Karaoke in Khon Kaen

Taking our last (yay!) night bus to Khon Kaen was chilly and loud. When they say air conditioned they really mean it. We were glad to be able to spend some time with Matt's family before heading back to Canada. We squeezed in some karaoke with his sister Leah and a couple of Thai friends: Nitnoy and Kem.

It was an endurance karaoke and we managed to sing and dance for three hours! So much fun! It was sad having to say good bye to everyone but we're keeping in touch while they start their new teaching jobs. If Matt's family decides to stay in Thailand for the long term I am sure we'll find our way back there to visit!

Floating Market, Bridge Over River Kwai and Tiger Tour

After Koh Tao we headed back to Bangkok because all roads in Thailand lead there. Instead of pulling another amazing race and heading straight to Khon Kaen, we decided to stay a day and take the three part tour. Matt was a little unsure but I was pretty insistent and would have been disappointed if we hadn't gone. It was a pricey tour though (about $30/person) but definitely worth it just to see the tigers!

We woke up at the crack of dawn since we were supposed to be picked up at 7 am. It was raining so I was a little bit worried but there was no chance for us to reschedule so we just went ahead with the tour. It took longer than we planned to get to the floating market since there was a bit accident on the highway. A beer truck was on it's side- what a waste!

We made it to the floating market and had the option of paying for a boat ride or just browsing around on foot. We chose to go on foot for a couple of reasons: 1. We are cheap. 2. It was raining and I didn't feel like sitting in some boat getting soaked. 3. In the boat you cannot avoid the people trying to sell you things or control where you go. We managed to stay dry and avoided the pushy salespeople. I had a scary moment when a French lady came up to me and asked me (in French) if I could speak French. I choked out "un peu" nervously and then she started going off rapid fire! I had to appologize at my ignorance and run away. I really need to learn another language!

We stopped for lunch (included on the tour) and then continued on to Kanchanburi where the Bridge over River Kwai is. I haven't seen the movie and I don't really know my history so it was nice going to the museum (even if some parts of it were a little weird and inappropriate- like the label that explained how the bridge was bombed "higgedly piggedly").

Finally we arrived at the Tiger Temple! I was so excited! It's an actual Buddhist temple so the regular dress restrictions apply (no sleeveless tops or shorts) and there were some additional regulations because of the tigers. So no one wearing orange, pink or red was permitted inside.

It was fantastic! I loved getting that close to the tigers but Matt was really nervous. We have so many pictures with them. The way it works is you supply your camera and you are taken around with two staff members (one to take the picture, the other to guide you and tell you where to sit) and they let you pose with numerous adult tigers. They claim that none of the animals are drugged but I guess there is no way of knowing. Hopefully that's true. They are chained up and I do know that tigers generally hunt at night and sleep in the heat of the day so it is possible. Plus these tigers have all been brought up around humans since they were cubs. I think my favorite part was playing with the tiger cubs!

The temple is pretty interesting because it's home to lots of other rescued animals too; not just tigers. We saw numerous kinds of deer, wild boars, cows, turtles and even a camel! I really recommend checking out this place if you're ever in the area! We took so many pictures! Definitely a once in a lifetime experience!

The Night Boat to Koh Tao

Our next stop was Koh Tao (Turtle Island) where we planned to catch a little more sun and meet up with my little sister and her tour group one more time. We were pretty weary on this trip, Matt especially. He managed to crash on the first boat ride on a pile of luggage.

We then switched to a bus filled with some friendly Australians before catching our overnight boat. I wasn't sure what to expect but this boat was pretty creepy. It looked like something out of a concentration camp or maybe a boat carrying illegal immigrants. The mattresses were so tiny and smelled pretty bad. It did have a bathroom but good luck using a squat toilet on a boat! Basically I cranked my iPod up and thanked all the gods that the boat wasn't crowded so I didn't have to sleep crammed next to a stranger.

It was worth the trip though! We arrived early in the morning and I thought I knew where Stephanie was staying so we grabbed a guesthouse nearby. We decided to splurge for our last island and our place came with a private bathroom and a TV! We passed out for a nap and then called Steph. As it turned out, there is more than one Crystal Dive Resort and she was staying at the other one. Bum! But she was able to find us without much trouble. We spent the afternoon together and then met up with her group for mini golf shenanagins. Just in case you were wondering, I was the mini golf champion!

We couldn't stay long but we made the most of our time. We had a lot of fun and good food. I didn't get to take that many pictures but it's possible that Steph has some more on her camera. She'll be back from her adventure on June 9th.

Who's Hungry?

One of the restaurants on Koh Phi Phi was offering this buffet deal. Hehe!

Koh Phi Phi- the most expensive island ever!

Our next stop was to Koh Phi Phi. We decided to skip the famous Full Moon Party on Koh Phangnan because it sounded like it would be tricky to find accommodation. It was worth it since Koh Phi Phi had celebrations of it's own and was much quieter than usual. To get there we had to take another night bus (they suck so much in Thailand! You have to sit upright, they always seem to be noisy and cramped) and then transfer to yet another bus and then a van and then wait THREE hours until we could catch our boat. Crappy. We were so tired and disgusting by the time we got there. The first thing we did was stop at a cafe to get something to eat. Immediately we noticed that the prices in this area of Thailand are through the roof! I was so thankful that it was the off season because they do lower things a bit. If it hadn't been I think it would have been a very short visit to Koh Phi Phi.

Anyway, while we were eating we starting chatting with a friendly German couple next to us. They gave us a lot of great tips and recommended the cheapest place to stay. It was still $10/night but much better than the places that were over twice as much! Why is this island so popular? Well, even though it was one of the places hit hardest by the tsunami, it is just gorgeous. It was the most beautiful island we traveled to. They are still fixing and rebuilding things but for the most part everything is back to normal.

One day we hiked up to the viewpoint and enjoyed the fantastic view. Another day we took a snorkelling trip, met some cute Koreans and visited Monkey Beach and Maya Beach (where the movie "The Beach" was filmed). Our evenings were spent relaxing on the beach and watching fire shows (and occasionally participating- Matt did fire limbo).

On the snorkeling trip, I couldn't believe how retarded most of the tourists were with the monkeys. I mean, sure, these monkeys are really used to people but they are still wild animals! We watched one moron chase a mother monkey with her baby (which caused all the monkeys to totally freak out), another moron allowed an aggressive monkey to climb up on her and then bite her! (the monkey was moving slowly enough that she could easily have avoided this) and another to let a monkey climb all over her and scratch the crap out of her leg. Anyone else care for some rabies? It was just ridiculous.

Maya Beach is really gorgeous but it's a bit tricky to get over to it. You have to crawl over sharp volcanic rocks and squeeze through a couple of tunnels to get there. Our tour guide kind of sucked and failed to mention that there wasn't any good snorkeling in that area (so we didn't need to lug our stuff over) and that we should take our cameras (which we didn't and it was so difficult getting over there so we didn't get to take any pictures of Maya Beach).

Otherwise we spent a lot of time enjoying the beautiful scenery and friendly people on Koh Phi Phi. It's a great place to party and has a great variety of restaurants. We befriended a British girl who lives and works on Koh Phi Phi. Actually, she married a Thai guy and they run a travel shop and a rock climbing shop. If you're ever on Koh Phi Phi we definitely recommend Spidermonkey Climbing and the lovely Naomi! Matt went climbing on our last day with this company and had a good time (even if it did kick his butt a bit- it was a difficult cliff and he hasn't climbed in awhile). We were sad to say good bye to Koh Phi Phi but we needed to get going so we could meet up with Steph one more time. To see all the pictures go over here!

Time with the Lovely Leah

We made it back to Bangkok in one piece and then spent a day and a half exploring Khao San Road (this is where most backpackers stay but last time we stayed closer to downtown). I got my first ever facial as well. Did you know that they stab your face and squeeze the crap out of your zits during a facial?!? At least they did at this place! The worst part was that I didn't know it was coming so I was totally surprised! It was like, "Oh this is relaxing, oooh, she is rubbing some sort of cream on my face... HOLY SHIT! WHY ARE YOU HURTING ME!?! OKAY I'LL TELL YOU WHATEVER YOU WANT!". It was an experience, that's for sure.

Saturday morning we went to the airport to pick Leah up. This airport is one of the most confusing and frustrating ones that I've been in! For some reason none of the elevators go to the floor where the arrivals are! And once you manage to get there you're not allowed to go through to the area where people get in (we were bad asses and jumped over the barriers though). I suppose this is to try and dissuade cab drivers from hanging out there or something but it's really a pain.

We found her though! Some of the things that we did while we hung out in Bangkok with Leah included: going on a canal ride, touring the Wat Pho (our second time but that's okay), lots of shopping, seeing that stupid new Wolverine X-men movie and hooking up with my littlest sister Stephanie! We took a lot of pictures.

One of the nights with Stephie was spent at the tallest building in Bangkok. It was a bit pricey but the restaurant offered an amazing view and a fab buffet! Afterward Matt and Leah went back to the guesthouse and I went with Stephie and her tour group to see a "ping pong show". It was pretty traumatic. Matt asked me why I chose to go to it and I was like, hey, I figured I should see the ugly, seedy side of Bangkok too.

Matt and Leah also went and saw a Muay Thai match but I opted to stay back since I was feeling a bit under the weather. They said it was fantastic though! After about a week in Bangkok we sent Leah on her way (to Khon Kaen to see her Mom) and we headed south to Koh Phi Phi!

Bus Crash Disaster!!!

We left Koh Chang bright and early on a very, very rainy day. Overall we were lucky on our trip and didn't encounter much rain. It seemed that when it did rain we were spending the day traveling. We caught a songthaew to the ferry port and caught our ferry to the mainland. From there the company that we bought our ticket to Bangkok through picked us up in another songthaew and took us to meet our bus.

At this point we'd been traveling for about 3 months and had spent a lot of time in various buses. When we boarded this one it didn't take me long to notice that our driver didn't seem to know what he was doing. He got lost (or maybe just made wrong turns) three times!!! This is a really common and simple trip- hell, even I know that you need to take highway 3!




There was nothing that could be done about it so we dozed off. Later I woke up and was biding my time reading my novel and listening to my iPod. Suddenly the bus driver ran the bus into the cement divider! My iPod slid off my lap and onto the floor and everyone else was rudely awoken. We all rushed outside to get a better look at the damage. The bus was definintely fucked up.



This delayed our trip quite a bit and I had time to talk to some of the other passengers about our driver. It seemed that the bus had worn brakes and they had noticed this earlier on. It could explain the wrong turns (not being able to stop so instead turning down a different road). No one was hurt and the driver had gone into the divider to avoid hitting the truck in front while stopping for a red light.

Eventually the police came and then a tow truck and we were transferred to a different bus. This bus didn't have enough seats though so I ended up sitting on the floor for the rest of the trip. We arrived in Bangkok about 3 hours later than scheduled but things could have been worse. I suppose with all the traveling we'd been doing we were due for some kind of accident. Thankfully it was nothing like the one a fellow traveler had experienced in Laos when her night bus went off a mountain!

Dirty Hippies and Delicious Curries

Koh Chang is a surprisingly large island. We'd been in this general area at the beginning of the trip (it's close to Koh Maak) but hadn't made it over to Koh Chang. We chose to stay on the quietest beach first which really only had one option for lodging. Luckily, the Treehouse Guesthouse was fairly charming, had an okay beach, fantastic restaurant and decent prices. It's a bit like camping since all of the showers are taken with buckets but the warm weather heats things up so it's not too daunting. The stilted bungalows with hammocks on the porch are definitely the best part! This was a fantastic place to unwind and get a lot of reading done (after all, there's only electricity in the evening for about 6 hours so what else are you going to do?). The staff here are friendly and it seems like a lot of hippie types are attracted to this area of the island. I heard a lot of people saying that the other side of the island is so terrible and overcrowded.

For the second half of the week we decided to go to the horrible, terrible, overcrowded backpacker section of the island. We were going a bit buggy being so isolated and needed to check our email to make sure we were still supposed to pick Leah up in Bangkok on the weekend. Anyway, I'm sure what those travel snobs were talking about. The other side of the island (we went to Lonely Beach) was just fine! We both enjoyed having restaurant and guesthouse options and being about to go to convenience stores and shops. It was also nice having constant electricity again. We did visit in the low season so it's possible that things are like they described when it's high season. I wouldn't write it off though!

We stayed at a decent guesthouse that was supposed to have wireless (however a storm had just broken their something or other) and even had a mini pool (they were affiliated with a scuba school). This was the point in the trip when we noticed that the hinge on our laptop was smashed so we wouldn't have been able to use wireless anyway (this caused the connection to our screen to be messed up). You did have to walk to the nice beach but it took less than 5 minutes and most of the restaurants played films in the evenings. We had a really nice time on Koh Chang! Matt went on an epic trek up one of the mountains in the provincial park but I'll let him guest blog about that little experience. If you want to see pictures from Koh Chang go here!