Railay Beach

We are now in the province of Krabi on the Andaman Sea coast. Railay Beach is a peninsula that is actually two beach, known as Railay East and Railay West. The peninsula and nearby islands are incredibly scenic, with giant limestone cliffs jutting straight out of the water.
Up until now we had not gone snorkeling yet, so we immediately booked two snorkeling trips. The first one went yesterday afternoon, and visited four islands. We did something I have never done before, and may never do again: snorkel in a cave. You can see it in the photo below:It was kind of scary at first, but we entered slowly and slowly got used to it. There were beams of light shining through holes in the wall and down into the water, and schools of fish were gathered around them. There were some waves, but with flippers it was easy to swim in and out.

After lots of snorkeling, the boat brought us to a trio of islands connected by sand bars. We watched as the sun set. It was really beautiful.

After dark we sat in the sand and ate a dinner of curried seafood and rice, and drank beer. The only light was from two torches. Then on our way back, we stopped for a night swim. When we jumped in the water we could see thousands of little lights amongst the bubbles created by our arms and legs. There was algae or something in the water that would illuminate whenever disturbed. They were like waterborne fireflies. I will have to find out more about what causes it, but whatever it was, it was incredible.

Today we took another boat trip, but there wasn't as much snorkeling. We visited some of the same islands as yesterday as well as some new ones. The limestone formations have incredible caves, stalacmites and stalactites. Some of the islands are quite eroded at the bottom so that at low tide there are large overhangs. I can imagine how, in many thousands of years from now, they may become so eroded that they tumble over into the sea.

This photo was taken on Poda island. In the foreground is a longtail boat, which gets its name from the long propeller shaft at the stern. It looks like they've taken a car engine, extended the crank shaft straight out, and put a propeller at the end of it. It is driven like an outboard motor with a guy pivoting the engine with his whole body weight. And they don't have mufflers so they make ahelluva noise.

Railay is famous for its rockclimbing, so Julia and I are going to try it tomorrow. Then we are off to the Phi Phi islands.

More Adventures in Thailand

We are now on the island of Koh Phangan, which is a half an hour catamaran ride from Koh Samui. We are staying in a bungalow at the Grand Sea Resort, near the town of Thong Sala. The place is run by a Brit called Duncan, and he is quite a character. He is really outgoing and constantly asks the guests how they are enjoying themselves. He's quick to give advice on how to see the island, so when he suggested we take a particular boat cruise it didn't take Julia and me long to sign up.

Unfortunately for us the weather wasn't cooperating, so the tour operators were pretty limited in where they could take us. To make things more interesting, one of the passengers was a "nutter" who called himself Panther or Panda or something. He had apparently just broken up with his girlfriend, and had already polished off two bottles of sambuca before departure. As we set off, he kept downing Singhas, although I think he only managed to drink half of them as the other half were spilt on the deck.

The waves were fairly choppy, and Panda started to look green. He quietened down quite a bit until we anchored in a bay near Haad Rin. Thinking a swim might make him feel better, he jumped in the water, complete with his denim jacket and running shoes. We didn't think much of it until a bit later when one of the other passengers swam over to him. The bugger nearly drowned! I had to throw him two life jackets just to stay afloat! Another swimmer told us later that Panda complained that his jacket was weighing him down, and when the guy asked him to take it off he said "No way, this cost me two hundred quid!"

The day was a bit of a bust, and many of the passengers were upset that they hadn't had their money's worth. So the tour operator tried to compensate us by taking us to Panda's bar for some sambuca shots. This was where I noticed Pandas license plate:

I asked him about it, and with a straight face he told me "Yeah I got it from Vencouver. It's an import." Only in Thailand.

And in other news...

Last night was the world famous Full Moon Party. It is basically a huge dance party on Haad Rin beach on the night of - you guessed it - the full moon. I would bet there were at least 10,000 people there, and probably more. There are bars all along the beach that try to compete with each other to see how loud their sound systems can go. The music is mainly electronic, from hard techno to house, and there is also some pop and hip-hop. The popular drink is a plastic bucket filled with a mickey of your choice (we had Sang Som, a Thai rum) along with ice and a couple of cans of mixer. You can also optionally add Red Bull or some other energy drink.

It was quite an experience. There were definitely other substances being consumed, although it was not highly visible due to the presence of Thai authorities. Considering how uncontrolled it was, I was impressed by the general spirit of the occasion. We saw obsolutely no violence, not even an argument. Everyone was there just to party and have a good time.

There were many spectacles, such as firedancers who surprisingly seemed to still have most of their body hair. They would douse various batons and other utensils with karosene and then light them on fire. They would then wave them in the air in various routines in time to the music. The effect is quite entrancing.

Looking forward, Julia and I will be staying here two more nights, then fly from Samui to Krabi on the coast of the Anadaman sea. We will stay near Railay beach which we hear is quite beautiful.

It has been really nice to hear from everybody! Until next time.

Thai boxing and Thai cooking

We have been in Koh Samui since Nov 18th, arriving by air on Bangkok Air. I must admit I was a little nervous about flying a domestic Thai airline given the recent crash in Phuket. However, the flight was fine; the most eventful thing was the spicy carrot salad that neither Julia or I could finish. It is low season here, with November having the most rain of the year. However, we have lucked out so far because the first two days had lots of sun, and although today was a bit cloudy and rainy, our plans took us indoors for a cooking class. We attended the Samui Institute of Thai Culinary Arts and cooked three courses: a green chicken curry (from scratch); a seafood coconut soup; and an oyster sauce beef stir fry. All three were delicious, and we hope to make them again in Vancouver using the recipe books we were given. Unfortunately we could barely eat half of what we had made because each dish was to serve two. But we gorged ourselves as much as we could and left very happy.

Last night was interesting for me too. I attended a Muay Thai match. For those of you who don't know what it is, it is Thai kick boxing. There is a small arena here on Lamai beach, and the event was attended by only about 60 people. The competition was fierce despite the small crowd, and it was really fascinating to watch. There was even a fight between two boys, probably 11 or 12. Don't worry, it wasn't sketchy. Clearly they were training to become champions! The one thing that struck me about the fighters was how small they were. I think they couldn't have been over 150 lbs, and may have been as small as 115 lbs. They could kick hard though, so I would never want to get into the ring with one of them.

Chiang Mai

Chiang Mai was so awesome! We both wished we could have stayed longer. My mom scored a great deal on a room at the Four Seasons Resort. We had our own butler and fancy robes. No more doing laundry in the sink! The resort overlooks a rice patty and the mountains of Chiang Mai. Chris and I had trouble deciding what to do because we didn't want to leave the resort.

Our second night was spend visiting the temples of Chiang Mai, getting foot massages and wandering the Night Bazaar where you could buy numerous knock off items and Christmas gifts. Chris bought a Tag Heuer watch for $20.

Our third day was spent at the Maetaman Elephant Camp. We saw an elephant show where the elephants do various things like paint to impress the tourists. Then we went on an elephant trek through the jungle, along the way feeding our elephant bananas and sugar cane. We then took a leisurely bamboo raft down a river. Chris was our captain through part of our journey.

We were both sad to go, but looking forward to the beaches and getting a nice tan or for me continuing to maintain my pale skin.

How's the beer? Damn good.

As a beer connaisseur, (amongst other things), it didn't take long for me to start sampling the local brews. I already knew about Singha, which is probably the only Thai beer that is widely available outside of Thailand. Singha is a very good beer. It is a regular lager similar to Budweiser, Moslon Canadian, etc. It is usually the most expensive Thai beer on the menu. At a typical restaurant, a regular sized Singha is about 45 baht (CAD $1.40) and a large is 70 baht (CAD $2.15).

Heineken is the only well-known foreign brand that is available everywhere beer is sold. It is usually the most expensive but not by much. Always a good choice when you're craving something familiar.

A Thai beer that I've discovered and really like is called Chang Beer. It is really tastey and is usually cheaper than Singha or Heineken. According to the label, it won a gold medal at some Australian beer contest, so it must be decent.

Those are pretty much the only beers I've tried so far. On the plane I had a Carlsberg and a San Miguel which is a Hong Kong beer (weird name). There's another Thai beer I've seen quite often called Leo beer. I'll have to give that a try.

What's a Wat?

Our second day in Bangkok was overwhelming. We squeezed in a lot, including the Grand Palace and the famous reclining Buddha at the Wat Pho.

The Grand Palace was incredible. Everywhere you looked, you saw beautifully decorated temples and buildings. They were all covered in shiney glass or metalic tiles that reflected the strong sun. There were also many gardens and statues everywhere. Definitely one of the most spectacular places I have ever seen in any of my travels.

The Wat Pho houses the Reclining Buddha, a huge statue of Buddha laying on his right side. Apparently he always lay on his right because it was better for his heart. 46 meters long and 15 meters high. On one side of the temple, you could drop coins in 108 metalic bowls for good luck. 108 is a lucky number for Buddhists - who knew?

Wat Pho is also famous for its Thai massage school. Unfortunately the traditional venue was closed, but Julia and I were escorted off to a side building where we enjoyed (and agonized) Thai body massages. It definitely wasn't just a back rub. Thai massage involves very hard pressing and pushing deep into your muscles. Sometimes they would use their fingers to press into your calf muscle. Other times, their elbow was pressing your neck. We both felt pretty good and relaxed afterwards - a great way to end a long day.

We are finally here

The flights were long but we made it. I was lucky enough to be able to sleep much of the Vancouver-Hong Kong flight, but Julia stayed awake so she was pretty tired when we finally arrived in Bangkok. After a quick nap we took a cab to Central Pier and then took a water taxi back up the river. Then we searched around for a restaurant I read about in our Lonely Planet book, only to discover that it was closed (after walking up and down the street about three times looking for it). Tired and hungry, we sat down at the K.C Guesthouse restaurant. The food was surprisingly good, and cheap! Our meal was only 250 baht total (less than $10).


Afterward we wandered down the road and discovered a performing arts festival at Santichaiprakarn Park. We noticed a few young ladies wearing traditional Thai costumes, so we decided to hang around to see if they would perform. Sure enough, we were treated to a traditional Thai dance performance. It was really cool to see and made us really feel we were in Thailand.

Tomorrow we plan to do a lot of sightseeing, and hopefully a Thai massage. We are also trying to figure out our next moves to Kanchanaburi and Chiang Mai.

Flooding in Koh Samui

Julia called me at work today and told me she had just heard that there has been heavy rain in Koh Samui. This has caused flooding and the Thai government has declared the island a disaster area.

This is bad news for us because we are planning to fly in to Koh Samui to get to Koh Phangan and Koh Tao. Depending on the weather, we may change our plans. Better to lose a couple hundred bucks than spending ten days on rainy, flooded islands.

The Mighty Loonie

The Canadian dollar is advancing not only against the U.S. dollar but the Thai baht and Hong Kong dollar as well. The Loonie hit another high again today.



This recent surge of the Loonie will help to make our trip cheaper! We have already paid a deposit (50% of the cost) at the Grand Sea Resort in Koh Phangan. Other than that, we will pay for accommodation when we arrive so we stand to save even more money if the dollar keeps rising.

Getting ready for the trip

We have been frantically packing and getting ready the last few days. This past weekend was spent finding last minute purchases (for Julia, pants that convert into capris; for Chris, sun glasses case). I feel like a mobile drug store. Immodium, Pepto, Advil, sleeping pills, antihistamines... But better to be prepared.

Julia and I will try to update this blog as much as possible to keep our friends and family up to date on our travels. Our flight leaves Friday night (Saturday morning) at 2 am and lands in Hong Kong 13.5 hours later at 7:30 am Sunday November 11th. We then take another flight at 9:05 am from Hong Kong and will arrive in Bangkok at 10:50 am local time, roughly three hours later. Total travel time from Vancouver to Bangkok is about 18 hours! Ugh! Luckily we don't have much planned for the first day. We are checking in to the Lamphu House which has received many favorable reviews on Trip Advisor.