Happy Halloween from Bangkok

I am back in the oh-so busy city of Bangkok. We unfortunately had to get up Sunday
morning and leave the lovliness of the beach. I was not enjoying the idea
of leaving Koh Chang, or Thailand for that matter, but now I am back in
exhaust-filled Bangkok...with my Indian visa...and I'm ready to move onto
the next step. I guess it's good that people have to come back through
Bangkok in order to leave Thailand, because it gives you a little necessary
'shove' in the direction that you must go.

It's pretty crazy around here now, as it's Halloween. There are decorations
up, and loud music (louder than usual), and masked people around on Ko Sahn
at night. Yesterday, we had to spend our entire day waiting around the area
of Bangkok where the Indian Embassy is. It was good to walk around another
part of the city, but it's so hard to walk anywhere where there is traffic,
because the exhaust smell is horrible!!...Not to mention that all of the
sidewalks are very ripped up, and you are fighting motorcycles for a spot to
walk!

On this note, I am very sad to leave the nice people of Thailand. I am also
sad to leave the yummy pad thai, banana pancakes, and the sound of Black
Eyed Peas in every bar/restaurant. Thailand has truly been the land of
yummy street food (aside from the cart of cooked insects we saw last night),
dogs, the 'third sex' (as I saw on a book today, describing the
transvestites of Thailand), and last but not least....beautiful water. I
hope to come back again some day, and really get a chance to explore the
prettiest of Thailand's islands in the south....

Now, we have the rest of the day to pass here, probably reading in a coffee
shop. We leave for India tonight, around 2:40 am. Tomorrow, I will wake up
on the plane, and I will be in Delhi!!

Ayuthaya, Khorat, Pattaya, and Koh Chang

Well, like I said in my last post, we have been moving around a lot.  We have less than a week left in Thailand, so I figure I should attempt to give a brief update on everything that we have been up to....

Like I have already said, we were able to walk across the Bridge over River Kwai in Kanchanaburi.  It was pretty neat to see, and even neater that we got to walk all the way across it.  I'm pretty sure that nobody would ever come to Kanchanaburi if it wasn't for this bridge, which makes it nice because there really isn't much of anything going on in this town.  We really enjoyed it here, and would go back again just for the nice atmosphere (great people) and our cute bungalow.

Ayuthaya (not sure about the spelling)...This is the ancient capital of Thailand.  I was really interested in coming here because it's full of ancient ruins, well, what is left of temples due to wars and aging.  The place itself I didn't care for as much, things were pretty overpriced, but the temples were really beautiful, because they all seemed so natural compared to what we saw in Bangkok!  We paid a taxi (taxis here were 3-wheeled trucks, where you sit on the back) to take us around to all of the important 'wats' (temples).  It was extremely hot here, so it was definitely a good decision to do this. We went to see like 6 different wats, we saw giant sleeping buddhas, hundreds of sitting buddhas, we saw a bat infested temple, and we walked amongst all of the crumbled buildings.  Many parts of Ayuthaya was actually flooded while we were there, so we actually had to take a boat to get up on one of the temples!

Khorat...Ray's dad spent one year near here during the Vietnam War, so we wanted to make a stop in here to see if there was anything left of Camp Friendship.  We were only here for a short period of time, but we were actually able to find out that the Thai soldiers are currently using the camp (which meant that we couldn't go)...however, as Ray was at a bank machine, I met a Thai man that wanted to speak English to me.  It turns out that he also worked at Camp Friendship, so we talked to him for quite awhile...well, really it was him telling us numerous funny stories, while we attempted to listen.  It was so good that we found him!

Pattaya...We only stayed here because we needed to.  The place seemed to be party central, but not for people our age, more for middle aged foreign men that were there with their Thai girlfriends (or...maybe not?!).  It was interesting here.  We took a bus from Khorat to here, and stayed the night so we could get up early and take a mini bus to Koh Chang.

Koh Chang...we are finally here!  There isn't much of a beach.  The 'white sand' is actually under the water, so laying out kind of sucks...but the swimming in amazing!  Everytime I look in the water, I want to jump in!  It's so blue and clear, and the sand is so soft...and rock and creature-free!  I haven't had any encounters with any jellyfish yet which is good, although I still have my fingers crossed!  We are staying in another cute bungalow, on the beach, called Sang Arun.  We have a tv which actually plays English movies...so it's definitely a bonus for us to have that and news!  Most of our time has been spent playing in the water (we bought a beach ball which escaped, but came back to us today), eating breakfast on the beach, eating street pad thai (I'm obsessed with it!) on our little deck, and drinking delicious coconut smoothies as the sun goes down.  We also went elephant trekking which was so awesome!  We went through a company that is located in the jungle, so the elephants get to live in a good place.  There were 10 elephants.  The one that we rode was 20, and it was 'playful'.  I don't think it liked to follow instructions, and it pooped a lot!  We got to feed her when we finished the trek.  During the trek, I luckily didn't see any snakes, just lots of big and funny looking bugs and spiders.  My favorite part of the whole thing was at the beginning when we were able to feed and touch a 50 year old elephant.  I think that she really liked me.  I fed her so many bananas and she wrapped her trunk around me...I was with her for awhile....

So, it's Thursday now.  There are lots of touristy things to do on the island, but because it's touristy, everything costs quite a bit of money (not really, but for us backpackers it does).  So, the rest of our days will be spent doing some more swimming, reading, and relaxing.  We leave to go back to Bangkok on Sunday, where we have to pick up our Indian Visas......

Some observations about Thailand:  1.  There are dogs EVERYWHERE.  I mean, you walk somewhere, you will see at least 7 dogs.  The monks do not believe in putting animals down, so unfortunately very injured or sick dogs walk around, and then because they don't belong to anyone, they multiply...like mad!  2.  There are many, many transvestites.  Again, I mean...MANY.  It's a very common way to live here...the guys that are dressed as girls really look like pretty girls, good thing I am not a single guy! (HA)  3.  They love the party scene here!  4.  Everyone wears yellow collared shirts to show their respect for their King.  4.  There are geckos everywhere!

Okay, that's all for now.  I feel that my brain may be a little fried from the sun.  This is all that I could think of at the moment...sorry if it wasn't a very interesting post!  Hopefully, I can get a few pictures up for you.                                             

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Sunset, Koh Chang

Me, as the sun goes down

Ray and the elephants!!

Walking aroud a Wat, Ayuthaya

Bridge over River Kwai, Kanchanaburi

Wat Phra Kaew, Bangkok

A Quick Note From Koh Chang

We've finally made it to the beach! This is just a quick post to touch base, as we have been doing a whole lot of travelling and not staying put! I will post another blog with more details of what we have been up to in the next few days.

For now, I can say this: Since I last wrote, we spent 2 nights in Kanchanaburi, where we walked across the Bridge over River Kwai. We took 2 buses, and arrived in Ayutthaya (the ancient capital), here we stayed one night and explored temple ruins. From Ayutthaya, we took a train to Khorat, and stayed one night. From Khorat, we took a long bus to Pattaya, where we also stayed one night, then got up early and took a mini bus and ferry to Koh Chang.

Now, we are staying in a bungalow on the beach. It's very cute, and we are treating ourselves to a nice one with television! Tomorrow, we are going elephant trekking through the jungle, so I will write again soon.....

Moving on From Bangkok to Kanchanaburi

We are now in Kanchanaburi, an area about 2 1/2 hours and a little northwest of Bangkok.  We left this morning and hopped on a bus (that took longer than it was supposed to) and landed in Kanchanaburi around 2pm this afternoon.

Bangkok...
Well, a lot of it was just as people have described it:  traffic-jammed streets; lined with tuk-tuks and taxis, gold framed pictures of the King (I presume), people on the streets selling anything from fresh fruit and dried, stinky fish to sun glasses and a couple of broken cameras.  The area of Bangkok, also known as the backpacker's stopover, was exactly that.  Our street (Koh Sahn Road) was lined with shops and vendors, all competing against eachother, selling the same sort of stuff:  skirts, shoes, bathing suits, bags, jewellery, books, cds, pad thai, banana pancakes (which are the most delicious things that I have EVER had I think!), etc.  It actually seems like quite the 'hippy' hangout, as every 10 feet you could stop to get your hair put into dreads, and every 20th person was sportin' them or braids...  This may sound like a lot to handle to some, but this, I quite enjoyed.  I enjoyed the shopping (these vendors did not harass you like in China), I enjoyed some of the chaos that came with pushing through the people in the night to get across the street...because it all felt different than the chaos similar to this in China.

Having said this, I definitely am fine with leaving Bangkok, and moving to some more remote areas.  Most of our time in Bangkok was spent either catching up on sleep from our 'all nighter', getting our Indian Embassy/Visa stuff figured out, or just walking around.  We did, however, visit the notorious Grand Palace and Wat Phra Kaew.  It was a ridiculously hot day, and the place was packed with so many people...but it was definitely worth the visit.  The only way I think that I can describe this temple (the 'Wat') to anyone is...."OH MY GOLD!!".  There was gold everywhere, and on everything...and in great detail.  It was shining like mad in the sun!!  The dress code is quite strict also, so we had to have pants and sleeves (short sleeves were okay) on the entire time...we were scorched.  This is also the reason that this is the only temple/toursit attraction that we did. 

Everything has been really cheap here.  We are able to eat Pad Thai from the street for only 20B ($0.5), or get a meal for a couple of dollars in a restaurant.  Our lovely hostel was only $9 for a double private...and we stayed at a more expensive one (it was very clean and friendly!).  It also only cost us $2 to get here, and we were on the bus for at least 3 hours...so it's looking good!

So, now we are staying in a cute little bungalow, in what appears to be a marsh.  It's so green and peaceful!  We have to walk over a mini bridge to get on our own little private deck and bungalow.  We were only going to stay for one night, but will be staying another.  We have already visited the 'Thailand-Burma Railway Centre' which is a museum dedicated to the history of the railway, the bridge over River Kwai, and all of the people who died in the making of the railroad.  We also visited the cemetery, which is just across the road from the museum.  It was a very nice and informative museum (since I usually am not the most interested in museums), but there were some pretty sad/intense photos and displays...

Tomorrow, we will visit the bridge over River Kwai...and maybe get some Thai massages...?!!

                            

In the Heart of Bangkok

I am finally in Thailand!  Ray and I pulled an all-nighter last night, so this morning was rough trying to find the hostel that we had booked.  In the end, we cancelled our reservation and took a 'tuk-tuk' (a motorcycle/taxi) to Kho Shan Road...the backpacker locale in Bangkok.  We're here, we're happy (although still pretty tired), and I think I will be doing a lot of shopping tonight, as I am located on a road lined on both sides with items screaming my name....

Oh, and if you ever have the choice, fly Emirate Air.  It was the most amazing flight that I have ever been on.  We had a delicious meal, personal tvs (with movies, shows, and games), comfy pillows and blankets, clean bathrooms, etc. etc...the list can go on.  I felt like I was in a fancy hotel, and neither of us wanted to get off of the plane!!!!                                                    

A Few Days in Hong Kong

 The last time that I had a chance to write was in Yangshuo.  It was an interesting and grilling time getting from there to Hong Kong, and once we got into Hong Kong, internet was quite expensive (as was absolutely everything else).  We left Yangshuo at around 9pm on the 9th, after lots of hollaring at a few workers, we got on our sleeper bus, and nestled into our two beds (poorest on the bus, I might add).  Our first sleeper bus was a normal bus with three aisles of mini little bunk beds, and a bathroom.  This sleeper bus was basically like three aisles of reclined seats, somewhat like beds, although your feet went under the person's bed/seat in front of you...so you in fact couldn't fit in it properly (well, I couldn't, and I'm pretty sure most people are not shorter than me), and we didn't have a bathroom....for a 12 hour ride...

Anyway, I just wanted to explain what a sleeper bus is like and could be like.  It was fine, we made it through the night...accepting the fact that we didn't need to sleep, and we were just basically riding some very long and horrible ride!!  Our bus went to a place called Shenzhen, which is an hour from Hong Kong, so from there we had to take a local bus to the border, where we then 'departed' China and 'entered' Hong Kong.  We then took another train to Kowloon Island, the part of Hong Kong that we would be staying in.  So, as you can see, we had quite the time getting to where we wanted to be, but really, after we got off of the sleeper bus, everything was very clean, organized, and easy to do.  However, it was interesting again once we got to our hostel:  We were staying in a 'mansion' that has many floors of hostels, pretty much the only thing anyone says that you can afford to stay at in in Hong Kong, so we had to do it.  This place was the 'Itaewon' of Hong Kong, lined with watch, suit, and sex shops...sidewalks lined with men selling watches and suits, and also lined with a few very unattractive women that were 'supposed' to be prostitutes...but no worries, the hostel that we stayed in had a very clear sign stating: "No outsides or prostitutes may enter" (LOL).  

Needless to say, Ray and I really didn't like this area of town too much.  We did sleep here for two nights though, because we needed a bed to sleep in, and it was fairly cheap ($12 each a night for dirty rooms, but that's all you could get!).  Anyway, this is how our Hong Kong travels started out.  I was not entirely fond of the place at first, but once we got passed all of this, things picked up.....

After some much needed rest, we got up nice and early on our second day and took the Star Ferry (a very popular little ferry) to Hong Kong Island.  Hong Kong Island is exactly what I pictured Hong Kong to be....tall, modern buildings, a nice harbour...and very clean roads!  We then took the Victoria Peak Tram up to Victoria Peak, a very popular spot to view the water and all of the sky scrapers.  We spent the entire day at the peak, walking around the mall, a walking trail, and the rooftop terraces.  We stayed there until dark, so that we could see the city light up at night.  All of the really tall buildings have fancy little light shows at night...it was really pretty.

On our next day, we got up early and took all of our things on the ferry to Lantau Island (where the airport is located).  We heard that this place was much quieter...so we spent a little bit more money and got a private room in a cute little hotel right by the beach.  Lantau Island was fantastic.  There were no people around, it was clean, pretty, and safe.  We basically had a huge beach to ourselves!  We took a local bus on our first day there to a place called Ngong Ping, where the "Wolrd's Largest Outdoor Sitting Bronze Buddha Statue" is located.  It was actually a very large buddha, so it was cool to see.  We walked up many steps to get closer to it, and got a better view of the mountains.  The drives on the buses around Lantau are pretty insane, as most of the roads are as wide as one vehicle, and they wrap around the mountains through the island....

Our last day in Hong Kong, and the China region was spent solely relaxing on the beach.  We literally sat in the sand or at a picnic table for the entire day, except for a short hour break to check our emails at the public library.  It was definitely a good way to end this part of our trip...and it's so good that we switched locations so that we could really enjoy what I think is the real aspects of Hong Kong!!!!!!

So, China and Hong Kong has treated us well, but it's time to move on...and I'm happy to be moving to the next step!                                              

The scenery on our Li River boat ride, Yangshuo

Biking through the countryside of Yangshuo

Cruising through the Lesser Three Gorges

The enormous pit of Terracotta Warriors

YaYa, my friend the Giant Panda

Ray and I on the Great Wall of China

Last Day in Yangshuo

Well, we've had a pretty relaxing 6 days here in Yangshuo.  It was the perfect place to come and avoid the busy sounds of the cities.  It was still pretty hectic here for awhile, since we were here during 'Golden Week', but as each day passed, the streets got quieter... 

Yangshuo is a very touristy little town, but it's in the perfect location to really experience the real 'countryside' culture.  The streets (really just two streets) within the town are lined with cafes (with lots of Chinese and western food) and various souvenir shops.  If we were able to purchase things to bring back home, this would definitely be the place to do it.  You cannot walk 5 feet without having someone approach you to buy something...it actually gets very annoying, and we have learned how to not make eye contact, and how to look very mean.  I feel really bad having to turn down some of these people time and time again, especially when some of these vendors are very old, and it just seems like such a sin that this is how they have to spend the rest of their life...attempting to sell tacky little knick-knacks to foreigners.  I did purchase some headbands from one little man that is just too cute to not give money too.  Most people here are selling various things, but this little man sits outside everyday, wearing McDonalds slippers, a neon pink tank top, and really thick glasses...and he only sells headbands, which are sold in every store!  I thought that he was just too adorable, so I had to make a few purchases...

On our second day here, the four of us (Silke, Tim, Ray, and I) rented bicycles for the day.  It only cost us 10Y ($1.20) to rent a bicycle for the entire day!!  So, we took our bikes, and rode along a 5 hour route.  At first, we had to drive along the busy streets, nestled to the right of the road, while being passed by other bikes, motorbikes, 3-wheeled trucks, etc.  It was a little stressful at first, but it was fine, as everyone just goes around because they have no problem driving on the wrong side of the road here!  Anyway, as the road carried on, we got further and further away from any sort of noise, and we were then driving along dirt roads through rice fields, mountains, and very few houses.  We drove through different villages, all where there were people living their normal lives...and not trying to sell us touristy things!  We stopped in one village to buy a pop and relax, and another to buy some apples.  It was neat to see the difference in the lifestyles here...although there was one thing that was really uncool:  We saw a man holding a hen and a huge butcher knife!  Silke and I rode quickly ahead, while Tim and Ray were 'fortunate' enough to see the poor thing get it's throat slit!  I'm glad I passed on that one....

Anyway, the ride was very long, but it was awesome.  The scenery was beautiful, and it was pretty cool that riding amongst a small herd of water buffalos became somewhat normal!  Water buffalos are everywhere here.  They're pretty cool animals, as they just graze in the grass, and chill out in the rivers...seems like a pretty sweet life to me!  I wish I could climb on one's back and hang out in the water with it!

So, on our third day in Yangshuo, we all woke up pretty sore, so we got up and rented a boat for the day.  We hired a local fisherman to take us along the river for 3 hours, which ended up being 4 1/2 hours, so we really got our moneys worth.  We basically just relaxed and enjoyed more scenery on the boat for the entire time, except for when we made 2 stops at very small villages along the river.  Both villages had very old stone houses, with open windows.  There was nothing in these villages except for mini stores,all with no power...and a few gardens.  They were cute, but because they don't have much in these villages, we were bombarded with postcards and more knick-knacks!!

Yangshuo has been really good for us.  We've gotten to see the parts of the Chinese life that I really wanted to see, but we've also had a great chance to fill our bellies with tons of good food, and really rest before travelling some more.  There are many things that I could write about, but these are the bigger things that we have done.  We leave here tonight.  Ray and I are taking a sleeper bus to Shenzhen, which is on the border of Hong Kong.  We will then go into Hong Kong for the rest of our time here.  It's going to be hard to leave this place, and get back into the 'fun' part of travelling (obviously as joke, because the long days and nights of getting to and from places is never fun...lol).

You will hear from me again when I am in Hong Kong....

                                    

Yangtze River to Yangshou

I am now in Yangshou, a town about an hour south of where we stayed last night.  You can really tell that we have travelled quite a bit south, the weather is really hot and humid now...it's giving me a little taste of what is to come in our travels!

I feel like we have been on the go quite a bit as of recent, except for the wonderful time that we had relaxing on the boat...

We travelled from Xi'an to Chongqing on an overnight soft sleeper train.  It was fine, but it was definitely not near as good or clean as the first train that we took.  That train was about 15 hours long, so we arrived in Chongqing early in the morning on the 29th.  When we got there, there was a man waiting for us, and 6 other foreigners that were all going to be taking the boat trip together.  'The John' (our organizer) put us all together on the boat, so that we'd have people to hang out with.  He put Ray and I with another couple from Germany (Tim and Silke).  They are really awesome, and we are actually staying with them in Yangshou now!  Anyway, we spent the whole day walking around Chongqing in the rain (of course!) and we got on the boat around 6pm on the 29th.

We stayed 2nd class, on a 2nd class boat, but it was pretty nice.  Our rooms had 2 bunk beds, and our own bathroom.  We had to pay a fee to get access to all parts of the boat, but it was fine because not many people paid.  Basically, we spent most of our time on the upperdeck of the boat, enjoying the breeze and the scenery.  There were many excursions each day when the boat stopped, but we only did one thing because everything was pretty expensive, and a lot of it seemed kind of phony (like, neon-lit temples and artificial waterfalls!!).  However, we did get off of the boat to peruse the areas, which was pretty neat.  Each port had many vendors of food and souvenirs (all the same things at each port).  Some interesting things I could have bought to eat:  cow tongue, intestines, pig snout, whole baby chickens (to eat - and I mean WHOLE), BUT I passed...    

Anyway, I spent my birthday (the 30th) hanging out on the upperdeck with the people that we came with.  We also ate dinner together in the restaurant on the boat (we did this 2 nights).  At our table of 7 people, we had people from USA, Canada, Germany, Denmark, Netherlands, and Switzerland.  It was pretty cool to hear everyone's different stories, and it's also pretty neat to see so many people here communicating in English, which is their second language!  Everyone we were with were really awesome...Needless to say, I had a pretty sweet birthday.

On the 1st, we went on our big 5 hour excusion to the Lesser Three Gorges and the Mini Three Gorges (that's right...there are the 'Three Gorges', the 'Lesser Three Gorges', AND the 'Mini Three Gorges'!!).  Basically, we had to get into a smaller boat and travel down a smaller river to see the lesser gorges, and into an even smaller boat (that was packed and required life jackets) to travel down an even smaller river to see the mini gorges.  The landscape was out of this world.  I took so many pictures, it's ridiculous!  It was so beautful to us now, but we saw pictures of what it looked like before the dam started flooding it (it has raised 50 meters already!), and it was just out of this world.  I cannot believe how many amazing things were ruined and taken away because of the dam.  At one point, we were looking at a new 'city', while floating over the old city....

Regardless of how much has been ruined, the sites of this river are still phenomenal, and I kind of wish that I was back on the boat, having nothing to do but relax with great scenery...

When we got off of the boat early on the 2nd, we basically had to travel for 24 hours to get ourselves to Guilin.  Four of the people that we were with were also coming to Guilin, so at least we had others to travel with.  We had to take a bus from one part of the river to our final destination, Yichang.  From Yichang, we had to take an express bus to Wuhan.  From Wuhan, we had to deal with a bunch of people who didn't speak English, in attempt to get our tickets that we reserved, then we finally took a 12 hour sleeper bus to Guilin.  The sleeper bus was definitely interesting.  I fit fine, as the bed was about the width and length of my body, so everyone else had a whole lot of difficulty fitting in comfortably!!!  Ah well, it's all giving us a lot of interesting experience in travelling...

So, we spent one sucky day of 'attempting' to do laundry in Guilin, and now we are in Yangshou with Tim and Silke.  Everything is still pretty busy because of the holiday, but it's a lot more relaxed here, and our hotel has a great view of the river and mountains..and the four of us have a balcony to ourselves!  We have another 10 days in China, so we might lay low here for awhile before heading to Hong Kong.  I think that tomorrow we may rent some bikes to tour around the outskirts for a bit together...

The internet bar offers internet for only 2Y here ($0.25), so I am sure you will hear from me again soon....                                

Leaving Guilin

I'm off of the boat, travelled to another city, and now I am leaving that city. I just wanted to let everyone know that I'm back on land, and am heading more south.

We are in Guilin right now, we spent the night here. Now, we are heading to Yangshou, which is only an hour south of here. I will write again once I have arrived, and I promise I will write tons about how great the Yangtze River Cruise was....