Thursday, August 10, 2006

it was sad to leave siem riep because it had been the highlight of the trip so far (and for me, one of the highlights if not THE highlight of my travels) but thailand awaited, and thailand is thailand, so we hopped on the plane with dreams of cheap pirated software and knockoff designer clothing.

we took an airport bus into the main backpacker area, khao san road, but it took forever to get there. bangkok is an urban developers worst nightmare. gridlocks at every turn, motos and tuk tuks cutting off cars and buses, little public transportation to speak of, and heavy air pollution...not exactly the clean wide streets of nagoya anymore.

when we finally got to the hotel we were amazed by what we were getting for what we paid...in a good way. the buddy lodge hotel was a "boutique hotel", and while im not still sure what that means, it means that its a shoppers, eaters, and drinkers utopia. the room was excellent and the entertainment and shopping was literally just out the door.

after exploring the rooftop swimming pool (which was terrific), we did some shopping and bought some clothes. at night, we went to the patpong area by tuk tuk, which is bangkoks notorious red light area. only its not really as notorious as its reputation leads you to believe...tourists are everywhere, restaurants and shopping stalls are just around the corner, and theres no sense of danger or debauchery.

we looked forward to another day in bangkok after getting back to the hotel and having a good sleep.

Friday, August 11, 2006

our first full day in bangkok was a good one. after breakfast in the hotel we decided to try to see some sights around the city. we walked down to one of the main temples but since thai laws are so strict we couldnt enter in only sandals and shorts. you could rent clothes but how disgusting is that? so we took pictures of the exterior along with the signs restricting access.

we tried to head to the main shopping area by tuk tuk, which proved painful to both our patience and our lungs. once there, though, there was just an outpouring of everything youd ever want or need to buy. we found a gourmet food court that gives you a credit card to buy anything in the court and then tallies up your tab when you leave. i think i had a creme brule sampler...amanda had ice cream and crepes. good stuff.

when we got back to khao san road, we wandered for any last minute clothing items before having some great italian for dinner. bangkok was nice, but i think we were both looking forward to ko samui the next day.

Saturday, August 12, 2006

finally got out of bangkok and the traffic in the morning was significantly better than the afternoon. we were on our way to what, for me, i was looking forward to the most...4 days on a tropical island with nothing but sun, ocean, massages, beer, and food. in other words, paradise.

we made it into ko samui around noon and a hotel staff member kindly picked us up from the airport. as we drove into the island, the first place you pass is chaweng beach, the main drag. more developed than youd like, filled with banks, fast food joints, tourist agents, bars, and clubs. not exactly getting away from it all...until we got to our resort, which was thankfully on chaweng noi, away from the main action but close enough to share the awesome scenery and go to the main area at night.

the resort was wonderful, the room was bright and clean, the beach impeccible. the sand was silky white, and the water was like heated mineral water...it was that good. there was a shell or rock under your foot in the ocean either, just a perfect place to go swimming. so after a quick rest thats what we did. the routine was thus: go swimming, get out and rest on the beachchair, apply sunscreen, get a beer, repeat. perfect.

for dinner we headed into chaweng and found a great seafood restaurant that had live thai dancing (no, not the naughty kind). afterwards we walked down further and found a pub that had aussie rules football on, a game between brisbane and richmond which turned into a blowout by the end of 2 quarters. still, she got to show me what aussie rules was all about...and its a pretty spectactular sport.

Sunday, August 13, 2006

our first full day on ko samui! couldnt believe we were really here when we woke up, the place was just postcard perfect.

we had a lazy sleep in and almost missed breakfast...we were rather rushed because we were so late. before going to the beach we decided to have a relax in the room and watch the movie channel...everyday in the afternoon here they showed some pretty random tv movies...one was even a christmas movie. finally we got down to the beach and it was as wonderful as the day before. later that day we went for a massage on the beach that was just wonderful. unfortunately by this time my back was a little sunburnt so the lady gave me pity along with some aloe gel.

at night we ventured into chaweng to find a place to eat. we went to a place called the three monkees, a pretty good pub with pretty good food. we wondered around the street stalls for clothes and booked our snorkeling trip for the next day.

we decided to walk back to the hotel, which was a bad move. while we were walking on the shoulder of the road 2 guys on a moto made a grab for amandas handbag. to her credit she hung on tight and let out a scream, so they didnt make off with it. still, after that we decided to take taxis going home from then on.

Monday, August 14, 2006

we woke up early today to go on a snorkeling trip to the islands of ko yuan ngan and ko tao. a driver picked us up from our hotel around 730 and drove us to a dock where alot of other people had also signed up...must have been close to 80 people there. they divided us into groups and we went on a speedboat for a ride to the first island.

well, the trip was a little rocky. the weather had turned a bit from the beautiful day before and the boat was rocking. we were ok but some people were either getting seriously wet or seriously seasick. the mood on the boat started jubilant with a bunch of brazilian men chanting and singing songs...at around the hour mark, those songs had stopped to be replaced by relative silence with occasional chatter. amanda and i were among the only ones not to be effected by the choppy waters, most of the others were having some problems.

when we got to the island we started snorkeling almost immediately and it was beautiful. all kinds of fish, coral, and vegetation was around in crystal clear water for us to see. the water was warm and shallow enough to make it comfortable swimming. we went for about an hour until we had to be on the boat again, at which point the rain really started coming down. the tropical downpour lasted until we got to ko tao and had a thai lunch.

when we got to the second snorkeling spot, some people on the boat were so sick and wet that they just wanted the boat to turn around and go home. i was against that...we all were promised snorkeling, so we were going to get some snorkeling. a vote was held and a compromise where wed go snorkeling for only 30 minutes instead of an hour was arranged. again, fantastic stuff lay under the waters for us to see.

we finally got back to the resort around 530, rather exhausted. instead of resting, though, we went for a swim in the rain which cleaned us up. after showers and some pre dinner beers we went for a great dinner on the beach. it was so windy that we were the only ones brave enough to actually stay on the beach and eat instead of flee indoors for more comfortable tables. the waiter was nice enough to set up two patio umbrellas at opposite ends of the table to act as sheilds against the rain and wind blowing off the ocean.

we were rather exhausted from the days events so we decided to hang out around our part of the beach instead of heading into central chaweng. luckily we still had one more day to go on the island paradise.

Tuesday, August 15, 2006

our last day in ko samui so we decided to make it a relaxing one. it was our third time eating breakfast but the first one that wasnt rushed, so we got to relax and have a bunch of french toast and omelettes. the weather continued its nasty spat from the previous day so we layed on the beach while it sprinkled overhead. it didnt matter for the ocean, though...it was still warm, clean, and clear, still the best ocean water ive ever been in.

we relaxed most of the day on the beach but didnt go for a massage...my back was still sore from sunburn. instead, we decided to have an early dinner on the beach again of steak and seafood. beautiful stuff.

there was an irish pub in chaweng that was having a pub quiz night so we decided to head there after dinner. it was a great pub...there was an actual irish band playing actual irish music and the table quiz lasted for about an hour and a half. amanda and i didnt win, but we didnt lose either, with her proving much more adept than me at unscrambling anagrams and naming that tune. the pub had a special on guiness draught during the quiz so i probably gouged myself with too much beer during the quiz...after the band came on again but i couldnt focus on it so we made an early exit and took a taxi back to the resort.

Wednesday, August 16 and Thursday, August 17, 2006

we woke up to an early alarm clock to have one last great tropical fruit basket on the ocean. the wind was still howling and the rain was still pelting but at this point neither of us cared. it was still quite beautiful out and the food was still good.

unfortunately (well, it was mostly my fault truth be told) we were a bit behind schedule and had problems finding a taxi that would take us to the airport...must of taken us about 20 minutes to find one. coupled with the fact that our driver took his leisurely sweet time, and we got to the airport at 8:15 for an 8:45 flight. suffice to say that the employees werent entirely happy with us, warning us that "you shouldnt do this again." we werent the only late ones, though, so they quick checked all the late people through (after paying yet another airport departure tax...) and we got on the plane no problem.

we got into phnom penh and the city for some reason looked much better this time around. we decided to just stay at the area around the guesthouse (the same guesthouse as the last time) and relax. that meant having a shower, wandering around the deck on the water, having some beer, and going for dinner at the flying elephant. we met a canadian couple there that was staying at our guesthouse and talked to them that night...they were teachers in korea so we had similar experiences to share. it was a good night.

in the morning the plane didnt leave until 12 so we could have a relaxing breakfast before taking a tuk tuk to the airport. the only thing i remember from phnom penh airport was the security dog. usually they have big intimidating german shephards or dobermans, but here they had a cocker spaniel. he had big droopy eyes and i think he was less interested in finding any drugs in luggage than taking a break. i wanted to pet him but didnt think the security guard would be impressed.

the only problem was when we got to taipei. the immigration agent took a look at my passport and said i needed a visa...canadians dont need a visa, but apparently while we were on ko samui my passport went under 6 months to expiry. so they didnt let me into taipei. usually this would be a disaster, but considering how early the flight was in the morning and how much we hated the city the first time around, it wasnt a huge blow, just an annoying one. we had to stay in the transfer terminal for the night, we were told.

some airports have great terminals, others not so great, some big, some small. chiang kai shek's airport was somewhere in the middle. it was certainly big, lots of space to explore. but it was short on restaurants...only the subway for dinner and the starbucks for breakfast would be feasible. and at night, when we tried to sleep on couches, we had two problems. one, they use the nighttime to do all of their construction, so we had nice background music full of jackhammers and buzzsaws. the second was the full blast of the air conditioner which made all areas of the terminal unreasonably chilly.

i think we started sleeping around 2 in the morning or so, not much time until we had to get up.

Friday, August 18, 2006

i think this should be connected to thursday as neither amanda nor i got much sleep. i think i got a few more zzzs than her because i can sleep basically anywhere. we got up at the bright hour of 6am simply because it was uncomfortable to sleep any longer and thats when the starbucks opened.

finally boarded the plane bound for nagoya around noon, but before we boarded the staff called amanda to the counter. apparently the flight was full so they had to move her up to business class while i was stuck in economy. karma for the passport fiasco i guess. she had a pick of 4 international meals, a massaging recliner, heated handtowels, all you can eat/all you can drink, and a flight attendant that always refered to her as 'ms. lamb.' i was stuck next to a japanese guy in tight quarters who zonked out the moment the plane took off.

we got back to japan around 3. the first thing we noticed was how polite and well dressed the japanese acted and looked in comparison with the rest of asia. we missed alot of things about japan...the convenience store rice balls, the tofu, the big wide streets, the clean and ok smelling air, the clean trains that run on time, and so on. it wasnt much of a curse to be back after a whirlwind of a holiday.