From Koh Tao we decided to go to another island called Koh Phangan. It was only an hour ferry ride away. We arrived to more people trying to get our business for a Taxi. We knew we wanted to go to the North Western Side of the island to a beach called Haad Yao. We negotiated a price for the taxi and we were off. We arrived at Ibiza bungalows and were thrilled. These were clean and large (still no hot water) and were reasonably priced. The beach was also wonderful. Much larger than in Koh Tao, much cleaner and also much quieter. We spent the rest of the day just hanging out on the hammock. At least I did. Andrew went to explore the “town”.
As in Koh Tao we could have rented a motor bike but decided to hike instead. The weather was not the greatest and although it wasn’t constantly raining, it was extremely humid. Regardless we thought it would be best to explore by foot rather than by bike. Andrew thought it would be best not to bring water along as we would buy it at the nearest 7/11 (Thailand has 7/11’s everywhere) since there was no point of carrying all that water around. I disagreed and brought 1 bottle. It’s a good thing too because we didn’t come across one 7/11 during the whole day. I don’t think we realized how “mountainy” the island was. We were either climbing a steep road or walking down a steep road. After a couple hours of this I was exhausted, and thirsty. That one bottle of water was running low. Along the way we spotted a lot of dogs, but one was special. It was a puppy about 3 months old and she would not leave our side. After about an hour of walking I had to retrace some steps and shoo her away. She wasn’t happy but she left. She was very cute though. I also have to say Andrew seems to be attracting these dogs. I have quite a few photos with them following him around. But we try not to interact them too much, as we don’t know what their temperament is like.
We stopped off at a beach in a town called Hat Mae Haad. This was a unique beach as there was also a sand bar connecting it to a small island, however it was only accessible during low tide. When we visited it was high tide so there were some waves crashing into the sand bar from both sides. From Haad Mae Haad we started heading back (came across a store with water) and spotted a sign for a water fall. We decided to explore it, but realized very soon we would need to take our shoes off as there was no real path to lead us there and we would have to climb up some rocks, where the water was flowing. It was slow going and painful on our feet, but we did end up getting there. It’s hard to say if it was worth it but it was definitely an experience. It took us another hour to get back home after that. Again, we were exhausted (I think that’s the theme of this trip so far).
After the exhausting day of hiking we rented a motor bike to explore the island. The road were much better than in Koh Tao and I’m happy to say the bike performed much better as well. However the road to Hat Rin was STEEP and CURVY and overall dangerous. I honestly don’t know how trucks made it up those roads and blind and hairpin turns. Hat Rin is where the infamous Full Moon party occurs during every full moon, but we were there a few days after the full moon, and the town was dead. We kept exploring the island, and in the evening came across a night market. Everything was for sale there, from clothes, to shoes to photos, but the most important thing was food. We ate chicken satays with peanut sauce, pork buns, frozen Coca-Cola “Popsicles” and pancakes with coconuts. It was delicious.
The next day I was feeling pretty sick (just a cold), so I stayed in bed all day while Andrew ran errands. He brought me medicine and food, and he went to town at least 3 times since he kept “forgetting” things. I think he was just bored and didn’t feel like spending the day in bed with me. That’s okay, I had an opportunity to just sleep. The weather was pretty gloomy so I didn’t feel like I was missing out on anything.
That night we went to eat something at the place next door and met some people who were attending a “Half Moon Party” in the jungle that night. I was still feeling sick but I told Andrew to go ahead. He came home at 3am but he says it wasn’t too crazy but people were definitely doing a lot of drinking , amongst other things.
The next day the weather was still gloomy so we decided it was time to leave. We went to the ferry terminal, only to find out that all ferries were cancelled except for one, due to the storm which was scheduled to hit the southern coast in the next day or two. We decided to take the ferry as it was the last one for at least the next 3-7 days, due to the storm.
It was a quite large catamaran and I was glad we were getting off the island just in time because we didn’t want to be stuck on the island for possibly another week.
We boarded the ferry and since it was a fairly large ferry there were plenty of places to sit. We went up front as we wanted the best view. One of the staff on the boat asked us if we got sea sick. No! But they started handing out small plastic bags to everyone and they suggested we move to the back of the boat as the effects wouldn’t be as bad. I was confused but we moved to the back. I was completely unprepared for the trip. Once we pulled away and were on the open water, we hit 4 meter waves (14 feet) and the boat was hitting the waves hard! It was moving side to side drastically! It’s very hard to explain the feeling and how scared I was and how terrifying it all was. There was a girl who started crying hysterically and was saying “We’re going to die”. I started crying but tried to keep myself pretty composed. I checked where the life jackets were held (under each seat) and was making a plan in my head in case the boat tipped over. All around us people were getting sick (read puking) and it was not a pleasant atmosphere. This lasted for about 2.5 hours and when we (finally) got back to land I said I never want to see another boat again. It was then I understood why all the other ferries were cancelled. If the boat we were on would not have been a catamaran, we would not have made it. The only ferry I’m getting back on will be in calm waters. I would normally say something very sarcastic about Andrew and his lack of support during this time, but I think seeing how scared I really was (he was fine…if not excited during this whole thing) he was very supportive and sat with me holding my hand the whole time trying to keep me calm. I think what kept me somewhat sane was that the staff was completely calm and in a few cases would lie on the floor and sleep! I figured if they were sleeping, then 1) the boat can handle these waves, 2) this is probably not the worst they have seen.
We arrived in Bangkok that morning at 5am, after a 7 hour bus ride from the ferry. Again, I was exhausted.
Friday, November 5, 2010
Still Koh Tao
We ended up staying at Big Blue in Koh Tao for a couple more days as I was feeling a little sick, so Andrew did a couple more dives while I hung out on the beach. The next day we took another “day off” and rented a kayak to go to another small set of islands which are right by Koh Tao, called Nang Yuan. These are actually 3 small islands which are connected by a sand bar. We rented the Kayak and set off around 12 noon. The rental guy told us it would take approx half an hour to kayak over. No problem! Right? After 10 minutes I wanted to die. My arms were killing me and the sun was blazing down on us. It also didn’t help that there was a lot of boat traffic and they were creating waves for us to paddle across. I honestly thought about giving up and turning around. But we persevered and made it, and it did only take 30 minutes.
Once there, we parked the kayak on one of the sand bars, and we had to pay a $3 park entry fee, as Nang Yuan is considered a national park. We took our gear and went snorkeling. Any diver will tell you the underwater world is amazing. Unfortunately some people believe in order to see these beautiful things you must be a diver, but that’s not the case. We saw a HUGE school of sardines, and we got to swim with them. It was so large the water from shore looked black. This is not something we had experienced while diving. In addition to the school of sardines, we saw a lot of various fish which were not shy and kept swimming up to us. We had an amazing time snorkeling.
After about an hour of snorkeling and then hanging out on the beach, it was time to head back. I was not looking forward to that at all. Another 30 grueling minutes of paddling; my arms wanted to fall off.
The next day we moved to AC Resort as they are associated with Phoenix divers, and we got upgraded to a bungalow. That day we completed two dives, and the second dive of the day was the best one we had to date. We saw lot of marine life such as groupers, clown fish, stingrays, but the highlight was definitely the turtle. It was awesome just swimming along with it and I came out of the water extatic. The weather was not doing too well however. We knew this was monsoon season for this part of Thailand but we were hoping to get lucky. Unfortunately we were not so lucky. The following day we woke up to rain and thunder storms. Since it was 6am I was hoping the diving would be called off, but no such luck, it was still on. We were going to a farther dive site than most and the water was pretty choppy. I'm not a big fan of boats and this one particularly felt like it would tip over at any minute. We arrived at the dive site and realized the current was pretty strong, but luckily the further we went down (we went down to 30 meters) the weaker the current became. It was still an exhausting dive however. Very frequently we were fighting the current, and we also weren't too impressed with our dive master. Instead of taking it nice and easy, we constantly had to catch up to him. Another reason I wasn't too impressed was because he let Andrew get so low on air that for our safety stop Andrew needed to share air with him. Andrew had been very clear with him how much air he had left so I was surprised we continued to dive. Anyway, ultimately the dive ended fine. On the way back it was pouring rain, hard. And it got windy and cold. It didn't help I wasn't impressed with the boat. The ride back was approx 30min and I was freezing. When we reached the next dive site however, the rain had stopped and I couldn't wait to get in the water. Once in, the water was sooo warm. After the diving we had fun jumping in the water from the roof of the boat.
Overall the diving has been great on Koh Tao. We saw HUGE groupers, a lot of stingrays, a turtle (that was definitely a highlight), angel fish, clown fish, nemos, large groups of fish, and a whole bunch of other things that I can’t remember.
Once there, we parked the kayak on one of the sand bars, and we had to pay a $3 park entry fee, as Nang Yuan is considered a national park. We took our gear and went snorkeling. Any diver will tell you the underwater world is amazing. Unfortunately some people believe in order to see these beautiful things you must be a diver, but that’s not the case. We saw a HUGE school of sardines, and we got to swim with them. It was so large the water from shore looked black. This is not something we had experienced while diving. In addition to the school of sardines, we saw a lot of various fish which were not shy and kept swimming up to us. We had an amazing time snorkeling.
After about an hour of snorkeling and then hanging out on the beach, it was time to head back. I was not looking forward to that at all. Another 30 grueling minutes of paddling; my arms wanted to fall off.
The next day we moved to AC Resort as they are associated with Phoenix divers, and we got upgraded to a bungalow. That day we completed two dives, and the second dive of the day was the best one we had to date. We saw lot of marine life such as groupers, clown fish, stingrays, but the highlight was definitely the turtle. It was awesome just swimming along with it and I came out of the water extatic. The weather was not doing too well however. We knew this was monsoon season for this part of Thailand but we were hoping to get lucky. Unfortunately we were not so lucky. The following day we woke up to rain and thunder storms. Since it was 6am I was hoping the diving would be called off, but no such luck, it was still on. We were going to a farther dive site than most and the water was pretty choppy. I'm not a big fan of boats and this one particularly felt like it would tip over at any minute. We arrived at the dive site and realized the current was pretty strong, but luckily the further we went down (we went down to 30 meters) the weaker the current became. It was still an exhausting dive however. Very frequently we were fighting the current, and we also weren't too impressed with our dive master. Instead of taking it nice and easy, we constantly had to catch up to him. Another reason I wasn't too impressed was because he let Andrew get so low on air that for our safety stop Andrew needed to share air with him. Andrew had been very clear with him how much air he had left so I was surprised we continued to dive. Anyway, ultimately the dive ended fine. On the way back it was pouring rain, hard. And it got windy and cold. It didn't help I wasn't impressed with the boat. The ride back was approx 30min and I was freezing. When we reached the next dive site however, the rain had stopped and I couldn't wait to get in the water. Once in, the water was sooo warm. After the diving we had fun jumping in the water from the roof of the boat.
Overall the diving has been great on Koh Tao. We saw HUGE groupers, a lot of stingrays, a turtle (that was definitely a highlight), angel fish, clown fish, nemos, large groups of fish, and a whole bunch of other things that I can’t remember.
Saturday, October 23, 2010
Koh Tao
We arrived in Koh Tao a few days ago (I'm really starting to lose track of what day it is) after a long bus ride from Bangkok. The bus dropped us off at Chumphon at 4 in the morning, and we literally had to believe the bus driver that's where we were because there was nothing to suggest we had arrived at a bus station, never mind a bus terminal. We were dropped off in front of a "store" that had some seats out front. As soon as we emerged from the bus (remember this is 4am) a guy starts asking me "where you going? where you going?" At this point I am barely awake because I've slept through the bus ride and am confused as to where I am, never mind where I'm going. After showing them our tickets for the ferry we purchased at the bus terminal in Bangkok, they told us to sit down on the seats and wait. And wait we did until about 6am. While waiting we met a couple of girls that were also waiting for the ferry and they have been travelling for a few months and had just come from Laos, and were on their way over to Koh Phangan for the full moon party. It was good to pass the time with them as it made the time go by faster. While sitting and chatting we saw the BIGGEST UGLIEST FLYING COCKROACH EVER!! It was coming right at me (or so it felt that way) and me and the other 2 girls were not very impressed. Thank god a dog was there to attack it and kill it. Unfortunately it kept coming back alive so I made Andrew kill it with his foot. It was crunchy. I would also like to add that Andrew was not very supportive of this whole incident and kept telling me to get down from the chair and stop screaming. I would not.
A car picked us up at 6am, transferred us to another bus, which then took us to the ferry. After a 2 hour ferry ride we arrived on Koh Tao. We had met a guy on the ferry from a dive resort called "Big Blue Dive Center". They were offering some pretty good deals (7,500 BAHT for the advanced course with free accommodations, about $250 per person) so we decided to go with them. The resort feels more like camp, but I guess that's what you get for that kind of money. We got a room with a fan and no AC and no hot water but really who needs hot water in this weather?
We were starting our advanced course the following day so what did we do? Head to the beach of course! Big Blue is located right on the beach so it's nice. We placed our towels on the sand and took a quick look around. I was not impressed with the water as it was not clear at all but very murky. I attributed this to the amount of boats in the area (there are quite a few as Koh Tao is the #1 place in the world where divers are certified) and there are a lot of boats and dive boats around. After our disappointing walk we went back to our towels and fell asleep for a couple of hours. We were exhausted!
The next day we started our course. That day we completed 2 dives, the Underwater Navigation and Peak Buoyancy dives. The visibility was not great but not too bad, and we were told this was due to the approaching monsoon. The next day we completed 3 dives, a deep wreck, a fun dive with lots of coral and marine life, and a night dive. It was awesome! The night dive was pitch black and the only light we had was coming from our flashlights. We saw a few big barracudas, a spotted stingray along with other marine life. At the end of the dive, as we were ascending, we turned off our flashlights, waved our hands around and "ignited" the phosphorescence! Unfortunately Andrew did not see the phosphorescence as he did not listen to our Dive Master before the dive and therefore he had no clue as to why we were waving our hands. It was great and I can't wait to do another night dive!
Today we took a day "off", rented a motorbike (more like a vespa for you bikers out there), and toured the island. I use the term toured very loosely as some of us had to do a lot more manual touring than others. Mainly because of the poor roads (the roads can be anything from asphalt to sand to gravel and can change at any moment surprising you) as well as the shitty bike. This bike can barely get up the hills with just Andrew on it, never mind with the both of us on it. So that left me with a lot of hiking of some pretty steep "roads". I have to say I am exhausted after all that hiking. Andrew for some reason is not that tired, but it could be due to the fact he had almost no hiking to do! I say almost because we went to a gorgeous beach today but had to park the bike at the top of the mountain and walk down. Going down was fine, it was the getting back up which was the problem! It was hard work.
The weather here is great. The sun has been shining every day and it's well over 30 degree Celsius. I am glad to say the water is crystal clear and very warm! Today after our "tour" we went for a sunset swim and it felt great after the hot day.
Tomorrow we will most likely be moving to a new "resort" which offers cheap diving and free accommodations but the room has AC AND hot water. We're planning to go to Koh Phangan in the next few days but don't have any definitive plans yet. Andrew might post some pics so keep checking in!
A car picked us up at 6am, transferred us to another bus, which then took us to the ferry. After a 2 hour ferry ride we arrived on Koh Tao. We had met a guy on the ferry from a dive resort called "Big Blue Dive Center". They were offering some pretty good deals (7,500 BAHT for the advanced course with free accommodations, about $250 per person) so we decided to go with them. The resort feels more like camp, but I guess that's what you get for that kind of money. We got a room with a fan and no AC and no hot water but really who needs hot water in this weather?
We were starting our advanced course the following day so what did we do? Head to the beach of course! Big Blue is located right on the beach so it's nice. We placed our towels on the sand and took a quick look around. I was not impressed with the water as it was not clear at all but very murky. I attributed this to the amount of boats in the area (there are quite a few as Koh Tao is the #1 place in the world where divers are certified) and there are a lot of boats and dive boats around. After our disappointing walk we went back to our towels and fell asleep for a couple of hours. We were exhausted!
The next day we started our course. That day we completed 2 dives, the Underwater Navigation and Peak Buoyancy dives. The visibility was not great but not too bad, and we were told this was due to the approaching monsoon. The next day we completed 3 dives, a deep wreck, a fun dive with lots of coral and marine life, and a night dive. It was awesome! The night dive was pitch black and the only light we had was coming from our flashlights. We saw a few big barracudas, a spotted stingray along with other marine life. At the end of the dive, as we were ascending, we turned off our flashlights, waved our hands around and "ignited" the phosphorescence! Unfortunately Andrew did not see the phosphorescence as he did not listen to our Dive Master before the dive and therefore he had no clue as to why we were waving our hands. It was great and I can't wait to do another night dive!
Today we took a day "off", rented a motorbike (more like a vespa for you bikers out there), and toured the island. I use the term toured very loosely as some of us had to do a lot more manual touring than others. Mainly because of the poor roads (the roads can be anything from asphalt to sand to gravel and can change at any moment surprising you) as well as the shitty bike. This bike can barely get up the hills with just Andrew on it, never mind with the both of us on it. So that left me with a lot of hiking of some pretty steep "roads". I have to say I am exhausted after all that hiking. Andrew for some reason is not that tired, but it could be due to the fact he had almost no hiking to do! I say almost because we went to a gorgeous beach today but had to park the bike at the top of the mountain and walk down. Going down was fine, it was the getting back up which was the problem! It was hard work.
The weather here is great. The sun has been shining every day and it's well over 30 degree Celsius. I am glad to say the water is crystal clear and very warm! Today after our "tour" we went for a sunset swim and it felt great after the hot day.
Tomorrow we will most likely be moving to a new "resort" which offers cheap diving and free accommodations but the room has AC AND hot water. We're planning to go to Koh Phangan in the next few days but don't have any definitive plans yet. Andrew might post some pics so keep checking in!
Tuesday, October 19, 2010
Moving On
Yesterday we moved hostels to be closer to Koh San Rd. (backpacker's mecca in Bangkok) and to save some money. When we finally arrived at the hostel we had been so exhausted from walking so much the day before that we decided not to venture out too far from the hostel and hang around the area. This allowed us to find cheap beer ($2 for a large Chang!) and cheap GREAT food ($1 for a plate of Pad Thai. Gotta love the street vendors). Seriously, that was the best pad Thai I have ever had and we'll be going back for more.
In terms of my first impressions of Bangkok; This is a BUSY city! There are a lot of people here so traffic is crazy. Everyone knows you're a tourist right away and you're constantly being hassled (Tuk Tuk? Taxi? Where you going? Where you from? Suit? Ping Pong Show? etc.) to the point that this becomes very tiring. I constantly feel like someone is out to make a buck (or Baht) on us or scam us into one thing or other. The city is a mix of old and new and the new parts are really nice while the rest could use a little freshening up. However, no matter where you are, old part or new, the constant is the street vendors. Anything from food to clothes, to toys, to electronics, to lingerie, to anything your heart desires, they are everywhere. No matter where you walk or what part of town you're visiting, you can smell the spicy food the vendors are cooking, so that a chicken satay is never very far way.
The one thing Andrew and I have become very good at is travelling on a budget. As I mentioned in the previous post, I have become very cheap and this is demonstrated by a new way I have found to save money. We walk around the city, walk into expensive stores and eat all their samples. You would be surprised at how full you feel after eating the samples! And because you're a tourist, no one says anything to you! Andrew even sampled the bathroom at one of these very high end places :) Now that is living on a budget!
I have been feeling restless for the past couple of days as the city has begun to take a toll on me. I have been feeling like we're wasting our time here in Bangkok when there is still so much of Thailand to discover. We were able to meet up with Andrew's friend Bobby last night and give him one of our bags to hold for us until we return. After that we made the decision to visit other parts of Thailand. But after speaking with some people, we learned that parts of Norther Thailand were flooded, we decided to head South to Koh Tao.
So today we checked out of our hostel and were headed to the Southern Bus Terminal. Of course as soon as we walked out of our hostel we were assulted with the same questions (Tuk Tuk? Taxi?) but this time instead of saying "No" like we usually do, we said "How Much?" "300BHT? No Way! Too Much" and thinking we were the savvy cheap tourists, we decided to walk. The book said 1.8km...what's 1.8km? After walking for an hour and a half in the blazing sun and humidity (yes we finally have sun!) with our 35lb backpacks, and still not reaching the bus terminal, we finally decided to ask for directions. "What, 5km's more? Now way". They had to be scamming us right? But after reaching the intersection where we thought the bus station should be, and after profousely sweating for the past hour and a half, we decided to call it quits and to get a cab. For a 100BHT he took us to the Bus Station, 5km from where we were.
When we got here we were exhausted! But we got our tickets to Chumphon, and have pre-booked the ferry to the island! The only problem is that we now how 9 hours to kill, as it seems we were a little eager to get to the Bus Terminal and the bus doesn't leave until 10pm tonight!
I'm not sure if we'll have an internet connection while on Koh Tao so I'll give you a preview of what we'll be doing there: Diving and sleeping and tanning (if we have sun). That's really all I expect to do when we get there, but Andrew of course has other ideas! He is set on us completing our Advanced Diving course while there. I'll keep you posted on that progress in my next post.
In terms of my first impressions of Bangkok; This is a BUSY city! There are a lot of people here so traffic is crazy. Everyone knows you're a tourist right away and you're constantly being hassled (Tuk Tuk? Taxi? Where you going? Where you from? Suit? Ping Pong Show? etc.) to the point that this becomes very tiring. I constantly feel like someone is out to make a buck (or Baht) on us or scam us into one thing or other. The city is a mix of old and new and the new parts are really nice while the rest could use a little freshening up. However, no matter where you are, old part or new, the constant is the street vendors. Anything from food to clothes, to toys, to electronics, to lingerie, to anything your heart desires, they are everywhere. No matter where you walk or what part of town you're visiting, you can smell the spicy food the vendors are cooking, so that a chicken satay is never very far way.
The one thing Andrew and I have become very good at is travelling on a budget. As I mentioned in the previous post, I have become very cheap and this is demonstrated by a new way I have found to save money. We walk around the city, walk into expensive stores and eat all their samples. You would be surprised at how full you feel after eating the samples! And because you're a tourist, no one says anything to you! Andrew even sampled the bathroom at one of these very high end places :) Now that is living on a budget!
I have been feeling restless for the past couple of days as the city has begun to take a toll on me. I have been feeling like we're wasting our time here in Bangkok when there is still so much of Thailand to discover. We were able to meet up with Andrew's friend Bobby last night and give him one of our bags to hold for us until we return. After that we made the decision to visit other parts of Thailand. But after speaking with some people, we learned that parts of Norther Thailand were flooded, we decided to head South to Koh Tao.
So today we checked out of our hostel and were headed to the Southern Bus Terminal. Of course as soon as we walked out of our hostel we were assulted with the same questions (Tuk Tuk? Taxi?) but this time instead of saying "No" like we usually do, we said "How Much?" "300BHT? No Way! Too Much" and thinking we were the savvy cheap tourists, we decided to walk. The book said 1.8km...what's 1.8km? After walking for an hour and a half in the blazing sun and humidity (yes we finally have sun!) with our 35lb backpacks, and still not reaching the bus terminal, we finally decided to ask for directions. "What, 5km's more? Now way". They had to be scamming us right? But after reaching the intersection where we thought the bus station should be, and after profousely sweating for the past hour and a half, we decided to call it quits and to get a cab. For a 100BHT he took us to the Bus Station, 5km from where we were.
When we got here we were exhausted! But we got our tickets to Chumphon, and have pre-booked the ferry to the island! The only problem is that we now how 9 hours to kill, as it seems we were a little eager to get to the Bus Terminal and the bus doesn't leave until 10pm tonight!
I'm not sure if we'll have an internet connection while on Koh Tao so I'll give you a preview of what we'll be doing there: Diving and sleeping and tanning (if we have sun). That's really all I expect to do when we get there, but Andrew of course has other ideas! He is set on us completing our Advanced Diving course while there. I'll keep you posted on that progress in my next post.
Sunday, October 17, 2010
Rainy Bangkok
As per our earlier post (the last post was Andrew's...so although he didn't meet my demands of posting before we left, he did post when we got here...and I'm sure we all appreciate the pictures, so I think I will keep his name on the blog) Bangkok is very wet right now. We got stuck in such a downpour that we splurged on a $2 Tuk Tuk ride back to the Hostel. I say splurged because we have embraced frugality to the max since we got here. If anything costs more than 100BHT (approx $2 CDN) I refuse to pay for it. The rain was so bad we were soaked! My shoes were completely wet, my shorts were drenched, my bagpack soaked, and that was while wearing rain gear! I'm looking forward to the Monsoon season being over soon. The good news is it didn't really rain up until mid-day today.
We have become awesome negotiators...and by "we" I mean Andrew...but I egg him on and tell him I refuse to pay more. The buns we buy for breakfast cost around $0.10 each and they come with a hot dog! We keep a daily log of all our purchases and we try to stick to a $20/day budget for the both of us.
We have been trying to adjust to the time difference and it has made us a little slow. We were going to change hostels today to move somewhere closer to Koh San Rd. and find a cheaper hostel, but after we checked out of our current hostel we realized they have free baggage storage for up to 2 months. I can't belive it took us 3 days to realize that! So we decided to stay for one more night. This extra night will allow us to re-pack because surprise! we over packed! and this way we will be able to leave some extra things here.
I have fallen in love with the Tuk Tuks! Except for the fact that we are constantly driven around stores that sell suits! Yes we keep falling for that scam but it's really hard to avoid it. Either way we have a lot of time so it doesn't really bother us that much. Yesterday someone tried to con us into the "Gem Stone" scam. Being the savvy tourists that we are (not really we just read about it in the Lonely Planet guide) we didn't fall for the scam and were told by the guy that he's never met such stupid people like us! We thought that was pretty funny.
Otherwise we have just been walking around the city but the weather being what it is, it kind of prevents us from doing much. We are meeting up with Andrew's friend Bobby either today or tomorrow and him and his wife have graciously invited us to their cottage near Kanchanaburi, west of Bangkok, next weekend. The plan is to meet up with them over the next couple of days, do a couple more touristy things in Bangkok and then go to Kanchanaburi on Wed/Thurs and then meet up with Bobby and his wife at their cottage. After that we will probably head south to Koh Samui, but that will depend entirely on the weather.
We'll post pics soon but right now except for the rainy weather, there's really nothing to post!
We have become awesome negotiators...and by "we" I mean Andrew...but I egg him on and tell him I refuse to pay more. The buns we buy for breakfast cost around $0.10 each and they come with a hot dog! We keep a daily log of all our purchases and we try to stick to a $20/day budget for the both of us.
We have been trying to adjust to the time difference and it has made us a little slow. We were going to change hostels today to move somewhere closer to Koh San Rd. and find a cheaper hostel, but after we checked out of our current hostel we realized they have free baggage storage for up to 2 months. I can't belive it took us 3 days to realize that! So we decided to stay for one more night. This extra night will allow us to re-pack because surprise! we over packed! and this way we will be able to leave some extra things here.
I have fallen in love with the Tuk Tuks! Except for the fact that we are constantly driven around stores that sell suits! Yes we keep falling for that scam but it's really hard to avoid it. Either way we have a lot of time so it doesn't really bother us that much. Yesterday someone tried to con us into the "Gem Stone" scam. Being the savvy tourists that we are (not really we just read about it in the Lonely Planet guide) we didn't fall for the scam and were told by the guy that he's never met such stupid people like us! We thought that was pretty funny.
Otherwise we have just been walking around the city but the weather being what it is, it kind of prevents us from doing much. We are meeting up with Andrew's friend Bobby either today or tomorrow and him and his wife have graciously invited us to their cottage near Kanchanaburi, west of Bangkok, next weekend. The plan is to meet up with them over the next couple of days, do a couple more touristy things in Bangkok and then go to Kanchanaburi on Wed/Thurs and then meet up with Bobby and his wife at their cottage. After that we will probably head south to Koh Samui, but that will depend entirely on the weather.
We'll post pics soon but right now except for the rainy weather, there's really nothing to post!
Friday, October 15, 2010
Day 2 Bangkok
Our first day the weather sucked. It rained all day. So we went to Khao San road and enjoyed some local brews.
Click Here for Pics.
Click Here for Pics.
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