The Last Full Day in Thailand

hey there all...here i am in koh phi phi and i am realizing its my last full day in this country...tomorrow my long travels start for egypt....and i am soooooo far behind....sorry about that...plus, i am still working on pictures...check back at the blog in the next day or so, and hopefully some will be here...finally....

anyway....this has been a terrific last day....oct 26th is important for a few reasons for me....its my brother tony's birthday...happy birthday bro....its the day i got my braces off my senior year in high school and as of this oct 26th....i am now a fully certified open water padi scuba diver....pretty awesome...doncha think...

but i am waaaaaaaaay ahead of myself....last time you checked in here i was still in bangkok....my last day there i wasn't in the city...i was in the old capitol... the really old capitol...ayutthya (although my spelling is wrong)....this place reminded me of angkor wat in cambodia...but the temples here were on a smaller scale and most of them were refurbished or in good condition...they were beautiful :) and it was a pleasure getting to see them with one of my past students....salila....after spending the day at the temples and the stunning summer palace of king rama V...we went and saw madagascar....love those penguins....

the next day i hopped a plane to the northern section of thailand....chaing mai...this part of the country had flooded two weeks before i was there...and rumor had it another storm was on the way and it was going to be a mess....but luckily, that storm never came...i stayed in a swanky guest house with a pool...and met this great couple and their 2 year old son from alaska...we hung out the whole time i was
in chaing mai...which ended up being longer than my four alotted days....while i was there i took two cooking classes...one on a farm and one in town....i went to the night bazaar...and the amazing sunday market...i rode on a elephant for an hour through the rainforest, i dislocated my elbow, i went on a bamboo raft, i visited a thai hospital, and i saw a hill tribe community....ummmm....yep, you read that correctly...i dislocated my elbow...luckily it popped back in....but i had to go to the hospital for it....all for a picture at a slippery waterfall....ugh....but i have to say my experience at the hospital was quick, painless and cheap...it only cost me $25 for 2 xrays, three forms of medication and a trip to the emergency room...amazing....and the doctor was a great guy....it blew my mind that hospital care could be so painless and cheap....but i have come to find that most folks when they travel to thailand, get their teeth cleaned...as it usually only costs around $10...i am going to try and have this done tomorrow while i am waiting for my planes in two different thai cities....wish me luck....

i really liked chaing mai and hanging with crista, rusty and tyler....but it was time for me to hit the beach again after a week....where i was hoping i wouldn't hit rain....so much for that though....as i think it has rained everyday i have been here...as a matter of fact...it has just started another downpour as i have been typing....hahahahaha....but as everyone says...its the rainy season....so its expected...ugh...from ten months with no rain....to a trip filled with storms....its been amazing....and so to phuket i came....that's pronounced poo-ket....i stayed at the greatest guesthouse yet....the shanti lodge...their phuket location put the bangkok one to shame...it was amazing...it had a beautiful pool...with a huge waterfall....and was not located on the beach....which i was a bit bummed about until i got there...it was secluded and beautiful....a wonderful place to just chill and relax....but it was a bit far from things....so i rented a motorbike....and got to tool around the island on the wrong side of the road for three days.....this was a greatest thing i did in phuket...i met some cool folks from the shanti lodge and one of them went riding with me...jolynn from colorado...nice woman...who's brother is living here in thailand and she is visiting....we went to a waterfall...no slippage this time...we ate overlooking the water...which was stunning....we visited all the different beaches...and i realized that most of them with places to stay were GROSS!!!! they were crowded and full of tourist traps and toursits....which i am happy about on one hand...this is the area of thailand that was pummeled by the tsunami...so its a great thing that people are coming back here....its also very interesting to see how much has been replaced in the past year...there are still remenants from the big wave everywhere you go....but tourism is their number one down here and people are working very hard to get things back in order....and always working and having fun....that is the motto of thai people...whatever you are doing...work, play, sleep, whatever...be sure to be having fun while you are doing it....and i believe they truly live by this....its wonderful to watch....

from phuket i caught a ferry with some cool ozzies...and we headed to koh phi phi, where i am writing this from....this island was ripped apart by the tsunami....but they have been working really hard to get things back up and running....its wild...there are no school aged kids here...because the school isn't back in working order...although folks are working on it....all the kids who are school age are on the mainland for school...most folks who are here, who are thai, were here the day the wave hit...and most do not want to talk about it....but there are some who did...i have been told that most thai people here lost a member or more of their families...and that after the wave came ashore...they were running to help save foreigners and anyone that was left behind from the water....my dive instructor was on the water that day....so him and his boat had no idea what had happened...other than they felt a weird current...but when they came ashore....they were blown away from the destruction that had occurred...and rushed to help people...i guess it took two days for helicopters to start getting here to help people...and this is why some folks died after the wave had come and gone....just crazy....but overall, it is a peaceful place and they are rebuilding and eager for tourists....i have had a great five days and nights here, except for the rain...but you can't win them all....i did get certified and as of today i can do open water dives...what fun i have had diving the past three days...and it does not matter if it is raining or not for that sport :)

so now i leave thailand...after just under a month...crazy to think so much time has flown....i have enjoyed my time here...and have many more stories to tell....but you'll have to ask me for them in person :) this trip so far has been full of rain, but also of dragonflies...they have been everywhere i have been....and i mean everywhere...also...due to the rain...today i saw a stupendous rainbow....i would recommend thailand to anyone....i really liked the north...and i am sure the south would have been better with less rain....but bangkok...i don't know how much time i would stay there....its a metropolis...with lots of traffic and people and pollution and noise...i am sure you get the picture....but of course there are beautiful aspects to it...

so there you have it...thailand in a nutshell....feel free to ask any questions about here and what i did while i was here....i'll try and get back to you soon...
as for pictures...again...i'll try tomorrow....hope all of you are well and here we head into november...more from egypt....peace out....

Thailand....more, but no pictures

hey there all...well, now i am falling behind on my blog....or maybe i am just doing too much stuff in two weeks...who knows :) hope you all liked the pictures...i got some on there finally...yahoo....but it is proving to be a hard thing as my camera can't take e-mail size pictures...ugh....oh well...hopefully i'll get more on there soon...enjoy the four :)

as for thailand....what a nice and cheap place....it has been quite a trip so far...i spent about seven days in and around bangkok....then was on an island...ko samet...for three days...a bungalow on the beach....and then up to chaing mai...which is where i am at now...but i head south to the islands for my last ten days here in thailand...then its on to egypt....

as for bangkok...what crazy city...i have never seen so many crazy drivers...and the traffic is ALWAYS present and insane...doesn't matter what time of day or where..plus...so many tuk-tuk drivers try to rip you off...its quite funny in the end when you think about it...i made it to khao san road...how gross...its a backpacker infested place...just disgusting in my opinion....but cheap e-mail and lots of different kinds of food...i went to about 10 temples...my favorite being wat pho...one of the oldest...it has a beautiful reclining buddha...that takes up an enire building....and has a great massage school on the grounds...can you say...thai massage rocks!!!! if you are coming here, you must have one....i also loved the boats on the canals...an easy way to travel...plus at all the docks you can buy eels and frogs and turtles...and yes, they are still alive and swimming....the canals don't smell so great...but once the boats get moving, its much better...then there was the jim thompson house....a beautiful house created from six teak thai style houses...incredible...i also went to the calypso cabraret...staring transvestites...talk about stunning...it was great....i have seen the summer palace of the king and his royal palace in bangkok...but no siting of him or his queen...although her picture is everywhere as her birthday was in september....you gotta love it....and when you attend any event...they always play the thai national anthem and everyone stands....bangkok...a fun place....with lots of stuff to do...but i don't know if i could handle for a long time....definitely need to experience it though....worth the short time :)

ko samet was a beautiful island...except for all of the stray dogs and HUGE mosiquitos....but i spent my days chillin on the beach...swimming in the warm, clear water and reading bookws...at night all the restaurants play movies for free and have drink specials...and it wasn't crowded...perfect getaway from bangkok....a quick bus trip followed by a nice boat ride....

okay...my time is running out in the e-mail place...more from the beach...i hope...i'll talk about auytthaya, the old thailand capital and chaing mai....if not, more from somewhere....hope all of you are well...miss your smiling faces :)

Thailand - picture testing

hey there all...just trying this and will write more later in the day from a cheaper place...but i wanted to see if i could get pictures to post...the first three are from places around bangkok...the first is of the bungalow i stayed at on the beach on ko samet island...the second is of the view of the beach i was on...only two bungalow places...its rocked...the third shot is from the old city of Ayutthaya...it was the original capital of thailand...this is from wat mahathat...which of course is a temple dedicated to buddha...there is something striking about the buddha head in the roots of a banyon tree...don't you think...and the last shot is me feeding an elephant in chaing mai...on a very eventful trip...but more about that later....doesn't it look like the elephant is smiling....hopefully this will work... and o hope everyone is well...more on thailand sooner rather than later...and if the picture thing works...i'll addd them to my past entries as well...talk soon...

Cambodia - Land of the Smile

hey there all...and happy october...can't believe september has come and gone and with it my 36th birthday!!!! i was in cambodia...siem reap to be specific....and it was great...more on that later...my overalll impression of cambodia is a positive one, but i am not sure i will go back...i will not go back to phomn penh for a vacation though, but i would return to siem reap and the ancient temples of angkor....BUT the people of cambodia are what makes the place....they are soooooooooo very friendly....and always ready with a smile....the kids killed me....they would run up to the road from where they were living and wave and shout out hello at the tuk-tuk i was in :) they were great...plus, the cambodians are always ready for a conversation...so many of them want to practice their english...i spoke more to cambodians than to other tourists....although in that aspect of my trip, i haven't really clicked with other tourists...plus, i have noticed there are very few, if any, north americans traveling from the states over here...its been weird....

cambodia is very 3rd world...you can tell this by looking at the houses people live in throughout the countryside...the higher up from the ground your house....the wealthier you are...not many high houses...also...it was interesting home many "nice" houses were just a facade....inside, no funiture...and people living on the floor on mats, with no electricity...although the wealthy houses i guess have their own generators in the countryside...that was what i was told...i was amazed at how many TVs were in the country...another sign of wealth...but it was explained to me that the government is very corrupt and the officials are the only ones with money....it is a monarchy, but i guess the king doesn't have much of a say in things....i glimpsed him in his motorcade twice while i was in phomn penh...i waved from the sidewalk with the girls from the hotel i was staying at...he waved back :)

but phomn penh is not the place for me...its very dirty and very crowded and very depressing...everywhere you look you see homeless families....there are people begging for money everywhere...lots of kids are selling books and newpapers...and then they run and give any money they make to the person they are working for...their commission is peanuts...BUT phomn penh was important for me to see....if only for the killing fields and tuol sleng - the school where the prisoners were kept...it felt similar to the concentration camp i witnessed in germany...and it was very moving to see it with my own eyes...it frightens me that this happened in my life time...and that people you see in cambodia who are my age are survivors...either they were prisoners or khmer rouge members...very scary....i think this why they are so quick to smile...they have survived hell and back....the royal palace and the silver pagoda (yes, it has an entire silver floor) were stunning and the national museum was definitely worth it...but i feel i have seen all i need to see in phomn penh as a tourist and will not need to go back....

as for sim reap...if you don't know...its where the ancient angkor temples are located...the most famous one known by people is angkor wat....and you have seen one of the other famous temples if you have watched tomb raider....seim reap was strange as well due to the fact that there are five star hotels and lots of tourist dollars in the area, but the people who live there see very little of it...the temples themselves are extraordinary....you walk up to some of them and they just tower above you and are huge and incredible looking....it took so long for these temples to be built and the carvings on the walls and the murals and the overall architecture just blows my mind....on my birthday i watched the sunrise at the famous angkor wat....and then went to my favorite temple of them all...banteay srei...this temple is carved from pink sandstone and is sooooooooo detailed...the entire temple is carved...no empty, ungilded spaces....just stunning....i then went to about five more temples and watched the sunset at the last :) and my day was topped off with a tasty indian meal in town....it was GREAT!!!! i have to say that i climbed all of the temple mountains and was quite pleased with that aspect of my trip....as once again it was really hot and humid....but it didn't stop me....and the steps are not really frindly to short people...it was wil :) but i guess you have to work to get to pray to the gods :)

there were two other really awesome parts of siem reap i would like to share....the mini angkor wat....this is an amazing replica carved by a man of angor wat, banteay srei and bayon temples....they are to scale and simply amazing in their own right.....most people don't even know this exists...plus the man wo did the carving is great...he speaks very little english (but can speak french) and is 69 years old....he is currently working on two more built to scale temples and is a great guy....it only costs a dollar so if you go, be sure to stop by and see his work....wowowowowowow....the other really good exhibit i liked was the butterfly garden...this is run by an english man who has been working on this project for about 15 years (ian)....he has only cambodian butterflies and actually has street kids go out and collect them...and then he pays them for them....the coconut ice cream there is to die for....it makes for a mellow hour or two and is really peaceful....i ended up staying and reading my book for about an hour....just heavenly :) also...one place i would recommend, not because it is heavenly, but because it is eye-opening, is the land mine museuem...it is run by a landmine victim...and houses about 25 children who have lost limbs due to landmines....i learned a lot about landmines...scary stuff...the usual victims these days are children...and the country is covered in them...not where tourists go...those areas have been cleaned...but it was just a very educational stop i made...very sad as well....

so overall, i would have to recommend cambodia as a place to spend a brief period of time in...definitely see the temples, a three day pass is enough, in sim reap and the killing fields and tuol sleng in phomn penh...but if you are freaked out about dirt and not being able to drink the water and not have been in a third world country, this might not be the place for you....although...it is the friendliest place i have been so far and the people really make it worth your time....at the moment i am bangkok, thailand nd have been here for three days :) i am enjoying my time so far and have gotten to see two of my past students here from the northwest school...more on thailand in another update....hope all is well with everyone....i am still working on the picture dilemna...and getting closer t a solution...so hopefully they will coming sooner rather than later :) and thanks to everyone who has been sending comments and e-mails :) you all rock my world :)