Tokyo back to SF!

Tokyo, Japan Day 95 (May 5)

Asia

Our three month counter clockwise tour of Southeast Asia: Singapore > Bali > Vietnam > Laos > Cambodia > Thailand > Hong Kong > Philippines > Japan

It’s been 3 months, 9 countries, and finally time to go home. Aside from a sore throat that picked up in the Philippines, we are feeling pretty good, and are ready for another three months. But, the pull of home is strong, and we are anxious to spread out, and clean through our funky stuff.

Unfortunately, Northwest Airlines determined that we changed our flight itinerary by not using the Beijing to Tokyo leg we originally purchased. As a result, they charged us $800 per person to reissue tickets for our flight home (with the Beijing leg removed). At least the nice lady at the airport waived the addition $250 per person fee for “changing” our tickets. Of all the places we’ve visited in the world, there is nothing more inconvenient or expensive than dealing with an airline, when you “change” something.

Arriving at home, we have a brief moment celebration, euphoric from our amazing trip; followed by a rather strange thought:

What are we going to do now?

We said Goodbye to GeGe & JeiJei at Tokyo Station.

After few movies on the plane

…and some snoring…

We arrive in NorCal, picked up by our Jewish parents, Frank and Harriet. Vana realizes masks are not yet in fashion… Maybe same for the socks?

first thing’s first – Mexican food!

Philippines – Manila to Cebu

Manila, Philippines Day 69 (April 9)

Manila, Philippine Map

Our timing is not so good, because this is Easter Holy Week, and all the travel agents and most stores are closed. Manila is mungbucket, and we can’t wait to leave. The book says there lots to like if you dig a bit deeper, but we spend the entire day between the hotel, convenience store, and internet café. Vana absolutely hates it; especially the children begging on the street. With every other business employing a security guard in front, I am guessing they have a crime problem.

With 7104 islands in the Philippines, Kevin’s head is ready to explode from reading the travel book we bought in Hong Kong. On facebook advice from Norwegian friends we met in Ko Phi Phi, we buy plane tickets to Cebu City, and book hotels to visit an outlying island for diving.

On the plus side, we make a lot of progress with our travel blog posts.

Manila City

Filipino breakfast – garlic rice, beef jerky and egg

Manila to Cebu City, Philippines Day 70 (April 10)

Philippines Map

We spend the morning in the internet café, and then fly to Cebu City, in the middle of the Visayas islands. Cebu is a large island, and manufacturing center. It’s a bit less mungbucket than Manila, but not by much. It’s Good Friday, and the ferries are not running, so we stay at the Fuente Pension House in uptown Cebu City. The only thing open for dinner is McDonalds, Pizza Hut, and a fast food Chinese chain restaurant.

Cebu city plane view

Cebu city – street scene (reminds me of of T.J., Mexico)

We look for it on the TV, but we don’t see any Good Friday news. In San Fernando Pampanga, volunteers are nailed to crosses and whipped until they bleed. We could have traveled there easily from Manila, but it didn’t sound that appealing to us.

Cebu City to Alona Beach, Panglao Island, Philippines Day 71 (April 11)

We take the 9:30AM ferry to Tagbilaran on Bohol, and then taxi to Alona beach on Panglao Island. When exiting the ferry, scores of naked children paddle to the dock, and unload to beg. This is the most shocking display of begging we’ve witnessed. The children look more like Monkeys than people, and we are speechless.

begging children with their parents

I realized two things after this experience.

1. Birth control is one of the most important modern inventions.
2. As the heavily Catholic influenced Filipino government shuns birth control, birth rates exceed economic growth, and the Philippines are in for several difficult decades.

On advice from our Norwegian facebook friends we stay at Cherrys House Too. Although five to ten minutes walk from the beach, it’s a very pleasant and clean hotel with swimming pool. Unfortunately, the food in the restaurant is really bad, aside from pancakes. I even throw up a ham sandwich and fries from lunch. This is the first time either of us gets sick from the food in Southeast Asia. We heard the food in the Philippines is really terrible, and so far it is true.

We’ve had several unpleasant travel days, but we catch up on our blog posts, and feedback from our friends makes us feel much better!

Thailand – Ko Lanta Island

We spend the next two weeks island hopping in the south of Thailand. It’s paradise!

Ko Lanta Island, Thailand Day 51 (March 21)

We spend the day to relax, catch up on sleep, and take a cool swim in the ocean in the pouring rain. We have the resort mostly to ourselves, not including the resort cats. We also enjoyed the great sunset every evening while having dinner on the beach.

reading Thailand Island and Beaches while on the Thailand beach watching sunset

sunset

getting dark

CLICK HERE to see more sunset pictures

Ko Lanta Island, Thailand Day 52 (March 22)

speed boat pick out in front of our hotel

Today, we take a speed boat trip to Koh Rok Island park, about 40 minutes south of Ko Lanta. The islands are not inhabited, except for camping on one of the islands. We snorkel twice, lunch on the island, and then one more snorkel before returning. The coral is in good shape. We see lots of clown fish in the sea anemones, and some different fish. At lunch we see a barong, which is a giant lizard.

Vana

KR free dive

Magnificent Anemone

Butterfly fish

Moorish Idol

Hard Coral & Soft Coral

Sea Urchin

Cleaning fish

Parrot fish

Sand Lizard fish – it’s a couple! awww…

Sea Cucumber splitting

Pink Skunk Anemone fish

Giant Clam

Black Spike sea cucumber

Pink Mushroom coral

Yellow Spotted Puffer fish

Yellow Trumpetfish

Gold-Saddle Rabbitfish

False Clown Anemone fish

Giant puffer fish

Christmas tree worm

barong

water is clear and warm

perfect weather

We love it!

South of Thailand – Ko Phi Phi

Phuket to Ko Phi Phi Island by boat, Thailand Day 47 (March-17)

Thailand Map

Southern Thailand Map

It’s another early 7 AM mini-bus pickup, and we ride to Phuket town to take the ferry to Ko Phi Phi. The Thais make Island hopping a breeze. At your hotel or any travel agent on the street, you can buy a boat ticket, which includes pickup at your hotel. Upon arrival at the dock, the hotel you reserved picks you up and transports you to your room free of charge.

Everyone seems to charge the same for transport, and there isn’t any real savings for doing it yourself. It’s so brainless, you would almost have to try to screw it up; and we almost did. While on the boat, we realized we left our luggage on the mini-bus. We scurried up to find it waiting for us at the top of the boat ramp.

ferry station

Ko Phi Phi here we come

Ko Phi Phi is beautiful and popular place. Ko Phi Phi island contains Ko Phi Phi Lee & Ko Phi Phi Don (Ko = Island). Ko Phi Phi Don contains two limestone islands connected by a strip of land with tourist village and beaches on both sides. It’s a small place, and there is no motorized transport on the island. There are a few resorts on the peripheral beaches, which are reached by walking paths, or long tail boat. The southern beach contains the ferry pier, and row of long tail boats. The northern beach contains a typical strip with umbrellas and beach chairs. We stay at the Don Chukit Resort on the south side, facing the working beach, We find the working beach with the boats is prettier than the tourist beach.

Ko Phi Phi map (click the photo to enlarge)

Arriving Ko Phi Phi

our hotel faces the working beach

working beach, long tail boats spot the rain coming in

Ko Phi Phi is one of the most expensive places in Thailand, so we choose another no AC and no hot water room to save money. As space on the island is limited, the price is double for the same accommodation in Phuket. The room is clean and functional, but with the metal roof and dropped ceiling, it’s a sweat box until 3AM, and we don’t get much sleep. On the plus side, we meet a lot of cool people setting outside of our room while waiting for it to cool down (since everyone else is doing the same).

The bathroom is a bit rough. As with most bathrooms in budget hotels, the toilet, sink, and shower are together in a small room. Most sinks leak, which then runs into the shower drain. In these rooms, they didn’t pitch the floor properly, so the bathroom turns into a puddle after your shower. (Vana: bad design – this will drive German engineers crazy) Also, as described by an English fellow a few doors down; “There’s no flush for the Jack!” I assumed the Jack must be the thing you use in the John, so I told him to use the hose or the bucket. From his confused look, I offered him tech support, but he said; “You don’t want to go in there now”! He asked me how it works, and I told him it uses gravity; just make sure you don’t lay a floater, eh?

For dinner we eat at an open air restaurant overlooking the working beach. The nightly entertainment is a lightning display which illuminates the surrounding islands and approaching clouds. With the first sign of a cool breeze, the staff indicates it’s time to change tables. It’s a complete downpour ten minutes later, which floods the streets, and takes 30 minutes to clear out. This turns into a nightly event around 8PM.

dinner on the beach

nightly entertainment between 8-9 PM

Ko Phi Phi Island, Thailand Day 48 (March-18)

It’s an even earlier wake up for our 6:15AM snorkel trip. We sign up for a special shark watch trip with the Adventure Club. The tour begins with a shark briefing, and then we head to the beach to take a quick long tail boat ride to a rock reef only a few minutes from our hotel. The sharks like this area because the current gives them a place to rest, since they have to constantly swim to breath. The local black tip reef sharks are between three to six feet long, and are not aggressive. Our guide is an English fellow who is way into sharks. There is a German couple in our group.

We enter the water above a shallow live reef, and then swim to a channel between two rocks formations. At the first sighting, the guide gives the signal, and we lock arms at the elbows and sit tight. The sharks are afraid of humans, and can sense every muscle movement in our group (Vana: it knows your weight, your size, and how many fingers you have the minute you enter the water). The idea is to make us look less threatening, and hope that a school of sharks will circle us out of curiosity. The sharks circle because they cannot see forward, only sideways.

The technique kind of works and we see a few sharks come by to take a look in groups of one and two; about three to four feet long. They swim slow along the bottom, and keep a distance of at least ten yards. Over an hour or so, we move around and spot sharks about four times. We never tried this kind of trip before and enjoy it; although we think it’s a bit boring waiting around compared with visiting a reef.

After some time a group of barneys arrive and the party is over. They chase the sharks and are yelling ever time they see one. You don’t see much chasing a shark, since they are infinitely faster swimmers. In the afternoon, we water log ourselves in the pool, trying to keep cool.

snorkeling site

Vana: okay, before you react, here are some facts to chew on: on average, there are about 60-70 shark attacks per year, most in a few feet of murky river water by Bull Sharks. Only 7-8 people die from the attack. All ocean animals only attack out of defense, and shark never attack divers. On the other hand, human kills 1 million shark per year. We cut off shark fin and sell it to Chinese, then throw the bleeding shark back into the ocean. The shark can not swim and slowly bleed to death. So, to my fellow Chinese shark fin lovers, PLEASE think twice before you order the shark fin soup next time. Because every shark in the ocean is endangered!

black tip reef sharks

We saw 3-5 sharks today! Including a baby shark!

very satisfied

chilling out in our hotel pool, still working on that tan

Ko Phi Phi Island, Thailand Day 49 (March-19)

Today, it’s an early, but more manageable 8:15AM snorkel trip to the Phi Phi Leh island. Today our guide is a young woman from Chile. We take long tail boat to the Phi Phi Leh Island. On the way we pass Viking Cave, where the island’s only inhabitants collect birds nest from sea swallows. The sea swallow creates the nest from its saliva, which then hardens. After the chicks are born, and sea swallows leave, the inhabitants perform a special ceremony before collecting the empty nests.

The Chinese use the nest to make the world famous (and very expensive) bird’s nest soup or desert. The nests cook down into a noodle looking thing, and are often served at weddings to induce fertility. The soup is also popular in Chinese medicine for rejuvenating the elderly.

our guide and boat driver’s son in the front of the boat

Viking Cave

The next stop is in a small bay for some snorkel action. The coral in the reef is not nearly as good as we expected, but the sea anemones are really cool. We found Nemo and took pictures! Also, it is really cool to swim outside the bay in the shade along the recess in water line of the limestone cliffs. Below the water line, the cliffs continue into a deep drop off, with soft and hard corals attached to the rock face.

There is a current here, and we can feel tingling stings on our forehead, top lip, and arms from tiny invisible sea lice floating in the current. At first I thought it was strange to wear short wet suits with the warm water temperature, but the sea lice (jellyfish) and sun protection works out well.

Next, we ditch our gear, grab our sandals, and swim to a cave in the bay. We walk through the cave which leads us to a small mangrove jungle area connected to a very large and impressive beach beneath towering limestone cliffs, on the other side of the island. Apparently, the movie “The Beach” was filmed here. The movie is famous, but we never heard of it (Vana: with Leonardo DiCaprio in it, of course it’s famous). I guess many other people saw the movie, because the beach is lined with speed boat day trippers from Phuket. It’s a zoo!

Our next snorkel is along another cliff wall on the other side of the island. We see lots of fish, and a few sharks. Again, it is pretty cool to swim besides the towering limestone cliffs. Debating if above or below the water line is prettier might be a tie.

sea anemones

Nemo!

False Clown Fish

blue fish with red fan coral

yellow fan coral along the wall

needle fish

we saw a lot of schooling schooling fish

Schooling fish

Did I mention that Ko Phi Phi likes to party?

Alcohol mixed with high levels of Nitrogen gets crazy!

CLICK HERE to see more snorking pictures

Ko Phi Phi Island to Ko Lanta Island by boat, Thailand Day 50 (March 20)

We take a beautiful late morning ferry boat to Ko Lanta. The water is glassy, and the horizon is filled with low clouds.

Ko Lanta is a long Island with 30 miles of beach coastline lined with small bungalow resorts. We stay at the Lanta Nice Beach resort. It’s a nice place; half empty, low season pricing, with very few people on the beach. For the same price we paid in Ko Phi Phi, our Ko Lanta accommodation includes full amenities. This works out great because Vana has several pronounced jellyfish stings which clear up almost immediately after rinsing with hot water. Neither the dive shop nor hotel in Ko Phi Phi included such luxury.

On the way to Ko Lanta

Picture of glassy water

reflection of perfection

our hotel room: return to comfort

empty at our resort beach

NorthernThailand – Chiang Mai

Bangkok to Chiang Mai by overnight train, Thailand Day 40 (March-10)

Today we take the overnight train to Chiang Mai, in the north of Thailand. Our tickets are for the second class car. The car has single seats which face each other on both sides of a center aisle. Two seats convert into a lower bed, and an upper bed lowers from above. The conductor performs the conversion, makes the beds, and installs the curtains. The Thai train is rough around the edges, but everything functions just fine. The service is really good, and they bring dinner and breakfast if you order it.

second class train

KR is not happy that the train starts late

I slept with Baby Ted like a rock

I don’t sleep much because the train rocks too hard to sleep on your side. Also, on the top bunks, the curtains don’t block much of the lights, which they leave on all night. The AC is cranked, and I am wearing a hat, long pants, and fleece under the blanket. Vana sleeps through anything.

Chiang Mai, Thailand Day 41 (March-11)

On arrival, we ride Tuk Tuk to the Banapatu hotel without incident. The hotel has everything, is located in the old town, and they rent bicycles. We prepaid our first night from the Bangkok hotel, and then renegotiate the price for our remaining nights in Chiang Mai.

hotel swimming pool

and a cute fish pond

Chiang Mai is in the north of Thailand, and the weather is similar to Luang Prabang (Laos), and Sapa (Vietnam); dry heat, with cooler nights. Unfortunately, the air quality is also terrible from the burning vegetation in the dry season. Activities are also similar; trekking and hill tribe visits. Chiang Mai is a cultural center, and many people come to Chiang Mai to study Thai language, Thai cooking, and Thai healing massage. The heat is a lot more comfortable than steamy Bangkok.

In the evening we bike to the Night Bazaar (just a night market, you seen one, you seen them all), which is located just outside the old city, flanked by 5-star hotels. We pass a strip of Go-Go bars, and street side foot massages on the way. After parking our bikes, a German Holfbrau house appears almost by magic.

we are so stoked

KR studies the menu intensely

boil pork leg

Satisfaction

On the way back we pass a Canadian tourist and remind her to bike on the left side of the road. Surprisingly, it only takes a few minutes to get use to it.

Chiang Mai, Thailand Day 42 (March-12)

Today, we attend Gap’s Thai Culinary Arts School for a one day Thai cooking class. The class starts with a market tour. We see production of fresh coconut milk, and cream. Also, the guide explains the different vegetables and spices that we use. If you like farmer’s markets, this one will make you cream in your jeans; way more variety of stuff, with prices dropped by a few orders of magnitude.

different kind of eggplant – the small ones are used in the green curry in Thailand, which we never had in the U.S.

lemongrass – essential ingredient in any Thai cooking

Chiang Mai famous fried pork skin (non-fat & fat)

Chiang Mai famous sausage

On the cooking menu is; green curry paste, green curry chicken, cashew nut chicken, fish soufflé in banana leave, steamed whole pumpkin with coconut custard, pat thai noodle, Thai Spring rolls, Tom Yum soup, cumber sauce, fried fish cake. Despite the large menu, we do a good portion of the cooking. We have a large lunch; the afternoon session produces a to-go dinner.

cooking station

spring roll

Tom Yum Soup

fried fish cake

cashew nut chicken

fish soufflé in banana leave

green curry chicken

big family lunch, we meet some great friends in the class

The instructor is funny, and keeps us awake whacking the different ingredients with his bamboo sticks. He doesn’t follow our recipe book, adds secret ingredients, and encourages us to cook to taste. Almost everything seems to have curry paste, palm sugar, fish oil, soy sauce, and oyster sauce in various amounts. The instructor doesn’t use any salt (just soy sauce), except in the curry paste. Cook the garlic until you smell. What do you do when you smell? You take a shower! (Vana: I like his not-follow-the-instruction style. Cooking is art, not science.)

Everything tastes pretty good, except our pat thai noodles are terrible. For some reason, it’s tough to get the mix right. We are surprised, because in the US, pat thai always tastes the same. We leave the cooking school with smiles, a new cookbook, and a certificate of Short Course completion in Thai Cooking.

pat thai

cooking certificates

CLICK HERE to see cooking class pictures.

Chiang Mai, Thailand Day 43 (March-13)

Today we hire a car and take a trip east of town. First we visit the handicrafts village. The village is actually a road of small factories, with attached showrooms; but we still enjoy it. We see workers making bronze, wood lacquering, and jewelry. The small wood lacquer boxes with mother of pearl inlays are the prettiest I ever seen. The jewelry showroom is so massive; we just walk right through.

We stop at a shop run by Indian fellows from Cashmere, India. They give us an amazing display of handmade Indian silk rugs. While one fellow explains a rug’s particulars, another fellow unrolls the rug, with a slap on the floor. We get a kick out of their slick display, and “sir” and “madam” in every sentence. We are amazed by the bright, colorful, and intricate patterns.

Apparently, the designer creates a computer program like script for each rug from a graft. Then, a worker follows the script, and hand ties each knot using a loom looking device. After a year, the rug is revealed, when they give it a hair cut with special scissors. Because the knots are all brushed in the same direction, the rug magically changes color when you rotate it.

Our driver is Mr. Moo. He is a former Muai Thai boxer, retired at the typical age of 25. We asked if he ever get hurt; he says many times. He used to drive a tour bus, but now does private hire. He has a Japanese fellow living with his family free of charge. This fellow long passed his visa, and is supposedly waiting for his friend. We ask if we can stay with him as well, and he says he has an extra room; no problem, and no charge. Mr. Moo doesn’t mind that we don’t buy anything, even though he would get a commission.

Next we visit a cave, which was not very special. We then visit a hot springs park, and take a dip in the 100 deg mineral water; again nothing special, but we enjoy it.

hike up the hill to go to the cave

cave

mineral water pool

KR thoroughly enjoys it

For dinner, we eat in the night market in the night bazaar. Chiang Mai is a great place to get all the clothes you might need for your trip, and great prices. The tropical and trekking shirts, shorts, and pants are cheap and pretty good.

night market

night market

CLICK HERE to see picture from this day.

Chiang Mai, Thailand Day 44 (March-14)

Today, Mr. Moo takes us to the more popular tourist sites around Chiang Mai. Kevin is skeptical about visiting parks with trained animals. They seem to have them all; elephant camp, tiger kingdom, monkey center, and snake show. Vana really wants to see elephants, so after some research we head to one of the legitimate camps.

When we arrive the elephants are in the river taking a bath. They love the water, and get a little scrub on their head from their mahouts.

Downstream, two staff members scoop giant floating elephant poo into baskets. After a bath, the elephants take banana and sugar cane snacks from tourists. Everywhere in the camp, elephants are constantly eating by the branch load. Vana can’t get over how cute and happy the elephants are.

Next, we see an elephant show. Although entertaining for the tourists, I wasn’t wild about elephants playing soccer, throwing darts, and painting pictures of plants. My guess is the display is more an expression of intense (and perhaps unpleasant) training, rather than intelligence (Vana: I disagree with KR on this issue. Nonetheless, we both strongly believe in responsible travel). The logging demonstration was interesting, since many of the elephants used to be in the logging industry.

After the show, we take a 1 hour elephant ride around the camp. The mahout rides on the head, and we ride on a seat mounted on the elephants back. There is a slow rocking action to the ride. The pictures turn out great.

taking a bath

get a little scrub on their head from their mahouts

playing with tourist

he totally enjoys this attention

After a bath, the elephants take banana and sugar cane snacks from tourists

staff members scoop giant floating elephant poo into baskets

show starts – throwing darts

Thai Massage

Drawing painting

playing soccer

I think they are trying to kiss each other, but their nose is in the way. much like how I feel when I try to kiss KR

logging demonstration

KR feeding banana

happy elephant

happy Vana

CLICK HERE to see elephant camp pictures.

Next we head to the Tiger Kingdom for lunch, but we skip it, because the food prices are expensive. Vana takes a few pictures from the restaurant. If you pay, you can hold the tigers and take pictures; which seems cheesy to us.

Tiger Kingdom

CLICK HERE to see Tiger Kingdom pictures.

We eat lunch in the Orchid Farm. Vana loves Orchids! Next door, we take a look in a butterflys arboretum.

Orchid Farm

butterflys arboretum

CLICK HERE to see Orchid farm and Butterfly Arboretum pictures.

Finally, we go to the hill tribe museum, but it is closed on Sunday. Instead, we enjoy a 2 hour Thai massage. This one didn’t seem very painful. Either they didn’t do it right, or we are getting used to it.

I’ve decided that I don’t like traditional Thai massage. While working the back, your head is turned on its side on a pillow, which is very uncomfortable. I much prefer the Asian foot massage in the big comfort chair, where they poke the bottom of your feet until you scream, and then come behind to work the shoulders and head. Reward is achieved through submission.

Note: We believe in Responsible travel. So should you.

Responsible travel is about minimizing your impact and maximizing your connection with people and the environment