Please feel free to start using the site while I try to put the finishing touches on things. Any ideas and comments would be very helpful. I will be getting back to this blog shortly.

~Tim

Sabine showing off her excessive energy.

Right away, our guides could tell that we were up for just about anything. They started off by letting us know that if they caught a snake, that would be our dinner for the night. The funny thing is that most people in the group were actually okay that. We made our way though the villages at the base of the mountain and up passed a trash dump. The dump looked like it had recently caught fire. The guides said that it had also taken out a lot of the forest as well. As soon as we got to the tree line where we were to enter the jungle, you could tell that this area was severely damaged by the fire. Most of the trees had come back but all of the bark was charred and there wasn’t much undergrowth. The air was very hard to breathe and it seemed to make the first part of the trek even harder. The guides told us that the first day was to be the hardest and steepest incline. We hiked what seemed to be around two to three miles up through the trees with our overloaded packs before we stopped for our first break.

I must have been delirious because I took that time to find a tree to climb to get a better view. In the process I got myself covered in soot from the charred tree that I chose to scale. The view wasn’t really a whole lot better and all I managed to do was get dirty and waste a lot of energy. We carried on up the hill for a couple more miles but stopped a couple times along the way to help catch our breath and rest our legs. Once at the top of the hill, everyone seemed to get a second wind. It must have been the idea of not having to go up anymore. Our first stop was going to be at a waterfall and it was all going to be downhill from where we were.

This was definitely the part that I liked best. (Going down hill)

It didn’t take long before we started hearing the rushing water. Both our spirits and pace picked up. Going down the hills ended up also being a little bit more treacherous. We had a couple people take a good spill on the loose rocks and leaves that coated the ground. The fire hadn’t damaged this part of the forest. That meant that the ground was harder to see and you weren’t always sure about your footing. We got to the waterfall and it wasn’t quite what we had expected. By definition, it was indeed a waterfall, however it wasn’t as spectacular as we were probably all thinking. It was more like a watering hole with some rocks around it. Regardless, it was water and I needed to get in. I didn’t hesitate for a moment when I was told that I could jump in. I was striping my shoes and shirt off while running towards the water. I took a big leap off of the rock that was about five or six feet over the water. I splashed down in the surprisingly cold and shallow spring. The others weren’t as daring and only Aaren and Sabine decided to join me.

Me on the rocks getting ready to jump back in... someone needed a tan.

There was another group there. That is where I got rid of those pants that I bought at the night market in Chiang Mai. There was an Australian guy that needed a pair of pants. I told him I had an extra pair for only 100 Baht. He graciously handed over the 100 Baht and proceeded to change into the pants. That probably wouldn’t have been such a big deal if he hadn’t decided to do it right on top of the rock where everyone was jumping into the water. He looked as ridiculous as I did in those pants. I don’t think that they were meant to fit anyone correctly. Either way, I got 100 Baht and my bag got lighter. I also got tipped off to the water slide that was downstream just a little bit. There was an area of the stream about 100 feet long that was a very gradual decline and ran over a slab of rock. The rock was very slippery and smooth which made for a sweet head first slide into another smaller swimming hole.

After messing around with the slide I dried back off and headed back to the group that were still at the waterfall. I got there just in time to watch Aaren jump off the rock and land in the shallowest part of the swimming hole. Immediately, you could tell that he had done something to his foot. He was hobbling around and couldn’t put too much pressure on it. We were a long way from where we were going to sleep for the night and didn’t have any roads to get him back quickly. After a quick inspection of his foot, the guides decided that it wasn’t broken and was most likely a sprain. They wrapped it tight and we started our journey up the next hill to get to the village. Aaren was struggling to keep up which ended up benefiting us a bit as we would get nice 10-15 minute breaks to wait for him. It also let us take in more of the scenery which hadn’t been totally lost on us. We just finally got a chance to stop and admire it.

This is where it was appearent that Aaren was going to need help.

There were a few small farms and little huts along the way. There were irrigation systems that drew water from the rivers and piped them all over the hillsides. We saw these blue pipes just about every where we went. We were back on a trail now which had been used for small trucks and mopeds. The road wound around the hills, passed more farms and overlooked the hills that we just climbed across. Our guide had found us some longan fruit and lychee to snack on. I became addicted to lychee for the rest of my trip in S.E. Asia. It was very easy to find and traveled well on my bus rides. The longan is also very good and was up there on my list of favorites as well.

We finally got to the hilltop village where we going to spend the night. Awaiting us when we got there was a cooler with some Chang beer in cans which went quick. The

Our celebratory beer for reaching our first nights camp in one piece.

hut that we were staying in very nice compared to the majority of places in the village. The sleeping area was located up stairs and was already laid out for use. There were three sets of bedding on the floor with mosquito nets hung over top of them. Downstairs had a large table and a camp fire as well as a make shift shower. The bathroom was little more than an outhouse with a manual flush bucket. The kitchen and guides sleeping area was underneath our sleeping quarters. This wasn’t really roughing it. Although we were missing a lot of the modern amenities of the guesthouse back in Chiang Mai, we still had a lot more than just a tent and a fire.

The guides started cooking up some free range chicken and rice. We took this time to jump under the shower and change into some dry clothes. The day had worn us our and we all sat at the table staring at the flickering candles until the food was ready. They had cooked us another feast complete with all the freshest veggies and fruits around. After dinner, we all sat around the camp fire telling stories and sharing jokes with the guides. Aaren was still complaining about the pain in his foot so the local doctor came with a large block of ice. The drinking and stories continued for a couple hours before Cheryl, Chris, Aaren and Christoph went to bed. That is when the rice wine came out and the night got started. It was just me and Sabine left with the guides. The rice wine got passed around in small cups and then thrown back like shots. It was nothing more than moonshine made from rice. One of our guides was the first to succumb to the strong alcohol. He was sitting on a log next to the fire and then just fell backwards, fast asleep before he hit the ground. We checked to make sure that he was okay and then took him into hut so he could sleep it off.

Something about setting things on fire always puts me at ease.

We came back outside and continued the drinking when one of the guides turned to me and said, “Want to go?” Without hesitation I agreed. I had no idea where we were going but was still wide awake and was up for an adventure. We walked across the village to a house that had a game of poker going on. It wasn’t a poker game that I had ever seen before. I sat next to my guide and watched as he bet. I couldn’t figure out what was going on and neither could my guide. It was his first time playing as well. The stakes weren’t high, even by local standards. It was 5-10 Baht to play a hand. The guide bought me in a few hands which I apparently lost. I was more interested in the rice wine that was being passed to me. We stayed and played poker for a couple hours and right before we left the guy that I sold the pants to came walking by saying that he had lost his guide. The last time he had seen him, his guide nicknamed “Rambo” was smoking what they believe was opium. I wished them good luck and we went back to our hut. The fire was still burning and Sabine was still out drinking with the other guide.  It must have been around 3 or 4 am before we finally got to sleep. It was a long day with some unique experiences. The next days trek was going to be twice as long and Sabine and I were already down to less than four hours sleep.

This was were we spent the first night.

The crew busy trying to make plans.

In the morning, I woke up to find that Chris and Cheryl had arrived. Now the crew was complete. Sabine, Aaren, Christoph and myself had already signed up to do a 3 day trek and now Chris and Cheryl were coming too. Our trek was to consist of an elephant ride, hiking, two over night stays and a bamboo rafting trip. We were told we should probably bring long pants, suitable hiking shoes, swim suit and a decent hiking bag. I didn’t have the long pants or hiking bag. We went back to the night market and this time actually had a goal in mind. We were all looking for things pick up that might help us with the trek.

On our way through the market, I got easily distracted. We came across some more food vendors selling different kinds of sausages and meatballs. Everything was cooked right there in the open market and handed out in a bag. A word of warning, things that come off a stove are hot.

Fire + Food = Burnt tongue

I burnt my tongue trying to take a bit of my sausage. Who would have thought it. Well, since my sense of taste was shot I moved on to some more exotic foods. Right next to the sausage stand were the fried insects. I could decide which ones would be best so I got a mixed bag that was a little bit of everything. The curious thing about fried insects is that no matter what kind of bug it is, it will always taste like a frying oil. As I bit into my first bug, which I think was some sort of cockroach, I noticed that the frying oil seemed to replace it’s innards. There was no real taste of bug and in fact, if I was blind folded, I would have probably only known that I was eating a bug by the crunchy exoskeleton and wings that get stuck between your teeth. This was the same for the grasshopers, mealworms, silk worms, crickets, whirl wigs and whatever else was in my bag. I ended up feeling sick after a few different kinds. It wasn’t because of the thought of eating insects but because the grease had long since dried up. It would be similar I think to take all the grease left over from cooking burgers and then taking a bite out of it when it set up and became solid. Make sure that if you are ever trying something like this to have a lot of your favorite type of drink around. You will need something with strong flavor and preferably something with some carbonation to break up the grease.

If you listen carefully you can almost hear the crunch.

Moving on after the bugs was easy. I definitely was not hungry anymore and could concentrate on the task at hand. We found a store that specialized in travel bags. Most of them were still 10-15 dollars but when you see it in Baht, you think 320 – 475, and that was way too much for us. We were used to spending around 40 Baht for a half decent meal and were only spending around 130 Baht per day on lodging. Cheryl and I were both looking at the same style of bag. It was a single strap, over the shoulder style bag. They were 250 Baht each and we were able to talk the store owner down to 225 Baht. We were to find out later why they weren’t worth the investment. The last thing that I need was a pair of pants. It was very hard to find any pants what so ever in that market. We ended up finding a small vendor that had a few pairs. Everyone there all seemed to be wanting the same thing and supplies were short. I quickly grabbed the last pair of men size large and didn’t think twice about arguing over the 50 Baht price tag. With every ones shopping complete we headed back to the guest house. As soon as I got back I tried on the pants that I had just bought to make sure they would fit okay. I then realized the difference between a westerners men’s large and an Asian men’s size large. These pants were so tight that while wearing them my voice could only be heard by dogs. I first tried them with boxers on and them with nothing. I was afraid to bend or stretch too much in them otherwise people might be getting a show that in Thailand should only be found in Patong or Nana.  I was feeling a bit dejected. This was my first bad purchase so far. I was low on room but couldn’t bring myself to throwing anything away. I decided that I would take the pants with me and hopefully find a use for them.

The next day, everyone was buzzing around trying to get things settled before leaving for the trek. We all packed our day bags with the essentials, smokes, lighters, cameras, insect repellent,  sun screen, memory cards and money. A few people also made sure to have first aid packs. We locked up all of our backpacks and put them inside the owners house for safe keep. After a few last minute photos we were on a mini bus headed towards the mountains. We picked up a couple other people who were all doing a day trip that included an elephant ride and one day hike through the jungle. The first stop was to be the elephants. Immediately, this trip started off feeling like a tourist trap. You seemed to be ushered everywhere and everything was very regimented. You get off the bus and have five minutes to take pictures and figure out who is riding with who. We must have been running a little behind because our five minutes was very short. We decided that Christoph, Aaren and myself would be on the first elephant while, Sabine, Cheryl and Chris were on the second one. I got the pleasure of riding directly on the elephants neck/shoulders. It was very uncomfortable.

Trying to balance and get more bananas at the same time. Notice the wedgie inducing seating style.

I had the worst wedgie of my life plus there isn’t a good place to hang on so I ended up rolling over “my boys” a couple times.  As soon as we started going I realized why they were so strict about the first part with the elephants. They are massive creatures and are very powerful. It wouldn’t be too much for one of these gentle beasts to turn on you and end your life. We had trainers there the entire time making sure that everything went as planned. The ride itself wasn’t too bad once you got over the fact that you are just a passenger and that the ride was going to be bumpy. Before the ride started you had the opportunity to by bananas. The bananas ended up being the sole reason for our elephant to move. If you rated the elephants in bananas per yard the same was you rate cars in gallons of gas per mile then my elephant would have been turned into scraps in California for failing to meet efficiency standards. My elephant had more than once refused to move because we weren’t feeding it often enough.

We finished the ride without any major incedents and moved on to the next place. We stopped at a local market that had plenty of fresh fruit and even had a clothing store with good quality clothes. It didn’t take long to find another pair of pants that actually fit. There was no bargaining here as it was obvious that we needed the pants and there was no other place to get them. Everyone wandered around the market with the warning that we needed to stay in groups so that we wouldn’t get kidnapped. I am not sure if there was any truth to it but no one seemed to test it. Once our guides had all the food they needed, we got back on the road and found ourselves a a quiet villa near by. We had to keep ourselves entertained for a couple hours while we waited for food to get prepared. The best part of the meal was the fresh pineapple and watermelon that was picked up at the market. The rest of the food must have been very good as well because I can’t recall a single person speaking until the plates were empty. After the meal, the two groups split up. The one day trek left first for their hike and we stayed behind to wait for our guides to return. We were all thankful to get the extra time to let the food settle and even catch a quick nap before our trek started.

This was what everyone did after lunch.

To be continued…

(Most photos courtesy of Cheryl… whether she knows it or not)

Having a fun time before the night began.

At the Gongkaew Guest Home I woke up from my nap after the flight from Bangkok. I stumbled out to the common area to find a couple people using the computers. I got acquainted with everyone and just like that we were all friends. I met Sabine and Christoph first followed by Aaren. We all were looking for something to do that night so we went to the Royal Market night bazaar first. This market had the normal touristy stuff complete with all the different kinds of beer t-shirts, knock-off bags, electronics and souvenirs. Christoph and I were mainly just trying to keep up with Sabine and Aaren. Those two had met on a train coming up to Chiang Mai and by the time they had arrived, they were best friends. We finally caught up to Sabine and Aaren while they were browsing through some hats. Sabine found the perfect one that I am sure she will be kicking herself for not getting. It was a hat made out of Heineken cans. Christoph ended up buy a pretty sweet hat that Aaren and Sabine had recommended for him.

This is the hat that I think Sabine should have bought.

We didn’t spend long at the market before we went out to get some beers. There is a moat that goes around the middle of Chiang Mai. Most of the bars and restaurants are on the eastern side of the moat. We started off at the Ba Ba Bo Bo Bar and sat at an outside table. Before long we had little kids and baby elephants coming by to say hi. I actually think the point of it was to make us buy something from them.

This elephant was just trying to get closer to make it a better picture.

Instead we just got pictures of the elephant and joked around with the kids.  The elephant got a bit close when Aaren was trying to get a photo. This made for a great shot for me. The little kids were so cute. They were insistent on trying to sell us something but didn’t mind just hanging around. We finished our beers and went looking for a place to go dancing.

We found Spicy which had people from every walk of life. There were your 60 year old ex-pats looking to hook up with a young Asian girl, your local 20 somethings that were trying to release the days energy, lady boys all trying to look more like ladies than boys, and your backpackers trying to have the most fun you can fit into one night. There were plenty of very attractive Thai girls there. Some of them ended up dancing with us through out the night. This one girl that was a hair dresser gave me her number to give to Aaren so that she could style his hair for him. We were fending off the lady boys all night, well, most of us were.

"You want ME to dance with YOU?" If you say it right, it won't sound offensive.

Needless to say we were welcomed with open arms by the locals at this bar. There were old women making moves and breaking hips on the dance floor. The house music was played loud enough that the language barrier didn’t matter, you couldn’t hear/understand anyone anyways. The bathrooms had a couple of thugs that would beat you up while you washed your hands and even expected a tip afterward. It was kind of odd getting a standing Thai message while you were trying to take a leak but somehow I managed not to spill any on me. After a couple hours and a few too many drinks later we left to go back to the guest house. It was a successful night out in Chiang Mai. I had met some great new friends and I had a couple more on the way. Chris and Cheryl were due to come in the morning.

Lounging atop the balcony at HI-Sukhumvit.

I don’t quite remember how much we drank there. All I know is that I don’t remember taking any of these pictures or having them taken. My shirt reads “Armed and Hammered”. It was and accurate description for the night.

The start of what I can't really remember

I do remember Maddy, Rui and myself heading off to one of my favorite street side bars were I had made friends with the bartender. Anne, the bartender, was always very friendly and made sure that we always had hassle free fun. She seemed to be the caretaker for the girls that worked the streets at night. Anne kept the girls from trying their charms on me or my friends. If you are ever in Bangkok looking for a great place to chill out and do some people watching, please look her up. She was always at the corner of Sukhumvit and Soi 22.

As the night progressed, our level of sobriety diminished.  We must have stayed out drinking until 4am when I am sure we were cut off. Thankfully, the 7-11′s are plentiful and open 24 hours a day because I needed something with a high dose of caffeine for my flight to Chiang Mai in a few hours. We walked back which ended up taking a little longer than I thought. We arrived at the hostel while it was still dark. I had enough time to pack up my stuff, grab a power nap and leave for the airport.

This is Rui and Maddy still looking almost sober.

I was still quite drunk so naturally I told my cab driver the wrong airport. I must have told him the Bangkok International Airport which was Don Muan. I needed to be at the Suvarnabhumi airport which was 45 minutes across town and my flight was leaving in 1 1/2 hours. The cab driver that brought me to Don Muan was the same driver now taking me across town. He must have known it was urgent because we didn’t slow down all too much when we came to the toll booths. I got to the airport just in time to run down the concourse and jump on my already boarded plane.

My flight seemed to be uneventful for me. I am sure the person sitting next to me would tell a different story. I think I was probably snoring quite loudly. When I got to Chiang Mai, I headed for the Gongkaew Guest Home. I got a heads up from Chris and Cheryl that this is where they were going to stay next. I don’t know how they found out about it but I am glad they let me know. The bunk beds were $4 per night and there was free WiFi, coffee, toast, fruit, tea, internet access via 3 computers set up in public lounge and the layout of the grounds was amazing. All I could really think about when I got there was how much I needed to sleep. I pretty much had my choice of bunks in the guys room since it was just about empty. I grabbed a nap and didn’t wake up until later in the afternoon. That is when I met the rest of the members of what has become the Chiang Mai crew.

The Chiang Mai crew right before we left for our 3 day trek.

This is the club that we had all to ourselves.

All we found when we got there was an empty club and some DJ playing the normal house music. The club looked like it was ready for 1,000 people to rush the place but Chris, Cheryl and myself were the only customers. Maybe it was too early? We got there around 9pm and waited until 11pm before we realized that no one was coming. We at least had a few top shelf drinks to make the bartenders happy. That was before I decided that I was going to stay for 3 months and my budget was a bit looser. Feeling let down, we had to find some place that was lively and so we headed down to Soi Cowboy. We passed it earlier in the night and saw all the bright flashing signs. Not exactly knowing what was there, we figured we could get some beers and maybe a story to tell.

Soi Cowboy has many, many strip clubs. This place was jammed for one end to the other with ladies and lady boys all wanting to show some skin for cash. Not being sex tourists, the three of us found one of the many bars showing an EPL match on a flat screen. Before long we were approached by girls of all shapes and sizes trying to lure us into their establishments. Some of them may have even been men. Sometimes, it is almost impossible to tell.One other thing that I found interesting is that a big part of the business there comes from you buying the girls drinks. Even if you aren’t in one of the strip clubs, your drinks maybe 60-70 Baht but the girls drinks are 250-300 Baht. I guess there are enough old men that are just wanting a pretty young girl to talk to and this is their way of buying that attention. Our waitress sat by me for almost an hour waiting for me to buy her a drink. I would rather leave a tip then pay ten dollars for a beer. She was nice though and didn’t really pressure us into buy one for her. We ended up talking to a Irish couple that seemed like they made the trip to Soi Cowboy quite often. They were a bit older, maybe late 50′s. They came to enjoy the people watching which was what we were doing I guess. I was a bit disappointed to see that the only people being complete assholes there were a group of Americans. They were at the bar next to us yelling for the girls and were trying to pick a fight with anyone that walked by. This was the second time in less than a week that I noticed American tourist giving us a bad name.

A couple nights later I was back at the hostel and someone mentioned to me that they wanted to go see the ping-pong show. I had my cousin mention to me that the ping-pong show was worth going to see one time. Ian and I decided that we were going to see our ping-pong show and found that Nana was the place to do it. Before we had left the hostel we had gotten the advice to always negotiate the pricing before we go into the show and always ask how much the “look show” was. Taking this advice we found ourselves on the streets of Nana with many choices. It didn’t take long before we had someone come up and ask us if we were there to see a ping-pong show. We were rushed up to a near by club where we remembered to start the negotiations. We were told that the first beer was 60 baht and each beer after was 100 baht. We made sure to ask how much the look show and was assured by the woman who ran the club that the look show was free. We agreed to the prices and sat down inside. Immediately, we understood why we were warned not to sit too close to the stage. There were some other westerners in the front row with ping-pong paddles returning “serves” that the woman laying on stage had offered them. I’m not going to go into anymore detail than that so use your imaginations. The girls at this particular place were not attractive by any stretch of the imagination. We decided to leave when they started putting balloons up on the pole next to us and were announcing the start of the dart show. I was curious but didn’t want to get hit by a run away dart. Especially one not thrown using a hand. Again, use your imagination.

Bright lights of Soi Cowboy on a Sunday night.

Back on the street, Ian and I came to the conclusion that the first place wasn’t very satisfying due to the quality of the girls and we began looking for another place. We felt like pro’s when it came to talking to the club recruiters. We got the low down on all drink and show pricing information up front. We set out for the second club following the recruiter closely. The streets were jammed and we could have lost the small Asian man in the crowd easily. We arrived at the second club and went through the pricing a couple more time with the doorman and the waitress. Again, the look show was free but the beer was a bit more expensive. We figure the extra 10-20 baht was fine since these girls had most of their teeth. They sat us away from the main stage in an elevated booth. We ordered our drinks and started watching the show. The girl on stage was trying to play catch with us but luckily she must have been a rookie because her attempts all fell well short. We were about half way through our first beer when what we thought was another waitress came up and put a paper in front of us that looked like a bill. The total was 2,500 Baht! Ian looked at the woman and politely let her know that this must have been belonged to someone else because we had only just gotten there. She then told us that it was the cost of the look show. We asked where the manager was and she pointed to a small guy in the corner counting his money. At this point I should explain that Ian is 6’5″ and probably weights close to 280 pounds. We took the bill to the manager and paid him 200 baht for the beers and walked towards the door before he even had a chance to open his mouth. I heard him start to argue but then when silent as soon as Ian turned around to hear what the manager was saying. We kept walking to the door and back out on to the busy street …. then around the block a couple times making sure that we weren’t being followed.

We were feeling frustrated since we didn’t even get to finish our beers. No more recruiters for us this time! We started looking around on our own. We found one place that had guys flocking into it. Thinking that this place just had to be good we quickly rushed inside. I got about two steps before realizing exactly why all the guys were going there. It was male strip club and they all worked there. All the guys in there had a look like they just won the lottery. I hastily turned around and started pushing Ian back out the door. No one had from the hostel had warned us about walking in the wrong club. We both decided to never tell a living soul about our mistake. Good thing for us no one reads this blog.

Our waitress at Soi Cowboy that was really nice but probably wished we had just bought her a few drinks.

Not one for giving up so easily we tried one last time to find a suitable place to watch a show and have a beer. We found a place that was more expensive for the beers than the last two places. They threw an extra catch in with this one that the girls beers were 250 baht. No problem we thought. We just won’t buy the girls a beer. Per usual, there was no cost for the look show. This club was much better. The girls all had their teeth and only 2 were pregnant. There was even another group of westerners here. Surely, we were safe. Sitting back watching the show and trying to politely refuse to buy anyone a drink kept my attention until I saw a rather large women approach the other group of westerners with a piece of paper. I looked at Ian as he said, “I think it’s time to go”. The other group started arguing with the woman and stormed out of the club. She must have caught us standing up out of the corner of her eye because she ran over to our table. She pushed the piece of paper into Ian’s chest and yelled, “You owe me 3,500 baht!” Ian continued toward the door and I tried my best to follow. The large woman shoved me several times into near by tables and started pulling at my shirt, tearing it. I made sure to only try to keep my balance and not do anything to make it look like I was trying to fight back. When I looked back towards Ian, he was already at the door but with 4-5 of the dancers in front of him trying to block the exit. With one calm swoop of his arm, the exit was now clear. He was now 8-10 girls and one fat woman away from me. I called out his name in desperation. He reached back and pulled me by the arm through the crowd of angry strippers.  We rushed back out on to the street and ran around the busy street hoping to loose any followers. At that point we had to call it a night. We were too close to getting ourselves into more trouble than we could get out of. We sat down on a near by corner to catch our breath and shared a good laugh about the whole thing.

Moral of the story: Never trust the Bangkok strip club owners to tell you want they really want to charge you.

This booth had a sign over top of it which said “Squid Eggs”.

After hunting through as many stalls as we could fit in to two hours, we started getting hungry for something more than just finger food. We found a section of the market that had pick-your-own seafood and they then cook it up for you in whatever dish you desire. I decided on a yellow curry with lots of squid and whatever else they decided to put in it. It is a little scary looking at seafood that had been sitting outside in 100 degree temperatures all day and thinking that is what you are going to eat. None the less the food was fantastic and I didn’t feel a bit sick afterward. We let the food settle in a little bit and then hit the shops again.

I started looking for my flip-flops on the way out and came across a few shops that were sporting the best brand name knock-offs. Trying to find flip-flops for a size 13 foot is tough when you are in Thailand I guess. I had to try several shops before finding one that carried the right size. Even then, my selection was very limited. I picked up a pair of “Quiksilver” and ended up paying way too much even after trying to bargain the price down. Sometimes people just don’t want to bargain with you if they know you can only get what you want from them. Those flip-flops fell apart on me no more than a week later. I guess I should have just kept looking.

Saun-Lum Night Market

We tried the Suan-Lum night bazaar in the evening. I didn’t have anything special in mind that I wanted to get so I just browsed the shops. This got me into a little bit of trouble however when looking through some clothes that the front of one stall. The shop keeper kept holding his hand out and giving me a price every time picked up anything. I told him that I was just looking and then he snatched whatever was in my hand and told me to “look somewhere else, this is for sale not for look”. I was a bit astonished but then realized that we had just been commenting on the poor quality of the clothing just as we were getting to that booth. I am guess that he probably took offense to the remarks. We just moved on to the rest of the market making sure not to pass by his store again. We got to the center of the marked where I found more fresh food and was surprised to see that most of it was actually on ice.  I also noticed, for the first time, how many vendors there were for the latest movies that hadn’t even come out in the theaters yet. We picked up the newest X-Men DVD for someone back at the hostel. The quality wasn’t bad except for a couple spots where they hadn’t finished putting in the rest of the CGI and you were left with a green screen or second rate animation. Chris picked up some good professional DJ software and a few DVDs for himself. Both markets has something unique to offer. I think I much prefer the Suan-Lum night bazaar as it wasn’t as crowed and the temperatures were much friendlier.

Fresh seafood on ice! I should stop writing in this blog when I am hungry.

Cheryl eating the business end of the fish.

After dinner, We hit the streets again looking for another bar. We found a Hookah bar in our lonely planets that was just 10 blocks away. Again, another ex-pat hang out with prices to prove it. They were serving buckets that consisted of a 5th of your choice of alcohol, Coke or Pepsi and a Thai energy drink (Thai Red Bull or M-150). Needless to say, this is the type of drink that you should share. We had quite a few people sharing 1 drink. With so many places to see we set out to a couple other bars near by. After trying out a few different establishments we found what has come to be my favorite style. It was nothing more than a street vendors cart with a bunch of booze and a few chairs. The young woman working the cart was happy to see our group as there wasn’t much business otherwise. This is where you find the best deals on alcohol aside from the 7-11. The local beers were 40-50 baht for a 330 ml bottle. These little places are also great for people watching and tend to attract all kinds of other visitors.

I didn't partake in the group drink for a photo. Something about 4 guys and 1 girl creeps me out.

We had three Americans stop by and all seemed a bit off. One of them was about 55-60 years old and was a war vet. The other two were mid to late 30′s and seemed to get on each others nerves. As they drank with us tention started mounting with the two 30-somethings and in order to quiet things down I offered one of them a shirt swap. My shirt which said “I’m the guy you have to blow to get a drink around here” for a polo that was two sizes too big. Not my proudest moment but at least no fight broke out.

This was a creepy guy that came by with 2 other Americans. I ended up swapping shirts with him to keep a fight from breaking out.

Before I knew it, 4 am came around and most of my friends had taken off. I had stuck around to hang out with this young couple that we met at the bar prior. They were extremely friendly and we seemed to hit it off right away. They were there to witness the whole mess with the three other Americans and applauded me on defusing the situation. It was getting time for me to head back to the hostel as I had been up for nearly 24 hours at this point. The young couple split a cab with me and made sure that I got back safely (Thanks Carlos and Stacey). All told, this was a great first day in my first trip abroad by myself.

This was the bed that was waiting for me my first night.

I am so thankful for finding this hostel. HI-Sukhumvit, although it may not be the cheapest place that I have found in Bangkok, it definitely seemed to have the best atmosphere. It is well outside of the normal backpackers spot of Koh San Road. HI-Sukhumvit is located at Soi 38 right next to the BTS Sky Train stop Thong Lo. The staff and other guests all seem to have a unique bond which makes meeting travel partners easy. I still talk to several people that I met there on a regular basis. It was such a great find and I look forward to day that I get to stay there again.

The next day I woke up at 5 am and just couldn’t sleep anymore. I locked up my bag and put on my shoes to hit the street and get some local currency. As with almost anywhere you go in Bangkok, I found that whatever you could ever need/want was all with in arms distance. There were great local street side vendors and restaurants everywhere that were serving mostly curries and any variety of noodle. I was also amazed at the amount of fresh fruit that was around. Everything looked so tempting, I wouldn’t be surprised if I had gained 5 pounds that first day.

After walking around for awhile, I returned to find that the hostel had woken up. People were lounging around reading newspapers and lonely planets while others were updating their Facebook status’ and checking emails.  Immediately, I struck up a conversation with a couple guys that were checking their lonely planets. I found myself grabbing my REI day bag and running out the door to go sight-seeing with this Aussie who seemed to have some experience dealing with indecisive American tourists. We weren’t sure how the bus routes worked and I didn’t get a good city map until much later so we took a cab to go see Wat Pho  and all surrounding temples. I have some pictures posted in the gallery of all the different statues and Idols that we saw. I can’t say that I have much appreciation anymore for spending all day walking around looking at temples and religious symbols. However, the works that were next to the Grand Palace were amazing. Fortunately, I got to see it 3 separate times with different people each time. I found something new to gawk over every time I went back.

Grand Palace and the amazing landscaping.

I had my first run in with sketchy cab drivers as soon as we left the Grand Palace area trying to get to Temple Mount. We tried to negotiate a price with a few cabs in the area only to find that they obviously weren’t looking to give a couple tourists a deal on a ride. One driver however was quick to pick us up and didn’t seem to want to haggle over price. Those are the ones you have to watch out for as we found out. We agreed to just pay the meter price which could have been very costly. His meter was broken and didn’t display half of it’s digits. We asked him about it and he said it would be a good price. (Yeah, It was… for him) It seemed suspicious when we noticed we were going the long way around town to get only 12-15 blocks. We started arguing with him and ultimately shouting at him demanding that he pull over and let us out.  The driver demanded that we pay him his 200 baht which he said is what his meter was reading. We settled on 50 since he obviously didn’t want to get the police involved and he had only taken us 5-6 blocks. Please keep in mind that this was not the normal marked taxi. This one was definitely just a scam artist trying to take us for whatever he could. We learned our lesson with the cabs and found a good bus map.

Back at the hostel, I struck up a conversation with a nice girl who was traveling with her boy friend. I ended up traveling with them off and on for most of my trip. In fact, I even met back up with them on the last day of my trip in Phnom Phen, Cambodia.

Chris and Cheryl out on the town the first night in Bangkok.