South of Thailand – Phuket

Chiang Mai to Phuket by plane, Thailand Day 45 (March-15)

two hour flight

We arrive at the Phuket International Airport, and take mini-bus to the Lucky Guesthouse in Kata beach. The minibus stops at a travel agent on the way to town, which is an annoyance for some, and tremendous convenience for others. We are happy to collect information and do some price comparison. We check in to the Lucky Guest house, and choose a nice basic clean and comfortable bungalow for $14; no AC, and no hot water. The cold shower feels great before bed, and the evenings are cool. We chat some Mandarin with a shy grade schooler in the lobby who is just learning.

The first thing we notice in Phuket is that our fellow travelers have suddenly put on an extra 50 pounds. The average age also go up from 20’s to 50’s. The sun crusted glory is hanging out in full force after dinner, with shirts unbuttoned or pulled up, allowing additional digesting room. Phuket has many large hotels catering to package tourists, who venture only a few mouse clicks from home. The public beach in north Kata is almost completely dominated by Club Med. Our hotel is on the main street right behind Cluc Med, only 10 minutes walk to the beach. Oddly enough we never make it to the beach, even for a look.

The T-shirt says it all about Phuket culture:

Phuket is a party town, also a popular place for lady boy to hang out. Be careful who you wake up the next morning 🙂

Phuket, Thailand Day 46 (March-16)

It’s an early 7:30AM mini-bus pickup for our full day trip to visit Ao Phang-Nga National Marine park, and it’s easy to pronounce “James Bond Island”. On the way we pick up two groups of Israelis. We wait while the first group finishes their breakfast. It’s a small family of three, and we can’t understand how anyone who is staying in a fancy 5-star resort with 24 hour AC and hot water can possible smell so bad. At first, I thought they must be French. Later on the boat, and Egyptian fellow Vana befriended points them out. As a passport agent in Egypt, he is an expert in these matters. Next the mini-bus heads up to Patong beach which is the party capital of southern Thailand; known for its Go-Go bars. We wait for a group of six Israelis to get out of bed. From their thick language, I thought they were Russian. (Vana: they smell pretty bad too)

These days I don’t think the Man with the Golden Gun would choose this National Park for his hide out, because day trippers now arrive by the boat load. We arrive in a dock in northern Phuket where we are stickered, and loaded on to one of three large boats, each holding 50 to 100 people. The tour company does an excellent job of moving people through, and making the trip very enjoyable, despite the volume of people.

Day trip to Ao Phrang-Nga National Marine park

After about an hour boat ride, we get into canoes, and our guide paddles through a cave in Hong Kong Island to a hidden lagoon. We have to lie down in the boat to get through several spots, and depending on the tide, the lagoon is not always accessible. The geography is similar to Halong Bay, Vietnam with large limestone cliff Islands, which are recessed at the water line, allowing shady spots to paddle and observe stalagmites and caves.

off the boat

onto the canoe

paddle into the hidden lagoon

watch for your head

lagoon

inside the lagoon

We run into a small fishing boat with full of horseshoe crabs in the boat

The next stop is James Bond Island. It’s very beautiful, although with a few hundred people, and a beach overrun with vendors selling tourist junk; 30 minutes is plenty of time to stop, take a picture, and return to the boat. After lunch on the boat, we stop in a bay, and take a canoe for our own paddling, and a swim. The water is a pretty emerald green color, which turns into a cool looking Jade later at sunset. The recess in the cliffs at the water line is really nice place to hang out in the heat of mid-day. The final stop is at bat cave. Our guide paddles us into the dark, and we use flashlight to see bats sleeping on the roof of the cave. Deep in the cave is are on our backs again in the boat, and I am glad there are no bats above my head.

Ao Phang-Nga National Marine parkbetter known as ‘James Bond Island’

vendors selling tourist junk upon arriving James Bond Island

green color water

KR enjoys the swim

final stop – bat cave

cave bat

There are thousands of them hanging on the wall (it’s hard to see in the pic, but they are these black dots)

stalagmites in the cave

On the way back, they whistle to eagles and throw chicken skin in the water. I am not so happy about the wildlife feeding, but the Eagles are cool looking.

A final bonus is a Lady Boy show, with one of the Thai staff sporting a blue wig, make up, and tissue stuffed bra. The show makes for some embarrassed husbands, and great pictures. We really enjoyed this day trip.

Happy Ending

Thailand – Bangkok 1

Siem Reap to Bangkok Thailand Day 33 (March-3)

two hour flight

We arrived in Bangkok, and Vana’s cousin, Jocelyn, and her husband pick us up (Vana: Is it nice to have families around!). Coming from Vietnam/Laos/Cambodia, our first impression is that Bangkok seems so clean. The cleanliness is probably similar to San Francisco or New York. For Kevin, the street food is a lot more doable, because there are a lot less flies and garbage around the food (We haven’t heard anyone got sick eating street food here).

Vana’s cousin Jocelyn & her husband

our room

our room is facing a nearby temple

We stay at the Lamphu House, and lucked out to get a really nice room in a good hotel within our budget. We are on a lively side street around the Wat (temple) from Khao San road (a famous backpacker district). There are foreigners everywhere, and almost anything you could want is within 100 meters and is cheap; ATM, minimart (there’s 7Eleven at every street corner in Thailand), pharmacy, laundry, internet, restaurant, taxi, travel agent, fruit smoothie, Pad Thai, BBQ snacks, massage, hair/nail/facial, tattoo, hotels, and shopping. What is really astonishing is that in the same 100 meters, you have multiple choices of vendors for all these service.

Khao San Road – the famous backpacker district

Khao San Road is a like Tokyo + New York + Hollywood + Paris + Miami + + Venice beach all on one block. It’s freaking crazy. But I LOVE it!

Khao San at night

I already made friend with the fruit shake lady outside of our hotel. She makes the best shake that make my skin silky smooth

Khao San road is packed with even more of the same, with an alcoholic beverage never more than 20 meters away. Tasty to wash that beer down with some fried worms, cockroach, or scorpions (They eat bugs for snacks. Don’t you know?).

anyone wants to try some bugs? let me know. I’ll bring some back.

grass hopper

cricket

scorpions

bamboo worm

There is no shortage of bars on Khao San road. Wash that beer down with some fried worms, cockroach, or scorpions.

We are not brave enough to try the fried bugs. So Jocelyn and her husband treat us to a beautiful Thai dinner along the river. Yum!

CLICK HERE to see pictures from this day.

Bangkok Thailand Day 34 and 35 (March-4 and March 5)

We spent a few days to catch up on email, blog, pay our bills, sleep in, do laundry, and eat street food. Bangkok is a steamy sweat box, and we spend the afternoons napping through the afternoon heat.

We are disappointed to find that nobody will change our left over Vietnamese Dong and Lao Kip into Thai Baht (money).

We buy a basic Nokia GSM phone in the MBK market for $30 including charger, sim card, and 200 pre-pay minutes. I find the black and white games included are killer, and the voice quality is excellent.

Bangkok Thailand Day 36 (March-6)

This morning we take a day tour to the Damnoen Saduak Floating Market. We got the idea from seeing “Bangkok Dangerous” (Nicholas Cage movie) on the plane to Singapore. I guess it must be in a James Bond movie also, because the tour guide mentions something about it.

Apparently, a group of Chinese arrived 75 years ago, and missing a piece of home (Suzhou perhaps), decided to build a canal village for better Feng Shui. Today, they have a daily market from 5:30-7:30AM, with women buying and selling fish, vegetables, and other staples boat to boat. At 9AM, the tourists arrive and are paddled around on boats to buy souvenirs and take pictures. Anyways, we still enjoy it. I spot a huge lizard on the way in, almost looked like a crocodile. We eat some boat cooked noodles for lunch, and enjoy the shade.

in front of every boat, there’s some kind of offering

busy market

fruit boat

shops

doesn’t matter how hot the weather is, locals are always covered from head to toe to avoid sunburn (not many use sunblock lotion as it’s very expensive for them)

CLICK HERE to see more floating market pictures.

In the evening, we taxi to the 5-star Asia Hotel to see Calypso Cabaret show (lady-boy show). Although the costume and set changes are impressive, the show is a bit random for our taste. The star of the show does a couple of solo numbers and is really funny, with wild crazy faces. I particularly like the crazy Japanese Geisha, who made a Japanese young man in the front row very embarrassed.

The “lady boy” thing is very foreign to us, as the various combinations of sex and dress break down gender lines. At the end of the show, the actors encourage the audience to take picture with them, and we are just as uncomfortable as everyone else.

taking pictures with the lady-boys. Does exactly feel like at home.

She is the funniest of all. Kevin likes her! 🙂

CLICK HERE to see more lady-boy show. (Yes, they are all boys, or used to be)

See you next post!