Tips For The Adventurous Spirit

Things to keep in mind if you ever plan on backpacking yourself. In no particular order.

Number 1- I'm just going to get this one out and in the open. Toiletry- you either can't go, or you can't control it. Always bring Pepto Bismol, Imodium and toilet paper in your day bag. You just never know. Be honest with who you are traveling with, cause chances are they are going through it as well. Keep track of which foods hurt your stomach and avoid them. Like for me, I love chillies and oil. It is a dressing you get with a lot of rice meals. The orange chilli dressing I can not have. I know this by keeping track three different times. It will not get me the fourth time.

Number 2- You will get sick. The most important thing to do when you are feeling sick is to drink water. Lots of it. Chances are you are dehydrated and this is how your body lets you know.

Number 3- Eat, if you are irritated or getting irritated easily. This one is hard to determine, so just take an observation of how you are communicating with who you are with. If you both are ready to kill each other, you need to eat. Just stop talking to each other and find the nearest restaurant and don't speak until you have eaten your first couple bites.

Number 4- Bring a first aid kit. You never know if you, or someone near you, or some little puppy is going to need help and fast.

Number 5- Bring a travel pillow. You can buy small ones through MEC and  they collapse easy. You never know what you will get for a pillow. Sometimes it feels like a bag of cement in a pillow case.

Number 6- Bring a sheet. Ours, have kindly been sown into a sleep sack. They are awesome. Sometimes the best laid plans can go array. You may end up having to sleep somewhere where you're totally not sure what the maid used to clean the room with. Perhaps she scrubbed the walls with a muddy shoe?

Number 7- And as I'm writing this the power goes out, number 7 will now be, expect power outages. We had one a week ago where apparently all of Southern Thailand was out of power. We enjoyed the dark streets that night and bought some candles. Of course, as I was lighting them in the room the power came back on. Thank god because a/c runs on electricity

Number 8- Travel days suck, period. You go from point "A" to point "B" with a dozen stops in between. You are normally in a small mini van or a large bus. The mini vans are great for a/c, but terrible for being able to see out any window. Generally the drivers drive like they're a bat outta hell. The vans have no leg room and are packed with as many other tourists as possible. Who may or may not have showered in the last week. But hey man, they saved on the a/c and hot water and spent it on the beer! The larger buses are usually great for leg room and getting to know some locals. On the other hand the a/c is not always there, the seats will be well worn. The day after traveling don't plan on doing much.

Number 9- Try try try. You can't go wrong with trying stuff. That is unless you have lost your mind and try something the street dogs wouldn't even eat. If you like, swallow. If not, discreetly spit it into a napkin and throw the rest away. It usually will only cost a dollar to try new food.

Number 10- If you are near the water or swimming always wear sunscreen. Even though now we are brownish, we can still turn a shade of red if we forget. A hat and pair of sunglasses are your best friend.

Number 11- Don't pack a lot. You will find quickly which shirts keep the heat in and which ones are much cooler. You do not need three pairs of shoes or sandals. We have one pair of sandals and one pair of hiking shoes. Shirts and shorts you can buy and replace as you go.

Number 12- Save some plastic bags. The other day we couldn't figure out why our room smelt like wet dog mixed with something terribly foul. It turned out to be my swimming shorts. They must have missed some laundry days and were extremely rank. Having three plastic bags, we were able to safely transport the shorts. Also, place your cold water in a plastic bag before putting it in your day bag so the condensation doesn't get everything wet - especially your beloved toilet paper!  

Number 13- Bring a small lock and a small bike chain lock. Although not always necessary, it's nice to have. We always keep our valuables in our day bags. Most days when we venture out we leave it all in the room. With the locks we are able to lock the zipper tabs together and then chain the bag to a table or night stand. Also, sometimes check out is before your transportation leaves. In that case, we chain our big bags together and leave them in the lobby while carrying around our day bags as we wait for our ride.

Number 14- Eat Local. Although the larger tourist catered places look great and comforting, the food is generally way overpriced and bland. Try the hole in the wall type places. The food is full of flavor and always fresh. Also, try avoiding the Italian Restaurants who are run by Indians.  They are overpriced and you do not get a lot of food. But hey, you are their new best friend, and sometimes even their "Boss man".

Number 15- Enjoy the Suit Salesmen on the street. Generally only in the major tourist areas, these guys stand on the street dressed in shirt and tie. Out front of their shops they will try and talk with everyone to get them to buy a suit. They will try and guess where you are from and they can speak many different languages. I once said I was African and he started "click" talking to me. Don't stop to talk, only engage as you walk by. Definitely do not shake their hand. They will not let go as they drag you into their shop

Number 16- Don't always trust a tuk tuk driver. If the prices are to good to be true there is usually a reason. There will be several stops along the way for you to buy stuff resulting in the driver earning a commission.  This is generally only in the large cities. If the price isn't low, it is usually twice as much as it should be. In Bangkok, the taxis are required by law to use their meters. Ask before getting in if they will use the meter and if they do not, refuse and keep saying "Meter! Meter!" More then likely they will get angry and drive off. I once went through 7 taxis till we found one willing to use the meter.

 Number 17- Be opened minded. This is one that we are still learning about. Just because at home things may be done differently, you can't jump to conclusions with what you see. There is so much more to the day to day life than you will ever know. If there is something you don't agree with, do some research and learn more about why it is done that way. Perhaps there are people out there trying to make a change and could use your support in any way you can help.

http://www.lantaanimalwelfare.com/

Number 18- Give the street pets some love. You may not always want to touch them, but at least acknowledge their existence. They crave affection that they do not usually get anywhere else.

Number 19- Learn their language. It usually will catch them off guard and they will appreciate it.

Number 20- Relax. You will not have every answer you need before you set out to accomplish something. Chances are you will figure it out as you go, or there will be a nice stranger who will take it upon themselves to help you.

Bonus- Keep a journal. No matter how long you are traveling for try and write down the things you did each day. As life goes on you will forget these memories and they are the reasons why you are traveling in the first place.

Beach Bums

    It's been just over two weeks since we last wrote and what a great two weeks it has been. So great that we were to busy to write. We left Ao Nang and ventured over to Phuket. Phuket is Thailand's largest island and is a major world holiday destination.  Our last night in Ao Nang, Kelly got a mild case of food poisoning from a restaurant just out front of our hotel. It lasted about twenty hours and saw her up all night in the washroom laying on the floor with stomach cramps and vomiting. Unfortunately for Kelly, the next day required us to travel by bus for a couple hours. Then we had to navigate our way through Phuket to where we wanted to get to, and then find a hotel. We found a cute little place within short walking distance to Kata and Karon beach. A perfect location for the beach bums we were about to become.

 The next day we were off to pick up my cousin Brenna from the airport. We left for the airport and it took us a lot longer then anticipated.  We arrived over an hour late. We frantically ran around the airport searching for her. Through the restaurants and outside, we could not find her anywhere. Kelly managed to find a place that let her use the internet, while I went and checked with her airline. The airlines had no records of her even being on the flight. Then it dawned on me, perhaps we were a day early. So I went back down to find Kelly and we checked the email, and yup, 45 dollars out of our pockets, 6 hours total of running around to get there and back, we were a day early. We emailed Brenna when we got back to our hotel and told her the easiest way to get to us when she arrived the next day. We weren't going to try it again. The next day she arrived in a tropical down pour, but she arrived. We hung out in Phuket for three days enjoying the different beaches and letting her get over minor jet lag with the aid of pina coladas and beer.

On the ferry to Koh Phi Phi

      We left Phuket and headed for Koh Phi Phi. We were all really excited. Kelly and I had been there four years ago, but it was only on a day trip and we hadn't seen much at all. At that time I had twenty odd stitches in my arm, and was unable to swim or snorkel in the waters. The two hour boat ride from Phuket to Koh Phi Phi was nice as it gave us a great view of Koh Phi Phi Don (the main island.) Koh Phi Phi Don is two small limestone islands with giant cliffs reaching hundreds of feet into the sky straight out of the ocean. They are joined by an hour glass shaped sandbar running through the middle. Our first night there was very eventful. We stumbled across a fire show on the beach and Brenna feeling up for a challenge, went up and jump roped a twelve foot long flaming rope, twice! After that we walked around the maze of sidewalks, as there are no vehicles. Well except for the one, the police officer's scooter, but he was normally drinking beer at a bar near the docks. We found our way to a bar that had a large boxing ring in the middle and found out that if you get up there and Thai box another customer, you each receive a bucket! A bucket being a typical child's beach toy bucket filled with alcohol, red bull, and coke. Delicious and dangerous! Brenna stepped up again. She got in the ring and "boxed" another girl. They each wore proper protection and went at it for three short rounds with Brenna winning due to the other girl tearing apart a blister on her foot. The night was rounded out dancing at a bar on the beach and then going for a late night swim. We spent the last two days with Brenna getting sick and Kelly and I just relaxing. Koh Phi Phi overall wasn't what we hoped for. It was loud, dirty and in your face. The Thai's who call it home seem fairly jaded by the amount of tourism that visits the tiny island. The only happy residents where the cats, they were all so friendly.

The famous bucket, one of many.

Beach foot scrub

Onward to Koh Lanta. Koh Lanta is missed in large by the flocks of tourists. The day we left Koh Phi Phi it was a down pour and the ocean was a rockin. We had an hour long boat ride. So we each popped a gravol and sat in the chairs trying to stay calm and relaxed. In Thailand you never have to look far to find someone trying to sell you something. On the boat, as usual was a "salesman" trying to get people to go to the resort he was offering. The pictures looked great and the offer of a free ride to the place was to good to pass up on. When we got there we all took one look at the shower and new we had found our new home. Lanta Miami Resort, had a large clean pool overlooking the ocean and beach, friendly staff and beautiful sunsets. It was above our budget so we teamed up with Brenna and split the price on a bungalow.  We were a long way down the coast, so there was zero night life  We enjoyed just resting, reading, working on our tans and getting to know some of the other guests and hotel staff. We also spent a couple of days riding around on scooters checking out the island. Scooters are a great way to find local attractions in the area cheaply and of course hidden gems that you would normally miss without the freedom of your own transportation. We did seek out a waterfall that was on the map. Unfortunately after a long sweaty hike, when we finally found it there was only a small trickle of water. At the end of the trail on the way back we stumbled across 5 elephants having their dinner. We got to watch up close and that alone made the short, hot trek worth it. We had also planned to go to an animal sanctuary for cats and dogs but just didn't make it. There was a cat at our resort who must have been in a fight. His right leg was swollen and getting larger everyday. We fed him at almost every meal and felt so bad for him. After we left I e-mailed the sanctuary telling them about the cat and that if they could go look at him I would gladly send a donation to help with the medical treatment he needed.  To our surprise they wrote us back and are sending someone from their team to go and look at him in the next few days.  Those 5 days felt like a vacation within our trip and as weird as it sounds, were much needed.

Sunset in Phuket

With Brenna flying out of Bangkok, she had two options of getting back there. Bus to Bangkok, which would be about 20 odd hours or Flying out of Krabi to Bangkok, which would take about an hour. Brenna still being gainfully employed opted for the flight, which in the end only cost 75 dollars. We left Koh Lanta in a mini bus for Ao Nang. The drive was only a couple hours. Kelly and I having been there only two weeks prior knew where we wanted to stay. The next day we took a long tail boat to Railay Beach. It was beautiful and we spent the day there... working on our tans! Of course! It was Brenna's favorite beach on the trip. The next day we woke up to rain. So we went for breakfast and then found a spa to relax at while having massages. Kelly and I each had an hour long massage and it cost 350 baht, or 12 dollars. When we awoke from the relaxation the rain had stopped, so we spent Brenna's last evening laying on the beach.

We said a sad goodbye to Brenna today. It was so nice having the company and we enjoyed sharing some of our experiences first hand with someone we know. She hopes to be able to  meet us in India in the new year and we cross our fingers that it will all work out for her to come.  Tomorrow, Kelly and I will research where we will go next. Although we feel almost ready to leave Thailand as it is starting to become comfortable, we still have nearly 3 weeks left on our Thai visas.  It almost seems like a waste to leave early knowing that it could be a long time until we ever get back here. We are both interested in learning to dive and possibly become certified. We know of an island that produces hundreds of certified divers each week, Koh Tao. Kelly and I were there on the last trip, but its 15 painful hours north of here and frankly we feel like heading south. I've done a little research and found more little islands that are off travel radars and we could spend the next couple weeks laying in hammocks getting lost in some books....which sounds very appealing as well.  Who knows what lies ahead? These are the tough choices we face everyday.

View from a restaurant for lunch.

Koh Lanta

Brenna's first elephant

Thai currency

Lady Boys.

Lanta Miami Resorts pool

Translation- Don't stand here.

Pina Coladas

Railay Beach.

Lost in Transition

     

     Our desire for warmth accompanied by white sandy beaches and warm tropical waters won us over and we did decided to head south. We opted not to take the 3rd class train and instead took two different air conditioned buses back to Bangkok.  After arriving late into Bangkok and with many more hours to go to get to our destination we thought it best to take a break and spend the night there. We headed to Koh San Road the hub of the backpacker culture and to where we had stayed 4 years ago.  We spent the evening and next day wandering around eating "street food", which always delicious and cheap. And seeking out the places we had seen previously. Surprisingly, a lot has changed with many more Westernized food chains. Not surprisingly, a lot hasn't changed. Still the party hub with lots of drunk people and travelers all dressed in the same clothes, looking grungy, tired and at the same time having the time of their lives.

Tom Yum Soup

  

   Our plan was to take the over night train to Surathani which we had done before. It's a near 12 hour trip made easier with a small bed for you to sleep on until you reach your destination.  Unfortunately, we didn't buy tickets in advance and when we got there, their was only 3rd class tickets left. That means no air conditioning and no bed. Just a very long dirty trip with uncomfortably hard seats.  After much frustration, we returned our tickets for  a refund of only 50% and set out to find a bus.  That option failed us too and late that night we found ourselves back on Koh San Road in an overpriced, uncomfortable, horrible hotel room. We were so frustrated and tired we ended up booking  a VIP bus to our destination with the travel agent downstairs. It was due to depart the next evening.

  When we finally got to the bus stop the next night, we were more than anxious to get going.  We were warned to make sure to keep all of our valuables on us and to not leave anything in our packs that would be stored under the bus.  This was not new news to us and we already felt fairly prepared.  The VIP bus was nice. Air conditioned, blankets, big roomy seats that reclined far back, an English speaking movie and not full of people.  Despite the luxury of the bus we didn't sleep that well. We arrived at the bus stop at 6am and while waiting for our next bus to take us the remaining 3 hours, one of the others travelers opened her bag and started swearing. We were all intrigued as to what was going on. Turns out that while we were all trying to sleep, the people operating the bus were going through all our bags.  We were lucky that the only thing taken was out of Deans bag. It was the charger for his I-phone, easy enough to replace. Other people had money stolen and who knows what else. It's hard to look through you bag thoroughly while sitting on the side of the road.  It's so annoying and frustrating when you pay extra money for a "VIP" bus and you come off feeling personally violated and with less than what you went on with.

After 17 hours of travel we arrived to Ao Nang Beach.  Again, we have been here before but were excited to be back. It is a quaint little town, with many beaches easily accessible and a variety of different scaled travelers. Some wealthier than others. We found a great hotel with the friendliest staff and were only a 5 minute walk from the beach.  Sadly, that first day we were both so tired. Dean had a cold and we were both battling the dreaded travelers gut rut, we spent most of the day in the hotel.  Thankfully, the next day we were feeling much better and we spent the whole day on the beach relaxing and swimming in the very warm water.  Dean even enjoyed a massage. :)

The next day we rented a scooter and spent the day exploring. Not really knowing where each turn would take us but enjoying the moments of the unknown. We stumbled across some very beautiful beaches and spent lots of time swimming. Dean had fun swimming near the large rock islands with hundreds of fish dodging in between him and the rocks. We were delighted when we rode across an elephant on the side of the road munching on her dinner. And had fun walking through an extremely busy local market that maybe had 2 other foreigners at it. It's places like this that you see the heart of Thailand and it's people. And although often we feel extremely out of place, it's in these moments that we make some of our greatest memories. We finished the day relaxed, happy and very sun burnt despite our many efforts of re applying the spf 45 :)

Tomorrow we are taking a local bus, which is not always luxurious but always cheaper, and head slightly west to Phuket. On Monday, Deans cousin Brenna arrives and we are looking forward to her company for the next 2 weeks. As far as we know she is content to stay near the beaches, which works for us.  We hope to do some island hopping and of course much more relaxing and adventure seeking!!

Dean Swimming With The Fish

Enjoying the Sunset

Outside the Local Market-Scooters as far as you can see

Christy and Gabby- I was wearing my helmet

History of Ancient Ruins....

Ayutthaya

Ayutthaya

       Time ticks by quickly, camouflaged by the heat of the day and before you know it, days have passed without writing and filling you all in on the busyness of each of our days. If we wrote more often we know full well, it would be easier to capture in words, all the exciting things we are doing and seeing every day. We will work on writing more often. :)

      After many action packed days blurred together by no sense of time there is lots to share.  After 7 days spent in the hustle and bustle of busy Bangkok we boarded the train to head north to Ayuttuaya ( a-u-tia).  We bought 3rd class tickets which cost 15Baht each (around 50 cents) and embarked on the 2 hour, un-air conditioned, lucky if you get a seat, train ride.  Surprisingly, it wasn't to bad at all and we did manage to get seats together.  Ayuttuaya is normally only visited as a day trip from Bangkok but to truly take in all the sights it is best to spend at least a full day there. It is an island city that used to be the capital of Thailand. Surrounded by ancient ruins, the city once boasted a 6 meter high, 5 meter thick wall that surrounded it. In1765, after several attempts, the Burmese Army conquered and burned it to the ground, which is still evident amongst the ruins to this day. The first night we took a 2 hour river boat that stopped at 3 ruin sites. True to a tour (and not our type of travel) we were rushed.  The idea was to get to see the sites when the sun was setting but the clouds started to darken and the guide was anxious to get us back before the rain came...he was unsuccessful. On our boat were 2 french backpackers who were on month 6.  It made us wonder where we would be 6 months from now??

Ayutthaya

Ayutthaya

Ayutthaya

Ayutthaya

Many tourists book a tour or rent peddle bikes to tour around but in the heat and in an attempt to see as much as possible in 1 day, we rented a scooter and to Dean's pure delight we were off. We started early but the heat came quickly. Luckily for us we followed the lead of the locals and bought umbrellas to carry around to shade us from the sun. Kelly's broke moments after opening it but she used it anyways. They worked wonders and were probably the only saving grace that let us explore for the whole day.  The ruins were truly amazing and each different in their own way. Wat Mahathat perhaps is one of the most well known Wats with a partial Buddha statue left. All that remains is the head of the Buddha, which is now surrounded by the roots of a tree. Dean has seen it on tv many times and to be able to see it in real life was a privilege. During our adventure that day we stumbled across an elephant temple where you can pay to ride and feed the elephants. We again, chose to not ride the elephants as it does seem somewhat cruel that although these ones actually seemed well taken care of, they are still a captive animal, not free in their natural habitat. We did decide to feed them though because captive or not, they still need to eat.  Here was also where we met the baby elephant. He, unlike the adults, was roaming around free with the tourists. Posing for pictures and drinking out of  a big gulp cup. You could take your picture with him, fed him and touch him. It was an experience that we won't forget. He was so sweet!!  After a long day in the sun and seeing some amazing sights we settled at a restaurant along the street for dinner. Here we saw a family of 4 (the children were probably around 10) come into town all with backpacks in tow. We couldn't help but smile and secretly wonder if maybe that will be us with our family in 10 or so years :)

We left the next morning to head a little further North to Paimai (pronounced Pie-My). This town is completely off the backpackers trail and we probably won't meet any others who decide to make the trek here. Again, our reason to come here was to see more ruins. These ruins were built by the Khmer people as long ago as the 10th century. It was exciting for us because they are linked with the ruins at Angkor Wat in Cambodia that we visited 4 years ago. There is an ancient road that leads from these ruins straight to Angkor Wat. And this is the blue print for what Angkor Wat became, eventually becoming one of the 7 wonders of the world.

After our first experience on the 3rd class train we thought we had it covered and could do it again for what was suppose to be a 3 hour ride. We were wrong. It was very hot and the seats were very very uncomfortable. And true to Thai transportation reputation, over a 4 hour journey. The only thing that helped pass the time was a 73 year old lady sitting next too us, who in broken English was very excited to talk with us.  She was such a nice lady who not only shared many stories about herself (much of which we really didn't understand and did a lot of smiling and nodding) but also was adamant on sharing her food with us. She shared her 2 different types of mango and introduced us to dipping it in a mixture of salt,sugar and chilies. Which is true to Thai's 5 culinary flavors, sweet, sour, bitter, salty and hot.  It was too spicy for Kelly but Dean seemed to enjoy it. She said it would make us strong if we ate it. She also bought some pastry's from someone selling them on the train. They were filled with different potato and meat fillings. She again insisted on us trying them. When we said we liked them she flagged the seller over to us for us to buy the last box.  Not only did she converse and share her food with us she wrote down directions of where we wanted to go after getting of the train, in Thai for us to give to our taxi driver!! She was the type of lady that you always hope you meet during your journeys but rarely do.

After a very long train ride and a confusing and crowded bus ride we arrived in Paimai very dirty and exhausted! We were dropped off the bus in the center of town and for the first time in Thailand no tuk-tuks or cab drivers swarmed us. We actually had no idea where we were or where we were going. Lucky for us, the town is small and a local pointed towards the hotel. It was just around the corner and we were greeted with a smile and an air conditioned room that we payed $14 for. That night we only saw 2 other tourists. We were off the beaten path.  We woke early to head across the street to the ruins (they are in the middle of the city and the city is very small...very convenient for us) We were the only tourists there and had the whole site to ourselves for the first little bit.  It did bring us back 4 years, to what we had seen in Angkor Wat. It is a neat experience to have your mind wander back over 1000 years to what this place was like when it was built. What were the people like, what did they eat, drink, do, discuss...who were they??? When no one is around it is easy to let your mind go.

     We spent the afternoon at the museum and then went back to the ruins to take photos with the evening light and sky.  Unfortunately for us, the sun disappeared quickly and we missed many of the shots we were hoping for.  One thing we now know for sure is, that no matter how hard you try and plan to capture the beauty, wonder and awe of such magnificent places with a camera, the real thing and the image left in your mind will never compare.  We will leave here with a beautiful imprint that we just couldn't capture properly for you all.

     Tomorrow we leave here. To be perfectly honest we still don't know exactly where we are heading.  We think we will head south towards the beaches. YAY!!!! But the number one rule with backpacking is to always expect the unexpected.   So in saying that, another adventure and surprise awaits for us tomorrow and that is so exciting!

Fish Spa