Koh Tao to Bangkok

Written on 11:06 PM by John

Koh Tao is one of those glorious little beach island where you can lounge and do nothing, hike through the hills, read a book on the beach, join a dive trip, or watch the latest American film while chomping down on a $5 Australian steak. It’s a place with backpacker huts and high end hideaway 5 star resorts. All in all, you can circle the island, more or less, in about an hour by motor bike. We did our fair share of snorkeling, kayaking, beach bumming, and just plain exploring the various nooks and crannies of everyday life on Koh Tao. We will miss this little island oasis.

Spider
The night before our departure from Koh Tao, we headed back to our tiny little beach bungalow for a much needed shower (cold water only, of course). On this day, I (John) plopped down on the porch to read a little, while Meredith took the first shower. Suddenly, a scream erupted from the bungalow, and I thought “hmm, I guess the water is cold!” But then, another scream, followed by “John!” I jumped up and ran into the hut, only to be face to face with a spider as big as my hand and as hairy as my face (bearded). I was scared. I looked for a good smashing device, grabbing the closest and heaviest book. As I approached, the spider began to bolt toward Meredith, who was hunkered down in the bathroom. I acted quickly, throwing the book down on top of the spider. With a grunt, the spider caught the book, and threw it against the far side of the hut. The spider then took course for Meredith once more. Why, I don’t know, it was I who had just tried to smash it, but this spider had a keen sense for the sector of mankind intent on abolishing the species in a great arachnid genocide (Meredith is heading this effort I believe).

As the spider approached, Meredith’s face changed from fear to anger. Her space was invaded and she wasn’t going down without a fight. She then leapt onto the spiders back, grabbed a pony tail of spider fur, kicked in her heals, and said “giddy up spider!” (some of you may not know that Meredith had a small stint as a barrel racer as a child) Out of the door they went, the spider now with fearful eyes and Meredith with the determination of a matador looking for the first effective strike. And that was the last I saw of both Meredith and the Spider. Others in the town mentioned seeing them in a flash of fierce battle as the spider galloped on four legs while attempting a deadly strike with the remaining four. Others report Meredith having quickly defeated the spider and using the separation as moment to escape from her frumpy traveling companion. Who knows what the truth is…. After the spider incident, I went to the front desk, turned in the key to the hut, obtained a key for a new air conditioned room with hot shower and settled in for a good clean comfortable sleep away from spiders, mosquitos, lizards, and the like. Meredith would have liked the new room, it was clean and cool with a refreshing shower!

Back in Bangkok
Back in Bangkok I ran into Meredith who talked of some fantastic story that really seemed like nonsense, but I grabbed her, hugged her, and was so happy to see her still alive and unscathed. We checked in to a GREAT hostel in downtown Bangkok called Lub D. This place was extremely modern, clean, friendly, and in a great location. Here, we booked our flight to Cambodia and set out to see all of the temples we missed on our fist time around Bangkok. From our hostel, we could walk, or take a short Tuk Tuk ride, to a water taxi (boat) that headed straight downtown to the major sites. Traveling by boat was really quite nice. The boat service is much like a bus service, accept without the traffic. The boats have dedicated stops that are clearly marked and easily accessible to many major roads within the city. This option could work nicely in many parts of D.C.

Our first stop was Wat Pho, Temple of the Reclining (sleeping) Buddha. This Buddha is huge! The gold plated reclining Buddha is 46 meters long and 15 meters high, and is designed to illustrate the passing of the Buddha into nirvana. This is the largest reclining Buddha in Thailand. However, the Buddha is only part of the experience as the surrounding temples bring a sparkle to the city with colored glass mosaics, brightly colored ceramic roofing tiles, extravagantly painted carvings, and magnificent frescos.

Our next stop was the Grand Palace, or Phra Borom Maha Ratcha Wang. The palace served as the official residence of the king of Thailand from the 18th century to the mid-20th century. One of the main attractions within the Grand Palace is the Emerald Buddha (actually made of jade). While the Buddha is impressive, it looks aesthetically plain next to the reclining Buddha. However, in Thailand, this is reported to be the most revered figure of the Buddha, and for good reason. The Emerald Buddha was reportedly created in India 43 BC, but its origin is really unknown. Here is an excerpt of its discovery:

“The image was discovered in 1434 when lightening cracked open a chedi in a Chiang Rai temple. When discovered, it was covered in plaster and the abbot of the temple kept it in his quarters until the plaster started to flake off, revealing the jade underneath. Hearing of the discovery, the King of Lanna dispatched some soldiers to bring the image back to Chiang Mai. However, the elephant sent to carry the image refused to take the road back to Chiang Mai (Buddha images are often thought to have such powers over their movement). Seeing this, the escort took it as a sign and re-routed to Lampang.”

Interesting, huh??

Our next and final stop was the Temple of the Dawn, Wat Arun. This place is spectacular. While not large by acreage, the architecture and setting is breathtaking. Wat Arun has huge pagoda like structures reaching 80 meters tall. Steep steps lead to two terraces on the tower, and can be a bit rough for those that fear heights (Meredith and I, though I thinking we are getting better by the day).

Kitty Cat
Our second day in Thailand took us on a long tour to Tiger Temple. Luckily, we met a great Taxi driver (see memorable quotes section below) the previous day after finally taking the very valid advice to avoid Tuk Tuks and only use taxis. Safety is a concern, yes, but really there is not price difference, so why not take the air conditioning and remove the constant haggling? Anyway, Mr. Koon proved to be quite reliable.

The days tour started with a history lesson as we visited the River Kwai. The bridge at river Kwai begun in October 1942, using prisoner of war (POW) labor as well as local (slave) labor. The bridge was apparently memorialized in the 1957 movie The Bridge on River Kwai, though we had never heard of the bridge or the movie. The bridge was built under Japanese occupation to help supply Japanese troops and move supplies between Bangkok and Rangoon. With poor living and working conditions, thousands of POWs lost their lives in the process of building and reconstructing this bridge. I guess we will need to see the movie.

Our next stop was Tiger Temple! Now, we expected this to be a Buddhist temple where we might be able to get a picture with a Tiger. But, as it turns out, we did not see a temple, but did get to see a whole lot of tigers! Meredith and I were overwhelmed by these animals. Being so close, and getting to pet them, was quite a rush. I don’t think Meredith stopped smiling the whole time we were there. We first visited with the cubs. There we were able to pet them, but “Don’t touch the head!” We met a young English volunteer who had fully bruised arms and legs with scabbed over scratch wounds covering most of her body. She informed us that when the tigers play, they play rough. She also informed us that further down the trail we could see the parents of these little cubs.

Oh my gosh! We were greeted by about 13 lazy tigers (some say sedated, but they got pretty rowdy from now and then). The volunteers grabbed us one at a time by the wrist and directed us from tiger to tiger telling us where it was safe to sit and where to pet the tiger without risking a “playful” bite. I really was like being behind the scenes at a zoo. To our surprise, we were only 2 of about 20 people, so there was plenty of time to interact with the tigers and observe them up close. It was one of those offshoot highlights that come now and again when traveling. A great experience that neither of us will be sure to forget.

Next stop, Angkor Wat, Cambodia! We will post again soon!

For more pictures, see:
http://picasaweb.google.com/picajohn/TheLifeSpreadsheet

Interesting Conversations

Guidance from the Cab Driver (Mr. Koon):
“Mr. John, you call your father?”
“Yes, I call my father.”
“How often? How often to you call your father, how often do you call your parents?”
“When I am at home, sometimes every day, but at least a couple of times a week”
“That is good, you are a good son. It is important to call your parents so they don’t worry.”
(I think Mr. Koon was upset that his children do not call more)

More guidance from Mr. Koon:
“Many people work, work for big money, but ignore their family…they ignore their children. These people are not happy. I do not have a lot of money, but I have a good family, good children. I am very happy. This is how to be happy. Mr. John, you have good travel companion, this makes you happy. You go home, you have good children and this will make you happy. It is not happy to be alone…to be lonely when you are old with no one to help take care of you.”
(Mr. Koon previously had a much better job, but the economy has been very bad for a while. He worked as salesman and was trained by a western company in both the U.S. (Cleveland) and Japan (Osaka). He also has to take care of his wife who has diabetes and needs dialysis three times a week. The dialysis is expensive and consumes most of Mr. Koon’s salary)

Young girl in Angkor Wat temple complex (approx. 6 years old):
“One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten… Uno, dos, tres, quarto, cinco, seis, siete, ocho, nueve, dies…zero, un, deux, trios, quatre, cinq, six, sept, huit, neuf, dix…Do you want to buy a photo? Only one for $1. Do you want to buy a photo? Only 2 for $1. Do you want to buy a photo? Only 10 for $1”
(She was so cute. This girl had a choreography all worked out that she ran through like a DJ looping mad dance beat mixes of old school rap)

Everywhere in Bangkok:
“Do you want Ping Pong show?”
(this is not ping pong, don’t ever go...and no, we didn’t go)

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Bangkok to Koh Samui to Koh Tao

Written on 7:13 AM by John

Oh, how it is to be travelin...


As many of you know, this is John's second backpacking trip. As many of you also know, this is Meredith's first backpacking trip. To be honest, thus far, things have been somewhat inbetween backpacking and hoteling when compared to John's fist 7 month stint. (Don't let John fool you...we've been staying in hostels and sharing showers with see through doors) Oh, but things may very well be changing....

Let's look at the trip to Koh Samui. How does one travel from Bangkok to Koh Samui, you ask? Good question. Well, one has a choice. Option 1 is to fly straight to Koh Samui. Option 2 is to...well, let's look at option 2, the option we and all good backpackers take.

Option 2 requires 11 simple steps:

1. Step 1 - Book the ticket through a travel agent (similar to option 1).
2. Step 2 - Hire a tuk tuk and arrive at said agent's office at the agreed upon travel time (still similar to option 1).
3. Step 3 - Pile into truck at agent's office to be transported to random street corner (whoa, option 1 doesn't require this).
4. Step 4 - Confirm that other backpackers at the random street corner are going to the same, or a similar (on a similar path) place
5. Step 5 - After waiting for about an hour, run through the monsoon to the bus across the busy highway, and pile, soaking wet, into a 50 degree freezebox.
6. Step 6 - Sit in freeze box for 12 hours, ignoring the putrid smell of the bathroom directly behind your seat.
7. Step 7 - Get dropped off at a random restaurant (more like roadside food stand)- all other travelers stay on bus....bus leaves (can we go back to option 1?)
8. Step 8 - Get in random truck and get transported to another random restaurant.
9. Step 9 - Get on another bus for a 1 hour ride to the dock.
10. Step 10 - Get on boat for a 3 hour ride to the beutiful island of Koh Samui!
11. Step 11 - Hire taxi, after fierce negotiation, to take you to the hotel (or location of choice upon which time you go from hotel to hotel in an attempt to negotiate the best price after a 24 hour journey full of sweat, stink, and very near tears)

So, obviously, it makes sense to save the $200 and go with option 2, as we did, loving every minute of it!

| 6 comments

Shanghai to Bangkok! Whew!

Written on 4:37 AM by John

Greetings! Meredith and John are alive and well and enjoying life in Bangkok. How did we get to Bangkok, you ask, good question... Our last correspondence had us on streets of Shanghai. Since then, we have been to Hangzhou, Huangshan, Suzhou, Beijing, and the Great Wall of China.

Land of a billion, communist regime, bustling economy, culturally diverse, ecologically stimulating, China has just about everything...clouded in smog, pushing, shoving, and spitting.
Our first stop after hazy Shanghai was Hangzhou. Hangzhou is like a little Savannah with 30 acres of manicured parks surrounding a lake built for a King. Full of high end shops, expensive cuisine, and good weather, Hangzhou is a place where the elite leave Shanghai to find peace and serenity. Meredith and I found both in a quaint hostel, which included a small puppy that made us long for our little Lucas (Lucas, don't come here looking for us - they might eat you).
Meredith and I tramped the entire lake side, up the adjacent cliffs, and through the crowded streets. As wonderful a respite that this little town offered, it was still too close to Shanghai and we needed to keep moving.

Our next stop was Mount Huangshan. Mount Huangshan is one of China's greatest treasurers, offering a cooler climate and magnificent jagged peaks that thrust thousands of feet straight up. The climb requires 3 hours of steps, straight up! We started out ok, but after the first hour, the legs started to shake and we wondered "how much further." With the 70 year old porters, carrying 60lbs a piece, quickly passing by, we decided to keep some sort of self respect and tramp on without complaint. The climb was well worth the effort with Karate Kid mountain bonsai scenes giving us extra strength with each step. It was a wonderful experience and a highlight of China.

We then decided that we should take a "direct" route Beijing. Our best informants (aka Meredith) recommended the 5 hour train to Nanjing, stay the night, and another 12 hour overnight train to Beijing. Best option....we booked the train to Nanjing with our little bit of Chinese. The trains here require a specific language around the type, or I should say, speed, of the train. "Fast Train" is the key. However, "Fast" has five levels and seems to depend on some random wheel of fortune rating system. So, our "fast" train started chugging along. Luckily I was sitting next to a nice young Chinese girl (poor Meredith was stuck next to a large Chinese man with arms busting across all personal space), so, though three people to a bench seat, I wasn't over crowded. Even more lucky, she was a singer...and a dancer. Oh could she dance! She immediately took to display her skills as the train started to chug along. First, she was a bit modest, letting her cell phone mp3 player scream out on its own. Then, she began to embellish with a bit of Karaoke. Oh, her voice like that of an angel. Next, she stood on her seat, singing loud, dancing with the train as it jostled along the tracks. Not to be uncouth, she was sure to remove her shoes before the dance. Oh, the sour smell of her feet... The air was thick with a putrid funk, filling my lungs like a rotten pull from an ancient hookah. Choking, gasping, I sat, ears ringing with her mind numbing song and bouncing along with the beat of her dance moves. Feeling the spray of her food as she slopped it haphazardly, very nearly entering her mouth, on occasion, but not quite. Finally, Meredith and I decided to ditch the train. I just couldn't handle it. She, in actuality, was no dancing queen, nor was she pleasing to anyone on the train.

The next stop happened to be Suzhou. We looked to our guide books short description and grabbed a cab pointing to the name of the nicest hotel describe in our guidebook. It took the cab driver quite a while, but we finally found the hotel-Home Inn. It was about 12am, but luckily they had a room available. We took a quick look at the room and agreed on a price. Happy to be somewhere other than the train, we dropped our luggage and went to wash up. It was then that the water started pouring through the ceiling from the bathroom above. We then picked up our bags and headed back down stairs. Another room at the same price was not available, but through negotiations, at 12am after a long night mind you, we agreed at a price on another room. We headed back up three flights of stairs to find a room literally falling apart. We then headed back downstairs, negotiated our money back, and walked out of the door. Thus, we began wandering around a tiny Chinese town in the middle of the night. Luckily, we came across a MUCH nicer, albeit more expensive, hotel that was just what we needed. Clean, and as comfortable as a Chinese hard bed can get.

The next morning we headed straight to the train station. We booked the first "fast" train to Shanghai (this was actually a fast train). Four hours later we were back in Shanghai, booking the night train to Beijing. Uneventful was the trip, as we scooted along through the night and checked into a wonderful hostel in the Wangfujing district of Beijing. Wangfujing houses the infamous street food that so much of the world was mezmorized by during the side stories surrounding the 2008 Beijing Olympics. Whether you have a hankering for bull testicles, dog soup, scorpion, or silk worms, it is all available here. We chose the candied cherries. Whooooo, aren't we adventurous. Hey! they were good.

We took quick stride to wander the expansive courtyards of the forbidden city and many side temples. Side note: China needs to do a better job on the museums attached to the temples. It's really kind of annoying to look at several hundred ceramic bowls with the description "Exceptional Precious ceramic bowl circa 735 A.D. - 1600 A.D."

Where next...where else...to swim in the Water Cube of course! What? Oh my god, the water cube has a water fountain for a swimming pool. Well, at least the diving pool is open. What? No guests can't go diving...why did we come to China!!! (This is why John came to China and here is where he started to cry - real tears). The diluted sweat of Michel Phelps left untasted by the countless thirsty tourist. Forever will the gold medal essence be lost among the countless pictures and ill advised future documentaries...just one taste...What's the matter with us...the Great Wall is here!

Yeah! We are off to the Great Wall of China. This, my friends, are you all listening, is unbelievable. Seriously, the pictures don't do it justice. Just as if you have ever seen the Grand Canyon, or Machu Picchu, in person, the pictures just don't do it. The place is unreal. Our hike was about 10 kilometers of pure Great Wall magic. Unbelievably uncrowded along our remote stretch of wall, the place was more than surreal. At every turn, all we could say is "wow." That is all I can say to you, "wow, amazing, unbelievable, come see it..."

Done with the smog, now we are in Bangkok! A lovely little oasis in the city, we are at a swanky little hostel that is more like a boutique hotel (http://www.refillnow.co.th/). What a joy. The food is amazing! As much as we tried to enjoy the Chinese food we had, it was all reletive, this food is what we craved. Fresh, spicy, complex, mouth watering, we can't get enough real Thai Food. The weight will come back on, I am sure.

We have bounced around the city on a crazy Tuk Tuk ride through back alleys to forbidden temples. We prayed to the Black Buddha, pretended to shop for fine threads, and joined the locals on the water taxi through the Bangkok canals. This place is dirty, hot, and sticky, but a welcomed change. The Thai people are so welcoming, helpful, and happy, how could anyone not love to be here. Tomorrow we head to Koh Samui for some real beach time, more great Thai food, diving, and plenty of frozen drinks filled with local fruits.

Oh, we are getting very good at being retired....

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Last Day in Shanghai

Written on 4:33 AM by John

Today is our last day in Shanghai. We have been to the famous Bund, Old International Concession, Old Chinese City, and Former French Concession. The Bund provides an often hazy view of the east side of Shanghai divided by the Huangpu River. It’s a great place to snap pictures of the sky line and get your bounds as you set course for exploration. Just west of the Bund is the Old International Concession. This is basically all of the highend Georgtown or New York shops strung along about 8 blocks with hawlkers in the middle asking you to buy a watch, T-shirt, etc. Just south of the Old International Concession lies the Old Chinese City. This is really what you might invision a big city Chinese neighborhood to be—tons of knock offs, antiques, art, food stalls, and packs and packs of people. This was the first time we felt like this city was somewhere other than any other city, really. West of all this you have the Former French Concession. The Former French Concession seems to be an expats haven full of international cuisine and boutique shops, with less crowd and polution than many other parts of the city we had been to.

Reading the magazines and travel guides, the majority of the must see/do in Shanghai centers around food and nightlife. Being our first stop in China, we are trying to take it slow on the food adventure. Don’t worry, I will shock the world later with some Andrew Zimmerman like bizarre food stories, but for now we are taking it slow. As for the night life, well, between the jet lag and rock hard matresses, we haven’t experienced any nights outside of the hostel. A shame, I know, but we will revisit this guzty “little” city at the end of travels with plenty of steam and last night drama to tap into whatever nightlife may be had. For now, however, we are content to venture on into the real China to explore the people, landscapes and cuisine that make each province so special.

Chinese character note 1:
For some reason, we have notice a lot of spitting. Not your casual rare instance of ejectile need, but common place and quite frequent hacking up a lung spitting. Now, we may all have various views and levels of dislike to this, in my opinion, disgusting act, but, when one is personally effected....I mean, when one actual receives a direct blow....well we have all seen Seinfields rendition of the FDR shooting right? Worst of all, especially for those who know her, Meredith was tagged three times in one day! Three times! It was a battle field out there. We actually had to develop a flanking strategy to alert each other of any throat clearing. This worked for a while, but when a bus pulled up and had some shots comimg from the window, Meredith couldn’t find a path of escape. This Shanghai is one dangerous place. We will update you if other parts of China require the same deftness.

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We're Here!!

Written on 12:36 AM by John

After 24 hours of almost straight flying, we finally made it to Shanghai!! Flying to shanghai via Rome, Italy has to be the longest way. The first leg of our trip from Atlanta to Rome wasn't so bad -- it was only about 10 hours. Then the second leg from Rome to Shanghai was quite the experience -- John and I were sandwiched between two chinese men (who took more than their fair share of the arm rest and didn't hesitate to intrude on your personal space or try to read over your shoulder) in the middle row for 12 hours straight with nothing but a choice of cheesy B rated chinese movies or our books!! When we landed we made it to our hostel without a problem (thanks to Joe). We took the number 2 bus and ended up 10 minutes from our hostel. By the time we got here, we showered and fell asleep and didn't wake up for 10 hours! Now, this put us in a bit of a pickle. It was now nightime in China and we were just coming off of 10 hours of sleep. What else to do, we decided to go to bed...

So today, was our first real day in the city. We walked from Jingan district to the Bund, which is located on the waterfront. It was about a 3-4 mile walk each way, so we should find the pounds just dropping off any day now. Surprisingly, Shanghai reminds me a lot of NY -- it has the western influence with tons of shopping and huge buildings, but it's also a little dirtier. There's a haze in the air that we can't decide if its smog or just a foggy day.

It's close to 5:00, so it's almost time for happy hour and dinner...stay tuned for more to come. Next time we'll try to include pictures.

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First Stop - Leaving Lucas

Written on 6:59 AM by John

About two years ago Meredith became fully disenchanted with our lack of adventure and lack of future plans to move past a monotonous life of dull work that neither of us was enjoying. I fully agreed with her sentiment, however after being in the Army, just about anything was tolerable and better than many alternatives that I could think of. The point that I was missing, and the point that she was nice enough to share, is that life isn’t about measuring yourself against lower alternatives, but about measuring yourself against what could be. Or, even better, not what could be, but what should be.

This is when my annoyingly anal accounting side took full control. I jumped on the computer and began creating “The Life Spreadsheet.” As many of you have heard, The Life Spreadsheet has guided much of our activities over the last year and a half. This is proprietary technology at its best, folks. Our spreadsheet provided us many things: traveling options, moving location options, work scenarios, master’s program scenarios, and the budget. Ultimately, the budget became the focus. But, before that happened, we went though more cities to move to, travel options, and work/education scenarios than I care to remember. Finally, we decided on quitting work in October 2008, traveling to South East Asia for 3 months, and moving to San Francisco (I have to say that the moving thing has been by far the most controversial of all decisions).

Ok, so you decide to quit work for 3 months during the most tumultuous time of our country’s economy (at least during my lifetime). And, you really have no idea what you will do once you get back, how long it will take to find a job, or even where to live. What the hell are you thinking? Let’s go to The Life Spreadsheet and see….

The Life Spreadsheet has allowed us to calculate up front travel costs, monthly travel expenses, expected monetary needs upon return, lag time to finance during job search, etc. This gave us our budget needs, so that we could start a monthly savings rate that would be necessary to accomplish our goals. Wow, it actually works out! We can travel for 3 months move to San Francisco and have plenty of rainy day funds for any hiccups along the way or future unforeseen circumstances! The stogy accountant approves and thus Meredith’s travel plans are at the forefront of our thoughts for the next year and a half.

Now the day is here. We have quit our jobs, packed our belongings and are now sitting at a computer in High Point, NC—aka Aunt Lynn’s house. Aunt Lynn has taken on a pivotal role in The Life Spreadsheet. She has taken on keeper of the dog, Lucas, and keeper of the stuff (to be shipped to SF upon our return). How exiting it is to know be well on our way.

We will spend the next two weeks eating ourselves into obesity and drinking ourselves into oblivion to condition our bodies fully for international travel. Joking, of course, we will be visiting family.

Stay tuned! We depart for Shanghai on October 7, and will update the blog as soon as traveling commences.

Posted in First Stop Aunt Lynn Lucas | 1 comments