Remote beach!

So last night I had a couple beers, went back to my bungalow and immediately fell asleep. Woke up around 3am wide awake. Took an Ambien (thanks lisa!) and fell right back to sleep until around 8am.
While eating dinner last night an old thai women sat with me and started asking me about where i was from and questions about obama. She has lived here her whole life. She told me about the tsunami. Now she is working at this restaurant. She was very nice and told me I should take a hike to the View Point. She said to do it early or late to avoid the heat. As I was laying in bed this morning I decided to go for a hike and find this View Point. I looked in my book and saw a marker for it, also some trails that would lead to the other side of the island. Packed light and took off. Had to ask a few directions to find it but I quickly found the path... straight up. Took about 20 minutes but it was worth it. The island is shaped like a dumbell. Two large sides connected by a thin middle thats probably only a quarter of a mile wide. You could see the whole thing. I took some photos and will try to get them online soon. (below is the view)



Once I got to the viewpoint I found another side path that mentioned Ratee beach over the peak of the mountain(hill). I had marked this on my map and thought I would explore so I started down that. It goes through some dense jungle/forest and a steep decline. Though the island is small and getting lost is very unlikely, I considered the idea. Also, many of the areas looked like a natural setting for a tiger to jump out. Am pretty sure there arent any of those running around on this tiny island either.
I was very curious as to what I would find on the other side. Possibly my own remote beach, possibly a thai village... possibly a tourist filled bar. Eventually I started hearing waves and noises. When I finally broke through it was a charming little beach with all these rough bungalows right on the beach (20 yards if that). A little bar, a hommock and a couple long boats were all that was there. It was exactly what i was wanting to find. 3 ferangs were swimming in the ocean. I went to the bar and asked how much for the bungalows. 500 baht. Guess where I am staying when my 3 days are up at my current spot!





I decided to take a swim on the little beach and the 3 other ferangs quickly introduced themselves. 3 Canadians... two girls and a boyfriend of one. They too had just found this spot and were happy to be away from the party scene of Phi Phi beach.
We all ended up chatting for a couple hours at the bar and decided to continue hiking to other remote parts. We climbed back up our trail and took another route. We were looking for Long Beach. We probably traveled 30 minutes on trails before we found a paved path. We felt like we were close. Finally, we got there. I was disappointed. It looked like Phi Phi beach. Not remote at all like my friend Lisa (who had traveled here this july) had said. As we walked we started realizing that it was a bit too much like Phi Phi beach... like, actually that it WAS Phi Phi beach! Somehow I guess we took a wrong turn and instead of being on the other side of the mountain, we were back where we all started from. We got a good laugh out of that one.
It was past lunch time so we found a very authentic thai place to eat. Basically there was a sign down an alley... you go down and there are women cooking in what might have been their home. They were all eating. We joined them for 40 baht each. A delicious soup with noodles, chicken and fish (i skipped the fish).
Afterwards we swam for a bit on the main beach and then I skipped out back to my bungalow.
We have plans to meet tonight for dinner and drinks... and tomorrow at 10am we have already made arrangements for the 4 of us to go snorkeling. We rented our own longboat driver to take us out for 4 hours. Should be a lot of fun!
So, as I have left a friend yesterday in Phuket, I have made 3 new ones today.
My health is improving. No more itchy throat or zombie brain from lack of sleep. I am starting to feel good and the exercise today helped. I did yoga in my room a bit ago as well (i needed it bad!)
Funny though... something is biting the ferangs here like crazy. I have some red bumps on my body. They dont itch. Not sure if it is bed bugs or beach mites or... whatever. Everyone has something on their skin. Some look terrible. So far I feel pretty lucky.
The thai's here are VERY friendly. All smiles. Even while they are working. There were about 30 of them shoveling sand on the beach (not sure why) and they were having the best time! As I was walking down to the bar a group of like 5 locals asked me to join them in a game of hackee sack (except the ball was larger and plastic). I felt I held my own. :)
There is a lot of construction going on on the island as well. Some of the construction sites look dangerous. They seem to lack modern construction tools here.
The party that i missed last night sounded terrible. Its a loud thump thump thump kind of music. Don't get me wrong, I can enjoy good dance music, but this was just BAD... unfortunately it could be heard clearly... even at 3am.
My new friends are of the same mindset as me on the party scene here. They are done with their current place after tonight and plan to stay at the Katee beach bungalows tomorrow night. Lucky them. If they are still around long enough, I hope to join them there in 3 nights. The girls are traveling for 6 months. They just got to thailand from India. The boyfriend is here for two weeks joining them.
Well thats all for now. Good day. Excited about tomorrow.
chris

NOTE: I probably will NOT upload my photos for this trip online like I did last year in Europe... especially to my flickr account. My images are all at least 1 meg in size and it seems most of the internet here is SLOOW... Takes about 5 minutes to upload ONE photo. So I will be posting some images here on my blog (not through flickr). But it will be limited. When I get home, i will post them all in order on Flickr.

Kho Phi Phi

I have arrived at Phi Phi island and already I am VERY happy I have left Phuket. Though in the few hours I have already been here, it is obvious that its a fake and touristy area, but it still has a wonderful charm about it. Not to mention the natural beauty. Its a tiny island that violently juts out from the ocean with beautiful cliffs, ravines and cravasses. Also, I have yet to see a car... all foot traffic. Just my speed.



The ferry ride was a great treat as well. I got to know several of the other passengers. Ryan is a young aussie who has set out for 2 years of travel after finishing college. He just set out and on his first night in Phuket and met a very nice vietnamese prostitute (above). They have been traveling together the past few days. He had done some traveling in chiange mai and was happy to tell me how great it was there. They were a fun 'couple' and made the ferry ride very enjoyable. I also had my first drink of alcohol with them on the ferry (hard to believe I made it that long but i wasnt feelng too well). I hope to run into them again.
I can not go on enough about how beautiful this place is. I have already taken more photos here then my 2 full days in Phuket. I will try to post them soon.



Once we landed at the port (even the port was beautiful) I walked off to a sea of thais trying to 'help' you find accommidations. Being of a bit more sound mind then when i arrived at the phuket airport, I decided to take one up on his offers. (they were much more friendly here anyhow)... My new friend took me to his office and we found some accomidations. I now have a bungalow on the east end of the beach for 4 days. Pricetag: 1650 baht per night or 6600 baht. Yep, i have increased my standard of living. I can actually see the beach from it... though you have to sort of look off to the side of the view. :)
It has air, tv, western toilet, nice shower, fridge, etc. All an american could want. I even spent some time watching tv after I arrived.
If I had any complaints about Phi Phi so far (besides the strong but comfy touristy feel) is that it also feels a bit like spring break. I kind of feel old here. I would guess average age of travelers here is 23. There are a few older farts like me around though. Possibly I will lie about my age if asked! :)
Tonight I also had my 2nd authentic Thai meal. Splendidly spicy. No doubt that my last two meals are far superior to any thai I have ever had. I had two Singhai with my meal and plan to grab a few more tonight.
Ive also heard word that there is a party on the beach tonight. I might wonder that way.
So 4 days to go on Phi Phi island. I am going to be lazy, get some sun, swim and be lazy.. oh and did i say be lazy? :)

Kho Phi Phi bound

I have decided to stay in southern Thailand.
I wanted to meet my friend in Chiange Mai area of northern Thailand, but thats probably 1000 miles from here. So 18 more days of sunny beach perfection. Not a poor choice I guess, but i was very interested in seeing northern Thailand. I think I will manage though... somehow.
News on the street here is that things could wrap up one way or another in Bangkok in the next few days. Apparently the police are now warning the protestors that they have like 48 hours to leave. Hope it doesnt get bloody.
Andy is determined to get to her orphanage (where she had planned to volunteer at for 2 weeks in northeastern thailand) and plans to take a 12 hour bus to bangkok and then hopes to get another bus to the orphanage. Hope she makes it ok. So today i travel alone for the first time.
For breakfast we went to a resort and got a breakfast buffet for 180 baht. It was decent enough. The place was full of europeans and the ones sitting next to us are from England. Nice older couple and a women they had met there. All were stranded! They said that their airlines would not accomidate them and that they could buy new tickets for $1700 to get them back to England. Also, they were all kicked out of their hotels because they are all booked full. I had thought that the riots and economy would keep these places farely empty, but i was wrong. Phuket is at capacity and now i am happy that i have the little dump that I have.
Speaking of our hotel. I had them do my laundry for me for 100 baht yesterday morning. Me and Andy soaked up sun all day and when I returned I asked if my laundry was done and the lady pointed and said it was still going. I looked at what she pointed to, it was my shirt hanging over a grill. I guess thats how they dry it here. Unfortunately I did not get my clothes until THIS MORNING... so i basicallly had nothing but my bathing suit and a dirty shirt all day. Also, looks like our hotel is a hotspot for prostitutes because they swarm in and out of that place like crazy. Its not too bad I guess for $7US each a night.
Last night me and Andy had plans to get some drinks for dinner but by the end of the day we both crashed early and didnt get up. I managed to get out and get the best thai curry i have ever had. Great dinner for 150 baht.
This morning i got up before sunrise and went for a run. Well a short run. Even at just past sunrise it was too hot for me to go too far. I did get some photos, which i hope to get some uploaded soon and i made some decisoins on my future travels.
I am going to catch a ferry today and head to the island of Kho Phi Phi (where they filmed the beach). My friend Lisa in Portland suggested I head to Long Beach afterward, i think its on another island. She described it as very remote and that sounds good to me. Eventually I will probably head further east to Krabi Beach.
Its 11am right now and i just bought my ticket to Phi Phi. 450 baht. Not too bad. I leave in 2 hours and should get there by 3pm. A shuttle picks me up at my hotel, then to the port (15 minutes), then ferry to the island (2 hours). The lady who sold me the ticket at the travel office said Phi Phi is busy right now too. So I might have to start spending more then $7US a night and raise my standards for a couple nights. Actually I am quite prepared to spend much more tonight as it will be the first room i have had alone and ... well i am just ready to for a decent place to spoil myself for a night or two.
I havent mentioned the weather yet. Yesterday was very overcast but still very warm. Today the sun is out in full force. The number of people on the beach has tripled since yesterday. I ALWAYS have water on me and constantly drink, even at night. Its very easy to get overheated.
I am excited to get to Phi Phi... and to leave Phuket. I always knew Phuket would not suite me too much. Not sure Phi Phi is the answer either but I am on the move. Honestly i think as remote as possible. Give me a hut on the beach, i dont even need electricity... though, i do like the western toilet!

Phuket

Arrive late last night in Phuket, Thailand.
By the time we arrived here (from Kuala Lumpur) me and Andy were dead tired. Like comatose. Ive never been so tired. Neither of us could hold conversations. It even seemed like my balance was having issues. We landed and entered the chaos of customs. Hundreds of people all waiting. Loud. We get through customs, head out the airport and its like a wall of probably 100 thais all vying for your business... aggressively so. They would walk up to you and question you and tell you that any idea you have besides hiring them is a bad idea. They wont leave you alone.
It was very overwhelming in the mental state I was in at that point. Neither of us could deal, we retreated back into the airport to breath. I went up to a bank machine to get some local currency. The US dollar is equal right now to roughly 35 Thai bahts. But when i saw the withdraw numbers they offered, such as 3000, 5000, etc. I jsut couldnt process it and canceled. We decided to head south of the main touristy area (patong beach) to Kata Beach. It was described in my thai book as a more relaxed area good for backpackers and it specifically mentioned that it had much less go-go bars then Patong Beach. We got a shuttle to Kata for 180 baht each. Andy already had some baht and so she paid for me. They stuffed us in a shuttle and i put my backpack in th back. Quickly others started shuffling in and throwing their giant bags on my poor little backbpack with my camera in it and everythign else i own. I couldnt help but worry about it back there. Once full the driver took off and started heading south... Only way to describe the traffic here is organized chaos. Its quick, lots of little honking and often involves cars appearing to play chicken at high speeds. It too was very overwhelming.
When we finally arrived at Kata beach, we quickly found a cheap hotel (550 baht total) with air and a western style toilet. Andy fell asleep adn i walked down the road a bit to a 7 Eleven (which are common allover asia), withdrew 3000 baht and bought two bottles of water.
While walking down the streets there are bars with lots of thai women that woudl all call over to me. A bit embarrassing for me at the time. I just couldnt deal with much of anything or anyone last night.
I got back to the room and crashed hard.
This morning, we got up around 6am (still adjusting to time)... was the first bit of sleep that lasted over 3 hours in 5 days. I feel pretty good considering yesterday I had a scratchy throat and was worried i was getting sick.
We walked down the road and found the beach. Amazing!
Breakfast bar for 150 baht and internet for 1 baht a minute and here i am.
We are both considering our options as both of us had intended to meet people up in northern thailand. One more night here then we head out.. somewhere. Honestly, right now i just want to relax and not think... and that is exactly what i plan to do today.
Tomorrow, i will make plans.
All my clothes (3 shirts, 2 socks, 3 boxers and jeans) are DIRTY and so i plan to get laundry done today. Also plan to buy a sim card for my phone so that i can call and text to the US (i actually can now with my current number but its expensive). I will post my number when i get it. Also need to buy shorts, running socks, and a few other items.
Ok time to go.

Stuck in Singapore - For a bit

Slept in the very nice Singapore airport last night. I think i got about 3 hours sleep. Got up at 5:30am and went to the desk and found that our tickets to Phuket don't exist. Either the girl at the desk in Honk Kong simply lied to us to get us to leave the airport or there was an error. A United person here said that United actually has us confirmed, but the other airline does not... they dont even have our names... so most likely there was just a communication issue. There are 3-4 flights today to Phuket and all of them are terribly full. We are on standby for our first and should know if we got on in just a few minutes. Needless to say, this was quite a blow and has been a very frustrating morning as of yet. But hopefully we will get some luck and get on a flight. I will update.
btw, I have no plans to go to Bangkok at all if possibly on this trip.
Will update later today.

UPDATE: Missed our first flight. wasnt even close getting on it even though we were told last night we had seats confirmed. :( next flight leaves at 1pm but we are on a VERY long list of standbyes.

UPDATE 2: After talking to the agent and seeing ALL direct flights into Thailand are heavily overbooked, we started pushing the idea of flying out to another city and catching a flight into thailand from there (the plan we had last night that got us to Singapore). Turns out we can catch a short flight to Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia then 2 hours later catch a flight directly into Phuket, Thailand. Our seats have been confirmed and if all works out as planned we should arrive there by 6:30pm. Keep your fingers crossed. Will by my 7th flight since Monday! :) There are showers here for like $6, thinking of taking advantage of that. We have several hours before we have to leave.

UPDATE 3: Tickets in hand with seat assignments. Should be in Phuket by 6:30pm!!!

UPDATE 4: So waiting for flight. Not adjusted to time change at all yet. Its only noon and it feels like 10pm!!! I think i have only slept 6 hours since Monday. Seriously!!! Tired. I have moments where i just stare off into space and my memory is not too good. This airport is VERY nice though. It has a free theater, free internet, free gaming consoles, free massage chairs, etc. Funny cause a fellow stuck traveler in Hong Kong told us to avoid Singapore. He said the airport was dangerous. So landing I was picturing an airport with metal siding for a roof and sketchy slums around it. Far from it... its very nice. I paid $6US for a shower and that totally revived my spirits and the smell that follows me! Much better now. Sat and ate at some lunch and now we are thinking of napping before our flight leaves in 5 hours. There are about 7 travelers from our original Tokyo flight all here, all heading out on the same flight. I havent seen all of them today but ive run into others who told us where they are. Funny how getting stuck in random airports and getting bused out to hotels can make a group of people click. Most likely we will all stay in the same area and meet for drinks tonight. I doubt we will get too rowdy though, we are all zombie tired with only short moments of alertness. Some of us have a theory that Kuala Lumpur will not have a United Airlines desk and they are just shipping us all there so they wont have to deal with us anymore. Funny... kind of. :) OK time to get off this again.

philippines tonight - phuket tomorrow

Flying into the Philippines tonight. Sleepin in airport, fly to Phuket Thailand tomorrow morning. Then, not sure, but avoiding the riots in Bangkok altogether. WIll update later.

UPDATE: Landed in Philippines. Without having any idea what this airport would be like I am pleasantly surprised. Its very nice and has free internet stations. 1,500 more miles under my belt on this trip. 3 days and 13,000 miles done, the end is in site. Have gotten to know several of my travel mates and we are forming our own little 'camp' in the airport where we plan to sleep shortly. Doubt we will even have to go through customs. VERY VERY tired as this has sort of turned into the trip that never ends... but it has been fun and definitely making friends. Me and one of my new friends Andy (andrea) are hoping on an 8am flight to Phuket. Probably find a place to stay there for at least one night and then possibly Kho Phi Phi. Not sure as this has totally messed up my rough plans to meet avery in Chiange Mai and slowly head south. But for now im just happy to be close to Thailand. Also on a bright note, sounds like we missed by a couple hours being stranded in the Bangkok airport where supposedly 4000 passengers are 'trapped' and were stormed by thousands of bat and club weilding rioters - who took over the airport (including the control tower and check in gates). Rioters have been friendly though and have been bringing in food for travelers and are trying to find ways to get them out of airport. Course you all probably know this all better then I as I have limited access to media.
Ok sleepy time. :)

My first night in Bankok... oops, no i mean Hong Kong

Got up early went for a jog, said goodbye to my friend lisa and ran home, finished pakcing, took the trains to airport. POrtland to Seattle on a puddle jumper. While in Seattle I called to change my flight. First guy with United couldnt find a cheap flight, called a 2nd time and she found me a good flight coming back the 16th. So 6 more days for the trip.
So, my flight from seattle to Tokyo went smooth enough for a 10 hour flight. Met a nice guy from chicago who is also traveling thailand so i will probably meet up with him. Did take an Ambien on the flight but not sure it helped much. ONly slept on and off.
Tokyo was fun, me and friend from chicago tried some Sopporo beer and a sake. Then onto the next flight. about 6 hours into the flight pilot comes on board and says that riots near the airport have closed the airport... so we have been rerouted to Hong Kong. Which looks like an AMAZING city.
Dead tired, only slept couple spread out hours in past 30 hours. Now its 4:13 in the morning here and probably 1pm back in the states. Got my room, looks nice, now palnning to me3et a group for some quick food... but i took another ambien and can feel it already...sleepty time.
Very important for me to get gong with thailand time!
I am safe and well and have already met cool people.
take care!
chris

UPDATE: next morning

WOW did I need some sleep. Me and my new friend Patrick are heading out to view the local sites for a bit around the hotel (which is pretty nice). Slept like a brick last night for about 5 hours. Feel pretty good now. All cleaned up and packed and ready to hike around. We have two hours before the shuttle is set to take us back to the airport. We should be arriving in Bangkok around 4pm (i think).

CNN here showed the riots from last night. Apparently someone in the Thai government ws flying into the airport and thats why the riots were centered there. Timing is bad but dont worry, the riots have consistently been non-violent and never directed towards ferangs (thai word for european/white tourists). Only problem is if it continues and I am not able to land in Bangkok for several days. I might consider a different approach if that is the case, such as a train into Laos and then Chiang Mai.

So far everyone has been very friendly. I am with a large varied group of travelers. Most are ferangs, but some are japanese or thai. There is even a friendly group of monks in their bright robes. Ive made friends with many seeing how this whole flight and ordeal took nearly 14 hours yesterday from Tokyo.

OK, i better go, Patrick is probably out waiting.
No worries on safety in Bangkok though. If any violence does esculate, i will avoid the city all together. Also i have no intentions of staying there any length of time, its just unfortunate that my flight goes through there.

I will update again asap.
chris

Flying for Thailand

I am up and packed. Just a couple things to finish up and I am off.
Backpack looks good.
My flight information:

Portland to Seattle:
United Express/skywest #5776 10:44am

Seattle to Narita, Japan:
United #875 12:56pm (10 hours duration)

Narita, Japan to Bangkok, Thailand:
United #891 6:35pm (7 hours duration)

Seats are picked, got my passport. All ready!

Thailand!

I haven't posted anything since February, 2008... over 8 months.
Writing clearly does not come as easy to me as others. I usually need to have something exciting to write about. Not that every day life is a complete bore, but its not as exciting as traveling.
That said, I am heading to Thailand two weeks from today for 17 days.
It was a last minute purchase after I realized that the prices from PDX to BKK dropped over $400. I am on a very tight budget and realized I could afford this trip... barely. :)
So, on November 24th (two weeks from today) at around 10am in the morning I will board a flight from Portland to Seattle, where I will catch another flight from Seattle to Tokyo, where I will catch one last flight to Bangkok.
Much like my last trip to Europe (which I was a week into as of a year ago today), I haven't much plans. I land in the city of Bangkok around 11pm and will probably be too tired to do anything. I figure I will probably not stay in the city for more then one day and might even leave the next morning.
As luck would have it, my friend Avery is in Thailand. We have emailed each other a couple times and it sound like we might meet up and travel together for a bit. This is great news because she has spent some time there and knows the routine and she is super cool... and will no doubt make a great travel companion. We have yet to establish much except that it would be great to meet up. She was suggestion in northern Thailand city of Chiang Mai which sounds great to me because I definitely want to see that area.
I also plan to spend at least 6 days on a remote amazing beach. Not sure where yet, but thats the plan. Other then that, who knows. :)
This trip is a long time coming. I applied for a 6-month sabbatical from work in 2005. It was denied. Last year I considered going to Thailand instead of Europe, but the time change would have caused problems with work. This trip, is all vacation. I am not even planning on bringing my computer (a decision that didnt come lightly). Actually this time I plan to pack VERY light. I am bringing my Canon Rebel XT camera but thats about the only thing of value I plan to take.
I will try to post often on this blog and expect too considering that internet cafes are supposedly easy to find in Thailand. I will also post photos here and even more on my flickr account.
I am getting very excited. My friend Lisa let me borrow a couple books on traveling in Thailand and I have been going through them. So much to see... 17 days does not sound long enough.
Now I need to buy some clothes for the trip, get my phone set up (with good music and a few videos for long flights) and determine what I want and need to bring.
14 days and counting. :)