Thailand for the Body

After leaving Sangkhlaburi I had about four days for 'vacation.' I arrived back in Bangkok on the afternoon of December 27th. I said goodbye to some of the volunteers and was picked up by my friend Jessie and her grandmother. The evening didn't consist of too much except getting some very delicious Pad Thai from a Bangkok open air restaurant market. Basically it was a place where many cart food vendors came together with some tables so that people could sit down and enjoy the countless varieties offered by each food cart. It was by far some of the best Pad Thai I had in my life, minus a weird textured vegetable that when I put it in my mouth I felt like it rolled around on the streets of Bangkok. Yes, dirty and gritty! MmMmMm. Not sure if it was suppose to by like that, or if it did really roll around on the street. Either way, I survived so I think it was suppose to be like that. After that I went to Jessie's house for the first time and met her mother and father, although only for a very short time. Considering they didn't know English and I didn't know Thai, I guess there wasn't much we could talk about.


Delicious Pad Thai with a strange vegetable at the bottom of the plate.

The next morning we woke up and headed to the Grand Palace and walked around looking at some awesome Thai architecture. I even saw a miniature replica of Angkor Wat. After this we headed down the road to Thailand's largest reclining Buddha at Wat Pho. Then it was time to eat because Jessie's grandmother was very hungry. So she bought some delicious something from a food cart and we sat down and ate some kind of fried fish patty with chili sauce. It you haven't noticed, eating at food stalls is the thing to do in Thailand. The food is always local, delicious and cheap. As far as safety, use judgement. Don't eat at a place that looks super dirty with no customers.


Grand Palace


Thailand's largest reclining Buddha


Angkor Wat miniature

Before leaving this area of Bangkok we stopped at one more temple with VERY steep steps which offered a great view of the surrounding area, including the Grand Palace. Then we decided after climbing steep stairs in the hot Thai sun that it was time for some Pepsi and ice. After this we were planning on seeing a Muay Thai fight, but since the foreigner price was about 2000 baht ($60), it wasn't worth it. I would rather pay nearly nothing to watch Tony Jaa crack some skulls in "The Protector."


steep steps

Honestly I can't actually even remember what we did after this...

The next day was an early one at the airport. I was leaving Bangkok to spend 3 days in Phuket. Time to finally have the vacation where I sit on the beach, well sorta.

After landing at the Phuket airport I took an hour long shuttle taxi to Karon Beach, which made a pit stop at a travel agent where I booked a day trip to the Phi Phi Islands for about $45. After arriving at my hostel that I booked on http://www.hostelworld.com/ called The Beshert I found out my room wasn't ready yet. It was 12PM and the lady just told me to leave my stuff in the lobby, which was actually a bar, and go to the beach. Honestly to call this place a hostel is almost a stretch. Granted I paid about $12/night in high season and was less than a 5 minute walk from the beach. First the place was a laundry service, which was good and I made use of their services. Second it was a bar, which I didn't even drink once at. Third it was PROBABLY (I stress that I do not know for sure) what people in Thailand passionately call a "girlie bar." Then it was a hostel/hotel. More like a hotel though. Anyway after I checked into my room with an extremely warped door that I entrusted to keep my valuables safe, I explored the town.

Karon beach is much quieter than notorious Patong, and also comes with a cleaner beach. Less jet skis and noise, although I couldn't but help but to be annoyed at how many pay to use beach chairs there were. The town also doesn't offer much for night life, that I could find anyway, except some good restaurants. This was fine though because the next day was also early, I was picked up at my Hostel/Laundry/Bar/Brothel at 8AM to head to the Phi Phi Islands.


Karon Beach sunset

After being piled onto a boat with a bunch of Europeans (think old men in speedos) and a few other nationalities we headed to our first stop to go snorkeling. The beach had pure white sand and turquoise water! This is something I have always wanted to see. I couldn't see fish at first, then I put on the snorkel gear and was amazed! Whoa! Incredible. Sun fish everywhere, other fish everywhere! I even saw an eel in the coral, and was happy I didn't get my toe bitten off.

The rest of the day was spent hoping from island to island, checking out the beaches and enjoying the ride. We even stopped at Phi Phi Don, the only populated island, if we wanted to pick up anything. These islands were remarkably beautiful. The only thing that kind of sucked is how exploited by tourism they were. Something I guess I should be slightly grateful for though, since it allowed me to visit them.


Maya Bay

It was then back to Karon and dinner. The next morning I slept in a bit, ate breakfast and then attempted to find a taxi. Unfortunately in Phuket there are no meter taxis, and the only price I could get was a $25 taxi to the airport, about 3 times the price I paid to get to Karon Beach.

Back in Bangkok I decided that I was going to spend New Years with one of the other volunteers, Dusty, in the city. My initial plan was to go back to Jessie's home, but I asked what her plans were and she had none so I decided to see what a New Year in Bangkok on a full moon would be like. To try to reduce the length of this post, I will sum it up. CRAZY! It was good to experience, but actually I might haven enjoyed eating Tom Yum Goon at Jessie's house instead.

That is basically the end of my Thailand trip. A journey that changed me and one that so many things happened that to really know the full story, you would have to talk to me.