Adam’s Not Here

It is not a good idea to get a haircut when there is no common language between you and your baber. Gestures just don’t cut it.

Ok, so it’s not that bad. But let’s just say I am looking forward to it growing in over the next few days.

We have been in Chiang Mai for a few days now. It is the second largest city in Thailand but is only 160,000 people, which is quite a contrast from the 6,000,000 in Bangkok (correction: Chiang Mai is not the second largest city in Thailand, there is a larger city). The city itself (or at least the central part where we are) seems quite touristy, lots of travel agencies organizing tours and treks. I have also noticed way more middle aged white guys with young Thai women than anywhere else, but again maybe it’s just the area.

Yesterday we took a one day trek about an hour and forty-five minutes outside of Chiang Mai. Our first stop was an elephant farm where we went for elephant rides. I was a little skeptical at first, but it was actually pretty fun. The only difficulty was when the elephant would decide to diverge from the route and just walk off the path and start eating bamboo leaves. He seemed to forget that we were on top and would walk us right into the branches while he chowed down. After that we went for a 2 hour hike through the forest. The landscape is so beautiful around here. It was very picturesque with all the hills, lush foliage and waterfalls . I think the hike was my favourite part of the day. We finished up by taking a bamboo raft down a river. At first it was slightly nerve-wracking as the raft actually floats just below the surface because of our weight. However it was quite relaxing, even the small rapids were no match for the mighty bamboo.

IMG_1129

Date: 06/27/2005Views: 685

Today Melissa and I took a Thai cooking course at Baan Thai cooking school. I was amazed at how good the results were considering it was our first time trying. It was a lot of fun and they gave us a recipe book to take home. So I am looking forward to wowing the precious few of you who have questioned my culinary talents

Tomorrow we are departing Thailand for Laos. It’s a 6 hour bus ride to the border where we will stay the night. In the morning we go through customs and then take a 2 day “slow boat” that will deposit us in Luang Prabang. It’s been a month now in Thailand and our 30 day visas are about to expire. We realize now how much better it is to take our time in each place. So we are a bit behind schedule and will likely end up having to short change Vietnam. It’s unfortunate, but it was great to spend a little extra time here. The month has flown by, I now understand the people who get stuck here for months or years on end.

We have returned to Bangkok and moved on to Ayuthaya since I last wrote. Ayuthaya was the capital of Thailand until it was sacked by the Burmese army in 1767. Tomorrow Melissa and I will tour around the ruins of the old city before catching a night train to Chang Mai.

IMG_1114

Date: 06/24/2005Views: 582

We left Bangkok for the last time just as I was starting to feel very comfortable with the place. We had started to take the local buses around town instead of hassling with Tuk-Tuk drivers. The bus system here is quite different than back home. Instead of one bus per street, travelling more or less in a straight line, they have several routes along each road that then veer off in all sorts of directions. This means you can pretty much catch a bus directly from anywhere to anywhere without having to transfer. I am having a lot of fun learning about them, despite the fact that I get on the wrong bus about half the time and have to work through my butchered Thai pronounciation to find the right route.

I find myself oscillating between feelings of exasperation and affection towards the Thai people. Within one day you will (and we did) have Tuk-Tuk drivers repeatedly not drive you where you ask them, or after having agreed on a fare say that you must make 2 stops at tailors or jewellers or some such. But then you will get on the wrong bus and a local person will help you translate with the conductor, find the right route for you, get off and wait with you until the right bus comes and then pay your fare for you and refuse to take any money for it. It’s up and down, but on balance it is definately positive.

IMG_1100

Date: 06/23/2005Views: 533

This morning we went to the Floating Market in Damnoen Saduak (pictures in the gallery). As the guidebook warned, the place had lost much of its authenticity and is now mainly a tourist attraction selling cheap knick-knacks. Their equivalent of the mounties and polar bear crap we have back home seems to be buddhas and elephants. But I guess it would be hypocritical to complain about it being over touristy. Every traveller wants their own piece of paradise unspoilt by foreign hands, but that’s just an impossible romance at this point. The funny thing about the Floating Market was that unlike a lot of other places we have been, there were a lot of Thai tourists. And we seemed to be part of the attraction for them. I think they were just as happy to see white people as the market, or maybe it was white people in the market. We had our picture taken about 4 or 5 times.

I have been on Ko Phi-Phi for a couple days now. It is an island that is currently characterized by some very stark contrasts. On the one hand it is probably the most physically beautiful place I have ever seen. On the hand, it was probably the area in Thailand that was hit hardest by the Tsunami, the damage from which is still quite evident.

I spent the first morning taking a tour that an NGO was having to show how the island had been affected by the tsunami. We visited many sites of destroyed areas. Part of the tour was led by a young Thai fellow who was present on the island during the Tsunami. He gave us a very moving personal account of the event. The whole thing just showed how devasted the people are.

IMG_1064

Date: 06/19/2005Views: 543

In the afternoon I volunteered for an organization called Hi Phi Phi which is coordinating the relief efforts here. I did a little replanting and also helped with the installation of a septic system. Unfortunately it did not feel as productive as I had hoped. Part of this was due to disorganization on the part of the projects we were working on, part of it was that everything is done on Thai time and part of it lies in the difficulty of casually jumping in as a volunteer. I get the feeling that those who stay here for an extended time do make a big difference but those here for a day or two find it hard to get involved. In any case, they make a big point of saying that every bit helps and that even just being here and spending money is very important. They say that tourism is currently down about 90% on this island, and I can believe it.

IMG_1079

Date: 06/20/2005Views: 573

Today we went and visited Phi-Phi Ley, which is where “The Beach” was filmed. We had to swim out the specific beach from the movie, Maya Bay, so I couldn’t bring my camera. So sorry, no photos of me doing my Leonardo DiCaprio impression. The beach did not disappoint, the sand was white and fine, the water a beautiful pale blue and we were encircled by impressive limestone cliffs. We also got the chance to go snorkelling where I saw even more fish than scuba diving on Koh Tao. All in all it was a fantastic day.

I have put up more photos, so you can see the two faces of this remarkable place.

Hey everyone, thanks for all the notes you have been leaving. It’s really nice to hear from all of you, get that little bit of home, smart-ass comments and all.

We ended up staying several more days on Koh Tao than we had originally expected. This actually turned out to be quite fortunate as it gave us the chance to really get to know the people and the place a lot better. I am starting to find that you really need to spend a good chunk of time in a spot if you want to really experience it. The last few days have been less exciting than being attacked by underwater creatures but still a lot of fun. I got to spend a lot of time with the Thais working at the place we were staying and they were all such friendly, good people. It is nice talking to other tourists but after a while it kinda all feels the same. “Where are you from?, How long have you been here?, Where have you been?, Where are you going?”

IMG_1039

Date: 06/17/2005Views: 610

I am about to catch a boat to Ko Phi-Phi (pronounced Pee-Pee, maybe that’s why the water is so warm around here) which is one of the areas that was hardest hit by the Tsunami. Apparently it is still quite a mess, so I am going to see if I can volunteer for a few days to help clean up. I’ll write again soon and let you all know how it is.

Well a lot has happened since I last posted. I really enjoyed Bangkok, now that we have gotten to the south I have heard a lot of people complain about it, but I thought it was a really exciting city. There is a good mix of modern amenities, historical temples, busy markets, and lots of other things too. We got to see a good bit of the city. Meals were interesting, basically just stopping whenever we saw something appetizing at a street side food cart and sampling their fare. We got our malaria bills, “saving” about $175 as compared to back home. But after we got them I got an email from my cousin Caro who had lived in Thailand for 2 years and never needed to take any. We spoke to the women at the University pharmacy where we got them from and she said she had never heard of anyone taking them for as long as we had been prescribed (90 days) and that it probably isn’t a god idea to take them that long. So we are holding off on them for now, but not sure about when we get over to Laos and Cambodia. There is so much contradictory information.

Another point of interest, being the obvious tourists, the first question everyone asks is “where are you from?” When we say Canada, every single Thai has said, without fail, and pretty much in these exact words “Ah, Canada. Miss Universe! Very beautiful.” Wasn’t big news back home, but the pageant had just wrapped up in Bangkok, so that’s what we’re famous for over here.

IMG_1020

Date: 06/04/2005Views: 496

From Bangkok we to took an overnight bus to Chumphon and a ferry to Koh Tao (Koh = Island, Tao = Turtle, in Thai). This turned out to be quite an adventure. On our way to the bus we got our first taste of the Asian monsoon. Coming out of the subway, the sky had completely opened up and there was a downpour the likes of which we had never seen. All the thais were smartly waiting in the entrance to the station, but we had a bus to catch! So we put on our (not) so called waterproof gear and headed over and got completely drenched. On the way over we pass by Thais here and there taking shelter under a stoop. They’d see us and just start laughing, we looked pretty ridiculous.

The bus dropped us off at 3AM. The driver came, shook us awake, said Koh Tao with no further explanation and hustled us off the bus. We found ourselves on the side of a highway under a wooden bus shelter, this certainly didn’t look like the beautiful tropical islands from the guide book. A couple of guys were there on motorbikes and said the pier for the boat was 8 Km away and we’d have to pay 80 Baht each for them to take us their. We had already paid for our tickets so we told them no and they drove off. At this point we’re left sitting there with one other Japanese tourist, in the middle of the night, not knowing what the heck is going on. At this point we’re getting worried that we have been scammed or about to get scammed. So we waited. After about an hour another bus stopped and dropped off another couple of tourists who also had no idea what the heck was going on. Then another bus and more tourists, and again until there were about 10 of us. No one new what was happening. Eventually someone showed up in a minibus and took us to the pier, we had to wait around for another 2 or 3 hours and finally were loaded onto the boat. We arrived at Koh Tao (which really does look like the postcards) at about 10 AM having not slept much at all. We checked into our room, lay down for a brief nap and woke up 7 hours later.

IMG_1026

Date: 06/09/2005Views: 561

The last 5 days Melissa and idea have been doing our Scuba Diving course, which just wrapped up today. The experience has been quite fantastic. Many of you know how I used to keep marine fish, so it has been quite a thrill to literally be swimming with them. On of the dives yesterday I had the experience of wandering into the territory of a Titan Triggerfish that was about 18″ long and rather hefty. He did not take kindly to the intrusion and began to charge at me, the bit of training about staying calm and still in the face of agressive fish flew out the window and I let out a shriek (which no one can hear under water, thankfully) and turned to swim away. Luckily our instructor was right there and he turned his fins up at the fish while slowly backing away, which seemed to do the trick. The rest of the dives were much more relaxing. It takes a lot of practice controlling one’s buoyancy and figuring out how to much in any possible direction, but I am slowly getting the hang of it. We have had a good group with a couple of Irish guys and a Netherlander, so it has been fun. Everyone on the island has been great, really laid back. Now that the course is over we get to relax and check out the island a little more. In a few days we are going to head out, probably to Koh Phi Phi.

IMG_1030

Date: 06/10/2005Views: 599

Ok, that was a lot. Will check in again after we reach the next spot. I have put up a bunch of pictures in the photo gallery section. Hope you enjoy them.