Anthony and I decided this week to head up north to Chang Mai...

Arriving in Chang Mai after a hunger-filled plane ride, Anthony and I thought we would be smarter than the average farang and cheat the taxi drivers by asking to go to a temple that was near the hotels we were interested in. We thought we were getting a good deal and saving some baht, but it turns out there are two temples with the same name in the city. We picked the wrong one and ended up in this massive forest monastery on the outskirts of town. We explored it a bit since we were there, but were starving at that point so we found a little place to eat near the monastery. The food was good and amazingly, for the first time in all of Thailand, we were undercharged for something. Impressive, to say the least. So, we consulted the Lonely Planet and found another temple that was near the places we wanted to say and asked a Tuk-Tuk driver to take us there and we were off on another adventure.

We got out and tried to get our bearings. Once we had an idea of where we wanted to go, we started on foot...but in the wrong direction, unknown to us. We wandered lost and bewildered through backroads, going through countless streets and alleys trying to find a landmark to figure out where the hell we were. We didn't really succeed, but we eventually found a guesthouse mentioned in the Lonely Planet and asked for directions. Turns out, there were also two guesthouses with the same name in Chang Mai, and of course, this was the incredibly expensive one, but the lady was friendly and gave us directions to the cheap one. We finally found the real "Smile House" and got a room for 1/3rd the price of the "fake" Smile House.

That night, Anthony and I went to eat dinner at a Thai place we chose simply because we looked at an outside menu and the workers setup a table for us and we felt awkward. I had spaghetti in a delicious Thai style. Then we grabbed some Beer Chang and headed for the Night Bizarre to haggle drunkenly for things that we didn't really want. Many of the vendors were fun and many more appreciated the Chang in our hands. After buying things, we headed back to the Smile House. Along the way, I saw a "club" full of Thai hookers, so once the Tuk-Tuk stopped, I ran back and took a picture despite the crowd of hookers and their pimps screaming "NO!" at me. After that, I sprinted away in a drunken, terrified haste.

Once we were all-together, Anthony and I headed into the Tiger, a bar near our hotel. Darts, a live band, and pool seemed like a nice way to spend a Wednesday night. I proceeded to drink my third bottle of Beer Chang on the evening. It only takes 2 to get me drunk, so by this point, I was DRUNK.

Anthony and I soon grew tired of the bar. No one was particularly friendly and when the band stopped, the offered to play some Jay-Z for us, but then couldn't find the CD. We left and headed to a 7-11 to get water and at this point, the heavy consumption caught up with me. As we walked back, I began puking. Not normal puking, the type of puking where you're so drunk you don't even stop to acknowledge that what you're doing isn't normal. I just continued walking and carrying on a conversation with Anthony, using the time where I was supposed to listen to what he was saying as pauses to puke as I walked down the street.

Not a pretty image, but my first day in Chang Mai was an adventure, to say the least.

Adventures on Ko Sichang

Anthony and I decided that it was time to take a break from our busy coursework – right now, I’m listening to my iPod, Anthony is playing his DS, and our most taxing decision is whether or not to watch a movie tonight or an episode of 24 – and head to an island for a weekend of relaxation. We decided to take a break from big islands like Ko Chang, where we’d previously gone, and head to a small island a bit closer to Bangkok. We decided we’d also be a bit more sociable and headed to the island with two of the guys in our house, Big Justin and Canadian Justin.

We arrived at the bus station a little later than we thought we would and ended up on some random bus heading in the same direction. We had no idea what was going on and signs weren’t good when the bus pulled over so that one of the employees could get a beer and a smoke break in ten minutes after we had left the bus station. Fortunately, Big Justin also needed a beer break and proceeded to purchase three BIG Beer Chang and for the rest of the trip got hammered on the bus because you can drink anywhere in Thailand (except on the SkyTrain, which is classy). This bus wasn’t quite all-together. We stopped for a bathroom break and due to some difficulties in understanding the logistics of a squatter on my part, I took a bit longer and the bus nearly left without me.

After many unnecessary stops and lots of loud horn honking (with not one, but two horns), our bus made it to Siracha, the port town that would bring us into Ko Sichang. Unfortunately, we had missed the ferry. Fortunately, Big Justin was drunk enough to be committed to the idea of getting to the island that night and not partaking in the nightlife of Siracha. Instead of finding accommodations there, an idea I found perfectly fitting given the apparently exciting nightlife of the town (judged by a massive club called “Website” situated in the center of the town and tons of Thai people scurrying about), we wandered down to a pier looking for a boat.

An incredibly sketchy, very greasy Thai fellow offered us a ride for the extraordinary price of 2000bh, which roughly comes out to about $80 USD. We weren’t having that, so Big Justin started yelling at random fishing boats and holding up 1000bh, but they weren’t interested. It looked like many of them wanted to give us rides, but they all seemed to live in fear of the grease man, who might have been Thai mafia, given the location, his dirtiness, and the fact that he proudly proclaimed that he owned “all the boats” on the pier. Finally, he gave in and sold us a ride for 1000bh, and Big Justin made sure to inform him that if anything went down, he would come back and hurt the fellow.

We made good time to the island, though we spent the better part of the ride fearing that the boat drivers were going to shoot us and rob us and throw our bodies in the Pacific Ocean and no one would have any idea where we were or where to even begin looking for us. When we finally got there, we wandered around aimlessly without any idea of where to go to stay. We found a group of random guys on motorcycles with whom Big Justin decided to haggle room prices, despite the fact that they were clearly not involved in the hotel business. We finally did find a place to stay for a reasonable price at first, though we later realized that the accommodations weren’t very suitable (mostly by the bug bite Canadian Justin and I got from bed bugs).

The next morning, we woke up bright and early and headed into town to hunt for motorbikes. We rented some rather nice hogs for the low price of 300bh ($10) and explored the island. We found a very nice place to stay, but the price was way too high, so we ate lunch at a very scenic hotel built on a cliff overlooking the water and then headed off to the beach, putting off finding a room until a later time. We enjoyed the beach. Anthony and I found a piece of bamboo floating in the water, which we proceeded to jam into the ocean floor and climb up until it lost balance and fell over, which caused us to splash down into the water. The water was incredibly warm and for the most part, rock-free. But, if we strayed too far from the beaten path, the sea floor became incredibly rocky, as the cuts on my feet clearly demonstrate.

After that, we explored a bit more of the island. We found a very remote corner of the island were we sat on some cliffs and took a lot of really spectacular pictures. The day was remarkably clear and the water was a brilliant blue. It was really relaxing, peaceful, and serene. We then headed up a massive hill and found a monastery that was supposed to be open, but no one was around. We respectfully explored and found an amazing view of the developed potion of the island. We also discovered some monkeys roaming around the monastery.

Continuing our productive day, we headed to another monastery, where we got a tour from a nun who spoke remarkably fluent English. She was very polite and showed us the entire monastery without any expectation of compensation. She told us many stories about Buddha and the founding of their particular monastery. She was even patient with my inexperience and taught me the proper way to show respect to Buddha. At the end of the tour, Canadian Justin and I made arrangements to go back to the monastery next weekend to study and get a feel for the life there. I think it’s going to be a great experience.

We then decided that we needed to find some food and get a room. We found some bungalows and negotiated a decent rate for two nice, big air-conditioned rooms. Then we headed out to Pan and David, a western-style restaurant that was very polite, served delicious food, and was very happy to see us pay our huge bill. We needed a lot of garlic bread and French fries though. You just don’t pass up those opportunities here. Unfortunately, we picked the worst time to go. Having spent a weekend in Trat and Ko Chang, I learned that, when it starts raining, it usually doesn’t stop, and convinced everyone to drive in the rain because I honestly didn’t think it would get any better. It stopped raining as soon as we got to the island and never rained again. I was very wet and felt silly.

We filled our stomachs as far as they could and then we decided to explore the island a bit more. We went down a strange road that seemingly went to nowhere, and in fact, it did go to nowhere. It just suddenly ended into a field which offered a view of the mainland. Plus, it gave me the opportunity to take my motorbike off-road, which was equally impressive and fun. Once I had my fill, we headed down another road, which turned out to lead directly into a Thai garbage dump. It smelled absolutely terrible and there was garbage strewn about the roadway. Anthony, Canadian Justin and I all stopped to turn around, but Big Justin was simply too drunk and crashed his motorbike into the back of Canadian Justin’s bike and fell. I’m never going to forget in my entire life the look on Big Justin’s face as he futilely attempted to steer his fallen bike while his head and arm were dragging against the pavement. He was okay, but his bike required about 300bh worth of repairs.

After that, Anthony, Canadian Justin and I were more than content to just chill out the rest of the night. Big Justin had bigger plans and brought back some sketchy Thai guys to drink in our room. It was kind of cool, speaking broken Thai and broken English back and forth, but they were pretty random guys. Big Justin wanted to go out to bars, but the rest of us weren’t really down, and after some incessant nagging, the three of us just eventually left and went to some cliffs and spent an hour or two just talking. We came back to the room and Big Justin was sleeping soundly. We watched a bit of Thai television and then all of us went to bed ourselves. We planned to wake up early, but Anthony was the only one who did and the rest of us spent the last few hours of our time in Ko Sichang comfortable in our individual beds.

We returned out motorbikes, headed to the pier and went to a surprisingly unfriendly Thai restaurant for lunch. We got on the boat, then we landed and rode a Tuk-Tuk to the bus station, climbed on a bus, got into Bangkok and headed onto the SkyTrain, and then into a taxi back to Salaya. It was a lot of vehicles in one day. I was pretty happy to head back to the house, but I can’t wait to head back to the island.

In other news, Thai Sizzler is awesome. Every Wednesday, we have “Sizzlin’ Night” where we go to dinner at Sizzler and get authentic western food and take in a movie. It’s something to look forward to, for sure, and the Sizzler is absolutely delicious. It’s more pricy than Thai food, but it’s excellent and it’s nice to have some comfort food.