Merry Christmas everyone!!! Todd and I will be livin' it up Thai style in Koh Samui. We have really been looking forward to this island. We keep hearing such great things about it. Not much new to report here though. We've been enjoying Koh Tao. It's mostly a divers' island so turns out there isn't much beach for us to explore. But we have been enjoying the local food and european style cafes. Todd and I have been taking advantage of the lazy life the Thais enjoy. A typical day starts with us waking up late and heading to our favorite cafe, Cafe Del Sol, to return emails over espresso and pastries. We've spent every afternoon here. It's also a prime spot to people watch. (Which Todd and I are both addicted to doing.) They also happen to have some of the yummiest Italian food. Earlier I had baked eggplant parmesan. It was heavenly. Todd enjoys the American breakfast with yellow leaf tea. We didn't expect such a wide selection of cooking here, but the Thais are much more worldly than we thought. Another place called Pranee's is our other favorite lazy spot. Last night we watched Kung Fu Pand with a mix of other travelers. I'm telling you, someone needs to start showing movies at their restuarant in Anchorage, it is so much fun. This is the place where Todd and I discovered the most amazing desert of all time! Bananas in sweet coconut milk. It sounds so simple but it is so complex in it's flavors. I wish we could share it with all of you. Well, other than soaking up the sun by the pool, we haven't been up to much. Take care eveyone. Have a wonderful Christmas and a crazy New Year! Think of us when your drinking your champagne!
Monday, December 22, 2008
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
Merry Christmas everyone!!! Todd and I will be livin' it up Thai style in Koh Samui. We have really been looking forward to this island. We keep hearing such great things about it. Not much new to report here though. We've been enjoying Koh Tao. It's mostly a divers' island so turns out there isn't much beach for us to explore. But we have been enjoying the local food and european style cafes. Todd and I have been taking advantage of the lazy life the Thais enjoy. A typical day starts with us waking up late and heading to our favorite cafe, Cafe Del Sol, to return emails over espresso and pastries. We've spent every afternoon here. It's also a prime spot to people watch. (Which Todd and I are both addicted to doing.) They also happen to have some of the yummiest Italian food. Earlier I had baked eggplant parmesan. It was heavenly. Todd enjoys the American breakfast with yellow leaf tea. We didn't expect such a wide selection of cooking here, but the Thais are much more worldly than we thought. Another place called Pranee's is our other favorite lazy spot. Last night we watched Kung Fu Pand with a mix of other travelers. I'm telling you, someone needs to start showing movies at their restuarant in Anchorage, it is so much fun. This is the place where Todd and I discovered the most amazing desert of all time! Bananas in sweet coconut milk. It sounds so simple but it is so complex in it's flavors. I wish we could share it with all of you. Well, other than soaking up the sun by the pool, we haven't been up to much. Take care eveyone. Have a wonderful Christmas and a crazy New Year! Think of us when your drinking your champagne!
Tuesday, December 16, 2008
No really, we're not dead!
Hey everyone! Yes, we are alive and still in Thailand. Currently Todd and I are shacked up in Ko Phangnan at the First Villa "Resort". Unfortunately we have been experiencing a lot of bad hotels with little to no internet. First lets catch you up. . . .
-Ko Phangang- (Dec 10-current)
So I had mentioned earlier in the blog that we hated our current hotel, First Villa. Mainly because we were given their smallest room that looked like it hadn't been tended to in years. Everytime we flushed the toilet water would spit out the back onto the floor. The shower head was directly above the cammode which created alot of fungus build up on the floor. Yuck! The safe was a laugh because the lock had been disassembled and left inside of the safe itself. And we had giant super beatles coming up through the drains and zooming through the room. Anyways, I could go on, but you probably wouldn't believe me.
Also, I shouldn't complain about being here. I know there are many people who would put up with giant super beatles just to be here in Thailand. So I'm going to stop. Seriously, I'm very thankful to be here. Moving on . . . things have really turned around though. Since the island's famous
Full Moon Party ended a few days ago, most of the tourists have left. Our hostess upgraded us to a Garden superiour Room, free of charge. It has been a god-sent. Now we are the only
tenants left in the whole resort. It's nice having the pool and kitchen all to ourselves.
What is the Full Moon Party, you ask? Rumor has it that it first started in 1987 as a going away party for an Australian hotel guest. The hotel owner told him he could invite whoever and it
grew into a large beach party with one boom box and a few boxes of beer. Apparently the party was on a night of a full moon and the locals felt like it added a special energy. Since then
it has become a global dance music festival attracting upwards of 30,000 travellers. (In the peak season, which is now.) There are two main beaches, Sunset and Sunrise. Both are lined with
bars and booming techno music that feeds the appetites of the hungry partiers. Unfortunately, poor Todd came down with a nasty case of food poisoning that afternoon and we were unable to go.
This time. We did visit Haad Rin the next day though. Haad Rin is the area of the island where this party takes place. It was very entertaining to people watch as we sauntered down the beaches.
Some people played frisbee tag, some were eating lunch at the beachside restaurants and the rest were just passed out drunk in the sand. Very entertaining. Other than the once a month Full Moon Party,
Haad Rin does not have much to offer. The entire town is catered to these traveling party people and is actually a very unattractive looking place. We haven't been back since that day.
Some of you may have already heard about Todd's and my little accident. We decided to rent a motorscooter, as this is the cheapest and most common method of getting around. I was already a
little skiddish in the bike and to make things worse the roads to Haad Rin are ridiculously steap and winding. It's like mountain trekking but the trail is paved. SO SCARY. Anyways, with both of us
piled on one bike, we ascended the first hill. (One of the steapest) Half way up the hill the bike stalled, I freaked out and tried to hop off the back into the ditch. But this caused the bike to swerve hit my leg and then fall into the ditch. Todd attempted to pull it out and then it fell ontop of his legs and smushed his ankle. I had to try to hold the bike up as he freed himself and then take it from me. All of this being done on a very dangerous incline. We are so lucky that the bike didn't go backwards down the hill,
with us on it. We are okay, a few burns and deep scrapes, but mainly I was really shaken. I have since refused to go up those hills unless I walk myself. Todd said that our bike just isn't
powerful enough for two people and that we can make it up with a bigger bike. But I just can't bring myself to do it. Oh well. I did however get on the bike and drive it by myself today.
I'm slowly overcomming the fear. Stupid Fear!!! Hi-ya!!! Take that!!!
Todd's mom had stayed here in Ko Phangan seven years ago and had recommended we visit her resort. So we made a day out of it. We hopped on the scooter and drove to the
opposite end of the island. The drive was beautiful. Big lushess trees, local farms and little to no tourists. We found the resort tucked away at the end of a white sand beach. But it was no
longer the backpacker haven, Deb used to describe. It had been renovated into a gorgeous villa resort with a huge pool and very inviting staff. Todd is in love and wants to look into
staying there for a while. We stayed for lunch and chatted with the owner about the recent change. It was a good day. Sadly though, this lunch was the cause of Todd's
food poisoning, but I'm sure that won't keep him away from the little treasure we found. We befriended a cat here as well .She is awesome she naps with us and doesn’t care that we don’t feed her, all she wants is attention and some scratchin. We had to give her a name and so Todd thought that since she was a little skinny, we should name her bones. Bones is a little kitten and isn’t bigger than a loaf of bread, she is a little crazy as she sometimes goes from sleeping to waking up in a second and then jumping on angleas lap and licking Angleas stomach. Bones is a cuddler for sure and Angela would like nothing more than to have her de-wormed and and givin a bath so we can keep her and take her home with us. NOT GOING TO HAPPEN! We checked out a local paintball field. It's funny because the locals laugh at Todd when he says he will play against them. Little do they know he used to play professionally. (Todd wants me
to add that he will keep you updated as the story of his Paintball Domination unfolds.)
We have a few more days in Ko Phangan and we plan on spending the rest of it by the pool and the beach, as they are right next to each other, and enjoying the 90 degree weather and sunshine. Then it is on to Ko Tao, a smaller and more remote island designed for divers. We are a little unsure about this island, but we wanted to see the islands and so we are going. Then it is on to our long awaited stay on Ko Samui. Where we will spend Christmas and New Years. One of the things we are wondering is if there will be some good champange for dinner on those nights. We certainly hope so.
-Koh Lanta- (Dec 4-Dec 10)
Here we stayed at a wonderful, bug infested, very remote resort, called Lanta Full Moon Resort. This place was a lesson in picking your battles for sure. We were greated when we first arrived, by our host, who was a man, who had recently become a woman, who named herself asia. She was extremely nice to us. For instance, we ordered pina coladas to sit and watch the sunset on the fist night, around Thailand drinks are very small, about the size of a childs cup. Here we asked for a large glass, and she hooked it up! Very nice!! After Angela’s second glass of smile juice, she was…. feeling it. We stayed here for 6 nights. It was interesting because there was this local bob marley wanna-bee that was always around. We weren’t sure if he worked there, because he never did anything that resembled work, but he would hang out there every night and played music over the stereo and tried to hook up with any female guest he could. This became quite annoying, as we had the bungalow right next to the pool, and he would play music at a ridiculously loud level, til about 3 in the morning.( that’s about the time he would pass out.) On one of the days we tried to walk out to where the shelf is in the water. The shelf, is where the sandy beach part ends and then drops off into a much deeper part of the water. Angela stayed back for this part and I went out exploring, and I saw some pretty cool stuff, I saw a bunch of sea cucmbers and a lot of crab and little fish and some clams too. The best part was that I saw a huge eel, which I tried to catch, it was not having it. I managed to trap it under a rock, not hurt it, just scared it into a place that it hid till I could go and get angela, so she could check it out. She came out to see what it was, the eel was about 3 feet long and looked like a rainbow covered chekerboard. The colors and design on this eel were amazing, the I tried to get it again and the damn thing snapped at me then swam over to the rock that angela was standing on, she freaked out a little and so I had to give her a piggy back ride back into shore, as the eel might attack. The food we ate at this resort made up for the bug attack I received while sleeping.( I had massive bites on my feet and legs) there was this pinapple that they hollowed out and filled with chicken and shrimp fried rice… amazing! Angela and I ate some really good soup and also some dynomite chicken sate. We also made friends with the local cat, we named her Maoew, she hung out around us a lot, until we wouldn’t give her any food, then she left, to a different hotel guest with food.( not a good friend, just a hungry cat) we would also like to mention that Maoew is the thai word for cat, so when we thought it was their cat and asked for its name and they said maoew, we thought it was her name. That’s about the equivilent as telling someone your cats name is cat, and then they call her that for 6 days straight. Man we are really stupid sometimes.
-Ko Phi Phi- (Nov 30-Dec4)
We stayed at the Phi Phi Casita, right in the heart of Ko Phi Phi . A Bungalow style surounded by lush tropical trees and blooming flowers. I think this has been one of Todd's favorite places so far. It was a block away from the beach and perfectly placed in the middle of all the action. The beach in Phi Phi has been our favorite so far. The water was so warm and you could walk a half mile out and the water would only be at your chest. It was crowded but with lots of people our age. Everynight we were able to find new things to do. We ate at a tourist favorite, Breakers Bar, a "Cheers" type, There I experienced the tastiest Massaman Curry in all the land. (For those of you who have never had this delicious concoction,
it is a light curry dish made with cinnamon, cardamon, chicken, cashews, onions and yams! Served over soft sticky rice, it's heaven.) We found ourselves frequenting this bar. I think it reminded us the most of home and being surrounded by friends. In case we hadn't told you yet, Todd and I are on a search for the best Tom Kah Gai soup and Pad Thai. The soups have been very different everywhere we go but the Pad Thai has been the same. I hate to say it, but I prefer the Pad Thai dishes that we have in Alaska. Even the pad thai that I get from the street vendors do not compare to back home. So I am know searching for the best Massaman Curry! Also, on Phi Phi I tried a fried pancake. It was mouthwatering!
These were very popular and I a became so jealous when I saw people eating them. I looked like they use a thick philo dough and fry it in butter, then add whatever ingredient you could think
of. I chose Nutella and fresh bananas. Oh it was delicious! One night we found a bar that shows American comedies with dinner. That is big thing here. Very often you can find restuarants that have big flat screens viewing Family Guy or Friends. We sat down that night and watched Old School and played Connect Four over a round of Singha beer.
-Patong Beach or Karon Beach, Which is better?- (Nov 25-Nov30)
After a 5 hour bus ride from nowhere, we finally arrived in Phuket. Because we missed our transfer in Surat Thani to Phuket, we had to pay another 450 Baht for a taxi to our hotel in Patong Beach. (450 Baht is an outrageous price to pay for a taxi, but the locals have learned how to back the white man into a corner and we have heard horror stories about the Taxi Cab Mafia. Seriously, I wish I were joking.) The Arimana hotel, won first place prize for best looking brochure and then later finding out that nothing was what it was set up to be. The brochure gave the impression of a newer upscale place that was “close to everything”. On the contrary! The pool was a glorified bathtub which was out of order. We were set up in a standard but very dirty room and come to find out we were over a mile from the beach and in the middle of, what we’ll call it “The Red Light District” to be kind. Todd made a call and raised hell with Peak, our travel agent. If we haven’t told you yet . . . at the beginning of our trip we hooked up with a travel agency and ended up signing and paying up front on a non-refundable “all-inclusive” trip that would last the first two months of our vacation. Everytime we check into a new hotel, it is evident to us that we have been taken advantage of. But, this has been a huge learning experience for us and we are trying our hardest to get everything we can out of the package. So, you may hear a lot about crappy hotels. Sorry, but we need to vent.
Thankfully we were transferred to the Karon Princess Hotel. Lovely!!! It has been the best hotel we have stayed in so far. We were greeted with a smile and a refreshing glass of fruit juice. We could relax, finally! Across the road was the long picturesque Karon Beach. A little nightlife and well recommend restaurants were within walking distance. Todd and I agreed that this place had the best breakfast, best pool, and really welcoming service. This served as a great place for us to spend our Thanksgiving. Though we were only able to stay for four nights and then it was off to Ko Phi Phi.
-Sleeper Train to Nowhere- (Nov 24)
We took an 12 hour overnight sleeper train from Kanchanaburi to Surat Thani. This town is the main port city for the East coast islands. We were scheduled to have a transfer pick us up to go to the West coast town of Phuket. Stupid us, we had stayed up late on the train playing poker and forgot to set an alarm. We ended up sleeping through our connection ( which was at 5 in the morning) and found ourselves in a place that to this day remains nameless to us. The best we could guess was that we were somewhere near Trang. Trang is in the deep deep south of Thailand and there isn't much to do or see. When we told a police officer on the train that we were waiting for surat thani, he promptly went to ask what he should do over the radio. When he came back, he advised us that we had missed the connection by two hours. We were going to pay him 400 baht to stay on the train and get off at the next stop. We had no luck getting ahold of our travel agency, so this local man got off the train with us, hailed a taxi and took us to the nearest bus station. This guy saved our bacon, if it weren’t for him who knows where we would have ended up?( in hell most likely!) So off we were to Phuket!
-Kanchanaburi- (Nov 23-24)
We had a great time at the Tiger Temple. My good friend Chelsea advised us to spend a few hours there and we did just that. It is a huge reservation that is home to numerous animals
and the monks that run the place. Horses, wild boar, cows, waterbuffalo, and peacocks! Peacocks are beautiful up close, their colors are so brilliant. Also, we met a group of kids close to our age who were volunteering for a few months. One of the girls was from California, a few from European countries and
one guy from Australia, who had been spending most of his time with the baby tigers. It was so interesting chatting with this particular volunteer. He told us that he was an ex-cop who moved to the
temple just to volunteer for three months. He fell in love with the animals and ended up staying. Apparently the monks had invited him to become a monk so that he could live with the baby tigers full time.
due to a staff shortage, he got the job anyway and has been playing "mother" to four of the cubs for the past three months. They all live together in a small cage. The cubs even sleep in the tent with the guy!
They were adorable and very playful. Todd and I orignally thought that the tigers were heavily sedated in order to be so relaxed around the crowds. But that is not the case. Tigers are very lazy animals,
as we were informed. They sleep up to 18 hours a day, we were told not to make any loud noises and only pet their tummies, so they weren't scary to be around. Todd on the other hand hand an issue when he went to pet one of them in the veiwing area and they told him to pet the tiger harder on the tummy, when he did she growled and whipped her head aroud. Todd was shuffled away from that beast.
We spent one night in Kanchanaburi and that was more than enough. We spent the night in a "floating hotel", which turned out to be a nightmare. After traveling for 12 hours, spending three hours at the tiger temple
and going on a short hike, the last thing we wanted was to sleep in this boat house. The bed was aweful! It was made of straw and felt like a huge rock. The walls and floor had holes in them. (The better to see
the river, I guess.) and Todd wasn't able to sleep because there was a giant rat raising hell in the wall! Not all had been lost though, that night we met a lovely couple from Sweden.
Goran (pronounced Yohan) and Ingrid, were so interesting to talk to and Todd quickly made friends with them. He is so good at that. They had retired and had been traveling around the world by
sailboat.( the SS. Yvonne) They had just spent time in Spain, where they have another home and had decided to come to Vietnam and Thailand. They had great stories and very wise advice for us about traveling.
The following morning we traveled with our new friends and the group from our hotel to a National
Waterfall Park. I cannot recall the name of this particular place because we forgot the camera and now have no record of even being there. Oh well. It was beautiful
though. Very different from the waterfalls we visited in Chang Mai. This park had seven very large waterfalls, all connected by a winding jungle path. We started at
the bottom of a mountain and spent the day trekking up to the top, stopping at each blue green fall. When we got to the top we jumped in the pool at the bottom, and as this waterfall feeds the seven other waterfalls, we sat at the edge of the pool, that turned into a waterfall, and overlooked the area. AMAZING! Angela did get a little skiddish when there were little fish in the pools that nibbled on your feet. There were the occasional water spider, that were about the size of my palm, that was not enjoyable. I found a stick, and then sent them flying, baseball style. When we finished it was finally off to the train that would take us to our long awaited vacation in the islands! The first two and half weeks of our trip, Todd and I kept joking that we couldn't wait for our vacation to really start, as we had been in Thailand for almost three weeks, and hadn‘t seen a beach yet.. :)
This is what we have been up to for the past month. Sorry we haven’t been able to keep in touch as much as we hoped. So far Todd and I are not showing signs of coming home earlier than planned (for those who were placing bets). We were finally able to put together a care package and send it off to our families for Christmas. More than likely though, they won’t be showing up until mid January. Oh well! Take care everyone and enjoy life as much as you can. It’s way too short for us not to.
-Ko Phangang- (Dec 10-current)
So I had mentioned earlier in the blog that we hated our current hotel, First Villa. Mainly because we were given their smallest room that looked like it hadn't been tended to in years. Everytime we flushed the toilet water would spit out the back onto the floor. The shower head was directly above the cammode which created alot of fungus build up on the floor. Yuck! The safe was a laugh because the lock had been disassembled and left inside of the safe itself. And we had giant super beatles coming up through the drains and zooming through the room. Anyways, I could go on, but you probably wouldn't believe me.
Also, I shouldn't complain about being here. I know there are many people who would put up with giant super beatles just to be here in Thailand. So I'm going to stop. Seriously, I'm very thankful to be here. Moving on . . . things have really turned around though. Since the island's famous
Full Moon Party ended a few days ago, most of the tourists have left. Our hostess upgraded us to a Garden superiour Room, free of charge. It has been a god-sent. Now we are the only
tenants left in the whole resort. It's nice having the pool and kitchen all to ourselves.
What is the Full Moon Party, you ask? Rumor has it that it first started in 1987 as a going away party for an Australian hotel guest. The hotel owner told him he could invite whoever and it
grew into a large beach party with one boom box and a few boxes of beer. Apparently the party was on a night of a full moon and the locals felt like it added a special energy. Since then
it has become a global dance music festival attracting upwards of 30,000 travellers. (In the peak season, which is now.) There are two main beaches, Sunset and Sunrise. Both are lined with
bars and booming techno music that feeds the appetites of the hungry partiers. Unfortunately, poor Todd came down with a nasty case of food poisoning that afternoon and we were unable to go.
This time. We did visit Haad Rin the next day though. Haad Rin is the area of the island where this party takes place. It was very entertaining to people watch as we sauntered down the beaches.
Some people played frisbee tag, some were eating lunch at the beachside restaurants and the rest were just passed out drunk in the sand. Very entertaining. Other than the once a month Full Moon Party,
Haad Rin does not have much to offer. The entire town is catered to these traveling party people and is actually a very unattractive looking place. We haven't been back since that day.
Some of you may have already heard about Todd's and my little accident. We decided to rent a motorscooter, as this is the cheapest and most common method of getting around. I was already a
little skiddish in the bike and to make things worse the roads to Haad Rin are ridiculously steap and winding. It's like mountain trekking but the trail is paved. SO SCARY. Anyways, with both of us
piled on one bike, we ascended the first hill. (One of the steapest) Half way up the hill the bike stalled, I freaked out and tried to hop off the back into the ditch. But this caused the bike to swerve hit my leg and then fall into the ditch. Todd attempted to pull it out and then it fell ontop of his legs and smushed his ankle. I had to try to hold the bike up as he freed himself and then take it from me. All of this being done on a very dangerous incline. We are so lucky that the bike didn't go backwards down the hill,
with us on it. We are okay, a few burns and deep scrapes, but mainly I was really shaken. I have since refused to go up those hills unless I walk myself. Todd said that our bike just isn't
powerful enough for two people and that we can make it up with a bigger bike. But I just can't bring myself to do it. Oh well. I did however get on the bike and drive it by myself today.
I'm slowly overcomming the fear. Stupid Fear!!! Hi-ya!!! Take that!!!
Todd's mom had stayed here in Ko Phangan seven years ago and had recommended we visit her resort. So we made a day out of it. We hopped on the scooter and drove to the
opposite end of the island. The drive was beautiful. Big lushess trees, local farms and little to no tourists. We found the resort tucked away at the end of a white sand beach. But it was no
longer the backpacker haven, Deb used to describe. It had been renovated into a gorgeous villa resort with a huge pool and very inviting staff. Todd is in love and wants to look into
staying there for a while. We stayed for lunch and chatted with the owner about the recent change. It was a good day. Sadly though, this lunch was the cause of Todd's
food poisoning, but I'm sure that won't keep him away from the little treasure we found. We befriended a cat here as well .She is awesome she naps with us and doesn’t care that we don’t feed her, all she wants is attention and some scratchin. We had to give her a name and so Todd thought that since she was a little skinny, we should name her bones. Bones is a little kitten and isn’t bigger than a loaf of bread, she is a little crazy as she sometimes goes from sleeping to waking up in a second and then jumping on angleas lap and licking Angleas stomach. Bones is a cuddler for sure and Angela would like nothing more than to have her de-wormed and and givin a bath so we can keep her and take her home with us. NOT GOING TO HAPPEN! We checked out a local paintball field. It's funny because the locals laugh at Todd when he says he will play against them. Little do they know he used to play professionally. (Todd wants me
to add that he will keep you updated as the story of his Paintball Domination unfolds.)
We have a few more days in Ko Phangan and we plan on spending the rest of it by the pool and the beach, as they are right next to each other, and enjoying the 90 degree weather and sunshine. Then it is on to Ko Tao, a smaller and more remote island designed for divers. We are a little unsure about this island, but we wanted to see the islands and so we are going. Then it is on to our long awaited stay on Ko Samui. Where we will spend Christmas and New Years. One of the things we are wondering is if there will be some good champange for dinner on those nights. We certainly hope so.
-Koh Lanta- (Dec 4-Dec 10)
Here we stayed at a wonderful, bug infested, very remote resort, called Lanta Full Moon Resort. This place was a lesson in picking your battles for sure. We were greated when we first arrived, by our host, who was a man, who had recently become a woman, who named herself asia. She was extremely nice to us. For instance, we ordered pina coladas to sit and watch the sunset on the fist night, around Thailand drinks are very small, about the size of a childs cup. Here we asked for a large glass, and she hooked it up! Very nice!! After Angela’s second glass of smile juice, she was…. feeling it. We stayed here for 6 nights. It was interesting because there was this local bob marley wanna-bee that was always around. We weren’t sure if he worked there, because he never did anything that resembled work, but he would hang out there every night and played music over the stereo and tried to hook up with any female guest he could. This became quite annoying, as we had the bungalow right next to the pool, and he would play music at a ridiculously loud level, til about 3 in the morning.( that’s about the time he would pass out.) On one of the days we tried to walk out to where the shelf is in the water. The shelf, is where the sandy beach part ends and then drops off into a much deeper part of the water. Angela stayed back for this part and I went out exploring, and I saw some pretty cool stuff, I saw a bunch of sea cucmbers and a lot of crab and little fish and some clams too. The best part was that I saw a huge eel, which I tried to catch, it was not having it. I managed to trap it under a rock, not hurt it, just scared it into a place that it hid till I could go and get angela, so she could check it out. She came out to see what it was, the eel was about 3 feet long and looked like a rainbow covered chekerboard. The colors and design on this eel were amazing, the I tried to get it again and the damn thing snapped at me then swam over to the rock that angela was standing on, she freaked out a little and so I had to give her a piggy back ride back into shore, as the eel might attack. The food we ate at this resort made up for the bug attack I received while sleeping.( I had massive bites on my feet and legs) there was this pinapple that they hollowed out and filled with chicken and shrimp fried rice… amazing! Angela and I ate some really good soup and also some dynomite chicken sate. We also made friends with the local cat, we named her Maoew, she hung out around us a lot, until we wouldn’t give her any food, then she left, to a different hotel guest with food.( not a good friend, just a hungry cat) we would also like to mention that Maoew is the thai word for cat, so when we thought it was their cat and asked for its name and they said maoew, we thought it was her name. That’s about the equivilent as telling someone your cats name is cat, and then they call her that for 6 days straight. Man we are really stupid sometimes.
-Ko Phi Phi- (Nov 30-Dec4)
We stayed at the Phi Phi Casita, right in the heart of Ko Phi Phi . A Bungalow style surounded by lush tropical trees and blooming flowers. I think this has been one of Todd's favorite places so far. It was a block away from the beach and perfectly placed in the middle of all the action. The beach in Phi Phi has been our favorite so far. The water was so warm and you could walk a half mile out and the water would only be at your chest. It was crowded but with lots of people our age. Everynight we were able to find new things to do. We ate at a tourist favorite, Breakers Bar, a "Cheers" type, There I experienced the tastiest Massaman Curry in all the land. (For those of you who have never had this delicious concoction,
it is a light curry dish made with cinnamon, cardamon, chicken, cashews, onions and yams! Served over soft sticky rice, it's heaven.) We found ourselves frequenting this bar. I think it reminded us the most of home and being surrounded by friends. In case we hadn't told you yet, Todd and I are on a search for the best Tom Kah Gai soup and Pad Thai. The soups have been very different everywhere we go but the Pad Thai has been the same. I hate to say it, but I prefer the Pad Thai dishes that we have in Alaska. Even the pad thai that I get from the street vendors do not compare to back home. So I am know searching for the best Massaman Curry! Also, on Phi Phi I tried a fried pancake. It was mouthwatering!
These were very popular and I a became so jealous when I saw people eating them. I looked like they use a thick philo dough and fry it in butter, then add whatever ingredient you could think
of. I chose Nutella and fresh bananas. Oh it was delicious! One night we found a bar that shows American comedies with dinner. That is big thing here. Very often you can find restuarants that have big flat screens viewing Family Guy or Friends. We sat down that night and watched Old School and played Connect Four over a round of Singha beer.
-Patong Beach or Karon Beach, Which is better?- (Nov 25-Nov30)
After a 5 hour bus ride from nowhere, we finally arrived in Phuket. Because we missed our transfer in Surat Thani to Phuket, we had to pay another 450 Baht for a taxi to our hotel in Patong Beach. (450 Baht is an outrageous price to pay for a taxi, but the locals have learned how to back the white man into a corner and we have heard horror stories about the Taxi Cab Mafia. Seriously, I wish I were joking.) The Arimana hotel, won first place prize for best looking brochure and then later finding out that nothing was what it was set up to be. The brochure gave the impression of a newer upscale place that was “close to everything”. On the contrary! The pool was a glorified bathtub which was out of order. We were set up in a standard but very dirty room and come to find out we were over a mile from the beach and in the middle of, what we’ll call it “The Red Light District” to be kind. Todd made a call and raised hell with Peak, our travel agent. If we haven’t told you yet . . . at the beginning of our trip we hooked up with a travel agency and ended up signing and paying up front on a non-refundable “all-inclusive” trip that would last the first two months of our vacation. Everytime we check into a new hotel, it is evident to us that we have been taken advantage of. But, this has been a huge learning experience for us and we are trying our hardest to get everything we can out of the package. So, you may hear a lot about crappy hotels. Sorry, but we need to vent.
Thankfully we were transferred to the Karon Princess Hotel. Lovely!!! It has been the best hotel we have stayed in so far. We were greeted with a smile and a refreshing glass of fruit juice. We could relax, finally! Across the road was the long picturesque Karon Beach. A little nightlife and well recommend restaurants were within walking distance. Todd and I agreed that this place had the best breakfast, best pool, and really welcoming service. This served as a great place for us to spend our Thanksgiving. Though we were only able to stay for four nights and then it was off to Ko Phi Phi.
-Sleeper Train to Nowhere- (Nov 24)
We took an 12 hour overnight sleeper train from Kanchanaburi to Surat Thani. This town is the main port city for the East coast islands. We were scheduled to have a transfer pick us up to go to the West coast town of Phuket. Stupid us, we had stayed up late on the train playing poker and forgot to set an alarm. We ended up sleeping through our connection ( which was at 5 in the morning) and found ourselves in a place that to this day remains nameless to us. The best we could guess was that we were somewhere near Trang. Trang is in the deep deep south of Thailand and there isn't much to do or see. When we told a police officer on the train that we were waiting for surat thani, he promptly went to ask what he should do over the radio. When he came back, he advised us that we had missed the connection by two hours. We were going to pay him 400 baht to stay on the train and get off at the next stop. We had no luck getting ahold of our travel agency, so this local man got off the train with us, hailed a taxi and took us to the nearest bus station. This guy saved our bacon, if it weren’t for him who knows where we would have ended up?( in hell most likely!) So off we were to Phuket!
-Kanchanaburi- (Nov 23-24)
We had a great time at the Tiger Temple. My good friend Chelsea advised us to spend a few hours there and we did just that. It is a huge reservation that is home to numerous animals
and the monks that run the place. Horses, wild boar, cows, waterbuffalo, and peacocks! Peacocks are beautiful up close, their colors are so brilliant. Also, we met a group of kids close to our age who were volunteering for a few months. One of the girls was from California, a few from European countries and
one guy from Australia, who had been spending most of his time with the baby tigers. It was so interesting chatting with this particular volunteer. He told us that he was an ex-cop who moved to the
temple just to volunteer for three months. He fell in love with the animals and ended up staying. Apparently the monks had invited him to become a monk so that he could live with the baby tigers full time.
due to a staff shortage, he got the job anyway and has been playing "mother" to four of the cubs for the past three months. They all live together in a small cage. The cubs even sleep in the tent with the guy!
They were adorable and very playful. Todd and I orignally thought that the tigers were heavily sedated in order to be so relaxed around the crowds. But that is not the case. Tigers are very lazy animals,
as we were informed. They sleep up to 18 hours a day, we were told not to make any loud noises and only pet their tummies, so they weren't scary to be around. Todd on the other hand hand an issue when he went to pet one of them in the veiwing area and they told him to pet the tiger harder on the tummy, when he did she growled and whipped her head aroud. Todd was shuffled away from that beast.
We spent one night in Kanchanaburi and that was more than enough. We spent the night in a "floating hotel", which turned out to be a nightmare. After traveling for 12 hours, spending three hours at the tiger temple
and going on a short hike, the last thing we wanted was to sleep in this boat house. The bed was aweful! It was made of straw and felt like a huge rock. The walls and floor had holes in them. (The better to see
the river, I guess.) and Todd wasn't able to sleep because there was a giant rat raising hell in the wall! Not all had been lost though, that night we met a lovely couple from Sweden.
Goran (pronounced Yohan) and Ingrid, were so interesting to talk to and Todd quickly made friends with them. He is so good at that. They had retired and had been traveling around the world by
sailboat.( the SS. Yvonne) They had just spent time in Spain, where they have another home and had decided to come to Vietnam and Thailand. They had great stories and very wise advice for us about traveling.
The following morning we traveled with our new friends and the group from our hotel to a National
Waterfall Park. I cannot recall the name of this particular place because we forgot the camera and now have no record of even being there. Oh well. It was beautiful
though. Very different from the waterfalls we visited in Chang Mai. This park had seven very large waterfalls, all connected by a winding jungle path. We started at
the bottom of a mountain and spent the day trekking up to the top, stopping at each blue green fall. When we got to the top we jumped in the pool at the bottom, and as this waterfall feeds the seven other waterfalls, we sat at the edge of the pool, that turned into a waterfall, and overlooked the area. AMAZING! Angela did get a little skiddish when there were little fish in the pools that nibbled on your feet. There were the occasional water spider, that were about the size of my palm, that was not enjoyable. I found a stick, and then sent them flying, baseball style. When we finished it was finally off to the train that would take us to our long awaited vacation in the islands! The first two and half weeks of our trip, Todd and I kept joking that we couldn't wait for our vacation to really start, as we had been in Thailand for almost three weeks, and hadn‘t seen a beach yet.. :)
This is what we have been up to for the past month. Sorry we haven’t been able to keep in touch as much as we hoped. So far Todd and I are not showing signs of coming home earlier than planned (for those who were placing bets). We were finally able to put together a care package and send it off to our families for Christmas. More than likely though, they won’t be showing up until mid January. Oh well! Take care everyone and enjoy life as much as you can. It’s way too short for us not to.
Monday, December 15, 2008
We're not dead!
Hey everyone!!! Sorry it's been so long since our last blog. Todd and I are down in the islands and there is very limited internet access. No need to worry though! We have been working on a very long a detailed blog to bring you all up to date. But for now you will have to wait a bit longer. Hope you all are doing well.
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