SO, I am home now back in the NOLA and wanted to do a final update.
I realize my last post from the JFK airport made no sense (not that any of my other posts are any example of clarity) but not sleeping and extensive travel does this to you.
Anyway-while I started this blog as an alert to the fam and close friends, it has also become sort of a web journal for me to remember this amazing experience...SO I felt that it was appropriate to wrap up and fill in any holes. BUT, first I must finish the final adventure.
While stumbling home from our GOLF game, Jess convinced a songthaew(mix between a taxi/tuk tuk/mini bus with no back driver to bring us to the airport tomorrow for about a quarter of the standard fare. I guess we shouldnt have been surprised the next day when he never showed.
We woke up the next day for a long breakfast and relaxing sun time for a few hours before we had to catch our 3 oclock flight from Krabi back to Bangkok where we were to catch a flight to Tokyo then JFK, and then NOLA for me.
Obviously we had to find a new mode of transportation to the airport. the driver brings us to the airport with only TWO sketchy stops. One: to drop off a little girl at her house who we picked up on the way (???) and two: for him to sign in at the bus station and try to sell us rambutan fruit (looks like a sea urchin). So we eventually get to the airport and went to check in for our AIR ASIA flight (air asia basically is a giant flying bus) when they todl us that they just decided that it wasnt going to happen and would we mind leaving ona later flight. Actually, we would mind, being as we have a flight home to the states, but okay.
So we end up buying new tickets on thai airways (which serves food but it is so heinous that it seems like they serve that on purpose...remember the chicken/fish hyrbid? this time it was a jello fruit pound cake fruit cake lemony hyrbid. EEK.
Back in bangkok and our bags come and we get ready for our five hours of sitting. A woman from the tourism agency comes up to us, because really, how could we avoid any last minute haggling, and asks us if we were American. I looked at her strangely. She looked back. "Actually we grew up here. We're Thai." Apparently sarcasm (although rude according to my mother) does not work with the language barrier.
Anyway, I have to share our experience with the last interesting person we met in Thailand because she really was FASCINATING. the woman, Joanna, sitting next to us thought it was funny and struck up a conversation. She was from Minnesota and studied to be a pastor before peacing out to Thailand and taking her two children, who are now 20 and 25. She started her own NGO and lives with a Karen hill tribe in Burma, working to teach them about sanitation and nutrition. Jess and I confessed our ignorance to the apparent persecution and genocide of the Karen people who not only suffer from hunger and poverty but discrimination and exile. It was so sad to talk to her and we explained to her that she should utilize university students as a volunteer asset as we have many friends from school that have been active not only in the United States but in Africa and around the world doing microfinance and the like.
For our last meal in Thailand, we were on a search for Mango with sticky rice and pad thai and of course all we really want at this point is Burger King. Jess also needed to find a gift for Barbie.
Around ten at night, we boarded our Japan Airlines flight (really never seen so many Japanese business men and felt so sloppy large and American)and Jess insisted that her ginormously tall friend (ie, me) get an exit row seat. Japan Airlines serves a lot of tea and rice snacks and the like. Unfortunately, the congealed rice dishes dont sit well and Jess and I had to opt for a luna bar instead. Note: our last flight from tokyo to NY served WAFFLES AND PANCAKES ("western style") so Jess and I had something to eat while everyone else ate fish eggs and the like. No wonder Americans are so fat.
22 hours of flying and about 14 hours of layovers we landed in NY and had to say goodbye. I DONT KNOW WHEN I AM GOING TO SEE JESS NEXT. This saddened us greatly.
Some things I forgot to mention and have no idea how I forgot this:
-there is a fish tank in the mall where you PAY to put your feet in a fish tank with many other people. people do this so fish can eat the dead skin off the bottom of your feet. notabene: It was on a Weeds episode
-hilarious drag show where "lady boys" performed show tunes, Celine, Whitney Houston and the like
-a tuk-tuk driver who had his son in the front seat with him, adorable
-roasted grasshoppers on the street. eek. bon appetit.
Pictures will be put on facebook in the next week. Thank yall all for following!!!
Tuesday, July 7, 2009
Sunday, July 5, 2009
one more flight....
So I'm in jfk airport in New York and just said bye to Garvey and hello to Max (hi max, since I know you're a loyal blog-follower!)
They headed back to the jers and I wanted to quickly jot down some of the rest of our trip.
Our last day in Ao Nang on Krabi island we went on a tour of "james bond island" which, for those James B fans was made famous by one of his movies (duh)which I believe to be the Man with the Golden Gun. Locally it is known as Ko Tapu or Nail Island. (sidebar, can't remember if I mentioned this but Ko or Koh is Island and Hat is beach in Thai). Pics to come. Because the tide was low, we took a "longtail boat" out to the island. It was sort of a gray day and the clouds created this stunny smokey haze on all the jutting out mountains-turned-islands over the past 5000 years. This islaand is not a swimming island or sandy island but it was cool to climb and explore. Our tour also included the reclining buddha in tiger cave which was interestingly in this monkey park where monkeys were just free to run around crazy and wild. Monkeys have these michevious little eyes and we even witnessed some altercations with tourists over bananas and such. Wiley little creatures. Jess and I both love the baby monkeys who travel clinging to their mothers' tummies. So cute!
The last place on our tour for the day was a muslim floating village. It is literally a whole village on sticks just chilling in the middle of the water. You can bet we were surprised to see tvs and computer is some of the "houses" which were really just floating little huts.
The dominant culture/religion on Krabi is muslim and it was fascinating to see the dichotomy between tourist-invaded thailand and religious muslims.
Our last night for dinner we wanted to have a special meal that wasn't touristy or junky and we found a restaurant called "monsoon" that was supposed to be "the best food in Ao Nang.". As always, Garvs and I were dealing with a concierge who looked at us like we asked her if it was raining when we asked where Monsoon restaurant was. Then we showed her the address(hello small beach town) and the google maps of it(which was in thai so we couldn't navigate). She still couldn't communicate with us and two taxi drivers also didn't know. Another hotel concierge from across the street sernt us in a tuk-tuk to where the restaurant was. We get out and pay and there is a huge Mcdonalds. Great.
After wandering around and stupidly thinking we will just happen to be in the right place, I asked an english-speaking (looked like) man in a hotel shiny suv where it was. "Hop in, ill bring you there.". Turns out he was German and in hotel management and after this trip, my sketch tolerance has risen. I think this might be a bad thing.
So he drops us off at this little restaurant which is very cute and run by a very cute man from Scotland who told us he has been in Thailand for 9 years! Diving brought him to Krabi and now he also runs Monsoon--a restaurant that boasts a thai chef and menu but also offers the rare to find goodies that I missed so much (like cheese! Apparently evryone in thailand thinks not only does it make you fat but its not worth having ever becuase it has to be imported!). Eek this means I can never live there.
The restaurant was relatively empty and jess and I ordered a mixture of Thai food (penaang and green curry, tiger cries) and american food (spinach and blue cheese, caesar salad). We ordered wine to celebrate last night and the owner got ON HIS MOTORCYCLE TO GET US SOME!! This was when we noticed he had a prosthetic leg from the knee down. This really got our imaginations flowing...(diving incident? shark bite?)
Hilton, the owner, was sitting outside with a few friends..including Americans and a girl from Holland who had all moved to Thailand. We ended up playing this card game called "golf" with them for awhile which Jess and I were quite good at (beginner's luck??) It was great to have a chill night with people pretty close to our age and get to hear about their experiences living in Thailand. The dive instructors siad they only get paid 6 months out of the year and basically are poor and starving half the year...one guy, from England said he only had made 100 BAHT that day..which is about 3 dollars. Perhaps if Jess and I can't find jobs we will move to Krabi and teach diving....not likely.
love and miss.
last update to come soon when I;m home in New Orleans
They headed back to the jers and I wanted to quickly jot down some of the rest of our trip.
Our last day in Ao Nang on Krabi island we went on a tour of "james bond island" which, for those James B fans was made famous by one of his movies (duh)which I believe to be the Man with the Golden Gun. Locally it is known as Ko Tapu or Nail Island. (sidebar, can't remember if I mentioned this but Ko or Koh is Island and Hat is beach in Thai). Pics to come. Because the tide was low, we took a "longtail boat" out to the island. It was sort of a gray day and the clouds created this stunny smokey haze on all the jutting out mountains-turned-islands over the past 5000 years. This islaand is not a swimming island or sandy island but it was cool to climb and explore. Our tour also included the reclining buddha in tiger cave which was interestingly in this monkey park where monkeys were just free to run around crazy and wild. Monkeys have these michevious little eyes and we even witnessed some altercations with tourists over bananas and such. Wiley little creatures. Jess and I both love the baby monkeys who travel clinging to their mothers' tummies. So cute!
The last place on our tour for the day was a muslim floating village. It is literally a whole village on sticks just chilling in the middle of the water. You can bet we were surprised to see tvs and computer is some of the "houses" which were really just floating little huts.
The dominant culture/religion on Krabi is muslim and it was fascinating to see the dichotomy between tourist-invaded thailand and religious muslims.
Our last night for dinner we wanted to have a special meal that wasn't touristy or junky and we found a restaurant called "monsoon" that was supposed to be "the best food in Ao Nang.". As always, Garvs and I were dealing with a concierge who looked at us like we asked her if it was raining when we asked where Monsoon restaurant was. Then we showed her the address(hello small beach town) and the google maps of it(which was in thai so we couldn't navigate). She still couldn't communicate with us and two taxi drivers also didn't know. Another hotel concierge from across the street sernt us in a tuk-tuk to where the restaurant was. We get out and pay and there is a huge Mcdonalds. Great.
After wandering around and stupidly thinking we will just happen to be in the right place, I asked an english-speaking (looked like) man in a hotel shiny suv where it was. "Hop in, ill bring you there.". Turns out he was German and in hotel management and after this trip, my sketch tolerance has risen. I think this might be a bad thing.
So he drops us off at this little restaurant which is very cute and run by a very cute man from Scotland who told us he has been in Thailand for 9 years! Diving brought him to Krabi and now he also runs Monsoon--a restaurant that boasts a thai chef and menu but also offers the rare to find goodies that I missed so much (like cheese! Apparently evryone in thailand thinks not only does it make you fat but its not worth having ever becuase it has to be imported!). Eek this means I can never live there.
The restaurant was relatively empty and jess and I ordered a mixture of Thai food (penaang and green curry, tiger cries) and american food (spinach and blue cheese, caesar salad). We ordered wine to celebrate last night and the owner got ON HIS MOTORCYCLE TO GET US SOME!! This was when we noticed he had a prosthetic leg from the knee down. This really got our imaginations flowing...(diving incident? shark bite?)
Hilton, the owner, was sitting outside with a few friends..including Americans and a girl from Holland who had all moved to Thailand. We ended up playing this card game called "golf" with them for awhile which Jess and I were quite good at (beginner's luck??) It was great to have a chill night with people pretty close to our age and get to hear about their experiences living in Thailand. The dive instructors siad they only get paid 6 months out of the year and basically are poor and starving half the year...one guy, from England said he only had made 100 BAHT that day..which is about 3 dollars. Perhaps if Jess and I can't find jobs we will move to Krabi and teach diving....not likely.
love and miss.
last update to come soon when I;m home in New Orleans
Friday, July 3, 2009
Loving the Islands...finally.
Hey all-
really quickly while there is this brief sun shower but I wanted to update since our last near death experience. We absolutely LOVED lalaanta hideaway...The manager, Maki, who was lovely, gave us a huge discount on the cutest little bungalow fully equipped with a shower you turn on with a button and lovely artisitc flowers painted on the wall.
The food at the hotel restaurant was authentic Thai (or American, "western" they call it here) and although there were some families and other people at the hotel, we pretty much had this huge piece of beach to ourselves. I feel SO LUCKY to be in such a beautiful place without a care in the world and am getting so anxious about returning to reality!
For dinner we ventured down the death path (in a car from the hotel) to eat at a beach restaurant called...wait for it, "Same Same but Different." Amazing. We had DELICIOUS Thai curry here and met a really nice couple from London.
The next day, we enjoyed our last day at Lalaanta and met a girl traveling in Asia before Harvard B school in the fall...she was an ex Georgetown, Lehman Brothers, and PE girl who was traveling around Asia solo. We ate a meal with her and I was able to chat with her about DC (can't wait!) and life after college (could wait forever!)
The next day we took a bus to Ao Nang beach in Krabi and the bus drive was hilarious because our driver was a cowboy wannabee and played American classics the whole two hour ride and drove like a MANIAC. The roads here, sidebar, are COMPLETELY COVERED in potholes. "bumpy" is an english word Thai people are QUITE familiar with.
When we got to Krabi, Maki from Lalaanta had organized a driver to bring us to our next hotel, the Red Ginger "Chic" Boutique hotel in Ao Nang. It said online that they were full and booked but we know that in low season that it was a complete lie so we gave it a go.
Of course they offered us a higher price then was offered on their website, so I asked to check my email and used their computer to book online (SO ridiculous and silly) and we were able to snag a beautiful room with a balcony and view fully equipped with another bed on a platform dealio and CUTE matching robes and beach mats.
After settling in, we explored the town which is SO quaint and we saw the most beautiful sunset that my pictures will NEVER do justice to.
Need to go shower and pack but will prep about our trip to James Bond Island, the floating Muslim village, OUR NEW FRIENDS!, and our last day in Thailand when I get to the airport.
much love and miss
Sam
really quickly while there is this brief sun shower but I wanted to update since our last near death experience. We absolutely LOVED lalaanta hideaway...The manager, Maki, who was lovely, gave us a huge discount on the cutest little bungalow fully equipped with a shower you turn on with a button and lovely artisitc flowers painted on the wall.
The food at the hotel restaurant was authentic Thai (or American, "western" they call it here) and although there were some families and other people at the hotel, we pretty much had this huge piece of beach to ourselves. I feel SO LUCKY to be in such a beautiful place without a care in the world and am getting so anxious about returning to reality!
For dinner we ventured down the death path (in a car from the hotel) to eat at a beach restaurant called...wait for it, "Same Same but Different." Amazing. We had DELICIOUS Thai curry here and met a really nice couple from London.
The next day, we enjoyed our last day at Lalaanta and met a girl traveling in Asia before Harvard B school in the fall...she was an ex Georgetown, Lehman Brothers, and PE girl who was traveling around Asia solo. We ate a meal with her and I was able to chat with her about DC (can't wait!) and life after college (could wait forever!)
The next day we took a bus to Ao Nang beach in Krabi and the bus drive was hilarious because our driver was a cowboy wannabee and played American classics the whole two hour ride and drove like a MANIAC. The roads here, sidebar, are COMPLETELY COVERED in potholes. "bumpy" is an english word Thai people are QUITE familiar with.
When we got to Krabi, Maki from Lalaanta had organized a driver to bring us to our next hotel, the Red Ginger "Chic" Boutique hotel in Ao Nang. It said online that they were full and booked but we know that in low season that it was a complete lie so we gave it a go.
Of course they offered us a higher price then was offered on their website, so I asked to check my email and used their computer to book online (SO ridiculous and silly) and we were able to snag a beautiful room with a balcony and view fully equipped with another bed on a platform dealio and CUTE matching robes and beach mats.
After settling in, we explored the town which is SO quaint and we saw the most beautiful sunset that my pictures will NEVER do justice to.
Need to go shower and pack but will prep about our trip to James Bond Island, the floating Muslim village, OUR NEW FRIENDS!, and our last day in Thailand when I get to the airport.
much love and miss
Sam
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