STuck in Ko-RAIN + BaNGKoK

Pool View from Siam resort looking at the angry churned up ocean.


Sometimes even the most seasoned travelers need to backtrack, and today is a really slow day. Since my scooter mishap four days ago the weather here on Ko Chang has taken a turn for the worse and gotten progressively hotter, rainier, and more humid each day. Its about 1 o' clock in the afternoon now and it has been raining nonstop since 6:30 or so yesterday evening. Not just a drizzle mind you but full-on monsoonal frog choker with occasional spurts of mere heavy rain. Prior to my scooter injuries and the onset of the really fierce tropical humidity I was pretty content in my simple little bungalow but when you've got wounds that are oozing and you're chocked full of antibiotics and painkillers you grow tired of sweating and waking up covered in an icky film, plastered to your bedsheets. I made the excellent command decision yesterday to check myself into the nicer resort with hot water and air conditioning just down from the Nature bungalows and boy have I been happier. Its been nice to let my things dry out a bit (my new Nikes were beginning to sprout like moldy bread) and I think my scooter injuries are enjoying the dryer environment and the nice cool air conditioning as well. My friends who saw my arm today were impressed with how well my arm was healing. I slept like a drunk baby last night. It was lovely with the nice comfy room and the sound of the rain, lightening, and the waves outside. The comfortable room at Siam and the foul weather have also given me a chance to read and plan a bit more of my trip. I have just a few pages left in my book I began before I left. (Thanks Mom) A few more days on the mend here in Ko Chang and I shall depart once my stitches are removed and the ladies at the clinic give me the thumbs up.

WARNING: GRAPHIC PHOTO OF ARM WITH STITCHES BELOW.














On the Mend. Looking much better.

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NOW, JUMPING BACKWARDS a little bit a few thoughts and pictures from Bangkok. I hope my readers will please forgive this chronological aberration but better late than never right?


Typical Bangkok sidewalk eatery which only appears after dark.

My first stop in the "land of smiles" and I was not to be disappointed. Bangkok does not disappoint. It ham handedly plays to all of your preconceived notions but it has a few suprises in store as well. Yes it is wild, cheap, hot, humid, tropical, sex is for sale and prostitution is on display everywhere, there are a bajillion Buddhist temples, and yes the food is delicious.

Arriving fresh from Bombay I was surprised to find the touts, cab drivers and con-men really weren't that aggressive or dangerous and even would offer help and advice without an ulterior motive. (That really threw me after my run-in with a couple of illegitimate cabbies at the Mumbai airport.) Parts of Bangkok could easily pass for Tokyo or Singapore and bear no likeness to the post-war Bangkok of American cinema and TV shows.

I don't have a good photo to offer but the food court in the Paragon Mall was the most incredible food court I've ever seen. It was absolutely massive. You could wonder around losing yourself inside of it oohing and ahhing at all of the really slickly presented very delicious looking things to eat. Thai, Asian, European, African, Anartican; You name it they had it, and they had it for cheap!

I met a young Scottish Physicist named Mel in the hotel/hostel where I was staying who was a really wonderful human being and basically Mr. Thailand. Mel spoke a good bit of Thai, taught Thai cooking classes, was a fully licensed Thai masseuse and was also the defacto mayor of Khe Sanh Road. Mel was kind enough to show me the ropes in Bangkok and offer some real pearls of Thailand travel advice. He even shepherded me through the seedy streets of Patpong and I didn't lose a dime. Anyway thanks Mel for the free Thailand 101 course. Best of luck with your new teaching gig.

Aside from the quick tour of Bangkok I got from Mel I really didn't do too much in Bangkok outside of the back-packer area around Khe Sahn. I spent a large part of my time there glued to my netbook starting this blog and attempting to tie up some loose ends I left dangling behind at home. I will pass through Bangkok several more times before my SE Asia adventure concludes so I plan to delve a little deeper and see more of the Bangkok sights later.



The mildly gentrified back-packer ghetto of Khe Sanh Road



Khe Sanh Road: You want it - They got it



Does anyone want to be a pilot for Luft Hansa? I was told the Bangkok cops own these fake document operations and the only thing that is off limits apparently is a passport.


One of the many temples around my hotel.



Real Deal Pad-Thai before I rip into it.


After


The twin pillars of the Thai beverage universe: Singa and Chang



Gas station by day, night club/cafe at night. Very Bangkok. Notice the speakers atop the pylons.



Two girls waiting on the train in Bangkok's ultra modern mega-shopping district. They are unfazed by the smoke and light show being tested on the stage in the distant background.



Thais really do love to have their pictures taken. This food vendor spied me aiming my camera at her atop a bridge and shot me her best smile. Unfortunately my camera settings were a bit off and I had to settle for this one. If anyone knows how to turn off underline in blogger please leave a comment.



I just like this one. Reminds me of Wong Kar-Wai

DiSAsTer STRIKES!

OK, no one who cares about me panic, but I had a bit of a little accident today. No it wasn't a waterfall. I threw that picture in just for fun and to keep you guessing a bit. Some of you have undoubtedly already guessed the nature of my calamity as it is embarrassingly typical, but before I go on a disclaimer.

If you do not like the sight of gruesome things, blood etc. stop reading here and DO NOT read any further or look at the pictures below!

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That being said its nothing too bad, but I did elect to get stitches in order to expedite my recovery and prevent complications or scaring. Also I'm WAY too lazy to be fussing over an open wound every day in the tropics.

THE STORY:

I had rented a scooter yesterday and for only fifty Bhat more I could keep it until 2'o clock today. I elected to keep the scooter overnight and after the roads from the rain this morning had dried a bit I thought I would venture out to see about buying a Thai cell phone and possibly a dive mask. This was my third day out in Ko Chang on a scooter and I was feeling pretty good about things. In retrospect I may have been a bit on the cocky side. I felt under control as was rounding a very sharp blind curve on my way to Kao Bao. I was hugging the inside of a left bending curve, as you drive on the left here, and I figured there was a good chance that I might meet oncoming traffic cheating the curve a bit to my side. The traffic rules here are pretty loose. What I didn't anticipate was someone would be so stupid to dive their scooter into the inside of a blind curve, in the wrong direction headed straight into whatever oncoming traffic there might be around the bend. Well they did and I was pretty surprised to see a white tourist couple of indeterminate European origin coming straight at me and not swerving out. The situation only got worse from there because just as I hit the brakes and aimed inside the curve towards the ditch attempting to avoid a head on collision, I hit a patch of wet sand which broke my front tire loose and sent my bike down and me flying in out in front onto the road. Luckily I was smart enough to wear shoes and long pants but my exposed left forearm managed to find a nice patch of jagged concrete that had been used to patch a pothole in the road. The bike was a bit scraped but otherwise fine except for a mirror and I got away with only minor scrapes and bruises except for a nice gash on my left forearm.

I righted the scooter, waved off the dumb couple which tried to kill the three of us and rode the scooter back to Nature resort. The people at Nature resort were really cool about the scooter and hardly charged me anything for the damage. My friend Finn who was riding behind me at the time of the accident helped me back to the resort and played medical assistant as I attempted to clean myself up. After a bit of cleaning and having a good look at my arm Finn and another friend from the resort who had experienced a few motorbike spills herself convinced me that my gash really needed stitches and I was off to the clinic to get my first stitch at age 34.

The two ladies at the clinic were great. They cleaned my scraps up a bit more, gave me fresh dressings, a shot of Novocaine (Lanocaine?) and put seven stitches in the gash on my forearm.

Two days of antibiotics and R&R out of the water and I should be ready for action again. All of the Thais said I was lucky to get off so easy. I hope to be good for snorkeling in three days time.

Many thanks to all my friends which were so kind and concerned about me today. Special thanks to Finn for the gruesome task of helping me clean and bandage myself and thanks to Dr. Maya Shenoy for the Amoxicillin, The nurse here told me 3 - 500mg tabs a day for five days. Leave me a comment or send me an email if that is wrong. Ravi or Marisa or anyone else who has a medical background please feel free to comment if you have anything you would like to offer.

If any of you sickos want to see my scrapes, the pictures are below. Weak of stomach beware!

P.S. Gear related note for anyone contemplating a SE Asia trip: The first aid kit and the antibiotics were really clutch today. So was the iodine I felt like a nerd for specially packing.



The culprit.



pre-cleaning



post clean-up



After the professionals finished

kO chANG!

Believe it or not the sunset last night was even more spectacular but I was not on the beach to photograph it.


Ok, I hate to rub it in, but this place is awesome.

This is my fourth day in Ko Chang now (third full day) and I must admit it really seems to be the Thailand everyone is looking for. Its cheap, insanely beautiful, unspoiled, wild, clean, safe, the locals are friendly and there's plenty to do or not do depending on how the mood strikes you.

I've been staying in a great little bungalow just off the beach (12 steps from the water) at "Lonely Beach" and it has been fantastic. The room has a fan but no air con and it is a bit musty as the humidity here is intense, but for the price you can't really complain!

The "Nature Rocks" resort is the most popular hang out spot at lonely beach. There's cheaper and then there are much nicer/pricer places but the young backpacker contingent congregates here. They've got the best food (anything you want) a little bar/night club, they have cheap internet acess, they have laundry service, and they rent scooters and kayaks for crazy cheap. Well the scooters anyway, you can take a scooter for eight hours for 150 bhat. (that's less than $4.50 US) you can keep it for 24 hours for 200 bhat. The kayaks believe it or not are a bit more but are still very affordable if you have a bank account with dollars, pounds, euros etc.

I've taken a kayak out to the further-est of the three little islands you can see in the top sunset photo and I've taken a scooter out to explore the west side of the island but I haven't ventured very far from "lonely beach" yet. In the next day or two I hope to do a more through scooter exploration with stops around the island to take little side hikes to waterfalls and other attractions and there is also a all-day snorkeling boat tour which goes around the island and stops at several other islands for snorkeling. I may even try a elephant trek.

I'm a bit antsy to see more of Thailand as this is my first stop outside of Bangkok, but I have it on good authority from more seasoned Thailand travelers that Ko Chang and "Lonely Beach" is about as good as it gets so I guess I will spend a few more days here before moving on. I still need to work on my tan. I got a mottled sunscreen sunburn on my first day that looks absolutely ridiculous.




My bungalow


Ocean facing view from my bungalow



Sorry Mom and Ravi, its probably best if you don't look at the prices. This place is immediately adjacent to my bungalow.


Ocean view from "Nature Rocks"


One of the little distant islands off Lonely Beach I kayaked to.


My own private island (Ko mak?)



Sunset



I thought this picture I snapped of my new Aussie friend Finn came out really well, but I miss my favorite subject.



Did I mention the fire dancers?



These guys would OWN burning man if they ever made it over. These shots were from a slow night. At beach parties they twirl two flaming balls of burning fire on chains while jumping two at at time double-dutch over flaming petrol soaked ropes. No kidding.

INDIA: Bombay

West facing view at sunset from the top of the Devandra building in Bombay.



Bombay (a.k.a. Mumbai) blew my mind.

First off let me say it was every bit as good as I've heard everyone say it is and not nearly as bad as I've heard either, except for the traffic and yes, the humidity.

I ate some of the best and most interesting food I have ever had in my life. Take pan for instance; a beetle nut leaf coated in ghee, pasted with a exotic paste of mint and myriad other spices, and then any number of other add-ons you want: beetle nut, tobacco, sugar, other spices. Its just f@#king crazy.

I saw murder upon murder of crows, a company of parrots, bats the size of large Pomeranians with Condor-like wings. I saw long-tailed Indian chipmunks which people call squirrels, geckos, cows and aggressive thieving monkeys. Thankfully no Cobras.

I have read its an urban myth that the Inuit have hundreds of different words for snow but I have it on good authority now that Indians have four different classes of aunts and uncles, and that's just aunts and uncles. I met a LOT of family and they all were heartbreakingly generous and kind and welcoming. I had at least five different aunts attempting to feed me three meals a day plus snacks throughout my stay. I ate like a professional but never seemed able to satisfy anyone that I was full. It was amazing.

I will conclude with a few pictures and a bat video but check out my Photobucket account if you want to see more. (coming soon) The pictures below are in reverse chronological order so you may want to scroll down then work your way back up. I hope someone enjoys these because this post took forever. Stay tuned for Bangkok and Ko Chang.

Bombay Style: View from the front seat of a classic Bombay Fiat taxi cab.



I didn't have a chance to edit this before posting, but zoom in and look at the face on this bat. looks like a dog doesn't he?





Fisherman bringing in the catch at Chowpatty beach



Blurry picture of AK and I with the "Queen's Necklace" in the background.



Beautiful Chowpotty beach just after sundown.



These two look cute and harmless enough, but if you wanna feed a baby you had better be ready to deal with a much larger, very aggressive adult male who is going to charge straight at you as soon as you reach for anything that is, or looks like it may be food. Seriously. Don't try to feed a baby unless you're ready to mix it up with Pappa. I almost had to fight a monkey, twice.



One of two sacred inner sanctums containing Shiva's manhood



Bombay Shenoy Crew



One of two Indiana Jones type entrances to the Elephanta cave-temples



One of the many stone relief carvings inside the cave-temples on Elephanta island


The landing at Elephanta island


The Taj, site of tragic events last November. Every bit as opulent as its reputation. I was lucky enough to have English "High Tea" inside. Excellent in every sense!

TOO MUCH STUFF: Gear for my trip

My gear laid out on my parent's billard table the night before my trip

Apologies to everyone for the amateur nature of my blogging, this is my first attempt. Getting Blogger.com to do some of the things that I thought would be pretty intuitive is proving to be beyond my abilities, but here goes.

This post is a little late coming and I am eager to post pictures and observations from my travels, but I promised a few people my first blog post would be about all the gear I bought and obsessed over the last 2 months before my trip, so here it is for any gear nerds or anyone curious enough to see just how far a obsessive-compulsive personality type will take things, no wait, must take things because we are tortured souls.

My heart's not really in this post and I already feel like a jackass, but here's a brief/rough accounting of what's on the table and what went into my bag.

BAGS:

• Osprey brand apple green 65 liter Atmos series backpack (not pictured)
• Large US army duffel (For enclosing backpack for security and travel. Thanks Paul!)
• Yellow 20 liter Watershed brand drybag (fully submersion capable bag for electronics and valuables while participating in aquatic activities)
• Northface heavy black nylon bike messenger bag (travel carry-on and walk about bag, camera bag)
  
• 2 coated nylon roll top dry bags
  
• 3 42 gallon contractor style trash bags.
• mesh laundry bag
• small and large ziplocks

FIRST AID AND MEDS: (Thanks Mrs. Shenoy!)

• 180 Doxycetylene
  
• 40 Cipro
• neosporene
  
• hydracortizone
• Benadryle
• Tylenol
• scrip of 600mg ibuprofen
  
• anti-fungal creme
• iodine
• gauze pads
• gauze wrap
• duct tape
• small scissors

Survial Kit

• signal mirror (doubles as shaving/grooming mirror)
• whistle
• fire steel
• panty hose and coffee filters for filtering dreck out of water (Steri-Pen doesn't work in murky water)
• iodine tablets
• space blanket
• super thin 99 cent disposable poncho
• super small med-kit with a few basics
• 40 or so feet of Kelty trip-tease line

Electronics and Communication


if anyone knows how to rotate a picture on blogger please leave a comment

• Toshiba NB205 netbook
• Nikon D90
• Nikon 18-135mm zoom and a f1.8 50mm prime lens
  
• iPhone
• iPod
• iHome super-portable rechargable lith-ion speakers
• USB thumb drive
• wires, connectors, adapters etc.
• Replacement batteries, AAA and CR123
  

Clothes

• Bleached out US army "boonie" hat (big floppy brim. Thanks Paul!)
• Well-worn trucker hat
• trusty 92' vintage Tevas
• Wild Air Pegasus Nikes (hiker style sneakers)
• North Face rain jacket
• black zipper hoodie
• 1 greycast Uniquo jeans
• 1 khaki chinos
  
• 1 long sleeve rash guard
• 1 pair board shorts
• 1 pair REI sahara zip leg trousers
• REI long sleeve sahara shirt
• 2 short sleeve button down cotton shirts
• 1 cotton t-shirt
• 3 pair socks
• 1 pair cotton boxers
• 2 pair synthetic nylon undies (ex officio boxer briefs)
• long sleeve 50/50 blend t-shirt

SECURITY:

• PackSafe brand 80L "exomesh" security net
• 2 brass locks
• 1 combination lock
• 1 TSA approved combination lock for flying
• various small clips and carabiners

BEDDING ETC:

• silk sleeping sack
• Thermarest "Prolite" inflatable sleeping pad
• REI nylon/goose down travel pillow
• REI "Bug-Hut Pro 2" bug shelter/tent
• Equinox 12x8' sil-nylon tarp.
• 6 MSR "needle" stakes
  

STUFF:

• eye glasses and case
• sun glasses and case
• Spyderco "Delica" folding knife
• Eddie Bauer brand knock-off swiss army style knife tool.
• 4 bandanas
• travel journal
• spork plastic eating utensil
• deck of playing cards
• cigarette lighter
• head lamp
• small pocket flashlight
• SteriPen Adventurer water purifier
• money belt
  
• Dopp kit with all the standard contents, (toothbrush, toothpate, razor, etc.)
• patch kit: Tear-Aid, Ripstop nylon adhesive, silicone seam sealant
• 550 mil spec paracord
• Nalgene bottle
• Military issue 2 liter 'camelback' dromedary bladder. (Thanks Paul!)
• 2 guide books
• 1 fiction book
  

Liquids etc.

• Tide detergent
• 2 small spray bottles 100% DEET
• 1 5oz bottle 45% DEET lotion
• Coppertone SPF 8
• Neutrogena waterproof broad spectrum SPF 70
• hand sanitizer
• hair goo
• Tide stain pen
• 303 Aerospace rubber protector (dry bag seal)

I think that's about it. whew. It all weighed in at about 42lbs at the airport, not counting all the stuff I had crammed in my messenger bag, so probably about 48 pounds total. I was aiming for 35. Oh well... Coming soon, all of the crap I sent back.