Thailand - The Land of Smiles

Ko Tao

After five glorious days in Ko Samui, we left our little home and headed for the ferry to Ko Tao. It is the smallest of the three islands in the Gulf of Thailand.

uh, ko tao... on the map...

It is a mere 21 KM squared (sorry can't find the little sign...) and is about 70 KM off the mainland, but could be in the middle of the ocean for how "undeveloped" it is. Koh Tao means Turtle Island, so named for all the turtles that used to breed there. It became famous in 1899 when King Rama V visited and engraved his monogram on a rock at Jor Por Ror Bay near Sairee beach.

King Rama V rock.

From 1944 to 1947 the island was used as a political prison. The prisoners were all pardoned and the island was abandoned. A few years later a couple of brothers settled their families on the island and became the first real residents.

Ko Tao has only become a tourist destination in the last 10-15 years, which makes it much less developed than its neighbours, Ko Phangan and Ko Samui. Most people go to Tao for its dive resorts, but there is plenty for the non-diver as well.

High-speed catamaran

We arrived mid-day. We took the high-speed catamaran ferry directly from Samui. The trip took about and hour and a half, and we were lucky enough to make some friends on the ride over. Soren and Simon were on a dive holiday from Denmark and we spent the next three days hanging out with them.

Our new friends Soren (L) and Simon.

Arriving in Ko Tao.

After arriving we headed to Sairee Beach up the coast from the main harbour Mae Haad. Sairee Beach is about 1.7 KM long and has the best night-life on the island. There are tons of restorts to stay at, restaurants to eat at, and bars to drink at. We stayed at the Lotus Resort whichs was a step up in quality and price from Amity on Samui. We paid 600 baht a night for our fan/cold shower bungalow which was a short walk from the beach. It was twice the price, but also twice the size and better located.

Sairee Beach

Our days on tao were spent mostly lazing on the beach. We did visit the beach at Mae Haad, but were rather disappointed by it. The water is very shallow on both of the beaches, which made for poor swimming. We really only sat in the water to cool off, thought the water was so warm that it was almost like taking a bath.

The beach as night fell.

We did take a day trip to Nangyuan Island, which is a kilometer off the north end of the island. We took a boat taxi there for about 100 baht each (including pick up at the end of the day). That was the best part of the Tao experience.

On the taxi-boat... it was very wavy.

One of the sandbars on Nangyuan.

Another sandbar (and me)

We rented snorkel masks and I bought an underwater camera. It is actually a resort that is privately owned and you have to pay 100 baht to get on the island, which is actually three small island joined together by sandbars. It was beautiful. The snorkeling was amazing, the sun was shining and it was probably our best day at the beach.

Hello!

It's "super underwater Ranya"!

These fish positively glowed!!! They were NEON.

The cool purple anomaly under the sea.

Killer fish!

While I was snorkeling these striped fish kept biting me. I had a cut on my leg that was healing and they kept attacking it! They were the coolest fish because they swarmed around me and kept coming up close to my mask to stare at me. Still can't figure out why they would try to eat my cut though, maybe they are that kind of fish that eats dead flesh...

Evening were spent hanging with our Dutch friends. Our first night there was actually my "birthday" - since we weren't going to be together for the real day, I chose that day to be it. We went out for dinner with Soren (Simon stayed at the bar) and then we hit the beach bars. We ended up at Dry Bar, which was possibly the coolest bar I've ever been to.

Dry Bar - sorry it's night, but I never got there in the day...

The bar itself is built into a tree and surrounding it are platforms with cushions to sit on. Some of the platform are over the water when the tide is in, so you feel like you are almost a part of the sea. I shared a "bucket" of "crapple" with the boys (it was literally a bucket of cranberry, apple, and vodka *see picture). We hung out until the wee hours of the morning - it was a great birthday. Ranya gave me the second part of my birhtday present - a "Greek" bracelet to replace the one I lost. The first part was a very pretty green dress.

Me and the bucket of "Crapple".

We also spent quite a bit of time at the Lotus Bar. They had a very nice area on the sand as well as a platform over the water. They had a nightly "sunset happy hour" and the best part - fire jugglers! I took tons of photos of them, but will only share a couple of the best with you here.

The Lotus Bar at sunset

Juggler 1.

Juggler 2.

Ko Tao was little piece of heaven on earth. We did notice that the service wasn't up to the same "touristy" standards as Samui. I can only figure that the tourism industry is still new there and perhaps many locals feel resentful to the "rich" tourists invading their home. Really, though, it was one of the best legs of the whole trip.

We headed back to Ko Samui the day before our flight back to Bangkok, but that is a story for another time... so stay tuned!

a break from the tales of thailand

I'm sorry, dear reader, but I must take a break from Thailand and come back to reality here in Korea for a moment. I apologize in advance for the negative tone this post is bound to assume, but this blog has been so much about my life in Korea, and that hasn't ended yet.

Another payday came and went with no transfer into my account. It was four days late again. The reason I was given was that there was extra paperwork to be done since it was my last pay. This led me to believe that the extra paperwork was due to my severance - makes sense, doesn't it? Well, I have now been informed that I will only be getting my severance in late September or early October, which makes it pretty useless as it's meant to help me get by until I find another job.

I can't wait to say good riddance to all of the bullshit that the Korean education system has dealt me, but I suppose that will have to wait yet another month. That is, of course, if I get the money. They didn't even ask me for my account number in Canada, so how were they planning on paying it to me? I can only assume that they would have deposited it (or tried to) into my Korean account, which, as of tomorrow will be closed.

I have finally received my pay for the after school program that I worked at last semester - the semester that finished six weeks ago. At least I've been told that it's in my account, I'll know for sure tomorrow when I go to close it.

I should have known that I wouldn't get out of here without any more problems, and I suppose I was stupid and naive to think that I would... but this place has become the height of ridicule for me. I really don't want to be mean, but the work ethic here is terrible, nothing gets done on time, people are lazy and stupid, sexist and racist, and discriminatory against foreigners.

I will be relieved and happy to be back in a country where women are respected, where contracts are adhered to (and if they're not, there is recourse), where I am not treated as a lesser being, and where you can usually count on getting what's due, on time. Good riddance Korea. I thought I might be a little sad to see you go, and I thought I might get a little nostalgic, but the Gimhae Office of Education has tainted and destroyed any good feelings I had. Canada, home of my heart, get ready, cause here I come!

Thailand - The Land of Smiles

Elephants and a Waterfall

Our third day on Koh Samui we took a half day trip to go visit Namuang Waterfall (the second biggest on the island) and go for an elephant trek in the jungle.

We had organized the trip through a local travel agent and so, we were picked up at our hotel at around 9:30 AM. It took about half an hour to drive to the elephant trekking. There was a baby elephant - Tongkul - right at the entrance - he's so cute! We proceeded to the elephant station, which is an elevated platform where you climb onto the elephant.

The first thing that surprised me was that I actually had to step on it's back to get into the seat. Now, I should have expected that, I mean, how else do you get on an elephant? But it immediately made me ask the question I hadn't thought of before - is this humane? I still don't have an answer.

So we sat in our seat on top of this massive 45 year-old male elephant named Sankom, and his trainer sat on his shoulders. We were off. I hope that doesn't sound like we went running through the jungle, because it was quite the opposite. I think our elephant was tired as he was going pretty slow the whole way.

Atop the gassy Sankom.

About two minutes into the jungle he started farting! Which was hilarious - it sounded a bit like a machine gun firing! A couple of minutes later he stopped to relieve himself - number one thankfully! But that was also strange as his entire body sort of vibrated from it. Soon, we were off again, but he wasn't happy and kept trying to wander off the track. Eventually we got to an area where the trainer jumped off and took our picture for us.

Watch you don't fall off!

Ranya was brave enough to get onto Sankom's shoulders and ride him like that the rest of the way. I was too scared of falling off, and I think she soon regretted the idea as well. We stopped a little while later and switched places so I could get my photo taken while sitting on his shoulders.

Ranya on his shoulders.

A little scary, but I did all right!

Then it was over - thirty minutes is all you get.

We had about an hour to explore the area around the trekking, which is where Namuang Waterfall 1 is. You can hike for about a half hour to get to Namuang 2, but we didn't have time... so we made do.

Me at Namuang 1 Waterfall...

It was pretty cool to swim in the pool under the waterfall, but not as amazing as I thought it would be. I liked taking pictures better.

Here's what the sign at the falls says:

"Na Muang 1 Waterfall, Ko Samui District, Surat Thani is a famous falls of Ko Samui. It originates from the mountain in the heart of the island and falls from the cliff 30 - 40 meters high, 20 meters wide. Presently the Royal Forest Department has classified it to be reserved forest park with an area of 10 rai. King Rama V and His Majesty Kimg Bhumibhol Adulyadej used to visit the waterfall. One can enjoy swimming in the big water basin but with care about the rocks under the water since they may cause accidents."

Anyway, here are some pictures. It was nice, but I'm sure NaMuang 2 is much more impressive as it's about twice the height... oh well, something to do next time!

A close(r) up shot of the top of the Falls.

The "perfect" shot - I had to wait for everyone to get out of the way.

After the falls we returned to the parking area which is adjacent to where the elephants hang out when they're not trekking. It's also where the baby elephant gets fed lychee's by every tourist that walks by. For 20 baht you can buy a big bushel of them to feed the elephants.
If you raised your hand in the air, the baby elephant would lift his trunk and open his mouth so you could throw the fruit directly into his mouth! I got a hole in one once. Feeding them was the most fun of the whole experience.

Tongkul - the four-year-old baby elephant... what a cutie!

Ranya feeding Tongkul - he was a hungry/greedy little/big guy!

One of the older elephants eating palm fronds.

One guy was even feeding him water, which was awesome to see. He poured it down the elephants trunk and then the elephant would spray himself a bit and drink the rest. It was awesome. We fed the baby and then realized that the other elephants probably never got anything, so we started throwing lychee's to them too.

Tongkul spraying water.

Then it was back into the mini van and back to our beach for a day of relaxing in the sun. Coming up: Koh Tao and then back to Bangkok... so keep reading!

**

On another note, I have only 5 days left in Korea. I'm so excited I could IMPLODE! I have a ton of stuff to do this week, so I'm just trying not to stress about it all. I had a GREAT birthday/leaving party in Busan over the weekend and will write about that very soon.

Thailand - The Land of Smiles

Koh Samui - Lamai Beach

We left Bangkok early in the morning. It was raining. The flight is an hour from Bangkok to Surat Thani, which is in the middle of the country. We were headed to Koh Samui, which is Thailand's second largest island.

I hope this picture is self explanatory!

Bye bye Bangkok!

After arriving in Surat Thani we had to take a bus from the airport to the ferry - this took about an hour and a half (it was included in our ferry ticket). We boarded the ferry, which another hour and a half to get to the island. We had decided on the airplane that we'd go to Lamai Beach on Samui. It is the second largest beach on the island - the first is Chaweng. We didn't go to the biggest one because Lamai was described as being quieter and more relaxing but still a really nice beach.

A songathaew full of locals...

Me on the first of many songtaew rides.

When we got off the ferry we caught a songathaew (pr songtaw) to Lamai. We weren't sure where to get off so we asked the driver to tell us when we got there. He probably could have taken us a lot further, but misunderstood our inquiry - "is this Lamai?" it was, but it was only the beginning... anyway. We walked up and down the road for a while trying to figure out where a) the beach was and b) where the bungalows on said beach were. We finally found a dirt road heading in the direction of the beach and just walked down it.

Lamai is known as a beautiful beach that has less development, fewer "resorts" (i use the term lightly they are hotels but with single bungalows instead of floors of rooms), and is known to have cheaper accommodation than other beaches on Samui. It also has a decent nightlife (in the high season).

Bungalow hunting... man, this "backpacking" thing is hard work... maybe we over packed?!

We asked a "resort" (not on the beach) to see one of their bungalows... the price was right, but it wasn't on the beach, so we decided to keep searching. We walked up the beach for a while, but the bungalows were getting more expensive, or grungier, so we went back to the second place we'd asked - Amity Bungalow - and finally took off our heavy packs.

Amity Bungalow from the beach

Home Sweet Home

It is a nice "resort" and I would recommend it to anyone traveling to Lamai beach. The price was excellent - 350 baht a night - for a double bed, with a fan, and cold shower in our very own little bungalow. The gardens all over the grounds are beautiful. The restaurant was pretty good and not too expensive compared to other places in the area. The owners were very nice to us, and the other people staying there were nice too. The only downside was the resort next door which played music too loud and too late... and the beach.

A pretty flower at Amity

As soon as we unloaded ourselves, we headed for the beach. It was late in the day already. We'd spent too much of the day traveling, it was really hot, and we just wanted to go for a swim. It would have been nice if we'd known about all the rocks in the water. Some girls told us to watch out, but we didn't realize just how many, how big, and how sharp they were. The surf was strong as the tide was coming in (and as we later learned, it's just always got pretty big waves). Thankfully we didn't cut ourselves the first time we went swimming.

Lamai Beach from the south end... it goes on all the way around to the end of the hill on the far end...

Our beach bar... we went back a couple of times.

That evening we went for a 30 minute massage up the street and then found our way to a beach bar down the beach for dinner and drinks. We had mojitos and mai-tai's and they were delicious. We headed back to the bungalow early-ish since we were tired. It was a great first day on the islands though.

Thailand - The Land of Smiles

The Floating Market, Tiger Temple, and Bridge over the River Kwai

We had both read and heard about the The Tiger Temple (real name Wat Pa Luangta Bua Yannasampannoin) Kanchanaburi (about two hours out of Bangkok) and it was something that we both really wanted to do. In fact, if there was one thing I wanted to do in Thailand, (other than sit on a beach) it was to visit this incredible animal sanctuary.

We bought a day trip package from a travel agent near Khao San Road for 600 baht each. A pretty good deal considering the rip-off artist the night before tried to sell the same thing to us for 1700! The trip was going to take us to the floating market, the bridge over the River Kwai (known as the Death Bridge), and the Tiger Temple.

We got picked up from our hotel at around 8:30 and boarded a mini bus with eight other tourists. Some of the them were on half day tours to the floating market only, but there were 60 of us in all, (ten mini vans) with only one tour guide.

After a two hour drive into the countryside we arrived at a dock where we boarded a longtail boat for a twenty minute drive around the canals. When we got off we were at the market. Which is basically a long canal where longtail boats park and sell their wares to the tourists passing in other boats. There was a major traffic jam while we were there, but we eventually made it from one end to the other and back again.

Longtail boats in a row. Doesn't the water look clean?!

Life on the canals...

One end of the market.

Traffic jam - watch out for "boat rage"!!! (Imagine having to go through this to get to the corner store!)

The most interesting part was the local people. So many interesting faces everywhere we couldn't shoot fast enough, but managed to take a ton of photos anyway. Ranya bought some spices for herself and to give as gifts, I didn't actually buy anything because it all seemed so touristy and didn't see anything that I really wanted.

A fruit vendor.

A vendor.

Not happy about the traffic!

Bags and miscellaneous junk for sale...

Meat anyone?

We got off our boat and still had about 45 minutes to kill so we wandered around the part of the market that was on ground. We bought some fresh mango and a bunch of these little fruits whose name we still don't know, but that were delicious.

Mysterious fruit... anyone know what these are?

After waiting around for some direction we got into a different mini van (some people were headed back to Bangkok and some were headed to lunch and the rest of the tour. After a few minutes on the road we all had to stop (I think to pick up some people who went to the snake farm) and shortly after that it came to the attention of the tour guide that we were missing two people! They had apparently gotten on the bus to Bangkok by mistake.

After a kerfuffle (sp?) by the side of the road we were on our way again. We were sitting in the front seat of the van and I remember the exact moment that our van went in the opposite direction as all the others. I pointed at the other vans, but the Thai drive chose to ignore me. I figured he must know what he was doing - maybe in a perfect world. We spent the next two hours lost in the middle of nowhere trying to find the lunch restaurant.

At lunch the driver started saying that we might have to skip the Tiger Temple. Ranya and I were livid. We managed to convince the others in our van to skip the bridge over the river Kwai instead. So we were finally headed to the temple at around 2:30 PM - nearly an hour and a half later than we were meant to be.

The tigers are only available to the public for a few hours a day - mid-afternoon, when it's like the middle of the night for them since they are nocturnal - and we started to worry that we would miss them. thankfully, for us AND the tour agency, this did not happen. We got to the temple at exactly the right time actually because shortly after we arrived a huge group of other tourist arrived and then it started to rain.

Entering Tiger Canyon.

In awe...

Still in awe...

And, yes... still... in awe...

Okay, now it's amazement! I was petting him right on the belly - the biggest tiger there!

Ranya had her share of awe (and a better photographer)...

Someone's getting antsy...

One of the reasons you have to sign a disclaimer when you enter... look at those teeth!

Just a big kitty...

It was one of the most incredible experience I've had in my entire life. They are huge animals. They are majestic and beautiful. They are like giant kittens that could rip out your throat in a second. Don't get me wrong, it's not like you're standing there just petting a tiger. There are volunteers that guide you around the area - they hold your hand, place you next to the tiger ant then take your picture for you with your own camera.

The abbot of the monastery, Phra Acharn Phusit, is also there at all times. He is the man behind it all. In 1999, he took in a tiger cub whose mother had been killed by poachers. That cub died a few weeks after his arrival. The abbot was devastated. Then something miraculous happened, another two cubs just showed up one day, and the rest as they say, is history. People started bringing more injured and abandoned tigers to the temple and now the tigers outnumber the monks.

The abbot to the rescue... it's time to behave now! (He didn't hit him, just let him have a sniff of his hand.)

"Yes! You're a cutie, yes you are... who's the cutie?" Doing that would be even more incredible...

It was amazing to see the way that the abbot played with his "children". they would get grumply with him, and a few swatted at him but with no real intention. I wonder what would happen if I walked up to one of them and smacked them on the nose! After spending about 30-40 minutes filling up on pictures, we started the walk back to the front entrance. The grounds of the temple are home to many other kinds of animals - goats, boars, water buffalo, peacocks... that have been injured or abandoned in some way. So, we spent some time wandering around tkaing picture of those and then it was time for us to head back to the tour. We still had the river Kwai to get to - it was the drivers idea to take us there after the tigers.

Water buffalo.

Boars

The ugliest, funniest looking goat on the face of the planet! He followed us to the front entrance... he took a real liking to Ranya!

Back in the mini van, we were all in awe of what we had just experienced. It really is impossible to describe the way you feel when you are sitting next to a wild animal like a tiger. I hope the pictures (and the expression on my face) helps a little.

(Sorry this post is so long... it was a long day... I should probably have split this one up into three... but it's done now... so deal. If you don't want to read it all, then just look at the pictures.)

The bridge

Artsy shot of the bridge before it started really raining...

We arrived at the bridge in late afternoon. It was built by war prisoners and forced labourers of the Japanese during World War II. Around 70,000 of these died during the building of the "Death Railway" and the bridge. The railway was meant to link Thailand to Burma where the Japanese were fighting the British. It was to be used to transport men and supplies. It was made famous by a 1957 movie that depicted a soldier swimming up the river and blowing up the bridge to stop the Japanese from succeeding. The movie is fiction, but the bridge is real and was bombed by allied forces. The most striking part is that so many PoW's and labourers died during its construction. You can actually take a train over the bridge now, but we didn't have time, or , to be honest, the desire. As soon as we got there it started to rain like nothing I've ever seen (aside, maybe, from the typhoon that hit Korea last year!)

You can actually see the rain... it abated after about 10 minutes.

It took forever to get back to the hotel on Khao San road and we were exhausted after hours on the mini bus and the drama of being lost and maybe not seeing the tigers. We made an early night of it, since we had to be up at 6 AM to get to the airport for our flight to Surat Thani in the middle of the country... Coming up: Koh Samui where we spent five days hanging around on the beach, riding elephants, and more... so stay tuned!

***
On a side note - back to reality - i have only 9 days left in Korea. woohoo! and today is my birthday...my 30th birthday to be precise. I'm still not sure how I feel about this, but I'm sure I'll have lots to say on the subject after my party this weekend!