Thailand: Bangkok, Islands

Entering Thailand was slightly anti-climactic, as Carmen and I chose the cheaper of the routes...the 12 hour bus from Siem Reap to Bangkok. Hey, it's either $14 or $140. Plus, it saved a heap of money for all of those knock off lacoste tee shirts alright? ha ha. We prepared ourselves for our long journey by stocking up on some 7-11 treats, pens ready for our journals and books ready to be read. All in all, it did not take as long as what I thought, rather it didn't feel as long. Sometimes overprep can be benificial. The funny thing about the bus was, there wasn't enough space under the bus for everyone's backpacks, so they stuffed the aisle with bags too, so it was a jumping game to get out. Man, having seen all the things that other countries get away with, specifically rules of the road (i.e. 10 people on TOP of a van, families of 4 inc babies on motorbikes, and what the hell is a car seat?), our nation is so so so strict. Those damn cops haha (kudos to my sister) lol. We made our way to Khosan road in Bangkok by 7pm, which is the main busy road in the city that houses 100s of motels, restaurants, travel agents, tailors, pubs and two crowded sides of knock off shoes, clothes, bags, cds, $1 pad thai, backpacks...you name it. We ended up checking into a hotel recommended by a few friends, the Rambutri Hotel with a wicked rooftop pool. The major difference i noticed between here and Cambodia, as well as Vietnam? The hospitality industry sees dollar signs (or baht signs) and you become a number, not a person. No rapport is created between businesses and travelers. The turn over is too high, and everyone wants to make a buck (or baht). Carmen and I quickly missed the friendly greetings from our hotels, the tuk tuk drivers that DIDN'T drive us all over the city to tailors, jewelers, and the interaction with locals. This is not to say that Bangkok isn't a cool city, because it is. But I would sum it up as 'cool,' perhaps not warm...make sense?Carm and I hit up some of the touristy things; Grand Palace, BIG reclining Buddha, Big Standing buddha (I know I know, you can sure get buddha'd out here). We went to MBK Mall and 'thought' we were going into the food court. It was very traditionally thai, not Burger King or anything of that nature. It wasn't really until we got our pad thai (only thing we could decipher from pictures) that we were the only foreigners in sight. Oh well though right? Well it wasn't until we walked out that door into the mall and SAW the mall food court that we realized...maybe we were in the employee foodcourt. haha. Oh well. Well oh well until my pad thai didn't agree properly. Ah, all part of the experience I guess ha ha.We had a few drinks a few nights, and went to a ping pong show with some Aussies we met. For those of you who think this ping pong show has two paddles and a ball...we'll leave it at that. ha ha. Time for some SUN and SAND. Just after we meet up with our buddy Derek from WLU and from Toronto. The trio headed to Koh Samui island on the East side of the pennisula. A really pretty island, with some nice beaches. Island land is a bit different, no tuk tuks here, so we had to depend on motorbikes and taxis. Either way, we met Lissy and Sam from the UK who we spent a few days with. A lovely couple to say the least. We did some day trips, snorkeling (UNREAL to see the bright coral and swim amoung the fishies!), kayaking and hiking too. We had some beach days, some $6 one hour Thai massages, Derek tasted Pad Thai at EVERY eatery...I reckon he returned home LOOKING like Pad Thai. That or his first son will be named Pad. We ended up going to the Full Moon Party on the island Koh Pangang. It is cool, but not all that and a bag of chips. It happens each month near the full moon (no longer ON full moon because it offended the Buddhist Monks). Its basically a beach party with 30,000 people. Body paint, black lights, rave music, fire shows and drinking from buckets, like sand buckets. Getting to and fro was a bit trecherous...speed boats and night and speeding cabs...I counted my lucky stars after. My advice, if you had to skip it ... it's okay. But, needlesstosay, something to check off the list. We went to some wicked waterfalls too, where you could swim at the bottom. Some local boys led us 3 up and around the falls to the top. It was there, that the 11 year old claimed that Derek was a "Lady Boy," which by the way is RAMPANT there. Everyone giggles at the idea of lady boys....which is exactly what you think it is. Trannies for lack of a better word. There are even signs in front of some bars "no lady boys" haha. Near the waterfalls there were elephants there too that you could feed bananas and pet on the trunk. Feels scaly and bumpy! They were really friendly, and happy to have a treat. Some bumpy boat rides, hot sun, copious massages and laughs later...our island time had come to and end...and so had my time with Carmen :( It was back to the real world for her, back to Canada. But not before one last farewell tour to the Tiger Temple and Floating Market. It was about 3 hours outside of Bangkok, we ending up taking a sketchy van (alone) haha ... oh man... to the floating market, but we weren't really told "Okay this is the floating market." So we get out, and get ushered into this house...we look at each other like ... mmmm... then we get ushered further into a boat, which had other foreigners in it. We are given a straw hat, so we oblige and we look at each other, both thinking. What. The. Hell. Finally we realize that we are indeed at the floating market, and I end up buying family members some gifts WHILE on the water...pretty cool. We get to join the van then with the rest (since they told us then that they forgot about us this morning). And off to the Tiger Temple and Kanchanburi. This temple has Tigers that may have lost their moms and took them in and raised them by Buddhist monks. The tigers, contrary to popular belief, are not sedated. They have been in captivity their whole lives, so they are tame. You get to take lots of pictures with them, pet them, and even kiss them on the head. It was a prety neat experience with some pics that are definate keepers.

Petting Elephant! Press Play