Day 2 - Waking up is hard to do when you go partying till 3 am on your first day in Europe so we left it up to Yan and Jessya to wake up early and pick up our rental car (Thanks guys :))Olichka, Mike and I got snacks, packed and checked-out of the hostel. Our snacks were not sufficient however so when Yan and Jessya got back with the car we went to a nearby cafe for brunch. as we walked in to the cafe a little girl was sauntering (yes sauntering) out, with her hands in her pockets like a little cowgirl. As she passed Olichka and me in the doors she authoritatively slapped us both on the ass. Needless to say that the rest of the group died laughing. 2 Days in Europe and already owned by a 10 year old.
After eating waaaayyy too much food we finally left Budapest and drove to Maribor Slovenia. Our hostel was pretty nice and there was only one other person saying there, an Aussie who is travelling for a year. After we changed and showered we went out for a night on the town. We specifically went to Maribor because they are in the middle of a Lent festival (Lent being a neighborhood not a religious holiday) and there was music coming at us from several places in the city.
We started our walk by climbing Pyramid hill opens up BEAUTIFUL views of the city from the top. There were fruit trees on our path so we indulged a little in some Russian style sour cherries. On the top of the hill we met a man who seemed very tickled to meet us. We communicated with him using a mix of Russian, English and maybe some German for the couple of words that he new. He was floored that were were all from different parts of the soviet union and know each other. It really amused him. He was also really surprised that we were all in our late 20s early 30s which got me thinking that maybe people in that area age faster than people in the US. If anyone knows please comment.
Once we have walked up a little appetite we went back to the city, through the main area to a restaurant that was recommended to us by the hostel owner but it was closed. I think we were all surprised at how cute and European the city looked. the buildings were all clean and cute and the feel of the street was very European with a lot of stone paved streets, cafes, and gorgeous bra less women walking around in skin tight clothing and heels. (Well maybe the last part was kinda Russian style, but the women managed to pull it off without looking skanky, so more power to them). Since our only known dining option was unavailable to us, we went down to the Lent festival to grab something to eat. They have basically makeshift restaurants right on the river with all sorts of different food prepared in the open air right in front of you. by the time we found something that everyone was OK with we were starving and inhaled a lot of delicious Slovenian food that we chased with some Slovenian beer. After dinner some of us still wanted ice cream, or sladoled as it is called in Slovenian, we we stopped by for ice cream and coffee at a cafe and slowly made our way home through the gorgeous streets.
Monday, June 27, 2011
Sunday, June 26, 2011
Penis Cream, and Ruin Pubs
Day 0 - So here I am again after a PROLONGED absence in travelling abroad. I have been excited about this trip for roughly 4 months and was really excited that Mike decided to go with me. Because he got on to the trip later than the other people (Jessica, Yan, and Olichka) he was flying a different flight and as I was leaving him at the gate to wait for his own departure I yelled through that crowd: "Don't forget your penis cream!!!" (That will teach him to vacation with me).
Day 1 - Other than that, our flight was pretty uneventful and everyone got in to Budapest on time and without incident. We cabbed it to our apartment in Buda (after Yan had left his jacket at the airport *** total of things lost = 1) and the rest of the guys opted to nap while Mike and I walked around and got some snacks. It was a little strange to see how few people were outside in the daytime. I have to mention the apartment building that we had stayed at because these were by far the nicest accommodations we have had on this trip. I booked Agape Apartments for 5 people and it was clean, pleasant, and looked like IKEA attacked it. The only weird thing about it was that the deadbolt turns 4 times so its UBER safe (or unsafe if they felt the need for a heavy duty lock like that). I would highly recommend booking with them because the location is right where the night life is and right off the Blaha Luzha metro stop.
After our meal we realized that we were tired after all and napped for a few hours while the others explored the city. Slightly refreshed by our nap we went out for food and fun. We ended up eating at a cafe and people watching for a while and waited for Smazo. He has been travelling around and happened to be at Budapest at the same time. We went and got desert at a really pricey cafe right next to the opera house and then went out on the town. The cafe had live music and I honestly felt a little under dressed for it but decided not to dwell on this too much. I completely stopped worrying about it when Jessya, who I think has a slight case of pyromania, set her hair on fire while playing with the candle that was burning on our table. No one got hurt, except for the image of American tourists in Budapest. You're welcome. Also our waiter was really funny because when we asked for a particular dessert he dissuaded us saying that there is a new chef and he is still not so good. Hilarious. For some reason I feel french waiters would be like this, but they are probably not. Yan has read up on ruin pubs, so that was our next destination.
The first ruin pub we went to had a lounge area with some couches and a pool table in one of the rooms, a courtyard with a bar and a ping pong table in the "garage". We decided on drunk ping pong and had ourselves a blast. The game we invented was doubles relay ping pong in which you run to the next position after you hit the ball. We might have been a little loud :). Once we tired of the ping pong we went to the next ruin pub, Szimplakert. This one is my favorite because of the variety of what you can do. There are two stories that you can go to in this bar, the top being more loungy with less noise and less people and the bottom having a giant TV screen, a DJ, an open air bar, and smaller cosier rooms including one with hookahs in it. we drank more and then chilled in the hookah room and indulged in some late night pizza. i feel that I will not do this bar justice so I am including a link to pictures. I think we were out till about 3 am which I feel is a very respectable first day :).
Day 1 - Other than that, our flight was pretty uneventful and everyone got in to Budapest on time and without incident. We cabbed it to our apartment in Buda (after Yan had left his jacket at the airport *** total of things lost = 1) and the rest of the guys opted to nap while Mike and I walked around and got some snacks. It was a little strange to see how few people were outside in the daytime. I have to mention the apartment building that we had stayed at because these were by far the nicest accommodations we have had on this trip. I booked Agape Apartments for 5 people and it was clean, pleasant, and looked like IKEA attacked it. The only weird thing about it was that the deadbolt turns 4 times so its UBER safe (or unsafe if they felt the need for a heavy duty lock like that). I would highly recommend booking with them because the location is right where the night life is and right off the Blaha Luzha metro stop.
After our meal we realized that we were tired after all and napped for a few hours while the others explored the city. Slightly refreshed by our nap we went out for food and fun. We ended up eating at a cafe and people watching for a while and waited for Smazo. He has been travelling around and happened to be at Budapest at the same time. We went and got desert at a really pricey cafe right next to the opera house and then went out on the town. The cafe had live music and I honestly felt a little under dressed for it but decided not to dwell on this too much. I completely stopped worrying about it when Jessya, who I think has a slight case of pyromania, set her hair on fire while playing with the candle that was burning on our table. No one got hurt, except for the image of American tourists in Budapest. You're welcome. Also our waiter was really funny because when we asked for a particular dessert he dissuaded us saying that there is a new chef and he is still not so good. Hilarious. For some reason I feel french waiters would be like this, but they are probably not. Yan has read up on ruin pubs, so that was our next destination.
The first ruin pub we went to had a lounge area with some couches and a pool table in one of the rooms, a courtyard with a bar and a ping pong table in the "garage". We decided on drunk ping pong and had ourselves a blast. The game we invented was doubles relay ping pong in which you run to the next position after you hit the ball. We might have been a little loud :). Once we tired of the ping pong we went to the next ruin pub, Szimplakert. This one is my favorite because of the variety of what you can do. There are two stories that you can go to in this bar, the top being more loungy with less noise and less people and the bottom having a giant TV screen, a DJ, an open air bar, and smaller cosier rooms including one with hookahs in it. we drank more and then chilled in the hookah room and indulged in some late night pizza. i feel that I will not do this bar justice so I am including a link to pictures. I think we were out till about 3 am which I feel is a very respectable first day :).
Saturday, October 31, 2009
Thailand Day 8
Today we just took it easy. We slept in, had a very authentic Thai lunch which I actually didn't really like and which didn't seem to like me either. It was a day of getting manicures and pedicures, smoking a hookah at a Lebanese restaurant, walking around the city for hours and getting a Foot Massage. I have to say that the foot massage is WAAAAAYYY better than a regular Thai massage. I don't know why they are not popular in the US. It's just so relaxing I want to get one every day. Another great feature of the foot massage is that an hour costs about 7 dollars.
I finished the day with some last minute shopping :) and had a delicious dinner at the hotel restaurant. Here is a little side note on Thai food:
See you in the states
I finished the day with some last minute shopping :) and had a delicious dinner at the hotel restaurant. Here is a little side note on Thai food:
- It super greasy - I have no idea how everyone is not 600 lbs.
- They put egg in everything
- It's not nearly as spicy as the Thai food in the US (This maybe because they mild it down for the tourists, I can't be sure)
See you in the states
Friday, October 30, 2009
Thailand Day 7
We got up super duper early and got picked up for our day at the beach. The drive took 3 hours (again). I have to say that a lot of day trips take about a 3 hour commute from Bangkok which I think is a bit much (6 hours spent on the road a day)
We got pretty lucky and the trip consisted of us, another couple and the tour guide. Our first stop was Kudi Island. The whole island is basically a Thai national park. Maria and I walked around and took lots of pictures. We went to the cliff, the cave and the cove. All were beautiful, and all were a little hard to get to. We should have brought shoes other than flip flops but that’s what made it an adventure. Maria was also being eaten alive by mosquitoes, but she fought them off and lived to see another day. Once we were done with our hike we were both very hot and sweaty and were ready for the next activity... SNORKELING!!
The boat took us a little away from the island and we got in the water. First of all there were a lot of really beautiful yellow and blue fish by the water so I took a couple of minutes to just swim around with them. Everything was lovely until I realized that the little bastards were biting me! No worries, I swam away and joined Maria who did not take the time to play with the fish. The coral reefs we were swimming by were absolutely beautiful. I kept trying to figure out what to compare this snorkeling trip to and I finally came up with a good description. It felt like we were swimming around a Salvador Dali painting. It was just unreal. Maria and I both decided that the black spiky things on the reefs with iridescent blue beads were our favorite. Maria thinks that the black spiky things were "morskie yeji" but I am not so sure.
Having gotten our fill of the beauty we were transported to the island of Samed to lounge around on the beach and eat an absolutely delicious meal. Throughout my whole stay in Thailand I have not finished a single meal that I was served, except this one. It was all sorts of seafood and a fish that was grilled over an open flame. We had crab, mussels, shrimp, just the works. Yummy. Over lunch we started talking to the other couple from the van. The man is from the UK and his wife is Thai. They met while the man was still married but the marriage was "on the rocks". He promptly came back from Thailand, divorced his first wife and was married again within the year.
This seems to be a common thing here. In fact, on the beach there were either gross Russian couples where the man is fat, ugly and old and the woman is gorgeous and could be his daughter or there was a Thai woman with a white guy. Apparently there are two groups of the Thai/white couple. If the woman is young, then she is the vacation girlfriend, however if the woman is a little older then she is the second wife. That’s just how it goes. We spent our time on the beach reading, people watching, and periodically taking a dip in the ocean. Lovely - and I didn't get sunburned at all!!
Our trip back was uneventful until we got back to the hotel. There were flowers there for Maria from her boyfriend (they met in India where he lives). Maria was in heaven and I left her gazing at the flowers and smiling and went to take a shower. Through the course of the shower I heard her scream and then the door slammed. When I came out of the shower there was no one in the room. Maria came back a couple of minutes later and told me that Asef, her boyfriend flew in for a day to see her because he missed her so much already. Very very sweet.
We all went out to dinner to a high end restaurant that served Japanese, Indian and Thai food and was absolutely delicious. We had a mix of food and some alcohol and went to a high end club. The cover was almost 20 dollars which is pretty steep by Thai standards even if it does include 2 drinks. In the club we again ran in to the old man with hot Thai woman combo. In fact, we counted 10 couples that were of that variety. The club had a trance room and a rap room and wasn't bad at all. We left when I could no longer feel my feet.
We got pretty lucky and the trip consisted of us, another couple and the tour guide. Our first stop was Kudi Island. The whole island is basically a Thai national park. Maria and I walked around and took lots of pictures. We went to the cliff, the cave and the cove. All were beautiful, and all were a little hard to get to. We should have brought shoes other than flip flops but that’s what made it an adventure. Maria was also being eaten alive by mosquitoes, but she fought them off and lived to see another day. Once we were done with our hike we were both very hot and sweaty and were ready for the next activity... SNORKELING!!
The boat took us a little away from the island and we got in the water. First of all there were a lot of really beautiful yellow and blue fish by the water so I took a couple of minutes to just swim around with them. Everything was lovely until I realized that the little bastards were biting me! No worries, I swam away and joined Maria who did not take the time to play with the fish. The coral reefs we were swimming by were absolutely beautiful. I kept trying to figure out what to compare this snorkeling trip to and I finally came up with a good description. It felt like we were swimming around a Salvador Dali painting. It was just unreal. Maria and I both decided that the black spiky things on the reefs with iridescent blue beads were our favorite. Maria thinks that the black spiky things were "morskie yeji" but I am not so sure.
Having gotten our fill of the beauty we were transported to the island of Samed to lounge around on the beach and eat an absolutely delicious meal. Throughout my whole stay in Thailand I have not finished a single meal that I was served, except this one. It was all sorts of seafood and a fish that was grilled over an open flame. We had crab, mussels, shrimp, just the works. Yummy. Over lunch we started talking to the other couple from the van. The man is from the UK and his wife is Thai. They met while the man was still married but the marriage was "on the rocks". He promptly came back from Thailand, divorced his first wife and was married again within the year.
This seems to be a common thing here. In fact, on the beach there were either gross Russian couples where the man is fat, ugly and old and the woman is gorgeous and could be his daughter or there was a Thai woman with a white guy. Apparently there are two groups of the Thai/white couple. If the woman is young, then she is the vacation girlfriend, however if the woman is a little older then she is the second wife. That’s just how it goes. We spent our time on the beach reading, people watching, and periodically taking a dip in the ocean. Lovely - and I didn't get sunburned at all!!
Our trip back was uneventful until we got back to the hotel. There were flowers there for Maria from her boyfriend (they met in India where he lives). Maria was in heaven and I left her gazing at the flowers and smiling and went to take a shower. Through the course of the shower I heard her scream and then the door slammed. When I came out of the shower there was no one in the room. Maria came back a couple of minutes later and told me that Asef, her boyfriend flew in for a day to see her because he missed her so much already. Very very sweet.
We all went out to dinner to a high end restaurant that served Japanese, Indian and Thai food and was absolutely delicious. We had a mix of food and some alcohol and went to a high end club. The cover was almost 20 dollars which is pretty steep by Thai standards even if it does include 2 drinks. In the club we again ran in to the old man with hot Thai woman combo. In fact, we counted 10 couples that were of that variety. The club had a trance room and a rap room and wasn't bad at all. We left when I could no longer feel my feet.
Thursday, October 29, 2009
Thailand Day 6
This morning we did have a slight mix-up with the tour and ended up waiting an hour and a half to be picked up from our hotel, but we finally got everything straightened out and were on our way. Our tour guide was a lady named Boo, and she was by far the best tour guide we have had in Thailand. Our first stop was the Tiger Temple. This is basically a wild life preserve and sanctuary. While at the temple we walked with the tigers while touching their backs and took lots of pictures with both adult and baby tigers. We also took pictures of water buffalos, wild boars and peacocks. It was glorious! I have to say I was a little nervous at first, but it was a great experience. Just amazing!
After the Tiger Temple we stopped on the road for an absolutely spectacular lunch and continued on to the rafting and elephant riding. The weather was beautiful and the rafting was very pleasant. After cooling off on the river we got to ride our very own elephant. I especially loved the elephant's stubbly head and neck and his big floppy ears. Masha sang the “Do your ears hang low” as a tribute. What I didn't love: the elephant driver beating the elephant with a wooden stick and hooking him behind the ears with a big metal hook. Maria and the elephant made fast friends and she ended up riding on his neck for a 3rd of our total time there. Very cute. When we were done we went to the baby elephant and got a couple of kisses (trunk to head/face) and also got our butts "massaged" (lightly stomped on) by said elephant child. We took so many pictures that the camera is completely dead.
Our final destination was the bridge on the river Kwai that was built by prisoners of war. We got there as the sun was setting and walked the bridge for a little while. We said goodbye to our guide here and drove home. The trip took about 3 hours so we were hungry again by the time we got back and decided to do a non Thai dinner.
Walking down the street we saw a Japanese place and a Middle Eastern place right next to each other. We decided to check out the Japanese place first but were told that there was no sushi or tempura to be had, so we went across the street (slight diagonal) and had amazing Lebanese food. While eating, we noticed that directly adjacent to the Japanese restaurant was a Japanese club with a bunch of women all dressed in red dresses sitting outside. It didn't take us long to figure out that something shady was going on and there was a reason that the restaurant didn't serve us sushi. Maria and I were trying to figure out what the system is but we never did. The best part was that the patrons of the Lebanese restaurant were mostly couples or families with the women dressed in burquas or at least with their hair completely hidden from view and long flowy robes, whereas right across the street there were basically sex workers waiting for their next client. I guess this is how they roll in Thailand.
Now it's a little after 10pm and we are both exhausted. The plan is to go to sleep early so that we are feeling alive for our day of snorkeling at some of the islands. There will be more to come. Did I mention that I LOVE THIS VACATION?
After the Tiger Temple we stopped on the road for an absolutely spectacular lunch and continued on to the rafting and elephant riding. The weather was beautiful and the rafting was very pleasant. After cooling off on the river we got to ride our very own elephant. I especially loved the elephant's stubbly head and neck and his big floppy ears. Masha sang the “Do your ears hang low” as a tribute. What I didn't love: the elephant driver beating the elephant with a wooden stick and hooking him behind the ears with a big metal hook. Maria and the elephant made fast friends and she ended up riding on his neck for a 3rd of our total time there. Very cute. When we were done we went to the baby elephant and got a couple of kisses (trunk to head/face) and also got our butts "massaged" (lightly stomped on) by said elephant child. We took so many pictures that the camera is completely dead.
Our final destination was the bridge on the river Kwai that was built by prisoners of war. We got there as the sun was setting and walked the bridge for a little while. We said goodbye to our guide here and drove home. The trip took about 3 hours so we were hungry again by the time we got back and decided to do a non Thai dinner.
Walking down the street we saw a Japanese place and a Middle Eastern place right next to each other. We decided to check out the Japanese place first but were told that there was no sushi or tempura to be had, so we went across the street (slight diagonal) and had amazing Lebanese food. While eating, we noticed that directly adjacent to the Japanese restaurant was a Japanese club with a bunch of women all dressed in red dresses sitting outside. It didn't take us long to figure out that something shady was going on and there was a reason that the restaurant didn't serve us sushi. Maria and I were trying to figure out what the system is but we never did. The best part was that the patrons of the Lebanese restaurant were mostly couples or families with the women dressed in burquas or at least with their hair completely hidden from view and long flowy robes, whereas right across the street there were basically sex workers waiting for their next client. I guess this is how they roll in Thailand.
Now it's a little after 10pm and we are both exhausted. The plan is to go to sleep early so that we are feeling alive for our day of snorkeling at some of the islands. There will be more to come. Did I mention that I LOVE THIS VACATION?
Wednesday, October 28, 2009
Thailand Day 5
This morning has been uneventful so far. We took a flight back to Bangkok and checked into our hotel. We have a free day so after I finish wring this email, I will look for something cool to do. We will probably go to a bar/lounge at night. Stay tuned for our next segment where we go to the tiger temple, ride elephants, raft and play with monkeys
Ok, let’s go back to where I left you last time:
Masha and I had a very easy going day yesterday. I took a nap and she read by the pool. At night we decided to check out a backpacker neighborhood that was recommended by a friend of hers. We took a cab over there and just walked around for a little while getting situated. We were constantly accosted by people trying to get us into a tuk-tuk or a ping pong show. We were dying to know what the hell the ping pong show was. It's not like we had no idea, we knew that it was something sexual in nature, but why ping pong?
We found a bar that served food and had tables outside, sat down and had some very delicious Thai food and a couple of drinks. While there, we met three SCOTTISH FARMERS. Apparently, if you happen to be a Scottish farmer you can go on a 4.5 month vacation all around the world during the low season. I now want to be a farmer. They also enlightened us on why a ping pong show is called that. Apparently the patrons are given ping pong rackets and then girls shoot ping pongs out of their orifices!!! AND open beer bottles with them!!! AND smoke with them as well!!! How does one discover that they have such a talent??? No matter, the question was answered and our curiosity was satisfied. After the bar we went out and clubbed for a bit, but because we had a long day ahead of us, we were home by 2 and asleep probably by 2:06am
***
I just want to start by saying that today was a super duper fun day!!! Ok, let’s go back to where I left you last time:
Masha and I had a very easy going day yesterday. I took a nap and she read by the pool. At night we decided to check out a backpacker neighborhood that was recommended by a friend of hers. We took a cab over there and just walked around for a little while getting situated. We were constantly accosted by people trying to get us into a tuk-tuk or a ping pong show. We were dying to know what the hell the ping pong show was. It's not like we had no idea, we knew that it was something sexual in nature, but why ping pong?
We found a bar that served food and had tables outside, sat down and had some very delicious Thai food and a couple of drinks. While there, we met three SCOTTISH FARMERS. Apparently, if you happen to be a Scottish farmer you can go on a 4.5 month vacation all around the world during the low season. I now want to be a farmer. They also enlightened us on why a ping pong show is called that. Apparently the patrons are given ping pong rackets and then girls shoot ping pongs out of their orifices!!! AND open beer bottles with them!!! AND smoke with them as well!!! How does one discover that they have such a talent??? No matter, the question was answered and our curiosity was satisfied. After the bar we went out and clubbed for a bit, but because we had a long day ahead of us, we were home by 2 and asleep probably by 2:06am
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
Thailand Day 4
The Golden Triangle Tour.
We got picked up a little late and ended up leaving about 2 hours after we were slotted to. Our tour was with a very varied group of tourists. There was only one other American on the bus, a couple of French girls, some Canadians, a Dutch couple and two Israeli men in their 50s. I ended up sitting up front so I wouldn't get car sick and chatted with the Israelis for a while. That’s right! I broke the “anti-social no making small talk” rule. I thought it would be good for me to be outside my comfort zone for a while. The Israelis met in the army when they were 18. One lives in Haifa and the other lives in a kibbutz by Beersheba. They are vacationing in Thailand for 3 weeks. Surprisingly, the one that lives in Haifa knows almost no English. It was cool to chat it up with them for a bit.
Our first stop was at the "White temple" I have to say that this was probably my favorite part of the tour. The temple is beautiful and extremely understated by Thai measures. There are fountains around it and the mural inside is very modern. Also, there was a monk sitting in the middle of the temple meditating. Masha thought that he was real and argued with me for a little while that he was just deep in meditation, but he is actually made of wax :). We took a bunch of pictures here. In the pictures we took it kind of looks like we're in because of the white of the temple and the white of the clouds against the background of the deep blue sky.
On the way out I stopped to use the rest room and it was a little strange. You stand in line. Take off your shoes and put on other designated bathroom shoes. Once properly attired you go, do your thing, and then come back through the exit only to change back into your original shoes again. I think this has way too many steps. As a side note I noticed that Thai people love to have one-way traffic everywhere. There is always an entrance and an exit. In a lot of temples you have to follow only one way. The same is true for baggage storage at the airport and apparently some public bathrooms.
Our next stop was the golden triangle itself. I have to say that the location is not beautiful, and I am surprised that it's such a big tourist destination. We took pictures with Laos and Myanmar in the background, but were pretty bored since there was not much else to do there. The lunch we had there was not bad at all, but other than that “The Golden Triangle” wasn’t anything ultra exciting.
After lunch we were driven to the northernmost point of Thailand. There was a big market there and we bought ourselves some "jade bracelets" We are not convinced, but they look cute so who cares? Again, OK experience but nothing out of this world.
I will take a moment here to tell you about our guide. He makes very low brow jokes, is extremely hard to understand, and usually walks facing forward so he is also hard to hear a lot of the time. Neither Masha nor I liked him very much.
After the Northernmost point we were taken to a couple of Thai villages. We both really liked this part of the tour. Some of the older women were wearing the traditional costumes so it was nice. I thought that it was funny that some homes were built in an old school way but had satellite dishes. Everyone can see this in more detail in pictures when they are ready.
The ride back was horrible for me. We were driving fast through the mountains and I got extremely car sick. I couldn't wait to get out of that car. We were the second to get dropped off. After the Dutch couple left, the driver made a rude comment about their tip ("40 baht, that’s almost a euro, how generous" the tour guide exclaimed.) God I hated that guy.
We finished our night at the night market and bought all the presents that we needed. Both of us were completely shopped out by the end of that night. As we were walking to get a cab, both of us realized that we didn't know the address of our hotel. We never needed to remember it before since tours just picked us up and dropped us off there. We talked to some tuk-tuk drivers and thought we figured it out. However, when we got to our destination it became clear that it was not our hotel and we were totally lost. We told the driver to just circle and look for an internet cafe so that we could pull up the website but as we drove around we saw that everything was closed. Suddenly I saw our hotel sign and the crisis was averted. All is well.
We got picked up a little late and ended up leaving about 2 hours after we were slotted to. Our tour was with a very varied group of tourists. There was only one other American on the bus, a couple of French girls, some Canadians, a Dutch couple and two Israeli men in their 50s. I ended up sitting up front so I wouldn't get car sick and chatted with the Israelis for a while. That’s right! I broke the “anti-social no making small talk” rule. I thought it would be good for me to be outside my comfort zone for a while. The Israelis met in the army when they were 18. One lives in Haifa and the other lives in a kibbutz by Beersheba. They are vacationing in Thailand for 3 weeks. Surprisingly, the one that lives in Haifa knows almost no English. It was cool to chat it up with them for a bit.
Our first stop was at the "White temple" I have to say that this was probably my favorite part of the tour. The temple is beautiful and extremely understated by Thai measures. There are fountains around it and the mural inside is very modern. Also, there was a monk sitting in the middle of the temple meditating. Masha thought that he was real and argued with me for a little while that he was just deep in meditation, but he is actually made of wax :). We took a bunch of pictures here. In the pictures we took it kind of looks like we're in because of the white of the temple and the white of the clouds against the background of the deep blue sky.
On the way out I stopped to use the rest room and it was a little strange. You stand in line. Take off your shoes and put on other designated bathroom shoes. Once properly attired you go, do your thing, and then come back through the exit only to change back into your original shoes again. I think this has way too many steps. As a side note I noticed that Thai people love to have one-way traffic everywhere. There is always an entrance and an exit. In a lot of temples you have to follow only one way. The same is true for baggage storage at the airport and apparently some public bathrooms.
Our next stop was the golden triangle itself. I have to say that the location is not beautiful, and I am surprised that it's such a big tourist destination. We took pictures with Laos and Myanmar in the background, but were pretty bored since there was not much else to do there. The lunch we had there was not bad at all, but other than that “The Golden Triangle” wasn’t anything ultra exciting.
After lunch we were driven to the northernmost point of Thailand. There was a big market there and we bought ourselves some "jade bracelets" We are not convinced, but they look cute so who cares? Again, OK experience but nothing out of this world.
I will take a moment here to tell you about our guide. He makes very low brow jokes, is extremely hard to understand, and usually walks facing forward so he is also hard to hear a lot of the time. Neither Masha nor I liked him very much.
After the Northernmost point we were taken to a couple of Thai villages. We both really liked this part of the tour. Some of the older women were wearing the traditional costumes so it was nice. I thought that it was funny that some homes were built in an old school way but had satellite dishes. Everyone can see this in more detail in pictures when they are ready.
The ride back was horrible for me. We were driving fast through the mountains and I got extremely car sick. I couldn't wait to get out of that car. We were the second to get dropped off. After the Dutch couple left, the driver made a rude comment about their tip ("40 baht, that’s almost a euro, how generous" the tour guide exclaimed.) God I hated that guy.
We finished our night at the night market and bought all the presents that we needed. Both of us were completely shopped out by the end of that night. As we were walking to get a cab, both of us realized that we didn't know the address of our hotel. We never needed to remember it before since tours just picked us up and dropped us off there. We talked to some tuk-tuk drivers and thought we figured it out. However, when we got to our destination it became clear that it was not our hotel and we were totally lost. We told the driver to just circle and look for an internet cafe so that we could pull up the website but as we drove around we saw that everything was closed. Suddenly I saw our hotel sign and the crisis was averted. All is well.
Monday, October 26, 2009
Thailand Day 3
Doi Suthep Temple:
When we got to our hotel in Chiang Mai it was still too early for us to check in so we checked our bags and went to get something to eat. We ended up having Spanish Omelets nearby the hotel. I am surprised that there doesn't seem to be any breakfasty Thai food available. We will either have to buy American snacks or full American since curry is a little too heavy first thing in the morning.
We ended up having to haul ass at our hotel since we only had about 20 minutes for both of us to shower and clean up. Our tour driver was a very pleasant friendly woman named Minnie (like Minnie Mouse she said). My only complaint was that she was a little overwhelming with the amount of facts that she showered us with. Over all I found the temple tour very enjoyable. Minnie showed us a book that tells you what day of the week you were born on. I was apparently born on a Thursday and Masha was born on a Wednesday. Every day of the week has a particular Buddha position assigned to it. Mine was the meditating Buddha which means (according to Minnie) that I am very smart and my profession should be teacher, lawyer, or governor. (I guess I am in the wrong line of work). Masha's, Wednesday, Buddha position was Buddha giving alms and Minnie said that Masha must be very good at eating :). We watched Minnie pray and do the whole candles (Buddha), incense (Buddha’s teaching), and the lotus flower (monk) prayer bit. It's kind of interesting. She also taught us the proper prayer form and had a monk bless us with holy water.
We found out a little about the imagery in the temple. There are beasts in the front which are a mix of crocodile, snake and dragon and they protect the temple from evil. The dragons at Doi Suthep temple had seven heads. The more heads the beast has the more powerful he is in fighting off evil.
The story goes, that the beast in question wanted to become a monk really badly but only humans were allowed to be monks so he made himself look like a human and went to the Buddha to become ordained. The Buddha, being a pretty sharp guy, saw through the beast's disguise and decided to teach him a lesson. "Go down the (306 according to Minnie) steps and wait for me. When I am done meditating I will come get you.” The beast waited for hours and hours and still the Buddha didn't come. Finally he went to sleep and changed back to his original form. Now he stands guard at the foot of the stairs to the temple.
There are also lions at the top of the staircase as a second tier of protection. The lions are not commonly used in the south because they were brought in as part of Burmese influence. We also saw another protector beast which was a combination of elephant, pig, fish, salamander, and dragon. Apparently the Thai like to create mutants J
On our way out of the temple we checked out the Jade factory. Apparently jade doesn’t only come in green but goes through the whole spectrum of colors (I still like green best). We were also taught how to spot “jade” that’s really plastic or glass. The museum was interesting but really overpriced…. Oh well.
Random facts about Thailand that we know because of Minnie:
Go get Thai massage with Masha and then go to a dinner show. More to come later. Stay tuned.
When we got to our hotel in Chiang Mai it was still too early for us to check in so we checked our bags and went to get something to eat. We ended up having Spanish Omelets nearby the hotel. I am surprised that there doesn't seem to be any breakfasty Thai food available. We will either have to buy American snacks or full American since curry is a little too heavy first thing in the morning.
We ended up having to haul ass at our hotel since we only had about 20 minutes for both of us to shower and clean up. Our tour driver was a very pleasant friendly woman named Minnie (like Minnie Mouse she said). My only complaint was that she was a little overwhelming with the amount of facts that she showered us with. Over all I found the temple tour very enjoyable. Minnie showed us a book that tells you what day of the week you were born on. I was apparently born on a Thursday and Masha was born on a Wednesday. Every day of the week has a particular Buddha position assigned to it. Mine was the meditating Buddha which means (according to Minnie) that I am very smart and my profession should be teacher, lawyer, or governor. (I guess I am in the wrong line of work). Masha's, Wednesday, Buddha position was Buddha giving alms and Minnie said that Masha must be very good at eating :). We watched Minnie pray and do the whole candles (Buddha), incense (Buddha’s teaching), and the lotus flower (monk) prayer bit. It's kind of interesting. She also taught us the proper prayer form and had a monk bless us with holy water.
We found out a little about the imagery in the temple. There are beasts in the front which are a mix of crocodile, snake and dragon and they protect the temple from evil. The dragons at Doi Suthep temple had seven heads. The more heads the beast has the more powerful he is in fighting off evil.
The story goes, that the beast in question wanted to become a monk really badly but only humans were allowed to be monks so he made himself look like a human and went to the Buddha to become ordained. The Buddha, being a pretty sharp guy, saw through the beast's disguise and decided to teach him a lesson. "Go down the (306 according to Minnie) steps and wait for me. When I am done meditating I will come get you.” The beast waited for hours and hours and still the Buddha didn't come. Finally he went to sleep and changed back to his original form. Now he stands guard at the foot of the stairs to the temple.
There are also lions at the top of the staircase as a second tier of protection. The lions are not commonly used in the south because they were brought in as part of Burmese influence. We also saw another protector beast which was a combination of elephant, pig, fish, salamander, and dragon. Apparently the Thai like to create mutants J
On our way out of the temple we checked out the Jade factory. Apparently jade doesn’t only come in green but goes through the whole spectrum of colors (I still like green best). We were also taught how to spot “jade” that’s really plastic or glass. The museum was interesting but really overpriced…. Oh well.
Random facts about Thailand that we know because of Minnie:
- The royal palace was built out of teakwood. Every new king would level the old palace and build a new one. The wood from the old palace is usually donated to build a temple.
- Thai people don't like to live in old houses because they are haunted. They constantly rebuild so that their house doesn't have a bad history. I tried to ask if this was for wooden houses only or for concrete as well :) but I don't think I was understood
- Temples are used as places of worship, places of meditation, tourist attractions, and hospitals. The monks have an herb garden and create different combinations to make people better. A blessing can also be performed when all else fails.
- There are 2 different types of medical plans:
- Insurance - 50% of the cost is from taxes, 25% from your job, 25% from you
- No insurance - "yellow card" get charged 30 baht (1 dollar) every time you go to the hospital no matter what you go for
- Most tour guides are women because they are more gentle and pleasant, although now the lady boys are starting to crop up more in those positions.
Go get Thai massage with Masha and then go to a dinner show. More to come later. Stay tuned.
***
Masha and I ended up getting a very lovely hour long massage for about 5 dollars each. The Thai massage is different. They have you put on these weird pajamas and massage you through the pjs. No oil or lotion used. Thinking back on it, the massage might have been a bit rougher than I wanted. After the massage we just had enough time to get ready for our dinner and a show. I have to say that the food wasn't great at all, show was pretty cool. We saw the peacock dance, the sword dance and a bunch of other village dances for weaving and building. Not too bad overall and we took a bunch of cool pictures. By the time we got back to our hotel we were both pretty tired and went to bed early.
Sunday, October 25, 2009
Thailand Day 2
Yesterday was really good. Masha and I went and checked out the Grand Palace and the Emerald Buddha. It's not my kind of beautiful, but I definitely appreciate the style and the amount of work that went into it. We also walked around the non-touristy part of the city and stumbled upon a temple with 300 Buddhas positioned all around the perimeter and a huge one inside the temple. It had a nice calm vibe to it which was a welcome change after the overcrowded Grand Palace. We had no problems getting to the train station on time which was nice.
We had tickets in 1st class which apparently meant that we each had a bed and didn't have to share the room with anyone. As we learned the hard way, 1st class does not mean a clean cockroach free room :). I just started eating when I saw it and completely lost my appetite. The bathroom was disgusting with pee all over the floor and the smell that made me a little nauseous. I dealt with it and just rolled up my PJs to the knees so that they wouldn't be soaked in some random urine. Also the lady that was serving food was super annoying and no one knocked before coming into our berth so we just locked the door.
Our train was 3 hours late but it was cool because I left the morning free. Right now we are going to get some food, shower and go on tours. Chiang Mai has a really nice calm vibe and I am excited.
We had tickets in 1st class which apparently meant that we each had a bed and didn't have to share the room with anyone. As we learned the hard way, 1st class does not mean a clean cockroach free room :). I just started eating when I saw it and completely lost my appetite. The bathroom was disgusting with pee all over the floor and the smell that made me a little nauseous. I dealt with it and just rolled up my PJs to the knees so that they wouldn't be soaked in some random urine. Also the lady that was serving food was super annoying and no one knocked before coming into our berth so we just locked the door.
Our train was 3 hours late but it was cool because I left the morning free. Right now we are going to get some food, shower and go on tours. Chiang Mai has a really nice calm vibe and I am excited.
Saturday, October 24, 2009
Thailand Day 1
I landed about 14 hours ago but everything was crazy and it was late so I didn't get a chance to use the internet (o\plus 20 hour flight takes a lot of mental capacity out of you)
I got lucky enough to sit behind a screeching 2 year old on the 12 hour leg of my trip and her dad kept almost hitting me in the face with his seat since he was moving it back and forth every half an hour. Other than that the flight was very smooth and the transfers were pretty painless. After I got in and SHOWERED, we went out to the night market to walk around and then had drinks at the beer garden. I got a local SIM card so I have a cell phone number here: 08-7706-1947.
There was the whole ordeal of getting the phone unlocked which basically involved going to the biggest mall that I have ever seen in my entire life. I don’t know how anyone finds anything there. We were directed by three different people to three different stores and finally one of the guys from the store just walked us to a stand where they unlocked my phone for $9 dollars. Pretty sweet deal if I do say so myself. They apparently unlock all phones including the iPhone. Now we will go to the Grand Palace and see the Emerald Buddha and then catch our 6pm train to Chiang Mai.
I got to hear a lot about India from Masha. We should totally go at some point. She loved it. Also, the food here is incredible (although I haven't had all that much of it yet).
I got lucky enough to sit behind a screeching 2 year old on the 12 hour leg of my trip and her dad kept almost hitting me in the face with his seat since he was moving it back and forth every half an hour. Other than that the flight was very smooth and the transfers were pretty painless. After I got in and SHOWERED, we went out to the night market to walk around and then had drinks at the beer garden. I got a local SIM card so I have a cell phone number here: 08-7706-1947.
There was the whole ordeal of getting the phone unlocked which basically involved going to the biggest mall that I have ever seen in my entire life. I don’t know how anyone finds anything there. We were directed by three different people to three different stores and finally one of the guys from the store just walked us to a stand where they unlocked my phone for $9 dollars. Pretty sweet deal if I do say so myself. They apparently unlock all phones including the iPhone. Now we will go to the Grand Palace and see the Emerald Buddha and then catch our 6pm train to Chiang Mai.
I got to hear a lot about India from Masha. We should totally go at some point. She loved it. Also, the food here is incredible (although I haven't had all that much of it yet).
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