don’t call me a backpacker…

Alright, so I wasn’t going to post this originally, but had written it and emailed it to a friend at the time because it was so funny. Well… it was not funny at the time, but a few days later. After all, every extended traveler runs () into his/her own poop incident sooner or later.

It IS embarrassing. But like a 6-year-old I’m a sucker for scatological and self deprecating humor. Plus, I thought of a way I could do this where you can only read my story if you appreciate those things as I do – which is the “Read more” button I can insert on the blog, haha. (there’s also bad language grandma) So read on if you dare…

Dateline: Bangkok, Thailand. Feb 6 2007.

(more…)

Have you noticed a ridiculous overusage of “Top 5, 10, or 20 lists” in the media over the last few years. Know why? Another symptom of the internet age shortening people’s attention spans and media outlets watering down content to retain readers. They (the lists) annoy the shit of out me.

I’ve noticed upon my return home, that people don’t want to “just” ask me about my trip, because they don’t want to spend more than a few minutes hearing about it, or I must be pretty unbearable. So they ask for a Top 2 instead.

It also amazes me how some supposed friends of mine can’t take 10 minutes out of the last 6 months to even glance at my travels and get an idea of what I did. (you’re all off the hook) Whatever. It was for me, not them.

So without further ado, I reluctantly present to you my Top 6 of my 9 country whirlwind backpacking “don’t call me a backpacker” trip.

6. Lisbon, Portugal – having friends/tourguides made the quick visit of this cool city very thorough, not to mention home cooked meals.

5. The Acropolis, Athens, Greece – yeah

4. diving on Ko Tao, Thailand – an improvised plan that was such a great decision

3. Cordoba, Andalucia, Spain – just a perfect small Spanish town, and the Mezquita was very moving for me. In retrospect maybe it’s just the feeling one gets the first time you see Moorish architecture in person, but still a very special city.

2. Kochi, Kerala, India – the last bastion of old, slow, friendly, beautiful southern India. I sooooooo want to go back and explore more.

drumroll please Anton…

1. Borobudur, Central Java, Indonesia – simply incredible monument surrounded by spectacular scenery.

pictures do not really do it justice. they do not convey feeling.

Plane crash in Java right after I leave Java…

New Years Eve bombs in Bangkok shortly before I go there…

Train bombs in India just after I leave India…

anyone noticing a pattern here? The reality is these things happen anywhere and everywhere.
But what I really wanted to say here, is I have felt totally safe traveling alone in just about every place I’ve been.

Truth be told, I was a little nervous at times in Java, but nothing happened, and the people from Java that I met were some of the nicest along the way. I did choose Mumbai because it is well known to be much safer than Dehli, the capital, and I felt very safe there.

The American media and government seem to want to make you believe that the rest of the world is this wild and dangerous place. It is not. Many people I meet in Asia think that everyone in America carries guns and you’re likely to get shot if you visit New York City. Now you and I know that is not reality (but not that far from the truth either, haha.)

Obviously if a country is at war, like India/Pakistan, there are greater dangers in those areas. But everywhere I’ve been has been fine. So there’s that.

…my last days in Thailand

I forgot to mention, I was very happy that I took the day ferry/bus back from the south to Bangkok instead of the night bus that I took down. Yeah the night travel saves you hotel cost if you are penny pinching, but I really had this feeling that I didn’t know Thailand at all even with two weeks there.

So on the trip back I at least got to see the long peninsula packed with miles and miles of coconut trees that are one of Thailand’s biggest export, as well as the small towns in between… and the poverty that accompanies them. I really wish I had ventured up north as well because it’s totally different than the south or Bangkok.

Bangkok is such an anomaly as well. No other city in the country, or region for that matter, is even CLOSE to being that enormous and modern, however flawed it may be. It was clearly built too big and too fast, and from what I’ve read, with a surge of “support” from the U.S. during the time leading up to the Vietnam war.

Have I even talked about the King yet? The King is a very big deal here. His picture is everywhere and the people just love him. He’s also fairly important because he’s currently the worlds longest reigning monarch, and the longest in Thai history, which has mostly been at peace since he’s been in charge. Except for the lower government corruption stuff that keeps popping up. Oh, and then there was the coup. Oh nevermind, that’s all just politics as usual.

I finally got together with Sanyawadee, who is the Bangkok Q&A person on boots’n'all.com travel forums. She works in travel, but is currently between jobs, like me, haha. She’s also an excellent photographer and is a flickr friend. She said let’s go to the night bazaar and I hadn’t seen that yet, so we checked it out and had a quick dinner. It was much more civilized than say, the Hong Kong night bazaar, but still interesting.

I also haven’t talked about the food much. I have had some great stuff. The options on the island were kind of limited, and the beach BBQ was often too tempting every night. But also I think we are lucky in San Francisco to have excellent Thai food, I found very similar to the dishes I had here. With two exceptions: the papaya salads and the tom kha gai soups. They are super intense and over the top spicy. Loved it.

You definitely EARN the Thai’s respect when you eat their spicy food. (They are used to Europeans who won’t touch the stuff.)  They may laugh at you with your nose running and reaching for a beer, but they are happy you eat it.

If you’ve never been to Asia, you are probably not familiar with “same same.” It makes me giggle every time, but they say it with a straight face. (They say it in Vietnam too.)

I haven’t taken many pictures lately, so here’s an old one from Hong Kong. Temple incense. I have some pics I should still add, as well as some on my phone i have yet to get off ’cause I don’t have the cable.

Injuries incurred on my Ko Tao adventuring:
(mind you this is not “whoa is me,” but just keeping you up to date. When it rains it pours.)

- A large deep scratch on my forehead, caused by hastily ripping off my sunglasses to put on my dive gear. I didn’t even notice at the time, until we were in the water and Alvin was like “um, dude, I think you’re bleeding.” I just hope it leaves a cool scar.

- An enormous scrape on my knee; caused by wearing wet flip-flops, holding a bag full of diving gear, and trying to get out of the back of the tall Buddha View truck. It has lawsuit written all over it. Didn’t help that Jack kept telling me it was going to get infected.

- Painful bug bite on my calf while peeing in the woods by the beach

- Another motorbike exhaust burn on the other calf. But that just goes with the territory.

Sadly I had to pull myself away from Ko Tao. It’s certainly easy to “check out” there. I needed an extra day on the beach because I was hungover, nice excuse huh? The diving dream team finally hung out all together for one night of partying, which included several “buckets.” A bucket being a small bucket full of ice, Thai red bull, a can of Coke, and a bottle of Thai whiskey, and 5 or 6 straws for being a social drink. You can imagine why i tried to avoid these for the whole week? I tried my best mixing in only water and no beers, and was still ripped in the morning. cry. The Danes can drink.

Bizarro coincidence of the week:

On the bus back to Bangkok, I put my iPod on Ween. 30 seconds into the first song we pass a big sign that says Ween Internet and Games. Whoah.

Some of the other problems I’ve been dealing with:

My smelly Keens – I’ve been hoping not to tell this tale… but… Remember that smelly hotel I mentioned the night in Hanoi I couldn’t find a room? Well my “waterproof” Keen shoes were wet from Ha Long Bay and I had put them in the bathroom window to dry. But it seemed like the foul smell was coming from there… In retrospect I NEVER should have stayed in that room that night. The smell is still on my shoes, I’ve sent them through hotel laundry, and the other day at Ko Tao I finally had a chance to soak them in vinegar and hot water. Gradually they are coming back to normal.

Full Hotels – This has plagued me since the end of the Hanoi visit, Ko Tao, and now Bangkok: Hotels being full. It’s a real drag lugging your crap around in the heat. I DO NOT want to deal with this in Mumbai of all places so I am trying to make a reservation and have a list of hotels ready.

So I’m back in Bangkok. I extended my stay a few days because I realized very quickly that was I was not mentally, physically, or technically prepared for the trip to India. I got a little scared once I realized that. I think I’m also a bit sad to leave southeast Asia because it’s been fun, and I know I’m now passing the halfway point of my trip.

But being back in Bangkok (for the 3rd time… same same) oddly enough does not seem like a drag this time. I think because I know what to expect and have a feel for the place now. I got straight away from Khao San after arriving by bus, but then spent a sweaty hour walking around looking for a hotel vacancy, but it worked out I paid a little more than usual but it was good to be back in a nice room for one night, and stock up on quality travel size toiletries.

In just a few hours this morning… I got a cheaper hotel room, visited Air India to change my ticket, and shipped a package off, and got caught up on several days of being off the internet. Yay.

So the game played out pretty much as I (and other experts, hehe) suspected.  It seemed like it got kinda boring, but I don’t know if that was the Bears ineptitude, or the fact that I was watching it in Thailand.

I’m happy for Manning, Harrison, and Dungy.  They deserved it.  I would have been fine with the Bears winning if they had earned it, and they kept it close, but really stunk when it mattered.  Grossman totally overmatched.

I watched with Doug, Kate’s friend from San Francisco, who happens to be spending two months is Thailand.  We had been planning over email to meet up for the game, but didn’t realize we’d both be spending this week on Ko Tao, so that was kind of funny.  After scouting places to watch, we decided that my dive resort/hotel was the best option.

I had been kinda thinking there’s no way they ever kick the ball off on time, so I had set my alarm for 6:30 AM and figured that would be good enough.  Most places even that serve breakfast here don’t even open until 7 AM.  Doug called at 6:25, and I turned the TV on just in time for the thrilling opening touchdown.  lucky.

But we had to watch ESPN’s international feed of the game, which meant we got no commercials and a third-rate broadcast team of Sterling Sharpe and some other guy, so it was probably not as exciting as the normal broadcast.

However, I was pleasantly surprised by Prince at halftime!  That was great, he’s so amazing.  Ten times better than the half-asleep Rolling Stones, feel-good Americana acts like John Mellencamp, or all the other crap we’ve gotten over the last decade.

Yes I decided to stay and continue diving, despite several reservations I had against doing it.  Mostly just wanting to not stay in one place too long as it goes against what I wanted this trip to be about.  It felt lazy, and I don’t like this type of atmosphere of the island resort full of Europeans, but I’m realizing that’s what most of southern Thailand has turned into.  I think it was fine for me to relax and stay here and do something that I was having fun doing.

Yesterday: Deep dive!  30 meters or 100 feet.  And we were down there for 15 minutes.  Unfortunately the last two days visibility was not as good, so we didn’t see anything spectacular.

Last night: NIGHT DIVE!  I would be lying to say there wasn’t a moment or two of being scared.  But mostly it was fine, I think because we have just been on 6 dives prior, and you just get comfortable in the water and with the gear.

We didn’t go too deep for the night dive, 8-10 meters. So really the only big difference was just you are carrying a spotlight.  At one point we go to the bottom and turn out the lights, and you could still see ok, quite cool.

The cool things we saw were blue spotted stingrays, masked porcupine fish (of the puffer family), a huge titan triggerfish, and the biggest bright red hermit crab I’ve ever seen.  Not everyone saw it, but our assistant divemaster also said that was the biggest one he’s ever seen, so that was lucky.

So to let you know how well diving went, I’m having a hard time deciding whether to stop or not. One girl I met said she came here with no intention of diving at all, and is now addicted and been here a month.

Off topic… At the moment I’m writing this, I’m watching one of the stray beach dogs help himself to a siesta in a padded beach lounge chair next to me where the rest of us have to buy a drink to sit. hilarious.

It was really a great decision to do this dive training. I’ve been snorkeling many times in some great spots, and it’s something I’ve always wanted to do. It also got me to stop and stay in one place for a while which I needed to do, and be in a classroom which was totally not in the plans! The small island of Ko Tao is all about diving. It’s got one long beach (the one I’m sitting on now watching the sun go down) a few small ones, but no high-rise resorts fortunately. It’s very laid back, especially for Thailand, which is good because it’s a bit lonely hanging out in a resort type place when you’re by yourself.

I chose Buddha View Diving and Resort for my training. The choice was good for the training, great for meeting people, not so great on the accommodations in my opinion. They offer rooms that are “free” if you’re doing the training, but as I was trying to choose between bed #1 with a yellow stain in the middle, and bed #2 with a lot of hair on it… you get the picture. To be fair, I think all the dive resorts do the same thing, provide “free” rooms, but even in Thailand, you get what you pay for.

Like I said, the training was great, and the dives were great, except for the last one where we had limited visibility. My training team was made up of TEAM SWEDEN (2 Swedish gals,) TEAM DENMARK (2 Danish guys, who were friends of one of the divemasters here) and TEAM AMERICA (fuck yeah!) (Sorry Grandma, it’s a movie reference.)  I also hung out a lot with Jon from France (team France) and his girlfriend (who didn’t dive) and another nice guy, Denny, from Austria who was doing rescue training. We had several great trainers along the way, including Jack, our PADI daddy. (is Peter Dell reading this???)

On our last dive (which was supposed to be videotaped, but the camera was down today) Jack told us we had to do the “James Bond entrance.” Those that remember their 007 movies knows that he does a flip into the water. So pictures are up, some good, some bad, of our entrances, taken by Jack from the boat.

Perfect form, it only hurt a little…

I got 49/50 on my PADI exam and can now dive anywhere in the world up to 18 meters (about 50 feet.)

So I got the hard sell by the dive company, my dive-mates, and others I have met to take the next Advanced Open Water training. They give you a significant discount to continue your training at the same place. It will never be cheaper than this, anywhere. The training, which includes 5 dives, is less than it would cost to do 5 dives anywhere. So my choices are: see more of Thailand, or stay here and do more diving, or extend my stay here and do both.

What will I do? stay tuned.

…despite the awkward man-hug.

(more after tomorrow’s dive)

So I was really having a hard time finding a title for this post that would do it justice… we’ll see how this “sticks.”

I’ll just cut to the chase and say the ferry ride from Chumphon to Ko Tao was the worst boat ride EVAH! We left the dock on time at 7 AM after a wonderful all-night bus ride, and 15 minutes in, we stopped and anchored. We didn’t know what was going on but I realized after a short time they were waiting (probably in vain) for the water to calm down (bad winds that night.)

I guess it did, cause about 45 minutes later we took off. Smack! Rock left, rock right… Smack! A mom next to me starts helping her kids and husband barf. The boat is going fast but not even full speed. Oh boy, this is going to be fun.

90 minutes later, after what was supposed to be a 60 minute ferry, I’d estimate that at least 60% of the people had their faces buried in the barf bags at some point. I fortunately was not one of them, as I’ve never really had these kinds of problems. I also wisely didn’t eat anything overnight. I just put on my iPod and closed my eyes so I didn’t have to watch everyone else. The staff was at least prepared enough to walk around handing out tissue, smelling oils, and more bags, but after 2+ hours you can probably imagine what it smelled like too.

Not recommended, unless you check the weather first. hehe.