Thailand 2008

Here is my diary from Thailand.
See also pictures at
http://picasaweb.google.com/Ilia.Broudno/Thailand_2008
--------------Date: Wed, Dec 26, 2007 at 9:25 PM
I am safely in BangKok.I got out of the airport in HongKong yesterday and spent an hour or so there.It is very modern everybody speaks english and it looks very well organised.Has mountains and ocean and lots of green.BangKok is well, I have not really seen it yet other than last night.It was 3 am and the street where my motel is was packed with people, but they were kind of just sitting around not rushing anywhere much.Sombody was doing somebody's hair right there on the street at 3 am.A bit unusual looking - my motel is in a very turisty area.Well, I am off to explore.
-------- Date: Sat, Dec 29, 2007 at 9:31 AM
Bangkok?I love it one minute and I can't stand it the next.It is so different in so many ways I don't even know where to begin.Anyway I am outa here on Monday.I will be celebrating New Year at some reportedly quiet beach at the north west side of Phuket island.I got myself a cell phone: 66 845 25 69 71 (probably have to add 011 or something at the beginning). It's free for me to receive calls so you know feel free to call, just mind the time difference and I have not figured out how to get voicemail yet (the prompts are in thai). I am pretty sure I can get text messages though.Happy New Year.
-------- Date: Tue, Jan 1, 2008 at 9:27 PM
New Year went pretty well, there were lot's of fireworks exploding pretty much under my feet (a lot more interactive that way).Some drinking, some talking to people from all over the world and lighting up of white paper cilinders that would float up looking beautiful.Yesterday I got a kick ass scooter for about $10 a day and drove it to the near by nature reserve.They let you kind of just roam around and as the trails are kinda hard to walk in you slippers, most people don't go to far so i had the jungle all to myself.I came back later and find some good snorkeling spot - lot's of exotic fish, but the coral looks bad (tsunami I think).I did some biking too ($3 per day for a pretty decent mountain bike)Diving is kind of pricy here though about $100 for a 2 dive trip 15 min by boat.
-------- Date: Thu, Jan 3, 2008 at 6:52 AM
Yeah I decided to put the diving on hold till Ko Phi Phi which is where I am going tomorrow.Diving should be better there.I did some walking around in the "jungle" (if you wanna be romantic about it) and some more snorkeling.I got really scratched up and bitten a lot, saw a lot of interesting birds and huge beautiful butterflies, but could not take any pics - they were too fast.I took a picture of a water buffalo and then he turned around and gotten ready to charge or something so I had to retreat.When I got out of the "jungle" I walked right into a socker field or at least some open area with 2 gates and there were some kids running there and they said I had to take a picture of them and then said thank you and then some other kids were passing by on bikes and they all came and asked me to play socker with them. I thought they might want to steal something from me so I kept my camera on me just in case. I really sucked at socker, but they did too and they were way too small so I did not looked so bad. Turned out they just wanted to play and not to get something out of me which was very nice.I am finding Thailand to be an easy place to be a tourist so far.Last day I was in Bangkok I went to an island where there were no cars just scooters and it was kind of scenic.There were some "restaurants" where I had to sit on the floor at a table that would not pass a the grade as a foot stool in Canada height wise.Nobody spoke English and the menu was in Thai only, they went and found some guy from across the street who spoke some English to come in and order for me and then he just hang around to chat and gave me his cell number and said if I need help I can call him and he will translate and he did not want anything from me either as far as I can tell, I mean it's not all peaches and cream - there are lots of people asking where you are from just so they can sell you crap, but there are a lot of situations where people are kind to you for no reason or just normal. Incidentally English is not as widely spoken as I imagined - it is often like a game of charades which I am getting pretty good at.In Phuket menus are all in English as well Thai - some are in Russian even.Holly shit there was a tiny transparent gecko sitting just above my keyboard and staring at me just now, hen he became self conscious and left.Anyway I have no problems with ordering food here I also go to the kitchen sometimes and point to things I don't want.Ok enough rumbling for today.
-------- Date: Sun, Jan 6, 2008 at 7:50 AM
Ko Phi Phi is a bit of a zoo, but I am getting used to it.It's main island is mountain in the middle with serious clifs and beaches all around with quite a bit of coral and good snorkeling.It has no transportation other than boats which are a bit pricy and the other option is to walk over the mountain covered by thick jungle (did this toda - great view, don't wanna do it again) I went on one night dive so far. I will do a day dive tomorrow on some near by islands, one will be Ko Phi Phi Lay (as opposed to Ko Phi Phi Don where I live).Lay is uninhabited, but gets loads of day trip traffic - it's where the secret beach from the moivie The Beach was filmed.If you are real abitious you can get a tent and stay there, may be catch some fish and eat it, I don't think I am there yet.I am livinbg in a VERY dingy room, but it has an air con (no soap though or much else).
-------- Date: Mon, Jan 7, 2008 at 7:30 AM
I saw a small black tip shark on a dive today and a big hornbill turtle.I also went to a "monkey beach" where the monkeys were pretty friendly.They let people get very close.One came up about a meter or 2 away from me and sat there with his side to me waiting for what I might offer.I only had water, but this guy just turned his back to me - "I am insulted. WATER? Who do you think I am? Coke may be."But then a baby monkey came over for some water and stood on his hind legs and was holding the end of the bottle with his little hands and drank - it was super cute.
-------- Date: Thu, Jan 10, 2008 at 9:55 AM
I have done quite a bit of snorkeling since and saw some more black tip sharks, but they are too shy they always run away when you are near so they are not that much fun to watch not like clown fish (nemo) they don't go anywhere. If you come close they swim at you (to protect the nest).There are many really colorfull fish I have not seen anywhere else and some of the coral is new to mee too.There is this one kind of biting fish that does not look like much just kind of white with some pink or orange. it is about the length of a hand.I have seen it while snorkeling and it never bit me before, but I know at least 3 people who got bit by them and one bit me today.They seem to always bite when you are walking in the water about knee deep. At least that's the statistics we collected so far.What the hell it is thinking I have no idea.I did some climbing today and yesterday and also went to that beach in the movie "The Beach" it is very pretty and there is another one that looks as pretty and as isolated on the same island - Ko Phi Phi Lay.
-------- Date: Sat, Jan 12, 2008 at 9:50 AM
I saw an absolutely massive moray eel yesterday.I saw a part of its back and went a bit closer to see the rest, but it started moving toward me a bit too quickly so by the time I saw the head it was already moving in my direction which looked pretty scary actually, so I paddled away fast. I think it was getting ready for the lokhness monster contest - it was quite passable in my opinion.Also saw a pet squirel today in the "restorant" they let it out of the cage and it jupmped around on customers for a bit and then went to it's favorite bar stool. When nobody was serving it it just jumped on the bar and started looking through bottles to see if anything is open.Apparently it does not drink water, but likes beer and coke.Otherwise it eats fruit.It is the local type which looks quite different
-------- Date: Mon, Jan 14, 2008 at 8:24 AM
Today is the day I touched a beautiful leopard shark.We first saw one that was swiming around - it was about 2.5 meters by my guesstimate.Then we saw another one at the bottom near a hornbill turtle. It let me get so close - I could not believe it.I went down to the bottom slowly and just layed there beside it, gazed into her white eyes and then gently touched it's back, only then did it move away.It looked so smooth, but it felt like sand paper.It was about the same length as me, may be a bit longer.Also we saw some trigger fish which look harmless and swim away from you on this island, but at Ko Tao they apparently attack you - they are not big, but they bite like hell and don't let up untill you move about 40 meters from their nest. Anyway that leopard shark - it was awesome.They are pretty common here, but that was the first time I saw one so far.Somebody saw a whale shark here 3 weeks ago, but I am not really holding my breath it would be like winning a lottery chances wise.
-------- Date: Fri, Jan 18, 2008 at 7:02 AM
Well, I am in Khao Lak.There is not much here, but it is closest point to Similian islands (#1 diving spot in Thailand).Diving costs about $160 for 2 dives it takes an hour and a half to get there by a speedboat on a very choppy sea.Visibility was very good and there are lots of coral, but I did not see anything spectacular like manta rays or whale sharks.I saw a sea snake, some really big puffer fish, very unusual looking crab, very unusual looking trumpet fish.Near by parks have some nice waterfalls and I saw some elephants (trained of course).I might be moving on though - may be to Ko Samui.
-------- Date: Sat, Jan 19, 2008 at 10:04 AM
Ko Samui turned out to involve a great deal of painintheassery to get to, I waited for a bus to Surat Thani on the side of the road for an hour and the only other person waiting was a local girl who waited for 2 hours and did not look too hopeful, even if the bus came it was going to take 4, 5, 6 or according to some sources 8 hours to get to Surat Thani and then some 1 or 2 hours to get to the ferry pier on something else so there was a high chance of missing the last ferry which also was going to take 3 hours or possibly more (or less depending who you ask). So when the bus in the opposite direction going to Phuket stopped, I adjusted my itinerary accordingly - I am now in Phuket.The seats on that bus were a bit small for a fully grown man, but they would be perfect for kids under 3, doors were fortunately open as well as windows and there were fans inside and a smell of some incense burning somewhere to enhance the travel experience (alternatively it could be just something burning under the hood). Overall the bus, was not so bad and it only took 2 hours or so to get to some random spot where somebody said we should take a cattle transport called "local bus". For a while I was hanging off the end of that local bus and then it started to look like whatever I was standing on was going to break off, so I squeezed myself inside just in time to get dropped off somewhere else completely random, I was also dragging along a very confused Swedish tourist who would probably be better off staying on the bus, but I convinced him to come along. Anyway we hitched a ride finally on some very nice new Toyota with lather and wood interior smelling like a new car and A/C full blast - aaaahhh. I am staying on a different beach than last time and so far I like it very much.I checked out a nearby beach that is even fancier (too fancy) and saw an amazing sunset.I also found a great snorkeling spot and saw lots of frog fish which apparently were a holly grail on Phi Phi among diving instructors, but are not much to look at. I also saw something very rare and beautiful - a sea creature called spanish dancer - dive shop near by was very jealous, there was also a respectable size moray eel which I saw in full length, but after that monster on Similan, it was puny, never the less I kept my distance as I have developed a healthy respect for them ever since that lokhness monster look-alike insident. One more bit of trivia before I sign off - while on Ko Phi Phi I came upon an english newspaper called Phuket Gazete - it reported that somebody found an new type of bat on Phuket recently. There was a picture - it had orange body and wings were blue with orange outlining bones. Quite beautiful, except I am not sure if this was the way it looked before it was cooked - it was in a mesh container that is typically used to put things in the deep fryer and then pull them out.
-------- Date: Wed, Jan 23, 2008 at 7:04 AM
Well that's about it for my travels.I tried my hand at Wakeboaring today.It was too hard - I could not get out of the watrer :( , then I tried water skis and that was easier so I zoomed around for a bit and even attempted a jump over a wake - the jump part went well, but the landing was not as successful. I am off to Bangkok tomorrow and then back home the next day.
-------- Date: Sat, Jan 26, 2008 at 7:08 AM
Khao San managed to change since last time I was there less than a month ago - some bars/restraints/guest houses/stores have been replaced by some other establishments or in the process of being replaced.Bangkok, back alley behind Khao San 3:30 am:A guy with a surgical face mask on is sitting on a sidewalk cutting a bathroom tile, near by a 3-5 y/o kid riding a tricycle in tight circles, a vendor of something organic and foul smelling has taken time to sweep 5 square meter around his stand and is now getting back to vending.Bangkok is just crazy busy everything is smoking, crackling, frying, buying, selling.During the day any given sidewalk practically anywhere has 2 rows of vendors one on each side leaving pedestrians a narrow path they have to share with occasional moped rider.I left for the airport around 4 am.A 5 hour stopover in Tokyo's Narita airport did not go to waste - it was too far to go to Tokyo, but a nearby small town was very pretty, clean and proper and contained the main attraction in the area - a shinto temple called Naritasan.The temple grounds are spread around a huge and gorgeous park - a smooth blend of natural and banzai.I wish I had more time to explore.Another 11 and a half hours on the plane and I am back in Toronto still 12 hours ahead of the clock, dizzy and red eyed.I should do this again soon.