Babs and Face Take on Thailand: Bangkok, Phuket, Chiang Mai Oh My!!!!!

Babs and Face arrive in THAILAND!!!!!!!!!! And so the family adventure begins...

First, we started off in Bangkok for a few days so they could recover from the flight and we could see some sights. I am not the biggest fan of the grand palace but it is the first thing that most people want to do when they come to Thailand. So i took them there but instead of paying the 300 baht fee to enter we just roamed around the outside, saw the laying down Buddha instead (much cooler) and i introduced them to various street foods (squid on a stick, coconut juice, and satay among some others). Then, we headed to Chinatown to roam around a bit before heading back. The next day we got up wicked early (that's right, I'm from Jersey but I can say wicked too!) like, 5am, to go to the OTHER floating market, Damnoen Saduak. It was cool and had a lot more going on in the water it seemed but much less on the outside. There were much fewer boats than I expected too... basically, Ampawa was a lot better but I am glad I did it nonetheless.

Saturday morning we flew up to Chiang Mai. This is where my ambition really kicked into high gear...
Day 1: Elephant Trekking and White Water Rafting
Day 2: Thai Cooking School
Day 3: Flight of the Gibbon (zip-lining through the jungle canopy)

All totally amazing. The white water rafting was the thing that terrified me the more (we almost backed out at breakfast the morning of) but i am soooo happy that I went through with it. Our guide was great and I felt (mostly) safe. I would totally do it again in Thailand or on vacation elsewhere. 2 teenage girls fell off their raft but the Leonaggeo's stayed in tact, even though Face decided to jump off the raft on his own.. twice.

The last morning in Chiang Mai (before we got on a plane to Phuket) Babs and I went on a walking temple tour of Chiang Mai, however, it was pouring and pretty miserable. Finally we ducked into Chiang Mai Women's Correctional Facility. Yup, real great place to find some shelter. They train the inmates there so that they can get work when they get out. Some of them sew, some of them cook, and some of them do massage. And better yet, the public can eat at the restaurant, buy hand-sewn items, and even get massages from these inmates! Guess which one I went for? Yupppp. I got an hour foot massage by a Thai inmate. Her name was Ying and she was 24 and had graduated from University. That's about all I could get out of her without being rude but totally cool. The money goes to the women once they get out of prison too! It's a good cause overall and a really unique experience... thanks Lonely Planet!

Last stop: Phuket. I have to admit, as much of a 'do all you can in the shortest amount of time possible' person i am, once i got to the MomTri Villa Royale I was more than satisfied sitting on my ass for 4 days. The resort was amazing. We got our own villa, splash pool, veranda, and another sitting area too. There were 3 swimming pools and it was right on the beach. The food was delicious. Honestly, we never left. One day we took a boat trip to do an island hop and saw Ko Phi Phi, Maya Bay (where the movie 'The Beach' with Leo was filmed, and Monkey island which had a lot of... you guessed it, monkeys! We got back to Bangkok Sunday afternoon and met up with one of mom's old bosses who is also teaching in Thailand. Up to this moment things were going surprisingly smoothly until... Babs and Face came to Chonburi.

Chonburi, where I live in Thailand, is about 1.25 hrs Southwest of Bangkok heading towards Pattaya. It is a small city that is pretty spread out and does not have the best public transportation system in the world. I live almost 2 miles away from where any bus, van, or songtaew travel to so I have only 1 other option: motorbike. I really like the motorbike drivers and trust them with my life regularly (it is there job to drive them after all), however, they are not the most well-educated bunch and know very little if any English. I never find this too much of a problem, however, when you are a 19 year old college sophomore on a motorbike with a driver that doesn't speak English, have no idea where you are going or have an address, or telephone number, or any Thai money, it can be an issue... especially when that motorbike driver decided to deviate from the other 2 (mine and mom's) and get lost. He dropped Matty off at some random street corner in Chonburi. Matty, having no money, gave him a $10 US bill. The guy just looked at it. Matty took it back, handed him 2 1$ bills, and the guy accepted them and drove off (wtf Thailand?!) Meanwhile, Babs is standing in the middle of the highway in Chonburi because her baby is lost and I am holding my motorbike driver hostage while he tries to call Matty's driver to find out where he had dropped him off. We then went searching through Chonburi and finally found Face standing at the corner of a 7-11, hands in pocket, looking very calm but awkward as hell as a 200 bearded white man in the middle of Asia... whatever, phew, anther Thai crisis averted! After a quit and fairly silent dinner in Chonburi (Babs was still pretty rattled) it was back to Bangkok and the states for them and back to teaching for me!

"Why you make your face like that?"

This weekend Cortes and I travelled to Ampawa floating market with Bank, Ong, and Pook!! Yeah, we have Thai friends, no big deal. I had been wanting to visit a floating market since I got to Thailand but they are surprisingly challenging to get to via public transportation. There are buses and switching buses and boats and other random vehicles, plus, they are not usually in the most touristy of locations so housing etc can be interesting. As a result, Bank (who Sarah and I had met our first month in Thailand on a bus going to Bangkok... he was laughing at me asking if it ever snowed in Thailand so I knew that he understood us). And he helped us go shoe shopping. No gay though. Just very helpful. Awwww.

So Bank and Ong went to college together and I am not sure how they know Pook but she came with us too! She was a little more quiet and knew less English but was very touchy feely which naturally made me like her a lot. After getting very lost looking for our lodging we finally came across it and got settled in. Played a few card games, took a few shots. Then, 4pm, long boat comes to pick us up at the hotel and we are on our way to the market!!

The pictures can pretty much speak for themselves but it is such a cool place. The boats line the winding canal and sell everything from touristy goods to fresh seafood to colorful fruits and mmm so exciting! And not only are the boats selling things but lining the canals on the land-side are tons of stores and food stahls and all kinds of things. LOVE Thailand. We just walked up and down the canals buying and tasting as we went along (Ong really likes tasting... I think he tried everything, and bought enough food for at least 10 ppl on top of that... then he said he wasn't hungry at dinner that night, weird...) I bought an ornament for grandma that somehow got lost before I left Ampawa, so sad, and a piece of twine that is dyed and hangs picture frames... looked cooler when I bought it. On the boat ride back to the hotel from the market we coasted along looking at the hundreds of fireflies that lighted up the trees! It was so pretty but made me a little sad because it reminded me of Christmas lights and I might not be home for Christmas this year.

That night was one of the best times I have had in Thailand. The 5 of us just hung out and played cards white eating amazing Thai food and drinking A LOT of Leo. We introduced the Thais to Kings and they were very very into it. Some translation issues led to hysterical moments like 9--busta' rhyme... to which Pook said Dog (next person is supposed to say something that rhyme with dog.. hog, log, bog... etc) but then he shouted BOX! He got teased a lot about dog BOX after that. Overall another amazing weekend in Thailand and next one is filled with lots of adventures since Babs and Face are coming to visit!!!!!! WOOT WOOT!!!!!!

This is the buddhist temple in ampawa that a tree decided to grow around and smother basically... so cool.

Hua Hin

After a rattling weekend in Ko Chang and a very short week at school I figured that Hua Hin... 3 hour van ride from Bangkok with nice beaches and low-key markets.... was the perfect place to go next. A lot of people I usually travel with had already been so they were out but Eric came with me and Lauren met us there on Saturday afternoon.

By the time Eric and I got ourselves in a room and out again for the night it was 10:30pm on Friday. We went to the market near our hostel and got Pla Pow, Lob Moo, Kao, and Som Tam Thai. Aroi Mak Mak!! Then we walked to Burger King Way, passed over to Prostitute Circle, where we bar hopped and drank merrily. I picked up some really cool big neon sunglasses from a drunk British man and Eric and I shared some grasshoppers from a street vendor and tried to force other forangs and even Thai people to eat them. Typical. We even hit up an Irish bar and got cider on draft!! IN THAILAND!! WOWWW.

Afterwards we walked along the beach, tried to find our hotel from the beach, and unsuccessful turned around, had late-night burger king, and called it a day. Next day we got massages (very nice, only 200 baht!) and hit the beach. I managed to only get a little burned and we had green curry and cashew chicken for lunch on the beach. Afterward we went back to the hotel, showered, Lauren met up with us, and we headed out to dinner. Tuna sandwich, yumm!!

After dinner we headed to Cicada market, which Lauren had heard about from a guy at work. It was awesome! Totally different than like every other Thai market. It was a lot smaller, was in this open venue that had lots of art, break dancing, pictures... it had a very hipster emo vibe that was terrific. I bought a really cool knitted purple watch and Lauren got a candle and a few t-shirts. Afterwards we headed to the real Hua Hin market, got some dessert, and checked out the goods. Pretty awesome. Then it was back to Prostitute circle and Lady-Boy Lane. We got burgers at a burger stand (no crickets or grasshoppers tonight) and eventually got kicked out of the bars at 2am because of the cops (prostitution, no matter how rampant it is, is not in fact legal in Thailand).

Hua Hin was pretty great and such an easy trip on a Friday night that I would definitely do it again and see more of the national parks and what not in the area. Success!!

Elephant Island Disaster

Ko Chang, or Elephant Island in English, is the largest island on the eastern gulf coast of Thailand. It is a favorite destination for Thai vacationers and although it is still 95% undeveloped jungle it is quickly turning into one of the most sought after tourist attractions in Thailand. Thanks to the Queen and her birthday we had a four day weekend in the middle of July to go on a stellar vacation to Ko Chang!! Or so we thought...

It rained the entire time. No, ENTIRE time. About 3 hours of no rain and maybe 1 hour of 'sunshine' in a 72-hour period. Problem when you go to an island and expect to be hiking in the hillsides, snorkeling and beaching it up. Okay, plan B, eating and drinking A LOT. We stayed at Paradise Cottages on Lonely Beach which was surprising really nice for only 200-300 baht a night depending on whether you wanted a concrete or wooden bungalow. Sila and Chon took good care of us with food and drinks and we were very happy while lounging around on hammocks or at the bar. The First night we went to Aum Bar on Lonely beach where we met up with some other OEGers and had a little dance party. Fantastic! Later Eric Dave and I were the only ones still out and we managed to get lost in a rain forest of bungalows looking for the Tree House (according to a Dutch restaurant owner where the 'happening party' was Saturday night). The Tree House is apparently under renovation we found out after an hour search.... you would think that the guy living 1km away would know this, but obviously not. Lots of fun all the same... and still raining.

Day 2 we went to a hotel at the end of the road (only 1 road in Ko Chang that goes alone the perimeter of the island and make a horseshoe shape) and climbed the waterfall there... in the rain of course. It was totally awesome though and we crossed the rushing water to get to the other side of the river and Eric even walked under the waterfall!! Awesome. Afterwards we got a beer and snack at the hotel pool bar and went back to our hotel after meandering around a bit. That night we got awesome Mexican food at a place in Lonely Beach being run by a French guy with Thai cooks (?!?!!), whatever, it was aroi mak mak and then we went to Nature for the 'Sunday night' party. Met some great backpackers and a few local girls who were interesting (one of them talked about her drug selling business for about 2 hrs) and then hit the dance floor. Everything was going swimmingly until, oh, the rain decided to cause a massive mudslide which wiped out the concrete pools holding up the telephone and electric wires. Shit. Shit Shit Shit. No Cell service, no water, no electricity. We tried walking home but the mudslide had happened on the road between Nature Bar and our hotel. I though we were goners, especially after trudging through water that was rushing at me up to my knees... in the dark. I made my way back to Nature and laid down under a hut telling myself 'this is it, I'm going to die here' (a thought i have almost every weekend in Thailand). A few hours later a Thai woman, a lady boy, and a few foreigners (me included) started making our way through the bungalows to get back. IT WORKED!! SAVED!! Got into bed at 5am, soaking wet (i never dried the whole time on that island) and pretty sure that I was indestructible.

Next and last day on Ko Chang. Bummed around the hostel, went on a walk and checked out the local shops. Stayed at the hotel that night playing game after game of Kings, flipping coins for free drinks, and getting propositioned for some 'acts' that i cannot talk about on this blog because my mother reads it. Ko Chang is where the phrase 'whatever doesn't kill you makes you stronger' originated from. Definitely.

The only pictures I have from this trip are leaving. Even though the trip was very eventful in its own way, I didn't particularly feel like taking my camera out when I was miserably being rained on or on the verge of death walking through mudslides and rivers. Sooo yeah. Weirdly enough I had a pretty good time but I sincerely doubt I will come here again. Damn rainy season! Mai pen rai.