Sorry it has been so long since I blogged but I have been busy! lets see, where did I last leave yall? I was on Phi Phi Island right? so while on phi phi I went and had a party for my friend Kevin (his 23rd bday) and I managed to semi limbo under a pole that was on fire! along with jumping thru a ring of fire! along with just some general bumming around and laying on the beach I got to do some amazing snorkeling I wish I had pictures of! Unfortunately my camera isn't water proof :( I really loved the island life down south although it was a bit more expensive than Northern Thailand.
So after that, our "wolf pack" Kev,Scott,Ash,Tony and myself split up. Kev,Scott and Myself went to Phang Nau Island "the gateway to the James Bond Island" you know the funky looking island from the James Bond movie. It is very famous and I do have some good picture I will load on facebook when I get to a computer that I can do it from.
After Phang Nau we traveled by bus back up to Bangkok where Scott left Kev and I to go to a turtle reserve with his girlfriend. Kev and I stayed about a week in Bangkok and we went to a lot of the temple sites around bangkok and did a really neat river cruise as well.
Dad this part is for you so pay attention haha.: In Bangkok I found out they have a whole range of "voice impersonators" they are 100% Thai people but they do singing etc.... well close to where we stayed there was a Thai guy who covered Eric Clapton songs and did his voice. Dad, you remember we saw Clapton live and it was a really great concert but this guy was pretty spot on! and I got to listen for free :) In Bangkok I also ate some bugs and tried some Thai street food. Both Scott and Kev had bad food poisoning that left them both sick for 24 hours ( at separate times) but luckily knock on wood I haven't had a single stomach issue other than ordering food too hot for my taste buds sometimes lol.
I planned to stay in Thailand just 1 week but stayed actually closer to 3.5 weeks here. I love Thailand it has been one of my best countries ever and I totally want to come back. The people are so nice and friendly, most speak passable English and they are willing to give you anything you need. At first Bangkok is a little hectic with tuk tuk drivers offering to take you to where you want to go for deep discounts but, they get commission and a free gas card when they take you on a "stop" to a suit shop where you are seriously pressured to buy a suit you dont want or need.
But I have become very adapt at haggling and being not rude but firm with the tuk tuk drivers and telling them "no stops" so we get where we are going with no hassle. Overall the Thai life style is great. It is a totally different culture, sometimes a dirty country with crazy driving laws but I just really do enjoy it. A diamond in the rough as they say. I also forgot to mention that in Krabi,Thailand just back to the mainland after being on Phi Phi we stayed at a cheap guest house but it was nice enough, anyway we woke at about 9:30am and there was a guy downstairs drunk as a skunk! he had drank so much beer! and all he kept saying was "I am American" over and over... But he had a really funny accent so I knew he wasn't American. Well my English friends thought it would be funny to tell this drunk guy that I was American so when they did this guy decides its time for him to come sit and talk with us and we had a very amusing interesting conversation to say the least. We found out he was Romanian who married a girl from Seattle and that is as American as he got lol. Anyway nothing bad happened it was just amusing. But I do feel badly that he was so old (66) and still drinking so heavily so early in the morning. He cant be in good health.
Well now I am Laos. We took a 12 hour sleeper train for 30 USD to the border and crossed over into Laos. The train ride was interesting,bumpy and probably not up to American standards as the toilets were just squat toilets where the hole went thru the train and all the body waste just went directly onto the train tracks! But, we met some interesting people on the train and I actually slept pretty well. A really nice Thai guy paid for Kev and I's dinner which was totally nice and random and we did arrive in Laos with no issues after paying 40 USD for a visa. We will be here a week-ish then move on to Cambodia. Life is good and I am happy and healthy. Thats all for now. Yall take care,Ty
Too funny about the train toilets. I wonder if that also happens with their airplane toilets - if so, don't EVER look up with your mouth open.
ReplyDeleteI wish I could have seen that inflexible body of yours doing the limbo under fire. Very cool.
Sounds like you're still having a fantastic trip.
All my love, mom