Balinese Cat Power

The cats that live near me are not your average US housecat. This one perches all the time on top of my shower and yowls endlessly looking for lovers. And today I left my lunch alone on the table to use the loo, and 3 of them came and devoured ¾ of it in seconds, including the noodles. NOODLES! They must be hungrier than me.

2007 vs 2009 in Bangkok, about 40km distance

I thought I was being so thrifty buying a 2 year old rough guide to Thailand at a used book shop. But the thrift didn’t do me much good because my budget hotel room near the Bangkok airport was actually near the “old” airport, and about an hour away from the “new” airport. Having no way to find out where a cheap room was (internet cafes were already closed at that late hour at the airport) and needing a place to crash for 7 hours, I ended up being taken “under the wing” by a tout for my late, last night’s stay in Bangkok. Oh well, live and learn.

Sailboat ride

Even though there wasn’t enough wind to actually sail, the excursion was infinitely quiet, just like our Captain Bob. He explained that his engine, unlike most around the island, has a muffler. He also attached his boat to buoys instead of dropping anchor all over. Worth the more premium price. The boat had 3 Norwegian girls, and 3 extremely good looking and down to earth Brits. One of whom is working as a bodyguard in Iraq and was jokingly disappointed to hear that I worked on the Obama campaign (i.e. if we pull out of Iraq it’d affect his livelihood.)

Captain Bob is from Canada, therefore he could say more than just “one hour” and could explain a lot about the area and what we were seeing. He explained that a particular kind of Bird’s Nest sells for about a grand in China/Japan, so locals go to extreme lengths to collect them. Take a look at the height of this spindly rope that goes up the side of the cliff.

When I was snorkeling I saw an enormous eel hiding in the niche of a rock. It was purple and had the diameter of a toaster oven (not a toaster, a toaster oven). I wanted to see how long it was, but was scared of provoking it in case it was electric. Captain Bob explained to me, once I surfaced, that the eels aren’t electric, but if they bite essentially they have to be decapitated to get their jaws to let go of your body. Glad I didn’t provoke it.

He did a few party tricks coming close to big boulders, and he dropped us off at a cave where we could explore. (yep, the speck in blue below is me) I was the only one who climbed in (probably due to my having reef shoes) and I felt like James Bond going to the bad guy’s hiding spot in the cave. Very cool.

A half an hour before sunset he steered the boat into a cove where we could watch with the ipod going in the background. I floated a bit in the water looking up at the cliffs and at the sun. Fantastic way to tie things up in Koh Phi Phi Don.

Beachy Budget Day

Did a budget day just hanging in the beachy shade to save up for the fancy sailboat ride I’ll take on Thursday. In the evening they played the movie “The Beach” so I could figure out what all the hype was about. It looked like Mya Beach, minus the 40 longtail and powerboats. Oh- and the hotel room where Leo discovers the map looks eerily like the hotel road I stayed at near Kao San Road.

Longtail boat ride in Koh Phi Phi Don

Reluctantly abandoning Bangkok, I took a flight to Phuket and then hopped an easy boat ride to Koh Phi Phi Don. The allure is the promise of great snorkeling and kayaking.

I am staying in a budget hotel on the southern tip of the island with fantastic views and laughable amenities. It is far from the center of town- entailing a 30 minute walk over slippery shoreline rocks or a $6 boat ride into town (it’s only $3 if it’s more than 2 people- discrimination against single travelers!)

The hotel offers an excursion to a few of the islands surrounding Koh Phi Phi Don. The biggest draw is Mya Beach which is where they filmed the movie “The Beach.” So today 7 Germans and I clambered into a rickety longtail boat and we were off. The boats are called longtail because of the easily moveable propeller which is at the end of a long tube- I believe the idea being that they’re easier to steer and avoid smacking reef/rocks.

Our captain was mute except for the words “one hour” and dropped his anchor on all kinds of reef and rocks instead of mooring to the established buoys. This was evident in the water with all of the smashed coral, but it didn’t seem to affect the fish too much. There were so many kinds- plenty of Dorie’s friends, but no Nemo. There were quite a few barnacles (?) that looked like purple oyster-shaped “lips” wedged into the coral, and they would retract when one approached. Some of the fish looked like long skinny tubes, and some of them looked like the original inspiration for the fluorescent “OP” brand shirts that were popular in 1987.

In the evening I had dinner with 3 French guys whom I was surprised to discover watch 10x more American TV than I ever have. (i.e. J’adore Izze en Grey’s Anatomy!) It made me wonder if they are unusual for Frenchmen, or if all the Frenchmen I’ve met are hiding how much TV they watch from me!

My luckiest day in ages. AGES!

This morning I needed to find a quick bite before heading into the National Museum. So I asked for chicken, spring roll, & banana+coconut fritters, but it was the carrot fritter that she threw in at the end for free that was the best. Just my luck.

Then once I was in the museum a creepy dude who had once studied at U Neb started to follow me, but then I got him off the trail. Again, lucky me.

This here is an elephant saddle that was once used by royalty. It’s inlaid with intricate mother of pearl, gold, and oh yes there’s the thermos of coffee behind it.This is a spectacularly ornate funeral chariot- you can see how huge it is by comparing it to the standing fan propped up next to it.They recently increased the entry free and evidently paid people with teeny tiny fingers to hand paste on the new price. After the museum I went to the Tourist info center to see about attending a dance performance. Unfortunately all of the tickets were out of my budget and really far away. So I decided to wander. I went to the pier, was weighing a boat ride, but the little boat looked so rickety, and it was so hot out, I bailed. I had a hunch to go back to the mall where I had seen a sign for a modern art center. I wasn’t sure if it was a dance center or whatnot, but I figured it was worth checking out that area again at least.

It was a huge surprise- it was a FANTASTIC modern art center. I was practically the only visitor. It opened, after years of political delays, just 5 months ago. http://www.bacc.or.th/en/aboutus.html The inside looks like it was inspired by the NY Guggenheim: They had a contemporary prints exhibition featuring artists from all over Asia:


One one of the paths between floors featured sculpture which made me feel like I was walking through huge stems of black coral:

The colors in this painting were so different than what I'm used to seeing in river scenes. Look at how the colors reflect in the dog's fur





This piece appealed to me because the artist asked kids to make masks of what they think a Bangkok kid looks like. They were all on the wall behind the artist's rendition of what a Bangkokian (? Maybe Bangkokite? Bangkok citizen) looks like:




This is a copy of a poster that was used in years of protests demanding an art center next to the MBK Mall. As part of the protests they strung thousands of banners made by artists & regular citizens into the form of a long snake through the streets of Bangkok. Just a portion of those original banners were displayed on the floor:


Then on the bus home I saw a dance performance in progress through the bus window. We were only a few blocks from my hotel so I hopped off, wandered in, paid my $1.25 entry fee and saw tons of cute kids both dressed up to perform as well as hanging off the stage, hometown style. Just my lucky day.

Valentine's Day - celebrating my love affair with Thailand

This morning I took an excursion to a floating market about an hour away from Bangkok. It was a photographers dream, but the actual boat ride was a bit of a rip off as they only paraded past souvenir boats and very few food boats. I was still able to manage some good fun food boat shots. There were a few cute Koreans in my group- including this couple. The girl was named “Sally” and I couldn’t pronounce the boy’s name so I called him Clark Kent (due to the glasses)

I ate delicious soup with pork and vermicelli which was made in 60 seconds on a boat (I taped him making it- it's cool, but too big to post onto blogspot). This woman sold me dumplings with chili & coconut. In the afternoon I did the obligatory loop of the Grand Palace – here there are 3 styles of domes- I think I understood fromthe tourguide that they are Cambodian, Sri Lankan and Thai. They are constantly renewing the gold paint on the King Rama paintings. The roof decorations are supposed to represent long, elegant hands. Then I swung over to the famous reclining Buddha which is 46M long. Big feet too, inlaid with mother of pearl.

Here people are praying for luck with candles & flowers, and something I've never seen before was that the worshippers were adding flecks of gold leaf to the buddha statues to "placate spirits and request favors."

I LOVE BKK!

Thank goodness my Rough Guide recommended getting around by bus in BKK- it was so easy. So easy in fact, that my 1st bus was free (saving me approx 21 cents). I thought it was because it was intended to schlep workers to a big shopping mall, but it was just because they were doing some census work on the number of people getting on & off. Take a look at the size of the gearshift on this baby- it's half as tall as the driver: En route I came across this Tailor- perhaps if I had gotten a suit made there my chances for a job will be better when I return? Upon my friend Carlos’ recommendation, the Jim Thompson house was the first real stop of the day. It’s a beautiful former private home that was created from 6 “typical” Thai houses from the countryside. The gardens are beautiful: The home is furnished almost exactly as it was in 1959 when it was built by the architect/Thai Silk entrepreneur Jim Thompson. His whole story’s pretty intriguing- check it out here: http://www.jimthompsonhouse.com/

In a special AC area upstairs they had a well-done exhibition by Xawery Wolski http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xawery_Wolski Upon my foodie friend Andrew’s recommendation I headed to the mall, yes, the mall to check out their food court. It exceeded expectations.

At the entrance to the food court one buys coupons, and then can go hog wild. As the pictures below will attest- I went happily overboard.
First stop coffee Then some dried fruit for later- who knew that pomelo is exquisite when dried? Then green curry, eggplant, greenbeans, iced cantaloupe juice, followed by durian with sticky rice. To. Die. For. Here’s my favorite shot of the King & Queen that I saw on the trip- it was in the window on on the bus home. I love her outfit. Then I rounded out the day with a passionfruit & ginger shake. I branched out from Pad Thai!

Arrival in BKK

This morning I flew Air Asia to Bangkok. The boarding passes are hilarious- they look like supermarket receipts!

My first impression of Bangkok was of the air. When I looked out the plane window I thought I was looking at the grey sea (the ocean can sometimes look grey in Bali) but it was actually the smog.

The other big impression was of the size of the roads- there are few highways in Bali, and in Bangkok there are elevated superhighways- I forgot was it was like to roll at 80MPH!

Before leaving, I was told there were still protests going on at the capital. Well, this was the closest that I saw to protesting – perhaps I didn’t have the right eye out for the news:

First order of business upon arrival was a Thai massage since my shoulders were surfed out. A tiny woman hoisted and stretched me all over the place.

The evening was capped by Pad Thai- pretty good, but not that different from NY Pad Thai- perhaps I’ll need to branch out a bit more culinarily to be wowed.

Next Stop, Bangkok

Just as I was starting to get a good feel for my board, I'm going to spoil it by heading to Thailand tomorrow for a visa run. Here's to green curry, stretchy massage, Buddhist temples, snorkeling, and sea kayaking!

On my owwwwwn

Sunday was supposed to be my first day out on my own, but the wind, swell, and rain combined to create a sloppy stew of bad waves. I waited all day with a book to no avail.

Though at dusk the break just down the street from me filled up with crazy groms (read: young surfers) doing 5 second spins on the beach break. I thought about joining them, but then realized I didn't have the speed to do the beach break, especially if I didn't want to end up with a face full of dirty sand and a cracked board.

So Monday was my 1st day, ever, surfing on my own. Got in the water, called out to everyone I met and asked them where they were from or commented on their board so that if I was carried away by a rogue wave they might actually notice.

Met 2 nice German longboarders, and a sweet Brit who said that he was also stationed here for a while. Wasn’t really the place to exchange phone numbers so I hope to run into them again!

Brown Snakes vs. Yellow Snakes with Red Tails

Until today, the largest snake I ever saw in the wild was the kind that runs along the lines of the the gardener snake variety. That all changed when a 3 foot long brown snake hauled itself out of a rice paddy to cross the road right in front of my bike. It made me think of Roald Dahl's memoir where he explained that one should NOT run over snakes in military jeeps because they fly up in the air and land in the back. So I slowed down, backpedalled, literally, and waited for him to leisurely cross the road. Later I learned only the yellow snakes with red tails are dangerous, and that the brown ones eat rats in the rice fields and aren't dangerous to humans. Phew.

Ubud which was mostly Babi Guleng

I headed up to Ubud to meet Andrew in the pouring rain. I got some pics of the palace, including my favorite goddess, the Goddess of Education Saraswathi.

Then we decided to take shelter and get Ubud’s famous Babi Guleng- roasted suckling pig. Super salty & spicy, I think I'll stick to Nasi Campur.