Rockclimbing and arriving in Phuket

Yesterday morning, I headed over to King Climbers, a rockclimbing company based in Rai Lay (recommended by the likes of Maxim and Lonely Planet), for a one day rockclimbing class I booked the day before. I figure I should take advantage of the rockclimbing in Rai Lay since it is one of the best rockclimbing sites in the world. When I arrived, I was paired up with Australian who worked in Vietnam, and Canadian who was from London, Ontario but worked in Taiwan. We spent the first hour aquainting ourselves with the equipment, and safety techiques. Then, we learned how to belay another climber, and tie a proper rockclimbing knot to keep ourselves from falling, and severely injuring ourselves. The rest of the day was spent climbing the scenic limestone that Rai Lay is blesed with. First, we started with a 15ft climb, and then we slowly worked ourselves up to a whopping 60ft climb. Each climb was different. Some were flat with no foot or hand holds, and others were more rigid and easier to climb. By 6pm, we had performed six different climbs, and I was tired. I quickly stumbled back to the hotel and jumped into the swimming pool.

The day before yesterday, Sunday, I explored Rai Lay on my own. Dan wanted time to sit on the beach. Harv was nursing his injuries from his snorkeling accident on Phi Phi. They wanted to time to rest in the sun, and I could understand. They are headed for a much colder Japan in less than a week. So, I decided to hike alone to a lagoon, and a viewpoint overlooking Rai Lay to get a better view of both of the beaches, Rai Lay West and Rai Lay East. The lagoon was guarded by two 5m cliffs which had to be dealt with to get to the lagoon itself. I almost bailed a few times climbing the cliffs, but got to the lagoon eventually. The lagoon was small only about 30ft wide and it was surrounded by limestone 120ft high. After I climbed back out of the lagoon, I proceeded to the viewpoint 75ft above sea level, and snapped some great pictures of Rai Lay.

Tonight, I am writing from Kata Beach on Phuket. Although I have only been here for a couple of hours, Phuket is busiest place I have visited so far. We are planning to head a few beaches north to visit Patong beach tomorrow night. Patong beach is world famous for its nightlife, and controversial sex industry. That said, I have no doubt that the ratio of fat white men to beautiful Thai women is significantly higher in Patong than any other city in the world. Walking around Patong should be an unusual, and eye opening experience for me.

Climbing 60ft above ground














Tired from rockclimbing all day











Rai Lay East from the viewpoint











Rai Lay West from the viewpoint













Rai Lay Lagoon

On Koh Phi Phi

Over the last week, I learned a few new things about myself. For one, I look Thai. I have been approached by many people that mistake me for being Thai. Secondly, I tan really fast. I’ve made an effort to stay out of the sun, but somehow I'm darker than my friend Harvey who is darker than me when we are in Canada. Fascinating, isn’t it!

We are leaving Koh Phi Phi for Rai Lay today. Rai Lay is known as the one of the top rock-climbing destinations in the world. It’s beautiful beaches are surrounded by jungle and large limestone formations (the kind of rock formations you would see at the beginning of a Bruce Lee movie like Enter the Dragon).

I had my first Thai massage on Wednesday. My masseuse gave me a great massage and she was very funny. She kept on calling me Thai boxer, and whispered I love you in Thai in my ear. I kept laughing especially when she kept on repeating and saying “you lovely man, you strong man”. Beck from England beside me was laughing too. The masseuse made my first Thai massage a hilarious experience. Later that evening, I watched some Muay Thai boxing at the Reggae Bar around the corner. The Reggae Bar was large, and decorated with a Jamaican feel to it. In the center of the nightclub was a large boxing ring. Foreigners were rewarded with drinks if they volunteered to fight in the ring. We took in two fights. The first fight featured two heavy-set tourists from England who had very little boxing skill. This fight ended in a draw. The second fight was between a couple of Thais. Unfortunately, the punches, kicks and knockdowns were well performed in this fight. We came to the Reggae Bar to witness a fake Thai boxing match!

On Thursday, we hiked thirty minutes to Long Beach where Robyn, Aaron, Megan, and Jimmy were staying to snorkel for sharks in the water. Harvey had his first swimming experience in the water that day. Harvey was amazed with what he could see with a mask and snorkel. That same night, Jimmy and Aaron hiked over to the Tourist Village to hang out with us on their last nite on Phi Phi.

Working on 3 hours of sleep the next day, I joined Harvey and Dan, and we went on a 7 hour snorkeling trip that took us around the surrounding Phi Phi islands. We stopped to snorkle five times. During the last snorkle, Harvey crashed into some coral, and that cut up his leg.

Here are some more pictures of Phi Phi.

Bye,
Arnie



A Bird's Eye View of Phi Phi Don



Trying to act like a fish



The tsumani destroyed this 7-11



Bamboo Island one of our snorkeling stops



The tourist village on Phi Phi Don

Some pics from My Trip

I won't bore you with any blogging today. Here are some pics from my trip so far. Enjoy.




A Bird's Eye View of Bottle Beach



The view of the beach, and ocean from my bungalow on Bottle Beach



Waterfalls on Koh Phangan



Sunset on Bottle Beach



A Trail in the jungle



Jumping through a Ring of Fire at the Full Moon Party



The Full Moon Party Crew: Cam, Danielle, Sebastian, and Marie with Team Thailand



Harv and Dan at the Full Party



Dan sleeping in the my hammock after the Full Moon Party



Soccer on Bottle Beach



Hanging out with Danielle from Victoria at Bottle Beach



Hanging out on Kao Tao with Pam and Kevin



Dan enjoying some Chang (beer)



Splunking on Koh Lanta



Jigging on the beach



Aaron, Robyn and Harv at Jordan's Irish Pub, Koh Phi Phi



Jimmy and I having Swedish Buckets



Fake Muay Thai Boxing:( at the Reggae Bar, Koh Phi Phi



A picture of the debris and destruction left from the Tsumani (bungalows once stood here)



Plaque at the Phi Phi Memorial Garden



The Phi Phi Memorial Wall

Vroom, vroom

My hands are clinched tightly. My nerves are on edge. I’m navigating a motorcycle through mid-day traffic. I look to my right, and see a fellow motorcyclist passing me while smoking. I don’t have a helmet (apparently, no one uses a helmet in Thailand), and my bike doesn’t have a license plate. The brakes are terrible, and the bike is difficult to kickstart. I hired a 110 cc bike for the day. The bike was similar to driving a scooter except it had gears that I had to learn how to shift through. The roads are paved on this island, but littered with potholes. Thais also drive on the right side of the road which made my first motorbike experience in Thailand very interesting. Dan and I are driving to a cave on the southern end of the island. We have been Koh Lanta a couple days now. Our bungalow has hot water, and AC, and we are sleeping comfortably on three separate beds. We settled onto Long Beach, one of the nicest beaches on the island. The tourist scene on Koh Lanta is slightly different than Koh Tao. This island is more family orientated, the average age of typical tourist is higher, and it’s much more laid back than the island we were coming from. We spent two hours spelunking then, headed into one of the villages for lunch. When we stopped in village, Megan, Jamie and Jen were standing outside a coffee shop. We met the trio on Bottle Beach a few weeks ago. It was good coincidence seeing them here. We had lunch with them at a beachside restaurant called Rasta Baby. In Rasta-style fashion, our waiters had dreadlocks and were stoned when they took our orders. I ordered a ham and cheese bagette, and received a ham and chesse fish burger! We made plans to meet up with them for dinner, then headed back to resort to meet up with Harvey. Harvey stayed at the resort most of the day while we played around on our rented motorcycles. Later in the evening, we met up with the girls for dinner, and watched an Irish band from Toronto perform while fireworks lit the water and sand in background.

In the morning, we checked out of our resort, and headed for Koh Phi Phi. When we arrived at the pier, we ignored the usual barrage of Thais trying to offer accomodations, taxi rides, etc. We walked for about 10 minutes before we started to witness the destruction and aftermath of the SE Asia tsumani. I stood in the middle of the dirt path. On my left was a tile floor where five stores once stood, and in front of me a row of tents where some of the locals were now living. Later in the afternoon, we settled into a posh guesthouse equipped with HBO, AC, and hot water. After a quick nap, we ran into Robyn, Megan, Jimmy and Aaron at a convenience store while Harvey was buying a few boxes of Tim Tams. Robyn lives next door to me in Vancouver. We made plans to meet, but I didn’t expect to see all of them til much later. We spent the rest of the night with them enjoying Thai rum mixed with effedrin laced Red-bull.

Pesky Thais

Upon visiting a few major tourist destinations in Thailand, I’ve discovered another dimension of the Thai people – their persistency. In every port, ferry, and airport I have visited in Thailand, we have been literally mobbed by locals offering accommodation, taxi, drinks, and food. While I usually have a lot of patience, I started to realize their persistency was getting out of hand when we were continually being harassed while we were eating in a restaurant. After a few weeks of harrasment, I’m coming to the realization that wearing a large backpack in Thailand is like wearing a bulls eye on your back.

Another Ho-Hum Afternoon...NOT

Yesterday started as a boring afternoon. We were waiting in the hotel restaurant for our overnight ferry leaving for Krabi at 2000. I started to doze off in my chair when we decided it was time to have a quiet beer at the beachfront bar. The bar was twenty feet from the water, and steps to the beach. As we were sipping away, we heard someone shouting from the water. When I turned my head to see what was happening, I started to realize we were in for an unusual afternoon. There was a fight – a play fight I guess. My eyes focused intensely on the beach where I found two topless women wrestling in the water. I tried not to stare, but it was hard not to. For the next thirty minutes, three topless women provided entertainment for the rest of the bar, and beach. And before I knew it, they were sitting at the bar next to me along with all their friends. By this time, Harv stopped drinking, and went over to the television in the corner to watch HBO, Dan moved to the other side of the bar, and an Aussie who I just met bought me another big bottle of Chang. If was dozing off before, I was certainly awake now. I started to examine the group of people that were providing the entertainment on the beach, and noticed that were master divers that worked for the hotel we were staying at. The same people that saved me from drowning, and certified my diving license a day before. They were obviously looking for a way to relieve their stress. They drank buckets of alcohol, and started to buy rounds of alcohol for innocent customers like me. After a few rounds of Jager-bombs, two quarts of beer in a plastic bag, and a strange Oreo-based drink called a floppy milk bucket, I was invited for the few rounds of the Bacardi Brezzer challenge otherwise known as the BBC. The objective of the game was to drink a bottles of Bacardi Breezer as fast you can. At 1800 and after about five rounds of the BBC in thirty minutes, I started to try to make sense of why were leaving Koh Tao after all. It had all the amenities, a beautiful beach, a sea of friendly (and gorgeous) tourists, and awesome beach-side entertainment.

I passed

“Be the fish”, is a strange incantation for diving, but it works well for me. I stripped the diving monkey off my back after three years of fearing water. I finished up the certification class without any problems yesterday. To celebrate the birth of my pseudo-amphibious lifestyle, I decided to partake some of the nightlife, one of the benefits of visiting Koh Tao. As the rest of Team Thailand went to bed early, I met up with a fellow Canadian who I accidentally ran into the day before. Pam and I met on my standby flight from Vancouver to Bangkok. Along with her friend Kevin, we had several beers at the hotel pub, before heading to at a beachfront nightclub called the Pure. When we got there, I was instantly impressed. The dance floor was large slab of concrete built over an open air wooden patio. On the beach were two tourists tossing and twirling fire batons. And, the club was choked full of great looking European women mostly from Scandinavia. With all the distractions in the club especially the latter one I mentioned, I eventually lost Pam and Kevin after making some new friends, and stumbled back to the hotel after eating a late night snack with some Israeli women that I just met. Today, we are heading further south to Krabi on a overnight ferry and bus ride.

The Great Blue Sea

My day started early at 7am. Falling asleep reading the diving manual last night, I woke up earlier than normal. I had chicken and ginger congee for breakfast, and headed over to the beach for my refresher course. During the course, we reviewed some of the basic scuba skills like fin pivoting, mask clearing, and buddy checks. I’m glad I spent the extra baht to attend the refresher course. Later in the afternoon, I dived in the ocean for the first time as part of the certification course that I didn’t finish in Vancouver. Once I got into the water, I was amazed by the scenery and forgot the about my nervousness. By the end of day, we did two ocean dives during which we performed several skills to test my scuba prowness. I had an eventful second dive though. During my mask clearing skill, I started to inhale and choke on water. I panicked and threw my regulator out of my mouth under 30 ft of water, and I started to bolt for the surface. Bolting for the surface is bad -- for you non-scuba people. The instructor saved me from choking and further injury. She forced my regulator back in my mouth purging the air in the regulator in such that I wouldn’t swallow any water. I eventually calmed down and cleared my mask. I laughed after the dive and said, “I’m going to be expert on coughing and choking water into my regulator after this course is over!” I’m kidding of course.

Sawatdee,
Arnie

Back to civilization

We made it to Koh Tao this afternoon. Most of the day was spent on the phone looking for accommodations. Its high season here, so finding a place that fit everyone’s needs was difficult to find. We lucked out, and found a place with A/C, cable TV with Cinemax/HBO, and hot water. A good portion of Team Thailand spent an hour watching television and movie as soon as we entered the hotel room. I found myself sitting on bed longing for the seclusion, and uniqueness of the place we just left. The area we are staying in feels a lot like Canada (minus the cold weather) including all the luxuries, pesky hagglers and foreigners around. In fact, we just ate dinner at a place that had Israeli food, Pad Thai, and burgers on their menu. Fortunately, now that we are back in civilization I will blog more often than the past week or so. I also booked my open water certification course at the place we are staying at. If everything goes to plan, I will be a certified recreational diver by Thursday night and with that one of my goals for this trip will be realized.

To Koh Tao

Team Thailand along with many other farangs (thai for tourists) are bunkered up in a hot sticky internet café waiting to board a ferry to Koh Tao in a few hours. Koh Tao is the best dive island in Thailand and I plan to finish off my certification there. We just left Bottle Beach, my home for the last week. I loved Bottle Beach and wonder if I’ll return there when I’m back in Thailand in March. We were treated well by the staff, and met many like minded travelers. It’s hard to fathom the friendliness of the Thai people I have met so far. Life here is so simple as compared to our western lives. No flushing toilets, no television, no hot showers. My experience at Bottle beach set the bar high for the rest of my trip. The Full Moon Party a couple of nights ago was impressive -- imagine partying with 5 to 6 thousand people on the beach at once. I knew we were in trouble when I saw some fellow partygoers jump through a ring of fire. Luckily, we escaped the party with a slight hangover, and without injury.

Sawadee (Hello) from Thailand

I think its midnight, and I’ve just arrived in at Bangkok International Airport. I’ve been traveling for almost 17 hours now, and have a 5 hour layover until I catch my next flight to the island of Koh Samui. I wander down a long hall to the domestic terminal passing a 7-11 in the process, and sit my behind on a bench longing for a proper sleep. Since leaving Vancouver, this is the first time I have been able to walk more than 10 metres at a time. I’m a bit agitated, but ironically I’m happy at the same time. The airport is empty except for a few westerners waiting for their connection to Phuket and other Thai cities. The area I’m sitting in is air conditioned unlike Nadi International airport in Fiji where I sweated through a similar layover a few years ago. With my arms wrapped around my bag in the seat next to me, I dose off, and review what transpired at YVR a few hours ago.

By my own doing, I stranded myself at the airport. I misread my itinerary the night before and I missed my flight by two hours. I took a moment to get angry, and frustrated with myself. Then, I got my composure together, and eventually weighed out all the options. Although I could get to Seoul on my original ticket, I couldn’t reserve a ticket to get to Bangkok. All the flights from Seoul to Bangkok were sold for two weeks sold. I really screwed up. In Amazing Race fashion, I ran around the airport to ticketing booths with the help my parents looking for a next available flight to Bangkok. I eventually found one-way ticket to Bangkok at a discounted standby rate. This option got me into Bangkok earlier than my original ticket. As I sat on the bench, I promised myself I wouldn’t think about this anymore.

At 700, I land in Koh Samui just in time eat some breakfast. I take a fast ferry to Koh Phangan. Then travel overland across the island, and get finally get to Bottle Beach on a longboat operated by some shifty Thais. No lifejackets on board, and the boat ride was overpriced. I eventually settle into a bungalow facing the ocean with two double beds for 12 bucks a night. White sand and clear blue water of the ocean is now at my doorstep.

Bottle beach is secluded area on Koh Phangan. The only way to get here is by foot, boat or 4x4. A perfect place to catch up on my jet lag. There is no internet access at the beach and no telephones. The setup reminds me of a movie/book called the Beach starring Leo DiCapario. The first time I walk into the lobby I’m getting checked out by the regulars, or farang (tourists) the Thai would say. I’ve learned over the last few days there are free- spirited farang that come to Bottle Beach that stay there for months without leaving.

Today is Thursday, and Team Thailand is uniting forces today. It’s been a struggle to communicate with Dan and Harvey without the internet. I didn’t know they were arriving today at 1200 until I checked my email a few minutes ago. It’s 1500, and I’m no where near Bottle Beach right now. I’ve spent the last few days socializing, learning some basic Thai, resting in my hammock, and hiking. In fact, I just hiked an hour and half to get to use the internet! I have lost myself in the jungle a few times, and have been chased off the trails by stray dogs and animals. Thank goodness I got my rabies shots! Aside from burning my shoulders, and the regular barrage of mosquito bites at dusk and dawn, I’m as happy as can be. I'm in Thailand now!!

Locked and loaded

It's almost 1:00am (only 13 hours before I leave), and I just finished packing my backpack. My good friends, Chris, Cindy, Win, Ron and Emmo came over tonight for dinner for Japanese food, and wish me well on my trip. We're walking back to my place in the rain in this picture after grabbing some coffee. All in all, I'm happy I'm going, but not too thrilled about the long flight to Bangkok via Seattle/Seoul, then onward Koh Samui. In the morning, I'm meeting with Ron and Emmo for breakfast, and we'll go to airport together. My parents (bless their souls) are also meeting me at YVR to say goodbye.

Extending the flight plan

Since I last posted, Harvey and Dan emailed me. By their account, their trip took 27 hours after delays in San Fran, and Tokyo. They were happily eating food when they emailed me. The temperature was 28C in Bangkok yesterday when they arrived and the humidity is uncomfortable. They were dying for a shower after sweating through their clothes within minutes of landing. I hear Harvey has started place order for custom suits, and Dan has started shopping as well. Clothing in Thailand is inexpensive in comparsion to western standards. I'm not packing much on this trip, and expect to stock up on new digs throughout my jaunt across SE Asia. I can't wait until I get to Vietnam. In Vietnam, it is common for travellers to have custom shoes made for as little as 20 dollars. All I need to do is bring a picture of a shoe I like from a magazine!

Also, I will not be stopping in Bangkok as I initially planned. Last night, I found a web special on Bangkok Air, and had to jump on it. The connecting flight to Koh Samui departs 6 hours after I land in Bangkok. I plan sleep at the airport while waiting catch my flight to Koh Samui. After I arrive in Koh Samui, I'll catch a ferry and then track down accomodations on Koh Phangan's most beautiful beach, Bottle Beach. Although I delibrately extended my flying itinerary, I am certain the solitude of Bottle Beach will be worth the effort.

Last minute prep

I've spent the last week under house arrest fixing up my bathroom which is cause of untimely and sporadic blogs lately. Yesterday morning, I dropped off the one part of Team Thailand at the airport. Harvey knocked on my door at 600, and we got to the airport around 730. After a quick goodbye, and dap, Harvey was gone, and so started his adventure into paradise. It's been over 24 hours since I dropped Harvey off, and I haven't heard a peep from either Dan or Harvey. Where are they? Probably catching up on their jet lag, or having too much fun people watching drinking Thai beer on Khaosan Rd, a popular backpacker hotspot, before heading to north by plane to do some trekking.

I'm finally getting on to the packing stage of my trip. I recently recieved a link to a website (http://upl.codeq.info) that recommends items to take on a trip based on user requested parameters like temperature, duration of trip, location, etc. I pasted the results from the website into a spreadsheet, then I categorized each item, so I could sort through easily. This site is definitely worth a look if you are planning for any vacation.

My neighbors are also going to Thailand to meet up with Megan, Robyn's twin, and her boyfriend, Aaron. Robyn, Jimmy are leaving for Thailand early next week. We are all planning to meet in Koh Samui before the Full Moon Party on the 14th.

I booked my first night accomodation at a guesthouse that recieved a great review in my guidebook called the Shanti Lodge (http://www.shantilodge.com). I booked a dorm with hostel-style bunks for 100 baht, or $2.84 Canadian.

I arrive in Bangkok at 0000 on 9th. If the jet lag doesn't wipe me out completely, I will leave for the island of Koh Samui by overnight train the next day.

Happy New Year 2006

Hope you all had a great start to the new year. Happy 2006!