We made it to Thailand!

Hey all, Jen here.

We've been here for over a week now but finding Internet cafe's hasn't really been our top priority. The flight was decent - both Tay and I found the jet-lag to be manageable but I really noticed the dry air and developed a seriously sore throat for a few days.

Bangkok is such a crazy city to enter as your first destination. It's like going to Toronto and seeing Queen St West (more west than Spadina) as your first stop. But.. obviously times a thousand... we ARE talking Thailand after all.
Here's a shot from our first morning in Bangkok. We ate at this corner resto for about 6 bucks. I think we were a bit too shocked when we arrived the night before to snap any shots, but we'll have some when we head back on Feb. 7th.

Motorbike Cart are everywhere selling fried chicken liver and deep fried bugs. Tons of white tourists stumbling around (we arrived at 11.45pm), bars with big projectors showing soccer matches, yet with trees growing right through the bar, locals hounding you "taxi taxi? where you go? tuu huhndred baht.." "you eat, you eat? tirty baht, tirty baht". It's like dude... we're just looking around. You really have to keep looking forward, just ignoring them (especially the he-she prostitutes) which are overly abundant (as homosexuality is looked at negatively), so hey, just DRESS like a woman, then you can get with guys! I mean, honestly now.

We quickly left Bangkok after only one day heading to Hua Hin ('Hua Heen') about 3 hours down the east coast. This was a tourist destination for older retirees it seemed. We horseback rode on the beach, ate some cool stuff, but quite honestly, now that we've been to a few other places, this was very "the norm."Here's Tay posing with Ronald, sporting the familiar Thai greeting/gesture of thanks. Get this, they don't have english muffins here, so they just make their breakfast stuff on the same damn buns as the burgers! eeeewww. We didn't eat... just stopped for the photo 'op.
Here are some little entrepreneurs starting out on the work scene quite early. This dude was on the phone, but they were hastleing him to buy some flowers anyway. It's a different place to say the least.

So on to the islands! We hit up Koh Tao first, which is the smallest and most Northern of the three main Thai Gulf islands. This was our first real thrust into the party-hearty, beach-bash kind of scene. The ferry (a high speed Catamaran) was packed with young tourists such as our selves, and the island even more so. Every second we had to sidestep some hooligan on his first dirt bike ride. Ok so after mocking how people can't ride these motorbikes, Tay and I rented our own the next day (in Hua hin we shared one, me on the back). Both had gears and mine was even a kick start! You have nooo idea how steep these roads are and it is imperative to change the gear when going up a hill... which I actually found really hard since you have to look down, take your hand off the gas, kick this tiny little pedal.. like I don't even drive a car standard!

My bike stalled going up this really steep hill due to not changing gears in time - I'm talking the-first-part-of-"The Bluff"-at-Osler-ski-club steep. Now you are sitting on a 300 pound hog that is literally pulling you down the hill. Tay's obviously way more confident on his bike and made the hill, so parks and runs down as my arms are like shaking holding this bike from rolling down the hill. "Starting a kick-start bike on a madly steep dirt road," Tay says "is NOT fun."
What WAS fun though was Tay's great idea to join in on the 'Flaming Double Dutch'... Basically jump rope while the rope's on fire. hahaha. Needless to say, beers both helped and hindered his jumping ability and his leg hair won't be the same for a while. No burns though!! There were definitely some past victims standing by watching the fun though, bandages and all.

As a side note, as I sit here and type this, bugs flock to the bright screen (it's 8.30pm, so already quite dark as the sun sets abruptly around 7pm which I find quite early), Tay is ordering a Chang beer for 25 baht (30 baht = $1)over by the bar, and my skin continues to perspire, despite the cooler evening air. Geccos line the walls and ceilings. Tonight we will sleep again in our spacious bed, yet small room, with the fan blowing hard through our mosquito net - which I find kind of like a little lace princess tent. I'm learning some Thai too.

Hello- sa wat dii
Yes- chai
No- mai chai (accents everywhere)
How Much? - thao rai
Can you go lower? - lot iik dai mai
Is this the road to .... ? thaang nii pai .... mai

While on our bikes we made it to a bunch of different beaches along the Southern coast of Koh Tao. This one was called Shark Bay, and thankfully the name was never vindicated... but there was some great swimming and chillin' on the white sand.

After two days in Koh Tao we moved on to Koh Phangang, the fabled site of world renowned moon parties (full, half, quarter, shiva). We arrived on the 29th and discovered that a half moon party was going on the next night, so we took our first day to get our barings and check out what spots would be cool to visit during the big jam. Here I am reading our Lonely Planet book on the beach as we walk around trying to find suitable accommodations for the night. Not a bad lookin' beach if you ask me!
Success! Here's a shot of the view from our bungalow. During Full Moon parties, this beach is FULL of people as far as the eye can see.
We took this awesome and relaxing long-tailed boat trip (which we have a video of, hopefully coming soon, once we finally upload our shit) that went around the whole island, stopping at several beaches (incl Bottle beach, for those who have gone - nicest on the island) and complete with snokeling and a trek to a waterfall in the jungle.
Here's Tay swimming up to the boat to tell me all about all the crazy looking fish he was seeing in the shallows among the corals and stuff. A little foggy in the mask, but I love this shot.Here you can see our boat's 'skipper' in front of our long-tail boat named 'snoop dogg'. Long story short, the guy who used to own it blazed a lot and loved Snoop's rap.

We climbed into this cave that you could swim into and then climb up behind a massive rock wall and out on top of the rock. Repelling down using only long vine branches from the adjacent trees, we jumped off into beautiful fresh water! (again pictures coming.. there is a particularily sweet one of me I can't wait for!) Tay was the first to cave-it-up and jump and helped me out with some repelling tactics he learned at Kilcoo. I was the only chick on the tour to do it, and Tay was pretty proud.
Bomb's away!! What a pose... hahaha That little triangular opening under me is the entrance to the cave. Then you climb up behind that big rock I just jumped off.

These germans we met were doctors, residents specializing in neurology. Taught me some dirty words in German. Ok ready? (Of course I asked this... as it's the universal funny thing to learn.) In french it is "Voulez Vous Couche Avec Moi?" And in german... even in the politest way it sounds so ugly (this german dude even admitted his language was ugly) "Villst du mit mir SHLAFFIN!" .. and you gotta say that last word with dirty emphasis. like the word "laugh".
Here we are having some drinks with the good doctors, Stephan and Ben.

So we arrive at the half moon festival, a 100 baht sawngthaew ride into the jungle (basically 10 ridiculous mins in the back of this open back truck-type thing)... Well, basically it was a Euro club in the middle of the jungle complete with all the booze hounds and drug pushers you'd expect at a runaway Tiesto concert on steroids. We shied away from the dozens of Thais walking around hush hushing, "you want some pill? you want pill?" At the entrance, which is just these two trees with guards, followed by this long dirt path, you find vendors which will paint you with trippy black light paint. Once inside the party scene is a bowl, with a stage in the center (at the bottom) and then uphill dancin area all facing into the center. The main DJ is right at the top edge of the bowl. The island is apparently "having a serious shortage of water and electricity" yet this was the most intense and loudest light and and bass show I've ever seen. It really is how movies portray it (example, The Beach with Leo Dicaprio). We had some GREAT shakes before we went though...

It was almost too much to handle.
Here's a crummy shot of the entrance to the party... it really is a huge show they put on, it's not just some gathering of people. I think the scene was so intense inside that we forgot to snap off a few pics. If you want to see it, you'll just have to go!! hahaha

We bartered our way back to the beach where we were staying. Even the strip we were on keeps pumping until 6am. I actually used the cheesy ear plugs I brought.

So after a taxi-ferry-bus-minubus-tuktuk ride, and 8 hours later. We are in Khao Sok, "Sok Mountain", which has a beautiful national park.
Here's Tay getting a little artsy over breakfast in Khao Sok. He just HAD to document his french toast which was actually more like tempura toast. Missin' that maple syrup though :(
Panning back a bit from his plate, this is his view from our table that morning in Khao Sok. Gorgeous lime-scale mountains in the background, and our little bungalow to the right. Not a bad scene to wake up to eh? Honestly, the colours and lighting don't even do this vista justice. The sky was so beautiful that morning.
Here we are in the National park, after a couple of kilometers through the rain forest we reached a river and an open water hole type thing and got some other hikers to snap our pic.
Here's Tay admiring the rain forest and river after emerging from the dense foliage.

Well that's all for now, we're in Phuket at the moment, but later on today we're taking the ferry over to Koh Phi Phi (Ko pee pee) island to stay a couple of days and take in a bit more sun and hopefully find a bit of surfing.

All the best!! Keep the emails coming, and don't forget to post comments on this blog if you want to remark on anything you've seen or read.

Much love to all!

Jen