KL

Despite a grade A day in the Cameron Highlands I decided to move on. The students had to get back to Singapore for midterms (!) and I figured I'd leave on a high note and try and make up for some lost time. I've nixed my plans to go to the Perentian Islands due to budget and time restraints. And Singapore is on the chopping block depending on what I find out about flights to Jakarta.

I had a bumpy entrance to Kuala Lumpur (KL) which involved about 2 hours of riding the monorail back and forth (which means I've seen the two towers many times and from every angles already) to find a hostel with an open dorm bed. I've landed in a sweet place so I'm happy.

It's raining, which it does a lot in Malaysia especially in the afternoon. I'll try and do some more concrete planning, i.e., book a flight to Indonesia.

A visit to a KL mosque.

I <3 Tea

I was very warry of the 6 hour bus trip to Tanah Rata in the Cameron Highlands. Given my recent bus experience I was none too eager to repeat it.

I joined up with a group of 5 international students at the University of Singapore on Spring Break. They were great to travel with (not least because of their incredible organizational skills) and we made quite the diverse group. Between us we covered 4 countries, 3 continents, and 9 languages.

The Highlands, as the name explains, are high and cold. The first night I went to bed early, shivering in all of my warmest clothes and 3 blankets.

Our first day was to be action-packed. First, a 6-7 hour jungle hike with a local guide, then a tour of a tea plantation and finish the day with a stop at a strawberry patch for some ice-cream.

The hiking was really good. It reminded me somewhat of the climb to the lagoon in Rai Leh but without the need for ropes. It wasn't technically a jungle, our guide told us, but rather a Mossy Forest. It looked very "Lord of the Rings."

We went down the gentler side of the mountain that led straight to the BOH tea plantation. It was another "wow" moment. Standing before rolling hills after an intense hike looking out on acres of tea bushes. Definitely postcard country.

Tea plantation.
We spent, in total, several hours pushing our way through the rows of tea plants. They were planted on very steep slopes so it was quite difficult going in some parts but actually a lot of fun.

After a short stop at the tea house, where the view made up for the food, we marched off through the tea again to, well, I'm not sure where. We ended up hitching a ride with a random truck to the strawberry patch.

And then it was ice-cream time! Mmm :)

Pearl of the Orient...

...is apparently how Penang was referred to back in the day. I'm not sure if the title still holds today. Unfortunately I didn't really get to see it. I was very lame for about three days in a row laying low with a very wicked headache. Once I could stand without cringing I hightailed it to the Cameron Highlands. So, sorry dear readers, you wont be gaining any insight about the wonders of the opium trade in Penang from me.


French colonial architecture characterized the streets of Penang.

Ow.

What an unpleasant trip. The seven-hour bus ride from Phuket to Hat Yai was all fast and sharp turns. I actually don't think there were any straight patches. I felt like we were training for the Phuket bobsled team. Everybody lean left! Lean Right! Add to that the glacial air that was pouring out of the AC it was a fairly uncomfortable night.

At 4 am we reached Hat Yai a town near the Malaysian border. I had a very long wait at the bus station because the minivan that would take me to Penang wasn't until 830 am. After a few failed attempts I managed to figure out a reasonably secure and comfortable way to sleep with my bags. That was definitely a slow night. The minivan was a bit of a mystery. I was clearly the only one waiting to go to Malaysia. Finally, about 30 mins late, a minivan showed up. We didn't end up leaving Hat Yai until 10 am. By the time I reached my hostel in Penang it was 230pm and I couldn't have been happier to see that bunk bed.

That night I developped a really intense headache that has yet to go away. Also from the crazy bus in Thailand my neck became incredibly sore and stiff. So I haven't seen too much of Penang. This hostel is quite nice though and I plan to stick it out here until I feel human again.

Sexpat colony

Ok so maybe the title is a little extreme. But let me explain...

Kelly and I read in her copy of Lonely Planet Thailand that the beaches on the north west side of Phuket island are beautiful, large and isolated and potentially the home of sea turtles. That was enough to make us jump on a bus headed north. Not so for the British boys. Their book said nothing about the north and they showed very little interested in heading into the unknown, so we parted ways. Our theory was that if it wasn't in the guide book that should be a good sign, right?

Because our beach was off the beaten track, litterally, we had an interesting time getting there. Our destination was Mai Khao, Phuket's longest beach. At the bus station we were first told there are no buses to Mai Khao. We thought there were and pressed on. The second person we talked to seemed to indicate she could get us close but not all the way. Ok, we thought, better than a 900 baht tuk tuk all the way from Phuket Town. The person we finally bought tickets from sorta made indications that we were going to be on a bus destined for our beach... maybe.

There are a lot of buses in Thailand and about one actual bus stop (it was actually quite quaint, magic marker on white bristol board). Instead of a series of prearranged stops the Thais have opted for a more casual approach. And it works very well if you happen to either be or look Thai. For the rest of us it's slightly more unrealiable. The theory is quite simple. All you need to do is flag down the bus you want wherever you happen to see it. It works seemlessly for Thais. A bus that is hurtling along in the far right-hand lane (they drive on the left here) can magically appear along the left hand side in a mere moment to pick up passengers. This whole system just seems to emphasize my theory about Thai transport that was born in Bangkok; if there is a more fun/dangerous way to do something it is in practice in Thailand.

I quite enjoyed marveling this system of transpo for about a half hour until I realized getting off would probably require the same sort of magic Thai touch. I questioned the ticket taker about Mai Khao to which he gave a very unreasuaring yet extremely commong reply, a polite giggle. Oh boy, I thought. The final destination of the bus was about 200 km north, I wanted to go about 40 km.

The single most important advice I would give anyone traveling or living in Asia is to be very calm and patient and nurture a particularly relaxed attitude. It's truely remarkable, to a westerner, how often everything just works itself out.

As it did on this bus trip. The ticket taker who until this point had laughed at the mere suggestion of Mai Khao suddenly reappeared and told me we were there. "Mai Khao?" he said. "Yes!" I said, isn't that what I said before, I thought, as I think after almost every conversation in which I attempt to speak the local language.

We were let off at the side of the highway at the turn off for the beach. Originally our plan was to camp because we had read you could rent tents for cheap and sleep on the beach. But it was also very reassuring to note a large English sign that read "Beach Bungalows" in the direction we were headed.

It's extremely hot these days in Thailand (sorry Canada). So when we found ourselves at the beginning of what looked like a very long road to the beach surrounded by fields of palm trees we cursed our "winging it" attitude just a little. We tried to hitch a ride but found that, like flagging buses, it only works for locals. A bicyclist stopped to offer us help. Our conversation went like this:

Bike: "whereyougoing?"
Us: "Beach. Camping."
Bike: "Yes. Bungalow."
Us: "Camping?"
Bike: "Yes. Campingbungalow."
Us: "Ok. Yes."

He turned out to be a great help. Being Thai he got us a lift in a pick up to the Beach Bungalows. Malcome, the owner, was from England and told us the camp ground has been closed for 5 years. The bungalows were great though. Woven from bamboo they cost about 500 baht/night. We were right on the beach and had arrived in time for a sunset swim.

There were only about 10 bungalows and probably only three or four were actually occupied. I don't think it gets too busy because there were only four tables in the restaurant. It was at dinner that night that I realized that Kelly and I stuck out like sore thumbs being young, western, female backpackers.

Every other guest was a couple. One old, divorced, white male from the west with his young, attractive Thai girlfriend. Eavesdroping was fun though moderately disturbing. I found out that the man sitting at the table next to mine had been married 22 years to a Californian girl. Apparently the divorce cost him half a million dollars. He left the States seven years ago on his boat. He's been dating his current Thai gf for a while, a whole month.

Other guests included two other older American men and an older German man all with Thai gfs.

Despite feeling extremely out of place the whole time it was a beautiful part of Phuket.

I'm back in Phuket Town. Six hours until my night bus leaves desitned for Georgetown, Malaysia.

View from my guesthouse in Phuket Town.

It's a sailor's life for me

I was all prepared to love Phuket beaches just to be contrary to the opinion of the masses. But I just couldn't. We hopped on an awesome bus/tuk tuk hybrid (for the grand sum of 30 baht ~ $1) that took us to Karon beach. Despite Lonely Planet's rave review I was ready to leave after about 3 minutes of standing on the blistering hot sand. Palm trees definitely make a beach for me and there wasn't a single tree to be seen on Karon. We stuck it out for 2 hours and then returned to the comfort of Phuket city.

Kelly and I moved on to the Royal Phuket Marina where we met up with one of her friends from San Diego. After one night on board I think I am a sailing convert. I guess my only hope now is to become independently wealthy to finance these new life goals.

Expectations

Thailand is all about managing expectations.

I've talked to a lot of people about my travels. Where should I go? see? do? not do? not see? not go? etc etc etc. The unanimous experience of the wide variety of people I've talked with is they have all fallen in love with Koh Phi Phi (pronounced P.P.). Seriously, with no exceptions. Whenever the little island is mentioned whomever I happened to be talking to gets this faraway, misty and slightly romantic look in their eyes and sigh in private reflection of what I can only assume was a tremendously amazing time on the island. So my expectations were a tad high.

We arrived from a terrific couple days on Rai Leh pennisula. There we had sunned on a beach encircled by large karst outcropings. We climbed an incredible climb to an isolated lagoon deep in the bowels of a karst mountain. It's worth noting that Lonely Planet doesn't once mention the lagoon and nobody I've talked to has ever mentioned Rai Leh.

The lagoon at Rai Leh.

Phi Phi was nice. But just nice. It's a tiny island with no roads -but lethal bicyclists. We found a decent deal at a guesthouse on high ground en route to the tsunami evacuation zone. The beaches that bracketed the town were okay. But to be honest they kinda left us feeling a little underwhelmed. We decided the stuff everybody is raving about must be further afield. We booked tickets on one of the affordable boat trips in hopes of discovering Phi Phi's hidden beauty.

The boat was awesome. We snorkeled and kayaked and swam in incredible palces. The boat traveled around Koh Phi Phi Leh the southern, uninhabited sister of Koh Phi Phi Don where you stay. The climax of the trip was swiming and treking into Maya Cove where they filmed "The Beach." Afterwards we long tailed back to our big boat for a sunset supper. Not too shabby.

"The Beach"

The fact remains that to get to any of these glorious places involves daily haggling with long tail boat drivers to take you to one of the remote beaches. And that's something that's definitely not in the budget of this traveler!

So there is a consistent trend in my experience of Thai islands. If I've been told I'll love it, I'll invariably not, and vice versa. For another example, I was told repeatedly to skip Phuket but I have quite enjoyed my two days in Phuket city. I've decided to commit to a strict policy of expectation management.

Lessons from the Road

Bangkok was pretty cool but after five days I decided to head south. I met a couple people at the hostel who were also headed in the same direction so we made plans together to go to Koh Tao aka Turtle Island and diver's heaven. The plan was simple. We were going to train south to Chumpon and catch the morning boat to Koh Tao.

Ha.

We bought tickets on the overnight train, clever we thought, we'll save a night's accomodation. We were scheduled to leave at about 11pm. An English annoucement ran over the PA around 11:10 to inform us there had been an accident and our train was canceled. Ugh! Suddenly there was a mad shuffle to get on a minivan that had mysteriously materialized out of no where that was headed south. Thinking that sounded all together too schetchy for our liking we stuck it out in line to refund on our tickets.

We figured we might as well try for a night bus. Not speaking Thai we weren't able to phone or check online whether we had already missed all the busses south. Hedging our bets we got in a cab to the South Bus Station... or so we thought. A long cab ride later we paid and got out only to discover we had been dropped at the North/East/West Bus Station! The South Bus Station was 35 km south-west of where we were. Ugh!

We got back in a cab for another long haul ride. This ride was actually very long and a few times we were quite convinced he was taking us to the airport which would have been the opposite side of town, again.

We did finally make it to the South Bus Station. But, alas, there were no buses. We bought tickets on a minivan. It droped us six hours later at the edge of the town of Chumpon and we litterally hitched a ride into town with the help of a local Thai woman on a scooter.

I came to two conclusions that night; 1) I should never enter the Amazing Race because your success is directly correlated with your luck with cabbies and 2) always use a travel agency when traveling in Thailand, it's cheaper and chances are you won't be left at the edge of town.

Longtail boats

Crazy/Gold BKK

Bangkok is gold.

For the first few days it is very difficult to avoid the usual tourist path through the city. The Grand Palace and the many, many Wats that are sprinkled around the river are well worth joining the tourist queue. So if indeed you follow this path, as I totally think you should, everything you will see in your first 48+ hours in Bangkok will be completely encrusted in gold.


Inside a Wat near the Golden Mount.

Bangkok is crazy.

My mission on day one was simple. Go see the Grand Palace. I had directions from my hostel: take the river boat to the end. First example of BKK craziness: the workers on the boat. They balance on the edge of the boat collecting passengers' fares (a whoppin' 10 Baht ~ 25-30 cents). The boats whip down the canal at awesome speeds creating pretty impressive wakes so the ride is similar to riding a zodiac. A multitude of low slung bridges span the canal at reasonably frequent interludes. A few of said bridges are actually quite low slung forcing the driver to physically lower the roof and the workers to duck or get knocked into the canal. It sort of reminded me of a live video game being played in front of my eyes.

I have a pretty awesome tuk tuk story that started immediately after disembarking from the canal boat but that will have to wait. I'm boarding a train south to Chumphon tonight and will hopefully be on Koh Tao by tomorrow afternoon.

Flight 651

Though I flew south-west yesterday I feel like I have traveled a thousand miles east. For some reason Korea never felt like a crazy far eastern country to me... well crazy yes. Bangkok is living up to every expectation I had of traveling to a crazy Asian city with a significant dose of "oriental" feeling (sorry E.Said).

But today's blog is dedicated to my flight from Busan to Bangkok.

Everything happened in the regular way of things for early morning plane travel. I woke before the crack of dawn, fumbled into a cab to the airport bus stop, fell asleep on the bus and was at the airport in record time.

The fun started after I boarded the plane and we had taxied out of the gate. The plane was sitting on the tarmac waiting to take off when I became aware of this wailing sound. The plane was pretty empty back around row 64 and I soon located the source. He was a young Thai guy rocking back and forth in his seat, pawing at the window, and sobbing. The flight attendants were already buckled in for take off and didn't deem his behavior too disturbing. I was willing to dismiss it as some sort of weird reverse homesickness or something.

That was until shortly after take off. He ripped off his shirt, started kicking and shouting and quickly garnered the attention of at least half a dozen flight attendants. They eventually managed to keep calm him enough to complete the food service and a couple rounds of water and orange juice. Half way through this 6 hour flight I was asleep when...

BAM!

I was awake in an instant and also quite panicked. A feeling I like to avoid at 33 thousand feet.

Our favorite passenger had broken his window! We were saved from an Air Force One scene, in which half the passengers were sucked out the window, by the backup pane of glass.

That was as much damaged as he was allowed to inflict. He was whisked off to the back of the plane where a large male flight attendant stood guard for the rest of the flight.

So that was a far more exciting start to my trip but in retrospective it makes a decent story. I hope there isn't a sequel.