Kim and I arrived today into Calcutta. Not that it's called that anymore, it is now called Kolkata which keeps the english pronounciation more correct.
It took the cab driver over an hour to get to our hotel 22kms away. The cab was prepaid, so the message here is that there is alot of traffic to deal with.
There are cows occasionally on the side of the road. So there are sacred cows here.
The air is really polluted. Tastes a bit like Cairo in that sense. Because we both had to get up early this morning for the plane we are both wearing glasses instead of contact lenses - which I think might be a good thing because otherwise it would probably be stinging our eyes.
We have seen some poverty here, but not like you might imagine - if you are like me you might imagined that Calcutta meant crowds of beggars desparate and dieing. But we haven't seen that. There are some beggars on the street and also some just poor people sleeping or keeping to themselves on the street. One boy followed me around and started touching my pocket that held my camera. I ended up slapping his hand away - It was more reactive than I would have wanted to be.
We have also seen Indian yuppies or Indian yuppies in training (puppies?). We were just in a coffee shop drinking iced lattes and iced tea and there was an excited table of Indians argueing/working together on what sounded like a group business school project.
I didn't notice this at the time, but they were all speaking English. But I did notice at the time that when speaking English, they have the same Indian accent Indian people have at home. I suppose that the accent is portable is obvious, but from that I felt a connection to the Indians who live here and the Indians I know at home.
I don't think we will spend much time in Calcutta (Kolcata). Maybe we will try and find tigers outside of the town somewhere.
Sunday, August 31, 2008
More Laos
In Luang Prabang we rented a couple bicycles and rode to a waterfall. We didn't get to the waterfall we were looking for, but did end up in a small village type area which was pretty cool.
We kept running into Darren and Jody from England there, so we travelled with them to Vang Vieng. Actually, on the flight to Luang Prabang, they were sitting next to us on the airport bus, then coincidentally were sitting behind us on the airplane and then we saw them two or three more times in the village and then coincidentally their seats on their bus down to Vang Vieng was again right behind ours. So really we were travelling with them without having to do anything.
Vang Vieng is famous for inner tubing down the river. You rent an innertube and then float down the river. As you float down the river, you float by many many bars playing techno and using poles and ropes to pull the tubers in. Many bars have swings or ziplines to throw you into the river. One bar had Mud volleyball/mud wrestling.
Kim suffered an injury while mud wrestling, so to be safe we took her to the French embassy in Vientiene to have Monsieur Docteur check it out.
Kim's injury is minor - But we saw lots of people on crutches and with broken arms etc coming out of Vang Vieng. Monsieur Docteur told Kim that she was the third person he saw from Vang Vieng the day she was there.
So Vang Vieng is super fun, but also stupid fun.
We kept running into Darren and Jody from England there, so we travelled with them to Vang Vieng. Actually, on the flight to Luang Prabang, they were sitting next to us on the airport bus, then coincidentally were sitting behind us on the airplane and then we saw them two or three more times in the village and then coincidentally their seats on their bus down to Vang Vieng was again right behind ours. So really we were travelling with them without having to do anything.
Vang Vieng is famous for inner tubing down the river. You rent an innertube and then float down the river. As you float down the river, you float by many many bars playing techno and using poles and ropes to pull the tubers in. Many bars have swings or ziplines to throw you into the river. One bar had Mud volleyball/mud wrestling.
Kim suffered an injury while mud wrestling, so to be safe we took her to the French embassy in Vientiene to have Monsieur Docteur check it out.
Kim's injury is minor - But we saw lots of people on crutches and with broken arms etc coming out of Vang Vieng. Monsieur Docteur told Kim that she was the third person he saw from Vang Vieng the day she was there.
So Vang Vieng is super fun, but also stupid fun.
Monday, August 25, 2008
in Laos
Kim and I arrived here yesterday by plane. One weird thing about the plane trip is that occasionally tiny bits of ice would fall on me from somewhere above.
Luang Prabang is a small town and very laid back compared to the cities we visited in Vietnam. Sometimes, even, there are no cars on the road!
We booked a couple bus tickets and will be going to Vang Viet tomorrow.
Luang Prabang is a small town and very laid back compared to the cities we visited in Vietnam. Sometimes, even, there are no cars on the road!
We booked a couple bus tickets and will be going to Vang Viet tomorrow.
Thursday, August 21, 2008
Hanoi
We've been in Hanoi now for a couple days.
The 31 hour train trip was ok. At one point there was a big thump - big enough so that a water bottle fell and hit Kim waking her up. Then after about 5 min the train stopped completely and there was a very long announcement in Vietnemese. We were sharing our compartment with two and a half - one was a toddler - but they did not speak English so could not tell us what happened. The lady under my bunk made a chopping motion on her neck so I interpreted that to mean either a suicide, or that the engine on the train had been killed.
Later another Vietnamese guy came and visited the guy under Kim's bunk who told us that the train hit and killed a motorcyclist and dragged him for awhile. That was too bad.
The visitor also wanted me to give him my ticket after I was done using it. I agreed, but didn't know why he wanted my ticket. I figured it was some kind of fraud and, later, thought I should have said "no, unless you can tell me why".
When leaving the station, the attendants punched his ticket but were careful to actually take our ticket. Our guy wasn't happy but I wasn't going to go and insist that the attendents give me my expired ticket so I could give it to a stranger. So there was some sort of scam there.
We got into a taxi from the station because we had our big backpacks. However the cabby went around the old city lake - we knew our hotel was between the station and the lake and not requiring a scenic tour around the lake. Plus Kim was watching the meter and it was clicking Kilometers inconsistenly (popping) at maybe at a rate of 5x the actual distance. Ie we would go 20 meters and it clicked 100 meters. So forced the cab to stop confronted the driver and gave him 50,000 dong instead of the 74,000 on the cab.
Since that incident we have got into some good cabs and another one that required a confrontation and early exit (this time I only gave the guy 20,000 dongs instead of the 54,000 and climbing). Fortunately we have found that the little cabs seem to all have doctored meters, while a couple companies (minh linh - white cabs with green lettering and hanoi taxi) have reliable meters. So if we look for a cab, we usually wait for a white one with green lettering. In a white and green cab I think the cost from the station to our hotel the first night would have been 15,000 dong. So in the end my giving the original scammer 50,000 dong was pretty generous.
We had a pretty busy day yesterday visiting the Ho Chi Minh mausoleum complex, the Hoa Lo Prison museum and a water puppet show.
Ho Chi Minh specifically requested a cremation, but he is a national hero so after his death they locked him away in a huge monument to his life.
The Hoa Lo Prison (aka Hanoi Hilton) is the same prison that John McCain stayed at during the Vietnemese war. The story of the museum was more about how the French colonists had tortured and violated the revolution's comrades before and during Vietnam's independence struggle in the 50s. Regarding the American's held there in the 60s and 70s, they portrayed that the exact same prison had turned into more as a summer camp with volleyball tournaments and sing alongs. The displays show one side of the story, but at least that side of the story makes us want to know the other side of the story.
The water puppet show was really cool. The had these wooden puppets and would use a bamboo screen and a pool of water to hide the puppets and then tell little stories. Some of the scenes were pretty cute with a little guy swimming after a fish, then doing a backstroke. You had to be there. It's funny to watch a puppet doing a backstroke in the water. There was also a scene where two birds, possibly phoenixes, got together and then an egg popps out of the water, then they get together around the egg and then a baby bird pops out.
Today we took a white and green cab to the Van Mieu temple of literature (the country's first university and then went to a fair trade store called Craft Link. For lunch we took a white and greed to this crazy hofbrauhaus.
Tomorrow we are going on a two day kayak and mountain bike tour in Ha Long Bay. A pretty place near to Hanoi and the ocean (the bay).
The 31 hour train trip was ok. At one point there was a big thump - big enough so that a water bottle fell and hit Kim waking her up. Then after about 5 min the train stopped completely and there was a very long announcement in Vietnemese. We were sharing our compartment with two and a half - one was a toddler - but they did not speak English so could not tell us what happened. The lady under my bunk made a chopping motion on her neck so I interpreted that to mean either a suicide, or that the engine on the train had been killed.
Later another Vietnamese guy came and visited the guy under Kim's bunk who told us that the train hit and killed a motorcyclist and dragged him for awhile. That was too bad.
The visitor also wanted me to give him my ticket after I was done using it. I agreed, but didn't know why he wanted my ticket. I figured it was some kind of fraud and, later, thought I should have said "no, unless you can tell me why".
When leaving the station, the attendants punched his ticket but were careful to actually take our ticket. Our guy wasn't happy but I wasn't going to go and insist that the attendents give me my expired ticket so I could give it to a stranger. So there was some sort of scam there.
We got into a taxi from the station because we had our big backpacks. However the cabby went around the old city lake - we knew our hotel was between the station and the lake and not requiring a scenic tour around the lake. Plus Kim was watching the meter and it was clicking Kilometers inconsistenly (popping) at maybe at a rate of 5x the actual distance. Ie we would go 20 meters and it clicked 100 meters. So forced the cab to stop confronted the driver and gave him 50,000 dong instead of the 74,000 on the cab.
Since that incident we have got into some good cabs and another one that required a confrontation and early exit (this time I only gave the guy 20,000 dongs instead of the 54,000 and climbing). Fortunately we have found that the little cabs seem to all have doctored meters, while a couple companies (minh linh - white cabs with green lettering and hanoi taxi) have reliable meters. So if we look for a cab, we usually wait for a white one with green lettering. In a white and green cab I think the cost from the station to our hotel the first night would have been 15,000 dong. So in the end my giving the original scammer 50,000 dong was pretty generous.
We had a pretty busy day yesterday visiting the Ho Chi Minh mausoleum complex, the Hoa Lo Prison museum and a water puppet show.
Ho Chi Minh specifically requested a cremation, but he is a national hero so after his death they locked him away in a huge monument to his life.
The Hoa Lo Prison (aka Hanoi Hilton) is the same prison that John McCain stayed at during the Vietnemese war. The story of the museum was more about how the French colonists had tortured and violated the revolution's comrades before and during Vietnam's independence struggle in the 50s. Regarding the American's held there in the 60s and 70s, they portrayed that the exact same prison had turned into more as a summer camp with volleyball tournaments and sing alongs. The displays show one side of the story, but at least that side of the story makes us want to know the other side of the story.
The water puppet show was really cool. The had these wooden puppets and would use a bamboo screen and a pool of water to hide the puppets and then tell little stories. Some of the scenes were pretty cute with a little guy swimming after a fish, then doing a backstroke. You had to be there. It's funny to watch a puppet doing a backstroke in the water. There was also a scene where two birds, possibly phoenixes, got together and then an egg popps out of the water, then they get together around the egg and then a baby bird pops out.
Today we took a white and green cab to the Van Mieu temple of literature (the country's first university and then went to a fair trade store called Craft Link. For lunch we took a white and greed to this crazy hofbrauhaus.
Tomorrow we are going on a two day kayak and mountain bike tour in Ha Long Bay. A pretty place near to Hanoi and the ocean (the bay).
Monday, August 18, 2008
Downpours in Saigon
It's raining alot here today. My clothes aren't just damp wet, they are wring it out for a litre of water wet.
We are thinking of taking a train up to Hanoi. Originally we were going to stop in Hoi An and Nha Trang - both beachy - but if it's so wet, it doesn't make sense. Plus we already did alot of beachy in phuket and sihanoukville.
So we are heading, through the rain, now to see if we can book some sleeper bearths in the overnight train up there.
We are thinking of taking a train up to Hanoi. Originally we were going to stop in Hoi An and Nha Trang - both beachy - but if it's so wet, it doesn't make sense. Plus we already did alot of beachy in phuket and sihanoukville.
So we are heading, through the rain, now to see if we can book some sleeper bearths in the overnight train up there.
Sunday, August 17, 2008
Beef Lok Lak, Pho and Pad thai
Yesterday I had a beef lok lak in Cambodia. Lok Lak is small chunks of beef in a ginger gravy with a pot of black pepper sauce. The sauce was awesome. Cambodia has a famous Kampot black pepper that grows in the Kampot province. It's part of their "pepper culture".
Today we had some Pho in HCMC and it was good. To me it was less beefy, less salty or possibly msg than at home. For herbs there was the regular basil leaves and another herb that looked a bit like dandelion. Overall the soup was a cleaner or clearer than I've had back home.
But food will depend on which restaurant you go to... What pho tastes like in Vietnam is like asking what sushi tastes like in Vancouver. There are trends and that is interesting but the different cooks will have some influence.
For example, in Thailand I had the best pad thai I've ever had. It was at a restaurant called Lin Pin in Bangkok. I don't really like Pad Thai, but this one was really good - there was this aweseome crunchyness to the peanuts, which when I looked further I realized wasn't the peanuts but some dried shrimp. The bean sprouts were meatier, the basil that came with the meal was a full on handful of basil (like if you bought 2 or 3 of those fresh basil packs from Safeway and just threw it down on the plate.
I (and Kim too) also had the worst Pad Thai - we got it from the Bangkok airport. It smelled too fishy. When we landed in Phuket Kim barfed. Then she barfed again into my fleese jacket in the car on the way to the hotel. So after picking out the barfy pad thai that absorbed into my fleece - we stopped having Pad Thai.
Today we had some Pho in HCMC and it was good. To me it was less beefy, less salty or possibly msg than at home. For herbs there was the regular basil leaves and another herb that looked a bit like dandelion. Overall the soup was a cleaner or clearer than I've had back home.
But food will depend on which restaurant you go to... What pho tastes like in Vietnam is like asking what sushi tastes like in Vancouver. There are trends and that is interesting but the different cooks will have some influence.
For example, in Thailand I had the best pad thai I've ever had. It was at a restaurant called Lin Pin in Bangkok. I don't really like Pad Thai, but this one was really good - there was this aweseome crunchyness to the peanuts, which when I looked further I realized wasn't the peanuts but some dried shrimp. The bean sprouts were meatier, the basil that came with the meal was a full on handful of basil (like if you bought 2 or 3 of those fresh basil packs from Safeway and just threw it down on the plate.
I (and Kim too) also had the worst Pad Thai - we got it from the Bangkok airport. It smelled too fishy. When we landed in Phuket Kim barfed. Then she barfed again into my fleese jacket in the car on the way to the hotel. So after picking out the barfy pad thai that absorbed into my fleece - we stopped having Pad Thai.
Saturday, August 16, 2008
going to Vietnam tomorrow
Tomorrow we are heading to Vietnam. We are going to Ho Chi Minh City (aka Saigon, aka Hochy, aka HCMC).
It will be a long 12hr Cambodian karaoke ride back up to Phenom Phen and then back down to HCMC. Customs and relations between Vietnam and Cambodia are way more positive than Thai-Cambodian, so the border should be easy.
It's always fun to see a new country so that should be exiting tomorrow.
It will be a long 12hr Cambodian karaoke ride back up to Phenom Phen and then back down to HCMC. Customs and relations between Vietnam and Cambodia are way more positive than Thai-Cambodian, so the border should be easy.
It's always fun to see a new country so that should be exiting tomorrow.
Overnight in a hut on the beach
Last night we stayed on "Bamboo Island" aka Koh Russei. It is a remotish island that you need to take a ferry to.
My dream was that it would be really cool to stay in a remote beach, in a neat deserted island shack on the beach somewhere. Doesn't that sound cool?
The beach >was< remote - there were just maybe 10 cabins (maybe 4 couples), two bars and some farms. And our shack was pretty neat, airy even.
Unfortunately for me and my sunburn induced desire to go to sleep early, that night, a Friday, was a party night at one of the bars and I think everyone (Cambodian farmers included) on the island came out to party.
I'm not complaining. It's just not what I had fantasized.
My dream was that it would be really cool to stay in a remote beach, in a neat deserted island shack on the beach somewhere. Doesn't that sound cool?
The beach >was< remote - there were just maybe 10 cabins (maybe 4 couples), two bars and some farms. And our shack was pretty neat, airy even.
Unfortunately for me and my sunburn induced desire to go to sleep early, that night, a Friday, was a party night at one of the bars and I think everyone (Cambodian farmers included) on the island came out to party.
I'm not complaining. It's just not what I had fantasized.
Thursday, August 14, 2008
How to fix a jellyfish stinging
Kim and are currently in Sihanoukville which is a beach town on the southern end of Cambodia.
The big news today is that I got stung by a jellyfish while swimming near the beach.
I don't actually remember if this is the first time that I got stung, but a couple nights ago we watched a documentary on the "National Geographic" channel about two australian scuba divers that survived being stung by a tiny >killer< jellyfish. The male scuba diver was in the hospital in pain for 2 days, while the female diver was in pain for 2 weeks!
I don't know which >kind< of jellyfish stung me - I only recently learned there was a killer kind - so I asked the bartender near the beach if there were jellyfish. He had a Scottish accent so I'm sure he understood the question and he said yes, but none big enough to be worried about. Being a good bartender, he gave me a lime to squirt on it.
The lime didn't make much of a difference.
But anyway, now 5 hours later, it doesn't really sting that much anymore. Which is good because Kim, being a good girlfriend, had offered to pee on it! (Which I think is actually only for certain spiders - not jellyfish.)
The big news today is that I got stung by a jellyfish while swimming near the beach.
I don't actually remember if this is the first time that I got stung, but a couple nights ago we watched a documentary on the "National Geographic" channel about two australian scuba divers that survived being stung by a tiny >killer< jellyfish. The male scuba diver was in the hospital in pain for 2 days, while the female diver was in pain for 2 weeks!
I don't know which >kind< of jellyfish stung me - I only recently learned there was a killer kind - so I asked the bartender near the beach if there were jellyfish. He had a Scottish accent so I'm sure he understood the question and he said yes, but none big enough to be worried about. Being a good bartender, he gave me a lime to squirt on it.
The lime didn't make much of a difference.
But anyway, now 5 hours later, it doesn't really sting that much anymore. Which is good because Kim, being a good girlfriend, had offered to pee on it! (Which I think is actually only for certain spiders - not jellyfish.)
Monday, August 11, 2008
Cambodian food
I did and don't know that much about Cambodia. I knew it used to be a french colony and I've seen a couple war movies that reference it. But alot of what Cambodia is was a mystery to me.
Like when is the last time you went to a Cambodian restaurant?
What do they eat?
Cambodian food has similar foods to Thailand and Viet Nam and Elsewhere.
Like Thailand: You can get a nice chicken or fish curry which tastes alot like the Thai versions with slightly different spices. We had a fish Amok and on a different night a chicken Amok - these Amoks are curries prepared in banana leaves.
Like Vietnam: You can get pho and apparently soups that you make yourself at your table are super popular here. We went for pho last night, but it didn't turn out very well. Kim didn't get a stomach upset from the pho, she just got mental upset when the waiter wouldn't give it to her because it is only served at breakfast!
(That pho is only served as breakfast is still TBD if this will be everywhere.)
Like Elsewhere: We had some nice barbequed spare ribs at a Khmer restaurant.
Cambodia has a couple unique things that I haven't seen elsewhere. We stopped for a quick snack and they had hard boiled eggs. I was going to have one, but Kim warnesed me that there was something "in the egg". Sure enough the girl we were sharing the taxi with was having the hard boiled duck embryos. It's eaten just like a regular hard boiled egg, but dipped in some sort of spice.
I didn't try the egg. Partially because I didn't know my company that well. If I was to start eating it and couldn't keep it down, it would have been worse - I think than to start eating it. My imagination thought that it might feel like eating oysters or wet feathers.
Today, on the bus from Siem Reap to Phnom Phen I tried some roasted banana leaves with rice and banana inside. It was pretty good and filling. Also healthier than the can of pringles we had as well. Kim noticed that some people were eating dried tarantulas as well. I didn't see them on offer - but I might try one - or maybe just a tarantula leg if the chance comes up.
I probably won't try Durian though. It just smells bad so I am not sure the rewards justify opening that curtain.
Like when is the last time you went to a Cambodian restaurant?
What do they eat?
Cambodian food has similar foods to Thailand and Viet Nam and Elsewhere.
Like Thailand: You can get a nice chicken or fish curry which tastes alot like the Thai versions with slightly different spices. We had a fish Amok and on a different night a chicken Amok - these Amoks are curries prepared in banana leaves.
Like Vietnam: You can get pho and apparently soups that you make yourself at your table are super popular here. We went for pho last night, but it didn't turn out very well. Kim didn't get a stomach upset from the pho, she just got mental upset when the waiter wouldn't give it to her because it is only served at breakfast!
(That pho is only served as breakfast is still TBD if this will be everywhere.)
Like Elsewhere: We had some nice barbequed spare ribs at a Khmer restaurant.
Cambodia has a couple unique things that I haven't seen elsewhere. We stopped for a quick snack and they had hard boiled eggs. I was going to have one, but Kim warnesed me that there was something "in the egg". Sure enough the girl we were sharing the taxi with was having the hard boiled duck embryos. It's eaten just like a regular hard boiled egg, but dipped in some sort of spice.
I didn't try the egg. Partially because I didn't know my company that well. If I was to start eating it and couldn't keep it down, it would have been worse - I think than to start eating it. My imagination thought that it might feel like eating oysters or wet feathers.
Today, on the bus from Siem Reap to Phnom Phen I tried some roasted banana leaves with rice and banana inside. It was pretty good and filling. Also healthier than the can of pringles we had as well. Kim noticed that some people were eating dried tarantulas as well. I didn't see them on offer - but I might try one - or maybe just a tarantula leg if the chance comes up.
I probably won't try Durian though. It just smells bad so I am not sure the rewards justify opening that curtain.
angkor vs anchor
How do you spell Angkor? I guess I just did. So that wasn't hard.
But how about pronunciation - To pronounce it, Angkor sounds like Anchor. Pretty boring so far right?
But consider that there are two popular Cambodian beers: Anchor and Angkor! Anchor is a good beer Angkor is not.
How would you order the good beer, if the names sound the same?
Kim and I did some research and after getting the wrong beer once and getting the right beer once the trick is that if you want the good beer you need to ask for >And-Chore< beer and not "Anchor".
More details as we get them.
But how about pronunciation - To pronounce it, Angkor sounds like Anchor. Pretty boring so far right?
But consider that there are two popular Cambodian beers: Anchor and Angkor! Anchor is a good beer Angkor is not.
How would you order the good beer, if the names sound the same?
Kim and I did some research and after getting the wrong beer once and getting the right beer once the trick is that if you want the good beer you need to ask for >And-Chore< beer and not "Anchor".
More details as we get them.
Saturday, August 09, 2008
Cycling Ankor Wat
Today was supposed to be a day off. After two days of travel we were going to take today off and then visit Ankor Wat tomorrow.
But I found it hard to not just, you know, go have a look to see what you are going to see. So we borrowed some bikes from the hostel and went up there.
It was supposed to be a 15 min, maybe 1 hour tour. But it ended up being a 4 hour extravaganza as the more we saw, the deeper into the Ankor Wat area we went.
Both the sites and the environment of the sites exceeded expectations. The series of temples are all inside of a well treed park so it was enjoyable to ride our bikes from place to place. Ankor Wat and the other temples were cool to look at and appreciate the heavy stone work - by heavy I mean the full on figures made out of stone - as well as some of the light stone work - like the relief stone carvings showing mostly scenes of Vishnu conquering over demons.
Unfortunately one of the seats on the bikes was not attached to the bike properly so after experimentation we ended up taking turns sitting on the pannier bracket on the rear wheel and riding "cruiser style" on the back of that bike. It was pretty painful considering how much riding we did.
But I found it hard to not just, you know, go have a look to see what you are going to see. So we borrowed some bikes from the hostel and went up there.
It was supposed to be a 15 min, maybe 1 hour tour. But it ended up being a 4 hour extravaganza as the more we saw, the deeper into the Ankor Wat area we went.
Both the sites and the environment of the sites exceeded expectations. The series of temples are all inside of a well treed park so it was enjoyable to ride our bikes from place to place. Ankor Wat and the other temples were cool to look at and appreciate the heavy stone work - by heavy I mean the full on figures made out of stone - as well as some of the light stone work - like the relief stone carvings showing mostly scenes of Vishnu conquering over demons.
Unfortunately one of the seats on the bikes was not attached to the bike properly so after experimentation we ended up taking turns sitting on the pannier bracket on the rear wheel and riding "cruiser style" on the back of that bike. It was pretty painful considering how much riding we did.
Friday, August 08, 2008
In Cambodia
We have been travelling alot in the last couple days. Two full days of travelling is draining... Day one we took a 12 hour bus from Krabi to Bangkok. Day two was a four and a half hour bus to the Cambodia border, lining up to exit Thailand, lining up to get a Cambodian Visa, lining up to get the visa stamped, then a four hour cab ride to Siem Reap.
Siem Reap is where people stay when visiting Angkor Wat. We haven't visited it yet - We might take today off and look at it tomorrow.
Siem Reap is where people stay when visiting Angkor Wat. We haven't visited it yet - We might take today off and look at it tomorrow.
Wednesday, August 06, 2008
Done with Phi Phi we are on a stop over in Krabi
We spent the last couple days on Phi Phi Island. It is supposed to have some of the most beautiful beaches in Thailand and I can say it does have some of the most beautiful beaches I have seen. Warm, crystal clear water, sandy beaches, limestone cliffs and lush greenery make it so.
We stayed at the Natural resort there. I had asked the travel agent who helped us book it if it was on the beach and I suppose it sorta was - but not "on on" the beach like I wanted it to be.
Anyway, the beach was super close and I enjoyed that the whole area was secluded by the fact that you needed to take two boats to get there.
There was a little restaurant where I had fresh barbeque squid, a ginger fried fish and a barbequed red snapper. Kim is feeling better so she had mussman curry and sweet and sour chicken. (She still hasn't got back to the hot stuff and won't be touching pad thai anytime soon).
I had bought a cheap snorkel and mask in Phuket, and Kim rented one from the hotel. We used the masks to look around the coral and chase some tropical fish - some reminicient of those in Finding Nemo.
Today we are in Krabi. We are planning on taking a really long 15 hour bus ride to Bangkok tomorrow. Most run over night, but we are going to try and take a day one so we don't have to sleep on the bus. Kim is sitting at the computer next to me trying to figure out where we will stay tomorrow night in Bangkok - maybe somewhere near the bus terminal because we'll need to use the bus again to head out to Cambodia.
We stayed at the Natural resort there. I had asked the travel agent who helped us book it if it was on the beach and I suppose it sorta was - but not "on on" the beach like I wanted it to be.
Anyway, the beach was super close and I enjoyed that the whole area was secluded by the fact that you needed to take two boats to get there.
There was a little restaurant where I had fresh barbeque squid, a ginger fried fish and a barbequed red snapper. Kim is feeling better so she had mussman curry and sweet and sour chicken. (She still hasn't got back to the hot stuff and won't be touching pad thai anytime soon).
I had bought a cheap snorkel and mask in Phuket, and Kim rented one from the hotel. We used the masks to look around the coral and chase some tropical fish - some reminicient of those in Finding Nemo.
Today we are in Krabi. We are planning on taking a really long 15 hour bus ride to Bangkok tomorrow. Most run over night, but we are going to try and take a day one so we don't have to sleep on the bus. Kim is sitting at the computer next to me trying to figure out where we will stay tomorrow night in Bangkok - maybe somewhere near the bus terminal because we'll need to use the bus again to head out to Cambodia.
Sunday, August 03, 2008
a fish called army
We have free internet, but the internet room is hot. So we haven't been posting much.
Yesterday we rented scooters to ride out to the beaches on the other side of the peninsula. We ended up taking a wrong turn, so we checked out Phuket from the top of a look out point. We eventually made it to the beach, more of a fishing pier with a strange looking dog than a beach. But the weather was getting stormy so we headed back to our side of the peninsula.
Back on our side, Indian Ocean side, we headed up to Patong and stayed at the beach there. Patong was way busier than the beach near our hotel. The advantage of going to the beach near your hotel is you can leave all your valuables in the hotel - which >has< to be safer than alone on a beach chair. But at Patong, I didn't feel that safe - so our swim was a bit short and we headed back to our hotel a bit earlier than planned. The original plan was to check out the ladyboy show, but I guess we can just do that some other time.
Today we woke to thunderstorms and a short power outage. But really all this meant was that we had a later start to our day.
I got another massage and Kim watched another movie while it rained.
Later we headed down to the beach and played in the ocean. There was a fish about the size of a goldfish that kept hanging around me and my arms - It would not go away. I think it liked my armpit.
Kim asked if he had a name, so I named him "Army".
Yesterday we rented scooters to ride out to the beaches on the other side of the peninsula. We ended up taking a wrong turn, so we checked out Phuket from the top of a look out point. We eventually made it to the beach, more of a fishing pier with a strange looking dog than a beach. But the weather was getting stormy so we headed back to our side of the peninsula.
Back on our side, Indian Ocean side, we headed up to Patong and stayed at the beach there. Patong was way busier than the beach near our hotel. The advantage of going to the beach near your hotel is you can leave all your valuables in the hotel - which >has< to be safer than alone on a beach chair. But at Patong, I didn't feel that safe - so our swim was a bit short and we headed back to our hotel a bit earlier than planned. The original plan was to check out the ladyboy show, but I guess we can just do that some other time.
Today we woke to thunderstorms and a short power outage. But really all this meant was that we had a later start to our day.
I got another massage and Kim watched another movie while it rained.
Later we headed down to the beach and played in the ocean. There was a fish about the size of a goldfish that kept hanging around me and my arms - It would not go away. I think it liked my armpit.
Kim asked if he had a name, so I named him "Army".
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