Koh Samui - Latter Days

So Michelle and I took our spa day at Tamarind Springs Spa, which was great. They had a hot herbal steam bath with a cooling-off pool which we used first. It was so hot in there it made the outside seem cool. Then it was off to the massage and facial. We did the Top to Toe massage with facial in the communal sala (an open-air room which has a roof and a floor, but no walls). There were fans along the walls which provided a gentle breeze. It took something like 3.5h total - we had breakfast at about 7am and started our massage day at 11:30. By the time we were finished, we were starving. We had some great food there - Michelle had the brown rice stir-fry and I had the chili-pesto pasta with their Popeye soup (cream of spinach). While we were at the spa, Ryan and Adam went fishing and caught something like 18lbs of fish: one grouper and one treveley. We got a local restaurant to grill it up and tried to eat as much as we could.

Next day was snorkeling and scuba diving with Captain Caveman Diving, which meant an early-morning pick-up at 7am. Our driver came knocking at 6:50 and we weren't even close to ready. We left at 7am, he picked up some more people and we made our way to the beach. We hopped onto a medium motorboat with 2 250hp motors hooked up to the back. There were something like 12ppl on the boat, with a bunch of gear stashed all over. We started on the beach at Koh Tao, which is famous for the diving. Ryan and I had our Discover Scuba Diving session. It was my first time diving and it was incredible! So cool to be swimming under so much water, with the coral and fish. I was able to depressurize my ears with my jaw. Very cool. The water was clear and we saw lots of stuff - sea urchins, sea cucumbers, coral, clownfish, christmas worms, that fish that lives with the shrimp, some schools of fish, parrot fish, a trigger fish. Very cool. Snorkeling was fun after the diving, too. Talk about exhausting though. I passed out on the boat after. We went out to Lamai's main strip for dinner and drinks, and I was a complete crab that evening.

We took a 'day off' on our last day there (Thursday) and relaxed a bit, with a couple trips into Lamai to do some last-minute shopping before our evening flight out of there. We stopped by the expat used bookstore called Island Books. Bought some snacks and then took off on our flight.

The taxis in Samui were just insane. They were supposed to be metered taxis, but none of them had meters. They had different rates at different times of the day, and would try to charge 'per person'. One morning, a trip from Lamai to Chaweng was 300 bhat. That very night, it was 200. The buses were much better - you could negotiate and get the same distance for 30 bhat. But the best was renting your own scooter, which is 250 bhat a day. That allowed you the best deal with the best freedom, but then you would have to drive. The driving was something else. Winding roads with coastline just next to the ocean, blind turns, steep curves, driving on the left (hard for a Canadian) and all the trucks and such. We ended up giving up on the scooter and just taking the bus and taxi.

More later....

Back

So now we're back. We were supposed to leave Sunday at 7:00 am Bangkok time, but we forgot the passports in the hotel room. Ryan and I realized this after arriving at the airport with all our bags. With Ryan at the airport to mind the bags, I took my most expensive cab ride in Bangkok to date (800 Bhat). My driver was speeding at 140 kph on the highways and running some red lights with some crazy shortcuts inbetween. Even with all that, I didn't get back until 6:30 am. And we had some luggage at the counter in another terminal. As public liaison officer, I went to deal with the United rep who told us she could put us on tomorrow's 6:45 am flight for only 100 USD extra.

So we decided to stay our extra day in Bangkok at a ritzy hotel (the Landmark Hotel) instead of our usual guesthouse (Rambuttri Village Inn). We checked out the Pantip Plaza again where we just about died from gadget heaven again and bought some mini speakers for the iPod. Then we went to Chinatown and ate streetfood while browsing the toyshops and getting lost in the narrow lanes. The next morning we woke up at 3:30am for the second day in a row to get to the airport really early this time. Once bitten, twice shy.

This time, our itinerary was the pits.

06:45 - 15:00 was Bangkok to Tokyo
17:55 - 11:05 was Tokyo to San Francisco
14:00 - 20:02 was San Fran to Chicago
20:45 - 00:01 was Chicago to Montreal

Thankfully, we got exit row the whole way and our nice long layover on Narita airport meant udon, manga, yukata and cheap(er) scarves. We finally got in the door at 01:15, checked e-mails and went to bed.

We didn't see any thai boxing, we didn't check out Vietnam's DMZ, we didn't go to the Viet tunnels around Hue....

We didn't check out Thailand's Phuket beach, we didn't go to the full moon party, we didn't check out Chiang Mai....

We didn't go to Phnom Penh, we didn't go off the beaten path around Siem Reap....

Ultimately, there was just so much to do and so little time.

We really wanted to go out and check out Tokyo, but that wasn't an option either. And my friend Noah in Shanghai didn't get a visit either. But now we know where to go back to. I definitely want to spend more time in Bangkok touring about and generally having a good time. The shopping there was excellent.

So now I'm faced with our massive bags of stuff to go through and our 600 digital photos to post up, and our piles of mail (work e-mail and home snail mail). And I wouldn't give it up for anything!

More on the rest of the trip (Koh Samui and our second hit of Bangkok) in the next post. Until then, I'm hitting the sack.

In Koh Samui

The heat...it just makes you sleep for 10h straight and feel tired again. It's insane here. I know it's still cold there, but I kinda miss that right now. And it's hard to apply sunblock when you're sweating like crazy. Which reminds me. I've been kicking myself for not bringing perfume. I finally completed my quest for perfume at the Bangkok airport: Light by Isse Miyake, which has the cheeziest pamphlet ever. The heat, the sweat, the stink...not good. There. You should be happy it's still cool over there!! :-D

One thing I'm missing about Hue is the ice cream. They have these vendors who play their boom boxes (horrible music), and they push around a little cart with a freezer. The ice cream they pull out of their cart is so good (I couldn't work out the flavour), and the cones are just the right thickness - not too thick and crunchy and not too thin and soggy. And they put chocolate sauce and crunchy cone bits on top. Mmmm.

The street food over in Vietnam is incredible, and incredibly cheap. You just have to be willing to 'risk' a little stomach trouble. We didn't have any problem. People set up these little kid's picnic tables and stools on the sidewalks, in alleys, in courtyards, and serve their stuff. You get to sit (practically squat) on the stools and eat your soup as the traffic passes by. We got looks from the Vietnamese passing by and one of the 'stalls' gave us free boiled peanuts and tea.

Our one-day Halong Bay tour and evening runabout in Hanoi was the last bit of Vietnam. Hanoi was a really neat city with lots of interesting French architecture and bakeries (their moka cakes were great). It was there that I finally realized the best way not to get bothered is to just ignore the people trying to sell you stuff. Halong Bay was beautiful. We only managed to see one cave and one grotto, which of course contained some interesting phallic formations. The best part of the caves was the fact that they were cool. We got a delicious lunch on the boat with these crazy shrimp/lobster things that looked disgusting but were actually very tasty. And there were people there trying to sell us stuff on the boat too (I had to get some pearls). For the evening runabout, I wandered around the streets near our hotel just to get a feel for the place with one of our friends. We found a Café Dung, which I have a picture of. Ryan and the other friend were both sick with stomach flu. I left Vietnam with 110 VND and now I can't exchange any of it, so I'll just have to keep it as a souvenir. They have plastic money!!

I finally finished Catfish and Mandala in the Bangkok airport. What an amazing book. Very interesting (taught me a lot about the Viet-kieu and the Vietnamese), but also so depressing. I'm currently on the lighter stuff: Distraction (Bruce Sterling), Ludlum and the huge Strange & Norrel (Susanna Clarke) book that's been in the fantasy section lately.

For those of you who have been thinking that my vacation hasn't been much of a vacation at all, Koh Samui is for you. And for me. After all that trucking around with no longer than 3 days in any one city, we have finally 'settled down' and are staying on the big island of Koh Samui for a grand total of 4.5 days. :)

Koh Samui is one of the three islands sheltered by the Southern tip of Thailand, which is renouned for its beautiful beaches, coral reefs, and many resorts. It's the most touristy, but we're lucky at the moment since it's off-season and it shows. It's still hot and humid here, but not as bad as Bangkok. The people here are much more laid back and not as 'on' as the other places we've been to (which is a welcome change).

The beach is really nice and the water is fantastic. There are blowfish, octopus, all kinds of other marine life here, which makes the snorkelling really fun. Ryan got one of the blowfish to get big, and harrassed an octopus into changing colour. He found a huge snail on the ground and stuck it on our friends doorknob - that was priceless. :)

Yesterday we explored a bit and rented a scooter (verrry interesting driving - esp on the left). Koh Samui has roads all long the outer perimeter which go up and down and twist and turn, and the driving becomes very scary when you're going down a twisting curve right next to a cliff going down to the beach. We discovered a bunch of expats at a local bookstore (I managed to get some books for only $6 that are currently selling for $30) and we found out that you can live here for $1000 CDN a month. I know you can live in Montreal for that, but really. The same price, but for much better weather - tropical /all/ year around. I got my eyebrows plucked for the first time, which was really painful. And we went to a fancy restaurant here, which had a guitarist and a singer and I ended up singing a bit there. ;)

We are going to be completely spoiled when we get back. The fruits are incredible, the shakes are great, the curries are awesome, and everything's very cheap. The fancy restaurant was only $30 a head.

Today I went snorkelling with Ryan in the noonday sun and we both got burned for it, lounged about and then walked over to our beach's main drag (Lamui Beach) to get some pants taken in. Then I took the 'bus' into Chaweng (the main drag of the entire island) and scoped out the stores. The bus here is actually a modified pickup truck with two benches along the edges of the back. It's actually a nice trip. I had the whole thing to myself on the way up, it was raining and there was a rainbow (tried to get a pic, but ended up with some power lines instead). They have Boots pharmacy here, so I picked up some stuff (last time I was in a Boots pharmacy was back in 1998).

Tomorrow it's off to one of the many spas (there have to be over 20 here), while the boys go fishing. On Wednesday, Ryan and I are going scuba diving and our friends are going snorkelling. Thursday is relaxation day followed by an evening flight to Bangkok (probably do some cooking class here). Once we get to Bangkok, we're going on a crocodile farm/elephant ride tour package for one day, and then we're going to head over to the main market for some bargains and souvenirs to take home. Finally, we leave on Saturday, at which point I will have to resist the very strong urge to 'miss' my connecting flight from Narita airport and spend time in Tokyo.

I'll write more long e-mails as I can. Until then, I'll see you when I see you.

In Vietnam (II)

Sorry about the past non-BCc: e-mails. You'd think I'd know better... :)

So here we are in Vietnam. The heat and humidity are still insane (I hear it's 29 in montreal now, so you have the same awesome weather). We're barely surviving with A/C. On our last day in Bangkok, we saw the Grand Palace, which was the hottest and most humid we've encountered so far, and Ryan almost passed out. Now, all of our days are compared to that. Not to mention the fact that Ryan's shirt is completely soaked with sweat almost every day. ;)

The remainder of Hoi An was getting our clothes refitted, fixed on the spot and running off. We took the rest of our time there pretty easily, just sitting around renting bikes. The only thing about Hoi An were the locals. They ended up driving me crazy (along with the heat). As a foreigner, I can't walk two steps on the street of Hoi An without getting accosted by people. There are wandering women running around the town who will grab you (by the waist) and steer you over to their shops to check it out 'just for one minute'. And if you pass by a shop, there will be people in front asking you to take a look for one minute. It's very overwhelming. I got very very burnt out because of this. Our guidebook says that the locals see tourists as insanely rich since we're travelling 'without working'. As Ryan said, the Vietnamese see us as wet sponges that they have to squeeze as much water out of as possible; our job is to be rocks which they have to squeeze blood out of. I walked out of Hoi An's clothing market with one pair of capris, two straight skirts, one cheongsam, two ao dai, one dress, all tailored. Ryan got two pairs of pants, two silk shirts, one silk vest, two linen shirts. All for about 200 USD.

I picked up Catfish and Mandala (Andrew X Pham), which is teaching me a lot about Vietnamese and Viet-kieu (foreign Vietnamese). It's a really tough read. In fact, all the books I've seen about the region look like very hard reads - emotionally trying and so on. So I'm reading the Catfish and Mandala book slowwwly. The 4-year old Rough Guide we picked up is giving me a good primer on Vietnamese history as well. I had no idea that the states had an embargo against Vietnam all the way up until 1995. Quite a stunner for me (of course, Ryan was expecting that).

So we took a harrowing bus ride from Hoi An to Hue yesterday along the coast, which reminded me of Hwy 1's reputation. The only thing here was that the guardrail was very low and made of concrete, and the lanes were very narrow with large buses going in either direction and insane hairpin turns all over the place. My stomach wasn't feeling so good on that ride. The vistas were incredible again - green as far as the eye could see and the bluest water imagineable. I assume that the beaches of Koh Samui will top that, but we'll see.... We got confused about the bus stop (language language!) and after I finally went up front and asked them which one was Hue, we got off, only to get accosted by some people from the hotel across the street.

The enterpreneurship of the people here is amazing, but the 'in your face' part of it is very trying after a while. Very trying. Our friends went off to the beach in Hoi An and were surrounded by Vietnamese trying to sell them stuff the entire time they were there.

Hue hasn't been as bad as Hoi An (it has its moments), but we're starting to get pissed off at the whole "let's rip off the tourists" attitude. As soon as a vendor sees that we're foreigners, they jack up the prices at least 2x. While the prices are pennies to us, the feeling of getting ripped off is not fun.

Today we went out the sidewalk and bought bun bo hue for only 5000 VND (dong - about 12000 dong to 1 CAD). Everyone here serves food on the stalls with the tiniest kid's stools and tables, so it was quite a site for them to see Ryan on the stools, and to see foreigners eating soup just like a local. Then we took a private boat tour with lunch to see some of the tombs around Hue - Tu Duc's tomb (with the empress' tomb, the minor concubines' tomb, the poetry pavilion...you get the picture), a temple and one pagoda. The woman taking us made us lunch and served it to us on the boat - on a large mat on the floor. Excellent meal, but it was sooo hot!! Finally it rained in the late afternoon and cooled down somewhat. Then we wandered around town, had a massage, ate more food at a local stall, did some shopping and now we're here.

Tomorrow, we're going to be checking out the Citadel and taking a sleeper train back to Hanoi. On Friday, as soon as we get off the train, we're going to Halong Bay for a day tour, and then staying the night in Hanoi. Saturday morning at 9am, our flight leaves Hanoi to Bangkok, Bangkok to Koh Samui. We're hoping that Koh Samui will be our relaxing vacation rather than crazy (like it is so far). You'll hear from me when we get there.

So far, Vietnam is the most beautiful out of Cambodia and Bangkok, but I still have to wait until Koh Samui to see. :)

In Vietnam

Consider these e-mails in lieu of postcards, since I find this much
easier to do. Thanks again for all the well-wishes. I'll try to
reply to them all as I can, but my replies may be a little short or
late. I'm sure you understand why! :)

So, we left Siem Reap after visiting the floating village on
Cambodia's large lake and the silk farm. It was really striking to
think of us 'rich' tourists cruising by the shanties that the
Cambodians and Vietnamese had set up just above the water. The water
was insanely dirty, the toilets were the lake and all the kids were
swimming around in it. Then we stopped by the Artisans d'Angkor silk
farm for a tour of the silkworms, which was completely different.
Quiet, cool, serene with many women working on sorting the silkworms
out, feeding them mulberry leaves, weaving silk from the cocoons, and
weaving cloth from the silk thread. A real class act, helping out the
poor in Cambodia through apprenticeship.

Then it was off to Hanoi by Vietnam Air. Vietnam Air has the best
seats. Hanoi airport was very clean and orderly with lots of guards.
We took a taxi to the train station to get to Hoi An, and the taxi
driver drove us to some travel booking shop. Everyone here gets a
kickback from people. Tuk-tuk drivers take kickbacks from stores for
getting you in the store, taxi drivers get kickbacks for getting you
to some tourist board... It's very frustrating and annoying,
especially when compounded by the language barrier. So we yelled at
the taxi driver, who took us to the train station after teaching us
some swearwords from a big BMW that was in his way.

The driving in Bangkok, Siem Reap and Vietnam is out of this world.
Vietnam has to be the craziest so far. Almost no lights, everyone
uses the horn constantly to announce their presence. And no one stops
for pedestrians. You just have to develop nerves of steel to cross
the street. Bangkok had crazy close traffic where everyone was making
their own lanes, generally getting *really* close to the people around
them to the point where you thought you were going to get hit.
Cambodia had the worst roads of them all, with more horn-tooting to
announce presence.

Speaking of language barrier.... At the train station we got confused
about the tickets! The lady at the counter told us it was $121 USD.
When I asked her if it was the price for each person, she nodded.
Then we went off to the information desk only to find that her price
was actually for all four of us together. We nearly had a heart
attack when we thought we'd have to pay $121 USD - our guidebook said
it was $30 USD tops!!

After this stressful experience, we finally made it to Da Nang on our
luxurious sleeper car. They fed us a free breakfast of instant
noodles and a free lunch of rice with different meat dishes and soup.
Great service on Vietnam Rail. The train ride itself was beautiful.
Just along the coast, driving by and along cliffs, passing through
river gorges. The green was incredible. Every tree seemed to have
vines all over it.

Then we got a driver to take us to Hoi An. He took us to a different
hotel than the one we asked for (speaking of kickbacks) - but this
time it was ok. The place we're staying at now is actually quite
nice. And the driver played good music! You have no idea...the music
here is always such crap; it's so nice to listen to something that I
can sing along to. For some reason, everyone likes really cheesy
music. In Bangkok, one of the restos had a small band doing Abba
covers really loudly. :(

Everyone here is trying to sell something to you here. In Bangkok,
the tuk-tuk drivers call out to you as you pass by and people sell you
postcards and other trinkets. In Siem Reap, there are entire shanty
'malls' set up around the temples, where you have to walk the gauntlet
of people calling out to you to sell you stuff. Small children and
amputees will beg. The guilt factor in Cambodia is really high. In
Hoi An, women approach you in the street, take your hand, and try to
guide you to their relative's tailor shops, shoe shops, manicure
salons... The kids came up to us with postcards while we were eating
dinner. Just don't mention the phrase "I need postcards" anywhere
around here, or else you're going to get mobbed.

Hoi An's great. Very nice (but still humid) weather, working a/c,
cold water (there was none in Siem Reap). Tomorrow, it's exploring
the old town with an afternoon on the beach and a second fitting of
our tailored clothing. We still have to find the crazy rice paddy
hats, though. :)

More updates later...

In Siem Reap

So, we didn't get a chance to see the Muay Thai boxing. We're planning on seeing the boxing once we get to Koh Samui (try to fit it in with the snorkeling, sleeping, and sitting on the beach). We spent the last night in Bangok eating 'real' Thai food, which wasn't that great, and then getting a suit on Sukhimvit. We actually ended up with a pretty good price (according to one of my friends' replies). We'll have a second fitting when we get back to Bangkok on May 19th. I didn't make it to the night market either...once we get back to Bangkok, we'll be hitting the huge market that's full of deals (can't remember the name of the place). I'll definitely let you know about the shopping there. By the way, if you know of any good places to go in Bangkok, let me know. :)

On May 4th, we flew into Siem Reap, which isn't as humid as Bangkok but just as freakishly hot. We got a driver at the airport and we've hired him for our stay here. For our first night, we ended up just crashing after eating. May 5th we spent seeing about 5 temples - Angkor Thom, Angkor Wat, the Elephant Terrace, and this place to see the sunset (whose name I can't remember). We took an elephant ride up to that temple, which was interesting!!! I've never ridden an elephant before and it's quite jerky. Today, we toured around to 3 smaller temples, including the one they filmed Tomb Raider in (completely overgrown with trees). Very cool, but I'm honestly getting tired of seeing all the Buddhas, the demons, the Hindu gods (especially Vishnu, Ganesh and Shiva).

The poverty here is incredible...it's really hard to go walking down the street, with little children and amputees begging for money. Everyone looks very poor. And everytime we go to the temples, there's a little shanty town of stalls there with people all clamouring to sell you trinkets, water, guidebooks...and you know that you're not getting a very good deal. The good thing is that there is a lot of help being given by many different governments, some free hospitals, and so on. I think I'll definitely have to donate some money once I get back. Average government-job income here is 30 USD. Cambodian currency is 4000 Real to 1 USD, so most places quote in USD and give you change (when it's US coins) in Real. Tomorrow we're going shopping at the floating village and the silk factory (supposedly the best silk in Cambodia) and then we're flying outta here to Hanoi!

Not to worry, I'm taking tons of pictures with my Cybershot T7. I'll try and post some of them soon.

Thanks for all your wishes, guys. I appreciate it! ;)

In Bangkok

After a grueling 26h journey, we're finally in Bangkok with the crazy insane heat, random people trying to get us to buy stuff, and general mayhem. It's pretty cool, if you have air conditioning. :)

Narita airport was awesome - they have shower stalls you rent by the 30min and small rooms you can nap in. Their food was incredible, and the stuff they were selling was similarly cool. Food was great, the stores were neat, we got free sake samples, and the Hermes store was great. :)

So far, we've checked out the insane Pantip Plaza, which has 5 floors of electronics, including just about everything imaginable - computer parts, circuit boards, old laptops, pirate everything, slightly cheaper electronics, knockoff sunglasses, phallic symbols.... The Sony PSPs are for a good price, but it's still not a great deal. I haven't broken down yet. I picked up the the sony cybershot T7, though, which a sweeet camera.

They have 7-11's everywhere here, who have better prices than the guys on the street. The Nori flavoured Frito Lay chips are great. We're staying in the tourist district at the Rambuttri Village Inn, which has a pool on the roof (sooo nice).

The fruit here is amazing. I haven't had better mangoes in my life. The watermelon freeze is great. And it's nice to find that the Thai food back home is just as good as here (even if it's not as varied). I'm still looking for the jackfruit chips I got back home, though...

We still haven't checked out the tailors or jewellers, and I keep getting this nagging suspicion that we're getting ripped off. We've been trying our bargaining skills out and it's been working sometimes (much less than I thought it would). The shopping here is intense. There are stalls all over the sidewalks, huge and crowded malls, random people on the street carrying stuff around and trying to sell them to you, and an all-night market. I'm thinking I might hit that sometime soon.

Tomorrow we'll see Muay Thai boxing at Lumphini, check out the Chao Phraya and probably do some more shopping (you can't walk two steps without finding a stall on the street). Definitely my kind of place. Now if only it wasn't so hot!