the ferry, everyone tries to relax a bit as we slowly approach Koh Phangan.

You know you like the steez… I just noticed it looks like...

Mon, 14 May 2012 01:26:00 -0400

You know you like the steez… I just noticed it looks like I have a mini Thai guy on my shoulder! bwahaha

Fort on the river!

Mon, 14 May 2012 00:53:36 -0400

Fort on the river!

Another temple!

Mon, 14 May 2012 00:52:46 -0400

Another temple!

Massive and cool looking

Mon, 14 May 2012 00:52:13 -0400

Massive and cool looking

Now that’s what I call a hotel

Mon, 14 May 2012 00:51:43 -0400

Now that’s what I call a hotel

Another cool looking boat

Mon, 14 May 2012 00:50:56 -0400

Another cool looking boat

I am clearly enjoying my boatride and breakfast.

Mon, 14 May 2012 00:49:46 -0400

I am clearly enjoying my boatride and breakfast.

If I’m correctly informed, this boat belongs to a 7000...

Mon, 14 May 2012 00:48:06 -0400

If I’m correctly informed, this boat belongs to a 7000 THB/night hotel, but then you get free rides on this bad boy to your hearts content. Sounds reasonable, but…

Yeah, it’s just me and you, buddy.

Mon, 14 May 2012 00:47:24 -0400

Yeah, it’s just me and you, buddy.

Yes my boat has flowers, what of it?

Mon, 14 May 2012 00:46:33 -0400

Yes my boat has flowers, what of it?

One of Bangkok’s various temples.

Mon, 14 May 2012 00:45:55 -0400

One of Bangkok’s various temples.

A tuk tuk with a view

Mon, 14 May 2012 00:45:22 -0400

A tuk tuk with a view

Day 3 - Solo Travels and feeling like a King!

Fri, 11 May 2012 11:11:00 -0400

So my first day and a half in Bangkok are pretty eventful, and I awake around the same time on day 3 to get an early start on what will prove to be a busy day. I leave the hotel fairly promptly and decide that today is a good day to take the city on by tuk tuk. This is also the day I check out of my first hotel, which has been a pretty decent experience in Bangkok.

As I leave I’m approached by a tuk tuk driver who seems eager to get my business. I’m feeling the heat already, and decide that he’s going to be the guy I go with on a whim. He says his name is Mr. Somboon, and we take off into the already crowded streets of Bangkok. Today, I have a fitting for the suit I put down my deposit for yesterday, but other than that, no real plans other than making sure I get my stuff together for the , so we head to Bironi tailors first and they try a pattern for a suit on me. It looks cool, but is obviously not my final product. I’m pretty anxious to see how that will look, but for now, I’m just happy to have gotten the ball rolling.

From there, we go back to the travel agency to deposit my bags and pick up a train ticket to Koh Phangan. At this point, I have a few hours to kill, as I’m taking the night train to the island of the full moon party, and it’s only 1 in the afternoon, so I ask Natty the travel agent what there is to do in the city. She tells me to ask the tuk tuk driver to take me to some of the temples or or go on a tour or something. As I exit, I ask Somboon what he thinks. He recommends a river tour, which sounded like a great idea, so we start heading there. Now, it’s important to mention at this point that today is completely different on the streets than yesterday.

The streets of Bangkok are hot, packed, and practically impassible today. I will have to take a pic of a tuk tuk, but for your reference, it is a three wheeled motorbike with a cover on the top that is about as wide as a narrow car, but cannot maneuver through traffic like the scooters that are all too common in Thailand. The point here is that going through traffic is a very slow affair, though slightly quicker than if I were in a cab. So we head towards some dock, where Somboon tells the operator in Thai that I’m here for a tour, and we negotiate a price.

I forget if I mentioned it before, but haggling and negotiating a price for either a good or service in Thailand is a way of life. This isn’t always the case, and there is usually some leeway, but it depends on where you are. For almost any tour, or service, it may be possible, but if you’re in a store that is a chain or a sit down restaurant where the prices are clearly posted, it is far less likely. If you go to a 5 star hotel, don’t even bother. It can be tiring, especially for the unintiated westerner, but I do have some experience, as Thailand, much like Jamaica, has this as a common element in tourist areas.

Anyway, they start out at something like 2000 THB. I quickly tell them that’s way too much, as I’m one person and the operator then offers 1500. I ask again for a deal and tell him I was thinking this was more of a 1000 THB ride. He then says 1200. This is the magic number for me, and I agree. Funny enough, I only have about 1120 THB on me when I go to pay. The operator is kind of shocked by this, and I apologize, as I really thought I had 1200. He looks me up and down and accepts defeat, and takes the 1120, and just like that, I walk off to the dock and onto my own personal taxi style boat. Now I know the price was ridiculous for what I got in Thai terms, but in Canadian, it wasn’t bad, and I don’t mind for a chance to see more of the city from a different perspective. Plus, I’m pretty sure everyone involved gets a cut, the operator/sales guy, the tuk tuk who brought me, the boat “captain”, and the dock guy who helps me in and out of the boat, so really, it’s not that big a deal.

As we take off down the river I prepare myself for something possibly really cool. The river itself is pretty brown, but the ride is pleasant and there is lots to see and take in: temples galore, huge imposing hotels, but most importantly the canals that run through the city that give a view of real life in Bangkok. It’s not always pretty, in fact, most of the way through the canals show a much more bleak side of the city. Burnt out buildings, collapsed docks and other signs that maybe all is not as well in the city as they’d have you think litter the banks. Fishermen either asleep or otherwise occupied try their luck in the canal, which I’m surprised to see actually have fish in. Another tour boat stops close to a dock and had thrown in what looked like a loaf of bread and a flurry of fish swarm to devour the free meal. There are kids swimming and playing in the water, and they wave to me as I pass by, and of course, I smile and wave back. There are many shops along the sides as well, where I assume if I’d motioned to my driver, I could stop for a quick snack, or a drink. Even though I’ve skipped breakfast, I decide to forgo this because I’d bought 2 Heineken tall cans the night before and had chilled them in the hotel fridge prior to leaving, and they’d kept the perfect temperature until now, so I am content to drink these for now. About halfway into my hour long boat tour, a lady paddles up to me in a canoe sized boat laden with trinkets. I peruse them, not really wanting anything, but she’s insistent, and I really like a particular hat amongst other things, so after some haggling, I surrender the last of my Canadian dollars for a few souvenirs. The boat tour continues along, and listening to my headphones, I take in a few more sights along the way while rocking and singing away to the tunes.

Before I know it, my hour is up, and we’re back at the dock. I than everyone for the experience, and they seem amused by by my new hat, so we pose for some pictures. After that Somboon and I are off again, and now I’ve worked up an appetite being ferried around like a king, so I ask Somboon for any suggestions he may have. He says he knows just the spot. We head off, and after a gruelling drive through traffic in the afternoon sun, we end up at a restaurant with a lot of fresh seafood on ice out front. Somboon seems to disappear as soon as I enter a location, but I gather that this is nothing new to him, and he does whatever he normally does to occupy himself. This is a pretty cool concept, though, at the time, I have no idea what this kind of service is going to cost me. As I enter the restaurant, I deposit my hat at a table and head for the bathroom. When I return, there is a guy, a foreigner of some sort, sitting at my table. I get myself seated and make my introductions. His name is Neno, and is an Iraqi who lives in Australia I learn. It would seem the restaurant staff seated us together even though the restaurant was fairly empty, and this works out great, as we eat and talk a great meal of chicken pad thai (do you see the pattern yet?), fried rice, some kind of delicious fish and lobster. This meal seems to go on for hours, but Neno is good company, and it’s a great way to kill time.

Where has the time gone? The next thing I know Somboon and I are rushing back to Natty the travel agent’s place to reclaim my bags and then rush off to the train station. I say rush, but you have to understand that rush means head off into Bangkok’s impossible impassible traffic. a drive that could be done in 1 minute takes 20 in these conditions, and we eventually make it to the trainyard. At this point, I’ve run out of baht, and need to run inside to a bank machine to get some money to pay Somboon for his services for the day. I leave my bag of clothes with him as collateral and do this, buy a couple drinks to make change, and quickly run back out to negotiate his fee. He’s spent the better part of the day with me, and I quickly hand him 500 THB, but then add a couple of hundred notes to that to ensure that I’m not taking advantage of my personal chauffeur for the day. He indicates that he wants 1000 THB, and I refuse, but say my train is leaving soon, which is true, so I hand him another hundred for a grand total of 800 THB for a bit of a tour and to be driven all over the city. We then part ways, and I run inside to find my train and car.

The train station is much like others I’ve been to, except that there are lots of tourists seated on the floor and a special section reserved exclusively for Buddhist monks. I rush past all this onto the platform and after consulting a security guard, find my train, car and seat. As I deposit my bag, I realize that this is supposed to be an overnight train, and that I will eventually get hungry, even if I’m not now. The time is now 7:15 pm and the train is scheduled to depart at 7:30. Plenty of time, right? I run off to try and find something which shouldn’t be too hard since the train station has a few concessions there. The problem is, I’m apparently not the only one who’s had this thought, and even the convenience store has 2 x 15 person lines. I wait it out and grab a couple Heineken tall boys as well as a 1.5 L bottle of water, and then head out to KFC and grab a two piece take out meal. I make it back onto the train with 5 minutes to spare.

As I arrived back at my seat, the lady who was my neighbour was getting settled. She politely smiled and said hello in a very think Thai accent, and I replied. As the train got going, we began to speak, which was a bit of a challenge as she was using what english she knew, but it quickly became obvious that wasn’t much. I never did get her name, but she did her best to tell me about her life, and how she was going back to her home to visit her family, and how she loved meeting tourists. She mentioned that she operated a “temple” for cats and dogs, but I’m still not too sure what that means, though I’m pretty sure she meant something along the lines of a kennel. We chatted for some time, and she also did her best to translate and explain some of the things that were going on around that I couldn’t figure out on my own. It was through her that I figured out that there was a dining car, and when she asked if she could have the top bunk that I realized this night train was also a hybrid sleeper car, which and our seats were eventually converted into beds for the night. The thing about it was, the whole time I spoke with her, the thing that got me was how she looks a lot like my mom, only Thai. I told her this, and it seemed to amuse her, and she even agreed to pose for a picture so I could remember her. I said she could be my Thai mom, which seemed to amuse her quite a bit. As she retired, I climbed into my lower bunk (she wanted the top one, and I couldn’t argue with my Thai mom, now could I?) I thought that this was the start of a great trip.

Hey you! You there, walking down the street at 3am. You...

Wed, 09 May 2012 08:25:11 -0400

Hey you! You there, walking down the street at 3am. You obviously need a mini bunny rabbit. Well, guess what…

He’s not dead, just sleeping. On the street. Looking like...

Wed, 09 May 2012 08:24:30 -0400

He’s not dead, just sleeping. On the street. Looking like he’s dead.

Street musique with wigs.

Wed, 09 May 2012 08:23:40 -0400

Street musique with wigs.

Street cart restaurant so good I had to get take out on the way...

Wed, 09 May 2012 08:22:45 -0400

Street cart restaurant so good I had to get take out on the way home.