So my 'sun stroke' turned out to be 'Dengue Fever' and I was down and out for a solid 5 days. Thus, I have nothing to say about Ko Tao, other than it sucked for me. Before I realized it was Dengue I loaded up on fever reducers and joined Dave and Paul on a snorkelling trip. It was pretty cool: lots of fish, coral and Paul and I saw a shark! Paul and Dave also took a diving lesson, which they said was pretty saweet.
After a few days on Koh Tao we headed one island south to Koh Phangan. As we got off the boat, we were convinced to stay at this one nice looking bungalow, but it turned out to be out of the way of everything and surrounded by hooker bars. We had a hard time walking out of the resort because we would get harassed by Thai women. One day later we checked out the Black Moon party, which was fun, but it was my first day feeling better so I took it pretty easy.
After the party we headed up to the north of the island via tuk tuk, then caught a boat to a remote paradise, Bottle Beach. It was nice to get away from all the tourists and 7-11s. We spent 3 days there just hanging out on the beach, at the restaurant and on our bungalow's porch. We were just off the beach and our bungalow was surrounded by cool rocks, palm trees and red ant trains.
We reluctantly left Bottle Beach and made our way to Haad Rin, the party beach where the full moon party is held. We are staying at Coral Bungalows, a 15 minute walk from the main beach. We met 4 French Canadian girls and we have been partying with them for the last couple nights. Two nights ago we went to the main beach and had a crazy night. Paul innocently took a dip in a pool and got punched in the back of the head by an angry Thai dude. I told Paul to apologize and we quickly got out of there. We watched locals twirling sticks of fire (it's the thing to do here) and then made our way back to our place. The following night (last night) was a "world famous pool party" at our bungalows. We all had a great time partying it up, chicken fighting in the pool, trying to dance in the pool, and other pool related activities including swimming.
Tonight is the half moon party in the jungle! I'm acited
Sunday, August 15, 2010
Friday, August 6, 2010
Bangkok
Just kidding, Paul arrived on time. We taxi'd back to Khao San Rd and found some accommodation. Dave wasn't feeling well so Paul and I left for some afternoon beers and shopping. We sampled a few different types of Thai beer (Singha, Chang, Leo) then bought t-shirts. Paul picked up a Singha shirt while I got a Chang shirt and Beerlao (which I forgot to buy in Laos). The whole day was spent wandering Khao San and Rambuttri streets. At night we met up with Dave and went for sushi!
The next day Dave went to the hospital to pick up some medication while Paul and I checked out the Royal Palace and the Reclining Buddha. We ran into Neil, one of our friends from North Van, and spent most of the day with him. We booked a bus to Koh Tao and took it at 8pm. The cold bus took us to Champohn for 4am, then we caught a 7am boat to Koh Tao. We arrived yesterday and wandered the beach. Unfortunately I succumbed to the sun and came down with some heat stroke. I was feverish last night and this morning. Dave and Paul took a 'discover scuba' dive this afternoon while I sat this one out.
The next day Dave went to the hospital to pick up some medication while Paul and I checked out the Royal Palace and the Reclining Buddha. We ran into Neil, one of our friends from North Van, and spent most of the day with him. We booked a bus to Koh Tao and took it at 8pm. The cold bus took us to Champohn for 4am, then we caught a 7am boat to Koh Tao. We arrived yesterday and wandered the beach. Unfortunately I succumbed to the sun and came down with some heat stroke. I was feverish last night and this morning. Dave and Paul took a 'discover scuba' dive this afternoon while I sat this one out.
Thursday, August 5, 2010
Pai
Pai was as awesome as Dave had described. The food was amazing and there was tons of variations of eats. Street stalls offered chicken, pad thai, crepes while restaurants provided western and local food. Our place was right next to "Mama Falafel" and we ate some falafels and hummus on more than one occasion. We rented motorbikes for just over 2 bucks a day and toured the country side, visiting waterfalls and trekking up rivers. After 3 days Dave came out of hiding and we finally met up (he had been in Chiang Mai watching a fight, then he came down with a nasty flu type thingy). Alan left for Bangkok where he had a flight to France to catch and Dave and I continued the life of Pai. Another three days of eating, motorbiking, swimming and hiking and we caught a bus to Chiang Mai, then an overnight train to Bangkok where we were supposed to meet Paul...
to be continued...
to be continued...
Luang Namtha
After our day of rest, sweet and sour chicken and sticky rice with soy sauce/chillis, we started our trek. The day began with a shopping spree to obtain food for the trek, pots for cooking, and mosquito nets. We met up with two funny French guys, Alan from Canada, an Irish girl and a Bermudan girl. We minivan'd our way to a bunch of local villages and peeped the local culture. Kids played between bamboo houses and a few of them had pet birds. The locals were just as interested looking at us as we were at them. They also had a grove of rubber trees and were harvesting rubber to ship to China.
After the village tours we started our trek into the jungle. We walked up and down for an hour then stopped for lunch. Vegetables, sticky rice, bamboo shoots and sweet chili and tofu sauce. We continued on after lunch across hills overlooking rice fields, through tall grasses and bamboo forests. After a couple hours we began descending a steep slope to a river. Luckily it wasn't raining so the mud wasn't too slippery. We crossed the river and climbed a couple minutes up to our jungle camp. We spent the rest of the day hanging out on benches and combating mosquitos. We played drinking games with Lao Lao and I began to start losing. This was bad news because the games got progressively harder with more and more Lao Lao, so it was a vicious cycle. The guides kept on saying "Alek more lao lao!!"
The following day was a long 7 hour trek in the rain. The guides were very helpful and gave us hands wherever it was slippery. Every time one of them offered me their hand they would say "lao lao, Alek!". The jungle was amazingly dense and lush. We all got completely soaked and the mud turned into a slip n slide. The guides had fashioned us all walking sticks the day before, and they were completely necessary to stabilize oneself and stop from slipping down the hill. The trek involved climbing up steep slopes and slipping down for the whole 7 hours. I am not sure which was more difficult, up or down. All in all, it was an awesome experience. I wish I could have taken photos of the giant banana trees with huge fronds and the bamboo forests, but it was too wet to risk pulling out my camera. We made it back, soaked, to the road and tuk tuk'd back to civilization.
The following day, the Frenchies, Alan and I headed into Thailand while Elizabeth went down to Vientiane. We made it to Chiang Rai, spent the night there, then another night in Chiang Mai, then Alan and I headed up to Pai. We basically just made a run for Pai, which is apparently a really cool town and was where Dave had been kickboxing for the last 4 weeks.
After the village tours we started our trek into the jungle. We walked up and down for an hour then stopped for lunch. Vegetables, sticky rice, bamboo shoots and sweet chili and tofu sauce. We continued on after lunch across hills overlooking rice fields, through tall grasses and bamboo forests. After a couple hours we began descending a steep slope to a river. Luckily it wasn't raining so the mud wasn't too slippery. We crossed the river and climbed a couple minutes up to our jungle camp. We spent the rest of the day hanging out on benches and combating mosquitos. We played drinking games with Lao Lao and I began to start losing. This was bad news because the games got progressively harder with more and more Lao Lao, so it was a vicious cycle. The guides kept on saying "Alek more lao lao!!"
The following day was a long 7 hour trek in the rain. The guides were very helpful and gave us hands wherever it was slippery. Every time one of them offered me their hand they would say "lao lao, Alek!". The jungle was amazingly dense and lush. We all got completely soaked and the mud turned into a slip n slide. The guides had fashioned us all walking sticks the day before, and they were completely necessary to stabilize oneself and stop from slipping down the hill. The trek involved climbing up steep slopes and slipping down for the whole 7 hours. I am not sure which was more difficult, up or down. All in all, it was an awesome experience. I wish I could have taken photos of the giant banana trees with huge fronds and the bamboo forests, but it was too wet to risk pulling out my camera. We made it back, soaked, to the road and tuk tuk'd back to civilization.
The following day, the Frenchies, Alan and I headed into Thailand while Elizabeth went down to Vientiane. We made it to Chiang Rai, spent the night there, then another night in Chiang Mai, then Alan and I headed up to Pai. We basically just made a run for Pai, which is apparently a really cool town and was where Dave had been kickboxing for the last 4 weeks.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)