Bangkok Women Are Really men
What do you think?
When I went diving in Thailand I had to do a buddy check to my diving partner. I knew the acronym I was taught back home, but I wondered what was the one they teach in Thailand. So here goes:
B - BCD, your buoyancy device, checking the valves, inflation and deflation.
W - Weights, closed and opened with the right hand on emergencies.
A - Air. Not too much to explain here. It's a good idea to check that you have it.
R - Oops I forgot the word, but it stands for the straps check, seeing that the tank and BCD are positioned probably.
What about the men? It's a joke, got it?
Tuesday, March 13, 2007
Finally resting! Or the story of Koh Phangan
I took a long tail boat from Ton Sai back to Ao Nang, a pickup taxi to the bus station and a bus to the other side of Thailand, to Surat Thani, and arrived at a tour company office. It made me feel Vietnam-ish. I did start at a public bus station, but I guess it was run by a private company. At least I could book my train ticket to Bangkok from there at a decent price, since I have not done it in Bangkok. I tried to make the whole journey on my own again, so instead of buying a bus and ferry combination I just got the bus. The problem was that I did not really know which dock to go to and what is the ferry’s schedule. After sniffing around in Surat Thani I came back to same company and bought a ferry ticket from them. So this time I lost two hours and less then a buck. Not a big deal, right? It’s not that I will arrive to Phangan at 7pm, one day before a full moon party, with everyone else in Thailand, who probably booked a room. Piece of cake!
Once I arrived I had two options: Head to the South beaches, close to Rin beach, where the party is, or go the other way, to the North. I picked the second option, in some hope it will be easier to find rooms there. Phangan island is huge, making transportation (too) expensive. The party beach is located at the South East corner of it. Beaches reachable by transportation are located along the West coast and somewhat to the North. But from there, it’s only by boat. Since I did not want to be completely isolated I headed for Yao beach, which was recommended as one of the beautiful beaches, and is located at the North West of the Thailand, as far as possible from the party zone. Locating a place to stay was an annoying task since the road was quite elevated compared to the resorts, most places were full or had only expensive rooms available and it was around 9pm. Later on I found out that walking between them on the shore is shorter. Finally I found a nice spot and went to a (cold) shower and a sleep.
The islands on the gulf coast (Tao, Phangan, Samui) are much more affordable than their counterparts on the Andaman coast (Phi Phi, Phuket, Lanta and more). Nevertheless, being where I was, I was a captive by rather expensive restaurants. Transportation to the main island village, Thon Salat, was quite expensive. My resort’s restaurant was quite good, but not cheap, even the most expensive I've seen so far.
Yao beach was very nice. Not too crowded. It is full of restaurants along it, but they are not near the water and they are not a disturbance. Being the West coast of the island, we had the best show in town every sunset.
The next day I have decided to venture to the world’s famous party, the Koh Phangan full moon party. I went alone, so I did not expect much, just to see what the noise was about. I have discovered a nice “buffet” of musical genres, some a little too close to each other, making the sounds collide. There were a lot of fire shows along the beach and many viewers. Even so, I have been to bigger and better parties. Tel-Aviv university student’s day attracts more people than there were here, maybe because the tourism season is after its peak. I had some good cheap food, but I would not recommend going for a swim on this night. The price charged for the use of toilets is not cheap and a lot of men picked their alternative. A great surprise was bumping into Aviel, a guy I met in Laos, who I tend to meet unexpectedly.
That’s about it folks. The next day passed leisurely, reading and listening to music, “preparing” for my journey back to Bangkok and then to Australia.
See you in OZ! (Where I am right now, writing this, but that’s a whole different story)
I took a long tail boat from Ton Sai back to Ao Nang, a pickup taxi to the bus station and a bus to the other side of Thailand, to Surat Thani, and arrived at a tour company office. It made me feel Vietnam-ish. I did start at a public bus station, but I guess it was run by a private company. At least I could book my train ticket to Bangkok from there at a decent price, since I have not done it in Bangkok. I tried to make the whole journey on my own again, so instead of buying a bus and ferry combination I just got the bus. The problem was that I did not really know which dock to go to and what is the ferry’s schedule. After sniffing around in Surat Thani I came back to same company and bought a ferry ticket from them. So this time I lost two hours and less then a buck. Not a big deal, right? It’s not that I will arrive to Phangan at 7pm, one day before a full moon party, with everyone else in Thailand, who probably booked a room. Piece of cake!
Once I arrived I had two options: Head to the South beaches, close to Rin beach, where the party is, or go the other way, to the North. I picked the second option, in some hope it will be easier to find rooms there. Phangan island is huge, making transportation (too) expensive. The party beach is located at the South East corner of it. Beaches reachable by transportation are located along the West coast and somewhat to the North. But from there, it’s only by boat. Since I did not want to be completely isolated I headed for Yao beach, which was recommended as one of the beautiful beaches, and is located at the North West of the Thailand, as far as possible from the party zone. Locating a place to stay was an annoying task since the road was quite elevated compared to the resorts, most places were full or had only expensive rooms available and it was around 9pm. Later on I found out that walking between them on the shore is shorter. Finally I found a nice spot and went to a (cold) shower and a sleep.
The islands on the gulf coast (Tao, Phangan, Samui) are much more affordable than their counterparts on the Andaman coast (Phi Phi, Phuket, Lanta and more). Nevertheless, being where I was, I was a captive by rather expensive restaurants. Transportation to the main island village, Thon Salat, was quite expensive. My resort’s restaurant was quite good, but not cheap, even the most expensive I've seen so far.
Yao beach was very nice. Not too crowded. It is full of restaurants along it, but they are not near the water and they are not a disturbance. Being the West coast of the island, we had the best show in town every sunset.
The next day I have decided to venture to the world’s famous party, the Koh Phangan full moon party. I went alone, so I did not expect much, just to see what the noise was about. I have discovered a nice “buffet” of musical genres, some a little too close to each other, making the sounds collide. There were a lot of fire shows along the beach and many viewers. Even so, I have been to bigger and better parties. Tel-Aviv university student’s day attracts more people than there were here, maybe because the tourism season is after its peak. I had some good cheap food, but I would not recommend going for a swim on this night. The price charged for the use of toilets is not cheap and a lot of men picked their alternative. A great surprise was bumping into Aviel, a guy I met in Laos, who I tend to meet unexpectedly.
That’s about it folks. The next day passed leisurely, reading and listening to music, “preparing” for my journey back to Bangkok and then to Australia.
See you in OZ! (Where I am right now, writing this, but that’s a whole different story)
Monday, March 12, 2007
How I beat myself up a bit more, or Ton Sai beach
Krabi is not an island but a town located on Thailand's mainland. Its famous beaches are Raily, Ao Nang and Ton Sai. Raily and Ton Sai are accessible only by boat, because they are surrounded by huge limestone karsts. Raily is a resorts' beach, with high priced accommodations. So obviously I went for Ton Sai.
Ton Sai is quite undeveloped, compared to Raily. It's all dirt roads and most of the accommodations are inside the jungle, a lovely setting, which comes with loads of mosquitoes at night and an active group of monkeys, stealing bananas from kitchens. I was told that Ton Sai is a hippie's favorite location, but I guess fashion changes. The dreadlocks and hoola hoops have been replaced with climbing ropes and quick draws. I barely managed to see one hippie, but all the walls around were loaded with climbers. It is a lonely place to be if you're not a climber.
Therefore to start my climbing session, I took an islands tour. Nothing like another day of swimming and sightseeing. This time the tour was on a long tail boat, luckily not the tiny kind. On the tour I met Melanie with whom I spent most of the day, and a couple from Canada and Sweden. Melanie is actually working for Teva Naot, an Israeli company, in Germany. Meeting people is one of the reasons I take the tours. The tour visited several islands, Tup island being the highlight, whereas chicken island was, well, just an island with a piece of rock resembling a chicken's head. Hmmm...
On the next day I took a half day climbing session. I went with a guy named Dee and he led the climbs for me so I could climb top rope. I had enough of leading in the meantime from my Laos climbing experience. I also asked him for easy climbs so I only went on 5 grades. The wall I climbed on is called “One Two Three” wall. Guess why... It was crowded with beginners, meaning you either had someone climbing right below you or descending above you. This time it suited my level and I had quite a good time, trying more things, and even slipping once. The slip wasn't that great though, as I slipped on my right knee, not a favorable knee to hit these days.
Dee, my climbing partner for the half day, owns and operates his own climbing shop. He opened it two months ago and he has been climbing for about three years. Later on I went back to his shop to rent climbing shoes, in order to help him a bit, instead to the already big climbing schools around. He also knew Adam, another climber who runs his own climbing shop in Vang Vieng, Laos. Of course, I met the guy. Small world...
The next day, surprise! (An e-mail coordinated surprise) I met Shannon and Zack again. They arrived to Ton Sai with a single purpose: to climb! Supriza! (Ok, I'm stopping now). They've been carrying their climbing equipment all around Asia and Krabi is the big opportunity to use it. Next day I went with them climbing. They needed a warm up after a long period without climbing so they mostly took leading 5 grades. Therefore I could climb top rope right after them, with a lot of positive encouragement from below. They urged me into climbing a 6a I felt too tired to even start, but I managed to finish it (though I cheated a bit, by grabbing onto gear instead of rock in a tricky part).
My original plan was to move on, but after the last fun day with Shannon and Zack it was hard making up my mind. I really wanted to sea the East side of Thailand's islands, but it would mean traveling without any company again, not to mention my destination was Phangan island, one day before the famous full moon party, a tough day of travel ahead. A rat or some other rodent woke up at 5am, crunching the wall, as a sign to leave (the crappy bungalow and take another?)
And so I made up my mind to move on to Phangan. But that's a whole different story.
Krabi is not an island but a town located on Thailand's mainland. Its famous beaches are Raily, Ao Nang and Ton Sai. Raily and Ton Sai are accessible only by boat, because they are surrounded by huge limestone karsts. Raily is a resorts' beach, with high priced accommodations. So obviously I went for Ton Sai.
Ton Sai is quite undeveloped, compared to Raily. It's all dirt roads and most of the accommodations are inside the jungle, a lovely setting, which comes with loads of mosquitoes at night and an active group of monkeys, stealing bananas from kitchens. I was told that Ton Sai is a hippie's favorite location, but I guess fashion changes. The dreadlocks and hoola hoops have been replaced with climbing ropes and quick draws. I barely managed to see one hippie, but all the walls around were loaded with climbers. It is a lonely place to be if you're not a climber.
Therefore to start my climbing session, I took an islands tour. Nothing like another day of swimming and sightseeing. This time the tour was on a long tail boat, luckily not the tiny kind. On the tour I met Melanie with whom I spent most of the day, and a couple from Canada and Sweden. Melanie is actually working for Teva Naot, an Israeli company, in Germany. Meeting people is one of the reasons I take the tours. The tour visited several islands, Tup island being the highlight, whereas chicken island was, well, just an island with a piece of rock resembling a chicken's head. Hmmm...
On the next day I took a half day climbing session. I went with a guy named Dee and he led the climbs for me so I could climb top rope. I had enough of leading in the meantime from my Laos climbing experience. I also asked him for easy climbs so I only went on 5 grades. The wall I climbed on is called “One Two Three” wall. Guess why... It was crowded with beginners, meaning you either had someone climbing right below you or descending above you. This time it suited my level and I had quite a good time, trying more things, and even slipping once. The slip wasn't that great though, as I slipped on my right knee, not a favorable knee to hit these days.
Dee, my climbing partner for the half day, owns and operates his own climbing shop. He opened it two months ago and he has been climbing for about three years. Later on I went back to his shop to rent climbing shoes, in order to help him a bit, instead to the already big climbing schools around. He also knew Adam, another climber who runs his own climbing shop in Vang Vieng, Laos. Of course, I met the guy. Small world...
The next day, surprise! (An e-mail coordinated surprise) I met Shannon and Zack again. They arrived to Ton Sai with a single purpose: to climb! Supriza! (Ok, I'm stopping now). They've been carrying their climbing equipment all around Asia and Krabi is the big opportunity to use it. Next day I went with them climbing. They needed a warm up after a long period without climbing so they mostly took leading 5 grades. Therefore I could climb top rope right after them, with a lot of positive encouragement from below. They urged me into climbing a 6a I felt too tired to even start, but I managed to finish it (though I cheated a bit, by grabbing onto gear instead of rock in a tricky part).
My original plan was to move on, but after the last fun day with Shannon and Zack it was hard making up my mind. I really wanted to sea the East side of Thailand's islands, but it would mean traveling without any company again, not to mention my destination was Phangan island, one day before the famous full moon party, a tough day of travel ahead. A rat or some other rodent woke up at 5am, crunching the wall, as a sign to leave (the crappy bungalow and take another?)
And so I made up my mind to move on to Phangan. But that's a whole different story.
Saturday, March 10, 2007
Southern Adventures - Phi Phi island
After some intensive sightseeing in Cambodia, I was looking forward for some rest on Thailand's beaches.
My first stop was Phi Phi island (Koh Phi Phi). It is actually made out of two islands: Phi Phi Don, where the tourist circus is, and Phi Phi Lai, which is undeveloped (except for a snacks shop!) and visited by tour boats.
Reaching Bangkok on my own, I've decided to go to Phi Phi with a package deal. This was in contrary to the no no recommendation by the Lonely Planet guide. It states that you usually don't get what you've booked, for example, a bare bone bus instead of an A/C one, or some lags of the trip are missing. Still, the price was unbeatable and I needed that peace of mind you have when everything is being taken care of, supposedly. Luckily enough, the ride went smoothly, if not comfortably. We had a two hours stop at about 4am. During that journey I met Amaya from Mexico and Nathalie from Canada. Amaya was queuing in front of me when we had to confirm the rest of our voyage at our 4am stop. She was given a piece of paper instead of a ferry ticket and was told it was to be alright. The place where we stopped at 4am was the office of the same company as the one who gave her the "ticket". Nevertheless, it didn't matter much as she had no choice but buy a new ticket. Surprisingly, an hour later she got her money back. I guess something does work. Amaya has already met Nathalie on the bus, so when I sat next to Amaya at the ferry's dock, I was introduced to Nathalie.
Arriving on Phi Phi, Amaya and me ventured on looking for a roof and a bed for the night while Nathalie, which had a stomach problem, stayed to watch over our bags. Searching for a room was quite depressing, because the availability was close to none and the prices were sky high. Finally we found a place named Oasis, which was recently renovated and clean. So we could finally relax, completing the last part of our journey. Our guest house is owned by a couple of Thais and one German woman. I talked with her and she explained to me that the reason lodging (and actually everything) was expensive, other than high demand, is the fact that we are on an island (duh!). Therefore electricity is produced by generators and water are brought from Phuket. A lot of the locals just dig their own wells, because the water delivery is very expensive.
Phi Phi Don is quite a big place and you can walk or take a boat to find quiet spots. There are many beaches around, some quite small, separated by piles of rocks from one another. It is possible to walk around to the close ones, but there are only trails through the woods, otherwise walking through rocks. Another possibility is to take a long tail boat. One day we tried to get to Long beach, but stopped somewhere on the way. Later on I ventured there, to check what the fuss was all about.
On the following day we went up a steep walk to the view point, to see the sunset and the famous shape of Phi Phi, two big lands connected by a narrow stretch of land. I couldn't help it but imagine how it would look with a big wave passing over it. On the way there we visited the Tsunami memorial garden. The island, and other Tsunami stricken areas, have evacuation routes and evacuation sites. Still, it doesn't convey the feeling that much has been done since then. I hope I'm wrong.
We also took a sunset tour, the big boat-loads-of-people tour. The good thing about the big boat is that it carries kayaks and some tea and coffee. The tour circled around most Phi Phi Lai with stops for swimming, snorkeling and kayaking. I really liked kayaking this time. For some reason it was easy to control, compared to what I had in Halong Bay. I wanted to kayak alone one time, but one of the boat's stuff encouraged an Israeli woman to join me. At first she didn't realize I was Israeli too, resulting in some funny comments regarding me. When we went back we met the rest of her group, which were very nice and stuffed me, Amaya and Nathalie with snacks. After visiting (A)Maya bay, where the film “The beach” was filmed, we moved on to a couple of tiny rock formations to watch a magnificent sunset. Right after the sun was gone hundreds of birds filled the sky. It was a wonderful sight!
Wait wait, it's not over yet. If you survived this far you must know that the next day I went diving. I went for two dives, for a hefty 63USD. Cheaper than back home but an expensive activity compared to others. The visibility wasn't brilliant but I've seen, for the first time in my life, a leopard shark, a green turtle, a cuttle fish and a sea horse. The shark was lying around, but I still kept a safe distance. The turtle was quite big but I had to take a closer look this time. It was impressive!
On that evening I took a shower, rubbed behind my ears and prepared myself for the grand meeting! My dear friend Micha and his girlfriend Dana came all the way from Israel just to visit me! Actually they were on vacation and our paths crossed.
The next day Amaya had to go and Nathalie moved to another beach on Phi Phi and so we said our goodbyes. I stayed that day in order to meet with Micha again and to finally have some coveted rest, I haven't been able to find since I arrived on Phi Phi. I talked with my guest house owner, slept and met Micha and Dana again for dinner. A long "busy" day.
The next day I took the ferry back to Krabi, but that's a whole different story.
After some intensive sightseeing in Cambodia, I was looking forward for some rest on Thailand's beaches.
My first stop was Phi Phi island (Koh Phi Phi). It is actually made out of two islands: Phi Phi Don, where the tourist circus is, and Phi Phi Lai, which is undeveloped (except for a snacks shop!) and visited by tour boats.
Reaching Bangkok on my own, I've decided to go to Phi Phi with a package deal. This was in contrary to the no no recommendation by the Lonely Planet guide. It states that you usually don't get what you've booked, for example, a bare bone bus instead of an A/C one, or some lags of the trip are missing. Still, the price was unbeatable and I needed that peace of mind you have when everything is being taken care of, supposedly. Luckily enough, the ride went smoothly, if not comfortably. We had a two hours stop at about 4am. During that journey I met Amaya from Mexico and Nathalie from Canada. Amaya was queuing in front of me when we had to confirm the rest of our voyage at our 4am stop. She was given a piece of paper instead of a ferry ticket and was told it was to be alright. The place where we stopped at 4am was the office of the same company as the one who gave her the "ticket". Nevertheless, it didn't matter much as she had no choice but buy a new ticket. Surprisingly, an hour later she got her money back. I guess something does work. Amaya has already met Nathalie on the bus, so when I sat next to Amaya at the ferry's dock, I was introduced to Nathalie.
Arriving on Phi Phi, Amaya and me ventured on looking for a roof and a bed for the night while Nathalie, which had a stomach problem, stayed to watch over our bags. Searching for a room was quite depressing, because the availability was close to none and the prices were sky high. Finally we found a place named Oasis, which was recently renovated and clean. So we could finally relax, completing the last part of our journey. Our guest house is owned by a couple of Thais and one German woman. I talked with her and she explained to me that the reason lodging (and actually everything) was expensive, other than high demand, is the fact that we are on an island (duh!). Therefore electricity is produced by generators and water are brought from Phuket. A lot of the locals just dig their own wells, because the water delivery is very expensive.
Phi Phi Don is quite a big place and you can walk or take a boat to find quiet spots. There are many beaches around, some quite small, separated by piles of rocks from one another. It is possible to walk around to the close ones, but there are only trails through the woods, otherwise walking through rocks. Another possibility is to take a long tail boat. One day we tried to get to Long beach, but stopped somewhere on the way. Later on I ventured there, to check what the fuss was all about.
On the following day we went up a steep walk to the view point, to see the sunset and the famous shape of Phi Phi, two big lands connected by a narrow stretch of land. I couldn't help it but imagine how it would look with a big wave passing over it. On the way there we visited the Tsunami memorial garden. The island, and other Tsunami stricken areas, have evacuation routes and evacuation sites. Still, it doesn't convey the feeling that much has been done since then. I hope I'm wrong.
We also took a sunset tour, the big boat-loads-of-people tour. The good thing about the big boat is that it carries kayaks and some tea and coffee. The tour circled around most Phi Phi Lai with stops for swimming, snorkeling and kayaking. I really liked kayaking this time. For some reason it was easy to control, compared to what I had in Halong Bay. I wanted to kayak alone one time, but one of the boat's stuff encouraged an Israeli woman to join me. At first she didn't realize I was Israeli too, resulting in some funny comments regarding me. When we went back we met the rest of her group, which were very nice and stuffed me, Amaya and Nathalie with snacks. After visiting (A)Maya bay, where the film “The beach” was filmed, we moved on to a couple of tiny rock formations to watch a magnificent sunset. Right after the sun was gone hundreds of birds filled the sky. It was a wonderful sight!
Wait wait, it's not over yet. If you survived this far you must know that the next day I went diving. I went for two dives, for a hefty 63USD. Cheaper than back home but an expensive activity compared to others. The visibility wasn't brilliant but I've seen, for the first time in my life, a leopard shark, a green turtle, a cuttle fish and a sea horse. The shark was lying around, but I still kept a safe distance. The turtle was quite big but I had to take a closer look this time. It was impressive!
On that evening I took a shower, rubbed behind my ears and prepared myself for the grand meeting! My dear friend Micha and his girlfriend Dana came all the way from Israel just to visit me! Actually they were on vacation and our paths crossed.
The next day Amaya had to go and Nathalie moved to another beach on Phi Phi and so we said our goodbyes. I stayed that day in order to meet with Micha again and to finally have some coveted rest, I haven't been able to find since I arrived on Phi Phi. I talked with my guest house owner, slept and met Micha and Dana again for dinner. A long "busy" day.
The next day I took the ferry back to Krabi, but that's a whole different story.
Monday, March 05, 2007
Almost there
Tomorrow morning I'll hop on a boat, a shared taxi and a night train in order to get from Phangan island to Bangkok. Then I'll get on a plane for a ten hours flight (about the same time as Israel-USA!) to Sydney, Australia, exactly five months after departing from home. This will end my stay in Asia for now, almost two months in Nepal and the rest in South East Asia.
Once I will get there I'll catch up with all the e-mails waiting and update on my South Thailand islands adventures. The really short version: beaches, seas, sunsets, one Micha and loads of money (well, relatively).
See you later!
Tomorrow morning I'll hop on a boat, a shared taxi and a night train in order to get from Phangan island to Bangkok. Then I'll get on a plane for a ten hours flight (about the same time as Israel-USA!) to Sydney, Australia, exactly five months after departing from home. This will end my stay in Asia for now, almost two months in Nepal and the rest in South East Asia.
Once I will get there I'll catch up with all the e-mails waiting and update on my South Thailand islands adventures. The really short version: beaches, seas, sunsets, one Micha and loads of money (well, relatively).
See you later!
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