Thailand

Bangkok

Arriving in Bangkok there’s immediately no doubt that you’re in a different part of the world than the Western one (a predominantly Asian one even).  Whether Bangkok itself is a part of the third-world seems up for debate, however. The city has some surprising contrasts between unstructured chaos and relative modernity. It sports a clean and reliable light rail system that serves a decent area and of which Seattle could be jealous of and the freeways are wide and well paved. As well, “New” Bangkok is home to plenty of skyscrapers and enormous mega-malls rivaling any in the U.S. On the other hand some areas (the fun ones I'm sure!) are a snarl of traffic, pollution, poverty, refuse and apartment blocks that look barely livable to someone who grew up among relative wealth.  Anyway, let’s call it “developing.”

First couple days in did some wandering around, getting my bearings and adjusting to the aforementioned chaos, traffic and pollution. Crossing the street here can be an adventure all by itself and there seems to be some art to it; which from what I can gather involves just fatalistically stepping out into the road, steadily advancing and trusting that no one will hit you. Whatever, seems to work. The motorcyclists are everywhere and seem basically exempt from any and all normal traffic rules. Fly down a one way street going the wrong way: no problem. Running out of space? The sidewalk it is. Also, let me weave in between traffic with my wife and child on the bike while smoking a cig and sending a text. I've been riding a scooter quite a bit lately but I wouldn't even dream of doing so in Bangkok. Seems vaguely suicidal.

Thai people love to snack and so consequently street food vendors are everywhere and the sheer variety and sight and scents of their wares is staggering. I have no idea what 95% of the stuff is but have managed to score a few delicious mystery meals while avoiding the most off-putting looking of the offerings. Constant commerce of varied types seems actually to be the main visible undertaking in the city. Whatever it is, you can bet it’s being sold somewhere in Bangkok. If I’d known I would have saved some money on my University degree and just picked up a couple of fake ones on Kao San Road.  From the warrens of Chinatown to the Chatuchak weekend market (believably one of the biggest in the world at 26 acres) there seems endless things on offer; again a good portion of them unidentifiable to me. The weekend market had a live animal section offering puppies and kittens of all types and the offerings went all the way down the line to t-shirts sporting Hitler lying on the beach in a sexy pose. I also particularly liked one touting “The Raping of Tupac” (English spelling rules CAN be important!).  

                Oh yeah, the nightlife. Drunken madness, vendors selling fried insects to tourists, towers of beer and more. Had a great time going out in Bangkok, though I can understand why the city is a bit too much for some people looking for a more relaxed time. The red-light district in Bangkok was interesting, but a definitely a bit on the sleazy side. Mixed among the casual, giggling tourists just sight-seeing for a night of watching topless and bored looking Thai girls listlessly dancing on stages are your more dedicated and committed deviants and perverts; often older white men unsurprisingly. There’s also the commonly seen phenomenon of some fat, white haired guy escorting his new “girlfriend” around town. Not exactly the best side of Thailand to be sure.

So, did lots of walking, followed by lots of massages, checked out the various big main attraction temples and partied the nights away. I quite enjoyed the giant “Reclining Buddha” temple. The artwork in the temples is fantastic and they’re generally quite well maintained and not at all shabby. I also sweated a seemingly unreasonable amount but all in all have tremendously enjoyed the start of my trip, though more than ready to move on to some island and beach life.

 

Koh Tao and Koh Phangan

                After a long bus/ferry journey south I ended up on the small, peaceful, diving-centric island of Koh Tao. Some really nice beaches and cool little bungalows nestled in the jungle here. Kind of hung out for a few days relaxing and taking in the scene. Had some great fresh seafood as well. Fun nights at the beach, watching the fire dancers, dancing and drinking buckets. They have laughing gas on tap too so occasionally got to see the amusing sight of someone taking a balloon and then falling flat on their face. Went and saw a lady boy cabaret show with some girls I met which was…interesting. Seriously is kind of scarily hard to tell the difference sometimes; some nice boobs on a few of those guys. It's all so confusing! Also went and saw the Muay Thai fights. Pretty crazy, they start out with like 12 year olds trying to kill each other and then progress up in age a little bit each fight. Saw quite a few knockouts and stoppages, including a serious weight-class mismatch between a hefty Bulgarian who had been training on the island and a skinny local. Fight lasted about 45 seconds. Good times.

                Moved on to Koh Phangan (Full Moon Party island) after a few nights. Bigger island but still really nice. Had my first rent-a-scooter experience: too easy. It’s great just cruising around the island and checking out various beaches and sights.  Some places though it seems like every other tourist is wrapped in bandages, limping or has some other evidence of wiping out on a scooter. Luckily (for my peace of mind anyway), upon inquiring about the circumstances of the crash the wounded person invariably mentions alcohol, something I have no intention of mixing with riding. Risk to life and limb aside it’s not cheap to crash either. They rent the scooters cheap but make their money on charging you exorbitant prices for the smallest scratch. So all the scooters are like completely brand new and gleaming. Bastards. Got tired of staying in a room with other people eventually and found a great cheap deal on a private room. Met some fun people there and checked out some of the various parties. Wasn’t Full Moon time but there’s always some party or another on the island: Black Moon, Shiva Moon, Jungle Experience, Pool Party, etc.  The Half-Moon one was crazy, can’t even imagine the chaos of the Full Moon one with more than twice the crowd. Was thousands of people covered in body paint (many of them off their heads on god knows what) all packed into a jungle clearing and dancing to techno beats until past sunrise. Was fun though despite the monotony of the music; seemed to me like it was the same damn song all night. As an aside the Red Bull in Thailand is much different than in the States: it’s basically like crack. Canadian guy I met and partied with fell prey to the islands habit of trying to squeeze “fine” money out of tourists as upon checkout he was shown CCTV video of himself swigging from a bottle of whiskey, staggering around, and repeatedly falling into and destroying the hostels various potted plants. Think they made him pay like 100 bucks before they’d return his passport they keep as a deposit. Anyway, again, good times.

Chang Mai

                Did an epic 2 night straight journey all the way to the far North of Thailand and the jungle town of Chang Mai. Very chilled out and relaxed up here. Went on a fun jungle trek and rode elephants as well. Didn’t spring for the really good elephant experience but it was still fun feeding them bananas and they had a baby too. Their trunks are really weird… Also had to go and see the tigers and pet and chill out with them. One of the juveniles turned and play bit the cool German girl I’d met and been hanging with. She was pretty excited to have tiger teeth marks as a souvenir. Awesome animals. Even though you know cats are lazy during the day and these ones have been fed and are accustomed to humans it’s still a bit nerve-wracking being in there with the big ones. Those teeth and paws are no joke. Did a bit of waterfall swimming and white-water rafting too. Both quite fun. Saw one of the local hill tribe villages but it was a bit on the depressing side honestly: “Missionaries are in the process of converting them all, most the younger generation wants to leave and find work in the cities rather than follow the traditional farming path and their way of life will likely be destroyed completely in the next decade but here, in the meantime, they’ve set themselves up as a kind of zoo exhibit for you to take pictures and buy trinkets. Enjoy.” Whoo, sweet.

So, one last night in Chang Mai and then on to the nearby small hippie town of Pai. After that, not sure. Having a great time so far though!